Back From The Best Tasting With Geoff Griggs

May saw Geoff Griggs host the Back from the Best Tasting at Regional. The theme comprised of a slide show and tales from Geoff Griggs experiences at the World Beer Cup and his travels through America and England before and after. As we watched the slides and listened to Geoff we tasted a range of American craft beers put together to illustrate just how diverse American Craft brewing is.
We kicked off the tasting with a beer from the Firestone Walker Brewery in California that Geoff visited on his trip. Firestone Walker are known for their unique fermentation system which utilises large oak barrels to ferment and mature a portion of the beer that goes into their Double Barrel Ale. They call the system the Firestone Union after the Burton Union system of fermentation that was once common in the United Kingdom and is still utilised by Marston’s. Geoff however learnt that unlike the English system which aims to add no oak character to the finished beer and instead imparts a specific fermentation character to the beer because of the environment that it creates for the yeast, the Firestone system is all about adding a creamy vanilla slightly tannic character to the beer. Firestone Double Barrel Ale is a malt accented English style pale ale brewed with Goldings, Magnum and Styrian Golding hops. D.B.A. presented an aroma of earthy hops, rich caramel malt and a hint of vanilla, in the mouth there was more caramel and toffee malt, smooth oaky notes and a long slightly tannic finish.
Next up was Sierra Nevada Glissade a Helles Bock from Sierra Nevada the biggest craft brewery in the US and the second largest Craft Brewing Company behind Samuel Adams. Helles Bocks are strong pale malt accented lagers which place a lot of emphasis on nutty bready malt characters with honeyed noble hop characters playing a supporting role. Glissade is a Northern Hemisphere Spring seasonal that delivers loads of rich bready malt, some light stone fruit esters and some light fresh hop notes.
Geoff told us how he has never made it to Sierra Nevada as the town of Chico where the brewery is located is about a 5 hour drive from the home of the friends he stays with in California. Chico is a relatively sleepy student town (does such a place exist?) and his hosts have never been keen on 10 hours of travel time with only a brewery visit in between.
Goose Island is a long established brewing company based in Chicago, Illinois. With both two brewpubs and a large production brewery Goose Island exports beers around the world with famous IPA having significant presence in Europe. For the tasting we were able to source Matilda a specialty Belgian style Pale Ale.
Chicago was where the World Beer Cup was held this year and Matilda had been served to the judges at their calibration tasting. Geoff told us how Greg Hall the brewer designed this beer as his ode to the Trappist classic Orval. While Geoff and most in attendance could find little in common between Matilda and Orval, Matilda is a fantastic beer in its own right.
Pouring a mid gold Matilda offered up aromas of rich malt, and spicy fruity yeast notes with a hint of noble hop character. In the mouth there was more rich malt, with stonefruit and clove notes and a touch of Brettanomyces. The Matilda we tasted was very fresh having only been bottled in March and the spicy slightly wild yeast character will mature significantly with bottle age.

Alaskan Smoked Porter is one of the most famous smoked beers in the world and the beer which pioneered the production of smoked beers in the new world. Geoff told us how he met owner and Brewer Geoff Larson at the Chicago Brewers Conference which ran along side the WBC this year. Geoff Larson told Geoff Griggs of the huge distances involved in getting the beers from the brewery which is situated in the icy near wilderness of Juneau Alaska to the ‘lower 46’ states of American, the breweries major market. For example raw ingredients have to come in on barges and packaged beer goes out on barges.
Alaskan Smoked Porter is produced by using malts which have been smoked over Alder chips at a local smoke house. The beer presents a complex aroma of dark cocoa, bonfire and espresso. In the mouth there is a profound smoked note that is quickly balanced by chocolate and rich roasted malt notes with the smoke reappearing in the finish. Geoff Griggs ventured that he thought Alaskan Smoked Porter was the most intensely smoked beer we had ever had at a Regional tasting.
Smoked beers are often held up as being one of the most acquired tastes of the beer world; however Alaskan Smoked Porter won the popular vote both nights taking out the top beer of the tasting by a large margin.
Impressively we were able to get through the first four beers of the tasting without venturing into the world of resinous American hop characters, however all that was about to change!

Next up we had two beers from the Green Flash Brewery in San Diego which is known for producing extravagantly hopped India Pale Ales. Geoff visited and fell in love with them when he judged at the 2008 WBC which was held in San Diego. Green Flash Hophead Red is a red hued American India Pale Ale with an assertive aroma of resinous citrus like American hops and a dry caramel malt character which just manages to balance the big intense hop flavour.
Then we had the Green Flash West Coast IPA an iconic American style India Pale Ale that’s bursting with zesty resinous grapfruity hop aromas and a lean malt character with a ton of hop flavour and a long bitter finish. Definitely one for the hopheads and the beer which Geoff Griggs instantly feel in love when he first tried it, however others felt it was ‘somewhat’ lacking in balance.

Next we presented 2 beers that were fantastic but that Geoff didn’t get a chance to visit while in the states. A

The Products...

Green Flash Hophead Red 355Ml
An assertively hopped strong American amber ale from a highly renowned San Dia...
$6.25 355 MLS

Breaking News

08-Feb-2012 - Ha ha gotta love it... #lostintranslation Click Here
08-Feb-2012 - Interesting discovery with particular pertinence to NZ Syrah... Click Here
08-Feb-2012 - RT @WineSpectator: Wine's Three Biggest Lies (Wine Spectator): Why good wine lovers tell bad lies Click Here
04-Feb-2012 - RT @vickizorro: Love your work @regionalwines Click Here

08-Feb-2012 - Ha ha gotta love it... #lostintranslation Click Here

08-Feb-2012 - Interesting discovery with particular pertinence to NZ Syrah... Click Here

08-Feb-2012 - RT @WineSpectator: Wine's Three Biggest Lies (Wine Spectator): Why good wine lovers tell bad lies Click Here

04-Feb-2012 - RT @vickizorro: Love your work @regionalwines Click Here

Sign-up below to be the first in the know on everything from tastings to specials...

The New World Hop Shoot Out
Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd March, 6.00 pm start, Cost $35.00 pp, Limit 30 places each night Venue: Tasting Room, Regional 15 Ellice St , Mt Victoria