Category: Beer Reviews

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City Beer Store – Review 4 of 4

Time for another round of which beer is the best! I have four beers to review over the course of this month that I purchased from City Beer Store in San Francisco. (You can subtract the mead, that I will review separately.)

Last in line is Põhjala and their Imperial Stout, Gimme Danger. This gluten reduced beer pours a dark brown color. I am catching a little sour on the nose. Cherry to be more precise. Then in comes the roast character. This stout does not have the mouthfeel of a double-digit ABV beer at all. It has a spiky, close to tobacco feel overall.

And that brings it into 4th place. I would put Thematic Glow in the third slot with the Kentucky Mule in the silver. Kaleidoscope takes the prize.

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Bow & Arrow – First Taste

I ordered up some Albuquerque beer from Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. and it is time to weigh in on…

Buffalo Plaid Baltic Porter – pours a lovely dark color with some lovely foam. Roasty aroma off the bat. Warming with a bit of a peppery kick to it. Quite smooth overall.

Scenic West Hazy IPA – bright aroma when the can is opened. Has that fuzzy fruity smellI associate with the hazy style. Sharp and bubbly but also containing creaminess and lightness. Fruit punch and watermelon taste here in a lovely complicated IPA.

Paradox of Choice Hazy West Coast IPA – this has a distinctly catty aroma to it. The haze is less murky than Scenic West which does make sense if it is labeled as both Hazy AND West Coast. Another sharp one here, the bitterness really leans in.

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City Beer Store – Review 3 of 4

Time for another round of which beer is the best! I have four beers to review over the course of this month that I purchased from City Beer Store in San Francisco. (You can subtract the mead, that I will review separately.)

Next up is a muted colorful can from Parliament Brewing in Rohnert Park of Sonoma County. A hazy IPA named Kaleidoscope.

This is my first beer from them and it pours a murky light yellow. Quite fragrant. It has the distinctive fluffy yet fruit hop roughness to it. Has a mix of pineapple and coconut close to a tropical tiki cocktail. Soft, with a bit of vanilla to it.

This scores above the first two with one beer to go.

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Superb Owl Beer Rundown

While a few miles away at the ol’ SoFi Stadium, the Rams and Bengals were playing, I was watching and drinking beers.

Let’s do a two-minute drill of the beers…

Fancy Pantsy Rye Pale Ale from Eagle Rock

394 Pale Ale from AleSmith

Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre

Pineapple Dunn Upside Down Wee Heavy from Stone

Snow Donut Hazy IPA from Smog City

Hello L.A. IPA from Highland Park Brewery

Had to have that last one as a Rams House nod. But overall, Eagle Rock was my winner with the too much pineapple not enough Wee Heavy from Stone was the least regarded.

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City Beer Store – Review 2 of 4

Time for another round of which beer is the best! I have four beers to review over the course of this month that I purchased from City Beer Store in San Francisco. (You can subtract the mead, that I will review separately.)

#2 is from Hop Butcher for the World, Thematic Glow. Now this is a proper hazy. Murky yellow/orange in the glass. The famed Bedford Park, Illinois brewery has made a double hazy that has a nearly vanilla creamy mouthfeel to it. It is not over the top fruity either, in fact, it is more pine than anything with a real zing of hops. Maybe more Rakau than Citra.

This is a close call but I think the FW is a skosh ahead here with two beers to go.

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Mead Review – Dune Bloom

Haven’t had a mead in maybe forever, so I had to remedy that situation with a crazy one from Superstition Meadery. When I say crazy, it is a Session Mead.

Well, this was certainly different. Right off the top, it is sweet. And if this is a Session Mead, I cannot imagine the sweetness of a regular mead. My next criticism is that this is not carbonated by any bubbly stretch. At least the prickly pear flavor is there in full force. Past that, I can’t say this is a gateway mead for me.

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City Beer Store – Review 1 of 4

Time for another round of which beer is the best! I have four beers to review over the course of this month that I purchased from City Beer Store in San Francisco. (You can subtract the mead, that I will review separately.)

I start with Kentucky Mule from Firestone Walker. Bourbon barrel + ginger + lime peel all at 11.8% ABV. The aroma is bourbon trailed by lime. This is a very viscous beer. Big mouthfeel here. The bourbon barrel is lead guitar with lime following as bass. And if you wait, there is the heat of ginger. As the beer warms up, the bourbon and ginger take over strongly with a brown sugar note piping up. This is a strong one, a sipper for sure but damn tasty for ginger fans.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – In the Fronds Tropical IPA from Los Angeles Ale Works

I really like the plant shop vibe from this Los Angeles Ale Works can label. The shimmery silver and the greens are popping. Plus the name is spot on for a tropically tinged beer.

This beer is bursting with pineapple. I cracked the can and it was rushing with that distinctive aroma. That pineapple follows through into the taste but interestingly there is a significant hop bite here. Very West Coast IPA in temperament. It is a super light yellow color though. Contradictions aplenty but it is a really fine IPA.

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Two Wild Ale Reviews

My interest was piqued by the idea of a Saison that is headlined by melon.  The use of Ogen melons in half of two melon saisons recently released by Cellador sent me to their tasting room.  The other being a Chapo? melon version which was not on draft to compare side by side.  I had no previous experience with either melon.  There is a really nice light green melon taste here.  Honeydew without the sweeter finish, more crisp.  It has a nice tartness that takes it a bit further afield from Saison but as a Wild Ale is just right.  Has a nice spritziness to it that accents the sour.  As it warms, the grain starts to peek through to good effect as does a slight salt note.

Gourde Fumee.  Bourbon barrel-aged sour with hot smoked Kabocha squash.  Right off the bat is smoke.  Then a sour hit follows that.  Then the alcohol burn combines the two.  Not getting squash notes and any bourbon is well hidden under the smoke which is probably closer to BBQ than campfire.  As more sips are taken, I start to get cherry notes but that burn comes back.  Maybe the palate is acclimating to the smoke because it recedes fairly quickly but it is still pretty spiky. I do wish the bourbon came through to add a needed layer to balance out the two strong flavors.

From those two paragraphs, you can probably easily tell which of the two that I preferred.  It was not really close.

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Two New N/A Reviews

I check up on Athletic Brewing and their new beers from their Pilot Program and recently picked up their Thai Coconut IPA (which I quickly posted about earlier this month) and their Hefeweizen. Do they hit the mark?

Starting with the Hefe, which could do with a better name than Athletic Hefe, initially I get a minty hit more Belgian in nature than German. Further sips in and some banana creeps in but it is as if the traditional Hefe clove was replaced with mint and then doubled up. Some of the typical “young” beer flavor is there as well but is masked, for the most part.

Beer two should be both easier and harder. Tropical IPAs abound so there should be an easy path to that flavor profile. Harder because coconut can be too sweet and overpower everything. All I get from this IPA is grapefruit. I was expecting a bit more milkshake style to it, with big coconut but it isn’t there for me. Not bad if the line is citrus but a miss if coconut.