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April 15, 2014

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SC breweries, beer spots focus of new ‘Beer Lover’s’ book

The Carolinas is one region of the country where craft beer culture has seen a sharp increase in recent years. Last year, both North Carolina and South Carolina saw a bump in the number of breweries opening in their respective backyards. For those of us who live south of the border, 2013’s Pint Bill was a major buoy for the state’s expanding beer scene. And north of the border, hotspots such as Asheville and Charlotte have become destinations not only for beer geeks, but big-name breweries as well.

With that rapid growth, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of what’s where and who beer travelers should be on the lookout for. Enter Beer Lover’s the Carolinas – released today – the latest entry in a series of books chronicling the breweries and beer spots that call their respective areas home. Previous entries have covered regions such as New York and Southern California, and this volume covers nearly all of the breweries currently active throughout the Palmetto and Tar Heel states. Continue reading →

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March 25, 2013

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Westbrook Shane’s Big DIPA

Westbrook Shane's Big DIPA

Westbrook Brewing Co.

Mt. Pleasant, SC

Shane’s Big DIPA

9.6% ABV

I’ve provided plenty of coverage this month on Shane’s Big DIPA, the new imperial IPA concocted by Westbrook brewer Shane Cummings. After being tapped at the brewery, reviews slowly began to trickle out and with it the hype train rolling along. COAST’s Boy King has pretty much been the undisputed … well, king of DIPAs coming out of SC’s Lowcountry. But now, there may be a challenger waiting in the wings.

Bottles of Shane’s began rolling out to markets early last week after being bottled on March 14. With just about a week of age on it – this particular bottle was 9 days old – I decided to tuck in this weekend and see what all the fuss was about.

The nose is a hugely wet, dank hop aroma. There’s this luscious blend of tropical fruit notes including papaya, pineapple and orange. There’s also that sticky resinous hop aroma that adds to the richness of everything else going on on the nose. The sweet malt notes blend in perfectly as well and provide a good balance. As it warms, it develops a sort of acetic quality with just a hint of onion and a bit of grass. But what could be an off smell is again reigned in by those juicy sweet aromas.

The taste and mouthfeel of Shane’s is this incredible mix of juicy fruits, biting hops and smooth, sweet malts. There’s just a mild, tingling hop bitterness on the front of the tongue that’s tempered by the hugely juicy fruit flavors. It’s almost like a juicy fruit salad. Mango, papaya, melon, pineapple, orange and citrus notes all flood the palate. On the back is this kind of tart lemon zest hoppiness that lingers really nicely on the finish, as well as a dry piney hop note. Those oniony characteristics come up more and more as it warms, but it’s never strong enough to be off-putting.

One of Shane’s biggest selling points is just how incredibly smooth and drinkable it is. It hovers just near 10%, but like Hopslam, it’s so smooth and drinkable it’s hard to tell. The flavors glide effortlessly across the palate and end on such a smooth, clean note. It’s so rich and flavorful and really masks the alcohol, which is clearly there, but not as strongly as you’d think. That’s the sign of a quality, really well-crafted DIPA.

As I remarked on Facebook during the weekend, everything I’ve heard about Shane’s Big DIPA was true. It’s full, immensely flavorful, incredibly drinkable and just a damn good beer all around. It’s certainly one you want to drink as fresh as possible, although I’m not sure why you’d want to wait much longer to try it.

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March 6, 2013

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Conquest Medusa Stout

Conquest Medusa

Conquest Brewing Co.

Columbia, SC

Medusa Stout

5.2% ABV

It’s really exciting to see more stuff finally rolling out of the doors of Conquest. While the city anxiously awaits the opening of their tasting room, kegs have started popping up around the Columbia area more and more in recent weeks. Their first two year-round beers – Sacred Heart IPA and Artemis Blonde – have been great, and their one-off Bipolar High Roller was one of my favorites of Brewvival.

Last week saw the launch of the Medusa Stout, which will be their year-round 5.2% sweet stout. The first batch hit taps across Columbia on Thursday and Friday and, from all reports, was incredibly well-received.

What makes Medusa stand out from other sweet/milk stouts is the absence of lactose, usually a standard in milk stouts. By using a different mashing technique, lactose can be left out and thus the beer can be enjoyed by the lactose tolerant and intolerant alike.

The nose is sort of like a creamy cup of dark roast coffee. The roasted notes are what pop up first, leaving behind a slightly acidic coffee note. Behind that is the creaminess, with a slight milk chocolate/chocolate milk quality, although with more of a dark chocolate tone. Since there’s no lactose used in the brewing process, it’s not overly sweet or creamy on the nose, and the roasted characteristics shine through a lot more, especially as it warms.

The roasted bitterness is very slight on the front of the tongue, with just a pinch before it glides across the rest of the palate. The acidic coffee lingers for just a second before melting into a creamy milk chocolate smoothness with a hint of coffee added. There’s a slight fruity hoppiness in the middle of the palate that gives a very slight orange and grapefruit quality, but it’s masked by everything else going on with the taste. The mouthfeel and body are thin, but not watery, and really gave the feeling of drinking a glass of chocolate milk. The finish is smooth with just a touch of cocoa powder lingering on the end.

Medusa strikes the perfect balance of sweet and roasted characteristics without the heavy, filling stout you’d expect. At just north of 5%, the thing is damn near sessionable, which is good as just one glass isn’t good enough.

According to the brewers, the first batch is just about where they want the beer to be. But if subsequent batches are better than this one, there’s going to be a lot more to enjoy.

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February 15, 2013

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Holy City Barrel-Aged LDA (Lowcountry Dark Ale)

Holy City BA Lowcounrty Dark Ale

Holy City Brewing

Charleston, SC

Barrel-Aged LDA (Lowcountry Dark Ale)

6.8% ABV

While Coast and Westbrook garner most of the beer-centric headlines in the Lowcountry, Holy City has grown in visibility and prominence within the past year. Unlike their aforementioned coastal beer brethren, Holy City’s still getting the ball rolling on distributing outside of the Charleston area, although kegs are a regular find in the Midlands and Upstate and bottles are on the way.

But with a Great American Beer Festival gold medal hanging around their necks thanks to their stellar Pluff Mud Porter, the HC guys are showing they’ve got plenty of good stuff rolling out their doors, including their take on a black IPA, the Lowcountry Dark Ale.

LDA is one of Holy City’s summer seasonal, brewed with Summit and Northern Brewer hops and a variety of roasted and unroasted malts. Every year, they take a bit of the beer and toss it in Seagram’s bourbon barrels for six months, thus creating BA LDA. The result is the smooth booziness you’d expected from a BA beer with the biting and roasted characteristics of a black IPA.

To start, the vanilla on the nose is massive, backed perfectly by the sweetness of the bourbon. It’s sweet, sticky and rich. Along with that are the classic bourbon barrel characteristics: caramel, toffee, a little honey and some dark fruit notes. Behind that is the roasted notes from the black IPA. Slight, but there. It’s more akin to a stout than a black IPA, in my opinion.

The taste starts off with just a slight roasted bitterness. There’s not a lot of carbonation and it kind of melts across the palate. The sweeter bourbon notes are really prevalent toward the middle. I got lots of caramel, vanilla and brown sugar, as well as a slight booziness. On the end, it’s all black IPA. Strong, bitter black coffee take over everything, but it’s cut by the sweetness of the bourbon. There is a slight booze bite on the back, making it more of a sipper than other black IPAs.

I’m not sure if the barrel aging ups the ABV at all, but the base LDA comes in at just below 7% ABV, and even there it’s incredibly drinkable. The barrel aging mellows whatever pungent hoppiness or roasted characteristics are usually associated with a black IPA, but doesn’t erase them. I think this may be the first barrel-aged black IPA I’ve had, which means I’m safe in saying this is easily the best barrel-aged black IPA I’ve had.

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February 13, 2013

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Westbrook Grätzer

Westbrook Grätzer

Westbrook Brewing Co.

Mt. Pleasant, SC

Grätzer Smokey Wheat Ale

3.4% ABV

I’ve always loved and been impressed with the experimentation Westbrook puts into its beers. But aside from concocting their own unique brews, they’ve made it a point to delve into beer’s history and bring to light some original styles that have either diminished in popularity or are foreign to a lot of craft beer fans.

Their Gose is a great example of that: A style that all but disappeared generations ago that, thanks to a few adventurous brewers, was brought back into the conversation. That trend continues with Grätzer, a highly sessionable German-style smoked wheat beer. (Wrecking Bar and Wild Heaven had an excellent example of the style with Wrecking Heaven.) It’s a style so unique and unknown to the stateside beer drinkers that it’s simply listed as a “Speciality Beer” under BJCP style guidelines. Westbrook’s attempt is brewed with a variety of hops 90% oak-smoked wheat malt. And clocking in at 3.4% means drinking glass after glass of the stuff – which I could do easily – won’t leave you hurting. Too much.

While the lighter almost Kölsh-ish color of the beer would lead you to believe the nose would be just as light, it’s deceptive. At first blush, the sticky sweet campfire smell of the smoked malts is overpowering, flooding out of the glass in waves of an almost maple-covered bacon odor. But behind that, the sweetness of the wheat pokes through slightly. It’s certainly masked well by the abundant smokiness of the malt, but the yeasty sweetness provides a nice backbone.

The flavor starts with just a slight tart bitterness on the tip of the tongue with a slight lemon character. The carbonation is mild throughout the mouth and the body, as the color would entail, is pretty light. But that all disappears toward the finish when those epic campfire notes explode over your tastebuds. The sweetness of the nose is tempered a bit by the citrus flavors from the hops, which give the beer almost a tart finish and aftertaste. There’s a little bit of a peppery spice in the flavor and a really smooth, sweet yeast flavor. It’s an understatement to say how INSANELY drinkable this beer is (if you like smoked beers). At just north of 3%, you could drink glass after glass and still keep your wits about you.

This is certainly a beer that won’t suit everyone. I, for one, love smoked beers, and this had the heavy, sweet smoked flavors I really like with a lighter base beer to keep it balanced. The style itself is incredibly unique, drinkable and enjoyable.

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February 11, 2013

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Coast HopArt

Coast HopArt

Coast Brewing Co.

Charleston, SC

HopArt India Pale Ale

7.7% ABV

If there was a flagship beer for the Palmetto State, I think arguably most would say Coast‘s HopArt IPA is the one. And for me, it was the first South Carolina beer I ever drank.

Even from my early days as a craft beer geek, HopArt has always been the one SC brew that’s stood out to me. Brewed year-round by the North Charleston brewery, the 7.7% IPA is a beast on both the malt and hop fronts using organic Two-row, Munich and Caramel 20 malts and Cascade, Centennial, Nugget and Mt. Hood hops. Aside from the Warhol-esque bottle art, HopArt will always be the first SC beer to cross my palate. Before my tastes had matured, the bready malts and biting hops weren’t very pleasing to me, but this has since become one of my favorite beers in the state.

The nose is a perfect balance of big piney hop notes and more mellow, biscuity malt tones. On the hop end, pine is the most prominent quality, and that’s backed with citrus and tropical fruits. Lemons and grapefruit dominate with a bit of peach and mango mixed in as well. The backbone is quite malty, with a sweeter biscuit note being the most noticeable throughout.

The contrast of the nose is just as prominent in the taste. It begins with an abrasively bitter hop flavor with those citrus notes popping early on. In the middle of the mouth, it’s a bit more mellow as it fads into the malts, but still stings the tongue. But on the finish, this thick, bready malt character takes over everything. Those biscuit flavors take over everything as the citrus fights its way through.

While the malts do a good job of balancing out the hops in HopArt, I wouldn’t exactly call it a balanced beer. It’s extreme on both fronts but at no point does it become too overpoweringly strong. There’s something hopheads of all facets can enjoy, whether they want pungent bitterness or smoother maltiness to their IPA.

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February 6, 2013

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Bell’s Hopslam

Bell's Hopslam

Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

Galesburg, MI

Hopslam Imperial IPA

10% ABV

It’s that time again.

If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve likely survived the release of the 2013 batch of Bell’s Hopslam. And you likely know the story about the much-desired brew from the boys in Michigan. Every year about this time, people go apeshit for what is widely considered one of the best beers on the planet, with local stores resembling something out of “Jingle All the Way” as beer geeks scramble over one another to get their hands on a six pack of the delectable double IPA.

Last year, I happened to be off work on Hopslam Day. No such luck this week, but I still got my hands on more than enough to top off my hop gauge for the year. (Not to mention the upcoming festivals which will feature casks of the stuff.)

Anyway, last year I dubbed Hopslam my favorite beer. And then I gave myself a year to calm down, mature my palate and come back to it with a new outlook and appreciation for other beers. The result? Yup, still my favorite beer.

There really is no comparing the nose on Hopslam. It still remains one of the best-smelling beers I’ve ever encountered. The hops just ooze a bouquet of juicy flavors, from mango to peach to tangerine to grapefruit to melon to pineapple to lemon, and it just goes on and on. It’s really akin to sticking your nose in freshly sliced tropical fruit. Behind that is the bite of a dank, wet pine, and everything is smothered in that deliciously sweet note from the honey.

When it comes to the taste, there are always naysayers decrying how this year’s batch isn’t as good as last year, or how quickly the flavors have fallen off. But to me, Hopslam is like pizza: Even if it’s not at its best, it’s still great, and I’ll still enjoy it no matter what. While I have heard earlier batches of this year’s Hopslam were really poor, this batch – bottle 1/15/13 – is just as good as I ever remember it being.

On the front of the tongue, it’s like piney honey. There’s that pop of bitterness mellowed quite beautifully by the honey. Middle of the mouth, all those flavors from the nose blend into a perfectly delicious concoction. Juicy fruits, piney hops and smooth sweetness just permeate everything. There’s a great citrus flavor in the middle as it warms, like fresh grapefruit. On the finish is a dry piney bitterness that lingers beautifully.

What makes Hopslam stand out to me is its drinkability. I generally go for IPAs or DIPAs given the chance, and the bigger and hoppier, the better. But there’s a point where the hops just wreck your palate, which is fine for a while, but can be tiresome when sustained for too long. Aside from downing a pint and feeling a little funny upon standing up, I’d have no idea this was a 10% beer. The honey makes it go down so smoothly and helps to cut the hop bitterness without diluting it.

Are there better and less expensive comparable DIPAs on the shelves right now? Absolutely. Lagunitas Sucks, Oskar Blues Deviant Dales and Nugget Nectar come to mind as just a few out there at the moment, and all are absolutely phenomenal beers. But for me, nothing has ever beaten Hopslam. I agree the hype surrounding it – people crowding and stalking stores just to get a six-pack, etc. – gets out of hand. But for me, it still remains everything I’d want in a DIPA: pungent, juicy, brutally hoppy yet incredibly drinkable.