Fredericksburg Group Participates in Guinness Record Attempt

Members of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing & Tasting Society took part in a Guinness Book of Records attempt for the largest simultaneous toast in the world. The event was organized as part of the UK's National Cask Ale Week. During their regular monthly meeting, the local group raised a toast Saturday at 2:00 PM. The Free Lance-Star was on hand to provide coverage:

Glancing down at his watch, Lyle Brown poured the members of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing & Tasting Society glasses of his own brew, Trafalgar Premium Bitter.

Around a table laden with cheese, olives and a unique assortment of pilsners, lagers and stouts, the founder of the group dedicated to making and tasting interesting beer readied his peers to take part in history.

Instructing the dozen or so assembled in the back room of Kybecca Wine & Gourmet in Spotsylvania County to raise their glasses, Brown counted off the seconds until his Naval Observatory-synched watch hit 2 p.m Saturday.

At that second, they joined folks at more than 6,000 locations around the world in an effort to break the record for the World's Largest Toast.

It will take some time for the world-wide participants to be tallied, but it was a great chance for the group to participate. Unfortunately the day also happened to be Holy Saturday, which for me was a "quiet" day, so I was unable to attend.

See the entire Free Lance-Star article here.

November FABTS Tasting Session

Members of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society (FABTS) gathered at Kybecca on Saturday to discuss, and taste, "beers to serve with Thanksgiving dinner." Members brought in beer to share and offered up their suggestions on how to pair the beers with the Thanksgiving feast. Though a small gathering with just about 10 members present, the discussions, and beer, were plentiful and folks walked away with some good ideas for their holiday festivities.

The session started off with the beers to serve with, or as, appetizers. Suggestions included Anchor Steam Beer, Oude Gueuze, and Tröegs Troegenator Double Bock. Three distinctly different beers, they offer sweet and tart flavors that will leave the pallet ready for dinner without filling you up. The tartness of the Oude Gueuze (a blend of old and young lambics) was met with mixed reactions. Though I do think the experience of sipping this as an appetizer would be different from just a small quick taste followed by other beers.

The quintessential Thanksgiving food is turkey. Turkey meat is relatively mild in flavor so the beer served with it shouldn't overwhelm, but still cut through the fatty oils that may coat the tongue. Saison was a popular offering. We tasted Saison Dupont, Victory V-Saison, Ommegang Hennepin, and North Coast Le Merle. Though all Saisons, each offered a slightly different flavor profile. I've never had the Le Merle before, but I particularly enjoyed this offering from North Coast with its balance of citrus tart and yeasty funk. Ch'ti Ambrée, a Belgian Pale Ale was also in the lineup for turkey pairing.

Next we moved on to some beers that work especially well with the dark meat part of the turkey, or other darker meats that are often served at holiday meals. A couple of smoked beers started of this portion of the tasting. First up, Lyle Brown's Smoke Out, officially known as Starr Hill Smoke Out. The beer has a light smoke flavor in a malty, golden bock. This was followed by Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen. The Aecht Schlenkerla is smoked bacon in a bottle. The smoke aroma and flavor is VERY upfront and probably best paired with a smoked meat, else you risk losing milder food flavors to the smokiness of the beer.

Other beers suggested for pairing with darker meats, and not to forget, the turkey stuffing, were Red Hook Late Harvest Autumn Ale and Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale. Gouden Carolus Classic and Koningshoeven Dubbel were some fine non-domestic suggestions to round out this section.

Next we moved on to the dessert portion of the tasting. Quatre-Centième Brassin Commémoratif from Unibroue in Quebec was suggested as a digestif. Brooklyn Local 1, also a Belgian Pale Ale, but from a U.S. brewery, was also offered. Moving on to other beers to have with Thanksgiving day dessert, we tasted two pumpkin beers. New Holland Ichabod Ale has a pronounced pumpkin flavor backed by mild spices. Many of those present remarked that this was their favorite pumpkin beer. Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale is more heavy on the nutmeg and clove spices. I describe it as more pumpkin the pie than pumpkin the gourd. Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale was enjoyed next, with its sweet maple syrup flavor and noticeable alcohol warmth.

Continuing with the dessert theme, we moved next to the chocolate beers. Boulder Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout has an earthy bittersweet chocolate flavor. This limited release from Boulder Brewing gets my vote as my favorite beer of the session. I need to look for this one. (And I did drop a hint to Matt at Kybecca.) Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout and Young's Double Chocolate Stout are two beers made with actual chocolate. For my tastes, the chocolate flavors overcome the beer aspect. James described Young's as "Yoo-Hoo for grownups." To close our discussion of Thanksgiving beers, we finished as we had begun a few hours earlier with a sour beer. Duchesse De Bourgogne is a Flanders Red Ale from Belgium. Joe decreed this one of his all-time favorite beers. As with the Lambics, Flanders Red is an acquired taste, one that I admittedly am still working on appreciating fully.

Finally we enjoyed two homebrewed beers. We had another tasting of Dave's Smoked Pumpkin Honey Ale. We have been treated to several sessions with this beer over the past year as Dave ages the original batch. The beer is still very tasty and was well-recieved as usual. Hopefully Dave will do another batch this year. Joe shared his "Big Bad John" Barleywine. This strong, bold, ale is still young by Joe's estimation but was very tasty. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it did elicit a shocked "woo" from one taster. I look forward to tasting this as it continues to mature.

I left the meeting with a few new ideas for Thanksgiving dinner beers, along with a shopping list of beers I wanted to explore more in-depth. And that's really what these tasting sessions are all about. The next FABTS meeting is December 13 when the theme will be "Holiday Beers." This appellation covers the wide range of special beers that brewers release during the Winter. I'll need to peruse Don Russell's "Christmas beer" book a bit more before that meeting.

FABTS July Meeting: "American Beers"

Yesterday's gathering of the Fredericksburg Brewing and Tasting Society was "big and brash", and not for the faint of heart. This month's theme was American Beer. The theme could be interpreted in a number of ways. One interpretation was that of beers that are uniquely American, based on ingredients, brewing methods or innovations, including of course, the American trend to imperialize everything. (Of course, some might argue that the entire craft beer movement is an American creation.) The other interpretation used was any beer that had "American" on it's style listing in the BJCP guidelines was fair game. All this latitude made for a long, and highly enjoyable afternoon for the dozen or so participants. All total, we sampled 28 commercial beers and three homebrews.

Kona Wailua Wheat, an American Pale Wheat Ale brewed with passion fruit was the kick off beer. This beer got mixed reviews from participants and was noted to be very good when had fresh on tap at the brewery. Legend Golden Ale was an "out of order" surprise in that, despite the name, turns out actually to be an American Pale Ale. Fiddler's Green Blond Ale, from F.X Matt Brewing was a sleeper that many participants had seen but never tried. A nicely balanced blond ale, it might be a good "intro" beer for new craft beer drinkers. Bosmo's Imperial Cream Ale is a special beer brewed for the American Homebrewers Association meeting in Cincinnati this year. Cream ales are an American creation and this one was smooth with a slightly buttery, malt flavor.

Alaskan Winter Ale, a uniquely American beer brewed with spruce tips was a special treat. The flavor was slightly sweet with spicy, herbal notes, and very drinkable. Avery Ellie's Brown Ale, listed as an American Brown Ale in the 2004 BJCP Guide, though it's closer to an English brown, was well-received. FABTS members are quite generous and often share special beers with the group. Williamsburg AleWorks "400" Ale was one such beer, brewed just once to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first Virginia Settlement. Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale, a beer I reviewed previously, was well-received. Brewed with maple syrup and certainly "imperial", it definitely qualifies as uniquely American.

The beer that could be said to have kicked of the American craft beer movement, Anchor Steam Beer was up next. Followed by Coney Island Sword Swallower, a new beer to the area. We next ran through a litany of Pale Ales and IPAs including Boston Beer LongShot Grape Pale Ale, Bluegrass Brewing American Pale Ale, Left Hand Jackman's American Pale Ale, Butternuts Porkslap Pale Ale, Butternuts Snapperhead IPA, Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, and Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale.

Port Brewing Hop 15, an Imperial IPA, may have been the hit of the day, at least for the hop heads in attendance. This beer exemplifies the term imperial, and is done very well. Hopped to the extreme, but very well balanced and quite drinkable. First brewed for the 15th Anniversary of Port Brewing in Solana Beach, CA, the brewery uses 15 hop varieties in the recipe.

Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Victory HopDevil, Southern Tier Hoppe and Moylan's Hopsickle rounded out the Pale Ale and IPA section of the sampling.

Three barleywines were next on deck. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Alaskan Barley Wine and Old Dominion Millennium Ale. The Old Dominion Millenium was previously listed as an American Barleywine by the BJCP Guide (2004) but is now listed as an English Barelywine. It did provide a nice contrast to the two American Barleywines.

The commercial section was concluded with Bell's Kalamazoo Stout and Alaskan Smoked Porter. I'd been eyeing the Alaskan bottle all afternoon, as had others. The smoke aroma and flavor of this beer is very pleasing and is a different flavor profile than other smoked beers, or Rauchbier, that I've had. The brewery smokes the malt over local alder wood and produces this special beer each Fall. That's three Alaskan Brewing beers enjoyed this afternoon. These beers are not available in the East, except by mail order. Did I mention how generous FABTS members were?

We also were treated to three homebrewed beers this afternoon. Dave brought more of his "Applewood Smoked Honey Pumpkin Ale." We've enjoyed this beer several times in the past and it's interesting to see how the beer changes with age. The smokiness level has decreased, and this may be seen as good or bad, depending upon the drinker's opinion of smoked beers. (This drinker enjoys them very much.) Joe brought two beers for us to try. His "English Spoken Here" English IPA was very well-received and quite enjoyable. Finally his "Radiant Copper IPA", an American style IPA was enjoyed.

As usual, thanks go out to our hosts at Kybecca for the meetings space, and donated beers and cheeses, and Angela and James for their usual cheese and cracker platters. Of course, all the members who donated the many beers made the event possible. It was quite an enjoyable, and long afternoon. There was the usual good natured banter and ribbing, but you'll have to come to a meeting to hear about that. I had picked out a couple of special beers to enjoy later in the evening, however after this marathon session, the main thing I enjoyed Saturday evening was a nap!

The next meeting is scheduled for August 9 and the theme will be Meads. Be sure to watch the official FABTS web site for details.

FABTS Meeting This Weekend

The next meeting of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society is this Saturday, July 12. Mark your calendars now as this promises be an interesting tasting session.

Since July is traditionally American Beer Month, the July theme will be "American Ales". If the style name has "American" in it, it counts. American Wheat, American Pale Ale, American Amber Ale, American Brown Ale, American Stout, American IPA, and American Barleywine are all included. In addition to commercial brews, home brews of any style are welcome and often brought in by members for sharing.

The monthly meetings are held at Kybecca on Plank Road in the Ukrops shopping center. Meetings start at 1:30 PM and end when all the beers have been tasted. There's a minimal $5.00 tasting fee, to keep the alcohol revenuers happy. Beers are donated by members. For more information see the FABTS website. You can also read about some previous FABTS meetings here. FABTS meetings are always a lot of fun, informal, and a great learning experience. I hope to see you there!

FABTS June Meeting

On Saturday the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society met at Kybecca for a "Summer Beer" exploration. Instead of picking a specific beer style, this month we looked at a variety of beers; Helles, Pilseners, Saisons, Wheat Ales, Hefeweizens, Witbier, anything that a brewer tagged as their Summer seasonal was fair game. There were about a dozen folks attending, and I was glad my friend Frank was able to attend as well. I've been trying to get him to a meeting for awhile and the schedule finally worked out. I know Frank isn't a fan of wheat beers so I was hoping his first meeting wouldn't be his last.

We started out with the Classic Lager from Fredericksburg's Blue & Gray Brewery. While this Municher Helles is not a seasonal offering, it certainly is fitting as a Summer beer. Adding to the interest, the brewery recently changed the recipe and they now use a true lager yeast. The beer has nice sweet malt and bitter hop balance. I had not had the Classic Lager since the change, but will surely be enjoying it again this Summer.

Moving on, we next tried Honey Moon Summer Ale from the Coors Brewing Company, part of the brewery's Blue Moon "craft" family of beers. Not many offerings from macro-breweries show up at FABTS meetings. The Blue Moon beers developed at Coors' Sandlot Brewpub in Denver are good "intro" beers for drinkers starting to discover craft beers. The Honey Moon had a light citrus flavor. We moved through several more American Pale Wheat Ales including Saranac Pomegranate Wheat, Smuttynose Summer Weizen, and Magic Hat Circus Boy. All of these are decent beers, if somewhat uninspiring for my tastes. I don't drink too many wheat beers myself, though many folks do enjoy them as Summer beers. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. :-)

Next another Blue & Gray beer, as a growler of Virginia Hefeweizen was passed around. This Summer release is a nice American Hefeweizen with prominent banana notes and a slightly spicy finish. New Holland Zoomer Wit was a nice witbier with some citrusy notes. New Holland beers are fairly new to our area and I look forward to trying more from this brewery. Rogue Mom Hefeweizen (an alias for their Half-E-Weizen Witbier) was up next. There were some ginger and coriander notes in the beer, though it was fairly non-descript otherwise. Dogfish Head Festina Pêche brought an abrupt flavor change to the table. A Berliner Weissbier brewed with peach concentrate, this tart beer seemed to shock many of the tasters. I've often enjoyed Festina Pêche after a day of working in the hot sun and it's quite refreshing.

Mendocino Summer Ale was an interesting beer. The label describes the beer simply as "Ale Brewed With Spices." I found this one to be very flavorful with a unique spice profile. It may seem strange but it brought to mind the taste of sweet steamed crab meat with a spicy seasoning. It was not mouth-burning red pepper, but I was struck with the memory of the many steamed crab meals I grew up with in Baltimore. I definitely need to revisit this beer.

Moving away from "wheat beers", we next tried Brooklyn Summer Ale. This English Pale Ale is a nice Summer session beer at 4.5% ABV. Tröegs Sunshine Pils was one of two Pilseners that made appearances. Sunshine Pils is one I look forward to each Summer. It's a crisp refresher with a prominent hop bitterness. The next Pilsener was Old Dominion Beach House Golden Pilsener. This was one of my contributions, and a beer that I featured on this blog recently. This new seasonal from Old Dominion Brewery got high ratings from the tasters. Next up, and slightly out of sequence was another American Pale Wheat Ale, Southern Tier Hop Sun.

Two Saisons wrapped up the commercial beers for the afternoon. First, Clipper City Red Sky At Night. This Saison is part of the brewery's Heavy Seas line of imperial beers and another beer I featured here recently. A more traditional Saison was Saison De L'Epeautre from Brasserie de Blaugies in Belgium. This beer is truly alive. The cage had been removed from the bottle when just a few seconds later, a loud POP was heard and the cork flew out and hit the ceiling, leaving a small dent in the acoustic tile. A champagne-like foam issued forth from the bottle. Fortunately it settled quickly without the loss of too much of the contents. This was a pleasant, smooth, just slightly spicy beer. The two interpretations of the style were quite disparate.

Finally we moved on to the always anticipated homebrew portion of the meeting. Readers will remember that several Fredericksburg area homebrewers recently made good showings in the first round of the ongoing American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition. This afternoon we were treated to some of these awarded beers from two of the local winners. We enjoyed two meads from Lyle Brown, first his Blackberry Mead and then his Fireweed Honey Mead. The Blackberry Mead was quite an exceptional drink and garnered much praise from the folks in the room. The second offering was more a traditional, sweet honey mead.

Just in the nick of time, Aaron Zaccagnino (Zacc) popped in with a bottle of his Wee Heavy that was awarded in the Scottish and Irish Ale category. Only small samples were available but I very much enjoyed the dark caramel and roasted notes. I noted a hint of smokiness in the finish. I look forward to wheedling another taste of this one from Zacc in the future.

This was a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed 16 commercial beers, three award-winning homebrews, and plenty of fun conversation. As I said earlier, I don't drink a lot of these "traditional" Summer beers so it was a great chance to try out beers that I may not have otherwise. As they so often do, Angela and James supplied quite a few cheeses, along with humus and crackers, for us to enjoy while we sampled the beers. Thanks also go out to our hosts at Kybecca, who in addition to supplying the meeting room and glassware, also donated a number of the beers we enjoyed.

And Frank? In case you're wondering, I think he'll be back. :-)

FABTS April Meeting

The Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society held it's monthly meeting on Saturday at Kybecca on Plank Road. It was a smaller than usual turnout, but the adventurous attendees diligently worked their way through 26 commercial beers. Before getting to the commercial beers we were treated to 5 different home brews brought in by members. One of these beers, offered by club founder Lyle Brown, was his "Tettnang IPA". This single-hop beer was described by Lyle as "a Celebration clone with all Tettnang hops." The flavor was not citrusy, but had a crisp hop bite over a nice malt base with a somewhat spicy finish. Lyle also shared a Vienna style brew, a "Rauch Helles", and a "Rauch Maibock". Do we detect a pattern there? Joe Gherlone contributed a "Golden Dopplebock" he was working on. Joe said the beer still needed some time. It was sweet, with detectable alcohol and was described as having "an eisbock profile."

The home brews out of the way, we started into the commercial beers. The theme this month was "bock beer" and Bock, Maibock, Dopplebock, Weizenbock, Eisbock styles were all represented. Hofbräu Maibock was the lead off beer, a classic example of the style. Next, was Anchor Bock, a hard to find treat. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen was met with mixed reviews. You either like smoke beers or you don't. Moving on to dopplebocks, La Rossa Doppio Malto was a pleasant surprise. Having only tried the pale lager Birra Moretti from this brewery previously, I made a note to try the dopplebock the next time I saw it on a restaurant menu. Gluek Honey Bock (from a can), Ettaler Curator Doppelbock, Saranac Black Diamond Bock, Sam Adams Double Bock (no glass adjuncts) all were tried and enjoyed.

After a brief break, we continued on with Weihenstephaner Vitus, Clipper City Heavy Seas Hang Ten, Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock, and Legend Dopplebock. Robert contributed a special bottle of the very limited Starr Hill "The Gift", bottle 276 of 350. The beer was just a bit 'skunked' but still an enjoyable dopplebock. Left Hand Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock was another smoked beer that divided the crowd. Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock, Eggenberg Urbock 23° were next. Followed by two Kulmbacher Reichelbrau Eisbocks, one from 2006 and an older bottle from 1996. To my palate the older version had taken on a more sweet, syrupy flavor. We finished off the bottled selection with a special treat of a 1997 Sam Adams Triple Bock. This 17% ABV sticky, black beer had a molasses and dark fruit flavor with predominate alcohol. I am glad to have had the opportunity to try this rarity, but I can't say I am apt to seek it out. Thanks to Dave "5" for bringing these last two vintage beers. (There are so many Daves in the group we have numbers! I'm #3. That's Dave 4 in the photo to the right.)

Finally, we were treated to some filled growlers delivered by Ray Johnson from a couple of Northern Virginia and DC brewpubs. First up was a Maibock from the District ChopHouse & Brewery. Brewer Barrett Lauer created a very drinkable version of the style which I thought had a higher hop profile than is typical. I found it very enjoyable. After the meeting I helped myself to a more of this one. Nice job Barrett! Next up was a face-off of sorts. We had two Gordon Biersch Maibocks. One was from brewer Jason Oliver at the DC location, the other from Scott Lassiter at Tysons Corner. They were different enough that everyone had an opinion. You want to know which one was the favorite? Well, you should have been at the meeting! :-) Both brewers did a fine job. We also enjoyed two Dopplebocks from DC ChopHouse. Finally, the "Winterbock" from Jason Oliver was brought out. This is a bourbon barrel aged Dopplebock. The aging gave a subtle smokiness to the beer, which was very easy to drink.

The afternoon provided an enjoyable exploration of the world of "bock" beers. There's a lot more variety there than one might expect. As usual, our hosts at Kybecca were most gracious. We were provided with a very nice selection of cheeses, and crackers, to go with the beers we were enjoying. The plans for the May meeting are still unsettled at this time due to schedule conflicts of some of the members. Watch the FABTS website for more information.

FABTS March Meeting

On Saturday, 20 local beer lovers met at Bangkok Boulevard for the March gathering of the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society. As usual, Chad and the folks at Bangkok Boulevard were most accommodating. Chad filled in a few missing items in the beer line up from the restaurant's stock. The theme for this month was English Ales; Ordinary Bitters, Premium Bitters, and Extra Special/Strong Bitters (ESB). In all, 26 commercial beers were sampled, along with 4 home brews brought in by members.

Bitters are low ABV beers, with a mild flavor profile of low bitterness balanced with malts. Many are session beers, under 4%ABV, allowing the drinker to enjoy several with friends without feeling the effects of the alcohol or numbing the taste buds. During our tasting session, a number of the beers elicited comments such as "There's nothing there." Of course, we weren't there to enjoy multiple pints of the beer, so perhaps we weren't imbibing in the proper manner for the style. One thing that I believe may have contributed to the comments is we're slowing coming out of Winter here and many of us have spent the last several months enjoying decidedly non-sessionable beers such as Imperial Stouts, DIPA's, Barleywines. Could be we're just spoiled. There were quite a few excellent beers tasted. Perhaps Summer is when we should be focusing on these beers.

In the Ordinary Bitters, I believe we only had one on the list, Tetley's English Ale. I had this one for the first time just week or so ago, and did enjoy it. The 2 ounce sample yesterday seemed lacking, which points back to my theory noted above that these beers are properly enjoyed in larger quantities. There were a number of standouts yesterday. Coniston Bluebird Bitter was notable among the Premium Bitters, as was the classic Fuller's London Pride.

Moving on to the ESB's, Morland Old Speckled Hen was poured from a nitro-widget can and was quite enjoyable. For comparison, we followed that with the same beer from a clear glass bottle. That beer was light struck and not very enjoyable. That brings me to something else I noted from the session. We seemed to be hitting a higher number of off-flavor beers. Whenever you sit down and try 20-25 different beers, the odds are that one or two will have been mishandled in some way. (Add to that there are a number folks in the group especially adept at picking out these off flavors.) The majority of the beers we sampled were imports and travelling long distances gives more opportunity for mistreatment. There were also a number of beers bottled in clear glass. As this isn't a style that's overly popular with many Americans, stocks may sit on the shelf longer. Off flavors may be more noticeable in these mild flavored beers. Whatever the reason, our dump buckets filled faster than usual.

Daleside Ripon Jewel Ale was another memorable beer. A nice combination of bready malt and bitter hops led me to make a note to look for this in the future. Two other classics from Fuller's, the ESB and Fuller's 1845 were both impressive. We also sampled a Lakefront Organic ESB, the same beer I reviewed for this month's session. Unfortunately this batch was infected. The beers I have at home are from a different batch according the labels and didn't have this issue.

Chuck Triplett, frequent contributor to DC-Beer and the realbeer.com forums, and Ray Johnson, organizer of the Blue Gray Breweriana show, drove down from Northern Virginia for the meeting. Chuck brought with him a couple growlers of beers we aren't able to get in this area. The first was Bill Madden's ESB from Vintage 50 in Leesburg. This ESB was probably the hit of the day. Unfortunately by this point I was enjoying good conversation with friends and was not taking notes, so I have nothing specific to say other than it was well-received and enjoyed. Bill has a well-deserved reputation for fine beers and this was no exception. We also were treated to the "Bitter American" from Old Dominion brewery. Recently some local folks have taken to making disparaging remarks about Old Dominion based on the partial ownership by Anheuser-Bush, and some recent changes in the beer lineup and personnel at the brewery. However, from messages posted on DC-Beer, and from tasting this beer, OD seems to be on the right track.

Home brewed beer is welcome at any meeting. This afternoon we were treated to four examples. Again no notes, only memory. A Rauch Dopplebock from Lyle was enjoyed first. Several of the members had tried this at the Blue Gray show last month and spoke highly of it. You need to be a smoked beer fan to enjoy this one. I am, and I did. Dave brought in more of the smoked pumpkin beer he's brought to a couple of meetings recently to get opinions on how the beer holds up over time. The smokiness has decreased, allowing more honey flavors to come through. Two members brought in porters. Rick's enjoyable beer was labeled "HSP" for Hop Shortage Porter. Scott's porter was also pleasing. He remarked that he didn't think the ABV was as high as he was hoping for, though the beer still had plenty of flavor.

As usual the gathering made for a very enjoyable afternoon. I tried a number of new beers and met a couple of new friends. What else could one ask from an afternoon devoted to beer? Upon my return home I learned that we had just recently lost power, an outage that lasted 6 hours. We had evening plans for dinner with friends at a neighbor's house. Fortunately most of the food had been cooked by the time the power went out, and the gas stove still worked. It turned out to be an enjoyable evening despite the hum of a generator in the background.

The next FABTS meeting is planned for April 12, at Kybecca. The theme for the month will be "bocks" of any type; Doppelbock, Eisbock, Maibock, Weizenbock are all included. Be sure to check the FABTS web site for more details. Hope to see you there!

Reminder: FABTS Meeting Saturday

The Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society meets tomorrow (Saturday, March 8) at Bangkok Boulevard. The meeting starts at 1:30PM. This month we will be discussing (and tasting!) English Pale Ales. The meetings are always a lot of fun and very informative. $5.00 gets you a seat at the table. Come by and join in the fun. Bangkok Boulevard has great food too! More meeting details here.

FABTS January Meeting

On Saturday, fourteen local craft beer enthusiasts met at Bangkok Boulevard for the monthly meeting of the Fredericksburg Brewing and Tasting Society. The theme for this month was Stouts, all styles except Imperial Stouts. Imperial Stouts were tasted at the September and November gatherings. In all 22 stouts and 2 non-stout home brews were sampled. (Home brews are welcome at all meetings, regardless of style.) Stout styles reviewed included Dry, Sweet, Oatmeal, Foreign Extra, American, and Russian Imperial (for comparison.) There was a nice variety of beers donated, although several folks mentioned a dearth of stout offerings to be found at retailers. Bankok Boulevard filled in some of the holes with offerings from their menu. The preliminary listing for the meeting is posted beforehand at the FABTS web site.

Many of the stouts sampled were designed to be easy-drinking session beers. The flavors are not over the top, but very easy on the palate. The alcohol levels are generally on the lower side, in the 4-6% ABV range. The style guidelines allow for higher ABVs for Foreign Extra Stouts, such as the 8% in the Lion Stout we sampled.

The afternoon started with a proper Irish slant as we tasted Guinness Draught Stout, Beamish Stout, Murphy's Stout, and O'hara's Celtic Stout. These Dry Stouts are quite suitable for enjoying at a relaxing afternoon at the neighborhood pub. The Shipyard Brewing Bluefin Stout we tried was an exceptional example of an American Dry Stout.

On a local note, Oak Barrel Stout from Dominion Brewing was among the beers sampled. This has been a long-time favorite of mine, and also of others in the group. It was the opinion of many that this beer as undergone a disappointing change. I found the vanilla flavoring in the beer to be much too strong and over powered any other flavors in the beer. I have some other bottles of this with the same bottling date as the ones sampled and I plan to both re-sample and to watch for another bottling run at my retailer. If this flavor change turns out to not be fluke, it will indeed be unfortunate.

In the Sweet Stout category, Mackeson's XXX Stout was a stand out. At 4.9% ABV, it would be easy to spend an afternoon throwing back pints of this smooth ale. We also sampled Young's Double Chocolate Stout. This stout is made with actual chocolate. I've had this beer from a bottle in the past and found the chocolate flavor very pleasant. Saturday's sample was packaged in cans and presented a much higher chocolate flavor. "Yoo-Hoo beer" was one description offered. I think I'll stick with the bottles. Another chocolate-flavored Stout tried was Bison Organic Chocolate Stout. This one had a subtle cocoa flavor and was much easier to drink than the canned Young's.

In the Oatmeal Stout category, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout was among the beers enjoyed. This is a classic example of the sub-style. Those in attendance were pleased that this beer is finally being bottled in dark brown bottles rather than the clear glass in which it was found for so many years.

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout was one of the American Stouts tasted. The Chicory Stout has mild hints of coffee, chicory and licorice. This is the second time recently that I've had a sample of this offering from Dogfish but have never gotten to enjoy a full round. I must pick up a couple of bottles soon and try it in-depth.

Both home brews we had were from Dave F. He brought along his smoked pumpkin ale that we tasted at the December meeting to solicit opinions on how the beer is holding up over time. As he did last month, Dave received many accolades from the group.

For about three hours we tasted and engaged in lively discussions of the beers. It's always interesting to hear the varying opinions on the beers from the members. The group consists of folks with a wide variety of backgrounds; home brewers, professional brewers, non-brewers, beer judges, and both long-time and new craft beer enthusiasts. I do encourage any craft beer enthusiasts in the area to come out to these meetings. It's a great way to meet other folks with the same interest, and to experience a wide-range of beer styles and flavors. After each meeting I come away with new knowledge or appreciation of a beer I had not tried before. Check out the FABTS web page and be sure to join the mailing list to be alerted to upcoming activities. The next gathering will be held at Kybecca on February 9. Hope to see you there.

Many thanks to Chad at Bangkok Boulevard for offering his restaurant for our meeting this month, and for donating a number of the beers reviewed. Chad is a very gracious host and even acted as official bottle opener for a spell.

Update, Jan. 20: The theme beer for the February meeting will be Strong Ales.

FABTS December Meeting

The December meeting of the Fredericksburg Brewing and Tasting Society was held yesterday at Kybecca on Plank Rd. The theme for this month's meeting was "Holiday Beers." There where around 20 members gathered to sample 38 commercial beers and 2 home brews. It was quite an event. There's a partial list of the beers sampled posted on the FABTS web site.

What are "Holiday Beers"? This is a pretty broad category, as evidenced by the number of beers sampled. Also referred to as "Winter Beers" the selection included high hop beers such as Sierra Nevada Celebration or malty "Winter Warmer" styles such as Clipper City Winter Storm. Many of these Winter beers are higher in ABV, for a "warming" effect. In some cases the beers are "Wassail" style offerings and flavored with such spices as cinnamon, nutmeg, or clove. And in some cases the brewer simply relabels a year-round beer for the Holidays. In any event, there's a "Holiday Beer" to suite any taste.

There were too many beers sampled to provide detailed notes on each one. In some cases limited quantities necessitated small samples. I don't try to review a beer unless I have a full "serving" and can evaluate from the pour to the end of the drink. However these tasting events are excellent opportunities to try new beers and find ones you want to search out for further exploration. Besides the perennial favorites such as Sierra Nevada Celebration and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, there were quite a few beers that stood out. I'll post some notes on the ones I especially enjoyed.

Flying Dog K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale is a caramel malt flavored drink with just touch of hops. Flying Dog beers are readily available in this area now that they've bought the former Frederick Brewery in Frederick, MD. I've not found Flying dog beers that I've cared much for previously and was pleasantly surprise by this one. At 6.4% ABV this Winter Warmer is easy to enjoy.

Clay Pipe Pursuit Of Happiness Winter Warmer is from another Maryland-based brewer. This 8.25% ABV Winter Warmer has a strong malt backbone that is well-balanced by a nice hoppy kick. Some in attendance suggested that this might be fresh-hopped.

Stoudt's Winter Ale is a Winter release that changes each year. This year's release is brewed with cocoa producing a rich, chocolate malt flavor. I detected a hint of cinnamon a well. Stoudts is a brewer who's beers never disappoint.

Magic Hat is a brewery whose beers I've not previously taken a liking too. However, the Magic Hat Roxy Rolles Winter Amber was quite tasty. The Magic Hat web site says this amber ale is dry-hopped with simco hops. The flavor is malty with a nice sharp hop presence.

Ridgeway Brewing Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout is an English-style stout from the same folks who bring us the "Elf" series of beers. (Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf.) This is a deep brown colored beer with coffee notes in both the aroma and taste. Caramel sweetness comes through in the flavor as well. A nice stout at 8% ABV.

Fantôme Spéciale De Noel is one of the few "sour" beers I've tried. This Farmhouse Ale pours dark brown with a fruity aroma. The flavor of sour fruit, mostly cherries, comes through the dark malts. I made a note that I want to try this one again in a larger sample before passing judgement. The tartness does mask the 10% ABV.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale is another ABV monster at 10% ABV. This Belgian Strong Dark Ale has the aroma of dark fruit. Sweet caramel and butterscotch flavors blend with the peppery spices to create a nice beer. The spiciness lingers in the aftertaste. A nice sipping beer.

Delirium Noël is from Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium, the same folks who bring us the infamous Delirium Tremens. Yet another 10% ABV Belgian Strong Dark Ale, this one pours a dark red-brown with a sweet aroma of raisons and other dark fruits. Some clove and candy sugar sweetness as well. The flavor matches the aroma with a yeasty, fruity sweetness over the malt, with a dry finish. My notes state to "buy some" although I left the meeting without doing so.

Next up on my list of highlights is Tröegs Mad Elf. I've always been a fan of Tröegs beers and Mad Elf held up that reputation. This 11% ABV Belgian Strong Dark Ale is flavored with cherries. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm not a big fruit beer fan. A clear ruby-red pour with a sweet aroma. The taste is well-balanced between malt and spiciness with the sweet cherry flavor peaking through. We also sampled a 1 or 2 year old bottle of Mad Elf that had lost the cherry flavor and was mostly sweet honey flavor.

As if these and 23 other beers weren't enough, we were now in for a very special treat. Rob A. had brought in 2 bottles of Samichlaus Bier, both 1995 and 1996 vintages! Samichlaus was brewed by Brauerei Hürlimann in Zurich, Switzerland up until 1996 when the recipe was sold to the the Feldschlösschen Brewery. It is currently produced by Schloss Eggenberg of Switzerland. This 14% ABV was once considered the strongest beer in the world and everyone was eagerly awaiting the opening of these bottles. The 1995 vintage was opened first. The beer poured a very dark brown with no head. The malt aroma was very strong. The taste was unexpected. This was a very smooth, sweet, nutty beer. It reminded me of drinking a very smooth sherry. The 1996 was only slight less in flavor to me, although some in attendance though the 1996 vintage to be superior. There were only small samples per person but these were exceptional delights. Thanks to Rob for sharing! For comparison a 2006 bottle was also opened. The flavor on the recent vintage was much less intense. Even though the recipe is supposedly the same, there can be little doubt that subtle differences crept in over the years. I think I will keep my 2006 bottle stored away for a few years at least. We also sampled a Samichlaus Helles, which is being bottled in 2007 for the first time since 1986. The flavor of this was more sweet than the previous beers and not quite as malty.

After the commercial beers were finished we got to try a couple of home brews from two members. The first was a Belgian dubbel style beer from Jim (?). Unfortunately I neglected to take any notes on this one, although I do remember thinking it was good with a nice typical Belgian yeast flavor. My apologies to the brewer for not recording more.

The second home brew, from Dave F. was a "smoked pumpkin ale". Dave used real pumpkin, apple wood, and fuggles and willamette hops. This offering was very well-received. Enough of the pumpkin came through to give some sweetness which worked well with the smokey background. This was a "real" pumpkin beer, not a "spiced pumpkin pie" flavor like so many pumpkin beers. Kudos to both these home brewers for sharing.

The large variety of beer was complimented by an equally impressive array of cheeses, courtesy of James and Angela. This treat was much appreciated. Also thanks go out to our host for this month, Kybecca Wine and Gourmet. Kybecca offers a wide array of craft beers, artisanal cheeses and wine. A grand time was had by all and I look forward to the next meeting on January 12. The theme for January will be Stouts and we'll meet at Bangkok Boulevard. Be sure to watch the FABTS web site for more details. Hope to see you there!

Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society

I attended a meeting of The Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society for the first time yesterday. FABTS meets once a month, alternating meetings at Bangkok Boulevard and Kybecca. FABTS was founded in 1996, but I've only recently found out about the group. I am glad I did though. It was quite an enjoyable afternoon. The theme for this meeting was Imperial Porters and Stouts. There is quite a range of flavor in those two styles. The meeting was led by Lyle who took us through each beer, frequently adding information about history, ingredients, and pointing out things we should be looking for. By my count we tasted 26 different beers. I'm not going to list them all here, but simply mention a few of my favorites.

The first two beers we tried were not porters or stouts, but seasonal treats. The first was Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. I was quite surprised by this one. I've had a number of pumpkin beers this fall, and I'm just not a big fan of the style. This "big" Weyerbacher Pumpkin Ale was very drinkable. It had the flavor of real pumpkin, not pumpkin pie spice alone.

The second, Avery "The Kaiser" is an Imperial Oktoberfest. A strong malt and bread aroma greats the nose. This beer takes the Märzen / Oktoberfest style up a notch. I'll watch for this one in the future.

Avery Smoke Jumper Smoked Imperial Porter was a selection that drew a line in the group; those who like smoked beers, and those who don't. (I do.) The aroma wasn't super smoky, but the smoke came out in the flavor. I would have liked to have some good smoked cheese to go with this one. I could find anything on Avery's website about this beer but it's one to seek out.

One of the "odd" beers of the day was Haandbryggeriet Dark Force. This is a wheat stout. I believe it was described as an "Extreme Double Imperial Wheat Stout", later referred to as the "adjective beer." I didn't care for this one that much. There was too much going on. It was an beer with an identity crises.

One of my favorites of the afternoon was Southern Tier Oat, an Imperial Oat Stout. When I tasted this I longed to be sitting in front of a fire with a good book on a cool evening. This is a very easy drinking stout with a hefty chocolate and coffee flavor. The 11% ABV makes this one a sipper.

Avery Brewing made another appearance with Mephistopheles' Stout. This 15% ABV monster is jet black, thick and syrupy. This is another beer to enjoy over a long relaxing evening.

The afternoon was extremely enjoyable and educational. I had to leave the meeting a little early to attend a fund raising auction for my son's school, but not before all the beers were sampled. :-) I'm looking forward to next month's FABTS meeting on December 8 at Kybecca. The theme for that day will be "Holiday Beers".

BTW, both Bangkok Boulevard and Kybecca are prime beer-stops in the area. Bangkok Boulevard has a beer menu of 150+ beers, more than half of them Belgian. Kybecca is a fine wine, beer, and cheese store with 2 locations in Fredericksburg. They stock an impressive array of craft beer. Fredericksburg area beer lovers should make a point of patronizing both these establishments.