Beer Name: Linchpin
Breweries: Greenflash Brewing Co. and Founders Brewing Co.
Beer Style: White IPA
ABV: 7%
IBU: ?
Size: 22oz Bomber
Beer Advocate: 85
Rate Beer: 98
Collaboration Week is winding down here at Ohio-Beer, and we hope you have enjoyed reading the posts this week as much as we have enjoyed writing them. Hopefully this will become an annual event for us because it’s things like competing breweries coming together that make the craft beer scene so special. How often do you see competitors coming together to make something unique for their fans to enjoy and come together? Maybe in the music industry or when In-Bev buys another mass-produced beer company, but thats about as close as they’ll ever get to collaboration with another company.
I had my own personal streak going here that I have yet to review a beer that wasn’t from Ohio. Well, my friends, today my streak ends. If only this would have happened this year, my streak would still be going. Linchpin is a collaboration from two breweries that are in my top 10 (Green Flash and Founders), so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this bottle a few weeks ago. This beer uses two different yeast strands (an American and a Belgian) and a heavy focus on “C” hops, according to the commercial description. The description also states that a beer with so many components can only be held together by … you guessed it: a Linchpin.
Linchpin pours a hazy yellow, almost orange with a solid quarter-inch of head. Linchpin has well-carbonated mouthfeel, and they weren’t kidding about using a lot “C” hops. The aroma is really citrusy right out of the bottle with a sweet yeast and malt smell coming through. The taste is a little underwhelming from the aroma – I was expecting a lot of flavor – but it’s mostly hop forward without a lot of bitterness, and a slight bit of clove and fruity esters give way at the end to a wheaty malt flavor.
From reading the description, I was expecting an IPA meets heifeweizen or something similar, but in the end it came off as a IPA with a slight bit of those heifeweizen characteristics. Not a bad offering by any means, but I was expecting more from these two breweries.
Ratings:
Sessionability: Not overly bitter for an IPA and went down a lot smoother than most. 5-pack.
Overall: Like I stated above, I was expecting more based on the description. 3-pack.
Would best be consumed: With a friend. C’mon, it’s collaboration week; share the love!
Beer Name: More Brown than Black IPA
Breweries: The Alchemist/Ninkasi/Stone
Beer style: Black IPA
ABV: 7.4%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 12oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 91
Rate Beer Score: 98
Collaboration: n. A celebration of the community and culture of craft brewing.
The above definition may not be one that would be found on M-W.com but it’s the one on the neck of More Brown than Black IPA. All of this week we have been and will continue to talk about collaboration beers and the culture of craft brewing, but I can’t think of a story that more summarizes the helpful nature of the craft community than that of the More Brown than Black IPA. The story of this beerdates back to late August 2012, when Hurricane Irene was soaking the entire U.S. eastern seaboard. Hurricane Irene completely destroyed The Alchemist Brewpub and much of the area around it in Waterbury, Vermont. Upon hearing this, Ninkasi in Eugene, Oregon, and Stone of San Diego, California, decided to get together with The Alchemist to help the best way they knew how: by brewing beer. So with all of his equipment floating around in his basement brewery, John Kimmich of The Alchemist traveled to the west coast to brew a beer whose proceeds would go to help those impacted by Irene in his home town. To read a much more detailed account from The Weather Channel, click here.
The second best thing about this beer is that it is very, very good. The beer lives up to its name and pours a very dark brown color with about a finger of head. The nose finds a toasty malt sweetness with a beautiful bouquet of hop aromas, including pine, citrus, grass, and flowers. Upon sipping the tongue finds the perfect level of carbonation, giving this beer a very light feel. The taste starts off very sweet, but ends with end with a nice amount pithy hoppy bitterness that leaves you needing to take another sip. This need of another sip upon setting the glass down is one of the things I always seem to find in great IPAs.
This is a beer you probably won’t be able to find in the stores sadly, as it was released in December of 2011 and I haven’t heard of any plans to brew it again in the future. I normally wouldn’t review a beer you would have a very hard time finding,but I was saving one for a special occasion and the story was just too “craft beer” not to include in our collaboration week.
Ratings:
Sessionability: I give it a 5-pack. Even at 7%, this beer is so good and makes you feel so good that I would drink it until I passed out if I could.
Overall: I give it a 6-pack. I loved this beer the first time I had it on draft, I loved it the every time I have had it since, and I am sad I probably won’t ever have it again.
Would be best consumed: By itself while relishing every sip until the last drop of the last bottle is gone.
Beer Name: Bashah
Brewery: Collaboration between Stone and Brew Dog (Scotland)
Beer style: Black Belgian Style Double IPA
ABV: 8.6%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 11.2oz (U.K.) bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 87
Rate Beer Score: 97
By this point you know it is Collaboration Week. You have probably noticed that Stone Brewery continues to pop up in our collaboration reviews. Stone, based out of California, is one of the more well known craft brewers in the United States. They are able to distribute all over the United States and beyond. Stone has had a great level of success, but still agrees to brew with lesser known breweries across the country. On this particular beer, they brewed across the pond! If I have not swayed you into believing that Stone is uber cool, consider this: Stone released a book with homebrew recipes for some of their best selling beers AND recipes for the most popular dishes in their brew pub. Any brewer could use their book to create a beer and call it their own, but they wouldn’t because as we have been explaining all week, that is not how craft beer works.
Another topic we have addressed is how breweries are willing to try something totally off the wall in the company of their friends. Bashah is off the wall. Black IPAs and Belgian Style IPAs have been growing in popularity, but I do not know of anyone else who has tried to combine them.
Okay, I will get to the review before I run out of beer in my glass. The beer pours like you would expect a Belgian-style anything to pour. A giant fluffy poof of sudsy goodness lingers for a few minutes. It lets off a Cascadian smell. I only got hops on the nose, but the smell was magnificent. Before you taste this beer, put on your seatbelt because you are in for a wild ride. When it hits your tongue the taste is initially sweet. The taste seems like it may head to a chocolate place because of the solid malt background, but just when your palate is thinking chocolate, the hops hit. Light carbonation delivers a cascade hop assault on your mouth. It finishes bitter and dry like most normal Belgian IPAs. It leaves a sticky lace in the glass with every sip.
Overall this beer is magnificent. I am reviewing batch 357 which was released 12/19/10. I had this beer months ago and I do not remember it being this good; the aging has put it on another level. Anderson’s had more of the same batch that I bought and I highly suggest you procure some in the near to immediate future.
Ratings:
Sessionability: 4-pack. At almost 9% and with the complex character, I doubt you would want more than four at a sitting.
Overall: 6-pack. This is world class. Aged, it is unlike anything else I have tasted.
Would be best consumed: By itself.
Beer Name: Red Stripe Lager
Brewery: Desnose & Geddes LTD.
Beer style:American Adjunct Lager
ABV:4.7%
IBU: N/A
Size: 24 oz. Bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 70
In this weeks “Beer on a Budget” video, I review Jamaica’s Red Stripe Lager, Mon
Ratings:
Sessionability: 2-pack.
Overall: 1-pack
Would Best Be Consumed: Waking up on the park bench you call home out of a paper bag
Beer Name: TBA
Brewery: Fat Head’s Brewery, Bear Republic Brewing, and Stone Brewing
Beer Style: American (Texas) Brown Ale
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: ?
Size: 12oz bottle
Beer Advocate: 84
RateBeer: 95
Well as you can see, it’s Collaboration Week here at Ohio-Beer. For my first collab review, I decided to try a beer that not only was worked on by three of my favorite breweries, but also one from Ohio: Fat Head’s Brewery. Fat Head’s hails out of North Olmsted, which is a short drive down 71 from Cleveland. Knowing that Fat Head’s is a multi-award winner at the Great American Beer Fest and having had a couple of their beers before, I was looking forward to what these powerhouse breweries brewed up.
TBA standing for Texas Brown Ale. I was expecting a more mild beer, but this was anything but mild. TBA pours a clear brown with a light brown quarter inch of head that is slow to dissipate and laces all the way down the pint glass. The smell is very hop forward followed by a sweet caramel malt with a faint hint of coffee in the background. The taste is very much the same, with the piney hops coming through up front with a carmel/toffee/molasses malt flavor that arrives mid-drink and finishes the beer off. The beer is well carbonated and the head has some staying power as there was still some left as I finished off the beer. I would say TBA learns more toward IPA than Brown Ale with all the hop flavor, but overall I enjoyed this beer.
Ratings
Sessionability: TBA tastes like a mild Brown Ale meets an IPA, and for me that makes it pretty easy to drink. 4-pack.
Overall: I thought TBA was a solid collaboration by all three breweries and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this again. 4-pack.
Would Be Best Consumed: With the hoppiness of this brown ale, I think this would be great with some BBQ.
Beer Name: BRUX
Brewery: Collaboration between Russian River and Sierra Nevada
Beer style: They are calling it a “Domesticated Wild Ale”; I would call it a Saison.
ABV: 8.3%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 1 pint 9.4 oz
Beer Advocate Score: 88
Rate Beer Score: 97
Batman had Robin, Montana had Rice, Ace had Gary, Bert had Ernie, and even Gibbard had Dntel. Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock taught us that “it takes two to make a thing go right; it takes two to make it out of sight.” And WHO are WE to question THEM? If you did not read the first post of the week by MattOhioBeer, it is our first annual “Collaboration Week” here at Ohio-Beer. When two or more breweries join Planeteer rings, more often than not the craft beer drinker wins.
For my first entry this week, I decided to go with Brux. Russian River beers are hard to find in Ohio, and I really liked the idea of a well-known brewery like Sierra Nevada joining forces with Russian River. Russian River consistently has at least two beers ranked in the top 10 in the United State. This should intimidate other breweries, but for some awesome reason it doesn’t.
I had serious trouble popping the cork on this beer. I finally got it off and a small amount of beer left the bottle with the cork. It pours fairly easily and comes with maybe a ¼-inch head, which is sort of surprising considering it is a Belgian-style ale. It smells primarily of its namesake, Brettanomyces bruxellensis or “Brett” yeast. When it first hits your mouth, a light but perfect carbonation delivers an earthy Belgian flavor. It has a nice sour grassy bite initially, but settles quickly into a pear or possibly a white grape juice flavor. As you roll your tongue around your mouth, this flavor and its sourness intensify, but finish smooth.
This is a beer you want to savor one sip at a time. A very well-crafted beer with excellent flavor progression. I would liken it to a Saison with a pretty big punch at 8.3%, but whatever you are calling it, Sierra Nevada and Russian River nailed it. The bottle recommends aging, so I will likely pick up another and add it to the “special event” cabinet.
Ratings:
Sessionability: 1-pack. The wine bottle size at 8.3% will give you plenty.
Overall: I am going with a high 5-pack. Great beer, but just a bit too “white grape” on the finish for me
Would be best consumed: I think something spicy could mellow the sour fruit notes without overwhelming them.
Beer Name: Collaboration not Litigation Ale
Breweries: Avery Brewing and Russian River Brewing
Beer style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 8.72%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 22 oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 88
Rate Beer Score: 96
When the Ohio-Beer crew first discussed doing a series of reviews on collaboration beers, I started thinking about what would be the perfect beer to encompass the overall communal nature between craft breweries. I searched my memory banks for a while, and then I searched the store shelves for a little while. Nothing really spoke to me. Just as I had given up my search for a beer that would provide me the warm, fuzzy feeling I was looking for, I stumbled upon Collaboration not Litigation Ale, a collaboration between Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado, and Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California. The title itself screams “non-dickishness,” like let’s work together and not fight. But that’s not the end of it; the first few lines of description on the bottle make it all the more sweet.
Salvation. The name of two intricate Belgian-style ales, created by us, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. After becoming friends a few years ago, we realized we both had Salvation in our lineups. Was it going to be a problem? Should one of us relinquish the name rights? “Hell, no!” we said. In fact, it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex and rich libation.
The two beers they mix together are Salvation, a 9% Belgian strong ale from Avery, and Salvation, a 9% Belgian strong dark ale from Russian River. And as one might expect, the color of Collaboration not Litigation is somewhere between a light brown and a dark brown. It pours to a hazy, brownish red color that reminded me of apple cider. It pours with little-to-no head but that’s not to say it isn’t well carbonated. It smells sweet with a little sourness and maybe even a hint of spices. nutmeg or cinnamon perhaps. This beer has a very complex flavor profile; the first taste seemed to change flavors on me three or four times from sip to swallow. It started sweet and then you catch a nice light hoppy bitterness, and finally then it finishes with a nice malty sweetness. After a few more tastes I started to pickup a little of what I will describe as “sour apricot” taste as well as a little anise even. The mouth feel on this beer is excellent as well, smooth and thick.
Ratings:
Sessionability: I give it a 4-pack. At nearly 9% I wouldn’t want to drink a these all day, but after I had the first bomber I was ready for more.
Overall: I give it a 5-pack. It is such a complex beer and has so many things going on with it, I would recommend anyone try this.
Would be best consumed: This beer would pair well with some rich cheese like an aged gouda.
“I get by with a little help from my friends.” When Paul McCartney wrote these words for Ringo to sing in 1967, he probably was thinking about friends helping other friends get through the days. He probably didn’t envision a world where the same people who help you get by might also be your direct competitors; but then again, maybe he did.
With the people making craft beer in direct competition for consumers, you might expect that there would be cutthroat competition for a limited pool of dollars; instead, what you find more often than not is a community of artisans who support and push each other to be all that they can be. This is one of the reasons the craft beer industry is near and dear to my heart. You often hear stories about brewers contacting each other when they have issues with their equipment or processes. Some even go as far as selling other brewery’s beers at their brew pubs (imagine if you went to a Gap outlet store and they had an Eddie Bauer section there!). While I respect all of the Kumbaya, fellowship of man stuff and all, the real reason I love the atmosphere in craft beer is that occasionally these competitors will get together to collaborate on a beer, which then I get to drink.
These beer collaborations are a very interesting sector of the craft beer market. Sometimes the collaborative atmosphere seems to provide a freedom to try some very interesting and experimental things without the fear of failure. Other times it provides brewers with access to ingredients and methods they don’t usually work with. And occasionally the collaboration pushes the brew masters involved to make exceptional beers.
This love of collaboration has inspired us at Ohio-Beer to spend a week celebrating these collaborations. There will be a series of posts this week discussing some of the many collaboration beers that are/were found for sale in Ohio. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do and make sure to let us know in the comments below what some of your favorite collaborations are.
Links to the posts as they get posted are below.
Collaboration Not Litigation Ale: Avery and Russian River
BRUX: Sierra Nevada and Russian River
TBA: Fat Head’s, Bear Republic, and Stone
Bashah: Stone and Brewdog
More Brown than Black IPA: The Alchemist, Ninkasi, and Stone
Linchpin: Green Flash and Founders
This past Saturday, BubOhioBeer and I (MattOhioBeer) took a trip to Lancaster, Ohio, to visit the newly opened tasting room at the Rockmill Brewery. Open from 12pm to 8pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the tasting room is located in a beautiful old farmhouse tucked away on a quiet country road.
We didn’t know what to expect as we walked in the door, but were pleasantly surprised when we walked in to what felt more like a home and less like a place of business, with a small bar and less than five total tables. We took our seats in a large room adorned with gorgeous artwork reminiscent of the Rockmill beer labels.
The view from our table, adjacent to the main bar room.
Neither Bub nor I had ever had any Rockmill beers before, so we both decided to go with the $10 flight of all five of the their beers. The hostess poured the first three beers in 4-ounce tasting glasses, provided us with some excellent fresh-made bread from “Matt the Baker” (who according to our hostess bakes out of his house in Bexley), and gave us each a glass of the very good Rockmill water; the last two beers were poured for us later. (At the end of this post, you will find more detailed descriptions and reviews of all of the beers.) As we tasted each of the beers, the server came by to give us a short description them.
We slowly sipped on our tasters while listening to a number of great indie rock songs, we snacked on the delicious breads, we pet the Cocker Spaniel who was looking from someone to give him some chunks of bread, we chatted with the brewer’s mother about bars in Colombian and local beer festivals, and most of all we relaxed and had a wonderful time. We felt like guests in their home and not patrons. In fact, when I asked why the tripel appeared cloudy; they explained that the cloudiness was just sediment stirred up from the bottom of the bottle. I mentioned that this was okay with me because it happens from time-to-time with bottle-conditioned beers, but they not only poured us two new tastes out of a freshly opened bottle, they also gave us the rest of the original bottle with the dregs to finish as well.
After our tasting, we grabbed two glasses of beer and John took us on a tour through the brewery, which is located in a small building across from the main house. One of the most surprising things about the brewery is just how impressive it is that they can produce so much great beer, enough to distribute throughout Ohio, with minimal equipment. If you have taken brewery tours at other breweries, you’ve no doubt noticed that even the smaller ones look like little factories; Rockmill’s brewery, however, looks more like what a very-very active home brewery might look like, including a single-bottle handbottling line. Regardless of the size of their operation, they make great beers and manage to be completely organic.
Explaining the Process
The house and brewery sit on a beautiful property with lots of open grass space surrounding a nice little pond. After the tour, we grabbed another glass of beer and took a walk around the property while we sipped on our beers. They will actually let you come and picnic on their property if you want.
Picnic Area
We both left the brewery feeling like we had just left a friend’s house – a friend who has very good taste in beer. Both of us plan on visiting in the future for sure, maybe next time with a picnic basket full of cheese and someone of the fairer sex.
Below are our quick reviews of all of their beers.
Witbeir
This is Belgian white ale brewed with cascade hops. This is a great summer beer, citrusy light and very refreshing – but it also has an earthy taste that balances the sweetness. The way it finished reminded me of a dry white wine. For being a style of beer that neither Bub nor I are huge fans of, this beer was delicious and we felt like we could drink this all day. Ignore the white wine and pick this up to pair with a light salad or white fish.
MattOhioBeer Ranking: 5-pack (out 6)
BubOhioBeer Ranking: 6-pack
Saison
This beer was not the highlight of the flight for us, but there was certainly nothing wrong with it. It just may have been unfortunately placed between the Wit and the Dubbel; this beer is still very good. Light and refreshing with some spice notes on the nose.
MattOhioBeer Ranking: 4-pack
BubOhioBeer Ranking: 5-pack
Dubbel
This beer is excellent. It has a very malty smell with a hint of sour cherry and a great smooth mouthfeel. The beer has a delicious caramel malt taste that finishes like bitter cherry. Even though this beer did not remind us of many of the dubbels we have previously had, it was very good. In fact, Bub called this the best dubbel he had ever had, and I had a hard time trying to argue (I even left the brewery with a bottle). Unlike some dubbels out there, this beer did not taste heavily of raisins or plums which made Bub very happy. It also finished with a bit more hops than most of the dubbels we have had.
MattOhioBeer Ranking: 6-pack
BubOhioBeer Ranking: 6-pack
The Tripels – Left Standard (cloudy), Right Cask
Tripel
This Tripel smelled amazing, like sweet malt with a hint of apricot. As I mentioned before, we got to taste this beer twice – once with a bit of sediment and once without. The beer tasted thick with the extra proteins from the yeast and some of the tastes were a little muddled; but with the top of the bottle it was very crisp and clean and the fruit notes came more to the forefront. If you buy this beer (and you should), be careful to store it standing up and pour it carefully – with as few tips as possible – as the sediment changes the flavor and overall experience of the beer.
MattOhioBeer Ranking: 5-pack (either way)
BubOhioBeer Ranking: 5-pack (4 with the sediment)
Cask-Aged Tripel
This is the same tripel above, but aged in once-used whiskey barrels from the local Columbus distillery Middle West Spirits. The most prevelant smell we both got off the top was whiskey, but even with the strong whiskey smell, this beer stands up well. The flavor doesn’t get pushed aside like in so many whiskey-aged beers. Neither Bub nor I had ever had a tripel aged in whiskey barrels before and were pleasently suprised by the complexity of this beer. It has a smooth mouthfeel that rolls off the tongue. It was very smooth and the whiskey-barrel aging added some very nice vanilla notes to what was already a very good beer. (For another opinion and some more infromation on this beer, See HaleOhioBeer’s review from earlier this year.)
MattOhioBeer Ranking: 6-pack
BubOhioBeer Ranking: 5-pack