A few weeks back I talked about my trip to San Diego and my trip to The Best Damn Beer Shop. It was a truly great experience as I asked for some assistance so I wouldn't have to spend an hour browsing beers that I had no intention of buying. A dude came down from the little upstairs office and helped point me in the direction of local Sours! Boy-o-boy did he hook me up!
I grabbed the last Lost Abbey-Red Poppy on the shelf which is a beer that I've been trying to get my hands on for a long time. My understanding is that this beer originated from an English Mild ale called Dawn Patrol Dark that Tomme Arthur created a long time ago to appease his Pizza Port drinkers that would request Newcastle Brown Ale. He then took this recipe, tweaked it, put it in a barrel with funky Brett, and sour bacteria and dumped in a shit ton of cherries!
The creation of Red Poppy reminds me of another story that I've heard rumored about.... New Belgium La Folie. I'd heard that they had a barrel of Fat Tire go funky and they liked the results so much that they created a Sour beer recipe based on that accident which eventually turned into the amazing La Folie! I guess the thing that I take from all this is that when you make a sour beer you must first start with a solid base beer and then figure out how to tweak the recipe in order to produce a phenomenal sour beer.
Back to my beer haul....I picked up another bottle of Russian River Supplication (another beer aged in a barrel on cherries). At the Whole Foods in Encinitas I stumbled upon a HUGE score...a Logsdon Brewery Seizoen Bretta! Logsdon Farmhouse Ales is the brain child of Wyeast founder David Logsdon who opened up his Organic brewery about a year ago and took the time, money, and hassle of shipping traditional Lambic region Schaerbeek cherry trees from Belgium (or France)? Anyways...pretty crazy and I couldn't believe I got me a bottle of this!
I got me a bottle of He'Brew Funky Jewbelation with is a Blend of a bunch of different beers aged in whiskey and bourbon barrels. I just found out we'll we seeing that locally hear in Mpls...but oh well.
I got a Funky Tripel from Anchorage brewing, Saison Rue and Saison De Lente from The Bruery, Upright Four and Seven, Pizza Port Mongo DIPA, and Green Flash Palate Wrecker!
Bam! What a hook up!
That all sounds fantastic. Have you decided which one you are going to open first? Are you planning on sitting on any of them for a bit?
ReplyDeleteThe first one I opened was the Green Flash - Palate Wrecker. The second will be the Pizza Port Mongo DIPA.
ReplyDeleteOther then that...these will all sit in my cellar for a while. I think the Upright Saison's and Bruery Saison's will be the first ones to be drank this Summer!
All the other ones have brett and bugs in them and I'll most likely let them sit for quite a while.
Tried Funky Jewbelation not too long ago, it lives up to its name haha, but I still enjoyed that beauty. Bottoms up!
ReplyDeleteMax Cuz
Yo Maximus! Are you gonna go to brewing school? There's one in Chi-town. Another in California. You can also do an online course! I wish I would have realized my passion for it right out of college! Sounds like you are pretty into good beer if you're trying things like the Funky J!
ReplyDeleteCheers Cuz. You in the Keys now?