Day Nineteen: Saison, style number 9

Another Belgian today, the Saison farmhouse ale, a special beer for a special day. Today is my beautiful wife's birthday, she's awesome. If you are interested in wifey things like knitting, sewing, and/or cooking, you can check out her blog here. We went out to dinner to Phoenecia on Alki and had some delicious food, along with this yummy brew.

Saison means season in French and was historically a seasonal beer, brewed in the winter to be a light and refreshing thirst-quencher for the farm worker during the hot summer months. Originally at about 3-4 % alcohol today they average around 5-7, with the Vieille Provision Saison Dupont being at 6.5 % ABV. Brewed by Brasserie Dupont in the town of Tourpes in Wallonia, a French speaking area of Belgium and imported by Vanberg & DeWulf in NY.

This one came in a 12.7oz green bottle with the classic Dupont cork. Poured light yellow and hazy with a tall frothy head. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this one until half way through. I really wish I would have, to show off this beautiful beer. It smelled of pears, just a very distinct pear smell, and not much of a hop aroma. Taste was crisp and fresh, with a nice hop bitter as the carbonation dissolved on the tongue. Mouth feel is light and tingly, a beautiful beer, wanted more of it.

On a 0-3 scale: 3, our first one! (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes, can't wait

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes and drink it with a friend
What would I do different: Get the big bottle and share it with a friend farmhouse style; on a hot day.

Day Eighteen: Extra Special Bitter, style number 45

Red Hook is Washington's oldest craft brewery and is one of the oldest in the nation. Founded in 1981, they are one of very few breweries that actually advertise their beer, or at least on a major scale. Most recently I have been seeing their ads on the Pandora sidebar. Their flagship beer is their ESB and that's what we're drinking today.

This style is very English in it's character; brown and malty and in this case hop balanced. Red hook gets crap sometimes from people who are snobby about the more "experimental" breweries.They expect everybody to make beer with exotic ingredients or ridiculous amounts of hops or barrel age them, but that's not for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love all those things, but you can't drink a lot of beer like that, and it costs $10+ a bottle. Red Hook makes good "every-day" drinking beer, they are not the best, but they are not horrible.

This beer came in a large 759mL bottle, but also comes in 12oz six-pack. It's a 5.8% ABV and bottled on May 11th 2011, so still very nice and fresh. I poured it into my brand new "nonic" pint glass. It looked good, amber in color with a very tall head that I just love to make it sit above the rim of the glass. The aroma was crisp but nothing too memorable. I'm not sure what the distention should be in this from like a brow ale or an amber though. It was maybe a little bitter, but well balanced. I really like the beer though.

On a 0-3 scale: 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes, I would like to try it on draught

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes
What would I do different: Try it draught

Day Sixteen: Fruit Beer, style number 15

Today was an interesting beer, Rogue First Growth Creek Ale. On the beer-advocate website they classify this as a Belgian Dubble, I classify this as a fruit beer because its brewed with cherries. The reason beer-advocate call it a Dubble is because of a Belgian yeast strain that was used along with a regular ale yeast, which is interesting that they used two different yeast. I wonder if one of the yeast strains was able to take over the other because it sure seems to be more Belgian that a regular ale flavor. Really though the flavor is just about all cherries.

This beer didn't really have a cherry aroma more like a Belgian smell. It looked dark-amber with just a touch of burgundy to it with a smallish head. The taste, like I said, was all cherries with that Belgian flavor, in combination making for a pretty sour beer. The mouth-feel of this beer was very present and balanced.

Rogue is a very interesting brewery, they are very innovative and like their name implies just do what they want without caring to much about standards or how others may be doing it. They are my favorite brewery and luckily they have a pub near by in Issaquah, WA.

These guys bought a bunch of land in Oregon and basically have a farm, growing their own hops and barley and apparently according to the home page, chickens. This beer in particular is from their Grow Your Own list of beers being brewed with their own hops and barley. I really respect what they are doing.

On a 0-3 scale: 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes, but not on a regular basis, also would like to brew a fruit beer at some point

Would I recommend to a friend: it's a different beer, not really what most beers taste like, so yes

What would I do different: I was at the pub and wanted to get something to check off my list that wouldn't break the bank too much.

Day Twelve: Helles Bock, style number 13

Did a two a day today. I decided to drink this lager that I bought at The Red House in Renton. Another lager brewed by an American craft brewery, Sierra Nevada Glissade Golden Bock. This was in a 12oz bottle, 6.4% ABV, with a 2011 on the bottle neck. Sierra Nevada, out of Chico CA, has a really good pale ale that I see all the time, but have only recently tried because I was a Northwest snob for a while. I realized that a good beer is a good beer, and Sierra Nevada makes some good beer. I look forward to trying some of their specialty brews sometime. So see some more of my thoughts about beers coming out of northern CA, see my previous post.

This beer was a golden amber color lager, much darker than what I would imagine. It was clear with a very short-lived head, it was gone under a minute. I don't remember the smell of this being anything special. The taste was ok, nothing special once again. It was crisp and refreshing and had some light malty flavors with light hop bitterness. A very easy-drinking beer.

On a 0-3 scale: 1. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: No, I've had better lagers

Would I recommend to a friend: not really, I don't have anything to say about it, good or bad. Why would I recommend this if there are too many good beers?

What would I do different: Sunshine would be nice... I had in later in the evening, but it was a crappy day

Why did I chose this beer: I've recently had the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the first time and loved it, all six of them, so wanted to give this brewery another try.

Day Twelve: Belgian Gold Ale, style number 3

Same story every time, no time to drink on work days that's why I haven't done a post for a couple days. But I'm still on track, actually right on track, to finish by mid-September as long as I don't get behind to much more.

This week we have Duvel Belgian Golden Ale. This is a lighter version of the Belgian style of beers which usually are brewed with an addition of sugars and a Belgian yeast. I was looking forward to this one because It's actually a Belgian unlike the tripel I had which was from an american brewery. This beer was categorized as a Belgian Strong pale ale. I guess it's to pale to be a golden but to high in alcohol content to be a pale so they call is a strong pale. I will call it a golden because that's what it says on the bottle and the 8.5% ABV puts it in that category. At the end of the day it really it more important to make a good beer not to make it to style I think because blending styles is part of the creativity and if you have a great result that's all that counts.

This came in a 330mL bottle with a cool short a stocky look. It pours a light, clear golden color with lots of carbonation and a tall white fizzy head. The beer tastes very light, missing a lot of the complexity that a Belgian beer I thought should have. That's not a bad thing at all and it was very interesting that they can make that happen with a beer with such an alcohol presence without much of it's taste. The beer was very crisp and highly carbonated which gave it a tangy mouth feel. This was bottle conditioned, which means that they put a little sugar into the bottle while bottling to give it a little more carbonation. It really didn't have much hop taste or nose but I wasn't missing it either. This beer had a very fruity nose with a strong pear smell and that unique Belgian yeast aroma. Overall this was an excellent beer and made me look forward so much more to other Belgian beers that I have coming up. Maybe I will buy them early and have them sit for a month or two.

On a 0-3 scale; it's a solid 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes

What would I do different: maybe a little more complexity would be nice, but maybe it was missing on purpose for a easier drinking beer

Why did I chose this beer: I've heard of it and it's a real Belgian and it was a high scoring beer on http://beeradvocate.com/ 

Day Ten: Munich Dunkel, style number 39

I drank this beer yesterday but since we were watching a movie I just decided to post in the morning, so don't think I drink first thing in the morning. I have cereal first. Now on to the beer...

Spaten Munchen Dunkel, brewed and bottled in Munich, Germany, imported by a company from NY and has no "best-by" date on it. It is a 5.2% ABV. It beer comes in a 12oz green bottle which apparently is not the best for beer. I guess the light destroys the beer somehow, which is confusing because there is a lot of beer sold in green bottles. Maybe because they look all sleek and pretty, as in some of the European imports.

It pours dark like a coke, but almost see through with a small and short-lived head. Not to much aroma in this one. This was a dark beer but tasted light and refreshing, though it did lack a good body. I expected more from it actually. This is such a specific category that I thought I would have something special, but it was just a dark lager. Very light on the hops and decent malty taste.

On a 0-3 scale: 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: No. I am still getting use to lagers and their lack of body so I will pass for now since it's not that easily available. 

Would I recommend to a friend: I didn't think anything special of it so I probably wouldn't 

What would I do different: No get so excited about it before I taste it, harder than it sounds, I get excited about beer

Why did I chose this beer: I found it on http://beeradvocate.com/, and it was one that I could find at http://www.99bottles.net/ in this catagory.

Day Nine: Weizenbier, style number 14

So I have most of my brewing equipment and a fer extra carboys. Got a great deal on all this stuff and now I need a sunny day to clean it. A backyard and a hoes would be nice because a balcony just does not cut it for this kind of work. I just wanted to  include a quick picture of my progress in my brew system arrangement.

I will make this review short and sweet. Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, brewed in Munich, Germany. This bottle had a "best by" date of 08/11, which is nice to include on beers coming from a distance away. 

Yellow in color, unfiltered with a nice foamy head, the beer is 5.5% ABV. Came in a 500mL bottle that had a cool picture of some old dead guy, and old dead guys are pretty cool  This was a well balanced beer not to overpowering on either aspect, although it could have used some of the hop aroma from the last beer. I actually liked this beer. Apparently wheat beers are often described as having banana and clove flavors, and I'm not a big fan of bananas so maybe that's why I'm not a fan of wheats, although like I said, this was a good beer. If you like Hefes and want to try a German beer, I recommend this one all the way.

Next is a German lager and I'm excited, never thought I would be looking forward to a lager, but here I am. 

On a 0-3 scale: If I liked Hefes this would be a 3, but for me it's a 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes

What would I do different: I want it in the traditional Weissbier 'Vase'

Why did I chose this beer: This was a high scoring beer on http://beeradvocate.com/

Day Six: American Wheat, style number 7

Well then, here we are again. I decided to get the day started early, 5 pm is like an hour after I wake up so that's like drinking at 9 am for normal people. Somehow when I put together my schedule for the beers, see the first picture on post day two, I kind of did it at random and yesterday when I looked over it I noticed that I have three wheat beers in a row and it made me sad. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate beers or even wheat beers, I just don't want to have three days of wheat beer especially if I have some 60+ different styles still to try. Anyways lets get into it.

Another beer from Lagunitas in Petaluma, California US of A. One of these days I want to visit northern CA and visit some of the great breweries there like Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, Russian River, Northern Coast. Couple up that great beer with some hiking and swimming in the Tahoe or Shasta area, there is also an awesome music festival over in Quincy, CA called High Sierra which has an awesome lineup this year, but I don't think my little dream can be realized this year.

This is a wheat beer, but I wonder how much wheat it actually contains because I couldn't really taste it. The Lagunitas website did say that it contains barley and wheat. What I did taste was hops and lots of hops. This is a wonderfully smeling beer and has good berry fruity flavor. It has a little sweetness so it's not totally off balance but it sure is hop heavy. 64.2 IBU and 7.5 ABV with a OG of 1.076. It pours clear and honey yellow in color and has a nice tall head on it. I wonder if it's the wheat that makes such fine bubbled head because the last beer did too. I think in terms of being a good representation of a American Wheat beer it failed because it's more like an IPA with some wheat in there somewhere, but in terms of it being a good beer it is! I guess Lagunitas never claimed it to be in this style but http://beeradvocate.com/ somehow put it in that category so that's what I went by when I chose it.

Ok time to wrap this thing up.

On a 0-3: it's a good "IPA" so I give it a 2

Would I buy it again: Yes, although Lagunitas is not easy to find at a grocery store and 99 bottles is not the best place to buy beer affordability although their choices are unmatched

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes, for people who really like hoppy beer

What would I do different: Like I said before and by the looks of it will say again, Have with some sun shine.

Why did I chose this beer: Lagunitas did not disappoint with their PILS so i went with them again.

Day Five: Dunkelweizen, style number 27

I have been sleeping a lot lately so no time to drink. I work nights and sometimes I wake up too late in the day and since I have to go to work that same evening I can't really drink before work. So I think I am a little bit behind pace, but it shouldn't be difficult to make up.

Dunkelweizen is two parts, dunkel means dark and weizen means wheat beer. The most common grain in beer making is barley, with wheat being the second most common. In the states this is usually called a hefeweizen. I am not a big fan of this beer, it is true that it is very smooth, but for me it never has enough complexity.

I went with a real German this time, Ayinger Ur-Weisse from Aying, Germany, just outside of Munchen. Distributed by Merchant Du Vin Corp. Tukwila, WA. Because Tukwilla is so close I hoped that this beer, which had to travel so far from Germany, was still some what fresh. From what I understand, although there are some beers that could benefit from some aging, most lagers and wheat beers are best fresh. The beer did not have a bottling date on it so I can only hope. It came in a 500mL bottle, a whole pint! It is a 5.8% ABV, unfiltered, and it brewed according to the "Reinheitsgebot" Purity law of 1516. Which states that beer in Bavaria can only legally be made from barley, water, yeast and hops... wait a minute this is a wheat beer. So not sure how they are using this statement on their bottles, can somebody explain?

So now to the beer...

It smelled nice and wheaty. What more is there to say, wheat beer is so different from barley beer that I have no way to distinguished any subtleties about it, it smells like a wheat beer. It was brown and hazy with the most beautiful foamy head on it, that thing could probably pile a half a foot tall if I pored in a proper glass. It had those nice little bubbles, oh how I wish I had a better camera. The taste was not that impressive, but that's because I have never been impressed by a wheat beer. Maybe I need more experience with them. It honestly tasted like one of our local Hefes from Pyramid Brewing co. It actually had a little bit of a sour aftertaste, but that may be because I had it with some Thai food that wasn't all that good. Mouth feel was good, nice and smooth as a wheat beer should be. Overall, I would say it scored very high in appearance and probably was decent in taste, for a weisse that is, but didn't do much for me.

On a 0-3 scale it's a 2, I wouldn't turn it down, but I probably will never buy it again. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: No, maybe if it was a local

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes, some of my friends like wheat beers more than I do

What would I do different: I would like to have a good weissbier vase glass to drink this out of

Why did I chose this beer: There wasn't anything that I could find from west coast craft brewers that fit this style and this one had a high rating on http://beeradvocate.com/

Day Two: Tripel, style number 6

So stopped by the beer store after church today and bought some goodies. This should last me for the next week. It was a pricey trip, a 6 pack for $17!!! I may need to look for a sponsor.

Left to right and coming up next: 27-Dunkelweizen, 7-American Wheat, 14-Weizenbier, 6-Tripel(Today), 39-Munich Dunkel, 3-Belgian Gold Ale, 13-Helles Bock

This is the Trippel: ale brewed with coriander from New Belgium Brewing in Fort Colins, CO. So a Belgian style beer brewed here in the USA. I believe it was $1.75 for a 12oz bottle at 99 Bottles in Federal Way and worth it! So lets get to it.

I had this cold in a large snifter of sorts. I think it actually is a wine glass, but works just as well. It is a nice gold color full white head that stuck around for a while. It looks hazy in the picture, but it was just the condensation on the glass, a very clear beer. First smell was very citrusy like an orange, spicy too. First taste was so surprisingly smooth, such a well balanced beer. Considering the higher than normal alcohol content of 7.8% and the increased amounts of ingredients I expected it to be a lot more complex. A full mouth-feel, i like when it is crisp and nicely carbonated, and this one was. After having it sit for a little bit and get some air it lost a lot of the smoothness and I could really taste the higher alcohol and sweetens, I think maybe a little too sweet. Overall good beer and I would sure like to get a six pack of this after this whole thing is over. The tasting was done without any food but I'm going to go see if I can find something to finished if off with.

On a 0-3 scale it's a solid 2. (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes

What would I do different: Either chug it to have all nice and smooth or have them make it a tad bit hoppier

Why did I chose this beer: I wanted to save some money on a Belgian beer and noticed that it had some kind of an award so I figured it couldn't be bad.

PS. Sorry about the picture quality all I have is an Ipone 3g for now.

Day one: Bohemian Pilsner Style number 37

So I went out yesterday and bought a few different beers not knowing that there will actually be a blog but here we are. Lagunitas Pils: Czech Style Pilsner, brewed in Petaluma, CA bought at the Red House in Renton, WA.

I always despised the American Lager so naturally all my early beers were Ales and only in the last year I started giving lagers any chance. 

I had this in a simple water glass out of a 12oz. bottle, cold out of the fridge with out any food paring. This beer is super refreshing and has a very crisp mouth feel. Bitter but the good kind, and a little bit of a Riesling taste to it?? some kind of a fruit taste. Straw to amber in color, clear and a good head. I couldn't find the specific ingredients that Lagunitas used for this beer, so I can only asume that it was in the traditional style with the Saaz hops.

On a 0-3 scale it's a solid 2. (see scale below)

Would I buy it again: Yes

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes

What would I do different: Have this on a hot summer day outside. (it's a little overcast here today)

Why did I chose this beer: I heard very good things about the Lagunitas IPA, unfortunately I didn't find it but I saw this.

Viktor's awesome, incredible, one-of-a-kind 0-3 beer tasting scale: 
0 - when I don't even want to finish this beer.
1- when I really don't like it or want to try it again.
2 - a good beer that I wouldn't mind having again and will settle for if I cant find or afford a 3.
3 - an excellent beer that I will always look forward to and go out of my way to get if I can afford it.

Introduction

I like to drink beer. I like to drink different kinds of beer and i am hoping to soon start brewing my own beer. To help me in these adventures, i want to learn more about the different styles of beer.

As i gather up my equipment and hope to start brewing in September, i have decided to taste my way through the periodic table of beer styles that i found online.

My name is Viktor, i am 25 years old with about 5 years of beer drinking experience. I live in the Seattle, WA area and am glad to be in such a great craft beer culture setting. My favorite breweries are Rogue and Deschutes, i like just about anything that these people brew. 

I have a lovely wife who is actually pressuring me into blogging through this tasting, and is in fact typing this as i dictate. We are expecting a baby in mid October sometime and i hope to have my first batch of beer ready to celebrate.  That means that i need to brew sometime in mid September and so i hope to be done with this beer tasting journey by October 1st as i wait for the baby and my beer to finish fermenting. 
So i have 111 days to taste through 65 beer styles. That equals to a beer every 1.707692.... days.

 This is a picture of the periodic table of beer styles that i will be using. Each time i post, i will cross out the beer that i drank, include a picture of that beer, and write a short account of my tasting.

here is a link to see this bigger or here to read all the style information.

A few problems that i envision are:

1. it may be difficult to find beers in some of the more obscure styles, so i may have to cover that by just drinking one beer out of that style category. For example; in the VI Scottish Ale column i may not be able to find all three of those beers, so i may just drink a Scottish Ale and call it good.

2. This may get kind of expensive and since money is an issue, I will save money by drinking the beers in the style, not necessarily pure to origin. Meaning, I am not going to buy 6 different Belgian beers, but i may buy one or two, and for the rest i will look for beers that are made by local craft brewers that are made in that style. I have approximately $100 in my Mississippi Mud Black and Tan Beer (the beer wasn't very good, but it's sold in a cool bottle) coin jug that i have been collecting over the past few years, which will be my capital for this adventure.  

3. I will buy a few new beer glasses in order to taste these beers in the appropriate glass type, but i wont go all out. 

4. I am not an expert beer judge by any means. I like to drink beer that i like, which may not mean that its a beer that other people like. So i will give a description of what im tasting and how i like the beer, but im sure that there will be other opinions and i hope that i will find a good beer to represent each category. But im sure there will be plenty of duds, which i will keep in mind and not dismiss that beer style just because of one bad beer. 

If you wish to be a part of this,  i will try to keep my plans for which beers i am drinking in the near future on here so you can participate. If you are somebody who i know or lives in this area and would like to drink together, please let me know. Also if you have any suggestions for which beers i should try for one or few of these categories that you really like, please let me know.

The resources i will use to help me are:

http://beeradvocate.com/

http://www.craftbeer.com/
http://www.99bottles.net/