Hip Hops: January 2007 Archives

We thought we'd never see the American craft beer scene enter into the arena of caffeinated malt liquor (i.e. Sparks, Red Bull & vodka, Cocaine etc.). But the other day we stumbled upon perhaps the next closest thing: Mateveza, an ale brewed with yerba maté, the strong South American herbal tea. Usually you find it at health food stores, you know, being sipped as Che Guevara lattes. Think of this as a hippy's Rockstar beverage, the perfect pick-me-up before an all-night Phish show.

Aesthetics aside, this herb was not made for beer. What feels like a typical IPA on first taste then sours on the tongue, into a bitter medicine flavor. If you've ever smelt fresh beans that have sat too long in the fridge, you'll recognize this finishing flavor. It's subtle but unpleasant to the point where we almost couldn't drain a pint. The aftertaste is similar to yerba mate in its bitterness, but in a blind taste test would be hard to pinpoint. In the end, we felt buzzed and jittery but can't reccomend this faddish attempt. And forget about cooking with this one. It might work paired alongside magic mushrooms though.

Dairy Pairy: Soy string-cheese
Soundtrack: String Cheese Incident's "Purple Octopus"

Scotch style ale is a blessed rarity. Not too many breweries endeavor to make their own variation, and those that do generally do an amazing job. With the exception of one ill fated super sour bottle of Moylans' Kilt Lifter, which seemed a bit past its prime, every time an opened bottle has the word "scotch" on it has been greedily devoured by our booze parched throats. Alesmith's Wee Heavy is exactly what it claims to be: scotch style ale. What lies within the flawless packaging of this $7.99 wonder is akin to The Clash playing Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves," or Kim Gordon singing Iggy Pop: the perfect cover. This is not an attempt at making archetypal scotch ale, instead there is a righteous conciliation of old and new. Alesmith makes intensely high-octane beers: this is McEwen's on really pristine speed.This brew tastes looks almost like a porter in the glass: deep and limitless with glints of red trying to escape the void. The flavors are familiar to both the roots and the revision. The distinct sweet caramel and molasses flavors that sent us back to our first taste of Scotch Ale pre-empt strong roasted malts and an aftertaste that is equally alcoholic and complex...weed ghee and whiskey in front of a parlor fire.Heavy.

Dairy Pairy: Cave Aged Gruyere
Soundtrack: The Slits' "Heard It Through the Grapevine"

Lost Abbey's Avante-Garde vs. Ommegang's Three Philosophers We're not usually into pitting beers against each other. Not only is it a matter of apples and oranges, a lot of the time, there's also just no need to get too competitive about it or make any brew masters feel bad. But on two separate occasions this month we found ourselves drinking these American-made Belgian-style brews back-to-back and the pairing invited some comparisons.

Being fans of nearly everything Port Brewing does, we'd been looking forward to the Lost Abbey Avante-Garde for some time. Once poured though, the results were a little milder than we expected. The slight head, the medium hop and the very subtle bitter bite of this beer were all well received. The taste is super fresh -- perhaps best described, for lack of a better word, as round or robust -- and smooth (Stella Artois smooth, not Silver Bullet smooth). But the lack of a sour note, boozey sting or bitter burst kind of left the beer monochromatic. Monotonous even. It's refreshing like people in beer commercials tell you beer should be. Only problem is, unless you're pairing it with a mouthful of pizza, it's too easy to lose interest in a bottle of this.

That's where Three Philosophers came in, sat down at the bar, lit a cigarette and slapped us upside the head.

We'd never heard of Ommegang before a recent visit to a new beer bar in Downtown LA where the owners talked up a storm about Three Philosophers. Apparently Ommegang is a Belgian-style brewery centered in Cooperstown, NY. The 3Ps is their flagship beer as far as we can tell. It's an unusual combo brew, kinda like a Belgian black & tan: a strong malty ale mixed with an intense Belgian kriek, or cherry lambic. There's definitely a yin-yang thing going on with it.

The big hints are roasted, toffeeish malt and creamy cherry-vanilla, but the Belgian-style ale still shines through some of the time. It's not like you feel like you're drinking Stout or some weird fucking Belgium car bomb cocktail. All the things that the lighter bottle danced around leaving us wanting more (bitterness, sour notes, strong booze feel on the tongue) they were there in perfect proportions. The sweetness is tame enough that it doesn't numb your tongue or keep you from finishing the bottle. It wasn't too fruity for the one of us who fears lambics and it wasn't too weak for the one of us who prefers black to tan. We've had it warm (when the only other choice was to wait for the bartender to put it on ice) and we've eaten salad with it, and we think it's just about the perfect winter bottle.

Dairy Pairy: Fig cake with a 1-year aged cheddar
Soundtrack: Beta Band's Three EPs