Beers in Review: Late-ish

I'm writing this at a later hour than I normally like to write, so let's just get into today's beers.

First up is the Honey Kolsch from Rogue Ales. Rogue's farm near their brewery in Oregon sourced the honey for this Kolsch from over 7 million bees kept on the farm. This beer pours a straw yellow, and is nice and light with mild sweetness, including a not-too-strong honey note. Doughy and yeasty notes are also prevalent, all leading the way to a nice biscuity malt finish. I found this beer to be quite tasty.

Next up is New Holland Brewing Company's Sundog. Pouring a deep copper color, I found notes in this beer I really liked, but I also found something a bit off. The beer has a strong malt backbone with bready notes and a whole lot of caramel. The finish was kind of strange--I felt like I was getting a nutty note, but there was also some sort of off flavor. It seemed like maybe something metallic, but I had trouble placing it. The front half of this beer was decent, but the back half was a bit of a killer. I would give it another try, perhaps in bottles (I got a draft) or at another locale.

Finally, from Freehouse Brewery, their Battery Brown Ale. The beer poured a pretty light cola color, and brought a massive malt bill with huge burnt sugar notes, along with toffee. There was a slight hint of a straight-up burnt note, but it blended well with everything else going on, so that it was not off-putting. Despite the dark candy-like notes, this beer carried just a hint of sweetness. A whole of what I like from brown ales in this Battery Brown. The brewers call it "quaffable...for all seasons", and I completely agree.

Beers in Review: Under the Weather

I had strongly hoped to do a video review today, but I'm feeling a bit under the weather. My fingers are working perfectly fine, and I have a handful of beers from earlier in the weekend to cover, so let's cover them!

Last month, I had my first offering from a new brewery in Columbia, Bierkeller Columbia, who are dedicated to making high quality German-style beers using simply core ingredients. I found their Braunbier, a dark lager, to be terrific. I was similarly impressed with their Kellerbier, which poured a delightful, slightly hazy gold color. This is supposed to be a little on the hoppy side, but as with the Braunbier, I found the malty side spoke to me more. The beer did open with some mild dank hop notes that quickly gave way to caramel malts. Regardless, I found this beer to be delicious. No matter what Bierkeller was going for, this was another tasty offering from that team.

Next is Mad Hatter, an IPA from Mad Hatter Brewing Company. This beer pushes hard towards becoming a "hop bomb", staying just on this side of overpowering. The bright, citrusy hop notes are accompanied by delightful floral aromatics and a moderate bitterness that just sort of lays on top of the overall drinking experience--very much present throughout, but, again, it's not an overwhelming presence. A solid IPA.

Up next, I try the next installment in Shmaltz Brewery's second offering in their 50th Anniversary of Star Trek series, called the Trouble with Tribbles Golden Anniversary Ale. Now, I enjoyed the first offering, which was a Red Session IPA. I recall being a fan of the beer, which had an impressive malt/hop balance and delicious malt flavors. Unfortunately, I was less impressed with this entry. This beer played like a mild Pilsner, as it was a bit peppery with a mild grainy sweetness. I also got an overall bitter note that just wasn't jiving with me. To me, this beer was just okay.

Finally, from Wooden Skiff Brewing Company, a Kolsch called The Tourist. Pouring a nice, light gold color, this beer was grainy-sweet and, quite simply, beer-like. It had a mild malt presence and was quite smooth and fairly refreshing. Really solid, a highly drinkable beer.

Beers in Review: New Holland Trio

I have a little free time tonight, so as promised, I have three beers to review, all from New Holland Brewing.

We start with a couple of reserves from the local World of Beer's New Holland tap takeover on Saturday night. The Incorrigible Reserve is a sour ale infused with blueberries and blackberries. Pouring a pretty red gold color, this ale was quite sour, to the point that it almost overpowered the berries used in the process. They were evident early on in the sip, but the back end was so sour that it reminded me of a sour apple Jolly Rancher: just a hint of sweetness, but the sour note is very strong. The saltiness was fairly tempered initially, but ramped up as the beer warmed. Like all sours, this is an acquired taste, maybe moreso than some. The strong notes also tend to make a limit of drinking just one of these in a night.

Dragon's Milk is a well-regarded Imperial Stout that I had never had before. It is widely available. It's just that I tended to gloss over it. When I saw the Dragon's Milk Reserve aged in oak with raspberries and lemons on tap, I knew I had to dive into this stout. The beer is pitch black with a big, delicious chocolate brownie note with a delightful sweet berry note throughout and as an aftertaste. There is also an undertone of brightness provided by the lemon hiding in these powerful flavors. Checking in at a powerful 11% ABV, the expected booziness is surprisingly difficult to detect, possibly hiding in the berry notes a bit. I could feel the booze on my breath a little bit, but again, it was surprisingly muted. This was a damn good beer, and I'll need to grab a bottle of regular Dragon's Milk--I expect I've been missing out.

Finally, something I had at home, their White Hatter Belgian-style White Pale Ale. It pours a slightly hazy gold, or peach skin color (more the yellower part, less the redder part). As the style listing might indicate, this ale brings a lot of different flavors. I initially get a lot of Belgian sweet notes that quickly resolves to a significant citrus hop bite. Even the bite goes away fairly quickly, leaving a nice, big orange note for the entire back half that I really enjoyed. The hop bite DOES come back a bit when swallowing, but again goes away fairly quickly, leaving a relatively clean finish.

Beers in Review: PRB FINALLY Sells Out A Bit!

When I founded this blog, the idea was to give my amateur thoughts on all the craft beers I could get my hands on. I assumed at some point something mainstream would end up here on PRB (and, really, some craft beer snobs would argue I've already reviewed mainstream beers, given Goose Island is now Budweiser's little brother), but I honestly figured it would take more than 3 months. That being said...

As a former Pennsylvanian, Yuengling Lager has a special place in my heart. Even all the way back in college, my fraternity brothers could attest that when I wasn't downing apple cider and Seagram's 7 (what the hell was I thinking?), I still felt too good to regularly down PBR, Keystone, and the other cheapest swill available. In lieu of the 40oz bottles of said products, I'd grab the liters of Yuengling instead. Even in college, before the craft beer boom, I tried to be a little bit of a beer snob.

So...Yuengling Lager. Like most macros, the profile for this beer is very much straight forward. Pouring a gold-orange color, and having a medium body, it's basic but pretty tasty for a lager. Plenty of grain flavors and aromas, and maybe a little bit of accompanying sweetness. Something biscuity or bready in there, as well. Personally, I always find Yuengling to fall in an ideal point on the flavor vs. price spectrum. Some crafts have gone down in price to be very affordable, but you'll never find them for $16/case. Basically, I'll always have a soft spot for "Lager".

As I mentioned in one of the Beer Festival blog entries, I had just discovered Catawba Brewing Company. Just prior to the festival, I had their Farmer Ted's Cream Ale. Listed as a cream ale, this seems to be their basic or gateway beer for the pale lager drinkers of the world. Nothing at all wrong with that. It pours a pale, straw-like yellow, and has a light, bready flavor. I also found it to have a mildly sweet aftertaste. Frankly, I felt that it was maybe a little too carbonated--I would think it was intended to be a little smoother--but that may have been the fault of the draft system of my local watering hole. A solid basic beer.

This is already getting a little longer than I'd like, so let's close with a live review. I have in front of me New Holland Brewing Company's Cabin Fever Brown Ale. It pours a nice moderately dark brown color, of course, and has a medium-heavy body. A Winter seasonal, Cabin Fever has nice cocoa notes, and probably plays a little rougher than most--the ABV is 6.5%, but feels like it would be a little higher than that, maybe in the low-mid 7s. Malty and strong, it might not be the usual winter beer, but it is hearty enough to hold up.

Site News: So, coming mid-February, I plan on taking my face-made-for-radio to the visual medium, and starting Pourly Reviewed Beer video reviews. Reviews will typically be one beer at a time, and plan on having the beer in front of me to deliver live impressions. Videos will be posted both here and on YouTube. Look for these starting with a special side-by-side tasting the week of February 15th (if all goes well).

Coming Wednesday: a Left Hand's highly-regarded Milk Stout, a true surprise from Sierra Nevada, and something from OMB.  Cheers!