A Whale A Week: Goose Island Backyard Rye

Now in my second year, A Whale A Week is my challenge to try (with an array of beer loving friends) a rare beer for every week of the year.  Last year I had a great time with this and have continued it for 2016.  Not every beer will be a truly "white whale" beer, but all are hard to find and a treat to try!

Goose Island Backyard Rye 2013

This week we try another special Goose Island beer from the Bourbon County line-up.  I've been drinking BCS since before it was cool (I was in Chicago prior to 2000 and had it at the brewpub) and have been excited to see all the new things the company is doing with the base beer.  Again--perhaps Goose Island is now owned by the evil overlords of beer, but they're still putting out some amazing beers.  This particular version is a Russian Imperial stout aged in rye whiskey barrels with mulberries, marionberries, and boysenberries.  I had to bone up on my fruit knowledge in order to do this write-up. Mulberries look a lot like raspberries, but grow on trees, and come in a variety of colors including white.  Boysenberries apparently are a cross between raspberry, blackberry, American dewberry, and the loganberry (I'm imagining a bramble bush key-party is to blame for this).  This cultivar was first documented in the 1920's and later grew to fame for its soft, tart-sweet maroon colored fruits. The last berry in question is the marionberry: turns out this is a fancy name for a cultivar of the indigenous blackberry from Oregon.  Now that we've refreshed our knowledge of bramble fruits it is time to taste!

This week's tasting panel was made up of: Me (Eric Wentling)--Homebrewer for over 20 years, BJCP National ranked judge, and grower of an out-ofcontrol raspberry bramble patch.  Beau Hammel--Homebrewer of tasty stouts.  Katy Hammel--Excellent wife who was willing to come out late on a work night!  Sarajo Wentling--My other half.  We served this beer into snifter glasses after warming up a bit.  The ladies didn't want to write stuff up--just taste the beers.  Because they are lazy!

Aroma:

Eric: Initially I get an almost artificial sweet-tart candy aroma.  As this blows off I get more real berry mixed with tartness--I pick up raspberry, blueberry mostly.  Some alcohol zip to the beer.  Vanilla and some tannic bite from the barrel (or seeds).  Dark cherry as it warms up.  Not as much roast malt as expected. Hint of chocolate. No hops. 

Beau: Moderate bourbon barrel.  Vanilla, coconut, fruit--generic berries.  Almost get strawberry whipped cream.  Sweet malt.  Cherry candy. 

Appearance:

Eric: Deep brown to an almost black color.  Very fine dark tan head--but it fades almost instantly to the edge of the glass. Opaque.

Beau: Very dark brown.  Opaque.  Very small dark tan head.  Poor head retention.

Flavor:

Eric: Burst of mixed berries and tartness up front.  Black raspberry sweetness.  Tart cherry.  Dark chocolate roast malt.  Sweet but the tart fruit balances the sweetness with some acid.  Warming but not hot.  There is so much going on here!  I keep picking up new flavors--raspberry, blackberry, strawberry.  Some vanilla from barrel and some tannin.  Almost no carbonation present.  Mouthfeel is medium to almost thick.  Finish is semi-sweet with a lingering fruit and tannic bitterness. No hops noted.

Beau: Very well balanced.  Alcohol.  Sweet but not cloying.  Strawberry, cherry candy, deep raspberry flavor.  Booze soaked dried fruit.  Alcohol balances perfectly.

Overall:

Eric: So balanced!  Sweet and slightly tart without being sour or funky.  The berry flavors come through amazingly well.  So good.  5

Beau: This beer is incredible.  Great balance between booze, roast, fruit, and sweet.  5

Katy: Good enough that I won't share my pour with Beau.  4.5

Sarajo: Its berry-riffic!  4.5

Overall Score: 4.75


Photo info:  I took a shot of the label, then superimposed it with a shot of the ripening raspberries in my own backyard bramble from last fall.  

A Whale A Week: Drinking With Cthulhu!

The story begins last year with a visit from my oldest colleague, the famed international explorer and dilettante Bryan Keehl.  Having recently returned from Tunisia via a combination of tramp steamer, rail, and motor-car, he ended up back in the States.  From a small brewery in the heart of the mob-run, flapper-ridden, cesspool of depravity that is Chicago, my good old friend brought me a rare and precious gift.  Secreting it upon his person, he risked the Untouchables and other federal excise men, as well as rival gangs, to bring me a strange and extraordinary bottle.  The brewery (now unable to legally brew during these prohibition dry years) was the first I ever frequented, back in my younger, more adventuresome days.  These days the place is run by an evil and monolithic shadow corporation intent on taking over the entire world's production of beer from its not-so-secret home in Belgium.  For years the brewery has been infiltrated by cultists following the dark arts and subverting the very fabric of the beer world from within.  Oh, but the beer is still tasty--perhaps too tasty to let a little thing like that interfere with my enjoyment of their most select brews!

Goose Island Nuthulhu

The base black and oily liquor for this is a Russian Imperial Stout called Cthulhu after H.P. Lovecraft's ancient and forgotten evil alien god that sleeps fitfully in the ocean depths.

From The Necronomicon in the words of the mad prophet Abdul Alhazred:

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die."

This particular noxious concoction is brewed by the shadowy Cthulhu cultists at the Chicago Goose Island Brewpub with hazelnuts, vanilla, and presumably shoggoth ichor extract.  Released in just a tiny batch (400 white wax dipped and unlabeled bottles) it is much sought after by collectors of beer antiquities such as myself.

For this special tasting I took a jaunt deep into the cellar.  With flickering torch in hand I wiped away the cobwebs of ages, half-seen skitterings at the corner of my vision, chitters of unspeakable things echoing in the distance.  Past the recently bricked up portion of the darkest depths of the passage (did I hear a subtle sob and scratching from behind?) I continued to make my way.  Past a rare wine cask, at last, upon a nitre encrusted stone slab, there rested my prize.  Brushing the dusty accumulations and excretions from the bottle, I could see the white crook-necked goose emblazoned upon the solid glass.  Stoppered with thick white wax to prevent decay, the bottle felt heavy in my now somewhat shaky hands.  Moving swiftly I left behind the empty reliquary and made my way back out of the dripping and lime encrusted cellar.

At a heavy scarred wooden table, surrounded by our cabal of adventurous drinkers, I set down the precious bottle.  Brother Rob, cloaked in his customary brown robes, brandished an aged but sharp dagger to cut the protective seal.  Sir Martin provided a hand-forged and weighty iron opener suitable for releasing the liquid from it's long slumber.  Heather, Jess and Sarajo, three fine ladies, bold for their fairer sex, pushed their chalices forward to partake of this potentially dangerous tasting.  Master Hutch loomed over us, keeping guard for any untoward effects released from this mystery.

Appearance: The ancient flagon is opened and eldritch horrors are released into the world of man!

Popped like the seal on a long-closed grave, the hiss of exhalations moan from the bottle--hinting at untold riches or dangers to be had.  Decanted into our waiting cluster of bejeweled goblets and chalices, the vile and viscous inebriant slowly drains from the bottle, black as the pits, with just hints of bloody highlights at the edge of the glass.  Only a slight foam of head rises, but then slowly sinks back down into the cimmerian murk, like a submerging crocodile into the benighted and roiling Nile.

Aroma: A cautious sniff of this liquid leads to outbursts and utterations.

Eric: Strong alcohol wafts from the clear glass goblet.  Earthy coffee from the Dark Continent melds with the aroma of raw cocoa nibs.  The scent of the filbert drifts upon the nose following the sooty melange.  From the darkest jungles of South America, the seed pod of the rare vanilla orchid blossoms as this warms from the heat of my trembling and sweaty hand.
Brother Rob: Smell the hazelnut and tremble my brothers!  Roast and chocolate are strong in this.
Heather: Vanilla bean, nutmeg, and madness!
Jess: More balanced than the other beers we've sampled my friends...

Flavor: The syrupy nectar of Cthulhu tempts us with its untold ancient secrets.

Eric: Refined sugary sweetness.  Hazelnut fairly drips off the tongue, leaving a slick mouthfeel, as if an enormous slug has left behind its trail upon it. Vanilla bean accentuates the sweet taste, lingering long after the sip has finished.  Some warming of the throat hints at strong alcohol hiding behind the sweetened flavors, lurking out of sight but ready to cause dementia and chaos in the incautious drinker.  The finish continues honeyed and toothsome but not quite cloying.
Brother Rob: Lotsa, lotsa vanilla!  A bit of aspartame, this leaves a spicy feeling.  Like a creme brulee from distant France.  Not sure if I get egg yolk, or if the vanilla association leads to these notes.
Heather: Creme brulee.  And Grainnnnnnnnnnsssssss!!
Jess: Smooth...but in the the way that Nutella is smooth.  Full mouth feel.

Overall: The (quite literally) final words on this singular brew.

Eric: The sweetness of this concoction is near overwhelming, but the wild and powerful hazelnut and vanilla flavors make this stand out in my mind as one of the more unique rare beers I've tasted this year.  Better than most of its brethren.  Suitable for warming one on an interstellar journey through long aeons and the cold remoteness of space. A 5 out of 5 I say!  As I sip my final dram, I feel the world shimmer, the fragile veil between our world and...others...gives an audible rip and a vision hits me--an island in the Pacific, rising from the sea, a great octopus headed creature crouched upon its shuddering shores, fish-like eyes seeing into my shattering soul.  Ai, Cthulhu ftagn!!
Brother Rob: (Silent, in demented reverie, he scrawls out a 4.75 in thick ruby ink that can only be his own blood.)
Heather: (Heather is gone, just a number 5 left incised into the wood of the table.)
Jess: (Gibbering madly from the corner where she rocks on her heels, repeating the numerals 4.5 over and over mixed with maniacal laughter and titters.)
Sarajo: (Brandishing Sir Martin's solid opener like a mace, clutching the last few drops of Nuthulu in her glass to her chest.  She eyes my still partially full goblet with an avaricious gleam in her crazed eyes.) "My precious dessert! A 5 for me oh yes! Mine, all mine!"
Sir Martin: (Lies silently upon the floor in a shadowy pool of blood.)
Master Hutch: (Laughs with deep ringing tones, the bloody dagger clutched in one gore-spattered hand.  The one who was to watch over us has betrayed us all...this is why he did not partake of the madness inducing brew!)

Overall Score: Madness!  And a 4.85

Seriously, this was a great beer.  Thanks to Bryan for bringing this back for me.  And thanks to my bold beer adventurers for helping out with the tasting!

Eastlake Tsothoggua!

As an added bonus and to continue the Lovecraftian action, we also tasted the recently released Tsothoggua (also a Cthulhu Mythos creature out of time and space).  I had picked up this bomber bottle at Eastlake Brewery in Minneapolis the previous week.  The beer is also a Russian Imperial and aged with oak and Spanish brandy.

The beer is dark and has a smoky overly roasted (nearly burnt coffee) aroma and flavor.  Hints of dark bitter chocolate are present.  A bit astringent and thin (especially compared with the almost unbearable sweetness of Nuthulhu) but still a solid beer.  Hints of brandy are present, but the oak perhaps takes this too woody and dry.  This is my favorite beer from the brewery.

Eric: 4
Rob: 4
Sj: 3.5
Heather: 3

Overall Score:  Not as much madness!  3.625

If for some strange reason you have come to this point in your life without reading any H.P. Lovecraft prose, you should be ashamed!  I suggest Shadows Over Innsmouth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Rats in the Walls, The Outsider, and The Whisperer in Darkness as some of his best stories.  A local playwright and actor named Tim Uren has done a one man show of The Rats in the Walls for Fringe Festival in the past that was perhaps the finest horror play I've ever seen in live theater.  He hopes to remount it one more time this coming year so keep your ear out for the scratching and skitterings from between the walls...

A Whale A Week: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2009

Last week we covered the tart raspberry gem Atrial Rubicite from Jester King.  This week we return to the boozy RIS category.  This was the last of an epic whale tasting with a group of friends.  We poured this into Surly Darkness and Steel Toe snifter glasses for tasting.  Here is our cast of characters: Me (Eric)--homebrewer for over 25 years, beer judge, beer geek.  Sj--my wife who inexplicably is a woman of few words when it comes to reviewing beer.  Sean Kampshoff--Winner of National Homebrew Competition medals, beer judge, cool guy.  Jim & Cindy Moldenhauer--a very fun couple of craft beer geeks we got to know at several McCoy's Public House beer dinners.  Sean contributed this wonder to our tasting after storing it properly for over 5 years in his cellar.

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2009

I've talked in the past about my personal history with Goose Island--being one of the first brewpubs that I frequented in Chicago and leading me down the craft-beer road I now speed over.   Check out my very first A Whale A Week post on GI's Coffee BCS for more background HERE.

Bourbon County Stout was one of the very first commercially available barrel aged beers in America, and in many ways Goose Island started the trend for these beers back in the 1990's.  Over the years this beer has grown incredibly popular and demand has risen.  Back in about 2008 I remember buying a 4 pack of this for $8.99 at the liquor store and no one working there knew what it was.   But I did!  Now, with expansion and AB-Inbev taking over, the quantity of this beer has sky-rocketed, but demand has also continued to rise.  Now I'm lucky if I can track down individual 12 oz bottles for under $15.  2009 was the first year they moved away from the twist-off cap and the boring white label to the newer sleeker black labels.  The bottle we tried for this tasting was a harder-to-find bomber bottle, oh and this comes from before the AB buy-out so even if you hate the "Big Guys" you can still drink this beer with impunity!  For BCS the brewery claims first-use bourbon barrels that have aged bourbon for more than 8 years.  They store these in a non-climate-controlled facility that encourages swings of hot and cold that enhance the aging process and lead to more wood character in the beer.

Fun with Photoshop!

Aroma:

Eric: Strong bourbon, vanilla, milk chocolate.  Deep dark fruit.  Some definite alcohol zip.  Toasted oak.  Moderate roasted malts.  A hint of cinnamon.
Sean: Roasty/Whiskey combo.  Vanilla and oak.  Dark chocolate and medium caramel.
Jim: Bourbon of course!
Cindy: Chocolate

Appearance:

Eric: Black, pretty much opaque.  Very light tan head that fades quickly.
Sean: Very dark brown/black with off-white head.
Jim: Dark ecstasy.
Cindy: Moonless night.

Flavor:

Eric: Sweet maltiness up front--like a fine dark chocolate torte topped with a vanilla cream sauce.  Vanilla, mild coconut.  Thick mouthfeel and quite coating.  Very boozy and warming.  Ends sweet, but not quite cloying.  Hints of coffee and roast is actually retrained in this. No hop flavors.
Sean: Rich whiskey character of vanilla and marshmallow.  Dark chocolate and caramel.  No hop flavor and low hop bitterness.  Finishes medium-sweet but flavors meld together well.  Mouthfeel medium-high.  High alcohol warmth.
Cindy: Sweet!  Cognac.  Cherry.

Overall:

Eric: Very sweet beer but not overwhelming.  One of the boozier barrel aged beers I've had (but not Black Tuesday boozy).  I love this beer.  Strangely there was almost no oxidation in this aged beer.  Flavors have smoothed out and melded well over the years. 5
Sean: 4.75
Jim: Take me home Goose! 4.5
Cindy: 4.5
Sj: Delicious!  4.75

Overall Tasting Score: 4.7

This was a great beer and has held up amazingly well for its age.  Right on the bottle it says "Ages in the bottle for up to 5 years."  And they are right.  Thanks for sharing Sean!

A Whale A Week: Goose Island Madame Rose 2012

Last week we finished up our series of Surly Anniversary beers from Four to Eight!  This week we take a trip back to sour territory with Goose Island's Madame Rose 2012.  This bottle was donated by Keith Brady from his cellar for our enjoyment!

Goose Island Madame Rose 2012

I've already discussed my love-hate relationship with Goose Island in my previous post about Bourbon County Coffee Stout, as well as my recent vitriolic post about AB-Inbev and their lack of understanding of craft beer fans.  So I won't go into that stuff again here.  

Madame Rose is described thus on the Goose Island web page: "Madame Rose is a crimson colored Belgian style brown ale fermented with wild yeast and aged on cherries in wine barrels. Layers of malty complexity, sour cherry, spice and wood notes make Madame Rose an ideal beer to suggest to Bordeaux enthusiasts and beer drinkers fond of Belgian Kriek and Flanders Brown Ales."  Made with 2-row, wheat, carapils, special B, and chocolate malt.  The web page also kindly has food and cheese pairing ideas.  The bottle claims that the beer will age up to 5 years.  The fermentation of this beer is much like that seen in Rodenbach and other Flanders Red and Flanders Brown style beers--using a mixed culture of lactobacillus, pediococcus, and brettanomyces.  

Madame Rose got its name from the first female brewmaster in Belgium, Rosa Merckx of Leifman's Brewery.  Currently 88 years old, she continues to have a hand in that brewery famous for its sour fruit beers.  Click HERE for a little more background on her.  Leifmans is known for their paper wrapped bottles, you know you've seen them at the liquor store and wondered about them!  Their Goudenband is an amazing Flanders sour that ages well--I got to try a 20 year old bottle of it at The Kulminator beer bar in Antwerp a few years back that was stellar!

The first release of Madame Rose was in 2010.  I won a bottle of this in a silent auction for a very special young lady with cancer.  The beer was wonderful and full of tart flavors, but I remember it not having enough cherry flavor for our tastes.  At the time my wife and I decided that we liked Juliet (blackberry) and Lolita (raspberry) of "The Sisters" the most.   After aging the next batch for nearly two years, the next release of this beer was in 2012.  This past year, 2014, they released their third batch, using some new techniques and sour cultures.  I have not managed to get my hands on the 2014 yet.  I'm unsure of the quantity of the beer being made, but the Madame Rose seems to be the hardest to find of any of Goose Island's sour ladies series.  Madame Rose has a current rating of 93 on BeerAdvocate and a 99 on RateBeer.  Both of these ratings are aggregate numbers including all three vintages.

Our bottle was one of the old style bomber 22 oz bottles from before Goose Island moved to the fancier wine-type bottles.  Bottled 7/31/2012.  ABV 7.1%.  Goose Island was bought by AB-Inbev in 2011, so this batch was most likely brewed prior to the buy-out but bottled afterward.  As such I can drink it with impunity and lack of guilt.  

This tasting took place at Mike and Kristin Lebben's basement bar.  Mike is a hardcore brewer with a fantastic Sabco brew system in his basement.  Kristin is not a beer expert, but has a great palate.  And Keith is one of the best homebrewers I know, who specializes in hoppy beers.  We all tasted separately and took notes on our impressions, with further discussion afterward.

Aroma: 

Eric: Very tart acetic acid aroma, followed by a very classic funky barnyard Brett character.  Dark and tart cherry wafts out after that initial sour slap on the nose.  My mouth puckers just from the aroma.  Earthy, as well as almond, cinnamon, and cherry pit.

Keith: Tart, sour, cherries, touch of malt, spice, slight acetic aroma.  Very pleasant.  Honey.

Mike: Funky-good-horse blanket.  Cherry.

Kristin: Funk!  Fresh floral and old barn board.  Happiness :)

Appearance: 

Deep copper to almost light brown in color.  Mike describes it as a very specific "Denny's decaf diner brown."  Very fine white head that leaves a faint lace.  Slightly hazy.

Flavor: 

Eric: Up front crazy tartness!  Acid as well as complex aged and Brett flavors. Tart aged cherries like baked cherry pie, but more sour.  Has an almost salty note at times, but not in a bad way.  Tannic, woody, pit bite to it resulting in a dry finish. Somewhat oxidized with an almost metallic note.  Mouthfeel fairly thin.  Carbonation is appropriate. 

Keith: Robust, tart, sour up front.  Slight malt in the middle.  Whole lot of dried fruit sour on the end.  Acetic?  Dries the front of the tongue.  Mouthfeel a little weird.

Kristin: Nirvana.  Sour cherry funk.  Clean.  Crisp.  Dry.

Overall: Average rating 5/5!

Eric: A fantastic beer!  Quite complex with a character that changes with every sip.  Crazy different cherry notes from tart, sour, dried, cooked.  Much better than the 2010 I tried a few years ago that was somewhat disappointing.  This was anything but!  5

Keith: Wow!  Very nice sour cherries still come through well.  Hint of malt in the middle is nice.  Really wreaks havoc on your tongue!!  Pissed I didn't buy 5! 5

Mike: Complex!  Many different stages as you drink. 5

Kristin: Beautiful.  My tongue is doing the happy dance.  I can die now. This one was actually Brewed The Hard Way. 5

I think you can tell what we all thought of this beer!  Thanks go out to Keith for sharing this wonderful cherry sour.  I found the cherry character in this one to be well above that of the disappointing 2010 bottle, so I'm guessing that the brewery has increased the amount of cherry in the beer since that first batch.


Next week we move to the sweeter side with Lost Abbey Angel's Share 2013 Vintage.  Tune in!

Musings on Macro

Ok, I'll admit it, I payed absolutely no attention to the Superbowl this year at all.  I know, I'm the only person in the country who didn't care about it.  Having missed big show I discovered some activity about a Budweiser advertisement this morning.  I watched it on YouTube.   My bile has risen and a red veil of anger has dropped over my vision.

For those who haven't seen it: check it below.  I hesitate to give AB-Inbev free publicity, but you won't understand it if you don't see it.

Ok, so my craft beer fan tail feathers are up.  My impression is this: AB-Inbev/Budweiser is basically saying people who want to taste, smell and enjoy their beers are stupid.  But beechwood aging is super special.  Here is some info for those who don't know: beechwood adds no flavor to the beer, it just speeds up clarification of the beer so they can speed up the fermentation process and get more out the door faster.  And faster turn around time means more money!

And let us talk about Pumpkin Peach Beer.  Yes, we craft folks sometimes take things too far into territory that doesn't work.  On the other hand, AB-Inbev just spent Millions of dollars to purchase the craft brewery Elysian.  Elysian's head brewer Dick Cantwell is known for trying out unusual ingredients and every year hosts the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival, where they release 10-15 of their own pumpkin beers as well as many more guest pumpkin beers.  Last year's included Elysian's own Gourdgia On My Mind Pecan Peach Pumpkin Amber ale.  Yup, AB-Inbev you just slapped your newest acquisition right in the nads on national TV in front of millions of watchers.

One can see the desperation in this advertisement.  Realizing that the craft beer market is growing exponentially while the Big macro brews are staying flat or even dropping off, the big beer companies are starting to get scared.  This advertisement smacks of fear.  Let's make fun of this "fad" of actually paying attention to beers and enjoying their flavor and aroma.  It's all about drinkability and the ability to put down a 12 pack during a game!

I can see the trend of the big conglomerates continuing to buy out craft breweries.  For years they have tried to break into the market, but they have failed to understand what motivates the craft beer drinker: taste!  Remember the Budweiser American Ale debacle?  Millions of dollars spent on branding, advertising, focus groups, and in the end the beer was a flop.  Why?  Because it lacked any distinguishable character!  After that they did a brief foray into a wheat beer and a pale ale.  I actually got to try those when they were in the testing phase.  They were bland and not surprisingly didn't do well when they were released to a larger audience.  Again, Macro was trying to break into the market with the mentality of "People like this wheat beer, we should make one.  But we can't make it too flavorful because the average beer drinker won't like that." They just haven't understood that it isn't about how much money you can throw at something to advertise it.  Beer isn't just a commodity, but something we enjoy tasting, smelling, talking about, and sharing with others.

Then they bought Goose Island and the craft beer world held its breath.  And lots of cursing and smack talking ensued.  I have said it before and I'll say it again: as long as my Bourbon County Stout doesn't change, I'll still buy it.  But I don't have to like doing it.  I noticed in the past two years that the Goose Island 312 wheat beer has really received the Budweiser treatment, getting a makeover and tons of advertising and distribution across the country.  Named for the 312 area code of Chicago where the beer used to be made, I find is sad that the beer is now made in New York (at least according to most recent account I could find on line.) And then they released 312 Urban Pale Ale.  This beer tastes exactly like the failed Budweiser craft trial version I had several years ago.  But now they have a respected craft beer name to attach it to.  Well done Budweiser.  Well done.

So at the same time the AB-Inbev mocks us, they try to sneak into our pocket books.  I recommend that my readers continue their efforts to buy craft, buy local, and buy according to taste and enjoyment.  I also recommend that you avoid drinking beer from a brewery that mocks you and others like you.  Get to know where the beers you drink are made, and if they are true small businesses or are owned by faceless corporations.