Let me start off by saying that this beer was “donated” to me by an amazing fellow named Wade Howard, aka Wade5614 on Beer Advocate. To be more specific, he sent me the Dark Lord glass , a bunch of Kuhnhenn beers, a Kuhnhenn Mead, and a 2009 Bourbon County Stout. For no reason. Truly a class act. I owe him big time, but for the time being a shout out on my little website is the least I can do. Thanks so much, Wade!

Down to business: this beer is Kuhnhenn’s Barrel Aged Solar Eclipse. Clocking in at a whopping 18%, this beer has “aged well” from the time it was brewed according to the label. Kuhnhenn is one of my favorite breweries because most of their beers are huge. Like, above 13% huge. Sure, they have a normal lineup of smaller beers, but they are known for producing a bunch of gigantic beers on a regular basis that almost always satisfy their  fans’ taste buds (including mine). I’ve never had this beer, and I am super excited to try it.

APPEARANCE

I’m not going to lie to you, it’s hard to write something original for all these imperial stouts. It’s black. It had a mocha head that went away super fast. It has alcohol legs on the side of the glass. Reviewing is easy!

SMELL

Every time I take a whiff I mentally say the phrase “My body is ready”. Seriously, I’m not just saying that to be funny. There’s so much going on, yet it  remains familiar. Tons of malt, tons of raisin and caramel, and all kinds of roast and coffee that just get me all quivery. There is a little bit of chocolate and vanilla, and the bourbon comes through at the end of the nose. It’s amazing how balanced this beer smells. There’s very little booze on the nose, but there’s no mistaking that this is a big boy. It reminds me a lot of Bourbon County on the nose. In other words, yum.

TASTE

While there wasn’t much chocolate on the nose, the taste is a pure cacao extravaganza. It’s a lot more bitter than I was expecting, but not necessarily a hoppy kind of bitter. It’s more like intense dark coffee and roasted malt bitter. That isn’t to say there is no sweetness in this beer, because there is a good amount of sweet vanilla and caramel at the back of the tongue. There is a lot of that raisin goodness, and some toffee notes. There is a good amount of heat that creeps up on you, but does it taste 18%? Hecky naw. It feels more like a 14% beer… which admittedly is still really high, but some beers over 12% tend to taste more like liqueur rather than beer. This does not. I really could go on and on about how complex this beer is. I can’t even think of anything funny to write it’s so good.

MOUTHFEEL

This is just about a perfect mouthfeel for a beer with such girth. It’s big, but not like a milkshake. It’s definitely not as thick as, say, Bourbon County. It have just enough carbonation to cut it down on the tongue. To be perfectly honest, this beer is down right easy-drinking… What the hell? Nobody told me an 18% beer would be easy to take to the dome.

OVERALL

Kuhnhenn is a tiny brewery that somehow can afford to age their staple beers for years at a time. This beer was brewed in 2009 and wasn’t released until 2012. How can such a small brewery afford the room to keep an entire batch of beer laying around for 3 years? However they do it, I am thankful because this is one incredible stout. It’s not the end-all-be-all stout aged in bourbon barrels, but it’s definitely worth seeking out and getting a bottle. Just don’t do what I did and take a whole bottle to the dome. Share it! I need to go to sleep now.

SCORE: ★★★★4.5/5 (I can’t make a half star)

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Sometimes I luck out and fumble my way into tastings that are balling out of control. Last night, Cam Harris hosted a 5 course dinner with pairings along the way. Most of the pairings were Hill Farmstead saisons. It was a great night, so I’m going to keep the text to a minimum and the photos to a maximum.

First course - cheese spead. This was paired with Biere de Norma, Anna, and Florence.

Appetizer course - stuffed tomatoes, stuffed poblano peppers, and turkey meatballs paired with Anna, Florence, Arthur, and blue label Arthur

Appetizer detail

Salad Course - paired with Abraxas and Hunahpu's Imperial Stout (blind tasting - Abraxes won unanimously)

Main Course - sweet potatoes, carrot soup, and pork medalions paired with Flora, Art, and Ann.

Dessert course - cheesecake paired with Civil Disobedience 5 and Birth of a Tragedy served with mint chocolate ice cream.

The aftermath. Other beers were opened as you can see.

Man, you remember when saisons weren’t made by tiny breweries from Vermont and made up a good chunk of everyone’s best of list? It’s like you had to go to Belgium to get a good saison, and this one from Fantôme was (and still is) one of the most highly rated examples of the style. I got this bottle all the way from Belgium via the glorious internet, cracked it open, and did what every good beer geek does; took diligent notes. This fella clocks in at 8% ABV.

Appearance

The beer is getting its sais on (get it?). It pours a lovely hazy straw color with a huge white head. The lacing was ghostly throughout the whole session. It just hung around and stared at me while I wasn’t looking at it, then would turn away as soon as I faced it like those ghosts in Super Mario World. Nerdy ghost references? I got’em.

Smell

Whoa, this beer has some crazy earthy-smokiness going on. There is a slight funkiness and hay-like aroma, almost like Brettanomyces character. There’s a lot of Belgian spice, coriander, and even some black pepper. Right at the end there’s a touch of lemon and citrus. There is very little alcohol on the nose considering this is 8% ABV. Other than that odd smoke aroma, it smells pretty typical of a good saison.

Taste

Ok. Alright, so… Ok. First thing I notice is intense smokey-earthiness, bitter and almost like burnt rubber. It’s actually a little unpleasant . It’s followed by some typical saison character – spice, pepper, lemongrass, hay, and citrus zest. Even though it starts off fairly harsh, it ends beautifully on the tongue. It goes through this weird transition from being unpleasant to being quite enjoyable in the short time it takes to take a sip of this beer.

Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel is what separates saisons from other styles. This particular beer is a prime example. It is effervescent, dry, and drinkable. It drinks more like 4% than 8%, so it’s no struggle taking a whole 750ml bottle to the dome. That can be either a good thing or a bad thing but, hey, I’m not here to judge you over whatever you do after drinking an 8% saison.

Overall

The word on the street is that this particular batch is exceptionally smokey compared to this beer’s usual flavor. Bearding that in mind, this is my first time trying this beer so I’m not in a big hurry to grab another bottle any time soon. It starts off with an intense industrial bulldozer of flavor and ends like a memory-foam pillow. It doesn’t blow me away, yet keeps me drinking.  This is a nice saison, but I wouldn’t go crazy trying to get your hands on a bottle – which is fortunate because it doesn’t last too long on the shelves if and when it makes it there. You could almost say it becomes a phantom.

SCORE: ★★★ 3/5

All joking aside, this is not an event that you’ll want to miss. There will be some beers available that are tough to find anywhere else – trust me when I say that. There will also be a bunch of your favorite beers from all of those Midwest breweries that make people on the coasts jealous.

Get your tickets today!

Join the Montessori School of Dayton for our 2nd annual Brew Ha-Ha craft beer event. It will be a great time to make a few new friends, enjoy a few laughs, taste a few amazing craft beers (and a few great soft drinks as well!) and enjoy some tasty food.

The Brew Ha-Ha (adults only) takes place January 26th from 6-10 pm. Tickets are $30 per person in advance and $35 the night of the event. Attendees receive 10 drink tickets along with a commemorative tasting pint glass. Additional tickets can be purchased at the door for $1 each. Also be sure to purchase raffle tickets to win prizes the night of the event. Proceeds benefit the MSD Capital Improvement fund for the purchase of a new gymnasium floor.

Like our first year, we will concentrate on Midwest craft breweries and offer an opportunity to learn about craft brewing and the wide variety of beer types and brewing styles. Come sample some of the midwest’s finest craft breweries — Brew Kettle, Rivertown, Hoppin’ Frog, Bell’s, New Holland, Troegs, Dark Horse, Founders, Two Brothers, Jolly Pumpkin and more!

We will also be offering on-site beer sales after the event on any opened cases. This will be a fun way to build your ideal six pack of craft beers from the evening.

Please feel free to invite your friends and families to join. Space is limited so get your tickets early!

For the first review of 2013, I decided to pick a beer called Adam (get it? ADAM! Like the first man ever!?). Adam from Hair of the Dog is kind of like an old ale, and kinda like an imperial stout. It’s smoked, bottle-conditioned, and 10% ABV which means it’s totally ageable. It’s also the first beer that HOTD ever made all the way back in 1994. This bottle is batch 84 (brewed on 10-11-11, bottled on 1-12-12) which makes it just over a year old at the time of drinking.

From the HOTD website:

Adam is a recreation of a historic beerstyle. Originally made in Dortmunder, Germany, it was the first beer I produced when I opened Hair of the Dog. Rich in flavor, Adam is best served as a dessert beer. It is great with chocolate or cigars, or just a warm fire and good company. It has 10% alcohol by volume and 50 IBUs.

APPEARANCE

This beer looks… well, like an imperial stout more than anything. It’s pretty much dark brown, almost black. It has a huge latte-colored head that sits like a pillow on top. Bottle conditioning makes the head on beers look delicious. I totally support the way they make smaller bubbles. I mean, just look at it. LOOK AT IT!

SMELL

The smell of this beer is as complex as a “you know what” or whatever the kids these days say. There’s a bunch of maltiness, some smoke, chocolate, slight charcoal, and just smidge of alcohol. It’s seriously satisfying just to sniff this beer. It’s almost like having a meal delivered via my nostrils. It’s unique, and if I had to put a style to it I’d put it somewhere between an imperial stout and an old ale. Just typing that last sentence out makes me get all hot and bothered. I can’t wait to French kiss dat glass.

TASTE

All of the complexities from the nose are here, plus some more for good measure. It’s a very, very unique beer. Again, it tastes like something between an imperial stout and an old ale. Tons of maltiness hits the palate, and is followed by roasted malt and chocolate. There is a lot more smokiness than the nose would lead me to believe, and it works beautifully. It’s just a little smoke that lingers on the tongue rather than sucking on a campfire like other smoked beers. There’s a good amount of bitterness to balance out the sweet aspects of this beer. There’s a bit of leather and nutty dark fruits that make this beer even more complex. It’s a really good beer made by a really good brewery, str8up.

MOUTHFEEL

This beer is, oddly, very carbonated. I’ve heard that the carbonation levels of HOTD beers fluctuate quite a bit, but this being only the 2nd Adam I’ve encountered I can’t speak for that. It’s very prickly on the tongue, which masks the rather large body of this beer pretty well. It reminds me of St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, though nowhere near as ridiculously carbonated. As it sits in the glass it sort of opens up and doesn’t have that prickly aspect as much. I will say that this is remarkably drinkable for being so high in alcohol. Takin’ to the dome ain’t no thang, but it’s big enough to sip and enjoy for awhile.

OVERALL

This beer rocks. It’s one of those beers that could be served with something like BBQ ribs, or along side some postachio ice cream; it just works on so many levels. It definitely reminds me of an imperial stout, though it’s unique enough to not even be close to one… if that makes sense. The fact of the matter is that every cellar should have a few of these bas boys tucked away. I would love to try this beer aged as I’ve only had it on the fresh side of things, but I can safely say that fresh or not the beer is on point. Get you some.

SCORE: ★★★★ 4.5/5 (I can’t make half of a star)

Recently, my pal Gus from Professional Beer Reviews decided to crack open the vertical he had been working on, plus a few of the earlier vintages and a couple of barrel-aged Derk Lerds for extra brutality. Thanks, Gus! Gus is working on a video for the tasting, so make sure you check it out when it comes out!

THE LINEUP

Dark Lord Vertical – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord (2012)
Cognac Barrel Aged Dark Lord De Muerte (aged with ancho and guajillo chili peppers) (2012)
Plus a bunch of other incredible beers (more on that later)

TASTING NOTES

2006 Dark Lord (gold wax)

The oldest vintage of the night, this is beginning to show signs of oxidation. This was probably the most soy-sauce forward of all the vintages, but surprisingly not in an unpleasant way. There was a crazy amount of licorice and dark fruits on the tongue, and it had some really intense bitter chocolate. It reminded me of really high cocoa chocolate, like 80% and up. It wasn’t nearly as sweet as some of the other vintages, and there was a little bit of cardboard that muted the flavors a bit. The mouthfeel was on the medium-thick side. Overall, one of the better vintages even with the oxidation/soy sauce factor.  3/5

2007 Dark Lord (silver wax)

The first thing I noticed was the lack of soy sauce compared to the ’06, though it did have an almost soy bean/squash aroma and flavor. The nose had a spicy character that reminded me of black pepper or Belgian yeast (weird!).  There was an odd soap-like flavor that was noticeable and sort of unpleasant. This one had tons of bitter chocolate, and probably had the least amount of dark fruit character of any of the vintages. There was quite a bit of roast left, as well as some lingering astringency. This felt a lot thicker than the 2006 bottle. A lot of people at the tasting said that this was their favorite of the night. 3/5

Behind The Scenes (Photo credit: Gus)

2008 Dark Lord (black wax)

This vintage had a wonderful nose, and in fact was probably the best aroma of all the vintages. There was some slight heat, but it had some really nice notes of milk chocolate and raisins. The taste was very comparable to the nose – lots of Belgian milk chocolate and dark fruits, almost like chocolate covered raisins. This was the vintage that started the transition from a dark chocolate flavor to the milk chocolate flavor in younger vintages. Perhaps one of the most balanced of all the vintages, this had a great mouthfeel that left your mouth feeling like you just took a bite of a chocolate bar. I am venturing the guess that this vintage is at it’s peak right now – drink up! 4/5

2009 Dark Lord (white wax)

Like the 2007, this one had a weird soapy aroma that wasn’t exactly pleasant. There was a good amount of soy sauce in this one, but honestly only the ’06 and ’09 had that flavor contrary to the popular opinion that this beer is comparable to Kikkoman. This had more milk chocolate than previous years, and it was the first bottle that I noticed some coffee on the tongue. There was a good amount of licorice and a bit of roastiness left over, as well as a little bit of booze on the tongue. Side note – what’s up with the label this year? It looks different than all the others. Weird. 3/5

2010 Dark Lord (green wax)

This one stood out the most compared to the others (besides the cavity-educing ’11 and ’12, but more on that later). There was tons of dried fruit, plums, and milk chocolate on the nose. The flavor was ridiculously smooth, especially considering it’s Dark Lord we’re talking about. It wasn’t nearly as thick as the previous years, but it was by no means thin. This had a lot more sweetness than the older years, but it wasn’t unbalanced. In fact, this one was probably the most balanced of all the vintages. I wouldn’t push this one past another year or so – it’s almost flawless right now. 4/5

2011 Dark Lord (yellow wax)

The nose had a ton of coffee – way more than any of the other vintages combined. There was also a good amount of alcohol head and a weird aroma that I can only describe as “hot sauce”. It reminded me of Bourbon County Coffee on the nose (which I wasn’t a huge fan of in terms of smell. Don’t hate). The flavor of this one is similar to the 2010 except way sweeter and way less balanced. It was unpleasantly sweet. It reminded me of Sugar Daddy’s, but not in a good way. It has a fake caramel flavor that, frankly, is nasty. 3/5

2012 Dark Lord (red wax)

This was the vintage that I shot a review of. Like what we said in that review, this beer is just way too sweet. It smells like fake sugar and soap, and it tastes like concentrated artificial sugar. It had way more of that Sugar Daddy flavor, but like the ’11 not in a good way. It really almost tastes like wort, or at least a super under-attenuated beer. All of the complexity of Dark Lord is lost due to the sweetness. ‘Beetus, etc. 3/5

Cognac Barrel-Aged Dark Lord (2012, red wax)

Surprisingly, this one didn’t smell like it was barrel-aged. It smelled different than the regular Dark Lords in that it had a lot of heat and coffee, but I wouldn’t have guessed it was barrel-aged based on the smell. The flavors were incredibly smooth. A lot of caramel, vanilla, toffee, and booziness wreak havoc on the palate. The booze was not unpleasant, but rather a good contrast to the intense sweetness of the base beer. The back of the tongue has a lot of maple syrup and some wonderful cognac notes. I can see this beer being perfect in a year or so. Very excellent. 5/5

Cognac Barrel-Aged Dark Lord De Muerte (2012, red wax)

There is no mistaking that this beer has peppers added to it. There is a ton of smokey pepper on the nose, so much so that it was hard to pull out other aromas. The flavor of this beer was very unique – it starts off with a hint of smoke, then opens into an intensely sweet version of the regular Cognac Dark Lord. I think it actually tastes sweeter when you have something like the peppers to compare it to. The aftertaste is almost all pepper – there’s a good amount of heat that is intensified by the alcohol burn, but it doesn’t linger very long. This tastes like cheesecake or other dessert with a pepper kick to it. Extremely unique and satisfying. 5/5

THE RESULTS

My favorite of the night was probably the Cognac Dark Lord De Muerte. It was such a surprise, especially considering I don’t really like pepper beers. It had so much sweetness that was balanced with the pepper heat which made it really unique. My second favorite was the Cognac Dark Lord. It was really complex and it makes me wonder why Three Floyds don’t just barrel age all of their Dark Lord. As for the vertical, here’s the order of my favorite to least favorite:

2010
2008
2006
2007
2009
2011 & 2012 (I can’t decide which was worse)

I think the thing I noticed the most was that the newer vintages were much sweeter, and the older ones were much more balanced and heavier on the dark fruits. The older ones tasted like dark chocolate while the newer ones tasted like milk chocolate. 2-4 years appears to be the sweet spot for Dark Lord. Overall, Derk Lerd is not the end-all-be-all imperial stout at any year, but it’s definitely an intense beer that demands a vertical tasting like this.

Oh yeah, and we also cracked open a few other beers:

Westvleteren 12
The Bruery Black Tuesday (2011)
Rock Bottom Queen of Hops
Three Floyds Barrel-Aged Alpha Klaus
Three Floyds Behemoth (2009)
Brooklyn Black Ops (2008)
Kuhnhenn Barrel-Aged 4D (Fourth Dementia) (2010)
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (2009)
He*Brew Jewbelation Vertical
Arcadia 15
Arcadia XV

Cheers!

“Pizza Beer” was developed Labor Day, 2006 by Tom and Athena Seefurth in our home brewery in Campton Township, IL. It all started with a surplus of tomatoes, a bag of garlic & an idea that started early in the spring when we planted our garden herbs.The goal was to create a beer that would pair with a wide variety of foods, especially our favorite, Pizza! In the end, we were pleasantly surprised that this “mess” turned out to be the best thing since the guy with chocolate that bumped into Ralph Mouth & mixed up the chocolate with the peanut butter! Indeed, the world will love “Pizza Beer”.

Facing a difficult task, we immediately did an internet search to gather information on using the “oddball” ingredients in creating a beer. Certainly someone had published such a recipe! We found beer made with garlic, hemp seed, coriander, hot peppers, maple syrup, honey, citrus peels & more. But what about tomatoes & the possibility of combining all of our favorite flavors into this beer? We then grabbed our favorite book written by a fellow Chicago Beer Society member, Randy Mosher. He wrote a book called “Radical Brewing” which has been read cover to cover a few times. Randy mentions a lot weirder stuff than pizza spices. He talks about mushrooms, hot rocks & stuff that is really radical! In a quandary, we called one of our best friends & creative brewmasters in the world, Kris Kalav. We told him of our quest to make this really cool brew & wanted to know if he had any experience brewing with tomatoes. After he stopped laughing, we bounced a few ideas around and Voila! “Pizza Beer” was on it’s way to fame. To our knowledge, our home brewed concoction is the “World’s First Culinary Beer.”

Now, being homebrewers, we enjoy the freedom to create whatever we want. We usually refer to a book by Ray Daniels called “Designing Great Beers” when creating a style of beer that we intend on submitting to a contest. We usually concoct the recipe by memory & measure ingredients the way your grandmother did, pinch of this, smidgen of that. Something happened that day. We figured if this really turned out like we want it to, we better be able to duplicate it! Lo and behold, the amazing “Pizza Beer” was born.”

Questions? Suggestions? Let me know what you think! Grab a beer and leave a comment.

This is the Snobby Beer review of Parabola (2012) from Firestone Walker Brewing Company. This imperial stout is aged in a variety of oak barrels for 12 months, and is released annually. Special guest Natalie Phillips in this review!

From the Firestone Walker website:

“Parabola has been a major component of past anniversary blends and is one of our most aggressive offerings. This beer features bold bourbon and tobacco aromas and a rich dark chocolate, charred oak flavor. Parabola is best enjoyed in moderation and is a perfect beer to pair with those chocolate dessert favs.

REMEMBER: Watch for bottled on dates located on the necks or bottom left corner of the label for each of our beers. Our Proprietor’s Reserve Series, Barrel-aged beers are built to aged carefully. Storing in a dark place at or below 40F will allow them to best age for several years.”

Questions? Suggestions? Let me know what you think! Grab a beer and leave a comment.