Beltway Beer

The short answer is: NO!

First, a confession. I am not a huge fan of IPAs. Stone, I can’t handle. Sierra Nevada, not my thing. Some people go nuts for those super-bitter, piney tongue-shredders like Ruination, but not I. For a while, I thought maybe it was a gender thing. Maltier is generally sweeter. Ladies like sweets. Or maybe IPAs just aren’t that into me. Then I discovered Victory’s HopDevil and fell in love.

Statistically speaking, HopDevil’s bitterness level is somewhere in the upper-middle of the pack, according to the amount of IBUs it has. (IBU = International Bitterness Unit, a unit of measurement that describes how bitter a beer is, based on the amount and quality of hops used.) Hopdevil has 68 IBUs. Compare this to Three Floyds’ Dreadnaught (100 IBUs), or your average American swill beer, which will have between 8 – 10 IBUs. I actually am a little surprised that HopDevil is this high in IBU counts considering my preferences, and I chalk that up to how incredibly well-balanced it is against its malt backbone.

At any rate, I love this beer. For years I didn’t think I’d find another IPA I could love quite as much. Then earlier this year, I discovered fresh hopped (or wet hopped) beers, which gave me some hope. These IPAs are full of super hop flavor, and yet not horribly bitter. See my post about my experience here.

Then, last night, I found a true contender for the HopDevil’s crown: Bell’s Hopslam, weighing in at 100 IBUs and 10 percent ABV. I’m actually shocked at the IBUs on this beer, considering how smoothly it went down last night. Great resiny, grapefruit hop aroma that’s echoed 100% in the taste, and yet… it wasn’t knock-your-teeth-out bitter (hence the answer to the question posed in the subject). Very clean, dangerously smooth-drinking beer that hides the bite of a 10% ABV very well.

Unfortunately what it won’t take out of your palate, it will claim from your wallet: It’s such a limited-release beer that a 6-pack will run you $25 here in the DC area. Extremely limited release. Bell’s will only distribute a set amount of cases per metro area (I heard last year St. Louis only got 6).

So far, Hopslam is expected to be carried at Whole Foods (P St & Clarendon), Rodman’s, Wine Specialist, DeVinos/D’Vines, Chevy Chase Wine and Pete’s New Haven.

HopDevil still holds my top IPA spot. But Hopslam gave it a run for its money.

(Update: Wine Specialist hasn’t gotten theirs yet, but hope to by Thursday.)

Looks like Victory will soon be introducing a new beer, what they call a “Dark IPA.” From Victory’s blog, via the DC Beer mailing list:

Featuring four hops from America’s heartland of hop-growing, the Yakima Valley of Washington State, our new Yakima Twilight serves as a celebration of American hops. “I thought of hop farmers as I formulated this beer. I wanted to create a malty platform to showcase the intense flavors and aromas that these dedicated hop-farmers have developed in their wonderful hops.” stated Ron Barchet, CEO and co-brewmaster of Victory.

Full release here.

I am an avowed fan of Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing; they make two of my all-time favorite beers and I’ve rarely had something of theirs that I didn’t like. So I was excited when I dropped by Schneider’s of Capitol Hill not too long ago and saw a limited release Victory beer called “Wild Devil.”

It’s based off of one of those two beers they make that I really love, the Hop Devil IPA. I’m not much of an IPA drinker usually, the palate-shredding aspects of some of them put me off. I prefer sweeter, maltier beers, or complex tasting Belgians. But Hop Devil, for me, strikes the perfect balance. Wild Devil, as you might have guessed, is a derivative of Hop Devil, basically mixing Hop Devil with strains of Brettanomyces yeast (often just called “brett”).

I admit, I wasn’t familiar with Brett yeast (I’m generally fairly ignorant of brewing processes — add that to my list of things to read up on), so I started poking around Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia: “In most beer styles, Brettanomyces is viewed as a contaminant and the characteristics it imparts are considered unwelcome ‘off-flavours.’”

Yikes.

However, in some styles, particularly certain traditional Belgian ales, it is appreciated and encouraged. Lambic and gueuze owe their unique flavour profiles to Brettanomyces, and it is also found in Oud Bruin and Flanders red ale. Commercial examples of these styles include Liefmans Brown Ale, Rodenbach Grand Cru, and Duchesse de Bourgogne. The Orval Trappist monastery is unique in crafting the only Trappist beer with Brettanomyces characteristics. In Orval’s case, the brewers add the yeast to the beer at bottling.

Okay. Now I feel better. Victory’s Jim Busch, who helped dream up the thing, tells me that the Wild Devil I was coveting uses their Hop Devil IPA as a base, and crosses it with the Brett yeast, which gives certain Belgian styles their sour funk. Interesting.

The beer pours into a big, round, bubbly head, very fluffy and frothy and reminiscent of a Belgian. ENORMOUS amounts of carbonation leaves huge bubbles pressed up against the glass. It pours an attractive peachy-orange blossom color, not quite as dark as the Hop Devil. The aroma springs from the glass, all citrus, light grassy hops and sour yeast — maybe reminiscent of plain yogurt. Flavor-wise, the hops are significantly mellowed, particularly on the finish. Very mellow, slick, slightly sour/bitter finish that’s very plainly from the Brett. It doesn’t at all taste like an IPA, even one as balanced as the Hop Devil. And yet it doesn’t taste anything like a sour geuze, which isn’t my favorite style.

This beer is completely different from the Hop Devil — if I hadn’t read anything about it before I put glass to lips, I’d never have known it was based off Victory’s flagship IPA. Frankly, I’m not sure what to think about this one. I enjoyed it, and it was certainly interesting, but not really what I expected. Maybe something closer to a Belgian IPA, a style I don’t have much experience with.

The reviews I’ve seen of Wild Devil have been mixed, I suspect for the same reasons that I found myself at the bottom of the glass still trying to decide what I thought about the beer: it’s just so different. One reviewer at BeerAdvocate compared it to Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA, which is pretty well-regarded, while another one described the smell as “Dusty aspirin, a little cat pee?” Ack.

Overall an enjoyable beer that challenged my expectations and pushed the limits of my palate, which made for an interesting experience if nothing else. It perhaps didn’t completely hit the mark, but I’m glad Victory is up for trying.

The winners have been announced for the annual Great American Beer Fest, and there are some great choices in here (as well as some local folks who should get props). Highlights:

The first place winner for the “Coffee Flavored Beer” category was Arlington’s Rock Bottom Brewery, for its “Dude! Where’s my Vespa?”

Delaware’s Dogfish Head, which exults in weird and exotic beers, took first and second place in the “Specialty Beer” category, for “Chateau Jiahu,” a beer based on the chemical properties found on preserved pottery jars found in the Neolithic village of Jiahu, in northern China (fermented rice, honey and fruit), and “Palo Santo Marron.”

Frederick, Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery took home the gold in the category of “Aged Beers” for its Horn Dog Vintage 2007, in the category of Marzens for its “Dogtoberfest,” and in the category of Imperial Stouts for its “Gonzo Imperial Porter.”

I also have to mention the habitually underrated St. Arnold’s Brewing in my hometown of Houston, which took first place in the category of Munich-style Helles, for its “Saint Arnold Summer Pils,” as well as Pennsylvania’s Troegs, which took home the gold in the Bock category for its very excellent “Troegenator.”

Over the past couple days, I’ve cracked open a few more of my Oktos: Paulaner, Penn Brewing and Hacker-Pschorr. I’ll take them in that order. But first, a little trivia about Oktoberfest. The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich, on Oct. 18, 1810, to commemorate the marriage of Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. Only breweries located inside Munich are allowed to sponsor a “beer tent” inside the Oktoberfest grounds; this includes Spaten, Lowenbrau, Augustiner, Hofbrau, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.

Paulaner

Paulaner pours a lovely light amber-color, almost an orange-blossom. Finally, a beer that actually looks like an Oktoberfest! The head is creamy and soapy and fades quickly to a thin cap. The aroma is fairly subdued although you can pick up some sweet spices and earthy undertones. But let’s get down to business. Of all the Oktoberfests I’ve had so far, this one is the most thirst-quenching. It has a very “slick” and creamy feel that makes it awfully easy to put away, despite the fact that it’s 5.8% ABV. It tastes faintly of caramel and a light hop biterness; the alcohol isn’t very well disguised and occasionally comes through as sharp unfortunately. Not very complex, but highly, highly drinkable, and ultimately that’s what you want in a sweaty bier tent.

Penn Brewery

Penn’s Oktoberfest pours a medium-amber, almost a tan really, on the darker side of most Oktoberfest brews, but the orange highlights are definitely there. Very light carbonation produces a soapy, cream-colored head that practically vanishes as soon as it’s poured. It’s almost like an afterthought. This beer smells great, though — I mean great, like toasted caramel, maybe even toffee notes, with a bready, biscuity yeast smell. But for as great as it smells, the taste was really disappointing. It’s slightly sour, maybe a hint of bubble gum, and a really offputting soapy/astringent aftertaste. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. The soapy mineral taste fades somewhat as the beer warms, but not enough to save it. Finishes very dry. It’s a shame because this is one of the more complex Oktoberfests I’ve had so far this year, the execution just wasn’t there I suppose.

Hacker-Pschorr

That brings me to Hacker-Pschorr, which now takes the lead for my favorite Oktoberfest in 2009. It pours a really, really pretty, brilliant copper-amber, with very light carbonation, and a soapy off-white head that fades quickly to a cap, like most of the style. The nose is very subtle, some bready yeast and maybe a slight malty sweetness laced with a nutty aroma, but really very subdued. Holy crap, though, it tastes great. Huge malt flavor up front, balanced with a slight resiny hop bitterness on the finish. It’s light-bodied, without being thin, with a very nice, creamy texture that makes it extremely drinkable. Two thumbs up for Hacker-Pschorr this year.

The New York Times reviews a German restaurant in Bethel, N.Y. which, incidentally, serves Schlenkerla rauchbier, mentioned in my first entry.

This seems like a decent time to run down the Oktoberfests currently crowding my refrigerator:

• Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen
  Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest-Marzen
  Hofbrau Munchen
  Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen
  Penn Oktoberfest
  Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Marzen
  Weihenstephaner Festbier

I haven’t sampled all of them yet, and I’ll likely be adding more (probably at least Victory and maybe Stoudt’s and Bell’s if I can find them). But so far my unofficial (and possibly temporary) favorite is Hofbrau, which does not at all look like an Oktoberfest should; it’s almost a light straw color, rather than the traditional orange-amber color usually associated with Oktoberfests. The folks at BeerAdvocate seem to think it tastes more like a Helles lager, which I usually like a lot. That might explain my initial high grade for the beer.