Beer Evangelists

Just a reminder that Sycamore will be hosting another beer dinner on October 27th, one week from today. Here are the details: http://www.sycamorerestaurant.com/events.htm. This dinner looks a bit different, in that no single brewer is featured. A bit more like a tasting that the traditional beer dinner at Sycamore. I’m really looking forward to it!

My first ever bottle of Pliny the Elder. This is a year round offering from Russian River. It came in a 500mL bottle allowing me to use an imperial pint glass and not feel cheated. I’ve been wanting to try this DIPA for quite a while. Thanks to Jason and Jeremy for picking me up a bottle while they were in Denver at GABF. Now if I could have just convinced them to blog GABF I would have been happy. Maybe next year…

Pliny pours golden yellow with a thick, firm head that has some retention. The head also leaves lots of lacing on the glass. Lots of citrusy sweetness on the nose, and bitter pine in the mouth. While bitter, the beer doesn’t have a heavy or overly bitter finish, and is quite drinkable. The finish actually reminds me of peeling and eating a fresh grapefruit.

It is 8% ABV so I don’t know how many I would want in a row, but it is really tasty. And actually, that 8% is hidden well, so I could see this beer sneaking up on me (like Jamie’s Centennial IPA). I will definitely have this one again. Maybe someday we’ll be able to get Russian River here in Columbia, but I don’t expect it anytime soon. Outside of California, Russian River only distributes to Oregon, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.

The Tribune had a nice article about our group in the Wednesday food section. Be sure to check it out.

Another beer dinner is coming up at Sycamore. The tentative beer list looks pretty good. Check the Sycamore events page for more details.

For those of you that don’t check Beeradvocate.com, Sanford posted this today:

Double Dead Guy is tapped

If you are interested, we tapped a keg of Rogue Double Dead Guy tonight here at Sycamore

cheers, Sanford

Now I just have to figure out when I can get down there to try it!

I’ve been holding on to this bottle since May when Myra and I visited San Jose, CA and finally decided to try it tonight while watching the debate (and that is all I’m going to say about politics).

This beer pours cloudy and is a yellowish orange color. It has loads of thick, creamy head with lots of retention. It has a citrusy nose with just a hint of grain. It starts bitter and is not terribly carbonated. It feels light, and has a bitter aftertaste as well. Pretty good, and is a nice IPA. It weighs in at 6.5% ABV.

We had another great tasting at Sycamore. I must like brown ales more than I realized, since I liked every beer we tried. I’m not sure what my favorite was this time, maybe the Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar or the Big Sky Moose Drool. Of the homebrews, Jamie’s Maple Amber Ale was my favorite. It would be excellent with some nice thick bacon and a couple of pancakes.

I was at Sycamore today for lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see Bear Republic Racer 5 on tap. Oh, happy day! I bet that keg doesn’t last long.

If you haven’t had it, Racer 5 is an excellent example of the west coast IPA. Very hoppy. Lots of citrus on the nose. Bitter finish. Very drinkable. I’m really excited to have Bear Republic in Missouri.