The S&P Beer log

[Donut62]

^The Stone Vertical Epic 09 is fantastic if you can find it.

[Zerocrew1984]

Thinkgreen sounds like he would be my drinking buddy.

[Donut62]

Had a new beer last night of a style I have never had before. It was a sahti, which along with Belgian lambics, are the oldest types of beers that have been in continuous production to this day. Sahti comes from Finland, and the issue is that traditionally it is always homebrewed and due to their strict laws commercial production has been non-existent or hyper-local. From Beer Advocate:

Description:
Said to be one of the only primitive beers to survive in Western Europe, Sahti is a farmhouse ale with roots in Finland. First brewed by peasants in the 1500s, mashing (steeping of grains) went down in wooden barrels, and then that mash would be scooped into a hand-carved wooden trough (a kuurna) with a bed of juniper twigs that acted as a filter. The bung at the bottom of the kuurna would be pulled to allow the sweet wort (liquid infusion from the mash) to pass through the twig filter, followed by wort recirculation and a hot water sparge (rinsing of the grains), all of which created a juniper infusion of sorts.

Sahti is also referred to as being turbid, because the wort isn’t boiled after lautering (separation of spent grain and liquid), leaving loads of proteins behind, thus providing tremendous body. A low-flocculating Finnish baker’s yeast creates a cloudy unfiltered beer, with an abundance of sediment. Traditional Sahti is not typically hopped, so the task of balancing is left up to the juniper twigs, which impart an unusual resiny character and also act as a preservative. Some have compared Sahtis to German Hefeweizens, though we find them to be more akin to the Lambics of Belgium due to the exposure to wild yeast and bacteria, and its signature tartness.

So an interesting little beer lesson I learned.

This year a few craft brewers such as Dogfish Head tackled Sahti, though they are pretty non-traditional. I saw at my store that Nogne O from Norway had made one, and I love this quirky little brewery and figured it should be a much more nordic experience.



Sahti

Really interesting smell. Lots of honey and gin, the latter probably the result of juniper berries. Taste is loads of honey, with a little bit of tartness to keep it palatable. Incredibly thick body. Dry on the swallow. Nary a sign of being 11% plus. In a lot of ways this is more akin to a mead save for the lambic-like tartness, though a little more tartness would probably make it better and keep it more traditional. Lots of little flavors to pick out. Enjoyable and thoroughly different, I want to try more of these if I can find them. B.

[Centaur]

That's an interesting sounding beer all right. I had some of the Scottish Traditions Ale and Mead that sounds kinda similar to that.

[Centaur]

Have this for the fights tonight:


Bah Humbug - Wychwood Brewery Company Ltd - BeerAdvocate

Preview:
Smell: Cinnamon, allspice. Reminds me of spice cake.
Taste: Cinnamon, vanilla, allspice. The smell gives away the taste.
Mouthfeel: Smooth. Maybe not quite enough carbonation but close.


And -

Surly Blonde - Phillips Brewing Company - BeerAdvocate

9% and a Belgium style. Can't go wrong. Plus most of Phillips are pretty damn good.


I'll comment on these later.

[Zerocrew1984]

I might go to a "kegger" for the fight which will be bud light...I'd rather stay home and drink some good beer.

[scoopj]

SN Celebration Ale for me tonight. Tonight was actually the first time I've seen it this year. One down, and I have to say it's not as unique as I remember it. Definitely a good quality beer (for those of us that like IPAs), but it tastes a little more common than I recall. Could be worse I guess, I could be drinking Bud Light from a keg.

[Donut62]

For tonight I have some familiar classics:



Troegs Mad Elf



Founders Harvest Ale

[Centaur]

That Mad Elf looks cool.

My two picks were meh. Nothing special. The Phillips was kind of like a lesser Unibroue and the Bah Humbug was good for one. Would not buy again.

[cXs808]

is it weird that tonight I tried Dos Equis Amber and really liked it?