Royal mile/Red Monk and a new one from Summit

Last night I ventured into Des Moines to eat dinner with some friends and use my last Groupon to the Royal Mile. When I arrived around 6:30 the place was really really packed. I figured there were just a bunch of last minute Groupon-ers, but I soon learned that was only partially to blame. A flier alerted me to a new beer from Summit was being shown off via firkin, and even the founder of the company was there hanging out. While I didn't get to meet him, I did drink some of the new beer. It was really really good. Gold Sovereign Ale is part of their limited release Unchained series, where brewers are given free reign to do whatever they want. This beer is reportedly a Victorian era pale ale, but with a modern twist: 100% organic malts. I briefly wondered if there were non-organic malts in the 19th century but I was quickly distracted by the fruity elements of this beer, as well as the clean and balanced finish. Pear and apricot notes made up most of the nose, with a hefty malt body and spicy hop balance did the heavy lifting. The whole thing was well balance, easy to drink but required some thought to pull out all the subtle flavors. I'm sure my not so great palette missed a bunch, but I liked it nonetheless. This is the part of the review where I'd normally post a picture, but the area around the firkin was super crowded and photo friendly, and the beer looked like any other beer in a pint glass. Plus I kinda forgot until after I had finished it. Ooops. After a hearty fish and chips platter, my friends took off and I moved to the bar upstairs at the Red Monk, a killer Belgian place I'm sure I've mentioned before.

I had a couple old favorites, and then with considerable help from the highly knowledgeable bartender, I gave the La Chouffe Blonde a try.

Sorry for the sideways photo, but my phone and computer are arguing and I had to upload the photo from my phone, then write this entry on the computer. Anyway, just tilt your head or something. Back to the beer, La Chouffe is a great blonde with a slightly hoppier flavor than a lot of other Belgian blondes. Mind you, there's not a lot of hop in there, but a little more than you'd expect. The fruity/citrus notes of the style are pleasant and blend well with more complex hints of flavors from the yeast and hops.

Saturday ride to the High Trestle Bridge

Thanks to our relatively new system of taking days off at work, I got this weekend off. As such, I finally went on a normal Saturday ride, which for many in and near Ankeny, that's becoming a ride to the High Trestle Trail Bridge. Today was also the first day in a while that it wasn't either raining or super windy. The wind was present but not horrible and out of the northwest, so it was in my face basically the whole way from Ankeny up to Woodward. Perfect. This ride was also the first time I have seen the bridge in its completed form.

130 feet above the river in the middle. I've been across it before, but not since the additional metal work was finished around it. Looks great.
The offset design is awesome, good looking, and invokes a bit of a vertigo feeling, or it might if you rode across fast enough. Looks great too.

Here's a look from a tower/lookout/observation point just on the west side of the river, looking south across the bridge. On a sunnier day the view would be even better, but the river is pretty regardless.

Once home and thawed out, I had my favorite post ride beverage (surprise): beer. This time I cracked open a Brau Brothers Bancreagie, a scotch ale I grabbed to fill in a mixed six pack a few days ago.
It was okay. Nothing terribly special, but it's malty and very slightly smokey and pretty smooth. I really wanted the peaty smoked flavor to come through more, but alas, if there ever was a smokey note, it was covered by other malts. Without a significant smokey hit, it's another anonymous scottish ale. It's an okay example of the style, but even then it isn't exactly the one I'd show people as a "good" example. I generally like things from Brau Bros, so I hope this is just either a rare miss, or the brewers' palettes and mine don't agree. More beers later will probably make me feel better.

Super long term product review and a new summer beer from Shiner

A few days ago, while commuting home through a crummy spring rain, it occurred to me how great my cycling jacket has been for the last three years or so.

That's my Endura Luminite jacket hung on a hook, like usual. I've worn this thing in all kinds of weather, with all levels of layering underneath, and it has performed perfectly at every turn. Wind and rain at 55F? no problem, I stayed dry and comfortable. Snow and slop and horrible winter weather from 30F down to -30F windchill? Hell yeah, bring it on. With fully taped seams and well designed everything, when Endura says "waterproof" they mean it. In the winter I layer up significantly and wear this literally every day, and I've never had any issue. In the spring and fall, I don't use a lot of layers and the pit vents work pretty well to keep my temperature regulated. Generally in the summer, or any time the temp is above 70, it's way too warm, but that's no surprise given how sealed and sturdy the material is.
For this photo I left the flash on, and the large reflective sections reflected it back, just like when headlights hit it. After all this use the jacket works just like new, even if the crazy bright yellow color has dulled slightly in regular light. I really could not be more impressed with this jacket and how well it has held up to my abuse. If the weather isn't horrible it pretty much lives in the bottom of my messenger bag rubbing up against shoes, pumps, beers, multitools, etc etc, you know, whatever I happen to be carrying with me. Until a few days ago I hadn't even really thought much about it, but damn, I love this jacket.

Ya know what else I love? beer. (surprised right?) I also love interesting/unusual beers. Odd pairings and weird experiments are half the fun of brewing right? I love the brewmaster's creativity and minor bits of bravery to make weird beers. Sometimes they don't work, but hey, at least someone tried. And when they work well, the result can be better than anyone would have expected. My lust for these weird beers could also be considered morbid curiosity. I almost want to see horrible failure as much as I want to see success. A beer I noticed recently that set off all sorts of alarms in my head was Shiner's new summer beer: Rudy Redbird.
It is a lager brewed with ruby red grapefruit juice and ginger. The citrus is more subtle than you'd expect from the nose, but the ginger really comes through in the flavor and mouth feel. Shiner's website lists 4.2% abv and a scant 13 ibus, which in my mind makes this an excellent and refreshing summer beer that would pair really well with food. What food you ask? Sushi was my first thought. The second I mentioned sushi, maybe after my second sip, my friend Andrew heartily agreed. It would also work really well with citrusy chicken dishes, and damn near any grilled fish. Maybe that's what I should do this week sometime, get more of this, get some tuna steaks and some lemon pepper and go to town. If you like citrusy and refreshing beers, or just like interesting flavors in beer, definitely check this out.

Fleur

Goose Island's Fleur. Part of their excellent "Vintage" series. A Belgian style pale ale with Hibiscus flowers and kombucha tea. It has a strong fruity aroma with a heady floral note as well.

I've had this beer before, but it's been a while, and this bottle is the 2011 batch, while the last one I had was the 2010. While I don't have an incredible memory for tastes and how a similar/identical beer changes from year to year, I think the 2011 batch isn't quite as floral as 2010. This new batch also seems to be a bit fruitier with a strawberry flavor lingering in the back long after swallowing. I really like these more experimental beers from Goose Island(and others) but I'm not necessarily wowed by their day to day offerings. I think is a good thing, as more interesting beers is never a bad thing.

In riding news, I rode the cross bike through Sycamore, down the paved trail for a ways, across the new levy by Birdland and then back home. The new levy is mostly ridable but you have to go around some fences and ignore some trail closed signs. The ground is fairly chewed up from the heavy equipment, but careful line choice on a cross bike was fine, a mountain bike would have made it easier. Sadly, I'm dumb and didn't take any pictures. Must remember for next time...

Thoughts on flights, and some I drank in Oregon

The flight, most breweries and serious beer bars offer one (or a few), and they're as varied in how they're presented, how they're priced, and what comes in one, as there are places that serve them. Here are three I had in Eugene and Portland, plus a dissection of each approach.

First up, Ninkasi. Eugene based and super fast growing, this brewery is one of the highlights every time I'm in the area. They've got a great way to do a flight.

Five beers in a little metal tray, each with a laminated card with the name and logo on the front and a few stats on the back, not unlike a baseball card, but for beer. You get to pick the five beers from the 7 or 8 they've got on tap. The samples are 4 oz (I think) and the price was reasonable, $6-7. I really like the set up, and the cards are a stroke of genius.


Close up of the front of the cards.

Detail of the back. All the important info is on there. And I totally love the format, brilliant.

Next up, Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) in Portland. I'm in love with this brewery not just for their beers, or their bicycle themed brew pub, but, um, yeah, I guess the combo of those things is pretty much why I like them. They are committed to sustainable beer and life in general, so that's super cool. Anyway, their flights are 10 beers, 3 oz of each on a tray made from a bicycle rim, and $7-8, which is about the price of 2 pints, so it works out pretty well.

They've got a big chalk board behind the bar that has 12 beers listed and the flight comes with a taste of the first 10. Simple, easy, and a large selection of beers.

Lastly, I ate/drank at Hop Valley. Their flight is nine beers, 7 standards, with a seasonal and a special release. Simple, effective, and on par with the other flights I've talked about size and value wise.

Of the three flights I had on this visit to Oregon, I think I liked Ninkasi the best. Not because they're beer was the best (it was damn close, and overall it mighta been), but the format with the laminated baseball style cards was amazing. The value on each was similar, and if anything Ninkasi was a tad more expensive than the others, but Hopworks wins huge points for having a sampler that contains almost all their beers. On the flip side, Ninkasi gets points for letting me pick which beers I wanna try.

Better weather, new beers, assorted thoughts.

Last Wednesday (so, yesterday) I got out on the mountain bike. It was everything I wanted it to be, fun, fast, great trail conditions, a good work out, damn near perfect. So far, since the weather has broken, this spring has been fairly mild and not as wet and horrible as it's supposed to be. I mean, as I write this it's cold and rainy out there, but overall we're doing great. This is a shot from Sycamore's north side. Conditions are as good as ever, and there's rumor of the possibility of new sections of trail down there. Awesome, if the river doesn't come up and over everything like it has a tendency to.


Following my ride I did as many mountain bikers are want to do, and cracked open a beer. This time it was Sierra Nevada's Ovila Dubbel. Part of their new line of abbey style beers that they're making in collaboration with actual monks. Pretty neat idea, plus the beer is good too. Complex but light, there's a ton of subtle flavors at play, from citrus to black pepper, if you see any of he beers in this line, give them a try. I bet you'll like it.

Earlier in the week, it was well above 80F in the Des Moines metro. As such, I broke out the shorts and clipless sandals.

Sharp eyed readers will notice that my footwear is in fact a pair of the old school Shimano two strap style sandals. I love these things, and the new ones just aren't the same, and while my shop totally kills it with Keen bike sandals, they don't work for my feet, and I don't like the closed toe. I guess I'm gonna have to punt when these finally fall apart, which could be any day now.

A beer I had recently that I have to share: Brau Brothers Hundred Yard Dash Fresh Hop Ale. I am so in love with this beer. After drinking an incredible amount of citrusy IPAs in Oregon, this was a crazy change.

It smells of dirty pine with an herbal note or two floating around. This beer's aroma is a killer example of the "dirty" smell people love to add to IPA descriptions, ie, dirty pine, dirty citrus, dirty tea. It literally has a freshly turned soil smell. It's good, earthy, piny, and amazing. If you're in the upper midwest, you can probably find this beer, and probably should.