Featured Review – Oolong Saison from Angel City

I do appreciate the little touches when I get a box from Angel City Brewery. And with the bottle of Oolong Saison, there was a little packet of Oolong tea. I don’t know if I am supposed to pair the tea with the beer but I like it.

On to the beer…

Pours a hazy orange. A more assertive near Hefeweizen yeast profile. Banana esters here. The tea shows up right at the end but could use more oomph to it. Loads of carbonation that fades to a silky finish. Dry finish and clove, I get. But not the melon or pepper that the label describes.

with Thanksgiving review # 1

img_7899
Brouwerij West
This is no baby tripel. 9% big ABV’s here. I am getting a lot of citrus and spice. Almost to orange pekoe tea status minus the tannin. The taste sticks to the tongue for awhile. Image wise, the beer pours a hazy orange color especially with the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Extra spice notes in a Hefeweizen sort of way are here too.

When it comes to the Thanksgiving feast this Tripel will add that orange note to the turkey and stuffing quite nicely and it also should play off the cranberry as well. Might be less effective with gravy or heavier or sweeter foods. Might be less effective with relatives who vote Trump as well.

Review – Fat Tire & Friends – Part One

IMG_6999
For round one of the Fat Tire & Friends Riff Pack, I separated out the hoppy + the one and only Fat Tire from the wild and sour group (which will be post two). This will test my reviewing because is the goal for the beer to be connected by a flavor profile or color or ABV to the original? Or do I review simply based on which tastes best?

Let’s get down to it and see….

1. Original Fat Tire
I have not had this beer in a long, long time but I sorta know what to expect. There is a little alcohol on the nose followed by a touch of honey sweetness that is balanced by carbonation. The grain flavor kicks in at the tail end but there is not much else here. Plain, simple and unadorned. Super tasty on a hot day in Los Angeles.

2. Collaboration Fat Pale Ale with Rhinegeist
This is a Belgian XPA according to the label. Pours really close to the same color as the OG. It manages the feat of starting out mimicking the Fat Tire before taking that Belgian turn. Banana and clove notes are prominent. Bitter but that is the lingering and not the main focus here. Fat Tire gets Hefe’d to me.

3. Collaboration Fat Hoppy Ale with Firestone Walker
Fat Hoppy Ale is a serious departure from the amber. Starting with the medium yellow color. Then the big difference hits. This is really hop forward. Grassy and fruity and really juicy with a touch of spice too. This is a wonderful session IPA/ Pale Ale but not really redolent of Fat Tire much. A killer hop combo for sure. I am digging this one.

On the which tastes best scale, with three beers yet to taste, I have to go with the Fat Hoppy but in the category of connection to Fat Tire, the Rhinegeist is the clear winner.

Featured PDX Beer Review – Olallie from Ground Breaker

IMG_6277
This is one of the clearest and reddest beers I have seen. Ground Breaker has taken the experiment of melding Crystal hops with Rose Hips and Blackberries for this beer and it has a very potpourri aroma. The rose hips floral notes are strong (most obviously in the luminous color) but a tang from the blackberry softens that blow initially. But then Olallie has an after edge of unripened berry that I wish wasn’t there. Maybe some honey would dry it and add a sweet touch to really close this loop up. This is an almost there beer for me.

Featured PDX Beer Review # 1 – Mosaic Pale Ale from pFriem

IMG_6225
This is one of the best beers of 2016. Mark it down. (Mostly to remind me later.) Single Hop Mosaic Pale Ale from pFriem pours a yellowish orange and with the lift of the bottle cap the aroma just pours out and I begin pouring into a glass as fast as I can. It is straight up Mosaic. I get Concord grapes and fruit punch notes with a drying tug of bitterness. It is light but not bubbly. Viscous but not cloying. It is smack dab in the sweet spot. Touches of malt poke through at the end to add to the complexity. I could drink this all day long.
IMG_6224
This was the first beer popped from from recent haul of Portland beers. Can the rest keep up?

Featured Review – Best Brown Ale from Bell’s

In addition to reviewing a pair of San Diego beers that were new to me, I will also talk about two Bell’s beers. One is their 30th Anniversary, but first is the 16oz can of Best Brown Ale.
IMG_5431
Best Brown is one of those beers that touches all the bases for the style without really exploding. It is a plain amber/brown color. It is a little thin tasting but there are multiple flavors that are encountered with each taste. There is an untoasty malt flavor that is augmented by a touch of sweetness and a little bit of peppery-ness.

Past that, is not much else. It is the type of beer that is gone before you know it and you have to reach back in the memory banks to remember what it was like.

Review – Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale from New Belgium

I had not been a beaming fan of the last chocolate beer that New Belgium produced, but the imprimatur of Ben & Jerry’s and the addition of cocoa and vanilla powders to this beer was enough for me to buy it.

The ice cream beer (as I will call it) pours a medium brown color with a reddish streak to it when held up to the light. The aroma is a lovely milk chocolate. I don’t know if I would equate it with brownies, per se, but it is very nice. The mouthfeel is light but there is a swirl of both chocolate and vanilla that is redolent of a milkshake along with a toasted malt note as well. I am also catching a bit of salt intermittently too. And part of the proceeds of the beer towards combating climate change.

This practically begs to be paired with ice cream. Maybe not Ben & Jerry’s which might overwhelm it, but maybe a nice plain vanilla bean.

Featured Review – Oktoberfest from Ninkasi

The final Okto bier review is of the Eugene, Oregon version from Ninkasi Brewing.

IMG_4969

This Oregonian take on the Festbier Lager really starts off quite sharp.  Lot of malt and carbonation really hits the taste buds.  Some metallic/bitter hop notes as well.  Strange (to me) combo of loads of grain/cereal notes combined with a surprising lightness. Also a touch of savory and salt is the lingering taste.  The beer pours a lovely dark orange color with a thin line of foam all around the edge of the glass.  (Yeah, it’s not an OktoGlass).

Of the four FestBiers that I reviewed this month, this is probably my least favored.  The salt kick at the back end really drowns out the malt and kills any sweetness that I expect from this style.  I may have been expecting more since their Prism series of lighter beers have really struck me with their flavor.

 

Up from the Cellar – Cuvée Renee from Brouwerij Lindemans

cellar

Brouwerij Lindemans is coming up from the cellar in April!  I started with the Faro and now we tackle the Cuvee Renee. A refermented in the bottle Gueuze that the label declares “Improves in bottle with age”

I always dread corked bottles.  You never know if the cork will behave or if there will be a geyser.  But this cork came out easy and cleanly.  No trouble at all.  It pours a really clear orange with a bit of lacing around the edge of the glass after the initial pillow of foam recedes.  The aroma is pure funk.  I get grass, hay and barn wood.  And this probably sounds strange but I also get that smell just before rain starts.  Weird.

photo 1

Boy, this a puckery inducing beer.  My first thought was of sucking a lemon.  It has that citrus note that is punctuated with tart.  It is twisting my mouth into different shapes.  It is really sharp at the front of the mouth which makes finding other notes a little harder.  But I do get some oak wood notes.  Very minor but there.  A little bit of apple cider vinegar as well.  I have had beers that are more sour but this is definitely at that end of the spectrum.  Not an easy drinker and a sharp contrast to the sticky sweetness of the Faro from earlier this month.

Both were bought at the same time.  So I will “assume” that they were close vintages.  And yet they couldn’t be further apart to me.  This is super tart and that doesn’t let up much as it warms either.  In fact, I start to get more grapefruit pith notes now.  My palate is in a state of sour shock.

photo 2

The Verdict – Part of me thinks that this beer has turned a little too vinegary and that I may have held it a good half year too long.  But the acid isn’t super high and I still do get some citrus notes and the barnyard funk is in full bloom.  So, I am conflicted.  Let’s split the difference and say that this would have been better back in January.

Review – Fresh Hop Chinook IPA from Almanac

IMG_6735

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.

IMG_6738

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.