Volume 17 Issue 4

Perennial Artisan Ales St. Louis, Missouri

17 (Mint Chocolate )

We’ve been looking forward to securing 2006, eventually ascending to the role of program (not surprisingly) includes a wide something special from Perennial Artisan Cellar Manager, where he managed various range of wine and spirit barrels. Some Ales out in St. Louis, Missouri for our fermentation processes and their renowned of their more popular releases include Rare Club members. And this month barrel-aging program. That’s a pretty solid Suburban Beverage, a stellar gose-style ale we managed to get exactly that: 17, the pedigree. When Phil signed for a year-long with Key lime, Meyer lemon and Valencia brewery’s mint chocolate stout, made with stint as head brewer at Half Acre for the oranges, and Abraxas, their award-winning cacao nibs and mint leaves. It hasn’t been brewery’s opening year, he brought along impy stout that’s packed with contributions brewed since 2018—and their 2020 batch is deep experience from Goose Island into a from cacao nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon being produced just for us. Outside of The job arrangement that would allow him to and ancho chiles. Rare Beer Club, this will only see distribution learn the financial side of things better— to Perennial’s club members and through with the plan always being to head off on For those near the St. Louis area, consider the brewery’s tasting room. his own. In 2010, he moved back to Missouri visiting Perennial’s Brewery and Tasting to start Perennial. Room for a better look at what this brewery Perennial Artisan Ales started up eight and is all about. They offer an incredible diversity a half years ago, opening in September 2011. The St. Louis brewery takes much of its of on draft and bottled, with the Phil Wymore is Perennial’s brewmaster influence from Belgian and American craft tasting room currently open Wednesdays and co-founder, and brings his experience brewing cultures, with the first recipe through Sundays and offering a rotating, from working at Goose Island Beer Co. and Phil brewed for Perennial being Hommel beer-inclined menu that highlights local Half Acre Beer Co. out in Chicago. Phil got Bier: pulling in classic Dupont yeast and producers. More about Perennial Artisan started at Goose Island as a brewer back in combining it with biscuit and aromatic Ales and the delicious things they’ve been Munich malt, as well as up to can be found at perennialbeer.com. Columbus, Mt. Hood and Cascade hops from (Continued on reverse page) the Pacific Northwest. The focus from the SPECIFICATIONS beginning has been hand-crafted, small- Style Imperial Stout with cacao nibs & batch releases that are mint leaves built for the discerning Alcohol By Volume beer geek. Perennial 10% uses local, seasonal and Serving Temperature organic fruit and other 52–59° F special ingredients as often as possible, Suggested Glassware Tulip, Snifter, or Pinot Glass while their barrel-aging full-bodied, with a viscosity similar to, say, dark chocolate. Underlying complexity 17 Bell’s Expedition Stout. It certainly has the and roast from the stout’s darker specialty appearance of a nightcap beer—and that malts provide a ton of additional character Perennial Artisan Ales 17, one of our two mint-chocolate aroma lands fast. as well: licorice, toffee, leather, brown featured selections this month, is a mint- sugar. Subtle, tiny-bubbled carbonation chocolate imperial stout brewed with cacao The aromatics here are deliciously minty provides some welcome lift, as does a touch and mint leaves. Packed with chocolate from first pour: offering up deep, bracing of warming alcohol. Not surprising given malts, this stout is a hefty 10% ABV and just spearmint and peppermint alongside this the 10% ABV, and most of that warmth gets loaded with vibrant chocolate and mint beer’s bitter chocolate core. Spend some tucked in seamlessly behind the mint. character throughout. For us, it’s one of time with the aroma on this one. That Perennial’s releases that is just so unique minty impact comes through everywhere: On the whole: this imperial stout would and well rendered, and it’s tough to talk fresh, crisp, enlivening, and just hugely likely be exceptional without any bells and about any other mint-stout attempts important to how this beer presents itself. whistles. But extra layers of chocolate and without referencing this one. It’s just that The chocolatey base imperial stout seems cocoa and fresh-cut mint take 17 to a whole good. like it would be an incredible beer on its different level. Impeccably detailed stout, own—but those extra additions of cacao with a long-lasting finish of dark chocolates 17 wasn’t brewed this past year at all, and nibs and minty goodness kick this stout up a and toffee and spice. the 2020 batch from Perennial is being few levels. Deeper inspection of the aroma produced specifically for our Rare Beer shows off a lot of the additional structure: Aging & Pairing Notes: Club members. The only other ways to burnt sugar and dark caramelization, cocoa acquire this batch will be directly through powder, licorice. This beer’s hyper-focused on its chocolate- the brewery’s tasting room or as one of mint character during its youth, but we Perennial’s club members. Long-time members of the club will except it to continue developing in the acknowledge that we’re pretty fond of bottle with another six months plus in the Perennial’s mint-chocolate stout pours a imperial year-round… But this minty cellar. Just keep an eye on it, as this beer’s highly dense chocolate-brown color, capped version feels especially nimble and suited delicious fresh. Perennial 17 seems ideally with creamy, medium-brown foam. This for the spring. There’s without doubt a tuned for dessert or as an after-dinner one’s pretty clearly a serious stout. Modest hefty imperial stout base here, but the drink, but the mint emphasis also has us retention of foam, with a good amount overall impression is refreshing, crisp, and considering lamb. of lacing left around the perimeter of our minty. The core expression conjures fresh glasses. This imperial stout is impressively spearmint alongside fine-tuned layers of

Beyond the Bottle: Beer in Quarantine By Ken Weaver

It’s hard to know where the world will be when this newsletter pandemic, so now’s the best time to support them if you’re able lands, but at the moment my wife and I and our cats have been to. The local breweries here in NorCal are offering options like bunkered down for just over 11 days. We both work from home no-contact home deliveries, curbside pickup, and online shops. usually, so we’re focused on worrying about the family we’ve Merch, gift cards, and employee fundraisers are other great ways got working through the outbreak (one a pharmacist; another to help folks get through this. working on a crisis-response team). We’ve been keeping in touch with peeps, via online happy hours and the like… But this is super How are you making it through the downtime? What beers did you tough—even for introverts, where this should be our Olympics. quarantine impulse-buy? Did you find a way to support your local We miss our friends and our shared spaces. brewery? Connect on Twitter at @RareBeerClub.

Until things go back to anything resembling normal, here’s hoping Ken Weaver (@KenWeaver) is a beer writer, editor and cartoonist that you’re staying safe, isolated, virtually connected, and properly based in Petaluma, . He makes a weekly webcomic—about stocked. Your favorite small businesses are almost for sure having a dysfunctional brewery/potion shop—at massivepotions.com. a terrible time figuring out how they’re going to weather this

MonthlyClubs.com® 800-625-8238 Volume 17 Issue 4

Mikkeller , (brewed at De Proef Brouwerij in Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium) Nelson Sauvignon/Sauvin Brut

As one of our featured beers this based magazine Soundvenue). They with the publishing and music month in The Rare Beer Club, we’re began without an actual physical industries.) What Mikkeller’s done pleased to offer up a particularly brewery, choosing to instead rent time and again successfully is to rare release from Mikkeller—Nelson capacity at existent locations like realize Mikkel’s expressive recipes Sauvignon Brut, a potent wild ale aged GourmetBryggeriet and Belgium’s de at world-class breweries such as in Austrian white wine casks. The last Proef Brouwerij. It wasn’t long before BrewDog, Amager, Anchorage, and— time this beer saw U.S. distribution the notion of a locale-hopping “gypsy most often—de Proef. And, for good was January of 2019. brewer” manifested—and stuck. measure, Mikkeller currently brews some of their own beers at Mikkeller On a variety of levels, Mikkeller has But the term oversimplifies what Brewing locations in challenged how the craft-beer world Mikkeller is and is not, particularly and ! thinks about artful brewing. Mikkel today, and particularly as other Borg Bjergsø started Mikkeller in 2006 similarly minded folks followed in The gypsy-brewing model affords with then-business-partner Kristian Mikkel’s footsteps. Whether contract creative flexibility elsewhere, and Keller (who would soon after depart for brewing, an alternating proprietorship, Mikkeller has deservedly become an editorial position at Copenhagen- or any of the other popular approaches known for its use of nontraditional for starting up a ingredients and concept-driven efforts brewery without (Continued on reverse page) having to build one from scratch, what SPECIFICATIONS tends to matter Style most from the Wild Ale aged in Austrian White consumers’ side Wine Casks is the quality and Alcohol By Volume 9% artistic clarity of Serving Temperature that final product. 50–57° F (One could make Suggested Glassware obvious parallels Tulip or Chardonnay Glass that, well, actually work. Mikkeller’s an initial vibe somewhere between oak. Overall, there’s a brilliant balance Single Hop and Yeast Series lineups lambic and tripel. of those lambic-like elements and the incorporate savvy, educational spicy, toastier character of a tripel-like elements, while other offerings The aromatics of this beer are beer underneath. include ingredients such as Kopi Luwak something else. There are obvious coffee, lychee fruits, currants, Chateau parallels to Belgian lambic here, So much of Nelson Sauvignon Brut’s d’Yquem barrels, and apparently (per offering some tart and sweet lemons, charm comes from its complex the Mikkeller blog) even cabbages. hints of salinity, along with some of fermentations. Using Champagne that leather and vibrant funk of the yeast seems the most likely source of For the latest on Mikkeller’s most expressive examples. There’s those toasty, spicy, Belgian-y esters international locations and a surprising amount of depth to this we’re finding, and they provide a happenings, head to mikkeller.com. beer, with hints of a savory balsamic welcome, calm counterpoint to all character adding a soft edge, while the these lambic-like components and Nelson Sauvignon Brut fruit levels continue to expand as this various fruit expressions (which wild ale is allowed to warm: we found mostly arise from Brettanomyces’ Mikkeller Nelson Sauvignon Brut is apricots, pulpy tangerine, peaches… contributions). Hints of rounded malt an impeccably detailed wild ale that Subtle underpinnings of vanilla and sweetness also play out, emphasizing gets fermented with Champagne almond provide a touch of tannic edge honeyed notes and fresh-baked bread: yeast, Brettanomyces, and enzymes, from the time this beer spent aging a seamless tertiary note that fits and ages for months inside white inside of Austrian white wine casks. nicely beneath everything else going wine casks from Austria. This release There’s a whole lot here. on here. This wild ale is a smooth, from Mikkeller has seen very limited hugely nuanced beer to dig into, and stateside release, with about 350 Softly integrated carbonation provides its generous ABV tends to keep tucked cases sold annually in 2016 and 2017, some welcome lift in the first sip, which away. and none available in distribution since leads with a vibrant combination of January of 2019. This beer has been tart berries, tree fruit, and pervasive Pairing & Aging Notes: long gone from places that saw earlier sherry-like notes. The medium-volume releases, and we think it’s an ideal fit acidity and subtle alcohol also help to The potent ABV of Mikkeller’s Nelson for the club: super limited, out-there keep this 9% beer feeling pretty lean Sauvignon Brut should keep this going techniques, and drinking beautifully overall. As this warms up a bit, that in your cellar for a good bit more time, right now. fruitiness at the core continues to but we think it’s drinking great right expand, bringing out spritzy lemon and now. Keep an eye on any aged bottles Nelson Sauvignon Brut pours a bright lime in abundance, hints of tart peach to make sure the overall fermentation amber-orange color and seems to and apple. The complex fruit character character is heading in a direction you glow in the glass. A creamy, light-tan is a perfect match for the honeyed, enjoy. In terms of food pairings: this head is formed and sticks around for white-grape character contributed by beer’s basically built for a platter of quite a while, leaving web-like lacing as the Austrian wine-cask aging, as well cheese, honey, fruit and nuts. it slowly departs. It’s well hazed, with as those soft notes of almond-tinged

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