Archive for the tag “Craft Beer”

28 Aug 2014

Black Belle Imperial Stout – Blackstone Brewing Company

 

blackbelle_bttl10.2% ABV
Gifted by Nick M. and poured into globe glasses.

This imperial stout “infused with cacao nibs and aged in bourbon barrels” was brewed by Nashville, Tennessee-based Blackstone, and it pours a thick, oily black with a sliver of a brown head.  Black Belle has an exceptionally rich and dessert-like nose of dark chocolate-covered coffee beans, toasted marshmallow, cola, and some booze.  The alcohol is even more upfront on the first swallow, but the magic of Black Belle is that it expertly manages to offer all of the flavors of hard alcohol (i.e., chocolate and coffee take more of a supporting role to vanilla and toast) without any discomforting throat burn.

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

BlackBelle

 

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

 

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Imperial Stout and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
21 Aug 2014

The City – Calicraft Brewing Company

city_bttl

6.4% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market (22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This “Dynamic” India Pale Ale from Walnut Creek-based Calicraft Brewing was “brewed with blackberry root and orange peel,” and it pours a murky tangerine color with a sizable off-white head.  Dried fruit and a honeyed sweetness are the first to appear on the nose, with apricot and cantaloupe especially prominent.  There is an unusual, seltzer-y flavor on the first swallow, along with a very definite berry and bitter root presence, and it ends with some nice citrus and pine bitterness.  As more is consumed, the bitterness on the first flavor movement becomes less and less pleasurable, too closely resembling cocktail bitters, although the pine and citrus finish still satisfies.

toasts-3   3 Toasts

 

TheCity

toasts-3   3 Toasts

 

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, IPA, Strong Dark Ale and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
12 Aug 2014

Brotherly Love – The Commons Brewery

BroLove-commons-bttl10% ABV
Purchased at Final Gravity ($11.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into goblet glasses.

This “bourbon barrel aged Belgian dark strong with sour cherries and cocoa nibs” pours a dark and brackish espresso brown with a marshmallow-like, sawdust-colored head.  Hard alcohol and barrel wood aromas assert themselves on the nose, with dark cherries, dark chocolate, and some citrus peel on the periphery.  Wood and alcohol take the lead on the tongue as well, although here those flavors are given depth by the cocoa nibs, as well as a little bit of tartness from the cherries.  Still, the most robust flavors (freshly cut wood and bourbon neat) seem to come straight from the barrel, and the fact that the Portland-based brewery The Commons used a Belgian dark as a base may have given the alcohol-soaked staves more to latch on to. Brotherly Love has a powerful firewater character, but there is also some nuance and craft, and despite being a little overwhelming, the flavors of this beer are still quite good.

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

BrotherlyLove

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Belgian, Cellar Series, Strong Dark Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
17 Jun 2014

Portland and Hood River

 

IMG_1065We recently spent a week in Portland, with most of our time devoted to exploring the city’s inspiring array of breweries, beer bars, and bottle shops.  Our first couple nights were spent at a hotel in downtown Portland, one which was conveniently located a half-block away from Bailey’s Taproom, the best beer bar we hit during our visit.  Of course, Bailey’s Taproom does not lack for competition, and while we were not able to hit every highly lauded suds palace on our wishlist, a few of our personal favorites were Belmont Station, Imperial Bottle Shop, APEX, and The Beer Mongers.

One of the many great things about Portland is that every place that serves beer also serves food, so every brewery in the city is basically a brewpub.  It was no surprise to us that Upright, Cascade, Hair of the Dog, and Deschutes ruled the Portland scene, but that didn’t make the beers any less sublime.  The more unfamiliar breweries that really impressed us were Base Camp, Burnside, and Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB).  A pilgrimage to Hood River to visit Full Sail and the magical Logsdon Farmhouse was our only out-of-town trip, and it was more than worth the effort.

Here is a list of the 10 best “new to us” beers that we tried during our trip to Portland.  It is tempting to just award all ten spots to the litany of magnificent Cascade sours that we consumed over the course of a couple hours at their Barrel House, or to split the spots evenly between the heavy hitters like Upright and Hair of the Dog, but we are limiting ourselves to one beer per brewery.  All beers were consumed at the brewery, unless otherwise indicated.

Posted in Beer Adventures and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
29 May 2014

Talon Smoked Double Porter – Mendocino Brewing Company

talon_bttl

10% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market ($6.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into pint glasses.

This “smoked double porter” from Mendocino Brewing Company pours a black tea-like dark brown with a slight sandalwood head, while the nose mixes burnt kindling, savory smoked bacon, and just a little bit of Band-Aid.  That slightly medicinal aroma is thankfully absent on the palette, and instead the first swallow offers waves of maple, candied nuts, and some chocolate flavors, with a second charge dominated by bitter wood smoke.   The smoked bacon component is also present, but Talon mostly contrasts that maple and praline sweetness against birch and hickory woodiness, and the result should please fans of this style.

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

 

Talon

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Double Porter, Imperial Porter, Porter, Smoked Beer and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
27 May 2014

Portland Beercation

BeerInPortlandWe’re headed to Portland for a Beercation. Follow our adventures on Twitter, Untappd (Daniel B. and Darcey), Instagram and Facebook.

 

Posted in Beer Adventures and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
22 May 2014

Rick and Robbie’s Spröcket Bier – Stone Brewing: Spotlight Series

sprocket_bttl

5.4% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe ($8.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into mini globe glasses.

This “black rye kölsch” is the first entry in Stone’s “Spotlight Series,” the winner of a blind tasting contest whose entries were sourced from Stone’s own brewers.  It pours a glossy, minor key black with a mid-sized sawdust head, and offers a welcoming nose of chocolate-y coffee, licorice, and black bread.  Sprocket Bier is surprisingly light and crisp on the palette, and also quite thirst-quenching, with the coffee and roasted nut bitterness riding in only on the finish.  The yeasty brightness of the kölsch is counterpointed by the beer’s dark and roasted qualities, and the whole thing is harmonized by the presence of rye, which also adds a nice snap to the aftertaste.  It is an excellent intersection of chocolate, coffee, yeasty dark bread, rye, and nuts, and it consistently maintains a light and lovely mouthfeel.

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

Sprocket

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Beer Review, Black Rye, Kölsch and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
15 May 2014

Cellar Series: Love Child #3 – Boulevard Brewing Company

Love_Child_No3_bttl

9.5% ABV
Purchased at Final Gravity ($19.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This bourbon-barrel aged sour ale from Kansas City-based Boulevard pours a ruby-tinged rust color with a mid-sized beach sand head, and a fair amount of flotsam in the body. Sour fruit aromas sock you in the nose, including SweeTarts, pineapples, tart berries, and red wine.  A big tartness also asserts itself on the tongue, but the beer finishes pretty clean, with grapefruit, slightly immature strawberries, green apple, and even lime coming to the fore.  Some of the barrel makes its way onto the palette on subsequent swallows, but the most accurate analogue to the beer is a sour apple-flavored Jolly Rancher.  We cellared this beer for 14 months before uncorking, and I did not recall it being this fruit-driven and boldly tart in the spring of 2013, nor this distinct and nuanced.  My suspicions were seemingly confirmed by the bottle itself, which includes icons indicating low fruitiness and medium sour-ness, although many Beer Advocate reviewers from the time of release mention green apples, tart berries, and the like.  Either way, this beer is fantastic, and should hold up in the cellar for at least another year. 

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

 

LoveChild

 

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Cellar Series, Sour Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
07 May 2014

Wrath: The Sinner Series – Amager Bryghus

AmagerSinnerWrath_bttl6.5% ABV
Purchased at Capitol Beer and Tap Room (16.9 oz. bottle) and poured into mini wine glasses.

This barrel-aged saison from Denmark brewery Amager pours an apple butter color with a thick white head, and a subtly smoky nose of burnt leaves, cigar ash, and wood. There were not any saison-like notes on the nose in my glass, and it was surprisingly bready and nearly quad-like on the first swallow, fading into dark fruit and caramel, with a woody bitterness in the finish.  Smokiness is generally a red flag for a saisons, and it seems fairly certain that this beer was infected, although it’s unclear at which phase the infection occurred.  During brewing?  During barreling?  During bottling?  Somewhere in transport?  In my fridge?  Whatever the case, the beer still remains pretty interesting and drinkable, with notes of brown sugar, apple, scorched wood, and a whiff of hard alcohol, with a finish of bitter kindling that is the only truly unpleasant part.  It should also be noted that although this beer was poured evenly between two small glasses, Darcey’s glass did not have that distinctly smoky nose or the woody finish.  Hers was more flowery on the nose, similar to chamomile tea, with a bit of a lemony flavor coming in at the finish.  I would rate my glass 2 ½ toasts and Darcey’s glass 3 ½ toasts, so I will split the difference at 3 toasts.

toasts-3   3 Toasts

Wrath

 

toasts-3   3 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Saison and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
01 May 2014

Fire and Blood – Ommegang

GoTbeer_bttl6.8% ABV
Purchased at Taylor’s Market ($9.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This third Game of Thrones-themed beer from Cooperstown, New York-based Ommegang pours a rusty red with a massive, persistent, off-white head.  Through the thick froth, you can make out an interesting nose of dark fruits (especially plums) and chili peppers, along with some notes of Belgian spice.  Although this hoppy Belgian red ale has been spiced up with the addition of Ancho chiles (as well as spelt and rye), there is no major heat on the tongue or in the throat, just a consistent chile flavor accenting the base taste of apple, plum, and berry.  Fire and Blood is far more drinkable than you would expect from the description, offering delicious but relatively restrained Belgian-style flavors with a lot of depth and nuance.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

 

GOT

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Beer Review, Belgian, Red Ale, Spiced Beer and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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