Fleurette Release at The Toronado

Festival season is upon us, so I thought I’d take a moment to outline what’s going on in the Bay Area and where I am going to be.  But first, a quick review of the event at The Toronado last night: 

Yesterday was the La Fleurette Release Party.  They had about eight Russian River beers on tap, including (to the best of my memory’s ability):

• La Fleurette
• Supplication
• Temptation
• Damnation
• Pliny the Elder
• Not sure after that…maybe Blind Pig? 

I was working from Palo Alto yesterday, and couldn’t get there until about 7:00pm, even though it started at 6:00pm.  Perhaps Vinnie was there earlier, perhaps not, in either case, I didn’t spot him in the massive crowd when I got there.  However, I did spot Brian Hunt from Moonlight wheeling some kegs in and out - I felt bad for the guy, it was a hell of a time to be navigating a hand truck through there.  

I started with the Fleurette, moved on to a Supplication, and tried to order a Pliny the Elder but they had run out by then so Matt picked me up Deschutes Hop Henge instead.  

I really enjoyed the Fleurette again, and drinking it with lots of other people who were excited about it.  One of my roommates initially said he couldn’t taste the flowers in it, but after some suggestions (Smell it.  Then take a sip and hold it in your mouth a little bit, don’t swallow it right away.  Breath in through your mouth a little, while you have your sip in there.), he got it right away.  I thought it was very floral, just like the first time I had it (click link for review), but that once you’ve had about half a glass you get habituated to it and it helps to take a break or eat something, to clear away the taste of prior sips, so that you get the full impact of it.  That said, though I think the roses, violets, and pepper all come through in the final taste, you may have to be an expert taster to pick up the elderberries.  What does an elderberry even taste like?  I’m not sure I’d know one if it walked up and bit me in the ankle.  

The major insight of the night for me was that Supplication is a beer I fall in love with over and over again.  Every time I drink it, I have two thoughts:

• (1) “Damn, this is a great beer, I can’t believe I haven’t had it in weeks.” And then..
• (2) “Wow, I never notice about it before that….[fill in the blank].”

It’s a beer you can drink several times and rediscover something new about it every time.  This time it was the oakiness. Before, I’ve always been very focused on the sourness, or the fruited flavor, or the Brett.  This time, the oak seemed very prominent in the taste, and each time I sipped it, it made me a little giddy with happiness.  I think I may be becoming an oak fiend.  

The Hop Henge was an interesting experience.  I had tasted it once before and thought it was a perfectly tasty Imperial IPA.  But taking a sip of it right after the Supplication, it tasted bizarre.  I think it was just the contrast with the extra sour and oaky Supplication, but it tasted soapy.  Not in a “mmm this Bath and Body Works Botanical Enchantment soap smells like a bouquet of dew drenched herbs, maybe basil, and I think cilantro too” kind of way.  No, it was soapy in a “man, I knew I shouldn’t have used that kind of language around my mother because now my mouth is painfully, and Zestfully clean” kind of way.  I knew this was about the contrast between the beers, and not the beer itself, so I returned to Rosamunde for a second sausage to give my palate a break.  Though in retrospect, I got the chicken and smoked cherries sausage so it was really only half different from the cherry soured supplication.  Anyway, when I got back, 20 minutes and a sausage later, my beer tasted much better.  I still missed the Pliny, I’m sorry Deschutes, I have to say it, but I haven’t met an Imperial IPA that compares to Pliny.  

Wrapping up the night, as my roommate Andre and I were walking home and discussing how I had 2 sausages and 3 beers and he had eaten 1 sausage and drunk 4 beers, it reminded me of the Mickey’s-Taco Bell Challenge that my supervisor at work once explained to me.  You have $20, you have to spend it all, and you can only spend it on Taco Bell and Mickey’s.  Then you have to consume whatever you bought.  I’m pretty sure in its original context, this was some sort of hazing ritual, and I’m also pretty sure that completing the Mickey’s challenge, were I to feel motivated to try, which I definitely don’t, would kill me.  I just like the concept of the $20 that can be spent on only two alternatives — it reminds me of utility curves from economics class, that seemed really abstract at the time, but now we have a prime example of them.  You only have finite amount of space in your stomach, you can fill it with any combination of beer and sausages, what combination do you choose to maximize your satisfaction?  The answer: who knows - but we did go home and watch Thank You For Smoking, which was definitely a satisfying end to a very fun night.