Pfeifferhorn Lager / Epic Brewing Company

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pfeifferhorn Lager

Epic Brewing Company / Salt Lake City, UT

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First of all, let's get something straight.  The year of beer was last year, complete with a set of unbreakable rules (different beer every day, no Coors Light, etc.).  Any blog postings this year will be haphazard, at random, whatever and whenever I feel like it.  Get it? Got it. Good.

Now then, on to the beer.  In Utah, beer under 4% alcohol can be sold at grocery stores, and beer over 4% (heavy beer) must be sold at the state liquor store.  As a point of reference,  most of your macro-brews sold in other states are actually above 4% ABV: 

Budweiser = 5.0% abv

    MGD = 5.0% abv

      Miller Lite = 4.2% abv

        Coors Banquet = 5.0% abv

          Coors Light = 4.2% abv

But in Utah, all of these wonderful beers are 3.2% ABV.  Even some of the craft beers that will show up in this Beer Run are 4% or lower.

Epic Brewing is one of the newer craft breweries in Utah, but already has pretty wide distribution - you can get many of their beers here in Virginia.  The beers I've seen around here are usually from their "Exponential" series - big beers, imperials, saisons, sours.

The Pfeifferhorn Lager is  from Epic's Classic Series.  This was recommended to me by the lady working at the liquor store.  It's a very good lager (5.3% alcohol),  with a crisp, spicy finish - a bit more character than you'd generally expect from a lager.

Utah Beer Run: Big Cottonwood Amber Ale

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Surprise!  I'm back!

But just for a few days.  Miss me? You may be wondering how I've been surviving these last 6 months... or maybe not. 

Have I been keeping up, more or less, with the beer quest?  Not really.  Of course, I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting beers, but it hasn't been quite the obsession it was last year.  In fact, in May the crew that I normally go with to visit breweries took a different direction.  We spent a couple days and visited the six distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail from Louisville to Lexington.  Did you know there are more barrels of bourbon currently aging in Kentucky (4.7 million) than there are residents of Kentucky (4.3 million)?

But we did stumble upon the small Country Boy Brewing Company in Lexington - they currently only produce beer for sale at the brewery, either at their pub or in growlers to go.  Their Chipotle Porter definitely packed a kick!

How's that 50 pounds thing going? Unfortunately, about the same as last year...

So, why am I back?  If you recall, I threatened that I might come back for a Beer Run or two this year.  As I'm typing this, I'm on a plane back from a business trip / sales meeting in Provo, Utah, about an hour south of Salt Lake City.  Now, Utah isn't the first state that comes to mind when you think about craft beer.  Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, Oregon, maybe...but not Utah.

But I've got to think with the prominent Mormon population and rather strict alcohol laws, there was a lot of pent-up demand for good beer in the state.  So over the last 10 - 15 years, a handful of breweries have popped up, many producing award-winning, nationally distributed beers.  I was in charge of the beer run for a cookout at the sales meeting, so I managed to squirrel away a few bottles in my suitcase and I've put together a Utah Beer Run!

Big Cottonwood Amber Ale

Squatter's Pub / Utah Brewer's Cooperative

Salt Lake City, UT

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Squatter's started as a brewpub in downtown SLC in 1989, and now is one of the largest brewers in Utah, with distribution to about 10 states (Virginia is not one of them).

The Big Cottonwood Amber poured a cloudy amber into my glass, with very little head. It had a grainy, slightly sweet and enjoyable taste.  This medium-bodied ale clocked in at 5.7% ABV (more on that tomorrow).  Overall, a decent beer, but nothing too exceptional.

By the way, I did stop into Squatter's downtown pub on the Monday night I arrived, for dinner and a brew.  The place was packed at 9pm on a Monday - I guess there's not a whole lot else to do in SLC (if you're not a Mormon, that is).

Day 365, Dec 31 / Infinium Ale

Day 365 / December 31, 2011

Infinium Ale

Boston Beer Company, Boston MA

and Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany

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That’s all folks!

Well, that’s it!  365 different beers, every day this year.  Done!  I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t put the effort in the losing 50 pounds part of the challenge.  But hey, I’m happy with the accomplishment.

I bought a special beer to finish out the run.  I didn’t know quite what to expect, but the promise of the Samuel Adams Infinium Ale was inviting.  A special collaboration between Sam Adams and the world’s oldest brewery, Germany’s Weihenstephan, it was billed as a “champagne” beer, comes in a very attractive bottle, and cost $20 for a 750ml bottle.

While the mission of the two breweries was to create a beer with the quality and taste of fine champagne, they needed to do so in accordance with the German beer purity law, Reinheitsgebot, which says the beer can only be made from four ingredients:  hops, malt, water and yeast.

To learn about the two year collaboration to produce this beer, you can check out this great article from All About Beer, and watch the videos (here and here) on Sam Adam’s website.

The final fermentation actually takes place in the bottle.  And in this case, it was actually fermented by the makers of Great Western champagne in Hammondsport, NY.

This was a very unique and tasty beer.  It popped and was effervescent like champagne, and had a slightly sweet, crisp tartness like champagne.  I thoroughly enjoyed this beer, and I was glad I chose it to end the run.

So, the big question… will I have a beer today, January 1, 2012?  Maybe, maybe not.

Make sure you subscribe to the blog via email (top right) to see if I’m up to anything in 2012!

See ya!