2016 SAVOR Preview - IPAs, Sours, Stouts, Saisons, and Porters

It's officially SAVOR week as the annual American craft beer and food experience occurs Friday and Saturday nights June 3rd and 4th. The event is sponsored by the Brewers Association and consists of 76 breweries pouring two beers each. The breweries represent 28 states and Washington DC,  70% were not at least year's event, and 50% have never poured at SAVOR before. This year Wyoming seems to have an over supply with Black Tooth Brewing Co., Melvin Brewing, and Roadhouse Brewing Company representing the Cowboy State. Melvin was the GABF 15 Small Brewpub of the Year so check them out. Along with a sample of beer there is a food pairing developed by Chef Adam Dulye, executive chef at the Brewers Association and Chef Kyle Mendenhall, BA chef consultant and executive chef at  Bolder Colorado's The Kitchen. 

As usual there is a plethora of beer styles and IPAs dominate the tasting again with 33 versions ranging from low abv sessions to high octane imperials. In tune with the sour beer trend there are about two dozen sour or tart beers with a vast majority binging Sour/Wild/Brett but including four Gose and three Berliner Weisse beers (The Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Seaquenchale is included in both the Gose and Berliner Weisse totals). The latter two styles are my sweet spot right now so I've listed these beers below. I'm also a Porter fan and there will be ten versions with a few sweeter Baltic styles, a smoked from Quest Brewing Company, the Flying Dog Brewery barrel aged Notorious B.A.G., and several Imperial Porters - see Stone Brewing Co. Encore: 6th Anniversary Porter. Similarly there will be 16 Stouts from a silky smooth milk stout like the Saugatuck Brewing Co. Neapolitan to several heavy imperial and barrel aged versions. Saisons as well as a few other Belgium inspired Dubbel, Tripel, and Quad ales are also well represented. See Virginia's Center of the Universe Brewing Co.and their IV Barrel-Aged Quad & Monkey's Uncle Tripel and Florida's Marker 48 Brewing Diepolder Dubbel & Meet The Heat Saison. And finally, I've listed a few notable and interesting brews that I plan to checkout. Cheers.

Notable and Interesting
Lewis and Clark Brewing Company - Helena, MT: Prickly Pear Pale Ale
Great Raft Brewing - Shreveport, LA: Oceans Between Us Brett IPA
Service Brewing Company - Savannah, GA: Old Guard Biere de Garde.
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company - St. Louis, MO: Schnickelfritz Weissbier
Black Tooth Brewing Co. - Sheridan, WY: '1314' Strong Ale
Adroit Theory Brewing - Purcellville, VA: Ortolan Bunting Strong Ale
Melvin Brewing - Alpine, WY: Chchch-cherry bomb

Gose
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, DE: Seaquenchale - Kolsch/Gose/Berliner Weisse Hybrid
Flying Dog Brewery - Frederick, MD: GoseFace Killah
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA: Otra Vez
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown, PA: Kirsch Gose

Berliner Weisse
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, DE: Seaquenchale - Kolsch/Gose/Berliner Weisse Hybrid
Right Proper Brewing Company - Washington, DC: Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne
Bear Republic Brewing Co. - Cloverdale, CA: Tartare

The United Grapes of America - Nebraska's Mac's Creek Vineyards & Winery Poncu

Mac's Creek Vineyards & Winery came through with another interesting wine at the annual Wine America Congressional Tasting. This was their Poncu ($25) port styled wine. The weather is too extreme in the Cornhusker state for vinifera grapes so Mac's Creek specializes in cold hardy hybrids, many created at the University of Minnesota such as Edelweiss, LaCrescent, and Frontenac.

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Founder Max McFarland explained how the Poncu is made.  They ferment Frontenac and then send the wine to a distillery where it is distilled into grape brandy. The winery then purchases the brandy, ages it in oak barrels, and then use it to fortify batches of semi-dry Frontenac. As you can see, Frontenac all the way.  The label and name honors the McFarland Family cattle brand and Max's father Dale "Bud" McFarland. Bud enjoyed Stetson hats and Poncu is what 3rd generation and co-owner Barry McFarland called his grandfather as a little boy.

The Poncu is very nice. The nose is cherry, wood, and a bit ethanol.  The oak character persists throughout and with the alcohol dampens down the sweetness.With this wine, Mac's Creek proves with a little ingenuity and working within the state regulations, a winery can produce a unique and tasteful wine - in this case a highly recommended port styled dessert wine. Cheers.

The United Grapes of America - Rhode Island's Greenvale Vineyards 2015 Albariño

theCompass view of
Greenvale Vineyards

It's been difficult procuring wines to continue the United Grapes of America series, but them comes along the annual Wine America Congressional Tasting featuring dozens of wines from across the United States. This event included several interesting wines with one being the Greenvale Vineyards Albarino. This Rhode Island winery is located along the Sakonnet River in Portsmouth, RI, five miles north of downtown Newport and is a member of the Coastal Wine Trail. Apparently "Greenvale is a farm that has been in the same family since 1863. It is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places". 

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

For the past two months I've sipped plenty of Rías Baixas Albariño through #WineStudio's Rías Baixas sessions and the 2015 Greenvale Vineyards Albariño ($15) matches most of the characteristics I've come to expect in this style. It starts with tropical flavors with some lemon then transitions to a saline-mineral character before finishing with decent acids. Since the grapes are estate grown in the Ocean state (very close to an estuary), they share some similarities to their Galicia grown brethren. Cheers to American wineries producing wine from interesting grapes.