Beers in Review: Plus a programming note for next week

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Three very different beers to discuss today. Let's get to it.

Vienna Lagers are not necessarily the most diverse of beer styles, but Devils Backbone Brewing Company is delivering on the style in a big way, having won multiple awards over the last several years. Their Vienna Lager pours a deep gold, and doesn't have a whole lot of body. Mild grain notes are accompanied by a great malt sweetness and some toasted notes. As expected, it is also very crisp on the palate and in the finish.

Next up, we try the Medusa Stout from Columbia's own Conquest Brewing Company. Pouring pitch black and having a good amount of body, you find many of the typical stout notes present: mild amounts of chocolate, some roasted coffee, some dark maltiness. There was also some bitterness present, but that tended to dissipate as it warmed. It had a pretty clean finish, but a bit of a smoky aftertaste or breathiness after drinking.

Finally, Terrapin Beer Company's session IPA, RecreationAle (not a typo). It's a pale gold color, has a moderate amount of body, and I find the flavors to be largely pretty mild. Citrus hops and a good amount of hop bitterness lead the way in sipping this beer. There is a bit of a fruity bite later on, along with something grainy as well. As a Session IPA, it's a relatively low ABV beer that would be best enjoyed quite cold on a summer day.

So, St. Patrick's Day is a big deal here in Columbia, South Carolina. We have a festival that draws 40,000 or more downtown to enjoy a big street fair, including 4 big stages of music, a parade, kids' carnival, and more. In the spirit of St. Pat's, check out 4 different Irish beer reviews next week, from Monday the 13th through St. Patrick's Day on Thursday. At least one of these will be a video review. That will all start Monday!

Beers in Review: Two more Pale Ales, plus a Lips of Faith

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We start off the latest trio of reviews with Dark Horse Brewing Company's Crooked Tree IPA. Pouring a deep gold and having medium body, the first thing to hit me on the sip were dank and piney hops. This combines with a mild maltiness and some hop bitterness towards the end, but generally this beer is pretty well-balanced. You might also find a hint of caramel in the flavor, as well.

Second is War Flag's American Pale Ale. It poured a hazy straw color, and featured a citrusy sweetness as the primary portion of the flavor profile. There were also some spicy flavors and a mild hop bite towards the back end of the sip, but it wasn't really bitter. I also found this beer to be crisp and fairly straight forward.

Finally, from New Belgium's Lips of Faith series, Le Terroir 2015. As a dry-hopped sour ale, this ale is quite complex. Sours by themselves typically have a unique combination of sweet, tart, and even salty flavors (see this December 8, 2015 review for a little more about sours/gozes). Le Terroir strikes many expected notes, but goes beyond. Early on in the sip, you get a lot of peach sweetness and dark fruit to winey flavors with some mild tartness that is really nice. The drinking experience becomes more powerful as the sip goes on, as the tartness ramps up with the ale becoming quite crisp, and there is even a hint of saltiness. In addition, the hops used in this ale (a unique addition compared to most sours) also make their presence felt in the second half of the sip. The hops make for a complex flavor profile that goes above the usual sour ale flavor profile.

I have waited so long to see this article!

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So, it's no secret that I am not a fan of the standard of the fall seasonal collection, the pumpkin beer. While I am happy to say I found a few that suited my palate fairly well, I typically dislike the all-in-pumpkin-pie flavor that many of these beers and the massive amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and other spices that accompany these beers. Again, moderation is okay, but I find few of these beers practice such moderation.

This recent Forbes article tells me I may not be the only one getting tired of the pumpkin beer craze of the past few years. Pumpkin beers enjoyed reported 30+% growth each of the last few years, but sales fell flat recently, and some major retailers had some of the best-regarded pumpkin beers (such as Dogfish Head Punkin Ale and Southern Tier Pumpking) still in stock in February of this year! This was seemingly confirmed by the heads of the beer-tracking app Untappd, who reported increased check-ins for pumpkin beers "far after the new year, as late as January, February, March, or April."

Some thoughts are given for the decline. One potential reason, which could be a possibly encouraging sign, is that many craft beer novices once purchased these beers, only for them to become gateway beers, with these once-novices now purchasing other, different craft beers. The article also points to such things as the often-bemoaned "seasonal creep"--the introduction of such fall beers as early as July--and beer drinkers simply trying to diversify their beer experiences, though there are mixed thoughts on these reasons.

Personally, I am not going to cry too much over a significant reduction in the nation's pumpkin beer supply.

 

H/t: forbes.com and Tara Nurin

Beers in Review: Pale Ales

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For this week's written blog entries, I have a quartet of pale ales to write about. We'll cover the first two right now.

After checking my notes, I realized I reviewed this beer in December. It's quite a bit sooner than I would want to repeat a beer, but as a year-round release, I'm fairly confident it's from a different production batch, so let's do it. Lagunitas Brewing Company's Daytime Fractional IPA is a high quality sessionable IPA. It pours a pretty clear gold color and has a pretty low body. Big, bold citrus flavors are very strong on the palate, along with some dank and piney hop flavors. Overall, it is very well-balanced, bright, crisp, and easily drinkable.

I also had Founders Brewing Company's seasonal fruity IPA, Azacca. Having medium body and pouring a red-gold, similar to a dark ruby red grapefruit, this pretty color sets the tone for the flavor of the beer. It is quite crisp and features flavors of fruits and tropical fruits, including passion fruit and papaya. I feel like there was also some mango and maybe peach there, as well, but there was less of the two latter than the two former. The tropical fruits are well-balanced against a mild amount of hoppy bitterness. This is a really neat beer with a really neat flavor profile--it's not a profile you see often in a lot of readily available IPAs. The last one with such a strong tropical profile was the Sierra Nevada Tropical IPA.

Later this week, more pales from a couple of lesser-known breweries. Also, expect the first of the week's two video reviews tomorrow!

Beer spa!

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I'm presuming spa days are fun. As a guy, I've never done one. Mashable, however, recently reported on a Sisters, Oregon spa involving some of beer's key ingredients in their treatments.

Live many spas across this nation, Hop in the Spa offers many standard spa treatments: Swedish massage, hot stones, various ancient healing treatments. They are also offering treatments such as "microbrew soaks" and utilizing ingredients like barley, herbs, and hops and "hop-infused oils". The idea is that microbrews are made from materials that include vitamins and minerals like iron, selenium, magnesium, B1, B3, and more, and that these vitamins and minerals "will help with insomnia, anxiety, stress and help calm the nervous system down." Per an interview with Mashable, Hop in the Spa plans a future beer garden so customers can relax with a pint after treatments, and to sell branded products via their website.

You check out the "Services" tab in the link above for a full rundown of their beer-related and non beer-related services.

H/t: mashable.com and Sarah Spiegelman Richter

Beers in Review: A pair of pales

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A pale ale and an IPA on tap for today's reviews. Let's do it!

Natty Greene Brewing Company's Southern Pale Ale, their only year-round pale ale (also have 2 seasonal IPAs) pours a gold color and has a medium body. Interesting blend of hop flavors, initially showing off bright citrus flavor before leading into a hint of piney hops as well. Not too complex, but a very solid flavor profile coming out of this pale ale. It is pretty crisp to drink and has a pretty clean finish.

Next up is Eight Point IPA from Devils Backbone Brewing Company. A similar light gold or rich hay color with a light-to-medium body, the flavor is bold, hitting you with rich piney hops, along with some dank hints and maybe a something a little bit herbal or peppery. Despite the strong flavors, there is only a moderate amount of bitterness that tends to occur towards the end of the sip. The overall result is a beer that is surprisingly NOT overpowering, as some hop-powered beers can be. That hop bitterness hangs around the palate and the throat for a little bit after drinking.

Coming this weekend, two words: Beer spa!

Beers in Review: Abita, Highland, Stone

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There are some very interesting beers coming up on the blog this week, via both the written and visual mediums. Let's get to it!

A local watering hole I visited on Saturday looked to have an Abita Brewing Company tap takeover this past week. I don't know if that stemmed from Mardi Gras earlier in the month or what, but the Abita Amber was still on tap, so I decided that would be a good opener. Pretty straight forward with good flavor for an amber ale. I detected a bit of a grainy note early on, but this quickly resolved into maltiness. There were also some very mild sweet and caramel notes throughout. Pretty crisp and, again, fairly straight forward overall.

Next up is Highland Brewing Company's St. Terese's Pale Ale. It's a little milder, hop-wise, compared to their Kashmir and the seasonal Devil's Britches IPAs. Mild dank hops were present throughout when taking a sip. Eventually, the malts come forward a bit, and there are some fruity or sweet notes towards the end, making a decent balance as you take a sip. Maybe something grainy or toasty there, as well, but it's very faint.

The final beer for this entry is Xocoveza, originally another collaboration by Stone Brewing, along with their Homebrew Competition winner Chris Banker and Mexico's Cerveceria Insurgente in late 2014. Xocoveza (which is fun to say, but a pain to type) proved so popular that Stone brought it back late last year. It's popularity is well-founded--this was an incredibly complex beer. A Mocha Stout, I found Xocoveza on Nitrogen locally. The result was a beer that poured pitch black with a creamy head. The mix was beautiful. The aromas were incredibly powerful coming off of this stout: a bit of cocoa, lots of coffee, and the coffee note played heavily in the flavor, where it came off as a very dark roast, almost to the point of burnt bitterness. It toed this line very carefully, but was partially saved by quite sweet vanilla and especially chocolate notes. When combined with the super-fine foamy head caused by the Nitrogen, the end result was this almost drinking like a milkshake! Very tasty with tons of flavor.

Coming up in this week's video review: Westbrook's 5th Anniversary Stout! Coming early this week!

Beers in Review: Including a Triple Collaboration

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Returning to the realm of the written word (expect the next video review early next week), we'll open with a live tasting of Natty Greene Brewing Company's Red Nose Winter Ale. Having a red ale base, it pours an almost iced tea-like color and a pretty heavy body. The first impression is that of malty sweetness, and gradually, a number of other flavors blend into that sweetness. I'm getting some citrus hints, and a little of what I call the "fall/winter spice blend"--maybe a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon, something in that vein. It's not very strong, which is fine with me. There is a non-hoppy bite at the end from something--I can't quite identify the flavor, but doesn't really feel out of place.

Next up is a triple collaboration from Stone Brewing, Ecliptic Brewing, and Wicked Weed Brewing. Points Unknown IPA is labelled as a "double IPA blended with a barrel-aged Belgian-style Tripel". I typically don't want to quote bottles or websites, but given this beer's complexity, I feel they explaining it best:

“The Tripel was transferred into barrels that originally housed red wine before finding a second life as vessels for aging tequila. Four months later, that beer was excavated, then blended at one-fourth to three-fourths ratio with the freshly brewed double IPA to create...a blend of the traditional and the new, presenting a variety of diverse flavors that coalesce into something more unique than any one beer”

The beer poured cloudy and apricot-colored, and contained a mild hop bitterness. Coming in a 9.5% ABV, and with the use of wine/tequila barrels, boozy notes were pretty prominent, along with even some straight-up alcohol flavors. In addition, lots of fruit and red wine notes were present. I had a 22oz bottle of this, and really enjoyed about the first half, but the second half of the bottle became a bit of chore to drink. That's just me.

As one last note, I also had a draft of Sam Adams' Cold Snap winter seasonal, but I think there might have been something wrong with the keg or the system. I might just need to stop trying to judge drafts from this particular local watering hole. I will try to give it one more chance before the spring beers come in, but we'll see.

Video Review: Ballast Point Sculpin and Grapefruit Sculpin

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So, I have decided to take this three-month old blog and this face made for radio, and WE'RE GOING BIG TIME!

By "big time", I mean YouTube. I am proud to present my inaugural PRB video review on YouTube, featuring a side-by-side of Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA and Grapefruit Sculpin IPA.

 

So, hopefully you all will give me some time to 1) develop an internet personality, 2) figure out optimal video recording methods, and 3) LEARN HOW TO TALK WITH MY ENTIRE MOUTH!

It's a work in progress. I welcome constructive criticism.

The idea right now is one or two video reviews plus two to three written entries (reviews and news) each week.

Thanks for humoring me, everyone!

 

UPDATE: So, I figured out how to get my OTHER webcam into my movie-making software, so I hope the next video will be of better quality, both audibly and visually. Thanks for your patience!

Beers in Review: I'm not dead edition

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Hi! How are you? I'm great. I was out and about across this great country of ours, and am ready to get back to the bloggery. I considered writing an editorial about Peyton Manning's blatant shilling for Budweiser post-SB50 (turns out he owns some distributors or something), but that's really become old news. So, let's just get into some beers, shall we?

We start with Uinta Brewing Company's Golden Spike Hefeweizen, which poured a deep orange and was cloudy (not unusual for Hefes to be unfiltered and cloudy). Most notable was the graininess; lots of bready and crackery notes going on, along some citrusy sweetness. Banana notes were also present. Overall, it hits a lot of the standard hefeweizen notes. It was maybe a little more grainy than I like my hefes, but that's a personal preference as much as anything.

A brewery that almost never disappoints (a trend that hopefully continues after their acquisition by Constellation Brands) is San Diego's Ballast Point Brewing Company. As expected, even something as "basic" as their Longfin Lager is better than most or all of the rest. Longfin pours a pale gold with little body but plenty going on, flavor-wise. Strong grainy and biscuity notes that mix with a hint of hops. There is also a bit of sweetness that points to its traditional German-inspired style. This is a beer that is crisp, clean, and easy to drink.

Finally, Duclaw Brewing Company's Dirty Little Freak. Labelled by the brewery as a "Coconut Caramel Chocolate Brown Ale", this beer pretty simply puts a hammer to that nail. It pours a moderate-to-dark brown but is translucent. Again, the flavors are pretty well spot-on coming from the brewers. Aroma-wise, the smells probably rate in strength chocolate-caramel-coconut. Flavor-wise, the chocolate notes are quite evident, with hints of coconut. The caramel tends to come through more at the end or in the aftertaste. The bottle also says it was brewed with vanilla beans, giving the whole thing an overall ice cream sundae type of flavor. They seemed to nail what they were going for, but it's a bit too sweet for my taste.

Beers in Review: Left Hand, Sierra Nevada, and OMB

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I have three good beers to discuss today, and I don't have much of an intro in me right now, so let's just get to it.

Left Hand Brewing Company makes one of my favorite stouts on the market, their Milk Stout. This stout is available in Nitro (think Guinness-style tiny bubbles), but this bottle was not nitrogenated. Still, as expected, the Milk Stout brings a hint of creaminess, along with a nice maltiness. I also found mild roastiness, along with cocoa and maybe a bit of coffee as well. This stout had a medium body and was very smooth. A really enjoyable stout.

Next up was a great surprise from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Sierra Nevada has started branching out of late, and started this some time ago under their beer fan-driven Beer Camp series. Last week, I tried a "Tropical IPA" from that series. Having a low-medium body, the first impression of this beer was straight up fruit bomb. Tropical fruits dominated the front of this beer, eventually giving way to a moderate amount of hoppiness that was especially evident in the aftertaste. A good amount of hop bitterness throughout rounds out this beer's flavor profile. Sierra Nevada has been diversifying their line-up of late (even going into Goze territory recently), but even this early-year seasonal was a bit of a stunner.

Finally, an entry from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, their amber ale/Altbier, called Copper. Copper had a lightish body, but a good amount of flavor. There was plenty of malt, some nuttiness to me, maybe something grainy or grassy (or maybe something else?). I also detect hints of caramelly sweetness (especially in the finish and aftertaste) and bitterness. Surprisingly complex for an amber.

Beers in Review: PRB FINALLY Sells Out A Bit!

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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!

Beers in Review: Miscellaneous Trio

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After the WBF posts, I have a bit of a backlog of beers from pre-festival.

In one of the festival posts, I professed my love for NoDa Brewing Company's Jam Session Pale Ale (which I'd mistakenly called an IPA). Earlier in the week, I had their winter seasonal, called Cold Crash. It pours a reddish-bronze hue, and has a moderate to full body. I caught a hint of a nutty aroma, and a good amount of dark fruit flavors along with some malty hints and maybe a bit of hops. Pretty tasty beer. I've generally enjoyed the beers of NoDa.

Another solid brewery, I find, is Lonerider Brewing Company, and their Sweet Josie is a top-flight Brown Ale, in my opinion. Pouring a deep, dark brown, this full-bodied Brown has a ton of flavors going on: nutty flavors, caramel, cola, sweet chocolate. Really, really tasty. This Brown stands out in a category that can be a little stagnant.

Finally, a collaboration between Tradesman Brewing Company and the World of Beer bar chain. Called Boil Advisory (as a fundraiser for Columbia's disastrous flooding late last year), it was a very dark brown to nearly pitch black--to the point that I needed to basically look at it directly through the afternoon sun to get any color through it. Pretty complex flavors throughout this Black IPA, as a coffee hint combines with the hops to make the beer quite bitter to start. From there, it resolves to assorted sweetness (some cocoa, a bit of fruit) and some hints of spice.

Recovered and Reflected: WBF Highlights, Part 2

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As promised yesterday, let's knock out a couple of Pourly Reviewed Ciders before my final beer reflections.

Really, I went to the cider section of the World Beer Festival to break up the beer tastings and try to save my palate a bit. Varying levels of success on that.

In the cider section, my goal was to go outside the box of the typical hard apple cider. I started with McKensie's Beverages and their Black Cherry Cider. It was very tasty, sweet but not killer sweet, and the black cherry was very much up my alley. Really delicious. Second was Bold Rock Hard Cider's IPA, which stands for India Pressed Cider. It lived up to the IPA initials, pairing an early apple sweetness with a hint of that hop bitterness normally reserved for pale ales. Most of the hops were in the back end of the sip, and made for a solid overall taste of the cider.

Back into beers, I had never heard of Charleston's Freehouse Brewery until seeing them at the festival. Their Green Door IPA relies on organic barley and hops. Overall, the result was a mild but solidly drinkable IPA.

Staying with IPAs, I had Thomas Creek Brewery's Trifecta IPA, which features plenty of crisp citrus hop flavors. I haven't seen this beer much around until very recently--this is one I need to explore further.

Finally, Hi-Wire Brewing had their new Spring seasonal, a hoppy Belgian called Death Defying Spring Ale. It was something different, as the hops blended well with the traditional fruity Belgian sweetness. Another beer I hope to enjoy again soon.

Recovery and Reflection: World Beer Fest Highlights, Part 1

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Well, here we are again. I am recovered from Saturday's boozy experience and Sunday's football insanity to return to the blogosphere.

Columbia's version of the World Beer Festival was held on Saturday. I could never remember everything I had, and I have notes on many beers, but I just want to give some highlights from my drinking experiences.

First, I think NoDa Brewing's Jam Session IPA might be my favorite IPA right now, and is up there on my favorite beer list (or at least, favorite regularly-available beer list). It's loaded with grapefruit flavor and aroma that blends well with the hop bitterness. It has big bold flavors, but didn't really seem to be much of a palate wrecker to me.

Swamp Cabbage Brewing had their Anniversary Ale on hand. It had a nice malt sweetness with mild hop and fruit flavors. Very nice.

Prior to and at the festival, I tried out Catawba Brewing Company from Morganton, NC after just recently starting to see them around Columbia. I had the Farmer Ted's Cream Ale (which seems to be the base beer to appeal to the pale lager drinkers of the world) at a local bar and the White Zombie White Ale at the festival. They both had fairly similar characteristics--a lot of grain and generally mild flavors. This was expected in the Cream Ale, but I'd have liked a little more out of the White Zombie. Still, I'll give them another try if/when I see them around here.

One of the first beers I had was D9 Brewing Company's Black Ice Imperial Black Ale. Aged in various sorts of barrels, including Canadian whiskey barrels, this ale had lots of booze and boozy sweetness (it checks in at 10% ABV), along with some coffee notes and maybe a hint of chocolate, though that may have just blended in with the booze.

This seems like a good stopping point for today. Tomorrow, I'll comment on a few other beers I had, along with some interesting ciders, if you'll indulge me on some Pourly Reviewed Ciders. Cheers.

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

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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

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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.