WEEK 4 - Virtual Tasting for Charity - Craft Beer Intermezzo!!!

Theme: Craft Beer Intermezzo - always a WB favorite
Host: Carlos Delpin
Matching donors: Brig Campbell $5 per tasting note / Sean Malloy
Date: December 16th - 23rd
Format:

  1. $5.00 for every craft beer tasting note.
  2. $10.00 for every tasting note from a craft brewery from your home town.
  3. $15.00 for every tasting note from a home town craft brewery with a pic of you drinking it.
  • Fizzy piss yellow commercial swill will be excluded from the program.


    About the Charity: Puerto Rico Make a Wish Foundation Kids Program. Our employees willingly donate their time to this charity and we would like to also help with a dollar donation.

This week we celebrate the other fermented beverage. Craft Beer! As many of you know I am in the Craft Beer Business as a distributor in Puerto Rico and this is one of my efforts to give back to the community. I really appreciate your help in fund raising and look forward to learning about the beautiful craft beers being brewed in your neck of the woods.

The origin of the craft beer business was as a local breweries serving local communities. In order to honor that this will be the donation schedule.

$5.00 for every craft beer tasting note. Fizzy piss yellow commercial swill will be excluded from the program.

$10.00 for every tasting note from a craft brewery from your home town.

$15.00 for every tasting note from a home town craft brewery with a pic of you drinking it.

All donations will be handed to the Puerto Rico Make a Wish Foundation Kids Program. Our employees willingly donate their time to this charity and we would like to also help with a dollar donation.

Thanks for playing and thanks to Bridge for not only organizing this great effort but also for matching on the tasting notes.

Let’s have fun with this and Happy Holidays to all.

Here are a couple to kick things off:

Allagash Mattina Rossa - Pretty intense and rich with a nice raspberry tang and a pleasant sour finish. It gets tiring fairly quickly, though.

Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin - The fruity habanero plays off the hops to give a refreshing kumquat citrus flavor, and the heat kicks in on the finish, building with each sip to a fairly serious intensity by the end of the glass.

For those of us that home brew, is a picture of us in our own home, sipping our own craft, with a tasting note going to qualify for the trifecta? I will likely be brewing this weekend as well as kegging a batch.

Ruling?
fred

You bet Fred! Samples accepted…

Bagby Beer Co. Rye Not? American Rye Pale Ale

Not sure how it happened but I’ve been on a Rye kick the last year so if I see one I’ll give it a whirl. Brownish gold color. Slightly hopped. Nice weight, medium bodied and sharp. Clean palate with a touch of bitterness, spice, and citrus. Well balanced. Had to order a second for confirmation.

Surly Nein, Imperial Smoked Dunkelweizen. Local (Minneapolis, and I live in St. Paul). This is the ninth installment of Surly’s ‘anniversary’ beers. Each one is made in a different style and this one, as indicated, is an imperial smoked dunkelweizen. Hefeweizen yeasts, oak-smoked malt. The smoky character is definitely noticeable, and there’s some spice and even banana going on. Also some roasted nut quality. It’s a little booze-y (9.4% ABV).
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Carlos, yo no se…no vivo en Eureka, California, sin embargo, tienes que respetar mi empeno! Por lo menos, yo vivo en el estado de California! Gracias por ayudar, su generosidad. mi foto esta abajo.

  • NV Lost Coast Brewery Tangerine Wheat - USA, California (12/17/2015)
    My father introduced me to this beer several years ago and I keep it around the house as a go to choice. I enjoy it because of the low alcohol, the refreshing quality it exhibits. There is just enough tangerine to accent the wheat taste, mixing well together. It’s funny to me, as my tastes in beer mirror that of wine. I seek things that are lighter in tone, more refreshing and complementary rather than being dominant and clobbering out the stuff around it, whether it be food or my senses! The citrus and stone fruit tones in this are delicious, reminding me of the tones I would find in say Chenin Blanc or perhaps even Viognier. Dig it.

Posted from CellarTracker
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We distribute Lost Coast and sell quite a bit of Tangerine! Gracias por el apoyo Frank.

Does this qualify as craft beer any longer? Laguanitas, Ballast Point, and Goose Island all getting snapped up by the big corporations. We still have a nice local brew house culture but anything that hits it big in the grocery stores becomes a target. Constellation/Corona is the proud owner of this beer now.

  • 2013 Ballast Point Sculpin IPA - USA, California, South Coast, San Diego County (12/17/2015)
    This is my favorite beer right now and has been for the last year. I’m intrigued on a couple of levels. First, it’s fairly high octane at 7% but doesn’t show a bit of it. Second, it’s quite spicy, driven by cardamom and nutmeg, which tends to add weight but not in this case. Finally there’s a huge dose of yellow grapefruit which balances out everything else.

Posted from CellarTracker

Picked this up this evening, gave it a quick chill, and a pop and pour.
Initial note of fresh pineapple, turning into cool lemon peel and spice. Light and fresh.
Nice beer. Not as good as their Mosaic, however.
Lost Nation - Lost Galaxy IPA - Morrisville, Lamoille County, Vermont, U.S.A.
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I know where Morrisville, VT is and have been there many times …does that count for $10 donation as a “hometown?”

Pontoon Brewing (Brookhaven, GA) Southern Skipper White IPA. Looks more like a hefeweizen in the glass, but no hefeweizen aromas. Modest IBUs but a very enjoyable (almost session) option for fans of the hoppier side. Finishes clean and crisp.

2014 Cantillon gueuze
The nose has some tangerines and a little dusty funk. The palate shows sour hops up front with some grapefruit notes and an interesting bitterness on the back end. Yum beer.

  • NV Ballast Point Big Eye Indian Pale Ale - USA, California, South Coast, San Diego County (12/18/2015)
    Strong herbal aromas. Basically, very similar to the Sculpin but without the fruit forward citrus and grapefruit notes, more fresh cut herbs and hops with a lemon rind finish. Solid beer but prefer the Sculpin or Grapefruit over the stock IPA.

Posted from CellarTracker

Ok, otra dia y otra vez para pagar, Carlos! Tenga un buen fin de semana!

  • NV Allagash White - USA, Maine (12/18/2015)
    Last had this on tap over the summer. Another favorite beer of mine. This bottle has a creamy core, with lots of savory spice, like the kind that come say with tabbouleh, maybe a mint and dark brown spice with it. Clove? Finishes with a light touch of tangy pine and citrus peel. I likey.

Posted from CellarTracker

Happy to open another craft beer for charity.
Just doing my part.
Tonight it is a Missile IPA, from Champion Brewing Company, Charlottesville, Virginia.
65 IBU, 7% abv.
First impression is caramel. Sweet, caramel notes, followed by some good bitter hops.
Good but not quite outstanding.
A little too sweet for my taste buds this evening.
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Jekyll Brewing (Alpharetta, Ga) Hop Dang Diggity
A middle of the road IPA, not too bitter but no sweet cloying notes either. More in the pine family than tropical. Can come across a bit metallic, especially on draft. But tonight’s bottle was spot-on while I waited for some carry out.

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
Dark, dark color. Dark caramel head. Smells brooding. Coffee and a bit bitter. The palate is huge, coffee, dark chocolate bitter, creamy malty flavors and a nice bitterness that is present throughout.

This is my favorite beer and it’s a damn tragedy they’re no longer making it. :frowning: I really like the brighter, fresh IPAs, too, but this beer really fills the gap between the stouts I used to love and the new wave of IPA craze that I also like.

Love Sublimely! Guys, let’s make the weekend count. Help me make some wishes come true for our kids.

Arts District Brewing

Kablamo: 6.7% Rye IPA. Overdose on rye, all you taste is rye with no fruit or any other character. Really not tasty

Traction IPA: Classic pizza port style with aggressive bitter hops and a zesty bite… but muted.