7.30 - First Tasting

So recently I've been connecting with some awesome beer geeks via Twitter, Instagram.. etc. and we decided to get together for a tasting.. because why the fuck not!?

For these tastings, I'll simply note something quick about each beer..  deal with it

(note - this photo is missing one of the beers we had that night..  guess we got too drunk to add it!)

Tree House Brewing - That's What She Said

a 5.4% Sweet Stout.  Slightly less body than a typical low ABV Stout, but great roast and some nice milk chocolates

New Belgium - La Folie (2013)

a 6.0% Flanders Oud Bruin.  Sweet & sour in all it's glory.. there's great cherry and oak flavors without being overly tart.  Sweet malts but a touch dry.. complex yet balanced.  wow

16 Mile Brewing - Responders Ale

a 4.0% "American Blonde" where a portion of the proceeds go to a national fund for first responders who pass in the line of duty.  Very light, almost no hint of the 'blonde'.. closest thing to a craft light beer (excluding Sam Light..)

Funkwerks - Tropic King

a 7.5% "Imperial" Saison.  Brewed with NZ hops.. this has awesome tropical fruit notes with a fairly high amount of effervescence and just a hint of barnyard funk.. like a champagne Tripel

Tree House - Old Man

a 5.4% ESB.  incredible.. never had an ESB that really impressed me, but this one is great.  perfect amount of malt and bitterness without any fruity or piney hops.. I can imagine drinking this in the heyday of the British Empire

The Lone Pint - Yellow Rose

a 6.8% ABV 62 IBU single-hop IPA (Mosaic).  To me, the standout of the night.. got a 750 growler as an extra.. just so perfectly smooth, hoppy, balanced, bright..  there's touches of floral and berry to the hop profile as well.. honestly, I'd take this over Heady any day, and that's a strong statement

Night Shift - Somer Weisse

a 5.2% 'Berliner Weisse' brewed with lemongrass and ginger..  already reviewed before, but wow.  so citrusy, so tart, so much ginger zing to this.. yet it remains refreshing and bright.  IMO, the best beer they put out

I look forward to many many more tastings with these crazy people!  they know who they are.  Everyone has different tastes, different beers they are able to obtain..   People, if you don't participate in even just 1 or 2 beer tastings a year.. you're severely missing out on the beer world!!!

7.27 - Texas Time

Part of the fun of trading is you never know what you're going to get, and sometimes you get beers that are completely unexpected.. aka 'extras'   A very ingenious name, no?

Real Ale Brewing Co - Brewer's Cut 006 - Blonde Barleywine

a 9.3% ABV 50 IBU hybrid dry-hopped Barleywine..  hoppier and far lighter than any Barleywine I've ever seen.  A hazy, deep orange pour with almost no head and no carbonation.  There's a lot of floral and citrusy hops in the nose, with some thick, sweet citrus rind and cracker malts.  Honey, booze..  a lot going on here with a halfway decent balance to it all.  Dry-hopped is right.. this is hoppier than even the most hopped-up Americal Barleywine you can find.. Syrup-y sweet and thick, there's a ton of concentrated citrus and booze.  Despite that description, it's very drinkable for the ABV and style and halfway refreshing in a sick, twisted sort of way..  image cutting an American Barleywine 4 parts to 1 with a thick citrusy DIPA and toss in a dash of a Belgian Wit.. definitely unique and rather tasty!

- - 7 Hops!

now this is what I've been waiting for..

Southern Star - Black Crack

an 8.25% ABV Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels (base beer is Buried Hatchet).  Got this in a trade, and am starting to fall in love with BB stouts and heard great things about this.. tons of hype.. is it worth it?  Deep mocha, almost black pour with a small tan head.  Chocolate, vanilla, burnt coffee and rich dark fruit on the nose.. like a liquid tootsie roll.. with a faint touch of the bourbon.  It's roasty, smooth, sweet, and far lighter in body than you'd expect from a BB Stout.  Nutty, chocolatey, nice oak qualities with sweet bourbon and vanilla hints.  Amazingly drinkable for the style, I would love to have this year-round.  Seems more complex than I was able to pick up on.. multifaceted yet approachable.  Terrific!

- - 8 Hops!

7.25 - JA Collab

'bout time for this one..   Jack's Abby has pretty much been the most sough-after new MA brewery, especially in the online beer communities and Lawson's is almost as elusive as HF..  so a collab must be fantastic and totally amazing.. right?  Let's find out!

Jack's Abby - Smoked Maple Lager (w. Lawson's Finest Liquids)

a 6.0% ABV Rauchbier with 100% VT maple syrup added.  A rich copper pour and thick head.. a sweet, meaty aroma is the first thing to hit.  Like caramel-basted brisket, or brown sugar-dipped mild cigars..  the bacon-esque quality is completely dominant.  Sadly, the sweetness mainly faded away with the first sip.. almost no maple syrup, brown sugar, or even caramel notes to be found.  It's pure bready and smokey.  Which may not be a bad thing.. but here it's a bit out-of-balance..  too much meat, too much smoke.  There's essentially no bitterness to this and any malts are hidden by the smoke, too.  Despite everything I'm describing, it's actually a very clean beer and a surprisingly light-bodied beer for having such flavor.  I guess I've been spoiled by both breweries' hoppy offerings and this threw me off.  But it's also not as balanced as I'd like nor do I think it could have been...

- - 6 Hops!

7.19 - W00T

Just another Friday night.. spending some time with a great friend.. so duh, beer!

Tired Hands - 5 out of 5

an Imperial Stout at around 10% that was crowd-sourced as to what would be added.  The results?  Cacao. Peanut Butter.  Toasted Marshmallows.  PA Maple Syrup.  Vanilla Beans.  PA Roasted Espresso Beans.

aka - holy fuck in a bottle.  Had someone send me a growler of this.. super thankful!  Popping this, a sweet sticky smell fills the room.  Pitch black pour with just a slight ring of a rich mocha head. (there was some spill in shipment, probably losing a bit of the carbonation - if any even existed)  This one is tough to describe, but one of the best, hugely-flavored, but unbelievably balanced.  One minute, it's thick and chocolately, the next it's lighter, smoother, with touches of vanilla and the peanut butter.. then the espresso kicks in..  As it warms, the flavors shine through even more.  It's mind-boggling how good of a beer this is.. total loss for words!

- - 10 Hops!

Stone - Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout

a collaboration between Stone, sci-fi hero extraordinaire Wil Wheaton and Fark.com creator Drew Curtis. Beer geeks and real geeks, this is a unique collab.. which also holds the title of Stone's strongest beer at 65 IBUs and 13 freaking percent ABV.  yes.. Stone, known for it's huge beer, had never hit 13% before!  This is an Imperial Stout brewed with pecans, wheat, and rye with a portion aged in bourbon barrels before being re-blended.  Another super-dark pour, almost pure black.. decent brown head for such a huge beer.  It's got another sticky sweet aroma, more chocolate and bourbon than anything else.  There's a definite scent of booze along with some underlying coffee and rich cherry/plum.  As for the taste, it's fairly one-dimensional as a rich, boozy stout.  The nutty pecans, the rye spice.. even the bourbon..  it's not here.  It's just a very hot, rich Imperial that's very imbalanced.  With age, this will probably be great.. but Stone is just cranking out beers far too quickly at this point..

- - 4 Hops

Backlash - Uprising! Series 1 of  3: Catalyst

the first in our DIPA series, at 8.5% and 85 IBUs.  Take the success that was Salute, change the hops to showcase a single variety and you have our Uprising! series of Double IPAs, with Catalyst using only Amarillo hops (and a fucking bulldog on the label.. suck it).  A deep orange pour with a fluffy head, this gives off a crazy bitter, tropical citrus nose.  Super pungent.  There's some sweet malts, but nothing is holding back the hops.  The taste follows suit, but for 8.5%, the booze is totally hidden.  It's smooth and deceptively easy to drink.. my first pint went down in about 12 minutes!  It's got a slightly drying finish with grapefruit and pineapple through and through.. not overly bitter and sharp, but enough of a bite for you to remember the hops are there.  The majority of the hoppiness found it's way to into the citrus.  I may be biased, but this is fully my sort of DIPA.  Smooth, sweet-ish, tons of citrus and some pine hops.. easy drinking and hidden ABV.  Plus Stout on the label!  (Stout is the bulldog.. do you goddamn research!)

- - 9 Hops!

7.16 - Vaca Wrap Up

So over the weekend the girl and I took a little summer vacation up to coastal Maine.  Just what we both needed!  The icing on the cake was that for one full day, I had myself a beer vacation.  We went and visited 3 breweries, plus go to a well-known beer restaurant for dinner!  Lucky me, right!?

First stop - Maine Brewing Co!  Most geeks in New England know the lure of fresh Lunch and MO.. if you don't, get on that train!

Luckily for me, the girl is staring to enjoy craft beer too, so we were able to get the 8 sampler tray for something like $20 and I wouldn't have to finish them off myself.  The highlights were of course the Lunch and MO.. Lunch is a fantastic IPA.. aromatic and strong.. orange peel, citrus, pine.. perfect blend of east and west coast IPAs.  While their most well-known, MO is my favorite.  Both were crazy fresh (within 4 or 5 days) but fresh MO beats Lunch any day to me.  It's a cleaner beer, lighter (duh - it's a Pale!) with a more balanced profile and cleaner hops.  Simply sublime.  Bernadette found a new love in their vanilla bean-aged Stout - Mean Old Tom.  She may like this more than me!  Some other highlights were the Collab II and III, both Saisons (Bluejacket and Nogne O, respectively) with the II with a nice hoppy, orange take on a Saison. And we had the place all to ourselves, as there was a beer fest happening a few miles away!

Up next - Rising Tide!

I like barrels.. so what!?

aaand again!  They had a really cool little operation here.. actually inside of a previous semi-trailer garage. Small little tasting bar and they were more than hospitable and welcoming to us.  They are making some solid beers and, based off their success, are able to start experimenting more so.  There was a beer aged with dates that the tasting room manager was kind enough to let us sample on the down low, and their red wine aged Saison - Lyra - is simply terrific, especially coming out of a small, new-ish place not known for barrel aging.  Highly recommend this place; emphasis on the guests/customers and great beers!


The final stop - Allagash.  You can't mention Portland (Maine) and craft beer without talking about Allagash. The most well-known brewery in Maine, by far the largest, and some of the most unique.

See.. told ya I love barrels!

A pretty solid tour (only official tour of the trip - Rising Tide is a simple, one room place and MBC wasn't running tours that day) and having $12-$20 bottles as sample tastes is a nice touch too!  Allagash is pumping out the most consistent stuff in Maine with nice touches on well-known styles - Belgian Tripel, but aged in bourbon barrels.. a clean Saison with a touch of Brett.. and to my knowledge the first coolship system in the US (look it up, ya no0b)  A must for any trip to Portland!

Finally, we needed some food in us.  We were gonna hit up Novare Res, a super well-known craft haven in downtown Portland, but really just wanted some solid grub so ended up at the Great Lost Bear  (no bash on Novare.. but they're more known for their extensive high-end beer selection and not their greasy, fill-you-up pub food)  I snagged a sampler including some local Marshall Wharf, In'finit and Oxbow, plus a brew from VT I had been dying to try - Switchback.  Great beer.. great burgers.. great day!

And in addition to TRYING the beers... I also purchased a ridiculous amount of beer to haul back with me.. see below!!

PHEW

7.16 - MO

Fresh as FUCK

So..  one of our stops on vacation was Maine Beer Company.. on July 13.  A beer purchased on that day is shown below..  and was bottled FOUR days before that.  The only way to get fresher is to live at a brewery and steal freshly bottled beer like some weird malt gnome

Maine Beer Co - MO Pale Ale
a 6.0% American Pale Ale, unknown IBUs.. named for Madeline and Oliver, the brewer's twins..  this is their first stab at an APA.. and a hopped up one at that, with Warrior, Simcoe and Falconer's Flight..  those ain't no pussy Pale Ale hop profile.  It's got a crazy clean golden sunshine pour and a bubbly, champagne-like white head.  Very crisp, sweet pilsner malt nose with tons of citrus and floral hops.  There's some faint fruity apple, fresh cut grass, clean lemon and orange peel..  very very bright nose.  And oh my..  this is incredibly clean, crisp, effervescent.. it's as bright as a fresh Pilsner, with the assertive hops you'd find in a west coast IPA.  There's an underlying sweet cracker malt with touches of light honey.  But, as expected from the nose, the hops are the star.  They're not crazy bitter, they're not super citrusy, dry, potent.. what they are is incredibly balanced.  There's great grassy, fresh garden floral aspect to this beer with touches of bright citrus and sweet apple/peach.  It's sorta dry, sorta sweet on the finish.. but it definitely draws you back in for another sip.  Incredible.  Their best beer, by far.

- - 9 Hops

7.15 - Deuxschutes: Deschutes Part Deux

Just got back from vacation.. many many beers and breweris.. so I might as well continue with more beers!

Deschutes - Mirror Pond Pale Ale

a 5.0% ABV 40 IBU American Pale Ale.   A richer copper/orange pour than I'd expect from an APA.. however just what you'd expect in the nose.  Citrus, orange peel, faint floral/grassy hops and light, sweet malts. It's definitely citrus-forward with clean orange and grapefruit flavors with some floral and spicy hops that lead quickly to dryingly sweet malts.  Biscuit/cracker with a touch of sweet caramel malts, but all in a very crisp, light fashion.  I can really sense the classic APA in this beer as being more of a malt showcase with the hops added in..  On the clean and crisp side, but still some mellow sweetness and brighter, spicy hops.  A solid beer 

- - 8 hops!

Deschutes - Inversion IPA
a 6.8% ABV 80 IBU single IPA.  A deeper, more burnt orange than most IPAs.. very nice head that sticks around the whole way through.  Nothing jumps out from the nose, but very balanced with orangey/tropical citrus, pine, and full, sweet malts.  Smells like a mix of an east coast and west coast IPA.  It's a very assertive, malty IPA, just as the nose would suggest.  Sticky caramel malts, fairly full-bodied.. bready and biscuity..  this pairs well with the thicker, resinous malts.  Much more so than the nose would suggest, this is citrusy and uniquely floral up front and boldy piney and bitter.  It's not that drying, but gives an assertive hop profile that has some nice spicy touches.  Again.. seems to be a great mix of east and west coasts, made more unique by the fact that Deschutes isn't some come up brewery that was able to see how both styles evolved.  Very solid brew

- - 8 Hops!

7.11 - Deschutes

More trade beers!  Great weather tonight!  Beer!

Deschutes - Twilight Summer Ale
a 5.0% ABV 35 IBU Summer seasonal Pale Ale.  One of the best brandings of a summer beer, IMO.  Summer twilight's seem to never end, one of my favorite parts of the day.  Let's see how the beer stacks up to it's name.  Rich golden orange pour.. very clear with a persistant pure white head.  Pale malts..faintly sweet with some richer citrus notes.. orange, tangerine.. some straw and grassy hops round out the nose.  It's a very light beer with just the right amount of flavor to be refreshing on a warm evening.  Mild hops that don't interfere with the citrus and malts.  Peaches, tangerine and lemon peel with sweet toffee and bready malts.   It's crisp, not overly bright.. some subtle flavors coming through that make it complex, yet simple and enjoyable.  A highly recommended Summer seasonal!

- - 7 Hops!

Deschutes - Chainbreaker White IPA

a 5.6% ABV 55 IBU White IPA.  This has been a hit-or-miss style for me.. but heard really good things..  What end of the spectrum will this fall under..  Hazy sunshine lemon yellow pour.. another long-lasting head, great lacing.  Surprisingly there are only subdued citrus aromas.. there are touches of funky yeast, coriander.. the nose is predominately bright, sweet wheat.  The yeast aspect comes through at the front of the beer.. only the faintest bit tart with great Belgian aspects to it and a little spice.  Then comes citrus, carrying with it a bit more tart from grapefruit and lemon peel.  Plenty of wheat is present with only the faintest grassy hops.  A great, wheaty Witbier with a nice citrus twist, but it seems to be a bit lacking of the IPA part of the name...

- - 7 Hops!

7/7 - Texas IPAs

I recently acquired some IPAs from the great southern state of Texas.. through purchase with some trader friends and though some pure generosity.  So why not?

Freetail Brewing - Velocihopter IPA

a 6.5% ABV 60 IBU IPA..  this particular one was 'purchased' in a cellar sale and I was warned it was fairly old, therefore it was given to me at no cost..  well, that's a risk I'm willing to take!  This is brewed with Falconer's Flight hops, a fairly new blend of hops...  sadly, from the first drop that hit the glass I could tell that this was, in fact, way way past its prime.  Zero carb, a weirdly thick pour..  pure heavy orange rind nose with far more booze than the 6.5% would suggest..  absolutely NO hops.  I only made it about a third of the way through the first glass before I had to dump..  which is a total shame since there are slight hints of a great beer underneath the total mess that this became.  It seems like it would have been a nice citrusy IPA with sweeter fruit under tones.  I guess I'll never know....

- - 1 Hop (hypothetical 6 or 7?....)

Karbach Brewing - Rodeo Clown Double IPA

a 9.5% ABV 85 IBU DIPA..  after that last mess, anything has to be better right?  (in all fairness I really shouldn't bash a beer that's probably a year past it's prime... but hey, bottom line it didn't taste that well at all).  I've lately been obsessing over the great beers that are being canned.. and being a free extra.. well, let's see if this night is getting any better!  A nice rich orange brown pour with a minimal cream head.. this is highly malt-forward in aroma with some pine and balanced citrusy hops.. so thick the aroma lingers on the nose and just doesn't let go for nothing.  The malts follow through.. as you would expect with most beers: nose -> palate..  sweet caramel malts, earthy and grainy.. but with tons of resinous hops here.  Super thick hops, tons of orange and citrus with sharply bitter pine on the finish, mixing with a lick of sweetness.  A very solid DIPA, tons of hops, and just the right amount of booze

- - 8 Hops!

7.6 - 342, Ya'll

Heard a lot of hype surrounding this beer and hop strain..  finally was able to snag a bottle so let's drink!

Cisco Brewers - Island Reserve - HBC 342 Hopsicle Ale
a 4.7% ABV American Pale Ale brewed with a new experimental hop strain called HBC 342 first generated in 2012.  Here Cisco uses it in a single-hop APA.  It pours a golden hazy yellow with a gigantic fluffy pure white head.  A great mix of floral, grapefruit, and an interesting melon/fruity candy note that I hear is attributed to the hop strain.  Some nice wheat is present here too.  This is a terrific take on an APA..  it's bright and floral, piney and sweet..  all while being rounded out with that unique melon/tangerine/candy aspect that the 342 imparts.  This may be the best non-watermelon watermelon beer that exists.  It's simple, yet incredibly tasty, bright, sunny..  I need to hunt down this hop for some homebrewing!

- - 8 Hops!

7.4 - 'Merica

Happy mothertruckin Birthday, America!

So of course I celebrate by drinking!  And let's go American-themed!!  Why?  Because, fuck you, I have the freedom to do what I want.  

I've touched on it before, but I'll start with the brewery I rep for - Backlash Beer - Salute.  Salute ya damn shorts, you fool!  Let's all take a moment to salute the Red, White, and Blue..Old Glory... AMERICA!  Having only done Belgian-influenced beers until this point, Backlash decided to go balls-out and tackle a huge DIPA.  The name mainly refers to saluting the pioneers of craft and how they're willing to help the up-and-comers.. but today, let's pretend it's saluting this wonderful, wonderful country of ours.  At 8.5% ABV and 100 IBUs.. well, it gives you a crap-ton to salute to, that's for sure!  A bit more than 2 months after its release, this is still drinking amazingly well.  Fainter honey and toasty malts in those are almost completely hidden by massive Citra notes.  Pure bliss!  It's a bitter beer, but smoothly so with bright tropical citrus hops and smooth bold piney ones fighting for room on your taste buds.  Alcohol is totally hidden and it's dryingly bitter on the finish.. making you reach for the glass again.  I may be biased.. but...

- - 10 Hops!

I then went over a buddy's place to just hang and drink some good beer and brought this along...

Rogue - American Amber

a 5.6% ABV 53 IBU Amber Ale.  Bottle almost looks like a mirror-image color version of the Backlash label.. I had to get it for the color scheme alone (you'll see another example later..)  Just what you'd expect here.. a ruddy brown/pale copper pour, but with a rugged fluffy head.  Caramel, toffee, toasty nutty malts..not much else to the nose.  It's a fairly light-bodied Amber with tons of nutty malt tones.  Lighter hazelnut and honey notes that are picked up by very faint grapefruit and floral hops.  It's got a slightly different malt edge to it that most ambers and a different take on the hop profile.. unfortunately it falls a bit short for me..  I think a bit more body and fuller malts would do this beer wonders, especially with the unique hop flavors..  so sadly..

- - 6 Hops!

I then got creative for America and broke out the best damned budget Red, White, and Blue that I could muster!

Cigar City Brewing - Tocobaga Red Ale

a 7.2 ABV 75 IBU beer that pours out a deep burgundy red (shitty image quality)... almost no head.  A rather rich caramel/toffee nose with hints of cherries and plums.  The taste is a bit of a surprise with some rather pronounced piney and grapefruit hops on the forefront and finish.  Malty sweet in the middle with more of that nice rich dark fruitiness.  A hugely stand-out Red Ale

- - 8 Hops!

Blue Point Brewing - White IPA

a 6.0% ABV and 40 IBU mix of a Belgian White and American IPA.  Not quite the white pour that I was hoping for for my Red White Blue.. but it's more the name than the color.  There lemon, grapefruit, wheat.. some touches of banana and coriander from the White portion.  This, to me, is the perfect example of the style, the perfect melding of the two different beers..  great cracker malts with some spicy rye somewhat present along with very effervescent citrus and yeast notes.. same banana and coriander you'd expect with some tropical and floral hops.  Already one of my favorite White IPAs!

- - 8 Hops!

Opa-Opa Brewing - Blueberry Lager

a 5.0% fruit beer..  I'll preface this by saying that I have yet to have a blueberry beer that I truly enjoy.  This has the lightest pour of all the beers so far today.  A hazy golden yellow pour.. the artificial blueberry aroma hits you immediately, with faint grass and wheat notes.  Being a lager, there's traditionally less malt flavors to hold the beer together, and sadly.. there should have been with this.  It's all watery cracker malts and a light, syrupy artificial blueberry tone.  Mildly astringent floral hops on the finish with a little honey and cereal grains. I can get better blueberry flavors from a Nutragrain bar..  still in search of an above-average blueberry beer.

- - 3 Hops