Yummy Christmas Presents

More on the aforementioned Kansas City trip to see the family: We hooked up with our Philadelphia friends the Jarigues (Erin is a friend since childhood of M'Lady), and they presented me with a great treat of six Philly-area beers.

I tried the first before we ever left KC (yeah, I'm the type to shake my present under the tree to try to figure out what it is), and was rewarded for my impatience. Tröegs Brewing's Troegenator Doublebock (or "Dopplebock" for you German purists) is an outstanding rendition of this heavy-as-lead winter seasonal. As their website notes, this style was created by monks who needed nutrition during periods of fasting, and this stuff is like liquid bread. (Not Wonder Bread, either – more like heavy duty wheat with a thick, chewy crust.) It's not for the faint of tastebud, and you better have a deep love of malt. Fortunately, I do. It easily stacks up against my longtime favorite in this style, Spaten Optimator (which, for some reason, I must always pronounce with my best Ahnuld Schwarzenegger accent).

Thanks, guys! It's always awesome to try some beer that I can't get here in Texas, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the sixer. (They also included a Golden Monkey from Victory, which is distributed here, but hey, I'll take it anyway. For the record, I'll gladly accept free Victory beer any time.)

Since Erin is in a family way, it was up to me and Ben to then sample the limited-edition Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad that my mother-in-law gave me. I can't say I was as blown away as some of my KC beer blogger friends – I wasn't quite sure what to make of the cherry flavor, and maybe I just needed a cleaner palate after putting away some Boulevard Nutcracker. I think Ben felt the same way. Nonetheless, I liked it, and continue to applaud Boulevard's adventurousness with the Smokestack Series. The MIL got me two bottles, so maybe my appraisal will come up on the next try. (UPDATE: Yes, I thought this was excellent on the second go-around. I think letting it warm for several minutes is a good tactic with this beer.)

What did rock my world was the Double Wide IPA (another Smokestack) that I accidentally left in the MIL's fridge last winter. A year's worth of aging didn't hurt this beer one bit. Maybe the DWIPA raised my expectation too high for the BBQ (Get it? Bourbon Barrel Quad? Kansas City BBQ? Those guys are clever.) Now, if only Boulevard will put on the market that imperial stout that they tested on me and some other beer bloggers earlier this year. It was great.

Up next: Boulevard's other limited-edition brew, the Brett Saison, which the KC crowd has been raving about and I'm anxious to sample. As far as I know, it's not been for sale in Texas, making my biannual KC trips all the more valuable. Um, well, that and visiting my in-laws. ;-)

The Bobnoxious Xmas Beer Tasting Report, Part 1

As always, I'm not sure what I did with my tasting notes from the 2008 Bobnoxious Christmas Beer Tasting, but I do remember drinking lots of yummy stuff. And, again as always, I'll have to fall back on Bob himself and let you read his tasting notes. And perhaps at some point, there will actually be a Part 2 to this post. I think my notes got buried in my suitcase, which I have yet to unpack.

Until that time, I'll just add one thing to Bob's comments: My favorite beer of the whole shindig was our friend Ed's chocolate raspberry stout (with a nitro pour!). Yes, I even thought it was better than any of the commercial brews we tried, and no, I don't say that out of charity to a friend — it really was that good. It's no wonder he won the "flavored beers" category in this year's Austin Zealots Inquisition contest with it.

The Great Kansas City Beer Blogger Summit II

Well, I guess if three of us getting together can be called a summit, then so be it. Quality trumped the lack of quantity, however, and we had a great time.

Unfortunately, trying to round up six people at holiday time is like herding cats. Absent: Muddy Mo came up sick today; Bull had family obligations to deal with; I'm still not convinced that Wes actually exists; and, despite my pursuit of a meeting with her for a year and a half now, Beergirl and I are apparently cursed to never have a beer together. She ended up having a funeral to deal with today, and what the hell are you gonna do about that? (Sara, please tell your hubby I am so sorry.) Man, we have rotten luck getting together. Oh well, maybe next summer.

Present: me, Bad Ben, and the newcomer to our group, Oregon Amy. Plus Ben's wife Vickie (sp?) and Amy's husband John, who homebrews. We settled in to a fun evening of talking about beer (natch), brewing (mostly between John and Ben, as I still haven't taking the brewing plunge) and running (Ben, when he's not brewing or drinking, is an ultramarathoner).

Additionally, we were joined by Mags (my designated driver, among other things), the beer-loving Jarigues, and Mags' and Erin's high school friend Wanda.

Our meeting place again was 75th Street Brewery, which I can't recommend highly enough. What a great little place. Located in southern KC, they have tasty food (although I must mock them for their menu item of "Tex-Mex Fondue" — what we Texans would call "queso"), and even tastier beer.

The Christmas ale was nice, albeit not what I expected. I was thinking malty and heavy, but instead got spicy. Their IPA was quite fine — the hops were restrained, just the right balanced note, a refreshing change from how over-the-top some IPAs can be. The stout was a silky-smooth nitro number which the wife particularly approved of. They had something called a "wheat wine," a variation on barleywine, which was a bit sour for my taste, as was their bourbon barrel brown — not bad, but more than I could handle for a whole glass.

I capped off the evening by distributing bottles of Saint Arnold Christmas Ale and Real Ale Fireman's Four, which I hope my Texas beer-deprived KC friends will enjoy.

Okay guys, I've given up hope that we can actually get all of us together at once, but maybe I can see more than half of you next summer? I'm already planning a trip for mid-June.

In the picture, l-r: John, Oregon Amy, me, Bad Ben, Vickie.

(Okay, I'm ready for some of you guys to come visit me in Austin now!)

Things I Learned Today

1. McCoy's, in the Westport district of Kansas City, brews some great beer. Their imperial stout was great.

2. The Foundry, McCoy's adjacent beer bar, has really magnificent beer selection. Delirium Noel on tap!

Video Tour of Austin's Breweries

I haven't had time to look at all of this, but what I've seen so far looks pretty cool. Well done, Chris!

If You're Missing Shiner Dunkelweizen ...

... and you live in Austin, and that new peachy concoction just isn't appealing to you, may I suggest the dunkelweizen at North by Northwest? Really, it's even better than the Shiner product. I went there for lunch this afternoon with the parental units, and filled up my growler with it.

It has this brown-gold muddy look to it, but don't let that put you off if you're more accustomed to filtered beers. The wheat flavor is rich and bold, and just screams Germany to me. It has a strong banana note to it, both on the nose and the tongue. This is one of their better offerings, and that's really saying something for North by Northwest, which is pretty consistently great.

This dunkel has replaced the hefe on their menu, I'm assuming just for the winter, so get it while you can.

Another get-while-you can: Their fabulous holiday barleywine is also on tap, although I can testify it isn't quite as fabulous as the cask-conditioned version I had back in November. Sorry if you missed it. (Don't forget: cask-conditioned night is the last Monday of every month.) Also, their bourbon-barrel aged Blackjack Ale is also now on tap. It's been over a year since I've had that, so I'll have to refresh my memory on it soon.

Celis Grand Cru sighting

I know some of the old Celis lineup has been reappearing in Austin stores in recent years since it was revived by Michigan Brewing Co., but unless I'm mistaken, Celis Grand Cru hasn't been one of those. But I was in Grape Vine Market yesterday and spotted some on the shelves.

I probably should have grabbed some. I wasn't a fan of Grand Cru back in the day when Celis was an Austin brewery (early 1990s), but that was before I'd learned to drink strong ales. Maybe I'd like it now.

Am I right about this? This is a new development, yes?