Saturday, October 25, 2014

Seaport Vanilla Stout and Beer Fairies

I love beer fairies. There are very few perks to being a beer blogger. Other than the fame and glory, there is not much else. There is no fortune, there is constant abuse and people loosely borrow your format. Perhaps I should be flattered. Every so often, free stuff comes my way. This was my lucky day, I came home to free beer on my doorstep! A wise and daring enigma left this bountiful box for me. I feel obligated to do a review as the accompanying press releases called me a 'champion of craft beer.' Actually it called everyone who got a box the same thing.
I do not have a degree in marketing, nor a degree in economics, nor a degree in behavioral psychology. These defects do not allow me to critique the new packaging. However, Mrs. Left4Beer very much liked the new packaging and found the iconic/naval signal flag theme appealing. Perhaps this is mission accomplished. With the trend in beer packaging to more elaborate and flashy packaging, the simplistic and iconic style of Lighthouse is refreshing. I really like the bottle caps. If there was a T-shirt available I would wear it proudly. hint..hint. This blog is more concerned about what is inside.

Seaport Vanilla Stout = 8/10


I liked this beer, and not because it was free. Perhaps I am wrong, but this tastes a lot like Keepers Stout with added vanilla. The nose started off with a hint of earthy vanilla, a dusting of chocolate and traces of well seasoned coffee. A friend of mine brought me a very elegantly worded tap list from the Mute Swan Pub. This list might have influenced that first sentence. Each full and creamy sip peels away layers of roasted astringency, cocoa nibs, dark chocolate and homemade vanilla ice cream. Yah, that tap list influenced me a lot. This beer is good. Tastes like Keepers with Madagascar vanilla. Which is great because every Victorian beer drinker secretly hopes they will get a case of Keepers for their birthday. I know I do, hint, hint. Even better an advent calendar that has a Keepers everyday, with a Shipwreck IPA on Friday. Shipwreck is the new name for SwitchBack IPA.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +2
Alcohol Content 0 5.5%
Value +1
Appearance +1 I like the box! Ummm nice new packaging?

Glassware: A snifter if you are feeling fancy, or a nonic if you are in a hurry. Or a La Chouffe glass if you made a super-awesome thrift store find!

Food Pairings: Dessert all the way. A flour-less chocolate brownie with whipped cream would be delightful. Ribs with smoky vanilla BBQ sauce might overload the vanilla pleasure spot in your brain. If you want to try something messed up, may I suggest stew heavy on the chili powder.

Cellar: Yes, in mine. Trust me, I will keep it safe.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Drinking beer helps men at high risk of heart disease

I admit the title is a bit of a stretch, but I needed to hook you in somehow. The title should read, "Polyphenols in beer reduce atherosclerotic biomarkers in high cardiovascular risk men." The previous title is less likely to cause drowsiness. A study in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases gave 36 older men free beer, alcohol free beer or gin. It is known that polyphenols and alcohol in fermented
beverages reduce the risk of heart disease. This study intended to determine what parts helped what.
Atherosclerosis is a low grade, inflammatory disease that leads to plaque build up in arteries. These lucky guys were given a daily dose of either beer (660ml with 30gm ethanol and 1209mg polyphenols), alcohol free beer (similar polyphenol count) or gin (30gm ethanol and no polyphenols). After four weeks, these guys 'donated' a crap tonne of blood and all sorts of cardiovascular disease biomarkers were measured.
What the researchers found was that the polyphenols and alcohol affected their health in different ways. The
alcoholic beer and gin increased good HDL cholesterol and reduced fibrinogen (blood clotting factor), but the alcohol free beer did not. Yay booze. Only the alcohol free beer increased folic acid and lowered homocysteine (heart disease risk marker). Yay vitamins, boo booze. Systolic blood pressure also decreased with alcohol free beer. Yay polyphenols, boo alcohol. Both beer and alcohol free beer reduced leukocyte expression of adhesion molecules (trust me this stuff is bad news). Yay polyphenols.
So what does this mean for beer drinkers? Drink dark beer (rich in polyphenols) with ample hops (flavonoids) and low in alcohol. Can you say stouts or session strength Cascadian dark ale? Hope I don't get sued for that.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Moon Under Water Maxminer's Altbier

Sticking with the Moon's signature brewing style we have another German influenced beer; the altbier. This is also another collaboration, which is something Clay and crew do a lot of.  Altbier means 'old beer', which could be applied to almost every German and European style of beer. When one mentions altbier, they are generally referring to a dark, lagered ale from Düsseldorf. Think of this as a dark Kolsch. Typically the alt style expresses some dark ale characteristics: caramel, dark fruits with a mild hop floral and spiciness. Extended cold conditioning (lagering) tends to smooth out the edges and cleans up the finish. How does the Maxminer stack up? Brilliantly.

Maxminer's Altbier =7/10


The nose is a tad restrained but enough clean, caramel maltiness floats up. There might be a little floral spiciness too. Alt beers are never flavour powerhouses. Each sip is clean with great balance between tame chocolate, caramel, bread, raisins and floral/spicy noble hops. True to form is hits all the marks and just tastes... well, good. The finish holds a slight tongue coating of sweet caramel. A very enjoyable beer, sadly it is only a seasonal.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.3%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (always better from a growler in a proper glass)

Glassware: The altbier uses the stange style glass, but generally it is a bit larger (330ml). I picked this smaller size because it said 'Alt'. You could also pick a Willibecher.

Food Pairings: Anything caramelized and restrained in flavour will pair nicely. Would work well with grilled chicken, all things pork or a BBQ portabello mushroom burger. Mushroom caps with young Gouda sounds darn tasty.

Cellar: Nope

Monday, October 6, 2014

Playing catch up August and September

People think blogging is easy; it is not. It pains me to drink all these great local beers and fire off my opinions. The research involved can take hours: looking up facts, consult other tasting notes and determining impact upon local beer scene. Hah, who am I kidding - blogging is easy. I am just lazy. Plans are made, notes are taken but the world conspires against me. Sometimes it is a Herculean task to raise myself from the couch. Binge watching NCIS with Mrs. Left4Beer is quite enjoyable after a pint - or two. Agent Gibbs is the worlds most dangerous man.
Impressive procrastination require creative solutions. Maybe I should try a stream of consciousness approach to beer reviews. Let the stream begin. Sounds like I just faced off with the urinal.
Octofox from Phillips was a usual release from the boys and girls on Government street. It was a well done bomber of hoppy goodness. This one was more on the tropical side: mangoes, pineapple and caramel apples. When I think about, has any new Phillips release been anything but hoppy?  I'm not talking about the revisited favourites like the Rifflandia beer. The Kangarooster keg was another hoppy American IPA. I'm sure this scary clown beer will also be a hop bomb too. Let's give the Octofox a seven; it was darn tasty. The Kangarooster beer gets a four. There was a bit of funk in there that might not have been intentional. I might not drink the scary clown beer, I have this thing against buying six packs. Maybe it will be on tap at the Drake. On my shopping list there will most certainly be the Gerry Hieter Cherry Ale. Why are there all these Phillips releases all of a sudden? Oh right... The advent calendar. There was an article in the Boulevard magazine with Matt Phillips which stated that each beer would be different.
Who else released beer this week. Not sure about Spinnakers, there have been no emails from them lately. Either they have nothing to say or no one is handling the media emails. Could be both. In the past, I have visited the historic waterfront brewpub and found new beers on tap with no press release. The coffee and spoke beer comes to mind. Mind you, this was a few months ago.This might have been the first cold brewed coffee beer produced in Victoria. Cold brew coffee is proper; it showcases a good quality bean.
What else have I drank this week? Road Trip by Lighthouse was nice. A fresh hopped beer that is not an IPA/PA is refreshing. Sadly the American brown style Road Trip does not really display the fresh hop goodness well. It does makes for a tasty, juicy hop beer. This one gets an eight; pair it will roast (either vegan or flesh) and gravy. Glass? Anything pretty will do. I should insert a picture in here soon... There - perfect.
This photo brings me to my next beer: BenchWarmer by Moon Under Water. This beer is fricken great. Well done John Adair and Jeff! This blonde brew packs lots of cereal and oat malts with understated flowery and spicy hops. There is a bit of lemon citrus for good measure. This beer gets a nine! Definitely serve in a Star Wars glass. Pair with a lemon breaded trout or any creamy pasta. This might even go well with a Hollandaise sauce. I can't wait to try the Moon's other collaboration with Molsons. There is more to this story, but Altbier is a good ending.
I forgot to mention the fresh hopped beers. Satori was awesome, as usual.Was a little disappointment with the Wolf Vine this year. It smelled and tasted like wet dog. Looking forward to the Phillips fresh hop release in Mid October; doesn't seem very fresh thought. Didn't this same thing happen a few years ago?
There. I'm all caught up, you figure out your own pairing.