Archive for June, 2010
Barrington Coffee Roasters Papua New Guinea Kimel Farms Co-Op
This is one of the two coffees that I came back with after my visit to Barrington Coffee last month. It’s taken me ages to get around to writing about it, but I suppose there’s three reasons for that, 1) it’s summer, and we’ve been keeping busier than usual (which is saying something), 2) it’s summer, and with the rising temps my mind turns less often to thoughts of coffee, so while I drink it each day, putting the thought into writing about it is less common, 3) the World Cup – we’ve turned into soccer/football addicts and have been watching games during nearly all of our spare moments.
Nonetheless, I was lucky to get the chance to try this coffee. It’s unusual in a couple of regards. First off, it’s a peaberry coffee, meaning that the coffee cherry produced only one, rounded coffee bean. Most coffee cherries produce two haves of a coffee bean, which is why each coffee bean ends up having one flat side. Typically, peaberries account for ~5% of the harvest. The second interesting note about this coffee is that it is wet-processed, which is out of the norm for most coffees from Papua New Guinea. When wet-processed, all of the skin, pulp, and mucilage is removed from the coffee bean before it is dried, leading to a brighter coffee. In contrast, most coffees from Papua New Guinea are wet-hulled, whereby most of the skin, pulp, and mucilage is removed from the coffee bean, but not all. The beans are then left to dry for a period of time, typically up to a day, with the remaining mucilage on them. This produces a coffee with a more unique presence in the cup, sometimes a bit earthy, or funky.
The co-op that produces this coffee, Kimel Farms, is also fairly unique. Much of the coffee coming out of Papua New Guinea is from large plantations that have their own mills. In contrast, the Kimel Farms Co-Op incorporates both a central 620 hectare plantation and a number of smaller, privately-owned farms, and it is cooperatively owned by the Opais peoples of the Wahgi Valley, in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The farms are located at the high altitude of 5000 feet above sea level, and the varietals grown include Typica, Arusha, Blue Mountain, Mundo Novo, Catimor, and Caturra.
Tasting Notes
The beans were harvested in late December of 2009. Barrington chose a light/City+ roast, which has been my favorite roast level of theirs lately. It produces some very bright, nearly effervescent and exciting coffees. But this could have a lot to do with the time of year as well, since I’m typically a total sucker for Kenyan coffees at other times of the year.
In the cup, the coffee has distinct aromas of tobacco, citrus peel, dark molasses, mint, and cedar. The texture is smooth with a soft mouthfeel and notable acidity. Flavors of black cherries, walnuts, pecans, and fresh strawberry abound. The incredible finish brings gentle waves of melted brown sugar and cocoa powder accented by key lime.
Overall, I thought this coffee was pretty understated. It presented a nice range of flavors, a great finish, and was a pleasure to drink. It didn’t stimulate deep contemplation or outright excitement, but was just plain tasty. We enjoyed it quite a bit as we worked our way through the pound.
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Jefferson’s Presidential Select Batch #4 1991 Vintage 17-Year
This bourbon created quite a stir when it hit the market last year, which was somewhat surprising, given that it comes from McLain & Kyne, distillers of Jefferson’s Reserve. Not that they’re a bad distillery, just that their flagship product is a solid, if generally unexceptional whiskey. But the Jefferson’s Presidential Select began making waves the moment that it hit the shelves.
The reason is due to the provenance of the whiskey in the bottle. This 17-year old bourbon was not distilled by McLain & Kyne, but was bottled by them. They purchased several barrels of whiskey distilled from no less than the famed Stitzel-Weller Distillery of Louisville, Kentucky, the same distillery renowned as the place where the oldest bottles of Pappy Van Winkle whiskies were distilled. Along with the 15-, 20-, and 23-year old Pappy Van Winkles, previously available bottlings of W.L. Weller bourbon also came from this distillery. Needless to say, that’s a heck of a pedigree.
But, note the similarities between those two whiskies, Van Winkle and Weller. See it? That’s right, they’re both wheated bourbons, two of the very small handful of wheated bourbons on the market today. The Stitzel-Weller Distillery produced solely wheated whiskey throughout its history, beginning when it was opened by Pappy Van Winkle himself in Spring 1935. Throughout the following decades the whiskey produced here gradually garnered a strong reputation. Yet, sadly, the Stitzel-Weller Distilling Company and the distillery were sold in 1971, sold again in 1991, and closed for good in 1992. Since then, whiskies from this distillery have gained an aura that only time and scarcity can grant, and today they are highly sought after.
Thus the surprise in the whiskey world when this bourbon arrived on the scene. Even noted bourbon expert Chuck Cowdery mused,
“Now I wish they would tell us how they got these particular barrels…The company now known as Diageo was the last operator of Stitzel-Weller. It still owns the facility and uses the warehouses. Both Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace got some Stitzel-Weller barrels when they bought Old Fitzgerald and W. L. Weller respectively. No one has ever been quite sure how much Diageo retained. Did they really mean to age it 17 years or more? How did McLain & Kyne get it?”
And John Hansell, editor of the Malt Advocate referred to these bottles of whiskey as “a piece of history”, noting:
“To me, Stitzel-Weller and Michter’s are like Brora and Port Ellen in the Scotch whisky world–silent distilleries that once produced some great whiskeys.”
Illustrious company to be sure! Even better, across the board the whiskey was getting wonderful reviews. Cowdery had noted that other recently released whiskies from this famed distillery had been influenced by perhaps “too much wood”, a common issue with older bourbons. Because bourbons age so much more quickly than scotch whiskies, and the barrels used are brand new, older bourbons can often appear too woody, with the oak notes overwhelming the whisky’s flavor spectrum. So, to have John Hansell proclaim this as being one of his whiskies of the year is pretty significant.
And so, after some hemming and hawing, I hitched up my trousers, made my way down the road, and picked up a bottle of what promised to be an exciting experience, both gastronomically and intellectually!
Tasting Notes
This bottle is from the 4th batch of Jefferson’s Presidential Select, and is bottle number 716. It was distilled in the Fall of 1991, and bottled in 2008 at 47%.
The whiskey is amber in color with glinting gold highlights. The nose is very rich, with a personality that leaps out of the glass displaying notes of polished wood, dark honey, toffee, pecan pie, berries, lots of fruit, cinnamon, and maple syrup. The palate has a velvety texture with mouth-coatingly rich flavors of caramel, sultana raisins, toffee, mesquite honey, almonds, and spices. There is a resiny dryness that is present throughout, while not being overwhelming. Instead, it functions more as a counter-balance to the rich spectrum of flavors, giving evidence of the whiskey’s age without detracting from the flavors in the glass. The finish is medium-length, with flavors of honey, caramel, almonds, and just a hint of citrus.
This is the most expensive bourbon that I’ve bought, and I’ll admit that it’s taken me a bit to come to terms with that. I resolutely believe that one of the beauties of bourbon is how affordable it is to purchase absolutely stellar bottles of whiskey, and this bottle no doubt pushed my comfort level. But I have to admit that I’m very happy to have a tasted whiskey from this famed distillery. Given the degree to which I appreciate whiskey, this is a great experience on many levels.
Would I recommend this? Absolutely. It is indeed a piece of history, along with being a very, very good whiskey in its own right.
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Goose Island Brewing Co. Sofie
Sofie was introduced by Goose Island Brewing last year as the newest member of a series of special edition Belgian-style beers, joining Matilda, Pere Jacques, Juliet, and Fleur. Each beer in the lineup is either Belgian-inspired or brewed to (however loosely) resemble a specific Belgian-style of beer. Pere Jacques is an abbey ale similar to a Belgian dubbel, Matilda is similar to a Flanders red, albeit more sweet than tart. Sofie lies somewhere between a tripel and a saison, although the method they use to produce it is distinctly American in its approach.
The beer itself starts fairly simply, brewed with a blend of pilsner and wheat malts and Amarillo hops. But it’s at this point that things begin to get interesting. The yeast used includes some brettanomyces, and 20% of the beer is aged in Chardonnay wine barrels. They add orange zest from 20 pounds of oranges to the barrels as well. The combination of the brett, Chardonnay barrels, and orange zest ends up playing a significant role in the finished flavors of this beer.
All of the beers that I’ve tasted from this series have been excellent, most notably Sofie and Matilda, both of which I’ve enjoyed on a couple of occasions. Sofie particularly intrigues me on account of Goose Island using brettanomyces to brew it. It’s so interesting to me how much more commonplace it is for American brewers to use wild yeasts these days. Even just four years ago, when I first became especially interested in beers, and fascinated by Belgian lambics, it was very unusual for American brewers to use wild yeasts. Today, along with the brewers who really pioneered the use of wild yeasts, such as Lost Abbey/Tomme Arthur and Russian River Brewing, loads of other brewers have taken on the challenge of incorporating these beers into their brewing systems. What’s most exciting is the range of brewers doing so, running the gamut from rather large breweries such as Goose Island, to smaller, local breweries such as Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Mass., or White Birch Brewing in Hooksett, NH. These last two breweries are absolutely stellar by the way, and you simply must try their beers if you ever have the chance. Top-notch, locally brewed, creative…very inspiring breweries.
Tasting Notes
Sofie pours pale gold, with lots of carbonation seething up out of the glass, and a billowy white head that settles into a thin layer with a fair amount of lacing. The nose has soft belgian phenolics of sweet, subtle spices, alongside notes of lemon, wheat, and green grapes. Effervescent carbonation supports a soft, lightly textured body. Flavors include citrusy and herbal hop bitterness, lemon-lime sorbet, orange peel, bready malt, and a hint of clove-like spiciness. The wine barrel aging comes through in a white-wine-like dryness that runs like an undercurrent throughout the beer. On the finish, sweet maltiness gives way to wine grapiness followed by the sweet tartness of Meyer lemons.
This beer is perfectly suited to a gently warm summer day. The texture and flavors combine to lend the beer a wonderfully refreshing character, and the 6.5% alcohol is almost unnoticeable as a result. This is a beer I’d happily choose to a accompany dinner on a summer evening.
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Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen
Several years ago I spent part of a summer studying in Mainz, Germany. All in all, an incredible experience. It was the first significant amount of time that I spent outside of the US, and what better place than Mainz, a university town with a mix of historical old buildings and city center, and more modern, contemporary architecture around the university itself.
One of my most distinct memories is of the beer gardens along the Rhine River. Mainz is located in central-western Germany, and the Rhine runs right along its eastern boundary. I quite clearly remember evenings spent sitting at the long picnic tables in these beer gardens, listening to the conversation and trying desperately to figure out what the heck people were saying. I mean, let’s face it, my German wasn’t the greatest, and drinking beer didn’t really help. Although, I definitely remember feeling more fluent after a couple glasses.
The beer left its impression too. Each beer garden offered just two or three styles, with a lager and a hefeweizen being the most common offerings. I was already a fan of wheat beers, and it was during this time in Mainz that I really came to appreciate hefeweizens as sterling summer beers.
German brewing is governed, of course, by the Reinheitsgebot – the German beery purity law stipulating that only four ingredients can be used for brewing: malt, hops, water, and yeast. From this arises the beauty of hefeweizens. Using only these four ingredients, brewers in Germany have produced a style of beer that offers a wealth of aromas and flavors in the glass. Classic traits of German hefeweizens are their cloudy appearance (due to the amount of wheat used and the yeast that remains in suspension), the spicy nose, and the rich, sweet, and spicy flavors. That nearly all of these flavors are derived from the yeast alone is just remarkable.
American brewers have generally taken a different approach to brewing wheat beers, producing beers that on the whole are much cleaner and brighter than Germany’s hefeweizens. Very few American breweries have produced a German-style hefeweizen as a year-round beer, and so it was a pretty big surprise when Sierra Nevada announced that the newest addition to their lineup of year-round beers was going to be a classic, German-style hefeweizen.
Before rolling out Kellerweis Sierra Nevada conducted a wealth of research into how to brew a style of beer that their brewery really wasn’t outfitted for. In particular, they had to introduce a whole new strain of yeast, and figure out how best to ferment a hefeweizen using their existing facilities. As it turns out, the same open fermenters that they use to produce their Bigfoot barleywine each year were perfect for fermenting a hefeweizen, a style whose yeast strain actually prefers open fermenters in order to fully develop the range of aromas that the beer is so well known for.
With the yeast and fermenting process in place, Sierra Nevada was ready to unveil Kellerweis, and in spring of 2009 the new beer hit the shelves. The reception since then has been very positive, and today the only thing preventing Kellerweis from being readily available is the limited production capacity on account of the small number of open fermenters they have.
Tasting Notes
Sierra Nevada uses a blend of pale, wheat, and munich malts to arrive at an original gravity of 1.052, and Sterling and Perle hops to reach 15 IBUs. The beer finishes at 4.8%.
Kellerweis pours a hazy, golden yellow, with 2-fingers worth of fluffy, white head. The nose has strong notes of clove, grains of paradise, lemon, and just a hint of leafy green, noble hops. The palate bursts with effervescent carbonation and sweet flavors of bready malt, yeast, citrus, honey, and spices. The beer finishes off with notes of honey and malt. This beer is a clear case of beauty in simplicity.
This is an excellent, classically styled hefeweizen, and is right up there with the best examples I’ve tasted, either in bottles here or on-tap abroad. The bottom line is, if you’re a fan of hefeweizens then this is a must-try beer for you. Sierra Nevada has done a great job of recreating this style.
Alexander Valley Vineyards “Sin Zin” Alexander Valley Zinfandel 2007
The strength of my interests tends to take place in waves. One month I’ll be preoccupied with whiskey, tasting several and reading all I can about it, the next week my attention will turn to beer, perhaps blisteringly hoppy IPAs, then on to coffee, followed by scotch, followed by…you get the picture. Because my interest in these various delectable beverages is driven as much by intellectual curiosity as sheer enjoyment, what I end up tasting is very often driven by what I’m enjoying reading about at any given moment.
Recently, the pendulum has swung towards wine, and zinfandel in particular. This is due in part to my love of the zinfandel from Nalle Winery (whose mailer I received recently, and I have to say that it’s very well done and a great enticement to purchase some of their wines! Darn shipping laws!). Recently, I learned that this year they’ve bottled separately the wine made from grapes grown in the field directly in front of the winery. I remember visiting there a few years ago and walking amidst that small plot of vines. How cool to know that they’ve bottled that wine separately. Now if only their wine came out thisaways!
Anyhow, I’ve always loved Nalle’s zinfandel, and as a result I often get drawn back to this grape and the unique and exciting wines that certain producers make from it. During these digressions down the zinfandel path, I end up leafing through Stephen Brook’s California Wine for the umpteenth time, reading the section on zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Nalle, Ridge, Ravenswood, etc. I dig up interviews with Doug Nalle, Paul Draper, and others. And I stroll through the aisles of wine shops, admiring bottles of zin from Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, Paso Robles, and other appellations on occasion (admittedly, those are my go-to appellations for zinfandel).
Alexander Valley Vineyards‘ Sin Zin has been one of my favorite zinfandels for many years now, and so when we ran across several bottles of the 2007 vintage at a bargain price, I didn’t hesitate to stock up. Sin Zin is made from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley appellation, adjacent to the Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley appellations. It’s one of three uniquely named zinfandels from AVV, alongside Redemption Zin (Dry Creek Valley appellation) and Temptation Zin (Sonoma County appellation). Ever since I first came across Sin Zin, nearly 15 years ago, the label has been the same. Black with red lettering and a drawing of someone imbibing languorously from a wine-filled horn.
As for particulars about the wine, there’s not a lot of information to go on. The wine spends 10 months in American oak barrels, 25% of them new, before being bottled. The 2007 vintage arrives at 14.4%, a not uncommon level of alcohol for California zinfandels.
Tasting Notes
In the glass, the wine is a deep, plush purple red with ruby highlights. The nose has loads of dark red fruits, raspberries, black cherries, and currants, along with warming notes of vanilla, oak, and cedar. The palate is densely textured, with soft, plush tannins and flavors of black cherries, raspberries, currants, oak, soft, vanilla and a whiff of smoky wood presence lurking in the background. The finish continues the theme of deep, dark red fruits with black raspberry sweetness lingering in a medium-length finish.
This is a wonderful zinfandel that captures much of what makes zin such a fun and fascinating wine. It’s rich with dark brambly fruits, has a wonderful texture, and just enough added vanilla and spice from the oak aging. And at this price point (~$20-$25) this is, in my mind, one of the best zinfandels out there.
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