So many beers, so little time

Posted in FOOD & DRINK to Restaurant & Bar Reviews by Susanna Kline on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 8:00 am

The long-awaited gastrobrewpub, Destihl, finally opened in downtown Champaign in late April. So with a couple weeks under their belt, I thought I'd see how things were going, and with a little assistance from friends, check out all fourteen of their current beers.

First, some facts. Although Destihl brews beer at both their Champaign and Bloomington locations, Matt Potts, CEO/Brewmaster of Destihl, says every beer currently served at the Champaign location is made on site. Those four shiny brew tanks visible through the windows of Destihl on the corner of Neil and Main can produce approximately 1000 liters (about 250 gallons) of beer in each batch. Of the beer on the menu, eight of those on tap come directly from the nearby storage tanks that hold up to 1000 liters each of the already-brewed beers, and the remaining beers come from kegs.

Potts doesn't yet know the average length of time that a beer will stay in rotation on the menu yet due to supply and demand, but he predicts an average of 4-6 weeks. They expect to brew about fifty different styles of beer in a year, so if your favorite rolls off the menu, it might not reappear for awhile, but you might find something else you like in the interim.

He plans to keep a couple beers on the menu at all times, including the Champaign Blonde Ale, because he feels it works well as a light session beer (or a beer you can drink several of in a row), and the Weissenheimer Hefeweizen, which the kitchen uses in recipes like the beer batter.

To try a variety of opinions, and so we could try the whole menu without getting drunk, I brought in three tasters: one casual beer drinker, one beer enthusiast, and one home brewer. This dedicated panel of tasters skipped the alluring bar snacks like chili-lime peanuts and beer-battered bacon to keep their palates clear for for the tasting. Here's what they had to say:

CHAMPAIGN BLONDE ALE Alcohol by Volume (abv): 5.2%

Golden color, somewhat dry, summery, and light. Standard ale yeast.

BAR SINISTER MILD ALE abv: 4.9%

Faint nose, balanced. sweet, malty, not much hop, molassesey. Heavier. "Maybe a better name for this would be a mild brown ale." One taster, who prefers heavier beers suggested he "could probably session with that."

BELGIAN PALE ALE abv: 5.4%

Traditional hoppy, dry Belgian Pale Ale, pretty spot-on nose and mouthfeel for a Belgian. A nose of bananas (isoamyl acetate) and Belgian yeast, with a typically dense and almost smooth mouthfeel.

DEADHEAD DOUBLE RED ALE abv: 10%

Dark red color, hoppy nose. Malty characteristics. The tasters diverged in opinion here, one calling it sweet, another calling it bitter and sweet, and another saying it was not sweet.

BLACK ANGEL STOUT abv: 7%

Grainy, bitter and sweet, with a dry, malty finish. Though the tasters didn't agree whether the deep flavor emulated coffee or a bittersweet dark chocolate, they agreed that the roasted flavor was coming from the toasted grain. All three tasters put a stamp of approval on this beer and would happily drink it again.

RASPBERRY WHEAT ALE abv: 6%

All three tasters felt this beer lacked a little substance, that it was too thin, and that perhaps the brewers were substituting the beer flavor with fruit for non-beer drinkers. This particular ale might appeal to someone who wanted to try one of the beers but doesn't typically like the base flavors of beer.

120 SHILLING SCOTCH ALE abv: 10%

Very very dry, sharp, malty, but caramel brown sugar finish. Almost no nose at all. Very little carbonation. "The brown sugar finish and low carbonation make it go down awfully easy, almost dangerously so for a beer that's 10% alcohol."

TRIPEL abv: 8.5%

Tropical fruit and spice, malty but not as malty as quadrupel, mildly sweet. Smooth, full bodied. Just based on the flavor, one taster probably would have called it a double, not a triple.

QUADRUPEL abv: 10%

Malty, sweet, and delicious. Very little nose. Sweet and caramel-y, with a subtle Belgiumy twang to it. Not carbonated heavily. One taster felt it was almost "sugar syrup sweet."

ROADBLOCK BRITISH RED ALE abv: 5%

(If you think you've been waiting a long time for Destihl to open, you might speculate that the owners feel like it's been even longer, and you'd be right. They named this beer after all the obstacles that kept them from opening the bar on schedule.)

Carmel malt, really flavorful. More mouthfeel and sweeter than a blonde ale. One taster asserted that there was not really much fruity ester as stated on the menu. Maltier than fruity, sweet grain.

BALDOCK IPA abv: 6.5%

Classic IPA, floral hop, maybe not really grapefruit hop. Color is darker red than normal IPA.

FRANKENGLUTEN BELGIAN SORGHUM ALE abv: 5.7%

Dry hoppy bitterness. Belgium yeast and banana flavor and nose. All tasters agreed that the color "looks like a high school beer but tastes more complex." Perhaps because of the grassy sorghum notes, one taster suggested it's "something I'd like to have after mowing the lawn." Also, he was "Surprised I like that because most gluten free beers taste like ass."

WEISSENHEIMER HEFEWEIZEN abv: 5.9%

Very clear for a wheat beer, but tastes like a normal wheat beer. One taster noted she had the same beer one week prior to the tasting and the previous beer was cloudier and a little heavier like a more traditional hefeweizen, and she preferred the previous beer. (Note: When I mentioned this discrepancy to Potts, he said they welcome feedback like this from patrons and said they would check the storage temperature and other factors to ensure quality control on the Hefeweizen.)

STRAWBERRY BLONDE ALE abv: 6.3%

Tastes diverged again on this beer, with two tasters loving the beer and one disliking it. But 240 pounds of strawberries go into this 250 gallon batch of beer, which would explain why one taster said in glee that it was "like a fruit smoothie! I usually don't like fruity beers. So many are like fruit juice." Refreshing, fruity summery, and light. Wonderfully balanced. Lightness and dry finish of a blonde ale and with a wonderful strawberry aroma and flavor. Not cloying or overly sweet.

Taster's Choice

When asked to choose four beers for a flight, none of the tasters had a problem coming up with four they'd like to try again, but all of them selected the Black Angel Stout. Here are their selections:

Taster One

• BLACK ANGEL STOUT
• QUADRUPEL
• BALDOCK IPA
• BELGIAN PALE ALE

Taster Two

• CHAMPAIGN BLONDE ALE
• BAR SINISTER MILD ALE
• STRAWBERRY BLONDE ALE
• BLACK ANGEL STOUT

Taster Three

• BLACK ANGEL STOUT
• BAR SINISTER MILD ALE
• WEISSENHEIMER HEFEWEIZEN
• BALDOCK IPA