Melange a Trois (Nebraska Brewing, Papillon, NE)

I picked up this bottle last summer on site at Nebraska Brewing on my way to Denver.  For various reasons, it sat in my fridge waiting for the perfect night, which never came so I'm finally partaking now.

Lingering fluffy white head with vacuous bubbles over a shimmering orange Belgian strong ale.  Layered spice in the nose, seemingly from the yeast, on top of the oak and sweet fresh bread.  Exquisite fresh malt, spicy puckering twang, pepper mixed with green apple, clean oak and a counterpoint sweetness before finishing dry.  Drink slow as the 10% ABV is completely hidden.

Light, complex, refreshing and challenging all at the same time. Sometimes, a beer can live up to the hype.

Cheers.

Fathead Barley Wine (Nebraska Brewing, Papillion, NE)

Picked up this bottle of Fathead while at Nebraska Brewing on my road trip to Denver.  I hadn't heard of it before, but it's hard to turn down a rare chance of drinking barleywine on a summer trip.  One of the disadvantages to be a teacher-beer hunter is that I don't travel during the winter when some of my favorite dark beers are available.  

Beautiful ruby barleywine in the glass that only reluctantly gives up its off white head in spite of a hard pour from the second half of the bottle for encouragement.  Light legs when tilted, showing the nearly 11% ABV that's apparent, but not overwhelming, in the nose.  It's followed with cherry, molasses, oakiness and a clear, bright hop or yeast spiciness.  Elegant nose leads to a lightbodied, fruity ale with a slight oiliness.  Spice continues but doesn't live up to the promise in the nose.

As it warms, the 6 months in fresh whiskey barrels seeps out.  I missed the vanilla, initially, but it's clearly there.  The brown sugar in the description can be imagined when going back, but looks to be a bit of marketing to me.  It's definitely sweet, to the brink of cloying.   Drink this one slow, or leave it out for a while before tasting, to get to these flavors soon.  My beer fridge sits at about 42 degrees and that's too cold for this one.

The description on the website is enlightening as well.  The "fresh whiskey" barrels vaguely listed on the bottle are noted online as Stranahan's Whiskey.  When on the tour of Stranahan's just a day after visiting Nebraska Brewing, the tour guide said their barrels are used by breweries for aging beer on the strict condition that the Stranahan's name not be used.  This is quickly becoming my biggest mistake in that I didn't ask why they prohibit the use of the name since it seems to be good advertising.  Plus, had I known, I would've liked drinking this next to the Stranahan's bottle while in Denver rather than save it for later.  Oh well.

Overall, a very nice barleywine with little to complain about.  I'm enjoying it, slowly, as a celebration for finishing the last assignment of my very last class to top out on the salary scale. In theory, I'm done with required formal schooling as soon as I click send to turn in the assignment via email.

Tonight is not a moment that I could have imagined in 1989 when I started college at Purdue.  When I started college, I was a teetotaler who thought he'd teach physics and math while coaching wrestling and track.   While that would have been a perfectly acceptable path, I'm happy to be an English teacher and speech coach who hunts beer on the side.  Such is the amazingly capricious nature of life.  

Black Betty (Nebraska Brewing, Papillion, NE)

"Oh my.  There's the whiskey!" my wife exclaims after her second sip of Black Betty.  The dark brown head of this Russian Imperial Stout falls quickly with a bit of lace.  The whiskey is apparent in the nose. And familiar.  According the Nebraska Brewing website, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey barrels is the source.

We did the Stranahan's tour earlier this summer and the whiskey is smooth and strong, which leaves a robust imprint on the beer.  The 9.3% alcohol shows with light legs on the side of the swirled glass.  As it warms, the whiskey actually smooths out and compliments the oily slickness of the ale.  Very sweet and malty, it keeps from being cloying by the 83 IBUs bringing a sharp bite the flows through the end.

A slightly imbalanced RIS that's heavy on hot alcohol from the beer and the barrel aging, but I like it a lot.  If you haven't read me in the past, I readily admit that I lean toward the big, bold, and slightly over the top.

Side note: At the Stranahan's tour, they mentioned that they let breweries use their barrels, but I understood that the Stranahan's name wasn't to be used.  Obviously I misunderstood since it's listed on the website; however, the bottle says "fresh whiskey barrels," so maybe the limit is to the actual beer.

Upstream Brewing (Omaha, NE)

Main bar at Upstream with Flagship IPA

7/5/12

The last time I was in downtown Omaha, Randy Madsen and I were coming back from Dan Gable's Tiger wrestling camp at the University of Iowa. In 8th or 9th grade, our bus from Iowa City had broken down in Des Moines because the AC was out. As a result, we missed our connection home in Omaha to home and spent the night together at the Omaha bus station. One of use would stay awake to watch our stuff while the other slept. In the course of the evening, we played cards with a guy who was rolling a joint and each were propositioned by several hookers. All in all, a good learning experience.

Staying at the downtown Econolodge and walking to Upstream Brewing reminded me of my last trip. Still seems like a tough neighborhood (remember, I lived in LA below south central), but the rough wrinkles smooth by the time I got to the refurbished downtown area with a lot of bars and restaurants. My guess is that most folks drive and park nearby, and don't see much of the surrounding area. Classic refurbished downtown area for any large city.

Inside, Upstream Brewing is expansive with a beautiful brewhouse behind glass. Large bar and a ton of beers, but it's been a hot day and I'm not up for tasting all of the brews on tap. I order water and a menu to start, and get to having a Flagship IPA and fish and chips for dinner. Flagship is a marmalade colored, solid west coast IPA that reminds me a bit of Masala Mama from Town Hall, especially the color. Clean and fresh, it blends well with the good beer battered fish and mediocre chips.

For a second beer, the Saison was off for the Brewer's Whim, so I tried the 1936 Strong ESB for a lighter beer. Off white head dissipates quickly on top of a muddled amber ale. English hops on a caramel, malt and mineral base. Hearty ESB that one could sip for an evening.

Upstream is a perfectly good brewpub, but feels more like a tourist trap than a real local like Nebraska Brewing early today. Nothing wrong, per se, but not much to really attach to as a pub for me. If I find myself in downtown Omaha ever again, I would gladly stop for lunch but I wouldn't go too far out of the way.

Certified Evil (Lucky Bucket Brewing, La Vista, NE)

7/5/12

Pitch black beer that appropriately represents the darkness of Evil. CE has a single tone tan head that drops rather quickly. Chocolate, light burnt roast and spice in the nose. Nose is not assertive but that could be the fan in the bar. Flavor jumps out strong with a heavy burnt chocolate and malt taste with earthy hops spreading along the side of the tongue.

 The beer lingers nicely and has a bit of a punch, betrayed by the light legs on the side of the footed glass from the 9.1% alcohol. Very good beer and is better on site than the bottles I've tried in the past. Fine beer to be the top of the line for Lucky Bucket.

Location:Lucky Bucket Brewing, La Vista, Nebraska

Lucky Bucket Brewing (La Vista, NE)

Lucky Lager draft with distillery in distance.
Playground fence clearly splits brewhouse from
distillery, I assume to meet licensing requirements. 

7/5/12

Warning--google maps sends you the wrong way. After a bit more research on my cell phone, I found myself in a nondescript warehouse district rather than a nondescript housing complex in La Vista, Nebraska.  Lucky Bucket is in a large commercial space with a handmade tasting area in the front of the open brewery. Lack of AC on what the Bug said is a 105 degree day makes a tour a bad choice at 4:30 in the afternoon, but that's how it goes when beer hunting.

Walking in the door, aging barrels greet me along with a cooler of beer to purchase. Can't see the boil kettles from my table, but there's a view are least eight large fermenters that speak to LB's expansion.  I've had a bottle or two before (thanks Linda from work who is friends with the brewer Zack), but have also seen them in beer stores that I frequent. Linda said the brewer was interested in starting a distillery, which the kettle for that can be seen clearly from the bar.

The place reminds me of Amnesia Brewing in Portland, minus five IPAs, a veggie dog and a life-sizes My Little Pony head on the wall: Lucky Bucket was clearly built lovingly by hand in the space available.  As I'm sitting here, several business types, a couple looking like they met her to do business and three that seem to be young bucks in ties meeting after work. Later, more T-shirted locals showed up as well and the placed filled up quickly right before the tour. Not bad for a Thursday afternoon.

First stop---check out the full tour.

Talked to the bartender and he's hoping to bring in food trucks and have football fans come in for Cornhusker games to drink Children of the Corn (cool name and sadly not on tap today). Free pretzels is the only food on site, but Jimmy John's and a pizza place will deliver to the tap room.

$3 for the tour with a free sample of the lager in plastic glass. Might want to bump it up to a pint in a glass glass for a better taste.  Groupon seems to be why many are here.  Most didn't pay for the tour and worked on the $25 credit through pints with friends. Good marketing idea.  Crazy busy tour and can't believe I was almost the only person in the bar 45 minutes earlier.  

Certified Evil with brewery in distance. 

The tour guide was a recently hired employee and very enthusiastic in his explanation of the brewery.  Standard chat for a non-geek crowd, but fun to walk around hearing the details and drink fresh beer samples from their kegerator styled cooler half way through the tour.

I learned a bit about LB, enjoyed the stop and the good beer on site. No surprise that Certified Evil, an oaked strong ale, was my favorite.  Not quite a top tier national beer, but a very respectable brew that packs a punch in spite of it's smooth character.  A close second for me--and a bit of a shock if you've discerned my taste for big and/or hoppy--was the Lucky Lager.  A pre-prohibition style lager, this is a very clean full malt brew that's dry hopped in the west coast style that makes it a unique and sessionable, an American lager to be proud of the label.

Lucky Bucket is clearly a hard working brewery that is passionate to grow, and I wish them well and hope that they continue to have success.

Lucky Bucket Lager (Lucky Bucket Brewing, La Vista, NE)

Lucky Bucket Lager with distillery in background

7/5/12

On the tour at Lucky Bucket Brewing, a free pint came along with the tour.  I'd had a bottle of the lager before with positive results, so tried a draft for comparison.

Tightly bubbled, thick, creamy head that lingers nicely as the effervescence builds the head from the bottom of the orange-amber lager. Bit dark for the stereotype of a lager, but, if I remember correctly, this is a pre-prohibition lager and fits a different style than the typical American macro-lager.

Clean malty nose with light spice, and, with a deep breathe, a hint of apple underneath. Smooth and full bodied, the spice, caramel and sweetness jump out on the tongue and linger--not typical lager characteristics, but a reason why I like this one. Refreshing on a hot day--a perfect reason to drink a lager.

Nebraska Brewing Co (Papillion, NE)

7/5/12

Nebraska Brewing is on the outskirts of Omaha in Papillion, Nebraska in a big mall across the street from Dick's Sporting Goods. This is definitely the best brewpub I've visited that's in a mall. Brewpubs in malls tend to be on the Granite City variety--technically a brewpub but not very inventive. NB is clearly not in this category.


Long dark wood beer is inviting and the brewery is well displayed behind glass. Hard working brewery staff with work apparent in the brewhouse, including putting on labels on bottles by hand at one of the big tables on the slow afternoon.

For lunch, I had the four cheese spent grain pizza. Cheese combo is good on top of the thin, grainy crust. Fresh grated parmesan if you want that works very well. Offered a personal and full size, which is much appreciated. Not the best pizza I've ever had, but very good and hits the spot today nicely.


At the bar, a marine was on his second day of retirement and enjoying a sandwich with "death sauce." Evidently the super-hot habanero death sauce can come on wings and other items. I did not try it myself since I had a long day ahead of me.

From stickers on one tank and flags on the wall, the bar seems to be a local for many from the military base. When asked, the bartender didn't really categorize NB as a military bar, but many of the regulars stop in on the way home from the base and there's clearly a supportive relationship between the bar and those that serve our country.


I can see NB's famous Melange a Trois and Fathead Barleywine in bottles, so will go home with those for sure to end a very nice first stop in Nebraska. Added Black Betty as a last minute impulse buy. Of my samples, I really liked Hop God, which is basically a Belgian IPA. Listed as a trippel crossed with west coast IPA, Hop God has plenty of hops that are supported by a yeasty Belgian funk to make it very interesting.

Easily my best stop of the day in Nebraska, I wouldn't hesitate to return to Nebraska Brewing.

Hop God (Nebraska Brewing, Papillion, NE)

7/5/12

Stark white head that looks creamy in the tulip glass. Hazy gold to amber. Peppery spice in the nose, very Belgian yeasty. Hop is clear but under the spice. Strong hop bite on the tongue, but smoothed by the Belgian characteristics, especially the vinuous and oily traits. Nose opens up as it warms, the body lightens and the yeasty characteristics become more assertive, and, to be expected, the nearly 10% alcohol becomes more apparent in the taste. Good a several temperatures, this is a great beer to sip.