Beers in Review: Twice In A Week!

Sidecar Orange Pale Ale has been part of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's line-up for a few years now, since SN started expanding beyond their signature pale ale. To live up to its name, Sierra Nevada uses Mandarina hops as well as orange peel in the brewing process. The result is a bold orange-colored beer that has 5.3% ABV and 35 IBU. Flavors include plenty of orange and orange rind, and maybe a bit of grapefruit, along with a good amount of hop bite towards the back of the drinking experience and pushing into the aftertaste. There were also some hints of pine and hop candy, with a very slight juiciness in the mouthfeel. I found this pale ale to be pretty decent overall, though I feel like previous years' versions were more memorable, and perhaps had more orange?

Next up is Savannah, Georgia's Southbound Brewing Company. I found their Scattered Sun Witbier to be a fairly standard, well-executed beer. It pours a slightly hazy yellow-gold color. Coming in at 5.2% ABV and 15 IBU, this Belgian Wit brings lots of flavor, with flavor notes that include a bunch of orange and other citrus in the front half, along with banana, cloves, all spice and other spices, and just a bit of banana. Scattered Sun checks off all the boxes for a Witbier, and I found it to be really tasty!

Beers in Review: Welcome to the Party, Goodwood!

Making their PRB debut is Louisville, Kentucky's Goodwood Beer and their Walnut Brown Ale! The Goodwood website lists the Walnut Ale at 6% ABV and 23 IBU--the local watering hole where I had this beer listed a slightly high ABV. As an aside, the Goodwood website really brings something neat to the website game by showing where on the tongue one should experience various flavors pertaining to each of their beers! Good show, Goodwood! The beer pours a deep, dark chocolate brown and has a medium body. I found this brown ale to be well-executed, with expected nutty and malty flavor notes, along with an initial very slight sweetness. This sweetness tended to go away through the drinking experience, as I detected a subtle unsweetened chocolate note at the very end of the drinking experience. There was also a little bit of a cola note, too--mostly early on, with that slight bit of sweetness. Since I had this Walnut Brown a couple of weeks ago, Goodwood's been creeping up on my radar more and more, even seeing it reviewed by some of my fellow beer bloggers and BeerTubers. I found this brown to be a very good start for Goodwood, and I look forward to checking out some of their other offerings.

Next up is Shakedown Street, a "dry-hopped tart Saison" (their description) from Southbound Brewing Company in Savannah, Georgia. At 5.2% ABV and 35 IBU, this Saison pours a hazy gold-peach color. It brings lots of funk at the front of the drinking experience. I also picked up citrusy lemon notes along with lemon and grapefruit rinds. A good amount of pepper is also present, and I also found a little bit of a white wine note towards the end of the drinking experience as it warmed up. Really solid stuff from Southbound. One of the more enjoyable Saisons I've had in a little while.

Beers in Review: Playing catch-up

After Sunday's little party, I have whole bunch of beers about which to write, but I'm still playing catch-up from the previous week! We'll see if I'm feeling frisky and want to write about a couple beers more than usual. Let's get started.

Leading off is Picture of Nectar Double IPA from Southbound Brewing Company. It pours a yellow-gold color, and features peach and peach skin flavors, along with some floral aromatic notes and piney hops. I got a mild bitterness on the back end of the drinking experience, as well as some earthiness towards the end. It wasn't too sweet, and also not really boozy, which was a slight surprise for 9.3% ABV. A very drinkable DIPA.

It seems like I've covered a lot of Bell's Brewery lately--the Octoberfest series has aided that perception--and the latest in a series of very good beers from Bell's is their Special Double Cream Stout. As expected, it pours a near-black color, and offers notes of coffee as well as some cocoa and perhaps even a hint of smokiness. It's very tasty overall, with a fairly smooth mouthfeel (again, as expected from a DOUBLE cream beer).

Third up is the highly-regarded Narwhal Imperial Stout from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. This beer is pretty much pitch black, with some quite tasty flavor notes, including dark fruit, raisins, plums, sweet chocolate and vanilla, and sweet maltiness. It has an incredibly complex flavor profile, with a moderate amount of booziness. This my first tasting of Narwhal, and it lives up to its reputation.

Finally, let's jump into one beer from Octoberfest on Sunday. This Brewdy Peach/Habanero IPA was brewed by Low Tide Brewing Company for The Fat Hen, a French Low Country restaurant just outside Charleston, SC. Pouring a cloudy orange color, this IPA brings plenty of pepper. The Habanero kick is evident from the outset, as a just-uncomfortable-enough spiciness invades the throat upon the first sip and persists even after swallowing. A black pepper note joins it early on, before being joined by the peach and maybe a funk note, as well. The hops come through in the back half of the drinking experience, an experience which includes a bit of a creamy mouthfeel. This is an impressive beer, and the first I had at Octoberfest. It was a hell of a lead-off hitter.