Velvet Hammer

Peticolas Brewing Company Velvet Hammer Scotch Ale - 8.5% ABV

What does a lawyer know about beer?  Really, if you were to ask me what kind of beer a lawyer would drink I would probably have to choose something.... safe.  Something popular, but not particularly good.  Something like ..... Stella.

Well, Michael Peticolas is an attorney, and homebrewer, and now owner of Peticolas Brewing Company.  And I was wrong. 

Velvet Hammer is a strong American ale.  A bloody amazing ale.  Dark ruby red with the smell of raisins, malts and alcohol ethers.  The flavor is slightly sweet with malts and dark fruits coming to mind.  But as with all great ales, this one is perfectly balanced so that no flavors really overpower any other flavors.  Balanced.  Search for toffee, caramel, citrus, earth and yes, even hop flavors and you may find them.  Or you can forgo searching for hidden flavors and just sit back and enjoy the ride ... which really won't be very long because this here brew be potent.... arghhhh. 

I awoke feeling as if I have been hit over the head with a hammer, but as I drank I didn't feel a thing.  Velvet Hammer indeed.

Peticolas Brewing Company
2026 Farrington Street
Dallas, Texas 75207
http://peticolasbrewing.com/home.php

Il Cane Rosso beer/food pairing

I have been informed that the DBS/Il Cane Rosso beer and food paring has been rescheduled to Thursday, March 8.  Sign up now and lets have some fun.

Deep Ellum Rye Pils

Deep Ellum Brewing Company Rye Pils - 4.6% ABV

Ah, another offering from the Deep Ellum Brewing Company located in, ah, well, Deep Ellum and another pretty good beer. 

Pilsners are light lagers and are typically very light colored and flavored with a partially malted barley and with a slight hop presence.  The Bohemian versions typically have less hops and the German version having a bit more bite. 

The Rye Pils pours a bit darker than the typical Pilsner and has a distinct orange color and surprising little smell.  If you were to take a sip and hold it in your mouth you would taste the flavors that you would expect of a Pilsner.... clean and fresh with a bit of hops.  Then swallow and surprise!  The bitterness from the Rye creates an interesting flavor of pumpernickel and grass that only becomes apparent as the swallow goes down your gullet.  The bitterness will linger for quite a while.  Interesting.

Good beer guys, but I think I will wait until summer to drink it in quantity.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company
2821 St. Louis Steet
Dallas, TX 75226
http://www.deepellumbrewing.com/

Beer Review - Brother David's Triple

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Brother David's Triple Belgian Style Ale - 10% ABV

Let's go west for a bit, shall we?  Booneville, California is the home of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company which began producing fine beers in their brewpub1987.  Do you know what happens when you are a small, 10 barrel brewpub and you start brewing up fine beers for a flavor starved nation?  That's right, you grow into a 15,000 barrel, state of the art brewery, sell it to some other guy and retire rich.  Bastards.

California brewers love labeling their beers as classic beer styles, and then produce a beer that is almost, but not quite, exactly opposite of that beer style.  Take for instance, the Belgian Tripel Ale, which is typically a clear, golden ale.  Bother David's Triple is a coppery orange.  "What about the yeasts", you ask, because you know that the Belgians are all about the yeasts.  Oh, they are here all right.  The Belgian yeast flavor along with something else, something earthy, something that tastes like .... hay.  "Heh?", you ask, "Did you say hay'?  I am here to tell you that there is a flavor here that reminds you of a freshly mown field.  Hops?  Yes, the Belgian tripel is the hoppiest of the classic Belgian style ... oh come on, this is a California beer, what do you think?  You will probably find it a bit sweet, a bit malty, rather hoppy and quite interesting. 

It is a pretty darn good beer, not great, but good enough that I would drink one with you, if you are buying that is.

Anderson Valley Brewing CompanyP.O. Box 505 – 17700 Hwy 253
Boonville, CA 95415-0505
http://www.avbc.com/main/

Beer Review - Brown Angel

Clown Shoes Beer Brown Angel Double Brown Ale - 7.2% ABV

Why Clown Shoes Beer instead of Clown Shoes Brewery?  Because there is no Clown Shoes Brewery.  Some nameless bunch of looney guys thought up a beer name that they thought was funny (must be an inside joke) and decided to create a beer to go with the name.  They then got the Ipswich Brewery in Massachussets to cook up a batch and the funniest thing happened, it sold.  It sold a lot.  Why stop there?  Indeed.  They now produce, or rather the Mercury Brewing Company produces for them, 7 different beers.  7 good beers.

But we are not here to talk about the 6 other beers, we are here to praise the Double Brown.  They speak of the 3 layers of flavor with the first and most powerful being the chocolate and coffee flavor from the 1500 pound of Brown Otter Malt used in each batch.  BAM.  The second layer comes from the Columbus and Amarillo hops which provide a facefull of hoppy kick.  SMASH.  The 3rd layer is a hidden, delicate floral note from the East Kent Golding hop.  TICKLE (I'll be you though I was going to say WHAM, eh?). 

This is a really, really good winter ale considering the backwards way in which the beer was conceived and produced.  Hey, it works for me.

Clown Shoes Beer
http://www.clownshoesbeer.com/

Beer Dinner @ Il Cane Rosso on March 1

Greeting to our fellow snobs.

The Beer Snobs and Il Cane Rosso are teaming up again for another night of debaucher.  The evening of Thursday, March 1 will feature a paring of winter beers chosen by yours truly paired with the magnificent creations of chef Matt Reddick.  The liquid libations that we have challenged Matt to match are:

- Deep Ellum Backslider Blonde
- La Chouffe - Oh how I love this beer.
- Weinstephaner Korbinian - A sort of a saison/bock hybrid with strong roasted malts.
- Maudite - French-Canadian madness....and goooood.
- Ommegang 3 Phlosophers

The dinner is only $40 per person and so we expect a sellout.  Call Megan Dennison at (214) 741-1188 now to make your reservation.

Cheers,
Bon Vivant.