Category: Beer Reviews

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Featured Review – Imperial Pelican from Pelican Brewing

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This is no IPA, style wise. Although acronym wise it is. The Imperial Pelican Ale from the Pelican Brewery on the coast of Oregon pours a dark orange color. Has some serious strength behind it. The 2015 bottling celebrates the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The gold/black label showcases 50 plants and animals (+ a QR Code) that can be found in the Ridgefield, Washington refuge on the banks of the mighty Columbia River. Since this beer was initially released in 2015 the caramel aroma and Barley wine characteristics make sense though even at the advanced age it still holds quite a bit of dank bitterness.

If I had been smart, I would have gotten a newer bottling to compare/contrast.
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Featured Review – Cold Brew IPA from Rogue

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From my viewpoint Coffee IPA’s have similar issues to black IPA’s. The main one being that it can be devilishly hard to balance the two competing forces of coffee and hops. Rogue Ales Cold Brew IPA comes close though. The coffee from Stumptown dominates in both aroma and flavor with a kind of green, unroasted bean touch at first. Then a flowering of iced coffee flavors swirl into view. There is a tiny touch of citrus bitterness from the hops at the end.

Now if this was labeled as a coffee pale or coffee XPA or just a cold brew ale, I would be more generous in my praise. It is a tasty brew and I do enjoy the aroma a lot but it doesn’t quite reach the IPA minimum bar.

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Featured Review – Terry Porter from Gilgamesh Brewing

Since the NBA Playoffs are now underway and since the Portland Trailblazers made it in despite all the naysayers (like me), it is time to pop the cap on Terry Porter from Gilgamesh Brewing in Salem, Oregon.
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The Terry Porter pours an inky black with an espresso foam ring. Much smokier than anticipated in the early sips. Rauch malty which fades as the beer warms. Almost cigar smoke. I can imagine a barrel aged version of this adding a layer of complexity. There is a smooth viscosity here. Kind of one note in the end though.
This beer donates part of the proceeds to the Doernbecher Hospital as well as celebrating one of the best Blazers of all-time.
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Beat them Clippers!

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Review – Hello LA from Highland Park Brewery

Rain doesn’t visit L.A. all that often but it came out on the day of the first canned release from Highland Park Brewery. HPB crew and brewmaster Bob Kunz were selling their beer in the cold and drizzle at the Hermosillo.

I got there three hours into the sale and was glad that they had four packs of there Hello LA IPA left. (They would all be snatched up by the end of the night, so sayeth social media.)
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And for a first effort on can design the label is way cool. If these had been on a shelf, you could not have missed it. The white background wrap around is bright and cheerful and not only locally brewed but locally designed as well.

The beer itself is light and fruit forward and dare I say a sessionable IPA. The Mosaic and Citra hops really work well together and also pack a late punch of bitterness that adds a layer to the beer. A great combo of the lighter side of IPA (which I gravitate towards) but with a nice kick.

Bob has made one of my favorite pilsners, he won the recent LA IPA Festival and he does very inventive sours and now he does canned beers that are perfect for sending to other parts of the country to show off L.A. beer.

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Featured Review – Come Together from Double Mountain

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Even if you are not a Beatles fan, the thought of a steam pale beer might intrigue you.

Here is what Double Mountain was aiming for with Come Together: “For Chef’s Week, we paired up with Chefs Doug Adams (Imperial), Adam Sappington (Country Cat), and Rick Gencarelli (Lardo) to create something special. We wanted to brew something that would be perfect to pair with a menagerie of menus and keep things coming together nicely. We chose to ferment a Czech Pilsner strain at ale temperature, creating a pale ale with citrus and pine grove aromas, and a crisp, clean balance.”

To me, Come Together is very much earthy in character. There is quite a bit of bitterness. How this pairs with food is questionable to me. Rye and basil notes to me as well. The lager yeast is quite prevalent. Getting a touch of pear for some odd reason too. It is quite enjoyable but I don’t know how it would work except for maybe a salad with some bitter greens in it that also had a creamy dressing of some sort. A push and pull dynamic. Because even on its own, it is quite bitter.

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Review – 2016 Russian Imperial Stout from Stone

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Thanks to the PR department at Stone Brewing Co., I was able to taste the 2016 version of the Russian Imperial Stout. And they must have known that I was partial to the non-dressed up base version.

This RIS has milk chocolate in the aroma. It is also quite luxurious in mouthfeel, almost like satin and there is a little bit of ABV heat at the back. This is not a super complex beer though there is a trace of some coffee bitterness, light though. Underneath is a bit of pineapple fruit on the tongue which might age away if you kept it around.

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Review – Peyote Pale Ale from Baja Beer

As breweries expand distribution, I sometimes get samples sent to me to review, usually though, not saying “Sample” right on the bottle. Baja Brewing sent me there to-be renamed Peyote Pale Ale to test out.

Here are my thoughts…
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I am of two minds on this beer. It is firmly in the class of the maltier side of pale ale. All well and good once I re-calibrated my tastebuds and my mind. There is a nice caramel note without the sweetness that I think plays well with the hops. But those hops are just a little too buried for me. As it warms, the beer opens up though and some fruit notes knock on the door.

It would be educational to me to try this beer fresher at the source to see if a little more bitter brightness would come through and ameliorate the caramel notes.

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Featured PDX Beer Review – Olallie from Ground Breaker

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This is one of the clearest and reddest beers I have seen. Ground Breaker has taken the experiment of melding Crystal hops with Rose Hips and Blackberries for this beer and it has a very potpourri aroma. The rose hips floral notes are strong (most obviously in the luminous color) but a tang from the blackberry softens that blow initially. But then Olallie has an after edge of unripened berry that I wish wasn’t there. Maybe some honey would dry it and add a sweet touch to really close this loop up. This is an almost there beer for me.

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Pineapple V. Watermelon

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The whole frooty IPA thing seems to be knee deep in gimmick territory and it is only March. But instead of just bemoaning the fact, I went ahead and tasted two of the newest arrivals from Ballast Point.

Pineapple Sculpin started strong and sweet but it cooled down well. Sculpin might be a prime base for these experiments even though I am not a huge fan of the grapefruit and habanero that came before. There is little too much fight between the hops and sweet. And I had the same issue that I do with “flavored” beers in that, it tastes candy like and not like fruit.

Watermelon Dorado the Double IPA was much harder to drink. In fact, I could not finish it. There is a melon daiquiri aroma and the taste of hard candy flavor throughout was too strong and became cloying. It had a daquiri type aroma and oddly enough the hops came through less than the Pineapple Sculpin.

I certainly won’t be trying to many more IPA’s in this sub-style unless I get a super strong recommendation.

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Featured PDX Beer Review – Dynamic Duo from Ex Novo

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All NBA season long, I have been treated to the duo of Lillard & McCollum scoring from everywhere. And Dynamic Duo from Ex Novo Brewing is the perfect beer to watch them play. The only question is whether Lillard is Citra and McCollum is Delta hops, or vice-versa.

The IIPA (proejct 007) pours a slightly hazy orange color. The aroma is quite imperial with a skosh of cat pee. There is some grape must notes here and a bit of tangerine citrus too in the flavor profile. This one is a cheek warmer for sure even at the mere 8% ABV. A bit dank and herbal at the end.

This is a strong beer with a great label plus it’s a not for profit brewery.