Tasting

New Albion Vintage Beer Tasting

by Jay Brooks on March 23, 2012 · 10 comments

Today I had a great experience that’s been a few months in the making. Last October, one of my newspaper columns was about the 35th anniversary of the date in 1976 when New Albion Brewery, the first modern microbrewery built from scratch, was incorporated by Jack McAuliffe. A homebrewer and beer collector in San Jose, Ed Davis, read my piece in the San Jose Mercury News and contacted me with an intriguing proposal. He had some full bottles of New Albion beer — Ale, Porter and Stout — and did I know anyone who might be interested in them? Obviously, I knew at least one person — me! — and I suggested that it might be fun to open them with Don Barkley, who would been involved in their creation, since he had been the assistant brewer there. Finding a day we were all available took some time, but today Ed and I traveled to Napa to Napa Smith Brewery and met with Don Barkley, who’s now the brewmaster there. But in addition to working at New Albion, Don also founded Mendocino Brewing during his illustrious career, before building and running the new Napa brewery.

Ed told me he’d bought the beers originally at Beltramo’s around 1979 and they’ve been stored in his garage ever since. While they were stored at a slightly higher than cellar temperature, the temperature was relatively consistent and they hadn’t been moved in all that time.

Ed brought one bottle each of Stout, Ale and Porter.

Don Barkley, me and Ed Davis each with a 1979 bottle of New Albion beer, that Ed was kind enough to donate to the cause.

Each of the three beers and their bottles.

Below is a short video (about 14 minutes) of the three of us opening and tasting the three beers.

After the tasting, Don, Napa Smith lead brewer Michael Payne, me and Ed.

In addition to the New Albion beers, Ed also brought a few additional treats, too.

A bottle of DeBakker Porter. DeBakker was a short-lived brewery (1980-82, I believe) that was located in my hometown of Novato, California and was started by a fireman, Tom DeBakker, who had been a homebrewer for about a decade before he opened the brewery.

Ed also brought a run of old Anchor Christmas Ale, 1978, 1980 through 1985, 1991 and 1996.

What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon! I wish all my Fridays could be as enjoyable. The DeBakker porter also held up quite well, it still had a fair amount of carbonation with chocolate notes. The Anchor beers were a mixed bag, some were still terrific, others were past their prime though none were strictly speaking undrinkable. Some of the spicier ones were still showing those spices, though a few of the earlier ones were oxidized, at least a little. The real surprise, of course, was how well the New Albion beers had held up after 33 years. They were bottle-conditioned, which probably helped, but still I expected them to be in worse shape than they were. I think we all thought that, but we were pleasantly surprised. I could stand to be surprised like that more often. Thanks, Ed, for being able to not open those beers for over thirty years and for sharing them with us today. It was like opening and tasting a piece of history.

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The Impact Of Texture On Taste Perception

by Jay Brooks on March 8, 2011 · 2 comments

in Beers,Food & Beer,Related Pleasures

On Food Navigator, there was an interesting short interview with Matthew Patrick, VP of R&D for TIC Gums where he suggests that “food and beverage product developers spend a shockingly low amount of time examining how texture may impact a finished product.” In beer, of course, texture is more often referred to as “mouthfeel.” And while when judging beer, mouthfeel is a consideration it’s usually not the primary one. Honestly, I’m really not sure how often brewers tinker with their recipes specifically to get a particular mouthfeel though it’s clear that many beers have great ones and many otherwise solid beers suffer for having a less than pleasant or ideally suited mouthfeel.

He’s talking primarily about texture in food and non-alcoholic beverages, though he singles out what he refers to as “low-viscosity beverages” like “tea” as products who didn’t give much thought to their texture. Beer’s viscosity has quite a range, from thin pilsners and golden ales to thick, rich oatmeal and imperial stouts so I can’t say where beer falls in TIC Gums’ viscosity scale. But there’s no doubt that mouthfeel is at least one of the many factors that add up to a beer’s overall taste profile. What a brewer can, or should, do about it seems like a worthy discussion to have.

The impact of texture on taste perception

There’s also a summary of the interview from the Food Navigator website:

Speaking to FoodNavigator-USA at the Research Chefs Association conference and expo in Atlanta, Patrick explained that texture can have wide-ranging influence on consumer perception of a food or beverage product.

For example, texture can influence the way saltiness or sugariness is perceived, meaning that different textures can make a product seem more or less sweet or salty even if the level of sugar or salt remains the same. That effect is something that product developers need to be particularly aware of, as many are cutting sugar or salt in products in response to demand for healthier foods and drinks.

Patrick added that low-viscosity beverages, such as teas, represent one area in which there is particular potential for enhancing consumer experience of a product through subtle textural differences.

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Simplifying Tasting Descriptions

by Jay Brooks on February 22, 2011 · 2 comments

in Beers,Editorial,Related Pleasures

Eric Asimov, who writes The Pour for the New York Times, had a very interesting post today on simplifying tasting notes for wine, entitled Wine in Two Words. Here’s the crux of his idea:

While it may seem heretical to say, the more specific the description of a wine, the less useful information is actually transmitted. See for yourself. All you have to do is compare two reviewers’ notes for a single bottle: one critic’s ripe raspberry, white pepper and huckleberry is another’s sweet-and-sour cherries and spice box. What’s the solution? Well, if you feel the urgent need to know precisely what a wine is going to taste like before you sniff and swallow, forget it. Experience will give you a general idea, but fixating on exactitude is a fool’s errand. Two bottles of the same wine can taste different depending on when, where and with whom you open them.

Besides, the aromas and flavors of good wines can evolve over the course of 20 minutes in a glass. Perhaps they can be captured momentarily like fireflies in a child’s hands, yet reach for them again a minute later and — whiff! — they’re somewhere else.

But the general character of a wine: now, that’s another matter. A brief depiction of the salient overall features of a wine, like its weight, texture and the broad nature of its aromas and flavors, can be far more helpful in determining whether you will like that bottle than a thousand points of detail. In fact, consumers could be helped immeasurably if the entire lexicon of wine descriptors were boiled down to two words: sweet or savory.

Asimov goes on to give greater detail to his idea of simplification, going so far that at the end he gives a list of varietals and where they fall in the sweet or savory list, admitting obvious exceptions will occur. And while I believe beer flavors are somewhat more complex, because of a greater number of ingredients and the endless combinations of them along with variations in the brewing process, the basic notions are sound and applicable.

Like wine, it’s true that the flavors of a particular beer change as it warms, too, and on any given day there are numerous things that can effect how a beer tastes. But even so, I don’t think you could distill beer down to just two descriptors. But I could see a smaller number being devised that could be useful in communicating basic information about the expectations of how a beer might taste, or at least its core components. There are specific styles that certainly have very recognizable characteristics, but just as many don’t or are exceptions to any rules. In a sense beer is like the English language, where there’s an exception to virtually every rule. Still it might be worth the effort to try and see what emerges and whether it could be useful. Anybody have any thoughts?

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Open It! Today, Tomorrow Or Sunday

by Jay Brooks on December 3, 2010 · 1 comment

in Beers,Events,Just For Fun,News

Here’s a gentle remainder that Open IT! Weekend begins today and runs through this Sunday, so get cracking … those bottles open.

The brainchild of UK beer writer Mark Dredge, who writes at Pencil and Spoon, he’s designated the first weekend in December — the 3rd through the 5th — as “Open It!” weekend. What that means is it’s time for you — and me — to open some of those special bottles we’ve been saving for … a special occasion that never comes. Instead, let’s open them now and, in the spirit of the holidays, start sharing.

Here’s how he put it a few weeks ago, in his initial post, Announcing Open It:

So here’s the idea: let’s create a special occasion. Let’s call this special occasion Open It! and let’s drink the good beers. Let’s find a bottle from the depth of the cellar and open it, drink it and then tell others about it (in blogs, blog comments or twitter or facebook).

Open it alone or open it with others; hold an Open It! party or take it to the pub to see what people think. Most importantly, get that bottle open and drink the thing and then tell everyone about it.

Open It! over the first weekend in December — Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th — and then blog about it in the week after. Use the #openit hashtag on twitter while you are drinking it and like the facebook group. It’s just about opening something special and enjoying it.

Doesn’t that sound like fun? The key, I think, is letting everybody know what you opened. That should be the best part, our collective stash. So just open it! Today, tomorrow or Sunday. Yum!

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“Open It!” Weekend To Be Held December 3-5

by Jay Brooks on November 24, 2010 · 1 comment

in Beers,Events

Here’s a fun idea from UK beer writer Mark Dredge, who writes at Pencil and Spoon. He’s designating the first weekend in December — the 3rd through the 5th — as “Open It!” weekend. What that means is it’s time to open some of those special bottles you’ve been saving for … a special occasion that never comes. Instead, let’s open them now and, in the spirit of the holidays, start sharing.

Here’s how he puts it in the initial post, Announcing Open It:

So here’s the idea: let’s create a special occasion. Let’s call this special occasion Open It! and let’s drink the good beers. Let’s find a bottle from the depth of the cellar and open it, drink it and then tell others about it (in blogs, blog comments or twitter or facebook).

Open it alone or open it with others; hold an Open It! party or take it to the pub to see what people think. Most importantly, get that bottle open and drink the thing and then tell everyone about it.

Open It! over the first weekend in December — Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th — and then blog about it in the week after. Use the #openit hashtag on twitter while you are drinking it and like the facebook group. It’s just about opening something special and enjoying it.

Which was echoed in a reminder posted yesterday. It certainly encouraged me to take up the cause and try to spread the word. I could see this becoming a fun annual event. I do a monthly tasting that’s somewhat similar, insofar as I try to share the samples I get every month so they don’t end up in the back of the refrigerator in the first place. But despite those efforts, I still have four of them, two of which are filled with beer I’m reluctant to open on a whim.

The first day of Open IT! weekend also coincides with December’s Session, and the topic is Unexpected Discoveries. There’s no reason that discovery couldn’t be that forgotten bottle hiding in your beer cellar.

But the key, I think, is letting everybody know what you opened. That should be the fun part, our collective stash. So just open it!

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Knowing Your Limits

March 21, 2010

I woke up again in Seattle, my second day here. Yesterday I helped to choose the winners of the Hard Liver Barleywine Fest at Brouwer’s Cafe. It’s the eighth year of the festival and it’s really grown into an impressive event in the several years I’ve been coming up for it. But the weekend has [...]

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Beer Tasting Terms

July 1, 2009

My good friend Fal Allen, who’s currently brewing in Singapore (and used to be the GM at Anderson Valley), apparently had a block of time he could devote to thinking about tasting beer. He’s compiled a great list of tasting terms specific to beer. He’s invited people to re-post it so I’m taking him up [...]

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Vintage No. 1 Tasting

June 14, 2008

Remember Vintage No. 1, which Denmark’s Carlsberg Brewery — actually their Jacobsen Brewhouse — created a $400-per-bottle beer, for no better reason than to “challenge luxury wines in the gourmet restaurant market and capitalize on rising individual wealth?” Touted as the world’s most expensive beer, due in part, at least, to there being only 600 [...]

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Pride Goeth Before A Fall

March 18, 2008

The full quote from Proverbs 16:18, at least in the King James’ version, is “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” but the more common shortened version says it all. Essentially, the modern meaning of this proverb is not to be overly confident, especially in yourself, or you’re likely to have [...]

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Session #11: Doppelbocks

January 4, 2008

It’s time once again for our eleventh Session, and this time around we’re highlighting Doppelbocks courtesy of this month’s host, Wilson at Brewvana. I recently spent two weeks in the home of Doppelbocks — Germany — when many breweries I visited were just debuting their winter seasonal, which more often than not was a doppelbock. [...]

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Chanukah vs. Christmas

December 10, 2007

Saturday afternoon there was a fun little event at the fabulous new City Beer Store, dubbed Chanukah vs. Christmas — because marketeer extraordinaire Jeremy Cowan, founder of He’Brew, was behind it. Essentially it was just an opportunity to taste around thirty different winter beers, including He’Brew’s Jewbelation 10th Anniversary Ale (last year’s beer) and He’Brew’s [...]

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Belgian Light

August 22, 2007

A day after praising Eric Asimov for leading the way toward detente between beer and wine, his “Ales of the Times” column today is entitled More or Less Pale but All Belgian features a tasting of several lighter Belgian beers suitable for summer. As usual, it’s a reasoned look at several lighter style Belgian ales [...]

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Session #6: Fruit Beer

August 3, 2007

This has been a brutal month for me, in the last few weeks I’ve been to Denver, Portland and am writing this from Mammoth Lakes, California, where I’m attending a CSBA meeting and beer festival. So the Bulletin has suffered, but I didn’t want to miss this month’s Session because it’s an idea that I [...]

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First Tastes of the Fest

July 30, 2007

After the parade on Thursday was the annual media tasting led by Noel Blake. In years past it was conducted before the festival began, but because of the parade this was no longer possible. But that also meant we were crowded around all of the other early festival-goers, which happily turned out not to be [...]

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