After so many huge, crowded beer events, it’s nice to get back to doing some more low key, small tastings.  I love the excitement and energy of the crowds, but sometimes, all I want is to kick back on a couch with a few friends and enjoy some beers.  Brian Yaeger hosted just such an event this past weekend.  After a rousing game of ultimate frisbee in Golden Gate Park, we broke out our shot glasses in as he dug through treasures (and less-than treasures) from his journey around the United States.  Since it was a “shotluck” party, everyone brought a shot glass, and each beer was poured in small tasting samples – we did have 25 beers to get through, making moderation key.

The beer menu focused on regional fare, from many breweries not known outside of their local distribution network. Combined with a fun potluck centering around a great homemade lasagna, it was a great evening of beer and stories. Brian introduced each beer with a bit about where he found it, what the style was, and any fun facts he could provide to give context to the brew.

#	Name	Brewery	Purchased	Style	ABV
1.	Dixie Beer	Dixie (Huber)	New Orleans, LA	Lager	4.5
2.	The Devastator	Wasatch/UT BrewCo-op	middle of Utah	Double Bock	8
3.	Butt Head	Tommyknocker	Idaho Springs, CO	Doppelbock	8.2
4.	Third Coast Beer	Bell’s	Kalamazoo, MI	“Golden Beer”	4.8
5.	Harvest Ale	Goose Island	Chicago, IL	ESB	5.7
6.	8th St. Pale Ale	Four Peaks	Tempe, AZ	Pale Ale	4.5
7.	Ginger Pale Ale	Laughing Buddha	Seattle, WA	Spiced Ale	5
8.	Oberon	Bell’s	Kalamazoo, MI	Wheat ale	5.8
9.	Blackberry Hefeweizen	Phillips	Vancouver, BC	Fruit Beer	5
10.	Mama Mia Pizza Beer	Sprecher contract	Pittburgh, PA	fucked up spiced ale	4.6
11.	Siletz Spruce Ale	Renegade	Ashland, OR	Herbed Ale/Gruit	6.5
12.	Kiltlifter Scottish Style	Four Peaks	Tempe, AZ	Scotch Ale	6
13.	Dunkel-White Ale	French Broad	Durham, NC	Black’n'White	7.5
14.	Pumking	Southern Tier	New York, NY	Imperial pumpkin ale	9
15.	Polygamy Porter	Wasatch/UTBrewCo-op	SLC, UT	Porter	4
16.	Porter	Bell’s	Kalamazoo, MI	Porter	5.6
17.	Porter	Duck Rabbit	Durham, NC	Porter	5.7
18.	Smoke	O’Fallon	Chicago, IL	Smoked Porter	6
19.	Milk Stout	Duck Rabbit	Durham, NC	Milk Stout	5.7
20.	Moloko	Three Floyds	Munster, IN	Milk Stout	7
21.	Imperial Stout	America’sB.C./WalterP	Chicago, IL	Bourbon-aged Imp. Stout	?

My favorites from the evening: Southern Tier and Three Floyds are two breweries I was already familiar with, and both delivered exactly what their reputation promised: high quality, big beers with lots of flavor.  The Southern Tier “Pumking” not only tastes like pumpkin pie, but also a graham cracker crust.  The Three Floyds Milk Stout was just great as well, with a really creamy texture, and a chocolate milk like consistency on the tongue.

Brian also tried to sneak quite a few fun spiced beers into the mix.  The Pizza Beer I think accomplished what it aims to do: taste like bottled pizza.  Mostly it’s flavored like dried oregano and dried tomato – not really my cup of tea.  The spruce beer was more interesting, with a lighter hand to the spicing – It reminded me of a spruce tips puree I had at Coi, and loved.  It evoked the sense memories of hiking in the woods, early in the morning while it’s still wet out as the sun only begins to poke through the trees.  Laughing Budda’s Ginger Beer was also a hit – it has a strong ginger bite, and is rather one note as a result.  Brian loved it – I prefer Hitachino’s offering.

In contrast to these experimental batches, some breweries, such as Duck Rabbit in North Carolina excelled at making classic styles, and executing them faithfully.  Their Milk stout was good, although it didn’t pack quiet the punch (or ABV) of Three Floyds .

By the end of the evening, our palettes were fatigued, but the crowd was happy. We vicariously toured the country through Brian’s collection of beers, and found many beers that aren’t available on store shelves in California. It provided a great cross section snapshot of brewing in America, and the range from the traditional to the wildly experimental.  We were able to sit back, crack jokes and enjoy a range of beers, without it being an exercise in picking them apart, or looking for anything more than a good beer.  In contrast to the intensity of Beer Week, this was a relaxing through through American breweries.  Perhaps best of all, we left Brian with a large collection of empty beer bottles, which is seems like he may be needing any day now.

Tags: brian yaeger

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.