My 52 beers in 52 weeks takes an interesting turn for weeks 20 and 21 as I had the unique opportunity to hit 4 breweries, 2 great bars, and a Pittsburgh Pirates game this weekend.

The first round of this epic 4 day weekend included stops at Pennsylvania Brewing Company, Church Brew Works, and East End Brewing Company early Friday morning to Friday afternoon.  At Penn Brewing, our first stop, I started with their PENNdemonium. We actually got interviewed by KDKA 2 about the craft beer movement. Here is the video and here is the story.  Penn Brewing was nice enough to provide a free growler for our interviews (which was awesome because I was going to buy one anyway!) and I took advantage of their Kaiser Pils that was on tap.  My review is below:

A golden yellow pour with a small, wispy, white head and nice lacing. The smell was very light and slightly hoppy, more grassy hops than piney ones. I must say that my ability to accurately describe the smell was hindered a bit by the fact that I was sitting around a nice campfire when it was consumed, I’d say it was a win/win regardless. My taste buds, however, were in perfect working order.  Following the smell, the taste was light, refreshing, and hoppy, very much like a pilsner should taste.  It was very nicely carbonated and crisp, you could hardly taste any alcohol.  Wonderful drinking beer, whether you’re at a campfire, a ballgame, on the lake, wherever, you can’t go wrong here!

Next up was a quick stop at Primanti Brothers, where I downed an IC Light and a Pitts-burgher, a cheese-steak with coleslaw and fries piled inside the bun. Obviously needing to burn off a few calories, we walked up to Church Brew Works, passing the original Pittsburgh Brewing Company. If you haven’t seen the inside of Church Brew Works, do yourself the favor and either go, or check out the slideshow at their website. They built the brewery in an old church and the setting is both unique and phenomenally interesting. Our waitress had to be one of the nicest waitresses I’ve ever had. She was constantly throwing us free samples and mis-poured beer. I bought their Quadzilla and Coconut Stout myself, but also tried the Mad Brewer’s Maibock and Saazquatch, I also picked up a 6er of their Thunderhop IPA to go. It was the most impressive brewery we visited, not my favorite, but certainly the most impressive. Beer reviews are below!

Quadzilla

Amber in color with hints of yellow, but without much head. What sticks around is almost pink in color. The smell is very sweet, cherries and Belgian yeast mostly, perhaps some alcohol in the background. The taste is not dissimilar. Cherries, candied sugar, Belgian yeast, alcohol, and a caramel malty finish. Pretty low carbonation and medium bodied. The flavor profile evolves as the beer warms, which I enjoyed, but overall it was just a little too sweet for more. Solid beer overall!

Coconut Stout (Cask)

I went for the cask version of the Coconut Stout, which in my opinion was a mistake. A few of my friends got it from the tap and I believe it was a better beer. However, it was still good! Black pour with a good amount of light brown to white head. Once poured, the head forms much like a Guinness is poured. The smell is almost toasted, very sweet, which I would expect from combining coconut and a stout. The problem with Cask vs. Tap for me came with the taste, which for me was all over the place. I considered the taste of the Tap version to be more controlled and balanced, blending the coconut and stout flavors wonderfully, whereas my version you didn’t know what was going to happen with each drink, not in a good way however. The beer is full bodied and dry throughout. I just think it was served too warm for my preference. Like with Quadzilla, I like to witness the beer evolve as it warms, I sort of missed out with this one. My advice: If you like cask beers, try it! If you’re not really sure, go for the version that’s on tap, which I thought was nothing short of phenomenal.

Thunderhop IPA

Ruby red pour with hints of orange and hardly any head. The smell consists of citrus and hops predominantly, a bit grassy and sweet. Some booziness is also noted. Very light up front on the taste, followed by the citrus hops. Not a lot else going on. The hops linger on the palate for a long time after the sip has been taken. Light to medium bodied. Good amount of carbonation and very crisp. Good beer to drink on the porch in the heat of the summer. Not a bad IPA by any mark, but also not mind boggling.

The final brewery of Day 1 was East End Brewing Company. This was the only brewery on this first round that was not a brewpub and did not have a liquor license. The brewery exemplifies Micro-Breweries. Basically in a garage, my group was having second thoughts as to whether or not we had the correct address. The only marker is a keg that sits outside the front door marked East End Brewing Company when they are open. To use the restroom, you literally walk through the brewing tanks and can witness whichever part of the brewing process they’re working on at that specific time. I picked up their Big Hop IPA and Black Strap Stout, but alas enjoyed them in a hot tub and didn’t get a chance to write down any reviews. I can say that both were well above average in their respective categories!

Finally we headed to our tailgate for the Pirates game by the Andy Warhol Museum. The tailgate had such beers as Sam Adam’s Summer Ale, Coors Light, Lions Head, George Killian’s Irish Red, Smithwick’s, and Harp Lager. Luckily, our Buccos creamed the Detroit Tigers 10-1 with a barrage of home runs and good pitching. I grabbed another IC Light inside of beautiful PNC Park.

At this point we headed to Conneaut Lake and enjoyed a simply wonderful and sunny weekend on the lake. Luckily, NW Pennsylvania is not without a craft beer scene, and amongst drinking the previously mentioned growlers, we hit two very nice bars as well.

First up was Roff School Tavern, that was recommended to us by Matt of Voodoo Brewing Company, but more on him later. The Tavern has far more craft beer than I ever imagined for Meadville, PA. They had everything from very local beers to California breweries! The bar has an awesome set up, a bar area and game room/stage inside and tables with a fire pit, cornhole, and horseshoes outside all for the customer’s enjoyment. I had never seen anything like that, and certainly not in State College. I went for the Sprague Farm Rustbelt at the bar, another local brewery we didn’t have the time to visit and grabbed another growler filled with Lagunitas Brewing Company Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, which I reviewed below.

Reddish brown pour with a nicely sized white head. The head both laces and is retained very well. The smell is hoppy, more of piney hops than grassy, with a caramel malt backbone. Those same piney hops start off the taste and is followed by the maltiness. Dry hops finish the taste off nicely. The beer is light with a good amount of carbonation and a very dry finish, devoid of any alcohol taste. Again a very drinkable choice!

The second bar was Conneaut Lake’s Volunteer Fire Department Station 3. A ‘members only’ bar that directly benefits the fire station. I normally wouldn’t write about a bar like this, but the fried fish was wonderful, the Yuengling Lager was cold, and I had the unique opportunity of meeting Bill Hillgrove, the radio announcer of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Having listened to his voice on the radio for countless hours on the edge of my seat rooting on the Stillers, meeting and talking to the man behind the voice really was a highlight of the trip. Knowing a member of our group pretty well, he ended up buying us a round of beers as a congratulations for our recent graduation from Penn State, not bad for a Pitt guy!

Finally, we reached Monday morning and my most anticipated leg of the trip, a visit to Voodoo Brewery. Located in a gutted furniture store in downtown Meadville, PA, it exists as simply a room for brewing, and a room that will one day be a small brewpub. Matt, who is basically the entire brewery, walked us through his small and growing operation. Him and his assistant (the only 2 employees of Voodoo, and the assistant hasn’t been there more than a year) were brewing a new batch of Wynona’s Big Brown Ale. We got to check out some barrels being used to spontaneously ferment some sour beers, and the Bourbon ones being used to age a new batch of Black Magick. To see how small that brewery is, get the tour by the guy who created it, runs it, and is the brainchild behind basically an entire craft movement in the small towns of NW PA was unrivaled by any other brewery we went to. Also, seeing my final growler being filled with their latest edition of 4 Seasons IPA directly from the tank was awesome, a review of which is below.

From Matt, this beer changes with every single batch. they hardly ever use the same hop or recipe. This is the batch that was in the tanks Monday, May 23rd, 2011. He said the next batch will be completely different. It starts with an amber pour and a nicely sized white head. The head laces and retains very nicely. The smell is full of piney hops with only a slight malt backbone. Like most, the taste really follows the smell. Piney hops and a dryness up front meet a stiff caramel maltiness on the back end. Lingering dryness at the end. Crisp, light, and refreshing. Not much of a hint of alcohol. Great beer. I’d love to try every single variation of this. Matt said they brew darker IPAs in the winter, and lighter ones as the weather warms up. This was a nice melding of a heavy IPA with a lot of refreshing lightness. Keep it up Voodoo!

I really am still digesting from everything I learned this weekend. Whether it be about beer, breweries, lake fishing, shooting, general history of another small town, or any of the other experiences we had, I wouldn’t have changed any of it. Every single establishment we visited was extremely hospitable, every server we had was kind and willing to indulge us, and every brewery we visited was unique and interesting in their own way. I would highly recommend a similar tour to anybody!

This was a fun week for me, I got to taste two of my favorite Bourbon Barrel Aged beers side by side: KBS and Black Magick.  As I already talked about Black Magick, this week I will focus on Founders Brewing Company’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout, or KBS.

Founders was founded in 1997 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers. Today, the brewery has 2 of BeerAdvocate’s Top 10 beers, with KBS coming in at #4 worldwide. RateBeer.com also boasts Founders as the 4th best brewery in the world. KBS, originally named Kentucky Breakfast Stout until legal issues made the brewery go with simply KBS, is not simply Founders Breakfast Stout (FBS) aged in Bourbon barrels. This is a monster of its own, from Founders’ Website:

What we’ve got here is an imperial stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year to make sure wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish. Makes your taste buds squeal with delight.

It took a lot for me to track this guy down, but I was able to secure enough to drink two and save some for the cellar, and now the review! Pour is completely black. Not much of a mocha head appearing, even with a rough pour. The Bourbon isn’t dominating in the smell, which is very balanced and includes lots of coffee, toasty malts, chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon mingling amongst some alcohol. The taste is phenomenally interesting. However, not quite what I was expecting. The coffee is truly the dominating factor. Chocolatey bourbon leads the taste off, but it recedes to a big coffee taste. A slight booziness sits throughout. A little on the lighter side, as far as imperial stouts go. It has a creaminess to it, however. Alcohol is noted, but not overpowering. Aftertaste is dry. Very drinkable for 11%, but not the end all be all of bourbon aged beers.

I got a great opportunity to try some quality brews from one of the best breweries worldwide: De Struise Brouwers. Located in Oostvleteren, the brewery was conceptualized from Ostrich raisers on a farm. To pay homage to their past, many of their bottles feature ostriches. The company also takes its name from the historic Flemish word for ostrich, which is a slang term meaning “tough”. They render the name into English as “The Sturdy Brewers”.

Cuvee Delphine has a very nice description on the bottle as to how it came to be. Black Albert was used in a new barrel aging project. They were able to get their hands on a stock of Four Roses Bourbon barrels, and happily filled them up with Black Albert Batch 0. This unique creation was originally to be named 4 Black Roses in honor of its heritage, but our friends in Kentucky strongly advised them not to do so. As the disowned offspring of Black Albert, the name Cuvée Delphine imposed itself. Savoring the Belgian irony, we are most honored to have artwork by Delphine Boël shining on this label.

My bottle is from lot BR26.230.610. Black pour with a very nice brown head that isn’t out of control like the Black Albert’s were. Retention is ok, but it laces very nicely. Really not a lot of Bourbon happening on the smell, more so oak. The smell is faintly metallic. Wow this is an interesting taste to say the least. I’m getting some slight bourbon and vanilla on the backend, but again it isn’t really noticed. There is some booziness as well as some dark fruits that were characteristic of Black Albert. A bit creamy with a full and heavy body. Seems to have the correct amount of carbonation and a very dry finish. This is pretty decent. Better than both the Black Alberts no doubt, but not quite on the level of Black Damnation II Mocha Bomb, which I’ll talk about now.

The Black Damnation series is a dark twist of Urban’s mind. His idea is to realize a dozen beers with the use of Black Albert, and over a period of two years, that are as black as hell, filthy rich in the nose and with a massive taste. Black Damnation II is a blend with the use of Hel & Verdoemenis from Brouwerij De Molen. This time a level more complex than Black Damnation I. 50% of Black Albert was used that matured for a while on whole coffee beans out of a craft Columbian coffee plantation. 25% of H&V was used that aged for 6 months on JD barrels at Struise. Another 25% of Cuvée Delphine was used. So I started the night with Black Albert, moved to Cuvee Delphine, and now to Black Damnation II Mocha Bomb, which uses the previous two beers almost exclusively. The weird things is…this was the best one yet!

This came from lot BS. Black pour with a finger light brown head that doesn’t stick around for terribly long. The lacing is very nice. The smell is Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee. Very impressive and bold smell. Roasty, malty, much like a stout aged on coffee beans should smell. It’s really amazing how the coffee taste stick throughout the entire beer. From start to finish the coffee has a say. Malts and chocolate up front. Big coffee finish is accompanied by a slight booziness. Heavy body with a decent amount of carbonation. The dryness makes it hard to put down as you constantly want to take another sip. This was clearly the best beer of the night. While overall it might not be as good as I’m rating it, it is that much better than the other disappointments from the evening (Black Albert mostly, as it was infected). I really enjoyed this one.

Mikkeller started as two young homebrewers, who took a hobby mainstream. Since August of 2007, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø has run the brewery on his own. The brewery focuses on creating challenging beers that test the boundaries and where quality always comes before quantity. In other words, uncompromising beer.

This specific beer is an imperial Oatmeal stout and is brewed with one of the world’s most expensive coffees, made from droppings of weasel-like civetcats. The fussy Southeast Asian animals only eat the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system help to break down the bean. Workers collect the bean-containing droppings for Civet or Weasel Coffee. The exceedingly rare Civet Coffee has a strong taste and an even stronger aroma.

I has really, I’ll say, interested to try this beer, I had heard such good things I had to jump in. The pour is dark with a nicely sized light brown head. Very creamy head with wonderful lacing and good retention. Lots of coffee on the smell, which is based on a lot of chocolate. The roastiness is toned down a little from Beer Geek Brunch (the base beer that was then aged), but the smell is overall better. The taste is simply phenomenal. Big chocolate blast gets your palate all ready to go for the smooth, rich coffee finish. The coffee doesn’t destroy the rest of the beer, just blends nicely in. If weasel poop coffee tastes that good…give me more weasel poop coffee! Best coffee I’ve ever tasted in a beer. Thick and creamy body. No hint of alcohol and a bit bitter to help curb the sweetness of the chocolate. A great beer. I had heard great things before trying it and this did not disappoint.

In Mayan myth, Hunahpu gave cocoa to the Mayans. The base recipe is Marshal Zhukov Imperial Stout. Which is then aged on pasilla and ancho peppers as well as vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa nibs. This is easily Cigar City’s most anticipated beer. The release party is one of the can’t miss beer events of the year in the United State and especially Florida. I had to go through a lot to get this beer, so I was really hoping it didn’t disappoint me.

This has the darkest head of any beer I’ve ever seen. Sort of like chocolate milk when you’ve put too much chocolate sauce in it. The lacing and retention are great. Definitely getting the chili and cinnamon dominating the smell with some chocolate and roastiness. Vanilla and alcohol mix in as well. Recently I was at a food pairing for Oskar Blues, and with Ten Fidy they paired a Chocolate Chili Cake and this tastes exactly like that. Wonderful dark chocolate leads it off and gives way to a wide array of spices. The chili and cinnamon dominate the back end of the taste, in that order, and fade slowly back to what seems like a coffee roastiness. The peppers leave a tingle and perhaps a hint of spiciness on the tongue. The taste is so complex. Perhaps some oak resting in the background. Every taste brings a new experience. Dark and heavily bodied with a nice amount of carbonation. Only a hint of alcohol. It goes down creamy, with a silkiness that makes you want to keep taking sips. Truly a wonderful concoction. I completely understand the hype. If only I could get more to throw in the cellar. Blown away.

I couldn’t find a lot of information about the history of Jackie O’s brewery, other than the fact that they are formerly an Irish Pub and Athens, OH’s only Brewpub. This week, I got the chance to taste their Bourbon Barrel Aged version of their winter seasonal, Sweet Chocolate Love. They call the original version a chocolate oatmeal milk stout that is a tribute to all things sweet, robust, and decadent.

An American styled stout made with copious amounts of flaked oats, semi sweet chocolate bars, and lactose sugar. The chocolate bars were tempered with hot wort over the kettle utilizing the steam from the boil. Additions of the tempered chocolate were frequent throughout the entire boil. Lactose sugar was added to provide its signature sweetness to help accentuate the robust chocolate character. A chocolate stout for chocolate lovers.

So technically, I am about to review a Bourbon Barrel Aged Chocolate Oatmeal Milk Stout. That sure sounds interesting! This one has a big dark pour with a nicely sized brown head. The retention isn’t great but it laces nicely. I get lots of alcohol in the smell. Really only getting bourbon and sweetness there. Perhaps a hint of chocolate but, overall, the nose is not particularly balanced. The taste is almost sour on the front end, alcohol and bourbon come after with a hint of roastiness at the end. Maybe some dark fruits throughout, but not a lot of chocolate. Like the smell, the taste is really unbalanced. Dominated by bourbon without a lot else. While this beer has a heavy body, it is way more thin than I had hoped for. It does have decent carbonation but pretty underwhelmed. Sort of surprised by the sourness on the front and the lack of chocolate. Bourbon takes too much away from the flavor of the beer, which is overall a bit watered down. Expected far more from this.

The story behind Lost Abbey is a very interesting one. It grew out of a San Diego Pizza shop, Pizza Port, and has become one of the most sought after breweries in the United States. I’m going to rely heavily on their website to play it out for you (who better right?)

Vince Marsaglia (A Lost Abbey co-founders and half of the family duo that owns Pizza Port) was inspired by the numerous Abbey Style beers that he tasted and dreamed up a brewery project that produced a range of beers produced with a nod to the monastic brewing traditions of Belgium. As Vince imagined it, this brewery had no actual Abbey property involved, making it “lost” from the very beginning.

In 1997 when Tomme Arthur was hired to brew at Pizza Port in Solana Beach, California. In November of that year he released Dubbel Overhead Abbey Ale, the first Belgian-style beer ever brewed at Pizza Port. As he kept brewing, the emergence of the burgeoning San Diego Breweries along with an American Craft Brewing scene spearheaded by breweries like Dogfish Head, Russian River, Southampton Public House, Avery, Allagash and Pizza Port helped foster a movement towards small scale single batch unique beers.

After many years of small scale Pizza Port brewing Tomme and Vince began formulating a plan to bring these beers to a wider audience. Building on Vince’s original Belgian brewery vision, this new brewery would dedicate itself to a flavor-first brewing philosophy where thinking outside the box, and equally as important, brewing outside the box were the hallmarks.

Charged with a vision and a brewer who could realize it, one of the largest remaining obstacles, a brewhouse, fell in 2005 when Stone Brewing Co. announced that it was moving from its old facility in San Marcos, California to a much larger one a short distance away. Knowing a sign when they saw it, Vince, his sister Gina Marsaglia (the other half of the Pizza Port duo), Tomme, and a forth partner, Jim Comstock of Comstock and Associates founded Port Brewing Company and took over Stone’s old brewing facility. In early 2006, after nearly 10 years as Pizza Port brewmaster, Tomme passed the brewing reins to the capable hands Carlsbad Pizza Port head brewer Jeff Bagby and left the company to direct operations at Port Brewing.

With a 3 vessel 30 bbl brewery originally capable of making over 5,000 bbls (now upwards of 8,500 bbls) of beer each year, the new brewing company set about shaking up the craft brewing world with two distinct beer lines: the aggressive San Diego / West Coast styles under the Port Brewing label, and a Belgian-inspired series carrying Vince’s long-imagined “Lost Abbey” name.

The doors opened in May, 2006 and in 2007 Port Brewing was named Great American Beer Festival Small Brewery of the Year, and Tomme Small Brewer of the Year. Scarcely six months later, the pair were again honored — this time as Champion Small Brewery and Small Brewer at the 2008 World Beer Cup competition, one of the youngest breweries ever to win the back-to-back honors.

Today Port Brewing continues at the vanguard of craft brewing, ranked as one of the top 10 new breweries in the nation by both industry experts and enthusiasts alike, driven in large part by its extraordinary Lost Abbey beers and a library of 800-plus oak bourbon, brandy, sherry, and wine barrels that comprise one of the most remarkable barrel-aging programs for a craft brewery of any size. Distribution has also expanded to major cities and metropolitan areas throughout the country, allowing beer lovers to now enjoy fresh brewed Port products from coast to coast.

The beer I have of theirs this week is the Red Poppy Ale. It is brewed with Sour Cherries from a brown ale base. Which is then aged in oak barrels for over 6 months. The inspiration from the name comes from the Golden Poppy, the state flower of California, and that grows in Flanders Fields. It is 5.5% ABV.

The beer pours very brown pour with a small white head. The head laces decently, but dissipates rather quickly. The nose is hit with a really big sour smell with tart cherries and vinegar. Very tart sour flavor follows, cherries predominantly. Pretty sweet also, very well balanced. Hint of warming alcohol on the backend. Really carbonated very well. Light to medium bodied. I was really impressed by this because it has great balance between sourness and other tastes. I’ve had a bunch of sours I hated, not this one.

Yesterday I went fishing for the first time in 2011. It was a long awaited return to this stream coming the same day I finished my college career. In one of the lone beautiful days we’ve seen in Central PA recently, I figured there was no better way to spend the day.

I rolled into my cottage in Spruce Creek, PA at between 10:30am and 11:00am with the sun high in the sky.  The creek was not a muddy mess, which I was afraid of given the vast amount of rain we’ve gotten recently, but it was very high and the current was very fast. Fishing on the surface was almost certainly out.  I started off using bead headed nymphs, which treated me very well at the end of 2010, and fished unsuccessfully until I decided to stop for lunch.

Now with some food in my belly, I decided a new strategy, Glo-Bugs.  This worked almost instantly. Within my first 5 casts I had a nicely sized (20″+) Brown Trout on the other end of my rod. This was not meant to be my first fish of the year though, as my fly became untied from the leader (or at least I suspect so). Regrouping, I tied another Glo-Bug on and fished almost exclusively with them the rest of the day.

In the next few hours I managed to catch 2 fish and myself! As my line casted directly towards a tree, I whipped it back quickly, figuring a tangled line was better than losing what would have been my 3rd Glo-Bug of the afternoon.  With almost precise accuracy the hook shot back at my face and lodged itself in my cheek! Luckily the hook was small and not barbed, so pulling it out wasn’t too much of a chore. I certainly have never had that experience before! The first actual fish I caught came on a Glo-Bug in almost exactly the same spot as I got the first one on. This time I prevailed and landed the 19-20″ Rainbow Trout pictured below. The only other activity I got until 5:00pm was a little guy, an 8″ Rainbow, which succumbed to an ant.

The rest of the pictures below are from the wonderful scenery I was subject to all afternoon. The “Redbuds” as they’re called were blooming in pink and were everywhere. The sun beating down all day didn’t hurt either (although this sunburn does!). The only other cool thing that happened was two hawks soared past, actually coming within about 20′ of me. Because they seemed to follow the sun, I couldn’t see well enough to see if they were red-tailed hawks. From far away, I got excited thinking I was going to see an eagle, but you won’t hear me complaining!

Overall it was a great day to get back in the stream. I finished the day off grabbing some food at the Tavern, which featured Otto’s Spruce Creek Lager, playing off of another of my hobbies. Can’t wait to go back!