Tag: beer review

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Double Barrel Reviews – Gold Rider and Daisy’s Favorite from Firestone Walker

Firestone Walker has been reading my mind again as they have done more gin barrel-aged beers and have dabbled in using bitters barrels too.

Let’s start with the bigger ABV of the two, which surprised me, the Daisy…

Imperial Blonde is sort of like imperial pilsner to me, I appreciate the level up game but it also defeats the purpose of a blonde ale. Daisy’s Favorite pours a dark orange color and their is a mingling of spices on the nose. A soft but sturdy botanical flavor leads to a bit of alcohol burn at the end. The spices pop as it warms and the ABV doesn’t show up as strong. I would have maybe liked a little more juniper beer or coriander to add an extra dimension.

Gold Rider has been the beer talked about a bit more. Mentioning Cognac will do that. This has a big barrel aroma. Very French mixture of whiskey and grape. Lighter mouthfeel to this one, the aroma leads you to expect one thing and then you sip and it is different. I am missing the lemon aspect to this though, unless that is what is contributing to the lightness.

To choose a winner: I would pick the Daisy. It had a simpler mission and hit the mark, the orange bitters in the Rider emerged well but it needed more Cognac and lemon.

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Review – Hair of the Dog – Two Dots

Hair of the Dog Brewing is slowly shutting their doors. Before they and brewer Alan Sprints fade into beer history, I wanted to try (again) two of IPA’s. These were both canned in mid November of 2021 so they were just outside the recommended IPA freshness date.

Polka Dot – very earthy. pours a hazy light orange. big, real big for a 5.5% IPA. some candied orange hiding underneath the quite harsh bitterness.

Green Dot – pineapple is the dominant flavor. this has held up better, probably due to the higher ABV but it still is pretty harsh in spots, which is more a feature than an issue. there is an alcohol burn here that other TIPAs mask.

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City Beer Store – Review 4 of 4

Time for another round of which beer is the best! I have four beers to review over the course of this month that I purchased from City Beer Store in San Francisco. (You can subtract the mead, that I will review separately.)

Last in line is Põhjala and their Imperial Stout, Gimme Danger. This gluten reduced beer pours a dark brown color. I am catching a little sour on the nose. Cherry to be more precise. Then in comes the roast character. This stout does not have the mouthfeel of a double-digit ABV beer at all. It has a spiky, close to tobacco feel overall.

And that brings it into 4th place. I would put Thematic Glow in the third slot with the Kentucky Mule in the silver. Kaleidoscope takes the prize.

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Superb Owl Beer Rundown

While a few miles away at the ol’ SoFi Stadium, the Rams and Bengals were playing, I was watching and drinking beers.

Let’s do a two-minute drill of the beers…

Fancy Pantsy Rye Pale Ale from Eagle Rock

394 Pale Ale from AleSmith

Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre

Pineapple Dunn Upside Down Wee Heavy from Stone

Snow Donut Hazy IPA from Smog City

Hello L.A. IPA from Highland Park Brewery

Had to have that last one as a Rams House nod. But overall, Eagle Rock was my winner with the too much pineapple not enough Wee Heavy from Stone was the least regarded.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – In the Fronds Tropical IPA from Los Angeles Ale Works

I really like the plant shop vibe from this Los Angeles Ale Works can label. The shimmery silver and the greens are popping. Plus the name is spot on for a tropically tinged beer.

This beer is bursting with pineapple. I cracked the can and it was rushing with that distinctive aroma. That pineapple follows through into the taste but interestingly there is a significant hop bite here. Very West Coast IPA in temperament. It is a super light yellow color though. Contradictions aplenty but it is a really fine IPA.

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Two Wild Ale Reviews

My interest was piqued by the idea of a Saison that is headlined by melon.  The use of Ogen melons in half of two melon saisons recently released by Cellador sent me to their tasting room.  The other being a Chapo? melon version which was not on draft to compare side by side.  I had no previous experience with either melon.  There is a really nice light green melon taste here.  Honeydew without the sweeter finish, more crisp.  It has a nice tartness that takes it a bit further afield from Saison but as a Wild Ale is just right.  Has a nice spritziness to it that accents the sour.  As it warms, the grain starts to peek through to good effect as does a slight salt note.

Gourde Fumee.  Bourbon barrel-aged sour with hot smoked Kabocha squash.  Right off the bat is smoke.  Then a sour hit follows that.  Then the alcohol burn combines the two.  Not getting squash notes and any bourbon is well hidden under the smoke which is probably closer to BBQ than campfire.  As more sips are taken, I start to get cherry notes but that burn comes back.  Maybe the palate is acclimating to the smoke because it recedes fairly quickly but it is still pretty spiky. I do wish the bourbon came through to add a needed layer to balance out the two strong flavors.

From those two paragraphs, you can probably easily tell which of the two that I preferred.  It was not really close.

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Two New N/A Reviews

I check up on Athletic Brewing and their new beers from their Pilot Program and recently picked up their Thai Coconut IPA (which I quickly posted about earlier this month) and their Hefeweizen. Do they hit the mark?

Starting with the Hefe, which could do with a better name than Athletic Hefe, initially I get a minty hit more Belgian in nature than German. Further sips in and some banana creeps in but it is as if the traditional Hefe clove was replaced with mint and then doubled up. Some of the typical “young” beer flavor is there as well but is masked, for the most part.

Beer two should be both easier and harder. Tropical IPAs abound so there should be an easy path to that flavor profile. Harder because coconut can be too sweet and overpower everything. All I get from this IPA is grapefruit. I was expecting a bit more milkshake style to it, with big coconut but it isn’t there for me. Not bad if the line is citrus but a miss if coconut.

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Beer Review – ANOTHER new Speedway Stout variant!

The second beer box in the mail prize also goes to AleSmith! Another intriguing Speedway Stout variant, Double Fudge.

When I see a name like Fudge, I expect some chocolate. When I see a name like Double Fudge, well I expect CHOCO-lot. This Speedway has a one fudge amount of chocolate to me. There is milk chocolate there but it isn’t big. I did not get much in the way of coffee either. Taking the name out of the equation, this is a very good beer. The vanilla and cocoa powder mix well. Almost like a milkshake. I would amp the cocoa and remove the coffee to use in a Ryan Bros. specific Speedway.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – A Sense of Urgency from Liberation Brewing

The next L.A. beer to review is technically Long Beach, but I am gonna sneak it in because it is not only in a bottle (what’s that?) but also a Biere de Garde from Liberation Brewing.

After wrestling the cork out without hurting myself, I get a beer with a slightly toasted aroma, almost Quad like in taste and texture with a mineral finish to it. The label art and name are part of the reason that I bought it. Floating and on fire, very 2021-22. It pours with a luxuriant head to it that leaves some nice lacing on the bowl of the glass. There are some Belgian esters with a touch of fruit to them here.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. A different style is great to break up the hop monopoly.

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Beer Review – Speedway Stout NEW variant from AleSmith

First beer box in the mail prize goes to AleSmith! And it is a long name. Speedway Stout with Madagascar vanilla and Ceylon Alba cinnamon.

This stout pours a pitch black. Lovely coffee cream head and lacing as well. I wondered, as I opened the can, would the vanilla out sweet the cinnamon? Or would the spice blow away the creamy notes?

To me, the two disparate ingredients meld together. The cinnamon has a red hot thing going on but it is tamped down by the vanilla making the mouthfeel less spiky. It is almost as each sip highlights one then the next sip focuses on the other.

Thankfully both flavors represent making this a grand start to the 2022 Speedway year.