Day 7 (7/31/2011): Hyde Park Craft Beer Symposia

Yesterday my wife and I headed over to Teller's in Hyde Park to attend the 2011 Hyde Park Craft Beer Symposia (ignore the fact the the graphic above says 2010). This will be a small teaser of a larger review that will be featured over at CincyVoices with Chris Nascimento, a fellow Cincinnati-area craft beer lover (who happens to know infinitely more about beer than myself). Hopefully this will tide you over for the time being.

I'm going to focus on my two favorite beers I was able to try there. I was impressed with many, but none like these two.

The first of these, from Goose Island, is Madame Rose, a sour/wild ale. From the source:

"Madame Rose is a crimson colored Belgian style brown ale fermented with wild yeast and aged on cherries in wine barrels. Layers of malty complexity, sour cherry, spice and wood notes make Madame Rose an ideal beer to suggest to Bordeaux enthusiasts and beer drinkers fond of Belgian Kriek and Flanders Brown Ales."

This was a wonderful beer. The tartness from the wild yeast fermentation and the cherries was substantial, but not over the top. It's a refreshing beer for the current hot, hot heat. It has a funky, tart smell, with a little bit of the cherries shining through. They are a lot more evident in the taste, luckily.

The other beer that really impressed me was Kaiser Curmudgeon from Founders Brewing Company. This special release is their regular Curmudgeon old ale, aged in bourbon barrels that were used to age maple syrup in.

There is a ton of sweetness and bourbon-y notes in the nose, with vanilla and butterscotch. At just over 10% ABV, the booze isn't particularly hidden well, but it's not overly harsh. I actually didn't care for this a ton at first but it improves markedly as it warms up. It is certainly a sipping beer, though. Between the high ABV, the moderate booziness, and complex flavor, you won't (or shouldn't) be chugging this.

These were definitely my favorite of the night, but with 32 offerings from 16 breweries, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Keep your eyes peeled for a more comprehensive review of the beers and the event itself hopefully later this week!

Madame Rose:
Beer Advocate
Ratebeer

Kaiser Curmudgeon:
Beer Advocate
Ratebeer

(Note: I had a tough times matching the pictures I took with my tasting notes this morning. I believe I have the two correct above, though. Also, they were taken with my cell phone camera, so excuse the crappy quality.)