Quick Sips...Episode 1

So one of the changes I decided to make this year was to implement a quick beer review segment that I call "Quick Sips".  This will give me the chance to write about multiple beers, quickly, in one article.  So without further adieu, this is Quick Sips....Episode 1.

First up is Sixpoint Diesel.  The name make you think this will be similar to Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, but it doesn't come close.  It's actually quite light in the mouthfeel, and dark brown in color, which I expected the beer to be pitch black and viscous.  The beer has an excellent roast to it and is quite smooth and drinkable.  It really borders on a Porter though, to me.  Nevertheless, it's quite good and I recommend trying it.

Next is Odell Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout.  To my knowledge this is a newly bottled beer from Odell.  Thanks to my buddy John for the bottle.  Massive chocolate is all over this beer.  Huge roast with a nice, but not overpowering, milky sweetness.  The beer finishes with a touch of bitter roasted chocolate which compliments the entire beer nicely.  Was hoping this would be a little creamier in mouthfeel but was on the lighter side.  Still, an enjoyable beer that I would gladly have again.

Third on the list is Terrapin Hopsecutioner.  I had this beer for the first time in South Carolina prior to my best friend's wedding.  Recently my dad grabbed me a few bottles during a trip to Florida.  This one was best by 2/2013 so it's nearing the end of it's freshness cycle.  Still, the massive pine and citrus hops were present but with more of a malt presence than I remember in September.  This is close to scorching your palate, but doesn't quite get there.  Incredibly tasty fresh....just like most IPA's.

Fourth and Fifth are a pair of beers from Kona Brewing Company, which recently started distribution in Indiana.  The Pipeline Porter has a really great massive coffee aroma and hits you immediately with coffee...but then fades into oblivion.  There just isn't much behind it.  Some decent roasted malt notes and some caramel sweetness, but the finish is lackluster.  Same can be said about the Fire Rock Pale Ale.  Lacking in hops, the malt profile is more prominent and there just isn't much to it.  A far cry from what I remember when I had it the first time in 2007 while on a guys trip to Dallas to see DMB.

Sixth is Rye Da Tiger from Three Floyds.  What an amazing beer.  Loaded with citrus and floral hops with a nice rye presence which adds spiciness and depth.  Crushes your palate with a bouquet of awesome flavor.  I need to get more of this and am happy Floyds made this their annual December release.

Last on the list, but certainly not least, is another beer from Terrapin.  Wake N Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout, now known as W-N-B due to naming rights issues.  Thanks to a different John for this one.  Huge coffee aroma and flavor with one of the slickest mouthfeels I've had from an oatmeal stout.  Contrary to what people may think, the Oats don't add any flavor, they are primarily added to thicken the mouthfeel, and this one succeeds.  Often compared to Founders Breakfast Stout, which I disagree with the comparison.  FBS has a large chocolate component that WNB doesn't have.  Both are massive coffee beers, but WNB should be compared to other straight coffee stouts, like Bells Java.  Still, WNB is near the top of the list of coffee beers I have had.  A very nice treat....happy I have another.

So that's 7 beer stops on this Quick Sips tour.  Looking forward to doing this again soon.

Cheers!!

Best Beers of 2012

Admittedly, I'm probably the worst beer blogger on the planet.  It's been over a month since my last entry, which is not how I envisioned this blog going.  Finding time to sit down and organize a post has been challenging.  I have some new ideas for the blog which I will make an effort to launch in the coming year.  I will likely have less full beer reviews and begin doing a series called "quick sips" which will be a cliffs notes version of a beer review.  This type of article will likely be more conducive to my hectic lifestyle and should yield more blog activity.

I have been thinking a lot about what were the best beers I consumed in 2012.  This year has been a phenomenal beer drinking experience.  From special releases, to locals, to festivals, to bottle shares and tastings....I've had a plethora of incredible opportunities to enjoy some of the best beer on the planet.  Many beers have changed my mind about styles I typically didn't think I would ever enjoy.  There's no point in trying to rank my favorites of the year because that task is simply too daunting.  So here are the best beers I was able to have this year:

1.  Founders CBS:  Had this a couple times this year.  First time was at Dark Lord Day 2012, second was on tap at Twenty Taps Anniversary party, third time was during the Bears first game of the season.  Epic does not even  begin to do justice to how good this beer is.  Phenomenal combo of flavors between coffee, chocolate, and maple sweetness.  It's probably the best beer I've ever had in my life.

2.  Alchemist Heady Topper:  Speaking of the best beers I've ever had in my life, this gem from a small brewery in Vermont also Tops that list (no pun intended).  Bursting with dank hops this canned beer delivers a hop punch that is reminiscent to a 1980's Mike Tyson uppercut.  Probably the best DIPA I've ever had.  Even better than....

3. Russian River Pliny the Elder:  When a week or so fresh, this beer rivals Heady Topper for that top spot of DIPA's.  This one is pure IPA perfection.  Packed with Citrus hops and a nice dose of pine and tropical sweetness, it's a more complex IPA than Heady Topper.

4.  Stone Ruination 10th Anniversary:  This was a difficult bottle to track down, but I was lucky enough to grab a handful of them.  The citra hopping of this beer vaults it into top beer status for me.  It's a palate wrecker.  Fantastically bitter and hopped to the extreme.  I wish this would be a regular offering from Stone. Probably the best beer I've ever had from them.  I miss it.

5.  Three Floyds Dark Lord:  Enjoyed this bottle on my birthday.  Incredibly complex with substantial depth of flavors that progress and change as I drank it.  Took me an hour and a half to drink the bottle.

6.  Founders KBS:  Had my first one during a Skype session with my sister and brother in-law from Colorado.  Had one a couple nights ago as well.  This beer is magnificent.  Oak, bourbon, vanilla, chocolate,  and coffee flavors do an awesome dance on the palate.  Aging nicely also.

7.  Westbrook Citrus Ninja Exchange:  You all know I am a fan of the grapefruit heavy IPA's.  This one probably possessed the most grapefruit flavor I've had in a beer...ever.  Thanks to Mike from Westbrook for making it possible for me to get my hands on this one when I was in South Carolina.

8.  Russian River Supplication:  This beer began to change my mind about Sours.  Enjoyed it twice this year with my wife who also shared in the enjoyment.  Aged in Pinot Noir barrels with cherries, this thing is as dynamic a beer as I have ever had.

9.  Bells Java Stout:  The perfect example of a coffee stout for me.  Have had it multiple times in the past couple months.  The coffee is so massive.  One of the most under appreciated coffee stouts around.

10.  Flat 12 Brandy Barrel Aged Walkabout Pale Ale:  Enjoyed this at the Flat 12 anniversary party.  Definitely one of my favorites along with Van Pogue.

11.  Goose Island Bramble Rye Bourbon County Stout:  So far it's my favorite BCS variant.  Had it twice this year and it was better the second time.  The stout has an awesome combo of Bourbon, rye, blackberry, raspberry, and chocolate.  Such a phenomenal beer.  Opened my eyes to stouts that have a good tartness to them.

12.  Firestone Walker Wookey Jack:  Black IPA perfection.

13.  Bells Kalamazoo Hopsolution Ale:  Couldn't believe it when I had it a couple months ago, but I liked this better than Bells Oracle, which also is a top beer of the year.  This one surprised me.  Loaded with citrus hops and a nice light mouthfeel, I felt like I could drink it all night long.  That wasn't going to happen, though, because earlier that night I was lucky to have....

14.  Bells Black Note:  This one was better on tap than it was from a bottle.  The bourbon and vanilla creaminess really popped on tap.  What a great BA stout.

15.  Jackie O's Dynamo Hum:  One more sour to remember.  Loaded with Raspberry, Oak, and lemon.  This one was complex and tart as hell.  Definitely left an impression.  Many thanks to Scott for allowing me the opportunity to sample one of the best sours I've ever had.

16.  Oskar Blues Devian Dales IPA:  Probably my favorite beer from Oskar Blues.  Awesome citrus and pine flavors.

17.  Three Floyds Rye Da Tiger:  Double version of Rye Da Lighting.  It's everything I want in an Imperial Rye IPA.  Complex hop flavors with a nice rye spice.  Would like more Rye but that's being nit-picky.  Glad to see FFF decide to make this their standard December release.

18.  Sun King Pappy Van Muckle:  Wee Muckle aged in Pappy Van Winkle barrels.  Incredible smoothness and depth of flavor.  This beer is pure gold....just wish I could get more of it.

19.  Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA:  Another IPA that surprised me with how great it is.  Awesome citrus and pine flavors.  Incredibly drinkable.  Could easily be an every day drinking beer.

20.  Three Floyds Zombie Dust:  A Best Beer list is not complete without Zombie Dust.  This american pale ale actually should be listed as an IPA according to style guidelines, but FFF generally bucks style guidelines.  Loaded with citra hops and is as drinkable as any beer I've ever had.  I can confirm that I have consumed over 100 of these this year....and I never get tired of it.

There are many many many other awesome beers I had in 2012.  In 2013 I am looking forward to enjoying more of the beers I already know that I love and sticking more to those standards that we take for granted.  Of course I'm going to be on the lookout for interesting trades and special releases, but won't do near as much of that in 2013 as I did in 2012.

What were some of your best beers of 2012?  What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Cheers!!

Thoughts on aging beer...with Cellar pics

Been a while since I have been able to do anything other than parenting....let alone writing.  Today I was "lucky" to have an unexpected "day off" from work when our daycare lady came down with something that forced her to close which caused my "day off" to be spent watching the 5 month old.  So I took some time during naps to clean out my beer "cellar" and that gave me the idea to go ahead and take pictures of everything I have that is aging.

What makes a beer worth aging?  Well the answer isn't all that complicated.  Really, it just means that you want to know how a beer changes over time.  Some styles of beer are known to get better with age.  Stouts, sours, imperial porters, barleywines, Belgians, most high gravity or high ABV beers, anything that has been barrel aged already...usually.  Some styles, in my opinion are not suitable for aging.  I try to avoid aging IPA's and coffee beers.  Beer does change over time so part of the fun of aging beer is to see how the beer develops and how the flavor profiles may change.

The process of aging beer is often made out  to be more complicated than it needs to be.  Some people say the beer must be kept at 50 degrees in order to age properly.  Keeping it at room temperature may speed up the aging process while keeping it in a coors light super cold refrigerator may stunt the aging process.  I don't really get caught up in all that because I don't really have the space to control the temp of every single beer I want to age.  So I have many spots in the house where beer is stashed away for aging.  Hall closet, hutch, kitchen cabinets, and my very own "cellar".  Here are the photos of the beer I have lying around inside the house:

Hall closet stock

Hall Closet stock #2

Realized that i need a 2010 TJ Vintage...anyone?

Kitchen cabinet stock

2012 Bourbon County in cabinets

I inherited an ancient kegerator from a buddy of mine who moved out to Colorado a couple years ago.  My intent was to have beer on tap at the house, but the kegerator had some issues and rather than spend time trying to fix them, I just decided to use it as a beer "cellar".  It actually works out nicely.  My brother in law helped me add a shelf in the box which allowed for double the storage capacity.  The kegerator keeps the beers inside between 45-50 degrees...might not be good enough for the hardcore beer geeks out there, but it's good enough for me.  The only real issue I have with it is that water tends to pool in the bottom of it, so I made sure there is a hole on the top so that moisture can escape.  This actually is beneficial because it keeps the inside environment slightly humid, which is good for aging corked bottles so that the cork doesn't dry out.  But every once in a while I need to empty it and get some of the water out, which is what I did today.  While I did this, I took some photos of what's inside.....

The "cellar"

The only Indiana Beer i have in the box

2011-2012 Bourbon County, Bramble, Avery Uncle Jacobs, 2008 &2010 Mephistopheles

Some western stuff

Miscellaneous Cellarable beers

Founders stuff and one Bells Expedition

 After cleaning it out and reorganizing a bit, I found I had more space in there, so I took some other brews out of my regular fridge and added them to the box.

 And while taking inventory I decided to throw in a couple shots of the standard beer fridge.  I have had many more bottle cap magnets and stickers added lately.  If you have any stickers you'd like to add then let me know, I'd love to have them!

What are some of the beers you have in your cellar that you are most looking forward to seeing how they develop?

Beer Review: Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA

Been a while since I posted a beer review.  Doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying different brews, but it does mean that my life has been crazy busy lately with work and the family.  But when you run a casual beer blog sometimes you just need something that makes you stop and write.  Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA is the beer that made me stop to write.

Fat Heads is a brewery I know very little about actually.  I was at a DMB show in June in Noblesville and got to spend some time with someone from Ohio.  We discussed several brews.  He brought some Ohio locals and I shared with him a Zombie Dust.  Sadly, the Zombie Dust was past its prime and so I made a commitment to sending him some fresh Zombie Dust.  He sent some Head Hunter in return and I loved it then just as much as I loved his second shipment of it which arrived a couple days ago.  It's good to have friends in other states.

This is a small brewery based in North Olmsted, Ohio...southwest of Cleveland.  Head Hunter has been a medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup a few times in the past 3 years.  The distribution footprint is quite small.  Looks like the beer can only be found in Ohio and Pennsylvania.   Let's get to it:

I don't get in to the labels much, but I love this one.  A fat guys face that looks like it's about to explode from the massive flavors crammed in his hole.  Awesome.  First batches of this brew appear to be at 7% abv and 77 IBU's.  Seems that through the years this has crept up and now weighs in at 7.5% abv and 87 IBU's.  The more the merrier I say.

Choose Your Vessel:  The Bells 12oz Tulip.  Perfect for IPA's.

The Pour:  Clear deep orange in color.  A slightly darker orange hue than other orange IPA's.  Nice one finger head from the pour.  Lacing was outstanding as well....charting every sip on the inside of the glass as I enjoyed it.

Aroma:  Pungent hops.  Huge citrus on the nose from this one.  It really does smell like someone squeezed some fresh grapefruit into the beer.  You also get a prominent whiff of orange or tangerine.  Can not smell any malt in this one.  The hops are the star.  The description on the bottle indicates substantial pine, but I'm not getting that at all.  Mostly all citrus hops and maybe some sweet tropical fruit.

Taste:  Just like it smells.  Bursting with grapefruit goodness.  Fantastically bitter throughout with a touch of some pineapple sweetness that barely tames this hop bomb.  I'm not getting much pine in this at all, which for me is a good thing.  I am sure the only sweetness I am getting in this is from the sweet pineapple notes.  Also has a really nice earthy and grassy flavor.  Solid dankability.  Incredibly drinkable for me due to the bitter and slightly dry finish.

Overall:  It has to be up there as one  of the top IPA's I've been fortunate to try.  Many thanks to my buddy Walt for the brew.  Luckily he sent 2 more so I may go enjoy another after this review.  This beer hits all the right notes for me.  The label description indicates that this beer is a representation of a west coast IPA.  Typically known for heavy citrus and piney hops.  I have had a couple west coast IPA's like Sierra Nevada Torpedo and Green Flash West Coast IPA....and I would say that both of those beers could learn from this one.  Those two, in my experience, were heavier on the pine than the citrus which makes them less enjoyable for me.  This one focused more on the citrus with minimal pine which was right up my alley.  Hopefully some day they are able to distribute to Indiana because this could easily be an every day drinker for me.  Give me a grapefruity IPA any day....or just let me put this computer down so that I can have another Head Hunter.  Seriously, if you haven't had this one, get yourself a friend from Ohio or make a road trip.  This one is worth the effort.  Cheers, and happy hunting!! (no pun intended).

Thoughts on Beer....

There always seems to be some special beer release coming.  I love beer.  It's hard to decide which releases to let slide by and which ones to buy the crap out of to store and savor.  Let's talk about a few recent or upcoming releases that you should be interested in....

1.  Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.  This beer has been out for about 2 weeks in the state of Indiana.  This is a ridiculous beer.  Loads of molasses, chocolate, oak, bourbon, and a touch of vanilla.  Very much worth seeking out because it is totally worth the investment.  A beer that is better 5 years down the road than it is currently.  It's amazing how the beer develops over time.  Grab a four pack, if you can, drink one and make notes of how it tasted.  Then next year open another, make notes. and so on and so forth.

2.  Three Floyds BrooDoo.  Quite possibly my favorite monthly release from my favorite brewery.  The fresh hop harvest ale is just bursting with hop flavors.  I drank the crap out of this last year and this year I plan to do the same.  This one hit shelves in Indy last week and continues to do so this week.

3.  Founders Backwoods Bastard:  Scotch ale aged in bourbon barrels.  certain to keep you warm during those winter months with a boozy sweetness that is nicely complimented by vanilla and oak notes.  This comes out at the beginning of November.

4.  Bells Java Stout:  One of my favorite coffee stouts.  You gotta get this one fresh so that the coffee is abundant, but it's well worth it.  Should be hitting shelves soon.  This one is not to be missed.

5.  Three Floyds Alpha Klaus.  A hopped up Christmas Porter.  I am not into Christmas Ales generally, but this is the one I buy several bottles of and enjoy throughout the holiday season.  November release.  Make sure you don't miss out on this one.

What are some other beers that you try and seek out during the next month or two?

Cheers!!

My Own Great American Beer Festival

Yikes, I haven't written anything in like 2 weeks.  Well that's going to change.

If you are into craft beer then you must be aware of the biggest craft beer festival that is held annually in Denver, Colorado.  The Great American Beer Festival is a 3 day celebration of craft beer where hundreds of brewers bring their creations for consumers to sample and judges to...well...judge.  I have never been but would love to someday.  It is literally the biggest craft beer celebration of all.

Inspired by this festival, I decided to peruse the list of last years medal winning beers.  There were 83 categories of beer up for judging.  Each category handed out gold, silver, and bronze medal recognition for deserving brews.  As I was browsing the list, I saw several beers that I currently have on hand in my fridge.  So I decided that I will pay tribute to the Great American Beer Festival over the course of the next 3 days by enjoying and reviewing some of the beers that won medals last year.

First up is Firestone Walker's Pale 31.  This was entered in category 49 last year under American Pale Ale.  There were a total of 105 entries in this category, and this beer won Gold.  I haven't tried this one before, and my awesome sister and brother in-law happened to send me one a few weeks ago.  Let's dive in:

Choose your vessel:  Bell's tulip.  Probably should have gone with a standard pint glass, but felt that a gold medal winner deserves a special glass.

The Pour:  Beer pours a fairly clear and bright golden color with a small one finger head.  Some mild lacing develops throughout consumption, but nothing substantial.

Aroma:  Bursting with crisp floral, citrus, and bitter hop aromas.  At the same time it smells quite delicate and light.  Incredibly impressive aroma for such a light and low ABV beer.

Taste:  Up front you get a little malt and fruity hop sweetness that quickly turns to citrus and pine hop bitterness.  The bitterness is there at the finish, but in a subtle way that just lingers ever so slightly.  This one is extremely light in mouthfeel, and the crispness of the hops make it ridiculously drinkable.  Medium to light carbonation.  This goes down so smoothly.

Overall:  This is a little pale ale with big hop flavors and ridiculous drinkability.  It's right up there with Zombie Dust for me in terms of how smooth and drinkable it is.  At 4.9% it's also extremely sessionable.  I could easily put away 6 of these in no time.  Incredible pale ale here.  It is packed with hop flavors, but the light mouthfeel and smoothness keeps you wanting to drink and drink and drink it.  I almost wish I had like 3 of them to pour into a large stein so that I could just guzzle the crap out of it......it's that good.  I actually just reached for what I thought was my last drink, only to find the glass was empty....and I won't lie...I was a little sad it was gone.  Well deserving of the Gold Medal in the American Pale Ale category. Get it if you can.

Palmetto Espresso Porter

My best friend of 20 years recently got married in South Carolina.  I was lucky enough to be a part of the wedding party and this trip enabled me to make a trip to the well renowned Charleston Beer Exchange.  My time was extremely limited, so I communicated with Brandon from CBX via email in the days prior to my arrival so that my trip could be well organized.  They did not disappoint.  Upon my arrival at CBX the guys there had a box of about 12 beers ready for me to pick up.  I was interested in mostly local beers and was hooked up with beers from Palmetto, Westbrook, Coast, and Thomas Creek among others.  The Charleston Beer Exchange is probably one of the best bottle shops I have ever been to.  Shelves on top of shelves on top of shelves of beer.  The store itself is quite small, but it's absolutely loaded with what I can definitively say was the best selection of beers I have ever laid eyes on.  If you are ever in South Carolina, the Charleston Beer Exchange is an absolute must.  Cheers to the guys there for making my short experience an incredibly memorable one.  They also ship and I won't hesitate to use this service in the future because of the awesome customer service I received.

On to the beer.  I was fortunate to try the Palmetto Pale Ale at the wedding reception.  The bartender wasn't supposed to provide this beer, but after conversation about how Amstel Light wasn't cutting it for me, he conceded and hooked me up.  It was a fantastic pale ale.  So that made me even more excited to try one of the two bottles from Palmetto the guys at CBX provided.  This is the Palmetto Espresso Porter.

Choose Your Vessel:  The 16oz New Belgium Globe.  I like porters in globes.  

The Pour:  12oz bottle pours a deep brown.  At first glance it appears black in color, but hold it to a light and it's quite clear that this one is dark brown.  Thin tan head that vanishes quite quickly.   Minimal lacing, almost none at all.

Aroma:  Massive coffee roast is all I have on the nose here.  Smells quite rich of coffee.  Not much else to say.  Pretty straightforward here.  My notes indicate that the aroma got stronger as the beer warmed a bit.

Taste:  As I expected, this one had an awesome rich coffee flavor throughout the drinking experience.  Some slight roasted chocolate, caramel, molasses, a touch of vanilla, and maybe even a little hazelnut at times.  The coffee is predominant and lingers throughout the finish.  If hops are present, I can't tell, but that may be due to this little head cold I have.  Beer has a thin mouthfeel and an almost creamy texture with lively carbonation.  Typically I don't like lively carbonated porters, but the carbonation in this one actually seems to make the coffee flavors pop a bit more, which is quite enjoyable.  

Overall:  Pretty solid offering from the folks at Palmetto.  I love the coffee flavor that dominated the palate, but was balanced by a variety of subtle flavors throughout.  The lingering coffee finish made me want that next sip even more than the last.  I'd like it to be a little more full bodied.  Was quite thin for a porter, but that's just a personal preference.  Really looking forward to trying their Amber.