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Posts Tagged ‘beer review’

New Belgium Snow Day

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The impression I get is that this is the 2 Below replacement, and that 2 Below is now a thing of the past (or possibly also the future, but at least not of the moment). What I’m saying is that I’ll be curious to know what 2 Below fans think of this beer.

Basic Info:
Name: Snow Day Winter Ale
Origin: New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Style: Winter Ale/American Black Ale
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 55
I drank this: poured from bottle into glass while glaring at the television because I was stupid enough to have turned on the news. (Newsflash: the US Congress is kinda stupid.)

The first impression I had of this beer was a combination of “oooh, dark!” followed by “oooh, hops!” followed by “that combination can go dreadfully wrong.” That said, this isn’t my favorite hoppy dark ale – that honor typically belongs to whatever iteration of Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale I’m able to get my grubby mitts on at the time –  but it isn’t an off-balance mess, either.

Smell-wise, there’s a bitter hop top note – like a really yellow grapefruit rind that’s been mushed together with some grass (really pungent, but nicer than I’m probably making it sound) – floating over a mix of caramel, chocolate, toasted malt, and something slightly nutty. It reminds me slightly of a citrusy, salty caramel.

This beer is medium-bodied, fairly low in carbonation and an odd-but-nice combination of soft and sharp in mouthfeel. The hoppiness partially comes across as really biting, hence the sharp; there’s also an almost blanket-like feeling to the malt backbone of the beer, hence the soft. The flavors fall into the same sort of pattern. The hops are exactly what I was expecting based on the smell, all sharp and brightly, pungently grassy, whereas the malts are softer, all nutty caramel, bitter chocolate and toffee notes. The hops dominate the malts for the most part, and linger on for a few moments in the aftertaste.

Overall, this is a totally drinkable, probably sessionable beer (pending you’re watching the alcohol content – this is admittedly a bit high for most session beers). Compared to something like the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous, this is a fairly quiet beer – it’s not going to overwhelm you with anything, but it’s balanced and tasty.

As a replacement for 2 Below, I’ve mixed feelings. 2 Below was one of my holiday favorites for years, but I wasn’t as into it last year. I don’t know if it was the batch I had being a bit off, the draft lines being in need of a good cleaning (which was kind of what I was guessing), or if my palate had changed enough that I just flat wasn’t as into it. I have enough fond memories, however, to be sad to see it gone.

I can’t say I’m overwhelmed, but I’m not underwhelmed, either. Meaning, I suppose, that I’m whelmed. I have high expectations when it comes to New Belgium. They’ve met expectations. We’re good here. I’d love to know what you think if you’ve had one.

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Founders Dirty Bastard

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , on November 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »

In celebration of the perfect fall beer and the fact that KU’s basketball season starts tonight (nominally, anyway – ’tis the first exhibition game, during which my team will warm up by trouncing Pitt State*)(ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK, BABY), I’m forcing myself to find the energy to tell you all of a wonderful beer which many of you have had and many more of you should.

Basic Info:
Name: Dirty Bastard**
Origin: Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, MI
Style: Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 50
I drank this: flopped at home. I like flopping.

The obligatory crap photo, which does not at all do justice to the color of the beer, which is a warm, coppery caramel color:

The beer has a caramelly-malty smell, heavy and rich and almost nutty. There’s almost a hint of dark fruits in the background. The alcohol is well-hidden in the nose – smelling it, I wouldn’t guess this was a high-octane beer.

Flavor-wise, it starts with a hit of dark, raisiny fruit, followed quickly by nutty malts, caramel, a bite of hops (without a particularly strong or bitter hop flavor), a touch of alcohol, and the slightest hint of yeast. The hops provide a balance to the strong maltiness without giving the beer a bitter taste – they prevent the beer from becoming overly sweet (despite the fact that the only words I can find to describe it should make it sound pretty sugary). It’s like the hops provide a structure for the malts to play around in, so that things stay balanced without straying from the character of a Wee Heavy (the way I appreciate malts in superhoppy beers for the backbone they provide the hops to stand on). The mouthfeel is rich and thick, more in a creamy way than a syrupy or velvety way.

For a Scotch Ale, this is just about perfect. The only beer in this style *possibly* more perfect is a Founders Backwoods Bastard, which clocks in closer to 10.5% and which is, for me at least, emphatically a one-beer type of thing (“one beer” as in “two would have me under the table and counting ceiling tiles). If you can find some near you, grab it. I had to trek to Missouri to get some. It was worth it.

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*for those of you not from Kansas, I want to make it clear that I’m not talking about the University of Pittsburgh (i.e., Pitt, i.e., my husband’s alma mater, i.e. a real basketball opponent. Pitt State is a tiny school in tinier Pittsburg, KS, and while it’s a lovely school and a lovely town filled with lovely people (I know a veritable shit ton of people who went there in pursuit of music degrees of varying types), their basketball team is going to lose. Badly.
**please note: whenever “bastard” appears in the name of a beer, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be flipping amazing. Just saying.

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Guinness Black Lager

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , on September 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’ve had the Guinness Black Lager. FINALLY. So I can finally have an opinion when people ask about it, rather than having to sit back as everyone else tells me “it’s good” or “it’s kinda disappointing” or “ick” or whatever else. As for the disappointment (and there has been some), I have some theories on that, but those can wait until I’ve covered the actual beer.

Basic Info:
Name: Black Lager
Origin: Guinness
Style: Dark/Black Lager
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: haven’t seen posted anywhere, but it’s a lager, so it won’t be high
I drank this: while absently half-watching the Pitt/Notre Dame game yesterday. ND won, for those who care.

Here’s the pic. I like the label:

As you can see in the pic, this stuff is massively carbonated – nearly soda/pop/Coke-level carbonated. Like, I couldn’t taste around the carbonation at first. I had to let it settle for a few minutes before trying again. That said, I don’t drink soda/pop/Coke and haven’t for more than a decade, so I’m not used to that much carbonation anymore.

The scent is, like most lagers, pretty understated - it falls into the “this smells like beer” category that most lagers (especially Oktoberfests) smell like, mostly malts with a hint of something slightly bitter on top.

The beer itself is sharp and fairly thin, largely (I think) an effect of the carbonation level and the hops, which do that tongue-bitey thing more than they give any sort of bitterness. Plus, you know, it’s a lager, and lagers are typically light-bodied.* The flavor is mostly roasted malts shot through with cola, chocolate, a hint of smoke and something slightly earthy, like the way dried leaves smell in the fall. It has a slightly sour aftertaste, in the fashion of most lagers. It isn’t *bad* sour, mind you, just kind of drying and slightly milk chocolately and slightly, well, sour. I’m glad I tried the beer at the beginning of Autumn, because with the hints of smoke and dried leaves it strikes me as an Autumnal sort of beer. It’s also totally sessionable once the carbonation settles down. I think it would be kickass with a plate of smoked cheddar and some wheat crackers.

As to whether I *like* it, I’m undecided, which means I probably need to have another one. It’s not *bad* - for a Black Lager (a style I don’t particularly like), it’s actually pretty good. It’d be fun to compare it to a Sam Adams Black Lager – I may do that soon and post results.

Most people I’ve talked to tell me they’re disappointed, and I can kind of see that as well. It’s expectations. The thing isn’t that it’s a bad beer, it’s that it’s an okay-to-fairly good beer that happens to come from Guinness. The Guinness name, however, brings with it a level of expectation which knocks “okay” to “mediocre” or even “bad.” And then there’s the style problem: this is a lager, not an ale, but everyone who’s been disappointed seems to be expecting an ale. Like, lagers are generally light-bodied. The Black Lager is no exception to this rule. However, when most people see Guinness on the label and see a dark beer, they’re looking for something rounder, something more full-bodied (like an ale). So despite the fact that this is absolutely what it’s supposed to be style-wise, it’s not the standard Guinness mouthfeel and body and everything else. BECAUSE IT ISN’T AN ALE.

To sum up: to everyone who’s trying this beer and saying “this isn’t Guinness”: you’re right. It’s not Guinness. It’s a beer *by* Guinness, but it isn’t *Guinness*. Try it for what it is and see what you think. Don’t go into it expecting lager yeast to make something that tastes like an ale: it’s not going to happen.

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*I know I spend too much time in this review harping on the fact that this is a lager rather than an ale (for those who don’t know, a stout is a type of ale), and I’m sorry for that. It’s just that every complaint I’ve heard about the beer can be summed up with “I was expecting a stout and found myself drinking a lager.” If you want a Guinness, drink a Guinness. If you want to see what Guinness does with a Black Lager, then try this beer. Fin.

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Sierra Nevada Porter

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , on September 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Dedicated to those of you who thought Sierra Nevada only made Pale Ale,* and for those of you who think that Sierra Nevada’s best beers are their big, showy anniversary and collaboration ales.

Basic Info:
Name: Porter
Origin: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, Chico, CA
Style: American Porter
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 32
I drank this: flopped on my butt at home out of a Jayhawk-bearing pint glass** while watching the British version of Top Gear, because that’s how we roll around here

Right. So we all know the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is one of those beers which helped put American craft beer on the proverbial map. And they’ve got a phenomenally kickass Barleywine. But they do other things – normal, easy-to-drink beers – that are also excellent. Their Porter is in the excellent category, at least in my mind.

The thing with Porters is that, like Brown Ales, they’re one of those beers that breweries screw up. Brown Ales have a tendency to end up being watery, flavorless also-rans, the beers that the brewers threw together in a few moments so that they could go back to playing with something showier - an Imperial IPA or Double Dry-Hopped Imperial White Ale*** or whatever. Porters tend to end up sadly out-of-whack – one possessed of an overbearing hop profile, another completely hopless, another lacking in any body or interest whatsoever.

Sierra Nevada manages to avoid all these Porter pitfalls.+ As you would be able to see in the pic above were the pic of decent quality, the beer is a rich, deep brown. It’s not quite all the way to black (though I’ve had some Porters that were), and it’s translucent enough to let an auburn light come through when held up to a lamp. Scent-wise, it’s primarily toasty malts and milk chocolate with a run of herbal hoppiness on top.

Drinking it: mouthfeel comes first. It’s smooth and creamy and lovely at first, and then balances it out with a sharp bite of hops (remember: American Porter is hoppier than London Porter – American in the style name *always* denotes a higher hop level) before going slightly foamy. The malt profile is milk chocolate and malt – like malted milk ball-flavor – with hints of toasty-roasty bits (that is a real flavor, I swear) and a *slight* hint of toffee. The hops are that sort of sharp style that comes across as more feeling than flavor, but add a sort of herbal top note to the malts.

The balance of this beer is superb – it’s nicely chocolatey and rich, but still sharp enough to read as a Porter rather than a Stout. It’s a great Fall beer, likely to be one of my fallbacks when it’s 55 and raining and I’m not in the mood for wine.

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*I should point out here that I’ll never review a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, because you should already have had one, just like you should already have had a Sam Adams Boston Lager and a Guinness. I’m starting to think I should put together a (highly subjective) list of beers that are standard bearers for their style, so that you can drink one and have a fairly good idea of what a particular style is supposed to taste like. Anyway. That will be a post for a moment when I’m feeling particularly argumentative, because I’m pretty sure no one’s going to agree with me on all points.
**Jayhawks are the bestest mascot of all best mascots EVER. This point is non-negotiable.
***To my knowledge, I just made this up – the closest thing that I can think of would be the Boulevard/Deschutes White IPA Collaboration Ale that came out back in late July or early August. That said, were someone to double dry-hop an Imperial White Ale, I would totally drink one.

+ *headdesk* My apologies for the alliterative phrasing (I tried three different versions – they all sound stupid). After two days of holiday product meetings last week, there’s some niggling part of my brain that’s still functioning in some sort of weird marketing speak. It’s making me NUTS, y’all. SAVE ME.

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Free State Brewers Choice – Saison with hibiscus

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , on August 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Beers like this are why living near a brewery is the bestest thing ever.

To be specific, I had retired to my pajamas at something like 5:15 or so in the evening because, you know, comfortable. Also tired. I was surfing the internet and had twitter (among other things) up, when I saw a tweet from Free State that the Brewers Choice* was their Saison aged with hibiscus. Being an avowed fan of the only other hibiscus beer I’ve ever tripped over, I was fully clothed and walking to the brewery something like three minutes after I saw the tweet.

Here’s the beer that got me out of pajamas:

For the record, it’s roughly a shade pinker in real life.

Basic Info:
Name: Brewers Choice (Saison aged with hibiscus flower)
Origin: Free State Brewery, Lawrence, KS
Style: Saison
ABV: no idea
IBU: not very high. Or rather, really low. The pre-aged Saison had an IBU level of 12. This isn’t any higher, but I don’t know that it would have lowered during the aging process either.
I drank this: on tap at the brewery

As I said in the review I linked to above, the original beer was a lovely mess of rosehip and herbs, definitely honeyed, with something of the bananaclove yeasty feel to it. I was pretty big on it given my general dislike of Belgian-style yeasty funk (a typical feature of Saisons).

Aged for a while, the Saison has gained a soft, almost velvety mouthfeel (mouthfeel is one of the best things about aged beers, seriously). The honeyed sort of sweetness has disappeared, as has the yeast flavor, toned down by the aging and by the hibiscus. The hibiscus flavor is lovely and strong enough to be noticeable - it’s somehow reminiscent of a mishmash of tropical fruits and green tea. That said, something about the combination of the yeast with the sort of pineapple/tea flavors of hibiscus combined in a way that made me think of green apple Jolly Ranchers. It’s not that it was a candysweet beer - it was basically off-dry - or that apple was in any way involved. It’s just the thing that popped into my head for a moment, and it made me laugh at myself. So I’m sharing.

So the beer was good and I’m happy I got to have some, even if it did require me putting on real pants. Seriously, this is the best thing about being near a brewery – discovering that they’re tapping something that sounds bloody fascinating, something that will never be bottled or shipped or even still available by the end of the night, and then being able to procure the said beer in under ten minutes. If you’re near enough to a brewery, check to see if/when they tap casks or aged beers or reserves or anything of the sort – it’s a great way to try all sorts of weirdness while seeing just how creative the brewers have gotten.

Plus, you know. Beer. Good beer.

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*The lack of apostrophe is how they did it (at least on twitter), so I’m following their grammar. It is making me twitch, I have to admit.

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Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

In the category of “why the hell had it been three years since the last time I’d had one of these” beers:

Basic Info:
Name: Hop Ottin’ IPA
Origin: Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Boonville, CA
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.0%
IBU: 80
I drank this: from a CAN, y’all, at a friend’s backyard BBQ

Yes, a can. I have no pictures because I was too busy enjoying the beer to bother digging out my phone, but it’s a pretty purple-and-blue affair of a can, and the beer inside of it is SCRUMPTIOUS.

Seriously, people, this beer has one of the creamiest mouthfeels of any IPA I’ve ever tried. It’s glorious, like drinking silk, or melted ice cream.

The head foams up out of the mouth of the can just enough to let you know it’s there but without spilling over the side and getting all messy. I’m thankful for this, because it’s about the only way to smell the beer. This is the only problem I have with canned beer: actually getting a sniff of what I’m drinking is not. easy. Sniffing the head, however, when I could get to it, was a hit of bergamot and sweet orange along with a touch of pine needles running over a base of caramelly-rich malts.

Flavor-wise, it’s a precision balancing act between the malts and the hops, which is flipping impressive given the IBU level. The malts are rich and slightly sweet, all caramel and brown bread. The hops are serious business West Coast-style hops: they’re a massive citrus bomb, mostly grapefruit and orange, but rounded out with bits of everything from pine and fir to grass to a touch of flowers (mostly rose petals to my palate). The finish is smooth and easy, meaning that even with 80 IBUs, my food still tasted the way it was supposed to (and not, you know, like raisins).

The thing with the can is that I think it’s actually a pretty good way to go about packaging beer*: there’s no ability for sunlight to get in and skunk things up, and as long as you drink it within a few months, you won’t run into any kind of metallic taste. The biggest issue with canned beer is, so far as I can tell, the macroswill associations that beer cans inevitably carry with them – i.e., any beer in a can must be crap. I’m here to tell you to dump that mindset (if you haven’t already): canned beer can be good. Really good. Really amazingly lovely, even.  And you can take it with you to all the places that bottles aren’t welcomed.

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*I know it’s a little late in the season to get on the high and mighty DRINK THE CANNED CRAFT BEER horse, but this summer has been absolute madness. Hopefully I’ll get into other things – like, say, Octoberfests – in a more timely fashion.

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Magic Hat #9

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2011 | 3 Comments »

ATTN KANSANS: MAGIC HAT #9 IS NOW IN YOUR LIQUOR STORES. GO BUY SOME.
IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

The other beers you can kind of see are Dieu du Ciel!’s* Rosée d’Hibiscus and Schlafly’s Helles Summer Lager. It was the Fourth of July – we were beering while waiting on our dinner to finish cooking itself.

Basic Info:
Name: #9
Origin: Magic Hat Brewing Company, VT
Style: Pale Ale/Fruit Beer**
ABV: 5.10%
IBU: 20
I drank this: on tap all over the East Coast, from a bottle all over the East Coast *and* during a work meeting *and* at home, etc. For those who are interested, I’ll update where I’ve found it in Kansas as I trip over it.

Consider this something of a welcome post to Magic Hat: they just expanded their distribution into my home state. I’m quite thrilled about it. When I moved back to Kansas and realized we didn’t have it here, I was honestly surprised: #9 was one of those beers I saw so frequently while living in Pennsylvania that it became part of the background – it was always there, reliable, easy to drink. It’s flipping lovely to have it within easy drinking distance again.***

So, for those of you who’ve never had it before, #9 is an Apricot Pale Ale. It is not, however, an overly fruity, sticky sweet beer, nor is it a massively hoppy West Coast-style Pale Ale – it essentially splits the difference between an apricot beer and an English Pale Ale. If that description makes sense, that’s really all you need to know. Happy drinking.

For everyone else, #9 has a sweetly fruity, almost honeyed pale malt nose with a touch of citrusy top note. It’s a relatively light-bodied beer with great carbonation and a low enough alcohol level that it’s safe to drink a few of them without worries of headaches and hangovers the next day.

Flavor-wise, it has a light, apricot-y sweetness that blends with the malts (mostly caramelly, biscuity malt flavors) and a light dose of hops. The hops are citrus/grapefruit rather than pine or grass in flavor, cause a light bite on the tongue, and then blend into the overall flavor quite well. The aftertaste is short and subtle – for this reason, it’s a good food beer.

To sum up: if you’re looking for big malt flavor, huge hops and bitterness, tons of alcohol or any other Extreme Beer Experience, this is *not* the beer you want. If, however, you want a beer to enjoy for hours while flopped on a porch in the sunshine, this is exactly what you should be looking for. It’s pretty much compulsively drinkable.

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*That right there is some tortured punctuation, even if I think it’s technically correct. Sorry about that.
**The brewery refers to this as a “Not Quite Pale Ale.” Beer Advocate calls it a fruit/veggie beer. I’m more or less splitting the difference because, much as I love the brewery, I can’t quite get myself to quote someone else’s ad copy when it comes to beer styles.
***As a note to Founders, Bells, Russian River, Great Lakes, Southern Tier and Stone (among others): FOLLOW SUIT PLEASE. (I’d love Dogfish Head as well, but I have realistic expectations on that.)

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Schlafly American IPA

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , on July 4, 2011 | 3 Comments »

This beer makes me absolutely stupid happy. It causes me to do weird things like mug for the camera:

Isn’t that beer a beautiful, beautiful thing?

Basic Info:
Name: American IPA
Origin: Schlafly Beer, St. Louis, MO
Style: Double/Imperial IPA (Not sure if this technically gets classed as an Imperial, but I’m going to go ahead and say yes, yes it is. At least in my world.)
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 65
I drank this: on tap at Old Chicago, OPKS

 So. Thanks to getting to spend a Friday afternoon hanging out at Fort Leavenworth and pouring Schlafly beer with one of the reps, I learned bunches of stuff about this beer, namely that Schlafly has been playing with improving its dry-hopping methods. I then got samples of beer from 5/3 and 5/25, giving me a chance to enjoy spotting the differences. (And then I grabbed one on tap when I found it, figured out by taste that it was a 5/25, and damn near swooned, hence the stupid grin above).

To figure out what you’re drinking, look at the bottom-center bit on the label: Schlafly gives us a bottling date.* I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to bottling dates (unless it’s a beer style that I know has a short shelf life), but it’s helpful with this beer – the 5/3 version is (even using all the same ingredients) a different beer than the later date, though both versions are pretty fantastic.

The 5/3 batch has a light hop nose, mostly grapefruit and orange with a hint of honeyed malty sweetness. It’s a deceptively light scent.
The taste, it is not so light.
There’s a huge hop bite right in the front, loaded with citrus rind and pine resin flavors, backed up by honeyed biscuit flavors and the slightest touch of yeast. It’s medium-bodied with a lovely foamy mouthfeel. The aftertaste is really bitter – almost citrus pith – and really intense. It builds on itself, too – the more I drank, the more pine resin I noticed.

The 5/25 batch is brighter, with a touch more pine in the nose. The citrus comes through as well, bright and very clean.
This batch has a slightly more pronounced malt flavor, but that’s not to say in turn that the hops seem less predominant. It’s that the flavors seem to be integrated more thoroughly, so that the beer loses some of the pithy bitterness and replaces it with a brighter citrus-rind and -juice type of bittersweet.

Both versions are really, really good, but the 5/25 is GLORIOUS. The 5/25 is also (I gather, anyway) the direction they’re going with the beer, so that any date after that should be giving you the same (or even better) experience that I had drinking the 5/25.

Fun note: for an IBU level of 65, this is *not* a tame beer. I would have guessed the IBU level to hover closer to the 80 mark. It’s SUPER hoppy.

I gotta say I love Schlafly right now: they have a great product, but they’re not afraid to tweak it (even mid-season) to make it that much better. I heart them (and goofiness) so much right now that I’ll even pimp their website: this cheeseball blog is their discussion of the AIPA, explaining why it’s “the most patriotic beer in the galaxy.” 

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*Can I just point out how happy I am that it’s a bottling date and not a “born on” date? “Born on” dates are the stupidest marketing trick for beer I’ve seen in a long time**, because the “born on” date is meaningless. Is it the brewing date? The bottling date? The magical moment during the fermentation process when the alcohol level has become high enough to classify it as beer?

**We won’t go into whichever macroswill it is that advertises itself as “triple hops brewed.” Obviously it is. That’s how you brew most beer. *facepalm*

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Beer from My Parents’ Basement

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , , , on June 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

(aka - in my weird mind, at least - ”Daddoo’s Brews”)

For those of you who don’t know, I got much of my early beer love and knowledge from my Dad, whom I homebrew* with whenever the occasion allows.** Today I’m regaling you with descriptions of beer that you can only have if you’re lucky enough to score an invite to a dinner/party/viewing of made-for-tv SyFy Original movies.***

I’m beginning with the Brown Ale, being that it’s one of the most frequently brewed beers here. I’m pretty sure the Brown Ale tap will always be just that – we go through enough of it that I have a hard time picturing putting something else there. It’s an easy brew , but it’s good, and it’s because of this beer that I get pissy when breweries make inferior, tasteless browns. Made well, they’re awesome.

The Brown Ale (named “What Can Brown Do For You” on the taphandle) has a malty nose of nutty caramel and brown bread with hints of citrus running through it. Nice and slightly fall-like.

Drinking it, it begins with a hint of sweetness before filling up with a rounded, toasty malt flavor that’s backed with enough hops to create a nicely sharp bite on the tongue. There’s also a hint of fruit – a touch of apple and a touch of citrus (mostly grapefruit). It’s medium-bodied with a fantastic carbonation level that leaves a bit of foamy head during the entire pint.

The other beer that’s I’m reviewing is one I pretty much begged for: a Bourbon Barrel Porter. It is (as it should be) pitch, pitch black:

Scent-wise, this beer is dark chocolate, toasted malts, bourbon and a hint of wood. The bourbon intensifies the scent of the others at least as much as it shows up as a distinct note of its own.

Taste-wise, the bourbon-soaked wood gives it a marvelously smoky note, the type of flavor that means it’s an awesomesauce beer for any and all things that have been in contact with the grill (like, you know, the burgers we’re about to throw on). Beyond the smoky note, there’s a lot of really toasty malt, some hints of chocolate, a touch of vanilla, and a nicely clove-y spicysweet woodsy flavor. The beer has a smooth mouthfeel and a nice, heavy body. It’s one of my favorites, and I suspect it’ll be absolutely perfect when fall weather hits.****

This beer was fun because it was the standard brewing process until it wasn’t anymore: at some point during the conditioning period, we soaked a bunch of woodchips in Makers Mark and then added said woodchips to the beer. It isn’t exactly the same as aging it in a real bourbon barrel, but it worked pretty well and didn’t require us making phone calls to a bunch of whiskey stills begging for their leftovers.

So, Daddoo, thanks for being awesome, and thanks for brewing awesome beer. Love you!

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*by “homebrew,” I mean “Dad does the majority of the cleaning and stirring and watching of the clock while I chatter, drink homebrew from batches past and obsessively sniff the hops.”
**by which I mean “whenever one of the kegs is empty.” My parents’ basement features four taps of homebrew. We brew whenever we manage to kick something.
***I also got my love of bad Sci-Fi and half of my general nerdiness from my Dad.
****Fall is my favorite season bar none. I’m not particularly a fan of the heat, so much so that I’m pretty much ready for Autumn already.

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Breckenridge 471 IPA

Posted in Beer, tagged , , , , on June 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Always a happy thing on Wednesday hophead night at Barleys – a flute of Double IPA:

Seriously, stop writing and start talking before I find a more interesting table.

Happy for me, anyway – Tony wanted nothing more than for me to stop reviewing and get on with drinking and chatting. Further proof that I am the world’s worst person to drink with for five minutes of every beer.

Basic Info:
Name: 471 IPA
Origin: Breckenridge Brewery, Breckenridge, CO
Style: Double/Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.2%
IBU: 70
I drank this: on tap at Barleys, Overland Park

The 471 has a sweet, malty nose with loads of grapefruit-scented hops shot through with hints of caramel. It’s a much sweeter, maltier scent than I’m used to with Imperial IPAs - they’re often so hoppy that the hops are the entirety of the scent – this beer really does a nice job of letting the malts into the nose.

Drinking it, the first flavors are strong hints of butterscotch and toffee, sweet and smooth and sugary. After that, the citrusy hops pile in, loads and loads of sweet oranges and red and pink grapefruit. The flavor profile tends heavy towards the sweeter citrus fruits. There are also some  hints of white and yellow florals - the mental picture I got was for some reason of those tiny little flowers that tend to grow as weeds in peoples’ lawns and which, when I was five or so, I enjoyed eating. The floral note in the beer adds a hint of a soft note to the beer, helping to smoothe out the hefty mouthfeel.

Overall, this is the beer equivalent of drinking candied citrus peel. It’s quite possibly the sweetest beer I’ve ever had didn’t involve a Belgian yeast strain or some kind of fruit – not overwhelmingly or cloyingly sweet, but definitely sweeter than drier. I liked it – it was a happy hop bomb for a Wednesday evening in June.

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