Xbeeriment: Black Force One (Bourbon Barrel Edition) – A lesson in expectations

Xbeeriment is the name of a series of fine beers brewed by two Danish fellows, Anders Østergaard and Thomas Noelgaard, who have been craft brewing since 2005 and 2002, respectively. Xbeeriment does not have a physical plant, but instead Anders and Thomas brew their beers mostly at Amager Brewery near Copenhagen.

Black Force One is a hybrid imperial stout. At 10.4 percent ABV and thoroughly dry hopped with the Cascade variety, this one promises to be both potent and bittersweet. The version reviewed here is the Bourbon Barrel Edition, which was matured in a Bourbon cask for several months before finally being released in late May of 2011. Xbeeriment brewed a sparse 374 bottles of this edition, and mine was number 118.

Black Force One pours with a pitch-black color, accompanied by a distinct mahogany hue where the liquid kisses the side of the glass. Beige, fluffy, and about a finger high, the well-retained head is characteristic of an imperial stout, as is the reasonable amount of lacing. Black Force One has a rich nose that, on the first whiff at least, reminds me of a cross between a stout and an IPA: Chocolate and roasted malts clearly dominate, but are nicely supported by a slight citrus smell, undoubtedly from generous use of Cascade hops. But, upon additional whiffs, this first impression soon confronts a complexity of other aromas, including the subtle bourbonesque tones of oak and vanilla, along with the less-than subtle alcohol note. Liquorice and coffee also linger in the background, but it takes a bit of effort to find them. 

Taking a mouth full reveals a full and creamy body and a surprisingly lively amount of carbonation – a bit too much for a stout in my view. Dominated by chocolate and roasted malts, the taste closely resembles the aroma, although I failed to find those citrusy notes that were so obvious in the nose. Moreover, the bourbon taste is surprisingly and disappointingly weak, although the vanilla and oak flavors do manage to make an appearance about halfway through before succumbing to the intensely bittersweet chocolate and coffee finish. The surprisingly strong alcohol note, even for a 10.4 percenter, somewhat detracts from the overall flavor harmony. 

In short, I expected a bit more from Black Force One, and the price and exclusivity of the beer certainly raised my expectations of it. Lesson learned: Don’t let price and exclusivity dictate your expectations. This is not to say that Black Force One failed in its attempt to produce a variety of remarkable flavors: In fact, Black Force One did exceedingly well in that regard. Instead, the predominance of the alcohol note – on the whole – disrupted what would have otherwise been a harmonious flavor complex, although this is perhaps more of a preference issue on my part. More objectively, the almost fizzy mouthfeel was a stark and less than welcomed contrast with the heavy, creamy body, and was certainly a bit too fizzy for a stout. That said, the bourbonesque tones – even with their timidity – made Black Force One Bourbon Barrel Edition a genuine treat. No regrets here, and my hats off to Xbeeriment for brewing it! I’m glad to have tried it and look forward to reviewing the next Xbeeriment – Barack. 

Links

Xbeeriment Black Force One on Ratebeer

Xbeeriment's website

Victory: Prima Pils – Creativity meets discipline and maturity

Located in Downingtown, Pennsylvania – about a 30 minute drive to the west of Philadelphia, Victory Brewing Company has about a dozen regular beers, another ten or so seasonal beers, and an often active and busy brewpub that I look forward to revisiting the next time I’m in the area. If you happen to be a classic movie fan, it’s worth noting that, aside from being home to Victory and their outstanding brews, Downingtown’s claim to fame is its host to the diner scene in the 1958 sci-fi horror movie entitled The Blob, which was largely filmed in the surrounding area. The diner today, named Chef Mcjon’s Downingtown Diner, still stands, and for reasons of nostalgia, it is worth the visit.

Victory was first opened back in 1996 by two life-long friends – Ron Barchet and Bill Covalski, both of whom are well-trained and thoroughly experienced brewers: Ron studied at the Technical University of Munich at Weihesnstepan and worked at the Baltimore Brewing Company and the Old Dominion Brewing Company in Virginia, and Bill studied at the Doemens Institute in Munich and also worked at the Baltimore Brewing Company. And their expertise and experience certainly shows in Victory’s Prima Pils – a decidedly fine, year-round, 5.3 percent ABV representation of the best traditions of the pilsner style, but with stronger bitter character that gives Prima Pils some distinctiveness.

Life outside the bottle begins with a transparent, light-golden or straw color, culminating in a medium-sized and relatively resilient white head. The average amount of lacing artfully and lastingly decorates the side of the glass. The nose of Prima Pils is a rich mixture of standard pilsner notes, including the assertive Saaz hop presence. Bready and earthy, the background aroma is accompanied by more focused citrusy and flowery notes – all definite marks of a good pilsner.   

Taking a mouth full reveals a medium-light body and generous amounts of carbonation, making this a very refreshing summertime treat. Like the aroma, the flavor of Prima Pils is the undeniable mark of an excellent pilsner, although it’s a bit more bitter than most Continental varieties. With its grainy texture, the moderate malt presence provides a nice backbone for the more intense citrusy flavor from the hops. With a bitterness that begins about halfway between the start and finish, Prima Pils rounds out by delivering a mildly dry and bitter punch, and then slowly fades away over the course of another minute or two.

All in all, Prima Pils is a fine, yet distinct representation of the pilsner style. While I found the head to be a bit timid both in size and resiliency (emphasis on the bit), the aroma and flavor hit their marks precisely. The hop forward notes are delicately and harmoniously supported by the maltier side of life, and the timing of the hop bitterness is spot on. While some brewers concoct more experimental varieties under the pilsner name, but then fail to catch the essence of the style, with Prima Pils, Victory in my humble view shows the creativity it takes to craft a beer that slightly challenges the boundaries of the style; but they also show the discipline and maturity is takes to capture the more traditional representations of the pilsner style.

Links

Victory Prima Pils on Ratebeer

Victory Prima Pils on BeerAdvocate

Victory Prima Pils 

Image credits 

Beer a Day

Kinn: Vestkyst IPA – Remarkably accessible and harmonious

As Norway’s westernmost town, Florø’s coastal setting and lively atmosphere makes it one of most attractive places to visit in western Norway. With a population that barely breaches 10,000, Florø is the home to fish processing, shipbuilding, petroleum, and, with the 2009 opening of Kinn, brewing can now be added to that list. Congratulations Florø, for Vestkyst IPA is testament to Kinn’s attention to quality and perfection, and their ability to make beers that rival many of the brews from the more ‘matured’ breweries around.

The word Kinn (literally cheek) is the name given to one of the outermost islands that buffers Florø from the open sea (see map to the right), although it was also the name of an earlier municipality that was eventually merged into the surrounding municipalities. I can only speculate that the place name “Kinn” might be attributed to the fact that area forms the westernmost point, or “cheek”, of Norway’s coastline, although this again is only speculation on my part.

Kinn brewery makes about six different beers – all of which are remarkably wonderful concoctions. Kinn takes a rather traditional approach to beer-making by using open fermentation tanks and an English handpump to tap the beer. Brew master Espen Lothe also bares his grounded philosophy to brewing when commenting that “my job is not to make beer, but to help the yeast cells to produce beer” (Dagbladet). Lothe’s approach and philosophy are undoubtedly causes for Kinn’s remarkable brewing success.

Vestkyst (literally west coast) IPA is simply amazing, and is a must try for IPA lovers. Popping the cork immediately releases the sweet smells of a well-hopped ale that’s ambitious to please its drinker. Pouring Vestkyst into a glass reveals a hazy amber-colored body and fluffy off-white head, although I expected it to tower a bit more than what it did. Giving the glass a generous swirl yields a tight and sticky, web-like lacing matrix. Aroma? Think pineapple and resin, but with distinct tones from the malt, most notably caramel. 

Vestkyst’s mouthfeel is pleasant and pretty faithful to this particular style – smooth, well carbonated with a medium-light body. Taking a generous mouthful brings out a wonderful array of flavors, including the more prominent tastes of grapefruit, pine, and the deliciousness of mango. The malt support, especially the caramel flavor, is perhaps a bit too forward for an IPA, but it blends rather harmoniously with the surrounding flavors, giving is a level of accessibility that is surprisingly high for an IPA. But, not to be let down, Vestkyst delivers a powerfully dry and punchy bitter finish that speaks volumes to the quality of this IPA.

All-in-all, Vestkyst testifies to Kinn’s attention to quality and perfection, and their ability to make beers that rival some many of the brews from the more ‘matured’ breweries around – quite remarkable for such a young brewery. While the malt flavors are perhaps a bit too forward for an IPA, the complexity of flavors blends together with a remarkable level of harmony and accessibility. In fact, if I wanted to turn someone on to IPAs, Kinn’s Vestkyst might very well be the one I’d choose to use.

Links

Kinn Vestkyst on Ratebeer.com

Image credits

Kvitre.no

Nøgne Ø: Two Captains – Still Defying the Laws of Gravity

If you’ve read some of my previous posts here, you might remember coming across a rather brief review of Two Captains, an outstanding double IPA brewed by Nøgne Ø. After recently drinking a bottle that’s been cellaring for some time, I realized that my previous post really failed to do justice to Nøgne Ø’s Two Captains. So, typed up a new and more detailed review about the product as a whole. Indeed, Nøgne Ø’s Two Captains definitely falls within my top-ten list of favorite double IPAs, and if you try it, I think you will understand why.

The typical first encounter with Nøgne Ø’s Two Captains will immediately confront the distinctiveness of the company’s bold orange “Ø” surrounded by a white label attached to a half-liter brown bottle. Stamped with the same “Ø”, the cap is as distinctive as the label. For those of you unfamiliar with Scandinavian languages, the “ø” or “slashed o” as it is sometimes called, is a letter reserved for the Norwegian and Danish alphabets. Ø is used to represent close-mid front rounded sounds (the closest English comes to this is the vowel sound in bird, although that ‘s still pretty far off).

Compared to the raw simplicity and austerity of Nøgne Ø’s other labels, the “Ø” on the Two Captain’s label is juxtaposed over a late 1940s to early 50s American piston engine fighter plane – the F-82 Twin Mustang. At first glance, it looks like two planes, but as shown in the picture to the right, the F-82 is actually two P-51 Mustangs joined together in a rather successful effort to build a long-range escort fighter at the end of World War II. One might think that “Two Captains” is a reference to the twin boom plane illustrated on the label. However, both the name and the label are references to Jan Halvor Fjeld, an SAS captain who originally concocted this brew, and Kjetil Jikiun, Nøgne Ø’s head brewer as well as a captain for SAS – hence not just one, but two Captains.

In my opinion, Nøgne Ø probably brews Norway’s most exiting line of products, although Ægir and Kinn are close rivals. Hailing from Gimstad, which is a coastal town on the southeastern tip of Norway, Nøgne Ø produces about 17 year-round products, including Two Captains. Adding to this another dozen or so seasonal and specialty beers, each with a ceaseless array of well-balanced subtle and aggressive qualities, yields a rather long list of top-notch brews. And Nøgne Ø Two Captains is emblematic of the brewery’s attention to both subtly and aggressiveness, with the balance in favor of the aggressive side of beer.

Life in the glass begins with the aggressive head that just keeps defying the laws of gravity, and a wonderful copper-colored appearance so characteristic of robust double IPAs. The three-finger head is fluffy, rocky, and well retained, giving way to a tight and sticky lacing matrix. Two Captain’s aroma is complex and – aside from the florally and hoppy scents – sort of hard to pin down at first. Faint earthy smells accompany the scents of orange and maybe peach. The aggressive scents of pine and grapefruit predict the rather bitter taste to come. In short, Nøgne Ø brewed some serious nose candy with this one.

With an 8.5 percent ABV, the taste of Two Captains continues to show this ale’s aggressiveness, revealing a mixture of flavors that closely match the aroma. Tropical fruits, especially lemon and grapefruit, are prominent and nicely supported by sweet malt and caramel. The faint alcohol taste is more prominent as the temperature warms a bit. This thing is hop heaven and, at 100 IBU’s, it’s amazingly bitter. That said, Two Captains has a bitterness that lacks the burning sensation that one gets from other similarly styled ales: The bitterness here is smoother and more elegant.

Overall, Two Captains is as aggressive as the two Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines that powered the some of the earlier F-82s. While the malt presence is perhaps a bit too forward for a double IPA, the malt clearly adds to the beer’s smoothness and complexity, making it one of the most tasty double IPAs around.

Links
Nøgne Ø, Two Captains on Ratebeer.com
Nøgne Ø, Two Captains on Beeradvocate
Nøgne Ø, Two Captains official site

Image credits
Cardinal Pub
Wikipedia
Kjempetorskens Øl Blogg

Kilimanjaro Premium Lager – Predictably stable, refreshing, and boring

Every country – or region of the world at least – has their own unique beer culture, some of which is driven by well-financed macro-breweries and standardized pale lagers and some of which is driven by more artful breweries and their crafty beverages. My recent trip to Tanzania unearthed the former: A country seemingly devoid of a craft-beer milieu, yet a country that still manages to  boast a decent variety of fairly tasty lagers that are perfect for the warmth brought on by the equatorial sun.

This was not my first trip to Tanzania or the East African region for that matter. In some sense, I consider Dar es Salaam to be my third home, next to Norway and the United States. However, this was my first trip where I actually paid close attention to the beer availability with the intent of reviewing some of them on this blog.

Over the coming weeks, I will be writing out my tasting notes on what I consider to be some of the more notable beers available in Tanzania: Safari Lager, Kilimanjaro Lager, Serengeti Lager, Serengeti’s Pilsner, Ndovu Special Malt, Castle Lager, Castle Milk Stout, Tusker Lager, Tusker Malt Lager, and Windhoek Lager. My previous post covered Safari Lager, and this second post covers Kilimanjaro Premium Lager, which is produced by Tanzania Breweries – a wholly state-owned company during Tanzania’s single-party era, but has been partially acquired by SABMiller during partial privatization in 1993. As a joint venture between the government of Tanzania, SABMiller, and a variety of shareholders, the company today operates four breweries scattered throughout the country – Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, and Moshi – and manufactures a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Next to Safari Lager, Kilimanjaro Premium Lager is one of the country’s most popular brews. In my view, it’s consistency in aroma and taste makes it a safer choice when compared to Safari Lager. At 4.5 percent ABV, Kilimanjaro is a rather light and refreshing late afternoon beer. However, when  compared to Safari Lager, Kilimanjaro’s consistency makes it considerably more boring, especially in the context of Tanzania’s limited beer variety.

When properly chilled, Kilimanjaro yields a pretty nice two-finger head, but one that vanished rather quickly. The lacing is distinct insofar as it has virtually none. The body appears as a translucent golden color – exactly what one would expect from a premium lager. 

Kilimanjaro’s aroma is relatively weak. Malt notes are evident, as are the grassy notes from the hops. A distinct adjunct note is also detectable in the nose.  As for the taste, when served cold, Kilimanjaro Premium Lager is quite refreshing in the context of the sometimes unbearable equatorial heat. If you’ve had adjunct lagers before, which I’m sure you have, then there’s nothing surprising to report here. Sweet malts dominate the taste, except for the mildly bitter finish. There’s nothing offensive to report, but not too terribly exciting either.

All-in-all, Kilimanjaro Premium Lager is very refreshing when served at the appropriate temperature, although depending on where you are in Tanzania, this might not be possible. Don’t expect much from the taste, but the crisp and watery mouthfeel is well-suited for the Tanzanian heat.

Links

Kilimanjaro Premium Lager on Ratebeer

Safari Lager – Consistently inconsistent

Every country – or region of the world at least – has their own unique beer culture, some of which is driven by well-financed macro-breweries and standardized pale lagers and some of which is driven by more artful breweries and their crafty beverages. My recent trip to Tanzania unearthed the former: A country seemingly devoid of a craft-beer milieu, yet a country that still manages to  boast a decent variety of fairly tasty lagers that are perfect for the warmth brought on by the equatorial sun.

This was not my first trip to Tanzania or the East African region for that matter. In some sense, I consider Dar es Salaam to be my third home, next to Norway and the United States. However, this was my first trip where I actually paid close attention to the beer availability with the intent of reviewing some of them on this blog.

Over the coming weeks, I will be writing out my tasting notes on what I consider to be some of the more notable beers available in Tanzania: Safari Lager, Kilimanjaro Lager, Serengeti Lager, Serengeti’s Pilsner, Ndovu Special Malt, Castle Lager, Castle Milk Stout, Tusker Lager, Tusker Malt Lager, and Windhoek Lager. This post will cover Safari Lager, by Tanzania Breweries, which was wholly state-owned during Tanzania’s single-party era, but was partially acquired by SABMiller during partial privatization in 1993. As a joint venture between the government of Tanzania, SABMiller, and a variety of shareholders, the company today operates four breweries scattered throughout the country – Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, and Moshi – and manufactures a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Safari Lager was launched in 1977, and today is one of the country’s most popular and, in my view at least, best beers. At 5.5 percent ABV, Safari Lager is highly gendered brew, being successfully branded by the company as the country’s “masculine” beer compared to some of the weaker, and presumably “feminine” brews commonly available. I’ve probably consumed about a scillion Safari Lagers over the years, and if there is one thing consistent among them, it’s the inconsistency between them: Some are obviously contaminated, but still somewhat tasty; some are more akin to an okay-quality pilsner; some have banana-like Belgian wit qualities. While the lack of consistency, and the sometimes deviant flavors that come from what is essentially a pale lager should earn Safari some rather low marks, the inconsistency does allow for some surprises and variations to the otherwise bland selection of beers available in the East African region.

The one consistency I’ve found is that Safari Lager is never flat when served at appropriate temperatures, although depending on where you are in Tanzania, this might be an insurmountable challenge. When properly chilled, the pour yields a very nice two- to three-finger, decently retained white head. When served at temperatures above 5 degrees (41 F) or so, the head vanishes in about 30 seconds. The lacing is not much to speak off: It’s quite shy and runny. The body appears as a light straw color – exactly what one would expect from a pale lager. 

Safari’s aroma is highly variable from bottle to bottle, ranging from a generous hop note that reminds me of a decent pilsner, to fruitier notes – banana for example – that remind me of a Belgian wit. Definite paper notes are present in some of the less savory samples, and on occasion, I’ve been confronted with the tell-tale funkiness that comes with contamination.

As for the taste, I should preface by stating that, when served properly, I’ve never had a Safari Lager that I failed to enjoy – even the contaminated ones. The majority of the cases, Safari Lager tastes rather bland up front, but culminates in a surprisingly powerful bitter finish. That said, it’s quite refreshing in the sometimes unbearable equatorial heat. At other times, Safari Lager is incredibly sweet, where bananas make an appearance before the bitter finish. Once again, on a few occasions, I’ve found the initial blandness to be followed by a slight sour note imparted by a contaminant. In most cases, the bitterness is accompanies by a slight metallic note that somewhat detracts from the smoothness.

All-in-all, Safari Lager is full of surprises. But it’s always drinkable and largely refreshing, no matter which variant you might happen to stumble upon. Perhaps this is the reason for the Safari name: As a product, Safari has “traversed” or “travelled across” a plethora of different flavors, each of which is reminiscent of a variety of different beer styles.


Links

Safari Lager on Ratebeer