The Drunken Polack

Summer is over and wow did I drink a ton of great beers during my second favorite season (fall being my favorite)  Along the way some of those beers were just forgotten about or well I was to lazy to write about them.  So here’s some quick thoughts on some of those forgotten beers.

Stone Vertical Epic 07/07/07 Aged in Red Wine Barrels – When I visited Stone,  it was my goal to bring back some one off brews that I could enjoy in the hotel room.  I came back with two growlers.  One of them was the beer you see above.  I love their Vertical Epic line.  I enjoyed what the Red Wine barrels gave to this beer.  It added a bit of a sweet taste with a mixture of a smokey aroma.  Very nice to try something that you can’t buy in the stores

Rating: B+

Stone Old Guardian Aged in Red Wine Barrels -This beer was a little bit of a disappointment.  But it was still really nice to try.  The Red Wine gave the beer kind of an off taste.  I enjoyed the Vertical Epic just a tad bit more. Old Guardian is one of my favorite Barleywines ever.  I don’t think the Red Wine made it any better.

Rating: B

Alpine Exponential Hoppiness -This is one of the beers I came to San Diego to get.  The girlfriend and I took the 35 minute drive to Alpine on  one of our last days there.  I plan on posting some pics of the actual brewery soon but let me just say that it’s small.  Very very small.  If you blink, you miss it.  But size matters not as Yoda says.  In my opinion, Alpine makes the best bunch of IPAs on this Earth.  Duet, Nelson, Pure Hoppiness, Bad Boy, O’Briens and well this beer right here.  Let me have Alpine explain this beer because well, it’s right on.  It’s amazing and it belongs on the top 100 of Beer Advocates best beers in the world.

Very popular. A complex hopping method where each hop addition is double the previous amount. More hops in the hopback and then two dry-hop sessions. The second dry-hop session is with whole hops and oak chips. 1.093 OG 10.75%ABV

It’s a mixture of hoppy goodness with a beautiful smokey flavor.  It’s dangerous.  It’s so easy to drink.  I was just estatic to try this brew.

Rating: A+

Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA -Ballast Point makes a ton of beers but this is there only Double IPA and its a really good one.  A great mixture of floral, citrus, and piney hops.  Easy to drink and crisp.  These guys are just amazing.  The one – two punch of Sculpin and Dorado is one of the best out there.

Rating: A-

Ballast Point Victory at Sea -This is the second brew I tried at the brewery and wow it just blew me away.  Dorado was very good but this was just fantastic.  I wish I would of bought a bigger glass but I was already feeling a little buzzed and I had to drive around San Diego.  A place I really don’t know to well.  The mixture of coffee and vanilla in this porter is just spot on and the mouthfeel is amazing.  Easily my favorite porter.  See this somewhere, you make sure to buy a glass

Rating: A+

Stone Sawyer’s Triple – The reason this beer exists is a sad story.  You can read about it here http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=149 But there is a happy ending.  100% of the sales of this beer go to fight ALD.  So if you are at the brewery, pick up this beer.  Not only are you helping a good cause but hey this is actually a pretty damn fine beer.  Taste is full of candied sugar, fruit, and honey.  A real treat.

Rating: A-

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Starr Hill Northern Lights – What you see here might be the worst beer I had all summer.  I had it while I was at the Dave Matthews Band concert.  It was a bitter mess.  I would of thrown it away if it didn’t cost me 12 dollars for the plastic cup you see above.  Maybe I’ll have to try this beer again in bottle.  I see it all the time around my area.

Rating: D

Dogfish Head Goser the Gosarian -Yes this is definitely a Ghostbusters reference.  I had this brew at the Rehoboth DFH Brewpub.  It’s a brewpub exclusive and I don’t know if they will ever brew it again so I’m really glad I got to try it.  Hey look it’s even smiling at me! Gozer is classified as a Gose.  Beer Advocate says this about the style:

An old German beer style from Leipzig, Gose is an unfiltered wheat beer made with 50-60% malted wheat, which creates a cloudy yellow color and provides a refreshing crispness and twang. A Gose will have a low hop bitterness and a complementary dryness and spice from the use of ground coriander seeds and a sharpness from the addition of salt. Like Berliner Weisse beers, a Gose will sometimes be laced with various flavored and colored syrups. This is to balance out the addition of lactic acid that is added to the boil.

Somewhat recently, Gose has seen a mini-revival with a handful of breweries bringing back the style in the Leipziger area and pubs like Gosenschenke “Ohne Bedenken” serving traditionally brewed Gose.

The writeup was pretty much right on.  It defintely had a little sour twang to it.  Not much, just right for me.  Mix that in with a decent amount of coriander, wheat, and lemon and you have a nice small tart brew.

Rating: B+

Stone 10th Anniversary and Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans (sitting right behind the glass of 10th =) – One of my first nights in San Diego the girlfriend and I went out to visit Joey from South Bay Drugs.  We met him at a bar that was holding a Stone night.  Joey also brought in some Stone brews.  I got to try Juxtaposition for the first time but the highlight was trying Stone 10th Anniversary.  I missed the 10th anniversary beer because I really only got into craft beer with the 11th anniversary beer came out.  Stone 10th was classified an American Double/Imperial IPA when it first came out.  But after all the years of aging this beer is tasting more like a Barleywine these days and wow was it just fantastic.  Thanks Joey!  Also I got to try an tap only Stone beer.  Their Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans.  Wow!!!  Smoked Porter is ok by itself but with the vanilla it’s just out of this world.

Stone 10th Anniversary Rating: A-
Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans Rating: A

Stone 13th Anniversary Ale – I had this beer on draft at Stone when I visited San Diego.  It was pretty damn good fresh.  But since I was lazy and didn’t write down anything, you’re getting the bottle review which most of you will be trying anyway.  Stone claims this is their hoppiest beer to date.  When I first took the first whiff of this beer I had to agree.  It was full of piney, grassy hops.  In the background lurked a earthy aroma and caramel malt.  I also noticed some dark fruits.  But the hops took the lead as far as the smell goes.

The taste gave me something a little bit different though.  Sure the hops are there.  They are bitter and piney.  But the malt plays a bigger role here.  It’s actually pretty damn big.  Caramel malt matches the bitterness of the hops.  Making for quite a good brew.  Mouthfeel is pretty damn nice.  It’s one of the more smoother beers I’ve in a while.  It just goes down the gullet.  Along with that though is the bitter hops.  They linger in your mouth.

I’ve seen some reviews bash the hell out of this beer.  I don’t agree really.  I’m glad they went with something different for their 13th Anniversary beer.  I wish I had another bottle on me.  If you get this try to drink it as fresh as you can.  I can see this one becoming even more of a malt monster if it sits for to long.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: I believe it was around 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.stonebrew.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one.
ABV%: 9.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Stone Old Guardian, Stone IPA
Other beers to try within the same style: Lagunitas Lucky 13 Mondo Large Red Ale, Rogue Brewers Ale 2008
Rating: B+

The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel – The Bruery out of Placentia, CA has only been around for over a year but they have quickly got my attention and have become one of the best breweries out there (well in my opinion anyway) They take styles and seem to kick it up a notch.  They recently brewed a huge Imperial Stout that I am dying to try.  Ahem guys would you mind me sending me a bottle.  Ok sorry to go off the beaten path.  Ok so I said that these guys like to take changes on certain styles of kick it up a bit.  In this brew instead of using Candi Sugar, they used rice in the mash, which they state lightened up the body and increased the gravity of the brew.  I don’t care what they do.  They just make great beer.  Oh and did I mention I can get their regular lineup in Virginia now.  Oh boy!!

Trade Winds pours a cloudy golden orangish color.  Huge fluffy head with good retention.  Spotty lacing throughout the glass.  The biggest thing I noticed from this beer was the spice.  It’s the king here.  Peppery.  Mixed in their is a nice amount of banana, citrus, and apple.  In the background is a nice yeasty aroma and flavor.  This brew is nicely carbonated.  Light and crisp but one of the more stronger tasting Tripels I’ve had.  It packs a lot of flavor.  Great stuff and a Tripel I most definitely go back to.  Oh and send me some Black Tuesday guys.  Seriously =)

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 10 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.thebruery.com/
What the company says: Our Summer seasonal, Trade Winds Tripel is a Belgian-style Golden Ale with a Southeast Asian twist. Instead of using candi sugar (typical for such a beer), we use rice in the mash to lighten the body and increase the gravity, and spice with Thai Basil. The result is an aromatic, digestible and complex beer made for a lazy summer evening.
ABV%: 8.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: The Bruery Saison Rue, The Bruery Orchard White
Other beers to try within the same style: Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Allagash Tripel
Rating: A-

I bought this brew awhile ago from South Bay Drugs and like a lot of beer I buy, I let it sit.  I let the poor bottle sit in the fridge for a few months.  I know I’m a horrible person.  But I’m glad to report that this beer still tasted as fresh as it was a few months ago (at least I believe it did =) 

This is the first collaboration brew for Stone.  It was brewed at their brewery with guest brewers from Mikkeller and Alesmith.  They decided to give a Belgian Style Tripel a shot and they succeeded beautifully if you ask me.  This doesn’t reach the heights that Westmalle does with their Tripel (what does anyway?) but I still really enjoyed this brew.  I wanted another after my one 12 oz bottle was gone.  Sorry Dave but this was brewed once.  Sigh!

This beer poured a cloudy light orange color with a small fluffy head.  No lacing.  I really enjoyed the smell this beer gave off.  It was pretty big.  Aroma full of apples, candi sugar, Belgian yeast, mild spices and hops.  The apple was the highlight for me though.  Sadly the taste is a muted version of the smell.  The taste just didn’t have the punch the smell had.  Still it was a great taste.  Once again the apple and candi sugar up front fading into a good bit of yeast, spices, then alcohol at the end.  The mouthfeel was light and crisp.  It also had a bit of a tart taste in it.  Maybe from the apples.  Overall this is a highly enjoyable beer.  I would of loved to order more.   

Found:South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach, Californa (Mail Order)
Price: 3 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.stonebrew.com/, http://www.alesmith.com/. http://www.mikkeller.dk/
What the company says:From Mikkeller: A friendship brew brewed in collaboration with the amazing Alesmith and Stone Brewing Co. from California. Belgian Style Tripel Ale is a ‘classic tripel’ with a little extra hops. Sold from Stone Brewing Company and a few retailers in California and Europe.
ABV%: 8.70%
Other beers to try from this brewery:Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale, Milkkeller Stateside IPA, Alesmith Old Numbskull
Other beers to try within the same style: Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Allagash Tripel
Rating: B+

Ahh it’s nice to finally get back to writing reviews.  I got some weird bug or food poisoning last week.  Took me out for 3 days.  Then something weird happen.  I really didn’t want to drink any beer.  It could of been that the last thing I did before I got sick was drink three Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ales.  The mind plays weird tricks on you.  But I’m back in the saddle again and for my first review back from the dead I bring you one of the more fantastic beers I’ve had in a long time.  Westmalle Trappist Tripel.

I got this beer a while ago and somehow it made its way into the back of the fridge. So it might not been the freshest bottle out there.  But that didn’t seem to matter.  This is now my favorite Tripel of all time (Not that I’m a Tripel expert or anything).  What we have here is a badass Tripel. 

The color this one pours is a light orange, almost yellow.  It had spotty lacing and a very fluffy and uneven head.  The smell on this one is what gets you first.  It’s full of fruit, alcohol, yeast, and spice.

It has a nice fruity taste up front.  Some banana, apples, and oranges.  There’s also a touch of honey. Yeast and candi sugar.  Grassy and floral hops also make a huge appearance. In the end you get a big kick of spice.  All throughout you get a strong alcohol taste that burns your mouth and throat.  Its medium bodied, carbonation stings your lips, and it has a little bit of roughness about it. 

This is now on my list as one of my favorite beers of all time.  I wish I didn’t take this long to give it a try.  It’s a badass Tripel from start to finish.  Everything is big and doesn’t hold back.  Those monks can make some beer.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 7 dollars a bottle.
Website: http://www.trappistwestmalle.be/
What the company says: Couldn’t find anything about the beer on the site.
ABV%: 9.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Haven’t tried anything yet.
Other beers to try within the same style: Weyerbacher Merry Monks, Allagash Tripel
Rating: A

Found: Grape and Gourmet
Price: Around 5 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.avbc.com/
What the company says: A bright dry aroma tops off this deeply complex Belgian-style beer that has over tones of malt, fruit, and freshly mown fields. The intensity of the higher alcohol is rounded out by the deep richness of the malt and the light hop flavors. Light and pale in color, a nice malt backbone holds up the highlights of spicy hops intermingled with yeast esters and aromas. The triple (or “tripel” as the Belgian’s call it) is a medium-bodied strong Belgian-style beer, with just a touch of mild malt sweetness and a dry finish on the palate.

The comparatively light body of this beer is achieved by substantial additions of candy sugar in the kettle and medium-high carbonation level. The hopping has been kept low, with the use of classic European hop varieties to give just a hint of spiciness.

What I say:  I really haven’t had to much from AV but so far what I have is pretty good.  There Hop Ottin IPA scored high and Brother David’s Double Abbey Style Ale did rather good also.  This one is not to shabby but I wanted more from it.  It’s hard to explain.  Read below for more!

The Look: Burnt orange color with very little head. 

What the nose thought: A very nice floral hop smell.  Bready malt with a bit of a wheat smell and to round it off a good amount of apple and pear. 

And the tastebuds?: Now this really isn’t a bad beer at all.  I actually would recommend anyone to try it.  But during the taste something just seems to be missing.  It happens at the end.  Just missing a little bit of a aftertaste.  What I was most impressed with is the taste up front.  Nice hoppy taste, spices, and a good amount of a fruity taste.  It’s a sweet tasting beer with a nice amount of a bready malt taste but the end of the beer fails a little bit.

The feel: Very light.  Easy to drink.  For being 10% ABV the alcohol really doesn’t hit you to bad.

Would you drink more?: Yes.  It’s a joy to drink if you are looking for something light on the palette.

Ending notes: Right up there with their Double for being a decent brew.

Rating: B

Found: Local Total Wine
Price: 2 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.weyerbacher.com
What the company says: Merry Monks’ Ale is a Belgian style Abby Trippel without limitation. This style was created by Trappist Monks in Belgium over 500 years ago. To be true to the style, Merry Monks’ Ale is bottle conditioned. This means we add a bit of sugar and yeast just prior to bottling. This imparts a special effervescence to the beer, a creamier carbonation, and also extends the shelf life. The on-going fermentation inside the bottle will change the character of the beer as it ages, and you’ll find it becomes dryer with age. You may want to lay down a few bottles for future evaluation. We suggest storing at cellar temperatures -around 55 degrees F- and away from light.

What I say: Merry Monks is the third beer I’ve had from Weyerbacher.  The first two were good beers and this one isn’t any different.  Another quality beer from the brewery in Easton, PA.  Only 40 minutes from where I used to live and didn’t even know it!  Oh my young beer days.  The beer pours a nice golden color with a very big head that stuck around for a bit.  Laced the glass.  The smell is pretty darn good.  Fruity.  Bananas, apples, and maybe some other fruits stuck in there.  Taste was pretty nice.  Malty with some nice sweet fruits.  Tangy after taste with a very nice alcohol taste.  It’s 9% abv so be careful.  Overall a very nice Tripel

Rating: B-

Found: Local bar (The Taphouse)
Price: $20 22 oz bottle
Website: http://www.stonebrew.com
What the company says: As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. These bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012. Provided you can wait that long. At that time, enjoy them in a “vertical” tasting. Each one unique to it’s year of release. Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plotline. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.

What I say: This past Thursday marked my 29th birthday. We went out to celebrate at a bar around here that is known to have a good amount of beers on tap with quite a few of bottles on the side. While looking at the beer list I noticed three beers from Stone I had never seen before. They were listed as

Stone Epic 04/04/04
Stone Epic 05/05/05
Stone Epic 06/06/06

The 05 and 06 were listed at 16 dollars a bottle. The 04 was listed as 20 dollars a bottle. I was interested in trying one but there was no way I was going to pay 16-20 dollars for a bottle. I also warned my friends they better not either. I’d be mad if anyone spent 20 dollars for a bottle of beer. Especially on me. But of course my good friend Jim did not listen! He bought me a bottle of the 04/04/04 and we shared it with my other bud Allen. I was mad at him but I apprecaited it a lot. I have some good friends. We split up the 22oz bottle three ways. Now before I tell you what I thought of the beer. Let me give you a little lesson on what I learned about it.

Stone Vertical Epic Ale is it’s full name

It’s made on same number dates (I’m trying to make sense here, if I don’t, I’m sorry) So there was one made 02/02/02, 03/03/03,04/04/04, etc.

Every year is a different recipe. They actually give you the recipe on their site.

This beer is supposed to be aged until 12/12/12 . It’s their rules. But of course the 04/04/04 didn’t age until then =)

Every year Stone opens a bottle of the beer and tries it. If they think the aging of the beer is going south, they put an alert on their page letting you know to drink the beer.

Ok so there is the history of the beer. Now how did it taste? Let me give you what I thought first. Now the comments I’m about to give could of been because of it aging for 3 years but maybe this is the way it was supposed to be. I thought it smelled like flowers. It tasted like beer and liquor all in one. It went down nicely. Very nice. It was a little strong but not bad at all. It had a copper color with no head. Now my one friend couldn’t stand it but he’s not much into anything else other then lighter beers. So I drank his. My other friend said it smelled like perfume. The bottom line for me though is that it was a pleasure to drink. I’ll probably never have this exact beer again so anytime that happens I get excited. For this reason I’m going to give this beer a 5/5. Well just because I think it was great and it was a treat. Thanks again for the gift Jim.

Rating: A++

Found: Total Wine
Price: Around 4 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.allagash.com/
What the company says: This golden hued ale is marked by passion fruit and herbal notes in the aroma, with subtle suggestions of banana and honey surfacing from its deep and complex palate. The Tripel’s finish is remarkably long and soothing.

What I say: Once again like I say in many reviews this is my first beer from this brewery. Once again I was not disappointed (I’m having way to many good beers lately) I bought the 750ml bottle and it was a real treat. Poured a huge head with a nice golden color. Nice citrus taste. Pretty strong beer. Actually burned my throat a little bit. First time I’ve had that happen. But we’re not talking 4th degree burns or anything but just a little burn. But still went down nice and was a real treat. 

Rating: B+

Found: Total Wine
Price: Around 2 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.victorybeer.com/
What the company says: Strong and sensual, this golden, Belgian-style ale glows with goodness. The richness of German malts and Belgian yeast are tempered by a sparkling approach and overall light body. Considerable depth of character with abundant herbal, fruity notes make this one to savor.

What I say: For some strange reason when I picked this bottle up I didn’t read what it was. I actually thought it was a lighter beer. Boy was I wrong. On first pour you’ll notice it’s Wheat straw color. The bottle I had it was hard to see through the glass. It was unfiltered for sure. Had a wonderful sweet smell to it. Fruity. Not the best from Victory but not horrible at all. I’d recommend this beer but not before recommending others.

Rating: C+