On LABW8 eve, I am looking back to LABW7 and the tart saison that I stashed from last year’s Unity brew from Smog City.
The 2015 Unity pours really clear with a little bit of bubbling around the edges of the glass. The tartness is still there but it softens quickly into a bit of a buttery flavor. A bit viscous on the tongue until the next sip washes it away. Little to no aroma at this point. But there is some lemon rind notes going on. I wasn’t expecting a wonderful experience after a year for a beer that is mid 5% in ABV. More an experiment than anything else but it is a great way to get into the LABW mindset.
Review – Botanical IPA from Dry River
This is my first IPA from the Dry River crew and I am excited to see what these botanicals add/subtract and how they have interpreted the style.
Bouquet is a “barrel fermented IPA “dry hopped” with locally foraged botanicals.” Which the brewer believes imparts spice, orange peel, grapefruit, white pepper, clove and sweet citrus.
Let’s see if it does…..
I will have to respectfully disagree about the IPA but this is made up for in the botanical part of the name. This is way spicy. Murky brown with a big earthy aroma to it. Cinnamon, nutmeg and just damn winter ale like to me. Like walking into a spice purveyor. More saison like to me. I am even catching some really rough pineapple notes too. But that is a deep cut.
I really like this but it is quite different from the “normal” beers out there.
1/2 a Camp
While perusing the shelves at my Trader Joe’s, I noticed that the orphan section had some of the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 2016 beers being sold as singles. Sweet Sunny South, the Southern Table Beer, Moxee Moron, the Imperial Session IPA and West Latitude Session Rye with Hibiscus were available. Where the other 1/2 of the variety pack went, I do not know.
So, let’s delve into the lighter/hoppier side of this years collaborations….
Sweet Sunny South Southern Table Beer (4.9% ABV) – An easy-drinking, malt-forward beer with a tangy finish, featuring traditional Southern ingredients like peaches, tea, corn grits and honey.
A great start to the 2016 variety box. Aroma starts a little metallic but then the corn notes start popping and don’t really stop until tropical fruit (papaya, guava, prickly pear) step into the breach. There is a wine-like tannic finish that I wish was more tea like because I would call this beer more Sunny South and lose the sweet descriptor from the name. But this is a complex summer beer that I quite like.
West Latitude Session Rye with Hibiscus (5.5% ABV) – A Session Rye combining a Hawaiian influence of hibiscus with California’s love of hops.
Another beer and another winner. Hibiscus is usually too potent of an addition to a beer but due to the rye and darker malts, it is lessened. The potpourri aroma is really nice. A dry finish. The tea that I wanted in the first beer is really evident here. Just a touch of bitterness as well. Well done to the Bay Area + Maui Brewing.
Moxee-Moron Imperial Session IPA (7.5% ABV) – A style contradiction honoring the Pacific Northwest’s hop-bomb heritage.
This is a weird one. Probably my least favorite but not by far. It seems more Belgian than IPA. Almost a hint of Brett aged IPA + Weizen + Kettle soured. Quite a bitter punch at the end though. I can’t pin this one down which is frustrating.
This is a damn fine start to a variety box. I honestly don’t know if the other 3 can top this start from a weirdness and unique standpoint, these three really nailed it.
Review – Extrovert IPA from Left Hand
When I saw that Left Hand Brewing was releasing a Session IPA under the Introvert name, I knew that the Extrovert probably wasn’t far behind. And the much more assertive IPA with a blend of Jarrylo, Cascade, and Comet and expansive dry hopping is much louder.
The literature on the beer makes claim to tropical flavors, pineapple notes, mango, and orange blossom. Plus a bite balanced by biscuit malt. To me that initial bitter bite obscures fruit notes underneath. Creating more of a fruit peel taste as opposed to the juicy sweetness of the fruit. the aroma is the real puzzler here. It has a grassy top note with more of a spent grain profile to it. The aroma does not lead into the bitter taste. As the beer warms up, a serious grapefruit pith note takes hold leading to a quite dry finish which I like. I just wish that the aroma wasn’t such a mis-direction. In the end, this beer tastes quite stronger than expected and could probably easily slip into a Double IPA category.
Up from the Cellar – Gone to Plaid from Noble Ale Works
We return to the cellar and in honor of the Noble Ale Works wins at the recent Craft Brewers Conference, I have cracked open a Wee Heavy from the Anaheim based brewery.
Gone to Plaid pours a dark brown with red tinting to it. A woody sweet aroma greets the nose. Initially a little caramel sweet but a light drying bitterness closes the gap fairly quickly. This is a cheek warmer for sure. The label mentions fruit cake, toffee and brandy and I concur with that last descriptor the most. This has the weight of that spirit running through it.
I don’t quite remember when this was purchased or where but the Scotch Ale has been in my hands for close to a year and a half. This beer is based on a recipe from home Brewer Darren Shelton who won best of show at the Anaheim Fest of Ales in 2013.
The beer may have lost some brightness that would have added to the flavor by subtracting out done of the sweetness but I think this beer could have aged into something really port-like with more time.
Taste Showdown Nitro IPA vs Nitro Wit from Sam Adams
Sam Adams and their Nitro Project has finally started to show up in L.A. (though BevMo seems to hide it strategically through their Burbank store).
I purchased four packs of both the IPA and a White Ale to see which would win taste-wise and which best showcased the Nitrogenation process.
I started with the Creamy & Smooth White Ale. The sound of the can popping is like starting up an engine. The head is big and creamy. There is near milkshake quality to this. Almost like a horchata shake. Pie spice nutmeg-gy ness. It seems to me that the essential subtle shades of Wit Bier (AKA White Ale) are overwhelmed by the creamy nitro. As it warms, the navel orange notes really start to pick up which adds a missing dimension.
Next on to the Bright & Citrusy, the hops certainly do combat the nitro more. There is a pungent, piney hop kick to this beer that seeps through the foamy head. Lots of wood notes to this hop blend. As it stays cold the nitro half stays in effect. I sampled the beer straight from the ‘fridge and also after sitting at room temp and found it to initially be more citrus focused before settling into the woods.
Overall, I would take the White Ale since it held a little more nuance. The IPA fought through the Nitro and unleveled that playing field too much. Now I might have to try the third offering, the coffee stout/
Featured Review – Cold Brew IPA from Rogue
From my viewpoint Coffee IPA’s have similar issues to black IPA’s. The main one being that it can be devilishly hard to balance the two competing forces of coffee and hops. Rogue Ales Cold Brew IPA comes close though. The coffee from Stumptown dominates in both aroma and flavor with a kind of green, unroasted bean touch at first. Then a flowering of iced coffee flavors swirl into view. There is a tiny touch of citrus bitterness from the hops at the end.
Now if this was labeled as a coffee pale or coffee XPA or just a cold brew ale, I would be more generous in my praise. It is a tasty brew and I do enjoy the aroma a lot but it doesn’t quite reach the IPA minimum bar.
Review – Hello LA from Highland Park Brewery
Rain doesn’t visit L.A. all that often but it came out on the day of the first canned release from Highland Park Brewery. HPB crew and brewmaster Bob Kunz were selling their beer in the cold and drizzle at the Hermosillo.
I got there three hours into the sale and was glad that they had four packs of there Hello LA IPA left. (They would all be snatched up by the end of the night, so sayeth social media.)
And for a first effort on can design the label is way cool. If these had been on a shelf, you could not have missed it. The white background wrap around is bright and cheerful and not only locally brewed but locally designed as well.
The beer itself is light and fruit forward and dare I say a sessionable IPA. The Mosaic and Citra hops really work well together and also pack a late punch of bitterness that adds a layer to the beer. A great combo of the lighter side of IPA (which I gravitate towards) but with a nice kick.
Bob has made one of my favorite pilsners, he won the recent LA IPA Festival and he does very inventive sours and now he does canned beers that are perfect for sending to other parts of the country to show off L.A. beer.
Featured Review – Come Together from Double Mountain
Even if you are not a Beatles fan, the thought of a steam pale beer might intrigue you.
Here is what Double Mountain was aiming for with Come Together: “For Chef’s Week, we paired up with Chefs Doug Adams (Imperial), Adam Sappington (Country Cat), and Rick Gencarelli (Lardo) to create something special. We wanted to brew something that would be perfect to pair with a menagerie of menus and keep things coming together nicely. We chose to ferment a Czech Pilsner strain at ale temperature, creating a pale ale with citrus and pine grove aromas, and a crisp, clean balance.”
To me, Come Together is very much earthy in character. There is quite a bit of bitterness. How this pairs with food is questionable to me. Rye and basil notes to me as well. The lager yeast is quite prevalent. Getting a touch of pear for some odd reason too. It is quite enjoyable but I don’t know how it would work except for maybe a salad with some bitter greens in it that also had a creamy dressing of some sort. A push and pull dynamic. Because even on its own, it is quite bitter.
Review – 2016 Russian Imperial Stout from Stone
Thanks to the PR department at Stone Brewing Co., I was able to taste the 2016 version of the Russian Imperial Stout. And they must have known that I was partial to the non-dressed up base version.
This RIS has milk chocolate in the aroma. It is also quite luxurious in mouthfeel, almost like satin and there is a little bit of ABV heat at the back. This is not a super complex beer though there is a trace of some coffee bitterness, light though. Underneath is a bit of pineapple fruit on the tongue which might age away if you kept it around.