New Holland Black Tulip Tripel Ale (8/10)

Black Tulip is a Belgian style Tripel Ale produced by New Holland Brewing of Holland, Michigan.

BJCP Guidelines for the Tripel say the aroma should be spicy, fruity, and citrus-like with a low hop aroma.  The flavor should mix spice, fruit, alcohol, and soft malts.  The guidelines say it should not be sweet, though personally I prefer a mild sweetness with minimal hops bitterness in the style.

Black Tulip pours a hazy gold color with thin white head that dissipates quickly. 

The aroma is fruity, malty, spicy, and carries a hint of biscuit. 

The flavor starts malty, then turns sweet, spicy, and mildly citrus.  At 21 IBUs, it's at the low end of bitterness for the style (20-40 per BJCP notes) which is fine by me.  At 8.8% alcohol, it provides a peppery or warming note, but this isn't overdone.

Beer Advocate gives Black Tulip and 87/100 out of 100.  Rate Beer gives it an 84/100.  These are in line with my own rating of 8/10.

It's hard to find a bottle of this beer, unfortunately.  I received this bottle as a gift and haven't seen it in a local store since.

White Birch Blueberry Berliner Weisse (6/10)

White Birch Brewing is located in Hooksett, New Hampshire.  This Blueberry Berliner Weisse is one of their flagship beers.

BJCP guidelines describe Berliner Weisse as "a sharply sour" beer with no hop flavor, a restrained fruitiness, and some grainy flavor.

White Birch Blueberry Berliner Weisse pours a clear pale yellow with thin white head.

The aroma is fruity.  The blueberry aroma is strong and sweet, almost smelling like a breakfast cereal such as Froot Loops or Boo Berry.  There is no hint in the aroma of the Berliner Weisse sourness.

The flavor is all Berliner Weisse.  It's very tart and lemony, with only the faintest hint of the blueberry picked up in the aroma.  Malt and hops, if present, take a back seat to the tartness.  This is to be expected for the style, but may be off-putting to those who aren't used to Berliner Weisse beers.

Beer Advocate rates White Birch Berliner Weisse an 86 or very good.  Rate Beer gives it an 82 overall.  While I do like the Berliner Weisse style as a change of pace, it's not a beer style I'm crazy about in general.  That means this beer's going to rate lower with me than it deserves to as an example of its style.  For that reason, I'm giving it a 6 out of 10.

As of this writing, the beer is available on tap at The Daily Growler in Upper Arlington.  You may also find the bottled version at area retailers, but I don't recall having seen it recently anywhere.

Labatt Bourbon Barrel Ale (6/10)

Labatt USA produced two beers in a Prohibition series, designed to "transport drinkers back to that exciting era of smugglers and speakeasies."  The official web site is short on details about the beer apart from this and the note that Bourbon barrels are somehow involved in the brewing.

The beer pours a clear golden color with thick white head that dissipates in about thirty seconds and leaves behind little lacing. 

The aroma is fruity and kind of musty.  

The flavor starts out like a standard Labatt beer, mildly sweet, and malty. The bourbon flavor swells up gradually and remains mild. There is a hint of butter somewhere in the middle. The finish is roasted grain. 

Compare this to a bourbon barrel beer like Kentucky Bourbon Barrel ale and the bourbon elements in this one will be much, much more subtle.  The base beer itself is fine, but it's not something you're going to be bowled over with.  There's nothing particularly great, or particularly bad, about it.  It's.. OK.  Hence my rating of 6/10.

My rating is in line with Beer Advocate, which gave the beer a 62/100 rating.  Rate Beer was even tougher, giving it only a 6/100.

You should be able to find this beer, as I did, at one of the Giant Eagle stores in their make-your-own-6-pack section.  That should set you back under $2 for the bottle, and give you the chance to try five other beers with it.

Zaftig Brewing Co. First Anniversary Celebration - February 28

Worthington's Zaftig Brewing Co. will be celebrating its first anniversary on February 28 from 11am to 6pm at their Schrock Road location.

The event will feature limited release beers.  They plan to feature Bourbon Barrel Aged and French Oak Aged Batch 50 and Bourbon Barrel Aged Wee Heavy alongside food from Pitabilities.

Zaftig is located at 545 Schrock Road in Worthington.

RavenBeer Pendulum Pilsner (7/10)

At Christmas, my sister gave me a selection of craft beers from Maryland.  Part of this selection included a three bottles each of four beers from Peabody Heights Brewery in Baltimore made for RavenBeer.  The beers are all said to be inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, and bear names indicative of that.  This beer, Pendulum Pilsner, takes its inspiration from Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum.

According to the BJCP Guidelines, a Pilsner should have a malty, spicy, noble hop aroma.  Pendulum Pilsner fulfills this requirement well.  The aroma is decidedly malty with a backdrop of noble Saaz hops.

The guidelines also describe the flavor as having a rich, complex maltiness with soft bitterness and spiciness from the noble hops.  Again, Pendulum delivers on this.  The flavor is a mix of sweet malt, roasted malt, and a well-balanced hops bitterness. I don't love Pilsners, but this is a great example of one.  It's a rich, but smooth and pleasant beer to drink.  I'll have no trouble polishing off the other two in my set.

Beer Advocate gives this beer an 82/100, which is probably a fair rating of its representation of the classic Pilsner style.  Rate Beer is a bit tougher on it, giving it only a 42.  I'm somewhere in the middle on it, giving it a 7/10.  If I was more of a Pilsner fan, I might give it an 8.

Normally, this is the part where I tell you where you can buy this in Columbus.  Unfortunately, right now this beer isn't available in Ohio.  If you want it, you'll need to take a trip to Maryland.

Temperance Row Brewing Co. - Westerville

Some time ago, I read an article in Columbus Alive about Temperance Row Brewing Co.  I'd almost forgotten about it, when I was in Westerville checking out the Buckeye Brewcraft homebrew shop.  (Here's a post about Buckeye Brewcraft on my Begin Brewing blog.)

Temperance Row Brewing is connected to the back of Uptown Deli & Brew in Westerville. You can order their beer in the deli and order deli food while in the brewery. Sitting there, though, you can clearly tell that they are two separate businesses.

During my visit on Sunday, the brewery's menu listed a Pilsner, Scottish Ale, IPA, Pale Ale, Christmas Ale, Porter, and Winter Warmer.

As a home brewer, I know that it's possible to cover up your brewing mistakes and shortcomings by hopping the heck out of your beer.  Let's say you've brewed a basic Pilsner.  If you didn't choose a good mix of malts, maybe had some stale grain, or didn't control the fermentation temperature very well, it will show in the beer.  An inexperienced brewmaster will sometimes compensate for these shortcomings in their recipes, ingredients, or brewing processes by adding a lot of extra hops (or additional hops varieties) to the beer.  This will give the beer the impression of complexity and hide many of the flaws from the person sipping it.  Given the popularity of IPAs and hoppy beer styles, many of your customers probably won't notice or care.

That's why it's really cool when you run into a brewery like Temperance Row.  These guys don't have to hide flaws with a wheelbarrow full of hops. They're delivering well-made, tasty beers that properly represent the styles they're offering.

The Scottish Ale was one of the best I've ever tasted.  There was enough hops bitterness to know that you were drinking a beer of the style, but not so much that you couldn't taste the underlying malt.  It was mildly sweet, mildly to moderately bitter, a lovely color, bright and clear, and tasted great.  I'd be only too happy to go back for another pint.

But as good as the Scottish Ale was, my wife and I loved the Winter Warmer even more.  At 10% alcohol by volume, there was a bit of warmth in the back of your throat after you drank it, just as there should be for the style.  The sweet malt, date, and hops flavors were balanced to perfection.  It may well have been the best Winter Warmer I've ever had - and I wasn't sure there was a better one than The Brew Kettle's.

My understanding is that Scott Francis is the brewmaster there.  If so, based on the beers we had last night, you ROCK Mr. Francis!  I look forward to returning and perhaps someday meeting you.

Temperance Row Brewing Co.

41 North State Street

Westerville, OH

(614) 891-2337

Dayton AleFeast 2015

The Dayton AleFeast is a somewhat unique event in Ohio.  The Columbus Winter Beerfest, the Columbus Summer Beerfest, and a number of other beer festivals around the area focus on the "beer" part of the equation.  Food is generally unavailable as part of the admission, or it requires a much higher admission fee.  At the Dayton AleFeast, your admission includes both food and beer.

I attended my first Dayton AleFeast in 2013 with my wife.  We had a great time sampling all the delicious foods brought in by Dayton area restaurants and the excellent beers paired with them.  In 2014, we looked forward to going again but were disappointed to learn that the event had been canceled.  The creator of the event, Joe Waizmann, decided to postpone it to work on the Warped Wing Brewing Company in Dayton.  I had hoped he'd bring it back eventually.  When I saw it on the calendar for this year, we knew we had to go.

We arrived at the Masonic Temple in Dayton about fifteen minutes before the festival was scheduled to begin.  At that point, some of the restaurants were still bringing in food.  At about five minutes until the start, the musician came in with his equipment.  This gave the impression that things were not so well prepared.  The event did start on time, though.

Once inside, we grabbed a sample glass, plate, fork, napkin, raffle ticket, and headed to the downstairs level to grab seats at a table.  Then we started getting samples of food and beer.

The first beer we sampled was an excellent Wee Heavy Ale from Fifth Street Brewpub.  I hadn't tried any of Fifth Street's beers before, so this was a great introduction.  I'm looking forward to trying their other beers.  The wee heavy was mildly sweet, strongly malty, and hid its high alcohol content well.

Next, I tried Toxic Brew Company's Abby's Cure Belgian Trippel.  With each of their beers I try, Toxic seems to more firmly cement its place among my favorite Ohio brewers.  The trippel was very lightly sweet, fruity, spicy, and delicious.  Definitely a beer I can recommend to any fan of the style.  (I'm not alone on this one.  I saw several Toxic Brew Co. shirts and sweatshirts wandering around AleFeast.)

Warped Wing's 10 Ton Oatmeal Stout was also really good.  This oatmeal and coffee stout had a strong coffee flavor, milder chocolate notes, and a great mouth feel.

Eudora Brewing's Holy Cacao Chocolate Milk Porter was quite nice.  There was a definite sweetness and chocolate flavor to it that almost made me forget I was drinking a porter.

There were lots of good foods as well.  Brixx Ice Co. brought a Thanksgiving-like item.  It featured "waffles" made from stuffing (imagine stuffing grilled in a waffle iron), deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  Delicious.

Jimmie's Ladder 11 brought in a chicken and sausage gumbo that was excellent.  I'm not usually a fan of gumbo but this one smelled great and tasted even better.

My wife and her best friend were impressed with the Blueberry BBQ Pork Sliders from The Amber Rose.  The Amber Rose will be having a craft beer tasting on Thursday, February 26, at 6:30pm.  See their web site for more information.

Thai 9's spring rolls were a big hit with us as well, especially the chicken spring roll.

Before I continue, I want to make it perfectly clear that the three of us who attended AleFeast 2015 did actually enjoy it and felt like it had been a fun evening overall.  That said, there were quite a few differences between AleFeast 2013 and AleFeast 2015.  Given Joe Waizmann's reputation for running a "quality over quantity" event, the folks running AleFeast have a few things to learn from Joe.

In 2013, we had the opportunity to try everything we wanted to try in terms of the beer and food at the event.  Rarely were we in lines more than 10 people deep.  It was easy to walk across the facility even during the high point in attendance.  I heard people describing the event as "better than Christmas" and "the thing I look forward to all year long".

In 2015, long lines appeared at most of the stations by about 5:30.  These continued pretty much until the different foods and beers began running out around 6pm.  By 6:30, I would estimate that at least half of the restaurants were out of food and probably a third or more of the beers were gone.  We left at 6:45, still a bit hungry and having not had the chance to try some of the beers we wanted to.  Compared with 2013, it was a disappointing experience.

Bear in mind that much of what I say in this paragraph is based on comments overheard during the event, and may be completely false.  I heard from one attendee that in 2013, only 500 tickets were sold for AleFeast.  The number in 2015 was 800.  That would explain the crowds.  Another said that one of the restaurants told him that the AleFeast organizers told them to bring enough food for 300 attendees (despite selling 500-800 tickets for the event).  Yet another claimed that people stood outside in line for 20-30 minutes only to find out that the tickets were sold out.  True or not, these comments are a far cry from "better than Christmas"...

I can't begin to imagine the time and work that must go into holding an event like AleFeast.  Kudos to the folks running it for putting the event together, getting it started on time, etc., having not run the event before.  Kudos, too, to the restaurants for managing to feed as many of the attendees as they could, and doing so at high levels of quality (and quantity).  The AleFeast event staff seemed to be working hard and trying to keep things under control.  I'm hopeful that in a couple of years they'll have shaken out the wrinkles and will have the event running at Joe Waizmann's standards.  If so, I'll be looking forward to attending.  I wish them luck and success, because AleFeast really was one of my favorite things... just not this year.

My advice for anyone attending in 2016 would be to get there early.  Make sure you get to the foods and beers you want to try the most as quickly as you can.

AleFeast Crowds at 4:30pm

Crowds at 6:20pm

Elevator Brewing Company Bully Goat (7/10)

Elevator Brewing Company produces this whiskey barrel aged red ale, called Bully Goat.  Bully Goat reportedly used Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels to age their red ale, the same one (I'm told by reliable sources) that is also known as Bleeding Buckeye Ale.

Bully Goat, as you can see in the image at the left, pours a hazy reddish brown with generous beige head on top.

The aroma is extremely oaky and bourbon-y.

The flavor mixes oak, bourbon, and malt in approximately equal portions.  There's a hops bitterness in here, but it's well balanced by the other flavor notes, making it seem less hoppy than some of Elevator's other brews.  It reminds me, favorably, of the Innis & Gunn barrel-aged beers.

The folks at Beer Advocate aren't too fond of this one, giving it a 75 or "okay" rating.  Rate Beer doesn't have enough ratings to officially give it one, though the ratings that do exist put it in the 13-15 out of 20 range (around 7 out of 10 on my scale).  I like Bully Goat, but have to admit that there are many beers I like more.  Of the Columbus-made beers, it's my favorite barrel-aged one (among those I've tasted to date).  It's kind of a shame that it's been discontinued.

I bought this bottle as part of a case deal at Kenny Road Market a while ago. As far as I know, you'll be lucky to find a bottle around town unless Elevator decides to brew it again.

Flavor Profile:
Sweet, Malty, Dry, Bitter, or Sour:  Malty
Spice Level:  None
Hops Level:  Low to Medium
Dominant Flavors:  Bourbon, Oak
ABV: 6%
IBU:  Unknown
My Rating: 7/10
Retail Price:  When I bought it as a deal at Kenny Road, $12.99 for a CASE!