Fullers ESB

Last night I went the the 'other' Irish pub in Tulsa. They have a decent enough beer selection with 15 brews on tap. There was nothing I hadn't tried before, so I had the pleasure of drinking one I already know and love; Fullers ESB.

The Fuller's ESB (Extra Special Bitter) is an English ale with a robust malt and hop character. It pours a deep amber bronze and features a medium to full body. The taste has soothing and mellow toffee flavor with traces of fruitiness. Ironically, the ESB isn't particularly bitter, as the name would have you believe. The sweetness of the malt is balanced with the bitterness of the hop, creating a well balanced beer that has consistently won this brew numerous awards including "World Champion Bitter" and "Best Strong Ale" from the US Beverage Tasting Institute and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), respectively.

Fullers is brewed at Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, a district in West London. Griffin brewery is England's oldest independent brewery and is known for creating an excellent range of exceptional products, including the Fuller's London Pride, their flagship beer, Fuller's London Porter, Fuller's Vintage Ale, and Fuller's 1845, all (usually) available at McNellies.

Thanksgiving Day Fun

I'm not known for my superb cooking skills, so when it came time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I didn't have much to offer. Most people brought over something: turkey, pumpkin pie, broccoli casserole...the typical traditional dishes. I decided my contribution for Thanksgiving would be to bring beer. I picked out six different varieties from my refrigerator and brought them along to have a beer tasting with the family. My grandfather warned everyone to be careful, or we could end up like that one lady who recently ran over five people. I assured him that six beers split between seven people was hardly going to cause anyone to unknowingly plow over five people, much less hit a curb.

We started out with Pilsner Urquell. This beer was created in 1842 and holds historical significance because it is the world's first golden colored lager. Up until this point all beers were dark and cloudy. The brewery was founded in Pilsen, Bohemia, currently the Czech Republic. This style of beer is the basis of all the pilsner style beers, but it is the true original. There's a lot to be said about Pilsner Urquell, but for the sake of a shorter blog, I'll stop with that. The website is worth checking out if you're interested in learning more. The beer had a lot of fizz, almost like a champagne. It went down very smooth, but left a bitter aftertaste that most people found unpleasant. Generally I like this beer, but it tastes better on tap than in a bottle.

Next we tried Klaster Winter Lager, another one from the Czech Republic. The label on this bottle contains different shades of sky and baby blue which I found aesthetically pleasing. It had a light golden yellow color, moderate carbonation, and a medium body. The flavor was clean and malty, a bit sweet with a hint of honey. At 5.8% alcohol, it was pretty hearty for a lager. Most everyone liked this beer, and agreed that we would enjoy drinking it again.

Following the Klaster, we sampled Choc, the handcrafted Oklahoma original. Named after the Choctaw Nation, this brewery has been open in Krebs since 1925. Choc is brewed in small batches using "beer-perfect Krebs water," Liberty and Cascade hops, malted barley and wheat. It's an unfiltered American wheat, with a cloudy pale yellow appearance. It had an overly fizzy taste on the tongue and it didn't have a strong wheat flavor. Overall, we found it to be "not bad."

Next came the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. This was one of the beers we had on special at McNellies this month "while supplies last." Supplies were not abundant, and we've run out. No big disappointment in my opinion. I thought this one to be pretty rancid. It tastes like cough syrup, and brought back terrible childhood memories. My sister, who has been sick, thought it was nice and claimed "it was a good beer for sick people," whatever that means (she was probably on medication). My dad countered, "It's a good beer for people who want to get sick." The aroma wasn't bad, but the taste was sour and pretty awful. Most of us decided we didn't like it.

I thought the Cherry Wheat was going to be the worst beer until we cracked open the Christian Moerlein Hefeweizen. This is a German style beer brewed in Cincinatti, Ohio. Before I had a chance to take a sip of mine, I heard the words "Bad" "Tart" "Yucky" "Eww" and "Gross," all from different participants. It was definitely the worst beer we tried. It had a strange flavor; very yeasty, to the point where someone said it tasted like cake. Three week old moldy cake. Although it was dreadful, I wouldn't write it off completely because I have a feeling the bottle was expired.

Lastly, we tasted the Pete's Wicked Ale. This is a reddish brown brew from Utica, New York. It had a smooth and luscious character with a good balance of malts and hops. It was very drinkable, with a hint of roasted caramel. There was no bitterness or strange aftertaste like some of the other ones we tried. I was glad to have this taste in my mouth for our final beer. Collectively, we rated this one as our favorite.

In the spirit of the holiday, I would like to give thanks to my attentive tasting crew.

Pub Run Pics

Is Ice Nice?

In last weeks issue of the Urban Tulsa, several of "the most tasteful beers, wines, spirits available locally" were reviewed. The 12 person tasting crew sampled over 30 beers and gave each beer a score based on appearance, aroma, palate and flavor. They used a point system, with 20 points possible for a perfect beer. The highest score they gave was 16.5 to Sam Adams Winter Lager and Lemp Standard Lager, which tied for number one. The review that I found the most shocking was their number six choice, Molson Ice, with a score of 14.85.

We've carried Molson Ice at McNellies for a long time, and it doesn't exactly fly off the shelf. Far from it. After reading the review I thought I'd give this beer another shot. I've had a poor opinion of the beer for a couple reasons. One is the fact that it's an 'Ice' beer, which reminds me of crappy domestic beers such as Miller's Icehouse, Bud Ice or Smirnoff Ice. Another reason I've been disinterested in the brew is because of the unimpressive label and green bottle. Green bottled beers always seem to have a skunky aroma, and I find it hard to get past this and enjoy the beer. I found an explanation for this green bottled phenomenon on a blog called Premium Bitter; see #5 if you're interested in reading about it.

So, what exactly is an 'ice' beer? The creation of an ice beer involves lowering the temperature of a batch of the final product to 32 degrees, then filtering out the ice crystals that form. This reduces the amount of water in the beer, and results in a higher alcohol content. The Molson Ice has an alcohol content of 5.6%.

I reached down to the bottom of the cooler, wiped the dust of one of the bottles and cracked it open. As I anticipated, the aroma was terrible. It smelled like my dirty running socks, but it slightly lessened after a few minutes. I poured it in a glass and observed the color had a clear pale golden shade, unlike the Urban Tulsa's description of 'amber.' There was a slight foamy head which quickly faded, and there was moderate carbonation. The taste was nothing too spectacular, pretty crisp and plain.

I would say it's Canada's equivalent to our basic domestic Bud Light. It wasn't as horrible as I anticipated, but it wasn't overly stimulating either. I'll agree with one reviewer's statement I read online," "I would drink it again. As long as I didn't have to pay for it."

All About The Hops

Fall is my favorite season. I love the bright and colorful trees and the feel of the crisp fresh air. I delight in stepping on the fallen leaves and hearing them crunch beneath my shoes. In addition to enjoying the great outdoors this time of year, I have also been enjoying a new brew that came with the season: Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale.

I had high expectations for this beer, as it came highly recommended by multiple fellow beer enthusiasts. I was a bit hesitant because as you've figured out, I don't particularly enjoy the hoppy beers. This ale is one of the exceptions; I'm highly impressed.

The Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale is unique because it is brewed with fresh picked wet hops. Conventionally, hops are brewed in a dry form after undergoing a kilning process and dried so they can be stored throughout the year. With this brew, freshly harvested Cascade and Centennial hops are hand picked from Yakima, Washington and shipped to the Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico, California the same day to be brewed without undergoing any processing. Freshly harvested hops are abounding in aromatic oils and resins, which yields hop elements that are unparalleled. Due to the difficulty of the brewing process, it comes in a limited supply. The Sierra Nevada Harvest is available in kegs or 24 ounce bottles.

The first thing I noticed about the Harvest Ale was the incredible aroma. The smell was so invigorating I wanted to stick my nose in the glass and inhale the beer. But that would have hurt. The appearance is also appealing; it's the perfect color for a fall beer. It has a vibrant copper hue with amber highlights, resembling one of the trees outside my door. It pours with a thick foamy head and has a full body. It possess a piney flavor that penetrated by taste buds until they were almost tingling. I found the hops flavor to be completely and surprisingly enjoyable. I found it so pleasing, I've since drank four or five more just to make sure I really liked it. And I did.

Overall, the Sierra Nevada is a spectacular seasonal brew. Drinking it makes me feel like I'm rolling around in a pile of freshly fallen autumn leaves. The only complaint I have about this beer is that it's not available year round.

Beer Tasting

Monday night Elliot (the owner of the pub) hosted a beer tasting for some of the new beers McNellies recently added to the menu. We sampled 18 beers in 45 minutes, some of them with alcohol content as high as 9.5%. I was diligently trying to take notes, which started out very detailed, but after the first few my notes became less and less informative. I tried to record other people's reactions, as well as my own, and I gave most of them some kind of star rating. As incomplete and fragmented my notes may be, I though they were at least worth sharing:

1. Queleque Chose: a Belgian style beer, brewed in Quebec. 8% alcohol. Cherry flavor. Not much carbonation; tastes flat. Resembles cough syrup or a watered down Lindeman's Kriek. 1.5 stars.

2. Bridgeport Ebenezer: brewed in Portland, Oregon. Seasonal Christmas beer. Looks darker and tastes somewhat better than last year's brew. Tastes like charcoal or a fireplace. Strange bitter aftertaste. Not well balanced; needs more malt. 2 stars.

3. Taj Mahal: Indian Lager. 4.5% alcohol. Nothing too extreme. Was a big seller when we carried it in the past. 1.5 stars

4. Sneider Organic Edelweisse: A certified organic weisse beer. Doesn't taste like any of the organic beers I've had. Tastes like Chinese food. 6.2% alcohol. 2.5 stars

5. Choc Waving Wheat: I didn't think this would be a good one, based on the other beers from this brewery. It's better than regular Choc. Belgian style wheat beer. Not much substance, better than expected. Three stars.

6. Beirdegarde: Another beer from the Choc brewery. Seems weird an Oklahoma beer would have this name; it's like they're trying to hide the fact that it's a Choc beer. There's a hops flavor, but not too strong. Reminds me of same style as Chimay, but not nearly as good. Three stars.

7. Petrus Dubbel Bruin: Belgian Abbey style beer. Abbey beers are similar to Trappist beers, but not brewed by monks. Dark beer, pruny taste. Not sure if I like it or not.

8. Reverand Quad Avery: high in alcohol content, pretty flavorful. Three stars.

9. Avery Barley Wine Hog Heaven. 9.2% alcohol. 100 IBUs. Bitter, hoppy, floral. Extreme. Yuck, I don't like it. Half a star.

10. Avery's Ellie Brown Ale: Good, easy to drink on any occasion. Medium body, nice finish. Comparable to Newcastle, but a lot better. Slightly nutty. 3.5 stars.

11. Avery's White Rascal: Belgian style wheat ale. Like a Blue Moon. Brewed with spices, has peppery taste. Good. 3.5 stars.

12. Breckenridge Christmas: mixed reviews. some people said it was horrible, some really liked it. It's sour, not terribly offensive. Tastes like a brown ale.

13. Sam Adams Honey Porter: We dubbed this one the "bee shit" beer, because it's dark and tastes like honey

14. Sam Adams Brown Ale: ? (I didn't write anything on this one - either because it was not worthy or because we were going too fast. Probably a combination of both.)

15. Great Divide Wild Raspberry: 5.6% alcohol. Not good. Tastes like a crappy wine cooler

16. Great Divide Titan IPA: 6.8% alcohol. Ugh. Gross.

17. Great Divide DPA: Denver Pale Ale. Bitter, not so good.

18. Great Divide Samari: Rice flavor grain and malted beer. Tastes like a wheaty beer. Good. 3.5 stars.

After sampling so many beers, they tend to start to run together. I wouldn't really take much of this to heart, considering we went through them so quickly, and only drank an ounce or so of each brew. I'll probably try most of them again on another occasion and give them a more thorough evaluation.

New Specials

Specials for the month of November include:

Flying Dog Woody Creek: brewed in Colorado, a traditional Beligan-style wit ale. A pale yellow color with orange peel and coriander, citrus flavor. Comparable to a Blue Moon or Hoegaarden.

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat: brewed in Boston, brewing ingredients include cherries, honey, and malted wheat.

Choc Lefty 363 (Nov 1-11): brewed locally in Krebs, Oklahoma. Seasonal brew.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Nov 12-30): brewed in California, full bodied pale ale. Deep amber color, liberal amounts of hops. One of the best selling craft beers in the United States.

All specials are on draft, priced at $3.00