Beer Log: Feb. 3-12, 2013

Beer Log: Feb. 3-12, 2013

Feb. 4: Tonight’s Beer: Big Sky’s: Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout: It’s been a while since visiting Big Sky, so it’s time. I like their use of northwest imagery and animals in their naming and artwork. Their elk looks like a cow with antlers. This stout has a nice thick, creamy tan head. The scent is deep roasted coffee with a very subtle hint of licorice. The first sip sets up a delicious smoky, slightly tart flavor. The coffee smoke lingers in the aftertaste and envelops the palate. It has a somewhat dry character and isn’t as sweet as some stouts. This one would hold its own nicely against many of the fine offerings in the American stout family that are now available (Ninkasi, Firestone, Bear Republic, Pelican, 21^st Amendment, Stone, Alameda, Oakshire, etc.). 5.4% ABV.

Feb. 5: Tonight’s Beer: Cascade Lakes’: Project X NW Pale Ale: Honey Gold color with a pleasant floral scent. The taste grabs your attention. There is a robustness to it that makes you take notice and devote your focus. It has a well-rounded sweetness that is entwined with a floral-citrus hoppiness and a mildly bitter finish. The balance and partnership between the hops and malt is quite wonderful and unusual – in most beers, one element tends to dominate.  It lists Mt. Hood, Tettnanger, and Cascade hops. 5.6% ABV. 41 IBU.

Feb. 6: Tonight’s Beer: 10 Barrel Brewing’s: Hop Rye’It IPA: So, this is the first offering I’ve tried from 10 Barrel, another Bend brewery. Aside from Deschutes, there are now a significant number of Bend breweries (at least a dozen). I’ve seen their stuff when I’ve gone up to Oregon, but had not yet picked one up. I got this one from Belmont Station on the recommendation of another patron who seemed to know what he was talking about. And I love ryes, so, it was an easy sell. The beer has a copper penny color, bright and orange hued. The aroma is almost like hard apple cider. The foam light and lacey. While the initial flavor does indeed have a slight apple cider character, it also is strongly rye – it has the familiar savory rye flavor offset with a sweet caramel maltyness. While it is billed as an IPA and there is a bit of bitterness, there is also a delicious citrus, almost mandarin orange, flavor. Lovin’ it! 6.5% ABV.

 

Tonight’s Second Beer: Widmer Brothers’: Columbia Common (Spring Ale): Got this one at Belmont Station. They let you take any beer as a single. Love that place. So, this one is a light copper color with thick head. The scent is floral, almost rose. The flavor, likewise, is almost like rose – sweet and floral. Nice pleasant beer with a good complex taste for such a low alcohol beer (4.7% ABV).

Feb. 7: Tonight’s Beer: Full Sail’s: Brown – Nut Brown Ale (FS Pub Series – Available only for 90 days). Another Belmont Station purchase. I was told by another patron that this is the original pub ale produced by Full Sail. It pours nice and brown – about the color of a cola. There is a light tan head that dissipated quickly. The flavor is very sweet with a bit of burnt caramel and a note of bourbon. A slight hint of alcohol comes through, but very slight and pleasant. Finishes with a tart nibble, almost citrus. Someday, I must get to Hood River. 6% ABV.

Tonight’s Second Beer: Snowshoe’s: Thompson Pale Ale: Honey golden color with a small creamy head and floral piney scent. Appropriate for a mountain brewed beer. The flavor had a juniper-pine taste. It is almost like a rye with a slightly savory pepperiness. The flavor ends with a mildly earthy bitter. Good balance of hop to malt. The Brown is a good beer and I generally like browns better than pales, but this is a very strong contender and is a better done version than the brown.

Feb. 9: Tonight’s Beer: Russian River’s: Janet’s Brown: I tried this as part of the Martinez Santa Crawl back in Dec. 2012. But, didn’t write about it at the time. Apparently it was a collaboration between a home brewer in the Martinez area who is connected to their brewery based internet radio station and Russian River. So, when I was up at Russian River during the Pliny the Younger release, I filled my growler with it. Turned out to be an excellent decision. The color is relatively light for a brown. It is about the color of a watered down cola. Or perhaps a very dark amber. Either way, it is an excellent color. The pour reveals a thick creamy head and nice cascading action. The flavor is about the best brown I’ve had – caramel, and roasty, with a light hoppiness. It starts sweet with an almost chocolate influence and ends with a tasty earthy bitterness.

Feb. 12: Tonight’s Beer: Drake’s: Hopocalypse (Double IPA): An annual release from Drake’s that is very popular. It has a light copper hue, orange and gold. The head is thick and foamy. The aroma is piney and floral. This is a very hoppy beer at over 100 IBU, and a strong beer at 9.3% ABV. The flavor is piney and bitter – sharply, harshly, bitter. All hops all the time with this one. Not at all subtle. Nope. You’d barely recognize that there are any malts at all, so dominant are the hops in this here beer. But, the aroma is wonderful and the taste impressively hoppy. There is a somewhat rye-savory character as well. Upon looking at the description on the bottle, this makes sense since the beer uses rye in addition to four other malts (American 2-row,  English Pale, Vienna, and Crystal). The hops are German Magnum, Citra, and Chinook. The dry hopping hops (that dominate the aroma) are the same with the addition of Columbus hops. With more sips, the malts do make more of an appearance as the palate accommodates to the level of hoppiness. More of the caramel sweetness emerges to balance the high hops level. Overall, impressive beer.