And so the grilling continues. Last night it was brats. Presumably because of the awful humidity, my first attempt at lighting the charcoal didn't go so well. Uff da!
They were quite tasty and went well with a highly refreshing pilsner from Goldfinger which I picked up when I was in Chicago a couple weeks back.
Like all Baltic porters, Goldfinger's had that Stygian dark brown color that was very hesitant to let any light through lest anyone mistake it for an amber. With the requisite color, I was happy to see that it had that viscous motor oil look to it like Baltika #6 and Żywiec as I poured. My glass was adorned with a big, frothy head of light brown foam. It was like the color of roux when it just turns the corner and you know it's headed for a nice milk chocolate color that will make your gumbo mo' bettah. I really couldn't tell but I am going to assume this stuff was clear as one would expect. The aroma was equally luscious with a prominent roastiness to it along with a stone fruit scent that alternated between plum and cherry in the part of my brain that register beer smells. French roast coffee, a verdant hoppiness, and a wonderfully decocted toastiness rounded things out.
Darkly roasted coffee along with a touch of dark chocolate were the most prominent flavors. The beer's medium-heavy body tasted really smooth underneath generous doses of fizz and hops of a spicy nature. It was a sweet beer but not cloying. The malty sweetness lingered for a spell on the finish but was eventually replaced by a not-insignificant wave of bitterness & astringency. Gotta tame all that malt somehow, I guess. Despite the potency of the acerbity, dryness was rather mild.
Bałtycki was one tasty brew. I was surprised to not get much of a boozy burn despite an A.B.V. of 8.4%. Just as Oceania and Eurasia are locked in perpetual war in 1984, so too are malty sweetness and hops/fizz in the Baltic porter. You want a big, thick roasty malt extravaganza but you also don't want the drinker's tongue bogged down in treacle so you've gotta be generous with the hops and make it fizzy. Goldfinger did a great job here letting my palate enjoy the dark malty goodness yet not drown in a cloying syrupy mess. That bitter finish sure did reset my tongue for the next blast of barley. Without the boozy heat, this stuff went down easily. A bit too easily, if you ask me.
Junk food pairing: Baltic porters not only demand a junk food with complementary flavors but one with a hearty amount of them to get themselves tasted through the big flavors of the beer. Pair Bałtycki with a big bag of Jays Smoky BBQ Ridges potato chips. A thicker chip means more spud goodness and grease while the ridges mean more surface area for the smoky BBQ flava.
On my annual autumnal trek last year to lovely Lombard, Illinois for Chicago TARDIS, I had it in mind to seek out some Winter Beer by Goldfinger Brewing. I'd heard tell of it a week or so before and I was intrigued. Besides the immanence of winter and the necessity of winter seasonal beers for survival, it was a rye lager and rye is my grain of choice. To top things off, Goldfinger went against the grain, so to speak, and made a winter beer that wasn't extra potent and instead relied on a hearty maltiness to hold back the nipping of Jack Frost.
Winter was to set in early with a major blizzard forecasted the next day so I set out to get my beer shopping done early so I could settle into the hotel with Christopher Eccleston and Jo Martin until the storm had abated.
With the threat of several inches of snow looming, I hastily made a trek to Binny's. There I found some interesting brews, to be sure, but no Goldfinger Winter Beer. Well, crap. After lunch I attended another panel discussion or two before making the drive to Goldfinger HQ. Walking in I found that place to be hoppin'. I also found no Winter Beer. However, I did find some of their Baltic porter. More on that later.
Discouraged, I went back to the hotel with my tail between my legs and enjoyed myself at the con. But I would not be defeated!
The next day the storm began with snow coming down at quite a clip. Once fully caffeinated, it occurred to me that there are liquor stores that are not Binny's and so consulted the Google oracle. Sal's Beverage World sounded like they'd have a good selection. I mean, it's a whole world of beverages! It was also helpfully located near a peri peri chicken joint which sealed the deal. I could get beer, a family pack of peri peri chicken, and then ride the storm out at the hotel with a bunch of fans dressed up as Cybermen meaning we could recreate The Tenth Planet.
It seems a large percentage of the western burbs had a similar plan because Roosevelt Road was packed and treacherous. Jagoffs in SUVs and Subarus ignored conditions and barreled down the road at normal speed, i.e. - 10MPH over the limit. I kept things steady as cars fishtailed all around me and the street threatened to turn into a demolition derby. And I made it.
My luck was in as Sal's had the precious Winter Lager - and more besides. I stowed my beer securely in the back seat and then made my way to the peri peri joint where I bought a family pack so I wouldn't be forced to eat any of my fellow con goers to survive, er, I mean go to the hotel restaurant. The drive back was frought with peril but I made it back to the safety of the hotel unscathed.
While down in Chicago's western suburbs last week, I went a bit overboard in my beer buying. I had a list of brews to seek out with Goldfinger's winter seasonal at the top of the list. It is a rye lager and I just could not resist. My stop at Binny's yielded nothing but I would not be denied. So I drove to the brewery one evening but they too were out. Thankfully I found some at Sal's Beverage Emporium or whatever it's called.
While Goldfinger was out of rye lager - not even a drop to be had on tap - they did have another brew suitable for winter, Bałtycki. Why yes it is a Baltic porter.
I also found Rauchbier, my first ever brew from Art History, I do believe.
Old Irving Brewing is a new favorite of mine. While they brew IPAs that hold no interest for me, they do other styles more appealing to my tastes and do them well. I also think it helps that they are in a neighborhood near where I grew up.
Lastly, I grabbed a 4-pack of this Polish-style pilsner from Revolution in concert with Moor’s Brewing whom I'd never heard of until I saw this beer. A leftover from the summer, it was a mere $5.97.
Has it really been nine and a half years since I've had a wood aged beer, Heart of Oak by Leine's? Bourbon barrel aged brews don't count as I think the idea is to infuse your beer with a spirit rather than a strictly arboreal flavor. While I'm on the subject, kudos to Lakefront for Wendy, a doppelbock which utilized bourbon-soaked oak chips that imparted a more subtle bourbon taste that complemented rather than overwhelmed the beer.
Plain, unspirited/unwined barrel/wood aged beers are hard to come by. Even more rare than Rauchbier. It's not exactly a mega popular flavor and dealing with wood must be a pain. You don't want any microbial thingies on your chips, staves, logs or whatever that would give your brew an off taste. Wood is a major flavor in wine so why isn't it in beer? And, as barrel aging goes, why is oak so popular?
When I saw this wood aged beer sans bourbon, a collaboration between Goldfinger and Revolution, I just had to try it. Goldfinger is a great brewery that combines care and tradition to make very tasty lagers. While Revolution dances with many an IPA, they brew other beers more to my taste. For example, not only did they throw my favorite grain, rye, into a stout, they also put some neat Repo Man artwork on the label.
The Oakriginal can doesn't say exactly how this beer got its oak flavor. Was it aged in oak barrels? Were oak chips involved? Did the brewmasters head to the woods with Husqvarna in hand, cut down a random oak, and throw some of the resulting cordwood into the fermenter? Now that I look closer, I see that Creative Oak is listed on the label and this California company's website notes the work of their master coopers.
The can does note, though, that "single forest French oak" was used. If horizontal lagering tanks weren't enough, this is definitely getting into hoity-toity wine territory. French oak apparently has more tannins than American oak which perhaps explains its use in winemaking. In addition to bitterness, oak has a clovey, vanillay, and, well, woody taste. How will these flavors fare in a Helles?
My pour produced a big, white head that I could hear. The bubbles churned away in a micromaelstrom like they do in soda, my cat's pleading meows for dinner were barely heard above the din. As with any Helles, the beer was a lovely yellow but had a slight haze which I presume was protein whatever you call it as Goldfinger's lagers have always been clear as day as is conventional. Maybe something is imparted by wood that gives a touch of cloudiness. There were a few bubbles here and there inside. My first sniff caught a luscious bready scent followed by wood, and then grassy hops.
My first sip revealed a medium-light body with the perfect fizz. Those Maillard reactions done good as I tasted that precious toasty bread flavor along with those grassy hops. A fine Helles indeed. Then I tasted the oak underneath it all. It was rather mellow but it added a smoothness that took the edge off the hops a shade, I think. Plus I like the flavor of oak so it had that going for it as well.
On the finish, the malt and oak flavors had one final flourish and then quickly faded as the hops, now with a herbal, almost minty, taste, made things fairly dry and slightly less bitter.
Goldfinger makes great beers so I was totally unsurprised that this was a mighty tasty Helles. The oak was subtle but easily discernible and its taste accented the grain flavor very well. Same with the hops. The oak gave flavors unlike the ones hops do yet they played nicely together. An excellent brew.
Junk food pairing: Pair Oakriginal Lager with Jays Hot Stuff potato chips. Their earthy flavors complement the oak while the Helles with soothe the burn.
...aged beer.
This is tasty stuff. It's nice to see a helles(?) given a twist that doesn't involve fruity-tasting hops.
"Is that the brewery that makes Pulaski Pils?" I asked myself when seeing "Maplewood Brewery and Distillery" on a can of this beer. Truth be known I've never had Pulaski Pils but I am surprised at this considering I grew up in Chicago a block from Pulaski Road and had a Polish grandmother. Casimir Pulaski Day meant a day off from school and time to go cause low level mayhem in the alleys. Driving into Lincolnwood always prompts a bit of derision towards the northern burb. I mean, Crawford Avenue?
While Maplewood distributes here in Madison, I've never had any of their brews. And so their logo prompted a bit of interest but no trepidation due to a beer of theirs that I didn't take to. Let's taste what you've got. Unlike Maplewood, Goldfinger does not distribute here in Madison but I have been to their taproom. The beers I had there were excellent. I think they do decoction mashes and they proudly advertise that their beers are lagered in horizontal lagering tanks, though I don't know what the orientation of the tanks does to the beer. Whatever brewing voodoo they do, I am all for it as the beers of theirs I have known and poured into my maw were overflowing with Maillard goodness. And they came in mugs with a generous head, as is proper, letting my nose have a thrill instead of being all sullen and jealous of my tongue.
Even if I was unfamiliar with Goldfinger and had, perhaps, a less than stellar experience with a Maplewood beer, I still would have bought their Rauchbier collaboration because Rauchbier is just like manna from heaven and hope springs eternal. I don't recall the can indicating what style it was, a smoked Märzen, for example. Nor do I remember if the can indicated what time of wood was used to the smoke the malt. I always presume it's beech wood unless told otherwise.
My cans indicated they were filled on 24 October and I bought them Thanksgiving weekend.
My pour would have made the barkeeps at Goldfinger proud as my glass was topped with a few fingers of off-white foam. (Pre-photo, that is.) It was loose and frothy and lasted what I think of as an average amount of time. The brew was copper colored and clear with a goodly number of bubbles to be seen inside. A sweetly scented smokiness hit my nose first followed by dash of cherry and a faint bit of grassy hops. Ooh la la!
A medium-light body held a lovely smoke taste which was accompanied by a slight malty sweetness. The hops took on spicy notes in addition to the more green ones from the aroma. And there was lots of fizz which cast an astringent shadow over the beer. For the finish, the fizz ganged up with the hops and washed away the maltiness leaving a really nice dryness with the perfect level of bitterness.
I suspect that the more than generous amount of carbonic acid here dulled my tongue because it became progressively harder to taste the malt and hops - a bit like when you overindulge in some potent salt & vinegar potato chips. They were basically smothered by all that fizz. This was a liquid palimpsest with the carbonation at the fore but the Rauchbier still barely visible beneath. And so, while the first few gulps were very tasty, the smoky satisfaction dissipated all too quickly.
Bummer.
Junk food pairing: I paired by Rauchbier with a bag of Herr's Jalapeno Poppers Flavored Cheese Curls. They have a rich cheesy flavor and just enough heat to make you feel it. Plus the jalapeno complements the smokiness well.
Last year I stopped in at Goldfinger Brewing Co. on a chilly night looking for a palate cleanser after a chance encounter with some pickle beer. We found that their House and Vienna lagers were superlative and wonderful showcases for the power of a fully armed and operational decoction brewhouse.
While Downers Grove, Illinois is a long way from Poland, the brewery's owner and brewmaster, Thomas Beckmann, is a descendant of one Markus Goldfinger who started a mini-brewing empire in Krakow, Poland back in the 19th century so the fellow has the art/business in his veins. Beckmann looks to pay tribute to his ancestors by crafting lagers using time-honored methods such as decoction. He may also use horizontal lagering tanks (I thought so but cannot recall), which are apparently the bee's knees when it comes to vessels where your beer can slumber at 30 some-odd degrees for a while.
Polish beer seems to largely consist of an array of pale lagers dotted with some Baltic porters. However, I do see some of their brews that are made with honey for a local touch and have also heard tell of Baltic Porters brewed with smoked plums which sounds simply delightful. Plus, there's the grodziskie, which is absolutely delicious.
Into this cozy, shall we say, milieu of Polish brews Beckmann has made his own contribution - a series of Polish pilsners that showcase blends of Polish hops. I snagged a pack of the latest entry last month during my annual autumn pilgrimage to Binny's. This is #3 in the series and features Lubelski and Princely (Ksiażęcy) hops. I've heard of Lubelski before as I think that's the most common Polish hop variety, at least to Americans. Princely was new to me and it is apparently new to the scene as well. For better or for worse, it was bred to provide fruity flavors a la most American varieties these days. The can advertises coconut and apricot and I assume they come from the Princely as Lubelski, I do believe, is more herbal - more Noble and less fruity.
Honestly, I went in hoping that the fruit flavors were subdued and that this wasn't one of those Hawaiian Punch beers. I didn't think that Goldfinger, a brewery that adheres to tradition otherwise fairly rigidly, as far as I can tell, would make one of those but maybe the novelty factor was just too great for Beckmann to overcome. That and my trips to the liquor store have got me seeing tropical fruit overload everywhere.
The beer poured a lovely yellow color that veered to light gold at the right angle which set off the categorization cogs in the beer enjoyment part of my brain and I thought, "Kinda more on the German side of things." I would expect a German pils to be perhaps a touch lighter but Pilsner Urquell is definitely darker. So, it's in that liminal pilsner SRM space...woooo...A big dollop of white foam sat atop the aureate liquid and it had staying power. There was a modicum of bubbles inside. I don't know what aromas to expect from Princely hops but I assume the fresh herbal-grassy scent here was courtesy of the Lebelski ones. There was also something fruity but it was indistinct to my nose. It was more stonefruit than tropical, though.
My first sip revealed a nice medium-light body which seemed to fit in the middle of my German-Czech pils dichotomy just like the color. Fizziness was middling, i.e. - I'd have been happy with a touch more but the beer still had a pleasant bite. A great cracker taste was accompanied by a nice touch of herbal hoppiness and this allayed my misbegotten fears of an overly fruity brew. There was something fruity in there, however, but it was like Winston in Ghostbusters and stayed in the background by-and-large.
The power of suggestion is, um, powerful and I'm not sure if I was tasting a fruit flavor that kinda sorta tasted like coconut because the label said so or not. It was more like apricot on the finish when the cracker taste yielded to a firm dose of herbal hoppiness which, in turn, faded slightly andlet that fruity taste seep through more.
Polish Pils #3 was excellent! For the most part, it tasted like a traditional pils of some stripe with the fruity tastes never taking over. Instead, they were a really nice accent. I loved the fresh grassy hop scent and the light, cracker malt taste. Really delicate flavors handled adroitly by Beckmann and Co.
Junk food pairing: Get some of Goldfinger's Polish Pils quick because I believe it's a limited edition brew. It will pair well with onion and sour cream potato chips but I highly recommend going with a dill snack and your babcia would no doubt approve of Herr's Creamy Dill Pickle chips where every bite is full of mizeria goodness.
