473. Stillwater/Mikkeller Our Side

The collabo is back. Well, it never really left, but I do like to occasionally up the ante on my rhetoric. You can consider it my ode to spring. Or something similar. After all, since spring is in the air, I’m feeling feisty. So suck it, post-modernism. But I digress. We’ve tried Stateside Saison from Stillwater, as well as Rauch Geek Breakfast and Simcoe Single Hop IPA from Mikkeller. Combined, they’re the two great tastes that taste great together! Go you crazy gypsy brewers!

Described on the bottle as “a collaborative gypsy ale,” Our Side pours a hazy and dirty gold, sort of like that girl in high school who always claimed she was blond, but really had more of an overall brown look to her hair. The head is mousse-y and white with very good retention, while the nose is a combination of the juicy, floral, and earthy components of a good Belgian yeast mixed with spicy and piney hops—there is more yeast than hops in the nose. You get some solid ridging from the head as you proceed with this beer. Flavors start with light malt sweetness coupled with a fair amount of yeast character—earthy and juicy—before the hop tang of the middle comes into play; hop flavor in the middle includes pine, spice, and resin. There is also a touch of caramel sweetness in front, while the middle features a fair amount of spicy pepperiness that blends well with the hop flavors. The finish is dry but juicy, as is wont with many saisons, and there is fair amount of lingering bitterness from the middle. There is a small amount of alcohol flavor and a decent amount of alcohol warmth in the finish—it works its way down the throat into the chest, lasting well past the hop bitterness. The body is medium; although it is dried out by the carbonation, the hops, and the yeast character, there still is some substance to it. The mouthfeel is bright and crisp—honestly, I find this beer quite refreshing and enjoyable, and Elli seconds these comments. The only potential downside is the alcohol at the end, which detracts from the overall character of the beer. My advice: if you have a bottle, sit on it for six months to allow the alcohol warmth to recede. After all, if this beer is true to its Belgian heritage, it will come out tasting brighter and fresher. While the delicate hop flavors might also reciprocally dissipate, you’ll get something far more enjoyable. Either way, however, a solid and enjoyable beer.

From the bottle: “Mikkel and Brian are two of the world’s most unconventional brewers. By designing beers at various breweries around the globe, they have found the freedom to experiment and innovate, resulting in unique beers that often blur the lines of definition. After having met at a festival in Bodegraven, NL the two realized that their first creations both were called Stateside. It was then an obvious decision to make the two recipes into a new product, packed full of piney, resinous hops, and backed by the esters of a farmhouse yeast strain.”

ABV: 7.5%

Good brewers, yes, but can’t you do something about the prose? Trite and smug, to say the least.

(4/22/2011)

470. Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Über Pils

Our sixth beer from Heavy Seas, including Smoke on the Water Imperial Smoked Porter, Heavy Seas Cabernet Barrel Aged Below Decks, Clipper City IPA/Loose Cannon Cask and Loose Cannon 420 Cask. My initial thought when I saw the beer at the store was that “Über” signified good, as in the adjective indicating a person (or beer, in this case) that exceeds normal limits. When I got home and realized I had actually grabbed a 7% pilsener, it dawned on me that Heavy Seas was more interested in using “Über” as an adverb that designates having a specified property to an extreme or excessive degree. I know, I know, silly me. See what an English degree gets you? An inability to follow even the most basics of beer advertising. And yes, that fragment is intentional.

Small Craft Warning pours a crystal clear golden copper—let’s call it an über gold in keeping with my grammar lesson from above—with a decent white head that lingers and lightly laces. The nose is sweet and malty with the appropriate noble hop and lager character, although the malt character is more dominant and thus uneven in comparison. As it warms, a spicy and earthy hop aroma emerges that offers better balance. Flavors start with toasty and honey malt sweetness; the middle dries out, featuring biscuit and hop bitterness. The finish has the lager tang and a touch of citrus flavor, along with a slight touch of alcohol flavor, although it is light and unobtrusive. The lingering hop bitterness washes part of the alcohol away, but not all of it. While as a whole the beer is a better than I expected, the mouthfeel is a bit cloying and sticky, especially as the beer warms. The increased hop presence as the beer warms helps, but not quite enough. Drop the grain bill to make this a 6% beer while leaving everything else the same, and I think you’d have a much better beer: sharper hop character, drier profile, and crisper finish. Still, this six pack won’t go to waste.

From the bottle: “Unofficially the original American Über Pils, Small Craft Warning is a rich. Golden bock lager with big malt flavor and a crisp hop finish.”

ABV: 7.0%

(4/16/2011)

447. Stillwater Artisanal Stateside Saison

Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales is another of the gypsy brewers making their presence felt in brewing circles; he operates out of Baltimore, MD. If you read this, Brian, any advice for how to get in on the whole gypsy brewer thing? While the description of the beer on the label provides a boatload of sanctimonious verbiage, the beer itself is actually pretty good once you get past the emptiness of the rhetoric. Don’t take this the wrong way, but if your beer isn’t “naturally brewed,” then how would you brew it? And how precisely does one brew and then ferment a beer? Isn’t that the same damn thing? Am I missing something here? After all, it would seem that you’ve set a pretty low bar if the requirements for “showcasing...the best attributes of modern-day craft brewing” are reduced to “naturally” brewing and “then ferment[ing]” your beer. Because if that is your only claim to brewing excellence, then you’re in real trouble. Let’s dial down that advertising prose a notch, tiger. Oh, and this is our first beer from Stillwater; here’s hoping we can find some more, because while I’m hating on the verbiage, I’m loving on the beverage.

Stateside Saison pours a hazy golden straw with an abundant white head that took up about ninety percent of the glass; while initially a bit over-carbonated, it settled down to a creamy covering that laced the glass decently. The hazy color allows you to see the fine white bubbles of the beer, which creates a nice visual effect. The nose has a perfume-y fruitiness—there is banana, pear, and apple—along with an abundance of perfume-y esters and a few spicy phenols. There is not much hoppiness in the nose, with the exception of a slight mustiness that could be hop derived. Flavors start sweet and dry with a touch of cracker/biscuit malt flavor; the middle is lightly bitter and juicy—sort of the standard fair for saisons—that also features the fruitiness of the nose. Stateside Saison finishes with a dry spiciness that lingers pleasantly on the palate—it is both gentle and unobtrusive. The mouthfeel is dry, lightly chalky, and yet silky—I’d guess this is either Wyeast 3711, the White Labs equivalent, or something else very very close—with a bright, effervescent carbonation that helps build the silky smooth components of the mouthfeel. There is perhaps a touch too much body left in the beer, but this would be splitting hairs. As saisons go, this is easy and enjoyable drinking; besides the atrocity of the over-inflated and unnecessary descriptions of the beer, this one is worth looking for.

From the bottle: “Stateside Saison pays homage to old world tradition while celebrating new world innovation. Naturally brewed with the finest European malts & fresh aromatic hops from the United States & New Zealand. It’s then fermented using a classic farmhouse ale yeast and bottle conditioned to enhance stability. The outcome is a beer of unique design and exquisite taste, showcasing some of the best attributes of modern-day craft brewing.”

From Beer News (February 5, 2010): “Stillwater Ales, founded by Brian Strumke, is a new startup based in Baltimore, Maryland. Strumke is making his beer hands-on with some of the equipment over at Dog Brewing. The first beer to hit the tanks is Stillwater Stateside Saison.”

ABV: 6.8%

Oh, and how precisely does New Zealand fit into the whole Stateside Saison new world innovation?

(1/3/2011)

378. Flying Dog Raging Bitch

Let me start by saying this beer has a terrible name. Terrible. You can make whatever feeble attempt to justify your misogynistic leanings you want, but beer companies in general, and this beer in specific, pander to the lowest common denominator. Sure, anniversaries are special and all, this being Flying Dog’s 20th Anniversary beer and all, but that’s no excuse. Stop being dumbass dudes. Please. That said, this beer is also the best of the recent spate of Belgian-influenced IPAs that have come out as of late. More on that in a second. As per normal, Flying Dog has its Ralph Steadman splatter rock meets Picasso on acid artwork label design, which have never made sense to me. Previously from Flying Dog, we’ve tried Gonzo Imperial Porter.

Raging Bitch pours a crystal clear copper with a fluffy ivory head that hangs around. Aromas in the nose include hop spiciness—specifically pine, citrus, and resin—mixed with yeast esters, light fruitiness, candy, and malt sweetness. The biscuit breadiness of the front also carries candy flavors and yeast fruitiness before giving way to the hoppiness and bitterness of the middle. In addition to the pine and resin hop flavors, there is a dry mineral taste on the back of the tongue that leads into and increases in the final third, helping build the drying sensation on the palate that happens in the final third. There is a slight return candy malt sweetness in the finish, but the lingering bitterness quickly covers it over as the palate dries out. Carbonation is bright on the palate, and, with the mineral component and hop bite, helps dry out the beer in the final third, giving the medium body an even lighter feel as the beer concludes. As it dries out, a slight alcohol warmth emerges at the end of the beer. Raging Bitch is well-balanced between Belgian ale and a more American IPA characteristics—the two complement each other nicely, working collectively to create an enjoyable series of palate sensations. This beer is also the first Flying Dog beer that I would actively seek out—let’s hope that it sticks around longer than just as the 20th Anniversary beer.

From the bottle: “Two inflammatory words...one wild drink. Nectar imprisoned in a bottle. Let it out. It is cruel to keep a wild animal locked up. Uncap it. Release it...stand back! Wallow in its golden glow in a glass beneath a white foaming head. Remember, enjoying a RAGING BITCH, unleashed, untamed, unbridled—and in heat—is pure GONZO!! It has taken 20 years to get from there to here. Enjoy!”

Holy overblown rhetoric, Batman!

From the Flying Dog website: “Bitches come in a variety of forms, but there’s never been something as sassy as Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch Belgian IPA. An American IPA augmented with Belgian yeast, our 20th anniversary beer jumps out of the glass and nips at your taste buds with its delicate hop bitterness. At 8.3% ABV, this bitch is dangerously drinkable.”

Can you give it a rest? Damn, you sound like an 8 year old boy with a brand new vocabulary word.

ABV: 8.3%
IBU: 60

OG: 18 P

Hops: Warrior, Columbus, Amarillo

(7/13/2010)

368. Heavy Seas Smoke on the Water Imperial Smoked Porter

Another big bottle from Heavy Seas; while it is sadly not another cask, it was certainly much tastier than our last beer from them. As with the Below Decks, Smoke on the Water is part of the Mutiny Fleet. This is our fourth beer from Heavy Seas, including Heavy Seas Cabernet Barrel Aged Below Decks, Clipper City IPA/Loose Cannon Cask and Loose Cannon 420 Cask.

More sweet World Cup action to accompany our beer...

Smoke on the Water (cue repetetive power chords) pours a rich dark chocolate with a minimal cocoa head that quickly reduces to a ring around the edge of the glass. The nose is a nice balance of roasty and chocolate, with a touch of rauchbier smokiness that has just a bit of bacon-y greasiness. Flavors start with a sweet chocolate with a bit of roasted malt in the background before moving into smokiness in the middle along with lighter cocoa flavors. The smokiness picks up in the final third, along with bitterness and dryness, although there is a touch of lingering roasty chocolate sweetness to accompany the smoky dryness. Smoke on the Water has a medium body with a chewy yet dry mouthfeel—it’s chewy and sweet on the palate at the start, but a bit flat, dry, and crackery towards the end even as the smoky slickness picks up. There is also a slight touch of sourness at the end from the smoke flavors. Smoke on the Water has a good flavor and mouthfeel throughout, although it does shift from front to back. Carbonation is medium to low; it rounds and shapes the beer, but doesn’t have much bite or variation on the tongue. There is a bit of warmth that emerges as the beer warms, but nothing that changes much in regards to the profile. Smoke on the Water is an enjoyable beer—the smokiness is well-balanced, and the light touch of greasy slickness from the smoke is well done. Tasty and delicious.

From the Heavy Seas website: “This first time release boasts complex roasted malt flavors with a hint of smoke. Available in 22oz bottles and limited draft.”

ABV: 8.0%

(7/3/2010)

346. Heavy Seas Cabernet Barrel Aged Below Decks

Another beer from Heavy Seas; this is our third beer, following Clipper City IPA/Loose Cannon Cask and Loose Cannon 420 Cask. Sadly, we couldn’t go three for three on the cask beers from Heavy Seas, although this one was at least barrel-aged, so that has to count for something, right? This beer is part of their Mutiny Fleet of beers—all of their big beers above 8.0% ABV. We took this with us to the monthly DRAFT meeting, as having our beer for the day after the meeting would have meant that our palates would have been wrecked. Instead, we decided to just start with the big beer and wreck our palates from the get-go.

CBA Below Decks pours a hazy chocolate with a caramel colored head; the nose was creamy with chocolate, dark fruit, and some of what we’ve officially dubbed Elli’s classic red Twizzler aroma. Flavors open with chocolate, malt sweetness, and more Twizzler before opening up into the rich dark fruit that makes up the middle; the finish is dry with a fair amount of alcohol warmth. CBABD has a heavy body and something of a sticky mouthfeel with a medium carbonation. The creamy, thick, body works well with the flavors, although this does taste a bit young—it needs some more age to marry the flavors, allow the alcohol to smooth out, and to develop the complexity and nuance in the flavor and mouthfeel.

From the Heavy Seas website: “Our award winning barleywine which has been aged two ways - in either wooden bourbon barrels or cabernet barrels. While great at their release, they will evolve with aging. VINTAGE DATED and VERY limited release.”

ABV: 10.0%

(6/11/10)

306. Clipper City IPA Cask

Which, as the connoisseur among you knows, is really just a different name for Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. But for some reason, the Pub thinks that listing it as Clipper City is somehow more appropriate. Thus, this is our second version of the same beer, although this one wasn’t dry hopped in the keg like the 420 cask was. And that, from our perspective, makes this a different beer. Plus, we got to drink another cask beer, which is always cool. And, since it is our game, we win.

We won’t be so lame as to just refer you to our comments on the last version (although we could). And, for the record, this one was served to us in a snifter, which did help with the nose. Pouring copper colored with a creamy white head, Clipper City IPA/Heavy Seas Loose Cannon has lots of hop aroma in the nose, but not so much in the flavor. The beer starts with caramel and moves into a good dose of bitterness in the middle, finishing with some lingering spicy bitterness. Clipper City IPA has a creamy, soft mouthfeel and a delicious fresh taste to it, although a larger hop presence in regards to flavor would have been nice in the middle. Cest la vie. Glad we got to try this to compare it with the 420 cask; both were nice, but the fresh hop flavors of the 420 cask win out hands down. Sorry, but it’s true.

From the Clipper City website: it just takes you to Heavy Seas. Here’s what we found last time. Although this one doesn’t get the Hop4 rating...

ABV: 7.25%

(5/2/2010)

294. Heavy Seas Loose Cannon 420 Cask

This is our first beer from Heavy Seas, which is brewed by Clipper City Brewing Company in Baltimore, MD. Loose Cannon 420 Cask is a special cask with four five gram bags of fresh hops in the cask. Oh yes. We had this out of a growler that we brought home from the Trolley Stop; while I did have a pint or two before I got this home, who’s counting?

Hello beautiful...

Loose Cannon 420 Cask pours a hazy copper with a minimal (very minimal) white head; the nose is a spicy bright floral hoppiness—the cask hops give this beer a lovely aroma. Flavor starts with a soft caramel sweetness followed quickly by hop flavor that continues through the middle and into the end. Hop flavors include spicy, floral, and citrus; the bitterness starts in the middle and runs through the end as well, and lingers past the finish. The hop flavor is fresh tasting and both slightly sharp and young. The end features a return of the sweetness from the front, but mostly the hoppiness and bitterness dominate the conclusion, along with a bit of spicy earthiness that draws out past the finish. The mouthfeel and carbonation are soft, and the body is medium; the low carbonation gives the beer a smooth, even drinking feel on the palate, and allows the hop flavors to shine through. This is an excellent beer on cask; the dry hop additions in the cask shine in connection with the soft carbonation. We’d like to see more cask and firkin beer in general, and more casks of Heavy Seas beers in specific.

From the Heavy Seas website (although this is just for the regular Loose Cannon; couldn't find much on the Loose Cannon cask besides this): “Burnished gold with a rich citrus hop aroma, it is wonderfully drinkable with a big hop flavor. We’ve knicknamed it Hop3 (hop cubed) ale to reflect the enormous amount of hops in this beer: over 3 pounds per barrel! It is hopped 3 ways: in the kettle, in the hop back, and dry hopped.”

Does this make the Loose Cannon cask Hop4? I mean, the cask-hopping has to come into play somewhere, doesn’t it?

ABV: 7.25%

(4/20/2010)

101. Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

From the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, MD.

Gonzo Imperial Porter has a roasted malt aroma with alcohol notes as well; it is an opaque black with orange highlights and a brown creamy head. The front has a burnt roasty malt to start, moving into a chewy thick middle with more roasted and chocolate notes, and finishes with some bitterness from the hops, some molasses flavors, and some lingering astringency. There is no real fruit presence in the flavor; the mouthfeel is slick and viscous as well as a bit thin with some creaminess across the palate. For the IBU load, there is not a lot of bitterness; either that, or the bitterness gets lost in the roastiness of the malt profile. The finish is not the best—tad too drawn out, and the lingering astringency detracts from the overall enjoyment of the beer. Overall, while not a bad beer, it is probably on the least likely to drink again list.

From the Flying Dog website: “Like Hunter S. Thompson...Gonzo Imperial Porter is deep and complex. This turbo charged version of the Road Dog Porter is mysteriously dark with a rich and malty body, intense roasted flavors, and a surprisingly unique hop kick. With Gonzo weighing in at 7.8% ABV, it will bite you in the ass if you don't show it the proper respect.”

ABV: 7.8%
IBU: 85
OG: 22° P

(10/9/2009)