BEAR-ly Getting Started 9.4 - Barrel-Aged Strong Ale

We finish out Series 9 talking about amazing winter warmers with a trip across the pond to enjoy English strong ale, from an oak barrel. Craig talks about some specific of English barreling. While we would frown on stale beer, we learn it has a different meeting in England. Plus we talk food as we commonly do. Featuring Yorkshire Stingo from Samuel Smith Old Brewery in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1758. 

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Transcript

Jason:

The Buffalo Brews Podcast. All right, so we went from Framingham, Massachusetts to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Then we went to Port Crane, New York.

Now we're going to take it over the pond. There you go. United Kingdom.

That's right. To finish up the final segment of our warmer winters series, series nine.

Craig:

January, February is going to be basically the two months that these come out?

Jason:

Yeah, this would be, let's see here. So then officially, I guess we're talking about this date would be the 25th of February.

Craig:

All right. Yeah. Well, happy Valentine's Day.

Happy. All right. So we're, you know, spring is here on the horizon, even though it's 18 degrees right now.

We also had a crucial moment of the charcuterie board. Well, we're down to like one piece of everything.

Jason:

That's right.

Craig:

So it's either, and I didn't put a knife on the board, so you don't cut it in half. You just decide what you want to eat.

Jason:

That's right.

Craig:

Eat all three if you'd like. I have one friend, she just keeps cutting things in half. And I used to be a math teacher.

So I, you know, I talk about, you know, like half lives and stuff like mathematical logarithms.

Jason:

Yeah, but you asked me about 6% plus 50%.

Craig:

That's how we started. Good thing I started back then versus after that 11.3, so. Right.

But we are barely getting started on these warmer winters. And, you know, it's been getting, you know, season nine, we've covered quite a bit. We've covered almost every beer culture.

We're covering a lot of different styles. Now, you know, this was the first that kind of very nicely lined up with, you know, chronologically with what's going on as they're being released because we're going to be in the winter. So we're going to be talking about, you know, we're doing warmer winters and we're talking about this because these are beers that are A, were meant to be consumed in the winter, i.e. Winter Porter from Evergreen, Winterfest Lager from the Extra Layer from Jack's Abbey, or they're B, beers that I think, you know, are indicative of the colder months. They warm you up. You know, one of the biggest things that warms you up, we, you know, we're kidding about it a little bit with the last episode. But the higher ABV, that's definitely going to, you know, I think when people think about warming you up in the wintertime, they're thinking of, you know, oh, put a shot of Jameson in your coffee or have a little swig of bourbon.

You know, that alcohol warms you a little bit. But the other things that bring, that come to mind when we are trying to warm up is it's more, you know, a cup of joe, right? You want that warm coffee that warms you up.

So that Darker Lager was kind of in that vein. And then you have that Winter Porter that just had very winter-like flavors of chestnut, figs, and vanilla and maple syrup. And then the Barley Wine was nice because we got to kind of delve into that style a little bit.

But, you know, at 11.3, very malt focused and intense, slow sipping, kind of brandy snifter style, glass drinking, armchair cigar, Stilton cheese, and in front of an open fire type beer. You know, those are meant for the cold winter nights where, you know, and we think of this as a baby don't go. You know, when you think of those songs and it's cold outside, it's like sit down and drink some of these beers.

Jason:

Turn into a medley here.

Craig:

Yeah, that's, you know, some people think of that and their mind takes them certain places. My mind takes me to we should be popping open something that is oak cast aged strong ale from the, you know, 1700 established in 7158, Samuel Smith. We're going to be enjoying some Yorkshire Stingo.

I'll fully admit this was some of the beers that I buy for Magic Bear are just guilty pleasures or things like I got to buy it. You know, Samuel Smith, Jason had brought up to me before we jumped on the microphones. We did do the organic pale ale, but Samuel Smith is probably one of the most, you'll see it on the shelves in a lot of stores.

If they do have some UK import presence, but they are kind of a, you know, the big name in UK and English and London beers and a lot of delicious styles. You know, we did the pale ale, which was fantastic, but I saw this and I saw Yorkshire Stinger Stingo and I looked it up and I had never seen it offered to us before and I was like, I'm getting it. I'm getting a case.

I don't care if anybody drinks it, I'll drink it. Because yeah, it's one of those, you know, limited release. It's kind of like their holiday or, you know, wintertime seasonal.

So it's one of those beers that, you know, they may get again, they may not get again. And when I mean they, it's the distributor. You know, they're getting it, it's being imported.

So it's one of those I'll grab. It's well suited to be aged. So if I have it for a year plus, like that's totally fine.

It'll develop some character. But what is it? You know, first let's talk about characteristics of what we are looking for, for beers that warm us in the winter.

You know, we're not just throwing back light crispy boy lagers. That's, you know, and not that those aren't good in the wintertime. We're just thinking about stuff that's easy, easy chair, kind of slow sipping.

Look at the snow fall. Glad you're not outside. You know, this kind of just warms both the heart, the soul, and tertiary, the body.

So Yorkshire Stingo, it is barrel aged and oak ale casks. So a cask is slightly different from a barrel. Casks are a little bit more rotund.

They are a little wider in the midsection. I, you know, should more clearly put. And a lot of, if you ever heard of cask ale, you know, before kegs, and, you know, casks and barrels are very akin to one another.

But the casks are different sizes. And a lot of times when you age stuff in casks, and these are in oak ale casks, they are, you might hear the word footer as well. Footer is another wooden vessel, but it's super, it's just very large.

Casks are basically, instead of aging beer in larger barrels, you can have a little bit more wood contact when you're in a cask. So these casks could be hundreds of years old. There's a cooper is the term for someone that takes care of barrels and casks.

So, you know, someone like Samuel Smith Brewing, they have coopers on staff. You know, they're taking care of the barrels and replacing staves. Those are like the individual slats that, you know, are wrapped together with that steel binding on the top and bottom.

So they're making sure that they're water tight and suitable for aging beer in. Why age beer in an oak ale cask? Well, you're going to get some of those oak flavors, a little bit of vanilla, a little bit of caramel, definitely like a little woodsy, kind of earthy vibe.

And then what type of beer is this? This is, they call it the Stingo. And it is, they say, Yorkshire Stingo, tastes of dark fruit, toffee, and Christmas pudding with a subtle oaky finish.

It's bottle condition, which basically means the carbonation comes about, secondary fermentation, meaning mostly alcohol was created, and now there's a little bit of yeast still in the bottle that is scavenging any oxygen and then creating carbon dioxide. So a lot of home brewers do bottle conditioning because they don't have any machines to force carbonate. So you just make sure there's a little bit of sugar left in there and a little bit of yeast that's still alive, and it will continue to eat the sugar and make carbon dioxide.

And there's a little simple math behind it that makes sure that you have a well-carbonated beer. And then you always got that one friend that, within beer groups, you have that friend, that brews beer that somehow always makes way over-carbonated beer.

Jason:

It says there's always one.

Craig:

Yeah, there's a disclaimer. It's like, all right, you know, it's good, but you might want to open it over the sink. So the cask imparts attributes of the flavor profile, like I said, of the caramel, notes of vanilla, and all that stuff.

The bottle conditioning means there is some yeast still in here. It wasn't filtered out. Same goes, like German Hefeweizens are typically always bottle-finished or bottle-conditioned.

What you want to do with theirs, you don't want to pour too hard because there's some yeast that's going to be at the bottom. So if you see it come out, especially if they say that it's a bottle-conditioned beer, you should be expecting the fact that there are going to be some solids in the beer. So you don't really want to, it's called rousing.

You don't want to rouse it up and get it all back into the brew. It's kind of settled into the bottom. You pour gently, and it'll kind of stay at the bottom.

And usually you want to leave maybe about half an ounce, just a tiny bit in the bottom of the bottle to keep that in there. Some people like it. They think it's good for your health.

It's called the dregs. And just swirling it and then pouring it on top of the foam. So to each his own.

I call that grandpa's cough medicine.

Jason:

There you go.

Craig:

That's what he does. Some antibiotic or bacterial properties. However you want to view it.

Just don't be surprised when you see bottle-conditioned if there are some flecks here and there. They should be in there if they're bottle-conditioned. Old ale.

Sorry, not old ale. We're going to be comparing it to an old ale. It's a strong ale.

So we just had an American barley wine. We talked about English barley wines. So English barley wines are kind of the maltiest, highest ABV, kind of the pinnacle.

Well, not the pinnacle, but the high point of alcohol and malt concentration when it comes to the English style beers. Then kind of in that category, there's some gray area, right? You have your standard strength beers.

Then you've got some beers that are a little heavily, a little higher ABV. Then you've got that barley wine that's way up there. Well, in between, this is kind of one of those catch-all categories called strong ales.

Where a good American comparison locally too is Southern Tier. They do a lot of those 8.6% Imperial ales. So Pumpkin.

What is it? It's an Imperial ale, 8.6%. I just had the Praline Chestnut Imperial ale. How is that?

It was good. It's on the sweeter side. It's like a one-and-done in my opinion.

But I liked it better than they did that sugar cookie the years before, which to me was just...

Jason:

Take and leave it.

Craig:

Yeah. I mean, it was super sweet, but it wasn't very... There wasn't much depth to it.

It was just kind of like, all right, yeah, 8.6% and sweet. It tastes like a sweet vanilla cookie.

Jason:

They come up with some good ones.

Craig:

Yeah, they're a fantastic brewery. But yeah, their Imperial ale, we could call that American strong ale. It just basically means it's higher ABV, but doesn't really fit the category of something.

It's an Imperial ale versus a double IPA versus an Imperial stout. It's an elevated ABV ale. Now, in the English beer styles, there's the strong ale, which this is, higher ABV, emphasis on malt.

But then there's also what's called the old ales, old and strong. So it's another one. Now, old is typically higher ABV, but old means, hey, we're going to age it.

And going back all the way to 1700s with the height of the Porter production, Porter was always an aged beer. And sometimes it was then... Then it kind of always became blended because you'd have the term stale.

Young versus stale. Stale sounds bad, but actually just means it's got some aged characteristics. And since it's in a barrel or a cask, and these casks are reused, sometimes you get some microbiota action in there.

And it brings about like a slight tang, not so much sour, but there's a little tang going on it. And that is the stale, quote unquote, terminology. If something's stale, it means it's got that aged hint of sour kind of flavor.

And there's just a little bit more of age complexity involved. So the difference between old ales and strong ales are going to be the fact that strong ales can be aged, but they are not needed to be aged. Whereas old ales are typically, and a part of the style, are aged and often have that stale-like characteristic.

Whereas strong ales do not. They're just higher ABV and not quite a barley wine. They don't have as much emphasis on the malts, but they are definitely not your everyday pub, you know, have four or five imperial pints of.

It's more of a slower sipper, something to be enjoyed and savored. So to me, it made a perfect candidate for something to enjoy during the winter, especially to warm you up. So let's take a quick look at what the ABV is on this guy.

Because we did 6%, 9%, 11.3%. And now.

Jason:

I don't think this bottle's marked. I think it probably ranges in between the 8 and the 9, like you were talking about earlier.

Craig:

Yeah, usually when you have an imperial or strong. Oh, right here. 8% flat.

Okay. So an 8%. So usually 8% is that indication.

Like IPAs, 8% makes it a double IPA. 8% I see a lot of times imperial stouts. They're usually 8% or more.

And right now we have an 8% strong ale, barrel aged, and oak ale casks. So as I crack this bottle open. Another thing I like about Sam Smith, Samuel Smith.

They got the nice gold foil on the top. So not as ornate as some of the Belgian beers. But this is one of those just.

You know you're having something a little special. Busted out during. You just show up with one bottle of this.

Share it amongst two, three people. This is a 18.7 fluid ounce bottle. So not quite the old school American bomber of 22 ounces.

Not the 500 milliliters of 16.9. So it's definitely something that people would see and say, Oh, what's that? And with the gold foil. And, you know, there's a little like, you know, there's some shine and sheen to the label here.

You could tell that this is a special beer, a limited release.

Jason:

They always do some ornate stuff. A little old school to the label. You know, gold lacing.

So, yeah, it's always fun.

Craig:

Without further ado, I'm going to do some pouring. Jason, do you have any questions, any comments, any concerns?

Jason:

Never any, never any concerns. One of the callbacks, we were talking about Sam Smith Brewery, which is out of Tadcaster in the U.K. If you go back to episode, I believe it was 7.1 for Barely Getting Started, we were talking about that organic pale ale. That's right.

That's where you're going to find that one. So if you're looking for that comparison in Sam Smith. Wow, that did two full, two very full pours there.

Craig:

And I can already get that aroma. Yeah, that's coming off of it. You definitely get that, like, oak kind of smell to it.

Yeah, these are the 10-ounce tulips, Belgian tulips. Sitting at almost 19 fluid ounces. You've got, you know, this is perfect little room for some head.

It's darker than the barley wine we just poured. It's about, you know, it's similar darkness to the first beer we poured. I would just say a little bit more opaque.

So, again, this old strong ale, very broad category, right? The main thing that, you know, if you were putting this in the competition, is going to be the ABV. You know, if you're calling it a strong ale, it needs to be within this strong ale category, these metrics for the strong ale style.

What you do to it, like aged it in oak cask, this, that, the other, are all going to be a part of the brewer's notes that let you know what you should expect as the consumer of this beer. You know, as we come to an end of Series 9, you know, I hope that this, you know, this was a little bit different. You know, we've done styles, just purely talk about the evolution of styles.

We've done cultures and talked about the evolution of cultures. So this one is kind of like a, just a fun winter version of trying a bunch of different beers where the common theme is, I'd love to enjoy them during winter. But don't be fooled.

Any of these beers can be enjoyed anytime. I do think they're a little bit more evening beers. These aren't your day drinking type go-tos.

Not my choice for a tailgating beer. But definitely could enjoy a bunch of these throughout the year. And on that, a little cheers.

Cheers. All right. Sorry, we got a little drip there.

Just means I got to hurry up and sip. Well, I spilled on the salami.

Jason:

That's all right. A little beer soaked meat never hurt nobody. Again, nice multi-characteristic to that.

Craig:

So a lot of what we're going to do with this episode, I think, is kind of compare this to that barley one we just had. A little bit by design, a little bit just by they're both English-based styles.

Jason:

It's a very rich flavor to this.

Craig:

Very rich. That American-style barley wine that we just had, that Old Man Splitfoot, you could just taste a huge amount of bitterness. It was a little on the harsh side, nothing major.

But it had some caustic alcohol, just heat. 11.3. So we're dropping this down to 8%. Still a formidable beer.

But now we're talking more just like regular Imperial versus, okay, Bucklin. Once you hit that 10% and above, you're having a... I mean, 11.3 is kind of some wines are at the 11, 12% mark, so that's suitably named a barley wine. This guy, I don't get much heat. I'm not getting a ton of that ABV indication. The nose is very much caramel.

Again, just like a hint of that raisin, but definitely leaning towards caramel and toffee. And that's indicative of just malt forward beers.

Jason:

The toffee is much more on the first, even in the second sip as well. I've only ever had toffee pudding one time in my life. I tried it.

I wasn't a big fan of it. This kind of reminds me of toffee pudding, except liquid form and more tolerable.

Craig:

Yes. My wife and I were big fans before they went out of business of Black Sheep. Okay.

And on Connecticut Street, but very happy because a very good barbecue joint by the name of Southern Junction took over, and they are fantastic. But they had a sticky toffee pudding. Okay.

So a lot of times, anytime I've seen pudding, or toffee pudding, it had sticky in front of it, so the sticky toffee. And they made a fantastic one. That's why I bring it up, Black Sheep.

The color on this is probably the darkest beer we drank today. It's still in the brown with a little bit of red undertones. As I lift this one up, it definitely has a little bit more light being able to shine through and gives a little definite some red undertones.

That aroma is just like a sweet malt. It kind of smells like you would think of on brew day when you're just mashing in, and you just have that very grain, sugary kind of malty sweetness floating throughout the air. And this is a nice one.

This is, you know, it hides the 8%. I don't know if that's the 11.3% beer talking. But at 8%, as I take another sip, you know there's more alcohol in this than a light lager, but it's not one of those beers that you would immediately be like, oh my God, how much alcohol is in here?

It's nice.

Jason:

It's a very well-rounded. It's flavor-packed for me. Again, I find it very rich, toffee forward on the taste.

Craig:

Yeah, it definitely has that caramel-like, you know, a little bit of that probably comes from the oak casks. To be honest, I was expecting a little bit. Like I told you, I bought this beer because I just wanted it, right?

I just wanted it. I was hoping that some people would see it and be like, oh, wow, that's different. And I thought it would be perfect for this series.

But I was thinking I'd get a little bit more oakiness. And, you know, anytime I get an oaky beer, sometimes it's tough when it is very malt forward like this is because a lot of notes that you get from oak you would get from malt as well. So like that toffee, caramel, a little bit of vanilla notes you would get, you know, regardless.

You know, whatever beer was in a cask, you would get a little bit. The fact that Samuel Smith reuses our casks often, sometimes, you know, if you have fresh new oak, then you get a lot of that flavor, right? But as beer has gone in and come out and gone in and come out, sometimes, you know, it's almost not that it's used up all of its cask attributes, but it's definitely not as it's not like the first time.

Using up all that caskiness. Oh, yeah. You know, but what's nice is as I drink this, it kind of develops.

And a lot of it is we're following this up from, you know, if we put this, if we went the extra layer, which was episode one of this series, which was just kind of like in between a Dunkel and a Schwarz beer. It's a dark German lager. But then we went to a winter porter that was basically opaque black and, you know, kind of slick on the palate with all of its delicious adjuncts.

And then we went to a barley wine. So it's kind of like, hey, you know, we scorched the earth a little bit with the previous two beers here. So now that we have this one, it doesn't, it definitely is not the barley wine that we just enjoyed.

But if I had it right after the first beer, I would say, well, this is a lot more than that Dunkel.

Jason:

Right.

Craig:

And I would say so as well. It's kind of like your older brother punches you in the shoulder and it hurts real bad. And then your younger brother punches you and it's like, yeah, it's nothing.

You know, I just don't.

Jason:

Wuss.

Craig:

Yeah. My my arms still sore from the first punch.

Jason:

Now, I've been thinking a lot about food on this here. Yes, I did one. What would you what would you say?

Because I'm thinking like seasoned meats. Oh, this is this is a English. This is an English strong ale.

So is this like a bangers and mash territory or are we talking cottage pie?

Craig:

I mean, those are those are going to be quintessential pairings. Right. This is that's what the beer is kind of brewed for.

So, yes. The answer to that is yes. All right.

Without going crazy. But to me, you've got heavy malt. You know, as we continue to drink, this warms up a little bit in my hand.

You know, I get a little bit of the eight percent in there. I could I could taste it. Malt Ford.

Think of, you know, this color beer. Right. When we're in between light gold and brown black.

When you're at this like amber, just above just above dark gold and just below brown. These these beers kind of represent like the Maillard caramelization, which are like the Maillard effect is when you have, you know, like the browning, like the searing of a steak and it's kind of this like savory goodness. So to me, anything with a nice sear or caramelized, this is going to be very good with barbecue, like smoky barbecue flavors.

I think go well with this, you know, the sweetness of this as well as like a barbecue sauce. Those caramel kind of toffee notes go well. But then again, like a lot of like roasts, you know, you think of just roasting and braising something for a long period of time and then it's going to have those kind of like deep savory notes to it.

This with the caramel and the just subtle sweetness to it, I think will lend itself very well to, you know, stuff like, you know, whether it's a roasted roasted leg of lamb or it's just even mom's pot roast. I can see it. I wouldn't want I would want it with something that has clear caramelization on the outside.

Jason:

So something with a sear.

Craig:

Yeah, this this is this would go well with a beef prime rib roast as well as I could see this going with like Latin style pulled pork. I mean, something that doesn't have a ton of, you know, brown sugar that's going to overpower the flavors of this. I just want something that's got like maybe a little bit of tang to it for maybe like some orange juice in the marinade or the braising liquid.

But for the most part, it's kind of just that savory crust of the meat as well as, you know, just the savory that comes from a nice large roast. I'm trying to think of other simple stuff like sausages, definitely over burgers and dogs. You know, this is a little bit more complex than your good old American hot dog.

Jason:

A little savory meat.

Craig:

Yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Craig:

A little bit more savory, something with some spice, a little bit of fat in there. So definitely, definitely bratwurst. Like, you know, you're going to go well.

Like if you take bangers, I think bangers have a lot of breadcrumb in them. If you took something like a German bratwurst or even like an Italian sausage, they just have a little bit more flavor. Usually, you know, when they grill up, they got that nice little snap to them.

They got that little caramelized kind of outside flavor and then they're just super juicy inside. A little snappy action. This, I think, goes very well with those.

Again, this is another one that will go well with like a lot of cheese courses. A lot of your cured meats. I think anything like salty, like a prosciutto, a speck or even some spicy because the sweetness in this will tone down the spiciness.

Yeah, you need some oats and spices in there.

Jason:

Or maybe not oats. I'm talking about like a haggis or something like that. We don't want a haggis in there.

Craig:

No, I mean like something like a hot coppa or like a spicy salami or, you know, I mean something like this. Even as basic as like your favorite pepperoni pizza. Okay, there we go.

You've got the malt notes in the beer. Yeah, spicy, charred, cup and char. The cheese is going to want the nuttiness of this.

The bread, the crust of the pizza is going to go well with the maltiness. The fact that this has got a little bit of booze. As it warms up, I don't know if you've got it, but I mean I'm tasting a little bit more versus the first few sips.

The malt is going to be in the malt of the crust, the cheese, the nuttiness like I said, but then that spicy pepperoni, the sweetness of this malt is going to kind of tone that down. I mean simple pleasures like that. Like, you know, your favorite slice.

You know, this beer is not going to take a crappy slice of pizza and make it that much better. It's actually going to be like, oh man, I should have just drank this on its own. But if it's, you know, if it's your go-to slice of pizza, this is something that would accompany it very well.

But to me, this is kind of like a sausage or a roast kind of beverage.

Jason:

We've got a series that has gotten through a really crazy winter here in Buffalo. Now, we're recording these segments here. It's early January.

This episode, like we said, was going to air sometime around the 25th of February. So we don't know where the winter has gone. We pray that it's gone well.

We pray that we're also talking about a Super Bowl in Buffalo. There you go. A Super Bowl championship in Buffalo.

We'll see how this all ended up for us. But what I do want to say is that I've enjoyed this. Because this has taken us through these colder months.

And Buffalo is one of those environments where the colder months takes us. I mean, literally, you're like trudging through March. And then there's always that surprise storm in March.

Craig:

Theory of relativity.