I am one class down and four to go till my quarter is over. I have another class in an hour so I should probably drink the Hop-15 before I go to class…

First off I really like the bottle, the label looks like it was printed on a home ink jet printer and then taped to the bottle.

The Hop-15 poured very smooth and is a nice rich carmel color. The head settled quickly to a nice thin film on top of this beautiful smelling beverage. Fruity and floral hop smells dominate my nose. The beer has an amazing citrus hop flavor that hits your mouth first. The bitter citrus quickly turns in to a mellow fruity hop flavor that hangs with you for a while. I really am loving this. It is still cold, but I am guessing that as it warms up the 10% abv will become a lot more noticeable.

It is like a strong, big IPA up front with a perfectly balanced fruity IPA flavor waiting in the shadows to attack.

This beer is a seasonal and if you ever see it in you would be a fool if you do not drop the $7 for the 22oz.

The Details:

22oz - 10% abv - $7

Posted by jon | 2 Comments »

Shit yeah. Got a box of four of these on my doorstep two days ago. It’s amazing I’ve waited this long to suck one down, but I knew it was gonna be special, and I wanted to find the right moment. This bad boy came direct from Michael Jackson’s beer of the month club, and I can’t wait to try this thing.

A year ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the first beer in this signature series. It was by far the best beer of the year. People were selling bottles of it for $300+ on ebay.

If you are not familiar with the series, it goes like this. American master brewer teams up with Dirk Naudts from De Proef - they combine talents, ingredients, and rare yeast strains to create a one of a kind masterpiece. Last year it was Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey in southern California, this year it’s Jason Perkins from Allagash. Hell, I can’t type anymore, and the bottle is getting warm, so lets start it up.

I pop the cork and out pours a cloudy, dirty, stinky, yeasty brew. The bubbly white head provides evidence of the high carbonation level. This thing is murky - no chunks yet, but unless you are used to dirty belgians, this thing might scare you away. 

The aroma is a thing of beauty. It’s definitely yeasty, but there are hints of the barnyard, alcohol, and bread. Also noted are some fruity hop highlights, a little citrus zest to top things off.

Damn. I say again, damn. A freaking amusement park for the mouth. Flavors coming in from all directions, it hits your tongue like an electric shock and then spreads to all corners of your mouth. It’s taken me almost a full glass to really get a handle on this thing. At first, I began to notice the pilsner malt, it’s strong, almost like an imperial pilsner, but, its soft like wheat beer. It also has a noticeably hop edge to it, thanks to the 4 month Saaz dry hop stage. This is truly a sophisticated beer from two of the masters of brewing.

As I’ve continued to enjoy this beer, there are some wonderful flavors evolving. Most notably is the presence of a sour flavor. This is a good thing. It’s not overwhelming, but just one of the many elements woven into the overall experience. What is amazing to me is that there are literally dozens of flavor elements going on here. And they all coexist in perfect harmony. It’s like a painting that from far away depicts a landscape, but up close is an incredible array of colors and brush strokes. This beer is the same. Overall, it tastes wonderful and complete, but as you begin to analyze the components, you realize how varied each is.

Amazing.

Wonderful.

A new level of beer.

Amongst the top 5 beers I’ve ever had.

ABV: 8.5%

Serving Type: 750 ml bomber and snifter

Posted by mallen | 2 Comments »

I just finished a 22-mile bike ride gaining about 2500 vertical feet and topping out at just under 7000 feet above sea level and boy am I thirsty. I should drink some water right now, but just last night I picked up my first bottle of Russian River Brewing Company. There’s no way in hell I’m drinking water right now. I’m going to try Pliny the Elder. Russian River’s double IPA, which I hear has a cult following.

This stuff looks like a perfect IPA with a nice reddish amber hue, a perfect lacy head, but forget about the looks. Smelling this thing brings an instant droooool. Perfectly sweet citrusy hops all over the place.

I just fished my entire glass before even writing about the taste. Maybe I should have let it warm a bit so see how the flavor changed, but the bottle tells me not to. Pliny tells me to “respect your elder: keep cold, drink fresh, do not age! Pliny the Elder is a historical figure, don’t make the beer inside this bottle one! Not a barley wine, do not age! Age your cheese, not your Pliny! Respect hops, consume fresh! If you must sit on eggs, not on Pliny! Do not save for a rainy day! Pliny is for savoring, not for saving! Consume Pliny fresh, or not at all!” Haa! That’s funny. I’m drunk. Should have had some water. This is a killer IPA. Get one.

ABV: 8.0%

Serving Type: 500 ml bomber and a super frickin fancy snifter

Posted by Jozey | No Comments »

Damn I love beer. Or do I? Is it the beer that I love or the culture of beer? Is it the taste, or is it the adventure of a new taste? Is it the appearance, or is it the image placed upon the bottle? 

It’s twofold I guess. I do indeed love the beverage and would certainly drink plenty of beer even if it were all nameless and served in identical natural bottles. Actually that might be nice. To open a beer without knowing what lay inside, whether it was bottled in California or Croatia. The taste experience would then come as a surprise. It’d be like onsighting the beer. No beta, no guidebook, no clue. Maybe sometimes you’d get shutdown with something out of your league. Maybe sometimes you’d get even more enjoyment out of something simple. But overall, the experience would be an expedition, you’d have to come prepared. Who knows, that first sip might yield a double hopped stinky west coast IPA, but then again, it might also reveal a smooth vanilla porta.

Tonight, I’m hangin out with this big ole double mountainberry wheat. And in contrast to what I was saying above, what makes this beer so exciting IS the fact that it has a name, label, and story to go along with it. After tasting the first beer in the 20th Anniversary series, I’ve had my sights set on tasting all four of them. So here I am with number 2 and the anticipation is killing me.

Like the first in the series, after you open this thing, you gotta let it sit. They just seem to be pretty active and you’ll save yourself some massive foam time if you wait a good 20 minutes after popin’ the top. Once this thing is ready though, you’re in for a treat. 

Crystal clear with a definite purple tinge, this beer obviously has a higher than average berry juice concentration. Delicious. Perfect summer day bbq beer if you ask me. Really its exactly what you would think it was. Wheat beer flavor, strong wheat at that, with a real nice proportion of mountain berry flavor. Its a nice marriage of flavors, wheaty and earthy with huckleberries, blueberries, and marionberries. Its not overwhelmingly fruity, and thankfully, its not too sweet. The malty wheat presence is what really keeps this beer grounded. fruity beer can be foo foo, but not in this case. kudos to the brewmaster. 

The hop note is slight and balanced as well. And with a 7.6% ABV, one of these will put you beyond blogging about beer. This thing kills the original mountainberry, not that i’ve ever had it, well maybe I have, i can’t remember, but i’m certain it kills it regardless.

ABV: 7.6%

Serving Type: Big Ass Bomber with a cork and wax

Posted by mallen | No Comments »

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 | No Comments »

 Here we have the Urthel Hop-it. As the story goes, “following a visit to the American Northwest in January, 2005, Hildegard returned to Belgium enthusiastic about of the different IPA’s (Indian Pale Ale) she had tasted. With her passion for barley, yeast and especially hops, she wanted to brew an IPA of her own. It had to be special, an hommage to hops in the style of American Craft Brewers, but with a real Flemish touch. Her touch!

The beer poured out ready to party. Full of carbonation and emitting a fresh aroma of hops and belgian yeast. The head was served up proudly and settled into a frothy labyrinth. Evidence of the bottle conditioning was ever present in the fine mist of particulates suspended within. 

The taste is like a double knife to the tongue. There’s a sharp belgian yeast note that pricks my tongue, and at the same time i’m hit with the bitterness of hops. These two predominent flavors blast forth like the lance of a knight charging on horseback. Ah, but then there is the initial aftertaste that is warm and malty, but this quickly reveals the alcohol content resulting in a lingering aftertaste. 

I don’t know. A part of me wants to give this beer a glowing review, but I have to admit that with all the belgian yeast/west coast hop beers i’ve had over the past year or so, they all seem to taste a little wrong to me. The combination of the two flavors doesn’t do it for me. The fight each other. There’s a battle over who’s the strongest? West Coast Hops vs. Belgian Yeast. It’s an aggressive style I think, and though bringing the best of both worlds together sure seems like a good idea. . . in this instance, there’s still some work to be done.

Posted by mallen | No Comments »

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 | 1 Comment »

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 | No Comments »

The Chophouse Brewery is the go-to place in downtown Denver for a great slab of steak. Located in the heart of Lodo, they have a solid collection of brews ranging from pilsners to dry stouts. I went in search of their Wild Turkey bourbon barrel aged stout that was recommend to me by Mallen.

The Chophouse serves this stout in a beautiful stemmed snifter and it was black as motor oil. It had an average sized dark-brown head that showed perfect lacing throughout. Incredible presentation!

The nose was unexpectedly subtle, but held distinct notes of chocolate, molasses and of course bourbon, but it was not boozy.

I was desperate to taste this beer because it looked so damn good! The initial taste was a doozy. A tart, smokey, oakey bourbon with a silky smooth milky stout rounding it out. There was a raisin finish that reminded me of some of my favorite barley wines. I’ve had bourbon barrel aged stouts before, but none so smooth and none that held onto the original characteristics of the stout. This beer is a perfect 10 in my book. Seek this beer out, it will definitely be worth the trip.

Serving Type: Draft in a large brandy snifter

ABV: ?%

Posted by Jozey | No Comments »

Well, I just reviewed the 11th anniversary, so what better way to follow than with the 12th anniversary.

This sucker looks badass. Black, like tar, with a chocolate head on top. The aroma is rich and malty with a definite dark chocolate note. No hop presence noted.

The taste is divine. Malty richness with a smooth chocolate body, backed by a solid bitterness - all combined into something not unlike carbonated chocolate milk. No, not yoohoo. Think Godiva chocolate milk. There may be a bit of a hop characteristic, but it blends so well with the bitter chocolate that it is hard to tell. I agree with fellow taster Josey that this one would definitely improve with some cellar time. It would likely grow smoother and even more drinkable.

While this beer may not be groundbreaking, it is definitely a fine pick and easily worthy of a spot within the Stone Allstar Lineup.

Posted by mallen | No Comments »