The Del Ray Brewing Collective

100 Beers of 2010: 11/100 - Marin Brewing White Knuckle

2010-03-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

Beer Style: American Double IPA
ABV/IBU: 8.0%/Unknown
Serving Style: Poured from the bomber into a Sam Adams sensory glass.

Appearance: A slightly opaque, thick brew, with a thin pale head that fades quickly. The carbonation is thick and slow as it rises up from the nucleation points. The color ranges from apricot at the core, to gold at the edges. 3.5/5

Smell: Zesty, resinous, sweet bready malts, tropical fruits, and thankfully no bananas. Nice, big, appetizing. 4.5/5

Taste: Sweet, thick, candy fruit, cherries, with very little American citrus hops, focusing more on the sweet and resinous end of things. A nice tongue bite on the first sip, with a wonderful sweet honey syrup body. 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: Excellent, thick, great for the beer. 4/5

Drinkability: A great big sweet thick DIPA. Definitely wish I could get this here in Michigan. 4.5/5

Overall Grade: A-

100 Beers of 2010: 10/100 - Brasserie Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux

2010-03-17T21:46:00.001-04:00

Beer Style: Saison
ABV/IBU: 9.5%/Unknown
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Gouden Carolus goblet.

Appearance: A creamy wheatish color with a dense, creamy head and good carbonation supporting it. It's hazy, as you would expect from the style. Appealing, for sure. 5/5

Smell: Saison funk, nice aromatics, fresh spicy coriander. 4.5/5

Taste: Rich, creamy, sweet and thick. Tangy with just the right amount of carbonation bite. Orange candy, honey sweetness, peppery, light breadiness, mild frutiness, strawberries. 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: Super velvety, almost like an oatmeal stout with high carbonation. How did they pull this off? 4.5/5

Drinkability: A great saison. I love the creamy, yet effervescent, mouthfeel and the complex array of flavors. One of my favorites that I look forward to every year. 4.5/5

Overall Grade: A

100 Beers of 2010: 9/100 - Bell's HopSlam Ale

2010-03-17T21:42:00.001-04:00

Beer Style: American Imperial IPA
ABV/IBU: 10%/70(?)
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Dogfish Head chalice.

Appearance: A nice 1/2" head formed from a moderately aggressive pour. A nice, clear golden orange with healthy carbonation levels. It's one of those thick, dense looking beers where the carbonation slowly creeps out. Quite nice, though. 4/5

Smell: Insanely huge aroma, with sweet fruits and honey, citrus zest, cherries, floral and resinous notes... phenomenal. 5/5

Taste: Candied maraschino cherries, resinous hops, with a bit of bite combined with an overwhelming sweetness that smooths it all out. There might be some mild tart apple in there, too. It was better on draft, but still so good in the bottle. 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: Ideal - good density and carbonation, nice, mouth-filling consistency. 5/5

Drinkability: One of the most famous beers around, and for good reason. Huge aroma and taste, with a perfect mouthfeel. Even with a big ABV, you want to keep drinking. A classic. 5/5

Overall grade: A+

100 beers of 2010: 8/100 - Flying Dog Raging Bitch

2010-02-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

Beer Style: Belgian IPA
ABV/IBU: 8.3%/60
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams sensory glass.

Appearance: Perfection. Pours completely clear with a thick pillowy head that sticks around for awhile. Great carbonation level along with a perfect deep copper color. Exactly what an IPA should look like. 5/5

Smell: Wow, it just leaps out of the glass. There is a decent amount of Belgian funk there, with a flowery herbal note (chamomile?), and slightly citric and flower hop aromas as well. 4/5

Taste: Orange citrus elements are matched equally with the flavors imparted by the Belgian yeast. There is a nice undercurrent of herbal, resinous hop flavors as well, and maybe some subtle tropical fruit elements. I detected a little alkalinity and there was a bit of dry tongue bite on the finish at times. It's not quite as perfect integration of flavors as I would have liked, but I feel that way about most Belgian IPAs as the flavors don't necessarily meld well. 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: Zippy up front with some carbonation bite. Good body -- thick, a bit chewy, supports the flavors nicely. 4.5/5

Drinkability: It hides the 8% well with a big juicy flavor profile and a dry, sharp finish. The alkalinity tired my tongue out after most of a bottle, however. I've never been a huge Flying Dog fan, but this is a solid beer for the style - it's just not a very good style, in my opinion. 3.5/5

Overall grade: B+

100 beers of 2010: 7/100 - Alpine Exponential Hoppiness

2010-02-15T10:41:00.000-05:00

[Didn't take a photo for this, and can't find a decent one]
Beer Style: American Imperial ("Triple") IPA
ABV/IBU: 10.5%/Unknown
Serving Style: Poured from the bomber into a DFH chalice.

Another fine west coast beer I got via a trade.

Appearance: It pours fairly cloudy and opaque, with a brownish yellow color, and a small head that slips away. The carbonation isn't immediately evident, but there is a dense carbonation visible in the brew. Swirling the glass brings up quite a bit more carbonation, it looks like a whole new pour. The cloudiness isn't super nice, but as the beer warms in the bottle it pours more clearly.

Smell: Tropical fruits, candied apricot, lemon peel, maple, piney freshness, nice, fairly forward, and pretty different.

Taste: VERY different, and a bit odd initially. As I got accustomed to it, the beer slowly revealed itself. It's initially quite resinous, not quite solventy, but there is a sweet/spicy/zesty thing going on. The bitterness is amazingly controlled, with no tongue bite at all. There is a bit of mild alkalinity through the mid-palate, but it fades and gives way to a sweet finish. While still a bit chilled, there is a thinness on the edges that makes it not fully realized. LET THIS BEER WARM UP.

As it warms, the beer comes into its own, and gets solid. Some mild vanilla and oak flavors come out, and the finish gets warmer and boozier with some heat in the back of the mouth. It still has some odd, resinous tang, but it's more of a statement now, and one that speaks powerfully. The tropical fruits come out more with the warmth, as well, which I missed while it was cold. Fantastic.

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy, chewy, and great. Perfect mouthfeel.

Drinkability: It took a bit of time for this beer to warm up to reach its peak - let it get warmer than you think it should! Once it warms up it integrates nicely and the flavors reach their peak. The controlled bitterness is unexpected and welcome, as so many huge IPAs let their alkaline flavors run free. Each sip reveals something new. A highly recommended big American IPA that takes some time to show its colors.

Overall grade: A

100 beers of 2010: 6/100 - Founders Double Trouble

2010-02-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

Image used, without permission, from http://columbiabeerenthusiasts.ning.com/

Beer Style: American Double IPA
ABV/IBU: 9.4%/86
Serving Style: On draft in a standard pint glass.

Appearance: The pour was an absolutely crystal clear light copper ale with no head and nice levels of carbonation. A nice looking IPA that I want to dig into. 4/5

Smell: A huge floral honey hoppy sweetness jumped out of the glass. It's actually ridiculously close to Hop Slam, which was surprising -- I hadn't had Double Trouble for some time, but I didn't remember it smelling like this. As it warms a bit of soapiness emerges (somewhat like Pliny The Elder), along with a bit of pepperiness. 4.5/5

Taste: A big citrus bitterness hits your tongue, with a ton of grapefruit, a weird subtle mild sweet-tart cherry, and a futile attempt to balance things with any malt sweetness. It's fierce on the tongue, and the brew leaves it feeling overly dry and alkaline. Double Trouble is an example of why Hop Slam is as lauded as it is... this beer is just too sharp, too uncontrolled, and not sweet enough. 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: A nice chewy thickness that is great for the style. 4/5

Drinkability: Double Trouble is a beer you can drink as fast as you want, I suppose, but isn't a chugger. It's just far too harsh and strong, and a tongue bruiser. I love Founder's and want to like this more, but it's just a little extreme, even for the style. I think that they could dial down the IBUs a bit and bring in some more subtle maltiness and it would be equal to Hop Slam in many ways. 3/5

Overall grade: B+

100 beers of 2010: 5/100 - Bell's Third Coast Old Ale

2010-02-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Image used, without permission, from nuxx.net

Beer style: Old Ale
ABV/IBU: 10.2%/Unknown
Serving style: Poured from the bottle into a Dogfish Head chalice.

I'll note that this is one of my first attempts to be less subjective and instead review based on what I understand the style guidelines to be.

Appearance: A beauty! The color is deep and rich, with dark orange, cherry red, and apricot tones. The ale is fairly hazed, and there appear to be some dark particles in the glass, even though I attempted to leave any sediment in the bottle. The head is thin, but the carbonation level is very appealing. If it didn't have the sediment it would be nearly perfect. 4/5

Smell: Mild notes of sparkling cherries and rich malts appear with time, as it warms I picked up some dried fruit, almost portish aromas. Not sure if the aroma is too tame on this, but it fits the style. I wish the aromas rose out of the glass with a bit more vigor, but when you pick them up they are quite nice. 4/5

Taste: A complex brew, for sure. It's big, very big, with all sorts of chewy dried fruit flavors meandering across the tongue. The malts are rich and sweet, which add to the complexity. There is maybe a hint of chocolate behind the fruit. The finish is long, lingering, with a hint of pleasant bitterness and a smidge of oxidation, which is fine for an old ale. It's a fantastically integrated group of flavors, and it makes me wonder just how old this "old ale" actually is. I want to put a few years on this and see how phenomenal it can get. 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: Fantastic. It's huge and chewy, with a great level of carbonation to keep it lively on the tongue without adding any bite. Perfection for an Old Ale. 5/5

Drinkability: Again, I am forced to ask, what does "drinkability" indicate? Would you session a 10% Old Ale? No? Do I want to keep taking more whiffs and more sips, trying to get every nuance of this beer? Yes, yes I do. A phenomenal effort by Bell's, showing a deep knowledge and appreciation of the style. 4.5/5

Overall grade: A

100 beers of 2010: 4/100 - Russian River Pliny The Elder

2010-01-23T10:40:00.001-05:00

Image used, without permission, from http://www.thebeerbuddha.com.

I was lucky enough to receive a Pliny as an extra in a trade. It was about a month old, so I wanted to bust it open before the fresh hoppiness this beer is known for began to fade.

Beer Style: American Double IPA
ABV/IBU: 8%/100 (uncertain on the IBU)
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Appearance: Pours somewhat clear and slightly opaque (redundant or what?), with a nice head that sticks around for a good amount of time. The lacing is pretty good due to the high level of hop oils. 4/5

Smell: Somewhat soapy, with big lemon, orange, and grapefruit notes. There is some honey sweetness. The soapiness throws it off, it's not very appealing. 3.5/5

Taste: A nice balance of sweetness and sharp, cat-piss hops. There is some herbal and resinous hoppiness, along with a slight amount of fundamental malt sweetness. 4/5

Mouthfeel: Good body for the style, but I wish it were bigger in the mouth. It might push it out of the style if it were, however. 4/5

Drinkability: Real tasty and easy to drink. A great west coast IPA for sure, but not exactly my favorite brew. I think the biggest weakness is the aroma and cat-piss American hops, which others might find true to style or even appealing. I simply prefer a bit more tempered American DIPA. 4/5

Overall Grade: B+

100 beers of 2010: 3/100 - Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale

2010-01-15T15:34:00.000-05:00

I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who works on the bottling line at Great Lakes Brewing Company. Every time I go home to Cleveland, I try to see him for good hanging out with the side benefit of a free case or so of underfilled bottles to take home. The major issue with the underfills is that they are unlabeled, so unless they were put into the right carrier you don't know what you are opening until you pour it in your glass. They are running Conway's Irish Ale right now, and when I poured this into my glass, I seriously had no idea what it was - there was so little aroma and flavor!

Beer Style: Irish Red Ale
ABV/IBU: 6.5%/25
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Appearance: As is typical for Great Lakes, it's an attractive brew. It's clearly filtered and is a lovely orange-gold color, with good levels of carbonation. There wasn't much head on my pour, and there was no lacing evident as I drank. 4/5

Smell: Very mild, extremely so. I have absolutely NO idea how anyone reviewing this beer would give this high marks on smell. This was a very fresh bottle and it still had almost no aroma. There was some slight malt sweetness with no hop bitterness. I had to stick my nose into the glass and swirl many times just to get anything at all. 2/5

Taste: It's pretty boring, really... some mild maltiness with a bit of buttery biscuit/cracker going on, with a very mild honey sweetness of caramel malts. The bitterness is very "european" and refined, with very mild classic hop notes - nothing great to me. The finish is surprisingly long, with bitterness that lingers in a mildly distasteful manner. There is a mild lemon note on the palate, but it's decidedly NOT an American ale citrus flavor. It's an integrated beer that just isn't very flavorful, really. 2.5/5

Mouthfeel: Pretty standard ale thickness. Great Lakes usually nails mouthfeel pretty well. The flavor is pretty thin but the beer itself is fairly substantial. It's a bit "zippy" on the tongue, but it's ok. 4/5

Drinkability: It's not very tasty or intense, it's almost too mild to care about - it certainly won't wear you out but it's not offensive. I'd want something more flavorful to session, but if you dig extremely mild european ales you might want this. I'm not very impressed with this, really, it's a rare miss by my hometown brewery. I'll admit that this is simply not a style of beer I think I would like, no matter how well it fit the style. My ratings are unfair for this beer in terms of being an Irish Red Ale, and in the future I'll attempt to be rating more on style instead of my personal opinion. 3/5

Overall grade: C

100 beers of 2010: 2/100 - Great Divide Hibernation Ale

2010-01-12T10:12:00.001-05:00

Beer Style: Old Ale
ABV/IBU: 8.7%/Unlisted
Serving Style: Poured from the bottle into a Dogfish Head chalice.

Appearance:Hibernation Ale is really nice deep chocolate ruby, tremendously clear with a tan head and nice carbonation levels. The clarity and color is appetizing and beautiful. 4.5/5

Smell: Cocoa, malt, and caramel grains stand out. There are some bitter hops lurking, with a slightly sour mash and vegetative smell lurking in the background. 3.5/5

Taste: The taste belies the smell in some ways. It's malty, sure, with some caramel sweetness evident, while certainly not syrupy. There is controlled bitterness behind the roasted maltiness, and the flavors are well-integrated. There are some vegetative flavors on the finish, but the cocoa helps cover it up. It has a long finish with lingering bitterness. 3/5

Mouthfeel: It's a tough nut to track, here, the high carbonation and good level of IBUs really keeps it lively in the mouth, and balances the malt, but I'm almost wondering if those aspects are a bit overdone. 3.5/5

Drinkability: Eh, to me, it's not a great beer, but if you like the style you might be into it more. It's nothing special, and if Great Divide hadn't made it I'd probably be even harder on it. 3/5

Overall grade: B-

100 beers of 2010: 1/100 - Short's Brewing Company: Good Humans

2010-01-11T10:27:00.001-05:00

Recently Short's Brewing Company released about 7 limited-release beers at the same time, some of which had been brewed before and not bottled, some of which were brand new (I think). I grabbed six different six packs for my own sampling and trading on BeerAdvocate. This wasn't the first of the brews I tried, but it's the first one I reviewed in 2010. I neglected to take a photo of this, and can't find one in a decent resolution online due to the relative obscurity of the beer, so I apologize.

Beer style: American Brown Ale
ABV/IBU: Unlisted
Serving style: Poured from the bottle into a Dogfish Head chalice

Appearance: It comes out of the bottle as a fairly opaque reddish brown, with a normal head that quickly disappears. It's nice enough, sure, nothing special, nothing unappetizing. 3.5/5

Smell: A heavy dose of citrus hops hit the nose, I'm fairly sure they are cascade. Some sweet and appetizing herbal aromas are evident. Nice. 4/5

Taste: Not quite as good as the smell, unfortunately. Fairly bitter, with some caramel malts and mild chocolate flavors. It begins with bitterness and sweetness, then a clean finish with the malts. You get some lingering tongue tingle from the hops. 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: Normal. Effervescent, good carbonation levels. 3/5

Drinkability: If you are into this style, I can imagine wanting to have a few. It's clearly the best of the Short's limited releases that I've had, which isn't saying much, but it's pretty good. I wish it tasted as good as it smelled! 3.5/5

Overall grade: B

100 beers of 2010: How I review beer

2010-01-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

I should probably mention how I approach reviewing beer. It's not a bad idea to read this guide on BeerAdvocate, but there are certain points I simply choose not to agree with. For one, I'm not a BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judge. I simply cannot objectively review a beer in terms of how well it matches the style, because I'm not experienced enough. I'm not going to quaff a rauchbier and be able to give it a 4/5 for flavor, even if it appears to meet the style guidelines, because I simply don't think those beers taste good (or at least the ones I've had don't). I give high marks on flavor to beer I think tastes good, and I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with that - I'm not professing to give anything more than my opinion when I talk about beer.

So here are the details I'll provide about each beer:
Brewery and name of the beer: obvious
Style: What style does the beer profess to be or appear to be?
ABV/IBU (if available): Alcohol By Volume and International Bitterness Units. It's tempting to look at IBUs as a simple "bitterness meter", but IBUs can be well-masked and balanced by a big, malty backbone. For example, most barleywines exhibit high IBU levels, but certainly don't taste quite as bitter as, say, an American IPA (India Pale Ale), due to their larger ABV (which means more grains were used in the creation the beer).
Serving style: Draft or bottle, what glass I used, where I had it, that kind of stuff.

I think the BeerAdvocate/BJCP guidelines for analyzing a beer make sense, and I use them when I review a beer. This is how i interpret them:

Appearance: What the beer looks like. I weigh how attractive the beer is, and how much it makes me want to start drinking. I value a good depth of color, clarity (even though it's usually just caused by filtering), a good carbonation level (when it fits the style), and lack of haze unless the style calls for it. I don't really care about things like lacing (usually cased by a high amount of proteins, hop oils, and really clean glasswear).

Smell: What the beer smells like. I value big aromas that are appetizing and let me know what's going on in the beer. I get frustrated when a beer has an extremely laid-back aroma, because aromatics are a huge part of how we taste. Even worse than no aroma, however, is a bad aroma - vegetables, sour aromas (again, when it doesn't fit the style), solvents - all these make me actively not want to drink a beer.

Taste: What the beer tastes like. This is, of course, the most important part of a beer. No matter what a beer looks like, smells like, or feels like in the mouth, if it tastes bad it's crap. Like many things, beer has an amazing diversity of flavor - even beers within the same style can have amazingly different flavors. I routinely will talk about whether or not a beer has "integrated" flavors. What I am trying to get at when I talk about this is if all the different flavor components in a beer create a harmonious whole, rather than stand alone as separate ingredients. For instance, I've had two chocolate coffee stouts recently that had similar flavors, but were drastically different in terms of how well the flavors melted together. One was complex, dynamic, and amazing, while the other felt like a collection of parts, a homebrewing experiment taken too far.

Balance is key, no matter what the style. If my taste buds are buzzing for a minute with alkaline flavors (think about chewing an aspirin) after I finish a sip because the IBUs in a DIPA (Double IPA) are simply unmanaged, that's a poorly made beer. If the beer is just a sweet, syrupy mess with no snap of hops to balance it out, it's just as bad. Sure, different styles will have different levels of sweetness, maltiness, bitterness, etc, but balance and integration are key.

I will admit that I overvalue a bit of caramel/honey sweetness in beer and tend to dislike the more mild styles, so bear that in mind.

Mouthfeel: What a beer feels like on the palate. Carbonation plays a big role here, as does the brewery's controlling of unfermented sugars and proteins. The most important thing for me is that the mouthfeel of a beer match the style - I like a lager that has a bit of body and has good levels of carbonation, but isn't going to be thick at all. For an IPA with a nice ABV, I want a substantial body. For an oatmeal stout, a silky-smooth mouthfeel with some nice backbone is desirable. If an 8-9% stout is thin or overly carbonated, it just doesn't make the whole package work.

Drinkability: How much you want to drink the beer. This is my least favorite analytical category on BeerAdvocate. If a beer is good, I want to drink it. Being able to "session" a beer (drink many in a row) isn't at all important to me, I almost never have more than a single beer a night unless I'm out at a bar. I most frequently discuss Drinkability in terms of the beer as a whole - what I thought about it, how much I wanted to keep drinking, how much I'm looking forward to having it again, that kind of thing.

I will then provide a grade for the beer based on my subjective opinion of the beer as a whole. I try to keep my grades uninflated - an average beer is a "C", a good beer is a "B" and a great beer will earn an "A". Not many beers get A's from me, and truly disappointing beers will earn lower than a C. I tend to trade much lower than most people on BeerAdvocate, so keep that in mind.

The 100 beers of 2010 project

2010-01-07T22:51:00.002-05:00

I've decided to make 2010 a year of goals, and one of my goals is to review at least 100 beers in 2010. Right now I have at least 65 unique beers in my collection, and have access to many more brews I haven't tried before - it's time to get drinking instead of collecting, and sharing my thoughts. So follow along with me as I complete this project!

I'll be honest with you and say that I do have my preferences and dislikes, but know that in the past year or more my palate has expanded quite a bit. However, I'm still going to value things like clarity and controlled alkaline flavors more than many would. I like beer with a lot of residual sweetness, and I like big, intense ales more frequently than I do a more mild style, no matter how well it's crafted. But I don't think that taste can truly be objective, and if it were, where's the fun in reading that?

I'll be referencing two glasses routinely that I use for drinking 99% of the beer I have at home, so I'll show you what those look like:

This is a picture I took of the Sam Adams sensory glass holding a bottle of Burton Baton from Dogfish Head. I use it for most beers under 8% ABV nowadays. The shape is superior to the standard shaker pint, as the tulip shape helps capture aromas better, and it's nice to hold in the hand. The glass also has nucleation points on the bottom, which is a laser-cut ring that knocks carbonation out of the beer solution. Finally, the glass is thinner, which is nicer for appreciating the appearance of the beer.

I didn't take this image, but it's the Dogfish Head signature glass. I use it for most high-alcohol beers for no great reason other than tradition. Like the sensory glass, it has nucleation points (in the shape of the DFH logo, which makes for some funny shapes in bubbles sometimes), but isn't as nice to hold in the hand. The slug stem base is pretty cool, I guess.

OK, so you've seen the glasses and know more about my tastes, so here goes.

San Francisco thoughts

2009-10-09T00:33:00.002-04:00

Just left San Francisco after my first trip to the bay area. I had a lot of dope beer this weekend, and not all of it local. I ended up leaving with a RR Consecration and Temptation, and a Deschutes Black Butte XXI and a Valley Brewing Uberhoppy.

Thoughts:
Monk's Kettle - ridiculously overpriced, wide variety of beers but I seriously didn't want anything they had on draft (maybe says something about me), dropped $7.50 on a big pint of Pliny (overpriced). Their bottle list was impressive but, again, was extremely pricey. I just don't love Pliny, but I can understand why it's considered a great beer. It's a bit too bitter and dry for me, but that's just my preference for sweeter DIPAs revealing itself.

Toronado - I heard the service sucked but going on Monday night was fine and the bartender gave me a gratis beer and poured me a nice sample of another one without me even asking. I went back on Tuesday and it was a bit more crowded, but I was able to get a table and sit with three other people I knew with no big issue. Great prices - 4 buck Blind Pig and 4.50 Pliny, as an example. Most other domestics were in the $4 range. They had a pretty good selection, but I heard that it wasn't as full a draft list as usual. I had the absolutely amazing Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux and one of the better beers I've ever had, Firestone-Walker Double Jack [review forthcoming]. I had some other good stuff as well, but those stood out.

City Beer Store - This is a small place that clearly caters to beer nerds. Along with six rotating taps, it features two big coolers stocked with most everything they sell on the shelves and you can open anything for $1 corkage fee. I met an old old internet friend and he dropped some coin on the fantastic Mikkeller/Brewdog Devine [sic] Rebel barleywine ($15 for 12 ounces) and the fucking amazing Avery Mephistopheles Stout (I don't even like stouts that much and think this is a perfect beer). The server was nice and knowledgeable, which helps.

I wasn't actually blown away by SF as a beer town, but it certainly has it's good spots worth checking out. I'm glad to have left with some good west coast stuff, too.

Review: Bell's The Oracle DIPA

2009-09-28T20:43:00.002-04:00

Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Appearance: The beer pours an opaque apricot, and my mildly aggressive pour left a thin head that quickly dissipated. A nice level of carbonation is exhibited. Noting spectacular in the looks department but an attractive color.

Smell: A great nose on this - some peach, some citrus, some resinous hops, some slightly sour funk going on. Very fragrant and inviting.

Taste: A truly interesting beer. I'm reminded of Port Brewing's Hop 15 (or at least what I remember of that) - extremely thick, with a high level of syrupy, effervescent fruitiness. A sharp sour green apple bites through the initial sweetness for a bit, then is drowned with a clover honey finish that eventually gives way to that always unpleasant alkaline baking soda sensation on the tongue due to the IBUs.

Mouthfeel: I love a thick beer with a rich, creamy mouthfeel, so I'm all about The Oracle. The carbonation is quite good, and it's a nice mouthful of beer without being syrupy.

Overall, it's a darn good beer. It's going to rate outstanding and exceptional on the review sites due to it's rarity, but honestly I think I prefer the similar, and better, Hop Slam. The alkaline finish is just distasteful to me and keeps it from being a truly great beer. I'd give it an A-/B+.

Review: GLBC Commodore Perry

2009-09-26T12:56:00.001-04:00

Poured from the bottle into a Sam Adams sensory glass. This bottle was only a week or two off the bottling line, as I got it from a buddy who gets me a lot of underfills...

Appearance: The color isn't anything special, really, but it's pours quite clear with a nice head and good retention. A good level of carbonation is exhibited with a steady stream of bubbles rising from the nucleation points in the glass.

Smell: A very nice and strong aroma, indeed. A nice malt mixes with slightly citrus, lemon aromas, and some fresh grassiness.

Taste: A creamy mild sweetness is complemented with a bit of bready malt, and finished up with clean, sweet bitter hop flavors. Everything is well integrated - the sweetness never overpowers the mild bitterness, and the finish is clean on the palate - but still reminding you it's an IPA. I'd say for non-imperial IPA it's one of my favorites.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is fantastic for a single IPA. Thick and rich, but never syrupy, and with a perfect level of carbonation. The mouthfeel perfectly complements the flavors of the beer and enhances the entire package. For the style, I think it's worth a 5.

Drinkability: It's extremely drinkable, due to the great taste and wonderful mouthfeel. I'm nearly done with my glass as I finish this review, actually... and really wouldn't mind another!

One of the best of the GLBC brews, in my opinion. An A- single IPA for sure.

Review: Nøgne Ø India Pale Ale

2009-08-05T09:16:00.001-04:00

Poured from a bottle into a snifter glass over at Mark's place.

Look: An opaque apricot, almost cloudy, with a moderate but lasting head. Not necessarily visually appealing.

Smell: A slightly sour and funky aroma, not very floral or piney in the least. It was moderate in intensity and not super enticing.

Taste: I got notes of sweet fruit, pear, and low-AA hops, with some lingering bitterness on the tongue. Definitely a euro IPA with more of a funky fruity bitterness as opposed to the citrus of American hops.

Mouthfeel: It was pretty good, a creamy effervescent beer without reaching sparkling.

Drinkability: It's definitely tasty and chuggable, and not a taste bud overloader. I'm not a huge fan of euro IPAs, though, and this isn't an exception to that rule. I definitely prefer their Sunturnbrew barleywine over this.

Some quick tasting notes

2009-08-04T14:32:00.003-04:00

Bill and I made a quick stop to Rustico last evening in search of a few good drafts. As if in answer to my question of "where in DC can I get Loose Cannon's Big DIPA," Rustico just happened to have it on draft, along with one of my favorite beers, Avery Maharaja, and Weyebacher Double Simcoe IPA on cask. Bill and I each got a big 16 ounce pour of Big DIPA, and my take on it was that it's good, but not great. It's in the Maharaja style of sticky, sweetish, DIPAs, but lacks the complexity and great nose that exemplifies the style. I first had it in Cleveland, and after this second pour, I don't need it again.

I then got a small pour of Maharaja while Bill quaffed the Double Simcoe. The cask pour was surprisingly delightful, which is hard for me to say, as I usually heavily dislike casks. The Double Simcoe was really nice - a thick, internal kind of carbonation that lended it body and weight beyond any cask I've had before. After a swig, a number of tiny bubbles would be rising up the side of the glass... very appealing. My Maharaja was as good as always, of course.

Ah, IPA... when will I get sick of you for good?

Review: Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA

2009-08-03T23:03:00.001-04:00

Poured from a bottle into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Look: A very mildly hazy golden orange brew with a thin head. A very light amount of cabronation is evident rising from the nucleation points. Attractive, sure, but not beautiful.

Smell: A really great nose on this one, sweet, resinous, citrus, floral - pretty damn big. Definitely pulls you in for a taste.

Taste: Really, really, big for something out of a 12 ounce bottle, even though that statement makes no sense... It has a huge aromatic hop flavor hits your mouth with a rich sweetness that isn't cloying in the least. The initial flavors subside to the typical DIPA dry-bitter tongue that isn't exactly ideal. Complex and definitely ingriguing, but you can definitely tell it's high alcohol. Very tasty.

Mouthfeel: A nice, fairly thick brew with good levels of carbonation. I could say the usual "dances across the tongue" stuff, but that's a little silly here. It's got a really nice overall texture and is assuredly appealing, but nothing either outstanding or deplorable.

Drinkability: This is a fantastic Imperial with a ton of flavor, and if you like the style the bottle will be gone before you know it. It's a big beer that doesn't really hide the booze, but full of big flavors and aromas and shows you what an IPA can be if pushed to the limits. A winner from Harpoon, definitely heads and shoulders above their normal fare.

Review: Dogfish Head Burton Baton

2009-07-28T22:32:00.003-04:00

I poured a 12 ounce bottle from this year's batch into a Sam Adams Sensory glass.

Look: Appealing golden reddish-brown with a slightly tan head, I didn't get much head on my pour from a 12 ounce bottle, but I went easy on it. A steady stream of bubbles arose from the nucleation points at the bottom of my Sam Adams glass. The thin head quickly dissipated, but some light lacing was evident.

Smell: Not too strong, but a vanilla oakiness with maybe some fruit and hops - nothing too overpowering in the least.

Taste: This has some of the characteristics of all the trendy burbon-barrel aged beers but none of the overpowering flavor some of them exhibit. The initial flavors are sweet but not too sweet, with some nice caramel, vanilla, oak, and fruitiness, without being cloying. The snap of bitterness cleans the palate nicely with some sweetness and effervescence remaining on the tongue. I expected a beer with fairly low carbonation, but I feel the moderately high levels help to avoid an overly sweet and sticky beer. Some of the baking soda flavors I've been hating about high-IBU beers make their appearance a minute or so after swallowing, but aren't abhorrent.

Mouthfeel: As I mentioned, I think the carbonation levels help create a truly excellent mouthfeel - nearly on the levels of Saison Dupont perfection. It's full and smooth in the mouth and the sweetness is well-displayed, but the bubbles and hop snap leaves your tongue feeling ready for more.

Drinkability: Honestly, I consider most any beer highly drinkable if it's a style I enjoy. Burton Baton is quite dangerous, as the high ABV is disguised by a truly excellent mouthfeel that allows you to take one swig after another. A great beer from a brewery I would expect to make a high-end DIPA.

The Lupulin Reunulin!

2009-05-30T08:55:00.002-04:00

Note: I started this post the day after the event, but unforseen circumstances, a job interview, and a 3.5 day music festival complicated things. Better late than never, right?

Man oh man, was the Lupulin Reunulin fantastic! My understanding of this event is that it is the evolution of a friendly competition between a few east and west coast brewers to determine who made the best and biggest IPA. I believe this is the second year of the "Reunulin", where some of the best brewers and brewery owners get together to talk about beer, the beer industry, and bust each others balls on stage for a few hours, while the audience members get to sample a ton of amazing beers, laugh and learn.

On the stage last night were:

Tomme Arthur from Lost Abbey/Port Brewing, in San Marcos, CA.
Adam Avery from Avery Brewing Company, in Boulder, CO.
Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head, in Milton, DE.
Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River, in Santa Rosa, CA.
Bill Madden from Vintage 50, a local brewpub in Leesburg, VA.
Rob Tod from Allagash Brewing, in Portland, ME.
Eventually, the esteemed Ken Grossman and his son from Sierra Nevada, in Chico, CA.

So right there you have some of the best in the industry on the stage. What's awesome about the dynamic between these guys is that it's a tight-knit crew. There were hugs between people from the different breweries, their wives, etc. They've taken trips to Europe together, brewed together, and more or less created an industry together. These guys know each other well, and therefore have free range to give each other total hell for the audience's amusement. More importantly, they know beer and the industry, and are great sources of information for beer geeks.

It won't do the event justice to try to summarize anything that was said, but there was a lineup of 16 beers from 6 brewers to enjoy. Here they are, in order, with my thoughts:

Dogfish Head Festina Peche: Nothing rare or weird here, and a beer I find barely drinkable. It's a clear golden ale with a sour, fruity aroma and a sour apple taste with nearly no hop flavor. I find it incredibly linear and not even very peachy at all.
Port Brewing Hot Rocks Stein Lager: This beer was created and brewed by Bend Brewing's Tonya Cornett with the help of Tomme Arthur (if I recall correctly), and uses hot rocks to heat the wort, which lends some really interesting characteristics. It pours a dark caramel, and has a very toasty aroma. It had a syrupy, toasty flavor, with a bit of hop bitterness on the finish, but leaves the mouth a bit dry. I found it excellent and yet another beer I wish I could get here.
Avery Brabant Barrel Aged 100% Brett: This beer utilized two yeast strains, according to my notes. It was a dark, dense beer, with a bubbly head, and a fruity, winey scent. It had a vaguely winey flavor as well, with a slightly tart and dry finish.
Vintage 50 Molotov Hoptail: This is a newer creation of the local Bill Madden, and one I really wish I liked... It was a cloudy, foamy IPA with a very generically hoppy aroma. The taste was very fresh and creamy, with a lot of forward hop flavors. I found it to have a very "homebrew" character and it didn't really resemble the output of the more industrialized brewers. It also had a base, alkaline flavor in there that was quite off-putting.
Allagash Confluence: Golden with a very juicy, fruity aroma. I found the taste very juicy and thin, with a bit of juicy tang - disappointing. I will note that I had this a week or so later at a different bar and found it quite different, so I won't say it's universally bad or anything.
Russian River Blind Pig IPA: Basically a classic west coast IPA, and it didn't disappoint. A super clear, deep golden beer with a bitter hoppy aroma. The flavor is very balanced with a slightly sweet, hoppy, citrus flavor and a smooth mouthfeel.
Dogfish Head Pale India/Hoppy Onion: A bizzare new creation of DFH that involves indian spices and sweet onions..... don't ask me. It poured a hazy, golden color, and smelt of sweet onions and spices (unsurprisingly). You could definitely taste the ingredients, and the lightly spiced flavor definitely sticks around in your mouth. It was pretty darn good in a weird way, but I'd have to see how well a 12oz bottle went down.
Lost Abbey Carnevale Bretted Saison: I don't have much written down besides that it was a golden color, smelled of vaguely familiar saison aromas, and had a sweet, flavorful taste with a slight tang. Couldn't have been that great, I guess.
Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA: This blew me away, and cemented itself into my top 10(ish) beers. It was a clear, deep golden beer with a thick head, and my notes say "best smelling IPA ever?" - sweet and hoppy. It was incredibly flavorful and "mad bitter", but it must have had a lot going on besides bitterness for me to write "Amazing!!!"
Allagash Hugh Malone: This was easily the best Belgian IPA I've had, and even though I find the style silly and mostly sub-par, this was a very high quality beer. It poured a hazy, caramel color, with a "saisony" aroma. It was definitely a hoppy belgian saison flavor, with a nice hoppy finish, and my only note besides that is "awesome!!" I'll update later on when I pour the bottle I just purchased.
Vintage 50 Headknocker: A cask ale that I actually liked, which is saying something. A golden brown, mild smelling english style barleywine. It had a nice mouthfeel, although it was a bit thin up front.
Port Brewing 3rd Anniversary Pale Strong Ale: Clear and golden, with a sweet smell. This was amazing... sweet, sticky, totally my style. My note for this? "YES!!!" Another gem from Port.
Russian River Consecration: Aged in cabernet barrels, this brown, toasted caramel colored brew had a syrupy, sweet/sour aroma. The flavor was HUGE, with a delightful sour flavor, while not being overly acidic. A great brew that I responded to with "wow".
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron: Nothing new to me, but still a great beer. A deep, dark ale with a dark head, the flavor is a sharp, sweet candy with some liquor. Definitely recommended if you haven't had it.
Avery Mephistopheles Stout: At this point, my notes say: "16%!!" and "Huge, awesome". Grab one if you see one, I know I will.
Vintage 50 Wee Heavy 2002: No notes. I think it was pretty good at least. :)

I thought this event was amazing, so much knowledge passed along by some of the best brewers in the country, and the rare appearance of Ken from Sierra Nevada - I felt very fortunate to taste the beers and get the experience. A great night.

Secondary fermentation - easy, right?

2009-05-29T11:18:00.004-04:00

The thing that has become most obvious to me after my first experience with home brewing is that EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER THAN YOU THINK, even if you think to think about every damn thing involved. If you haven't brewed before, trust me, you haven't - especially in an all grain process. I'll be posting pictures and a write up of my first brew day later, but I wanted to talk a little about moving my beer to secondary last night.

Mark and Bill are the guys who have the space and equipment, so my first batch has been fermenting in their basement for about 5 days now, and the primary fermentation appeared to be over. I told Mark that it couldn't take more than a half hour, all I had to do was clean the 5 gallon carboy and siphon off the beer from the primary fermenter. You know what takes a long time? Cleaning carboys. Why does brewing have to involve so much damn WATER? Every time I think about brewing in my apartment I start imagining methods to get some kind of rubber flooring I can put down in there....

So basically I cleaned and sanitized the 5 gallon carboy, cleaned the autosiphon Mark had used to transfer beer to the bottling bucket, tried to sanitize that, and cleaned and sanitized an airlock. Took it down to the basement and siphoned the beer off to the carboy. Then I tossed in the pellet hops for dry hopping and about 3/5 of the oak cubes. I was a bit worried that I hadn't waited long enough for the primary to finish - the bubbling was no longer active, but the krausen was suspended and had not settled back into the beer. Maybe that's a good thing? I dunno, we'll see. Secondary fermentation is debated heavily on forums and such, so hopefully I didn't make things worse instead of better.

Updates to come!

The Euros make some weird DIPA

2009-05-27T00:14:00.004-04:00

I've recently had two Imperial IPAs from european breweries that were wildly different from the beer I typically enjoy - that being American Imperial IPA, of course. I'll just put my cards on the table here - I love big, sticky, resiny beers, loaded with flavor. Sometimes, though, one has to branch out and explore the world, and the opportunity to try some new big IPA is hard to pass up.

I was in Atlanta last week, and at the excellent Porter I tried Brewdog's Hardcore IPA. Brewdog is a Scottish brewery with a unique brand and a penchant for brewing big beers. However, calling this an Imperial IPA is a stretch, since the beer that poured out of the bottle was a thick, creamy, fruity beer that tasted vaguely ciderish. Low carbonation, very low hop aroma, and very low bitterness. You could sense what they were going for, perhaps, but there was none of the zest that only a face full of alpha-acid rich hops can bring to a drink. I mean, it wasn't a bad beer at all - very drinkable and enjoyable, really - but it's hard to fathom what they were doing besides purposefully making a non-American Imperial IPA.

I had a similar beer tonight at the far-too-close Rustico, who had an Impy IPA out of Denmark, WinterCoat's Double Hop. While I could ignore their choice to serve it in what was essentially a mojito glass, I couldn't overlook the similarity in taste and composition to Brewdog's offering. Low carbonation, low bitterness, little hop aroma, but big apple flavors and a thick, creamy mouthfeel. It drank easily enough (but little doesn't for me, sadly), but it certainly didn't quench my thirst for IBUs.

So what's up with these breweries? Are they making statements against the American DIPA trends, making poor imitations, or just making a bigger ale with familiar flavors for their local markets? It's not quite a trend by any means, but it's something to keep an eye on.