Category Archives: Guess That Brew

[S2/E48] New English? What Happened to the Olde English?

Season 2, Episode 48 This week on the most awesomest beer podcast on the Internet as far as we’re concerned and more than confident is actually true according us, are some mostly local brews and one brew that some how snuck into the “locals only” party.

We’re drinking stoutish beers on the show this week. “Stoutish” according to the Four Brewers Dictionary (it isn’t a real dictionary) means “a dark beer that may not be a stout but has certain traits that would lead one to believe it is a stout, and it’s also part of a larger beer tasting that has actual stouts in it, therefore one could say that it’s a group of stouts that aren’t all stouts; also there’s an IPA thrown in for fun and good measure.”

Yeah. We’re doing that this week.

Beers from New English, Ritual Brewing, and Sierra Nevada
Beers from New English, Ritual Brewing, and Sierra Nevada

First up are some stoutish beers from New English Brewing Co., the first of which is an IPA, which is obviously not a stout, but falls in line with the Four Brewers definition of stoutish, so it qualifies.

Anyway, the beer is called Pure and Simple IPA, and it is in fact just that: pure and simple. New English is a fairly new San Diego area brewery, so it’s almost like they need to make a great IPA to even be considered as qualified for leasing brewing space in the area. This beer doesn’t disappoint. If you want a pure and simple IPA, then look no further…or look further and drink another great IPA from another great brewery after you drink this one. Tasty, San Diego IPA is fairly ubiquitous at this point. Damn, it feels good to be a beer geek in the golden age of craft beer.

Next up, we get to the stoutish-er (do I *really* need to define this?) beers which we kick off with two more beers from New English Brewing Co., the Brewers Special Brown Ale and the Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown. These beers are once again very, very good. New English even won gold at this year’s Great American Beer Festival, but it wasn’t for these stoutish beers. It was for an actual stout, which (guess what?!) is up next.

Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout is up next. This is not a stoutish beer. It’s a goddamn stout. This beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival this year. It’s pretty rad and it was the inspiration for this weeks episode. Buy it. Drink it. High-five the brewer.

Ritual Brewing Co. is a local brewery to 3/4 Four Brewers, located in Redlands, California. They recently celebrated their 3rd anniversary, so congrats to them for that! Java Deluxe came out a few weeks before their anniversary party to much fanfare. It’s made with coffee from local coffee roaster Stell Coffee, and it’s great. Ritual also won gold this year at the GABF for an aged variant of Big Deluxe.

Here’s something cool: we tasted a cuvée of Java Deluxe and Zumbar. (Did it disappoint? Well, since I said it was something cool that we did, probably not. If I said it was something lame that we did, that would be telling as well.)

We finish up with some “Guess That Brew!” and some 4B Patreon shout-outs while sipping on a beer included with this year’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company winter pack, Coffee Stout.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:
New English Brewing Co. – Pure & Simple IPA
New English Brewing Co. – Brewers Special Brown Ale
New English Brewing Co. – Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown Ale
New English Brewing Co. – Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout
Ritual Brewing Co. – Java Deluxe
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company – Coffee Stout

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[S2/E20] John and Matt’s Brett Saison

Season 2, Episode 20 This week on the show, we’re back in the studio in classic Four Brewers style, drinking homebrew, craft brew, reading beer reviews, and blind tasting. BOOM!

[Player above not working? Download here.]

We kick off the show with a beer that’s has been 6 months in the making, John and Matt’s brettanomyces-conditioned saison. You may recall a similar beer from episode 27 of season 1, their grisette-style saison. This is essentially the same beer, but with some corn sugar added at the end of the boil to dry out the beer a little more. This beer was fermented with Matt’s super-secret saison yeast. Ten gallons of this beer was made, and five gallons was keg-conditioned with ECY34, the “Dirty Dozen” brettanomyces yeast from East Coast Yeast. Matt and John are quite happy with how this beer turned out, and everyone agrees that it’s a winner.

Monkish Brewing Co. - Rara Avis
Monkish Brewing Co. – Rara Avis

Next up is a very special beer provided to us by Brian White of Monkish Brewing Co., Rara Avis. This beer was made specifically for The Rare Beer Club, and was also served at The Bruery’s recent anniversary party, Copperversary, in Anaheim, California. Huge brett funk with a bit of acidity and fruity hop character make this beer absolutely fabulous. Big thanks to Brian for the hook up!

We end the show with “Guess That Brew” and “Going In Blind”. We haven’t played these games in quite a while, and their return is welcomed by all of us. Yvonne England joins us as our pouress for this session.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Links to things from this week’s episode:
S2/E20 Show Outline

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