Quick Sips: Fegley’s Bourbon Barrel Insidious

Those in Allentown and Bethlehem, PA know Fegley’s as The Brew Works, a pair of great brewpubs in some of Pennsy’s finest non-Philly towns for hanging out and enjoying great beer. When bottled, those beers get the “Fegley’s” label – but they are no less awesome than they are at the pub.

Insidious is their big imperial stout, a chocolate forward brew that can be a bit hot on the alcohol when fresh but that ages into itself very nicely after about 12 months in the "cellar" (or cupboard). 

The Bourbon Barrel version? A twist on that delightfully dark beer, following the trend of stuffing everything possible into a barrel. Trend or not, though, it works. Fegley’s version has less up front bourbon than many bourbon barrel aged beers, making this an approachable (but still imposing!) take on the barrel-aged style.

Black as night, rich as a Rockefeller, and surprisingly drinkable when compared to others of the same style, enjoy this sipper of a beer with a big steak or spicy nachos.

NOTE: Portions of this post originally appeared in The Philly Weekly. 

Quick Sips: Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Catherine II ruled over Russia’s Golden Age, though it was her allegedly voracious sexual appetites that have made her something of a legend. Pretty ridiculous, really, when what we should know her for is popularizing one of the world’s great beer styles: imperial stouts.

See, way back in the 18^th Century, Thrale’s Brewery in England brewed a big, imposing dark beer for export to Catherine’s court. The beer became known as Russian Imperial Stout, and today it’s one of the most popular styles among those who like their beers bold and aggressive.

One of the very best on the market is by Stone. Their Imperial Russian Stout -- yes, they reverse "Russian Imperial" on purpose -- is dark as night and just loaded with powerful chocolate, cocoa, and bitter roast coffee, along with the generous hopping Stone is known for. It really gives your senses a workout, yet amazingly, you’d never notice it’s a whopping 10.5% ABV.

Oh, and did I mention how affordable it is? Stone's price per bomber is far lower than comparable beers of the same style, sometimes by half. Without question, this is one of the best beer bargains on the planet. Thanks, Catherine!

NOTE: Portions of this post originally appeared in The Philadelphia Weekly

Quick Sips: Victory Storm King

Oh, you big, big beers. How we love you.

There are a bunch of different giants. Hill giants, frost giants, cloud giants, and of course, storm giants. Each has different hit dice and abilities. I’m not sure why it is important for you to know that when all you really need to know is, Victory’s Storm King is big enough to stomp a village into dust.

With this beer, Downington, PA’s favorite brewery proves that a massively complex beer doesn’t have to cost you half a paycheck. Storm King is huge, but it's priced pretty nicely when you consider how well it stacks up against other beers its equal. Not only does this inky black, 9 percent beer taste of rich chocolate, tobacco, licorice, and charred toffee, it also ages beautifully.

Really, get a bottle, stash it away, and open it four years later. You’ll be in love. Storm King is the biggest, boldest, best value for your dollar when it comes to imperial stouts brewed in Pennsylvania. (I specify PA because to be honest, the best deal in imperial stouts is Imperial Russian Stout by Stone,  a beer that is merely $6 a bomber but is better than most "limited" beers triple its price.) Your puny 1^stlevel fighter doesn’t stand a chance.

Portions of this review were originally written for the Philadelphia Weekly and are reprinted here with permission,

From the Cellar: Old Rasputin imperial stout

North Coast's Old Rasputin is considered by some to be the definitive American version of the classic Russian Imperial Stout style. I beg to differ, but I understand why people think that way. It's widely available, well brewed, and quite good.

It's also, like most imperial stouts, a possible candidate for cellaring ... so I sought to do just that when I bought Old Rasputin twice for my "cellar," once in the winter of 2010 and again in mid 2011. The problem? I never marked the beers, and North Coast doesn't date stamp them, so I have no idea how old this beer was. It's at the youngest about 18 months and at the oldest maybe three years. Keep that in mind when reading this. (Also keep in mind that this was enjoyed and written in autumn 2012 and is only being posted now.)

An Old Rasputin with mild age on it pours with a fizzy head of about one finger even after some time sitting around. It smells of licorice, coffee, and alcohol heat, none of it luxurious or inviting, but none of it unpleasant, either. Still, the aroma feels somehow subdued.

The drinking experience offers much the same experience. The body is thin and light for an imperial stout, lacking the rich, heavy sweetness I enjoy in the style. There is lots of coffee, mocha and cocoa, so that's nice, but oddly, the booze is not as mellow as it is when fresh. The other odd thing? There is a vaguely milky quality to it without the body of sweetness of a milk stout. Don't know what to make of that.

So did it improve over time? I think so. Overall this beer is smoother and more enjoyable than it is when fresh. Pair this with a rich cheese or dessert dish and you'll enjoy it greatly.

BEER: North Coast Old Rasputin imperial stout
VINTAGE: 2010-2011 (?)
TIME AGED: 12-24 months (?)
NOTES: Still boozy, but pleasant, dessert-like tones come out to play

VERDICT: Definitely give this beer a year in your cellar, maybe more.

HOMEBREWING: Whiskey Barrel Imperial Stout

Last year, a friend and I put the whiskey barrel I bought to good use and brewed an imperial stout designed to be aged in said barrel. The recipe was, to say the least, intense. Easily the most expensive beer I have done to date, using a TON of specialty malts and in the end (thankfully) tasting comparable to Firestone Walker's Parabola, but here's the thing: It might also be the most delicious beer I've ever done. It's certainly the prettiest:

Looks wonderful, doesn't it? That's my co-brewer in the photo, and the beer is just a few weeks old (after a long primary and then secondary in the barrel). If you want the recipe, just ask. It's extract with specialty grains, so anyone can make it.

After the imperial stout, I did a honey porter in it, and the barrel currently contains a lambic, which will stay in the barrel for about a year or more. My plan is to blend small parts of that batch into future lambic and sour batches. (I currently have seven vessels with various sour beers, so the blending opportunities are endless!)

So here's the thing: Barrel-aging your beers is easy.

1) Buy a barrel! Just Google various phrases, there are TONS of sources. Spend between $70 and $120 (before shipping) for a 5-gallon barrel or you're getting ripped off.

2) Don't worry about cleaning it out. All that booze will keep it sterile. Just brew a big beer and put it in the barrel!

3) How long to age it? Keep the beer in it from two weeks to two years, depending on the beer. A weeks to two weeks is great for IPAs and Double IPAs, two to four weeks is ideal for traditional stouts and porters, four to eight weeks for barleywines and strong Belgian styles, and a month to two years for lambics.

4) Bottle, age, open, enjoy!

Yeah, seriously, it's that easy. I recommend bottling a few smaller sampler bottles so you can taste it over time -- barrel-aged beers tend to need some time to age into perfection, about six months to a year in my experience -- and going easy until it has aged into your taste. After that?

Cheers!

Quick Sips: Fegley's Insidious Imperial Sout

Folks in the Leigh Valley of Pennsylvania may know Fegley's as the BrewWorks, a group of brewpubs serving towns like Allentown and Bethlehem. Fro beer drinkers outside that area, we know them as an up and coming craft brewer trying to gain attention on the nation stage.

Here we've got their Insidious Imperial Stout, their big honkin' entry into a big honkin' category best defined by big alcohol and HUGE flavors. Unfortunately, when compared to amazing and affordable entries like Stone Russian Imperial Stout, this one just doesn't hold up. For a big imperial stout (it clocks in at 9% ABV) the aroma is really subdued. Some sweet malts, but not much else. No notes of roasted coffee or sweet chocolate. Hmmm. Not expecting much from the taste, then.

And yep, what we've got here is a tasty enough imperial stout that is perfectly serviceable. The beer ain't bad, make no mistake. I'm happy to be drinking it. It's quite nice. Nice, but also unimpressive. Which, sadly, has been my experience with Fegley's. You get these gorgeous corked bottles and you want to be floored with an outstanding beer. Instead, what you get is pretty good beer ... which is great and all, but not what you hoped for for when you see that impressive bottle.

Though in all fairness, I should note that the prices on these Fegley's brews tends to be fantastic. For instance, this beer was about $7. Bargain city! In keeping with the taste, sure, but $7 for this corked bomber is a nice deal for what is a good but not great imperial stout.

So would I ever pass up this beer? Hell no. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it, but if it ended up in my glass I'd still be a happy drinker.

From the Cellar: Founder's KBS

Starting with this post, I'm going to periodically pull something from my beer cellar and report how it has aged. (Yes, you can age beer; check this post for more details.) Sometimes I'll touch on beers that have been aged for several years or more, other times the beers will be as little as a year old. Whenever possible I'll touch on something I've reviewed before as a Quick Sip so as to compare where a beer started and where it ended up.

We begin with a very special beer indeed. Founder's KBS (which stands for Kentucky Breakfast Stout) is a highly sought-after, hugely tasty imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Read my initial impressions in this post from last year. This bottle comes from that same batch and was purchased at the same time. It has been stored since purchase, boxed in the back of a dark closet, and kept between 65 and 70 degrees during that time.

So how did it hold up?

Fresh from the fridge, the beers pours with only a faint sliver of head, no more than a thin layer of chocolate tan foam. The beer itself is as black as used motor oil. You might find dinosaur bones preserved in this thick black liquid. The aroma has hints of bourbon, but it falls well short of the overpowering bourbon nose of this beer when it's fresh.

The taste of bourbon hasn't faded, at least. This is still one potent brew, with the beer immediately hitting your mouth with powerful bourbon, then shifting to a complex mix of rich, roasty malts, and finally finishing on yet more bourbon with hints of vanilla from the oak aging thrown in for good measure. The oak comes on stronger than I recall first time around, especially in the finish. Despite a year to mellow out, the robust 11.1% ABV is still clearly noticeable; this brew is warming, but not "hot." As the temperature begins to rise -- and that will happen, since this is a beer you'll sip for an hour -- the booze becomes even more apparent both in the taste and the aroma.

After a year, Founder's legendary KBS remains a delicious, supremely satisfying beer. However, in my view the fresh bottle was the better bottle.


BEER: Founder's KBS
VINTAGE: 2011
TIME AGED: One year
NOTES: None

VERDICT: It's okay to cellar this, it will hold up well, but don't wait too long before you drink it. It's better fresh, and after a year no new complexities are revealed in this beer.

Quick Sips: Southern Tier Mokah

Southern Tier, out of Lakewood, NY, are very quietly brewing some of the best beers on the East Coast right now. I expect over the next year or three they'll increasingly become one of the more highly regarded brewers out there. Most of what they do is very good, and much of it is fantastic.

This one is Mokah, a big imperial stout brewed with loads of chocolate and coffee. It's a hefty one, clocking in at 11.2% ABV. Definitely a sipper. (I nursed this bottle over the course of an afternoon.) The chocolate and coffee are strong but not gimmicky, tasting rich and Earthy rather than like cake in a bottle.

Though it's a strong beer, you don't taste that big alcohol content. It drinks very smooth. Delicious dessert beer. Would probably taste nice poured over ice cream or pie, too. I didn't pair it with a cigar, but I expect this would be a perfect match for a dark, musty stick.

Recommended for a nice winter night or after a dinner by candlelight.

Weyerbacher brews a heretical stout

Weyerbacher is a fantastic brewery out of Pennsylvania that really deserves more attention, especially since they've been crafting exceptional beers for 16 years now. They do some fine year-round beers, the Merry Monks being my favorite, and also do a large number of small-batch, limited release and seasonal beers.

Among them is Heresy, which is their Old Heathen imperial stout aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels.

And it's a pretty nice one. Just look at that tasty pour! The rich, foamy head so thick you can flat a cap on it!

Thing is, for being a pricier version of their standard issue imperial stout, the oak aging didn't do much for this brew. It has a slightly woody nose with a touch of bourbon, but you really have to be looking for it. Most of this is just nice imperial stout with strong chocolate taste from the roasted malt. Not that there is anything wrong with that! It's a good beer with a great roasty flavor, just didn't seem to benefit much from the barrel aging (which is all the rage these days among American craft brewers).

Comes in at 8% alcohol, but it's a very smooth 8%. You'd never known it was a more potent than usual brew. I've seen reviews that said the alcohol taste was kind of hot, but not in my experience. Maybe it's because I've had it for a while and let the alcohol mellow. (The bottle was about seven months old, stored at room temperature.)

All in all I'd say the Heresy is worth a look, but if you balk at the price consider a single bottle rather than the four-pack.