Just sitting down for a pint of the Cask-Conditioned Bourbon Barrel Aged Scottish Ale (say that ten times fast) at the Blackfoot. We’ve all tried the IPA on the firkin, and well most of the others too. But if you made it down a few weeks ago for some of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Scottish and enjoyed it, be sure to make it down today for some of the firkin. I will attest, its firkin great!
Its Firkin Thursday, and its Firkin Good!
May 13th, 2010
Bourbon Barrel Aged Scottish Ale
April 27th, 2010
I got off work this afternoon, and after a trying day at work, it only seemed appropriate to head down to my favorite watering hole and grab a quick pint before heading out to a round of folf. I walked in the door to discover they had thrown on some Bourbon Barrel Aged Scottish Ale! What a delightful surprise. Although this wont be a full review, I’ll give some highlights to give a general idea of how it is. The picture isn’t great and I apologize for that, but trust me when I say it looks fabulous in person, having a dark brown, almost black color with a small light caramel colored head.
Rising off the pint glass is a hefty nose of sweet whiskey, and I really can’t emphasize the whiskey part enough. There is also a bit of vanilla coming out in the nose and some earthy oak. The taste is fairly dominated by flavor from the barrel, mostly bourbon, but with some vanilla coming out at the end. It actually reminds me a lot of a whiskey and vanilla coke, which I know may sound odd, but with the sweetness of Scottish mixed with the bourbon flavor and vanilla tones, it bears an odd resemblance. The mouthfeel doesn’t quite match though, unless of course you make your drinks with almost flat coke, then it might be a bit closer.
Overall I’m fairly pleased with this brew, although the price tag is a bit hefty, but can you really put a price on specialty limited release brews? I’m not sure how much of this was brewed and how long it will be tap, but if you are a fan of the Scottish or just want to expand your level of beer experience, stop and down and grab a cold one, but don’t forget to let it warm up a bit to truly experience the magic!
Montana Monday: Lime Saison
April 26th, 2010
Madison River Brewing Company in Belgrade, MT
Well its been a while here since I have tried my hand at a review, but I’m back on the bandwagon and have quite the beer to talk about today. None other than Madison River’s Lime Saison. I wish that link to their website was more helpful, but it seems they haven’t updated their website since late 2008! You’ll only be able to check out their four main brews there and see a picture of the taproom, if you are looking for anything else, you may just have to stop in yourself. While you are there, you can check out their sweet mug club, with hand-blown glass mugs from Townsend. I was in there in early March, and they have a charming little taproom with friendly and helpful staff, and plenty of locals. I first tried the Lime Saison back then, and found it to be a rather intriguing beer: a tasty farmhouse ale with hints of lime (or maybe that was my imagination). We recently cracked open a growler of said beer that Steffen picked up last week, and it wasn’t at all what I remembered.
The picture doesn’t really help you all with the color, but it is a new growler Steffen picked up, so I thought it was worth putting up. The Lime Saison poured a clean sapphire flower honey color with a large white head, appearing perfect to kick off the summer beer season. The European origins of the beer were very apparent in the nose which was fruity, spicy, and heavily yeasty with just a touch of lime towards the end. Not quite what I had remembered, and I suspect it may be a different batch of the brew. Both the nose and the flavor were more limy a month and a half ago, and at the time they had mentioned adding even more lime. The flavor profile followed a traditional saison fairly well. Medium bodied with lots of small carbonation bubbles, it was spicy and bittersweet, almost more on the tart side, with just a hint of lime coming through at the end. Its a pretty big beer, right around 7.2% ABV if my memory serves me right, and some of that heat definitely come out in the flavor.
Overall, I was impressed, though more impressed the first time, and I have to hand it to the guys over at Madison River for taking on the challenge of brewing such a complex beer for palates that are not necessarily used to this style. Although we have seen many more yeasty beers appearing around Montana, such as Blackfoot’s new Belgian Abbey Ale. If you happen to be passing through Belgrade, perhaps on your way back from Chico, or just traveling across the state, stop in and check out the taproom at Madison River Brewing. It has great character, and not only is the Lime Saison on tap, but I also hear there is still some of the Hopjuice, a big IPA with lots of grapefruit character and a boozy kick!
Its Firkin Thursday!
April 22nd, 2010
Phew, finally getting back to doing some posting. Sorry loyal readers, but the nice spring weather had lured me into playing disc golf (more commonly known as folf) instead of sitting in front of the screen, but I’m back! And so is Firkin Thursday. This week at the Blackfoot taproom we can expect some Cask Conditioned Tartanic Scottish Ale. It has been aging in bourbon barrels for quite some time now, I’m guessing over two months, so it should have some good bourbon and oak kick to it!
Beer Review: CTZ Single Hop
March 30th, 2010
Bitter Root Brewing in Hamilton, Montana
For our second day of Bitter Root Week, we’ll be looking at a recent special brew from Bitter Root Brewing: the CTZ Single Hop Pale Ale. The CTZ Single Hop is brewed, as the name would suggest, using only CTZ hops. There have been a few breweries around the state doing such brews, which I think is great for consumers because it helps to educate us on the difference between hop varieties. One great example of late is the Saphir IPA from Blackfoot River, which was brewed just like their regular Single Malt IPA, but with Saphir hops in place of the usual Simcoe and Cascade. In the taproom, they were even serving 8 oz. of each side-by-side so patrons could experience the difference. I love to see brewers and breweries interested in not only making good beer, but also working to make good beer drinkers! So to both Bitter Root and Blackfoot River Breweries I endow a BarBEERians Badge of Brewing Excellence for their efforts to make us all more educated beer drinkers. Alas, I digress, now back tot he meat of the post my review of the CTZ Single Hop from Bitter Root Brewery!
Montana Monday: 2007 Blackfoot Brewer’s Reserve: Wee Heavy Scottish Ale
March 22nd, 2010
Blackfoot River Brewing Company in Helena, MT
Its not often that I review any of the beers from Blackfoot River Brewing Company, probably because I find it hard to review a beer that I drink throughout the week and was semi-responsible for getting me into the craft beer scene. Today however, I’ve got something very special lined up: a review of their 2007 Brewer’s Reserve, a Wee Heavy Scottish Ale. About a month ago we got together with a good friend and he was kind enough to bring over a bottle of it that he just happened to have in storage still. We were told it is right around peaking time right now, so it seemed there wouldn’t be a better time to drink it in the near future. I have had a few bottles of this over the past couple of years (and still have a few on the shelf) and they have always been rather enjoyable, but not quite with the rounded character found in this particular bottle. This is surely due to the aging as it had previously been almost a year and a half since I had cracked a bottle of it open. The age on them is great right now and this last bottle was the best I’ve had. Read the rest of this entry »
Montana Moves to #1
March 19th, 2010
Its no surprise that Montana is the largest consumer of beer per capita. There are figures floating around out there that say we have the second most breweries per capita, but a short article at CNBC puts the 406 at the top for beer drinkers.
The Beer Institute , a Beer industry public policy group, compiles a report of annual statistics on beer consumption and production across the United States. The yearly report includes state-by-state per captia consumption figures, which calculates average consumption by comparing individuals of legal drinking age (aged 21 and over) to the amount of beer delivered within the state.
Well I already ruined it and told you all that MT is at the top, but who is coming up closely behind us?
- Montana, 43.5 gallons per capita
- New Hampshire, 42.9
- Nevada, 41.9
- North Dakota, 41.7
- Wyoming, 38.8
- South Dakota, 38.6
- Louisiana, 38.5
- Wisconsin, 38.4
- Nebraska, 37.2 (tied)
- Texas, 37.2 (tied)
- New Mexico, 37
- Mississippi, 36.8
- South Carolina, 35.9
- Delaware, 35.7
- Iowa, 35.5
Montana Monday: Back Country Scottish Ale
March 15th, 2010
Every Monday, we feature a new Montana microbrew review. Enjoy.
Lewis and Clark Brewing Company in Helena, MT
I wish I could say this Montana Monday was spawned from the wonderful treasure of finding a Montana beer in Washington D.C. Well, lo and behold, I found a Montana beer in D.C.! Well, not really. I finally found my notes from a night of drinking at the restaurant attached to the Lewis and Clark Brewery before I left Montana. The beer: one of the first I ever sampled upon turning 21, actually–the Back Country Scottish Ale from Lewis and Clark Brewing Company. It had been awhile since I last got a good taste of the Back Country, but I do not have fond memories at all. We’ve had a love and hate relationship with Lewis and Clark in the past, but after reviewing the Tumbleweed IPA, I went back into the Back Country with an open mind and an eager stomach. But what I got was not what I had in mind. Not even close. Read the rest of this entry »
Beer Review: Snow Ghost Winter Lager
March 1st, 2010
One of the downsides to our trip up to Whitefish and the Great Northern Brewing Company was that they only had the Black Star Golden Lager on tap, however, it was free so that isn’t really much of a downside. We managed to snag some assorted bottles before we took off and I recently tried one of their Snow Ghost Winter Lagers, which they describe as “the perfect beer to warm up with after a day of skiing.” Well unfortunately for me, I hadn’t been skiing and it was actually fairly warm outside considering the season. Perhaps that would have enhanced the experience, but from what I had, the Snow Ghost was a middle of the pack winter warmer.
We sat down to enjoy a few of these with some friends the other night, and while they were good, they were not spectacular. We poured the Snow Ghost Winter Lager into pint glasses and discovered they have a reddish brown color, much like cooking sherry. A small head appeared that dissipated very quickly and left almost no lacing. There was a weak aroma, mainly of roasted malt with hints of spicy hops. The body of this beer was perfect: slightly heavy (something I want in winter) but not overly filling. It has a decent flavor of spicy roasted caramel but was a bit tangy on the finish where I hoped it would be smooth.
I’m sure this beer is great down in their taproom after a day of skiing up at Whitefish Mountain. If you are looking for something special however, the Snow Ghost isn’t at the top of that list. I would say it is a good beer for winter time entertaining or having a few at the bar, but I don’t see Snow Ghost Winter Lager becoming a regular in my refrigerator.
New Beer at Blackfoot
February 28th, 2010
Well guys, according to Blackfoot River Brewing’s website there should be a new beer coming up. Apparently their Pale Bock is on deck. You know what that means guys. Its time to head over there and knock a few down pints and get this Pale Bock on tap!
