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