Beers and Beards with Matt: New Belgium La Folie Sour Brown Ale

It's hard to find beers from breweries like New Belgium down in Florida, mainly because they don't distribute down here and the furthest South they go is Georgia, so when I saw this beer in Nashville a few months ago I had to get it.

This beer is obviously from New Belgium and is from their Lips of Faith series, which are a series of beers which stretch the art of brewing and include many Belgium and Flemish styles of beer, including this one.  This is La Folie, a Flanders-style Ale which is classified as a sour brown ale.  Personally I've never had a Flanders-style ale and when I saw "sour brown" on the label I became extremely intrigued.

A Flanders-style ale is a Belgian-style of brewing that ages beer in barrels (in this case this beer was aged 1-3 years in French oak barrels) and after the aging the beer is combined with another beer, usually another ale, and the two are blended.  The aging is similar to wine aging, or perhaps even balsamic vinegar, where the beer is left with a sour taste, similar to a fine wine.

With that being said the beer pour a brownish-red (more red when held to light) and when you take the beer in it smells extremely sour.  There are grapes, raisin, and sour apple smells, and it can be pretty off-putting at first.  I take my first sip.

Fantastic, La Folie is unlike any beer I've ever had.  Extremely sour, fruity, and surprisingly drinkable.  I love sour tastes, and this beer is the pinnacle.  Even though this beer only comes in at 6% ABV, it drinks like a higher alcohol beer, which isn't a big deal, but if you drink an entire bomber by yourself you might be on your ass, so this one is perfect to share with a few friends.

The one drawback of this beer is definitely the price.  When I picked this one up in Nashville the price of $14.95  for one bomber.  Considering the scarcity of this beer and the advanced technique of brewing I understand the price, but this is the 2nd most expensive beer I've ever had, with the most expensive being Cigar City's Hunanpu's Imperial Stout.

Despite the price, the beer is fantastic, and considering I've never had this style of beer I find myself craving it now and would like to find more Flander-style ales and compare them to this, which I have set as the bar for this style of beer.  Below is the video review for New Belgium's La Folie Sour Brown Ale.  Enjoy!

Beers and Beards with Matt: Southern Tier Oat Imperial Oatmeal Stout

In this edition of Beers and Beards with Matt I take on the final beer in the Blackwater Series from Southern Tier Brewing Co. in Lakewood, NY.  This is an Imperial Oatmeal Stout simply entitled Oat.

The other beers in the Blackwater Series are Creme Brulee, Mokah, Choklat, Jahva, and of course Oat.  While I have only reviewed a few of these beers, I have had all the beers in the series, and they are all equally great.  The one issue I have with Southern Tier though is that all of their non-Imperial beers are simply ordinary and lack the character that all of their Imperial beers impart.

Anyway, I digress, we are here to discuss Southern Tier's Oat.  This beer clocks in at a whopping 11.0% ABV, and when you pack this into a 22 oz. bomber you have a recipe for an early bed time.  The beer pours pitch black with very little head and lacing.  In addition, the beer doesn't smell all that hot, and in fact smells a little earthy, which to me, is off-putting.  I put all these things aside once I taste the beer.

The beer is great, thick, rich, slightly smokey, a little smokey, with big vanilla, caramel, and chocolate overtones.  The earthiness is welcome mostly because the beer is so rich it brings the beer down a bit and makes it extremely drinkable, sessionable even, even at 11.0%.

I thought this beer would be a little tough to get through but it was so delicious that I wanted more even when the beer was long gone.

Southern Tier does it again, and while this beer is new too me, as many beers that are slowly coming here to South Florida from NY, California, Oregon, etc., I'm sure many people have already tasted the wonderfulness of Southern Tier Oat.  Most Southern Tier Imperial beers cost in the range of $5.99 to $8.99, this beer was only $6.99, and is well worth the price.  Check out my video review below, and check out Southern Tier Oat, trust me.

Beers and Beards with Matt: Stone Smoked Porter

In this edition of Beers and Beards with Matt I take on a beer from the West Coast from the Stone Brewery in California.  Stone Brewery is known for this bold IPAs and Gargoyle Logo, but as any good brewery does, they have many other styles of beer, including a very good Porter; enter the Stone Smoked Porter.

Stone is known for their no-frills approach to brewing beers.  Normally on the back you will only see these ingredients:  Water, Malts, Barley, and Hops.....that's it. But its how they combine these ingredients that truly make their beers great.

Stone's Smoked Porter is a typical Porter, nothing too much out of the ordinary, but it's that slight smokey flavor that sets it apart from other Porters.  There is still a hoppy bite to the beer and combined with the malty backbone and the slight hoppy finish, this beer is great to enjoy with a nice dessert, or even a big fat steak.

Coming in at 5.9% ABV, this beer is very sessionable, but its best drunk cold as it becomes a little unsavory when it warms up (maybe its me, but I don't like room temp to luke warm beer).

So go out and check out Stone Smoked Porter, a big 22 oz. bomber will only cost you about $4.00-5.00, so it won't break your budget either.  Check out my video review below:

The 12 Beers of Christmas

It's the holidays as everyone I'm sure knows by now, and I wanted to give everyone a Christmas present....in the form of a song.  I wrote "The 12 Beers of Christmas" about a week or so ago, and whats better then writing a song, well, signing it.....and singing it quite badly.  Below are the lyrics to the song, and you can find the accompanying video to the song below.  Enjoy, and Happy Holidays.

12 Beers of Christmas

-On the 1st beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 2nd beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And one Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 3rd beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And one Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 4th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 5th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 6th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 7th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 8th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Eight Ruination Ales

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 9th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Nine Boston Lagers

Eight Ruination Ales

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 10th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Ten Young’s Chocolate Stouts

Nine Boston Lagers

Eight Ruination Ales

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 11th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Eleven Terrapin Hopsecutioners

Ten Young’s Chocolate Stouts

Nine Boston Lagers

Eight Ruination Ales

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

-On the 12th beer of Christmas my true love gave to me

Twelve Sweetwater 420s

Eleven Terrapin Hopsecutioners

Ten Young’s Chocolate Stouts

Nine Boston Lagers

Eight Ruination Ales

Seven Rogue Dead Guys

Six SouthernTier Mokahs

FIIIIIIVE Golden Monkeeeeeeeys

Four Guinness Pints

Three Sam Smith Porters

Two Jai-Ali Ales

And One Big Ass Bottle-of Olde E

Beer Review: Cigar City Either Black Ale

Subjectography is supposed to deal wtih many issues involving pop culture, but it all really comes back to one thing:  BEER, and how great beer is, and why it is so wonderful.  In this entry I tackle a beer and review it for you guys.  This fine yeast, hop, and malt specimen is the Cigar City Either Black Ale.

Cigar City is known for their reknown beer and brewing techniques, and they continue the trend with a beer that is not only unusual , but delicious.  Cigar City worked with two other breweries on this concoction, a brewery in Vermont and one in Denmark, so you can tell they went the extra mile to try and make this beer as interesting as possible.

The primary ingredients are of course hops (Citra, Mt. Rainier and Simcoe), two row malt, and Ty Ty Honey, a variety of honey found in Northern Florida, but the most interesting thing about this series of beers is that Either is essentially Part 1 of 4 different beers between Cigar City, Hill Farmstead, and Grassroots (from Tampa, Denmark, and Vermont, respectively).  You have Either, Or, Neither, and Nor, which will all be brewed in collaboration between these three breweies, but their regional ingredients will add something a little special to each brew, so they will be similar in some respects, but have slight differences to showcase each breweries differences and techniques.

Getting back to Either, this Black IPA packs a whallop at 11.2% ABV, but has a relatively low IBU stamp, despite the copious amount of hops that are used.  I drank this out of my CCB snifter and it poured very thick with little head and a deep black color.  The aroma was woodsey with cedar notes (this beer was aged in smoked cedar, which is a trademark of most Cigar City Beers).

You can treat this beer like a cordial, or after dinner drink and it needs to be sipped to be appreciated fully.  It's robust, yet smooth, like a fine cigar.  As the beer warms, the hoppiness really comes into play, but it is never overpowering, which is very pleasing to the palate.  Is very malty and chocolatey with hints of cream and caramel.  It has a very nice mouthfeel, and depsite the high ABV, doesn't burn or go down harshly.

All in all, this is a great beer, but the price can be a little steep.  The price tag on one of these is $6.99 (plus tax) all for a 12-oz bottle.  However, if you love a good beer that you can enjoy like a fine wine or a good glass of scotch or bourbon after dinner, this is a beer to pick up, Cigar City Either Black Ale.

Eight Beers of Chanukah

I haven't posted anything on Blogger in quite a while as I've mainly been concentrating on my YouTube channel and Beers and Beards with Matt. Earlier in October I was working on a Pumpkin Beer Anthology where I compared and contrasted 11 beers I was able to find in my neck of the woods.  Here is the link to that anthology if you folks want to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=114AE0EF19C94DDE

Now, as many of you know Chanukah just ended about a week ago, and during those Eight Crazy Nights I partook of eight beers in eight days and reviewed them.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but rarely do I do eight reviews in eight nights and post them in a successive manner as such.  Enjoy the reviews guys, and the list of beers that I had will be listed below.  Shalom people!

1. Cigar City Warmer Winter Winter Warmer
2. Sisyphus Barleywine Style Ale
3. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
4. Terrapin Moo Hoo Milk Chocolate Stout
5. BBC American Pale Ale
6. BBC Professor Gesser's India Pale Ale
7. Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock
8. Yazoo Fall Ale

Florida Supercon

Haven't updated anything in a while, but I thought I would let people know that I will be down at Florida Supercon this upcoming weekend with RockBandRockOff.com rockin' the fuck out of Supercon all weekend.