Buffalo Rising Online

Sep 18th 2006, 12:00am By Ethan Cox

"The troubles of our proud and angry dust
are from eternity, and shall not fail.
Bear them we can, and if we can we must.
Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale."
-- A.E. Housman

What can I possibly say about the brew fest? That it exceeded expectations, selling out early and drawing some 3,000 beer lovers to the Central Terminal? That the beer flowed like water? That I somehow managed not to get a hat, keychain/bottle-opener, or even a shirt? That (amazingly) the surprise drink of the event turned out not to be a beer at all? Really, it's hard to know exactly where to begin, but I gotta try, so click on through for a bunch of run-on sentences and other crimes against syntax- and beer reviews!

I'll just get this out of the way up front: the drink that merited the "surprise of the event" for me turned out not to be a beer at all, but rather, a mead. For those that don't know, mead is a fermented beverage, much like wine & beer, but made from honey as the source of fermentable sugars. It's quite easy to make, so many homebrewers are mead-makers as well, but honey production doesn't actually ramp up to commercial levels very easily, which is why mead isn't nearly as popular or widely available as, say, wine. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that mead might be humanity's oldest fermented beverage, and it certainly figures into both our history and our language- consider that the term "honeymoon" comes to us from the practice of sending the newlywed couple off for a month with an ample supply of mead, the expectation being that a pregnant bride will be the end result. Simply put, a good mead is definitely worth the effort of finding or making.

So, while haunting the Niagara Tradition table, owner Paul Dyster told me there was a great Polish mead being poured and I quickly gathered my wife (Designated Driver- thanks!) and Emmeleia and headed on up to their booth. The mead was just fantastic- it poured out with a beautiful ruddy color, still & clear. The smell was immediately honey sweetness backed up with some oaky & spicy notes. The beginning of the sip, you thought you were in for a port or a cognac, with bold honey and complex sweetness coming from the added black currant. By the finish, though, it was dramatically different: amazingly dried out, with all sorts of spice notes and only a hint of that juicy sweetness, totally clean... Frankly, I've just never been quite as blown away with a mead before as I was with this one. Don't know where you can get it (perhaps Premiere?), but I'd definitely look for it, or any other one imported by this same company. At a second pass by the same table, RoBear was able to snag a sample of the other bottle, but I confess that by this point my palate was getting a bit beat- I could tell one had more of the oaky and spicy character than the other, but seemed otherwise very similar.

So, enough about all this non-beer stuff, right? What was the best in show of the malted barley set? Upon entering, we steamed straight away to Flying Bison's table to get some of their Imperial Porter on cask. Now, I'll be honest- I did get a chance (along with some 60 other folks) to preview this beer at Mr. Goodbar's Goodbeer club last Wednesday (thanks Dave & Bobby!), and knowing they would have it at the brew fest... I took one look at the line and decided I better get mine right off the bat, and I was not wrong: it was the first casualty of the event, I'm sure. So, what was the story here? FB's Imperial Porter is a dark and thoroughly chewy beer which hides it's high alcohol level well under a layer of intense chocolatey flavors- that roasted malt bitterness is front and center, while hop bitterness is more of a concept. Being pumped from a cask as it is, the beer has a great mouthfeel, very creamy with just the right soft carbonation. The deep brown head sticks with the glass and the surface of the beer all the way down on this one, yes indeed. I haven't heard where besides the brewery to expect to see this beer, but if you do see it, grab it and how!

Speaking of the Goodbeer club, one beer that was on the menu but didn't make it to that event was available here: Ithaca's Double IPA, made with all NYS hops. NYS used to be the American hop-growing region, before Prohibition and the expansion of American population west to Oregon & Washington, the current center of the domestic hop industry. The difficulty in reviving the hop-fields of New York lies partly in the fact that hops take several years to get established, and also that they are unfortunately very susceptible to disease. Nonetheless, some hops are being grown again at Pederson Farms in the finger lakes region- the Double IPA uses an abundance of Cascades, Willamettes & Mt Hoods, and the brewers also add some directly to the beer during fermentation, a process called 'dry hopping,' for a seriously citrusy bouquet to complement the deep hop complexity from prior boiling. This big & unfiltered beer rolls in at about 9.2% abv, but as you might guess, the hops and the solid malt backbone (2-row malt, and organic) conspire to keep most of the alcohol's contribution to the flavor a minimum, other than a slight warming. Look for this one, you won't be disappointed at all if you're a hophead. And if you're not, you surely must already know to stay away from anything like an IPA, even more so should it be called a 'double'!

A late addition to the lineup was the amazing brewery from Montreal, Unibroue. These guys are certainly among the top ranking North American brewers of Belgian-style beers. I have nothing but fondness for both Fin Du Monde and Maudite, and frankly their Quelque Chose (a winter beer meant to be served at 70 degrees centigrade, that is: warm) is beyond compare, but it was one of their newest beers, the Chambly Noire, that I was anxious to have again. What a beer! Pouring out a dark, dark brown, this beer's frothy caramel head was in evidence all the way down the sample, an aggressive and quick beer-fest style pour bringing out the full bouquet. A nice bready toast of a malt nose, with some fruit and yeast, the yeast is familiar from their other beers. You think this one's going to be a bit more thick, but when it finally hits your tongue, it rolls over easily with medium-high carbonation- again, could be the pour, that is showing a great roasted malt supported by fig and cherry, and some of that essential yeasty esters and clove-like phenols, but restrained for Unibroue. Between that, the crisp finish, and the relatively low alcohol level (for them, that is: 6.2% abv), this is meant to be something like a session beer by way of belgian-style take on a schwartzbier, perhaps. The mob at this table didn't let up, so I never went for seconds. But, I did get a nice reminder of the first Unibroue I ever had, (Maudite, and it totally took me back,) when RoBear scored a pour of each. Folks, when you see a beer by these guys on tap, drink it. That is all.

Some of the other highlights for me were Ellicottville's Toasted Lager, made specially for the fest. I thought it a nice, slightly caramelized sort of Vienna-Style lager which certainly stood out as a fine summer standby. There can be no doubt that being positioned on the way to--and from-- the restrooms made Magic Hat's Jinx (and flagship apricot-wheat beer #9) a popular pull- it's a great beer which I mentioned loving way back here; perhaps Colter Bay will have it on tap once again this season. Finally, a shout-out to Utica's Saranac,, where Emmeleia and I put to rest a debate about whether their stellar Black Forest was a stout (nope) or a lager (indeed: a black lager, or schwartzbier.) I love that stuff, but it was about the first to go at their table.

Saranac also deserved many praises for providing real brewed birch beer in the designated driver's area, which also featured no shortage of chairs (great for, say, your pregnant spouse) and a slideshow of Terminal restoration info and history. Equally great were all the food offerings, though I will state for the record that I simply cannot wait to hit Steel Drums for some food now; of course Ulrichs delivered their usual superior German eats, and our suburban alternative for fine beers & food, Pizza Plant wowed us with their tremendous chicken chili, but in the end Steel Drums really made our day with their hybrid Jamaican/Indian roti, stuffed with currried chicken or goat. Delicious alright!

All in all, the Brew Fest was clearly a popular and successful event, raising money and awareness for vital clinical and cultural causes, and a good time was had by all. By the time people were slowly shuffling out, spontaneous toasts and cheers were being raised and few if any vendors had a drop left to serve- Buffalo certainly showed all of them never to underestimate our voracious beer 'tasting' capacity!

Any good review of a beer fest should feature, or end with, some sort of drunken incident, and no doubt your BR.O correspondent is up to the task. As we made our way to our car, my wife and I were treated to a boisterous rendition of a, um, 'classic', two young guys pretty much screaming Night Ranger's "Sister Christian." Rock-On! Crescent Fresh! I sort of looked over at one of the guys, as if to say, "WTF, man?", especially since I had to think the dude was probably just about out of diapers when that song hit the airwaves, but well... he answered my look with an enthusiastic bellow of: "Best... Hard Rock... Ballad... EVER!!!" which I guess was meant to settle the question, but all I could really think to say was "You must of heard of Led Zeppelin, right? "Since I've Been Loving You?" Ahh well. I guess we might not have agreed on musical tastes, but I was at least happy to imagine we might agree more on beer tastes!

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

That's all for this month's review column; one bit of Beer News to note: Cole's Ommegang dinner, originally scheduled for 20th September, has been postponed. As soon as a new date is set, I'll be sure to let you all know. Look out for another Mr. Goodbar Cask Club event on the 22nd, and as well, my dinner/tasting at Delish! on the 29th.

Cheers!