The Quest for Zombie Dust (or, To Three Floyds and Back Again)

Three Floyds' Brewing's Logo - credit to brewingsomefun.com

Right around December of last year was when I really started paying attention to online "Best Beer" ranking lists on RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Previously, I had drank beer that I'd found on the shelves at stores, that friends offered me, or that were on tap at wherever I found myself drinking that evening.

A brewery called Three Floyds topped the 2012 "Best Breweries of the Year" list on RateBeer - and what's more, this mysterious brewery was located less than an hour from my hometown of Chicago! Now, bear with me for a bit, all you super-seasoned craft-beer drinking veterans. I know that none of this is new information for you, but to me it was cause for great excitement - that sort of mania that can only afflict the recent convert. The one brew of theirs that drew my eye the most was Zombie Dust, a Pale Ale. The label was graced with some truly awesome comic-book art from Tim Seeley (of the fantastic Revival out of Image Comics), and as if that Mjolnir-mongering-spider-demon-zombie-king wasn't enough to seal the deal, the description sure as hell did: "This intensely hopped and gushing undead pale ale will be ones only respite after the zombie apocalypse. Created with our marvelous friends in the comic industry." I had to try it.

When I got home for Christmas, I immediately set to the web to track down any possible information on the infamous ZD. I navigated to Three Floyds' facebook page, only to be blindsided by the heartrending declaration that the brewery had run out of ZD not five hours ago. Hope fading, I called every beer store in the area that had ever received a shipment of the stuff. The answer was the same, each time: "Sorry, we're out." The last call on the list was the worst: "Oh, man, wish you'd been here 15 minutes ago - we sold our last sixer." I sat back, defeated - my white whale was evading me.

Beer Review: Surly Abrasive + Surly Furious

Last Tuesday, I got home to find a package waiting for me. I had been expecting it.

It had come from Minnesota, and it was precious cargo. Surly Brewing, of Brooklyn Center, MN, for all intents and purposes does not distribute outside their state. Given their incredibly stellar lineup of extremely excellent beers, which have earned them the 11th and 14th spot in 2012 and 2013 on RateBeer's listing of the best breweries on earth, this small distribution footprint makes anything from Surly a huge score for beer nerds elsewhere in the country.

On the basis of a tip from a fellow beer nerd that I met at the Hell's Kitchen Pony Bar the preceding week, I managed to track down a small beer shop in Minnesota that ships Surly to NY. I couldn't even believe my luck. The second I got home that night, I ordered two four-packs of tall-boy cans (16 oz each) of their Imperial IPA (Surly Abrasive) and one four-pack of their IPA (Surly Furious).

Beer Spot Review: Tørst

Tørst's bar - photo credit to NY Grub Street

How well-respected do you think you'd need to be to have one of the oldest, most famous, and well-regarded breweries in the world specially make a beer exclusively for you to purvey? To get an answer, you'd have to check in with Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of Evil Twin and Ølbutikken fame. Since 2005, Brasserie Cantillon of Brussels has specially made Blåbær Lambik for Jeppe: he sends them blueberries, they incorporate them into a blended series of wild-fermented lambics that they ship back to him in Copenhagen, and he then sells them out of his world-renowned bottle-shop, Ølbutikken.

Up until a week ago, you couldn't buy Blåbær Lambik anywhere but Ølbutikken, which, given the plane tickets required to reach Denmark, made it a challenging value proposition for all but the most intrepid beer nerds.

Last Friday, the necessary journey got a lot shorter for New Yorkers with the opening of Jeppe and Daniel Burns' (of Momofuku and Noma fame) new beer bar, Tørst. Located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, this sleekly decorated spot instantly attracted hordes of beer connoisseurs interested in trying not only the bottles of Blåbær Lambik that Jeppe brought along for sale, but also the dozens of other rare, obscure, and otherwise impossible to find brews that Jeppe had stocked from Evil Twin, Mikkeller, Beechwood BBQ, Cantillon, and more. 

Bell's Hopslam: Random Acts of Beer Nerd Kindness

It was March11th, and I already knew that this wasn't going to be the year that I got to try Bell's Hopslam, their seasonal Double IPA (10% ABV). It was released in January, and none had surfaced at any venerable beer institutions around NYC co-incident with a time that I visited. 

For the non-beer-geek readers, Hopslam routinely checks in as not only one of the best Double IPAs on the market, but also as one of the best beers of any styles, period. It's average ranking on the web beer rating aggregators RateBeer and BeerAdvocate is #10, putting it in truly elite company.

That in mind, I had spoken with a number of beer nerd friends who insisted that Hopslam didn't merit the hype - that it was insufficiently hoppy, or balanced, or flavorful. These folks had routinely pegged it as still "very good", but not fit for the same rarified air as the Heady Toppers and Pliny the Elders of the world. Additionally, Bell's very well-regarded Two Hearted Ale (an IPA) had been something of a let-down when I tried it, which only served to further augment my critical guardedness.

Given the tension between "official" praise and anecdotal skepticism, I had flagged Hopslam as a must try, if only to help resolve the question of its level of excellence one way or the other.

Beer Reviews Ranking Guide

A substantial part of this beer blog will be reviews of new, interesting, and highly-regarded beers from all around the US and the world. As I critically appraise (and enjoy!) more and more beers, I will continue to review them against a standard set of criteria, including:

• Visual appearance - What color is it? What's the level of clarity/cloudiness? What can I say about the head (the amount, consistency, and duration of the white foam that appears atop the beer upon pouring), ringing (the character of the ring that appears around the edges of the glass at the beer's surface), or lacing (how the beer sticks and falls down the side of the glass when moved)?
• Aroma - What do I smell when I bring the glass to my nose? What is initially apparent and what surfaces only after further sniffs? What awakes when the beer gets slightly warmer?
• Mouthfeel/palate - How does the beer feel in my mouth, both on first sipping, holding it there, and swallowing? How does my mouth feel after I've finished swallowing the beer?
• Taste - What flavors immediately come to mind? How strong or faint are they? Are there other, less obvious flavors that come out when I drink the beer for a bit longer? How do the flavors at first sip compare to those of the close?

Past these more formal criteria, no occasion of drinking beer or enjoying anything can be complete without a note of the context surrounding that experience. The long quest to hunt down an elusive White Whale of a beer, coupled with gorgeously appropriate weather, and good friends along to taste it with you will obviously influence both my and your opinion when we appraise a given beer.

With these criteria in mind, I evaluate all beers on a scale of 1-5, with 1/4 point increments. I will very rarely write reviews in the 1s or 2s, simply because most beers of that quality don't really merit a review except for the purpose of enjoying the composition of a particularly acerbic write-up. Similarly, very few beers earn a rating of 4.5 and above, only doing so if they are truly spectacular. Given these constraints, the average rating will fall higher than the average caliber of all beer on the market, which reflects a selection bias on my end. If only to help in calibrating expectations for my review scale, I'll go through what goes into each notch, and include a few examples of the beers that I've had that have merited those marks (warning to beer nerds, some sacred cows ahead may be getting the thumbs down; feel free to debate in the comments!):

• 5.0 - not only the paragon of its given style, but a world-class beer that is perfect in every single way I can appraise it; examples are 3 Floyds Zombie Dust, Russian River Pliny the Elder
• 4.75 - a truly fantastic beer that is all but unprecedented both within its style and among most all beers; top marks across the board; examples are The Alchemist Heady Topper, Founders Imperial Stout, New Glarus Raspberry Tart
• 4.5 - an extremely tasty and well-brewed beer that ranks very highly in its style as well among most all beers; superlative in almost all respects, but may have some minor imperfection that barely keeps it out of the pantheon; examples are Ballast Point Victory at Sea, Surly Abrasive, Ballast Point Sculpin, Anchorage Love Buzz, Bells Hopslam
• 4.25 - a very tasty beer that I'd drink any time one was being offered; has a slew of virtuous characteristics worth celebrating, but may not display the same sort of comprehensive depth of excellence and / or balance as higher ranking beers do; examples are Goose Island Sofie, Lagunitas Sucks, Cantillon Kriek, Founder Breakfast Stout
• 4.0 - delicious beer that has much to regard, with strong execution on a number of points; those beers that are good, but not necessarily fantastic, examples of styles that I'm more partial to often notch in here; examples include Stone Enjoy By, Hill Farmstead Florence, Bells Oberon, AleSmith My Bloody Valentine
• 3.75 - solid beers that do very well in specific facets, but may have a certain area where they lack the extra punch needed to elevate them to great beer status; those beers that well-exemplify the few styles that I don't enjoy as much sometimes notch in here; examples include Allagash Witte, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Unibroue La Fin du Monde, Stone Arrogant Bastard, Oskar Blue's TEN FIDY
• 3.5 - good beers that are pleasant in most respects, with perhaps some faults that hinder enjoyment; nevertheless, they're still worth having if available; examples include Lagunitas IPA, Oskar Blue's Dale Pale Ale, Yeti Imperial Stout
• 3.25 - beers that while still having tasty points, suffer from noticeable flaws or boringness; examples are Goose Island Matilda, Founders Porter, Saison Dupont Vielle Provision
• 3 - beers that feature distractingly evident flaws in craft; would not recommend, hyped or not; examples are Bell's Two Hearted, Full Sail Berliner Weisse
• 2.0-2.5 - this far down the line, it's harder to differentiate by quarter-point increments, hence the switch to half-points; beers with these rankings have flaws that assert themselves early and often; not worth purchasing or even trying; examples include Cisco Grey Lady, Cisco Whale Tale Pale Ale, Dogfish Head / Sierra Nevada Rhizing Bines
• 1.0-1.5 - dear god, these are horrible concoctions of fermented swill; run for the hills, do not pass go, do not collect $200; under no circumstances would I recommend that you purchase this beer, even to give to a; examples include Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Abita Light, the various weak, urine-tinted liquids that you used to play slap-cup in college

The ratings as they stand are subject to re-appraisal. I take every chance I have to try the top-rated ones again, because (1) it's delicious, and (2) it lets me make sure that I've both absolutely and comparatively rated that given beer fairly. As for those beers further down the rungs but not in the basement, I plan on reviewing them again to ensure that I didn't just get a skunked/ruined bottle the first time or two. 

I have a lot of respect for the hundreds of brewers worldwide who work day-in, day-out to deliver their wonderful fare that we beer-lovers enjoy. My aim in providing critiques is not to disparage or libel unfairly or ungratefully. Rather, I hope that by trying a larger cross-section of beers from many breweries and styles, I can develop a better palate and higher level of enjoyment of good and great beer, and then in turn be able to help friends and acquaintances explore this tasty world of barley, water, malt, hops, and more.

Hill Farmstead Hunting: Everett and Florence, but Forget About Edward

Photo Credit: makelunchnotwar.blogspot.com

Every year, RateBeer comes out with their list of the best breweries on earth. For four consecutive years (2009-2012), the crew at 3 Floyds in Munster, IN, held the crown - somewhat apt, given that one of their most prominent logos is a winged skull wearing a crown. When the 2013 list went live on Friday, February 1st, beer nerds around the world were greeted with the site of a new top-dog: Hill Farmstead, of Greensboro, VT.

This development wasn't entirely unexpected, as HF had checked in at #6 on the 2012 list, and the preceding five days from January 27 to January 31st had revealed HF victories in category after category: Best Brewery in VT, four of the top 50 beers on earth, an astonishing 10 out of the top 15 Saisons on earth, 7 out of the top 15 Pale Ales on earth, and 8 of the top 10 new beers for the 2012 calendar year. The HF juggernaut rolled onward.

Now, the overwhelmingly positive reception that HF brews enjoy results in all sorts of hagiographical descriptions and exhortations from fellow beers nerds. After a few months of hearing all of this unbridled praise, I had only been able to track down one glass of their beer: Foster, their Black IPA, which I enjoyed with a lovely anniversary dinner with my girlfriend at Gramercy Tavern in late December.

I wanted to try more! But it hadn't proved to be easy - I missed the opportunity to buy a pass to their Memorial Day Anniversary Celebration (the tickets sold out within 50 seconds of release online), my shot at their Collected Works offering was equally unsuccessful, and early attempts to plan the 7.5 hour drive up to far northern Vermont had stalled. Stymied, I contented myself with the many amazing beers available here in NYC, but I was always on the lookout for a shot at some HF.

Saturday Saison Side-by-Side Session

"Let there be...Saisons!"

New York this time of year has somewhat dismal weather. The grey lurks through most days, clouds shunt the suns paltry attempts at relaying any semblance of warmth, and night settles early, often accompanied by biting winds and rain. Times like these call for beers that harken to summer - its long, sunlit days, warm, breeze-filled nights, and the many wonderful social gathering outdoors that give it a pleasantly active sense of relaxation.

Belgian farm-workers in the French speaking part of the country inaugurated the overarching style of the Saison. They brewed during the cooler months of the winter, then stored the ale in barrels in farmhouses or barns to ferment until the warmer summer months. At that point, they enjoyed the fruits of their labor.

The grand-daddy of the style is Saison Dupont Vielle Provision, still brewed out of Brasserie Dupont in Belgium. After crafting the initial brew, the beer is placed in thick-walled green glass bottles for secondary fermentation, where the brewer's yeast digests the remaining brewing matter left in the corked bottle. This results in an unfiltered beer with strong natural carbonation.

It's important to note at this point that Saison still lacks a particular specificity. Any number of beers brewed in some level of concordance with the tradition of brewing Saisons in Belgium can claim to be Saisons, but their character, flavor, and ABV can vary appreciably. Thus, it's perhaps more helpful to think of a Saison as a larger umbrella for a series of smaller subsets of beers (much like how you'd hear the term Sour used in beer naming). The shared characteristics tend to be bottle-conditioning / secondary fermentation, smells/tastes of yeast, straw, barnyard, spices, and faint citrus, a light mouthfeel, and a dry finish.

A few Saturdays ago, two beer-loving friends visited me in New York, trekking in from rural Massachusetts and Washington DC, respectively, to enjoy a weekend of ale-appreciation. My girlfriend joined as well. The four of us (who had been on a trivia team in college at the local pub) gathered round and tasted our way through four Saisons (pictured above, left to right):

• Anchorage Brewing Company Love Buzz Saison ($15.25 for 25 oz at New Beer, NY, NY) - Anchorage, AK
• Goose Island Sofie ($12 for a 4-pack of 12 oz bottles at New Beer, NY, NY) - Chicago, IL
• Saison Dupont Vielle Provision ($11 for 25 oz at Whole Foods, NY, NY) - Tourpes, Belgium
• Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace ($11 for 25 oz at Whole Foods, NY, NY) - Brooklyn, NY