Archive for the 'Beer Reviews' category
Dogfish Head Bitches Brew
It’s rare these days that I offer up a review here on the SevenPack. It’s not that I no longer enjoy a tasty brew. It’s more a matter of time commitments and a lack of truly inspiring beers on the shelf. I enjoy that, lately, there are more phenomenal beers out there than ever. However, it seems that everyone is doing a different version of the same 20 beers we’ve been enjoying for the last few years. The only brewery I’ve found recently that is attempting to really push some boundaries is Fullsteam out of Durham, NC. However, they’re also a hometown brewery, so I’m a little bit biased. When I saw a new Dogfish Head brew hit the shelves (which doesn’t happen nearly often enough), I nearly sprang to the cash register to make my purchase. Dogfish Head is one of the reasons that I initially became a beer geek. They were putting out such novel and flavorful beers that it really excited my imagination. They’re still making these same great beers, but after tasting them so many times, the thrill is gone (so to speak). So, a new beer? A new adventure? I’m very excited to try this out…
The Bitches Brew pours a motor-oil black color with a beautiful dark caramel head. The aroma is rich and earthy with lots of molasses and root in the nose. The texture here is also great – it’s thick and viscous and coats the glass. In the mouth, my initial impression is of the mouthfeel. The beer is soft and smooth and coats the tongue, giving the impression of a very big flavor experience throughout the mouth. And, quite an impressive flavor there is. Initially, I’m struck by all of the things that make a true imperial stout great. It’s dark and burly and coats the mouth with aniseed and earthy flavors that are at once strong and sweet. On through the mouth, the feminine aspects of this beer are given more weight, as aspects of a light honey sweetness and fruit present themselves. It’s an interesting contrast of a syrupy beer with a lighter, transient sweetness – not a combination I’m familiar with. Neverthless, it works well. The big flavor of the stout coats the mouth and sticks around throughout, while the flitting sweetness seems to skip across the tongue, adding texture and complexity and then disappearing as quickly as it came. In the aftertaste, you can almost feel the honey sweetness dissipate while the bigger syrupy stout flavors stick around for many seconds after the beer is gone. Frankly, this isn’t that much different than the Chicory Stout, from what I can recall of that beer. However, it has its nuances, and it certainly turns the flavor up to 11. A beer like this, to me, is really the reason I started drinking good beer in the first place…
Notch Hop Session
He’Brew Rejewvenator
You guys know I love about anything Shmaltz puts out, and that is solely based upon experience, as I’ve never had a bad brew from these guys. Managing to crank out high quality beers while also pushing flavor envelopes the way Shmaltz does, especially with their He’Brew line, is quite an accomplishment. This iteration of the Rejewvenator is especially interesting, as it is a combination of of a Doppelbock and a Dubbel ale. If that weren’t enough, it’s also brewed with Concord grape juice. It’s quite a cultural mishmash, for sure, but has great potential.
The color of this is mostly a deep brown with very little debris, though you can also detect a light hint of ruby when held up to a light. The head is creamy and caramel-colored though, admittedly, it doesn’t stick around very long. In the nose, the grape juice certainly takes center-stage. There is a ton of grape sweetness, a light hint of aniseed, and maybe just a little caramel. The flavor of this beer is well befitting its aroma. Again, there is a ton of grape here. The grape flavor certainly isn’t wine-like, but more akin to the Concord grape juice you drank as a kid. However, the flavors layered on top of the grape give this considerable added complexity. You won’t find too much in the way of hop here, but there are lots of rich earth flavors, bits of licorice, and some decent bready grains. This is super rich despite the light taste of grape, and the mouthfeel is just a bit syrupy, doing a fine job of coating the mouth and tongue, leaving a slightly acidic aftertaste that sticks around for many seconds. In short, this is a pretty fantastic beer. It is certainly unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. I’m not sure it will tickle everyone’s fancy, as the grape flavor might be a bit too much for some in a beer. However, the uniqueness of this beer alone makes it worth the trip. And, for those who enjoy both grape juice and beer, this should be a big hit…
He’Brew R.I.P.A. on Rye
It’s been a while since we’ve seen many new Shmaltz/He’Brew beers hit the shelves. But, if you look back in the archives here on SevenPack, you’ll find that I’ve been a fan of nearly everything these guys have put out. So, I was understandably psyched to see this limited release on the shelves here in Durham. This beer starts as a rye IPA which is, on its own, a pretty tasty beer. Above and beyond, these guys then age this in rye whiskey barrels. I anticipate this will be a rather flavorful brew…
The pour of this is a very clear and deep brown color with just slight hints of ruby and a pillowy off-white head. In the nose, I’m getting quite a whiskey tint from this beer, along with some tangy sweetness and, of course, a bit of hop, though the hop is admittedly diminished by the strength of the surrounding scents.
In the mouth, this is a flavor explosion. The first sensation I’m getting is of an almost cloying sweetness on the tip of the tongue. The sweetness is rich and deep, reminiscent of maple syrup. On through the mouth, the whiskey then takes center stage and, I’d dare say, you may shy away from this beer if you’re not a whiskey fan. It isn’t overpowering by any means, but sharp whiskey and rich syrupy flavors seem to pervade all aspects of the brew. There is a notable hop bitterness here. You can’t actually taste a lot of the hop due to the other loud flavors, but you can feel that tell-tale hop burn on the tongue, and some floral tones tend to flit around in the background. Finally, down the throat, the beer continues to let its presence be known with a burn all the way down to your belly. Honestly, this would be a much better beer on a cool evening than this hot summer night in Durham. Nevertheless, I think it’s fantastic. Even now that the beer is gone, I still have a sticky sweetness all around my mouth – the aftertaste here just seems to last forever. The longer I sit with the taste, the more I get additional complexity, with bits of chocolate and even a light salty flavor. A big beer, by all accounts, and a must try for fans of beers with giant flavors and equally beefy abv’s (10%).
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
My wife traveled out to Oregon on business last November and brought back some beers from Deschutes Brewery. Deschutes does not distribute in MA, so it is nice to be able to try their wares out. I find that recently I am enjoying the Porter style more and more (I had McNeill’s Pullman Porter a few nights back and was quite pleased with it), so now seems like a good time to crack the Deschutes Black Butte Porter open.
The beer is a rich black with a tan head. The head lasts as long as it took me to write the introductory sentences of this post (a few minutes), and recedes to a full thin coating of the beer. The aroma is of chocolate, with a nice subtle sour twang finish. The beer runs clean and light through the mouth, with an enjoyable carbonation tingle throughout. Sweet chocolate is the predominant taste for most of the ride, though the chocolate becomes delicately roasted in the finish. Along with the roasted chocolate there is a pleasant and refreshing sour note in the taste’s finish, just as in the aroma.
A good, very drinkable beer that I would frequently pick up in six pack form if it was distributed in MA.
Saison du BUFF
I believe Ben and I actually had this beer at the same time, Ben was just quicker on posting his review. With my review in handwritten form, I was able to spare some time yesterday and actually type it up. You can read my thoughts on this beer below Ben’s.
Ben Says:
I don’t think I could get much more excited about a beer than I got about this li’l guy. I’m surprised that I wasn’t aware of this long ago, but it actually took me by surprise down at the Blue Light recently. In case you also aren’t aware, this beer was borne of a partnership between three of the better US brewers in existence today: Dogfish Head, Stone, and Victory (in alphabetical order). They formed a group they call BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor). This, as I understand it, is their first brew, an ale brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
The Saison du BUFF pours a slightly hazy golden with ample effervescence, resulting in a pillowy white head and lots of carbonation surging upwards from the bottom of the glass. In the nose, the unique spicing is evident. In fact, there is so much spice in the nose, that it is difficult for my amateur snout to divine the different components. What is evident, though, is a powerful yet pleasant scent that burns it’s way through the nostrils with additional hints of citrus and yeast. In the mouth, I’m frankly surprised at how good this beer is. The “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme” gimmick had me worried – not an easy combination to pull off in a beer – but this is downright pleasant. Obviously there’s a melange of spice here, culminating to create a flavor that is, at the same time, earthy, sour, lightly bitter, and rather exotic. This is, as nearly as can be pinpointed, a saison-like beer. Beyond that, however, it defies expectation. This beer is, in the end, completely unique to beers I’ve tasted, and it’s rare these days to find a beer that is both totally new and totally tasty. Somehow, this pulls it off.
So, I’m glad to say that I walk out of this tasting with no decreased respect for the brewers involved, despite their risky stunt. Rather, I’m impressed that they’ve managed to pull a tasty beer out of a very odd hat. I can’t wait to see what further inventions this union renders.
PS – This is just the first version of this beer, brewed at Stone brewery. They will, in fact, be doing new iterations of this same beer at each of the three breweries involved…
Dave Says:
Stone has quite a few beers in their collaboration series, and of the beers I have had they have at least been “interesting”. I was definitely psyched when I read on BeerNews that Stone and Dogfish Head, along with Victory, were teaming up for a collaboration. The icing on the cake (or the head on the beer), the collaboration would be in the Saison style. I picked up a few bottles a couple days ago, and I can not wait to dig in.
A thick, creamy and slightly off-white head sits atop a lightly cloudy golden hued body. Though the carbonation is very light, a few large bubbles rising every few seconds, the head stays around for seven to eight minutes. Released from this head is a hoppy lemon aroma, overtly resiny, and a finishing hint of herbs. The beer is a bit thicker on the palate then I expected. A hoppy lemon presence greets the tongue, and it is rather enjoyable and refreshing. Then the herbs used in the beer’s brew process hit. The sage and thyme make their presence known, and the rosemary makes subtle illusions to itself. I’m reminded of a full-roast chicken recipe I do utilizing these ingredients (including the lemon). The aftertaste is not long, but it keeps with the herb character, with the thyme outlasting the rest.
I like my Saison’s a bit crisper, and lighter then this, and the “herb style” of beer is not the first style I reach for, and this beer will not change that.
Overall, not bad, but the remaining bottles will probably sit around awhile in the beer fridge.
New Belgium “Eric’s Ale”
Frankly, I wasn’t even planning to review this li’l gem. I found it at Parker & Otis after lunch a few days ago and figured it would be a nice treat whilst I traveled in the following week. However, after tasting this tonight, I want to make sure that I remember it. So, here we find ourselves writing it up…
This ale, Eric’s Ale, is part of the Lips of Faith series from New Belgium, which generally offers a brew with a more experimental bent. In this case, it’s a wood-aged sour ale with a peach infusion. Apparently Eric calls it “A sour ale for those who don’t like sour ales, and a fruit ale for those who don’t like fruit ales”. Well, I’m not entirely sure I agree with that statement, as this seems to lean more on the sour side. However, I tend to like both sour ales and fruit ales…. and I absolutely love this particular ale.
Eric’s ale pours a crystal clear golden with just a light hint of ruby coloration. The head is stark white and rears up fiercely on the pour but, frankly, doesn’t stick around very long. The aroma of this is straight-up sour ale, offering an aroma akin to a beer made with Brettanomyces yeast (which this may or may not utilize), or a saison ale on steroids. In the mouth, sourness takes the front seat. This has characteristics of both a saison ale and a flemish-style sour ale. It burns the tip of the tongue, and the sourness makes you pucker up through the mouth. However, there is a mellowness to the backbone that is unusual and makes it a bit more palatable. The peach flavor they mention doesn’t really jump to the forefront here. Honestly, I don’t think I would believe peach was involved if the label didn’t tell me. Nevertheless, if you really dig deep, you can sense some light sweetness and a softening factor that the peach seems to contribute. There is some grain here, as well. Again, it takes a back seat to the sour notes, but the aging, coupled with some grassy grain flavors, gives this an earthy note that is also unusual to they style.
Honestly, this is likely my favorite beer of the summer season so far. It has a tricky combination of flavors that makes it both refreshing and complex, all while starkly differentiating itself from other beers on the shelf. Sadly, this won’t likely make it to regular release from New Belgium. Also sadly, it’s pretty expensive. Nevertheless, I’m liable to pick up a couple of bottles to keep around for special occasions. I wouldn’t let it sit around too long, though – this style of brew doesn’t exactly benefit from heavy aging. Sounds like a good excuse to drink up!
Starr Hill “The Love” Wheat Beer
Starr Hill is a brewery out of Charlottesville, VA that I was able to enjoy only briefly before they were scooped up by Anheuser-Busch a few years ago. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem that AB has done too much to ruin a good thing, as I’m generally impressed with Starr Hill offerings today. This wheat ale, “The Love”, is one I haven’t had yet, but happened to run into in Wilmington, NC…
The pour of this is typical wheat ale – light golden and cloudy with a hefty cake of debris at the bottom of the bottle. The aroma is very yeasty with a bit of citrus to burn the nose, leading me to believe that this is likely of the Bavarian style. In the mouth, these suspicions are confirmed, with the flavor profile of this coming somewhere between a German hefeweizen and a Belgian witbier. There is an initial slight burn on the tip of the tongue, awakening the tastebuds and giving this an extra crisp taste. Through the mouth, the primary flavor component is sweet yeast, though the light wheat flavors are also prevalent. Helping out is again, some citrus flavor with a lemon rind sharpness and maybe just a hint of banana floating along in the back. All in all, it’s a great take on the genre – good for the summertime and fairly priced at $8 for a sixer. If they’d stick this stuff in a can, it might be the beach beer for the season!
Laughing Dog Brewing Alpha Dog
For a Valentine’s Day gift my wife got me a few bottles of beer (she knows me oh so well). One of those bottles was Alpha Dog by Laughing Dog Brewing. I have never had a before, so might as well start off with the big guns of an Imperial IPA!
The beer poured a slightly hazy, orange-amber into my pint glass. Standing atop the beer was a thick, pillowy, white head. I mean standing too. The head was a full finger above the glass’s rim and none of it was cascading over. This head slowly receded after a good seven plus minutes, and even then it left stiff peaks, similar to well beaten egg whites. The aroma of the beer was a bit of a shock to me. Instead of the typical grapefruit or pine punch found in most America made IIPAs, this beer had a very heavy earth aroma. I like a good English style IPA, so an Imperialized one is a plus in my book. Though predominantly earthy in character, I did notice some pine, and fruit punch notes sneak in to the profile.
The taste was a continuation of the aroma,. The beer plays big with its earthy hop profile. Hints of fruit punch and a tweak of lemon round out the flavors. The presence on the tongue had a medium heft to it, and was a bit “gritty”.
Overall an interesting take on the IIPA, and one I would no issue getting again. Now to hunt down some more Laughing Dog beers.
Yazoo Dos Perros Ale
When in Memphis, I suppose one should drink a good Ghost River brew. However, I haven’t been able to find a bottle of the stuff anywhere around, and I haven’t felt like reviewing whilst sitting at the local pubs. So, in lieu of a local brew, tonight we’re doing a ‘semi-local’ brew from the folks at Yazoo over in Nashville…
The Dos Perros ale is, by appearances, a brown ale, so that’s how I’ve categorized it. However, it considers itself an Austrian ale, brewed in the traditional sense. The color is a fairly deep brown, with a thin caramel head that doesn’t stick around too long. In the nose, this is mostly malt and nut, giving it a rather rich aroma. The flavor here is terribly well-rounded. It’s a brown ale, giving us lots of flavors of nuts, toffee, and rich malt. However, the mouthfeel is rather light and refreshing, and the beer slides easily through the mouth. There is a decent hop profile here, giving a hint of floral flavors and a decent bitter note. However, the sweetness that rides along with the hop makes the flavor almost decadent. Honestly, what you’re looking for at each sip seems to determine what you detect. It’s a beer that morphs it’s focus based on what you want to taste.
Basically, it’s an unassuming beer, and it doesn’t have any outstanding or in-your-face flavors. That being said, it has a multitude of elements that present themselves as you look for them. This would be a great daily drinker, and I’m impressed by the overall quality of the drinking experience. This is the only beer I’ve had the pleasure of drinking from Yazoo, but I certainly hope it’s not the last.
Lazy Magnolia “Southern Pecan” Brown Ale
Billing itself as “The original pecan nut brown ale”, I figured I’d be well served to pick up this offering from Lazy Magnolia whilst in Memphis recently. I know, I know – it’s not a Memphis brewery. However, sadly, I couldn’t find any bottled offerings from Ghost River (do they have bottled offerings?), so I had to settle with the next nearest-to-local brew I could find.
Pouring a typical semi-hazy brown color, the Southern Pecan doesn’t look a lot different than a Newcastle or whatever your brown ale of choice might be. The aroma, however, offers a bit more of a sweetness than I’m accustomed to. The sweetness is interesting – not cloying by any stretch, but slightly syrupy and, well, a little nutty. There’s also a serious malt backbone to the beer, offering rich dark bread aromas. The flavor of this beer stands right up to the scent. It’s a typical brown by most accounts, but there is a richness and fullness that you won’t find in most of the genre. The heavy malt profile gives the beer a sizable mouthfeel with an impressive softness for a brown. And, again, we get the dark bread flavors co-mingled with some nuttiness. To be honest, I’m not sure if I could pick out these nutty flavors if you gave this to me blind. However, knowing that I’m drinking a pecan ale really makes it pop. Overall, a rather impressive brown ale. I won’t often reach for this genre, but I’m glad I did tonight…
Dark Horse Brewing Crooked Tree
Harpoon 100 Barrel Oyseter Stout
A couple months back Harpoon released their latest 100 Barrel Series beer, the Oyster Stout. I enjoy the beer and oyster combo, so I have been interested in this beer since its announcement a few months back. The beer’s name is not just a suggestion of what to eat while drinking this beer however. Actual oyster shells were used in the beer’s creation. Lets see if those shells make a difference.
The beer poured black with a creamy light-tan head into my pint glass. The head slowly degraded over four to five minutes to a thin covering of tight, small bubbles. The nose had a lightly sour note to it, though it was predominantly chocolate malt. This malt profile was also the slightest bit roasted.
The carbonation tingled the tip of my tongue at the beginning of each sip. This tingle progressed to a pleasant smoothness come mid-tongue. Mid-tongue is where the malt hit with its chocolate character. The chocolate was on the sweeter side of the scale, though not cloying by any means. For the finish the beer went lightly bitter and roasted. I found the finish a bit harsh, especially when compared to the beer’s mid-mouth character. With three-quarters of the twenty-two ounce bottle done, I noticed the beer’s roasted character really starting to dominate my mouth. I also noticed my mouth, especially the back section, being extremely dry. I did not notice this dryness during most of the session but it certainly was there at the end, almost as if it grew in strength with every sip. This dryness may have been caused by the salt in the beer, due to the oyster shells, but that is only a guess on my part.
Overall the beer was enjoyable.
Grieskirchner Weiss
The folks at the Beer of the Month Club have been kind enough to keep us in beer every month here at SevenPack central, despite the fact that we’ve been pretty lousy about reviewing them lately due to business, redundancy, etc. Nevertheless, I feel compelled this month to report on a particular selection they tossed in the mix. It’s somewhat rare for us to get a beer these days that we haven’t addressed previously, due to the distribution channels here in NC. Furthermore, it’s pretty rare for me to run across a Weissbier that I haven’t tried – I’m pretty wild about the genre and try to gobble them up whenever I find new ones. This brew, however, manages to fit both of those categories of unreviewed and never tried, so here we go!
First of all, I should frame this review by saying that it is being written from the balcony here in downtown Durham on a 75 degree evening as the sun sets across the skyline – undeniably a great place and time to enjoy a weissbier, and it will likely skew my review towards the positive.
This brew pours a hazy golden, dulled by beaucoup white yeasty debris agitated to life from the bottom of the bottle. The head is rocky and white, and the beer smells of sweet yeast and grain, aligned with the German varieties (though this actually comes from Austria). In the mouth, I’m actually taken by the lack of sweetness in the beer. Not to say it isn’t yeasty and sweet and refreshing, but it doesn’t jump out with the big banana and esther flavors that so often accompany a weiss. Instead, this is subdued, with a hint of sour citrus and some soft grainy flavors. The mouthfeel is pillowy and coats the tongue, leaving a rather resilient aftertaste. What this amounts to is a rich and balanced beer that is exceedingly refreshing and goes down much faster than you want it to. At 5.1% abv, this probably isn’t meant to be a session beer, but you’ll have a hard time keeping it from becoming one once you start on that six pack. A great brew, indeed, and just what I was looking for on this warm southern night…
