Constraining Complexity

I have recently been enjoying the powerful brews of the North Coast Brewing Company.  These guys hail from Fort Bragg, CA, and in my opinion make one of the finest line-ups in the microbrew industry.  I’ll limit myself to what I’ve tried:  the Old Stock Ale, the Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale, the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, the Le Merle Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale, the Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale, the Red Seal Ale, and the Scrimshaw Pilsner.  There’s a few others, but I haven’t seen them, and the just-a-bit-too-long three hour pilgrimage to the actual brewery means that I haven’t tried their “Barrel-Aged” varieties.  (I think I’ve got my lovely wife sold on going up there sometime though, so stay tuned.)  Anyway, they are all very good.  If I had to pick a least favorite, it would be the Pranqster, partially because of the odd-ball name, but mostly because I don’t think it stands out, particularly when compared to the Le Merle.  Sure, they’re slightly different styles, but at least from my experience, Le Merle captures a lot more of what it’s attempting to emulate, i.e. the Belgians and their oh-so-tasty-but-oh-so-expensive golden ales.  If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be ‘the Brother’.  A bottle of that stuff, and well, the Brother starts talking to me.  So to speak.  It’s in the dark, ‘dubbel’ style, and it is very strong without being too alcohol-y.  Great label art as well.  To my taste, it might benefit from a little more carbonation, but I suppose adjusting that part of the brewing process might get rid of all those delightful flavors that it currently possesses.  Not that I would know.

Along those lines, it has occurred to me, that despite drinking and, most of time, enjoying beer with some regularity, I know only a little about it.  You know, the brewer guy takes some malt and some water, boils it, adds hops at some point, waits some period of time (longer for lagers), and voila, there be beer.  Simple.  Of course, at this level, when I drink a bad beer*, there’s very little in the way of critical thought about why it is bad beyond, “Ugh.  Won’t get that one again.”  I’m going to try and give specific beers and the science behind beer a semi-regular slot on this blog.  I hope readers will find those future installments of interest.  In the meantime, go buy yourself a bottle of Brother Thelonious and let him speak to you as well.

* Pick any “macro” brew that isn’t ice-cold for an example of this.  Or Dogfish Head’s ‘Black and Red’ that they brought to the Portland Brewfest a couple years back.  Blech.