Something to Savor at Annual Craft Beer Fest
Photo by Eddie Arrossi, courtesy SAVOR
Offerings of some classic beers (Allagash White and Stone Levitation) and newer concoctions (New Holland Mole Ocho Ale with Mexican Spices and Brewer’s Art Green Peppercorn Tripel) were paired with dishes like mahi-mahi tacos, buffalo chili and an assortment of flavored truffles.
The talk of the night was all about the new Dogfish Head Bitches Brew, brewed in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Miles Davis record of the same name. We heard descriptions that it was an imperial stout mixed with honey beer, but when we got through the long line, they had already run out. Look for it in stores August 31 to see if it holds up to the hype.
Last year's emerging trend of Saisons, Bretts and Imperial beers carried on into this year, with some standouts being the Avery Depuceleuse (a nice blend of sour cherry and Brett, with malt similar to a brown ale, almost vanilla bean), the Deschutes Abyss Imperial Stout (11% ABV, dark espresso and chocolate notes, pretty aggressive) and the Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale (hazy, citrus and pepper).
A favorite of the night was a simple single-hop beer from Brooklyn, the Sorachi Ace. Recently released in bottles, this saison is crisp and refreshing, only using the Oregon grown (but Japanese in origin) sorachi hop. The kind of beer you could serve with a nice seafood dinner or just enjoy on your porch.
We were lucky enough to get into the “Rare Barrel Aged Beers” tasting salon, hosted by Odell Brewing and The Bruery, where some heavy duty beers were unleashed.
Odell Saboteur - Aged in bourbon barrels, this brown ale had a feisty Brett aroma, which often walked the line between pineapple and band-aids. The taste was more of raisin and vanilla on top of a brown ale flavor, while the bourbon tastes snuck in some. And interesting and creative beer, but something I’d be happy to just sample and not finish.
Odell Woodcut 3 - Aged in fresh oak barrels - a new concept to me. Like the other Odell beer, I found this more interesting that enjoyable. As a strong reddish ale (11% ABV), this isn’t a shy beer, but where my palate was used to aged wood or burnt wood flavors in my booze, it took some getting used to the fresh wood flavors.
Bruery Oude Tart - Aged in cabernet sauvignon barrels, this was technically a Flemish-Style Red. Very tart to smell, almost like candy. The taste was fantastic, really hitting the skin flavor of fruits like blackberry, raspberry and clementine. Sour and tart at the same time, with some sort of earth and funk lightly mixed in. This would be great paired with certain desserts.
Bruery Black Tuesday - Aged in Elijah Craig barrels, this imperial stout clocks in at 19.5% ABV. A massive beer in all ways - very aggressive notes of dark fruit, licorice and straight up booze. The flavor matched and was almost too much to drink. Looking around the room, everyone was in awe, but this was too much beer for me at the end of a night of sampling.