Beer Reviews – Page 58 – Beer Search Party

October 24, 2015August 30, 2018

Featured Review – Trebuchet from Ladyface Ale Companie

The 2nd newly released in bottles Agoura Hills and Ladyface Ale Companie is Trebuchet.

This golden farmhouse ale pours a bright and haze free orange and boy howdy this is a tart freakin beer! Even the aroma is tart with notes of wood

There is a slight touch of honey in the flavor but the tart just blossoms over your palate and after a short respite blooms again as it rolls down your throat. Loads of white wine character adds another aspect to this beer and I no matter how I tried, I could not pin down another flavor component that broke through the tart momentarily.

Even for someone who is used to sour, this took me aback. I would like just a slight dial down of the tart but I can only imagine that others really like how sour the Trebuchet goes.

October 21, 2015August 30, 2018

Review – Doomlaut from Eagle Rock Brewery

The evil twin or doppelganger of Umlaut is loosed on the world, Doomlaut a so-called faux-schwarzbier from Eagle Rock Brewery.

So, I tried this beer late on a Friday for the first time. First thought was light. Once I re-calibrated to not everything has to be up in my grill, I noticed this was a simple beer. Simple in a good way. Light malt touch with an accent of smoke to it. Zero hops to my palate though I catch a bit of citrus. The flavors linger and stick with you too which is different from many beers that are trying to be light. I sorta need to try Umlaut now to compare the pair.

Just an easy drinking dark beer. How often does one see that.

October 18, 2015August 30, 2018

Review – Belligerent Bloke from Angel City

The Bloke is now available in screen printed bottles from Angel City Brewery.

This barley wine may be a bit early in our hot SoCal humidity because it reminds me of winter warmers. It pours a ruddy orange with a quickly evaporating lace. It has a firm malt base and then requires a bit of warming for all the flavors to come out. When cold, the gentle spicing may seem underwhelming but this isn’t a smack your tastebuds type of old ale. The alcohol doesn’t reach you until you have nearly finished a glass. Simple and unadorned with bells and whistles. Now if it will just be available in winter. When L.A. has one.

*This beer was provided to me free of charge.

October 8, 2015August 30, 2018

Featured Review – Flamberge from Ladyface

New in bottles and absolutely new to me is this Flanders Red from the Agoura Hills of Ladyface Ale Companie.

With a quick hiss, my first bottle of Ladyface beer is open and out pours a ruddy dark brown. The aroma screams sour. Deep cherry notes as well. The first sip has a balance of carbonation and a viscosity to it that works with that tartness. Some oaky wine notes as well with a bit is spice to it. At the end, the acid from the style takes center stage.

A bold and strong start to the bottling world

October 5, 2015August 30, 2018

Review – Morgan Marzen from Eagle Rock Brewery

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Last year, Sunset Beer Co. collaborated with Monkish on a 3rd anniversary beer. This year they stayed closer to home and enlisted Eagle Rock Brewery to help them celebrate year 4.

Here are my thoughts on the Morgan Marzen…

#1 on the taplist at the crowded bar that was 1/2 Dodger faithful and 1/2 beer geeks, the beer pours a bright and crystal clear orange with reddish tints. This beer is all about the malt lots of toasty grain notes in each sip. It is also sparkly on the tongue with a good dose of carbonation. There is a Germanic note of lager metallic on the back end but the next taste re-asserts the grain to the forefront. This is very much to style. No bells or whistles, just a simple reproduction of a classic beer. Plus the colorful label is another design win.

September 29, 2015August 31, 2018

Featured Review – Oktoberfest from Ninkasi

The final Okto bier review is of the Eugene, Oregon version from Ninkasi Brewing.

This Oregonian take on the Festbier Lager really starts off quite sharp. Lot of malt and carbonation really hits the taste buds. Some metallic/bitter hop notes as well. Strange (to me) combo of loads of grain/cereal notes combined with a surprising lightness. Also a touch of savory and salt is the lingering taste. The beer pours a lovely dark orange color with a thin line of foam all around the edge of the glass. (Yeah, it’s not an OktoGlass).

Of the four FestBiers that I reviewed this month, this is probably my least favored. The salt kick at the back end really drowns out the malt and kills any sweetness that I expect from this style. I may have been expecting more since their Prism series of lighter beers have really struck me with their flavor.

September 25, 2015August 31, 2018

Featured Review – Oktoberfest from Goose Island

We head to the Chicago and Goose Island for our third Oktoberfest offering, Goosetoberfest!(That’s what I call it)

Now this garnet hued Festbier smells Germanic to me. Sweet and malty. That combo prominently stars in the beer but thanks to a hearty bitter kick and some dryness on the back of the tongue, this beer avoids being a one-hit wonder. There is a brûlée note that opens up as the beer warms as well. I can easily see this being “imperialized” and then cellared. It really reminds me of the sweeter aged beers like Samichlaus. The label makes claims of toffee and dried apricot. I can understand where people would taste the toffee but the apricot is a puzzler to me.

No matter, this would kill with a bratwurst. The savory would really play well with this especially if you had a sweet condiment to go with it.

September 22, 2015August 31, 2018

Review – Deep Roots from Three Weav3rs

Deep Roots is my favorite beer from Three Weav3rs. And now that they are bottling their stuff, I have the chance to see how the ESB fares in the bottle.

First off, I really like the design. No matter the color, you know you are looking at a Three Weav3rs beer with the wavy lines painted on the bottle. I also like that the beer description is in a nice sized font and not the Stone eye test font.

On to the beer, the aroma has a woodsy-sawdust aroma to it that I really enjoy. The flavor has a good bite of hops that compliments the malt focus that is really the star of the show. There is a nutty taste that I associate with British beers here as well. Maybe a little to citrusy for a traditional ale but compared to the prevailing West-Coast style it is very Great (Britain).

September 21, 2015August 31, 2018

Review – Fruitlands from Modern Times

On the label, Modern Times has three descriptors for their beer. I would make the following change. Cherry – Cherry – Tart. Not quite sour and the Gose part is well buried under an avalanche of cherry. You would think that I didn’t like the beer. But I do. This is a fun fruit beer for cherry lovers which I am one.

The beer is a serious pink/rose color. The aroma is all about the fruit as is the taste. Let me get a little more detailed. This is pie cherry. The kind with that touch of spice to it. Nutmeg and cinnamon to be more precise. As the beer warms, an almost pie crust taste can be detected at the back. It may be denting an even bigger cherry taste but it is not hindering it much.

So, the question is, do you like cherries? If the answer is yes, then buy it.

September 19, 2015August 31, 2018

Featured Review : Oktoberfest from Hofbräu Munchen

For these first two Oktoberfest reviews, I have made the unusual choice of pairing the beer with cookies. Diddy Riese cookies, to be exact. Now we move on to the second beer, Hofbrau Oktoberfest.

For this traditional Teutonic version, I have picked a cinnamon sugar and white chocolate Macadamia nut cookie to pair with the Oktoberfest in the (shudder) green bottle. The beer pours a dark yellow and has a much more Pilsner-esque aroma to it when compared with Left Hand’s more autumnal Okto.

Starting with the cinnamon sugar, the noble hop kick and fizziness of the Hofbräu beer struggles at first but settles on a slightly overlapping flavor profile. The minerality of the beer is at odds with the cookie though.

Nuttiness and sweetness of the Macadamia nut with white chocolate has a nice counterbalance thing going on but this type of cookie would be a beast to pair a beer with and this Okto though light can’t balance the cookie enough.