Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2014 – Gueuze Results

Gold Medal – Bruery Rueuze

Silver Medal – Tilquin à L'Ancienne Oude Gueuze

Bronze Medal – Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic

Other Participants: Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black) & Drie Fonteinin Oude Gueuze

Board of Director Votes (includes @jagatelife, @chadmeindl, @Badger_Alum1, @ahrensjeremy and @rjjturner)

Gold Medal – Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne

Silver Medal – Bruery Rueuze

Bronze Medal – Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label)

Analysis

In case you were wondering, a Gueuze is a blend of oak aged lambics most commonly ranging from 1-3 years old.  So breweries will take different batches of aged lambics, combine them together to hit a flavor that is consistent from year to year and then age the combined product prior to bottling.  These beers are commonly brewed with wild caught strains of yeast and are always sour!

Let’s start at the top.  Bruery Rueuze won in the most landslide victory in Great Taste of Cottage Grove history.  Rueuze took 13 out of 15 first place votes (the two first place votes it missed came from the Board of Directors).  It was definitely the most different from the other 4 beers.  The Bruery has a pretty distinct yeast blend that is absolutely fantastic.  It is more tart with less balance in my opinion, definitely more in line with typical American wilds.  The second place best was from Tiquin.  Interestingly enough, this brewery sources wort (the starting point for beer, which is basically sugar water prior to the yeast being added) from a number of Belgian breweries and then uses their own local yeast.  Tilquin was able to pack in the most flavor while keeping everything in balance.  I thought Cantillon and Girardin were both fantastic and really close.  Cantillon was a bit more mellow up front with the tart notes finishing out the back, while Girardin had a bit more flavor throughout.  Surprisingly enough, Drie Fonteinin came in dead last.  Far too much sweetness with this beer that doesn’t have enough to keep it in check.

My Ballot

1) Tilquin 2) 1882 3) Cantillon 4) Rueuze 5) 3F

The Takeaway

None of these beers are cheap, so if you are looking to explore the style, plan to spend some money.  The Bruery has a fairly large distribution footprint, so look for Rueuze as their early winter offering (it started landing on shelves recently).  This is definitely an Americanized version of the style, but it really is fantastic along with pretty much their entire sour line up.  In Wisconsin, we are lucky enough to have Tilquin on the shelf most of the year.  If you haven’t tried this beer yet, do it now.  It is a great representation of the style and not terribly hard to get your hands on.  The last three are the most difficult to track down.  You will occasionally see tappings of both Cantillon and Drie Fonteinin, these events will definitely be worth a stop!  The Girardin is rarely seen in the US.  If you are willing to drop some money, head over to www.belgiuminabox.com.  You may have to check in regularly to find a time when all of them are in stock, but get some friends together and place a large order, you will not be disappointed.

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2014 – Pale Ale Results

Gold Medal – Toppling Goliath PsuedoSue

Silver Medal – Trillium Fort Point Pale Ale

Bronze Medal – Black Husky Pale Ale

Other Participants: 3 Floyds Zombie Dust & Maine Brewing MO

Board of Director Votes (includes @jagatelife, @chadmeindl, @Badger_Alum1, @ahrensjeremy and @rjjturner)

Gold Medal – Trillium Fort Point Pale Ale

Silver Medal – Toppling Goliath PsuedoSue

Bronze Medal – 3 Floyds Zombie Dust

Analysis

The Gold and Silver winners were definitely in a different league than the rest.  The Board of Directors flipped the two and it was very difficult to choose which was the best.  I thought Sue had some spicy notes that I was a little surprised by and was a bit more forward.  Everything about Fort Point was potent, balanced and wonderful.  Black Husky took home bronze and was the outlier of the group.  Less hoppy and really malty, which was popular amongst the popular vote (while the board rated it last).  Mo was solid, but underwhelming compared to the other brews in the category.  Lastly, Zombie Dust is a really good beer, just not worth the hype or energy required to track down.  It has a great nose and is much more malty, but that beer lives on hype.

My Ballot

1) Fort Point 2) Sue 3) Mo 4) Zombie Dust 5) Black Husky

The Takeaway

Trillium Fort Point and Toppling Goliath PsuedoSue are really remarkable beers and the epitome of the style.  Do whatever you can to get your hands on these beers because you will not be disappointed.  If hear Zombie Dust is going to be on tap or can easily pick it up, go ahead and enjoy.  Otherwise this beer is not worth any additional resources to find.  Maine Mo is solid and reasonably priced, definitely worth picking up if you see it at the store.  I would say avoid the Pale Ale from Black Husky and get yourself some Spoose Joose.

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2014 – Doppelbock Results

Gold Medal – Capital Autumnal Fire

Silver Medal – Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

Bronze Medal – Troegs Troegenator

Other Participants: Spaten Optimator & Vintage 30 Point Bock

Board of Director Votes (includes @jagatelife, @chadmeindl, @Badger_Alum1, @ahrensjeremy and @rjjturner)

Gold Medal – Troegs Troegenator

Silver Medal – Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

Bronze Medal – Capital Autumnal Fire

Analysis

It is worth noting that there are different variations of the Doppelbock and we did not consider this when picking contestants.  Our biggest concern was staying in the same general ABV range.  It was very interesting how these 5 beers separated into two categories.  Three of them had very classic German flavors, while two seemed to have cleaner yeast strains with more emphasis on the grains to provide flavors.  Capital was far and away the best of the German style doppelbocks with far more depth of flavor than what the other two were able to accomplish.  The two non-German-tasting-beers were surprisingly enough from Troegs and Ayinger.  Both of these beers had a bit of sweetness that rounded out the back rather than the hanging German yeast flavor.  Both of those two beers achieved much better balance.  And these two beers placed 2^nd and 3^rd amongst popular vote and 1^st and 2^nd with Board of Directors.  I thought the Troegs was the better of the two and 4 out of 5 of the Board of Director’s agreed.  Capital and Ayinger actually tied the popular vote, but Capital won the tiebreaker.

My Ballot

1) Troegenator 2) Celebrator 3) Autumnal Fire 4) 30 Point 5) Optimator

The Takeaway

Definitely a lot of variety in this style of beer so find what you like best.  If you like the traditional German flavors, get yourself some Autumnal Fire and you won’t be disappointed.  Unfortunately the footprint for this beer is pretty small, but you can probably find Optimator in any market and that one is perfectly sufficient.  My personal preference is the Americanized versions and the Ayinger is really impressive and also should be available in most markets.  Troegs has fairly limited distribution, but if you live or have access to the Ohio/Pennsylvania market seek this beer out even if you aren’t a fan of the style.

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2014 – Homebrew Brown Ale Results

Gold Medal – Third Tier Coffee Oatmeal Cookie

Silver Medal – Attwood Over The Line Brown Ale

Bronze Medal – JerBear Brown Hugs

Other Participants: Third Tier Cognac Oatmeal Cookie & Otsego Cookie Squasher

Board of Director Votes (includes @jagatelife, @chadmeindl, @Badger_Alum1, @ahrensjeremy and @rjjturner)

Gold Medal – Third Tier Coffee Oatmeal Cookie

Silver Medal – JerBear Brown Hugs

Bronze Medal – Attwood Over The Line Brown Ale

Analysis

Full disclosure, myself and a fellow Board of Director are Third Tier Brewing so were responsible for 2 of the beers submitted.  All brewers decided to vote and were counted towards the final tally based on an agreement amongst all of us.  The two Oatmeal Cookie beers were variations of the same beer.  I am a little surprised no one else went the coffee route because it was the most obvious addition to the style I could imagine.  The Cognac version was definitely a mess and needed some time to come together, the coffee was a crowd favorite.  The other three homebrews took more traditional approaches.  You could place all three on a spectrum: Brown Hugs was the heaviest and most boozy, while Squasher came in just a hair thin.  Over The Line fell right in between these two, which is most likely why it came in second.  It had a nice solid base which carried through the mouth

My Ballot

1) Brown Hugs 2) Coffee Oatmeal Cookie 3) Over the Line 4) Cognac Oatmeal Cookie 5) Squasher

The Takeaway
We chose Brown Ales because they are a fairly non-descript style.  I would almost never buy a brown ale at the store unless it had an interesting twist on the style.  That is what we were trying to accomplish with the Oatmeal Cookie variants.  I was very impressed with what the traditional approaches were able to accomplish especially Brown Hugs, which had such great balance with the booziness and just a touch a sweet to cut it off in the back of the mouth.  Overall, a very impressive showing by all homebrewers.

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2014 – Barleywine Results

Gold Medal – Evil Twin Freudian Slip

Silver Medal – Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (2012)

Bronze Medal – Centrals Waters Kosmyk Charlie's Y2k (2012)

Other Participants: Great Divide Old Ruffian & AleSmith Old Numbskull

Board of Director Votes (@jagatelife, @chadmeindl, @Badger_Alum1, @ahrensjeremy & @rjjturner)

Gold Medal – Evil Twin Freudian Slip

Silver Medal – Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (2012)

Bronze Medal – Centrals Waters Kosmyk Charlie's Y2k (2012)

Analysis

The barleywine category is how we finished off the night and as usual with the last event, things tend to get a little hazy towards the end of the night.  First off, it is worth noting that both the Bigfoot and Y2K had a couple years of age on them.  Interestingly enough, these two barleywines are considered the hoppy version of the style.  Overall, it is not surprising both of these beers fared well with both the general consensus and Board of Directors.  The surprise of the night easily belongs to the gypsy brewers, Evil Twin.  Beers that have great balance always fair the best in these blinded tastings and that is what Evil Twin was able to accomplish.  Freudian Slip and Bigfoot actually tied for the general vote, but Evil Twin won on a tiebreaker.  I was the only person that appeared to be a huge fan of Old Ruffian; the only thing I wrote on my scorecard was “heaven.”  Rounding out the backend was Old Numbskull, which was just a mess.

My Ballot

1) Old Ruffian, 2) Freudian 3) Y2K 4) Bigfoot 5) Old Numbskull

The Takeaway

I am not going to write “Told You So” (whoops I just did), but I am a huge fan of what Evil Twin is doing.  Keep checking in with them and get some Freudian Slip if you like barleywines.  If you like hoppy beers, definitely pick up both Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and Central Water’s Kosmyk Charlie’s Y2K.  The great thing about Bigfoot is you can pick up a 4 pack, have 2 this year and one for each of the following 2 years.  Since Central Waters switched to bomber format on the Y2K, I would say grab 2 so you can drink one now and age the other.  I always encourage people to try both fresh before aged versions of a beer!  Otherwise, keep the Old Ruffian on the shelf for me and avoid the Old Numbskull especially at a not so great price point.