As ubiquitious as the brewery is to our club, few Falcons have traveled to this Sacred Brewery. Ken Grossman, the founder of SN is a long time Falcon. Fortune was shining on me as my boss had me on a trip through Northern California. A stop at the brewery's taproom (restaurant) was demanded.
I arrived a bit late for dinner, as the kitchen was preparing to close for the evening. However I managed to order their stuffed shells (with cheese, mushrooms, and dungeness crab) topped with a mornay sauce ($18). There were several "beer camp" beers on tap. These beers are served only at the taproom.
HOPTIMUM: A group of hop-heads and publicans challenged our Beer Camp brewers to push the extremes of whole-cone hop brewing. The result is this: a 100 IBU, whole-cone hurricane of flavor. Simply put —Hoptimum: the biggest whole-cone IPA we have ever produced. Aggressively hopped, dry-hopped, AND torpedoed with our exclusive new hop varieties for ultra-intense flavors and aromas
This beer is 10.5% abv with 100 IBUs. The malts are Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat withGerman Magnum for bittering; Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety for aroma and dry hopping; and Citra & Chinook for torpedo.
I alsoo had the Loch Hop and Barrel. This is a Scotch barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. Unfortunately there was not much information available for this beer. As an RIS, it was fair. It has not been aged lovng, as the beer was without any sherry notes, but very prominent in soy sauce flavors.
For desert I had the apple cobbler. Instead of using the classic strusel or biscuit topping, the cobbler topping was like a cookie. It was topped with vanilla bean icecream and a malted caramel sauce.
- brewmaster411's blog
- Log in or register to post comments
Comments
I have to say, as an imperial stout, Loch, Hop, and Barrel is just plain weird. But that is because it isn't anything remotely close. The beer is a strong Scotch lager, hop backed with Estate Chinook, and then run through their Torpedo full of toasted oak chips. I'm kind of bummed that you had this beer with something like that in mind. There really is no soy, sherry notes shouldn't be present because the beer is less than a month old, and you were just looking for something entirely different. Loch to me is very much like a steroidal doppelbock. Big, malty, bready, caramel is very apparent. Some alcohol heat is in there. No esters. Some slickness from the Chinook, earthy, and complex. The oak is present as well, but it presents differently than a typical barrel aged beer. It is woody and I think that contributes to the earthiness I pick up. The color and the clarity alone should have made you question this beer being any sort of stout. Dark brown with ruby red highlights, white to tan head... It just isn't anything like a stout. This beer was a one off and you'll likely never have it again. Only 20 barrels were made and they'll be served in the next few weeks. I'd share some of mine, but I only have 5 gallons. :) --Derek, proud co-father of Beer Camp 35's Loch, Hop, and Barrel.