Beer Review: My Bloody Valentine

New school ambers and reds are some of the most overlooked beers on the market. They generally show great balance and explosive flavor. This one, from San Diego's AleSmith Brewing, is all of that and a bit more...fun. This is a beer for the broken hearted and lonely, those who have no one to spend Valentine's Day with and would rather drown themselves in a drink. The bottle art is pretty cool -- broken hearts, a quasi-realistic heart with cupid's arrow sticking through it while it is spurting blood and a really morbid looking "My Bloody Valentine" logo. Oh, and the ABV is 6.66%. If nothing else, for me, this one was worth it just for the novelty of it.

AleSmith My Bloody Valentine - 6.66% ABV
American Amber/Red Ale
Winter Seasonal
22oz bomber poured into a pub glass
Bottle date unknown

Appearance - Pours a deep garnet red with a thick, tan colored head with a hint of red in it. It's actually striking how red this is. Retention is nice, fades slowly into a soapy puddle. Excellent lacing.

Aroma - Smells very hoppy from the instant the bottle is opened. Aroma is great, bursting with citrus -- oranges and grapefruit -- pine, some grass and a bit of caramel.

Taste - Excellent flavor -- pine, candied oranges, slight grapefruit and a solid malt backbone.

Mouthfeel - Medium body, well carbonated and a bit sticky.

Overall - This is definitely one of my favorite styles and is becoming more and more prevalent. This one didn't disappoint. Excellent balance and a boatload of flavor; made even better by how cool and fun they made it. This was my first time having this one but certainly will not be my last.
Overall 4/5 Style 5/5

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Do Dragons Actually Produce Milk?

Surprise, surprise -- another highly regarded brewery from Michigan. The amount of good beer pouring out of this state is staggering, and as such, hard to keep up with! New Holland Brewing, from Holland, Michigan, is one of those brewers that I haven't been able to experience yet. So on a cold March evening while building a pick-a-six, a bourbon barrel stout sounded just right -- what a perfect opportunity to give these guys a shot.

New Holland Dragons Milk - 10% ABV
Imperial Stout
Winter Seasonal
Bourbon Barrel Aged
12 oz bottle poured into a goblet
Bottled 01/08/13

Appearance - Extremely dark brown, not quite black, with a thick, creamy tan head. Nice retention and lacing throughout.

Aroma - All bourbon and chocolate, so nice.

Taste - Flavor is excellent; super rich, chocolate, bourbon, some sugary cola, vanilla, a bit of oak and some booze.

Mouthfeel - Thick and creamy, good carbonation and slightly warming.

Overall - This is one tasty brew. Super creamy and the flavors of the bourbon and the stout really play off of each other nicely, better than a lot of other bourbon barrel aged stouts I've had. This is a great one, I'm already looking forward to next winter so I can have more.
Overall 4/5 Style 4/5

Drink On,

Dan

Is Troegs Finally Answering My Prayers?

Troegs brewery exclusive "Scratch Series" of one-off beers has become an instant hit among beer drinkers. Different from a lot of other brewery exclusive lines, Troegs actually bottles these brews and has them available for purchase in their general store. Every so often one makes its way into normal rotation, ie Flying Mouflan and Perpetual IPA. Recently the brewer put it to its fans to choose the next Scratch Series beer to become a regular and so far it's sounding like good news for me. From their Facebook page:

 Voting for the “Scratch Redux” contest is now officially closed. While the clear winner of the Facebook poll was Scratch #58 – Triple Mango IPA, we also had a few ballot boxes set up throughout the brewery, so those votes will be tallied over the next few days. We will announce the winner in the near future. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for no hanging chads or General Store re-counts! Thanks to everyone who participated in our inaugural Scratch Beer election. Which beer will emerge as the winner?

Scratch #58, or Triple Mango IPA, absolutely blew my mind. This beer was absolutely incredible and I knew it could very quickly and easily become one of my favorites. Unfortunately for me, this was one Scratch Series beer that was not bottled. The recipe was the result of a homebrew contest in which the brewers picked their favorite to make as the newest Scratch Series beer. Unbeknownst to them, the incredible amount of hops and mango the recipe called for would create a tremendous amount of sludge therefore reducing the end volume of beer. Less beer = not bottling, not growler fills, only available on tap at the brewery.

I have been thinking of this beer ever since and even planning to homebrew a batch myself just to get another taste. Hopefully at some point in the next few months I'll be buying this one by the caseload. When an official announcement is made, I will definitely post an update.

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Going Against The Grain

Firestone Walker is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries. They seem to do everything well. I've been snatching up everything I see from them and keep coming away satisfied. When I found Velvet Merlin I was very excited; a highly regarded oatmeal stout from a brewery with a reputation of dominance? How could I possibly go wrong?

Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin - 5.5% ABV
Stout/Oatmeal Stout
Fall Seasonal
12oz bottle poured into a goblet
Bottled 01/08/13

Appearance - Black with a thick, super creamy tan head. Good retention and lacing.

Aroma - Smell is chocolate, tobacco, smoke and cola.

Taste - Cola, a lot of smoke and an unusual bitterness on the finish. As it warms up the flavors unfold a little more; chocolate, coffee and some nice hop flavors and a really smokey finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body, well carbonated and an extremely dry finish.

Overall - I was so excited to have this one and so disappointed when I did. The smokiness was way over the top and distracted from the other flavors. It looked absolutely beautiful when I poured it and it just let me down from there. It did definitely get better as it warmed up but it still just wasn't for me.
Overall 2/5 Style 3/5

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Double Platinum

Today we discuss another beer club brew -- Starr Hill Double Platinum. The Charlottesville, Va brewer just recently began distribution to PA so I have almost no experience with them. The only other beer I have had from them is their Jomo Lager which was pretty standard but almost expectedly so. That being said, I am always up for trying something new, especially in the IPA family.

Starr Hill Double Platinum - 8.5% ABV

Imperial IPA

Rotating Availability

12oz bottle poured into a pint glass

Bottled 10/11/12 (pretty cool, right?)

Appearance - Amber with a thin white head. Decent retention and great lacing.

Aroma - Lots of hops, very citrusy -- grapefruit, oranges

Taste - Flavor is nice. Lots of hops but with some balance. Oranges, grapefruit and a good bitterness that lingers beyond the finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body, average carbonation and a bit of a tingle from the hops.

Overall - I'm not going to lie, my inner beer snob came out a bit and I was a little leery when I saw that it was a twist off cap, but I'm glad I reserved any true judgement until after tasting. This was a really nice beer, good hop flavors and a great hoppy nose. This is why beer club is so perfect, who knows when I would have had this otherwise? It's possible this could be even better a little closer to the bottling date, but I was very satisfied with this one. 

Overall 3.5/5 Style 3/5

Just a little additional anecdote, one thing that was tough for me about this one is it's classification as an Imperial IPA. With boundaries constantly being pushed and styles always evolving I think it may be time to expand the IPA and Stout categories specifically by creating a third tier. Meaning their should be IPA, Imperial IPA and Double Imperial IPA or something to that effect. I plan on doing a bit of research about this and putting up my argument sometime in the near future. Until then

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: A Truly Off-Centered Ale

Sam Calagione is as innovative and fearless as they come. He never stops looking for new techniques, new ingredients and new ways to update or improve old recipes and traditional styles. When I picked up a bottle of one of their barley wines -- Immort Ale -- I knew that any preconceived notions I had about what to expect should be immediately dismissed.

Dogfish Head Immort Ale - 11% ABV
Barley Wine
Rotating Availability
12 oz bottle poured into a pint glass
Bottled 01/13

Appearance - Clear, reddish brown with an off-white head that lingers.

Aroma - Smells sweet; oak, vanilla, maple and smoke.

Taste - Up front it's all smoke, almost overwhelmingly so. A lot of sweetness underneath -- vanilla and berries. As it warms the flavors balance out a little better and it's much more enjoyable. There is almost no alcohol in the flavor which is surprising since it's 11% and only 2 months from bottling.

Mouthfeel - Fuller body, well carbonated and slightly warming.

Overall - I am a bit torn on this one. I really enjoy a lot of the flavors here but the heavy smokiness is just a bit much for me. I do like a bit of peaty/smokey flavor but this was really extreme and I feel like it should have been more of a complimentary flavor than the standout. That being said it was still pretty cool and definitely unique. I certainly won't be buying this every time I see it, but I will go back to it again at some point and might age a few to see how it changes.
Overall 3/5 Style 2/5

Drink On,

Dan

The Next Big (Or Small) Thing

It looks as if the next big thing in craft beer is going to be small. Low ABV or "session" beers are looking to become the next major trend in the craft beer scene. For some time now I have been of the mindset that bigger is almost always better. Now I'm certainly not turning my back on big beers, but I have been becoming more and more seduced by the low ABV offerings with surprisingly high flavor that more and more breweries have been putting out.

Like everything else the definitions are a bit debatable, but generally big beers are over 8% and session beers are under 5%. One of the main reason I have leaned towards bigger beers is because of the immense flavor that they tend to have. In my experience, most beers that I've had that are under 6% don't pack that flavorful punch that their big brothers do but recently this theory has been turned on its ear.

Session beers are by no means a new style, but it seems that there is a new emphasis on these little guys that are so often overlooked. With the weather getting warmer for most of us, I give you the top 5 session beers I'm drinking right now that you should be too.

Brooklyn Dry Irish Stout - 3.9%
Dry Stout
Winter Seasonal

21st Amendment Bitter American - 4.4%
American Pale Ale
Year Round

Samuel Adams Double Agent IPL - 5%
Premium Lager
Year Round

Victory Swing Session Saison - 4.5%
Saison
Spring Seasonal

Founders All Day IPA - 4.7%
IPA
Year Round

If you see these beers, grab them. The flavor will make you do a double take at the tiny little number next to ABV and that tiny little number will make you feel better about putting down 3 or 4....or 7. Now if only I could find all of these in cans to sneak onto the golf course....

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Drinking History

Jack McAuliffe is a name that most people don't recognize. He is the founder of New Albion Brewing, also not very well known, and one of the most important figures in the craft beer revolution. Unfortunately Jack's brewery lasted a very short time (1976-1982) but he is considered the first craft brewer and the man that paved the way for everyone else. His New Albion Ale is considered to be the first modern day American craft beer.

From what I can gather, it seems the story behind this is that in the early 90's Jim Koch -- Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) -- purchased the New Albion trademark in an effort to keep it preserved. This next part might be a craft beer urban legend but it sounds great. With a commercial trademark, you have to use it commercially to maintain it -- essentially, if you don't use it, you lose it. So Jim Koch teamed with Jack McAuliffe to recreate the brew, using the original recipe, including the original New Albion yeast strain which has been preserved at UC-Davis. Showing even more proof that he's all about the beer, all profits from this beer are going to Jack McAuliffe. Without further ado, let's get into the beer.

Samuel Adams/New Albion Ale - 6% ABV
American Pale Ale
Special Release
12 oz bottle poured into a pint glass
Best before 07/13

Appearance - Bright yellow with a thick, fluffy white head. Good retention and nice lacing.

Aroma - Smells hoppy. Lemons, grass, grapefruit.

Taste - Malty, sweet, peppery, a touch of hops and a slightly bitter finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body, slick and oily, average carbonation.

Overall - By today's standards this is a pretty basic, pretty standard American pale ale but I can see how this would have been an extreme beer in the mid to late 70's. While it is somewhat plain, it is very well done. If this was a new beer just coming on to the market today I wouldn't give it a second thought, that being said its pretty damn cool to drink a piece of craft beer history. Like so many others, when I thought of "the beginning" I primarily thought of Fritz Maytag. If nothing else, this beer has enlightened me, and for that, I thank you Jim Koch.
Overall 3/5 Style 3/5

Beer Review: Oak Horizontal

Victory Brewing Company has been growing so rapidly that they have had to put several of their seasonal releases on hiatus due to the size of their brewery and the demand for their flagship brews. They have opened a new brewery in Parkesburg, Pa to handle most of the regular stuff which has allowed them to bring back these old favorites and use the original brewery in Downingtown to experiment -- new beers and special releases.

The winter seasonal Old Horizontal, affectionately referred to as Old Ho, has made it's grand reappearance in the form of Oak Horizontal -- a bourbon barrel aged version of the fan favorite. This year Oak Horizontal is the only version we're getting, but look for the original Old Ho winter 2013.

Victory Oak Horizontal - 10.5% ABV
Barley Wine
Special Release
750 ml bottle poured into a tulip
Bottled 12/12

Appearance - Pours a deep, rich mahogany with a creamy off white head.

Aroma - Smell is raisins, bourbon, vanilla, oak, caramel.

Taste - Lots of bourbon, vanilla, oak, toffee. Sweet, boozy and delicious.

Mouthfeel - Thick, good carbonation, warming.

Overall - Wow this is a great beer, bourbon barrel aging at its finest. Victory took a fantastic beer and made it even better. I sincerely hope that they bring this back at some point, it's just so good.
Overall 5/5 Style 5/5

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Double Barrel Ale

England's most popular beer style -- bitter -- seems to be anything but in the states. There are a few variants, bitter, premium bitter, special bitter and extra special bitter (esb). While not wildly popular this side of the pond, there are some really great examples from some American brewers, which is exactly what I was hoping to experience with Double Barrel Ale.

Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale - 5% ABV
Premium Bitter/ESB/British Pale Ale
12 oz bottle poured into a goblet
Bottled 11/27/2012

Appearance - Pours a clear amber with a fluffy, off white head that retains nicely.

Aroma - Smells sweet -- fruity malts, bananas, dough, caramel, a hint of oak.

Taste - Lighter than expected; sweet bread, light vanilla, slight hoppiness and a bitter finish.

Mouthfeel - Slightly fuller body, creamy, average carbonation.

Overall - Not having had a ton of different beers in this style it's a little hard to compare but this is a great beer. Very clean, very well done. I really expected this to be a bit heavier but it was extremely easy drinking and strangely refreshing. This is one I will definitely come back to.
Overall 4/5 Style 5/5

Drink On,

Dan

Beer Review: Finding Bigfoot

The biggest problem I have found with my love for all things beer is the incredibly vast selection from which to choose. Because of this, sometimes it takes a very long time to try even the most readily available beers. I can't tell you how many times I have passed by Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, always saying to myself, "I've got to try that." Recently it seems every website I look at, someone is talking about Bigfoot. I took this as a sign to finally bite the bullet and give it a go. All I can say is, it's about time.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - 9.6% ABV
Barley Wine
Winter Seasonal
12 oz bottle poured into a tulip
Bottled 12/01/2012

Appearance - Deep, rich, molasses color with a thick, frothy, cream colored head that retains well. Excellent lacing to the finish.

Aroma - Sweet, malty, some pungent hops and a bit of sweet oranges.

Taste - Rich and sweet up front. A good balance of malt and hops, good bitterness on the finish. Great hop flavors, piney, sugary oranges.

Mouthfeel - Thick and sticky, well carbonated.

Overall - Impressive. I've heard a lot of people describe it as more of an imperial ipa but I think it's a lot more complex than that. I'm a big fan of the barley wine style in general, but the hoppy ones are really great in my opinion. They normally show great balance and this is no exception. Excellent example of a hop forward barley wine.
Overall 4/5 Style 4/5

Drink On,

Dan

Issue #25: Yeah, Smitten Sounds About Right

Bell's Brewery is one of those brewers that seems to be can't miss. I always feel safe grabbing one of their brews and look forward to trying all of their new offerings. When I saw Smitten Golden Rye, and it's description as a light, refreshing, warm weather beer, I knew I had to give it a shot.

Bell's Smitten Golden Rye - 6% ABV
Specialty Grain/Rye Ale/American Pale Ale
Spring Seasonal
12 oz bottle poured into a pub glass
Bottled 01/24/13

Appearance - Hazy golden color with a thick, white, lasting head. Excellent lacing the whole way through

Aroma - Lemons, grass and a bit of orange.

Taste - Very light and refreshing. Bitter, lemon, grapefruit, some orange and slightly peppery from the rye.

Mouthfeel - Slightly fuller body, good carbonation and creamy.

Overall - Very easy drinking, light, refreshing, excellent flavor. Another perfect beer for spring and summer.
Overall 4/5 Style 4/5

Issue #24: My Beer Club Contribution

I was awarded the somewhat easy task of finding a quality craft beer that calls the west coast home. I say somewhat easy because while it isn't hard to find a good brew from the western US, it is hard to choose just one. After roaming the aisles for about 30 minutes, I settled on Bitter American from San Francisco's 21st Amendment Brewery.

21st Amendment Bitter American - 4.4% ABV
American Pale Ale
12 oz can poured into a pub glass
Can date unknown

Appearance - Slightly hazy, golden amber with a big, fluffy, slowly fading white head.

Aroma - Full of hop aroma. Lots of citrus -- oranges and grapefruit.

Taste - Much lighter than expected from the nose; very crisp and clean. Good bitterness throughout with underlying flavors of orange and grapefruit that linger through the finish.

Mouthfeel - Decent body and well carbonated. Kind of gives a zing from the hops the whole way through the finish, which is slightly dry.

Overall - This beer is really nice. Incredibly easy drinking yet full of flavor. At 4.4% this is a perfect summer beer and sessionable as hell.
Overall 4/5 Style 5/5

Drink On,

Dan

White Monkey

This past Saturday was the release of the newest of Victory's barrel aged beers, White Monkey. This time Victory chose their crowd pleasing Golden Monkey, an abbey tripel, then aged the brew in Chardonnay barrels for three months. I've never been a huge fan of the style, but special releases at Victory are always a good time.

We had a breakfast reservation at 9 am, and since no one in our group planned on taking home more than a bottle, we skipped the huge line for the retail store and went right to the brewpub. As I said earlier, Golden Monkey is a fan favorite and this was made very obvious by the hoard of people there to take it home by the caseload. The breakfast menu was the same as it was for the Thanksgiving release of Red Thunder, which was fine with me because the food was excellent. Once again I went with the cornflake crusted stuffed french toast (as did nearly everyone in our group). Everyone also got a sample (5 oz) pour of White Monkey and the Victory breakfast staple, a Prima Mosa. It may seem a strange combination, but Victory Prima Pils and orange juice is as good as it gets and the perfect accompaniment to any breakfast.

The Prima Mosa and the french toast were as expected, fantastic. White Monkey was also as expected. There was a lot of white wine flavor, as this beer style really lends itself to that flavor profile. It was less sweet than the original but still held true to its abbey tripel roots. The beer was done really well and fans of the style will most likely really enjoy it, that being said, it just wasn't for me. I also tried a new brewery exclusive imperial ipa, K-Bomb, and unfortunately this one didn't do it for me either. It certainly wasn't bad, but just wasn't really anything special.

I refused to leave empty handed however. Victory had yet another new beer, this one released one day earlier -- Swing Session Saison. They have also brought back St. Victorious Doppelbock, which hasn't been brewed for several years due to capacity constraints. These turned out to be the two best beers of the day by far (reviews coming soon!).

All in all it was a great day and I can't wait to see what they do next. A barrel aged V 12 would be excellent but I trust the brewmasters to give us something great no matter what they choose.

Drink On,

Dan

Miscellaneous Updates

So as I'm sure you've noticed, I took a good part of the week off last week. I was a little under the weather so I wasn't drinking and just wasn't really feeling up to posting, but I'm back. I'll have several reviews for you this week as well as a rundown of the release of White Monkey at Victory this past Saturday. At some point this week I will probably give you some more beers to look for as well.

Drink On,

Dan

Issue #23: Christmas Leftovers

I find it's normally nearly impossible to grab every seasonal release each year and this year Goose Island Christmas Ale was one of those misses. Luckily in my latest pick-a-six creation I was able to snag one of these and finally give it a shot.

Goose Island Christmas Ale - 7.5% ABV
Brown Ale
Winter Seasonal
12 oz bottle poured into a goblet
Bottled 10/04/12

Appearance - Mahogany with a thick, creamy, cork colored head.

Aroma - Smells sweet, dark ripe fruits, cherries.

Taste - Sweet up front with some bitterness and a strong tea-like flavor.

Mouthfeel - Full body and well carbonated with a slightly dry finish.

Overall - It's a little different than other Christmas ales but in a good way. It doesn't overwhelm you with spices; they are there but in a much more subtle way. It has a tea-like quality to it that reminded me of Anchor's Our Special Ale but much more understated. This is one I will definitely be drinking during the Christmas season this year.
Overall 3/5 Style 4/5

Drink On,

Dan