Wildlife Brewing Co. -- Victor, ID

Now that Kiki and I are back from our epic post bar exam road trip I have time to catch up blogging on the beer adventures we had.  When we went to Grand Teton Brewing we were hoping that we could get dinner too.  Unfortunately for us, all their tap room had for food was free popcorn.  After Grand Teton Brewing we were searching for grub.  Victor, Idaho doesn't exactly have a huge selection to meet your dining needs, but it does have Wildlife Brewing Company which offers salads, pub food, and really good pizza.

I was looking at their beer list and was only interested in trying a couple since we had just done the full round of sampling down the street.  The waiter was nice enough to give me FREE four ounce samplers of the Mighty Bison Brown Ale and the Trophy Trout Stout. 

The Mighty Bison Brown Ale is very chocolaty, malty, and spicy.  It has a full body and overall is an easy drinking brown.  Kiki likes that its pretty mild.

The Trophy Trout Stout was my favorite of the two.  Again, this beer had chocolate flavor, but with a little bit of coffee flavor mixed in.  The color was very dark and it tasted malty and had just enough linger to not be over the top.  Kiki said it tasted like a shake to her and she thought it would pair well with ice cream.  I was appreciative of the free samples so I ordered a whole pint of the stout.

If you're wondering what the Grand Tetons look like from the backside, this is what they look like poking over the mountains in Victor, Idaho.

The drive from Victor, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming only takes about a half hour.  Hotels in Driggs, Idaho are about a third to half the price of hotels in Jackson, plus the breweries are on the Idaho side.  The drive to Jackson is really pretty the whole way.

Kiki and I as tourists.

Part of the view at Jenny Lake.

If you're in Driggs or Victor you would be stupid not to make the trek over to see Grand Teton National Park.  If you're in Grand Teton National Park you might as well make the trek to check out the local brews.  To be honest with you, the two beers I had at Wildlife Brewing I liked better than half the beers I tried at Grand Teton.  In other words, even though Grand Teton Brewing is more well known don't forget to check out Wildlife Brewing while you're in the neighborhood.

Grand Teton Brewing Company -- Victor, ID

As part of our EPIC post-bar road trip we stayed just west of Jackson Hole, Wyoming and stopped by Victor, Idaho where Grand Teton Brewing Company is located.  If you're near Grand Teton National Park chances are you'll be going through Jackson, Wyoming but the brewery is deceptively a half hour west in Idaho.  They're probably in Idaho because Jackson is a town where the billionaires are pushing out the millionaires. 

I promised my wife that she could guest blog an intro to this blog entry, so here goes:

"I go to most, if not all, of the brewery's with James, and he kindly lets me test each beer he tastes. Not being a beer connoisseur  myself, I find that I only like the light, hef-like beers, particularly the fruity ones. And a lot of the brewery's tend to have somewhat similar characteristics, as far as personality and atmosphere. However, this brewery blew me away. It was just really homey. We pulled up to this big warehouse looking building with an amazing view of the mountains in the background, off some dirt road in my tiny Honda that barely makes it over the potholes. You REALLY have to know where this place is, or be adventurous in wandering around until you find it."

"You walk onto the boardwalk into the brewery and it's pretty simple... a few picnic tables strewn about outside with kids, dogs, and even a cat roaming around. Inside there's a bartender who cracks jokes with everyone and all they offer to eat is popcorn, but the company was good and the bartender entertaining."

"I guess they had "theology on tap" going on outside, much to the chagrin of the bartender and the locals, but everyone seemed to get along well. The cat, minus half a tail, wandered around and curled up with anyone who would give him attention, and so as the cat lovers we are, we gathered him up and gave him some love."

"Overall, I didn't think the beer was particularly all that great, but it was probably my favorite experience beer tasting simply for the local environment and the homey feeling. Not to mention, you can't beat the views. Having never been to Idaho in my life, I was absolutely blown away by how gorgeous the sunset was and the view of the hills was totally worth the drive.  This brewery was definitely in my top 5 for atmosphere and environment, and definitely the top 3 for the views."

 

As you can see Grand Teton Brewing has a pretty nice view, probably one of the most scenic brewery views in the country.

Here are the beers:

Summer Release of Cellar Reserve -- like a pale ale, but lighter in color

Lost Continent Double IPA -- note of citrus fruits, lots of flavor but lighter in body

Howling Wolf Weisse Bier -- unfiltered wheat ale, clouded golden color, fruity banana flavor

Sweetgrass APA -- American Pale Ale, its hoppy but lighter in flavor, not much linger or body

Old Faithful Golden Ale -- light and malty, sweet with no bitter after taste, Kiki likes

Pursuit of Hoppiness Imperial Red -- hoppy nose, malty aftertaste, hoppier than a typical red

Teton Ale Amber Ale -- copper color, very malty, short aftertaste, light body, Kiki sipped it x 3

Bitch Creek ESB -- Grand Teton's signature beer for a reason because its their best one, its like a cross between a Moose Drool and a Newcastle, it has a full body, is sweet and slightly nutty

Opportunities for tourists abound in the areas around Yellowstone and the Tetons, and there are plenty of places happy to take your money, but the Grand Teton Brewing Co. is truly a nice place to relax and soak up the beautiful scenery while enjoing a brew.

Uinta Brewing Co. -- Cutthroat Ale

Apparently, despite all the Mormons, Salt Lake City (a city full of "ecclesiastical" buildings according to the AAA book) still has beer.  Utah, however, has messed up and really incredibly stupid beer laws.  Instead of bars, Utah has "private clubs" as evidenced by the sign at the bar we went to that said "members only" although no one seemed to care that they had never seen us before.  Also, every other state measures alcohol content by volume, but Utah measures it by weight.  Utah restricts it so draft beer can be no stronger than 3.2% alcohol by weight, which translates to 4% ABV.  As a recent law graduate, mention of 3.2 reminds me of Craig v. Boren which is the "3.2 beer case" where women were allowed to buy 3.2% beer at 18-years-old but men couldn't buy beer until they were 21 and the Supreme Court determined that gender discrimination is subject to intermediate scrutiny.

Anyway, one of the most popular local beers in Salt Lake City is Cutthroat Ale, which is brewed by Uinta Brewing Co. 

Cutthroat Ale is copper color and well balanced between hops and malts.  It's not as hoppy as a Sierra Nevada, but still very drinkable.  Considering its limited to 4% ABV  (3.2% ABW) you really can't tell the difference in taste. 

Fifty Fifty Brewing Co. -- Truckee, CA

Ahh, the bar exam is behind me and I finally have time to get back to the blog.

One of the most beautiful places in California is Lake Tahoe.  And the gateway to north lake Tahoe is Truckee, California, which is right off I-80 an hour and a half east of Sacramento and a half hour west of Reno, which also happens to be a favorite local place of my wife's, who grew up nearby.  The local brewery is Fifty Fifty Brewing Co.  They have some good beer, great nachos, tasty calzones and quality pizza.  Whether you're relaxing by the lake during the summer, or catching some of the best skiing in the United States during the winter, Fifty Fifty is worth a visit.

 For those who need a reminder... Truckee is just north of Donner Lake, where the Donner Party perished and, well, ate each other when the storms got too bad back in the late 1840's while they were crossing the US in covered wagons to the Gold Country  (hence, the beer, "Donner Party Porter")

Truckee Blonde Reserve -- light straw color; light and watery tasting; not much flavor

Manifesto Pale Ale -- 5.3% ABV; 29 IBU; hoppy flavor on the nose, then smooth overall; some toffee and burnt flavor with a little bit of a linger

Rockslide IPA -- 6.7% ABV; 65 IBU; straw color; very floral and herbal; fully body but still light for an IPA


Donner Party Porter -- 6.7% ABV, 30 IBU; this was my FAVORITE of Fifty Fifty's beers; very chocolaty, some flesh tones (just kidding), its smooth and sweet and makes a good dessert beer.

Totality Imperial Stout -- Not quite as bitter as Guinness Extra Stout, but its got a hint of coffee and a hint of chocolate.

Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe

Franziskaner Weissbier Brewery -- Hefe-Weisse Dunkel

Two weeks from now the bar exam will be done.  Today was six hours of exam writing and tonight is more studying.  But now is a break (well deserved since I did well, which I know since the professor already critiqued it), and sadly, my only post for this month.  This beer is thanks to Corey "Marshmallow" Leitch, one of my fraternity brothers, who gave me this beer as a wedding gift.

Today's beer is Hefe-Weisse Dunkel brewed by Franziskaner Weissbier Brewery in Munich, Germany.  In case you missed it on the gold foil this beer is imported.  Apparently the monk-looking fellow in the picture has a full belly, plenty of keys, and likes staring at his beer.

Franziskaner claims to trace its roots back to 1316.  The name "Franziskaner" comes from the fact that the brewer was next to the Franciscan monastery.  Half a millennium later, give or take half a century, Franziskaner moved to the Munich "suburbs" in the mid 1800s.  In 1935 their distinctive label with the Franciscan Friar was designed.  And in 1984 they started selling their beer internationally.

Enough background, as you can see in the photo, this beer is copper in color.  What you can't see in the photo is like many hefe beers it tastes malty, wheaty, and is light on the hops.  I think this beer is surprisingly light tasting for its color.  This guy on the inter-web thought it tasted like "[d]istinct banana, pear, and bubble-gum esters, along with mild clove aromas, mark this as a classic Bavarian hefeweizen."  I'm sure the brewers were going for that hint of bubble-gum flavor.  Anyway, even though this beer is dark for a hefe, it still has that background of a hefe flavor.

As I've said before, hefe-weizen is not usually my favorite (unless its Tustin Brewing Company's Lemon Heights Hefeweizen), but this Franziskaner hefe is different.  I think its the dunkel part of the beer.  What's dunkel?  Its German for dark, much like San Diego is German for a whale's vagina.  Dunkel beers usually are darker wheat beers that have roasted malts and sweet flavor.  Ergo, a dunkel hefe-weisse is going to be darker than a normal hefeweizen.  I think that really is the key to setting this apart from every other hefeweizen out there.  Its almost like a cross between a marzen and a hefe.

Final thoughts: great beer, its a nice twist on a hefeweizen, even Kiki approves, go try it, thanks Corey.

Stone Brewing -- Old Guardian Belgo Barley Wine Style Ale

The bar studies continue.  Today I took a six hour 200 multiple choice question MBE (multistate bar exam) which makes up the middle day in the three day California Bar Exam.  Good times.  Time for a break to clear my head so I can keep studying tonight.

My wife Kiki is great because she always thinks of me.  This beer is thanks to her.  I've only reviewed Stone once before and that was their Double Bastard Ale.  Kiki and I toured their brewery but that was before I had the blog so I'll have to go back and tour it again so I can do a post.

For those of you who don't know, Stone Brewing Co. is based out of Escondido, California in northern San Diego County.  Steve Wagner and Greg Koch met in the late-80s, re-met in the early-90s, and convinced some investors to give them money so they could open a brewery in 1996.  Now the brewery has grown to 55,000 square feet, has a 120 bbl (barrels) brewing system, and in 2010 made 115,000 bbls of beer (1 bbl is 31 gallons so that translates into over 3.5 million gallons of beer).  Stone even has its own restaurant, the "Stone World Bistro & Gardens," which is a little pricey but worth the money for the quality of the food which is locally grown ("slow food") and DELICIOUS (I highly recommend that you try the Bison Steak, and Kiki likes the Spud Buds).

Without further ado: Old Guardian Belgo Barley Wine.  One of my first questions was, "What does 'Belgo' mean?"  In short, Stone took their regular Old Guardian and put Belgian yeast into the the batch.  When it turned out really good, they decided they would make it every other year as, "odd beers for odd years."  Well, by popular demand they are still making the regular Old Guardian instead of rotating every other year.

Taste: to me this beer was really hoppy on the nose (it is 85 IBU's after all), then it's bitter towards the end and it has a long malty linger.  This beer is like hops and malts on steroids.  Huge body, some hints of spices, and the hoppiness makes it a little sweet.

Its 12% ABV.  Yeah.  That's almost three times of Bud Light.  Besides the fact that it's not But Light, the nice thing about this beer is that the high alcohol content means the beer can improve with age.  If you fancy yourself a connoisseur, this would be a nice beer to keep around for a while.

If you have any inclination to try different beers or any appreciation for barley wine style ales, this is the beer for you to check out.

In conclusion, this is a great beer to sip and enjoy so I give it five out of five stars.

One final note: on the back of the bottle, CEO and co-founder Greg Koch writes about how Europeans are even more clueless about craft beers than Americans.  I'm not surprised with global corporations running ridiculously huge marketing campaigns, making younger generations clueless that there is anything else out there.  Anyway, Stone has been looking into opening a brewery in Europe for roughly a year and a half. From what I've seen Stone treats their employees well and produces a high quality product so I hope they're successful.

Trader Joe's Mission Street -- 2011 Anniversary Ale

Time to take a break from studying for the bar exam.  This beer is courtesy of Kiki.  Mission Street (Trader Joe's label) 2011 Anniversary Ale.  As I posted before, Mission Street is really brewed by Steinhaus Brewing Co., AKA Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA.  Mission Street's biggest brew is their Brown.  This beer is kind of like that but darker, hoppier, nuttier, and higher alcohol.  The label describes this beer as an "Imperial Brown Ale."  Using "imperial" to describe a beer basically means there is more of everything, and that is certainly the case here.  The label also describes this beer as a blend of three beers, although there is no description of which ones they are.  In my opinion this is like a brown stout combination. 

Kiki had a sip and said it tasted like Coke.  She had a second sip and said it tasted like chocolate.  This beer is quite malty, nutty, sweet, and creamy, but still has a bit of hop flavor tucked in there.  To cap it all off its 8.5% ABV with quite a bit of linger.  All in all very drinkable.  Two thumbs up!