Beer and Cheese at Wicked Weed

Wicked Weed's Funkatorium has a more limited menu than the flagship brewpub- most of the food is meant for nibbling on, rather than sitting for a full meal. One of the more appetizing spreads though is their daily cheese plate. In addition to the cheeses, the board is adorned with crackers, fried apricots, poached currants, walnuts, and pecans. The spread was a delight, and I nabbed my friends' beers in order to do this tasting.

The Beer Team

1. Bless Her Heart

A sour beer inspired by the Southern love of peach iced tea. A blend of Brett 

and sour stock barrels, combined with peaches, lemon, ginger, and imported

black tea from Dobra Tea (local)

2. Black Angel

A sour black ale brewed with one pound of sweet and tart cherries per barrel,

and then aged in bourbon barrels

3. India Blue IPA

A hoppy IPA with a soft hint of blueberry and ginger

"Bless Her Heart" was my favorite beer of the three. It had a spicy nose and was very tart. The ginger was very forward and balanced nicely by the black tea. "India Blue" was an exciting twist on a traditional IPA, which can typically pick up grapefruit and citrus notes. The blueberry and ginger were nice and subtle, which let the hops shine- very well balanced. "Black Angel" came in third, with a pungent coffee profile imparted from the Bourbon Barrels. I felt the cherries were overshadowed by the darker flavors of the barrel.

CJ with his Bless Her Heart, trying to warm it up

The Cheese Team

1. Firm yellow cheese

2. Crumbly goat cheese

3. Soft white cheese

All of these cheeses had crazy insanely long names and my waitress said them too quickly for me to write them down. The yellow cheese was the favorite of the group. It was sharp and woody and very flavorful. The goat cheese had a funkier taste and was very crumbly and dry. The texture threw me off, and this cheese ended up not getting finished. The soft cheese was absolutely delicious, with a soft nuttiness and sweetness that charmed everyone.

Top, clockwise: soft white cheese, crumbly goat cheese, sharp yellow cheese

To note, the goat cheese tasted best when paired with the Red Angel raspberry sour, but it was not included in this tasting.

The Matchup

Bless Her Heart

Cheese 1: This beer helped mellow out the overbearing flavors of the cheese. It lost its bite, but brought out the woody flavor. 

Cheese 2: They did NOT compliment each other. There were no flavor differences or changes between the two.

Cheese 3: The peaches and ginger of this beer brought out a lot of the sweetness in the cheese. It was so creamy and delicious, this was one of my favorite pairings.

Black Angel

Cheese 1: The oaky smokey of the beer balanced out the bite of the cheese, reducing its sting and bringing a nice smoked flavor to the table. There was a great round warmness on the mid palate that lingered nicely.

Cheese 2: The goat cheese was not serviced well by this beer either. The taste was a little rounder, but this cheese was easily overpowered and left behind by the cherry sour.

Cheese 3: This cheese shined with the Black Angel. It was creamy and smooth and so light, it could've made a great dessert.

India Blue

Cheese 1: The hops of the beer paired with the cheddar cheese and made it kickingly sharp. It really brought out those sharp cheddar qualities that were mellowed out by the other two brews.

Cheese 2: The cheese tasted chalkier and drier when eaten with a hoppy beer. Poor goat cheese.

Cheese 3: The hoppy blueberry quality of the IPA helped this cheese reach more savory notes than with the other two beers. The nuttier qualities shone brighter, and a slight saltiness came forward as well. This was a great pairing.

My pint of India Blue

I think wine, with its depth of flavor, has the ability to pair better with cheese than beer does. Beer typically has a more straightforward flavor profile: hoppy, malty, boozy, etc. This simplicity doesn't bring out the subtler flavors of a quiet cheese, but it does help mellow out a sharp cheese, like the cheddar that I had at the Funkatorium. Bold beers pair best with bold cheeses.

With that said, the sour beers made by Wicked Weed seem to bridge the gap between a complex wine and a simple lager. I haven't ever experienced a memorable back palate flavor with a beer, but Wicked Weed's program is pushing flavor profiles further into the mid palate, creating a depth of flavor that other breweries can't achieve. Their sours are well balanced, which compliments a smoother cheese. 

I would be interested to pair more of their sours and funky ales with funkier cheeses, like bleu and Gruyere. I want to see how the pungent Brettanomyces that are used at Wicked Weed pair with a crumbly, moldy, bold cheese. 

The End

Bonus Chris and Genesis sour Sorbetto!

Brewery Visit- Wicked Weed

This weekend, Wicked Weed in Asheville, NC was releasing a new beer- Red Angel, a sour ale brewed with raspberries and aged in red wine barrels. My boyfriend and I attended the bottle pre-sale release on Saturday at the brewery's second facility, the Funkatorium.

I've been to Wicked Weed at least 8 times since I turned 21. Their brewery is a beautiful shining beacon of ingenuity and craft in the beer industry. The brewery began as a brewpub and has been open for only two years, but in that time they have opened two taproom and beer making facilities, broken ground on a third facility, and began distributing their beers in the state of North Carolina.

A day at either of their facilities is full of a Baskin Robins-esqu selection of craft beer to drink (all made with fresh ingredients in house by Wicked Weed) and a fantastic menu of food and nibbles. Their traditional styles of beer (your IPAs, ales, stouts, and porters) are brewed and sold at the main Wicked Weed facility, while their sour program is located a couple blocks away at the Funkatorium. Here, they make and store their many sour beers, ensuring that there is no cross contamination of the yeast strains between the funky junk and the regular cast of beers.

The front of the Funkatorium is a taproom, while the warehouse in the back is allocated to barrel storage and production. Patrons can walk down a roped off path through the barrel room on their way to the restroom, eyeing the aging beers right next to them.

 

It's not uncommon to hear patrons joking about wanting to 

steal a barrel and just roll it down the street.

During my own jaunt to the loo, I noticed that many of their barrels used for aging are made of French oak. I asked our waitress, who has ben with the small brewery since its creation, whether that was a deliberate choice over American oak. She said that their barrel selection is made primarily by what type of alcohol was in the barrel previously, be it red or white wine, cognac, rum, tequila, etc, and not much thought is given to the type of wood the barrel is made out of.

Unfortunately, the head brewer, Walt, had already come and chatted with my table before I had this question in mind, but I would've asked him whether the type of grape aged in their wine barrels played into his decision to age a beer in it. Wouldn't aging a cherry sour be more appropriate in a barrel that previously held Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec, rather than Pinotage? I feel like the barrel's previous inhabitants should play a huge role in barrel aging beers.

Everyone on staff at Wicked Weed is knowledgable about the facility and program. The attitude of the brewery is one of a big large family that loves to work together. Even their new Social Media and Marketing employee, Jordan, who has only been with the brewery a few months, feels the love. He and I spoke about the Funkatorium, and he was knowledgable and helpful when answering all of my questions.

Most of the beers at the Funkatorium are aged in oak barrels, while some are fermented and aged in steel. There's a large oak vat in the corner of the warehouse, called a Foeder, that is used during fermentation. It stands upright, rather than on its side, which allows more oak flavor to get into the beer. Currently, the facility has around 300 barrels aging its different beers, but capacity is set at around 500.

They recently broke ground on a third facility, which will expand their production and distribution lines dramatically. Currently, Wicked Weed only bottles its sour beers. Some get distributed to local bottle shops, but most sales of bottles happen at the brewery. The bottles are gorgeous- 12 oz bombers with beautiful label art. Even the paper chosen for the label is nice and glossy. These little things make their product stand out above all the rest.

The new facility will fully service the state of North Carolina and then allow for distribution to other states. Don't worry, I put in a good word for Blacksburg. Phase 2 of construction at the new warehouse will include a third taproom and more storage for their barrel program.

Luke and Walt, the had brewers at Wicked Weed, have created a gem in the mountains. Their beers are winning medals and awards and pleasing the palates of those who drink them. Their release parties for special brews are a great time and well populated, and the energy is always positive.

This release party was for Red Angel, a variant of their regular Black Angel cherry sour. The two beers use the same base sour and production and fermentation process, but different fruits and barrels. Black Angel is brewed with cherries and aged in bourbon barrels, while Red Angel is brewed with raspberries and aged in red wine barrels. During the year, three other "Angel" beers will be released, completing the series: Gold Angel (apricots), White Angel (wild tart grapes) and Angel of Darkness (boysenberry, blueberry, raspberry, and cherry). Angel of Darkness will be aged in Portuguese sherry casks.

I was lucky enough to speak to Walt about the new brew. Red Angel was served to the masses in a white wine glass, which let the raspberry bouquet shine. It's the most well balanced sour I've ever had of theirs- it was not pungent and overbearing, but rather mellow and crisply tart, with strong fruit flavors and a nice breadiness that lingered on the mid palate. Walt let us know that the "literal ton of raspberries" were introduced to the brew during its second fermentation process. This let the fruit mix better with their strain of Brettanomyces yeast and give the finished product a better, less forceful punch. Once this batch is out of the barrels, they will begin production on next year's Red Angel, which will age for a total of 12 months. It's a quick turnaround cycle, with a batch of Red Angel in barrels for the majority of any given year.

The Funkatorium is a quiet place. The warehouse echoes your steps as you walk past the sleeping beers in their barrel bunk beds. Jordan shared that the excitement about a new sour brew has to wait once fermentation wraps up, because the beer then needs to go age in its barrel for months on end. The energy picks right back up once it's bottling and tapping time, but until then, you just walk through the stacks and wonder what the beers are dreaming of.

Class Notes- March 26

"Thanks for coming to class today. It's so beautiful, I expected... no one to be here..." -Boyer

There's a deal at Kroger this weekend, 20% off of a case!

Containers for wine affect the flavor during initial fermentation
Stainless steel v. Oak barrel
Stainless steel imparts WHAT to the finished wine? NOTHING!
Advantage of stainless in white wine production, you can surround the vessel with a refrigerated jacket (Temp control during fermentation)

Jug wines are pasteurized. That's why you can keep them open. NOTHING WILL GROW IN IT. It doesn't taste like much though.
"They won't go bad, because life doesn't want to be in it." -Boyer

Wood- BIG flavor difference imparted into the wine.
Barrel "toastiness" can impart varying degrees of mocha and toffee notes.
99% of the time, if not 100%, made of white oak

More aggressive flavors means:
-more time spent in the barrel
-it was probably a new barrel

French oak v American oak
-American: Open grain, more sweet and more vanilla
-French: Tight grain, less aromatic, more tanning, more gradual integration of flavors

"For you beer drinkers, you know British IPAs are not the same as AMERICAN IPAS. AND THEY'LL KICK YOUR FACE IN." -Boyer

Barrels are expensive. What are the alternatives?
Chopping up the barrel into tiny bits and throw it in the wine!

Class Notes- March 24

Torrontes
Region: Argentina (10% planting; 20% of wine), Chile
Flavor Profile: crisp, floral, tropical fruit, mango, peach, orange, violet, rose, hint of muscat
Fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture and mouthfeel as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose. Dry! Great light summertime drink.

5-10 years ago: "Damn, this is a good ass wine! Why is no one making this?"
Now: Underwhelming. More and more people are making it so there's lots more mediocre torrontes.

Smell of sulfur = BAD WINE.
You can take a bad wine back.

Bonarda
Regions: Argentina, Chile, CA (aka Charbono), Italy (aka Croatina)
AKA: Douche nonir, Bonarda, Corbeau and Charbono
Flavor Profile: easy, fruity wine for early drinking, black plum and dark fruit aroma
In South America: moderate acidity, inky, black fruit, cassis, fennel, cherry, dried fig, plum, leather, tar

Crushing wine! Pressed with presses.

Crusher, destemmer
There are different phases of pressing the juice!
Some wineries take different levels of pressed juice and make them into different batches of wine
"Free Run Juice"- gravity has pulled the juice out, not smashing

Now you have juice to ferment.

Most yeast dies at 14% alcohol

Wine Dinner in Morristown, TN

This weekend, I drove down to Morristown, TN to meet up with my mom and grandmother. It didn't take much convincing on my part to get them on board with a wine dinner. My mom and I planned the menu and I hit up the Vintage Cellar before I left town.

Menu

Pear and Goat Cheese Salad

Le Grand Caillou Sauvignon Blanc, '13

Rack of Lamb, with hasselback potatoes

and roasted asparagus

Familie Perrin Cotes du Rhone Villages, '13

Raspberry Pavlova

Romerhof Beerenauslese, '09

The older generations started their afternoon with a chocolate liqueur while I made the merengue for the pavlova.

   

The wines were all purchased from the Vintage Cellar, with the help of Randall the wine guy. I originally had a South African Sauvignon Blanc in mind, but he steered me over to France instead. In his opinion, South Africa is better known for Chenin Blanc, and its Sauvignon Blanc's leave much to be desired.

I had tasted a Chateauneuf du Pape last month that was very herby and savory, and it reminded me of lamb while I drank it. So, I chose to pursue another Bordeaux for our lamb course. The Chateauneuf du Pape's at the VC were out of my price range, so I chose a moderately priced Cotes du Rhone instead.

The entire dinner began around the Pavlova, and I read online that a beerenauslese would pair well with the merengue dessert. Lucky for me, the VC had a killer one for an affordable price!

  

My mom prepared the main course, while I took care of the salad and dessert. We set the table with my great grandmother's china and tucked into our feast!

Course 1: Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic dressing

Le Grand Caillou Sauvignon Blanc, '13

The wine on its own smelled very funky and peaty, with hints of cheese and lactic acid. It tasted very crisp and acidic, with savory notes of metal, stone, and peaches. As I continued to drink it, I picked up on hints of blueberry. It tasted EXCELLENT with the salad, it paired nicely with the goat cheese. It also balanced out the balsamic dressing well.

Course 2: Rack of Lamb, with hasselback potatoes and roasted asparagus

Familie Perrin Cotes du Rhone Villages, '13

This is a big, tannic, fruity bordeaux. I felt it needed many more years on it to let the jamminess mellow out and let more of the subtle flavors shine. We had decanted it for a couple hours, but I suppose it needed more time. With the lamb, I felt it brought out some goat cheese flavors, which was odd. The wine tasted much better after we had finished the course and needed to kill the decanter. 

Course 3: Raspberry Pavlova

Romerhof Beerenauslese, '09

This golden honey wine tasted beautiful, like it was drained straight from a honeycomb. It was very well balanced and not too sweet or sugary. The pavlova was very sticky and sweet (my bad), and the wine complimented it nicely. Neither was too cloyingly sweet.

Overall, the dinner was a great success! We ate and drank, my mom and I drunkenly bickered about my boyfriend, and my grandmother sat with a smile on her face. All was good with the world.

+PARENTS BONUS POINTS!

Tasting- Paul Laureano Tinto Classico

Week 8

Name: Paul Laureano Tinto Calssico

Variety: 40% Trincadeira, 40% Aragonez, 20% Alfrocheiro

Region: Alentejano

Country: Portugal

Year: 2013

Price: $8.95

Food? No

Description from the Vintage Cellar: "Paulo Laureano’s Classico is a delicious blend of the native Portuguese varietals Trincadeira (40%), Aragonez (40%) and Alfrocheiro (20%). This is a full bodied red that reveals all that the terroir of Portugal has to offer. Light cigar tobacco and soft leather present beautifully on the nose. Dark, black fruits fill the mouth, but the wine flows smoothly over the palate, with a good bit of spice on the finish. Pair with spicy, cured meats and hard cheeses."

My Review: The nose of this wine was quiet, but the flavors were loud on the palate. I felt this wine was very jammy and woody- lots of cedar hints, cigar hints, and a taste I'd describe as licking tree bark. I enjoyed it!

Tasting- Bodegas Atalaya Laya

Week 8

Name: Bodegas Atalaya Laya

Variety: 70% Garnacha Tintorera, 30% Monastrell

Region: Almansa

Country: Spain

Year: 2013

Price: $8.95

Food? No

Description from the Vintage Cellar: "88 Points – Stephen Tanzer

A blend of 70% Garnacha Tintorera, a.k.a. Alicante Bouschet, and 30% Monastrell; fermented in stainless steel, followed by four months in French oak.  Bright purple.  Cassis, blueberry, pungent herbs and mocha on the nose.  Smooth and open-knit on the palate, displaying fresh cherry and dark berry qualities and a hint of black pepper.  Finishes with gripping tannins and good length, leaving a subtle floral note behind."

My Review: This wine was NOT my cup of tea the day I tried it. The nose and mouth assaulted me with cigars, latex paint, and cedar. The wine is very tannic and very aggressive. This would be great with a hearty steak or something that can stand up to its power, but alone, it was overwhelming.