Category: Beer Reviews

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Review – Whale’s Tale Pale Ale from Cisco Brewers

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Los Angeles has been the recipient of some East Coast beers of late including this British style pale ale from Cisco Brewers. I love the simple label, especially the 3/4 pint notation. Pours a very clear and dark orange color. Aroma is more British pale for sure so kudos to brewing to style. Taste is primarily cereal malt with a small dose of hops. Does taste a bit watery which is odd for a 5.6% beer. Upon re-checking the aroma, you can almost smell the lack of oomph behind the beer. I am not arguing for a more hop approach but this does taste a little on the weak side to me. Then again my palate has had to work through Green Bullett and Carrack from San Diego brewers so maybe this is just an adjustment.

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Review – Half Acre

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On a beautiful Autumn day with a light crispness on the air. I walked from Wrigleyville to Lincoln Park and the Half Acre taproom.

The space is next door to their growler/merchandise store and had tables as you walk in with the bar and tap handles in the back right corner.

You first notice this cartoon looking bear head over the taps with no beer names on them. Only emblazoned with the Half Acre name.
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The leather bound menu augments the board on the wall with the day’s available beers.
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I started light with the Pony pilsner. It poured a pretty yellow color and hit all the marks of a craft pils. A little more fizz might have helped but it was a promising start to my tasting.

Since it was October, I went for the Okto/Marzen next and it was the surprise beer of the trip. Big nutty taste, a little touch if sweetness and a firm spicy hop note. If it weren’t for the next beer, it would have been my choice as best of the trip.

And that beer is the famed Daisy Cutter. A perfectly balanced pale. Great fruit punch hop notes on top a bed of light malt. One of those rare hoppy beers that mixes hops so that the sum is greater than the parts.

Oddly enough, the two wet hop beers that I was psyched to see on the menu were only so-so. I would rank them behind the pilsner.

The Half Acre tap room is my kind of place. Quirky vibe with a great selection of beers.
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Review – Smuttynose Big Beer Series – Rhye IPA

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This is a rhino of a beer from Smuttynose (which now has a presence here in Los Angeles despite being in the rebuilding phase of their brewery).  Pours a dark orange and a bit foamy.  Takes some time to settle.  Big piney hop presence up front in the aroma.  Then the rye really takes over in the taste.  But the hops aren’t second fiddle.  More of a co-conspirator.  A bit of an alcohol aroma as I make a second pass through it.  Certainly more west than east coast. Ways heavily on the tongue.

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So, it’s mid-October and the books and music are being shoved to the side for college football as I root for in order:

1. Linfield College – my alma mater which needs one more win in 5 to secure another winning season.  But they have higher goals.  Rising higher than # 2 in the country for Division 3.

2. Oregon State – my dad’s school and despite wearing orange and black have the best uniforms of the two state schools.  Mostly because a certain other team wears highlighter yellow or other strange combos of silver, yellow and green.

 

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Review – Green Bullet from Green Flash

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Green Flash is not lying with the Triple IPA moniker.  That is a major pine scent coming off of this and it is strong.  So is the ABV.  This is a palate wrecker for sure. Lots of citrus and herbal notes.  Lots of bitterness here.  Really strong.  Did I mention that?  The New Zealand hops pop right at the beginning but the remainder of the hop assault overwhelms that delicate front note.  This is a seasonal release that will only be with us through December and I think it is definitely a colder weather IPA for sure.

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Now I am reading about the starting point for one of my favorite bands from when I was younger, New Order.  It is by the band’s bassist, Peter Hook and it is his recollection of the start of Joy Division and the Manchester music scene.  Unknown Pleasures has a cool design and book jacket and has been fun to read 50 pages in.

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Review – Prairie Artisan Ales ‘Merica

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Damn.  This is mega funky.  And just when you think the funk aroma is done, in wafts more farmhouse.  Pours a hazy orange juice color.  I get a touch of the Nelson but the crazy funk from the yeast is the star of this show and I like it.  And the funk just doesn’t die down.  It teeters really close to cat pee territory without tipping over.  Just when I think it has gone over the line it pulls back just a skosh.

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And boy is this label a trip.  Laser Cats. Weird Fish.  Bicycles and tailgating and so much more.  I would love to see a “patriotic” Bud drinker pick up Merica and think it was some peon to “real America” and then getting a pure blast of funk.

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On the non-beer side of the ledger, I drank this beer while watching World War Z.  Now I read the book and really enjoyed it.  The movie is not the book in any way shape or form.  But I enjoyed the movie too.  Crazy cool Zombies and an ambiguous ending to boot.  Plus it had the 12th Doctor in it!

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Review – Cluster from Double Mountain

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One of the favorite beers from my recent Portland trip. I had one while I was there and had to bring one home as well.  This orange hued beer has a big hop aroma and the taste is really herbal and spicy with a background of citrus. All three tastes play well together.  Certainly a NW hoppy beer as opposed to a San Diego HOPPPPPPY beer but I like the difference.  Glad that Artisan Ales in Pasadena will be bringing Double Mountain into SoCal, now we just have to get their single-hop beers as well.  Plus the label hints at a certain different Cluster.  Very cool.

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I have been listening to the latest Elvis Costello album (do they still call them albums?) “Wise Up Ghost” that he made with The Roots and I am still trying to say if I really like it or if it is just so different from the mainstream that it pricks my ears up.

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Review – NGB Gluten Free

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NGB is one in a small line of gluten-free beers on the market.  It pours a light amber color.  Smell is primarily cider with some caramel notes.  The taste is cider all the way through.  Not much else here.  And the cider tastes a little underfermented.  When I bought it the Trader Joes cashier warned me it would be bad and that no one liked it at the store.  It is pretty close to drain pour territory.

Omission from Widmer is still the class of this category.  NGB isn’t even close.

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With the new TV season well underway, one show that I am following is Sleepy Hollow.  Yes, the idea requites a sturdy underpinning of belief in the fantastical but it does have it’s creepy moments and a headless horseman is always cool.

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Review – Stillwater Classique

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Stillwater Artisanal Ales is known for their saisons and the dark, foreboding woodcut-esque labels.  So a yellow can seems a little out of place but that is what I bought at Sunset Beer.  And the pilsner inside is also bright and light yellow. The glass is filled with lots of bubbles. The dominant aroma is potpourri and I get herbal notes and vanilla in the taste. Taste lingers pleasantly. Flowery as well.  This beer really shows a light touch.

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On the side of my brain that isn’t devoted to beer, I am awed and still freaked out about this hidden octopus on the Science Friday website.  Check out the video HERE.  I can’t stop saying cephalopod now.

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Review – Firstone Walker Velvet Merkin

Very lucky.  That is what I am thinking as I slowly slip the re-incarnated Velvet Merkin (2013) that I received from Firestone Walker.

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This is a near perfect beer.    It falls into the category of beers that you could smell all day long.  That you would bottle as cologne. A beautiful mixture of coconut and roast and bourbon and barrel melding together.

But you have to drink it, and it is velvety smooth.  So that each sip lingers. It is under 9% in alcohol so you don’t get a burn in the throat. The bourbon really comes out in the flavor and just envelops the tongue.  How Matt Brynildson does it, I do not know but this is simply a fantastic beer.

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