Beers in Review: A Sessionably (?) Fruity Pair

in

We start off today's BiR with a Session IPA from North Carolina's D9 Brewing Company. Swell Rider is officially listed as a Tangerine Session IPA (the ABV lines up at 5.1%) that is a year-round D9 offering, but it seems to get a bigger push in the summer (as evidenced by the addition of 16oz cans to the year-round bottle and keg offerings). It pours a slightly hazy light yellow, looking almost like a hazy white wine. The citrus aromas came through in a big way, and they carried into the flavor profile, as I got tangerine and orange, along with tangerine rind (which was also utilized in the bittering process of this IPA). The rind ramps up as it warms, serving to cancel out some of the more pure fruit notes. Despite the power of the rind, the general bitterness is more on the mild side, especially at the back of the throat towards the end of the drinking experience. This all serves well for a sessionable IPA, though. Very nice, overall.

Next up is a Salt Lake City-based brewery that I had only previously seen when travelling to the West Coast. A local bottle shop had Uinta Brewing Company's Birthday Suit Sour Cherry Blonde. Now, I can't be 100% certain, but a little bit of research leads me to think that this is Birthday Suit 19, with each edition of Birthday Suit numbered to reflect the brewery's anniversary each year. Uinta have entered their twenties, so this is likely either a rebrew or some other beer that I'm missing. This Blonde brought a lot of sessionable qualities, though the ABV is a little too high for a session beer (6.2%). The beer pours a nice hazy peach color, and is mildly sour and brings a whole lot of fruity cherry notes. There is also a mild funkiness in the beer, both in flavor and mouthfeel. To me, it was reminiscent of the gunky mouthfeeling of drinking cranberry juice or perhaps a lemonade from concentrate. I appreciated the relatively low sour level in this Blonde. It made the beer more drinkable, and ALMOST turned this into a legit session beer (held back only by that slightly-too-high ABV).

Video Review: Yards Brawler

in ,

Today, I check out a session ale from Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, PA. Check out Brawler!

 

Starting next week, I'll be checking out the new Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across the World series. It's 12 beers, so I'll do 2 per video. That will book up my video reviews for the next month. That will probably start next weekend.

Beers in Review: A Local Duo

in

In today's BiR, I check out a couple more beers from right here in Columbia, including a collaboration with one of my favorite bottle shops.

But first up is a Dunkel, or dark lager, from traditional German-style brewer Bierkeller Columbia. Their Fastenbier is what they call a "Franconian Dunkel", referring to a Dunkel style from a specific region in central Germany (as opposed to the more common, at least in America, Munich Dunkel, named after the city in southern Germany). In their preparation of this Franconian Dunkel, Bierkeller uses smoked malts, and I'm not sure if this contributed to what I interpreted as a bit of an odd flavor note. The Fastenbier pours a cola brown, comes in at 5.1% ABV, and I found it to be quite roasty, almost to the point of char, but not crossing the line. Presumably, that is the first indication of these smoked malts. I got a little bit of chocolate maltiness and perhaps a hint of cola, but the beer is not very sweet at all. There are also some roasted grain notes, but the flavor note that surprised me was green olives, which I found throughout the drinking experience. I'm not sure if my palate was interpreting some combination in an odd way, or the smoked malts influenced me in this flavor direction, but it was a distracting note that I found it very difficult to overlook. I have always found Bierkeller's beers to be well-executed, even if they aren't to my particular liking (mostly, I'm looking at the Rauchbier on this one), but this odd olive note seemed out of place to me. Otherwise, I found it to be fairly light and sessionable beer that didn't hang around too long, which made it easy to move on to the next beer.

Next up is a collaboration between River Rat Brewery and Craft and Draft bottle shop. I found Nah Mean? Peaches and Cream to be a very well-executed Cream Ale. Clocking in at 5% ABV, and pouring a hazy yellow-gold color, this Cream Ale brings a whole bunch of corn and grain notes with a perfectly mild amount of sweetness and a slight bitterness. Add a medium-light body and a fairly refreshing finish, and this adds up to a very nice, if simple, Cream Ale.

Video Review: Space, the Final Frontier

in ,

The beer in today's review comes from Shmaltz Brewing Company, and is a continuation of their Star Trek series of beers that began last year. Check out my thoughts on a rather different Imperial Porter.

 

Also, apologies on the rather hot mic. My computer apparently chose to draw audio from the webcam instead of the Meteor Mic. I will fix that for next time!

Beers in Review: With a Blonde Stout That KILLS It!

in

Before we get to that stout from a PRB-debuting brewery, I bring you one from Thomas Creek Brewery. Trifecta IPA was originally created as a collaboration with Greenville-based The Community Tap bottle shop and beer curator (now getting airtime on this blog as part of The Funk Collective event) several years back. It is now part of Thomas Creek's year-round rotation. This IPA comes in at 6.9% ABV and 86 IBU. Pouring a fairly clear amber-to-gold color, I got lots of floral notes, along with a mild sweetness that is more prominent earlier in the drinking experience. There are also some straight-up citrus hints throughout, as well as some citrus rind bitterness that combines with the natural hop bitterness to create a potent bite that is most noticeable towards the back of the drinking experience and ramps up overall as you drink the beer. It has maybe a hair more hop bite than most that claim to be "American-style" IPAs, but I find this to be a really solid beer overall.

Next up is a blonde stout from Legal Remedy Brewing Company, a brewery that I had never had before but has been lauded extensively by work colleagues of mine, and they have talked about this World Court Mocha Blonde Stout as being particularly notable. I didn't quite know what to expect from a color standpoint, but it turned out to be a fairly standard clear gold color. Clocking in at 6% ABV and 24 IBU, I got a whole lot of nice coffee and white chocolate aromas, which is rare for my nose to pick up. Those aromas play directly into a straight forward flavor profile that includes the coffee and a mild roasty note as well as a well-managed sweetness level coming from the white chocolate that doesn't get in the way at all. I found perhaps a slight grainy or bready note as well that, when put with the rest of flavor profile, gave me the impression of blonde brownies. Simply, this is a terrific beer. It has amazing flavor notes that are well-balanced to truly nail a somewhat unusual style in the blonde stout.

Video Review: Beers of Summer, Part 2

in , ,

Today, I check out two more Summer seasonals as part of the Beers of Summer series. This includes one of my all-time favorite beers which might be having a little bit of difficulty, or at least an identity crisis. Check out my thoughts on beers from Victory Brewing Company and Bell's Brewery here!

Video Review: Checking One Off the Bucket List (Pliny the Elder!!!)

in ,

Well, the surprise is spoiled in the post title, but I don't care. I almost feel like this beer is far beyond my comprehension and ability, but my parents made a hell of an effort to get it from California to South Carolina, so I GUESS I'll have to drink it! Check out my unworthy thoughts on Russian River Brewing Company's Pliny the Elder!

Video Review: Beers of Summer, Part 1

in , ,

I was going to save this for tomorrow, but it's already made, so what the hell. Double post day!

Today, I give you the first part of the 3-4 part Beers of Summer series, which will continue into next week (with hopefully something special coming in this weekend's video review). Today, I check out year-round Witbier offerings from Ballast Point Brewing Company and Avery Brewing Company. Check them out!

Beers in Review: Twice In A Week!

in

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!

Video Review: So Malty. So Good.

in ,

My return to normal content continues with today's video review! Last week, I bought a full six-pack of one beer for the first time in a long time. While I wanted to make sure it was something I could review, I also wanted something for around the house--high quality but fairly easy-drinking. Nothing too taxing or overbearing. I came up Thomas Creek Brewery's Appalachian Amber Ale. Check out my thoughts!

Beers in Review: Triple Play

in

With my seemingly endless blog posts about Wicked Weed and AB-InBev, I seem to have pushed nearly everything else aside. But now, the big news has passed, and we can start getting back to normal. My BiR list is so backed-up that today I will bring you not two, but THREE entries! Let's dive in!

First up is a collaboration between Charlotte's Unknown Brewing Company and Greenville, SC's Birds Fly South Ale Project. 10-Minute Vacation is a lager (4.3% ABV) flavored with Muscadine grapes and dry-hopped with Mosaic and Equinox hops. The pale yellow lager with a light-to-medium body brings a mild sweetness coming from the grapes that ramps up as the lager warms. The grapes and the sweetness from them really serve to smooth out a great deal of what would be pretty considerable grainy notes and hop bite. Both of these things do still exist, but are knocked down in intensity, with the grains being found earlier in the drinking experience, while the hop bite comes through at the very end.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is famous for its 60-, 90-, and 120-minute IPAs, and makes a number of other quality brews, but Raison D'Extra is something else. A ramped-up version of their Raison D'Etre Belgian-style Dark Ale, D'Extra comes in at a massive 16-18% ABV! I had the opportunity to try the 2014 version recently, and the booze notes, while present, are surprisingly downplayed in a mid-teens ABV beer. Pouring a cloudy icea tea color, D'Extra is dominated by raisins, cherries, plums, and other dark fruits. There is a fair amount of sweetness, along with some tobacco notes, and some other spiciness (perhaps cinnamon?). I got a small sample (4 oz.) of this beer, and it was really good, but I wouldn't want too much more than that sample glass. I could see it becoming overwhelming.

Finally, I went back to one of my old favorites, Highland Brewing Company, and St. Terese's Pale Ale. It pours a clear golden color, has a medium-to-heavy body, and comes in at 5.1% ABV. Lots of different hop flavor notes are present in this Pale Ale, including lots of citrus, some grassy or leafy notes, and a bit of pine. There is also a slight sweetness and some bready malt notes, along with the slightest hop bite. I found this to be a really enjoyable pale ale, as I've come to expect from Highland.

Beers in Review: 22 Days

in

No more excuses. Let's get to it.

Leading off is arguably the most widely available craft beer in America. Magic Hat #9 is so iconic to Vermont's Magic Hat Brewing Company that it even gets its own heading on the Magic Hat website, separate from the rest of their "elixirs". #9 is seemingly available EVERYWHERE, yet I've never reviewed the flagship. Let's change that now.

Despite Magic Hat's seeming eccentricities, #9 seems to be designed to be accessible to everyone. Perhaps that's what makes the rest of the portfolio possible. This "not quite pale ale" pours a perfectly clear amber color and registers at 5.1% ABV and 20 IBU. A fairly mild beer in most aspects, the flavor notes include apricot and some peach along with hints of graininess and spiciness. Really, it quite simply tastes like beer, which, if you've read or watched previous reviews, you will know that is not something I say as a criticism. The beer has a light body with a fairly clean and dry finish. This is a fairly basic beer, overall, but it is quite drinkable. Obviously, many other beers are going to blow #9 away, but it is a solid beer that can be found most everywhere. That's not a bad thing.

From the eccentric megabrewers at Magic Hat to some similarly eccentric crafters based out of Louisville, Kentucky. Against the Grain Brewery (and Smokehouse) immediately break the mold by offering uniquely-named and uniquely-styled beers, with all of their non-kegged beer being served in 16-ounce cans with art that looks like it was done by the Bob's Burgers people. Clearly Everybody Wants Some is a pale lager that pours a hazy golden wheat color and comes in at 6% ABV.  I found the beer to balance pretty well, with mild hop notes blending with a mild maltiness. Sporting a light-to-medium body, the flavor profile also includes some mild grain and wheat notes, along with a bit of lemon. Now, here's the thing. I'm mentioning a whole of "light" and "mild" qualities to this beer, but AtG did a terrific job of making the whole add up to far more than the sum of the parts. This beer is, dare I say, surprisingly very good. You will see the words "pale lager" on this beer's label, but it plays much closer to a top-flight American-style wheat beer. Adjust your expectations accordingly.