Category: Beer Reviews

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 3

Next is review number three from the City Beer Store of San Francisco beer purchase. By the end of the month, I will rank all six. Currently Side Pull is one with Lenticular Cap second, how will beer # 3 fare?

BareBottle IPL is Dead is a DDH Pilsner.  Full recipe is on the can down to the hopping schedule. First time seeing that.  Getting grapefruit but the malt sticks around well.  Nice balance here.  Has a more silky mouthfeel than sharp and bubbly.  Might think at first that it is a pale ale.

I would slot this into second. A little more crisp and it might have gone first.

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Central Coast Okto Showdown

Today we compare / contrast two Central Coast Oktoberfest beers.

Firestone Walker Oaktoberfest, an oak aged lager, pours a pretty orange hue.  You can smell the malts from arms distance away. Crisp with malt taking center stage. Simple and straightforward.  A slight metallic note at the back but this is a lovely fall beer.

There Does Not Exist Oktoberfest Lager is another orange gem but this version is say more silky and missing some of the crispness.  I get an Navel orange citrus note as well that mingles with the malt notes.

Winner – This is a tough call. I would like to merge the crispness of the Oaktoberfest with the TDNE complexity.  But if asked which I would get seconds of, it would be the Firestone Walker.

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 2

We are onto review two from the City Beer Store of San Francisco beer purchase. By the end of the month, I will rank all six. Side Pull was a strong start, how will beer # 2 fare?

Lenticular Cap is labeled as a “Dry-Hopped Modern Pilsner” by this McMinnville, Oregon (Go Wildcats!) brewery.  ForeLand uses Michigan Copper and Meridian hops. Neither on the tip of the hop lovers tongue. LC pours a light and bright yellow.  The taste is just as bright.  Getting big amounts of bread and lemon.  As it warms, it takes on a more floral near to but not quite potpourri.  

I like the beer quite a bit but was expecting a little more hoppy bite to it so it ranks a skosh below.

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 1

I am loving the fact that City Beer Store of San Francisco ships anywhere in California. My most recent platypus purchase is a wide mix of beers that I thought, I should rate not in a 1v1 format but WWE style.

Here is review 1. By the end of the month, I will rank all six.

We start with Side Pull a Czech-style pale lager from Fair State and famed lager makers Bierstadt Lagerhaus from Colorado.

SP pours a super light yellow color. Did my best to get the best glassware for such traditional beer. Aroma is beautiful. Brings to mind walking around the old Weinhard plant in Portland. A sweet malt air. This is a really delicate beer to the point of whisper thin. Has a stern bite to it though that really lingers on the roof of the mouth. I hate the word crushable that is used on the label because this is just not something to throw back, this lager has a spine to it.

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Featured Review – 25th Anniversary Triple IPA from Stone

You kinda had to figure that Stone Brewing would go big for their 25th Anniversary. And they obliged with a triple IPA.

This celebratory ale pours a dark orange color and the strength of it can be smelled when the can is popped open. Also getting a bit of a wood chip aroma here. This is heavy with pine but with a wide streak of citrus to it. A touch dry to me as well. Finishes strong with alcohol, you will know it is over 12%.

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Review – Stick Figures 5.5

Stick Figures 5.5 is a collab of Mumford Brewing of LA with Finback of NY.  Imperial Stout with coconut is par for the course but Mumford dials it up further with banana and then ages it in mead barrels from Superstition Meadery.  Firstly, this loses points because of a extra sweetness.  Neither the coconut nor banana really comes through.  I am getting heavy spice note.  Cinnamon and what I think of as Indian spicing is present.  Very thick and viscous.  Very much a dessert beer.

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Review – Psychic Advisor DIPA from There Does Not Exist

Straight from San Luis Obispo is There Does Not Exist. Here is my take on my first beer from the brewery, Psychic Advisor Double IPA.

This is an old school West Coast Citra bomb. Pours a clear dark yellow with an herbal citrus aroma. Quite the intricate label art, all swirling lines with maybe an Ent like creature. The lemon really shines through. This is a strong beer but as opposed to DIPAs that pop you upside the head, this just is.

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Review – We’re Out of Dynamite by Great Notion

I haven’t had a Great Notion beer in awhile but SoCal has been getting quite a few beers from the PDX brewery that I thought the time was right for some dynamite, or lack thereof.

You will read about where I bought it later today, but here is the review from me and two fellow tasters…

This was not a well loved beer. One gave it the lowest rating she had given a beer and the other found it not to his taste. Me well, I found toasted coconut big time with a neapolitan ice cream aroma.  There was some tropical notes but more strawberry.  It was almost like a sour stout in which the ABV over 11% does not really show.

It may be another while before I have another pastry stout

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Review – Tropical Marmalade Hazy IPA from AleSmith

Next up from the prolific AleSmith is a hazy IPA that is a jam.

Well, actually a marmalade.

This new release from San Diego pours a light yellow color with not much in the way of haze on view. Getting mango and pineapple on the nose, so checkmark for tropical.

Very light body with a solid kick of bitterness that does linger a bit. Getting a bit of raspberry and orange flavor after the bitter. The end brings a touch of alcohol heat mingling with malt character.

There is a nice juicy mouthfeel and indeed tropical but the haze and the softness I associate with it are not. Nix that word from the label and this beer is spot on.