Feature Beer Friday: Fremont Brewing's Bourbon Barrel-Aged Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout

by Eric Ducote

Hello everybody, and welcome to the first Bite and Booze edition of Feature Beer Friday!  This is a reprisal of a segment I used to write (nearly) weekly for my old beer blog, BR Beer Scene.  Basically every Friday I'll be featuring a new beer with some background information, a review, and if I'm sharing it, what my friends think about the beer.  I used to score each one based on a 100-point scale focusing on 4 critical aspects, but this time around I think it'll just be a general review.  There is never a shortage of beer laying around the Bite and Booze HQ, so look for an eclectic mix of beers both locally and from around the world.

Today's choice is one from the Bite and Booze cellar, the 2015 Coffee Edition release of their Bourbon Barrel-Aged Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout from Fremont Brewing out of Seattle, Washington. I recently hosted a baby shower (good times ahead!) over at the Bite and Booze HQ, and Jay was more than willing to break this one out for everyone to try! If you think there's a lot going on in that lengthy beer name, you're absolutely right. This stout features layers upon layers of flavor.  The base beer is their Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout, which is then aged for up to 18 months in bourbon barrels, before being blended with barrels of different ages and bottled with coffee added.  Fremont Brewing releases this specialty once a year around the middle of October.

First thoughts on the appearance is that there is minimal head, but that's not really surprising for a 2+ year aged beer that clocks in at 14% alcohol.  As long as it's not flat it should still be good to drink, and this one was perfectly carbonated for an aged imperial stout.

The nose on this one is crazy complex, with roasted chocolate notes coming through from the base beer, coffee present but not as strong and the bourbon aging dominates giving a bright oak and vanilla overtone to the richly dark base.  If I was still keeping score this would earn a nearly perfect mark for the aroma.

The taste is more of the same, just a well layered complex imperial stout where all the flavors play well but also compliment each other.  The bourbon barrel aging is still the star of the show, but the coffee and dark malts support it extremely well.  A bourbon barrel aged beer without a strong and flavorful base can start to taste too much like whiskey without body, and this beer's base more than supports the bourbon flavors imparted upon it.  It finishes smooth, the 14% abv is well concealed by the stronger flavors, maybe too well as this is an easy sipper!

Fortunately I had a few friends to share this beer with, or the strong abv and amazing flavors would have combined to sneak up on me.  If you are ever up in Seattle or see some Fremont Brewing beers on the shelf elsewhere, give them a try.  And if you see some of their Dark Star series, bring me one!  Cheers!

Seattle Part III: Quinn's Pub

Quinn's Pub in Capitol Hill, Seattle

Eric and I departed the Pyramid Alehouse a few hours before the start of the Yankees v. Mariners game on our intoxicating Friday-Funday around Seattle.  A crowd had already gathered in the Pyramid beer garden and all around the stadium.  I enjoyed seeing the atmosphere and fanfare around the ballpark, but Boo and I had another place to visit before we headed to the pre-wedding barbeque, so we couldn't stay for the game.  If you need a reminder, we had already raised our glasses at The Pike Brewing Company (Seattle Part I) before making our way over to the Pyramid Alehouse (Seattle Part II) for even more beer and festivities.  Now we found ourselves traveling back downtown by light rail and then catching a taxi to Capitol Hill where we found a fine establishment known as Quinn's Pub.  This place came recommended to me by the Seattle Food Geek himself, so I figured it had to be good! 

Quinn's Pub is located on East Pike Street, just a little ways up the hill from Pike Place Market and downtown Seattle.  The Capitol Hill neighborhood is known for being a unique part of town.  The area is one of Seattle's most densely populated neighborhoods and is known for its LGBT friendliness, the Seattle art scene, and is home to Seattle's music, made famous by the Grunge movement of the 1990s.  It was in this historic and hip neighborhood that Eric and I met up with Regan Vaugn, the General Manager of Quinn's Pub, for a few more beverages and some gastropub grub.

The Balcony Level at Quinn's Pub

Quinn's had a slightly rustic yet hip ambiance that provided to its obviously well-established culture.  It seemed to match the neighborhood very well in that regard.  However, it wasn't the culture that brought me to Quinn's Pub.  After getting the recommendation and looking up some details, I realized that Quinn's had two great things going for it: an excellent Trappist and local craft beer selection and inspiring, original cuisine.

Eric and I both started with one of Regan's local selections: a pint of Dick's Grand Cru. Dick's Brewing Company resides in Centralia, WA and brews up 21 different varieties of ale. The Grand Cru is an award winning Belgian-style ale made with malted barley and Noble hops. One of 14 beers that Quinn's had on tap, the Grand Cru poured with an amber-orange body and off-white head. The sugars and fruit did wonders to mask the 10% or so ABV on this bad boy, providing a smooth taste, clean finish, and deceptively strong beer.

Ragan and a Glass of Dick's Grand Cru

Regan kindly sent us a couple of Quinn's Pub's signature pretzels to taste.  The doughy knot of flour and salt may have been one of the best soft pretzels I've ever eaten.  The texture seemed to be a mixture between chewy and melt-in-your-mouth goodness.  One dip in the Welsh rarebit, a beer and cheese sauce, and I had a perfect snack to go along with my imbibing.

Pretzel with Welsh Rarebit

In addition to a superb beer list, Quinn's also has enough whiskey, whisky, and bourbon to make a grown cry out of pure joy.  Being a rather large fan of all Irish whiskey other than Jameson (not that it's bad, just that it is the only one that is available everywhere), I noticed that Quinn's had one that I'd never tasted before.  I ordered a glass of Knappogue Castle 1995 neat.  The Knappogue is different than most Irish whiskey.  It is aged in oak bourbon barrels, and even more rare, the Knappogue Castle is a single malt whiskey, not a blend.  Distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2007, the whiskey has a pale golden color and distinct floral and citrus fruit notes on the nose, as well as possibly some honey and vanilla.  I found each sip to be remarkable smooth, easy to drink and somewhat mellow yet sweet.  There's not much like drinking some great whiskey after hours of beer drinking.  In all reality, I'm sure it's what did me in, but it was worth it!

Knappogue Castle 1995 Irish Whiskey

Aside from the booze, what really attracted me to Quinn's Pub was the unique gastropub fare.  The menu consists of various salads, sandwiches, small plates, large plates, snacks, sides, and cheeses.  Deciding what to order proved to be a very difficult task, so I continued to let Regan and our waitress, Erin, steer us in the right direction.  They certainly did just that!  For a sandwich we sampled the wild boar sloppy joe.  The ground boar's game flavor came through while the fresh sage leaves added a peppery kick.  The sloppy joe presented a great twist on the cafeteria classic, and I enjoyed every bit of the nostalgic nosh.    

The Wild Boar Sloppy Joe at Quinn's Pub

From the 'small plates' menu came the oxtail.  The dish featured the slow-braised oxtail with gnocchi, fontina, and crispy marrow.  Erin warned us that "most people that order one end up ordering two."  While we resisted the urge due to our bellies being slightly stuffed from the day's bites and boozes, it wouldn't have taken much of an arm twist to get me to double the portion.  The oxtail's tenderness and flavor were incredible.  Each savory taste presented a myriad of flavors with the gnocchi and marrow adding proper complex, yet friendly, flavors.  The beautiful, imaginative, and modern dish had classic and rustic characteristics that perfectly matched the charm of Quinn's Pub.

Quinn's Small Plate: Oxtail, Gnocchi, Fontina, Crispy Marrow

Eric and I each had one more beer while wrapping up our time at Quinn's.  We got a couple more pints of locally brewed glory, Manny's Pale Ale and Odin's Gift Ruby Ale.  Manny's comes from the Georgetown Brewing Company in Seattle.  With a semi-orange color, Manny's nicely combines its Northwest hops with a trio of malts and English ale yeast to put forward a quality beer that is smooth and crisp on the finish.  Odin's Gift Ruby Ale comes from the Odin Brewing Company, also in Seattle.  The self proclaimed "most adventurous microbrewery in America" makes only small, hand-crafted batches of its deep-ruby colored ale. Living up to their "adventurous" label, Odin's Gift is brewed with juniper berries for a unique finish while still maintaining a nice balance of malt and hops.  If nothing else, it is an interesting beer with a unique twist, and is certainly worth a try.

Manny's Pale Ale and Odin's Gift Ruby Ale

And with that, our brief tour of Seattle had come to its conclusion.  The remainder of the weekend was filled with more food and drinks (well, not much to drink for me as it took a full day to recover from Friday), with family time and wedding obligations mixed in.  I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and will be looking forward to my next trip to the Pacific Northwest where I hope to find even more craft beer and great food.  Until then, Louisiana cuisine calls my name.  Gosh, my life is hard!

Things To Do
Seattle

Seattle Part II: The Pyramid Alehouse

After wrapping up with drinks and a snack at The Pike Brewing Company in Seattle Part I, Eric and I took a nice little walk to SoDo where we found the Pyramid Alehouse right next to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.  Stop number two on our Friday-Funday awaited us with more beer and delicious food.  We met up with Meech Crowley, a "brandvangelist" for Pyramid Brewing, who hung out with us at the bar as we talked about Seattle, Louisiana, travels, and, of course, beer.    

The Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle, WA

Once again we began our beverage intake with a sampler platter.  Pyramid's sampler came with five brews to choose from out of the majority of the beers they had on tap.  Picking the first five to try proved to be a bit of a challenge, but after I accomplished that task I promptly had some assorted liquid refreshments awaiting my taste buds.

A Beer Sampler Pyramid Style

I tried to get as much of a variety pack as I could when choosing my sampler dejour.  My selection included the Audacious Apricot Ale, the Haywire Hefeweizen, the Thunderhead IPA, the Alehouse Amber Ale, and the Grifter IPA.  The Audacious, Haywire, and Thunderhead are three of Pyramid's flagship, year-round brews.  I found the apricot ale to be a great fruit beer.  After the walk from the Pike Place Market, a refreshing, summertime beer really hit the spot.  The wheat malt and unfiltered appearance added to the beer's overall aroma and appearance.  The hefeweizen was very similar to the apricot ale minus the fruit influence.  A typical unfiltered wheat beer, the Haywire didn't blow me away.  The Thunderhead IPA is a lighter, golden IPA that is not over-hopped and is quite enjoyable.  While it does not deliver a "thunderous" Pacific Northwest hop overload to the tongue, it is quite nicely balanced with malt to make a pretty good light IPA.  The Amber didn't impress me much, but like almost all cold beer, it was certainly drinkable.  The Grifter IPA may have stolen the show though.  One of Pyramid's summer seasonals, the Grifter IPA delivered a much stronger bite than the Thunderhead.  Using two different malts and four different types of hops, this beer packed a punch of flavor just like what I was looking for in Seattle.  Bravo to the brewer!

Pyramid's Garlic Cheese Roll

Needing to put a little more food in our stomach's, we opted for our waiter's suggestion for an appetizer.  The garlic cheese roll is a well-portioned pizza roll filled with mozzarella cheese and rep pepper flakes, and brushed with roasted garlic olive oil.  Ours also came stuffed with pepperoni and served with marinara for dipping.  While the garlic cheese roll did nothing to bring out Seattle culture or flavor, it did pair nicely with my empty stomach and all that beer.  The dough tasted hot and fresh while the filling and sauce made me happy.  Hard to argue with that.

The Sausage Sampler at Pyramid

Needing to fill up with a little more pub-grub in between vessels of liquid courage, I opted to try Pyramid's sausage sampler.  The entrée came with three links of Uli's Famous Sausages, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, grilled onions, Audacious Apricot Ale BBQ Sauce and honey beer mustard. The sausage came in three different styles which I found quite appealing.  There was a traditional English banger, a German bratwurst, and a Cajun chicken sausage.  All of the sausages were quite appetizing and the sauces were delicious.  But the main thing was that I had some subsistence in my stomach because I was really there to drink.

The sampler obviously could not satisfy my thirst alone, so I drank several more pints.  And then a few more... I think.  The bar filled up as the pre-game Mariners crowd started to arrive.  We had a couple of visitors stop and chat with us for a while about the oil spill and other things, but the main thing Eric and I did was keep drinking.  My favorites included the Fling Pale Ale and the Dark IPA, though there were several more that added to the flavor profile of Pyramid.  They did seem to be missing a dark beer though.  There was no porter or stout option, which would have been nice to try.  Still, the cold beer satisfied every bone in my body during the Seattle heat wave.  Thanks to Meech for chatting with us about the brewery, and I'll make sure to go back next time I'm in Seattle!

Now on to Seattle Part III for more debauchery and amazing cuisine!

Things To Do
Seattle

Seattle Part I: The Pike Brewing Company

I'd like to thank my cousin Erin for getting married in Seattle and giving me an excuse to revisit the Pacific Northwest.  Seattle is a town that is in the heart of the organic and sustainable food movements.  They also pride themselves on fresh, local seafood.  Oh, and don't forget about craft beer!  Yeah, I knew from the start that this was going to be a good trip.  My brother Eric, author of the BR Beer Scene, and I made sure to have a little extra time outside of the wedding festivities in order to check out the local scene.  Our Friday will be split into three separate blog posts, all chronicling our culinary and indulgent cultural experiences before we made it to the pre-wedding barbeque.  It was a long day, and you'll soon understand why I couldn't stomach a drink at the wedding reception the next day!

Our Friday started in downtown Seattle.  After a morning stroll down the hill we made it to the famous Pike Place Market.  The clock read 10 am, but the market already buzzed with fresh seafood, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and, of course, tourists.  One thing that sucks about tourism is all the tourists.  Especially knowing that in the grand scheme of things, I'm one of them.  Still, I make a conscious effort to not travel like a stereotypical tourist, but alas, there are some things you just have to see.  The Pike Place Market is probably one of them.

 The Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA

Fresh Seafood at the Pike Place Market

After a quick tour, avoiding some crowds, and eating a few samples of fresh fruits and cheeses, we made our way to the neighboring Pike Brewing Company.  After patiently awaiting the opening establishment at 11 am, we took our seats at the bar and placed a beer order.  We both started with beer samplers to get a taste of what The Pike had to offer.

The Pike Brewery and the Beer Sampler

The sampler featured six 4oz brews arranged from light to dark on a wooden tray.  It started with the Naughty Nellie Organic Golden Ale and then continued with the Pike Pale Heirloom Amber Ale, the Pike IPA, the Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale, the Tandem Double Ale and the XXXXX Extra Stout.  The Naughty Nellie had a good malt and hop balance for a light beer, but it still left me thirsty for more flavor.  I really thought that Pike's beers got better as I moved down the sampler.  The Pike Pale has been brewed since they opened in 1989 and was a pretty decent American Pale Ale.  The Pike IPA had an extra burst of hops and a more floral nose.  I found it to be considerably better than the APA, and I don't think I'm alone.  Author Roger Protz called this beer one of "300 Beers to Try Before You Die."  I don't know if I'd go that far since it wasn't my favorite at The Pike, but it was still a good Pacific Northwest hop-fest.  If you'd like to check out the book, you can get it from Amazon here:

My favorite beer from the sampler may have been then Pike Kilt Lifter.  This Scotch Ale wasn't shy about the peated whisky malt that blended with the other malts and hops to give the beer excellent character.  At 6.5% ABV, the brew had plenty of kick to match the peat flavors.  The Pike Tandem Double Ale also impressed me.  It had a few add-ons like coriander and candy sugar to give it a more complex flavor while still allowing the malt and hops to shine.  Finally, the sampler finished with the XXXXX Extra Stout.  The dark roasted grains were evident in the chocolaty tones of the stout.  I found the beer to be particularly well flavored and balanced; a fantastic stout which I don't get every day in Louisiana.

The Pike's Ploughman's Plate

Needing something to snack on, Eric and I ordered a charcuterie platter, the Ploughman's Plate.  The gorgeous spread came with an assortment of artisan cured meats from Seattle's Salumi (ran by the parents of celebrity chef Mario Batali) and from La Quercia Artisan Cured Meats in Iowa.  The pate also included three local cheeses all from Washington and a homemade olive tapenade with crostinis.  Salumi's meats are incredible.  The salty and savory coppa is cured in sugar and salt and the spiced with cayenne and chili peppers.  But as good as the coppa and salami were, the proscuitto blew me away.  The La Quercia proscuitto provided amazing flavor and bold textures that usually aren't present in store bought meats.  It is salted, dried, and aged with only sun-dried sea salt added.  Delicious!  The cheese and olive spread rounded out the platter nicely.  After polishing off the Ploughman's Plate, the time had come for one more brew, then off to the rest of our Seattle adventure.

Pike Monk's Uncle Tripel Ale

Eric and I finished our Pike experience with a tasting of the Monk's Uncle Tripel Ale.  This beauty of a brewsky has a 9.00% ABV.  It is made with Belgian yeast and organic malt to produce a sensational ale in the style of the Belgian Abbey ales.  The beer is crisp and fruity with that distinctive Belgian taste.  The monks would be proud.

After leaving The Pike, we headed to the stadiums to give the Pyramid Alehouse a try, but you can read about that in Seattle Part II.

Things To Do
Seattle