Jay’s Refrigerator Emptying Beer Party II

Back in March, a lot of people in the beer scene got together to remember our late friend Bill Brand.  It was a good time, and suitable memorial to quite a man.  Unfortunately, some beers had been sent from Upstream Brewing in Nebraska, Bill’s home state, to be enjoyed in remembrance of Bill, but didn’t quite make it in time for the memorial.  I would have felt horrible if I had selfishly drank the beers on my own, so I contacted some friends of Bills in the North Bay and we organized a date and time to drink the beers that had been sent to me.  As it happened, the memorial morphed into something much bigger, which I am sure Bill would have enjoyed. 

As most of us were scattered around the North Bay we decided that Jay’s house would be the best place to have our little get together.  With an eye towards the pending summer sun, Jay took the opportunity to not only drink the 4 beers I received from Upstream, but also to clear out his sizable collection of beer before the heat ruined some rather wonderful beer.

The Black Bin: Common Imported

In attendance was an impressive list of local beer folk:  Peter Slosberg of Pete’s Wicked fame Sean Paxton aka The Homebrew Chef, Christian Kazakoff, head brewer at iron springs Pub and Brewery, Melissa Myers, guest brewer extraordinaire, Rick Sellers, beer Director for Draft Magazine, Jesse Friedman of Beer and Nosh, Rob Denunzio or Pfiff! and of course our host, Jay Brooks of Brookston Beer Bulletin and soon of Bottom’s Up.

The setup was fun and provided some excitement through the afternoon.  We were presented with a colored die and told to roll to determine which bin of beer we were allowed to choose from:

• Yellow – Belgian
• Green – Big Bottle
• Red – Rare, unusual, far away
• White – Extra Special Rare
• Black – Less Rare, Imported
• Blue – Less Rare, Domestic

The coveted white bin

There was one catch.  We all wanted the white bin.  Sadly, this bin wasn’t nearly as full as some of the others, so it would take more than a white roll of the die, it would take two.

Below you’ll get a list of the beers we went through.  I attempted to keep track of which bin each came from, but as the beer began to flow, the wave of bottles simply kept coming and I did my best to simply keep an accurate roster.  I apologize if some of the names are a little inaccurate, as the bottles’ labels weren’t always the easiest to read.

1. Russian River Perdition
2. Oppinger’s Golden Ale
3. Schwelmer Hefe
4. Bos Keun
5. Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour
6. Fonteinen Oude Kriek
7. Morrisey Fox Blonde Ale
8. New Glarus Alt
9. Abbaye d’Aulne Brune de Peres
10. Longshot Cranberry Wit
11. Hogsback T.E.A.
12. Hebrew Genesis 10:10
13. Deschutes Dissident
14. Lost Abbey Angel’s Share
15. Lost Abbey Red Barn
16. Longshot Imperial IPA
17. Left Hand/Terrapin Terra-ryezd
18. BJ’s Saison du Portland
19. Upstream Gueze Lambic
20. Oskar Blues Momma Lil Yella Pils
21. New Glarus Unplugged
22. Upstream Batch 1000 Barleywine
23. Gouden Carolous Cuvee de Keizer 2006
24. Upstream Grand Cru
25. Russian River Damnation 23
26. Onetangi Dark Ale
27. Cournovaille Ville D’ys
28. Reinhart Flemish Wild Ale
29. Upstream Belgian Tripel
30. Jesse Friedman’s Homebrew Wit
31. Trader Joe’s Vintage 2006
32. Westvleteren 8
33. Westvleteren 12

Quite a list, but I did manage a few notes on a handful of beers.

• 

  The Blue Bin: Common Domestic

  The Longshot Cranberry Wit surprised me as a light brew with a fruity spice and rather tasty.

• Hebrew Genesis 10:10 was my second pick.  This was an excellent beer that had aged fantastically.
• I heard so much about Lost Abbey Angel’s Share and it did not disappoint.  Had to have 2-3 samples.  What?  There was beer in the bottle still.  The next brew was also from Lost Abbey, their Red Barn brew.  Barnyard, indeed.
• One beer I had an eye on and got a chance to try was Sam Adam’s Longshot Imperial IPA, a Pliny clone.  This brew tastes very rough.  Jesse Friedman of Beer and Nosh commented that this beer, amazingly, tastes a lot like homebrew.  Interesting.
• BJ’s Saison du Portland 2007 was spicy, light, dry and tasty.  Never been to a BJ’s but as a chain restaurant/brewery I really didn’t expect much.
• The first toast to Bill Brand was Upstream’s Gueze Lambic.  this was a tart and tasty brew that was well received by all.
• New Glarus Unplugged was an apple ale.  Light and sweet, and soda pop like. Comments were made that it could pass for a non-alcoholic beverage.
• The second Bill Brand toast was Upstream Batch 1000 Barleywine.  This was a very tasty, nice Barleywine, my favorite from Upstream.
• Gouden Carolous Cuvee de Keizer 2006 – Ironically, this is a beer I had the first time I met Bill Brand. Rather approriate.
• Bill brand toast #3 was Upstream Grand Cru: very biting and tart. Sour.
• The first double white roll was thrown by Pete and the table erupted.  He chose as the first brew Russian River Damnation 23.  I was given a hard time as a Santa Rosa native who had had this a few times and wasn’t as excited as the rest of the table.
• Onetangi Dark Ale – Extremely sour. tangy for sure. I dumped it. Not everyone’s favorites.
• The final toast to Bill brand was Upstream’s Belgian Tripel. This was considered the least favorite of the 4 Upstreams by the group. Just wasn’t to style and missed the mark.
• Westvleteren 8 and 12 finished my afternoon.

Westvleteren 8 (left) and 12 (right)

As I was set to leave, I made a plea to try the Westvleteren 12.  Everyone was willing to go along with this request when Pete spoke up.  How can you try the 12without having the 8 to go along side it.  Pete, you are brilliant!  So as it was, I was able to try both the 8 and 12.  I was only able to get an ounce or so of each, so I didn’t get the full impact of these beers, but what I did taste was phenominal.  These aren’t beers that will wow you with weird and wild ingredients, but the quality of the brew that has been perfected after decades of repetition is absolutely amazing.  I will have to track down a full pour of either of these in the future.

Westvleteren bottle caps

Along with all the beer, there was some great food to go with it.  Sean brought a duck breast pate made with Chimay red that I couldn’t stay away from.  Melissa brought a chestnut leaves wrapped blue cheese that went great with just about every beer it seemed.  There were ther great items on the table, but I feel this post is already running long.  To all in attendance, thanks for the great food and company, and Jay, thanks for the beer.

But my night wasn’t over.  Wes made it into town for the night, and we know how those go.  I’ll tell that story tomorrow.