Dave's BrewFarm Pre-Solstice Open House

Dave Anderson's big open house Sunday turned out to be quite the display of brewing prowess.  It gets a bit confusing to try to tell other people about his brews since he doesn't brew to style and his stuff really makes you think...a lot.  Each one has interesting components that always seem to work together to create yet another flavor profile you've never tasted before.

Among the rocket fuel we tried was:

Brew Farm Select:  The Labrewtory version of his all-malt Lager release had a nice, thick mouthfeel.  I doubt I've had a better Lager and I've definitely never had one that was 7.1%ABV.

Matacabras: The rye malts and brown sugar give this a nice balance of sweetness and bite, and the Belgian Trappist yeast really amps up the complexity.  We brought back a keg of this and will have it on tap in the restaurant as soon as something runs out. This version was 9.6% ABV, but the bottled version will be 8%. Either way it's gonna turn some heads in 2010.

Kotura: 6 different malts with a weizen yeast, this one has components of chocolate, caramel and toffee that pushes it close to dessert beer territory, but not too sweet.  And as usual, no sign of the 8.8% ABV.

Cow Pie Stout (8.3% ABV): An inital hint of chocolate and coffee comes through before being blown away by smoke.  This one also has a bunch of different hops, including their farm-grown Fuggles.

AuBEXXX: My personal favorite. The 9.9% ABV of this Belgian Golden Strong Ale is hidden nicely under a thick veil of black pepper. We hope to have this on tap in the restaurant soon.

Talisman (8.5% ABV): A hazy, yellow ale fermented with a German yeast strain, it has a nice blend of light hops and fruit. The German yeast in this made it very interesting.

Dave also did 3 Extra Pale Ales for the Open House:

BEXPA (8.8% ABV): As a big fan of Belgian Pales, this was my favorite of the XPA's.

NWXPA(9.1%ABV): This one had a Pacific Northwest yeasts strain similar to Rogue's Pacman yeast.

AM2XPA(8%ABV): This hopped up American Pale with Dave's farm-grown Centennials was Jason's favorite. (Thanks for drivin' dude!)

As if the beer wasn't enough, we were entertained by a slide projection of brewery construction,  Brad the Beer Guy from DBF's Minnesota distributor, and Paul Molitor's sister Barbie pouring our samples (these kinds of things always seem to happen when you're drinkin' high ABV treats).

Looking at his recently acquired Heaven Hill bourbon barrels that he hopes to fill with Cow Pie Stout, the Labrewtory seems to be coming together. He is finally moving forward on his six-pack bottle line, the first release being Matacabras, which should be available in late January and hopefully accompanied by an in-store appearance and tasting here.  Groove on, Farmer Dave.