1001 Beers

Beer No: 52
Page No: 921
Category: Specialty

May 15th...OC Beer Festival time.  As you can see if you flip through the pictures above, there were a lot of great breweries participating in the Beer Fest, and even though I didn't get a chance to visit even a fraction of the breweries due to time issues, we all had a great time (especially with 1/2 price tickets).  We decided to get pizza before the fest, so we headed over to Oggi's, but that took longer than expected and we weren't on the road until about 1:15 (the Beer Fest started at 1pm).  Unfortunately, the one lane road out to Irvine Lake was JAM-packed.  We crawled the few miles into Silverado and finally arrived at the fest around 2:20pm.  Over an hour to go 10 miles.  Not fun.

But once we got there, we had a great time.  As you can see, we visited Lagunitas, Karl Strauss, The Bruery, Angel City, Deschutes, Napa Smith, Firestone Walker, Ommegang, Port Brewing, Fireman's Brew, and, not pictured, New Belgium, Stone, Boston Beer Co., Bayhawk, Pyramid, Bootleggers, and Cismontane.  I'm probably forgetting a few more too, but it was a gorgeous day, the crowds were not too large, lines were small, and Metal Shop rocked.  I was a little fearful about how the whole day would turn out, but I was very happy with the event and I'd definitely make another trip out there - I'd just get there earlier.  I ran into my old boss and he had arrived a little before 1pm and didn't have near the amount of traffic we did.  Hopefully next year, the OC Beer Fest won't be scheduled on the same day as a Scout-O-Rama.

Getting back from the Beer Fest, the festivities continued at my house where we played a little beer pong, some Mario Kart, and then headed out to the Bruery to try even more beer.  They had a firkin of Rugbrod on tap aged with French Oak.  It was delicious.  I didn't have a chance to try their seasonal beer, Trade Winds Tripel at the brewery itself, but I did try it at the OC Beer Fest and it was quite good.  I also ran into Patrick Rue and talked with him for a bit at the festival where he explained that the keg they brought to the festival was "experimental" as the Trade Winds was keg-conditioned and turned out a little bit sweeter than he would have liked.  Either way, it was a wonderful experiment and I was very happy with the result.

So...back to the beer.  Like I said, we returned back to my place after the Beer Fest and I got out a nice Rodenbach to share.  One of my favorite beers (I love the Grand Cru a bit more, but the standard Rodenbach is just fine as well), the Rodenbach added a bit of tartness to my day that was lacking at the Beer Fest.  Most of the beers around the festival were blondes, pilsners, and light belgians.  There were a few strong belgians, a couple dopplebocks, and some stouts and porters, but mostly, the beer tended towards the lighter side.  There were definitely no sour or tart beers, nothing all that outrageous, so it was nice to have a change of pace back at my house.  Aged in oak tuns, the tart acidity of the Rodenbach stands out well and makes for a surprisingly refreshing beverage.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Rodenbach from Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste:  7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Had from bottle multiple times. Pours ruby red / dark brown with a slight, quickly diminishing head. Aroma is tart, sour, acid, vinegar, cherries, and general sweetness / sugar. Taste is complex with sour cherries, acidity, oak undertones, and a wonderful wild yeast taste. Finishes dry, refreshing, and oaky. A lovely beer on a hot day, easy drinking, not too sour, almost as good as the Grand Cru.

Beer No: 8/1001
Page No: 497
Category: Blond

Unfortunately, this is my last review from the Belgian Beer Festival at Pizza Port.  Though I easily tried 50+ beers, only four are being reviewed herein.  With talk of Pizza Port winding down, it reminds me that I really need to go back this weekend and pick up some beers from their bottle shop.  Pizza Port, Carlsbad opened their bottle shop a couple of years ago and features some really hard to find beers from outstanding breweries.  Their prices are a bit higher than you can expect to find in other liquor stores, but they often feature hard-to-find beers from the San Diego region.

The Pizza Port restaurant itself does quite fine in its own right.  With the brewery next door, they always have a nice rotating selection of in-house brewed beers on tap along with a nice assortment of other macro and micro-brews on tap at all times.  On top of the great selection of beers, Pizza Port features top-notch pizzas.  Their Pizza Carlsbad, featuring a pesto sauce, feta cheese, grilled chicken, artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes is simply divine, but, as I mentioned earlier, it's the pepperoni and garlic pizza that I have every time there.  Oh, and the sumptuous beer buddies.  Recently, in Arizona, I stopped by another brewpub that tried to copy the Beer Buddies from Pizza Port and they were nowhere near as good.  Instead of a nice, doughy bite, this other brewpub opted for a thin crust, cracker-like buddy and it was not good at all.

So, long story short, if you're ever in the San Diego area, look for a Pizza Port.  They have three locations now, and a fourth will open soon.  Did I mention their beer festivals are the things legends are made of?  Yeah, the Belgian Beer Festival is that good.

So onto the beer, the last of the four, the De Dolle Still Nacht is a pale strong ale, clocking in at 12% ABV.  1001 Beers notes that, originally, the Still Nacht was brewed with a strain of yeast from Rodenbach brewery (one of my personal favorites - including the amazing Rodenbach Grand Cru (one of the 1001, review coming later)).  But when Rodenbach stopped offering the yeast to brewers in 2000, brewer Kris Herteleer cultured what he had left of the yeast and ended up with a stronger, more complex strain.  Since then, he now ferments 20% of the wort with lactic acid bacteria and then blends it back with the rest of the beer which is fermenting with his own yeast strain.  No matter how he does it, this winter seasonal is a gem.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

De Dolle Still Nahct from De Dolle Brouwers

Aroma: 9/10
Appearance: 4/5
Flavor: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 17/20

Rating: 4.2 / 5.0

Pours a hazy yellow/amber with a small, off-white head which lasts a while. Aromas of fruits, alcohol, and strong sugar/caramel. Taste is of more sugar, a bit of fizzyness, and malts. The beer starts and ends sweet, more of a sipping, after-dinner beer, but definitely something that will warm the soul in a long winter. Finishes with the slightest hint of bitterness and alcohol.