Category: Beer Reviews

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Review – I-10 from Intuition Ales

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This Jacksonville, Florida IPA from Intuition pours a bright orange color. Love the can design of the car and the facts on the reverse side but the silver needs to be muted to be read better. I really have to glare at the can to see the malt bill.  This is a very pine and dank type of IPA. No citrus here. No sir.  Many pepper notes as well that really spices it up. Heavy malt backbone as well. Didn’t appreciate the first can that I tasted but this tasted better or my palate is acclimating to East Coast bitterness levels.

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Review – Kalamazoo Stout from Bell’s

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Don’t get much Bell’s beer in these parts so any chance, I take it.  That is why I picked up Kalamazoo Stout. And it pours a dark black color with loads of coffee and black licorice taste here.  Oddly it is also very juicy and wet as well.  Not a dry stout and there is some dark chocolate here as well.  But there is almost more of a BBQ meaty sort of thing going on here.  It is quite bright as well.  Sharp tasting but still silky on the palate.IMG_7560

Hate the label though.  Doesn’t evoke anything to me.  Still don’t get the Bell’s logo either.  Maybe someone can enlighten me.

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Review – Saison from Hilliard’s

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One of the beers that I have been meaning to try was one of the rare saisons in a can.  This one comes from the land of the 12th Man and Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the brewery is Hilliard’s.

This saison pours a really strange light orange murky color. Tangerine juice creamsicle looking. This is after a really foamy pour. It has a citrus meets Hefe aroma. Some typical Belgian notes in their as well.  Very juice tasting to me. Really dry finish. More in common with cider or champagne to me. Big amount of a dark brown sediment at the bottom of the glass. A little touch of spicy mineral notes at the back.  Not at all what I expected and it makes me want to try it on draft to compare.

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Love the can design.  Very cool looking.

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Review – Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale from Yards Brewing

Part of a “revolutionary” series that includes a Tavern porter for Geo. Washington and a Tavern Spruce for Ben Franklin, Thom. Jefferson’s Tavern Ale is my first foray into beer from Yards in Philadelphia.

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Pours a bright red and orange with lots of bubbles pulling upward. Aroma is wort-ish and bready. Tastes a bit green and undercooked. Because it’s a historical beer. I can’t claim with certainty that it is under done. Some baking bread notes but otherwise not tasting good to me.  Though as it warms it gets more of a maple taste that is more palatable to me.

I hope this was a random mis-fire or an old beer.

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Review – Burning Rosids from Stone

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I was a bit hesitant to buy this beer.  Lately, Stone beers have been all Seahawk defense aggression which is not where my palate is right now.  Secondly, the story behind the beer is sad and I didn’t want them to make a bad beer in the memory of one of their brewers.

Thankfully, this was a really well balanced and restrained beer.  I enjoyed it from the first sip to the last.  The underlying saison was still there in it’s Belgian glory and was nicely accented by the cherry wood smoke on one side and the darker malts on the other.  The kicker was the higher ABV which also really worked here

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I would love to see more saisons and fizzy yellow beers from these guys ’cause they can knock it out of the park when not obsessed with over hopping and the hottest peppers on earth.

 

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New Brewery Saturday

With the recent spate of breweries opening hither and yon here in the L.A. Metroplex, it was time to check out some new places.  To make things easier for the reader, I will address the same topics at each brewery from what I had (which is the most important), the ambience and what the potential looks like.

First Stop – Alosta Brewing in Covina

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What did I have? – A sampler tray of the last 5 on the list.  The last two that I tried were the strongest of the group with the Brown Porter coming in 2nd to the Oatmeal Stout which had a pleasing silky mouthfeel to it.  Unfortunately, the remainder were not up to my snuff.  The IPA was especially disappointing with a soapy sort of non-hoppy taste.  The Saison and the British Pale were fine but a taster was enough.

Ambience? – Nice big space.  Plenty of seating and a view of the brewery that looks to have some room to grow.  A little on the antique side but I like the big banner with the logo on the wall. Another plus is no TV.

Potential? – Plenty.  Minus the IPA, the beers can become , with tweaks, really solid.  Saw some barrels  in the back as well, so maybe there will be some special releases down the road.

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Second Stop – Sanctum Brewing in Pomona

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What did I have? – A sampler tray of all six beers they had.  The Dubbel was very nice.  Glad to see one on the menu.  The Chocolate Stout was also tasty.  Nice milk chocolate notes.  The Blonde and apple Blonde were so-so.  The apple blonde needed to be differentiated from the regular either by making it drier or amping up the apple.  The British mild came out way undercooked.  Very wort-ish.  And the IPA was also not right.

Ambience? – Located in an old packinghouse amidst an artist colony, this spot was great.  What I expect from a brewery tasting room.  Lots of wood.  Again no TV which is a plus.  Good amount of seating and a brewery dog too.  The benches were a bit wobbly though.

Potential? – Sanctum had the widest quality swings for sure. But they are really new and still working on the first batches so time should make the beers more consistent across the board and if the dubbel is an indication, it could really take off.

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Third Stop – Claremont Craft Ales in Claremont

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What did I have? – A sampler tray of all six beers beers in an actual tray!  Now, this is it.  This brewery is the oldest and it shows.  They have a wide variety of beers and all were consistent.  The special releases won praise from my partner in touring, Richard and I thought that the coffee beers were really well done and tasty.  The Jacaranda Rye was also a standout for me.

Ambience? – This is a proto-typical Cali brewery spot.  In an industrial park, a bit warehousy with a roped off parking lot patio.  Big TV was at the ready for a certain football game.  But the place was packed.  Food was available from a sort-of food truck too.

Potential? – I don’t mean to be too Pollyanna-esque but I think they could pull fans from LA.  Solid stuff all the way around.

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Review – Resin from Sixpoint Brewery

In the past few months, I have had beer from 32oz can”nons” from Mission Brewing and now with Resin from Sixpoint, I am reviewing a super skinny 12oz can.

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Odd shaped can. Almost energy drink size. Resin pours a bright orange. Leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. Aroma is herbal and dank. Taste has some navel orange notes but also carries a wallop of alcohol. The bitterness is there at the top of the mouth. But doesn’t really smack you much. A bit medicinal too.

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Plus it has a cool Statue of Liberty graphic embedded in the bar code.

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Review – Next Adventure Black IPA from Fort George

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This stranger than usual collaboration between Fort George and Next Adventure is a Black IPA.  Why strange? I don’t know of any other beers done in concert with a new and used outdoor equipment store.  Do you?

It pours a dark black and if you like your black IPA’s to be 50/50 between roast and hops.  (Like I do).  Then this will not be that one.  Not to say it isn’t a good beer.  It is.  But from the aroma to the flavor and the aftertaste, this beer is more roasty.  Loads of coffee ground bitterness in the aroma.  Same with the initial flavor notes.  There is also a floral/spruce/pine note of bitterness floating around as well which does tie the beer up into a nice bow.  The coffee taste wins me over in the end.

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I still won’t buy any camping gear though.

 

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Review – Ambra Rossa di Treviso from San Gabriel

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This chicory amber from Italy and San Gabriel pours a grainy and hazy dark orange. Really looks light if appearance is correct. Foamy a bit but looks watery as the lacing recedes down the glass. Aroma is a malty vegetal mix that sounds better than those words denote. The label did promise raddicchio though so at least there is truth in label advertising. The taste has a vegetal bitterness. Fairly thin with a concord grape like note at the back. Quite a mixture of flavors but in the end it is just too thin at both the tip of the tongue and in the aftertaste.  Maybe it is the American in me but the malt base needed to be heftier which would mean amping the other ingredients a few notches as well to compensate.

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All in all at the price point it is a good intro to the crazy ingredients that you will see in other Italian beers that may be sitting on the shelf for too long because of their price.