If big bourbon barrels defined our Tuesday
drinking out here, today was all about huge IPAs. One of the features of the
first week of February in California is the release of the almost mythical
Pliny the Younger, Russian River's triple IPA that features regularly in may beer aficianodos’ best beer in the
world lists. Their double IPA, Pliny the Elder, is available on tap almost year
round in California, but Younger, which has an even bigger hop schedule, is
only available for the first couple of weeks of February. If you follow any
American beer bloggers on Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen some kind of acerbic
comment about the frenzy that accompanies the release of Younger. e.g. 'what is this 'Younger' and why do we have to queue for him at 7am!?!?'. And so forth.
When we sorted our trip to California,
seeking out a taste of the Younger was one of the first things on the agenda. Now that our jet lag had finally worn off, it was out best opportunity. We’d
been tipped off that the Toronado would be putting a fresh keg of Younger on
every day until the end of Beer Week, but as they open at 11.30am every day, we
didn’t want to waste any time, so headed off down Haight St. Drinking a huge IPA before lunchtime might seem insane, but if the alternative was missing out on Younger altogether, then we were game for some early-bird boozing.
When we finally found the Toronado, it was
a fantastic sight. A stable door at the entrance, Chimay signs outside, neon
signs and paraphernalia for all the great breweries of the world hanging
inside, and more than 20 beer lines to deliver an incredible range of beer. I
wish I’d taken more photos of the place – when you walk into somewhere like
Brewdog Camden and see what they are trying to achieve in their house bar, this
must be the sort of place they have in mind. Jukebox in the corner, every seat
filled by 12.30 with people drinking double IPAs or Belgian-style quadrupels or
imperial stouts… Perfect.
The scoreboard-style list of beers on
draught didn’t seem to be up to date, and on approaching the bar they told me
to refer to that day’s printed beer menu, and to order by number.
Disappointingly, there was no Younger, so I went for a 'number 2' – Pliny the
Elder, the little brother of younger, but still an 8% double IPA. While I was
waiting for it to be poured, the guy at the bar next to me said ‘You do know
they have Younger on, the bigger version of Elder? They just don’t put it on the menu.’ – and so I asked for a
Younger to go with its big brother. Clearly, ordering Younger requires a bit of
inside knowledge, a secret password, or something similar - but anyway, I was finally in and ready to try some PTY.
When it came – in a miserly 6oz pour – Younger was lighter than I thought it would be, and lighter than
Elder in colour. Check the photo to see what I mean. I’m glad I’d ended up ordering the Elder first, as tasting
them both side by side showed up how much difference there was between the two.
Elder was a classic California double IPA – big on the floral aroma, thick malt
backbone, piney bitterness to finish. But Younger was something different –
where the hops took it beyond what you’d expect from a beer. Conventionally,
you’d think that the more you hop a beer, the more bitter it is and that has to
be balanced by more malt. However, at no point while drinking the Younger do
you feel that the hops are leading the beer. It is, by all accounts, an
insanely hopped beer, with three hop schedules, according to Russian River’s
website, but because the balance is so good, you taste an intensity and
subtlety of the hops that I’ve never tasted before. All kinds of citrus peel
and tropical fruits come to the fore but never dominate. I’m not a good enough
writer about beer to really describe it, but I could have drunk it all day. And
when dealing with a ‘triple IPA’ with an ABV of 11%, that’s a very dangerous
thing to say.
Once the sun had gone down, we headed over
to the Amsterdam Café in the Tenderloin (despite instruction from the porter at
our hotel never to venture into that area on safety grounds… sorry Johnny).
Their line-up of SFBW events is superb – if it hadn’t been for the intervention
of our friend Mel, we would almost certainly have given their Mikkeller night a
look on Tuesday. Wednesday belonged to Dogfish Head though, with ten different
brews on draft and another 8 in bottle, including a few rareties. We had to wait for 10 minutes to get into Amsterdam as the bar was absolutely rammed, but queuing up outside was a small price to pay for what we found once we got in.
(The bar at the Amsterdam Cafe - we'll definitely be back here before we fly home)
As I said in my introduction to the blog,
DFH are largely responsible for my conversion to America’s fantastic beers, but
because they are so hard to find in the UK, I haven’t touched a Dogfish beer
since New Year’s Eve 2010. Walked into a bar where they’re casually tapping 120 Minute IPA is like striking the motherlode, and that’s exactly what they were
doing at Amsterdam. I started off with a glass of that, and it was everything I
hoped it would be – huge sweetness and bitterness, with a distinct orange
marmalade flavour mixed with that classic Scottish liqueur Drambuie. It was
brilliant.
To provide a bit of a contrast, we had 16oz of their Chicory Stout,
and while DFH are known for their experimental brews, their more conventional
beers can still be a knockout. This was full of rich, dark flavour, with a hint
of chicory bitterness – although G complained that it was a bit lacking in
depth (something I’m going to put down to a couple of days of drinking massive
barrel-aged stouts).
Something DFH have been trying over the
past few years is to recreate past beers drunk by fallen historical empires,
which brings us to Theobroma – recreated after analysing pottery found in
Honduras that may once had held a cocoa-based beverage. Dogfish used this
analysis to create this beer, bewed with chillies and cacao. I was expecting a
dark beer, so when I had a glass of pale ale handed to me, I had to check that
it wax definitely what I’d ordered! This reminded me a little of De Molen’s
hugely disappointing Bed and Breakfast coffee beer – plenty of bell pepper in
the palate (the Bed and Breakfast is dominated by this, in a bad way), before giving way to
some coffee and then a mouth-filling chocolate character. There was no chilli flavour, which was disappointing considering that that was what had been billed as the main influence on the beer apart from cacao, but we still enjoyed it nonetheless. It was refereshing
and never overwhelming, and I’d love to try this again.
To finish the night, we decided to try
Faster, Bigger, Better Bolder, DFH’s collaboration with the Bruery on a
Japanese beer, in aid of the victims of the 2011 earthquake that devastated the
country. The promise of two kinds of sesame seeds, ginger, cayenne and a sake
yeast was clearly a draw for the crowd at Amsterdam, as unfortunately it was
sold out when I ordered it. A kind gent next to me at the bar let me have a
taste of his bottle, and it was exceptional – slightly savoury, dry, quite
thin, a little spicy and undeniably Japanese. In search of something else to
drink, we opted for the honey-laced imperial stout Bitches’ Brew, created in
honour of the Miles Davis record. Roasty and rich, it was just what we needed to finish our session.
The day belonged to the big IPAs though,
and Younger and 120 Minute IPA are examples of the kind of niche, off-kilter, massive-hop beers that I love to drink. And long may they continue to be brewed (even if I have to travel thousands of miles to drink them).
PS Brewdog have pre-announced a 16.5% triple IPA - Anarchist Alchemist - with a massive hop bill and an extensive dry-hop schedule, which they should be releasing during the spring. So perhaps I won't have to come all the way to the US for my big hop fix in future...
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