Brickskeller’s Holiday Extravaganzee – total buck up

Let me reiterate my past statements on Brickskeller events. The $35 you spend is well worth the price of admission. The beer nerd will get their fill of rare beers, geek talk about degrees Lovibond and other dorky forms of camaraderie. Last night we witnessed a round of applause because a yeast strain had lasted over 10 years on the job. (The drunkard will also be taken care of because that $35 gives you enough beer to make for a pretty well forgotten walk home. 13 beers, 6 oz glasses.)

There were thirteen beers served in this order (I’ve starred* the ones that I really enjoyed):

Brewer’s Art’s Coup de Boule Grand Crue 2008 dropped in at 7.3 abv and was so spiced it tasted and smelled almost like Listerine mouthwash. Sorry guys. Coup de Boule means ‘head butt’ in French and its in honor of the soccor player Zadon. Brewer’s Art is in Baltimore.

Legend brought out a Belgian Tripel which weighed in at 9.5%. Legend Brewery is in Richmond. The tripel was sweet with a bubblegum aroma.

The Gift came from Star Hill out of Charlottesville. Brewer Mark Thompson used 2 malts and one hop in this beer. It was bock-like, a little skunky and a lot of malt. 6.8% and very enjoyable.

Sweetwater Tavern brought a Spiced Ale of the strong ale variety (6.5%). Heavily spiced with everything the brewer could think of. Similar to the Brewer’s Art, mouthwashy. Maybe its the cardamom? Or maybe I just don’t like too many spiced beers. They also brought an Unfiltered Holiday Bock* from Brewer Dean Lake. It was sweet, malty, hazy and smelled like someone getting a perm at a hair salon. It was one of the favorites of the night.

White Marsh’s Redbrick Brewery brought one of the best beers of the night, the Winter Solstice*. This one had cocoa nibs in it and a strain of bourbon vanilla to maximize the cocoa flavor. Couldn’t taste the vanilla at all, which was the point. The beer was like a chocolate shake.

Snow Goose rolled in at 6.8% from Flying Dog who has taken over brewing the Wild Goose line. They played with the recipe a bit, beefing it up with more malt and hops. Flying Dog also brought their Dog Schwarze* which was made with smoked malt. It was one of the winners for the night for sure. Real weird but oddly easy to drink (7.8%).

After drinking Vintage 50’s Wee Heavy* I’m just about convinced I need to brew one of these. The man boils it for 6 hours. I am pretty sure this was also the beer that got the round of applause for his hard working yeast strain. Bill Madden loves his beer. And so do I. Look for a review of this brewpub soon. His beer is excellent. (8.8%)

Johansson’s Black Forest Stout* was brewed by a pastry chef that moonlights as a brewer. He made the beer with cocoa and sour cherries. Although there wasn’t much left the cherry flavor, the beer tasted chocolaty delicious. It was served on cask and weighed in at 8.2%.

Brewer’s Alley offered up a Three Kings Spiced Ale that came in at 7.5%. I’m guessing I started to get a little blurry here as my notes are illegible.

Franklin’s either brews amazing beer or Mehan and I were just excited that they had a hipster brewer. The Franklin’s IPA2 has 8 types of hops and rang in at 9.4%. I think I enjoyed it. Franklin’s Imperial Stout had 9.6% and might have also been good. I remember saying something to Mehan like – “Bro, we totally need to go there, it’s in Hyattsville.”

All in all it was a pretty awesome event. The local brewers were very forthcoming with their ingredients and techniques. Some of the beers were inspirational while others provided things I might avoid in my own homebrewing. The end of the night was a little vague, but I left thinking that there were a lot more excellent breweries in our region than I had previously imagined. Now we all just need to get out there and visit them.

Tags: beer tasting, Brewer's Alley, Brewer's Art, Brickskeller, Flying Dog, Franklin's, Johansson's, Legend, Redbrick, Starr Hill, Sweetwater Tavern, Vintage 50