What's In My Glass: Hurricane Irene Edition

So as if a hurricane isn't lame enough to begin with, tonight's post was supposed to be a recap of an epic daylong bus trip to Victory Brewing, put on by my favorite bar in NYC, the Rattle n Hum. Mother Nature had other plans though, and so I decided to open an extra beer or two tonight as a consolation prize. First up was an extra from a trade I recently received, but did not profile here on the blog, a can of Sunny Haze hefeweizen, from Mother Earth brewing out of North Carolina

Canning is becoming more and more popular among craft brewers, as technological improvements have made both made canning a more financially feasible option and led to higher quality cans that don’t leech flavors into the beer and protect it better. Some breweries, most notably Oskar Blues over in Colorado, can exclusively, while many other brewers are canning select beers in addition to their normal bottling. The beer is what it’s all about though, and this one’s pretty good. I’ve found hefeweizen is one of the few styles where we haven’t really caught up here in the US to the best of our German brewing counterparts, but anemic appearance aside, this one makes a good run at it. It’s got the same problem that I have with most domestic versions of the style in that a doughy malty flavor is a bit too prominent when compared to the banana esters and clove phenols thrown off by the yeast. It definitely comes closer to what I’m looking for than most of the others though, it’s just a touch off. The aforementioned yeast derived flavors are tilted just a bit too much towards clove for me, but that’s just a personal preference. There’s also a pleasant citrusy splash in the flavor profile (no need to pour this one over a lemon!) that’s a nice touch. The relative lack of head (the above picture is right after the pour) hinted at the beer’s other weak spot; the carbonation was definitely a bit too low for the style. Still though, a decent effort from a brewery that has a couple hundred years less practice at brewing weiss beers than those pesky Germans. I’d pick this one up again next time I’m down in North Carolina.

Next up was the last of the different Surly beers I’ve received over the last few weeks, Surly Hell.

It’s a summer seasonal beer for them, an unfiltered lager (accounting for both the crisp taste and the hazy appearance). I’m not always a fan of lagers, sometimes there’s just not enough going on in them for me, but this one hit the spot. It smelled and tasted like freshly baked white bread and crackers, with just a suggestion of floral spiciness from the hops (basically an American version of a classic noble hop). It’s got a killer combination of good flavor and being super drinkable (this one clocks in at just 4.5%, definitely near the low end of the craft beer spectrum). I can see myself trying to get my hands on a bunch of this at the beginning of the season next summer as my go-to summer beer along with Allagash White.

After that I cracked my second bottle of Odell’s Myrcenary, which was just as good as when I first had it a few nights ago. As much as I would have liked to keep going with new beers, any great IPA/imperial IPA deserves to be consumed fresh, and I have a couple bottles of this one still to go.

Next was my second weekly check in on my most recent batch of homebrew. This time I got to have a full bottle, and the good news is it’s definitely carbonating just fine. I’m not at the point of getting good head formation/retention or lacing yet, but I’ve found that that sometimes lags a bit behind. Evidence of carbonation is readily apparent from the first sip. The flavor’s still a bit off, but I’m hoping that I’m just tasting the beer while it’s still a little young.

The last beer of the night would end up being Three Floyds Moloko milk stout.

The trippy bottle art is no surprise, as the beer was named as a reference to A Clockwork Orange, which itself was referencing a drink in 1970s Europe that consisted of milk and LSD (somehow, I don’t think that does a body good). A milk stout is a regular stout that’s had lactose, the sugar found in milk, added to it. This particular kind of sugar can’t be consumed by yeast, so it all remains in the beer and provides both sweetness and an enriched body. The nose/flavor on this one is exactly what I imagine a good strong coffee that’s been dosed with sugar and cream is like. In fact it took on a little bit too much of a vanilla and sugar edge as the beer finished warming and the sweetness started overpowering the roasted malty flavors. I also decide to pair the last third or so of the bottle with some mint chocolate chip ice cream, which turned out to be a very good life choice. Seriously, some people laugh, but good ice cream combined with the right kind of beer is just about one of the best desserts I’ve ever had.