Guess That Brew | Four Brewers Podcast

Season 1, Episode 24 – This week, Matt’s clearing out the cellar.

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We’ve been at that point in our craft beer journey when we discover the diverse selection of beers available to us, and realize, “Hey! I TOTALLY need to start building my beer cellar up!” So, the first thing we do is seek out anything that might possibly “cellar well”. Well, that’s precisely what Matt did, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of his naive excitement. The main reason Matt decided to do this was to clear out all of the 12 ounce bottles and cans that were taking up space in his cellar. These beers are mainly from the 2006-2009 era.

We kick it off with a vertical of Fred from Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company. Jason provided two of the beers, specifically, batches 77 and 87, and Matt brought batch 70. This beer was named after acclaimed beer writer Fred Eckhardt. These beers held up very, very well, to say the least.

Hair Of The Dog and Stone Brewing Co. beers.

Next up is another brew from Hair Of The Dog, 2006 Doggie Claws. This beer is a west coast-style barley wine that’s usually released in November, and it’s a pretty heavy hitter at 11.5% ABV and 70 IBUs.

Stone Brewing Co.‘s Imperial Russian Stout is up next. Stone usually releases their IRS in 22 ounce bombers, but in 2008, they made a run of 12 ounce bottles that were exclusively for export. But, they held some bottles back and put them up for sale shortly after the release, and Matt picked up a bottle. He also brought a 22 ounce bottle of the same vintage to compare.

Feature: “Guess That Brew!”

We’re still not done with the drinking, but we decided to speed things up and open more bottles (and a can) from Oskar Blues Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, and The Lost Abbey while playing a few rounds of “Guess That Brew”.

Oskar Blues Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, and The Lost Abbey beers.

The live IRC (chat) really knocked it out of the park for this session of GTB. Props to Bob Vreeland, Dr. Zack, and OC Beer Nut.

Oskar Blues’ Ten Fidy really stood out from the bunch. This beer is excellent fresh, and this particular batch from 2008 really held up well. Cans are really good at limiting, if not eliminating oxygen from getting into the beer, and this beer is a testament.

To finish this post up, we’ll just list the final beers on the show…

Dogfish Head – World Wide Stout (2008?)
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. – Bigfoot Barleywine 2008 and 2009
The Lost Abbey – Angel’s Share 2009, Bourbon Barrel Aged

It’s amazing we made it though this recording session without getting too sloppy… Thanks for the beers, Matt!

Links to things from episode 24:
Hair Of The Dog Fred Vintage Guide
Hair Of The Dog’s Brewhouse
Matt’s traded bottle of The Bruery’s Partridge In A Pear Tree
“Dead Giveaway” Charles Ramsey/Schmoyoho Video
Boogie In Your Butt

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT!

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Season 1, Episode 12 – Co-founder of Almanac Beer Co., Jesse Friedman, joins us for a healthy dose of Almanac brews, gives insight on the company’s history, and their place in the craft beer world.

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This week, we’re drinking not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different Almanac beers. Jesse Friedman, co-founder of Almanac Beer Co., crashes the party via Google Hangouts to chat about his beer, get thrown a few softballs, and drink some Almanac brews with us.

Almanac Beer Co., located in San Jose, CA, was founded in 2010, and has already made waves in the beer scene with their outstanding barrel-aged beers, ranging from bourbon porter, to sour blonde fruit ales. Founders Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan first met in their local homebrew club, where Jesse happened to sample a homebrew made by Damian that had the quality, taste, and presentation of a commercial beer. Jesse gets into this a bit more on the show, as well as what makes their brewery unique in its vision.

Almanac Beer Co. - Episode 12 Beers — Almanac Beer Co. – Episode 12 Beers

The first beer on deck is Almanac’s Dark Pumpkin Sour, an ale aged in wine barrels and brewed with pumpkins and spices. The pumpkins are sourced from Bodega Bay in Sonoma County. The beer has a pleasant, soft tartness that really compliments the pumpkin and roasted malts quite well.

Keeping on the pumpkin theme, the next beer we open is Almanac’s Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine. Pumpkin beer season makes for a plethora of pumpkin ales and seems to get a bit convoluted, but Almanac’s barleywine really stands out. It’s a blended beer made with 500 pounds of hand-roasted pumpkins from La Tecera, California. If you haven’t caught on by now, Almanac is all about sourcing fruits and adjuncts for their beers from local California farmers, hence the “Farm to Barrel” theme printed on all of their bottles of beer.

Next up, we open the Farmer’s Reserve Citrus. This sour ale is made with Buddha’s Hand citrons and Bergamot oranges, aged in red wine barrels, and is quite refreshing.

Feature: “Guess That Brew!”

Jesse, being a long time listener of Four Brewers, is no stranger to our little beer review game, “Guess That Brew.” But this time, we put a twist on it. All of the beer reviews we’re reading are Almanac beer reviews. Not to give anything away, but Jesse actually knows his beer pretty well…

Jesse Friedman Hanging Out On Google — Jesse Friedman hanging out on Google

While playing the game, we crack open our final beer from Almanac, Valley of the Heart’s Delight. Before Silicon Valley was known as such, it was called “the valley of the heart’s delight”, due to it’s sprawling fruit orchards. This sour ale pays tribute to its namesake with the addition of apricots, loquats, and cherries. It’s then aged in used wine barrels. All of the fruit in this beer was hand-picked by the Garden To Table non-profit from urban farms and privately-owned properties where the fruit resided.

We’d like to thank Jesse for being so considerate as to guest on our show. Almanac is really making some great beers and has a unique take on their vision as a brewery. At the moment, they’re available in California, Washington, and Denver, so if you see their stuff on a shelf and you’ve never experienced their brew, buy it and enjoy.

If you didn’t hear already, we’re officially on Stitcher.

See you next week! Drink some beer!

Subscribe to the show:
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