Welcome to The Session, a monthly event in which beer and brewing bloggers get together to all write about a chosen topic on the same day! This is Session #18, for which The Barley Blog writer Ray Henry has chosen the topic, “Happy Anniversary.”

The great thing about anniversary beers is seeing your favorite breweries trying something different and knowing that what you’re about to drink is going to be unique. After going a little overboard at our recent excursion, we found ourselves with four anniversary brews, one each from Brewery Ommegang and Stone Brewing Co., and two from Weyerbacher Brewing Co. We’ve been laboring to drink one every night this week, silently tasting and gathering our respective thoughts before compiling our notes together into comprehensive analyses, all for you, the readers. I HOPE YOU APPRECIATE THIS.

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence

We got lucky with this first one. Mel picked it up on her first trip to the Canal’s on Rt. 38, thinking that it was just one of the Ommegang brews that we didn’t know about. It wasn’t there on our second trip, though, and when we got home and looked at the bottle, we discovered that this was Ommegang’s 10th Anniversary brew from last year! Nice of Canal’s to age it for us. Shame we’ll probably never find it again.

Chocolate Indulgence is a “True Belgian-Style Chocolate Stout,” brewed with Belgian chocolate and chocolate malts. The bottle is worth 10¢ in Michigan.

Appearance: Opaque. Dark, dark brown — just shy of black. Cream/mocha head that dissolves quickly.

Nose: Sweet and alcoholic, like a Belgian ought to be. Subtle roastiness beneath the alcohol.

Taste: Bitter chocolate with the slightest hint of coffee. As alcoholic as the nose makes you expect.

Mouthfeel: Creamy. Medium bodied. Very light for a stout, but spot on for a “Belgian-style” stout.

Overall: We liked it, but it wasn’t nearly as chocolaty as we expected. “Indulgence” suggests that you’re going to say, “Hey-oh! Chocolate!” which doesn’t end up happening. It could be that the chocolatiness sank beneath the weight of the alcohol during the bottle’s year on the shelf at Canal’s. Neither of us was blown away, but it’s still very good.

Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Phew, that name is a mouthful. Incidentally, so is the beer. Wow.

It sounds delicious just from the name. Stone tends to favor big, hoppy beers for their anniversary specials. According to the label on their 12th Anniversary brew, however, the hop shortage staid their hand to an extent, and they opted instead to use unsweetened chocolate from Chuao Chocolatier for most of this stout’s bittering.

I thought of Mel as soon as I heard that this was coming out. It’s kind of her thing, after all.

Appearance: Jet black, with a foamy, dark mocha head.

Nose: Sweet and alcoholic. Less chocolate than we expected, but there was still no missing it.

Taste: Super roasty, with lots of chocolaty bitterness that becomes more and more pronounced as the beer warms up to room temperature. Slight astringency makes me think they had some roasted cocoa beans in the boil along with the unsweetened chocolate.

Mouthfeel: Thick, chewy, and creamy, with a really nice alcohol bite that smooths out as the beer warms.

Overall: Wow. Easily one of the best stouts we’ve ever had, certainly our favorite out of the four beers we bought for this post. We’re going to need to stock up on this one. This is exactly why I think the hop shortage is such a blessing.

Also, we got about halfway through the 22 oz bottle before deciding, “Holy crap, this needs to be in a float.” After topping off our goblets, we dropped a scoop of Friendly’s Vienna Mocha Chunk ice cream into each one. It was the perfect summer dessert.

Geeeez, those were some delicious freaking floats.

Weyerbacher XIII Thirteenth Anniversary Ale

To celebrate their 13th year, Weyerbacher crafted a “Belgian-inspired Imperial Stout made with 5 malts, a touch of oats, and Pilgrim and Saaz hops.” They’re not kidding about the Imperial part — at 13.6% ABV, this thing is a beast. We slept like rocks that night.

Appearance: Opaque black, with a thin brown head that disappears almost instantly.

Nose: Lots of Belgian banana esters, and lots of alcohol.

Taste: Sweet, very alcoholic and estery. A bit of roastiness. A sweet hint of nuttiness right at the end, though this is concealed a great deal by the alcohol.

Mouthfeel: Definitely a lot of alcohol bite, but it is smoother than we expected. Creamy, medium body.

Overall: We were a little disappointed with this one. It’s just way too alcoholic. Aging would probably help a bit, but right now, the whole beer gets lost in the alcohol. Perhaps it’ll be more like a stout a year from now. Definitely Belgian-style, though.

Weyerbacher Twelve Anniversary Ale

For their 12th anniversary in 2007, Weyerbacher brewed a Rye Barleywine. I was optimistic: I love barleywines, and I love Weyerbacher, and this is a Weyerbacher barleywine that’s been aging for a year. Oh. Man.

Appearance: Crystal clear, bright, golden amber. Foamy, lingering head with lots of lacing.

Nose: Almost like a strong pilsner. Malty, with some tangy alcohol.

Taste: Hearty sweetness at the beginning and dryness at the end. Super smooth, very balanced, and just a little bit citrusy.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy, and smooth. Lingers on the back and sides of the tongue.

Overall: I’m a fan. It’s a very different bareleywine, and I’m all for different. Deceptively drinkable, nice and clean, and the alcohol doesn’t slap you in the face the same way that Weyerbacher’s other big beers do (Quad, I’m looking at you). I need to try this next to Blithering Idiot to compare. Would buy from again, A+++++++++++.

Craft Beer, Tasting, The Session Comments Off

A few nights ago, Ray and I finally cracked the bottle of Young’s Double Chocolate Stout that I had purchased in late May/early June. Originally, I was going to be a greedy brat and keep it to myself, but I came to my senses and decided Ray and I should share, as well as pair my chocolate chip cookies with it.

When Ray finds me baking in the kitchen, you can see his eyes glaze over and he begins to salivate. True, I am definitely a good baker, schooled by my Gramma Ward, and encouraged by the rest of my family, but sometimes I think his objectivity flies out the window when it comes to my sweet treats fresh from the oven.

Nevertheless, we shared a couple cookies and the bottle of Youngs, and it was excellent. I feel that the bottled brew was just as good as the draft I had at Stouts NYC; the head was nice and creamy, the mouthfeel had a luscious thickness to it — without leaving an unpleasant coating — and the overall taste was full of chocolate and roastyness. This beer paired perfectly with my cookies, which are not too sweet — I only use semi-sweet chocolate chips — and are also not super chewy/soft. They’re also not drier than stale toast; instead they sit on the middle ground, and because of that, the moisture from the stout compliments them well.

Excellent beer, excellent cookies, excellent pairing.

And while we’re on the topic of cookies and beer, Ray and I tried our ESB with my orange chocolate chip cookies as well, and found that the citrus in both the beer and the cookie was brought forth by the pairing. A nice surprise indeed!

Craft Beer, Pairings, Tasting 2 Comments »

We opened a bottle of our ESB back on the 28th of June, but found that the carbonation wasn’t quite there yet. This past weekend, we tried again, and the beer is definitely ready for consumption, evidenced by the fact that we have consumed quite a bit of it by now.

Here are my notes. I believe Mel is going to be chiming in on this, as well.

Appearance: Hazy, reddish orangeish brown. Thick, cream-colored head that gradually coalesces into a few thin islands of foam that never go away completely.

Nose: Bitter, flowery, and subtley fruity.

Taste: A bit bitter for the style. The nutty and caramel notes are there, though they’re a little bit harder to pick out than I would like. Still, very drinkable.

Mouthfeel: Crisp. Coats the tongue. A bit of a hop bite going down.

Overall: I’m thrilled with how well our first homebrew came out. I can’t be honest with myself and call this a true ESB at the same time, though. The hop profile is just too pronounced. If we brew another ESB down the road, I would probably want to cut the late[Ed: Duh] early-addition hops in half and spruce up the specialty grain bill a bit. Nevertheless, the knowledge that we still have three gallons of the stuff left to drink sends warm tingly feelings down my legs.

Here are my notes:

When poured, the beer produces a nice head and a subtle fruity aroma (no fruit salad here!)

Medium to light mouthfeel.

The hops bitter sits on your tongue, but not in a grease-coating way.

A slight crispness to the end. Also, the beer gets fruitier as it warms.

Overall, the beer is very drinkable; what I would consider a perfect session beer for me, unlike Old Rasputin (a personal favorite of mine, nevertheless), which is A. too filling and B. too expensive to drink for an entire summer afternoon. I also have to agree with Ray on the hoppiness of our ESB. Perhaps we should call it an AESB (American Extra Special Bitter), since we all know us Yanks like to hop it up a bit!

Homebrewing, Our Brew Days, Tasting 3 Comments »