2014 Cascade Brewing Blackcap Raspberry- USA, Oregon (12/19/2015)
This is very tasty. Color is pale maroon and the clarity is very muddled, obviously unfiltered. Bright ripe raspberry nose with a strong sour aroma carries right through to the flavors. This was popular with the crowd b
2015 Firestone Walker Agrestic- USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (12/18/2015)
Cloudy golden color. Nose is sour malt. Sour lemon and lime rinds on the palate. High acid and mouthwatering finish. Clean citrus drives this home.
Stone enjoy by 12/25
Had the hoppy birthday on cue and I was thinking hops which is probaby why this seemed unusually hoppy to me to the point of being unbalanced. Pleasant citrusness to it though.
Alpine Hoppy Birthday
Now this hit all the right notes for me. Sure the hops are there but they are matched by citric notes and even some yellow stone fruit notions. Really clean and long. Loved this. This is post greenflash btw.
Acoustic ales brewing experiement imperial chocolate oatmeal stout. Bourbon barrel aged.
With a name that long this sure was a let down. The beer was drinkable enough but very generic. Sure it was a stout and I got a little chocolate but there was no wham of sweetness or a bourbon blast. Nothing that made it stand out. In fact if the bottle didnt say bourbon barrel aged Id have never guessed.
Well, opened a beer and hopped on the site to see this thread. If I had known in advance, I would have gone local or more creative, but next time. Instead, since already opened, one of my house craft beers, Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA. Bitterness of the 60 IBU balanced nicely by the citrus notes. There’s a little pine in there, too, but not much. The note on the bottle starts with “juicy” and that’s spot on and the reason why this beer is in my regular rotation. Very tasty. And as a bonus…we as a family have been doing a holiday thing where we donate to a different charity every night of the holiday season. Because of this thread, we did Puerto Rico Make a Wish Foundation as our pick for tonight. Cheers!
NV 21st Amendment Brewery Hell Or High Watermelon- USA, California, San Francisco Bay (12/19/2015)
Had to add this to the database. Discovered this during the summer, had never drank it before. Was a hot day, it hit the spot. 4.9% ABV. Zesty and crisp, with the watermelon evident and present. I suppose this could become gimmicky but it instead it really works well. Easy drinking, good energy and refreshing.
Frank, give a try to the Sculpin Graprefruit IPA if you have not tried it yet or to the Stone Sorry not Sorry IPA (Peach). They both integrate the fruit element that you like in a more full bodied beer.
I will add a new one (for me, anyway) to the database: Lord Hobo - Steal This Can - IPA, Woburn, MA
Picked this up today, a four pack of 16 ounce cans.
Pours an orange copper collar.
Shows some blood orange flavor, with some fresh hops. Nice balance of bitterness and sweet malt flavor.
This is pretty good - seems to be a cross between dark, heavy West Coast IPAs and the brighter, fresher Vermont IPAs.
Woburn, Mass!
Rusian River Brewing Co. Redemption, Belgian Style Pale Ale - Easy drinking, yeasty, slight bitterness. Creamy texture, some banana notes and a hint of citrus. My Coors Light of craft beer as I can drink it anytime any situation
My neighborhood’s own 2015 Fremont Brewing Coffee & Cinnamon Bourbon Barrel Aged Abominable Winter Ale (aka BBomb). The coffee, cinnamon and bourbon notes meld together perfectly with no single note dominating. So smooth and mouth coating. Despite 14% above, not viscous or hot.
Anchorage Brewing Company Bitter Monk Belgian-Style Double IPA with brettanomyces (Batch #3 -May 2015). Excellent round mouthfeel from the triple fermentation in French oak founders with Belgian yeast, in French oak Chardonnay barrels with Brett and in the bottle with a third yeast. The Apollo and Mosaic hops are present and correct (100 IBUs), but don’t dominate and are not bitter A perfect antidote to all that I find lacking in most of today’s West Coast IPAs. Anchorage is making excellent beers across the board.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. not local, unfortunately :p. Left over from the pre-thanksgiving pumpkin beer rush, finished the last of a 4 pack last night with some spicy food which I think actually muted the bitter notes of this beer, if anything. Pours a dark amber/brown, light head, a slight yeasty and spicy nose. On the palate, notes of cinnamon and brown sugar with a fruity acid kick, overall spicier than the blandly sweet KBC. A nice pumpkin beer.
Heater Allen 2014 Sandy Paws - A Baltic Porter, it starts roasty, morphs into malt and dark chocolate and then adds a plum note. A little fat on the palate but clean and well balanced. This usually gets better with a little time in bottle. Drink 2016 - 2017.
Heater Allen/de Garde EichenBock - Our collaboration barrel-aged Doppelbock. Smooth, malty nose, followed by strong malt, raisin, cherry, and oak flavors. Doesn’t show its 7.6% alcohol at all. Well balanced and nice finish. Drink now - 2018. Brewed 9/08, aged in reconditioned oak barrels for 5 weeks (next time I’d leave it another week or two), bottled 12/14. 100 cases made. This will be for sale at de Garde and Heater Allen tasting rooms in mid-February.
Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus - Tart but not overly sour. Nice raspberry aroma and flavor, with a little added lemon and a bitter “seedy” note on the palate. Long finish.
Community Wit (Dallas, Tx): opaque orange-yellow color; fresh baked bread aromas with hints of saffron and orange peel; medium-light bodied with flavors of lemon and orange, slightly yeasty, very light hops in the background. Okay beer but not as good as Belgium Wit and German Wheat beers.
Rahr & Sons Winter Warmer English-Style Dark Ale (Ft Worth, Tx): opaque dark brown color; aromas of chocolate, and coffee; flavors of dark roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, slight hoppy floral, hints of baking spice. Nice brew - they also sell a whiskey barrel aged version which is awesome!
Cross-posted to BeerAdvocate’s New Beer Sunday thread which I participate in most Sundays. Rockmill is just outside of my home town of Columbus and they claim their water source has a very similar mineral makeup to many of the great Belgian breweries. I’ve certainly enjoyed most I’ve tried from them and always smile seeing something new from them which this is. I also love the name of this beer for some reason. The back label says “A celebration of rye”. I know the distilled version is the hot thing at the moment; like I’d expect a good Rye whiskey to be, this has a great balance of spicy flavors yet a smooth texture.
Poured from a 750ml bottle into a tulip
A: Dark brown with a lingering two-finger head
S: Spicy grain from the rye, a distinct smoothness, some roasted malt/nutty notes as well
T: Largely matches the nose. Mostly roasted grains and spicy rye notes. The label mentions five hops but I’m not getting much flavor from them
M: Medium-bodied, a bit spicy yet also incredibly smooth
O: Tough putting ‘farmhouse’ into words but I feel this embodies it - like they combined rye / other freshly harvested grains and fermented them. Another nice Rockmill beer
2009 Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout
I like a DL with some age. The chocolate note that is there when young turns bitter in a good way over time. Some of the usual sweetness is also subdued. Still a hefty, malty beer with a lot of stout kick. Love DL.
