Tag: beer review

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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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Mid-Western Beer Review – Domain DuPage from Two Brothers

I brought back a few bottles from my recent trip to Chicago and now is the time to review them!  First up is a French Country Ale from Two Brothers, Domaine Du Page…

IMG_6602The Domaine pours an orange/brown color. Nutty aroma at first then perceptibly changes into something like a fruit but granola bar. There is a bit of alcohol heat in here too. This is classic Dubbel realm and quite good.  When I was in Chicago, I also tasted their pale ale, Sidekick.  It was quite enjoyable sitting in the sun, staring at the Cloud Gate sculpture, AKA the Bean, and having a hoppy good time.

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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 – Aberrant from Bergschrund (Logsdon)

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Love the label in this new series from Logsdon.Farmhouse and good to see another beer offering from the Logsdon folks.  Mostly because I haven’t had even close to a bad beer from these guys.  On to my quick review: Pours a pale straw yellow with a big foamy white head.  A light Belgian yeast note in the aroma that really hits upon the first sip.  I pick up vanilla and spice notes amidst the funk.  My sister in law detected some fruit notes that I didn’t notice but maybe some stone fruit lurks for those that are more supertaster than I am.  Really light tasting and not 8% abv at all.

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I have seen this one at Vendome in Toluca Lake and at a few other beery locales and I highly recommend it.

And what am I reading while drinking this?  A book about wine!  Heresy, I know but I have learned a nice amount of information already from the Inventing Wine by Paul Lukacs.  And that is in just a the first few pages.

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Review – Tenaya Creek Hop Ride IPA

To some Las Vegas means only Sin City, but to those in the know, the glittering city also has some beer spots. Maybe not rivaling the beer soaked Portlands and Denvers of the world, yet,but they are moving in the right direction.

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That is the semi-ling preamble to my review of Tenaya Creek’s Hop Ride IPA.

Spooky rattler on the label. Pours an orange/yellow color. Fluffy head on this one. Spicy and floral aroma. Bitterness is medium to me and it sticks around on the roof of the mouth. Little bite at the beginning of each sip. A little caramel taste around too.

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Review – Shore Break Hefeweizen

As part of a Twitter Tasting hosted by the Fresh & Easy Market chain, I had the opportunity to sample a beer new to me, Shore Break Hefeweizen.

This is a “phantom” craft as it depicts bucolic surf scenes and is sold here in California but is brewed by Rheinlander in Wisconsin.

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It pours an orange golden color with not much aroma to speak of at all.  First sip comes and goes without any banana or clove so you can safely assume this is not a real hefeweizen.  But even worse, this beer is watery.  Not much there, there.  Grain taste is practically non-existent.

Not only is this not a “craft” beer it isn’t a German hefe and it is flat out a really poor example of a wheat beer. I do not recommend this beer and I would avoid other Shore Break and Underworld brands at Fresh and Easy and focus on the tried and true you can get there.

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Review – Organic Hop Cuvée

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With new organic rules in place that now include hops, it is heartening to see an organic IPA already.  Here is my review of this offering from Bison.
Pours a bright yellow with streaming bubbles. Not too much hop notes on the nose. The taste is pretty mild too. An organic XPA as it were. Get a touch of citrus and a little floral flavor but otherwise a mild showcase.
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And I liked that their website had a definition of Cuvee as well….”Used by both winemakers and brewers, the term cuvée indicates a blend—typically, a special blend of higher quality. Each year, “Organic Dan” will work with organic hop growers from the Pacific Northwest to select the best organic hops as well as explore the development of new organic hop varietals to be used in all of Bison’s organic beers—especially Hop Cuvée. The 2013 Hop Cuvée recipe includes Citra® and Simcoe, two new and exciting organic hop varietals not previously available as certified organic, as well the classic Centennial hop. This year’s hops were grown by Carpenter Ranches, Perrault Farms and Roy Farms, respectively.”
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Review – Sculpin (in cans)

My bier buddy Richard aka Cap’n, recently went to San Diego and he brought back the new, canned version of the iconic Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point.

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Here is what I found when I opened the cans….

Pours a lovely orange color.  I am a little dubious about the variety of fruits listed on the label but I am surprised to get quite a bit of apricot balanced out by a charming hit of hops.  The bitterness isn’t super big but it adds a nice punch akin to sea salt too caramel.  Just tastes more frutier than I remember and I like it.

And here is the website info from the brewer, “The Sculpin is a testament to our humble beginnings as Home Brew Mart. It showcases bright flavors and aromas of apricot, peach, mango & lemon. The lighter body also brings out the crispness of the hops.”

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Review – Flying Fish Abbey Dubbel

Straight outta Jersey comes this Abbey Dubbel from Flying Fish.

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It pours dark orange with hints of brown shadows.  The head rises and falls quickly.  Caramel and raisins are the first aromas that greet the nose alongside some plum notes.  The first sip has quite a carbonation kick to it.  The scrubbing bubbles push the fruit and malt notes through the tongue.  A bit like having trail mix to a certain degree.  Quite effervescent along with some vanilla and spice contributions.

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Review – 32 Via dei Birrai Atra

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I am feeling anxious because there is only 1 more 32 beer left in my ‘fridge now.  But I am thankful to the fine folks at 32 Via dei Birrai for supplying me with such a generous amount of their finely calibrated beers.

That being said, we move on to Atra, A bit of a gusher when the cork popped but maybe that was me being too anxious. This is more a light Belgian amber. The flavors persist after each sip. I get some plum notes and raisin from this cola hued beer. Some zucchini notes too. Easy to drink.

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Here is what their website describes the beer as….

“Appearance:
beige, compact, fine and persistent head; brown; fine perlage.

Bouquet:
roasted, with hints of coffee, chocolate, locust bean, walnut-flavoured liqueur, and touches of damp barrel staves, light liquorice, ripe medlar and caramel.

Flavour:
gently bitterish due to the roasted barley, which also imparts aromas of coffee, caramel and chocolate. Beer with typical Belgian light watery body.”