2PM starts off our Real Ale Hour. We are featuring their Mysterium Verum series which to me is one of the most interesting programs we have going on in Texas right now. Real Ale takes their common base beers and transforms them, magically, into new creations via barrel aging. The beers spend a variety of time in both wood and steel casks. Most of the beers are blended so due to this you have tons going on in the beer. You will see numerous flavor profiles ranging from tart/sour to oak/vanilla and everywhere in between. I was fortune enough to meet Eric at Real Ale who heads the barrel aged program at a beer dinner last year. Being avid Metal fans (as am I), most of their barrels have names from Metal Bands (for instance Black Sabbath's Ozzy, Dio, Tommy, etc). It's cool to see that no hold bar attitude and "aggression" in the Mysterium Verum beers themselves. My personal favorite from the series is "The Devil's Share" which is a barrel aged version of Devil's Backbone. We were fortune enough to receive several kegs of the series and one day we woke up and had 5 so thus the Real Ale Hour for the BeerBQ was born. We will be featuring 4 of our 5 beers during this hour (The 5th, Kraken, will be seen as part of our Creature Feature Series in August).
The first part of the hour will focus on Volume XV and Empire. Volume XV's (Russian imperial stout 9.8% ABV) base beer is Real Ale 15, which was brewed for their 15th anniversary. The twist for the M.V. Volume XV is that the base beer spent 11 months in Four Rose and Maker's Mark barrels. Tons of oak, vanilla, chocolate and maple in this beer. The body is surprising to me in that its not as thick as most stouts, more in the medium range. Which makes it both easy to drink and dangerous. This particular keg has been with us for almost 18 months now so it's going to be really interesting to see the changes it's undergone in our cellar (as you cellar beers the yeast continues to consume sugars and other munchies lending the beer newer and interesting "umami" flavors....think soy and grilled meat as well as commonly mellowing out the beers alcohol and mouthfeel).
Next up is Real Ale Empire (India pale ale, 6.6% ABV), which is barrel aged Lost Gold IPA. Lost Gold IPA is about as solid as it comes when dealing with Texas IPAs. Containing Amarillo, Columbus, summit and cascade hops (all American varietals) you get a lot of citrusy notes and resin-y pine overtones. When aged in barrels Lost Gold becomes a even more intense version with Oak and Vanilla notes added thus giving birth to "Empire" . The nose is powerfully hoppy and tastes much the same. Hopiphiles don't miss this one!
2:30PM will see the launch of two more beers, Highlander and Morgul, as well as a flight of all four (while supplies last). Morgul (American porter, 7% ABV) is the child of Real Ale's Coffee Porter, barrel aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels (I fell in love at the mention of Bourbon). So what do you get? Tons of flavors, namely dark chocolate and coffee with bourbon notes - vanilla, tanins, oak, touch of spice and a mild tartness (porters are traditional vatted blending old beer with new beer giving it a distinct tartness produced from our friend the wild bacteria Lactobacillus). One of the best of the series in my opinion! Make sure to check it out!
Lastly, Real Ale's Highlander (there can be only one?) naturally a Scotch Ale clocking in at 10% ABV. This beers stems from Real Ale Real Heavy and is barrel aged in a variety of wine casks. Yes, wine casks. I love wine barrel aged beers (the previous mentioned Devil Share is chardonnay barrel aged). The wine barrels add a subtle acidity to the beer (which can be seen as tartness). Scotch ales are traditionally malt heavy with little to no hop presence (most use old hops in fact). This is a great example of "terroir" were hops where not readily available due to poor growing conditions in Scottish climates and the only source for them was England and well, let's just call the Scottish/English relationship "rocky" at best, haha. So it's all about the malts. Real Ale's Highlander is incredibly rich in this malty tradition with the subtle acid notes mentioned above, which to me scream of green apples. Truly unique in my opinion. Don't miss it!
That's all for Real Ale Folks! Make sure to check out the beers individually or if you're lucky enough grab a flight (yes, there will be a credit as "Mysterium Verum" in the UFO Kiosk beerknurds). See you soon with our next two hours of St. Arnold's goodness....KB
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