The Beer Genome Project Podcast

Special guest Jason Brizzi calls in to discuss Day Tripper by Indeed Brewing Company, the expansion of breweries in Iowa and Minnesota, where these brewers are coming from, the favored hometown beer-styles, and the shake-up around Goose Island in the Chicago beer scene.

For the Minnesota beer fan, the end of October means the arrival of Surly's Darkness Imperial Stout. Since 2007, Surly Brewing of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has released its 750ml bottles of the lauded Darkness. For people who are willing to make the journey, Surly celebrates the release of Darkness with food and bands on the brewery premises. This year Surly's Darkness Day kicks off at 11am on Saturday, October 27. However, if you're wanting to purchase a bottle of the black stuff, you'll want to make sure to get in line early. Visitors have been known to camp outside the brewery's gates as much as 24 hours in advance for their chance to purchase bottles. In this week's show, Shawn and I discuss the strategies visitors to Minnesota may want to take in order to get the best beer experience out of their weekend.

Tick, tick, tick. That's the sound of rare. This week's episode of the podcast was recorded almost one year ago. It was the culmination of a day filled with homebrewing and beer discussions. Shawn shared a 375ml bottle of the The Lost Abbey's The Angel's Share 2010 that he had procured during a trip to California. The Angel's Share is an English-style Barleywine that has been aged in oak barrels for a year before being packaged. These oak barrels that are used by The Lost Abbey were originally created for distillers to store whiskey, bourbon, or brandy. Over time, a portion of the spirit in the barrel will evaporate. The loss of liquid to the barrels is referred to as the "angel's share" by distillers, and is where this beer gets its name.

One morning while reading The Heavy Table, Shawn learned about one of Minnesota's newest breweries, Boom Island Brewing Company. The biggest difference between Boom Island and many other breweries that have hit the news recently, is that Boom Island was already putting its beer up for sale. I attended a quick tasting at The Four Firkins in Saint Louis Park, where I grabbed two of the first bottles released. Boom Island Brewing is Belgian-inspired brewery, based in Minneapolis. The story of Kevin Welch, brewer, is one of a homebrewer's dream. What could turn out to be Boom Island's "ace in the hole" is the fact that Kevin is cultivating his own yeast strains, gathered during a trip across Belgium. We review the some of first releases available from Boom Island Brewing: Silvius Pale Ale and Thoprock IPA. On its website, Boom Island also teases the eventual release of a Dubbel and Tripel in bottles.

We've reached into the archives to release a "lost" episode of The Happy Hour. Back in 2010, Jason and Mike were lucky enough to receive a bottle of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. This annually released beer shouldn't be considered a simple oaked version of Founders Breakfast Stout, but is a wholly different beer. Kentucky Breakfast Stout is a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate. It's tempting to draw parallels between KBS and Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, or more specifically, the Bourbon County Coffee Stout. This beer leads coffee and is bourbon second. Kentucky Breakfast Stout is good. But it fits the bill better as an after dinner desert, rather than a breakfast starter. KBS should be hitting the shelves in March of 2012. Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan Kentucky Breakfast Stout, American Imperial Stout ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 11.2% IBU: 70

I have to admit that I have missed our conversations through the microphone but we are at it again. Our scheduled programming returns this week with an exploration of some delicious sour beers. We delve into a comparison of a homebrew sour versus a commercial sour beer. Long overdue, Shawn and I share a bottle of a blonde ale from project friend Peter Kennedy. The beer was aged on New Jersey sour cherries. Peter has written a post or two about this beer on his blog Simply Beer. Our second beer up for discussion is from Avery Brewing Company. Quinquepartite is No. 5 in Avery's Barrel-Aged series. It is an an American Wild ale with an ABV of 9.91%. The beer was split into five parts and aged in several different types of wine barrels. The breakdown is such: 37% Ale aged in Cabernet Savignon barrels, 25% Ale aged in Chardonnay barrels, 21% Ale aged in Port barrels and 17% Ale aged in Zinfandel barrels.

Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City, Missouri has a wonderful series of beers that they call the Smokestack Series. The "Smokestacks" are typically limited release beers that come in 750ml bottles. For me, they represent some of the most innovative beers available in the Midwest. Last year I fell in love with the Bourbon Barrel Quad (BBQ for short) release - a heavy, cherry-like, boozy, close to 12% delicious beer. Boulevard changed-up their recipe, and how they blend their beers together for this year's release. Jason and I decided it was time to revisit the BBQ because of this heard change. Additionally, to create a good side-by-side conversation, Jason and I brought out a Rye on Rye from last year - Boulevard's rye wine aged on Templeton Rye barrels. If you like barrel-aged beers, jump in to the conversation. Cheers!

It is the second of our recordings from the weekend that belonged to Darkness Day. Again, this meet-up presented an opportunity for Jason, Mike and Shawn to record together. On this occasion, the three hosts and guests discuss Darkness Day as well as review three different beers. Our first review is of the beer Rosé De Gambrinus, a Fruit Lambic from Brasserie Cantillon of Anderlecht, Belgium. While these beers can be aged for up to 10 years, they were chosen by the brewmaster as ready to drink now. This style beer is a Gueuze with fruit added during fermentation, and in this case raspberries are used. Our second beer is the Fifteen Anniversary Ale from Avery Brewing Company of Boulder, Colorado. The Anniversary Ales from Avery are typically "wild and weird". These are one-off beers that are meant to be aged. Our third beer is 2010 iteration of the infamous Darkness from Surly Brewing Company of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. For the past few years, this beer has been primarily for sale on the brewery premises during Darkness Day. Spoiler Alert. This is a tremendous beer that's ready to drink now. The Beer Genome Project #31 Show Notes 0:00-1:23- Introduction 1:23-28:16 - Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus 28:16-49:26 - Avery Anniversary Ale - Fifteen 49:26-1:29:05 - Surly Darkness 2010 1:29:05-1:32:05 - Conclusion

This past weekend, many Midwestern craft beer fans descended upon Minnesota. Their destination: Brooklyn Center, where Surly Brewing hosted Darkness Day 2010. This episode was recorded on Darkness Eve, so stay tuned for next week's episode to hear our discussion about Darkness Day and Surly Darkness 2010. However, the meet-up for Darkness Day weekend provided an opportunity for Jason and Mike to finally record face-to-face with Shawn and guests in St. Paul. A number of our most recent episodes have focused on Belgian-style beers with much discussion about funky, sour, tart ,wild, spontaneously-fermented beers. This week is no exception as we breakdown no less than three "wild" beers. Our first beer comes from Upright Brewing Company of Portland, OR - a company that draws much of its inspiration from the creative spirit of upright bass playing jazz legend, Charles Mingus. Known for its farmhouse style ales, Upright created Four, a  wheat beer made from a sour mash. Our second beer hails from the renowned Russian River Brewing Company, in Santa Rosa, CA. Temptation, a blonde ale that has been aged for 15 months in French oak Chardonnay barrels with Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces yeasts, as well as Pediococcus and Lactobaccillus bacteria. Our third beer is again of Portland, OR origin - Apricot Ale of Cascade Brewing Company. Apricot Ale is an 8.5% ABV Belgian Tripel-style beer which underwent lactic fermentation for 16 months, aged on French oak wine barrels, and rested on apricots for an additional four months. The Beer Genome Project #30 Show Notes 0:00-1:18- Introduction 1:18-21:02 - Four by Upright Brewing Company 21:02-44:42 - Temptation by Russian River Brewing 44:42-1:03:44 - Apricot by Cascade Brewing 1:03:44-1:05:43 - Conclusion

Replete with tangents about bottle dates and general beer geekery, we present another episode of our Happy Hour series with Mike, Jason, and special guest Brandon. Clocking in at just under one-hour, this week's Happy Hour circles around the reviews of two beers: Schlafly's (St. Louis Brewery) Biere de Garde, and the Oskar Blues Gordon. The Biere de Garde is a timely summer seasonal farmhouse-style ale, and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to try out a second beer from Oskar Blues. Hear our plea, Oskar Blues, we would love to have your beer distributed in Iowa. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers!

Brew days can certainly be one of the more social beer events. When visiting Minneapolis, Shawn and I joined up with some homebrewing friends for a day of beer creation and discussion. Our friends at New Brew Thursday had arranged a trade with Shawn, in which we were the recipients of the Cuvée de Tomme from The Lost Abbey (a division of Port Brewing Company). Similar to the beer we explored in our previous episode, Cuvée de Tomme is an example of the American Wild Ale style of beer - meaning sour or tart. I'm loving the diversity this style of beer brings, and it seems that the age of each one of these beers can change its flavor profile. So, these beers will impart a flavor that you may or may not love - but then you have to revisit it at a later point in time just to see how the beer has changed with age. The Beer Genome Project #29 Show Notes 0:00-2:16- Introduction 02:16-16:12 - Cuvée De Tomme by The Lost Abbey 16:12-18:09 - Conclusion

Brought kicking and screaming into the world of sours? No way - we dive right in! I feel a bit ashamed that it had taken me this long to hear about Captain Lawrence Brewing, but I have been properly introduced thanks to Shawn and our friend Tyler. In this episode, Shawn and I take a crack at 375mL bottle of Cuvee De Castleton from Captain Lawrence. Any sort of reading before the tasting revealed the rarity of this beer, as well as how highly regarded it remains in the craft beer community. This was a shorter episode, focusing on the one beer, but it is all based around the idea of sour ales. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers! This is a beer that will make you rethink your definition of beer. It doesn’t taste like any beer you’ve ever had, yet it doesn’t taste like anything else either. Pushing the limits of brewing is what makes this job so much fun. Malted barley, wild yeast, hand picked Muscat Grapes, and French oak wine barrels are just a few of the things that went into crafting this beer. Breathe deep, take a long sip, and enjoy the creation in your hand. The Beer Genome Project #28 Show Notes 0:00-3:43- Introduction 03:43-19:54 - Cuvée de Castleton by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company 19:54-20:55 - Conclusion

First, I have a bit of backstory of everyone. This episode was first recorded mid-February, following the Minnesota Craft Brewer's Winterfest. We lost that original audio and our reviews for some New Glarus beers. So we recorded again, with most of the same conversation and two new Dogfish Head beers at a later date. We nearly lost that audio as well. It's mid-April and nearly all of the news presented in this episode is nearly irrelevant now. Events have passed by. However, I maintain that Shawn and I probably had our best conversation yet, which is why I had to drag this episode kicking and screaming through the editing process and now lay it out for you listeners here today. Winterfest in St. Paul was an incredible experience because it brought together the great brewing minds of Minnesota with the large community of craft beer drinkers. In this show we talk about our favorite selections of beer available as well as those that may have missed the mark. This week's reviews are of Dogfish Head Brewery's Indian Brown Ale and Raison D'etre. There's plenty of conversation about homebrewing, Twitter, as well as the changing laws in Iowa's beer culture. Without further delay, I present the longest recorded episode of The Beer Genome Project. Thanks for listening this week, cheers! The Beer Genome Project #27 Show Notes 0:00-0:45- Introduction 00:45-13:43 - Rundown to Winterfest 13:43-32:48 - Winterfest 2010 32:48 -45:32 - Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale 45:32-59:43 - Dogfish Head Raison D'etre 59:43-1:16:51 - Beer News 1:16:51-1:26:34 - Conclusion

This episode was probably recorded somewhere near the beginning of winter 2009. So even though it's a few months past recording date, there is quite a bit of relevant information to be taken from this episode. I was joined by Jason to review the 2009 Oak Aged Imperial Stout from Left Hand Brewing of Colorado. The history of the Russian Imperial Stout style is of interest as it played to both the drinking culture of the region as well as having to endure the process of being shipped across the Baltic. There have certainly been similar discussions about the strength of beers shipped from Britain to India. One note of interest is the oak casks used for the aging of this Imperial Stout were brandy barrels and not the more common bourbon barrels. According to Left Hand, it wasn't the entire recipe that was cask aged, but merely 25% that was later blended with the rest of the beer.

Game changer! Ever so often, in the process of exploring as much of the craft beer world as possible, Shawn and I will come across a beer that epitomizes why we do what we do. Truly I don't want to give away much of the episode's discussion - but this was a milestone for us.