Beverage of the Week - Life & Limb Sierra/Dogfish Collaboration

What's brought the BoW back after a few months hiatus? A 9 out of 9 perfect score, that's what. Find and buy this one ASAP. You're welcome.

Life & Limb is a completely unique collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head. It's a match made in heaven - Sierra specializes in eminently drinkable, balanced ales and have proven master collaborators of late (check out the Anniversary series), while no one does crazy experimentation like Dogfish does it. First released in '09, they've done another extremely limited run and I got my hands on an early-release bottle Friday. So what's in the bottle? It starts with hops grown at Sierra, yeast from both brewer's private strains, and Massachusetts maple syrup. Brew that and add Alaskan birch syrup to ferment in some more carbonation and you have an exquisitely balanced, entirely unique 10% ABV bottle of bliss.

Despite the extreme sugars this starts with, nothing overpowers here. The color is light molasses with a thin head, and you can only pick up the maple syrup on the nose if you pay close attention. There's a light roast coffee and some toffee notes there as well. On the palate it all blends beautifully - hints of chocolate and coffee smoothed with maple - so only the best notes stand out. Despite the high alchohol content this is wonderfully smooth; there's a little booziness on the nose but nothing in the taste to distract from all the flavors. The only thing comparable is Founder's Black Biscuit, another amazing limited run that gets aged in maple syrup casks.  Don't miss this one - production is very limited, expect even the best beer shops to only get a case or two at most, and that will disappear in a few days tops.

Beverage of the Week - New Mexico Breweries

The modern world is a wonderfully small place - Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam and even Rouge can be found most anywhere in the country nowadays. In fact, if you sit stationary enough it's quite easy to think that all there is to be had is everywhere at your fingertips....

Ah, but everywhere you trek out far enough there's another brewery you can't find down the trail. Right before I left Indiana I was growing enamoured with People's and Sun King, which I'm willing to guarantee no one outside the state has ever heard of. New Mexico has offered me a whole new bounty of local, privileged appreciation. This week's BoW is both homage and enticement in case anyone want's to visit...

I. La Cumbre Brewing Co.

It's gotta tell you something when a brewery in an out-of-the-way, industrial neck of town fills every seat on a Tuesday night. This is a place that consistently has 1-2 of their beers on cask and specializes in high-alcohol, high flavor beers. Not for the weak at heart, but certainly aimed at my heart. The recent Three-Legged Dog IPA was a 10%+ monster, with a surprisingly mellow hop flavor. My standard is the Malpais Stout, which is drier than most with burnt chocolate notes, really sitting somewhere between a stout and a Baltic porter in my opinion - it sounds rough, but it's amazingly well balanced. As a bonus, they don't serve food so they can stay dog-friendly. I've taken Chester there a couple times now.

II. Marble Brewing Co.

Located a short hike off the strip downtown, Marble is by far the most consistent brewery in town, if not the most interesting. Their IPA is quite nice - the hop-forward without being overwhelming, the sort of IPA you can dig into several glasses of. They have an Irish style strong red that shows up occasionally and is probably their most interesting offering. I hear the white ale is nice as well, but I'm not a white/wheat guy so no commentary from me. Bottom line is this is not the best brewery in town, but it's pretty good and by far the most widely available (right now, they're the only ones bottling for outside sales). It's my local Sierra Nevada equivalent - always tasty and usually an option when faced with a sea of Macrobrewed Pisswiser.

III. Chama River Brewing Co.

Hands down my favorite brewery in town. Their Sleeping Dog Stout is excellent - a nice balance of dark chocolate and rich coffee, but with the bitter notes smoothed out and light bodied enough that I was actually glad when they stopped the 22oz mugs - I'd almost make it through two before Courtney polished off a 16oz pint. Best of all, they have 3-4 rotating taps with seasonals that are often excellent and always interesting. They had a kick-ass Bourbon aged stout last winter, and recently did a very nice Marzen (which you don't see microbrews doing too often). Top that off with an excellent, top-class dinner menu at the main location, and a dig-able, dog-friendly microbar downtown.

Beverage of the Week - Redbreast 12-Year Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey

For my birthday this year, my wife and my parents finally came to there senses and just bought me whiskey. It's the no-fail option. Ironically, though, they bought me the same whiskey. Now, I've always had a lukewarm relationship with Irish whiskey. The older Jameson's are nice, but I've never really ran into an Irish I'd go out of my way for. Irish whiskey always seems to be aiming for unassuming - and that's not me.

But I've been really, really pleasantly surprised by Redbreast.

First, some background. Irish whiskey is a pretty loose term - unlike Scotch or Bourbon, basically any grain can be used and any aging method is fine, so long as it's aged three years and Irish born and bred.* Redbreast is a "pure pot still" whiskey, meaning there's no grain mixed in (unlike all other Irish whiskey but Green Spot).. There's likely blending of different ages and maturations, though, making this more akin to a vatted malt than a single malt. Irish whiskey (Redbreast included) is also almost always triple distilled, where Scotch is only generally only distilled twice. This in part accounts for the smoothness of Irish whiskey and the greater complexity of Scotch - there are more fermentation products sneaking in that bottle of Lagvulin than the Bushmill's.

Back to the bottle at hand. The nose has light pepper, honey, and caramelized milk. The palate has prominent sherry, cake, a little lemony toffee, and just a dash of pepper. On the whole very mild, very smooth, but with some real depth and complexity - unlike pretty much any other Irish but Middleton and some of Bushmill's older bottles. There's a little oiliness as well, and it's a nice touch - it draws out the finish, without being overbearing like younger Laphroig can be (if you aren't accustomed to it). The bottom line - this is smooth, easy-drinking whiskey with enough depth to still interest the connoisseur.

If you like whiskey, you'll really enjoy this. But if you like Jameson, Bushmill's, or even Canadian Whisky, you'll love this stuff. 7.5 out of 9.

Beverage of the Week - Segura Vidas Brut Reserva Cava

Maybe you got a promotion at work. Maybe you rocked finals. Maybe you just got engaged. Maybe you woke up this morning and said, damn, I'm pretty awesome and it'd just be overkill to look for a reason to celebrate (I usually do). Regardless, nothing says par-tay like champagne. Champagne, of course, is a name limited to a bunch of overpriced bubbly from one little area in France (and, of course, Miller High Life). But in the vernacular  it refers to any sparkling white wine, such as this excellent, inexpensive Cava.

Very dry on the finish, this is heavy on the tart apple and bright citrus, but no one would describe it as sweet. Acidity is generally what I look for in a sparkling, and this just pops right off your tongue as soon as it hits it. Back in my bartending days I had plenty of Cristal, Dom, Veuve and the like - they're great, and maybe I lack the palate for champagne, but I honestly think they're only slightly better than this.  It's the sort of champagne you can really savor a glass of, or down a bottle of - and at under $10 a bottle, there's no shame in either strategy.

Fragments and Reflections

The earth we inhabit is an error, an incompetent parody. 

Mirrors and paternity are abominable because they multiply and affirm it.

- J. L. Borges