Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 6: Hunter-Gatherer, plus programming notes

I have a two beers for you to close out my contribution to Columbia Craft Beer Week (more on that shortly), from Hunter-Gatherer Brewery. We start with the Wheat beer. It pours a pale straw-gold, and is light overall with the most notable flavors being lots of grain and crackery or bready notes. There was also a mild sweetness and a hint of citrus towards the end of the sip. It was pretty tasty for a wheat beer.

Second was the ESB, which poured a reddish-brown or copper with a low-medium body and lead off with a nice malty backbone. This led to some dark fruit-type flavors and mild sweetness as the taste progressed. Very drinkable, a nice ESB, if that's your thing.

Now, while CCBW formally ends tomorrow, the final event is the 8th annual Columbia World Beer Festival, where I will be drinking as many 2 oz. pours as I possibly can. Notable beers will be described on the blog's Twitter page: www.twitter.com/pourlyreviewed. I'm sure there will be several. But I wouldn't expect any further blog entries until early next week, unless I'm feeling especially chipper on Sunday, somehow.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 5: Conquest Coffee IPA

We have another offering from Conquest Brewing Company, in the form of their Coffee IPA. It pours a gold-orange color--frankly, I expected something darker, considering this is a beer brewed with coffee. Aroma-wise, I was getting a lot of hops. Flavor-wise, I was pleased to find a much better balance. The coffee is certainly present, but not overpowering, and blends well with citrusy hop flavors. A hint of sweetness finishes off the sip.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 4: River Rat My Morning Stout

Hello, friends.

For Day 4 of CCBW, we return to River Rat Brewing and their My Morning Stout. It pours virtually pitch black, but also has a surprisingly light-in-color head, just a very, very light tan. A lot of typical but well-executed stout flavors in this beer--notes of almost spicy cocoa along with hints of coffee and vanilla (both especially in the finish). These blend together along with a mild sweetness (possibly generated by the vanilla?). The finish is fairly smooth. Another quality beer from the folks at River Rat.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 3: Swamp Cabbage Bald Cypress Porter LIVE

Day 3, and a sampling of a third of Columbia's breweries. Today we feature the Bald Cypress Porter from Swamp Cabbage Brewing Company. The porter poured pitch black with a very small amount of tan head. The very first impression on the sip was a cola-like flavor. That lingers for a bit, then resolves into something a little more dark fruity, then into a more typical cocoa flavor. There is also some kind of smoky bite at the very end, almost like a mesquite, or something like that. It's not off-putting at all, but a bit of a unique flavor.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 2: Conquest Der Alte Fritz

We continue the reviews for Columbia Craft Beer Week with the one local brewery I have yet to mention in this blog: Conquest Brewing Company and what they call their "dark rye brown". Der Alte Fritz is probably my preferred choice from Conquest. It pours a solid brown and has a light-to-medium body. It's a pretty standard brown ale, with lots of malt flavor and and a mild amount of sweetness, but also featuring a hint of pepper and some other spiciness coming out of the rye. The malt elements tend to be much more prevalent than the rye components, but it makes for a tasty beer.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 1: River Rat Winter Warmer LIVE

Here in Columbia, today marks the first day of Columbia Craft Beer Week, one of two craft beer celebrations held in Columbia each year. This week features assorted events like tap takeovers, beer dinners, and special releases from many of the city's restaurants, pubs, and breweries. The week culminates with the World Beer Festival next Saturday at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

My own little contribution to CCBW will be a review of a different Columbia-brewed beer everyday through Friday. We begin today with River Rat's Winter Warmer. Pouring a clear reddish-gold, and having a pretty full body, this beer has just a hint of sweetness. It utilizes cinnamon and "sweet orange peel" as part of its recipe. Both come through, especially the cinnamon as part of that usual winter-ish spice profile. But neither is overpowering, and blend well with the malt profile that comes through later in the taste. Overall, a very nice beer.