The (Late) Session

Never one to ride along with a busload of zealots, here I am taking up the rear of the caravan, furiously pedaling my unicycle.

The August installment of “The Session” was focused on anniversaries. I’ll confess that I have no idea in what regard The Session dealt with anniversaries, but since the first Friday of August fell on August 1st, I’ve got an anniversary for you. Colorado Day!

Colorado was admitted to the union on August 1, 1876 and no doubt on August 2nd, some fellow emerged from the Front Range (perhaps where Clear Creek enters what is now Golden, Colorado) and said, “Big deal! Where’s the whorehouse?” Yeah, I’d still live in Colorado if I could, but I don’t and waxing nostalgic about it just makes me pine for it all the more, so let’s get to the beer, shall we?

In honor of Colorado’s birthday and to have something clever to post for The (Late) Session, I popped the top off of a bottle of Left Hand Brewing’s Imperial Stout. This stuff clocks in at a hefty 10.4% abv and touts itself as “Black Ale to brighten your day.” It smells of roasted or burnt coffee in the bottle and roasted nuts in the glass. There is also a slight alcohol scent from the glass that presages the alcohol bite in the taste.

In the glass, this imperial stout is as dark as coffee with a medium to weak head. In the tasting one is immediately hit by the thick mouth feel, then the alcohol bite at the back of the palate and in the nasal cavity. A second pour yielded a more substantial head with nice lacing and the taste was more nutty, which may have been due to the more active head or because the beer had warmed slightly in the bottle – or both.

This is the second beer that I’ve tried from Left Hand brewing. As an example of the style, Left Hand Imperial Stout ranks well, but for me its liquor-like qualities place it at a disadvantage. I’ll be content to fall back to their Milk Stout in the future and I’ll honor them as an example of Colorado’s up-and-coming craft-brewing heritage.

Here’s where you can find more dope on this beer, this brewer and this topic in general:

For starters, The Beverage Tasting Institute has a nifty discussion of stouts and porters. It’s worth a peek.

Next, pay a visit to Left Hand Brewing's website. Browse around, buy a hat, buy a glass.

Beer Advocate gives this stout high marks.

Here’s a link to the governor’s proclamation for Colorado Day 2008.

Happy anniversary, Colorado!

And, just in case you’re interested in knowing more about what the August installment of “The Session” was really all about, here are some links to real beer blogs and their take on “anniversary beer.” (These folks do this stuff better than I....or is that "better than me...?)

The Barley Blog was the designated host for the August installment of The Session.
The Brew Site
Lyke 2 Drink
Brewed For Thought

Mr. Beer Update: The six 12-ounce bottles went into the back of the refrigerator this morning, the bulging caps having grown ever more prominent. In order to contain any leakage that may be caused by a premature evacuation of the contents, I've wrapped all the bottles up in a couple of plastic bags. There isn't enough room in the fridge for all the liter bottles, so I'll probably begin lagering just a couple of them, give them a week or so, then transport them to Johnny Southside, who will be splitting the first batch with me.

My thanks and appreciation to those of you who've posted comments here in the past and in particular to those of you who've offered comments and advice regarding the Mr. Beer project. I hope there will be more batches and I hope you'll keep visiting and leaving comments when you can.

Session. Session? What Session?

Great Divide Hibernation Ale

Never one to keep up with what’s trendy, I’ve managed to miss posting a topic-related post for every installment of The Session since I began my beer blog earlier this year. I always have the best of intentions, but then things come up or I begin to feel that my contribution to the discussion will be trifling and not especially useful, and I fail to post a session-related entry month after month.

The most recent installment of “The Session” dealt with drinking beers out of season. More to the point, I suspect the beer masses mean drinking heavier beers during the summer. I missed posting on the appointed day. That’s no excuse to flop down and wail like a wee baby. I’m a dark beer kind of fellow and I like it even in hot weather and even a belated excuse to sample dark, strong beer is reason enough to do so.

With temperatures pushing over the 110-degree mark here, I moved a bottle of Great Divide Brewing’s Hibernation Ale from the bullpen to the refrigerator and come 3 or 4 in the afternoon, with the day’s temperature pushing its maximum, I popped the top and poured it out.

This beer’s very name conjures up images of dark winter. The label depicts a solitary figure in silhouette trudging through a snowy landscape. Brrrr. Certainly there are animals that hibernate in the Sonoran desert come wintertime – toads and snakes mostly, but hereabouts, the animal life really tends to lay low in the summer, trying in every way to avoid the heat of the day. It’s not so much hibernation but simple self-preservation. You cavort out in the sun and heat for too long, you’re a cooked goose. So, Hibernation Ale is appropriate to our lifestyle here in the desert if one considers staying indoors and in the air-conditioning a form of hibernation.

The Tasting
If I could use just one word, three times to describe Hibernation Ale, it would be “coffee, coffee, coffee.” It pours dark but clear with medium beading. If Starbucks made a beer, they would simply be ripping off the taste of this beer and putting it in coffee cups. And not just “coffee” but coffee with creamer and a touch of sweetener, too, along with a mild liquor bite. This one warms you slightly as you drink it and finishes quite dry.

I enjoyed this beer a lot. I suspect its warming properties will be especially nice come December when I can take a seat on the back patio as the sun sets and there contemplate what Santa might have in store for me - I shudder at the thought. In the meantime, Hibernation Ale sampled nicely in the comfy climate controlled environs of my home, with the blinding heat miasma circling about each window like a rabid wolf.

Here’s the Hibernation Ale page at the brewer’s website:
Great Divide Hibernation Ale
Gosh, a “collectible” beer. Makes me almost wish I hadn’t sampled this one quite yet. I never use or throw away anything that might be of value and to know that I popped the top on a beer that might have some value as a collector’s item, well, I’m a bit sad by that notion.

The folks at Beer Advocate chimed in with a grade of A- for Hibernation Ale. No summer school for this beer; and no hibernating either!

Okay, this installment of The (Late) Session is over.

D-Day, June 6, 1944

Perhaps, a beer before parting.

I stuck to a tried and true today. No tasting. No notes. No sniffing the bottle or the glass. I sought out the common. It could have been a Schlitz or a Pabst or a Budweiser, but I chose High Life. All I expect today is that the beer I drink be a beer that some American fighting man would have had on a rainy day in England in June 1944.

We'll never know their kind again and that's sad. What's also sad is that the world has forgotten their sacrifice. Sadder still is that many Americans have forgotten their sacrifice. So, if you, or someone you love, was in a place called Normandy this time in 1944, you have my thanks and prayers.

(It wasn't until after I'd posted this that I realized June 6th was also the first Friday of the month and thus, the day that beer bloggers the world throughout, engage in what has come to be called "the session." All the more reason to be thankful for the sacrifices of D-Day and so many other d-days since: America's fighting men and women sacrificing and dying to defend our right to waste the better part of a day rambling and ranting about beer.)