Closing the California Chapter

On occasion, Joe Canal’s staff members are able to go on trips to meet the producers of the items that we sell. Whether we travel to the great wine regions, or any other location, the trips are educational, great for team-building, and, of course, they’re fun.

Tom Broderick, Store Manager at Woodbridge, recently visited California on just such a trip with other Joe Canal's team members. Here's his report:

Monday October 13th: Beringer Vineyards

Our first winery visit was to Beringer Vineyards. Our guide took us to the Hudson House for a quick background on the winery and to taste through some of their portfolio. The house is about 150 years old and was on the property even before the Beringer brothers purchased the land. It was filled with antique pictures – my favorite being a picture of a Beringer family dinner so long ago that the men were sat on one end of the table and the women at the other. It was interesting hearing that the winery made ends meet during Prohibition by selling their wine for sacramental purposes, which was perfectly legal if the right license was obtained. Clark Gable also had a private parking spot at the winery.

Tasting table at Beringer

We also tasted some wine in the basement of the Hudson House, a dimly lit room decorated with more antique photos of the Beringer vineyard. The most interesting “antique” we came across was a wine room filled with vintage bottles from (almost) every year the winery has been in business. It was incredible seeing bottles decades and decades old.

Beringer barrel room

Since I entered the industry, I have become accustomed to the reds Beringer offers, and their Knights Valley Cabernet is one of my favorites year to year. We tasted their Quantum red blend – a Bordeaux blend showcasing blackberry and cedar notes with just enough Merlot included in the blend that its mouth feel was extremely well-rounded. The true highlights of the tasting were the whites, however. Their Private Reserve Chardonnay is a complex, flavorful treat with balanced offerings of fruit and smoky oak. The mouth feel was creamy but not overly so. My favorite of the night was their Luminus Chardonnay, a Burgundian wine featuring sharp acidity and a perfect balance of nutty and fruity notes.

We perused the property a bit before dinner and checked out the decades old Redwoods, their garden (which caused our group to start an interesting habit of smelling every plant we came across all week), and the Rhine house – which was truly a sight to behold. Our dinner was excellent; we enjoyed a soup made from tomatoes picked right from their garden 25 feet away and a lemon cake that paired absolutely perfectly with their Nightingale Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine. The creamy and sweet mouth feel of the wine contrasted with the zippiness of the lemon cake so well. This meal showcased the fresh ingredients used at every winery and restaurant we ate at during this trip – no ingredient served was out of season, everything was fresh and delicious.

Tuesday October 14th: Franciscan Estate

The next morning, we visited Franciscan Estate, a relatively new winery founded in 1973 (new, compared to Beringer, anyway). Franciscan is situated on a beautiful piece of property in Oakville. The tasting room was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday morning, and there were several groups and couples tasting wine. Our tour guide greeted us with a sample of their Napa Rose, made from Syrah that I imagined would pair perfectly with a summer fruit salad. We made our way down to the production area of the winery and saw the workers harvesting the last of their Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyards. Our tour guide told us that most 2014 varietals had ripened quicker than usual and were already harvested, so I was happy to be able to see the machinery at work with the Cab fruit. Here, for the first time in my life, I ate a wine grape right off the vine, and it was funny thinking that the wine produced from these grapes wouldn’t be released for another 3 years.

We also sampled some Sauvignon Blanc directly from the fermenter, another first for me. While obviously unfinished, it was delicious and I’m excited to try the final result when it's finally released. The Franciscan building was beautiful and showcased “decades” displays, featuring wines from every year since 1975. The most interesting part of this was seeing the evolution of Franciscan’s bottle labels and subsequently seeing the laws and regulations in regards to bottle labels change over time. For example, Franciscan’s 1974 red blend was simply called “Burgundy.” Their 1979 Riesling was “Johannisberg Riesling.”

Library wines at Franciscan

We sat down for a quick tasting before our lunch at the winery. Once again, the whites took me by surprise. I have been familiar with Franciscan’s Cabernet Sauvignon and their flagship wine, Magnificat, but their Equilibrium white blend was my favorite of the tasting. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Muscat, Equilibrium offers crisp lemon/lime flavors with a slight sweetness and no detectable oak flavors. This will definitely be on my wine rack all next summer. Their Merlot was also surprisingly good. It is a full-bodied, heavier Merlot with a plus mouth feel and flavors of oak and dark berry. Our tour guide said it was a Merlot for the Cab drinker and I agree 100%.

Lunch was incredible. Again, all fresh ingredients and perfect pairings. We were lucky enough to enjoy a 2008 Magnificat that was an absolute delight. The aging opened the full-bodied wine up to reveal rich and elegant flavors of mocha and blackberry with silky tannins. The next time you come across this wine, buy two bottles. The aged product was really a wine to savor.

Franciscan has just now started to get the true recognition they deserve. It will be interesting to see what heights they will go to in the upcoming years.

Stags’ Leap Winery

Stags’ Leap is an absolutely beautiful piece of property, and probably had the most interesting history of all the wineries we visited. The property dates back to 1893 but didn’t produce wine until 1913. The wine production then was on a very small scale. At that time, the property was used more as a ranch and hotel (and bordello). Once Prohibition hit, the basement of the Manor House was used as a speakeasy. Our tour guide explained that this period of history is saturated with tales of ghosts, illegal activity, and various types of debauchery. Stags’ Leap Winery came to fruition in the 1970’s when new owners purchased the property.

The tour began in the Manor House, which has stood for well over 100 years and has a very gothic, spooky feel to it. It even had a Godfather-type toilet that I found amusing. We enjoyed a sample of their 2012 Napa Rose while our tour guide gave us a brief history on the house and property. I’m normally not a fan of roses but this had very bright acidity and a lot of pleasing strawberry flavors that I really enjoyed. Our guide then took us down to the basement that was used as a speakeasy during Prohibition. It had that speakeasy feel to it, right down to the heavy, black door you usually see in the movies. While our guide told us more stories about the history of the place, we enjoyed some 2012 Viognier that had a very nice minerality that backed up the pear and stone fruit flavors.

We then walked around the property, before sitting down to the main tasting. The best view, by far, was the Stags' Leap Palisades. When it’s raining, the water falls down from the mountain at twelve different spots. They even named their red blend after the falls. Our guide told us a little story about their neighbors, Shafer Vineyards, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines on the side of the mountain by using dynamite to blow holes in the rocky, volcanic soil. This wine has become Shafer’s Hillside Select, one of the more sought after Cabernets in the entire world. It was very interesting to see the respect a Stags’ Leap employee gave Shafer Vineyards. One thing I noticed was that most wineries were situated practically on top of each other but none were enemies – they all spoke very well of one another and even encouraged us to check out their tours and tastings rooms.

We sat down to the tasting on the porch of the Manor House, and I was blown away by the quality of the wines. Their Petite Sirah, which is their incredible flagship wine, was surprisingly more fruit-forward than I had expected it to be. Flavors of blueberry, cherry and blackberry were held together by a nice spiciness and smooth tannins. Once it opened up, an herbal element came to the forefront that reminded me of an offering from the Rhone. Stags’ Leap also produces The Leap – a Cabernet Sauvignon that was as powerful as it was smooth. Dense, intense flavors of cassis and cherry preceded silky tannins with a vanilla finish. The highlight of the tasting was their 2011 Napa Valley Winemaker’s Muse. Each year the winemaker changes the varietal and chose Malbec for their 2011 release, which I found very interesting since straight Malbecs are usually from South America. The wine was huge yet smooth and had flavors of black cherry, mocha, and blueberry. The Leap may have been a better structured, more flavorful wine but the fact that this was Malbec just took it to the top of my list. My previous knowledge told me Malbec from California was only used for blending but this offering showed the quality is certainly there to stand by itself.

The Hess Collection

We finished our second day in Napa by visiting the Hess Collection, which is located all the way up Mount Veeder. The views on top of the mountain, looking over the valleys and rolling mountains, were incredible. Hess suffered significantly from the recent earthquake and lost tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of product. The earthquake decimated one tank of wine that not only led to the destruction of their gift shop but stained the front steps and landscaping purple. It was terrible to see but, luckily, no one at the winery was injured since it happened in the middle of the night.

Fortunately for us, we arrived to the winery way ahead of schedule and we were able to check out Donald Hess’ stunning art collection. He started collecting decades ago, and now has three floors worth of art to display. One piece that really caught my eye was “The Laughing Man” by Yue Minjun. The piece has a couple dozen drawings of the same (or very similar) man on his knees, arms in front, seemingly laughing. It was very interesting since some of our group saw the expression on his face as joy and some of us saw despair and pain. My words don’t really do the art justice so check out the pictures. Donald Hess’ process for purchasing artwork was very interesting as well. He didn’t deal with any art dealings, agents, or anything like that. He would see a piece, leave, and if he couldn’t stop thinking about the artwork days later he would meet with the artist. Very cool.

Before dinner, we toured the vineyards and ate some more grapes right off the vines. Our tour guide was intent on making us compare berries from old vines and more recently-planted vines. The berries right off a newer vine that were crisp, delicious and sweet while the old vines were more dense, concentrated, and raisiny. It was interesting to see the significant difference even before harvest. I was also surprised, for the third winery in a row, at how much Malbec was being produced here.

We ate dinner in a private room, surrounded by Donald Hess’ impressive book collection. Our first course was a watercress and red endive-based salad with prosciutto, apple cider vinaigrette and the freshest goat cheese I have ever tasted. We paired it with their 2012 Napa Chardonnay, which was a perfect accompaniment. The acidity of the Chardonnay complimented the vinaigrette while the apple and slight butter flavors contrasted with the prosciutto. The wine made the flavors in the salad burst. Our second course was a grilled skirt steak with kale, eggplant, mushrooms and a leek jus. It was paired with two wines – their 2012 Select Pinot Noir and their 2010 Mount Veeder 19 Block Cuvee. I had never thought any Pinot Noir would pair well with such a heavy dish as a steak, but the earthiness really made it work. The 2010 Block Cuvee was truly a home run, though. It had a nice herbal tinge to it that made the char on the steak delicious, while the chocolate/plum finish complimented the jus and mushrooms. We commented on how fresh and delicious everything was again and our tour guide put it in perspective. He asked us how many tomatoes we had eaten since we arrived in Napa. The answer: Zero. “That’s because they’re not in season.”

Wednesday October 15th: Chateau St. Jean

Chateau St. Jean is a huge property, set amongst the rolling hills of Sonoma and boasting a very pretty garden in front of the buildings. The gardens were filled with trimmed hedges and an array of exotic flowers, all surrounding a statue of St. Jean herself. There were a bunch of pretty white and red rose hybrids that really struck me. Our guide would later tell us the property is Mediterranean style, and looking back I would agree with that. The tasting rooms were separated, with one offering their everyday wines and the other offering their reserve series.

Our tour was short but sweet. Our guide brought us out to the tasting lawn, out back of the reserve tasting room and building. The lawn led right to the vines and our guide pointed out which lot was growing which specific varietal. Chateau St. Jean is widely known for their Chardonnay and, not surprisingly, that was the grape being grown the most. There was Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon as well.

The tasting was very impressive, as we sampled some of their everyday wines and a bunch of their limited offerings. Their Sonoma Chardonnay is a perfect summer wine that’s crisp and buttery, offering typical (but extremely well done) Chardonnay flavors like apple and pear. Their 2011 Sonoma Merlot was also typical of its varietal, but was flawlessly put together. Silky tannins and a medium mouth feel, along with flavors of raspberry and blackberry, made this wine very enjoyable. I had been waiting for an opportunity to try their flagship Cinq Cepages for years, and the wait was more than worth it. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and a sprinkling of other red grapes, this wine is something to seek out. The nose smells of oak, dark fruit and spice while the palate confirms the nose and adds a cedar element that really brings this wine together. It’s certainly more “old school” than fruit forward, but it was easily the most enjoyable wine of the tasting.

Clos du Bois

As soon as you drive up to Clos du Bois, it is obvious that they are a massive operation. The size of their property is tremendous, and while they had more of a “mass marketed” feel, it was clear how hands-on their winemakers are by the quality of their product. Including vineyards outside of their home base in Sonoma, Clos du Bois farms about 800 acres. It is also clear that they are very respectful of their environment. There were solar panels that (we were later told) provided nearly all of the power used at the winery. The winery also uses the leftover grape skins to form a compost that feeds their vines.

We met our tour guide and sat down to taste through a portion of their portfolio. One of the highlights was their 2012 Sonoma Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay. It was very well balanced between fruit and oak – flavors of butter and vanilla were under layers of honey and pear. The mouth feel was the most impressive aspect of this wine. It was rich and coating but not overly so. My favorite of the tasting was their 2011 Marlstone Red Blend. This is a Cabernet-based blend that was very firm and structured but opened up to wonderful flavors. This wine was delicious now and should be stunning after cellaring it for a few years.

Before dinner, our guide took us outside to look at some of the heavy duty machinery used to harvest and produce the wine. It was interesting to see how many working parts there are just to accomplish something as little as separating the grapes from the stems. We made our way into the warehouse, where thousands and thousands of casks of wine were being stored. It was incredible to see casks in such massive numbers. Our guide gave us a neat demonstration where we tasted their Sauvignon Blanc in different stages of wood aging. It was interested to see the difference between no oak, some time in oak, and a long time in oak. The same wine tasted completely different each time.

Dinner was excellent. My favorite dish of the entire trip was a bean and carrot soup with bacon and homemade crème fraiche, paired with their 2012 Russian River Valley Calcaire. Calcaire is a Chardonnay, showcasing rich and buttery flavors, that went extremely well with the soup. The soup was absolutely delicious and, keeping true to the ideals out there, probably the freshest tasting dish I’ve ever had. Our second course was a roasted pork loin with a potato and butternut squash gratin paired with 2011 Alexander Valley Reserve Cabernet. The wine was very powerful, with concentrated flavors of blackberry and oak that not only went well with the pork but really shined with the richness of the gratin. We didn’t taste a wine with dessert but the crepe had a delicious sauce that was made from their Cabernet Sauvignon.

Thursday October 16th: Ferrari-Carano Vineyards

Ferrari-Carano’s owners intended their vineyard to resemble a Tuscan villa and, as a result, have built the most remarkable winery of our visit. It also didn’t hurt that it was the most beautiful day weather-wise during the trip. The landscaping alone was breathtaking. When we arrived, our guide took us down into their garden filled with flowers, trees, waterfalls, and stone walkways that generated such an air of romance. I cannot imagine the amount of time that’s spent to keep the winery looking so great. It was funny how we all kept commenting it looks like Italy even before our guide told us that was the point. Again, my words do it no justice.

Our guide took us into the gift shop/tasting room and we enjoyed several of their offerings. Ferrari-Carano is known for its white wines, specifically their Chardonnay and Fume Blanc, and they delivered. The 2013 Fume Blanc had intense flavors of pear, bright acidity, and a tiny bit of oak to round the whole thing out. I found out later on only 35% of the wine was aged in French oak, the rest in stainless steel. Their 2009 Eldorado Gold (a 100% Semillon dessert wine) was also a treat – not cloyingly sweet but still showcasing that vanilla/honey combination that I love in white dessert wines. The highlight of the whites, however, was their 2012 Reserve Napa Chardonnay. Buttery and lemony, with the perfect amount of oak, this Chardonnay might be worth double its price point. This wine was actually one of my favorite of the trip. Carano’s reds were nothing to sneeze at, either. Their 2012 SIENA, a super Tuscan-esque red blend, was so wonderfully put together I couldn’t get enough. It holds flavors of mocha and vanilla that had a long, satisfying finish. I definitely want to try this wine with my next home-cooked Italian dinner.

Our guide then took us downstairs, and that’s when the time and attention to detail the owners of this winery put into this property really came to light. Beneath the tasting room/gift shop lies another, more upscale tasting room right alongside their barrel room. If Italy was personified upstairs and outside, France was personified in the basement. The whole area screamed old world Chateau, right down to the barrels aging next to each other all the way down a tremendous corridor. We sat down to taste some of Ferrari-Carano’s extremely limited PreVail line. The Back Forty was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and the West Face was Cab based and blended with Syrah. Surprisingly, the West Face was huge and in-your-face while the Back Forty was a little more tamed. Both were delicious, especially since they are so limited.

Overall, wine country is a beautiful place that has tremendous history and tradition. Each tour guide, winery employee and winemaker we met was extremely generous and warm. Between the winery tours, the fresh food, and the incredible wine, it was truly the experience of a lifetime.

Seasonal Beers: Pumpkin Pickin'

Our resident Beer Expert Tom Broderick writes today on an autumn phenomenon, pumpkin beers.

Pumpkin ales are truly an American invention. Long ago in colonial times when grains were scarce or too expensive, pumpkins were fermented instead to brew beer. Word is our founding fathers brewed their own pumpkin ales! They took it a step more extreme and added apples, squash, and corn to the mash. Unfortunately, pumpkin ales took the back seat for decades until resurgence in the 1980s when craft breweries started to toy around with some recipes.

Each fall, more and more pumpkin beers appear on store shelves. It's a fun game seeing how many different types I can squeeze into our stores without collapsing the shelves. They can range from having little to no pumpkin flavor (see Rock Art Pumpkin Imperial Spruce Stout) to tasting literally like pumpkin pie (see Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale). Typically, spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice are used during the brewing process – but some breweries venture further with non-traditional ingredients like vanilla extract (Southampton Pumpkin Ale) or spruce tips. The great thing about pumpkin ales is that there is sure to be a take on the style that will suit your needs.

There is nothing better for cool autumn nights than a glass of top-notch pumpkin ale. They also pair wonderfully with food or as dessert, especially at Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are a couple of my favorite (and trust me I've tried them all):

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
This is the perfect pumpkin ale, in my opinion. Rich and balanced, it never gets too spicy or too cloying. The pumpkin is there in full force but the cinnamon and other spices hold it in check.

Southampton Pumpkin Ale
At only 5.5% alcohol it is truly amazing how much flavor is packed into this beer. Great pumpkin and nutmeg flavors, but the real kicker here is the addition of vanilla extract. It’s a well-rounded and very clean beer.

Belgian Beer

Six weeks ago, New Jersey craft beer drinkers were introduced to one of the most eclectic and exciting breweries in the United States – The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing. For those of you that aren’t aware, the same brewers package all of their “American style” beers under Port Brewing, while the “Belgian-styles” are packaged under The Lost Abbey. While the Port side of the brewery is equally as amazing, I’d like to shift focus to the Belgian-inspired side.

Over in Belgium beer isn’t just a commodity or beverage, it’s a culture. With dozens of different styles that range from dark fruit driven 11% ABV quads, to funky and woody sours, to light and champagne-like saisons, there is literally something there for every beer drinker. You won’t (normally) find the hop bombs you’ll find over here in the States, but will you find painstakingly handcrafted brews that can be enjoyed by beer novices or the most experienced craft fanatic. There is absolutely nothing better than pairing a Belgian stout (Allagash Black is a great domestic interpretation) with dark chocolate or black forest cake. Well, maybe there is, like pairing a spritzy saison (i.e. the classic Saison Dupont) with mussels and spicy sausage.

Aside from some of our top selling Belgians or Belgian-inspired beers like the Chimays, Allagashs, Ommegangs, and Lindemans, there is a whole world of fantastic beer that unfortunately goes unnoticed far too often. The price tags may turn some folks off (like a $20 Gueuze) but these beers are well worth the money spent and will offer flavors and aromas never experienced before. Here are some hidden gems you will find at either of our locations, starting with the domestic side:

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja – This is easily one of my favorite beers of all time. Brewed in the Flanders tradition, this amber-bodied brew will offer aromas and flavors of earth, oak, and sour cherries and apples with that unmistakable Jolly Pumpkin yeast strain. Given the acidity, it shares many traits with an earthy Barbera d’Alba and can be paired with anything from buttery cheeses to traditional pork chops.

Weyerbacher Tiny – Tiny is not tiny. An 11% imperial stout brewed with an Abbey yeast strain, this beer showcases the traditional stout flavors of chocolate and vanilla with the Belgian yeast completely eliminating any harshness from the alcohol. It is often hard to find extremely complex beers that are perfect balanced, and Tiny pulls it off while pulling no punches.To be honest, for the price, you simply can’t beat this beer. An absolutely perfect dessert beer.

And on the Belgian side,

Boon Oude Kriek Mariage Parfait- Brewed with a crazy amount of cherries (this vintage is 40%), this beer is a must-try for any Kriek lover. Not overly sweet like the Lindeman’s line or too sour like some Cantillons, the amount of cherries added balances everything out and offers a truly one of a kind experience. Act quick, though, there’s not much of this to go around.

De Proef Reinart- Want to convert a white-wine or champagne drinker to the wonderful world of beer? Look no further. This spritzy, light-bodied Belgian pale ale is a sure shot pleaser. The flavors of green apple and flowers are offset by the funky lemon and biscuit flavors deriving from the brettanomyces yeast. Swap this with the next white wine you pair with dinner and you’ll be amazed at the different (and dare I say better) experience.

Spring Beer Feature

Today Beer Purchaser Tom Broderick talks about the incoming Spring beers!

A lot of craft beer drinkers, me included, tend to fall into the mindset that spring beer is merely a buffer between the beloved winter and summer beers and doesn’t have too much to offer. Fortunately that couldn’t be further from the truth. Some of the more flavorful and unique offerings are released this time of the year. Spring offerings can range from light and sweet (Sam Adams’ new Alpine Lager) to malty and smoky (Weyerbacher’s Fireside Ale).

There is also the connection between springtime and the Bock style – which were originally brewed to be drunk during spring beer festivals in Germany. The term “bock” is very general, though. Under the classification of bocks lie doppelbocks, maibocks/helles bocks, and eisbocks. Maibocks/Helles bocks are typically around 7% alcohol and showcase flavors of earthy hops and malty caramel sweetness. Eisbocks are rare in our market but are perfect to sip on a cool spring day. Eisbocks are made by partially freezing a doppelbock, enhancing the alcohol content to around 10% and creating flavors of dark fruits and baking chocolate. Spring is a perfect time to re-visit some old, forgotten favorites like Rogue Dead Guy (maibock/helles bock), Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (eisbock), or Ayinger Celebrator (doppelbock).
Spring beer should be embraced like its Fall, Winter, and Summer counterparts. Re-visit some old German favorites or seek out one of the new and innovative domestic brews – you can’t go wrong either way.

Some highlights:

Great Divide Nomad – Their new Czech Pilsner is an absolute gem. Bright and crisp, this competes with Victory Prima Pils for the top pilsner on the market, in my opinion.

Abita Mardi Gras Bock – Abita’s maibock is lighter and easy drinking, perfect for anyone who is unfamiliar with the bock/maibock style and wants to try something new.

Dogfish Head Namaste – Dogfish Head’s Namaste isn’t necessarily a spring seasonal, but it seems perfect to sip on a warmer spring day. Brewed with coriander, oranges, and lemongrass, there’s no need to add an orange wedge – especially since that should never be done.

Stone Old Guardian – Again, not a spring seasonal, but Stone offers this barleywine up every February and it never fails to please. Buy two bottles – crack one now and cellar the other for the colder winter months ahead.

A Winter (Beer) Wonderland

Are you ready for winter beer? If you're like me, the answer is a resounding no. I mean, it’s still fall, right? But breweries tend to force our hands by releasing pumpkin ales in July and winter ales in October and we have to make with what’s due, unfortunately. But hey, it’s still craft beer and as soon as you crack open one of these hearty ales... there will be no more complaints.

While winter beer is usually known to be malty, sweeter, and on the heavy side, there still is a lot of variety and different takes on the winter styles. On one side of the spectrum, Troeg’s Mad Elf, personifies lighter bodied, flavorful winter ales – the honey, cherry and Belgian yeast really add a huge complexity to it. Despite its lighter, spritzy mouth feel it will be sure to warm you up on a cold night. The other side of the spectrum you’ll find Anderson Valley’s Winter Solstice Ale, which showcases a massive malty sweet backbone with a body full of winter spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Taking it a step further, Sierra Nevada offers up their Celebration Ale – which is easily one of the better IPAs on the market. There’s nothing “winter” about it – no spices, no excessive sweet maltiness – just a straight-up deliciously hoppy IPA. But you’ll find yourself looking for Celebration every year come November/December.

The amazing thing about winter beers is that they can be one of so many different beer styles – old ales, winter warmers, Belgian strong ales, Baltic porters, Dubbels, and even American IPAs in Sierra Nevada’s case. I personally find that great to see, where fall seasonals for example are almost always confined to Marzens, pumpkin ales, or amber ales. Variety is the spice of life and winter beers bring the variety. And regardless of what styles of winter beer you’re looking for, you’ll have plenty to choose from over the next month or so. Here are some of my top choices: but remember to act fast, they sell out very quickly.

Avery’s Old Jubilation
Avery just never fails to impress with any of their offerings. Their 8.3% ABV winter warmer offers flavors and aromas of nutmeg, mocha, ginger bread – and here’s the kicker – with no additional spices. Everything you taste and smell in this beer is from a blend of 5 different malts. Pairs perfectly with holiday dinner fare like roast duck or chicken - this is truly a work of art.

Brooklyn’s Winter Ale
Following the same technique as Avery – Garret Oliver perfected this brew using no extra spices. Considered to be a Scottish Ale, cool(er) fermentation really brings the malt bill to the forefront and shelves some of the fruitiness you’ll find in tradition Scottish Ales. At 6% ABV, this is a winter beer you can feel at home with drinking a few with family at the dinner table. The toasty caramel and bready malts pair perfectly with that hearty stew or soup you’ll find yourself with at times over these cold months.

Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale
This multiple award winning Old Ale is one of my favorite beers in general – not just winter beer. Great Divide is forced to cellar this monster for 3 months after bottling just to tame the flavors a bit. Patience is rewarded in this case, as the sweet malt and huge hop bill blend perfectly together in boozy harmony to create a beer that absolutely craves to be paired with artisan cheeses or dessert. This beer is the epitome of a massively complex but extremely easy-drinking – drink it too fast and you’ll find yourself riding some of Santa’s reindeer.

Great American Beer Festival

Thursdays the BottleBlog will feature an update on various exciting things going on at Joe Canal's: Reports of our travels, special event coverage, and more! Today we travel with Tom and Ryan Broderick to Denver, CO for the Great American Beer Festival, held on September 16th - 19th, 2010.

Immediately after landing at Denver International Airport, the first thing on their agenda was to try the legendary New Belgium Fat Tire on tap. They both agreed that it’s definitely one of the most balanced and easy-drinking beers they’ve tried. It doesn’t get too malty or hoppy and stays simple enough to be thirst quenching and pleasing to drink. After checking into the Brown Palace Hotel Tom and Ryan ate dinner at the Ship Tavern on the first floor of the hotel. Despite the fact they were famous for the prime rib, Tom couldn’t pass on pairing an Odell’s 90 Schilling (a roasty, nutty amber ale) with fresh Rocky Mountain trout and almondine. Ryan paired Great Divide’s Titan IPA with a filet mignon. “To me, IPA’s and good steaks are the best combination.” –Ryan Broderick

After dinner, they relaxed at a nearby bar and sampled a few beers that aren’t often on tap in Jersey. They drank and snacked at the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Café, one of the “coolest” restaurants they have been to. There, they met three great brewmasters: Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head Brewery), Bill Covaleski (Victory Brewing), and Greg Koch (Stone Brewing Co.). They enjoyed tasting each respective breweies’ versions of Saison du Buff and noticing the differences between them, despite the recipes being the same.

At the festival itself, there were countless amounts of breweries from all over the country. It was a true testament to the major growth of craft beers in recent years. While they enjoyed sampling from familiar breweries such as Dogfish Head, Allagash, Founders, Victory, Stone, Troegs, Oscar Blues and Lagunitas, they took particular interest in hitting the breweries we don’t see in Jersey, like Deschutes, Three Floyds, Russian River, Goose Island, The Lost Abbey, Dry Dock (which was a relatively unknown brewery that won several awards), Tommyknocker, AleSmith and others. They had the pleasure of tasting Deschutes’ The Abyss for the first time – one of the most sought-after and highest rated Russian Imperial Stouts in the world. “Believe the hype,” Tom recommends.

Other highlights: Dogfish seemed to have had the longest line in the entire event, as they were pouring a lot of brewpub-only beers, such as Portamarillo, an imperial porter fermented with Brazilian rapadura sugar, and GraintoGlass. Troegs’ “Flying Mouflan” won the award for best Barleywine style. Goose Island won the bronze medal for their Bourbon County Stout, a bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout, which Ryan declared as“…probably the best stout I’ve ever tried.” Founders was pouring their Canadian Breakfast Stout, which is an entirely different monster from KBS, but outstanding in it’s own right. On the Canadian Breakfast, Tom said, “Aging a coffee stout in maple bourbon barrels tastes as good as it sounds – it was the smoothest stout I’ve ever tried.” Russian River Brewing Co. was also a hotspot of the fest, and the brothers tried Pliny the Younger – easily the best IPA Tom has ever had.

Tom and Ryan had a great time seeing where all the breweries came from, as so much of the United States was represented. From Allagash Brewery up in Maine, to Saint Arnold Brewing Co. in Texas, to Alaskan Brewing Co. in Alaska – it was amazing to see award-winning, quality beer come from so many different states. Overall, it was an incredibly special experience for industry experts and beer fans alike.