Category: Beer Reviews

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Review – Groupe G Belgian RyePA from Headlands Brewing Co.

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This beer was part of my haul back from my Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area.  Just now finding time to squeeze in the review.  All the Christmas beers monopolized space (in a good way).

This hybrid RyePA / Belgian Style from Headlands Brewing Co. pours a dark luminescent orange color.  Lots of lacing left on the glass.  I have never heard of this brewery until I saw the shiny silver can with a simple label stuck to it at City Beer in San Francisco.  It has a kick of citrus to it.  (Which is why the Satsuma is in the photo).  It has a sharp Belgian twang of farmyard funk to it.  They rye gets subsumed by those two notes though it does show up briefly in the aftertaste.  Quite interesting and I am glad I took the chance on the 16oz can.  And I wish I had seen their pilsner, Pt. Bonita.  Because I would have picked that up too.

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I was going to recommend the book, The Telling Room in this spot but I am part-way through and I am not digging it.  Not at all.  This book has more footnotes than actual writing and it makes reading a bit of a slog.  So instead, I will recommend that you download and watch the Doctor Who Christmas special.  It will probably be available on the 26th.  You can wait if you wish because the next season won’t start until late 2014.

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Holiday Beer Review – Sleigh’r from Ninkasi

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Ninkasi was kind enough to make my holiday a little more joyous by sending me their holiday seasonal, Sleigh’r.  Very true to their rock n roll roots.  Hence another seasonal Maiden the Shade.  This dark brown Alt, a style you don’t normally get is very smooth.  The 7.2 is well hidden.  I catch a little bit of weisse action plus some mild chocolate notes.  A slight hop note gives this a more American tinge than German in a good way.  Great name and a great label and a holiday beer that I look forward to trying every year.

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Beer Review – Buzzerkely from Cali-Craft

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I found this beer at a wondrous shop in Healdsburg, California by the name of The Shed.  They had two other bottles on the shelf but this large format bottle caught my eye.  As did the style.  Sparkling ales are a rare species and one with local Starthistle honey are even more rare.  Cali-Craft is in the Bay Area and has a former Honest Tea employee, Blaine Landberg at the helm.  This beer pours a light yellow.  The first aroma is beer but then you sniff again and you come up with wine notes.  The taste is similarly split.  There is a light golden ale that blends into champagne notes and then back.  The honey is prevalent without being super sweet or cloying.  It is indeed light and zesty.  I now wish that I had bought two!

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Review – The Future is Now from Gigantic Brewing

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Not one of my favorite labels from Gigantic Brewing but I do like the quote on the side.  Very cool and fits into many points in a person’s life. This stylistic mash-up pours a dark reddish / brown color with a nice off white head to it.  Aroma is a little alcohol heavy with a sprinkling of citrus.  This is a cheek warmer.  Solid herbal and citrus mix of bitterness with a nice malt punch to it.  But the bitterness here is the star.  Hitting hard at the start and lingering with each sip.  I think I may like hoppy amber more than Black IPA’s.

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On the non-beer side of the ledger, I have to tout Grantland again.  The rambling and funny discussions between Malcolm Gladwell and Bill Simmons are great and thought provoking with many ideas that I wish were implemented in the world of sports.

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Review – Fresh Hop Chinook IPA from Almanac

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I like the idea of the organic hop and I like that Almanac has gone to the old school C hops like Cascade, Cluster and Chinook.  The wet hop Chinook pours orange brown in color. Spice is the primary note in both the aroma and flavor. There are some minor grapefruit notes as well the fruit and the pith. Nice mixture of viscous and sparkle. Usually you only get one or the other.  Now I really want to sample the other two of the group.

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I am a fan of the re-booted Dr. Who and I was one of the nerds who eagerly downloaded the 50th Anniversary special, the Day of the Doctor.  But I also watched the movie “An Adventure in Space and Time” written by Mark Gatiss who is Mycroft on the BBC Sherlock.   Really fun to see a spin of how Dr. Who came into being and I highly recommend it.  You can get it on Amazon or iTunes.

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Review – BrewDog TV (shows 4-6)

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Onto Round 2 of the BrewDog TV review!

This post revolves around the Seattle, Portland and Denver episodes.

Since I wrote a small piece about a coffee beer for November BeerPaper LA and I am writing a larger piece about coffee and brewing for December, I was glad to see that the show went with the obvious for the Seattle episode.  And though the molecular gastronomy was enlightening with the beer pairings, I would have skipped the added caffeine boost section and given more screen time to the chocolatier and the baristas and Elysian.  That’s a personal preference though.

The Denver / Boulder show scared me a bit with the meat smoked thing though I liked the choice of pale ale.  On the whole this one is probably the weakest so far.  Maybe because it was titled Denver, I was expecting more of actual Denver but no mention except for brief bits on Great Divide and Strange.  Plus they like Falling Rock which might be good outside of GABF but has a Toronado SF vibe that I don’t like.  I much prefer Freshcraft.  The gourmand section was fun too.  It is my favorite segment of the show by far.

I was really excited to see the Portland show seeing that it is my hometown.  A little strange to see them partner with Deschutes.  Nothing against them but they don’t scream Portland to me.  Much like my issue with the Denver show, call it Oregon or Colorado if you are going farther afield.  The beer style was inspired though and takes a play from the Beers Made by Walking idea.  My favorite beer that I won’t get to try.  The food section ranks second behind the Philly donut section.

Overall, the show really works for me though.  I enjoy the accents and the self-deprecating humor.  They seem to be enjoying themselves which helps the viewer to enjoy the show!

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Review – Shipwrecked DIPA from Mission Brewery

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Before I get into my brief review of the quart sized “cannon” of a DIPA from Mission Brewery, here is my 2010 review dusty from the archives….

Pretty orange/copper color. Hop aroma is pronounced. Nice and malty with a good amount of hop heat to it. A good representation of the DIPA style without going overboard.

Horrible pun there at the end I know and yes that is a bottle opener in front of a can.  Made for a prettier picture.  32Oz makes this one to share with a friend or two.  It is strong.  Really strong.  It is not a subtle DIPA.  I got some grapefruit notes from it but the predominant taste is a battle between the malts to keep up with the hops are mostly of the dank and pine variety to me.

The cannons are an interesting presentation and one that might make for a cool gift for the beer lover on your Christmas list or to share around the Thanksgiving table.  Of the two that I sampled courtesy of the brewery, I liked the XPA better.  The hops were more punchy and the wheat really let the citrus taste grow on you.

My non-beer side is reading a collection of 6-word memoirs from Smith Magazine. And thinking to myself that it is a lot easier in some respects to fine tune 6 clever words than writing 1700 per day for National Novel Writing Month.

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Review – Pit Stop Porter from Half Moon Bay Brewing

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Mavericks, the sessionable series of beers from Half Moon Bay Brewing arrived at Bevmo when I wasn’t looking and in addition to the porter there are a Pale Ale (Back in the Saddle) and a Wit (Pace Setter) in cans.

The Porter pours a dark brown.  The taste is straight up a mix of chocolate and vanilla and the latter is what comes through to my palate.  Semi-sweet but not cloying.  A tiny fraction of roast notes sneak in there as well.  Quite smooth as well.

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National Novel Writing Month is taking it’s time toll on me, but I have found the time to watch a bit of Almost Human (one of the two Fringe people shows), the other being Sleepy Hollow.  I don’t know where this show is headed but I am intrigued.  Maybe it is the SciFi geek in me but it looks promising.

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Video Review – Double Cross from Crux Fermentation Project

When in Portland recently, I picked up my first (well designed) bottles from Crux Fermentation in Bend, Oregon.  Here, is my review of the Double Cross, a strong Belgian dark….

Here is the description from the Crux website, “Crux’s interpretation of a Strong Dark Belgian Ale is a blend of Belgium malts, Belgium dark candi sugar, Oregon Sterling hops and Yakima Delta hops for flavors that are deceptively sweet and innocent.”

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Review – El Conquistador XPA from Mission Brewing

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A week back a box appeared on the doorstep of BSP Headquarters with two Mission Brewery beers in it.  I had heard tales of their new “cannon” sized cans but it did not mean the initial sight was less surprising.  Since it came in such a big can (1 quart, aka 32oz), I expected the Conquistador to be huge considering it hails from San Diego.  But to my surprise, this was a quaffable and spot on XPA.  Very well balanced.  You get wheat notes, hints of citrus (mostly orange) and a parting shot of bitterness that fades off nicely and doesn’t damage the tongue.  And it is a lovely light orange color as well with a light fruit aroma.

You could be selfish and drink this yourself since the ABV is a low 4.8%.  But I would suggest sharing with a friend or having 1/2 in the first half of whatever game you are watching and then the rest after halftime.  This size makes them good for tasting events too.  You could get a group of 8 together and everyone could have a solid 4ozs.  Wow, just dropped some math on ya’.

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You can ask my wife, but when I love a TV show, I will re-watch it and currently I am re-watching Season 1 of Dexter.  You can make a plausible point that the show has gone on too long and gotten a little trippy at times but re-meeting the characters in earlier times is fun and reminds you where each person was at when this started.