Week 4 - Virtual Tasting for Charity - Craft Beer Intermezzo hosted by Carlos

brigcampbell · December 14, 2016, 4:08pm

Theme: Craft Beer Intermezzo
Host: Carlos Delpin
Matching donors: Any takers?
Date: December 14th - 21st
Format: $5 per every beer tasting note. $10 per every tasting note of your local brewery (Please tell us a little about your local brewery, what you like about it, and how the brewery makes the beers feel “local”)

About the Charity: Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust

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Scott_Wi3gand · December 15, 2016, 5:28am

Top Cutter - Bale Breaker Brewing Company Moxee, WA. This place is just across town from me but is tops in Washington for IPAs. The brewery is located in field 41 (field 41 is also the name of their pale ale) of the family hop farm. They have a cool tasting room there and it’s a great place to hang out in summer. I will likely be posting more from them this week.

Typical northwest IPA but very well done. Obviously they have the best selection of hops available given that the brewery is literally in the middle of their own hop fields. The beer has good citrusy, floral and somewhat grassy hop nose and some sweet malt. On he palate, it is well balanced with hop bitterness and slightly sweet and lightly biscuity malt. Very local, so this is an easy go-to beer for me.

Scott_Wi3gand · December 15, 2016, 5:42am

India Red Ale - Deschutes Brewery Bend, OR

Not local to me, my friends from Bend adore this place though.

I don’t love this beer. Very malty, similar to a scotch ale but hoppier. I think I am slowly realizing that I don’t like red ales much or maybe scotch ales either. Their best beers IMHO are the Fresh Squeezed IPA and the Black Butte Porter.

Carlos_Delpin · December 15, 2016, 10:07am

Thanks for getting us started Scott.

BRhoades · December 16, 2016, 1:54am

Monkish Karate Kick, IPA 7.3% ABV. Hopped and double dry hopped with Mosaic and Centennial.

This growler has sat for about 8 days. We drank one on day one and set a few aside as I am a firm believer that most Monkish IPA/DIPAs benefit with a few weeks on them. This proves true with Karate Kick as well. It’s knitted together nicely showing a fuller softer body and more pronounced tropical fruit notes, theres also ripe stone fruits, ripe peach and apricot. Bitter citrus pith shows mid pallet cleansing the tongue. Karate Kick finishes dry with a nice tangerine note on the back of the tongue. Another world class beer from Henry and the Monkish crew.

Highly Recommended,

Cheers,

Bud

Chris_Blum · December 16, 2016, 2:00am

Goose island bourbon aged porter 2014. 15.4%. From tap.
Black, no head. Wow. That’s cloying. Overly sweet, vanilla bit of soy sauce, boozy root beer. I just cannot get beyond the sweetness. It’s like drinking pancake syrup. Gaack. Not a style I care for

Dave_H · December 16, 2016, 2:05am

The Veil “White Ferrari” Double IPA- 8% galaxy and citra hops.
Another stunning beer from this brewery that has come to Virginia and made everyone else look like also-rans. Completely opaque, tropical and floral. Easssssy drinking and delicious.

BRhoades · December 16, 2016, 2:31am

Dave, love some of the things I’ve had from Veil. Monkish and Veil collaborated a few weeks ago on a DIPA called Haazee Guizz that was canned, it’s drinking really nice.

Cheers,

Bud

CFu · December 16, 2016, 3:46am

(local)Highland park brewery - people pleaser

Soft tropical fruit on the nose, malty smooth NE texture on the palate but missing a bit of the body.

Scott_Wi3gand · December 16, 2016, 3:58am

Pine drops IPA - Deschutes Brewery Bend, OR

This is another good NW IPA, hazy yellow-orange with a thin white head. Plenty of citrusy and piney hops with a hint of tropical hoppy notes on nose and palate. Balance is good between hop and malt and finish is good with a lingering hoppy tang. I like this beer and will drink more in the future.

Scott_Tallman · December 16, 2016, 4:23am

Not local brewery - Heater Allen Dunkel. Mahogany in color. Malt forward, but the hops are evident on the finish along with a hint of creamy chocolate. Another clean, delicious (dark) lager from Heater Allen.

Carlos_Delpin · December 16, 2016, 3:17pm

Thanks for the notes on the local breweries! There rare so many new ones these days…

brigcampbell · December 16, 2016, 5:30pm

Not local, unless you live in Colorado… And I’m not sure much of anything at the local stores is technically craft beer anymore after a bunch of acquisitions over the last few years but these are very good beers.

Im not a “fruit in my beer” guy but the tangerine was really nice.

NV New Belgium Brewing Company Accumulation White India Pale Ale - USA, Colorado (12/14/2016)
Light lager colored. Nice balanced nose of sweet and citrus hops. Light malt flavor and grapefruit citrus, this is excellent. Sculpin-like which is a strong compliment.
NV New Belgium Brewing Company Citradelic Tangerine IPA - USA, Colorado (12/14/2016)
Medium dark gold color. Piney nose. Palate definitely shows tangerine but not sweet. More of a summer beer. Kim loves it.

Posted from CellarTracker

CFu · December 16, 2016, 9:37pm

Not local

Cantillon 2016 Fou Foune off tap: First time I’ve ever had Fou Foune off of tap. At Beachwood Seal Beach 10 year anniversary. I’m thinking the keg was old as the flavors were flat and muted. The nose wasn’t that awesome apricot sea spray and the palate was thin.

Cantillon 2016 Fou Foune out of bottle: Tried a couple of hours after the tap. Night and day. So much fresh stone fruit and ocean spray, palate was the right amount of funk and deliciousness.

3f A&G: 2013, 2014, and 2015 blended at 3f, has a similar profile but a much racier profile of exoticness from the golden blend. I look forward to the rest of the beers using this as the base.

c_choi · December 16, 2016, 10:55pm

Local

Monkish, Little Arms: 6.0% dry hopped Pale Ale, a lot cleaner and attenuated than their IPAs; has a small amount of juice aroma at the start and soft finish makes this a very easy beer to drink.

Monkish, Celestial Fuzz: 6.0% Farmhouse Ale aged in barrels with nectarines & peaches; this is another of their beers done with Matsumoto stone fruit. The body is bursting with really nice fruit notes but ends in a slightly acidic bite, which is not that pleasant. The nose is really lacking compared to Same Tree, which is another, similar stone fruit beer made previously.

Monkish, Lost Cat: 7.2% Famhouse Ale aged in barrels with black raspberries; really nice purple-red color coming through from the fruit and has an almost farmer’s market aroma hovering around the glass. There is almost no complexity and the palate is very one note but still fun to drink.

Monkish, Ghetto Style Proverb: 7.1% IPA with only Citra hops; one of Monkish’s weaker IPA attempts, this single hop beer has the usual Citra smooth, floral sweetness. As expected of usage of just one hop, it’s a pretty boring single IPA to drink after the first few sips.

Monkish, Spock It (batch 2): 6.5% IPA with only Galaxy hops; this is the first time Monkish has repeated one of their hazy IPA creations and remains among the best representations of the style in the US. It has a this very thick, milkshake like appearance with fresh pineapple notes throughout the palate and finishes with a nice tang. It’s very hard to make a single hop IPA delicious for a full can but here is an outlier.

Highland Park, All the Yeast: 5.1% blended sour ale aged in french oak puncheons; this is batch 3, if I remember correctly and the nose has HPB’s usual soft funk deliciousness emanating quietly. There is a nice bright tartness that ends with a faint oak note.

Scott_Wi3gand · December 17, 2016, 2:06am

I’ve been really wanting to check out the Heater Allen lineup but they have a very small distribution so I’ve been stuck waiting until I go to Portland next. Do they distribute to the Seattle area?

BRhoades · December 17, 2016, 2:44am

c_choi_:

Local

Monkish, Little Arms: 6.0% dry hopped Pale Ale, a lot cleaner and attenuated than their IPAs; has a small amount of juice aroma at the start and soft finish makes this a very easy beer to drink.

Monkish, Celestial Fuzz: 6.0% Farmhouse Ale aged in barrels with nectarines & peaches; this is another of their beers done with Matsumoto stone fruit. The body is bursting with really nice fruit notes but ends in a slightly acidic bite, which is not that pleasant. The nose is really lacking compared to Same Tree, which is another, similar stone fruit beer made previously.

Monkish, Lost Cat: 7.2% Famhouse Ale aged in barrels with black raspberries; really nice purple-red color coming through from the fruit and has an almost farmer’s market aroma hovering around the glass. There is almost no complexity and the palate is very one note but still fun to drink.

Monkish, Ghetto Style Proverb: 7.1% IPA with only Citra hops; one of Monkish’s weaker IPA attempts, this single hop beer has the usual Citra smooth, floral sweetness. As expected of usage of just one hop, it’s a pretty boring single IPA to drink after the first few sips.

Monkish, Spock It (batch 2): 6.5% IPA with only Galaxy hops; this is the first time Monkish has repeated one of their hazy IPA creations and remains among the best representations of the style in the US. It has a this very thick, milkshake like appearance with fresh pineapple notes throughout the palate and finishes with a nice tang. It’s very hard to make a single hop IPA delicious for a full can but here is an outlier.

Highland Park, All the Yeast: 5.1% blended sour ale aged in french oak puncheons; this is batch 3, if I remember correctly and the nose has HPB’s usual soft funk deliciousness emanating quietly. There is a nice bright tartness that ends with a faint oak note.

Agree with you on Ghetto, maybe ? the weakest can release to date, I thought it was very one dimensional and thin. I too liked Little arms, would like to see Henry do a little more Pales. You know they did repeat Foggy Window, albeit tap and growler only. Nice notes.

Cheers,

Bud

BRhoades · December 17, 2016, 3:59am

Monkish Brewing SHANEAL O’QUILLE DIPA, 7.9% ABV. Wheat DIPA w/ Motueka, Galaxy and Mosaic hops.

Looks incredible, light yellow haze,beautiful fluffy bright white head, it is a wheat DIPA after all. The nose is fragrantly pungent, huge overripe tropical fruits, apricot and peaches followed by that west coast dankness, fantastic nose. Ripe pineapples, tangerines, papaya’s and peach lead, then the mid-pallet gets a nice citrus wash to knit it all together. It finishes with ripe sweet blueberry’s courtesy the Mosaic.

Highly recommended,

Cheers,

Bud

c_choi · December 17, 2016, 7:11am

BRhoades:

c_choi_:

Local

Monkish, Little Arms: 6.0% dry hopped Pale Ale, a lot cleaner and attenuated than their IPAs; has a small amount of juice aroma at the start and soft finish makes this a very easy beer to drink.

Monkish, Celestial Fuzz: 6.0% Farmhouse Ale aged in barrels with nectarines & peaches; this is another of their beers done with Matsumoto stone fruit. The body is bursting with really nice fruit notes but ends in a slightly acidic bite, which is not that pleasant. The nose is really lacking compared to Same Tree, which is another, similar stone fruit beer made previously.

Monkish, Lost Cat: 7.2% Famhouse Ale aged in barrels with black raspberries; really nice purple-red color coming through from the fruit and has an almost farmer’s market aroma hovering around the glass. There is almost no complexity and the palate is very one note but still fun to drink.

Monkish, Ghetto Style Proverb: 7.1% IPA with only Citra hops; one of Monkish’s weaker IPA attempts, this single hop beer has the usual Citra smooth, floral sweetness. As expected of usage of just one hop, it’s a pretty boring single IPA to drink after the first few sips.

Monkish, Spock It (batch 2): 6.5% IPA with only Galaxy hops; this is the first time Monkish has repeated one of their hazy IPA creations and remains among the best representations of the style in the US. It has a this very thick, milkshake like appearance with fresh pineapple notes throughout the palate and finishes with a nice tang. It’s very hard to make a single hop IPA delicious for a full can but here is an outlier.

Highland Park, All the Yeast: 5.1% blended sour ale aged in french oak puncheons; this is batch 3, if I remember correctly and the nose has HPB’s usual soft funk deliciousness emanating quietly. There is a nice bright tartness that ends with a faint oak note.

Agree with you on Ghetto, maybe ? the weakest can release to date, I thought it was very one dimensional and thin. I too liked Little arms, would like to see Henry do a little more Pales. You know they did repeat Foggy Window, albeit tap and growler only. Nice notes.

Cheers,

Bud

Thanks, I also like your pics of the Monkish beers!

With regards to the repeat(s), it may feel like splitting hairs but Foggier Window isn’t a repeat since Henry added a second round of dry hopping to it; the same thing happened with the recent release of Bomb Atomically, which also used a second round of dry hopping as well. Yet, with Spock It, there was no additional hop usage so, that’s why I believe it’s still the only repeat.

Rick_Allen · December 17, 2016, 3:28pm

Not yet. Hopefully soon.