585. Bruery Sour in the Rye

Two Bruery beers two days in a row! What are the chances? Actually, we planned to drink this last night, but didn’t get to it, so that means it is up first tonight. This certainly puts us north of a baker’s dozen with the Bruery, including Tart of Darkness, Oude Tart, Rueuze, 5 Golden Rings, Marrón Acidifié (a collabo with Cigar City), Autumn Maple, Humulus Session, 3 French Hens, Saison de Lente, Rugbrød, Hottenroth, Orchard White and Saison Rue. Ring in that New Year!

Sour in the Rye pours a hazy but brilliant burnt orange with a dazzlingly white head that rolls down the side of the glass when swirled in creamy bright swirls and also has intense orange highlights coming through the glass. There is citric and lactic tartness mixed with spicy oak and rye in the nose followed by loamy earth; it is really quite splendid. Flavors start with young oak and fruit—pear and apple—followed quickly by lactic tartness that transitions into a brighter citric bite towards the finish. There is also some candy and biscuit buried underneath the other flavors in the front and middle, and a decent tannic bite from the oak in the final third of the beer. The vitamin C citric bite and the spicy rye with oak combine nicely in the finish; both linger a bit, but leave the palate mostly clean with only a slight mineral grit on the tongue. The body is medium and slightly chewy with bright, clean carbonation that, combined with the tartness, draws out the other flavors. I like this beer quite a bit more than the Tart of Darkness from last night, mostly because it is brighter and more bracing; while it provides an equal amount of blushing on the cheeks, the tartness is clean and sharp without the lingering acetic burn. There is also more body to balance the tart components of the beer, and more depth of flavor to carry the beer as a whole. I’ll be looking for another bottle of this to see how it ages.

From the bottle: “Deliciously sour, bursting with spicy rye notes and hints of oak from the barrels it was aged within.”

From the Bruery website: “We brewed this ale with around 40% rye as a base malt and let our sour yeast and bacteria eat away at it in oak barrels for over a year creating a sour ale with a complex character of rye spice, oak and a subtle funk.”

ABV: 7.8%

(1/1/2014)

583. New Holland Incorrigible

New Holland’s Incorrigible is described as a “white sour ale” on the label, and is part of their Cellar Series. While I’m not sure what a “white sour ale” is—my best guess is that New Holland is taking their cue from the current white IPA craze and trying to create their own niche—I am something of a sucker for sour beers, so what the hell. Plus, it has been a while since we’ve tried anything from New Holland, although this is our seventh beer from our windmill and tulip loving friends to the north. Previous victims of our rapacious thirst include Hopivore, Beerhive Tripel, El Mole Ocho, Dragon’s Milk, Golden Cap Saison, and Envious.

Incorrigible pours a crystal clear and brilliant straw; there is a thin white head that quickly disappears, although the tiny clear bubbles continue to run up the sides of the glass. The nose initially starts earthy and musty, but gives way to bright acidity with some doughy malt as it opens; I get the gummy Lactobacillus of a good Berliner Weisse mixed with the acidic sharpness bite of a young lambic, and a touch of earthiness from both. As the beer warms, you also get hints of oak and an almost chardonnay-like wine butteriness. Flavors start with candy malt and a slight sour tang; the middle has some clean acidity that is bright, crisp, and almost cider-like. There is a bit of wheat gumminess and bread dough hiding in the middle as well; the finish is clean and dry with hints of bread crust and cracker malt mixed with acidity that is just short of citric and has some pleasant game-y hints. The beer starts soft on the palate in the front; the acidic bite in the middle gives the body some brightness that carries into the finish, and the carbonation cleanses and clears the palate, allowing the clean acidity to wash over the tongue, lingering briefly before disappearing. A delicate yet complex beer that is enjoyable as it is subtle. The carbonation does disappear a bit too quickly, but you’d hardly know it via the tart flavors that keep the beer bright on the tongue. The nose on this beer is particularly impressive; it kept changing as it opened, offering new layers to sort through and enjoy. Well done, New Holland.

From the bottle: “Incorrigible celebrates the beauty of mischief. Wild yeasts, and bacteria run free in our sour-aging cellar, the house of funk, creating vibrant sour and acidic character in this delicate, yet complex wheat beer. The refreshingly tart session beer will tease your palate with a subtle, layered nuance.”

ABV: > 4.0%

(12/27/2013)

571. Anchorage/Mikkeller AK Alive! Alaskan Wild Ale

Not a lot of information available on this beer out there on the internet. Mikkeller’s web page features Euro-trash glam shots, but very little real beer information. I get it—you’re edgy and shit. But can you tell me something about the beers, please? Pictures of Klaus and his Star Wars fixation really only provide a creepy late 80’s New Wave meets Williamsburg hipster culture vibe that makes me sad I bought your beer. Anchorage Brewing Company’s website wasn’t that  helpful, either, but there was a lot less douche-baggery to sort through to find out there was nothing. Anyway, our second beer from Anchorage Brewing, our first being Galaxy White IPA w/ Brett, and our fourth from Mikkeller, including Simcoe Single Hop IPA (back in the day), Rauch Geek Breakfast, and the Stillwater/Mikkeller collaboration, Our Side. 

AK Alive! pours a cloudy orange copper with a creamy off-white head and lots of tiny white streaming bubbles in the glass. The nose is an earthy musty funk bordering on goat-y and/or horseblanket; there are oxidized paper hints, but they appear more a product of the Brettanomyces-derived yeast aromatics than via any actual oxidation in the beer itself. Flavors start with a hint of residual malt sweetness before the funky flavors take over, with a spicy earth tang that borders on evergreen; there is a flash of Belgian candy sweetness in the middle, followed by a healthy dose of what I would describe as the classic Brettanomyces bruxellensis dry musty cracker bite running from somewhere in the middle on into the finish, although this is B. bruxellensis on steroids. As the beer warms, young tannic oak flavors make an appearance as well. The body itself is dry—crackery dry, papery dry, or whatever descriptor you’d use to highlight the driest of the dry bodies. The initial flash of sweetness thus provides a nice counterpoint the dry dry body, balancing the beer as a whole, buoyed also by the spritzy bright carbonation. There is some lingering astringency along with some alcohol warmth in the finish that leaves a slightly unpleasant taste sitting on the back of the tongue; it is difficult to ascertain whether the resulting flavors are hop- or yeast-derived. The astringency does increase as the beer warms, although not enough to make me stop drinking the beer; it is merely enough to get me to point it out to all you readers out there. As well, this could be related to the ABV of the beer: at 8%, it is pushing the envelope for something that is going to end up clocking somewhere around 1.000-1.004 FG. The lack of residual body in such a big beer (and young beer, might I add, which contributes) brings both the astringent and alcohol flavors to the forefront in ways that would probably not be as evident after being aged for a year or two. Another possible contender for the lingering astringent bite is the young tannic oak flavors that emerged as the beer warmed. In all likelihood, most of these factors contributed something to finish. Still, an enjoyable and interesting beer; I was hoping to find more about its production when I was poking around the internet, as I’d be interested to hear about the production process of this beer: was this an open or spontaneous fermentation (implied by the “Alive” in the name), an inoculated fermentation (adding cultured wild yeast, or having wild yeast already established in fermentation vessels, like barrels; potentially implied in the “Wild Ale” designation, although this would technically fit both options), or a mix somewhere between the two? I didn’t expect a definitive answer, but I expected more than bupkis. Well, there was this, but otherwise beer rating sites and the likes. Oh well.

ABV: 8%

P.S. I dumped the dregs of this beer into one of the two extra starters I made on Sunday. Just sayin’.

(9/4/2013)

514. New Belgium Fall Wild Ale

So I’ll be honest. I hate flying. Mostly because, well, it sucks. But occasionally you get something good out of the deal. Rarely, but sometimes it does happen. And no, I’m not talking that you “get to go someplace cool,” or “see your family,” or some smaltzy crap like that. Those are the Bobby McFerrin-esque lies that people tell themselves to rationalize the ugly truth of air travel. After all, the penance that is flying clearly indicates that we’re willing to trade suffering for expedited travel to a different locale—otherwise no one would do it in the first place. But today was one of those days: something cool happened. I was flying back to Dayton from San Francisco, and was routed through Denver. I was hoping that the New Belgium HUB bar was going to grace the terminal I had a 50 minute layover in, because, well, a beer between flights is always a treat. Well, almost. And in the walk between gates, there it was—just a short distance from my next gate. My first flight had even gotten in ten minutes early, guaranteeing adequate time to actually enjoy the beer. But never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate that a Lips of Faith beer would be on tap to greet me. And it was one of the good ones, too, unlike that last disappointment. And not to give it away, but this beer has restored my faith in the Lips of Faith series. Thank you, New Belgium. Previous hits and misses include Prickly Passion Saison, Vrieden, La Folie Falling Rock Tap House 10th Anniversary, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale, Ranger, Le Fleur, Misseur?, Transatlantique Kriek, Biere de Mars, Fat Tire, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale and La Folie. Dag. That’s some work.

Fall Wild Ale pours a slightly hazy mahogany, which is just another way of describing the brown and orange color of classic Belgian-style beers. The thin white head put in a small effort before giving up the ghost, although the ring around the edge of the glass is due diligence for a beer with brettanomyces. In the nose, there was mostly brett barnyard and hay with a touch of buried dark fruit and caramel. As the beer warms the dry funk really comes out in the nose. Delightfully so. The flavors were subtle and well-balanced, opening with dry caramel and dark fruit—mainly cherry and fig—before giving way to the dry, earthy brettanomyces character of barnyard and musty hay, and finishing slightly tart. Fall Wild Ale is dry and clean on the palate with a subtle, gentle intensity. The transition between the fruit and brettanomyces character was a sheer delight—I think the best way to describe the beer would be to call it something akin to a bretted Belgian dubbel, one that retains all the interesting fruit and malt character of the dubbel, but is enhanced and dried out by the brett as it develops in the beer. An excellent and enjoyable beer, one that drinks far too clean for a beer over 8% ABV. Why they still have a keg of this in the airport bar in May is beyond me, but I am certainly glad that they did.

From the New Belgium website: “Fall Wild Ale, our mahogany-hued autumn ale spiced with schisandra, opens with the floral, earthy notes of fall itself. Schisandra berries, known as ‘five flavor fruit,’ possess a panoply of flavors. This malt-forward dubbel ale is fermented with a Trappist yeast and finishes dry and slightly sour from a touch of bretta.”

ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 18.5
Hops: Willamette, Goldings, Target
Malts: Pale, C-80, Munich, Victory
Fruits/Spice: Schisandra

Oh, and to further indicate the fickle nature of flying, I spent the night on the floor of the same terminal several years ago on my way back from Hawaii. Sure, the New Belgium HUB brewery helped during the following day of delayed flights, but I had to sleep on the floor of the airport. In January. With about a thousand other people. So honestly, I think the Denver International Airport still owes me big time. Seriously.

(5/27/2012)

481. New Belgium/Allagash Vrienden

Holy score of scores! Sometimes those seemingly out of the way beer stores offer up sweet sweet liquid gold. And Gays Hops-n-Schnapps in Angola, IN (seriously, I couldn’t make that name up if I tried) yielded up this gem. Or several of them, since I bought out what they had on the shelf. I mean, let’s be honest, this one hits pretty much all the requisite marks. We’ve got New Belgium, and then Lips of Faith, followed by collaboration, and then Allagash, mixed with brettanomyces, and finally lactobacillus. Sounds like a recipe for deliciousness. And by sounds, I mean is. Our previous encounters with New Belgium include La Folie Falling Rock Tap House 10th Anniversary, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale, Ranger, Le Fleur, Misseur?, Transatlantique Kriek, Biere de Mars, Fat Tire, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale and La Folie. Sadly, we haven’t had any beers from Allagash, well, at least none we’ve written up. Mea culpa. If you feel so inclined, send some our way, and we’ll correct this egregious and slightly embarrassing error.

Described on the label as an “ale brewed with hibiscus and endive,” Vrienden pours a reddish orange—the hibiscus color is there, but it is not nearly as red as Goose Island’s La Fleur. The head is white and light, and quickly rings the glass, although there are a few skiffs of foam floating around on the surface. Elli describes the nose as brett-y goodness; when pushed to further expand her description, she declared it floral and herbal combined with earthy and mineral-ly crispness, followed be a touch of sweetness. Well put, my dear. Flavors open with a dry, crackery malt and move into mineral tartness and floral fruitiness mixed with earthy and hay flavors that are also tangy and sour. The turn to the finish has a spritzy, effervescent carbonation burst that wipes the palate clean before finishing with a lingering mineral earthy funkiness and bitterness. As the beer warms, the tartness increases, and so does the sweetness in the body and mouthfeel—there is a fair change from front to back on this beer: the initial mouthfeel is dry, crisp, and light-bodied, while toward the end of the bottle, it was dry, tart, and medium-bodied. The alcohol is well-hidden, but does peek out a bit as the beer warms. Let’s just say that there is a lot going on with this beer, and all of it is good. We likey. Ah, Lips of Faith, how we’ve missed you...

From the bottle: “Get a Belgian brewmaster and a master of Belgian brewing together and there’s sure to be spontaneous imagination that leads to micro-organisms mingling in fermentation bliss. Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our collabeeration brewed with the slightly fruity hibiscus flower, the aromatic brettanomyces, and the flavor-boosting lactobacillus. We recommend pairing it with creamy, soft cheeses and charming vrienden—that’s ‘friends’ in Flemish. Enjoy!”

ABV: 8.5%

(5/15/2011)

364. Russian River Consecration

con·se·cra·tion, n. 1. the act of dedication to the service & worship of a deity. 2. the act of giving the sacremental character to Eucharistic elements of bread and wine.

One last beer from Russian River, or at least for a while, as not only are we swinging towards home, but this pretty much depletes the Russian River back stock we had built up. This marks beer number four from Russian River—Temptation, Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig round our drinking pleasure. Plus, they love definitions, which means we love them—who doesn’t love paying attention to language?

Described on the label as an “ale aged in oak barrels with currants added,” Consecration pours a reddish brown color—not quite bright enough to be garnet, but not dark enough to be burnt sienna—with a light ivory head that quickly disappears. The nose has a good amount of vinegar sourness—we think that is acetic acid—and smaller amounts of fruitiness, which is probably the currants, although there is also something of a grape-ish Bazooka Joe aroma that emerges from the background. Flavors start with bright citric bite followed by some vinegar sourness; the middle has small amounts of fruitiness before moving into a mineral-y finish that is chalky, dry, and tart. The small amounts of fruitiness in the middle give the appearance of sweetness in the middle, even though this is about as bone dry as Temptation. The chalky, dry finish is also more pronounced here than it was with Temptation, although they both have the same light body. Consecration has a bright, puckering, and tart mouthfeel—the dryness and high attenuation, coupled with the mineral and chalky component of the finish leave a tangy and tart residual sensation on the palate after the beer is gone, along with a fair amount of dryness. The carbonation is medium; mixed with the light body, the bite is tingly and bright. An enjoyable beer; like with the Temptation, there is some flushed cheek perspiration, and plenty of mouth-puckering goodness. I like this better than Temptation, although Elli finds Temptation more enjoyable than Consecration. I’m not sure what that means other than to say that this beer is a yummy treat.

Look at those red highlights!

From the bottle: “When we made the Toronado’s 2oth Anniversary Ale, we had no idea that it would turn out to be one of our favorite barrel aged beers we would ever make. With that said, we have always wanted to make a dark barrel aged beer using 100% Cabernet Sauvignon barrels, bu, we never were inspired. That is, until we blended five different beers to make the Toronado beer, the tobacco character from the dark malts blended nicely with the fruit character that developed in blending. So, with Consecration we set out to make a barrel beer using all Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. Now, we are not saying this is a replicaof the T-rooms anniversary beer, after all, a beer like that can never be duplicated, and, there was no fruit added to that beer as there is with this one. All we are saying is that it gave us great inspiration to brew Consecration. Consecration is refermented in the bottle to create its carbonation—a process commonly used to make fine Champagne and sparkling wine. Spent yeast forms a thin layer of sediment in the bottle, adding yet another layer of complexity and flavors. Pour slowly as to allow the natural yeast sediment to remain in the bottle.”

ABV: 10.0%
Batch: 002X3

Brewed: 6/18/2008

Bottled: 4/1/2009

(6/29/10)

359. Russian River Temptation

temp-ta-tion, n. 1. something that seduces or has the quality to seduce. 2. the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid.

Our third beer from Russian River, and since this one starts with a definition, you know it has to be good. Plus, unlike the last two beers (Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig), which emphatically warned us on the label to not age the beers, this one is in a different category. Go oak-aged wild beers!

Pouring a brilliant straw, Temptation has a bright, tart, and minerally nose with possibly some light fruitiness—something like a light yellow raisin—and a light white head that quickly disappears. The front is dry and tart, moving into a lightly sour profile in the middle with a bunch of vitamin C tablet tartness—the tartness actually put a wisp of perspiration across my cheeks. There is also just a bit of brettanomyces funk hidden in the tartness of the middle. The finish is dry, minerally—almost a bit chalky— and rather clean. Temptation has light body with a puckering and dry mouthfeel across the profile; the carbonation is bright and effervescent on the tongue. Coupled with the oak and citric tartness, the puckering factor on this beer is off the charts—see my previous note about my flushed cheeks. As well, this beer has a high level of attenuation—there is not much in the body in the way of anything fermentable. At the same time, this beer is damn good; the dryness is well balanced, and the sour tartness makes it refreshing and crisp. While this is not the funkiest or sourest beer we’ve come across, the strength is in the subtlety and smoothness—there is not a hint of alcohol, and the brightness of the beer makes it very, very quaffable. If it weren’t so damn expensive and hard to procure, this would be an excellent beer to introduce people to the possibilities of barrel-aged wild ales; as is it is still something to hang onto for that special occasion.

From the bottle: “Is it beer, or is it wine? ‘Aged in French oak wine barrels with distinct characteristics of fruit and subtle oak’ sounds more like a description of wine than beer. Actually, Temptation is a blonde ale, after the primary fermentation it is aged in used French oak chardonnay barrels. Flavors of wine and oak absorb into the brew throughout the barrel aging. During this time, secondary fermentation occurs using a yeast strain disliked by most brewers and winemakers called Brettanomyces. The addition of ‘Brett’ gives Temptation intriguing characteristics and a pleasant sourness. Temptation is refermented in this bottle to create carbonation – a process commonly used to make fine champagne and sparkling wine. Spent yeast forms a thin layer of sediment in the bottle, adding yet another layer of complexity and flavor. Pour slowly as to allow the natural yeast sediment to remain in the bottle.”

ABV: 7.25%
OG: 1.062

IBU: 27

Batch: 004X3

Brewed: 5/25/2008

Bottled: 6/2/2009
Primary Yeast: Abbey Ale

Conditioning Yeast: Rockpile & Brett Wyeast 3789 Blend

(6/24/10)

274. Avery Brabant Barrel-Aged Wild Ale

This is our fourth beer from Avery Brewing—we’ve run through Ellie’s Brown Ale, 16th Anniversary Ale and duganA IPA. Brabant is the first beer in their Barrel-Aged Series; it is a wild ale aged in Zinfandel barrels. As well, the name refers to a breed of draft horses from the West-Brabantian region of Belgium—while there are several other possible references to Brabant, the picture of a horse on the label’s oak barrel points me in this direction.

Brabant pours a deep chocolate brown with garnet highlights; the head is tan and minimal, and quickly rings the glass. The nose carries a nice sour aroma; there seems to be a nice mix of acetic and lactic acid as well as some of the slight plastic adhesive and medicinal aromas accompanying any of the dirty band aid family of beers. Brabant starts dry and lightly sweet before some of the tart sourness and vinegar take over; these flavors run through the middle and into the end. There is a slight adhesive flavor that emerges in the final third of the beer, and that lingers a bit long on the palate. This flavor is accompanied by a bit of alcohol flavor and heat in the final framing of the beer’s flavor profile, although the flavor is more prominent that the heat. The beer is medium bodied and dry, but also a bit sticky on the palate; combined with the medium to low carbonation, flavor does more of the work than mouthfeel in this beer. Nonetheless, a delicious and well-crafted beer—it was much better than both of us expected it to be, and that’s saying something, since Avery is from Colorado. While it is labeled as a wild ale, Brabant strikes me more as fitting into the Flanders Red Ale category than the Lambic category. And it was good enough that I might even be convinced enough to pick up another bottle or two to throw in the basement for later—it’s ready to drink but would probably taste as good (if not better) with a little more time.

From the Avery website: “Experimentation. Ales and lagers that defy styles or categories. This is what we are about: our driving force, our passion. To further facilitate this innovative spirit, we’ve developed our Barrel-Aged Series where anything, and we mean ANYTHING, goes! Brewed for those as adventurous as we are!

No. 1, Brabant, is a luscious dark ale fermented with two strains of wild yeast (Brettanomyces) then aged for 8 months in Zinfandel barrels. We hope you enjoy sifting through the vast layers of complexity in this mysterious ale.”

ABV: 8.65%
IBU: 25
OG: 10.74
Bottled: February 10, 2009
Production: 694 cases

(3/31/2010)

226. New Belgium Le Fleur, Misseur?

New Belgium is in the house yet again, and going down smooth-tastically. This makes six: we’ve had Transatlantique Kriek, Biere de Mars, Fat Tire, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale and La Folie. Like TK, BdM, and La Folie, Le Fleur Misseur? is part of the Lips of Faith series. So yummy. Our friend Jeff came over and brought the two other beers we tried, so we had something of a small tasting of Belgian Pale Ales.

Le Fleur, Misseur? is a ridiculously pale clear straw color with a light white head that dissipates quickly. The nose is floral and funky, and pretty clean. Starting lightly sweet with some brettanomyces funk flavors, Le Fleur moves into a crisp dry middle with light fruit and floral notes, finishing with a touch of sweetness that is swallowed by the dryness—the dryness at the end almost sucks away the previous flavors to end rather clean. Le Fleur is light bodied and crisp, and also very dry—the beer is well attenuated and very light colored for being 6.2% ABV. The carbonation level is pretty low, but works well with the beer. A delicious beer—light and crisp, enjoyable and well balanced. Also a deceptively simple beer, but we’re guessing not so simple to make—the combination of Belgian Pale Ale and brettanomyces funk makes for a interesting beer we’ll be drinking again as soon as we can find some more of it.

From the New Belgium website: “Deep burnished gold with a slight haze, Le Fleur Misseur opens with pineapple, clove and honey notes. Dry-hopping produces a flower leaf aroma supported by tones of fresh bread and honey. Bottle conditioned with our special house strain of Brettanomyces (wild ale) yeast, Le Fleur finishes dry and slightly herbal. Produced for New Belgium coworkers to celebrate our 15th anniversary, Le Fleur has roots in the earliest days of our history. In 1988 founder Jeff Lebesch sat weary on the side of a Belgian road when a young lad passing by picked a delicate yellow flower and offered it to Jeff. ‘Le Fleur, Misseur?’ Jeff misspelled the boy’s comment in his journal as he accepted the offering. A treasured memory, a beer to treasure.”

ABV: 6.2%

We tried Orval Trappist Ale as a comparison; Orval had a bit more citric bite, and more carbonation, but we can see the similarities between the two—there is a similar dry sweetness and color to both.

ABV: 6.9%

Finally, we also tried La Trappe Isid’or Trappist, which has a much more malty body with dark fruit and caramel; while it was a delicious beer, it is not quite in the same family as the last two—bigger and chewier.

ABV: 7.5%

(2/11/2010)

221. Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

Our first beer from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, which is located in Dexter, MI; it will most certainly not be our last. Two words: road trip. As well, I’m sure you’re wondering about the name. Have no fear—they tell all.

La Roja is a translucent brown mixed with red—there are pinks highlights at the bottom of the glass, and darker, richer red ones at the top. The head is tan, and laces the glass decently; it also hangs around well for a sour beer (it made it all the way to the bottom of the glass). La Roja has a clean tart nose—it is more tart than the plastic or medicinal aromas of some of the other sour beers we’ve had. The front of the beer follows the nose; there is a citric tart opening that gives way to some caramel and dark fruit in the middle, although the fruit notes are rather fleeting. La Roja ends with a return of the tartness; after it rolls across the palate, there are some lingering rich fruit flavors that come in after about 10 seconds or so. The carbonation is crisp and there is a slight amount of puckering, most likely stemming from the citric tartness. The light body matches well with the tartness and carbonation bite; as it warms, oak aromas emerge in the nose, and tannic oak flavors merge with the dark fruit at the end. The only critique to make is it could use a bit more funkiness to accentuate the tartness. Still, the refreshing and well balanced flavors of La Roja are eminently enjoyable; we’re making this one a Top 10 Best contender.

From the bottle: “La Roja, an artisan amber ale brewed in the Flanders tradition. Deep amber with earthy caramel, spice, and sour fruit notes developed through natural barrel aging. Unfiltered, unpasteurized and blended from barrels ranging in age from two to ten months. Truly an ale of grace and distinction. Please enjoy our beers in good health, Cheers & Mahalo plenty!”

From the Jolly Pumpkin website: “An artisan amber ale brewed in the Flanders tradition. Deep amber with earthy caramel, spice, and sour fruit notes developed through natural barrel aging. Unfiltered, unpasteurized and blended from barrels ranging in age from two to ten months.”

ABV: 7.2%
White sticker on the back: Blend 3, 2009

(2/6/2010)