Category: Beer Reviews

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Oregon Collaboration Review # 2 – Ninkasi & Devil’s Backbone

Since you would have to go to great distance to get a Devil’s Backbone beer, it was with great anticipation that I saw that they had collaborated with Ninkasi on a beer.

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Now let’s see what it tastes like…which is easier said than done. This is an odd duck of a beer. It’s labeled as an imperial rye but only is 7.7%. Maybe that is imperial by rye standards. The aroma is a combo of sawdust and caramel but the taste is quite dry and bitter. There is a tiny bit of candied orange peel bitterness in there as well. The alcohol level does show which is odd for this level of ABV. What gets me is the rye bread note. It makes this really toasty and I don’t quite know if it works as a whole.

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4 Whiskies

No, I am not moving from beer to whiskey.  But I am intrigued by it for many of the same reasons that I am amazed by beer.  So I concocted a tasting (while the wife was out of town) of four random airplane/mini-bar sized whiskey bottles.

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1/2 soda and 1/2 whiskey.  Here are the results: (in order of my preference)

1. Bulleit
Sawdust. Caramel.  Coconut.  Barrel. Bit of burn.

2. Canadian
Fruity and perfumey. Mild. Smoothest.

3. Bushmills
Medium peat. Slight burn. Light.

4. Woodford
Smells hotter and thinner. Not much flavor.

I don’t think I will ever become a fan of peat smokiness.  But it defeats the Woodford which was very thin to me and had nothing else to add. Canadian Club had by far the smoothest and least burn with some floral hints but was also kinda light to me.  The winner by far was the Frontier Whiskey from Bulleit.  Loads of wood character and some sweetness as well.  Now I can explore that territory since it seems to be my initial flavor preference.

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Review – Lazy Susan from Highland Park

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I finally cracked open the bottle of the low ABV but seriously puckery bottle of Lazy Susan from Highland Park Brewery and it is a damn fine sour.  It starts off super tart with a touch of a wine barrel character. As you can see from the photo it pours a lovely orange yellow color and looks great against the slightly surreal label artwork. There is a touch of sweet tart along with a wheat and grain taste in the back. The sour aroma comes off in waves and their is a big initial pucker to it. The peach and nectarine are there but muted behind the sour.

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Review – Jardinier from The Bruery

The Bruery has a new addition to their year round lineup,  Jardinier.  French for gardener, it is a Belgian table beer meant for pairing with food or any other occassion.  Oh and it is hoppy too.
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Well, not that hoppy.  It is certainly Belgian, especially in the bouquet.  But this is a very light beer.  Probably the lightest beer that I have had from The Bruery, if my memory serves.  It is more a Belgian pilsner to me with the floral flavor notes and the tiny bite of metallic that follows.  Very pleasant and perfect as a table beer or as an appetizer beer.  I think too many food courses would overwhelm this one even though it does have a tendency to linger on the palate.

I had it during the run-up to the Super Bowl and it worked well with chips and popcorn but it did get pushed around by the nachos and other spicy foods.  That being said, this is quite a nice beer and I am glad that it has been added to the year-round lune-up.  There are far too few light options out there and this is almost champagne like and could be used as a celebratory beer that the whole family could enjoy.

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Oregon Collaboration Review # 1 – Pfriem & HPB

Hood River to Highland Park.  That is quite the distance for a collaboration but when the brewers at each have known each other for a long, long time then the miles don’t matter.

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And now we have the pFriem Spaceship Pale Ale that is dosed with the German Huell Melon hops. Bob Kunz at Highland Park brewed with Josh of pFriem for this hoppy addition to the HPB family.

The pFriem Spaceship has an orange oil essence aroma while the taste toggles between cereal and orange (skin and essence). Overall this light orange/yellow beer is probably more in the hoppy XPA realm than pale ale. I just wish I had a pFriem pale to do a side by side comparison.

Beacause I am greedy.

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Review – Enlightenmint from Twisted Manzanita

IMG_3460I have had mint beers. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to know that it is one of those ingredients that is hard to get the balance “just right”. I have had fake-y flavored beers that had more Andes green stuff taste than actual refreshing mint.

Which I why I was glad that Twisted Manzanita sent me a pair of 22oz bottles of Enlightenmint which the label describes as “chewy, full-bodied, confectionary”. Because, I may not have reached for it in a cooler because of those past experiences.

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This stout has a big chocolate flavor to fight the peppermint to a draw. It is much more in the York peppermint patty range. (That’s a good thing, to me). The aroma and taste match up. This is not a beer that lulls you into thinking one way and then goes another way. This is 80% sweet (almost lactose) chocolate and the rest mint.

It is bold and not subtle but it makes its point well.

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Home Brew Review – (Maeby) Kolsch

This is a home brew review month bonus. But not from the same home brewer.

So my beer buddy Richard has made a 2nd effort at home brewing. His first an IPA that tasted like a pretty decent ESB set the bar high. And now after streaming seasons of Arrested Development his Maeby Kolsch is ready…
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Well. This one needs some work. It pours a muddy orange color when I would expect a bright yellow. There is zero head after some weak soapy bubbles fade. The taste merely hints at Kolsch. It is weak and watery. It is almost like watered down lemonade/ice tea. Little to no aroma here. It isn’t offensive, per se, but it doesn’t scream beer to me. Tastes more like bad citrus tea.

Now what style will he try to brew next?

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Home Brew Review – Chivas Regal Dubbel

My whiskey appreciation has grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, I need to get a few mini-bottles and do a taste test so this beer is a perfect gateway.

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Similar to the Egg Nog concoction, this beer is strong with the Chivas Regal. Very smooth with the rough edges of alcohol shaved off. And it is quite tasty. It almost has a cocktail quality to it. The whiskey taste is really well done, almost like an essence or concentrate.

My two quibbles are the fact that the aroma is a little too meek. Granted this is not a barrel-aged beer but I was hoping to get more of the delicious smells of the Chivas. Secondly, the body of this could be a little heartier. It didn’t seem Dubbel-y enough. More malt would make this more beer and less cocktail.

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Home Brew Review – Egg Nog Stout

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We come to the final beer. Always a sad occasion but in this case happy because this is my favorite of the quintet.

It is the boldest of the group. The spice is there on the nose and follows through with a bang in the flavor. Some might find the nutmeg and clove too much or cloying but I think it works. It is a bit on the soda side because the base beer isn’t muscular (which is the tweak I would recommend).

Why I like it is because it delivers on the promise of the name. The other four had failings of not enough. Which is not a problem here. Plus I like the spice profile already so I was inclined to like this one the most.

What I love about tasting home brew is to see the idea of a beer at the beginning. I certainly saw more germs of a finished beer that I liked than didn’t which I was not surprised about considering the source. All of the beers just needed tweaks. No tear downs here.

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Review – The Messenger IPA

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Wow. I remember liking this Three Weavers / Noble Ale Works collaboration back before 3W was not yet up and running in Inglewood but this bottle is tremendous. Just bright with citrus. I am getting tangerine and grapefruit in large delicious amounts. Not much bitterness here but that is because it is accenting the fruit not fighting it.

It also pours a beautiful and clear yellow from a really cool looking and big bottle. Really simple but artfully arranged colors and graphics on the label. The beer really looks good next to the bottle.

Back to the beer, it is super juicy and if you like that, well then this beer will really tickle your tastebuds. And if you have an IPA averse someone in your life, this might be the beer for them. I gave a taste to my resident witbier fan and got a really positive response.

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