DEAD, BUT STILL DRINKING

Thanks to those of you who read and contributed to Beer Samizdat over this past year. My self-imposed beer hiatus mentioned in the April 1 post was fairly brief, but I've decided to hang up the spikes on this blog and will be (and have been) continuing the beer blogging over on my main blog, THE HEDONIST JIVE.

The 'Jive strays widely from beer more often than not, so you've got two choices. If you think it might be a gas to read what I have to say about music, film, books, sports and more, come enjoy the blog at this link - it's the front door to the main site. If you've got a one-track beer mind, there's a link for you too - a beer-only posts link on The Hedonist Jive. There are a lot of 'em, too - this was my main dumping place for beer reviews for a big chunk of 2010 and 2011. Bookmark them both - and thanks again!

BEER SAMIZDAT TAKES A BEER HOLIDAY

Maybe you'd been spending an inordinate amount of time these past couple of weeks wondering why the Beer Samizdat blog's been so quiet of late. I have to admit I'd been wondering myself, but the proximate cause is pretty easy to pinpoint: lack of interest in alcoholic beverages. I'm sure this afflicts many a casual drinker from time to time, but at this moment I'm feeling my craft beer obsession has plummeted to a 5-year low, and I'm not only not interested in writing about and/or rating beer, I'm barely interested in drinking it either.

Bear with me. Waxing and waning on various hobbies and pursuits is embedded in my personality - witness the many blogs I've started and stopped in my nine-year "blogging career". My beer intake, already merely "average" relative to American forthysomething maledom, is dropping to something below average for a while. The few that I've enjoyed this past couple weeks have truly been enjoyed, with no note-takin', photo-snappin', rating-offerin' nor Twitter-braggin'. That has been actually quite refreshing - and four less things to worry about every time I engage in the purportedly relaxing pastime of having a beer with dinner or with friends.

Meanwhile I'll continue to blog about film, music, sports, TV and books over on The Hedonist Jive, which for a year or so also contained all my beer-related writing until I spun this site off last summer. Maybe I'll throw a review or two up over there again. Maybe it'll be here. Maybe I'll leap back onto the wagon in a week or two and have the mother of all "epic sessions" that I'll need to tell you about in this space. Until then, keep your IPAs fresh and your liver clean. Beer Samizdat signing off for the time being.

ALLAGASH MAKES A STRONG “SAISON MIHM”

Rarely does one come across an ALLAGASH BREWING product here on the west coast that isn’t something you can’t get in bottles. I wonder if their distribution agreements just busted open. I hope so – because I’ve become a real belated fan of this Maine brewery’s concoctions, and I’d love to find some of their weirder and rarer stuff on a tap handle near me. Interestingly, their flagship Allagash White is showing up at restaurants out here now, so that’s a positive sign – but it’s the big boys like Odyssey that I want to stumble across more often.

Anyhow, here’s one called SAISON MIHM that hasn’t been bottled yet. Found it on draft at the Amsterdam Café in San Francisco. It’s what you might call a “strong saison”. Tart on the tongue, like a mixture between an aggressive pale ale and a farmhouse refresher. It’s earthy and fruity, and it turns out that it’s brewed with lemongrass as well, which may account for the deep and slightly jarring flavors (which I actually liked quite immensely). There’s also white grapes and a general tartness to go along with the medium carbonation. It gets decidedly smoother as it warms. I think you’ll like it. I gave it a 7.5/10.

BEER MANIA PAYS OUT BIGTIME: PERENNIAL / HALF ACRE “PLAN B”

I had a morning of extreme (or, if you will, “xtreme”) beer dork mania about a month ago. My nominal hobby kicked into overdrive during a two-hour break in a café waiting for my son to finish a class, and ironically, without even a drop of alcohol being consumed, I set the wheels in motion for a boatload of beer landing at my front door. First, I begged Dave over at The Drunken Polack to do a beer trade with me. He consented. I spent some time flicking through the iPad to figure out what they drank out there in Virginia that I might want in my belly. I made a list, I checked it twice, and sent it off to Dave. An hour ago, his bountiful east coast gifts unto me arrived. Thank you, Dave.

I wasn’t even close to being done - no way. I then scoured eBay and made my first purchase of un-findable beers, getting four double IPAs like The Alchemist’s “Heady-Topper” and Surly “Abrasive Ale” for what I thought was a helluva bargain. In my closing moments – oh my god my son’s waiting for me but goddamn it I have to buy more beer – I plunked down sixty bucks over at THE WINE & CHEESE PLACE, an online seller of gastronomic delights, including craft beers from across the Midwest. Why? I was on fire, that’s why. Rare! New! Can’t find it here! Gotta drink it! More more more!!!

Normally I’d figuratively “wake up” a few hours later, find my bank account lighter and then start kicking myself for my tomfoolery. I mean, I don’t drink every day or even every other day. What do I need with all this beer, right? But man, that was a lot of fun. Going through that frenzy of acquisition hit all sorts of pleasure centers in my brain, and like I said, it was weeks before I even got a drop of it. That mania is paying off big-time, too. You’ve seen it in some of the beer reviews lately on this site. It really delivered a couple of nights ago, when I unleashed a bottle of awesome-looking beer I’d ordered with zero forethought – a total random purchase – from The Wine & Cheese Place.

It’s a collaboration beer that started with PERENNIAL ARTISAN ALES, a new brewer in St. Louis, and their pals at HALF ACRE BEER COMPANY up in Chicago. I hadn’t heard of either, but here’s how their PLAN B ale was described (and still is described) as a “Sour Mash Belgian Dark Ale with Black Currants”. Let’s take a chance on love, right? OMG U GUYS THIS BEER IS INCREDIBLE. I love paydirt moments like these. This is one of the finest beers I’ve had in a year and then some. Again, it’s called PLAN B. It’s an 8% ABV ale brewed with black currants, and yes, you can taste them in a jammy sort of way, along with plums. It’s malty, with high carbonation and medium body. Really yeasty, like a good Belgian should be.

It is just incredible flavorful and beautifully simple and complex at the same time. I daresay it ranks up there with THE BRUERY’s best beers, and we totally love those guys. An exceptionally special Belgian-style dark ale. You need to order one right about now. I'm going to make it my life's work to drink every Perennial beer I can get my hands on. 10/10.

AN UNEXPECTEDLY MIDDLING “FLEMISH PRIMITIVE”

You know how we’re always going on and on about DE PROEF here at Beer Samizdat, right? There’s still a bit of a De Proef greenhorn (me) making all these positive claims about them, largely based on their incredible collaboration beers that are distributed in the U.S. by Shelton Brothers, along with some exceptional experiences I’ve had with some of their own. When I look at the list of beers they’ve/he’s (Dirk Naudts) created over on Beer Advocate, though, it’s obvious I’ve really only scratched the surface. I saw that list not too long ago and made a point to buy the next De Proef beer I saw from it. That beer turned out to be FLEMISH PRIMITIVE, a wild ale that comes in different bottles, and one would presume different recipes (it's true). A little research tells me that this is Flemish Primitive #3, the one they call “Surly Bird”. Let’s dig a little deeper and drink this thing, shall we?

You can probably tell from my post title that I was underwhelmed. Not that it’s any big deal that I expected this wild ale to be a funky, crimson-colored brain eraser….but a yeasty, effervescent golden ale that’s pretty middling across the board? It has a light-to-medium body, and yeah, a somewhat funky strain of yeasts that gives off a decidedly unique taste. As far as the requisite fruits in the taste, I’d go with apple and green grapes. It has elements or earthiness and I can’t say it wasn’t refreshing, but for whatever reason it tasted more like an American “microbrew” stab at Belgian greatness than Belgian greatness in & of itself. And that, my friends, was a surprise. 6.5/10.

SIERRA NEVADA “RUTHLESS RYE”

Had to beg the fella at Whole Foods to let me buy a solo bottle of this one, since I rarely if ever buy a 6-pack of anything unless I’m headed to the mountains for an old-fashioned cookout & need something to share with my bros. SIERRA NEVADA has been on such a winning streak lately that I had to try out this rye-based IPA, as I figured they’d be a better-than-even chance it would be mind-melting. I’d recently had another TORPEDO, their ultra-bitter and yet mass-produced IPA, and loudly declared it one of the world’s best to everyone standing around me. Then there was that Persimmon Farmhouse Ale I was telling you about here. Let’s see if this one can hit those exalted levels.

RUTHLESS RYE is a ruby/honey color. I can absolutely taste the rye immediately. That rye – it’s ruthless! I’ve had rye IPAs before, but even the Terrapin and Founder’s versions aren’t this strong. I like its bright citrus taste and its overall graininess – a nice mix along with the chewiness of the rye. At the end of the day, with all that going on, it’s still an IPA, and a pretty good one. I’d be lyin’ if I told you I wouldn’t be happy having another one right about now. 7/10.

MORE FROM THE EBAY HAUL: SURLY "ABRASIVE ALE"

Folks from up in Minnesota know they've got a good thing going with SURLY BREWING, a top-drawer purveyor of excellent craft beers packed away in cans. From the word "go", SURLY had the ears and tongue of a nation, and I made it a priority to try and hunt down their beers, especially after the first one I tried, FURIOUS, nearly made me pack up my snow gear and start driving north. I've been telling you of late about this four-beer eBay IPA purchase I made against my better judgment, and this is beer #3 that I've tried (the others you can read about here and here). #4 is something called GANDHI BOT, and is a full-on mystery to me. When my tongue and insides recover from all these IPAs I've been having, I'll give that one a go and let you know how it went.

SURLY "ABRASIVE ALE" certainly telegraphs its intentions in its name. Turns out it's all sound and only a little fury - this is a beautifully-balanced, malty Double IPA. Great aroma, just a big whiff of fresh hops, and a foam head that looks good and stays there for a long time. It's a little creamy, too - and like another big favorite, Southern Tier Gemini (which the excellent Kaedrin Beer Blog just wrote up), it layers the biting hops on after the grainy, creamy malts. In a category in which the differences between beers (IPAs) are generally pretty subtle, some just stand out on taste alone, and while I like a real bitter biter, I'm most partial to a hoppy beer that goes down easy and has flavors beyond the hop. This is an excellent addition to that slice of the pie. 9/10!

THE BEER SAMIZDAT 100

A few times a year I like to get on my high horse and update my list of the 100 finest beers known to man – and to me. Because I’ve had a few serious knockouts in the time since I last published THE BEER SAMIZDAT 100 in August 2011, I figured we were due for an update, given that you’ve probably already tried the 100 I recommend last time and need a few suggestions to broader your palate, as it were.

Some of the newer arrivals this time you may have read about on this site. There was STILLWATER’s incredible saison DEBAUCHED, which I’m still crying about since it came and went so quickly and is now lost to the sands of time. There’s ALMANAC BEER CO.’s 2012 seasonal “WINTER WIT”, which is still out there on the shelves now. There’s BOCKER BELLEGEMS BRUIN. There’s a whole bunch more. Some stuff got bumped from the list in favor of newcomers, and others moved up, down or off if I had it a second or third time since this past August. PRETTY THINGS’ “Baby Tree”, for instance, vaulted up a quartile because I’m now “calling” that one a 10/10.

Hope this is of some use to you in settling arguments with yr beer dork pals!

1. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
2. BRASSERIE DE L'ABBAYE DES ROCS - Triple Imperiale (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
3. SOUTHERN TIER – Gemini (Double IPA)
4. DESCHUTES - The Abyss (Russian Imperial Stout)

5. THE BRUERY – The Wanderer (City Beer Store Anniversary) (American Wild Ale)
6. UNIBROUE – La Fin Du Monde (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
7. BROUWERIJ WESTVLETEREN – Trappist Westvleteren 8 (Dubbel)
8. THE BRUERY - Mischief (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
9. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 6 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
10. MOYLAN’S – Hopsickle (Double IPA)
11. PRETTY THINGS BEER & ALE PROJECT – Baby Tree (Quadrupel)
12. BROOKLYN BREWING - Black Ops (Barrel-Aged Stout)
13. TELEGRAPH BREWING – Gypsy Ale (American Wild Ale)
14. STILLWATER ARTISINAL ALES – Debauched (Saison)
15. BROOKLYN BREWING – Sorachi Ace (Saison)
16. LOST ABBEY – Gift Of The Magi (Biere De Garde)
17. LEFT HAND BREWING – Milk Stout (on nitro) (Milk Stout)
18. BROUWERIJ DE KEERSMAEKER – Mort Subite Blanche Lambic (Lambic)
19. LOST ABBEY – 10 Commandments (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
20. BROWERIJ VAN STEENBERGE – Monk’s Café Sour Flemish Ale (Flanders Oud Bruin)
21. SIERRA NEVADA – 30^th Anniversary – Fritz & Ken’s Stout (Stout)
22. LUCKY LABRADOR - Super Duper Dog (Double IPA)
23. RUSSIAN RIVER – Damnation (Belgian-Style Strong Golden Ale)
24. ST. BERNARDUS – Grotten Brown (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
25. FIFTY FIFTY BREWING – Red Is The New Black (Imperial Red IPA)
26. AVERY BREWING – The Reverend (Quadrupel)
27. MOONLIGHT – Reality Czeck (Czech Pilsner)
28. VICTORY BREWING – Wild Devil (Belgian IPA)
29. STONE BREWING – IPA (IPA)
30. URTHEL – Saisonniere (Saison)
31. HACKER-PSCHORR – Dunkel Weiss (Dunkel Weizen)
32. DE STRUISE - Pannepot Old Fisherman's Ale (Quadrupel)
33. ALPINE BREWING - Nelson (IPA)
34. ALMANAC BEER CO. – Winter Wit (Witbier)
35. CAPTAIN LAWRENCE - Captain's Reserve Imperial IPA (Double IPA)
36. BROOKLYN BREWING – East India Pale Ale (IPA)
37. SURLY - Furious (Imperial Red Ale)
38. WESTMALLE - Dubbel (Dubbel)
39. DE STRUISE/MIKKELLER – Eliott Brew (Double IPA)
40. NEBRASKA BREWING – Hop God – Reserve, Aged in French Oak Chardonnay Barrels (Belgian IPA)
41. ODELL BREWING – Saboteur – Brett Barrel Brown Ale (American Wild Ale)
42. MIKKELLER/BREWDOG - Devine Rebel (English Barleywine)
43. DOGFISH HEAD – Burton Baton (Barrel-aged IPA)
44. BROWERIJ BOCKER – Bocker Bellegems Bruin (Flanders Oud Bruin)
45. EMELISSE – Dubbel (Dubbel)
46. GOUDEN CAROLUS – Cuvee Van De Kaizer Blauw (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
47. BROWERIJ CONTRERAS – Valheir Divers (Tripel)
48. DARK HORSE - Tres Blueberry Stout (American Stout)
49. CAPTAIN LAWRENCE - St. Vincent's Dubbel (Dubbel)
50. THE BRUERY – Autumn Maple (Fruit Beer)
51. BROOKLYN BREWING – Extra Brune (Flanders Oud Bruin)
52. ALLAGASH – Odyssey (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
53. GOUDEN CAROLUS – Ambrio (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
54. THE BRUERY – Saison Rue (Saison)
55. TWO BROTHERS BREWING – The Bitter End (Pale Ale)
56. BROUWERIJ WESTVLETEREN – Trappist Westvleteren 12(Quadrupel)
57. DENNISON’S – Weizen (Hefeweizen)
58. BELL’S – Expedition Stout (Imperial Stout)
59. THE ALCHEMIST – Header Topper (Double IPA)
60. RUSSIAN RIVER – Blind Pig (IPA)
61. SMUTTYNOSE - Gravitation (Quadrupel)
62. 5 SEASONS BREWING – Venus (Witbier)
63. RUSSIAN RIVER – Rejection (Belgian Black Ale)
64. THREE FLOYDS - Alpha King (American Pale Ale)
65. UNIBROUE – Maudite (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
66. DE PROEF – Zoetzuur Flemish Ale (Flanders Red Ale)
67. LOST ABBEY – Avant Garde (Biere De Garde)
68. SOUTHERN TIER - Heavy Weizen (Imperial Hefeweizen)
69. ST. BERNARDUS - Prior 8 (Dubbel)
70. TELEGRAPH BREWING – California Ale (Saison)
71. RUSSIAN RIVER - O.V.L. Stout (American Stout)
72. BROOKLYN BREWING – Local 1 (Belgian-Style Golden Ale)
73. BROWERIJ DE DOLLE – Oerbier (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
74. BRASSERIE DUPONT - Saison Dupont (Saison)
75. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 10 (Quadrupel)
76. RUSSIAN RIVER – Damnation, Batch 23 (Belgian-Style Golden Ale)
77. GREEN FLASH – Summer Saison (Saison)
78. MIKKELLER – Barrel-Aged Chipotle Porter (Porter)
79. PRETTY THINGS BEER & ALE PROJECT – Field Mouse’s Farewell (Saison)
80. THE BRUERY – Loakal Red (Imperial Red Ale)
81. RUSSIAN RIVER – Redemption (Belgian-Style Pale Ale)
82. HANDBRYGGERIET – Norwegian Wood (Smoked/Spiced Ale)
83. SOUTHERN TIER - Hoppe (Double IPA)
84. LAGUNITAS – Imperial Red (American Strong Ale)
85. 5 SEASONS BREWING - Dark White (Dark witbier)
86. TELEGRAPH BREWING – Golden Wheat (Wheat Beer)
87. THE BRUERY - Orchard White (Witbier)
88. BIRRIFICIO LE BALADIN - Nora (Herbed/Spiced beer)
89. DE PROEF – Kerstmutske (Christmas Ale)
90. ST. BERNARDUS – ABT 12 (Quadrupel)
91. SILVER CITY BREWERY – Fat (Scotch Ale)
92. TWO BROTHERS BREWING - Hop Juice (Double IPA)
93. BRASSERIE DUPONT – Foret (Saison)
94. NORTH COAST – La Merle (Saison)
95. RUSSIAN RIVER – Damnation, Batch 23 (Belgian-Style Strong Golden Ale)
96. RUSSIAN RIVER – Temptation (American Wild Ale)
97. LOST ABBEY - The Angel's Share (American Strong Ale)
98. MASIA AGULLONS - Runa Ale (Brown Ale)
99. DE PROEF – Witte Noir (Imperial Amber Wheat)
100. THE BRUERY/CIGAR CITY – Maron Acidife (Flanders Oude Bruin)

MIKKELLER “BARREL-AGED CHIPOTLE PORTER”

It didn’t take much to get me ponying up a few sawbucks for this beer. It was brewed by the Danish wanderers at MIKKELLER on the premises of DE PROEF brewery in Belgium. De Proef, man. One of the world’s greatest brewers – the makers of ZOETZUUR FLEMISH ALE, WITTE NOIR, SIGNATURE ALE, LA GRANDE BLANCHE, MONSTRE ROUGE and so many others, either solo or in collaboration with other heavyweights. Just by brewing on their equipment, one might expect Mikkeller to have a little magic brewing pixie dust rub off and make for a fantastic ale, wouldn’t that be right? As it turns out, it’s right as rain and then some.

MIKKELLER made a smooth, creamy porter over there at De Proef, and they called it “BARREL-AGED CHIPOTLE PORTER”. It was aged in whiskey barrels, and usually that means something big and vicious, and yet BACP is clocking in only at a mere 6.6% alcohol. At first sip I was floored. This is absolutely delicious. While I can’t taste any “chipotle” or much south of the border spicing of any kind, what I am getting is a luscious, ABYSS-style dark concoction that’s drinkable and smooth let all get out. Nope, no chipotle. I kept looking for it, too. Just a fantastic porter that’ll stand against all comers and give ‘em a beatdown. 9/10.

BELL'S FABLED "HOPSLAM"

There are a few "Double" IPAs out there that really get tongues waggin' when they make their yearly appearance in bottles. The list seems to be morphing and changing as new brewers come online - your THE ALCHEMIST and whatnot - but one perrenial is BELL'S out of Michigan and their much-loved HOPSLAM. It only comes in 12-ounce bottles, so you've really got to sit down and savor it if you want to do it justice. I tried to my best the other evening, having scored one of these in a (gasp!) eBay purchase of IPAs I can't find within 100 miles of my house.

Way back when I reviewed this beer on my Hedonist Beer Jive blog - wow, 2007! It's been five years since I had my first  and only Hopslam. I cheekily called it a "great West Coast IPA", like the homer I am. I liked it almost as much half a decade later. It's a real bitter one, and it's redolent of pine and hop juice. No surprises here. Definitely a big one, but fairly approachable nonetheless. I'd probably call it a little less sassier than the RACER X I reviewed on Friday - that's a little more biting, if you can believe it - this one I think you could probably handle a few of and so could your mom. Maybe not the gold standard, but a pretty doggone good 'un nonetheless. 7.5/10

RACER X ON ATTACK - OK

Finding this beer sitting on a shelf was a pretty nice surprise this past week. BEAR REPUBLIC BREWING have done pretty well for themselves with Racer 5, a hoppy IPA that you'd think would be too strong for most palates, as their flagship. Here in the SF Bay Area, it's on tap handles pretty much everywhere. So RACER X, which I've tasted on draft a few times and reviewed not all that favorably here, was something I always thought was going to be in that Pliny The Younger sorta category - hauled out at festivals and on special occasions to get the beer-drinking hoi polloi all excited and stuff. Nope, it's bottled now. So I bought one, and here's what I thought.

Actually what I thought about this 22-ounce bottled version isn't all that significantly different than what I thought/think about the draft version, except that I like it better this time - a lot better. First of all, this Double IPA is great. It's hoppy, it's piney, and it's got a big-deal, throat-deep aftertaste that's strong but thankfully not harsh.The body's pretty thin, and you know what, there's almost no aroma to this thing - which is surprising given the strong and delicious taste of it. The foam from the initial pour lingered a long time and it just all tasted so fresh. RACER X is not the big tongue-bruiser some of its compadres are, but I'd be hard-pressed to imagine a lot of grandmas and schoolteachers going for it. Nope, us pound-packing double IPA lovers have us yet another bottled treasure to call our own. 8/10.

CAPTAIN LAWRENCE'S "GOLDEN DELICIOUS"

Remember where you were the first time you had a CAPTAIN LAWRENCE BREWING beer? I do. I bought a St. Vincent's Dubbel at the Spuyten Duyvil Grocery in Brooklyn, having never before heard of the brewer, only because the friendly "grocer" in this tiny beer store told me that they were one of New York's great ones. Or maybe a friend had told me to look for it. Jeez, I don't remember. I loved it, though - and then I loved their Imperial IPA even more than that, as well as a handful of other beers that knocked my socks off my ass. I got to traveling to NYC so much for work that I was getting more familiar with Captain Lawrence and Southern Tier beers than I was my own local stuff. Then the traveling stopped, and until this beer, I hadn't had a Cap'n L in well over a year.

This one's called GOLDEN DELICIOUS. It's a tripel aged in apple brandy barrels, and it's one of their seasonals that I reckon doesn't get around all that much. It may not be at the holy level of some of their other great beers, but their consistency in pumping out well-crafted, unique and delicious beers is matched only by a number of brewers I can count on my hands. This one pours a nice opaque orange, and is very high in carbonation. It has a little head of foam that disappeared very quickly. I definitely am tasting that apple; or to be more precise, apple skin. I think it's less a classic, yeasty Belgian tripel and more of a Belgian golden ale - a style classification that lets it be whatever the hell it wants to be. What it is is good, and well worth a try. 7.5/10.

CHECK OUT THIS BLACK DIAMOND "WHEAT WACKER"

Hello there folks, sorry if it's been a week since I rapped at ya - not for lack of wanting to, believe you me. I kept myself busy during the 7-day interregnum drinking this "WHEAT WACKER" from BLACK DIAMOND BREWING from out Walnut Creek way, in the area we West Bay types like to call the "deep East Bay" up here in Northern California. At one point in our lives, Beer Samizdat actually worked out in Walnut Creek for a couple of years, and once visited the Black Diamond gang for some happy hour libations. I don't remember any tastebud fireworks going off, but it was also in that sort of post-microbrew, pre-craft beer "quiet period" that engulfed the beer world from about 1998 to 2005.

Anyway, I saw this bottle on the shelf and my drink-local sensibilities kicked in. A very respectable effort it is across the board. WHEAT WACKER is an "India-Style Wheat" - hello, you had me at India. There's no head on it at all, and it has a bit of an eerie glow. Then you drink the thing. It's dry-hopped and yeasty, with a little spice in the backbite. Nice! It's advertised as Belgiany, and you know what, damn if it isn't. A Belgian india-style wheat ale with spices. And it tastes pretty good. Let there be rejoicing in the streets of leafy-green suburban Walnut Creek. 7/10.

BEER SAMIZDAT Q1 BEER CATCH-UP

You guys ever feel like you can't blog reviews of every single beer you've tasted fast enough? Oh, so it's not just me? Well I've got a cure for that on my end. Let's hit the "re-set" button and bring you up to date with a number of fine and perhaps less-than-fine ales I've tried out on your behalf the past month or so, stuff I haven't gotten around to capturing in solo reviews and yet which still deserve some pithy, if brief and poorly-captured, commentary. What do you say we take 'em high to low??

GOUDEN CAROLUS - "CUVEE VAN DE KAIZER BLAUW" -  This is a much-loved superstar Belgian strong dark ale I'd never had before a few weeks ago, despite reading tons of frothing love for it by many a beer dork. It's every bit as good as advertised, and a real dangerous head-pounder at 11% ABV if you're not splitting it with someone. Very sweet, with candied sugar leading the taste, as well as a clean maltiness/breadiness that soaks up some of that sugar and puts it to great use. Dates and plums, along with a toffee sweetness, round out the flavor. World class for sure. 9.5/10.

SIERRA NEVADA - "PERSIMMON FARMHOUSE ALE" - I'm going to have to craft a blog post soon about Sierra Nevada's currently amazing abilities in modern experimental beer-making, thirty-some-odd years after starting. Most of their new beers defy conventional explanations. They're fantastic. I had this last Friday night at the Pi Bar in San Francisco after being bummed-out by the Marin Brewing beers I was trying (it was "Marin night" there but the ones I tried were totally meh). Just a phenomenal fruit-forward, dry, aromatic, thirst-quenching farmhouse beer here. Great enough to be bottled and traded and hoarded. 9/10.

BIRRA DEL BORGO - "GENZIANA" - (Pictured above). Man, if these Italian craft beers weren't through the roof price-wise I'd absolutely buy more of them, particularly those from Birra Del Borgo. First NORA and now this! Genziana is fruity, light and savory; effervescent and carbonated to the max. Totally bubbly, complex and dare I say very European. A must-try, just save your shekels. 8.5/10

MIKKELLER - "I BEAT YOU" - An aromatic, ultra-hopped IPA from Norway yet brewed at Brewdog in Scotland. A real hard hop attack here, with citrus and not pine dominating. Really, smooth, with great lingering hops that just never seem to leave your mouth. Totally cries for a 22-ounce bottle instead of a 12. 8/10.

TELEGRAPH BREWING - "WINTER ALE" - Blinked and you totally missed this one (pictured). I nearly did. Even better than in years past, Telegraph's Mexican chocolate-infused Xmas ale has a thin body yet a malty, with almost a barleywine taste. They promise ancho chilies in the mix, and yep, you can taste 'em. They lend a firey kick to what's otherwise a cocoa/cinnamon winter ale. Unique and great like everything else Telegraph conjures up. 8/10.

DRAKE'S BREWING - "RED EYE" - Very drinkable and delicious hoppy red ale that I had at The Dark Horse Inn. I wasn't taking many notes, too busy shuckin' and jivin', but I did score it a 7.5/10.

GREEN FLASH BREWING - "WINTER'S FOLLY" - Not sure what the heck this was when I drank it during the just-passed SF Beer Week, but I know I liked it a lot. Turns out they're calling it an "American strong ale" over on Beer Advocate. Carbonated, crisp and complex, I kind of settled it being an imperial amber ale once I'd finished it, albeit a mysterious concoction straight from the magicians at Green Flash. Like Le Freak, it's pretty much its own thing. 7.5/10.

THE ALCHEMIST / STONE BREWING / NINKASI - "MORE BROWN THAN BLACK IPA" - Who would have thought after all the Stone collaboration beers I've been trying that the Japanese Green Tea IPA would end up being my favorite by a mile? This one's fine - a bitter, hoppy, brownish-black IPA with dark caramel taste as well as a fairly astringent aftertaste. It's smoky, almost, with no hint of citrus. Totally grew on me after a bumpy start. 7/10.

ITHACA BREWING  - "ALPHALPHA" - A weird one. Bitter, like an IPA should be I reckon, but not in a good way. It not only lacks abrasiveness - which is fine - but pleasing balance and tastes that really register. There's supposed to be honey in here. Not finding it. Pass. 6/10.

DRAKE'S BREWING - "1500" - A pale ale I've had before and liked about as much as this one. Good for conversation and time-passing, but you'll forget everything about it five minutes later. 6/10.

MARIN BREWING - "ABBEY DUBBEL" - Can't fathom how this passed QA. A weak, lifeless and off-putting Belgian dubbel that falls so far below Marin's normal quality standard that I'm wondering if this is some intern's homebrew instead. 5/10.

MIDNIGHT SUN - "KOLSCH" - Is it me, Midnight Sun? I'm at the point where I'm pretty sure it's you. I just don't like this Anchorage brewery's beers, I just don't, across the board. Their kolsch is chalky, dry, and with an initial fruit bouquet that promises good things and then delivers absolutely no follow-through. Not quenching at all, and actually a chore to get through. 4/10.

THE ALCHEMIST "HEADY-TOPPER"

Did something the other day I'd once said I wouldn't do. I bought beer on eBay. Yep, eBay. After all the shouting last year about how unethical it was that four or five people were selling rare bottles for markup prices on this site, instead of this trade slinking away into its hole, it absolutely exploded. Go ahead, search on eBay for a beer you can't find and want to try. Is it there? Is bidding through the roof, or are things still within the realm of the sane? I bet on the latter, now that the market is settling into something approaching normalcy. I decided to emulate Dave over at Drunken Polack and try to bring some things into my home that I'd never taste otherwise. Top of my list was one of the most-hyped imperial IPAs I've ever seen, "HEADY-TOPPER" from small Vermont brewer THE ALCHEMIST.

I bid on a batch of four highly-regarded IPAs that we can't get on the west coast, with the others being from Bell's, Surly and New England Brewing. You'll be reading about them here in due time. I'm totally delighted to tell you, in case you didn't know it already, that Heady Topper is the real deal. What a great IPA. Not boozy at all - just a creamy, hoppy, yellowish-orange study in balance and flavor. It's fruity and smooth like you wouldn't believe. Even comes in a can. Currently #7 on the Beer Advocate Top 100 list. (I'm ready to sell a kidney for #8, the Kern River Citra DIPA). A total credit to a sometimes paint-by-numbers style; you'll know upon smelling this and tasting it that it's something special. Time to start stockpiling that Paypal account. 9/10.

REPORTING FROM THE FRONT @ SF BEER WEEK ‘12

Last year I surprised even myself and made the scene at San Francisco’s annual beer-related hullabaloo, and found out later that I was one of the lucky ones to have a great experience at the Opening Night event (“the gala”), since I greedily paid a few extra coins to get an early admission ticket. The rest of the people – the rabble, the hoi polloi – had to wait in ungodly lines to even enter the door, and some missed half the event and many of the best beers before they even got in. This year the folks planning this thing out knew better. They held it at a giant hall called the Concourse Exhibition Center, where I’ve been to mobile industry trade shows and Belle & Sebastian concerts in the past. They kept ticket prices high to, you know, keep out the riff-raff. (Kidding folks – I paid dearly for the privilege of this thing & now I’m on ramen and tater tots the rest of the week).

Just about every beer-drinking yahoo and his brother in attendance will tell you the thing was a smashing success. No fistfights, public defecation, vomiting, copulation on top of garbage cans, nor broken glass of any kind. I didn’t have to keep my elbows tucked into my sides, and I tasted all manner of amazing beers from across the greater SF Bay Area, from Humboldt County to Santa Cruz. The organizers deserve huge kudos for doing this right. They divided up sections of the exhibition center into North Bay/South Bay/East Bay/San Francisco so you could taste by region, if you were so inclined. As it so happened, I was so inclined. I also had a banh mi sandwich as good as any I’ve ever had, including from back in my days as a parachute gunner fighting "Charlie" back in Danang. ‘Nam, man. Let’s not talk about ‘Nam.

Most reports I’ve seen on last Friday’s event have centered on the civility, the camaraderie and the fun they had drinking untold quantities of great beer. I’ll raise them one, and even let you know what beers to look out for and maybe even avoid. Yep, Beer Samizdat took some notes. We always do. That’s why we have no friends. My goal was the hit as many of the new brewers whose wares I hadn’t tried yet as I could. My other goal was to not get drunk, and I mostly succeeded. As the night unfolded and began to take on epic proportions, I strayed from both plans and began trying new beers from old favorites, as well as certain beers I’d had before but am likely to never try again.

Here’s what I tasted, broken into helpful categories for ya:

THE OUTSTANDING

Sierra Nevada – “Brown Saison” (wood-aged, red wine-dosed brown ale that was to die for)

Bear Republic – “Ryevalry”

Devils Canyon Brewing – “Biere Brut” (effervescent blonde champagne-like ale – wow)

THE VERY GOOD

Speakeasy Brewing – “Massacre”

Dying Vines – “Hop Candi”

Devils Canyon Brewing – “Sour Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale”

San Francisco Brewer’s Guild “2012 St. Strong Ale” (collaboration beer between SF brewers, made just for the occasion)

Sonoma Springs – “Uncle Jack’s Kolsch”

Firehouse Brewing/Highwater Brewing – “St Belgique” (collaboration)
Moonlight Brewing – “Pale Ale” (another simple winner from a brewery who never lets me or anyone else down)
Almanac Brewing – “Summer 2010 Blackberry” (last kegs!!)
Southern Pacific Brewing – “Extra IPA”  (Brand new SF brewer)
PacBrew Labs – “Nautilus Saison”  (another brand-new SF brewer; formerly known as Hibiscus Saison; lead brewer Bryan Hermanson is pictured above pouring this concoction)  

THE MIDDLING

Lagunitas – “Fusion”  (made just for Beer Week as well; surprisingly off-balance and only moderately drinkable)

THE POOR

San Francisco Brewer’s Guild – “California Common 2011” (one of my favorite beers last year; after aging a year it’s one of my least in 2012. See folks – aging doesn’t always bring dividends. Drink it now!)

Magnolia – “Kalifornia Kolsch”