Beers in Review: New Holland Trio

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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: Feeling better

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I've been a bit under the weather this week, hence no video review during this week. I'm on the upswing, so expect a video tomorrow. It'll be a special one from Stone.

But that's later. For now, I have a few more beers from last weekend's Craft and Draft 2nd birthday, starting with Birds Fly South Strawberry IPA. Pouring a straw-gold color, this beer brings a mild fruity note, along with some grainy notes. Overall, the beer is quite mild, with a little hop bitterness that opens up slightly as it warms up. Really, this beer played to me more like a fruit-infused blonde than an IPA.

Next up is Overly Friendly IPA from Holy City Brewing Company. And man, this one has no problem checking the "IPA" box. Overly Friendly is a massive hop bomb, with 7 different hops used in the making of this beer. The result is an incredibly complex flavor profile led by citrus and pine hop notes. Orange really comes through strongly, and the hop bitterness really carries through the entire sip, and even lingering after the fact. Massively hoppy, but so so good.

Finally, from Catawba Brewing Company, is their Tangerine Wheat, which reportedly was created for Catawba's female business partners and had just been kegged a couple of days before the Craft and Draft party. As expected, the Tangerine Wheat pours a cloudy dark orange. It's generally pretty mild, as I find most of Catawba's beers tend to be, but this beer is crisp and citrusy with a clean finish. Generally enjoyable.

Video Review: Westbrook One Claw

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I have a new video review from one of my favorite breweries: Westbrook Brewing Company, and their One Claw Rye Pale Ale.

 

I'll go ahead an say I tried my new camera set-up today for the first time. I'm not crazy about it. The audio is less than ideal, and I need to find a way to move it forward. Or just switch to the old camera, which was perfectly fine. Point is, I'm working on it. For now, enjoy the video.

Beers in Review: I don't have a witty title in me

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We start off today's reviews with Sea to Sea Lager from Green Flash Brewing Company. It pours a pale gold, and features bready and crackery notes with just a hint of malty sweetness. I also got a slight amount of bitterness, and something soap-like. It's a pretty crisp beer, and is generally more flavorful than your standard lager. It makes for a decent summer beer.

Next up is Off Color Brewing's Sparkles Find Some Trouble Gose (a name that made me quite glad that I could simply order it as "number 4"). This gose pours a ruby red grapefruit, and has a ton going on. I'm not big on smell, but I could immediately detect some majorly funky aromas. Upon sipping, my first impression was more Belgian ale than gose, but this changed as my palate adapted. There are tons of light fruity and floral notes, as well as a bit of citrus acidity. The funky note translates into the taste, especially as it warms. I found some of the key gose components, sourness and saltiness, both to be pretty mild overall. Some surprises in this gose, but pretty enjoyable, overall.

Finally for today, the first of several beers from Saturday afternoon/evening's Craft and Draft bottle shop 2nd birthday party. It was a great party, with multiple unique beer offerings, live music, food trucks. This was a Craft and Draft collaboration with Thomas Creek Brewery, resulting in the Slapricot Session Ale. Complexities in the mouthfeel were notable, blending fruity juicyness with an effervescent carbonation. There was plenty of apricot flavor, but the ale wasn't too sweet. Combined with the mouthfeel, I got more an impression of a mild fruity Italian soda instead of a beer. A mild funky note also slyly creeped into this session ale, as well.

Beers in Review: 4 from the weekend

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It was a holiday weekend, which of course led to numerous drinking opportunities, and a fresh set of beers to review. Let's dive in!

We start with the Coulter IPA from Cismontane Brewing Company, which pours a deep gold color and has very little head when poured. Strong citrus and pine hops notes are the first things to hit my palate when I take a sip, along with a strong but overpowering bitterness. It's fruity with, to me, a juicy mouthfeel. There is a slight bit of booziness (the beer checks in at 7.2% ABV), and the beer finishes quite clean, given how powerful all the flavors are.

Next up is Unknown Brewing Company's Bound for Carolina Imperial Brown Ale. The ale had a light cola color, and amazing powerful flavors, including tons of cocoa and chocolate, dark fruits, and cola. I also got some brownie or chocolate cake notes and a toasted note that crossed with the brownie to taste like the burnt or better-done edges of the brownie pan. Despite a fairly high ABV of 8.7%, there was no booziness to detect--it likely blended well into the numerous sweeter flavor notes. I also want to say that despite these numerous sweet flavors, it wasn't too sweet. It was close, but Unknown did a really nice job hitting the apex of tolerance, at least for my palate.

Next is Red Banshee by Fort Collins Brewery. Pouring a reddish-copper color, Red Banshee has straight forward flavors, including chocolate malts and hints of cola and possibly sweet caramel or some other sugary substance. Very malty, which is right up my alley.

Finally, from Founders Brewing Company, I had the Mango Magnifico con Calor, a part of Founders' experimental Backstage Series. A fruit beer (mango, obviously) brewed with habanero peppers, the result is a beer that is quite sweet, and can push that edge into overpowering. Fortunately, the mangoes have a cozy relationship with the peppers, each tempering the other just enough that neither the sweetness nor the spiciness kills the beer. There is a spice note that starts out as slight and grows perfectly, never going overboard, as so many pepper-infused beers do. Clocking in at 10%, there is also a slight booziness, especially as it warms, but most of that booziness blends into the sweet mango notes. This is a fantastic offering from Founders.

Beers in Review: Out of the box hoppy beers

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All of the beers in today's write-up are hoppy, but have a little twist to them. Let me tell you, this is a trio of really good beers, so let's get to it!

Juicy Mandarina is an IPA from New Belgium Brewing Company's Hop Kitchen series, and features a whole lot of wheat beer characteristics, including 3 different types of wheat as well as a Hefeweizen yeast. It pours a hazy gold color with a thick white head. It leads with nice mild-to-moderate citrus notes that support a decent hop bite. I got some grassy notes and maybe a hint of dankness as well. There is also a slightly juicy quality in the mouthfeel-definitely present, but not quite biting-into-a-fruit level. I enjoyed this IPA--it hits a good avenue of what I like, combining the wheat qualities into an IPA.

Next up is a seasonal hoppy Red Ale from Coast Brewing Company called Carnie Fire. The first things I picked up were malt with spicy and earthy notes, along with piney hops and a good amount of bitterness. There was also a slight sweet note in there--maybe vanilla or something sugary. Overall, there is nothing mild about this beer. It is a big time flavor experience.

Finally, Founders Brewing Company's ReDANKulous Imperial Red IPA. It pours a deep brown color with some ruby highlights, and some of the initial flavor notes include fruits like cherries and perhaps plum and other dark fruits. There are also some spice notes and plenty of dank hoppiness. For clocking in at nearly 10% ABV, it's not really boozy, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Another beer where these great flavors really push through strongly. Great stuff.

Beers in Review: Fruity

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Today's trio of beers have one thing in common: all have some sort of fruit used in their recipes. Let's dive in!

Leading off is the Lexington Spring IPA from Natty Greene's Brewing Company. This IPA uses smoked malts and fresh peaches for their unique flavor. Pouring a hazy deep gold color, the peaches merge will with hops for lots of citrus and tropical fruit flavor notes. There's plenty of peach specifically, of course, though the beer is not especially sweet. There are also some dank and piney hop notes, as well, and the beer has a pretty clean finish.

Next is Harpoon Brewery's Summer seasonal Camp Wannamango pale ale--feel free to guess the fruit addition. It pours a light gold color, and has some citrus hints, but the big hitters are mango and peach, with a bit of funk also present and a moderate hop bite at the very end. There is plenty of fruit pleasant in this pale ale, but like above, is isn't overpoweringly sweet, which I enjoy.

Finally, SPF 50/50, which is Red Hare Brewing Company's version of a Radler. Radlers are a German mixed-style of drink, where some type of beer is typically mixed with lemonade or something similar. Red Hare has taken their core Gangway IPA and mixed it with their own house-made grapefruit juice to create their unique India Pale Radler...can we call it an IPR? Anyway, it pours a pretty hazy straw-gold color, and is quite sweet, far sweeter than anything else reviewed here. The sweetness is cut slightly by a very light hop bite and some piney hop notes. Sweet grapefruit is the primary flavor note to this Radler--everything else is pretty well in the background. A well done beer, but a hair too sweet for me to enjoy more than one or two.

Beers in Review: Two more for summer

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It's been kind of a slow week, beer-wise. I bailed on a Six-Pack of News because there hasn't been too much going on, unless I want to write about ANOTHER beer coming to cans or the latest of A-B InBev trying to take over the world (which, admittedly, is a little bit soul-sucking). I may find one or two news items to write about this weekend, but no promises. The Six-Pack will return, as soon as there are interesting things about which to write.

I also only have a couple of beers to review. This issue, I guarantee, will be resolved this weekend. Both of these beers somewhat unintentionally fall into the week's Beers of Summer theme from Monday's video, so this all really lined up nicely. Enough chit-chat. Let's get to the beers!

Our first offering is a collaboration between Oskar Blues Brewery and the World of Beer bar chain, and is called American Summer Hoppy Wit. As expected, it pours a nice golden color and is pretty clear/see-through. Citrus notes dominate this beer, but in a way in which the bright witbier and yeast citrus notes blend well with citrus coming from the hops. There were also some mild spice notes, most notably some clove, as well as a very mild hop bitterness coming around at the end of the sip.

Second, and last, is the Nitro White Ale from Boston Beer Company, aka Sam Adams, and their fairly new nitro can project. The beer's color falls somewhere between lemon and orange, and is quite hazy. As mentioned, this can has a widget that releases nitrogen into the beer when opened, a la Guinness. This results in a frothy, creamy head of microbubbles, and a creamy mouthfeel. Mild citrus notes were the first thing that came to me as I took the first sip. I also get a bit of a unique flavor that comes from the nitrogen. It's hard to explain--it's not really a flavor, but every beer that's infused with nitrogen has a unique background taste that until recently I had just associated with mild English ales. Moving on, there are some mild spice notes, again with cloves but also maybe something like nutmeg or all spice/five spice. The mouthfeel IS creamy, as expected, and it has a pretty clean finish with little aftertaste, which is surprising for a beer under nitrogen.

Coming tomorrow: the Beers of Summer series, which totally always included this beer review, concludes with a video review of Holy City's Washout Wheat. See ya then!

Beers in Review: A good beer night

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Last night was a really good beer night for me. We'll get to them in the back half of this review. We'll be starting with a seasonal from SweetWater Brewing Company.

Goin' Coastal is their summer seasonal, an IPA with pineapple. Surprisingly, the citrusy hops used in the beer are what I picked up first, getting some grapefruit notes. A blend of tropical notes, including the aforementioned pineapple. The beer didn't have a ton of body, but I found it to be really juicy, especially in the finish, which I attribute to the fruit used in the process. Overall, though, I felt like I got more citrus (citrus and pineapple can be a bit similar, right?), along with some piney hop notes.

Next up was a "Star Trek"-themed beer, one of several being made this year in honor of the franchise's 50th anniversary in 2016. Brewing by Shmaltz Brewing under the fictional "Federation of Beer" banner, this particular was called Vulcan Ale (Genesis Effect), after "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock". After getting over the gimmick--seriously, check out this bottle:

--I dove into the beer. It's a bit hard to tell on the bottle, but it's a red session IPA, and it pulled off the balance very well. Pouring a reddish-copper color, I found the beer to be pretty malt forward with some dark fruit notes, and mild pine hop notes.

Getting into some beers from last night, I first had the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale from Lexington Brewing and Distilling. This beer pours a reddish copper hue, and spends up to six weeks in bourbon barrels, yielding many delightful flavor notes. I initially got vanilla, followed by some burnt sugar, and malted milk balls towards the end. It also contains a very small amount of booziness, but it's not even close to overpowering.

Finally, Founders Brewing's Kentucky Breakfast Stout, another beer spending time in Kentucky Bourbon barrels, though this beer is aged for a full year before bottling and release. Between this and the style (Imperial Stout), the result is tons of flavor and lots of alcohol (12% ABV). Lots of coffee, and TONS of chocolate flavor notes. I got a mild amount of bourbon booziness, though less than I expected. It was pretty sweet overall, with some smoke hints throughout and a bit of a smoky aftertaste. This was my first time having this highly-regarded, and it was truly terrific.

Programming note: Tomorrow (June 20th) is the first day of Summer, and as a result, I will be doing a video about some of my favorite summer beers, including a new beer review or two! Stay tuned!

Beers in Review: Asheville-Best of Highland and Frog Level, plus Pour Taproom

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Today will conclude the Asheville series with some of the highlights from Highland Brewing Company and Frog Level Brewing.

But before that, there was one other location I wanted to mention again, and that's Pour Taproom. Pour has two locations in the Carolinas and one in California, and they have a concept that I absolutely love. You are given a pint glass and an radio frequency tracker. You touch the tracker to the beer label above any of 30-40 accessable taps, then fill your pint glass with as much or as little beer as you like--the RF tracker tallies how many ounces you pulled. Once you're done drinking, you turn in the tracker which has kept track of ounces pulled of each beer AND the price PER OUNCE per beer, and you pay your bill. It's a fantastic concept, because you can just try a couple of ounces of beer for a dollar or less, or just pour a half of something high gravity/high alcohol without wasting beer. They had a good mix of beers too: locals, domestic crafts, import crafts, Belgians, ciders.

Now, onto Highland Brewing Company.

 

One highlight of this visit was their Warrior Series Mosiac Rye IPL, about which I did a video review already. We had an additional beer from the Warrior Series, the Tasgall II Scotch Ale, which was sweet and mildly boozy (checking in at 8% ABV). There were cherry and dark fruit notes and a slight boozy aftertaste. We also checked out their summer seasonal, the Early's Hoppy Ale, which had a slight graininess followed by nice tropical hop notes, along with some pine and maybe a hint of citrus. This was a really nice summer beer. I had also noticed that Highland was starting to join the wave of breweries that are canning instead of bottling beer. I don't know if that will be for certain releases, or if they are doing a wholesale transition.

Finally, on Monday, before heading home, I stopped at Frog Level. After grabbing a sampler of beers I had never had before (we only tend to get their top core beers here in Columbia), I took my tray outside and treated myself to this view:

A porch in the woods overlooking a stream. Absolutely beautiful.

Some notables from Frog Level included their summer seasonal, a Raspberry Shandy with mild berry and some grainy notes. I found it to be very smooth to drink and mild overall (to the point that I could have used a little more raspberry fruitiness, and I tend to not be a fruit beer guy). It's a very solid summer beer, though.

They also had a unique brown ale called Smokin' Joe Brown. I had had their Nutty Brunette, which I believe is also supposed to be a brown. Smokin' Joe sets itself apart with its cherry wood-smoked hops. A smoky and roasty note comes through in this beer, along a hint of cocoa and some nice malty sweetness.

Another beer I had never had before was their Shell Back IPA. It was a hazy orange color, with tons of citrusy notes, including orange and assorted citrus rinds. I found it to have a pretty juicy mouthfeel with a mild hop kick at the very end and in the aftertaste. With so much juicy citrus and so little hoppiness, it almost played like a wheat beer.

Some other beers I tried there included a chile beer called Cinco Ranas Picante made with local peppers, including Carolina reapers. I just can't get in to chile beers. I also had their Catcher In The Rye Red, which was fairly light with a nice malt-hop balance, and the Tadpole Porter, which was solid and tasty, but I didn't drink much of, for assorted reasons.

So, this concludes my "brief" rundown of my trip to Asheville, NC. To be honest, it probably could have been another couple of installments, but we'll move on to some non-Asheville beers later this week. Also, coming tomorrow (Monday) will be a video review from Paulaner Brauhaus, who have been making beer for roughly 500 years!

Beers in Review: Asheville-Wicked Weed Funkatorium and Asheville Brewing

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We continue the tour of Asheville tonight with three different breweries.

Our second-to-last stop on Saturday was at the Wicked Weed Funkatorium. Now, my parents and I had visited and had lunch at the Wicked Weed Brewery earlier in the day, but they have a separate facility a few blocks away known as The Funkatorium, their home for barrel-aged sour ales and other funky beers, serving up to a dozen at any given time. The barrels are quite prominent, as the storage area is right off the tasting room, and you can see rows of aging barrels stacked high full of maturing beer. Here, I had a pre-determined flight, starting with their La Bonte w/ pear. This was a fairly rich and slightly hazy yellow color, and starts as a Belgian-style farmhouse/Saison that is blended with Blonde sour ale and then flavored with French pears and bottle-aged. I found this to be fairly mild overall, and not necessarily my favorite, though I feel this is more a reflection on me: I need to be in the right mood for Saisons, and I'm not much of a pears guy, either.

Also in the flight were 3 of their barrel-aged sours, which were a little more up my alley, as much as my palate held up (again, we'd drank at least 10 different beers prior to this point). The Marina was a more pale yellow color, almost evoking white wine. The peaches and apricots used in the barrel-aging really came to the fore, flavor-wise, though, as expected, we got little to no sweetness out of them. Next was Amorous, which was a nice orange color, with citrusy flavor notes to match. Noted as a Sour IPA, to me, most of the hop characteristics were overtaken by the sour. The final sour was Recurrant, which was aged with Currants in cabernet barrels. I had hoped my parents, who are more winos than beer snobs, might take to this one a little more than the others, owing to the wine-barrel aging. My dad tolerated all of the sour ales, my mom wasn't a fan at all. They did enjoy our split dessert of vanilla ice cream with berry compote made with sour ale--the contrast of sweet ice cream and sour compote was quite delightful. I enjoyed the ales at the Funkatorium (probably the Amorous was my favorite), but, again, my palate was getting fatigued, so we had just one beer at one last stop.

At Asheville Brewing Company, I had their flagship IPA, called Shiva. Shiva has nice citrus notes, and a good amount of dank piney hops. There is also a good amount of bitterness. This was a well-executed IPA, and I need to head back here to give them more of a try.