Craft Beer Road Trip (Part 2)

Quest Imperial Smoking Mirror – smoked porter: Boozy aromas of chocolate and dark fruit find my nose, offset with a just a hint of smoky dryness. The body is silky smooth and full of rich milk chocolate and vanilla. Sweetness overpowers what should have been a prominent smoked malt flavor. As the main body slips away, the finish reprises the sweet vanilla but leaves with only a disappointing touch of the huge peat flavor I had expected. 7.5/10

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The second leg of my craft beer road trip was the drive home. It was a quick-fire beer tasting across the breadth of South Carolina, setting the record for my longest bar-hop (185 miles). I found out about the following breweries with some help from the lawyer, craft beer advocate, and prominent blogger, Brook Bristow, runner of the Beer of SC site.

In order to stay safe and lawful, I kept my drinks to half-pours and tasting glasses, and made sure to eat food, drink water, and plan on at least an hour at each brewery so that I wasn’t rushed into chugging full glasses before hopping behind a wheel.

Unlike the first entry, I have no family, friends, or other participants; I don’t have to guide anyone through the tasting notes; there is no cheesy family-friendly moral.

Just Beer.

The morning I left the beach was gloomy, but I was excited to get one last chance to grab some brews that were unavailable in Georgia. Rain clouds were starting to form up as I was packing my car to leave. Wanting to get on the road soon, I filled the car up quickly, slammed the door shut, and helplessly watched my problematic passenger window rattle off of its supports and slide down into my car door. Not a great start.

I escaped ahead of the heaviest of the rain, but I still managed to take a bad GPS route down a dirt road and sling a bit of mud into my car.

My first stop, a bit more than an hour down the road, was in Florence, SC. A seemingly dubious decision, there, as the town is not exactly a craft beer Mecca. I went down to Southern Hops and made it in as their first customer at 11am. I apologized to the staff for waking them up, and then talked over our beer-for-breakfast ideas. The server and I agreed that the coffee flavors in porters and stouts were most appealing, but the bartender dissented suggesting the hoppiest of beers are the only way to start your day.

So I sat down to try a few of their recommendations and watch the pre-game show for the Argentina/Iran World Cup match.

Southern Hops

Porter: Opaque, black-brown body yields an enticing deep brown head. The coffee aroma helps wake me up. Though it’s not a flavored beer, coffee and dark bitter chocolate are prominent notes in this slightly-heavier-than-style porter. The thick roasted malt body subsides into a touch of pine and dry chocolate finish. 8.5/10

Goldilocks – Belgian Golden: Beautiful golden body with white lacing. A light spicy aroma of pepper and sweet ginger wafts off the top. The body has some somewhat light biscuit flavors. A drying hoppy finish produces some spicy flavors like cinnamon and possibly nutmeg. Though abnormal for the style, I really enjoyed that twist at the end. 8.5/10

Leeroy Brown – American Brown: Translucent mud-colored body and thin white head. It had a lot of coffee aroma that gave me the impression that it was a light version of the porter. The thin body led into a deceptively robust hoppy finish. 7.5/10

Ellida (Quest Brewing) – Bourbon aged IPA: I don’t see many barrel-aged IPAs, and I wanted to make sure I got a taste of this one if the brewery didn’t have it further down the road. Bourbon booziness was somewhat solvent-like, compounded with the orange blossom aroma gave me an impression of citronella. Mild vanilla flavors in a relatively thick, malty body was capped off with earthy and floral bitter. 7/10.

My schedule requires that I get on the road, but I procrastinate until the kickoff of the Argentina/Iran game. I picked up a small growler of the Goldilocks and paid my tab. As I walked out, I confidently predicted that Iran would loose handily, and I would just be missing a slaughter.

River Rat

A little over an hour and a half later, I made it to my destination in Columbia. The weather was clear, hot, and sunny. I parked my car in a dusty gravel parking lot in the swamp and walked in to a tiny taproom. A TV was hanging over the bar, playing the match I’d left two hours earlier. I looked at it just in time to see Messi score the only goal of the game. Clearly, they were waiting just for me.

Vanilla Porter: A black pour with a small tan head, and a sweet milk chocolate aroma introduced me to the brewery. The medium weight body was a bit sweet, but it was balanced with a good coffee undertone. It seemed like it would have a predominantly earthy bitter finish, but the vanilla came back on the aftertaste; a bit sugary, but not cloying. 8.5/10

American Kolsh Story [sic] – Kolsch: Grainy nose with earthy spice. Mild malt body showcased the super-fresh grain flavors. The beer was not sweet, but it had no sharp bite of the traditional style. I’m not sure if the beer was misspelled on the board or if the label was intentionally spelled this way, but Jason, the bar patron next to me, made sure that the first entry on Untapp’d for this beer was spelled without the “c.” 7/10

Moncks’s Corner [sic] – Belgian dark: Bright fruity nose. Kinda boozy, with a phenolic solvent undertone. It was subtle but noticeable, and somewhat off-putting. The lighter body and dry finish puts the beer on a good start, but a minty aftertaste was less desirable. We decided that the missing “c” from the Kolsch wound up in the Belgian dark. 6/10

I know I didn’t rate these beers very highly, but I really enjoyed my time at the tasting room. Like any young brewery, they have some polishing to do, but I’m confident that River Rat is on the right track and I’m looking forward to doing this again.

After talking with Jason for a while, I mentioned my road trip. He recommended that I try Conquest Brewing while I was in town. So I filled a growler with the River Rat IPA and got on my way.

Conquest

A ten minute drive up the road from River Rat placed me by the warehouse that Conquest brewing is located in. You enter through the brewing area, where they were selling pulled pork and brisket from a local barbecue shop; Yellow Dog Barbeque. The taproom here is tucked away behind a nondescript door that appeared to me to be a storage closet. Entering, I was greeted with a powerful aroma of incense- provided by a bartender smoking an e-cig and wearing some unsettling black contacts. Doing my best to avoid commenting on his appearance, I commenced the tasting.

Artemis – Belgian Blonde: Pretty simple flavor profile yet still very tasty. It was light and crisp with an good sweetness that gave the lemony citrus a refreshing finish. 8/10

Medusa Stout: Huge coffee and chocolate aroma poured off the top of this beer. The body was smooth and creamy with sweeter chocolate flavors and vanilla. A relatively mild roasty finish. 8.5/10

Belma – Black IPA: The Belma hops is a strain I had not heard of before; some quick Googling showed it to produce a fruit-forward tasting profile, and a high alpha-acid content. The Belma black IPA had a full roasty chocolate aroma and body with overwhelming dry and earthy notes. A very bitter finish rounded out this beer. I got the feeling that the hops were misused, though, and perhaps a more delicate application of them would be beneficial. 7/10.

Sacred Heartier – Double IPA: Tropical fruit aroma of mango, pear, and tangerines cleared my palate. A relatively full sweetness through the body accentuated those flavors, eventually tapering off into a good balancing bitter finish. High alcohol, but it didn’t have the characteristic warmth. 9/10.

Though I was confused about why a service industry employee would choose the appearance that he did -and be so obnoxious about smoking flavored e-cigs inside (he ignores the intense aroma and touts the ubiquitous line “it’s just water vapor, so there’s really nothing that anyone could be bothered by”)- he knew his beer. The guy answered every question I had, even about the relatively unknown Belma hop strain used in their black IPA. I’m willing to forgive the in-your-face-alternative vibe to go back for some really good beer. I took home a small growler of the Sacred Heart single IPA to enjoy.

The stop at conquest was unplanned, and puts me over an hour behind schedule, but I’d still make Greenville with plenty of time to get to a few breweries there.

Quest

First on my agenda in this city was Quest. I’d heard about them from so many different people over the last two years, that I needed to be sure that they would not get skipped.

Smoking Mirror – smoked porter: A campfire aroma introduced a fairly light body that was filled with semi-sweet chocolate. The flavors quickly turned into a palate-drying finish with plenty of the peat and smoke flavors that I was looking for. The beer drank like I was pairing chocolate with scotch (which I love doing). Delicious. 9/10

Ponce de Saison – pepper/cucumber Saison: Jalepeno nose with vegetable flavor underneath. Apple and tropical fruit lent sweetness to the body. Sweet/pepper flavors makes this reminiscent of a mango salsa. A nice medium burn hits the palate on the second or third sip, as well as a small amount of a rough floral aftertaste. 8.5/10

Shiver – Imperial Saison in Cabernet Barrels: A boozy nose of red wine emanates off the top. It has a sweet body. I could tell it was complicated, but by this point I had a burnt out palate from the spice of the previous beer. I guess I’ll need to go back to try it again. 7.5-8.5/10

Melasine – Biere de Garde in Cabernet barrels: Booze aroma and tangerine sweet body. It has a fairly heavy malt presence for a Biere de Garde, but it dried out nicely on the end. The red wine was more subdued in this beer than in the Imperial Saison, imparting a nice cherry flavor and oak-like finish. Still, a little bit warm though, 8.5/10.

All of these beers were fairly high ABV. Coupled with several generous samples provided by the bartender and manager, I was forced to maintain my position on the stool and drink water for an extra hour. That meant that I had to cut my plan to go to Brewery 85. However, this gave me some time to meet the staff and discuss their future plans. Some exciting beer will be coming out of this building as they continue to ramp up their barrel program. I’ll be planning another trip in January for sure.

After sitting around for a while, I decided to fill my last growler with the Imperial Smoking Mirror and got on the road. I managed to prop my passenger window up by bracing a fork underneath it. About ten minutes down the road, a bump jostled the fork loose, catapulting it right out the passenger side, and the window sunk completely out of reach in my door. It was a windy, rattling ride home, but well worth the trip.

Cheers!

 

Monday Night Cask ale and a Hazy Recollection

Monday Night Drafty Kilt cask w/ Mexican Chocolate and Habaneros: Another beer that may have been intended to have more carbonation; I forgot about it after it was poured, from a cask, over a week ago. I do not anticipate much carbonation, but am rewarded with a thin hint of foam for the head. A sweet smoky aroma fills the glass; the musky scotch ale flavors are an undertone to the sweeter chocolate sensation on the top. The first sip is not too different from the Drafty Kilt but the mexican chocolate is sweet and smooth and mostly covers up the smoked malt flavors I’m used to in this beer. The flavors compliment each other quite well, though. The finish is on the first taste is somewhat disappointing. I didn’t really detect the habanero kick. But on my second, much larger taste, the burn starts to build. The fire swells to a tolerable level and plateaus. The lack of carbonation turns out just fine, given the spicy kick of habaneros at the end. The aftertaste is chocolate and pepper.

A common effect of adding pepper to beer is a vegetable flavor of the pepper fruit. I find those flavors off-putting. This beer has none of it; just the fire. I ruined what little carbonation it had, but still, this beer is a 9/10.

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I cannot try to choose a beer that sums up the bachelor party weekend that we had. So, instead, I’ll feature the beer I drink while I write the post. This is about as close as I have come to “suffering” to drink a beer in a long time, as I am not quite yet over the massive… dehydration… that occurred on the beach in Charleston SC.

I will be describing the sort of bachelor party that happens when 10 well-established adult men in their mid- to late- twenties get together and collectively decide to abandon normal social standards. This is a tale of two days of drunken debauchery, and as such, will be somewhat longer than normal. I will only tell the parts of the story that I feel like I have a right to, and let everyone else tell their version as they want. Unfortunately, reader, that leaves a lot to your imagination. Please be assured that we had a designated driver all weekend, who did an AMAZING job at corralling us and keeping us on schedule.

Day one consisted of arriving, and shortly thereafter drinking a crisp, cold Bud Light. It’s actually pretty refreshing in the muggy swamp just off the beach.

I’d been looking forward to this party— don’t tell the groom this— mostly to go to the Westbrook brewery. They’re one of my favorites on the east coast and have been churning out some really spectacular small batch beers. I’ve been told that they often have beers that can only be gotten from their brewery too, so I’d been anticipating bootlegging beer back for my friends and me. The rest of the partiers seemed uninterested, but the groom’s father, my uncle, decided to go with me and learn about some great craft beer.

I was utterly disappointed. They had only their year-round (AKA “core”) beer and a smoked wheat beer, called a gratzer, on tap. Their core beers are fantastic, but I have tasted all of them within the last month. The one-claw was the darkest offering they had. The gratzer is a tad smoky and quite tasty, but more mild than I wanted out of this brewery. Still, I got to teach my uncle about IPAs and rye and figure out what his palate is like.

The evening continued on from there with more alcohol for my uncle and me. Since we left Westbrook a little earlier than we planned, we showed up an hour and a half early to the swanky Oak Steakhouse. So we saddled up to the bar and ordered a few Bulleit rye whiskeys. I was assured by my drinking companion that the bartenders in front of us were astoundingly beautiful. I concur, and we inform the bachelor and party what they’re missing while playing cornhole with eachother on the beach.

The steak dinner was outstanding. On a short hiatus from beer, I managed to cram 16oz of wet-aged sirloin and nearly as much lobster mac and cheese into me. Our meal culminated when one of the group fell asleep sitting at the table, holding his wine glass, in an apparent meat and drink coma. We roused him after having the hostesses pretend to kiss his cheek for our pictures. We are clearly the most rambunctious group in this otherwise very upscale restaurant; nobody seems to want to sit at the adjacent tables.

After leaving the restaurant, we decided to go to the bar district. A sarcastic “fortunately,” it’s graduation day for College of Charleston, and the whole street is flooded with just-graduated college kids. This is utter insanity to me, because I pretty much hate college kids, as well as the bars they attend.

We nearly-thirty-year-olds do remarkably well making friends, though. We’re all immaculately dressed and willing to buy rounds of shots for the people standing nearby. A couple of us systematically flirt for a while and then obtusely scuttle the conversation with nearly every girl that walks past us at the bar. After I buy myself two rounds of two Jamesons, I join the game too. It seemed like the perfect bachelor party objective: get the groom to talk to cute women, but don’t encourage them to hang out with the bachelor, or us (who are also all spoken for), for any long amount of time. Trying to pick up people at a bar is much more entertaining when you’re expecting to be turned down. Upon finding out we’re leaving for a more age-appropriate bar, a couple of girls decide they want to tag along. One of our esteemed fellows leans in so that only one of the reasonably attractive girls- who are considering following a bar-hopping bachelor party (never a great idea, even with stand-up gentlemen such as ourselves)- can hear him and asks her to get “the hot one” to come.

She and the hot one walk out of our lives, forever.

The night continues and we wind up back at the house for some good-natured drinking till the wee hours of the morning. At no point did we do anything dangerous.

Day two opens five hours later with us getting up at 9:30 to make it in to town for a beer tour with Charleston Brews Cruise. Charleston only allows brewing in the industrial districts, not the commercial ones. So, as a bonus, Tour Guide and owner/operator Brent is forced to take us on a tour of the bail-bondsmen, pawn shops, and hair-braiding establishments of the seaside city.

Our first destination is Coast brewing. I’d heard of it, but not tasted any of their beers. Tired and hungover, I’m glad we can start with their kölsch. Though it wasn’t a crowd favorite, it was a touch sweet in the body and had an excellent mild bitter finish that prepped my palate for the extensive amount of beer that I was about to drink. I was also impressed with the first IPA I had from them. It was so crisp and dry that I was expecting it to be in the 4-5% ABV (alcohol by volume) range, not 7.5%. The same experience occurred with their imperial IPA which was a brain-floating 9.3% ABV. I got to talk to the brewer about their hop additions and the flavors in the bottled beers that they offered. I wound up buying 12 bombers (22oz bottles) from them, including a very exciting vertical of bourbon barrel stouts from 2011 and 2012, an aged saison, and an American barleywine.

After my experience there, the other two stops at Freehouse and Holy City were somewhat disappointing. Neither had quite the selection Coast did. Freehouse only had five items on tap. Of those, they had a delicious roasty brown ale and a grapefruit-zested Belgian triple. However, they only sold in growlers and only had modest alcohol content- I want to bootleg something big. I was unable to talk to the brewer for long, but their staff was very knowledgeable.

Holy City had a great bar vibe but also did not have anything over 7% ABV. They do, however, brew a new style every week, and currently have over 90 registered beers. The creative brews that they had on today though, just didn’t quite pique my interest. It would absolutely be a great daytime hangout if I were able to be there more regularly, though.

Our next stop is a restaurant with a rooftop bar called Red’s Icehouse. The bartender, Jules, is quick and heavy with the pours and seems to really enjoy having us around causing trouble and getting strangers to drink heavily with us. Our game of talking to women picks up where it left off last night. At about the same time, we are joined by my sober cousin who had been on call up to this afternoon. In order to help him catch up, I did a shot of Jameson with him. And then a shot of tequila. And then Corona with lime. And then more tequila. At this point we start getting shots for- and from- the other patrons of the bar. The groom asks for something sweet. I order a round of washington apples. I didn’t realize it then, but as the sweet syrupy spirit spilled down my throat, and the sun started to slip over the sea, the shroud of alcohol was sliding slowly across my eyes.

The veil lifts and I’m in the kitchen cooking a late night dinner. Several members of our party have blood on them but are unable to articulate how that happened- or perhaps I’m unable to comprehend: the effect is the same. I picked out the words “bottle of Jeagermeister,” and I was happy that I was not a part of whatever event led to their damage. They said they tried to call me. I’m forced to apologize and guarantee that I had not a clue where my phone was.

The dinner consisted of frying hotdogs on a pan that I decided to spice up with some leftover barbeque from Friday. I douse the cooking frankfurter with pulled pork and hash. In a spark of inspiration, I crack an egg over the whole mess. Though I had to slop it on to a bun with a spoon, that was the absolute best hotdog that has ever existed. We made a meager assault on the bourbon that I brought, but we were defeated before the liquor was below the bottom of the neck. The night ended for me with a full belly and two glasses of water by my bed.

The next morning was filled with the standard half-hearted swearing off of alcohol and trying to piece together exactly what happened in everyones’s windows of lucidity. It was generally not embarrassing and rather “The Hangover”-esque. I was commended on how well I kept interested women away from our party. Thats right, I’m EricTheAntiWingman.

I’m fairly proud of my relatively responsible actions that I didn’t remember, except for how I lost my phone. I’m told that I kept putting my phone on things while our designated driver kept bringing it back to me. I’m blaming him for its current unknown location.

Nobody is immune to the potent effects of alcohol. I want to reiterate that we had a DD the entire weekend who also generally looked out for us when he wasn’t driving, too. When the time comes for you to have a fun weekend like this, please be responsible and make sure that you have a sober person to take care of all the little details that sometimes, somehow, slip your mind. Because of our outstanding DD, we were always where we needed to be, when we needed to be there, and my consequences only consisted of a day of reactivating and reprogramming an obsolete cell phone.

Stay safe, and cheers!

Aged Clown Shoes Porcine Unidragon

Clown Shoes Porcine Unidragon (2013): A dry aroma of cigars and whiskey booze fills the nose. The first sip is charred wood. The dry, smoky flavor gives way quickly to undercooked brownies soaked in bourbon (I know this flavor well). Dark, roasted bitter coffee comes out strong with ample support from chocolate. Sweet boozy aromas augments the powerful flavor profile, that hesitantly yields to the bourbon character on the finish and aftertaste- burnt vanilla both compliments the smoked malt, and balances the bitter chocolate. 9.5/10

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Clown Shoes: weird names, great beer. This brewery has a repertoire that includes many of the more creative names in the beer brewing world; Tramp Stamp, Luchador en Fuego, Eagle Claw Fist, Muffin Top, Angry Beast, and one of the more “metal” Russian imperial stouts, the Blaecorn Unidragon. The Porcine Unidragon is a variant of the (also outstanding) Blaecorn, but the malts are smoked over beechwood, like bacon, and then the beer is aged in bourbon barrels to create a 12.5% ABV premium RIS.

Two weeks ago I was invited over to hang out with my friends and trade beer. They had the-unavailable-in-Georgia Cigar City’s Big Gavino Guava ale. I happily offered to pull a Porcine Unidragon from the cellar collection. I’d had the Porcine fresh and it tasted a bit harsh, so I was excited to see how a year of aging it worked out. We resolved to meet up after they got off of work and I dutifully packed up my beer, searched the house for my keys and wallet, and then walked out the door.

And left the beer on my kitchen counter. That’s right, EricDrinksTheBeer showed up to a beer trade with no beer. But the guava ale is fantastic. Most certainly a fruit beer, but not too sweet and pleasantly light.

Smash cut, two weeks later: today, I must make amends.

I go over to their place at lunch time, but one guy can’t be bothered to answer his phone. We discover he has only just woken up. At 12:30.

We don’t want to waste any time not drinking beer, so we sip on some Founder’s Claymore and New Belgium Clutch. The Founder’s is a little sweeter than I remember, with less peat flavor, but the Clutch is perfect dark chocolate with a bold flavor of tart cherries and raspberries.

Mr. Earlybird shows up late (a paradox, I know); sluggish, a questioning look on his face, bloodshot eyes, and pinpoint pupils. I am forced to suspect a hangover, but my thoughts are kept to myself, and he would never read this. We take a sip and Punctual Peter plainly perked up. Pallor abandoned his face, his eyes opened, his words became spirited and we all noticed how this beer sparked new life.

Nothin’ like a beer for breakfast (at 1:30).

Pete agrees, and it seems I am forgiven for a) not bringing beer to beer night, and b) waking him up well before his alarm clock. The smoky aroma of the beer is pleasant and dry now, compared to a more intimidating and harsh aroma of the fresh beer. The distinctive flavors of the younger beer had blended together to produce a more subtly complex brew. The bourbon is still very prominent, but is more smooth and better incorporated into the other imposing and complex flavors. The sweet blackcurrant and oxidation flavors do not make their presence felt, probably obscured by the other chaotic taste sensations this beer provides. I enjoy that Clown Shoes goes way over the top in most of their beers, but this one seemed perfectly tempered with age. It was more reserved and more drinkable. As a bonus, it appears to have been downright panaceaic to whatever malady my friend Pete had contracted the night before.

This is a fantastic RIS. With its high alcohol content, robust flavors and harsh, hoppy profile, it’s a great beer to introduce n00bs to cellaring beer. Try your best to keep it at cellar temps, but the heavy malt bill can absorb the impact of room temperature if that’s what’s necessary. I highly recommend that you get your hands on a bunch and then hiding them from yourself for awhile. Try it as a vertical sampling, with several vintage years side by side and note how much smoother it’s becoming over time.

Cheers!