Pliny
by Derek ~ February 17th, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized.Upon the storm of twitter feeds and brew news boards it was announced that Pliny the Younger had arrive and been tapped at the Horse Brass pub on Monday. For those that haven’t heard of the beer it is an imperial version (of sorts) of Russian River Pliny the Elder. At 11% and a hundred plus IBUs this is a beer well suited for the Portland hop heads. A trip into town was looming, and with Double Mountain as the guest at the Green Dragon meet the brewer… well I figured the stars were aligned.
After work I first headed out to Deschutes to try a sample of the two special Oregon 150th birthday beers. The first was the Maiden Oregon, brewed at the PDX Deschutes pub. Initially this was described as a Flemish brown, but upon arrival at the pub this was in witness protection as a Belgian Amber. I’m not sure if the got messed up in the media or if this just didn’t turn out as planned, but I was a bit let down by the style. I have to say, this was a really nice Belgian amber, estery and dry, yeast character sort of reminded me of Unibroue Maudite in the fruitiness, but I was really hoping for the Flemish brown. The next beer was the Oregon 150 Ale, a blackberry-honey and marionberry infused golden ale of sorts. The berry character was floral and tart, body seemed to be lacking and not much up front for sweetness. Just ok on that one.
Next I was darting across the river to the now smoke-free Horse Brass to grab a glass of Pliny the Younger before it sputtered out. I’d had Pliny the Younger once before, and I know there is a lot of hype behind it, but it is really good. Over-hopped and unbalanced, but done so in a pure fit of ego, would you really want this to be anything else? The alcohol really doesn’t stand out, the body full, but not chewy like 120 minute. Certainly not a beer you would sit around drinking pints of… oh wait, people were doing just that… nevermind, I underestimate you Portland, tip of the hat.
Lastly I thought I would drop into the Green Dragon to check out the meet the brewer featuring one of my favorite Oregon brewers, Double Mountain. On tap they Hop Lava, Dry Irish Stout, Alpenbrew, and Ardennes. The Dragon was packed and it took about 15 minutes to get a drink, but I finally got my half pint of the Ardennes Belgian Strong. I was a little bit hesitant about ordering this, but since it was the only one available that I hadn’t had I went for it. The Ardennes is one of my least favorite Belgian yeast strains. I’ve had to many beers with this yeast that taste like boiled vegetables, not sure if it is just me or if this yeast is finicky. Double Mountain’s versions was good, but even with their excellent craftsmanship I still picked up slight notes of what I hate from this yeast, albeit this was one of the better beers with this yeast I’ve had.
In all it was a good day out in the Portland beer scene, it seems like every day we have something great beer related going on. Wish I could make it out tomorrow for Deschutes night at the Brass.
If anyone is going, please let me know what you thoughts on the amazing Deschutes lineup tomorrow.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:20 am
1> you mean deschutes night at the brass? i’ll report back
2> despite what the brass menu says, there is most certainly no E in pliny.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Goodbye Ohio,
Thank you for pointing that out, the errors have been corrected and those responsible have been sacked. Deschutes night is correct, not sure why I kept having Full Sail pop into my mind, maybe it was the Black Gold they just released.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I hate to be anal, but you know I can be good at it….. ;-}
How exactly would you describe a Belgian Amber? Other than the color….. I can’t quite seem to find a definition of a Belgian Amber, although I’ve seen plenty of Amber Belgian beers, I’m not sure I’ve heard of one named AMBER….. ;-}
Is that the brewers girlfriend’s name ??
February 18th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Dr. W,
You know me, I’m not that great with styles, I went by what they said on the menu. Probably closest to a dubbel, sort of a sweet dark fruity flavor from the sugar beets, but still remaining dry in the finish. Close to Chimay red, is that a dubbel? The color was a bit lighter then their dubbel that they also had on tap. I’m not sure I’d call it a Belgian strong, although maybe that’s where it fits?
February 18th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
History and style definition is a wonderfully fun education to enhance one’s beer knowledge and enjoyment of beer.
That said, trying to decipher a Belgian beer style can be an adventure, do to the wide variety of TYPES (not styles) of beer. What has no style name and is NOT a Trappist ale, nor an Abbey ale will be a mystery style or type. Maybe a strong Belgian ale, maybe just a Belgian ale. I know you’ve done some reading on the Belgian beers already, so you should know there is NO “AMBER” style. OTOH, Chimay, being a Trappist brewery can pretty much live on the Style name “TRappist.”
To be fair….The BBB web site (http://belgianstyle.com/mmguide/style/style01.html) states Belgian Amber as a category/style. Although, the beers under this category are kind of all over the board in flavor profiles….Here’s the definition:
“AMBER ALE
The thing that most differentiates amber from red ale is amber beers lacking of red’s lactic acid character. Amber ales are mostly pleasant easy drinking beers, not particularly high in alcohol and are not at all sour. Belgian “session” beers. As with most Belgian beer the hopping rates are typically on the low side, although of all Belgian styles – excluding pils – it is probably the hoppiest.
One exceptional example of a world-class amber ale is De Koninck, although it is reputed to decline in calibre the further you get from it’s home in Antwerp. I had it on draught in Bruges, which is pretty far from Antwerp, and found it very enjoyable but not up to the descriptions I had heard. This brings to mind another world class beer, Bass ale. If you’ve never had Bass in England then you’ve never had Bass ale, and the closer to the source I have gotten the better the beer. Real ales are very temperamental when it comes to traveling, and I suspect this phenomenon holds true for De Koninck.
Other examples of amber ale are Artevelde Grand Cru, Bruegel, the various versions of Palm and, though it is a bit strong for this classification, Pauwel Kwak. These beers range from around 5% to 7% ABV. Houten Kop is an amber ale with a twist, it is a bit hoppy an spiced (we’ve yet to torcher the specifics out of the brewer!). This combination gives it a unique and delightful flavor. ”
There’s a lot of latitude within this definition of their AMBERS. It’s like saying anything that’s AMBER in color, not acidic and under 7% alcohol is an AMBER Belgian….. we know that doesn’t really fly… ;-} I think these beers are widely known as PALE Belgians, but obviously there could be an argument on that too…
I guess this whole discussion could be discussed over some beers in a pub and no one would really win…. ;-}
It would be nice if SOMEONE could create some hardcore Belgian style guidelines for these LOST beers, but the variety of Belgian flavors and nuances may make that impossible. That said, creating generic nonsensical categories or styles don’t work either.
I find to many American Belgian Beers are being named by completely mismatched styles.
Here’s a list of Belgian styles that are firmly accepted:
Belgian Dark Ale
Belgian IPA
Belgian Pale Ale
Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Belgian Strong Pale Ale
Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Bière de Garde
Dubbel
Faro
Flanders Oud Bruin
Flanders Red Ale
Gueuze
Lambic – Fruit
Lambic – Unblended
Quadrupel (Quad)
Saison / Farmhouse Ale
Tripel
Witbier
In addition, the confusion of “Trappist Ales” vs “Abbey Ales”
What a mess eh??
February 18th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Dr W.
Thanks for the info. I was able to try De Koninck on tap at their brewery in Antwerp but I don’t recall it really sharing the characteristics of the Deschutes beer. The De Koninck wasn’t as airy and dry on the palate as the Deschutes, so maybe dubbel would have been a better class then the description above of “Belgian Amber” for the Maiden Oregon. The De Koninck, being a softer and smoother body seemed to accentuate the sweetness more and less so the esters, although, this was two or three years ago, so all I can go off of is notes.
Maybe a style analysis class will be in my future to help on learning style.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am
the beers at horse brass were excellent, i liked the development of the 06 abyss best, as the 07 and 08 really have yet to change too much. super jubel is not for me, and big red was nice and hoppy but disappointing if you’re looking for pinot notes.
still, 4 glasses of beer for $11.50 isn’t a bad deal. cheers!