Glacier Brewing Co. releases Winter’s Nite Smoked Porter

Just received an email from David Ayers, head brewer at Glacier Brewing Co., about a new seasonal beer that’s on tap now in Polson. Winter’s Nite Smoked Porter is an imperial smoked porter that “weighs in around 8.9% (alcohol) by volume and has a deep, rich smokiness wrapped around a very well-balanced porter!” It’s only available in pints right now, but if you like it well enough you might be able to fill a growler next week.

I haven’t had a chance to try this. Has anyone out there taken it for a spin?

- Matt Pritchard

Missoula Five-O a decadent delight

After hearing so much about the new Community Brew over at Big Sky Brewing Co. I was dying to try it.

Missoula Five-O, created by Bill Ruediger and brewed by the folks over at Big Sky Brewing was and is the richest beer I’ve ever had. It’s a Chocolate Coconut Imperial Porter and lives up to its name in all respects. It is, of course, dark, and its flavors are like someone pouring chocolate syrup into your mouth while someone else grates fresh coconut onto your tongue. Big Sky Brewing’s Alix Jennings describes it as tasting like a Mounds bar, and, really, that’s the best comparison I can think of.

Kudos to Big Sky Brewing for being able to take the recipe and make it turn out the way it did in a commercial brew. It couldn’t have been easy. I will have to say though, like any sort of treat, tread lightly. At around 7 percent alcohol be volume and with as sweet as it is, you might get a sugar high if you’re not careful.

Growlers are $10 at the Big Sky Brewing taproom and sales go to help out AniMeals.

- Matt Pritchard

Cowboy Coffee Porter is on tap at Big Sky Brewing Company

Get some!

Check out The Rack for upcoming beer events

Good things seem to be underway in Lakeside this month and next. Not only is Old Stache’ back on tap at Tamarack Brewing Co., but they have a brewer’s dinner coming up March 11. Here are the details:

Once again, Craig and Roger are working their magic to bring us another amazing Brewer’s Dinner! They are hard at work on creating the menu as we speak… visit our
What’s Up page soon for menu details…

Only 42 lucky foodies will have the chance to enjoy this Brewer’s Dinner; to reserve your seats or to request a menu for our March 11th Brewery’s Dinner, email Andra or call 844-0244 ext 4.

Prost,

GG

Grab yourself a Barley sandwich at Lewis And Clark Brewing Co.

I love these beer cards

Grab one for me if you find yourself in Helena at Lewis & Clark Brewing Co. any time soon!

Prost,

GG

Brick and Mortar Imperial Porter on tap at Kettlehouse Brewing Co. again

There is a new batch of the delightful strong porter at Kettlehouse Brewing Co. Northside location. The rich chocolate and vanilla notes on this batch are seemingly slightly more balanced than the last batch, but each batch had it’s own distinctive characteristic that makes them stand out in the community. It can be expensive to brew these types of beer, so Kettlehouse is selling them in small snifters for both the alcohol content and to make the beer last a bit longer. According to some calculations done on the spot while sipping one of these bad boys, Brick & Mortar Imperial Porter will be on tap for quite some time. Get in and enjoy some right now.

Prost,

GG

Brick & Mortar Imperial Porter

Great Northern Brewing Co.’s Barrel Aged No. 1 Goes on Tap Today

According to the folks at Great Northern Brewing Co., this Porter was aged for 145 days in an oak bourbon barrel. Get yourself some.

Prost,

GG

Barrel Aged No. 1 From Great Northern Brewing Co.

The Official Beer of the Smoke Jumpers is not in Montana, believe it or not

Official beer of the smoke jumpers

It’s from Longmont, Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing Co. And it’s a doozy. After a barley wine tasting last night, we had some new guys show up, and I needed to open a few more beers. I had recently picked up a Smoked Imperial Porter from Left Hand Brewing Co., at Worden’s Market, so I figured a smoked porter could be interesting after a lot of sweet barley wine. And I was intrigued by the smoke jumper label and the fact that they call it the official beer of the smoke jumpers.

This porter is one of the strangest tasting experiences I’ve ever had. This beer is much more complex than you might initially think. With very little smoke discernible on the nose, a giant malt body comes tumbling into your nostrils on first scent, followed shortly by some rich caramel and chocolate nibs. In fact, you would not know this is a smoked beer at all until a few seconds after you swallowed your first sip.

Then it comes like its nature, weaving up your olfactory system like tendrils from a newly sparked fire. Then it assaults you. Massive smoke inundates your sense and makes you go, whoa! Then it’s gone, and you start over again with malt and caramel and chocolate. The hops are there, buried deep below the other tastes, completely inundated by the smoke flavor that wallops you again.

The general consensus, among our group of tasters, is that this beer is too much, over the top, really. But I did a second tasting, and I found that the experience of this beer is so different, that I can’t short sell it just because it has a huge smoke characteristic that overpowers everything else.

The velvety texture of the beer aligns with the feeling and sense of smoke. And I’ve been a victim of overly smokey beer before, so I’m really sensitive to this particular flavor. On a second taste, I found that the beer was much more rounded than I initially thought. The surprisingly big smoke flavor that comes after you sip and swallow is truly surprising, but it has merit here because of the way it fits with the beer. It almost acts as a hop in the sense that it really gives a powerful aftertaste that creates such a pleasant overall tasting experience.

This one isn’t for the faint of heart, but it could be for those who want some beer adventure and who want to challenge their current assumption about what good beer really is.

Prost,

GG

A different kind of buzz with your breakfast beer

I remember drinking really high-end coffee stouts many years ago, but I thought they went by the wayside. Apparently they’re back, stronger than ever. Kona coffee stouts and Sumatra porters abound, and the perception of alcohol and caffeine as dangerous rather than bed buddies is catching the eyes and ears of the FDA, according to this Washington Post article by Greg Kitsock.

Personally, this is where the government, both federal and local, needs to recognize breweries as something all together different than those who brew and sell alcopops and other gimmicky drinks meant more for producing party feelings than the sophisticated and complex structures of craft beer.

If you read to the end of the article, you’ll find a line about one of my favorite breweries. But I have to say that what Mikkeller does take a bit of a risk here in that while it’s OK to associate coffee and beer, their version might be stretching the imagination of many beer drinkers a  little too much.

Prost,

GG

Look mom, I finally got my own beer mug

Bitterroot Brewing's Winter Ale

And it has my name on it. Well, not really. It has the Grizzly Growler name on it, but since I try to fill those rather tremendous shoes by posting under that name, I’ll count it.

So I was finally able to stop into Bitterroot Brewing to try some samples of all their current Brewer’s Whims. And I was not disappointed in the least. The Imperial IPA is everything you’ve heard it is. With four hops with citrusy characteristics, it’s kind of like the Greyhound of beers. Big, fruity with a lighter body than you might expect in a an Imperial IPA, this beer literally knocks your socks off with hop flavor on a very comfortable base. Big alcohol with a nose like walking into a tropical greenhouse, the hop profile on this bad boy takes you back to the early days of Oregon and Washington when they were perfecting the Northwest-style IPAs. But rest assured, this beer retains those magical Montana qualities that have made Bitterroot Brewing such a destination in this state.

The CollaBeeration Porter, a Baltic-style porter that spent more than a little time on bourbon wood, is a fantastic early winter beer. I can only imagine joining my colleagues at the Ravalli Republic as they plot their next snowboard or back-country ski adventure over a few snifters of this. Chocolaty with some vanilla hints from the bourbon, this beer displays some deeper notes characteristic of dark malts like dried fruit and even some coconut that I thought rounded out the bourbon flavors a bit.

The year-old Barley Wine was phenomenal, as only aged barley wine can be. With honey, straw, whiskey, dried fruit and some Euro-style licorice, this beer is a conucopia of flavors. I can only imagine what it would taste liked aged another year or two. Oh, well, some beers you just have to drink now.

And finally, if you can’t get down to Bitteroot Brewing for their Brewer’s Whims, you should be able to get a hold of their Winter Ale, a very well-balanced dark ale with a hint of spices on a very smooth and drinkable malt base. With an effervescent white-ish head and some healthy hop structure, this winter bear harkens to those favorites like Deschute’s Jubalale, but the hop profile makes this one extra special. If you like those big, dark beers that warm you on cold winter days, this would be one to try.

You should see these beers in Missoula at places that carry Bitteroot Brewing beers. Try Orange Street Food Farm, Worden’s Market and The Good Food Store.

Prost,

GG