Day 426: Stillwater Lower Dens, A Collaboration

Typically when I think of a brewer collaborating on a particular beer, I assume the partnership is with another brewer--or maybe a chef. But musical artists? Nope. That wasn't on my radar at all until I found the Stillwater Lower Dens.

It's part of the Stillwater Sensory Series, which is a collaboration between Stillwater Artisanal and singular musical artists. This first collaboration is with Lower Dens and the result is an ale based on an interpretation of their song In the End is the Beginning. I had it on draft at TJ's, but if you were lucky enough to get a bottle, there's a QR code that links to an exclusive Lower Dens performance of the song. Cool, huh? It's a true artistic collaboration that aims to create a full sensory experience--sound, sight, smell, touch, and taste.

Lower Dens the beer is a hibiscus ale. It pours a bright but hazy shade of orange. There's lots of very active bubbles and it has a white head. There's a yeasty tang in the smell. Reminds me of a saison.The flavor is also very tangy with mellow hops. It has some lemon in the taste along with a slightly floral note. Hibiscus! It's very subtle but delicious.

Beer stats

Style: Hibiscus ale

ABV: 6%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Stillwater

My review of Stateside Saison from year one

I snuck a second review of Stillwater in during year one for the Wabash Cannonball, but also reviewed another awesome beer from Evil Twin

And then I snuck in a third Stillwater review in year one. This was a partnership with Mikkeller (brother to Evil Twin) and called Our Side

Gary reviews Cellar Door

Beer, Crazy Art, Love, and No Regrets

Beer #206 Trumer Pils / Trumer Brauerei Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Busy and awesome day spent in Baltimore - first stop was the American Visionary Art Museum, which is home to some fantastic, weird, cool, and unusual art.  Visionary art is basically works from untrained artists with a deep, personal connection to their work.  In layman's terms, it's often produced by crazy people and is completely awesome.  Saw the Barnes Museum with tons of Renoir and Matisse yesterday, and it was boring.  Visionary art, particularly at this museum, is completely strange and wonderful.

Second and last stop was Of Love and Regret, a bar opened by Brian Strumke, the brains behind Stillwater Ales.  I've already put a Stillwater review in the books back for beer #46, so this was just a social call.  Tried two beers: Perfect Crime, which is a collaboration between Stillwater and two other brewers, and Debutante, which is a collaboration between Stillwater and The Brewer's Art, which was beer #1 on this  adventure.  Both were completely delicious, but I think "delicious" can without a doubt be applied to everything on the draft list.  If you're in Baltimore, try it.  Easy enough.

You don't come here for Baltimore tourism, you come for the beer.  Today's official beer is the Pils from Trumer Brauerei, which was a nightcap on the close of our beer vacation evening in San Francisco.  It poured a clear gold with a lingering white head.  You get an earthy aroma of grass and grain.  When you take a sip, you get a taste of bread, with a touch of earthy hops and a clean, dry finish.  If you're in the market for a pilsner, this is a great option.

Spooky pilsner picture..... thanks phone!

From the brief research I did, it seems Trumer was originally brewed in Austria (dating back to the 17th century), before a decision was made to also brew in the U.S. in 2003.  Made in the U.S.A.?  Works for me!

Thing to Think About Today:
I had an awesome day today, so let's close it out with a party.  A Party In the U.S.A., as a matter of fact:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA

Beer 63: Evil Twin Without You I’m Nothing

Last night’s dinner at The Farmers’ Cabinet was awesome.  Love the cheese offerings.  The pickles were average but I’m a harsh pickle critic given I have access to some of the finest hand crafted pickles thanks to Gary.  I had an awesome salad -- field greens with broken lemon vinaigrette.  I don’t know what was broken about it - it was one of the best salads I’ve had, which is amazing since it was a bowl of greens and I generally dislike most vegetables.  Dinner was an arctic char with lentils, shaved brussels sprouts and pickled mustard seeds.  Really good stuff!

You get two beer reviews tonight.  The first one doesn’t count because I’ve already reviewed Stillwater -- once on his own and once in a collaboration with Mikkeller.  I loved the first two so why wouldn’t I enjoy my third Stillwater tasting.  I’m pretty sure Brian Strumke doesn’t make a beer I wouldn’t like.  This one was the Wabash Cannonball, a collaboration with The Farmers’ Cabinet.  It’s a take on one of their cocktails from last fall.  It was golden in the glass.  Thin head.  It smelled of orange and earthy fruit.  The taste was amazing -- honey, fruit…a little tart balanced with mild sweetness.  I wish I took better notes…didn’t think I’d mention it here.  Oh well.

With dinner I had an Evil Twin Without You I’m Nothing.  I’ve been craving sour or wild ales a lot lately and haven’t been able to find new ones that I haven’t already posted about.  The Farmers’ Cabinet saves the day!  Evil Twin is another gypsy brewer.  In fact he is the brother of Mikkeller.  This beer poured without much carbonation and little to no head.  It looked like coca-cola in the glass with ruby highlights if the light hits it right.  There were undertones of cocoa flavor.  The smell reminded me of cherry licorice.  It had a great vinegar piquancy and good ripe cherry flavors.  There was no funk to it, which was a bit of a let down.

Last night I would have put it in the running for top 25 but upon thinking about it some more, I expect more complexity from my sour ales.  But if I were hanging out and drinking a few beers, I wouldn’t mind this being the beer of choice.  I just hope someone else is buying…it was not inexpensive!

We’re off to Jose Pistola’s tonight for dinner.  I checked our their beer list and I think it is going to be a very good night!  Cheers!

p.s. The restaurant was very dimly lit and couldn't get a decent photo.

Beer 59: Mikkeller, Stillwater. Stillwater, Mikkeller. How Do You Do?

Tonight we open a big bottle of a collaboration between Mikkeller and Stillwater -- two gypsy brewers who happened to, independent of knowledge of the other, name their first creations Stateside.  The idea of living life as a gypsy brewer is fascinating.  Do what you love while traveling the world meeting other beer lovers and making some of the most unique brews out there?  How do you not want to quit your day job, pack your bags and hit the road right now?

Mikkel Borg Bjergso and Brian "Stillwater" Strumke later merged their Stateside recipes into a new product that goes by Two Gypsies Our Side.  I haven’t yet had the pleasure of trying any of Mikkeller’s other brews but having tried Stillwater’s Stateside, I knew I would definitely like at least half of this one.  (Review here.)  Trust me, this is collaboration at its finest.  I am going to be on the lookout for anything and everything Mikkeller does and that goes without saying when it comes to Stillwater.

After a few nights off, the tulip glass was back in business.  This one poured with a frothy thick head.  The smell gave off a funky farmhouse yeast fragrance.  There is lots of lemon as well.  Tasting let the citrus shine through and it was tart but not very dry.  I could swear I tasted hints of chardonnay too.  There was a pepper kick to the finish and something green and grassy.  (Grassy…not gassy!)

Overall this is a very good beer.  Cheers!

Around the World and Home Again

Beer #45 Cellar Door / Stillwater Artisanal Ales, Baltimore, MD
Back in the house after two days in Detroit.  I don't mind traveling; I get to see different parts of the country, meet some great people.  But there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed.  One extra thing to call out today: if you haven't read Marci's post from yesterday, you should.  Dinner tonight is Fellini's - no better way to announce you're home than by visiting your favorite restaurant.  On to the beer!

Today's beer comes from Stillwater, a gypsy brewer who has been all the rage in the beer world during the past year.  Another farmhouse ale (the weather must have me thinking of summer), this one is far more complex than the Bam Biere.  Both are great, but Cellar Door just seems to bring a bit more to the table.  The beer pours a cloudy, straw color, and has a fantastic flavor - there are distinct sour notes, but the taste of bread dominates.  There's a tartness and some citrus, and has a crisp finish.  Highly recommend this, and anything else you can get your hands on from Stillwater.  Check Marci's review of Stillwater's Stateside for an example of another beer from this great brewer.

Thing to Think About Today:
Marci was having some fun on Sunday thinking back to the good ol' days of YO! MTV Raps. Like most of my friends, I watched that program religiously.  One friend is rumored to still have episodes on a VCR tape somewhere.  So, let's take you back to one of the unquestioned mega-stars of the YO! age:  MC Hammer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1YtbkZTqc

Jesus, how the hell popular was Hammer in the late 80's? Apparently he was absurdly and astronomically popular beyond anything we've ever seen before, as he could get away with wearing a damn zebra striped SPEEDO, work boots, and gloves to his pool party video shoot. Check that again, slowly: MC Hammer spends a majority of this video wearing an animal print banana hammock. Huh?

However, I do give him credit for installing a remote control waterfall in his pool.  That's awesome.  No wonder he went broke.  I need one of those.

Beer #23: Arcadia Sky High Rye Ale or The End of My World As I Know It

I love R.E.M. and I love Penn State. Both of those worlds came to an end in the past year and I do not feel fine. I've had enough loss in my life this past year and I don't want to deal with any more.

I'm going to focus my maudlin writing on PSU today because I just watched them get handed their asses by Houston. Ugh. Houston. Big East, really?? There were moments of Penn State genius but there were way too many Bolden-induced, cringe-worthy, why-the-fuck-do-I-bother moments as well. And I am fearful that the latter is going to become the norm starting in 2012.

JoePa is out. Tom Bradley is most likely out. Larry Johnson, Galen Hall...seriously everything I know to be true about Penn State football is null and void. I'm losing a significant portion of my identity with these changes and it hurts my soul. Ugh.
***
Today I spent some time sampling beers at TJ's Everyday and watching football. TJ's has an amazing selection of beer and I highly recommend it...especially for happy hour when they have "keg kickers" on draft. Great beer at stupid low prices.

I tried Arcadia Ales's Sky High rye ale today. Based solely on the description of rye ale, I expected a dark, porter-esque beverage.  Hmmm....I was totes wrong.  It arrived at the table all apricot in color smelling of hops.  Wow...did I pick wrong.  A good sniff of the glass gave me hops and fruit...perhaps it was my assessment of apricot color that made me think it actually smelled like apricots, but either way I was still disappointed.  It was nicely carbonated and smooth in consistency.  I would give it a medium rating on the hop-scale and it definitely had that hoppy-bitterness.

If you like hoppy beers, it would be a great beer.  I, however, do not and was disappointed.  Kind of goes with the theme of the day, huh?

I read the Beer Advocate notes and it's like we were tasting two different beers.  This is an interesting point because I went to TJ's specifically to try a new beer and then to spend the rest of the day sipping on a Stillwater Stateside Saison.  The Stateside Saison was phenomenal out of the bottle but really disappointed me on draft.  Why?  Why???

Beer #16 Stillwater Stateside Saison

I ventured out to the King of Prussia mall today. What a nightmare. Are the sales really so important you'd run me into a parking garage pillar for that discount? Whatever.

I wised up and did what had to be done and then immediately headed over to Teresa's Cafe for some life affirming beers. I sampled a few but today I'll focus on Stillwater Ale's Stateside Saison.

It poured into my glass in an orange-golden color. It tasted strongly of the Chardonnay barrel in which it was aged. It had lots of subtle grape flavor throughout the tasting. The highly effervescent nature of this beer helped bring out the slightly grape-y flavors. It had a dry finish and I could have drank a few more.

After reading up on this brewer, I've learned he's a bit of a renegade. Stillwater doesn't seem to have a wide audience yet, but it's building a following. From what I've read Churchkey has a good offering of Stillwater and I know personally that Teresa's Next Door has a couple.