Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Setting aside “adaptagens” and “nootropics”, do we need sparkling water to be both double hopped and dry hopped? And who in the sparkling water customer base is going to see that and yank it from the shelves?
What I find extra funny is that the hops are not even labeled but they had room to write “for extra bold flavor”.
Not Needed!
Each year beer pundits (myself included) like to delude themselves that this is the year of the pilsner/light lager. Each those styles do fine but never really break out of their ordained orbit. What I think will leap this year is the N/A beer. No alcohol. So, when I see some, I will review them.
Hence Dry Hopped Clausthaler that I found at Trader Joe’s.
This N/A beer pours dark orange to brown color. Very unfiltered. 2017 World Beer Award winner with Cascade hops. Smells and tastes predominantly like wort. Some pine notes. Less than .5 in abv mouthfeel and texture is a little wetter than usual.and lots of carbonation. some grapefruit bitterness here. Probably the closest to alcohol beer that I have had.
The final Angel City review strays from wax to 16oz cans with their new-ish Public House Saison…
Public House is not hazy but not clear either. More opaque. Really nice multi-faceted beer. Starts with a big Belgian (hefe?) aroma then slides into a hopped Pilsner stage before returning to a Saison with a bite of lemon verbena notes and a touch of bubblegum. The hop hit is there and then cedes the stage. Well done.
Revolves around a magical Crystal. The Hop that is. BridgePort Brewing Company is celebrating by brewing three different brews throughout 2014.
Here’s more from the brewery press release, “, Oregon’s oldest craft brewery, will celebrate 30 years by releasing the “BridgePort Trilogy Series,” three limited edition beers. The first two beers in the series will honor pivotal moments in BridgePort’s history by highlighting the adoption of aroma hops and the IPA movement. In contrast, the third and final beer in the series will explore what’s still to come for craft beer in Oregon.”
Given that aroma hops ignited the Oregon craft beer movement, it only made sense for the first beer in the “BridgePort Trilogy Series” to honor one of Edgerton’s favorite, the Crystal Hop, a varietal known for it’s slightly spicy and citrus notes.
Trilogy 1 uses a big charge of Crystal Hops at the end of fermentation for a pleasant dry-hop aroma and flavor. The presence of Rye malt gives this beer a slightly spicy malt character and the Munich malts add a soft yet definite mouthfeel.”
One of my favorite beers from last year was a Belgian dry hopped Saison from the experts in Saison, Dupont. Sadly, that particular beer will not be coming this year because…..”Every year Dupont’s Master Brewer, Olivier Dedeycker, makes a special dry-hopped version of the brewery’s world famous Saison Dupont. This lets him take advantage of different hop varieties each season. For 2014, he chose the famous English hop, CHALLENGER, renowned for its balance of bittering and aromatic qualities. Importantly, they were cultivated in Belgium by the farm that supplies Olivier’s Golding hops. Using only hop flowers (no pellets, please), he added them to the late boil and dry hopped in cold maturation. The result is “a super refreshing Saison with accentuated floral, spice and citrus hop notes.”
I have a feeling this might be one of the top beers of 2014.
Not too many craft beers out there named after aircraft carriers (as far as I know) and probably not many with a president’s name on it (unless you count the mocking ones) either. But what is most important on this label is the brewery name, Founders. That is all I need to know. (That plus dry hopped).
I am starting to really enjoy the Belgian IPA style. And yes, I know, this new Ommegang offering is a pale but I like the interplay of the Belgian funk and the bitterness of the hops. It eases the throttle on both flavors.
I am torn about the new label design though. It does look fresher and more of a brand than before but the graphics are muted to me. Maybe it is the colors that are not to my liking.
I do like cider but rarely do I get it. I usually see so many beers that I want that the apples get shunted off to the side for another day. But when I saw a cider that was dry hopped with Cascades, well I picked it up.
Anthem ciders are crafted at the Wandering Aengus Ciderworks in Oregon. This one was an extremely light yellow and very bubbly. It wasn’t sour but it was stomach gurgly inducing acidic. The aroma was a battle of apple farm and that signature Cascade hop. A bit muddled to me. The taste grew on me even though it was much brighter tasting when cold. Again, though I got quite a bit of fight between these two distinct flavors. They didn’t seem to quite flow together. And though it did catch my eye and get me to pick up a cider, it did not win me over in the end. But it sure is a pretty beverage to look at.
As opposed to the fuss and muss involved in PtY, I spent part of my Saturday in El Segundo with a double dry hopped citra pale ale that has returned (for as long as it lasts) to taps in Los Angeles.
It poured a lovely orange color and the aroma introduced itself proudly. Big lemon and citrus notes. The bitterness really hung with me and coated my palate. Which I learned may have been influenced by me eating something sweet beforehand. Good to know. The more I drank the more grapefruit notes came through.
I heard from reliable sources that the previous night a keg went really quickly and to ensure some beer karma. I just had the one glass. But I look forward to having it again the next time the two of us meet.
New Belgium is really pushing the envelope with their Lips of Faith series. Berliner Weiss to Eric’s ale and now this…..
“Le Terroir Dry Hopped Sour Ale is the second Lips of Faith beer now available in limited markets. Le Terroir is a French term meaning “of the earth.” Used to reference the environmental conditions that affect the brew, New Belgium prefers to think about the terroir of our foeders, the wooden barrels that age sour beers in varying temperatures, humidity and vibrations. Add in another variable by dry-hopping with peachy, mango-like amarillo hops, and Le Terroir changes every time it is brewed.”
UPDATE: I had this beer recently at the Library Alehouse in Santa Monica and it is really good. Better in small doses because of the acidity but this has great hops and mango taste. It is so balanced that the sour doesn’t take over. One of my best of 2011 so far.