Ken Weaver, Author at Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Beyond the Bottle: Revisiting Weizenbocks

March 15, 2019 by Ken Weaver

It has been at least a few years since the Rare Beer Club featured a weizenbock as one of its featured selections. The most recent example I dug up was Meantime Brewing Co.’s Limited Edition Weizen Double Bock, which the club featured back in August 2014. This style, as is true for many of the more out-there traditional beer styles in the world, has tended to find more frequent expression outside its country of origin (although many of the tastiest classic examples of the weizenbock space still definitely come from Germany). But the fact that the club’s 2014 weizenbock example was from England—and this newest one from Les Trois Mousquetaires in Quebec—kinda echoes the general state of the weizenbock style overall.

The history of weizenbock generally traces its lineage back to Schneider Aventinus, which was introduced by famed weissbier producer Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn in Bavaria back in 1907. That said… writer K. Florian Klemp noted in the (since-defunct) All About Beer Magazine that bock used wheat way back in the pre-Reinheitsgebot 14^th century; in that frame, this combo of wheat + strong malty beer has at least been explored a bit before. For modern drinkers: I’ll say that these beers are some of my favorite to seek out, combining the fluffy, toasty contributions of wheat with that rich, malty focus of a bock or doppelbock.

If you’re digging the Les Trois Mousquetaires example, there’s a decent chance you’ll be able to find some other weizenbocks locally. Aventinus, Weihenstephaner’s Vitus, and Ayinger’s Weizenbock are worth checking out and on the more readily available side. My personal fav in this general space is probably The Livery’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Wheat Trippelbock from Michigan—which clearly takes everything up a few notches. Have a local weizenbock you’re digging, or a fav classic? Let the club know what’s tasting good on Twitter: @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Mango Beers

February 15, 2019 by Ken Weaver

If a fruit exists, there’s a solid chance it’s been made into a beer by this point. But mango is one of those periphery fruits that, while used nowhere near as frequently as classic additions like, say, cherries and raspberries, still tends to feature consistently well in beers like tropical IPA. Hop varieties like Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic and Azacca can give mango notes to beer sans the addition of actual fruit, while providing easy anchor points when using actual mango.

There’s definitely more than one way to mango. Hundreds of mango varieties and cultivars exist, turning yellow to oxblood in color when ripe, and they’re cultivated all over the world (with around half of the world’s production coming from India). When my wife and I were teaching school down in Nicaragua for a few months, there were these massive mango trees outside the schoolhouse, and the kids knocked the fruit down with long sticks and ate every single one green. (YMMV when it comes to trying this out with varieties found stateside…)

For folks looking for more mango-y options, there are a bunch about. In additional to your local brewer’s seasonal options, Omnipollo’s Bianca Mango Lassi Gose has seen some solid distribution stateside, melding mango puree to a gose framework. For a fruited IPA of more biblical proportions, keep an eye out for To Øl’s Garden of Eden, an IPA with additions of apricot, guava, mango, papaya, and passionfruit. It might even prevent scurvy. Got a mango beer you’ve been digging? Let us know what’s tasting good on Twitter via @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Nelson Sauvin Hops

January 25, 2019 by Ken Weaver

Anchorage Brewing Co.’s Nelson Sauvin, one of the two Rare Beer Club featured beers this month, is brewed with 100% Nelson Sauvin hops—a particularly forward variety originating from New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research back in 2000. The variety comes from the New Zealand “Smooth Cone” hop, itself an offspring of old-school California Cluster.

Characteristics of Nelson Sauvin hops emphasize a focus on “fresh crushed gooseberries” (a common descriptor for New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc). The hops also can include tropical character along the lines of lychee, passion fruit, lime, mango… Nelson Sauvin was one of the major early impact hops, and it can bring exceptional potency and zest into a beer.

If you’re digging the Anchorage Nelson Sauvin, where its pungent qualities are set alongside the impact of Brettanomyces, there are at least a couple other examples highlighting these hops (with greater availability). Alpine Beer Co.’s Nelson IPA is one of the key options with larger distribution, while 8Wired’s HopWired IPA is packed with Nelson Sauvin alongside various other New Zealand varieties. Mikkeller’s also featured a variety of Nelson-Sauvin-y releases.

Have a local New Zealand-hop beer you’ve been digging? Something like Motueka more your thing? Let us know what’s been hitting the spot on Twitter at @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Seasonal Fixtures

December 15, 2018 by Ken Weaver

Not that we could use any comfort, but the semi-solid firmament of winter seasonals can be pretty reassuring. Over the course of a year, there aren’t too many seasonal beer releases that I still keep up with, which I think makes me busy and normal. With so many signals firing in beer and beyond, I’m just not getting into seasonal habits as often as I used to. My wife and I got into snagging around February each year—back when we lived on the east coast within distribution range. Victory’s Summer Love, a golden ale that’s right up there with Firestone Walker’s 805 for us, remains a summertime staple. And we typically snag Sierra Nevada’s annual Oktoberfest collabs. Beyond that… it’s mostly winter seasonals.

Between picking out things to share with family over the holidays and/or just having things to look forward to as we head into drearier months (though appreciating the rain in NorCal at the moment), one tends to make deeper attachments to end-of-year seasonals. We picked up a case of Sierra Nevada Celebration as soon as it hit shelves, as we do. Ditto for a sixpack of Anchor’s annually tweaked Christmas ale. Going forward, any seasonal habits we pick up will probably be at our go-to breweries here in Sonoma County. Have you been keeping up with seasonals the way you used to? Which winter releases are you still looking forward to each year? Let us know what’s been hitting the spot over on Twitter via @RareBeerClub.

Beyond the Bottle: Enjoy It While It Lasts

November 16, 2018 by Ken Weaver

All About Beer Magazine had been one of the leading beer publications in the country for 39-ish years. While I wouldn’t be surprised if the brand re-emerged in a different form, you can read more about what’s been going down over at Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog—“After 39 Years, All About Beer Magazine is Dead”—or via the Forbes article “RIP All About Beer.”

It’s been a weird couple years.

I was one of the last folks to depart the All About Beer editorial team, though I kept doing my Trending column over there through the magazine’s final printed issues. That editorial team, led by John Holl and then Daniel Hartis up until the end, was the most supportive group of beer writers and editors I could’ve asked for. Managing editor Jon Page and our designer Jeff Quinn helped steer the mag to what I’m inclined to believe were some of its brightest years. And Hartis and I had some awesome theme issues planned that never saw the light of day.

For those of you who read the mag—thank you for supporting independent beer journalism. If you’re looking for something else to read, Holl’s an editor at Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine these days. I’ve got my first piece for the revamped BeerAdvocate Magazine in their latest issue. Support those publications that serve you well. They’re not going to be around forever.