Category: Beer Reviews

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Review – Citrus IPA’s

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While perusing the shelves of Portland’s excellent Beer Mongers store, I noticed a trend of citrus IPAs. Not just hops with citrus qualities but fruit infused IPAs.

So, for science, I bought three to unscientifically compare and contrast.

From past experience, I ranked the Lompoc first followed by Hop Valley and Coalition. But that is not the final ranking after each bottle was emptied.

Pamplemousse from Lompoc Brewing initially smelled great. Big grapefruit notes minus the pith which I find most commonly in citrus hop combos. But as it warmed, this beer started to lose that fruit vibrancy and settled into a nice IPA only.

Citrus Mistress from Hop Valley was full of the pith from first sip to last. But it was a little too one note for me. I guess I expected a variety of citrus and not just one flavor note.

My winner was Space Fruit from Coalition Brewing. The fruit was there both orange and lime to me along with a spice component that I didn’t line at first but really grew on me.

I think a mix of the last two would have really done the trick.

Now I need to find three SoCal fruit IPAs to test.

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Review – Deception from Black Market Brewing

OK.  This beer has both coconut and lime.  On top of the relatively weak base of a blonde ale.  Can Black Market pull this off?

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Deception pours a murky orange color. I get more lime than coconut on the aroma and I get more tropical than coconut. The taste is very subdued. Coconut can be overpowering but it is barely hinted at here. I get just at the back before I take the next sip. The lime juice is more prominent but isn’t big on that citric note.

Overall, I found this beer to be too watery to me which I found disappointing. More lime zest and maybe some toasted coconut would improve it to me.

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Review – Blood Orange Gose from Anderson Valley

Not only does Anderson Valley can their Gose, but they also can a spin-off.  A Blood Orange Gose!  Time to see how the Gose melds with citrus.

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BOG pours a Tang orange color with absolutely zero head to it once the initial foam winds down. There is a certain orange jello aroma to this beer.

The taste has an initial bite to it. A slight tartness that fades into more of that Jello citrus note. Then the beer morphs into a salty drying note. Then a third taste of wheat and cereal pops in at the end. I am not getting the buttery part of blood orange that I really enjoy from the fruit. But this beer does not skimp on orange flavor at all.

But the salinity cuts through it to make this really well balanced.

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Review – Sex Panther from SanTan Brewing

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I will readily admit that I got this beer for the name first.  I did want my wife to see the can on the kitchen counter and have her say something about it.  But I did, really, want to see how this Double Chocolate Porter (DCP?) from SanTan Brewing tasted.  And this is what I think:

The SP pours a dark black with a big initial head that fades away to reveal residual lace on the glass. Aroma is bitter dark chocolate. At first the flavor made me think of slightly burnt coffee but that fades into the chocolate. It is a bit thin for me and I do get some metallic off notes. I was expecting more cocoa from a double chocolate beer. Falls into a middle of the pack beer for me.

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Sometimes beer names bite.

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Review – Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop IPA

The name tells you all you need to know.  Which is why it is so long.  This is the 4th of a 5 beer series from Sierra Nevada.  This and the Wild Hop beer being the ones that caught my attention.

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What I liked about the Wet Hop is the simplicity of the ingredients:

  • Bittering Hops Wet Centennial
  • Finishing Hops Wet Cascade, Centennial

That is it.  And boy does it impart flavor.  This IPA is half danky earth and the other half is straight up Orange juice.  It really struck me at first the power of the flavors.  The aroma is reminiscent to me of orange juice that is sitting on the table with breakfast.  I know it sounds weird but that is what was triggered in my mind.

This is a super bitter beer too.  From first sip to aftertaste, there is a vegetal earthiness that just sticks to the palate and will not let go.  This from a beer that was bottled at the end of September.  I can’t imagine the IBU punch on a fresh bottle!  But as much as it is bitter that juice note doesn’t give up either.  I would probably call this a Double IPA taste wise even though the ABV is only at 6.7%

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Review – Peanut Butter Cup Porter from Karl Strauss

Brewed with cocoa nibs and peanut flavoring by Karl Strauss, I heard about this beer from L.A. beer writer, John Verive. With that recommendation, I bought the bomber the first time I saw it.

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Unfortunately, this beer did not coalesce for me. The initial aroma is sweet and almost floral. Only as it warms up did the true aroma hit me. Sickeningly sweet milk chocolate. On the plus side, the beer had sparkle to it. I thought the peanut would end a flattening viscous effect which did not happen. And yes, there is a strong peanut taste here which works to great effect.

This beer is a case study in not tasting like the name on the bottle. The one ingredient standing out as a discordant note makes me think not of a peanut butter cup but more peanut butter and a sweetened chocolate milk.

I gave a sample to my resident aroma expert and she said it reminded her of a cherry cordial. And if I had been given this beer and asked to 50-50 between peanut butter cup or cordial. I would be on the fence. And that is not a good sign.

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Review – Sleek Zeke from El Segundo Brewing

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El Segundo Brewing is known primarily for their love of hops so a wheat beer seems like an odd choice.

But the Amarillo hopped Sleek Zeke wheat beer named for a surfboard just might be one of the best of the year. And I had missed it until now!

It pours a lovely hazy lemonade color and has a tart lemon aroma that really grabbed me. Like smelling lemons being juiced. The mouthfeel is just full of wheat. Thick on the palate with that note of citric acid displaying some grapefruit qualities. My bottle was over a month old so I presume the major hop notes had faded but that worked in its favor for me.

You don’t normally see wheat beers paired with desserts but this would really work with a grapefruit sorbet.

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BCS (the beer one, not the college football one)

I had the opportunity to sit down with Goose Island Brewmaster Brett Porter to talk about the 2014 slate of Bourbon County Stout beers, in Beverly Hills of all places.

The answers to my questions posed that day will appear over on Food GPS in early November. For now, you get my tasting notes on the spin-offs and variants of the classic Stout that debuted over 20 years ago.

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This year the BCS consists of the following: (with my tasting notes in italics)

Bourbon County Brand Stout – Original: A liquid as dark and dense as a black hole with thick foam the color of a bourbon barrel. The nose is an intense mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and smoke. One sip has more flavor than your average case of beer.
One of the rare bourbon barrel beers that doesn’t scream bourbon. I like that the previous occupant of the barrel is an additional note here. And this year the alcoholic heat is much less. No need to wait for this one, it is ready now. Quite viscous with milk chocolate notes here.

Bourbon County Brand Stout Coffee: Everyday Goose Island smells the wonderful coffee roasting next to our brewery at Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea. This world class roaster puts the same passion and skill into their coffee as Goose Island does with its beer. This excellent stout is made with a different coffee from our friends next door each year. With the change in coffee comes a change in the flavor profile, making each release truly unique from the previous years.
The 2014 wasn’t ready yet but brewmaster Porter really liked the coffee choice from Intelligentsia for this year. But the 2013 really held up well. Big coffee nose with lots of unroasted bean notes to it

Bourbon County – Barleywine: Aged in the third-use barrels that were once home to Kentucky bourbon and then our renowned Bourbon County Stout, this traditional English-style barleywine possesses the subtlety of flavor that only comes from a barrel that’s gone through many seasons of ritual care. The intricacies of the previous barrel denizens – oak, charcoal, hints of tobacco and vanilla, and that signature bourbon heat – are all present in this beer. Hearty and complex, Bourbon County Brand Barleywine is a titan and a timeline; a bold, flavorful journey through the craft of barrel aging.
When left to warm up, this really showed off some complexity. Lovely garnet color, this beer spent 6 months in barrels that previously held BCS. Slick on the tongue with cola and cranberry fruit notes. A little Umami action as well.

Bourbon County – Vanilla Rye: First brewed for the legendary festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer in Chicago, drinkers enjoyed this Bourbon County Variant so much we bottled it the next year (2010). People flocked to stores to get their hands on a bottle and have this one of a kind barrel aged stout. Over the past few years we have heard our fans express their love for this version and we are extremely proud to bring it back in 2014. This year’s version features a little twist of aging the stout in Rye Whiskey Barrels with a mix of Mexican and Madagascar vanilla beans!
I so wish this one had been ready but I will really like to see how these flavors meld together.

Proprietors Bourbon County: Proprietor’s Bourbon County Brand Stout is meant to show our immense gratitude to our neighbors here in Chicago – the loyal and adventurous fans whose support helped bring Bourbon County Brand Stout to towering new heights. Each year this release will differ from the previous year; a special variant created for Chicago and unique to the year it was released. Whether your first sip is today or was from that first batch in 1992, thank you for lifting us up on your big shoulders and joining us every year to celebrate the original bourbon barrel aged stout.

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Review – Valar Morghulis from Brewery Ommegang

With news that HBO might offer non-subscribers the chance to stream the channel in the possible works, I just might not be as harsh on this latest Game of Thrones offering from Brewery Ommegang.

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All kidding aside about the reclusive pay channel, this is the first GoT beer without a gimmicky ingredient. I say gimmicky without sarcasm too. Crazy ingredients are all well and good, but it is refreshing to see a straight-up Abbey Dubbel becoming an installment of this series.

The VM pours a dark red color and in every sensory category is quintessentially Abbey Dubbel. There is a lovely bit of spice in the beer reminiscent of the Hefeweizen profile with clove and banana mixed with a richer fig type taste and some burnt caramel. It also is both sticky on the palate while also being crisp initially.

I also like the touch of having the cork emblazoned with Valar Dohaeris (All Men Must Serve). It makes up for the somewhat hazy focused coin on the label that doesn’t work for me design wise.

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And if you like this beer, other top rated Dubbels are:
Westmalle Dubbel and Lost Abbey’s Lost and Found.

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Review – Craftylicious from Widmer & Gigantic

I was so busy reading the label of this 30 Years – 30 Beers collaboration between Widmer and Gigantic that I didn’t research the beer itself before taking a sip.

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Boy, was I surprised because this is a tart and super fruity beer. I saw hoppy on the label and expected IPA but got a sour instead. Once that initial shock wore off, I was quite taken with this beer. Grapefruit pith, mango and fruit punch. Loads of acidity here too. The aroma carries no hint of it. Just barnyard funk. Twice I was lulled into thinking something else was coming.

Whatever position you hold in the craft v crafty debate, this beer should be tasted to be believed. Really top notch.

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