IPA

Febrewary Beer Club

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Tonight was beer club, a meeting of beer minded individuals from my work who get together for a meal and lots-o-beer once a month. An interesting turnout this month, as a few stalwarts were absent, but new attendees picked up the slack. This time around, we visited a Mexican BYOB with quite the ostentatious decor:

February Beer Club

(Click for bigger image)

Phew, that place has some brightly colored furniture. But amazing salsa and good food too. For the sake of posterity, some thoughts on each beer we tried are below. As usual, conditions were not ideal, so you can and should be skeptical of my notes. In order of drinking (not in order of the picture above):

  • Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball Ale – Wow, very rich malt flavors here, like a Scotch ale, but with something more. I got a distinct barrel aged character out of it, though this not one of those versions (apparently there are bourbon, port or brandy barrel aged versions, which I’d love to try). Fantastic beer, got the night going in style, though it may have set the bar unreasonably high for the following beers. I’d love to get me some more of this. A candidate for best of the night. A-
  • Appalachian Jolly Scot Scottish Ale – A somewhat local PA beer, this is another malt-forward ale that, unfortunately, didn’t stand up too well to the Hairy Eyeball. It was fine, to be sure, and I’d probably really enjoy one of these by itself, but it came off as being a biton the thin side after the rich flavors of the Hairy Eyeball. B
  • Blue Moon Belgian White – I know, it’s brewed by Coors, but hey, it actually worked really well at this point in the night. After two malt forward beers, it was a really refreshing change of pace, and I honestly have no problem with this beer anyway. Obviously not something I would ever go out of my way for, but a lot of places that only stock macros will have this on tap, and it’s actually a nice beer. No, it won’t melt your face, but it’s a good gateway beer. Lots of wheat and citrus, it’s refreshing and made for a nice palate cleanser tonight. B
  • Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale – Big brown ale brewed with Maple Syrup, you do get that character coming through pretty strongly here. A big, rich ale, no real hop presence, but lots of malts and that maple syrup adds a nice richness to the proceedings. Very well done, and another candidate for best of the night. A-
  • Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA – Well hopped (citrus and a little pine), plenty of balancing malts, and some of that distinctive rye character (though I never got the full-on rye bread character people seem to talk about). It didn’t blow my mind, but a very solid beer that I could probably drink often. B+
  • St. Bernardus Prior 8 – Not pictured (late arrival), but it’s a classic. Already reviewed here.
  • Southern Tier Creme Brulee (Imperial Milk Stout) – Another beer I reviewed a while back, this is one of the more interesting beers of the night. Massive aroma, intense flavors of chocolate, caramel, vanilla, maybe even some coffee. I could just sniff this stuff all night. Great stuff, maybe even a little better than I remember (though I think my chief complaint last time was that it’s a bit too sweet to drink a whole bottle). A strange beer because I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites, but it’s so distinctive and interesting that I’d highly recommend it to just about anyone. A great dessert beer.
  • Dominion Ale – Any beer that follows the intense flavors and aroma of Creme Brulee was probably doomed to failure, and this turned out to be a rather standard English Pale Ale, a style I’m coming to dislike quite a bit these days. I always feel like there are buttery off flavors in these beers, and this one is no exception. I even threw in a small slice of orange, which helped mellow it out a bit, but blegh. Not a fan of this beer. D
  • Kaedrin Christmas Ale – My homebrewed winter warmer style beer (a kinda spiced red ale), this thing has to be my best beer yet. Very nice spicy aroma, picking up lots of that cinnamon and clove, tastes quite nice, almost creamy mouthfeel. I really hope this wasn’t some sort of fluke. I should really do a recap of all my homebrews at some point on the blog, so no rating for now, but I would seriously put this up against any of the winter warmer style beers I’ve had over the past couple years.
  • Boxcar Brewing A Long Winter’s Night – This is probably as local as I can get. The (tiny) brewery was literally a few blocks away from where we were tonight (and this limited edition brew doesn’t even warrant a page on BA, apparently). This winter ale was very interesting. I didn’t get a lot of spice or anything out of it, but it was a very nice cloudy brown color with… it’s hard to describe. Roasted chocolate? But not at all like a stout. More like a brown ale, but with no coffee and some chocolatey overtones (to be honest, it’s very much like their regular brown ale, but perhaps less nutty). Very solid beer. B

All in all, a pretty great night! We didn’t manage to get to all the beers in the picture, though I ended up taking a can of pale ale home with me, so perhaps a review of that in the coming weeks… That’s all for now.

Lagunitas Sucks

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Well, no, but that’s what they named their beer. Years ago, in a failed attempt to make a barleywine, Lagunitas attempted to save the batch by throwing in a bunch of brown sugar. The result… wasn’t a barleywine, but it was apparently pretty great in its own right. It was called Brown Sugga, and it became their regular winter seasonal beer. Unfortunately, it apparently takes a long time to brew and it ties up brewery resources, so this year, when resources were at a premium and their brewery upgrade wasn’t ready yet, Lagunitas decided to cancel the popular brew this year (they’re installing extra capacity right now, so there should be no problems next year.)

Knowing that folks would want their Brown Sugga fix, Lagunitas took the self-deprecating route, made this beer and called it Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale: Brown Sugga Substitute:

Lagunitas Sucks

Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale – Pours a nice clear golden orange color with about half a finger of quickly disappearing head. Tons of lacing though. Smell is sugary sweet, with lots of citrus (grapefruit), a little pine, and some sort of earthy floral aromas as well. Taste is very sweet, with that floral pine taste hitting immediately, followed by a well balanced bitterness in the middle and finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium, really easy to drink. Maybe a hint of booze is detectable, but the dry finish does a good job hiding it. Overall, a wonderful beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.85% ABV bottled (12 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 2/3/12.

I’m not an expert on Lagunitas, but they sure seem to know what they’re doing with these hoppy beers (i.e. they don’t suck!) As much as I enjoyed this one, I’m kinda looking forward to Brown Sugga next year…

Hopslam

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I don’t know why, but last year, I underestimated how hard it would be to find some of this beer and ended up missing out on its hoppy goodness. Well, not so this year. I’ve been keeping my eye out, and last week, I spied some at a local establishment and finally made my acquaintance with this beloved beer. I would love to get my hands on some bottles of the stuff, but things are a little rough in PA, where you mostly have to buy beer by the case and thus this stuff sells out pretty quickly. Guy at the bar mentioned that he’s been on the waiting list at his local distributor for two years… and he still wasn’t sure if he’d get the case this year. But I hear rumors of more stuff coming later in February, so maybe I’ll snag a few bottles then… But for now, I’ll just have to deal with it on tap:

Bells Hopslam

(Apologies for the craptacular picture. It was dark!)

Bell’s Hopslam Ale – Nice clear golden color with about a finger of head. This might sound obvious, but it’s quite hoppy. Tons of juicy citrus, a little pine, maybe some floral aromas too. Tastes fantastic – very sweet, nice citrus and pine hop flavors, with a well matched bitterness emerging in the middle, hitting full force in finsh. It’s a sweet beer, but the finish is dry and bitter enough that it never feels cloying. It’s apparently brewed with honey, which would help explain some of that dryness… Extremely well balanced. Mouthfeel is smooth, maybe a little heavy, but still very easy to drink. The alcohol is well hidden too, though maybe just a hint of warming if you drink quickly (unsurprising given the ). Overall, fantastic beer. I can see what all the fuss is about… and I want more! A

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV on tap (10 ounces). Drank out of a goblet on 2/1/12.

I do hope I can get me a few bottles of the stuff, but I have to admit, the stories about people stalking this beer are a bit much. If I can find some, great, but I ain’t going crazy trying to get my hands on the stuff. Ditto for Pliny the Younger, which

Corne Du Diable

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Over at Beervana, there’s a nice pedantic discussion over what constitutes an West Coast IPA (an offshoot of a debate with Stone’s Greg Koch). Truthfully, I’ve never quite understood the distinction myself, but I always assumed it had something to do with big, juicy American hops with all their fruit and pine characteristics. But reading those posts and the comments, it occurs to me that no one really knows and who really cares? Styles are like genres in that they’re fuzzy around the edges and often bleed into one another. Styles can give you a broad idea of what you’re in for, but maybe they don’t need to be quite so granular or locked-down.

Anyway, if you think west coast IPA’s are causing a taxonomy problem, check out this beer. Beer Advocate calls it an American IPA. Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel’s description adds some confusion to the mix:

Corne du diable (French for “Horn of the devil”) is a contemporary interpretation of the classic English India Pale Ale. This new style, born on the west coast of North America, is characterized by stronger and hoppier beers. The result is a red ale expressing caramel flavours coming from the malt, sharp bitterness and powerful hop aromas, thanks to dry hopping

Ok, everyone get that? It’s an English IPA born on the West Coast of North America, resulting in a red ale?

Yeah, so now you know why I only have one IPA category on my site (of course, that was born more out of laziness than anything else, but I digress). And the red ale intersection with IPA is also a bit of a pitfall, but maybe we should just drink the stuff instead of parsing its style:

Dieu Du Ciel Corne Du Diable

Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel Corne Du Diable – Pours a cloudy brownish amber color with a small amount of head. The smell is unusual. There’s definitely lots of hoppiness there – maybe a hint of citrus, but more herbal or floral aromas seem to be the most prominent. The taste has lots of caramel malt, very sweet, with that same hoppy citrus and herbal character, and a well matched bitterness in the finish. Maybe a little spice too, and I want to attribute that to the hops for some reason. In any case, big flavors for a 6.5% ABV IPA… Mouthfeel is fine, maybe just a tad light on the carbonation (but still fine for the style). Speaking of which, it’s called an American Style IPA, but it actually feels more English. Maybe even a hint of that butterscotch flavor that I always find in English pale ales and usually don’t like, but it really works here (perhaps because it’s not an overwhelming flavor). Overall, a very interesting beer. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV bottled (11.2 oz). Drank out of a tulip on 1/21/12.

Apparently the only Canadian beers I drink are French Canadian. Yeesh. It’s actually hard to believe this is my first Dieu Du Ciel beer though. I quite enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to checking out more of their brews. They’re not quite as ubiquitous as Unibroue around here, but they seem to be pretty widely available. And I get the feeling they don’t really care about style either – most of their beers seem to be quite unusual (at least, from reading about them!)

Victory Ranch S IPA

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Having exhausted Victory’s regular catalog of beers (and most of their seasonals…), I set about sampling their irregular catalog of beers. This one appeared out of nowhere. No fanfare, just a new Double IPA on tap at the brewery. With a cryptic name.

As it turns out, this is a 100% Cascade hopped beer. Victory sourced the hops for this beer from a family owned hop farm called the Segal Hop Ranch (i.e. Ranch S), apparently the first hop farmers to commercially grow cascade hops (starting back in the late 1960s), so these folks ain’t fooling around. In an interesting Victory blog post a while back, one of the Victory brewers recounted his visit to the farm, talking about the Cascade Hops (which are apparently also used in Hop Devil) as well as Citra and then there’s this intriguing tidbit: “During the visit, the Segals showed me an unnamed experimental hop they are growing that had a fruity aroma with notes of banana and vanilla.” Well that sounds interesting, but I’ll have to make due with this Cascade single hopped double IPA for now. I picked up a growler of the stuff a couple weeks ago and ended up drinking the whole damn thing that weekend. Incidentally, Victory’s growler filler machine thingy is absolutely badass.

Victory Ranch S IPA

Victory Ranch S IPA – Pours a really striking clear golden orange color with a finger or two of fluffy white head. The smell is filled with earthy citrus hop aromas. As it warmed and/or as I drank more of it over the course of the weekend, I started to pick up more of a pine-like aroma. You know how all the descriptions of Simcoe hops say that they’re like Cascade on steroids? I never understood that until now. This Cascade beer really does have the smell (and taste) profile of a Simcoe beer. The taste is sweet with some of that earthy, piney citrus, but also a more floral or even herbal character leading into the dry, bitter finish and lingering aftertaste I expect from an IPA. Again, I feel like my palate adjusted to this the more I drank, with the pine taking a more pronounced position. Mouthfeel is smooth and just a bit sticky, with a light to medium body. Quite an easy drinking beer. I even got a bit of alcohol warming out of it, though I think that’s because I drank a lot of it quickly. It’s a lot like a souped-up Hop Devil (and it has less in common with Hop Wallop)… Hop Devil was the beer that sold me on IPAs, so this is very good thing, and a nice surprise from Victory. Again, as I drank more of it and that Simcoe-esque quality started to shine through, it perhaps came into its own. I really like this beer. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV growler (2L), filled on 12/30/11. Drank out of a tulip glass on 12/30/11 and 12/31/11.

I have no idea if this beer will return (I went to the brewery again this past weekend and they were already out of this) or if Victory has bigger plans to bottle this or something, but I’m glad I got to try some, as I enjoyed it greatly.

Dogfish Head Squall IPA

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It’s alive! As it turns out, this beer is basically a bottle conditioned version of Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA. What does that mean? It’s pretty straightforward, but I’m going to make it complicated, because that’s what we do here at Kaedrin.

Let’s start with the magical wonder of yeast. The simple description of yeast’s role in brewing is that it eats sugar, processes it, then poops alcohol and farts carbon dioxide (this is known as “fermentation” in respectable circles that I do not belong to.) Since fermentation typically takes place in a closed vessel (to keep out nasty bacteria and other unsavory bugs), brewers need to release the gas building up inside, least we have exploding equipment due to the additional pressure. What this means is that at the end of the fermentation process, when you’re ready to bottle or keg your beer, you’ve essentially got a flat product. There are typically two approaches to carbonating the beer. The most typical approach is to filter all the yeast and proteins out of the beer, then force carbonate the beer (basically just injecting a bunch of carbon dioxide into the liquid, then bottling/kegging it right away). The other method is to “prime” the unfiltered beer with a small amount of additional sugars, then bottle it. The yeast remaining in the unfiltered beer (which is still alive) will eat up the new sugar and carbonate the beer, right in the bottle*.

There are pros and cons to each approach. Force carbonation allows for a quicker, more consistent product. On the other hand, it also means the beer won’t stay fresh as long. Bottle conditioning can and will change the character of the beer over time – as the yeast is still “alive”. Indeed, while most beer is meant to be drank fresh, bottle conditioned beers are often suitable for aging. The down side is that you end up with a layer of yeast on the bottom of your bottle, the end product can be less consistent (this can be a plus or minus when it comes to aging), and, of course, it takes a while to condition in the bottle. This is, of course, a drastic simplification of the subject, and there are many things I’m leaving out (i.e. kräusening, re-yeasting, bottle bombs, caged and corked beers, Belgian methods and so on…)

So Dogfish Head filters and force carbonates their 90 Minute IPA**, but their experiment with Squall was to see how bottle conditioning the same exact beer would change its character (there may or may not have been some extra dry hopping as well). They also barrel age their 90 Minute IPA (that version is called Burton Baton), and they blend the 90 and 60 minute IPAs to make the 75 Minute IPA. Alas, Squall seems to be going the way of the dodo. Given that hoppy beers tend to deteriorate with time anyway, this makes a certain sort of sense. I’m sure an aged version of Squall would be quite nice, but it would also be lacking a lot of the hop character you look for in an IPA (yeast will keep the beer viable with age, but it won’t do anything about various flavors and aromas derived from hops). It was still an interesting experiment that I’m glad I got to try, though:

Dogfish Head Squall IPA

Dogfish Head Squall IPA – I think this might be my favorite Dogfish Head label ever. Anyway, it pours a cloudy, dark goldish orange color with a couple fingers of creamy head that leaves tons of lacing as I drink. Aroma is full of earthy hops and sugary citrus. Taste is very citrusy sweet with a light bitterness emerging in the finish. There actually is a musty yeast character here too. The mouthfeel is surprisingly full bodied, with lots of carbonation. Overall, a wonderful beer. I don’t know that it’s better than the 90 minute or Burton Baton, but I’m glad I got to try this variant. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip on 11/11/11.

I didn’t realize it, but this would have really made a good double feature with the standard 90 Minute IPA. I suspect there wouldn’t be a huge amount of difference, but I always find it illuminating to try such things together. Alas, with Squall going away, it seems that this is not destined to happen. Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all. Stay tuned for the start of this year’s holiday beer extravaganza.

* Bottle conditioning tends to be the favored method of the beginning homebrewer, as it doesn’t require any additional equipment. But you do have to wait. Most folks who invest in kegging systems also gain the ability to force carbonate the beer in the keg, which means you get to try the beer right after fermentation ends. Unlike me, who has to wait a couple weeks to try the beer. Not that I’m bitter.

** And it’s still an exceptional beer. Don’t take this post to mean that filtered beers are inherently bad, because there are lots of amazing beers in both camps.

Double Feature: Documenting IPAs

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I recently lamented my lack of double feature posts, a fault more of circumstance than anything else. I’ve been drinking more of a variety (which does not always lend itself to the comparative nature of double features), and some styles just don’t lend themselves to this type of post. One style that’s always been a boon to double features is the IPA. It’s a style of tremendous variety, yet you can often come away from drinking one particular example feeling that it tasted kinda the same as any other IPA. So pitting two examples of the style against one another and comparing the differences has always been illuminating. This double feature was a bit odd, for a few reasons. By total coincidence, they were both 7.2% ABV, lending a nice sense of stability to the proceedings. But then, one of the beers tasted nothing like an IPA, despite being labeled as such.

To match with my beers, I undertook a filmic double feature of two Errol Morris documentaries. Gates of Heaven was Morris’s first film, and it’s one of those documentaries that proves that you can make almost any subject interesting. It follows the ins-and-outs of pet cemeteries, including the folks that run them and the people who have opted to bury their pets there. It’s not quite riveting, and there is a sorta low-budget, bare-bones vibe to the production, but Morris is able to glean a lot of interesting stuff from an obscure subject. Morris’ latest film is Tabloid, a bizarre tale of a former beauty queen who is charged with kidnapping a Mormon missionary. It’s an amazing story, pure tabloid gold, but told in a way that made me think a lot about the nature of media and how stories can unfold in the news. I won’t ruin it, but there are many revelations and the old British tabloid reporters are an absolute riot (one of them particularly loves the phrase “spread eagle”, even verbing it at one point). Certainly one of the best films of 2011 (so far) and highly recommended. Now, onto the beers:

Troegs Scratch 49

Tröegs Scratch Beer 49 (Fresh Hop IPA) – This is from Tröegs’s experimental series of small batches where they are able to play with strange ingredients or non-traditional brewing techniques. In this particular case, we’ve got a Fresh Hop IPA. Also known as a Wet Hop beer, this is basically a style that utilizes hops that were picked within 24 hours of brewing the beer. Most hops are dried, concentrating and preserving the various flavors and aromas. They’re often processed even further into pellets or plugs, which generally helps preserve their potency. But a lot of breweries will ask their local hop providers for some fresh hops so that they can brew something with them, and thus we get fresh hop beers. They’re also called wet hop beers because their water content is 80-90% of their total weight (these will go bad if you don’t dry them out or use them right away). I’ve actually had a few fresh hop beers this year, and there is something different about them, though I’m not entirely sure I could pick them out of a lineup.

This one pours a clear golden color with a finger of white head. Smells fantastic. Very citrusy sweet, with a twang of something else in there. Perhaps an earthy herbal or medicinal aroma, but in a good way, and it becomes more prominent as the beer warms up. Whatever it is, it comes out in full force in the taste. Much less citrus in the taste, which heavily favors an earthy or maybe grassy bitterness, especially in the finish and aftertaste. Mouthfeel is somewhere around light or medium body. Just enough body that it isn’t quite quenching, but not so much as to be a heavy sipper either. Overall, a decent beer. Nothing I’d go crazy for, but it is very different from your typical IPA, which is certainly a plus. B

Beer Nerd Details: 7.2% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/4/11.

A solid beer, but like a lot of offerings from Tröegs, it didn’t blow me away. I thus turned to my local, hometown brewers’ latest creation:

Boxcar India Pale Ale

Boxcar Brewing India Pale Ale – Pours a darkish golden orange color with a finger or so of bubbly white head. Aroma is musty and just a bit spicy (you can really tell they used a Belgian yeast with this), with not very much of an earthy hop aroma and maybe just a hint of citrus (but you have to look for it). Taste is very sweet and spicy, with a little fruitiness and a nice dry finish. Again, very little hop character or bitterness here, at least, nothing like an IPA. Mouthfeel is quite nice, very well carbonated, a little of that harsh Belgian feel (which I always enjoy). Overall, it’s a very nice beer, but it’s not really an IPA, which makes it hard to rate. Ultimately, I really enjoyed it, so I’ll give it a B, but it should probably be marketed as more of a Belgian Pale Ale (or even a Belgian Strong Pale)…

Beer Nerd Details: 7.2% ABV bottled (12 oz). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/4/11.

The Boxcar beer kinda threw me for a loop. I feel like the lone review on Beer Advocate is pretty unfair, as it’s a D+. When you read the review, it seems he’s docking points because it’s not really an IPA. It’s a fair criticism, but then the rating says under it “Avoid”, which is pretty unfair, as it’s a pretty good beer. I agree that it’s not really an IPA, but I don’t really know how that should play into its rating. It seems more like a criticism of the branding or marketing of the beer than the beer itself. But on the other hand, it’s branded/marketed wrong! Weird. I suppose I should also disclose that this is an uber-local brewery (right down the street from me, basically in the dude’s garage), and I’m a total homer, so I’m inclined to cut them some slack. But I suppose if you’re really looking forward to an IPA and you open this, you’d be in for a big surprise. What say you?

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA

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During my recent trip to Austin, I actually stopped at a grocery store to pick up a couple of beers to smuggle back home. I’ve never done this before, so I was a little worried about confiscation or broken bottles. So I put the bottles in ziploc bags, wrapped them in clothing and made sure they were in the middle of my bag. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end, and I got me some Texas beer:

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA

Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA – Jester King is a pretty small brewery based in Austin, TX, but they’ve been making a name for themselves with their big imperial stout and some barrel-aged offerings (and bitchin’ label designs). They’ve also been in the news lately for trying to fight Texas’ asinine beer laws (ever see a sentence on a lager that says “ale in TX”? That’s because Texas law requires brewers to call lagers above 4% ABV an ale – i.e. Texas law requires brewers to lie about their beer. And that’s just one example.) This beer is a relatively straightforward beer, except for the inclusion of Rye in the recipe. I’ve had a few beers with Rye, but I can’t say as though I have a really good palate for picking it out. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this beer muchly…

Pours a very pretty dark amberish orange color with tons of slowly disappearing head (seriously, took forever for it to go away) that leaves copious lacing as I drink. Smell is filled with sugary sweet hoppy aromas. Typical citrus and pine here, but also something else, perhaps that rye? Taste starts sweet, with a nice, well balanced bitterness coming in towards the finish. Not quite refreshing, but it’s not extreme either. Mouthfeel is extremely smooth and compulsively drinkable. Overall, a really nice IPA with well matched flavors. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 10/22/11. Hops: Warrior, Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe. O.G.: 1.062.

Certainly a good first impression and a favorable rating amongst the various Texas breweries I became acquainted with during my vacation. Here’s to hoping they get distribution up here in PA someday. Hey, Jester King? We have horrible beer laws too! You should send beer up here so that we can commiserate together…

Hop’solutely

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Ah, the delicious world of hop puns. I know lots of folks hate puns, but I always get a kick out of them, even though they’re dreadfully overused, especially with respect to IPAs and hop puns. Smooth Hoperator, Hopacalypse Now, Hoptical Illusion, Black Hop Down (for an American Black Ale), Hoptimus Prime, Modus Hoperandi, Tricerahops, Hoptober, Hoppy Ending, Hopzilla, Secret Hoperative, Hopular Mechanics, Hopencrantz and Gilderhops are Hops, by Tom Hoppard and ok, fine, some of those are made up by people who hate hop puns, but most of them are actual beers. Ultimately, the only thing that really matters is how the beer tastes, so let’s get to it, shall we:

Fegleys Brew Works Hop-solutely

Fegley’s Brew Works Hop’solutely – Billing itself a “triple” IPA, this 11.5% ABV monster isn’t exactly sporting my favorite hop pun, but again, it’s what’s in the bottle that counts, not what’s on the label. Local beer critic Joe Sixpack actually named this his 2010 beer of the year, saying “Is Hop’solutely as good as Pliny the Younger? In a word, yes.” Pliny the Younger is, of course, the other “triple” IPA – the exceedingly rare big brother of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. The general consensus is that both of the Pliny beers are among the best in the world, but there are always contrarians who will argue otherwise. And in the case of the Younger, a beer I’ve never had, I have to wonder if its rarity is part of the reason it gets ranked so highly. Well, my bottle of Hop’solutely was actually sitting on my shelf longer than it probably should have. I don’t know if there’s any substance to the notion that a caged and corked IPA degrades faster than a capped bottle, but if so, this one probably aged more than it should have. It almost certainly lost some of its hoppy character. But on the other hand, at 11.5%, it should be able to stand up to some longer-term aging. Well, regardless, here was my initial reaction:

Pours a dark gold color with a finger of white head that leaves lots of lacing as I drink. Smells nice and hoppy – pine, citrus, caramel and booze are prominent. There’s even some earthy floral notes in the aroma as well. As it warms, the hoppiness fades a bit, but it still smells great. The taste is very sweet, nice flavor from the caramel malts, some citrusy notes, and just a little bitterness. Oh, and lots of booze in the finish, lasting through aftertaste. As it warms, that booze takes on an even more prominent position… A really nice warming effect coming from the alcohol. Mouthfeel is very heavy, almost chewy, but it remains smooth. Just a bit of stickiness in the finish. This is powerful stuff. Not quite a sipping beer, but not really something you want to gulp down quickly either. Overall, it’s quite a good beer. I would really like to try this again when it’s fresher, as the bottle I had was sitting around for a while. I’ll give it a B+ for now, but I suspect it could be higher depending on my mood…

Beer Nerd Details: 11.5% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on… um… sometime in early/mid September. I.B.U.: 100+. Hops: Cascade, CTZ, Summit, Amarillo and Chinook hops. Dry hopped with Chinook and Amarillo.

Someday, perhaps, I’ll do a double feature of Pliny the Younger and Hop’solutely, declare a winner, then pass out because I’ll be totally shitfaced. Speaking of double features, I haven’t done one in quite a while. I’m not sure why this is, but I may have to rectify this grievous oversight this weekend.

The Fear of 120 Minute IPA for Halloween

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I don’t normally talk about where I work, and I won’t go into specifics, but I always wonder who on earth signs up for our emails. We’re a retail company, and I guess if you’re into some stuff, the emails could be beneficial, but in my personal life, I don’t think I’ve ever actually wanted an email from a retailer (aside from order/shipping confirmations, which are a different beast). Except, of course, for my local beer and liquor stores. So when Pinocchio’s sent out their Halloween specials, notably featuring the long absent Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, I was all aboard. I now know what it means to be an email subscriber, despite the fact that I’ve never really cared before (I mean, aren’t emails so 1990s?) So yeah, I got to have a long sought-after beer (hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on some bottles that I can age (more on this later)), and Pinocchio’s always has a huge selection of great beer in the coolers as well, so I brought home some interesting stuff as well. Let’s just call this a beertastic Halloween. But enough babbling, let’s get to the good stuff:

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA – Many moons ago, Dogfish Head was among the few breweries shooting for the title of highest ABV beer. Their entry was a whopping 23% ABV IPA that was basically an extension of their 60 and 90 minute series of IPAs. The central conceit behind the series is that they are continually hopped beers. Small amounts of hops are being added to the boil continuously, eventually yielding a large amount of hop character. The 120 is boiled for a full two hours (an hour longer than most beers) and it features a huge amount of hops and malts too. And then the beer is dry hopped and further aged with hops for more aromatic characters. Anyway, as the race to highest ABV beer evar went on and breweries like Brewdog started really pushing the envelope, Dogfish Head bowed out and actually decreased the amount of alcohol in this beer to make it a bit more manageable and well balanced. This was probably for the best, as I can’t imagine a higher ABV beer tasting this good.

Pours a mostly clear but dark golden color with minimal head. The aroma is full of citrusy hops, orange and grapefruit notes, just a hint of herbal hop character and alcohol heat. Taste is sweet with a very well matched booziness. It’s obviously a strong beer, but I don’t know that I would have guessed just how high the alcohol is… There’s surprisingly little hoppiness in the taste, with just a hint of bitterness in the finish and aftertaste. The mouthfeel clearly features that alcohol burn character, and yet it’s relatively smooth for it’s strength. Overally, it’s quite good, complex, and well worth seeking out. I’m having trouble picking a rating, as I value the extreme and experimental nature of the beer, but it’s not exactly the most delicious beer ever or anything. I’ll give it an A-, because I really enjoyed it and would love to get me a 4-6 pack of the stuff to try over the period of a few years.

Beer Nerd Details: 18% ABV on tap. Drank out of a snifter on 10/31/11.

Now, after the beer (and after I ate something), I headed to the back room at Pinocchio’s, which has a massive (800+) selection of beer varieties available. A few folks were tasting some of the beers, and I spied an open 750 of the 120 minute. Knowing that I’d love to have a bottle or two of the stuff, I asked the guy behind the counter if he had any for sale and he laughed and pointed at the date on the bottle. It turns out that the bottle was from 2003. The guy kindly poured about an ounce into a shot glass for me to try out (for which I am very grateful), and damn, this is clearly that same beer, but with a much more complex array of flavors. It was too small to really rate, but damn it was good. I really need to find me some bottles of this stuff and age it in my cellar (aka my fridge).

Anyway, before I went to the store, I had myself another beer (with my dinner), this one a more festive Halloween beer:

Flying Dog The Fear

Flying Dog The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale – Hey, look, another dark colored pumpkin ale. Very dark brown, almost black color with some amberish highlights and a finger or so of tan head. Light pumpkin pie spices in the nose. Taste is full of sweet malts and a well balanced portion of pumpkin pie spicing (I know lots of folks don’t like overly spiced pumpkin beers, but these darker beers really do seem to stand up better to the spicing). Well carbonated, but either my palate was obliterated by the 120 Minute or it was a light bodied beer. I would have expected something with a little more heft to it, but it certainly wasn’t bad. It’s a really nice beer, but not something that really stands out. B

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV on tap. Drank out of a tulip on 10/31/11.

I grabbed a glass of water, finished off my meal, and then headed over to the bottle shop, where I picked up a nice selection of exciting beers, including:

Phew. I’ve clearly got my work cut out for the next few months (not to mention all the stuff I still have sitting around, including a few cases of homebrew). Too many beers, too little time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish watching Halloween. Speaking of which, have a good Halloween!