The Beer Genome Project | The Beer Genome Project
By Shawn Horton and Mike VanDelinder
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Podcast Description
Each episode, we review beers, share style tips about different aspects of beer, and also give tasting tips to help novice beer enthusiasts create a framework for discussing and enjoying beer.
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BGP #34: Precious Angel’s Share | Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of rare. This week’s episode of the podcast was recorded almost one year ago. It was the culmination of a day filled with homebrewing and beer discussions. Shawn shared a 375ml bottle of the The Lost Abbey’s The Angel’s Share 2010 that he had procured during a trip to California. The Angel’s Share is an English-style Barleywine that has been aged in oak barrels for a year before being packaged. These oak barrels that are used by The Lost Abbey were originally created for distillers to store whiskey, bourbon, or brandy. Over time, a portion of the spirit in the barrel will evaporate. The loss of liquid to the barrels is referred to as the “angel’s share” by distillers, and is where this beer gets its name. | 2/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #33: Boom Island | One morning while reading The Heavy Table, Shawn learned about one of Minnesota’s newest breweries, Boom Island Brewing Company. The biggest difference between Boom Island and many other breweries that have hit the news recently, is that Boom Island was already putting its beer up for sale. I attended a quick tasting at The Four Firkins in Saint Louis Park, where I grabbed two of the first bottles released. Boom Island Brewing is Belgian-inspired brewery, based in Minneapolis. The story of Kevin Welch, brewer, is one of a homebrewer’s dream. What could turn out to be Boom Island’s “ace in the hole” is the fact that Kevin is cultivating his own yeast strains, gathered during a trip across Belgium. We review the some of first releases available from Boom Island Brewing: Silvius Pale Ale and Thoprock IPA. On its website, Boom Island also teases the eventual release of a Dubbel and Tripel in bottles. | 1/14/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #15: Kentucky Breakfast Stout | We’ve reached into the archives to release a “lost” episode of The Happy Hour. Back in 2010, Jason and Mike were lucky enough to receive a bottle of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. This annually released beer shouldn’t be considered a simple oaked version of Founders Breakfast Stout, but is a wholly different beer. Kentucky Breakfast Stout is a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate. It’s tempting to draw parallels between KBS and Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, or more specifically, the Bourbon County Coffee Stout. This beer leads coffee and is bourbon second. Kentucky Breakfast Stout is good. But it fits the bill better as an after dinner desert, rather than a breakfast starter. KBS should be hitting the shelves in March of 2012. Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan Kentucky Breakfast Stout, American Imperial Stout ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 11.2% IBU: 70 | 1/5/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #32: Step It Up and Go Sour | I have to admit that I have missed our conversations through the microphone but we are at it again. Our scheduled programming returns this week with an exploration of some delicious sour beers. We delve into a comparison of a homebrew sour versus a commercial sour beer. Long overdue, Shawn and I share a bottle of a blonde ale from project friend Peter Kennedy. The beer was aged on New Jersey sour cherries. Peter has written a post or two about this beer on his blog Simply Beer. Our second beer up for discussion is from Avery Brewing Company. Quinquepartite is No. 5 in Avery’s Barrel-Aged series. It is an an American Wild ale with an ABV of 9.91%. The beer was split into five parts and aged in several different types of wine barrels. The breakdown is such: 37% Ale aged in Cabernet Savignon barrels, 25% Ale aged in Chardonnay barrels, 21% Ale aged in Port barrels and 17% Ale aged in Zinfandel barrels. | 12/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #14: Barrel Aged Boulevard | Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City, Missouri has a wonderful series of beers that they call the Smokestack Series. The “Smokestacks” are typically limited release beers that come in 750ml bottles. For me, they represent some of the most innovative beers available in the Midwest. Last year I fell in love with the Bourbon Barrel Quad (BBQ for short) release – a heavy, cherry-like, boozy, close to 12% delicious beer. Boulevard changed-up their recipe, and how they blend their beers together for this year’s release. Jason and I decided it was time to revisit the BBQ because of this heard change. Additionally, to create a good side-by-side conversation, Jason and I brought out a Rye on Rye from last year – Boulevard’s rye wine aged on Templeton Rye barrels. If you like barrel-aged beers, jump in to the conversation. Cheers! | 2/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #31: Darkness Eyes | It is the second of our recordings from the weekend that belonged to Darkness Day. Again, this meet-up presented an opportunity for Jason, Mike and Shawn to record together. On this occasion, the three hosts and guests discuss Darkness Day as well as review three different beers. Our first review is of the beer Rosé De Gambrinus, a Fruit Lambic from Brasserie Cantillon of Anderlecht, Belgium. While these beers can be aged for up to 10 years, they were chosen by the brewmaster as ready to drink now. This style beer is a Gueuze with fruit added during fermentation, and in this case raspberries are used. Our second beer is the Fifteen Anniversary Ale from Avery Brewing Company of Boulder, Colorado. The Anniversary Ales from Avery are typically “wild and weird”. These are one-off beers that are meant to be aged. Our third beer is 2010 iteration of the infamous Darkness from Surly Brewing Company of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. For the past few years, this beer has been primarily for sale on the brewery premises during Darkness Day. Spoiler Alert. This is a tremendous beer that’s ready to drink now. The Beer Genome Project #31 Show Notes 0:00-1:23- Introduction 1:23-28:16 – Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus 28:16-49:26 - Avery Anniversary Ale – Fifteen 49:26-1:29:05 - Surly Darkness 2010 1:29:05-1:32:05 - Conclusion | 11/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #30: Sourheart Like You | This past weekend, many Midwestern craft beer fans descended upon Minnesota. Their destination: Brooklyn Center, where Surly Brewing hosted Darkness Day 2010. This episode was recorded on Darkness Eve, so stay tuned for next week’s episode to hear our discussion about Darkness Day and Surly Darkness 2010. However, the meet-up for Darkness Day weekend provided an opportunity for Jason and Mike to finally record face-to-face with Shawn and guests in St. Paul. A number of our most recent episodes have focused on Belgian-style beers with much discussion about funky, sour, tart ,wild, spontaneously-fermented beers. This week is no exception as we breakdown no less than three “wild” beers. Our first beer comes from Upright Brewing Company of Portland, OR – a company that draws much of its inspiration from the creative spirit of upright bass playing jazz legend, Charles Mingus. Known for its farmhouse style ales, Upright created Four, a wheat beer made from a sour mash. Our second beer hails from the renowned Russian River Brewing Company, in Santa Rosa, CA. Temptation, a blonde ale that has been aged for 15 months in French oak Chardonnay barrels with Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces yeasts, as well as Pediococcus and Lactobaccillus bacteria. Our third beer is again of Portland, OR origin – Apricot Ale of Cascade Brewing Company. Apricot Ale is an 8.5% ABV Belgian Tripel-style beer which underwent lactic fermentation for 16 months, aged on French oak wine barrels, and rested on apricots for an additional four months. The Beer Genome Project #30 Show Notes 0:00-1:18- Introduction 1:18-21:02 – Four by Upright Brewing Company 21:02-44:42 - Temptation by Russian River Brewing 44:42-1:03:44 - Apricot by Cascade Brewing 1:03:44-1:05:43 - Conclusion | 10/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #13: Schlafly and Oskar Blues | Replete with tangents about bottle dates and general beer geekery, we present another episode of our Happy Hour series with Mike, Jason, and special guest Brandon. Clocking in at just under one-hour, this week’s Happy Hour circles around the reviews of two beers: Schlafly’s (St. Louis Brewery) Biere de Garde, and the Oskar Blues Gordon. The Biere de Garde is a timely summer seasonal farmhouse-style ale, and we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out a second beer from Oskar Blues. Hear our plea, Oskar Blues, we would love to have your beer distributed in Iowa. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers! | 8/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #29: Cuvée Is Just a Five Letter Word | Brew days can certainly be one of the more social beer events. When visiting Minneapolis, Shawn and I joined up with some homebrewing friends for a day of beer creation and discussion. Our friends at New Brew Thursday had arranged a trade with Shawn, in which we were the recipients of the Cuvée de Tomme from The Lost Abbey (a division of Port Brewing Company). Similar to the beer we explored in our previous episode, Cuvée de Tomme is an example of the American Wild Ale style of beer – meaning sour or tart. I’m loving the diversity this style of beer brings, and it seems that the age of each one of these beers can change its flavor profile. So, these beers will impart a flavor that you may or may not love – but then you have to revisit it at a later point in time just to see how the beer has changed with age. The Beer Genome Project #29 Show Notes 0:00-2:16- Introduction 02:16-16:12 – Cuvée De Tomme by The Lost Abbey 16:12-18:09 - Conclusion | 7/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #28: The Captain | Brought kicking and screaming into the world of sours? No way – we dive right in! I feel a bit ashamed that it had taken me this long to hear about Captain Lawrence Brewing, but I have been properly introduced thanks to Shawn and our friend Tyler. In this episode, Shawn and I take a crack at 375mL bottle of Cuvee De Castleton from Captain Lawrence. Any sort of reading before the tasting revealed the rarity of this beer, as well as how highly regarded it remains in the craft beer community. This was a shorter episode, focusing on the one beer, but it is all based around the idea of sour ales. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers! This is a beer that will make you rethink your definition of beer. It doesn’t taste like any beer you’ve ever had, yet it doesn’t taste like anything else either. Pushing the limits of brewing is what makes this job so much fun. Malted barley, wild yeast, hand picked Muscat Grapes, and French oak wine barrels are just a few of the things that went into crafting this beer. Breathe deep, take a long sip, and enjoy the creation in your hand. The Beer Genome Project #28 Show Notes 0:00-3:43- Introduction 03:43-19:54 – Cuvée de Castleton by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company 19:54-20:55 - Conclusion | 6/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #27: The Lost Session | First, I have a bit of backstory of everyone. This episode was first recorded mid-February, following the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Winterfest. We lost that original audio and our reviews for some New Glarus beers. So we recorded again, with most of the same conversation and two new Dogfish Head beers at a later date. We nearly lost that audio as well. It’s mid-April and nearly all of the news presented in this episode is nearly irrelevant now. Events have passed by. However, I maintain that Shawn and I probably had our best conversation yet, which is why I had to drag this episode kicking and screaming through the editing process and now lay it out for you listeners here today. Winterfest in St. Paul was an incredible experience because it brought together the great brewing minds of Minnesota with the large community of craft beer drinkers. In this show we talk about our favorite selections of beer available as well as those that may have missed the mark. This week’s reviews are of Dogfish Head Brewery’s Indian Brown Ale and Raison D’etre. There’s plenty of conversation about homebrewing, Twitter, as well as the changing laws in Iowa’s beer culture. Without further delay, I present the longest recorded episode of The Beer Genome Project. Thanks for listening this week, cheers! The Beer Genome Project #27 Show Notes 0:00-0:45- Introduction 00:45-13:43 – Rundown to Winterfest 13:43-32:48 - Winterfest 2010 32:48 -45:32 – Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale 45:32-59:43 – Dogfish Head Raison D’etre 59:43-1:16:51 – Beer News 1:16:51-1:26:34 – Conclusion | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #12: Left Hand Brewing’s Oak Aged Imperial Stout | This episode was probably recorded somewhere near the beginning of winter 2009. So even though it’s a few months past recording date, there is quite a bit of relevant information to be taken from this episode. I was joined by Jason to review the 2009 Oak Aged Imperial Stout from Left Hand Brewing of Colorado. The history of the Russian Imperial Stout style is of interest as it played to both the drinking culture of the region as well as having to endure the process of being shipped across the Baltic. There have certainly been similar discussions about the strength of beers shipped from Britain to India. One note of interest is the oak casks used for the aging of this Imperial Stout were brandy barrels and not the more common bourbon barrels. According to Left Hand, it wasn’t the entire recipe that was cask aged, but merely 25% that was later blended with the rest of the beer. | 3/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #11: Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale | Game changer! Ever so often, in the process of exploring as much of the craft beer world as possible, Shawn and I will come across a beer that epitomizes why we do what we do. Truly I don’t want to give away much of the episode’s discussion – but this was a milestone for us. | 2/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #10: Hitachino Red Rice Ale | This week, the guys bring a review of one of Shawn’s favorite breweries from the Land of the Rising Sun. Hitachino Nest is a brewery within a brewery; its parent company Kiuchi, has been brewing saké for nearly 200 years. These intriguing ales have been making their way into upscale Asian fusion restaurants, craft beer stores, and larger beer bars throughout the Twin Cities for about two years. Coming from a land of adjunct rice lagers, the folks at Hitachino ferment an amazing, refreshing oddity, seemingly a frontrunner in the Japanese craft beer revolution. Our friends Stephen and John from New Brew Thursday recently visited Koji Nomura, owner of Craftheads in Shibuya, Japan, while John was on tour with his punk band, Better Luck Next Time. If you happen to see a curious-looking bottle with a red owl on the center of the label during your next visit to the local craft store, take a few home and let us know what you think! Hitachino NestComing from a land of adjunct rice lagers, the folks at Hitachino ferment an amazing, refreshing oddity, seemingly a frontrunner in the Japanese craft beer revolution. Our friends Stephen and John from New Brew Thursday recently visited Koji Nomura, owner of Craftheads in Shibuya, Japan, while John was on tour with his punk band, Better Luck Next Time.If you happen to see a curious-looking bottle with a red owl on the center of the label during your next visit to the local craft store, take a few home and let us know what you think! The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #10 Show Notes 0:00-0:22 - Introduction 0:22-14:25 – Red Rice Ale by Hitachino Nest 14:25-15:22 – Conclusion | 1/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #26: Do You Beer What I Beer | Are you a big fan of bitter beers and Tyranena Brewing (@Tyranena) of Wisconsin? Then you might think that this episode was crafted especially for you. Shawn and I take some time to review two “out there” beers from our midwest sustenance provider. From their “Brewer’s Gone Wild” series, we have the Bitter Woman in the Rye, an India Pale Ale brewed with rye malt, and Hop W***e, an Imperial IPA. The Beer Genome Project #26 Show Notes 0:00-0:59- Introduction 0:59-16:29 – Bitter Woman in the Rye by Tyranena Brewing 16:29-24:28 - Hop W***e by Tyranena Brewing 24:28 -53:20 – News and Events 53:20-56:53 – Conclusion Peace Tree Brewing in Iowa http://peacetreebrewing.wordpress.com/, @peacetreebrew on Twitter Blue Moon Brewing celebrates rare coincidence this Dec. 31st with new beer [http://news.draftmag.com] You Know What Would Make For An Interesting Beer Festival… [http://www.beerscribe.com/] Schells Hopfenmalz arrives in bottles early 2010 [http://beernews.org] | 1/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #9: Slovak Imperial Brown | In recent months, Shawn and I have been trying to learn about homebrewing with our friends and via the web. I must say that Twitter has been awesome to do some quick crowd-sourcing to get some different perspectives on a question I had. One source of help has been homebrewer and gent Stephen Freshnock, aka @slovakbrewer on Twitter. Shawn was able to meet up with Stephen when he made his trip to Chicago earlier this year. Then, sometime this fall, Shawn was also able to score a few bottles of Stephen’s homebrew. This week we’re releasing a Happy Hour episode in which Shawn and I were able to get together and share one of those homebrews, an Imperial Brown Ale. I asked Stephen to share a little backstory on his beer to offer context for myself, Shawn and you (the reader/listener). Feel free to read his commentary now, but definitely make sure to come back after you hear the show. Thanks Stephen for letting us try your homebrew and discuss it here on our show; I look forward to future tastings and learning more as both Shawn and I begin our foray into homebrewing. From Stephen: Like many recipes this one came to me while in a drinking session. I was at a local pub enjoying the Imperial version of the Brown Ale. It was much drier and had cascade as the featured hop. I often think about what I would change not to improve the beer but to make it my own. In the winter I enjoy the thick tongue depressor beers like “Expedition”, “Darkness” etc.. I wanted to bring out those flavors without breaching the session-ability of the brown ale style. Being a home brewer gives me license to batter styles, so I hopped it like an IPA with Columbus. This gives it a resiny piney aroma that is so inviting and then you get his with a mouth full of malt to sits hand and hand with the hop flavor. It think the bitterness helps push the maltiness through and guide you to your next sip. The deep dark color is due to my process. Before I rinsing the grain bed, I do an extended recirculation of wort to improve clarity and set the grain bed. This means I am running wort through wort which darkens the color. I am willing to sacrifice color in order to improve the quality/stability of my beer. I also reduce the first gallon wort to 1/2 a gallon. This creates a super sweet unfermentable base to the beer. This also deepens the color further. This wort reduction also impacts flavor tremendously. The rich caramel and toffee flavors are a result of this. I layered a two different types of chocolate malt and 3 different low lovibond caramel malts to add complexity. There is a small bitterness charge at 90 minutes, a small flavor charge at 30. Then I pack in 3 ounces of Columbus in the last 15 minutes. There are 2 ounces at 1 minute, this results in the big hoppy aroma. This beer is meant to have more malt flavor and more hop aroma. The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #9 Show Notes 0:00-1:49 - Introduction 1:49-16:05 – American Brown Ale from @SlovakBrewer 16:05-17:46 – Conclusion | 12/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Happy Hour #8: Schlafly Love | This episode is an oldie, but a goodie. My friend Jason (one of the many here at The Beer Genome Project) and I got together to primarily try out Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale, and decided to throw on a few other beers that we haven’t yet had a chance to try. Unfortunately Schlafly is not a brewery that we have access to here in Iowa, and it might take another road trip to Missouri before I can taste another. Additionally, Jason and I tried the Grand Cru from Schlafly as well as the Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing Company. Buckle in folks, this Happy Hour episode is true to its name in length. Cheers! The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #8 Show Notes 0:00-3:32 - Introduction 3:32-17:31 – Grand Cru by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery) 17:31-36:35 – Pumpkin Ale by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery) 36:35-57:41 – Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti by Great Divide Brewing 57:41-58:54 – Conclusion | 12/3/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #25: Beer One Revisited | It’s been a great first year everyone. Shawn and I wanted to start off the second year right by revisiting the beer we reviewed way back on episode one, the Winter Ale by Summit Brewing of St. Paul, MN. And even though this marks the beginning of winter and its own selection of seasonal beers, stay tuned as there are a few fall season wrap-ups occurring within the next week or so. The episode gets nostalgic enough for one post, so grab a cold-one and enjoy. Cheers! The Beer Genome Project #25 Show Notes 0:00-0:47 – Introduction 0:47-18:00 – Winter Ale by Summit Brewing 18:00-24:25 - Reflections on Year One 24:25 -42:50 – News and Events 42:50-47:54 – Conclusion | 12/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #24: Brewin’ to Die | We’re really excited you guys have joined us on our journey and we are fully prepared to progress further in our second year. Episode 24 was actually recorded during the weekend of Darkness Day, up in Minnesota. On the evening I arrived, Shawn and I wanted to record reviews for a few beers the two of us knew we wanted to share together. For that, we considered the options in Shawn’s new “beer cave” and emerged with two Imperial IPAs: “A Little Sumpin’ Extra” by Lagunitas Brewing Company and Struise Mikkeller. Thanks for the great year everyone, stay tuned as the upcoming Episode 25 will be the finale to season one. Cheers! The Beer Genome Project #24 Show Notes 0:00-1:10 – Introduction 1:10-14:39 – A Little Sumpin’ Extra! Ale by Lagunitas Brewing 14:39-39:45 - Struise Mikkeller 39:45 -49:54 – News and Events 49:54-57:15 – Conclusion | 11/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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BGP #23: Golden Beer | In the last episode, we presented a few Oktoberfest style beers as a traditional example of fall seasonal beers. This week we continue our foray into fall seasonals with three ales, two of which are of the pumpkin variety. Of course we detail a few upcoming local events, present some blog posts from our friends, and there is also some news surrounding Anheuser-Busch InBev. As always, let us know what you’ve found to drink in these fall months and again, thanks for listening. Cheers! The Beer Genome Project #23 Show Notes 0:00-0:49 – Introduction 0:49-10:24 – Late Harvest Autumn Ale by Redhook Brewery 10:24-18:46 - Pumpkin Ale by O’Fallon Brewery 18:46 -25:30 – Ichabod by New Holland Brewing 25:30-45:54 – News and Discussion 45:54-49:37 - Conclusion | 9/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 20 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Fun Way to Learn about Beers
This Podcast is a great way to start learning about Beer tasting and consumption. Most of my friends like hearing about the new beer(s) discussed each week. I enjoy the educational topics given on the side, eg: methods of pouring, ways for tasting, causes of skunking. Whichever aspect you like, it is a well produced Podcast.
Makes me want to drink beer!
I literally stopped at a liquor store on my way home from work while listening to the podcast so I could try the beer being reviewed in the Oktoberfest episode.
Good effort, but...
These guys like beer, and I respect that. But their knowledge of craft beer doesn't go much farther then knowing what they think tastes good. If you are looking for in depth beer knowledge, this is not the podcast for you.
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