So, I went to this beer tasting event the other night. It was cool and all, but at the same time, beer tasting events are sort of strange. Cram 100 people into a tight art studio with no tables or chairs and make everyone wait in line so that they can get one oz. worth beer. I guess the important thing to remember is that it is a beer tasting event, not a party. It feels like a party, there’s cheese and crackers, everyone looks ready to party, the music is playing and there’s beer a plenty! But, no you can’t drink it. No, you have to wait in an orderly line with your wine glass and schmooze the server for your sample, then get the hell out of the way, because there’s 20 other people in line.
It’s true that I got to taste some very rare beer, but at the same time I only got to sample the beer. No full glasses, hardly a full swallow, then back to the line. Rinse, repeat if necessary.
So, anyway, despite my complaints, I did enjoy myself and here’s a list of some of the beers I tried:
Deschutes - The Dissident (awesome sour. major step up for the brewery. Best of show IMO)
Stone - 2007 Old Guardian Barleywine (Great barleywine, mellow and sweet)
Stone - Cali-Belgique (perfect blend of cali hops and belgian yeast)
Rogue - Dry-hop Red (fantastic as usual)
Alaskan - Alaskan Barleywine (tasty)
Alaskan - Alaskan IPA (Good nose, medium taste)
Avery - Ellie’s Brown (one of my favorite browns)
Avery - Hog Heaven Barleywine (never realized how hoppy this thing is! wow)
Great Divide - Oak Aged Yeti (still one of the best imperial stouts around)
Oskar Blues - Velvet Elvis (very rare and very tasty mellow roasty stout. mmm)
Stranahan Whiskey (had to cap off the night with a taste)
So you might think I’d be hammered after consuming that list, but, you’d be wrong. I bet I had a beer and a half total.
Posted by mallen |
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What happens when you combine snowboarding and beer? Euphoria. Well, that’s what happens when Ska Brewing and Venture Snowboards team up anyways. Ska brews the beer, Venture brands the beer, they throw a party and everyone has fun. Sounds like a perfect match to me.
The Euphoria Pale pours out a beautiful amber-red. Crystal clear but with a subpar head of foam. The aroma was a bit of a let down. I was bracing for that dank hit of hops, but it never came. Instead, this pale stays with its malty roots and hides its hoppy character behind a wall of grain.
The taste is a different story though. The hops definitely come through with a nice floral note that is sweet and fruity. Its interesting because generally a beer this hoppy is equally bitter. Not here. This thing almost tastes like a lite beer with its lack of bitter notes. It has a lingering passion fruit aftertaste that is really something.
Overall, it’s not what I expected and I’m glad. Too many pale ales seem to use the same recipe. Ska breaks from standard a bit here and ends up with something that ads a slight twist to the old classic. Pick one up, open it up, drink it down. What are you waiting for.
Posted by mallen |
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I was in Mondo Vino the other night and noticed this beer sitting quietly in the cooler. After careful examination, it became clear that I had to give this one a go. After all, with an ingredient list reading Water, gerstemout, hop, and candijsuiker en gist how could you go wrong?
It poured out aggresive, almost like a champagne. The color is coppery-orange and mighty dirty, we’re talking major chunks suspended in the beer and a thick sludge of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Don’t grimace, that’s the good stuff! The aroma is yeasty and fruity, with hints of apple and pear.
The taste is typical of a belgian beer. It starts as a complex blend of flavors and continues to get more complex as it warms. It’s nicely carbonated, though smooth to drink. Fruit and spice intermix. Green apple and orange peel mixing with coriander and honey. They claim that the “taste ends with a nice afterglow.” At 10% ABV, I agree, a nice warm finish tops off this festive brew.
Overall thoughts - With Double and Triple Pale Ales and Imperial IPAs dominating the US breweries, its easy to overlook the growing variety of belgians available. This beer is a perfect example of how creative one can get with a belgian ale. It’s almost completely void of hop flavor, yet it tastes balanced and complete. At $9 for one 11oz bottle, this one is probably a waste for most, however for the guy that has to try them all… It’s worth the one-time investment. All I know, is that after an exhausting day snowboarding in 12+ inches of fresh pow, this thing hits the spot.
Posted by mallen |
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Just in case you missed it, the results have been posted here.
As always, many of these could have been predicted, however, there were several surprises.
California brweries had a strong showing in all the Pale Ale categories, taking nearly every medal except Gold and Bronze in the American-Style Strong Pale Ale category, which went to Hop Bomb, Rock Bottom Brewing, Louisville, CO and the Organic IPA from Hopworks in Portland respectively. It was great to see the Hop 15 take Bronze in the Imperial IPA category, though I was surprised not to see a selection from Moylens make the top three - wonder if they entered any beer. . .
Oh, and wow what a nail-biter in the America-Style Light Lager Category where Coors Light narrowly beat out Old Milwaukee and Keystone in a who-cares-they-taste-like-piss-anyway grudge match.
Other WTF notables are Hurricane from Anheuser-Busch winning gold in American-Style Specialty Lager - anyone out there had a hurricane? Good God, its a 40oz of paint thinner. I think they go for like $1.15 a piece. Hurricane beat out Natty Ice and Busch Ice - glad I didn’t have to judge that one.
Russian River and Dogfish Head both had strong showings placing in several categories. It was also good to see Jolly Pumpkin, Victory, and the timeless Alaskan Smoked Porter make the charts. Several Colorado favorites also made a strong showing, most notably, Sweet George’s Brown from Dillon receiving a gold in English Style Brown Ale and the Fifteen from Avery pulling in Silver in the Experimental Beer category.
I was disappointed that Southern Sun didn’t win anything, but oh well, there’s always next year and despite the lack of medals they remain a local favorite.
Posted by mallen |
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After three big nights of saturating ourselves with some of the finest brews on the planet we decided we needed a break. Especially considering the next two nights were going to be just as big if not bigger (Dog Fish Head and Russian River were in our future!). The biggest event we missed was raiding Greg Koch’s Stone Brewing stash. Every year Greg lets the Falling Rock dip into his private collection of kegs. This year was an ’07 Russian Imperial Stout, a keg of the Alesmith/Mikkeler/Stone Collaboration (which I ended up tasting the next night!), the 10th Anniversary Ale and a keg of Vertical Epic 08.08.08. It was a hard decision to make, but since this event started at 11pm we decided to recharge for the upcoming nights.
Posted by Jozey |
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Once a year the Great American Beer Festival comes to Denver, Colorado to host one of the greatest beer festivals in the world. A little secret, which has been catching on slowly, can be found at the Falling Rock Tap House during the week leading up to the GABF. Several of the top brewery’s will dig deep in their collection of kegs and pick out something very special. It might be an imperial stout that’s been sitting for four years or maybe your favorite brown ale that they placed in a bourbon barrel for a few months. Whatever it is, you can be sure that it won’t be at the GABF…only at the Falling Rock. All you have to do is jump on the Falling Rock’s website and you can see what day and time these certain special brews will be unveiled. So what I’m saying is you would have to be a god damn fool to miss this because nowhere on the planet will you find a finer concentration of beer of this caliber.
That being said, last night I went to the Falling Rock to sample brews from Day 1. On a typical Monday night the Falling Rock is a very mellow place, but this night there was definitely a buzz in the air coming from the 70 or-so people in the tap house. They have a ‘Countdown to GABF’ clock on the wall and it was finally reading 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Hours, 0 Minutes and 0 Seconds. I went straight to the bar and asked my bartender what I need to try. The first brew was an 8 oz glass of Odell’s Imperial Stout from 2006. Two years of mellowing definitely smoothed out this stout and brought out some great chocolaty flavors. I couldn’t believe how much better this 2 year old stout was compared to the un-aged version! Definitely my fav of the night. Next came a double brown ale from Lagunitas. This one didn’t have a name…it was just some random creation from the brewer. This 8% pint smacked me in the mouth with its robust maltyness. Much more alcohol in the flavor compared to the Odell’s stout, but still damn good. My third and final brew for the night was a double IPA from Dry Dock Brewing. They brewed up this batch just for the Falling Rock and it was a nicely balance bitter has hell IPA.
There were several others that I needed to try, but it’s all about moderation during this week, otherwise you’ll blow your load prematurely and miss out on good beer.
Stay tuned for more…
Posted by Jozey |
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Just hanging out in my little house on top of the hill. The clouds are pink and the corn is smelling great as it roasts on the grill. Tried picking up a book, but can’t keep my mind from wandering to the realization that tomorrow will be my last day working at the best gear shop on the planet. This change is welcome, however I’ll be leaving the people who are most dear to me, so the feeling is bittersweet. I decide to rummage through the fridge to wrassle up a cold one and let my mind wander a bit more. I had completely forgotten about the first beer that I came across. Avery’s ‘Ale to the Chief’ is what I found. This is a Presidential Pale Ale to celebrate Inauguration Day on January 20, 2009. Since Inauguration Day will also be bringing a welcome change I thought it fitting due to my current situation. Besides, if you’re letting your mind wander you damn well better be drinking a good beer.
This crisp ale is trickling into my glass like a mandolin intro. Red and robust with a foamy white head that is lacing beautifully. There is a nice precession of bubbles rising to keep this head intact. This is what an IPA should look like.
She smells wonderful. There is a very modest bouquet of sweet hops. There is also a light sweetness coming from malt. None of this is obnoxious, unlike some of the “extreme” IPA’s that I’ve been trying lately. This is a welcome change. Starting to think about my last day again, so lets drink this thing.
Sweet, then warm, then mellow dry hopped Cascade’s. Words just can’t describe how much I love beer and this ale is a perfect example as to why. This one is best when warmed up a bit. I will sure miss working with my friends, but thankfully there’s good beer to give us a reason to get back together and catch up. Time to eat some corn.
ABV: 8.75%
Posted by Jozey |
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This was the first time trying one of Moylan’s beers, but I was immediately impressed by their label’s look and messages. Big “California Brewer”, “Drink Safely”, “Recycle”, “LIVE ALE – KEEP REFRIGERATED”, several awards and finally a brief description of the hops used in this ale. I was thinking that this stuff has to be great.
It poured a crystal clear amber, which was a bit lighter than I was expecting for this style. Nice white creamy head that pitted deeply and had some sticky lacing. It looked really good.
The nose had a distinct grapefruit similar to all of my favorite IPA’s. There was not much grain there, just a nice fresh dry-hop aroma.
The flavor was all hops, both bitter and sweet. A noticeable oily slick mouth feel probably from all the lupulin oils. This coated the inside of my mouth and my lips. I couldn’t get it off my lips until I wiped ‘em with my hand. I’ve never experienced this before! There is a hefty grain bill to balance out the hops, which adds a nice sweetness to this ale. The sweetness is that of caramel and toffee. This brew is actually balanced out in an impessive way. Nice and sweet and then very bitter right on the back of the tongue. The 9.2% ABV is non-existent, so watch out for this one!
ABV: 9.2%
Serving Type: 20 oz bomber
Posted by Jozey |
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I love the Deschutes Brewery, I think they do a great job making classic NW style beers.
I was excited to see two of their 20 yr anniversary beers at the store a while back. The Black Butte XX(to be reviewed later) and the Wit Beer.
The Wit had a smooth pour with a lightly cratered head and what I would call medium lacing. It is definitely a Wit beer, the color is very light and golden, looks like it is going to be very refreshing.
The nose is very subtle, I can catch some orange scents, some esters, but mostly spices. It is in the 90’s outside and I am really excited to taste this beer. Crisp, clean, citrus and spicy. This beer is very refreshing, it has a decent amount of carbonation which helps bring out the clean and simple orange zest flavors. The flavor to hit the back of the tongue is spicy. I am having a hard time picking out any one spice, I am pretty sure I can taste the coriander seed, but overall the spices blend well. The one flavor I feel this beer is lacking is the classic Belgian yeast flavor. You can pick it out, but overall the yeast flavor is hardly there.
Overall I would say this beer is very refreshing, a perfect drinking beer for a sunny day BBQ. I personally like more esters in a Wit beer, but I think that Deschutes did a good job producing a NW style Wit beer.
Serving type: 22oz
ABV: 5.5%
Posted by jon |
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Grand Teton Brewery recently unveiled its four 20th Anniversary beers. All four are krausened, and all four look delicious. This week, I’ll try out the Sweetgrass Double IPA.Having sampled a number of Grand Teton’s cellar reserves and being an admitted hophead, I have some high expectations for this beer. OK, lets get at it.
The beer looks perfect. It is slightly cloudy, with an amber color that is dark enough to suggest a hearty malt backbone, but light enough to suggest a high alcohol percentage. The head is a thick off-white that is pitting nicely as the beer relaxes in the glass. I love a beer with a beautiful head, and this one sets the standards for IPAs. The aroma unleashed during the pour was nothing but fresh citrus hops. But, upon closer inspection, I get hints of malt interlaced back in the nooks and crannies of the hop aroma. I would normally move on to the taste, but I think I’ll tarry here and explore what I smell a little while longer. I can’t help it really, the hop aroma is just so damn fresh, its like sticking your nose into a bag of fresh hop cones, or better yet its like mashing fresh hops in your fingers and bringing it to your nose. If heaven has an aroma. . .
This beer is truly fantastic. The flavor explodes on the tongue and despite the high concentration of hops, there is a nice balance for those who examine a little deeper. Its a taste that lingers as well. I can still feel a tickle in the back of my throat that is urging me to have another swallow. The second taste reveals more. Initially, the beer hits my tongue sending a shock of hops to my brain, as I begin to swallow and the beer travels back, I get the hit of malts and even more hops on the sides of my tongue. It finishes crisp, but with an inviting resinous aftertaste.
I can’t say enough about this beer. It represents the pinnacle of its class. At 7.5% alcohol, its no lightweight either. I can only imagine that this beer will age nicely as well. I think I’ll lay a couple down and see how they mature. If you get the chance, don’t pass this one up.
Type: Bottle
ABV: 7.5%
Posted by mallen |
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