I will admit that a cute label occasionally overrides my normal beer buying thinking, it doesn’t hurt if the beer style is left of center too. Such was the case with the Lucky Chicken Red IPA from Lucky Brew aka Kizakura Sake Brewing.
This is from Kyoto, Japan and who knows how fresh this will be so take the following review with a grain of malt. It pours a real dark brown color with a worty malt smell that comes on hard. Sorta tastes old to me which doesn’t jibe with the aroma. Not locating much in the way of hops and in fact, this tastes more English than anything.
So, a while back I read and reviewed a book about the love / hate of the liqueur Malort. A midwest, mostly Chicago, rite of passage drink. I enjoyed the book, not so much some of the people from it and really wanted to have a taste of it.
photo courtesy of Richard Rosen
Fast forward to near Christmas and a boutique liquor store, Bar Keeper in the Virgil Village section of Los Angeles were selling little mini bottles. Perfect! I got one for myself and fellow imbiber Richard to taste. Below is his series of texts while tasting….
I did not enjoy it either. It tasted like a candle. A flea market home made candle. I knew the taste was going to be off putting but what really surprised me was that there was zero alcohol burn. None. There was also no sweetness or viscosity to it either. Plus the pee yellow color did not help matters. It was just chewing potpourri.
I guess I am in the camp of why would you ever drink this.
There has alway been the smallest of slivers of organic brewers out there. It is not an easy road to take paperwork and sourcing wise and considering how the word organic has been pushed and pulled like salt water taffy, makes it even less desirable a road to take.
But Rancho West Beer has been testing the organic market for a bit now most notably at that high end smoothie emporium known as Erewhon, so I thought I would give their IPA a run.
The can says Malibu, CA but the beer is brewed south, in San Diego. Where exactly, Google and its AI would not divulge. The West Coast IPA pours a bright orange color and gives off a solid pine aroma. Decent amount of bitterness here but also an undercurrent of oily viscosity on the palate. A bit one note overall but if you are looking for organic options, this is not a bad choice.
I was reading one day, when I suddenly realized, I had not added the 2024 Firestone Walker Anniversary Ale to my rolling five year collection. I do not know why I had not recognized that deficiency earlier as each year I review the new edition. So I dutifully headed to the FW website only to find that XVIII is a Brewmasters Collective only release which was the second crappy thing that life had handed to me in November.
But when I calmed down, I reached out to learn, to my relief that the barrel-aged blend would indeed be purchasable by the likes of me and now I can review it!
Before we dive into the newest blend, let us cast our taste buds back to 2019 and the XXIII and see what five years has done for the beer.
The 2019 pours a close but not quite black color. The nose on it is cola, dark berry and a touch of chocolate. The first sip is giving me barleywine vibes as there is both a lightness on the palate with a bit of hop still there but that gets taken over, slowly, by the more roasty and cocoa hits so that the finish becomes quite smooth. Only at the end does a little alcohol burn poke out s little bit.
Now on to 2024 / XXVIII, headlined by 37% Stickee Monkee and 28% Bravo, both bourbon barrel-aged. In fact only 11% was not bourbon rested and that 11% was Rye barrel-aged. The other noteworthy bit is that a collaborative stout blend with Colorado’s Weldwerks makes up 7% of the beer.
And this blend pours a pitch black, not seeing through this. Smells clean with pops of vanilla. This is very smooth and has a nice combo of vanilla and caramel. Almost an ice cream swirl. I say this a lot but especially, in this case, how will this soft flavor age? As the glass warms, the bourbon notes start to assert themselves which gives me more hope.
Of the two, the new one is more my speed and more 2024 craft beer as well.
Wow, the aroma on this hop water from Highland Park Brewery when the can is opened is large. I am getting mint initially. That settles into straight up lupulin cone flavor. Like tearing a hop apart. That is really good. It just tastes like being in a hop field. I had low hopes since most hop waters are only so-so but this is a winner. Gonna need more of these.
In my reviews of N/A beer, I often lament that an IPA should be easy. Just throw all the hops at it. That often does not work. I currently hold the position that an N/A bourbon should be straightforward as well. Get some oak notes, get some vanilla.
Let’s see what Spiritless and their distilled non-alcoholic spirit for Bourbon cocktails, Kentucky 74 does…
I can smell a load of spice coming off of this. Is it Fireball? There is also a strange secondary aroma as well. Granted, before I get too far. I am not cocktailing, just tasting straight. Very thin and more spiced like a rum. How this applies to a traditional Bourbon cocktail eludes me. Glad I didn’t spend the $35 bucks for a bottle.
Looks like there is a renaissance of branded beers much like in the olden days of craft beer. One of these is a new blonde ale on tap at Gelson’s fancy supermarkets that is brewed for them by El Segundo brewing.
Here is the brewery description, “made with 100% Tettnanger hops, contributing to its subtle floral and herbal spice notes. The malt profile, featuring Rahr 2-Row, Rahr Premium Pilsner, Flaked Corn, and Dextrin malt, creates a harmonious balance of doughy sweetness, white bread, cake batter, and honey.”
It is quite a light beer. I abhor the word crushable but this beer is one that will go down quick. It was served extra cold which both helps on a hot day but also dampens flavor. The malt is the lead act but even it is mild and the corn finish is what you will remember most.
First off, I am so glad any time a summer beer festival chooses a lighter beer style for their marquee beer. It is just smart. That being said, this is the first year of the FWIBF beers that I have been really m’eh on.
Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe past beers have set a high bar. Either way this beer is not a favorite of mine. Firstly, it is labeled as a pilsner but it seems more a lager to me so right from the jump, I am on the back foot. It is also got a weird mix of corn and minerality that doesn’t mesh for me. If they called it a midwest lager, I would have rated it higher. But if pilsner was the target, they missed.
I am known to be ambi-beverage-ous so I was happy to receive two mega meads from Nectar Creek. Both Super. Mure and Cyser.
Starting with the Super Cyser, which looks a bit like honey in my glencairn. The aroma is apple-y and not sweet. The honey comes on strong in the first sip. But the apple is not far behind at all. A bit slick on the tongue but not in a cloying way. For something that is 14%, it is not super bitey.
The SM with blackberry has a more pronounced aroma. Berry comes through for sure. This one tastes way sweeter to me. I get sugar, then blackberry, then a smidge of honey. I do like the berry, it tastes natural and fresh. But this is the one for the sweet tooths.
Which one the casual mead appreciator would like comes down to sweetness tolerance. If you prefer dry then the Super Cyser is the choice, if you are looking for a dessert partner, the Super Mure is the pick.
Previously on Beer Search Party, I reviewed issue # 01 of the beer ‘zine, Final Gravity. That memory made me pass on # 02 but the list of articles intrigued me for # 03 so I ordered it up and here are my thoughts.
Will I be back for # 04? The answer is yes. I found the stories in this issue landed with me better from the opener about Ola Brew and their ingredient buying, to going gluten free or Ayurvedic and especially the Spanish local beer from Cooperativa Cervesera Cadaques were all fun little peeks into locales that made me want to go there. I still don’t understand the art interludes all that much because they don’t tie into beer. A beer comic would fit in my opinion, a lot better. Strangely, the weakest piece was from one of the editors David Nilsen and the most emotional was from the other editor Melinda Guerra.
