The Rare Barrel Brewery: No tasters!

I was recently in California and was eager to visit The Rare Barrel Brewery in Berkeley. I first encountered the brewery at the 2014 Great American Brew Fest in Denver and I was amazed by the sour ales from such a young brewery.

It took awhile to find the place, the brewery is in a receded kind of alley way between two other buildings.

The taproom reminds me of Oskar Blues Brewery, where it's part of the brewery not a separate room. You can drink your beer with a view of the barrels in the back. There were many many barrels, I had to remind myself that I wasn't at Avery Brewing with barrels going up towards the ceiling.

We approached the bar that was full, but there's a space for ordering beers by the cash register. The bartender asked what we wanted to order and when I asked for a taster set, we were told that on the back of the menu it's stated they don't do tasters. Okay, so I order a beer and went to a barrel table and stood there while drinking my beer. Low and behold, at the bar another bartender was giving a couple tasters of the beers.

What, I thought they didn't do that! So my husband asked another staff member about it and she said it was up us to ask for tasters, what!

So my dilemma is, what constitutes a taster? I get a confused look by waitstaff who don't understand what I want, a full 4-5 ounce of beer or a splash of beer. What is the right vernacular for ordering a taster?

On a positive note, the beer was excellent. I had the Keen Observation of the Echo Series, a golden sour aged in unrinsed Map of the Sun, their golden sour aged with apricots. It was really tart and very flavorful. i would recommend going there but just be warned, NO TASTERS!

Firestone Walker tap takeover at Backcountry Pizza in Boulder

Wednesday of the Craft Beer Conference was a tap takeover of Firestone Walker Brewing Co rare beers at Backcountry Pizza and Tap House in Boulder. The tapping of beers was at 6pm sharp with everyone behind the hustling to make sure all the taps were working correctly, all went well and we were able to preorder while seating at the bar. 

The line up for Wednesday:

2012, 2013, 2014 Parabola

2012, 2013 Double DBA

2013 Velvet Merkin

2013, 2014 Sucaba

2013 Stickee Monkey

16th Anniversary

17th Anniversary

Agrestic

Lil' Mikkel

Pivo Pilsner

DBA

Union Jack and Easy Jack

I had the 2102 Parabola, a 13% ABV bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout that even at 2 years old, it was still very boozy to me. Boozy on the nose and front-end but fell out at the finish.

Jordan, bartender hustles to pour Firestone
Walker rare beers.

I really liked the 2013 Merkin, a 8.5% ABV bourbon barrel-aged oatmeal stout. It had a subtle bourbon nose but was creamy smooth in the mouth with sweet chocolate notes and a slight bourbon burn in the throat. 

I had the pleasure of meeting David Walker, co-founder of the brewery. I was surprised that he is British, I don't know why but I assume all American brewers are from here. But he is a pleasant man who was readily open to conversation. Some brewers/owners of breweries can be put off because of the onslaught of  beer fans approaching them.  I asked him why he doesn't brew in the English Style and he said that he did with their first beer, DBA.   DBA is a double barrel ale that is an English Special Bitter.

David Walker, co-founder of Firestone Walker and me.

I went searching for information about the DBA and came across some about the process of brewing this beer. It is brewed in the Burton Union system that was developed in England in 1840. Firestone Walker patented this system of that "incorporates 60-gallon heavy or medium toast American oak barrels into a brewing process that yields beers of extraordinary character and complexity."(Firestone Walker website) The wort is aged in these barrels for 6 days then transferred to stainless steel for secondary fermentation. 20% of the oaked fermented beer is then blended with beer fermented in stainless steel. Pretty impressive!

Russian River Brewing: February is Pliny the Younger

February is the month for Russian River Brewing, Pliny the Younger. This will be it's tenth annual year since the first release of triple IPA at the pub in Santa Rosa, California.

Vinnie Cilurzo is owner/brewer at Russian River said in an email that this years Pliny the Younger will be relatively the same as last years. He states that as the brewery has matured they have been able to "select more aromatic and flavorful hops" for Pliny the Younger. The ABV should come in between 10.25% & 10.50%, but Vinnie likes it when it's a the former range which allows" the hop character to come through a little better".

Pliny the Younger is Pliny the Elder’s big brother. It's a triple IPA, with a load of hops that has obvious hop character in the aroma and in the flavor of the beer.

Pliny the Younger at the Falling Rock Taphouse.

I have gone to many release parties of Pliny the Younger over the years and found that to me, sometimes it taste different depending on the tap house. I recently found that most tap houses use a blend of CO2 and Nitrogen to their tapping systems as a way to alleviate waste from foaming beer. So I thought maybe that was the difference I tasted in the beer. I asked Vinnie Cilurzo about that and he said there shouldn't be any difference in taste between the two systems if Pliny the Younger is tapped soon after being distributed. I think he's mistaken but you can be the judge at the next release.

Pliny the Younger will be available at the Russian River tap house on February 7 and will run it's course for two weeks or less. So if you live in California, head to Santa Rosa for this yearly event. I thought it was humorous that on the Russian River brewing webpage on Pliny the Younger, there are rules of etiquette for these two weeks of the beer.

Russian River Brewing taphouse is located in the downtown area of Santa Rosa where there are many businesses so first rule:

1)No drinking alcohol while in line.

2)No smoking anything within 20 feet of business entrances or where people are standing in line.

3)Don’t block entrances or driveways of other businesses.

4)No cuts in line! Make sure all your party is there at the same time.

What’s cool though is that Colorado gets the most Pliny the Younger. It will be distributed to San Jose, Sacramento, Stone Brewing will pick there allocation at the brewery, Oregon, Colorado, and Philadelphia, in February but dates are TBD. I’m not sure how many kegs are shipped Oregon, it used to be Portland only.

Colorado will probably receive Pliny the Younger a week or so after the release. A good idea is to check your favorite local taphouse on their website or facebook page to see if they are tapping Pliny the Younger this year. In Denver check Falling Rock Taphouse, Hops and Pie, and Freshcraft. In Boulder, Backcountry Pizza and Taphouse, The Kitchen, and West End Tavern.

For more information about Pliny the Younger Craze:
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-pliny-younger-craze-2011-ipa-release-party-7926242.html?cat=22