Session # 165
De Dolle | Oerbier Special Reserva
Flanders Oud Bruin | Esen, Belgian | 13% ABV

One year ago: Mikkeller 1000 IBU

Belgium rarely releases anything as strong as some of America’s most extreme offerings. But when I read on the bottle of the De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva that it was a 13% sour ale (aged in Bordeaux barrels) I got very intrigued. Sours rarely top the 8% mark, so you can see why this is a bit of an anomaly. When we poured it from the small 11.2 ounce bottle, we noticed that while it was a touch hazy it had a beautiful ruby red color topped with a light tan-colored head. The aroma was a touch sour but not like we would have hoped. The sweetness on the nose masked a lot of what we were looking for, but once we tasted the beer we pulled out the earthy brett funkiness that made this one interesting. We were also surprised that there wasn’t more heat based on the ABV, but we were happy that it was easy to put back this small beer and move on for the evening. Rating: 85/100

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This beer can be found in these states.
Listening To: Doc Watson “Country Blues”



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Session # 142 | Panil | Barriquée (Sour Version) | 8% ABV
Flanders Red Ale | Torrechiara, Italy | Rating: 84/100
One year ago: North Coast Old Rasputin XII Anniversary

I don’t normally review Italian beers on The Hopry, and it’s not because I don’t want to review them. It’s because they are generally hard to find without trading for or buying online. Of those that we do have available here in Kansas City the price tag tends to be quite high. That’s precisely the case with the Panil Barriquée. Having found this one at a bargain ($17.99), I decided to give it a shot. In my mind it sounded like it would be very similar to the Duchesse de Bourgogne and Rodenbach Grand Cru, both very good beers. Immediately after pouring it from the giant 750ml bottle the aromas in the room began to confirm that it was in fact similar to those beers. After seeing the brownish red color and soft soapy tan head, the aromas of red wine vinegar, sour cherries, and oak began to make their presence. The taste was not too far off base, but appeared to be much more astringent and dry as we delved deeper into the beer. What we ultimately decided was that the Barriquée was a very nice beer, but the Duchesse and Rodenbach are just better beers and also come with a cheaper price tag.

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This beer can be found in these states.
Listening To: The Clash “London Calling”



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Session # 140 | Captain Lawrence | Cuvee de Castleton | 8% ABV
American Wild Ale | Pleasantville, New York | Rating: 95/100
One year ago: Deschutes Hop Henge

“More sour beers!” That’s what I tend to hear more than anything when people e-mail me about beer requests for the show. So today I will be sharing another American Wild Ale called Cuvee de Castleton by Captain Lawrence. This New York brewery is owned and operated by several folks in the Vacarro family. In fact, the brewery name itself comes from the name of the street where brewer Scott Vacarro grew up. Having only been in business for six years now, they’re making some highly-respected beers. Cuvee de Castleton is the first (and only one) I’ve had, but I can assure you that I’ll be hunting for more in the future. As for the beer at hand, it slid out of the bottle with a very nice warm color that unleashed a nice sour barrel-aged aroma into the air. The head disappeared pretty quickly but the aromas of sour apple, green grapes, and French oak did not escape so quickly. Loads of sour apple and green grape tartness hit the tongue up front, while the wood character sat in the back of the tongue lending a stroke of dryness to the mouthfeel. This was a very enjoyable beer indeed and was just as phenomenal as any Cantillon beer I’ve had.

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This beer can be found in these states.
Listening To: New Order “Age of Consent”



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Session # 107 | Rodenbach | Grand Cru | 6% ABV
Flanders Red Sour Ale | Roeselare, Belgium | Rating: 96/100

While not my favorite style of beer yet, the sour ale is slowly creeping up the food chain for me. The beer we’ll be looking at today, Rodenbach Grand Cru, is a very good reason for this. I have been looking for a bottle for at least a year now, and it’s been a long time coming on the show. Well here we are — I finally got it because of a recent visit to Minneapolis. Man I love traveling to other states in my car! Anyway…

The Rodenbach Grand Cru is a Flemish Red, which are known for having that puckering sourness paired with delicious tart fruits like cherries, apples, and pears. They’re commonly referred to as the “vinegar beers,” which, in truth, is not far off from what you smell and taste. The Grand Cru is also aged in large oak vats (seen here), for two years and then blended with younger ale to make for a more balanced and enjoyable experience. In this case, 67% is aged in oak while the remaining 33% is considered “young ale.” Even with the blending process, you can certainly taste the oak character in the beer.

Grand Cru pours a beautifully deep mahogany red with a nice amount of off-white head. The aroma hits your nose before you even get your nose to the glass. It’s filled with tons of sour cherry, tart apple, red wine vinegar, light caramel, and a healthy amount of oak. The taste is not much different (which is always fine with me). It hits you hard up front with the green apple and tart cherry paired with tons of red wine vinegar. The oak, while not predominant, plays a huge role. Though it may be a sour ale, it’s quite refreshing and one hell of an experience. I like this one a lot.

Up next: Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS)

Others: Duchesse de Bourgogne, Lost Abbey Red Poppy, Russian River Consecration

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Real Estate “Beach Comber”



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The Kuhnhenn Olde Brune is an 11.5% sour beer, huh? I’m not going to lie I was a bit skeptical. Typically the higher the ABV the sweeter a beer gets, and Kuhnhenn is known for brewing beers that are both high in ABV percentage and high in sweetness. So yeah, I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but the results were quite surprising. The good news started right out of the bottle because the color on this one is quite nice with its ruby red and dark sticky fruit appearance. And believe it or not there was a little bit of tan/off-white head present. Didn’t see that one coming at all. The smell is also what you’d hope for in a beer of this style. There is a bit of sweetness though that makes this lean towards…of all things…a cherry Tootsie Pop. But really you don’t know how good the beer is until you take your first sip. Olde Brune tastes almost exactly like it smells, but there is much more intensity on the palate than the nose. It’s also more complex than the first smell or taste would lead you to believe. It opens up very nicely. The balance of the tartness, sweetness, and bitterness is quite surprising. All three of these in unison make for a very successful beer. Up next: Kuhnhenn Fourth Dementia

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Sweet Bulbs “Springstung”



Brewery: Kuhnhenn
Beer: Olde Brune
Style: Flanders Oud Bruin
Location: Warren, Michigan
ABV: 11.5%
Rating: 92/100

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No sooner than we started Russian River Week on The Hopry it comes to an end. Trust me, if I had more of their beers to review (that I haven’t already reviewed) I would have tried to post five straight days this week. No other brewery blows my mind the way Vinnie and his staff does. However, I will tell you that of all the beers I reviewed this week, this Consecration was my least favorite. This is puzzling because I swore up and down that it would be the best. What do I know? I guess that’s the beauty of beer – there’s always a surprise around the corner. Now, that’s not to say it’s not a success, that’s just to say the hype in my mind elevated this beer further than it probably should have. Consecration, a barrel-aged dark Belgian Ale, pours a beautifully clear but mahogany color with a soft thin layer of off-white head. The nose is just what you’d expected from the barrel-aged funk beers from RR, but surprising enough this one has the least amount of funk. The taste does not put off as much flavor as you’d think, either. There is a bit of tartness, but it’s matched by an equal amount of astringent bitterness. This is definitely one to share and not drink all by yourself – of course, unless you can get the smaller 375ml bottle. Up next: Kuhnhenn Mayhem

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Wild Nothing “Summer Holiday”



Brewery: Russian River
Beer: Consecration
Style: American Wild Ale
Location: Santa Rosa, California
ABV: 10%
Rating: 90/100

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Not to give anything away too early, but here we are with my personal favorite “ation” beer from Russian River. It’s called Temptation and it’s a beauty, folks. From the minute you pour this beer until the last sip you take, it’s one of the better experiences Russian River has to offer its customers. It starts with a blonde ale as its base and then gets the funk added all up in it before resting in oak Chardonnay barrels for about a year. This process is very similar to the Supplication and Consecration (which we’ll look at on Friday), but what makes this one different from the other two is that there is no fruit added to the beer. It’s simply beer, funk, and barrel, but what comes out in the end is easily the best of the three. Its beautiful golden color is immediately noticeable as you pour it into your glass. The signature Russian River phenolic nose that just seems to seep up out of the glass is next in the experience. Then there’s the taste…YIKES! This is my type of beer. Of all the funky, yeasty, bretty beers I’ve had, this one tops the list. In fact, you guys out on the west coast reading this, please let me know if you are able to get me some of these in the 375ml bottles. I have a Paypal account and would be glad to send some money your way. Best beer of this week for sure! Up next: Russian River Consecration

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah “In This Home On Ice”



Brewery: Russian River
Beer: Temptation
Style: American Wild Ale
Location: Santa Rosa, California
ABV: 7.25%
Rating: 97/100

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Because they are one of my favorite breweries, it’s hard to believe I’ve made it this far on The Hopry without reviewing a Lost Abbey beer. But that will all come to an end right now. So…this week (as part of my ‘Low ABV Series’) we’ve had a Hefeweizen, an American Wheat Ale, and now we’re drinking this Flanders Oud Bruin from Lost Abbey called Red Poppy Ale. This is basically a sour ale brewed with cherries and aged in oak barrels for several months. Not only is the process seemingly similar, but it is also very reminiscent in aroma and taste to Russian River’s beautifully crafted Supplication. I should also mention that Lost Abbey (like Russian River) is one of the most well-respected breweries out there. Don’t believe me? Click here and see how many beers in their lineup score higher than 95 points on Ratebeer – it’s pretty impressive. Poured only from a 375ml bottle, Red Poppy screams Flanders Ale (similar to Duchesse de Bourgogne) but with a decidedly more wild yeast characteristic. This is for the beer geeks for sure, and at only 5.5% ABV you could also enjoy other great craft beers in the same night.

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Bonnie “Prince” Billy “Beware Your Only Friend”



Brewery: Lost Abbey
Beer: Red Poppy Ale
Style: Flanders Oud Bruin
Location: San Marcos, California
ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 94/100

WOW! 50 episodes! See them all listed out here. Clearly this is a small milestone for me. When I sat out to do this site my goal was to do as many videos as I could, but I had no idea I’d produce this many so quickly. I have a full-time job, twin daughters, and own a home – so I have plenty of things on my plate at the moment. But at night, when all is quiet, I come downstairs and put on my Hopry hat and share my beer collection with you guys. Sometimes I don’t go to bed until 2:00 am (knowing I have to be to work at 8:00 am the next morning). I have loved every moment of it so far, though, and I am dead set on pumping out another fifty by the end of this year. What really makes this all worthwhile is the fact that word is spreading quickly about The Hopry and more and more people are showing up to the website every day. I know I say this all the time, but thank you all 100 times over. It is truly awesome for me to have a you all along sharing the ride. So for the 50th session of The Hopry I have chosen a beer by my absolute favorite brewery: Russian River’s Supplication. You may have noticed that this video is produced by Vimeo. This is for a reason, and I will share more with you on that later. Anyway, I am looking forward to another great big celebration beer for the 100th session as well (no idea yet what it will be). So enjoy this video and thank you again for continuing to come back. CHEERS!

Check out all sessions of The Hopry here.
The video I referred to in this session is here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Lake

Brewery: Russian River
Beer: Supplication
Style: Sour Ale
Location: Santa Rosa, California
ABV: 7%
Rating: 96/100

In terms of American craft breweries, New Belgium was one of the first to make beer on a grand scale. And even then, they only shipped to a certain number of states. Today they have (along with folks like Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams) become a staple amongst beer lovers and proven that with some diligence you can make a great living selling good beer. Though I have not had the luxury of going myself, I have also heard they have one of the cleanest and most well put together breweries in America. You can see a snippet here put together by Draft Magazine. For me personally, I began my journey with craft beer through New Belgium years ago. I was very fond of their Sunshine Wheat and used to travel over in to Kansas to buy it specifically. I still think it’s pretty phenomenal to be honest with you. The La Folie, however, is a completely different beer experience altogether. It is part of their Lips of Faith series which is a small lineup of beers that have traditionally been brewed for in-house consumption only. More recently, though, these have been made available to the public. La Folie represents a style of beer that is relatively new here in the United States: the Sour Ale. Much similar to the Duchess de Bourgogne (which I reviewed way back in session #7), this beer takes sour seriously. I say in the video they should call this a tart ale and that’s the truth. You can really feel your mouth pucker the second you take a drink. A friend even described it as tasting like sour cherry Nerds candy – which is not too far off track. In the end, this one finishes a bit too tart for me. And though I paired this with some amazing cheeses (Fourme d’Ambert and Humboldt Fog), perhaps it will go with something else better. Any ideas? Shoot me an e-mail…

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This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Cocteau Twins

Brewery: New Belgium
Beer: La Folie
Style: Sour Ale (Flanders)
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
ABV: 6%
Rating: 84/100

Duchesse de Bourgogne is categorized on many beer-related websites as “sour ale.” To be more accurate, however, you will want to call this one a Flanders Red Ale. It is from the Flanders region of Belgium and it uses various types of wild yeasts to create its sour flavor. And Duchesse, from Verhaeghe, is without question one of the most recognizable labels of the style. I first made the mistake of trying to attack this beer via a 750ml bottle and boy was it a battle. Not because the beer is bad by any stretch of the imagination (in fact it’s off-the-hook!), but because that is a lot of sour beer for one person to finish. So with that said, I highly recommend finding the smaller 11.2 oz bottles. If it’s not to your liking the first go around – try harder! No seriously. It really does get better every time you drink it. Before you know it you’ll be enjoying all types of sours and maybe even venturing off into Gueuze or Lambic territory. Now that, my friends, will be a stretch for your palate.

This beer can be found in these states.

Brewery: Verhaeghe
Beer: Duchesse de Bourgogne
Style: Flanders Sour Ale
Location: Vichte, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
ABV: 6.2%
Rating: 95/100