May 5: Today’s Beer: 21st Amendment’s: Brew Free or Die IPA: Excellent IPA. Didn’t have access to a computer to describe it in detail, but tried this at a friend’s house during poker. Very good beer; will have to revisit later and describe in detail.
May 5: Today’s Second Beer: Sudwerk’s: Doppelbock: Excellent heavy beer with nice deep roasted flavor. Had this at a friend’s so no detail. Will have to revisit. It reminds me how excellent Sudwerk is!
May 7: Today’s Beer: Kennebunkport Brewing’s: Winter Ale: I
picked this up at the bargain price of $3/6-pack on clearance from TJs. Nice
dark amber color and thick head. Solid at 6.7% ABV. It has a pleasant maltiness and a hint of
winter spices (cinnamon?), but very subtle. It’s pleasant but not overly
distinctive. Medium level of bitterness.
May 8: Today’s Beer: Firestone Walker’s: Wooky Jack: This is a black rye IPA. New release from Firestone, so I’m very excited. Even though their slogan is “a passion for the pale” they have produced some very intriguing dark ales. This one is quite a bit of wonderful in a bottle. Nice black complexion. It does let a little light through, but not much. Good dark roasted flavor with the sweet distinct bite of a rye. Similar character to Devil’s Canyon’s Rye IPA (California Sunshine), but with a darker toastyness. While it is also billed as an IPA and does have a nice earthy hoppiness, the bitterness takes a backseat to the malt. Strong at 8.3%, but does not taste it at all. Feels more like something in the mid 5%-range.
May 9: Today’s Beer: Kona Brewing Co.’s: Pipeline Porter: Aloha Series. This porter is brewed with “100% Hawaiian Kona Coffee”! And it comes through nicely. In the foam alone, there is a nice pleasant coffee accent. Excellent porter, which is, after all, the perfect variety. Very dark and the coffee gives it a roasted smoky taste. Mildly sour, as with most good porters. They brew this version around Christmas time and it is a great cold winter night kind of beer. I’ve had this beer before, but this is the first time I’ve written about it.
Another Beer: New Belgium’s: Mothership Wit: Organic Wheat Beer Brewed with Spices. Very pale, high carbonation, but low head. Pale yellow color. Very pale yellow. Nice yeasty smell from the bottle conditioning and yeast sediment. Bright and citrusy flavor with a hint of banana. Not sure about the spice, but it’s definitely there (maybe coriander?). Light in ABV as well (4.8%), but flavorful. Good hot day, by the pool kind of beer. With enough complexity to make it interesting.
May 10: Today’s Beer: Deschutes: OK. So, now I’ve got a chance to sit down with a Red Chair and give it a bit more thought. My first impressions were pretty much the story. The color is a very light amber with a bit of a golden tone. The hops start sweet and citrus, but finish more bitter, leaving a lingering pleasant bitterness broadly infusing the entire palate, and then subtly subsiding. 6.2% ABV.
Homebrew Adventure: Joe Almeida: Raspberry Red: Nice cloudy brown color and sweet fruity scent. Good light malty taste with a pleasant sweet fruitiness. Good Job Joe!
May 13: Today’s Beer: 21st Amendment’s: Allies Win the War (with Ninkasi): Another sweet dark beer along the lines of Fireside Chat, but without the spice, and with a nice fruity sweetness. This one with California dates and Oregon hops. Rivals Fireside Chat as the most intriguing beer they produce. Clear ruby brown color. Limited head. Nice subtle hoppiness at 52 IBU. Good kick at 8.5% ABV. Excellent sweet fruity smell and delicious lightly roasted maltiness.
May 15: Today’s Beer: Full Sail’s: Wassail 2011: One of the best of the winter beers I tried this winter. I entered it into the first ever Decem-Beer party we hosted and it won in the winter beer category. Good strong caramel taste with a warm spiciness. Perfect cold weather beer. (12/17/2011) Oh, happy joy. Found one last bottle in the back of the refrigerator! It’s just like Christmas all over again. This was a very good year for Wassail. The dark malt has a nice toasty sweet taste with just a hint of spice. Good strength at 7% ABV. Very alluring dark brown color.
May 17: Today’s Beer: Sierra Nevada’s: Ovila Saison: A friend of mine suggested that I might like this and was somewhat surprised that I hadn’t tried it already. The Ovila line is a collaboration between SN and New Clairvaux monastery in the Sacramento Valley. Light, Honey blonde in color with a thick foamy head. Bright and citrusy aroma. The foam is pleasantly earthiness with a little spice. The first taste brings a lightly sweet fruity flavor, with a distinct yeastiness from the bottle conditioning. Slightly sour finish. Mild hint of banana. Excellent balance with mild hoppiness, it is more sweet than bitter.
May 21: Today’s Beer: Anderson Valley’s: Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout: Nice deep dark color, as you’d expect from a stout. I have yet to come across a stout you can see through. I suppose that’s one of the defining features of the stout, the deep darkness. It also features the nice thick head with a deep tan foam. It has a pleasant, though not very powerful aroma and tasting the foam, I found it a bit, well, almost watery. The flavor isn’t as dark as the color. While there is a slightly burnt character, it isn’t as distinct as many of the recent crop of great American stouts, like the Big Black Bear. Very low carbonation and a slight pleasant sour flavor. Definitely does not taste as dark as it looks. I know I keep harping on that, but really, the mismatch is almost alarming. It’s tasty enough, but with so many other great stouts, it really wouldn’t be worth a revisit. Maybe it’s meant as a gateway stout. First you try this and find that stouts aren’t really as scary as they appear. You may find that they are downright friendly and decide that it might be worth getting to know more stouts with a bit more “personality.” Then you move on leaving poor Barney Flats to the more timid. Very lightly hopped with a slight citrus character. Not a bad little stout (OK, that was a bit condescending), but not really ready to play with the other stouts.
May 26: Today’s Beer: Stone’s: Vertical Epic 11: This is the 2011 release of Stone’s Vertical Epic Series. I came to the series late and was able to purchase only one of the 10-10-10 and kept it for over a year before trying it (See: March 31, 2012). This is a very different concoction. I tried one right after it came out but didn’t get a chance to describe it. But, my memory of it is a bit different than my impressions this time. The beer is brewed with Anaheim chilies and cinnamon. The first time I tried it I wouldn’t have known about the chilies outside of the description on the bottle. This time, the chilies come through more distinctly. There is a brief sharp hint of peppers somewhat akin to a green bell pepper and a lingering sharper pepper flavor that hangs around once the deep roasted malty flavor subsides. I still am not picking up on the cinnamon. The beer is a nice amber, bordering on brown. Limited carbonation and head. Yeasty flavor that comes with bottle conditioning. Strong at 9.4%ABV. It has a nice sweet maltiness that is offset by the pleasant sharpness of the chilies. Slight fruity undertones, kind of like banana as you often get with Belgian-style bottle-conditioned brews. I still have one more bottle that I’m keeping until the 12-12-12 is released. At least, that’s my intention, but we’ll see how strong my resolve is.
May 28: Today’s Beer: Drake’s: 1500 Dry Hopped Pale Ale: I’ve been meaning to try some of Drake’s beers since they are pretty close by (they are in San Leandro, just south of Oakland). A couple of years ago I tried one of their beers (the Denogginizer – good name) and was reasonably impressed. I don’t remember it well enough to describe, sadly, which means I’ll have to try it again (so very, very, sad for me – heh, heh). So, the 1500 is their version of the California Pale and follows the path of Sierra Nevada in creating a highly hopped pale. The 1500 is dry hopped, which is always a nice touch since it creates a wonderful, sharp piney aroma with a slightly fruity scent. It if honey colored and a bit hazy. The hops are more on the peppery, bitingly bitter end of the hop spectrum (a term that as far as I know, I just made up – if it already exists, I’m going to be very put out). Very striking and tasty, though a bit astringent. The hops overwhelm the malts and dominate the overall flavor. The bitter lingers and would be off putting to people who don’t like hoppier beers. Solid beer, but for the Pales, I tend to prefer the Firestone 31. Still, if offered one, I would accept most gratefully. I’m thinking I need to visit San Leandro.
May 29: Tonight’s Beer: Unibroue’s: Don De Dieu: Golden and hazy. Thick head, but it dissipates very quickly. A sip of foam simply evaporated as soon as it hit my mouth. Lovely honey color. Bottle conditioned, so a nice yeasty flavor accompanying the sweet honey flavor of the malt and a little bit of the banana character that comes with the bottle conditioned beers. Pleasant citrus flavor almost as if there were a squeeze of lemon added. Also a nice mild spice. Good sipping beer, inspired by the Belgians. Strong at 9% ABV, but no alcohol taste. The beers are named for Canadian lore. This is named after one of Champlain’s ships.
May 31: Tonight’s Beer: Alaskan’s: Black IPA: Part of the trend of creating a dark, hoppy beer. I’ve discussed Stone’s Black IPAs, as well as 21st Amendment’s and Deschutes’ (which they refer to as a Cascadian Dark Ale, but it’s the same thing). It is, in my view a healthy trend since there has been too much emphasis on the lighter beers – it’s nice to see the darker ales get their due. This one is dark, but not quite as black as the others. The light comes through revealing a very dark brown with a deep amber hue. Nice thick head and inviting citrusy hoppy aroma. It has a lightly citrus sourness at first, and then the dark malts go to work, starting with a sweet burnt sugar and yielding to a deeper, deep roasted darkness. It is surprisingly toasty considering how relatively light the color is. But it is a happy surprise. This is a friendly, yet complex beer, blending together distinctly flavorful hops along with a nuanced and alluring deep roasted flavor. And, despite the darkness, it still is light enough to enjoy during the hot summer months. Kudos Alaskan!
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