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My introduction to Terrapin Beer Co.

June 30th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

This past weekend I visited my family down in Georgia.  Visiting other people in different states is always a nice time to go beer hunting!!!  To my surprise every beer store I went to was well stocked with beer I’ve never seen before.  There version of Total Wine just blows away the ones we have here.  Distribution in Georgia is strong.  Maybe I should move there.  Instead of going nuts I decided to only try to pick up brews that were from the state.  (That worked out sorta)  I decided to get my education in a brewery named Terrapin Beer Co.  Terrapin is located in Athens, Georgia.  Which I don’t think is to far from where I was staying.  They have a line of beers called “Side Project”  These beers are only brewed once and once they are gone, they are gone forever.  I was lucky enough to find two of those brews (well actually three but I didn’t have time to drink it while I was down there) Dos Cocoas and Monk’s Revenge.  I also decided I needed to try their year around beers.  They make a four in total.  I won’t go into huge reviews for those four because well by the time I was done with drinking most of the box, I was pretty lit.  But instead here are some quick ones.

Rye Pale Ale – My second favorite of the bunch.  A decent pale ale with a punch of hops, bready malt, and of course the rye.  I love beers brewed with rye so this was good to me.  Easy to drink.  Light and crisp.  Good for the 90+ degree weather.  Rating: B

Golden Ale – Probably my least favorite of the bunch but still a really decent beer.  A nice light beer brewed with honey.  Light floral hops with a grainy taste rounded out the experience.  A great session beer.  You can down these babies all night.  Rating: C

India Style Brown Ale – Easily my favorite out of the four.  Nice mixture of brown ale and IPA characteristics.  Nice roasted malt flavor, chocolate, with a nice shot of hops.  Interesting mixture here and like I said the highlight of the 4. Rating: B+

SunRay Wheat Beer – Last but not least is their take on a Hefeweizen.  Was not to overly impressed with this Hefe but like everything else in the box it was a easy drinker and decent.  Mixture of wheat and tart fruit.  Rating: C+

Ok now on to the beers I was really searching for.  The Side Project beers.  The two I found like I said above was Monk’s Revenge which is classified as a Belgian IPA and Dos Cocoas which is a Chocolate Porter.  While I really enjoyed one, the other one really didn’t do much for me.  Read on!!

Terrapin Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter

Terrapin Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter – First is the porter.  This beer is number 4 in the series of 6  This brew poured like a soda.  At first it poured a huge head.  But quickly the head fizzles out like a soda does.  Bubbles shooting everywhere. The color of the brew is pitch black.   The smell is full of bitter chocolate. roasted malt, and a small amount of coffee.  The smell was decent but nothing to write home about.  Sadly same goes for the taste.  I was hoping for more of a rich taste.  But instead the bitterness of the chocolate takes over to much.  I know this is a chocolate porter but it was to much bitter chocolate for my tastes.  Wanted a little bit more complex taste.  Mixed in with the bitterness was a bit of sourness.  The mixture just turned me off from this beer.  What else bugged me is how watery this beer was.  One of the more watery beers I’ve had in a while.  While this was a nice beer to make I’m glad they are only doing it once and not making it a full release.  Maybe a little tinkering with the recipe would make this one a winner.  But you know you really aren’t into a beer when you don’t want to even finish it.  Luckily the other Side Project beer made up for it.

Found: Somewhere in Georgia!
Price:
7 dollars a bottle
Website:
http://www.terrapinbeer.com
What the company says:
The “Dos Cocoas” is a traditional Porter with a chocolaty experimental twist. “Spike” incorporated two types of chocolate at two different stages of production to achieve the balanced chocolate flavors in the “Dos Cocoas.” The first addition was 60 pounds of cocoa powder added in the whirlpool. Next, the porter was aged for one month on a 60 pound bed of cocoa nibs to really bring the dark chocolate flavors home. The result is a fine chocolate aroma, a unique bitterness and a tantalizingly balanced chocolate flavor from both the cocoa powder and the nibs.
ABV%:
5.80%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Terrapin India Style Brown Ale, Terrapin Rye Pale Ale
Other beers to try within the same style: Samuel Adams Holiday Porter

Rating: C

Terrapin Monks Revenge

Terrapin Monk’s Revenge – Up next is their take on a Belgian IPA.  Ever since I’ve tried my first Belgian IPA (Stone Cali-Belgique IPA) I’ve really enjoyed the style of beer.  I mean how can you go wrong.  A mixture of Belgian style brewing with my favorite kind of beer, India Pale Ale.  A mixture made in heaven.  This might not be my favorite version of the style but it’s pretty damn good.  It’s big.  That’s for sure.  The beer pours a light orange color with a fluffy white head that leaves a good amount of lacing throughout the glass.  The smell is just inviting.  Mixture of piney hops, citrus, sugary sweet aroma, Belgian yeast and spice.  Good mixture.  When you take your first sip you’ll be welcomed by a nice fruity, sweet sugary flavor mixed in with hops and the Belgian side of things, the yeast and spice.  You’ll also notice a nice amount of alcohol.  Burns your mouth and throat a bit as it goes down.  The beer is smooth and crisp.  Just a lovely beer.  I even had my brother try it, he’s a Coors Light man, and he liked it.  Could I be converting someone else to the darkside?  No probably not.  Out of the two Side Project beers this is easily the winner.  To bad I missed the others.

Found: Somewhere in Georgia!
Price:
7 dollars a bottle
Website:
http://www.terrapinbeer.com
What the company says: This Belgian IPA has a malt bill of a Belgian Tripel and a hop bill of a Double IPA. The yeast I chose for this beer comes from one of the 7 Trappist breweries. Believe it or not, this is the first time in my professional brewing career that I have used dextrose (corn syrup) in a Terrapin brew. True to style no doubt. “Monk’s Revenge” (otherwise known as the “Big Nasty”) has all the flavor and aroma of a Double IPA while hidden beneath lies the malt character of a fine Belgian Tripel. I hope you enjoy my interpretation of this very fun style.
ABV%:
9.80%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Terrapin Golden Ale, Terrapin SunRay Wheat Beer
Other beers to try within the same style: Green Flash Le Freak,
Stone Cali-Belgique IPA)
Rating: B+ (Almost an A-)

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Great beer day! and 5 quick (ok very quick) reviews: Samuel Adams Traditonal Bock, Samuel Adams Cranberry Wit, Founders Dirty Bastard, The Bruery Saison De Lente, and Harpoon Rauchfetzen

June 24th, 2009 | 6 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

First off I came home today to something I just totally forgot about.  It’s been a long time since I’ve received a shipment from The Lost Abbey Patron Sinners membership.  What arrived today is two world class beers.  The Angels Share and Cuvee De Tomme.  I really can’t wait to uncork these babies.  I’ll be holding a few back to age.  Especially the Angels Share.

Sometimes I either get really lazy with reviews and they just pile up or sometimes I just drink so much beer at once that I lag behind on reviews.  I think this time around it’s a little bit of both.  When that happens I usually decide to do what I’m doing now.  Fix it all at once.  So here are 5 really quick reviews of beers I’ve had in the past couple of weeks.  I’m going down to Atlanta for the rest of the week.  Hopefully I come back with some new beer reviews from down South!

Samuel Adams Traditonal Bock (Longshot 2008) – Up first is the second beer from last years Longshot competition.  Last week I reviewed what I thought was the best out of the three, the Imperial IPA.  Sadly the other two aren’t as good as the IPA.  I would call the Bock the runner up of the box.  It is a tasty brew don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think it’s the same level of quality as the IPA.  What it is though is a easy drinker and a good session beer.  The smell and taste consist of bready and toasty malt, dark fruits, and chocolate.  It has a sweet taste to go with everything else.  Mouthfeel is a little thick but very smooth.  Goes down very easy.  Leaves a sticky feeling on your lips.  I would be very proud to brew this beer.

Found: Total Wine, Norfolk, VA
Price:
Part of the Longshot box.  Box came to about 10 dollars.
Website:
http://www.samueladams.com
What the company says:
Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 6.80%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Sam Adams Blueberry Wit, Sam Adams Boston Lager
Other beers to try within the same style: Never really had a beer in this style.

Rating: B

Sam Adams Cranberry Wit

Samuel Adams Cranberry Wit (Longshot 2008) – Last of the Longshot winners for 2008 is the Cranberry Wit.  Now don’t take this the wrong way.  Obviously this person can brew.  It’s a decent beer.  But out of all the people who sent in homebrews was this really one of the best?  Easily my least favorite of the three.  It just didn’t do much for me at all.  Ok enough ranting.  The cranberry is there but it’s barely noticeable at all.  It’s OK that it doesn’t smack you in the face but I was really wishing for just a tad bit more.  Everything in this beer seems small.  Small amount of wheat and pale malt.  I also picked up a little bit of orange zest and spices.  I think the spice flavor was the biggest flavor in the beer but even that wasn’t big at all and was almost unnoticeable.  Combine everything and it makes for a dull tasting beer, at least to me of course.  I just drank my two bottles and said to myself that’s it?  The beer is creamy and crisp.  The mouthfeel is nice, I’ll give it that.  Combine the mouthfeel and the low abv and you have a really easy drinker.  I just wish it had more going on.

Found: Total Wine, Norfolk, VA
Price:
Part of the Longshot box. Box came to about 10 dollars.
Website:
http://www.samueladams.com
What the company says:
Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 6.80%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Sam Adams Chocolate Bock, Sam Adams Winter Lager
Other beers to try within the same style: The Lost Abbey Witch’s Wit, Victory Whirlwind Wit

Rating: C

Founders Dirty Bastard

Founders Dirty Bastard – I forgot to take a picture of the actual beer.  Yeah I know I’m horrible.  So you get a picture of an empty bottle.  Founders has just landed in my area.  Around 6-8 beers can be found on shelves in Virginia Beach (Founders ahem can you please bring us some Kentucky Breakfast Stout).  One of the first ones I tried was their Scotch Ale, Dirty Bastard.  I’m not a professional on this style of beer, I haven’t tasted many kinds but I think I’m at the point now in my beer tasting career (Hah I know I sound stupid) to know what is a quality beer and believe me this is one.  It’s delicious.  Smokey, toasty and caramel malt.  Dark fruit such as prunes.  I also got a hint of toffee and brown sugar.  What we have here is a nice rich beer and takes all it’s tastes and combines them into something special.  Watch the 8.30 abv.  You won’t notice it one bit.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price:
Around 3 dollars a bottle
Website:
http://www.foundersbrewing.com/
What the company says: So good it’s almost wrong. Dark ruby in color and brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Complex in finish with hints of smoke and peat, paired with a malty richness and a right hook of hop power to give it the bad attitude that a beer named Dirty Bastard has to live up to. Ain’t for the wee lads’.
ABV%: 8.30%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Founders Breakfast Stout, Founders Double Trouble
Other beers to try within the same style: Smuttynose Scotch Ale

Rating: A-

The Bruery Saison De Lente

The Bruery Saison De Lente – Before I go on ranting about how fantastic this beer is (because it really is friggin good) I just want to thank Nat for including this beer with the great growler of Alpine Nelson.  I hope he enjoys all the beers he got from me.  Now on to the review!!  The Bruery is still a young brewery but they are quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries.  The few brews I’ve had from them have just been fantastic.  De Lente pours a clean, light, glowing orange.  A nicely sized heads forms from the pour.  Fluffy and full of craters.  Great retention and lacing.  The smell is full of a funky/musty aroma.  It’s the brett coming through nicely.  There’s also a nice amount of lemon peel and spices.  Pepper and cloves.  The taste is just wonderful.  It’s fairly light and just great for a summer day.  The taste is full of the funky smell you get when you first pour this brew.  What’s also there is the lemon, citrus, Belgian yeast, bready malt, and a nice dose of spice at the end.  Just a tasty beer.  The mouthfeel adds to the greatness of this beer.  It’s a tad bit dry but crisp and light.  At just below 7% a few bottles of this stuff can be enjoyed at one sitting.  Great for those hot Californa days.

Found: Beer Trade
Price:
I believe this beer runs between 10 and 12 dollars
Website:
http://www.thebruery.com
What the company says:
Our Spring Saison is light blonde in color with a fresh hoppiness and a wild and rustic Brettanomyces character. Lighter in color and alcohol than our Saison Rue, yet equally complex in its own way. Perfect for warmer weather and Spring celebrations.
ABV%: 6.80%
Other beers to try from this brewery: The Bruery Partridge in a Pear Tree
Other beers to try within the same style: Fantôme Brise-BonBons, Victory V-Saison
Rating: A

Harpoon Rauchfetzen

Harpoon Rauchfetzen – I was really excited to spot this beer when I stopped in a store by the Dogfish Head Brewpub.  I picked  up this brew along with the Glacier Hop.  Both are from the 100 Barrel Series.  This series is brewed once.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone!!  Sadly this beer really did nothing for me.  So I really won’t miss it much =)  It’s not a horrible beer at all but I left wanting more.  This beer is a Rauchbier.  What I thought I would get was a ton of smokey goodness.  Like the feeling that you’re sitting next to a campfire.  Instead of getting a nice big smokey smell and taste what we have here is a muted one.  Mixed in with the small smokey smell and taste is bready malt,  a shot of grassy hops, and a dry herbal bitterness like they mention in the description of the beer.  Mouthfeel is medium bodied, smooth, and had a nice amount of carbonation.  If you’re looking for a real Rauchbier don’t look here.  If you want to try it’s easy drinking little brother than give this one a try.  Heck give it a try anyway since it was only brewed once.

Found: Somewhere in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Price:
Around 7 dollars a bottle
Website:
http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
What the company says: Harpoon Rauchfetzen is the 25th offering from our 100 Barrel Series. We used beechwood smoked malt from Bamberg, Germany to craft this copper-colored ale that evokes Rauchfetzen, a poetic German word meaning “wisp of smoke.” While many smoked beers are heavy on the pallet, this beer allows the character of the smoked malt to play off the herbal bitterness of Hallertau hops and the fresh, bread-like quality of Munich and Pilsner malts. Enjoy this beer with a variety of cheeses and sausages.
ABV%: 6.30%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Flying Dog Dog Schwarz
Other beers to try within the same style: Harpoon Baltic Porter, Harpoon IPA

Rating: B

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Coronado Red Devil

June 16th, 2009 | 4 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Coronado Red DevilAwhile back I remember my buddy Aaron from the Vice Blog saying that Imperial Reds seem to be popping up a lot these days.   He said that right as I was enjoying my new favorite red, Ballast Point Tongue Buckler.  The next night I was in the mood for another red and what do you know, the fridge came through.  This time it was Red Devil from Coronado Brewing.  While Red Devil isn’t as tasty as Tongue Buckler, it is more approachable.  It’s not as much of a monster that Buckler is.  But is a damn fine Imperial Red.  The only other beer I’ve had from these guys was their Idiot IPA.  While I thought Idiot IPA was OK, the Red Devil easily blows it away.

Red Devil pours a deep amber color with red highlights.  A big head fluffy head forms.  Good retention and a ton of lacing.  For the smell you’ll first notice a big sweet caramel malt presence up front.  Behind it hides citrus, floral hops.  The malt here takes over a bit.

The taste is full of toasted and sweet caramel malt.  Gives sort of a rough taste to it.  The hops then kick in.  They are more citrusy then floral in the taste.  They also leave a little bit of an acidic and bitter after taste.  In the taste the hops pull right up next to the malt.  Not like in the smell where I noticed more of a malty edge.  The beer is medium bodied and way to easy to drink to be 10% abv.  You don’t notice it.  This is a very good red alethat I would drink any day of the week.  Plus don’t forget kiddies, Stones 13th Anniversary ale is an Imperial Red this year and they are calling it their hoppiest beer to date. It should be right around the corner.  Maybe this is the year of the Imperial Reds?  Oh my!!!

Found: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, San Diego
Price: I believe it was around 5-6 dollars.
Website: http://www.coronadobrewingcompany.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 10.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Coronado Idiot IPA
Other beers to try within the same style: Ballast Point Tongue Buckler, Troegs Nugget Nectar
Rating: B+

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Alesmith Speedway Stout

June 15th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Speedway StoutWhen I first dove into the world of craft beers I remember going to Beer Advocates top 100 beers and taking a look around.  I came upon Speedway Stout.  I had never heard of Alesmith and since I didn’t have access to West Coast beer I thought I would never get to try this stuff.  I just remember going through all the reviews.  Every single review was positive and the beer sounded great.  I just said to myself one day Dave one day.  Well thanks to South Bay I was able to try one of my first beer crushes.  OK I know that sounds stupid but for some reason I just remember this was the first stout I ever wanted to try.  Was it worth the wait?  Answer is yes sir!!  While it might not be my favorite stout of all time (that award belongs to Surly Darkness) it is truly a world class stout and deserves to be on that list of BAs Top 100.

Speedway pours pitch black with a huge creamy tan head.  The smell is fantastic.  Up front the coffee hits your nose big time.  It’s lovely.  I heard something that they changed the beans in this stout?  I believe they went with locally grown coffee beans?  If anyone has that info please leave a comment.  What follows next is a nice amount of bitter chocolate with a small amount of alcohol.  But the coffee dominates.

For the taste, once again the coffee is king.  The next layer of taste is the bitter chocolate.   Then I noticed something I didn’t get in the smell.  The taste of a dark fruit, maybe prunes. Some reviews I saw said they tasted cherries.  I didn’t get that at all in this bottle.  I’d love to try another one just to see =)  To top it off there is a nice sweet malt flavor with the small kick of alcohol.  Mouthfeel is stuck between medium and full bodied.  It’s creamy and just smooth as silk.  This beer is just dangerous.  It sits at 12% abv.  But you don’t notice it one bit.

If you see this one pick it up.  Warning though.  I was talking to someone the other day and they said that a little while back Alesmith was recalling a batch of Speedway.  Something was wrong with it.  Just make sure you check that out.  Bottom line is this beer has moved into my top 5 all time stouts.  It’s tasty and dangerous.  It will leaving you wanting more but run you over with it’s high abv.

Found: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, San Diego
Price:
I believe it was around 10-12 dollars
Website:
http://www.alesmith.com/
What the company says:
A HUGE Imperial Stt that weighs in at an impressive 12% ABV! As if that’s not enough, we added pounds of coffee for a little extra kick. Our special-edition Brewer’s Reserve Speedway Stout, which is aged in Bourbon barrels, has been rated the #1 BEST BEER IN THE WORLD at ratebeer.com. It was also featured on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in a segment on the best dark beers in America.
ABV%:
12.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Alesmith IPA, Alesmith Old Numbskull
Other beers to try within the same style: Founders Breakfast Stout, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
Rating: A

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Port Brewing Brother Levonian Saison Ale

June 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Brother Levonian This beer has a sad story behind it and while being sad, it also has a happy ending.  Here is the story about this brew (Stolen directly from Beernews.org =)

“Dave Levonian was a homebrewer, QUAFF member, and a very approachable guy. Just one of the nicest guys you’ve ever met. He passed away in 2008 at way too young an age. Dave loved Saisons…LOVED them. In his memory, a couple of the brewers in San Diego – Colby Chandler and Dean Rouleau – have brewed “Brother Levonian” commemorative beers with proceeds going to Dave’s daughter’s college fund.” Ballast Point was one of those breweries.”

This is why I love the craft beer community.  These guys came together to support their own.  It’s just fantastic that the proceeds will be going to Daves daughters education.  I feel good knowing that I supported their goal.  So how was the beer?  I loved it.  It was a easy drinking fantastic tasting Saison.

The pour on this brew is one of the more inviting pours I’ve ever seen.  The color was a light burnt hazy orange with a huge fluffy white head.  Huge bubbles throughout.  You could hear the bubbles popped as the head died a tad.  The smell is full of farmhouse funk you see in a lot of Saisons.  It’s accompanied by a nice fruity nose.  Citrus and Lemon. Nice amount of spice.  Pepper and clove.

The taste is pretty much more of the same except a noticed a bit of a toasty malt flavor and a little bit of alcohol.  Not a lot, just a enough to burn the throat a bit.  The mouthfeel is creamy and full bodied with a good amount of carbonation.  Just a true joy to drink.

Thanks to Joey for getting a hold of this brew.  I don’t think to many places received any but he always seems to come through.  If you see it, buy it and enjoy it knowing it’s going to an awesome cause.

Found: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, San Diego
Price: I believe it was around 10-12 dollars
Website: http://www.portbrewing.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 6.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Port Brewing Hop 15, Port Brewing Moonlit Sessions Lager
Other beers to try within the same style: Victory V-Saison, Ommegang Hennepin
Rating: A-

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Samuel Adams Double IPA (Longshot 2008)

June 10th, 2009 | 7 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Sam Adams Double IPAI’m so jealous of the Longshot winners.  First off they can obviously brew well.  Something I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do and secondly to me it would be such an honor to have my brew distrubted with the Samuel Adams name attached to it.  The first brew that I will be reviewing is actually a 2007 Longshot winner.  Story goes that Mike McDole actually won the 2007 contest but due to the hop shortage they couldn’t make the beer.  Good news is Mikes fantastic Imperial IPA made the line this year and before I go any further I think Sam Adams should really think about making this a part of their full time line up.  First off they don’t have an IPA in their lineup and secondly this beer is so good that I think it deserves it.  For me it was easily the best out of the three.

This brew pours a cloudy hazy amber color with a good amount of head.  Had good retention and lacing.  The smell is nice and big.  But the sweet malt is really the thing that stands out.  It’s more of a malt bomb then a hop bomb.  But don’t think there isn’t a good amount of hops in this brew because there is.  Floral and citrus hop aroma.  A very nice smell.

The taste is just fantastic.  Once again for me the malt is the thing that stands out first.  It’s an earthy type of taste that mixes well with the hoppy goodness.  Hops here are piney and floral.  Rumor is he used over 7 types of hops in this beer.  Whatever he used it works really well.  The mouthfeel is oily and full bodied.  The hops leave a nice dry bitter feeling in your mouth.   This beer is almost 10% abv and you really don’t notice it all.  It’s masked very well.  A few of these might of put me on my ass.

If I brewed this beer I would be proud.  Heck it might be the only beer I would drink and I wouldn’t share it with anyone buhaha!!  Or this would become my first beer I would produce for my future brewpub, whatever Mike does he should be proud of this one.  I know if I was him I would have a huge smile on my face when I passed by and saw this on the shelves.  Well done!

Found: Total Wine, Norfolk, VA
Price: Total price for Longshot box was around 10-12 dollars.
Website: http://www.samueladams.com
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 9.60%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Samuel Adams Imperial Pilsner
Other beers to try within the same style: Deschutes Hop Henge IPA, Founders Double Trouble IPA
Rating: A-

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Port Brewing 3rd Anniversary Ale

June 8th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Port 3rd Anniversary AlePort Brewing really doesn’t make a bad beer and because of that they are one of my favorite breweries.  So when I heard they we’re making a Double IPA for their 3rd Anniversary Ale I was all over it.  As soon as South Bay put it up I made sure I had two bottles in my order.  I’m happy to say this is a very good beer.  A different kind of IPA.

This brew pours a hazy burnt orange color.  Pours a thick fluffy head that quickly dies down and laces throughout the glass.  The smell has a nice combo of floral hops and sweet fruit.  It’s inviting.

The taste reminded me a little bit of Dreadnaught from Three Floyds.  It’s not world class like Dreadnaught but it has a fruity sweetness like Dreadnaught does.  You don’t see this much fruit taste in a lot of IPAs.  It’s a sweet blast of grapefruit, pineapple, and citrus.  Don’t expect a huge amount of hops.  They are there and represent well but the sweetness is the highlight here and it’s fantastic. What’s there is floral and piney.  The hops give off a slight bitter taste.  The taste is rounded out by a small amount of caramel malt and alcohol.  The 10 percent is masked pretty well. What did I did notice thought is that the first bottle I tried had much more of a sweetness to it.  The second bottle which I tried a week later had more of a rough caramel malt taste.  I loved both but it was almost like I was drinking two different beers.   The taste is smooth, sticky, and a little syrupy.  Not much carbonation at all.  Goes down nicely.

This a very good DIPA.  Being that it was only brewed once, if you see a bottle give it a try.  If you’re an IPA fan you’ll probably like it.  You cannot go wrong with Port Brewing.  They just know how to brew.

Found: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, San Diego
Price: I believe it was around 5-6 dollars.
Website: http://www.portbrewing.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 10.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Port Brewing Hop 15, Port Brewing Moonlit Sessions Lager
Other beers to try within the same style: Russian River Pliny the Elder, Three Floyds Dreadnaught
Rating: A-

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I’m still around

June 4th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted in General Stuff

Been a rough week and haven’t had a chance to write anything but I guarantee a ton of reviews next week. For now, enjoy your weekend folks and drink some good stuff!!!

Ballast Point Tongue Buckler

May 27th, 2009 | 6 Comments | Posted in Beer Reviews

Tongue Buckler

TONGUE BUCKLER!!!!!  Never has the name of a beer been so true to it’s taste. Your tongue is in for a ride.  Folks this is one of the biggest beers I’ve ever had and the good news is, yes it’s big, and yes it’s friggin delicious.  I got this after seeing it in the weekly newsletter from South Bay Drugs.  Joey noted this stuff was going fast so I jumped on the opportunity to give this a try.  When Joey says things are going to fast,  it’s like when Tom Cruise said you had me at hello in Jerry McGuire. I always give in and buy beer from him.  Joey is a good salesmen =)

Buckler pours a clear amber color with a huge fluffy head. Head sticks around forever.  Great lacing.  As soon as you take your first smell you know you’re in for a real threat.  Especially if your a hop head and you love huge beers.  The smell of citrus, pine, and caramel malt rip through your nostrils.  Huge folks just huge.  I really can’t remember the last time a smell was this big.  The taste is pretty much the same but on a grander scale.  I wasn’t quite ready for it.  I tried to get my girlfriend to take a sip but she saw my face when I first had a sip and she was like no way.  The hops in this beer just shine through big time.  Piney and citrus hops.   Big citrus taste.  You’ll also get a bit of a grapefruit taste peaking through.  The caramel malt is there sitting in the background and it’s pretty big too.  As you let the beer warm up the malt takes over just a tad bit and the hops calm down so it’s good let the beer just sit for a few minutes then dive in.  Accompanying the huge taste is the huge burn of alcohol.  It just sits in your mouth, sits in your throat, sits in your chest.  It’s a bad ass feeling.  The mouthfeel is also amazing.  It sits a little bit on the heavy side but is smooth as silk and goes down way to easy for being as big as it is.  This beer is here to take names and kick your ass.  Move over Nugget Nectar, there’s a new favorite Imperial Red in town and it’s here to rip your tongue out.  One of the most extreme and tasty beers I’ve ever had.  Do not miss this beer.  If it becomes available again, I’m ordering at least 6 next time.

Found: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, CA
Price: 8 bucks a bottle
Website: http://www.ballastpoint.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this brew
ABV%: 10.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Ballast Point Big Eye IPA, Ballast Point Sea Monster Stout
Other beers to try within the same style: Troegs Nugget Nectar, Ithaca Beer Company Cascazilla
Rating: A+

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A little taste of Isabelle

May 27th, 2009 | 2 Comments | Posted in General Stuff

Last week I got to try a pretty rare beer. A few years ago a few brewers got together and made Isabelle Proximus. Those brewers? Sam from Dogfish, Tomme from The Lost Abbey, Vinnie from Russian River, Adam from Avery, and Rob from Allagash. Wow what an all star cast and what a fantastic beer. I’m not going to give a review of this beer or give it a rating other than say it was world class. I only got to try the amount you see in that picture but believe me it’s fantastic. I’m not a fan of sour beer usually but this was right on. Layers of flavor, tart, sour and just amazing. Thanks to Kevin from Grape and Gourmet for sharing this brew. I’m going to try to trade for a bottle so look for a review soon. I hope so anyway.