As the description on the bottle indicates, "riggwelter" is when a sheep gets stuck upside-down and can't get up.  At 5.7% this beer isn't exactly going to put you on your back, but it's a large bottle, so who knows.  The beer is described as Yorkshire, which is an indication of the fermentation system used.  (Samuel Smith is another brewer who uses the Yorkshire Square system for some of their brews.)  Essentially, the system works on a two deck principle.  The lower deck is where wort and yeast are initially placed.  The krausening yeast moves to the upper deck and is captured.  The beer from the lower deck is pumped and runs through the upper deck, collecting the yeast, and then runs to the lower deck.  The process is stopped at some point, allowing most of the yeast to sit on the upper deck.  It's a unique, expensive, rarely used and terrific process.  It lends a ton of character to the beer.  Of course, these guys use a stainless and round square system (I know, it doesn't make sense), which they developed. However, I believe Sam Smith still uses stone vessels, which adds its own unique quality.  Let's see if ...

Not what I expected.  If I had one thing I had to say about this beer, it's my previous statement. Having sipped It's Alright, I had to believe that this would be a sour as well.  The label mentions that it's a Belgian Wild Ale.  Well, you're going to have to wait on those Brett yeast yuckies to come through.  When I first sipped the beer I was looking for the those dirty bastards to assail my taste buds.  Yet, after a consultation with Mikkeller's site, I realized that storing this for a while is essential for that quality.  Was a disappointed? In a sense.  I really wanted a sour, almost true lambic style beer.  However, I want to review the beer on its own merits before dismissing it.  Rather, I needed to dismiss my presuppositions about what it was. The Pour: This is a very finely carbonated, active, and foamy-headed brew.  Its color reminded me of an amber Oktoberfest styled beer.  The yeast itself looked like a Krausening yeast head of a brewing beer. When I knew what I was getting into, my guess was that the similarities ended there. The Nose: The powdery, yeast and caramel malt qualities melded together ...

It's rare that I jump into the fray on "hot news" where the blogosphere is concerned.  Put simply, everything that needs to be said has generally already been said on a given topic.  However, certain writing will occasionally raise my ire to such a degree that it simply merits a response.  So, I'll capitulate from being ensconced in my ivory tower by coming down and opening myself to critical comments by defending a craft brewer.  Who would of thought anyone would actually have to do that? As you have no doubt heard, BrewDog has now made the world's strongest beer at 32% ABV.  Of course, if naysayers would have it, it's not technically beer at all.  More on that in a moment.  My real problem is not with intelligent dialogue on the topic, it is with dismissive and percile logic used on posts like the one that has elicited my response. The amount of assumptions and lack of thorough intelligence is singularly lopsided as far as this gent is concerned.  Roger Protz is apparently the world's leading beer authority and a very intelligent fellow, but what he wrote will not do and is not enough to convince anybody who is not already of his disposition. ...

Rich, delicious, classic.  These are just three words I associate with Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.  Ever since it was commissioned at the behest of Merchant du Vin, it's had a serious foothold on the world of oatmeal stouts.  It's odd that we've not reviewed it before now on the site.  It's widely liked, and I've always had a special love for this beer.  Better late than never, I suppose. Oatmeal stouts have not been around for too long a period.  Their introduction seems to be connected to some time in the 1890s.  Of course, oats themselves have been used in brewing for multiple centuries.  It used to be that oats were seen to detract from the quality, adding bitterness via tannins to a beer (especially in higher amounts).  Michael Jackson mentioned an oatmeal stout that he had tried, and that was enough to peak the curiosity of many and essentially revive the style.  In my mind, Samuel Smith's is the classic example. The Pour: As I've mentioned before, sometimes stouts look like porters and vice versa.  I would certainly categorize the colors of this beer as being along the lines of a robust porter.  It's dark but light enough to let some ...

Since we drank Fiddler's Elbow and Hobgoblin on Saturday, I thought I might pick up Scarecrow Pale Ale, too.  The trio of bottles were simply lovely together, and I personally thought that they might have been nice as Halloween beers.  Halloween or not, these English Ales are all worthy of a try (or two).  Nate has already written the review of Fiddler's Elbow, so here are the other two. Scarecrow Golden Pale Ale: The Pour: As the name implies, the beer resembled the straw-like colors of a scarecrow.  There was a small but stable froth of white head that remained atop the clean body. The Nose: One thing I love about English Ales is the use of demerrara sugar, which almost always lends a particular caramel/toffee/brown sugar tone to the beers.  It also serves to lighten the body of a brew while lending plenty of flavor.  Besides the sugar tones, I noted a pretty hoppy presence.  This was not the citrusy, piney, or grapefruit quality that many American versions of pale have.  It took more like a classic British aroma hop.  Of course, these are subtle in their citrusy tones, but they almost tend to yield a slight skunky tone.  A touch of ...

The histories behind certain beers, while not necessarily enhancing the flavor, do enhance the experience.  A beer created with arbitrary motives is sure to disappoint, but a beer created to please both the creator and the consumer may posses a slight advantage, as care and consideration were not neglected.  The beer was not made just to turn a buck, or just for creation's sake...rather, the brewer had someone in mind.  So next time you drink Rogue's Chocolate Stout, consider this: The recipe for Rogue Chocolate Stout was created several years ago for export to Japan. The exported twelve ounce Chocolate Bear Beer bottle label is in Kanji and features a teddy bear with a pink heart on his belly. Chocolate Stout was released for Valentine’s Day in 2001 in a twenty-two ounce bottle for the US market. The label features a Roguester (Sebbie Buhler) on the label. I'd be willing to bet this somewhat commonplace (in the sense of availability) beer just became a bit more interesting! The Pour: Words fail me at this point. Thankfully Scott, from Manland, hooked us up with this High Def footage (seriously...this pour puts Hollyweird to shame!): The Nose: Is that chocolate I smell?  It doesn't take much imagination or ...

Another lovely weekend has passed here in Southern California.  Another "Sip with us Saturday" is under our belts.  One more shift in the weather patterns has occurred for many of us.  If you'll remember, I mentioned that this beer was something of a season bridging beer.  The lager part says summer; the darker, drier malts say fall.  It's been a long time since I'd had this particular beer.  Actually, I last tried it at a place called Cousins when I lived in Springfield, MO, many moons ago (6 or 7 years).  Unfortunately, the place is now closed.  But Warsteiner Dunkel was one of the beers that moved me out of the American macros, thus it holds a special place in my heart. Most of my nostalgic moments these days are beer memories.  At any rate, I sipped this beer on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Here are my thoughts. The Pour: As I poured this beer, I reflected on the pitiful lack of dark and black lagers out there.  Luckily, there has been somewhat of a resurgence when it comes to black lagers specifically.  Warsteiner Dunkel poured with a very brown color and revealed some slight hints of red in the body. ...

My brother recently visited Pasadena and we had a chance to hang out, catch-up, and drink beer.  He had all my newest homebrew creations during the week, but we bought some beers for the Colts game on Sunday.  It was not intentional, but it ended up that we had three barrel aged beers.  We had, in this order, Olde Suffolk, Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo, and Older Viscosity.  It was a fun day of football and barrel aged beers.  My account of these beers is as follows: Olde Suffolk: This particular beer is aged for two years in oak barrels.  Greene King is the brewery that also makes Strong Suffolk, a 12% ABV monster that is aged for two years (minimum).  This one, however, is a somewhat moderate beer in that it is half the ABV of the Strong.  Of course, this is not moderate by typical English Ale standards.  I've seen complaints on other sites about this beer being $4 dollars for a single imperial pint.  All I can say is this:  What can you expect a beer that has been aged 2 years in oak to cost? Furthermore, one has to consider that a 6% ABV beer in England is ...

A while back, I wrote about London beer as a bittersweet experience.  I also called that post preliminary thoughts, so I thought I'd come back to it.  To summarize the first post, I essentially stated that bitters dominate the landscape of London.  If you plan on visiting England, go to London for sure, but make certain that you are a ambulatory when it comes to the rest of England.  Time and again I've been told that you've got to explore smaller areas and towns to really get the whole ale experience.  Having said that, let me recommend a couple of places to obtain beer in London, should you visit: The Lowlander specializes in Belgian Ales.  Many of the better/more unique beers that I tasted in London were at this location.  I drank some sours, lambics, and some triples.  Unlike the lower alcohol beers that dotted the landscape, the Lowlander had some fairly big beers.  Of course, you are going to pay for them. This is not only due to the fact that more ingredients and time went into the beers but also because many places in Europe base taxation of beers on their alcohol content. The Museum Pub: It seems to me ...

Now here is a strange label for a beer.  It is distinctively seductive and sexy like lambics themselves.  Rose de Gambrinus is a Framboise (raspberry fruited) version of the style.  As I've said before, most fruited beers tend to lean towards sweetness or sourness.  Cantillion is of the latter variety, which is, in some people's estimation, the truer version of the style.  At any rate, it is always a unique experience when one drink a lambic.  At only 5% ABV, it's still at the higher end of the lambic scale.  Here is my experience: The Pour: Upon pouring this beer, there was a nice pinkish head (which is always weird to see, no matter how often it occurs).  The head was bubbly and retained well.  The body was a lovely rose-colored beauty. The Nose:  Sourness on the nose was one of Rose de Gambrinus most enduring impressions.  Touches of berry were present, but not at the same level of something like Lindeman's version.  I noted on the nose what I can only describe describe as a greasy, oil, machine shop aroma (I know that sounds strange). The Taste:  Puckeringly sour...this describes the most present quality of the taste on Gambrinus.  However, the sour ...