Inaugural Beer Me Wilk! NYE Beer and Wine Event

So I decided in the beginning of December that I would send out an exclusive invite to a select group of friends for my attempt to host my very own beer festival.  With the blessing of my wife Michelle (of "The Michelle Factor") I embarked upon my journey.  Before I relay the outcome, I want to give a special thank you to Michelle for her continuing support of this adventure and for decorating the house in a style befitting of New Year's Eve.  I would also like to thank Melanie Johnson (a frequent victim of my beer experimentation as well) for acting as our resident sommelier and making the wine selections for the evening as well as aiding with the decor.  Without these women the night would not have been nearly as successful as it was.

My handy guide for the evening was provided by CraftBeer.com.  If you ever have any question as to the proper food to serve with your craft beer, this guide is your best place to start.  I thought my plan was a simple one.  I picked out three cheeses I wanted to serve, the dish I wanted to make, and the dessert I wanted to eat.  From there pair the beer and wine.

The first course of the evening was a Wisconsin butterkase paired with Hoosier Honey Wheat from Bee Creek Brewery in Brazil, Indiana and Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon.  The cheese is a very mild, soft cheese that is amazingly smooth.  It paired perfectly with the Hoosier Honey Wheat.  Made with Martinsville honey, the sweetness is very prevalent when drinking this brew and only on the tail end of the swallow do you know that it is a wheat beer.  Although wheat beers tend to be perfect summertime treats, this honey infused version seemed to fit New Year's Eve wonderfully as a first pour of the night.  This was by far the best paired beer and cheese of the evening.

Second course was cheddar cheese paired with Alpha King from Three Floyd's in Munster, Indiana and Bogle Zinfandel.  The pairing here was an utter disaster.  Unbeknownst to me, the cheddar was very sharp.  Where was that on the packaging?  As a pale ale, Alpha King should have matched well with a mild cheddar.  Oops!  No complaints about the beer however.  I've had several Alpha Kings before and with this pale ale you get a hop explosion with every sip.  There is nothing pale about this beer either as it is a rich amber color and the citrus content behind the hops makes this a great beer for any occasion.

Course three was Gruyere paired with Snake Pit Porter from Oaken Barrel Brewing Company in Greenwood, Indiana and Yalumba viognier.  Gruyere is a very potent, nutty cheese and would have paired very well with a nutty porter.  The taste combination here was what I would describe as merely ok.  Snake Pit is not a bad beer, it just didn't go with the cheese.  This porter is very sweet and certainly has the coffee and chocolate notes that you find in Baltic porters and imperial stouts.  I would recommend grabbing the beer but leaving the cheese in the fridge.

Our main dish featured two pork tenderloins.  The one on the left was marinaded in beer, the one on the right in wine.  Although the recipe originally calls for venison, it went perfectly with pork tenderloin.  The brown ale used was Crown Brown from Crown Brewing in Crown Point, Indiana and the wine is Kendall Jackson chardonnay.  For the chardonnay recipe go here.  What can I say about Crown Brown?  I love it.  It is certainly my favorite out of my hometown brewery.  The roasted malts of Crown Brown are not over-powering and the smoothness of the mouthfeel make it so easy to drink.  It's lighter on the alcohol than some of the other darker beers but I certainly appreciate it because I like drinking more than two at a time.  The growler didn't make it passed the night because I went to it after all the tastings were done.


Not pictured: Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout from Barley Island Brewing Company in Noblesville, Indiana and Chateau St. Michelle Riesling paired with cream puffs and chocolate truffles.

The reason this picture doesn't exist is because no one was interested in dessert.  Bellies full of beer, wine, cheese, and pork were not ready to accommodate dessert and the midnight champagne toast.  But do not fret!  Of course I had some Brass Knuckles!  Oatmeal stout being one of my favorites I could not pass up the opportunity and decided to have a bottle.  It was good.  It would be rare for me to be disappointed by an oatmeal stout.  The usual suspects of coffee and chocolate were very noticeable and the roasted malts made the beer thick enough to eat.  Yes, there is some exaggeration there, but the smooth, thick brew is a perfect dessert companion.

If you want reviews of the wine, buy them and drink them.  I don't drink wine so I have no idea how they went.  I only have one bottle left so I'm guessing they were good.  As far as suggestions for the beers, buy them all.  Not only do they taste good, you would be supporting Indiana brewing.

Overall a very successful event and very much looking forward to the second annual on 12/31/12.  Thanks for reading and drink craft beer!

Roebling Imperial Robust Porter

Brewer: Rivertown Brewing Company, Lockland, Ohio
Alcohol Content: 7.8%

Official Description from Brewer:
"Brewed with imported sweet vanilla beans, cold pressed espresso/coffee & raw cane sugars.  Like a big, chewy, vanilla, coffee infused brownie, Roebling Porter brings tons of chocolate aroma & a docile acidity."

Wilk's Take:
First and foremost, thank you to my sister-in-law Danette for feeding into my beer obsession with a variety pack for Christmas.  Nothing warms my heart more than an endless supply of beer to opine about.  The first one I grabbed was the Roebling due to its compact 12oz bottle that looked oh so cute in my fridge next to its big brothers.

Roebling pours like liquid red rocks.  It settles in the glass a hearty brown, but held in the right light, the ruddy, reddish brown that originated in the pour can be caught.  In direct contrast to the brewer's description, Roebling reeked of espresso right out of the gate; coffee heavy to the extreme.  I really buried my nose in the glass to capture the vanilla and chocolate but kept coming up short.

I dove in for the first drink and the taste sensation that settled over my tongue defied what my nose just got done telling me.  The bitter smell of espresso gave way to a taste of chocolate heaven.  I actually said out loud "the taste defies the smell."  The chocolate led the charge with the espresso in a close second trailed by the vanilla bean.  Frankly the vanilla bean was only evident on the inside of my cheek after I swallowed.

Roebling surprises as you drink it.  As I neared the bottom of my glass the aroma that lifted into my nose was that of chocolate and no longer espresso.  The taste of coffee virtually disappears as well and all that is left is a full flavored porter and I wish I had another one in the fridge to grab.  Alas, I'll have to track it down another day or forget about it when I have another beer.

Suggestion: This is my first time even seeing a beer by Rivertown Brewing Company.  I'm sure Danette will tell me where she got it.  Find this beer and try it.  While you're at it, might want to invest in another Rivertown beer, as this one is a rare breed (as offered on their website).

Value: I can't really speak to the value of Roebling.  As part of a variety pack I can only imagine that it ran anywhere between $2-3 for the bottle alone.  That's better than any bottle you can buy at a bar.

Michelle Factor: Not only did Michelle give it a whirl, so did special guest Melanie.  Both liked it and Michelle agreed the taste defied expectation. 

Porter

Brewer: Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, New York

Alcohol Content: 5.8%

Official Description from Brewer:

"Porter is our darkest beer, but not necessarily our strongest. It is widely held that the darker the beer, the stronger the beer, but this is summarily false. The contribution of color comes directly from the color of malt that we use. Some malt is roasted to achieve dark color and coffee-like flavor which in turn get transferred to the beer. Our Porter is richly complex with overtones of chocolate and espresso beans followed by a subtle flavor of hops. It’s a nourishing beer without being too sweet or filling."

Wilk's Take:

I know I had promised a week's worth of hop heaven, but when a beer is given to you for free you do not turn it down.  So after a visit with my brother I pilfered (with permission) a 12oz. bottle of Southern Tier's "Dark Robust Porter" out of the two six packs from his kitchen.  I was told I would like this beer.

As always, we start with the pour.  Not unusual, the porter flowed like motor oil and offered very little head.  The motor oil in this case is used conventional and not synthetic.  If you know your motor oil that does make a difference.  For simplicity's sake, the beer is dark.  Surprise!  Southern Tier reminds us that the color comes from the roasting of the malts and for their porter they use 5 different malts.  I couldn't tell you which ones, but then again I'm not an expert enough to know what the difference is.

Porter smells like stale coffee.  I was searching for the chocolate overtone but I came up empty.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  A good porter doesn't need to remind you of sweets.  The coffee aroma was a little strong but it did not affect the taste of the beer much, at least I don't think it did.  Porter sits on your tongue with a little bit of a syrupy consistency.  It's not as smooth as some of the other dark beers I've tried before.

Southern Tier is right when they tell us that the beer is not sweet or filling.  You can easily go through a six pack in a night and not feel the heaviness of having consumed six porters.  The hop balance prevents that overall sweet sensation some porters can give and the aftertaste isn't nearly as potent as YETI yields so you can enjoy the buffet after consumption.  As far as nourishing?  Well, don't think of it in terms of the nutritional content.  I'm sure the folks of western New York cherish this porter as a local favorite.

Suggestion: If you don't like porters, this might be one to avoid sticking a toe in the water.  If you like porters, you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy this one is to drink.  It might disappoint you too.  I was told I would like it and I did.  But fortunately for me, it was free.  Would I spend money on it?  Not sure, depends on the price.

Value:  See above.  Free is always a good value.  I might amend this post in the future if I can land a price tag for you.

Michelle Factor:  Poor Michelle missed out on this one.  She was out at the movies with friends and I had just come back from fishing and decided to have a cold one.  I promise I'll get her in on the next one.

R.I.P. - Russian Imperial Porter

Brewer: Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville, Kentucky
Alcohol Content: A mystery to me

Official Description from Brewer:
Another mystery to me

Wilk's Take:
I have become a slave to the Russian Imperial Porter.  I am not sure if I can go back to drinking any other beers.  That poses a problem of course because these porters tend to be quite heavy.  BBC as they affectionately call themselves does not even list this particular beer on their website and there is nothing on the bottle that indicates how they wish to portray their beer.  All of this is moot because it is one delicious beer.

RIP poured perfectly.  The liquid in whole form in the glass gives the perfect coffee tone one expects in a porter.  However, I had the wonderful fortune to catch a single drop in the light and it gave off an inviting caramel color that made me stop for a brief second.  The aroma was beautiful.  All the roasted malts were absolutely perfect.  The coffee scent that is prevalent in other porters was not as distinct with RIP.  The chocolatey undertone was definitely there.

I savored this beer.  I couldn't get over how rich and full of flavor it was.  The taste is not over powering.  Roasted malts and bitterness gave way to a dark sweetness.  The first drink is like making the mistake of eating baker's chocolate.  It is so bitter, but it quickly melts away as you give the brew time to play with your taste buds.

Suggestion: Drink this beer.  It is better than the Topless Wych from 3 Floyd's yesterday and trumps the YETI in terms of the mild draw.  The flavor is magnificent.

Value: For $7.50 you get over 25 ounces.  The alcohol content has to be over 7% and it's just an enjoyable beer.  I think the value is there, but with BBC not really advertising this beer I couldn't tell you if it will be around any longer.

Michelle Factor:  Michelle was going to skip trying this brew.  In the end she acquiesced and put the glass under her nose.  She detected a sweetness in the aroma but when she drank it I got the same facial expression.  Maybe Michelle is more of a wheat beer kind of girl.

Silk Porter

Brewer: Hoppin' Frog, Akron, Ohio
Alcohol Content: 6.2%

Official Description from Brewer:
"Dark, robust and silky-smooth, with many flavors of roasted, toasted and caramel malts. Porter is an old-world beer style, so popular that it helped start the industrial revolution. Taste the history."

Wilk's Take:
Hoppin' Frog won me over the first time with B.O.R.I.S. so in honor of American Craft Beer Week I went to them for a 22oz. bomber of their Silk Porter.  I was hoping they could catch lightning in more than one bottle and took the opportunity to enjoy the next selection.  Silk Porter poured beautifully and left little head.  I'm starting to wonder if I'm leaving the glass tilted too long.  On the pour into a second glass it left a perfect 1" head that dissipate as soon as it formed.

Silk Porter looks like weak coffee sitting lukewarm waiting for ice and cream.  The liquid itself is not heavy even though the color is very dark.  I found nothing out of the ordinary with the aroma of Silk Porter and can't really describe the smell outside of that of dark beer.  When I tilted the glass to my lips the aroma remains prevalent.  As the porter sat on my tongue the carbonation attacked my taste buds like a soda.  This actually continues through the entire glass.

Silk Porter finishes with a very intense coffee undertone.  The taste that lingers in your mouth after the beer is a fading coffee flavor and of course, beer.  As far as flow goes, the beer is smooth and is a quick drink.  For a dark beer you are not knocked out by any roasted malts and can finish a glass as quickly as you could a lighter lager.

Suggestion: Drink it.  If you are a fan of porters you will not be disappointed with this one.  Personally, it's going to take a considerable change of heart if I decide to buy another Silk Porter again.

Value: A 22oz bomber for around $8.  You can probably get a porter that tastes as good for a better value if you look for it.

Michelle Factor: Not applicable.  Regretfully I drank this beer away from Michelle, however, based on previous beers with a heavy coffee flavor I can only imagine she would dislike this one equally.

*****DISCLAIMER*****
I have been doing nothing but inhaling drywall dust all day and my sinuses are probably not in the right frame of mind to be critiquing beer.  I poured this for my brother and he really enjoyed it.  My attitude was mostly negative.  I trust his judgment so have at it.