Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

What a strange three days it has been! Two days ago, I was hiking in 76 degree weather in shorts and a sleeveless shirt, sweating and wearing sunscreen. It has been snowing now for 24 hours, and we've seen about 10 inches of accumulation from it. This is more than I've seen it snow all winter! I've never nursed a sunburn on my shoulders in a snowstorm before.

Tea has been my companion for most of the day, but it's time to switch over to beer! Thanks for this one, Eric Kammerer!

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

BG Poured from a 12 fl oz (355ml) bottle into a stemmed tulip, 6% ABV, Bottled on 02/06/15, 9.5 weeks old

A Golden to light copper in color with a finger of snow white suds on top. It quickly shrinks down into thin layer of tiny bubbles, leaving the sides of the glass well laced. It’s brilliantly clear.

A Herbal and earthy hops, saltine crackers, tropical fruits like pineapple and grapefruit, gardenia, slightly toasty, Pils malt. The aroma is light. Nothing in-your-face. As it warms up a touch, more piney hop aromas are drawn out.

T Lots more pineapple and grapefruit. Toasted honey wheat bread, sharp cheddar cheese, solid malt backbone, lots of floral notes. Mild bitterness I would better associate with a pale ale. 

M A little creamy, medium carbonation, the finish is a tiny bit astringent

A A bouquet of flowers… that you just ate. It’s more pleasant than it sounds. =)

C This is a perfect example of an East Coast IPA. Compare it to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and you’ll find one beer is much hoppier than the other, and it’s probably not the one you think (SN PA is hoppier than DF IPA). In general, IPAs are more hoppy and bitter than pale ales, but East vs. West puts a different dynamic into play. West Coast cranks everything up a notch in the hop department. Is that better? No, just different. This IPA has a lovely even balance of gentle hop derived tropical fruit and bready malt backbone. It’s very sessionable, and won’t kill your palate. 

FP Tortilla chips with picante salsa. Chevre salad with pistachios, grapefruit, and a creamy herb vinaigrette. Peach pie.

Curious about the 90 minute IPA? Check it out here.

Lindemans Faro Lambic

Faro is a substyle of lambic that was first imported to the US in 2010. It is a blended lambic that is sweetened and then pasteurized to prevent further fermentation. Sugar is added to help balance the tart acidity of the beer, and make it more palatable. The result is a fruity, sweet, spontaneously fermented lambic-style brew. The sugary, fruit-flavored lambics aren't really my thing, but I've never tried a Faro before, so I had to grab this!

Lindemans Faro Lambic

BG Poured from a 12 fl oz (355ml) green capped and corked bottle into a Chimay chalice, 4.2% ABV, "L K21LFA" Bottled 11/21/12 - Good thing lambics just get better with age!

A Iced tea amber in color with reddish hues and fairly large chunks of sediment that eventually rest at the bottom of the glass. Not really any foam, but a film of suds is present for a few minutes after pouring. 

A This sucker is potent! I could almost take notes on the aroma while my nose is a foot away from the glass. Getting my nose up closer, this is double sugar-coated peach rings that have been liquefied and fermented. Red apples, raspberries, white peaches, a little bit of cherry. That lambic tartness comes through and gets my salivary glands going. When I swirl the glass, some familiar lambic sweaty gym sock stank comes through. It’s really just overwhelmingly sweet smelling.

T Have you ever made sweet tea and accidentally put too much sugar in, and you don’t notice until you taste it? That’s what this is like. Sweet and tart raspberries, mango nectar, the tiniest touch of funk rests on the tongue on the finish. Artificially flavored seltzer water. It’s borderline sour, but the syrupy sweetness drowns it out. Peach pit, Arnold Palmer, fruit leather, turbinado sugar. 

M High carbonation, slightly mouth puckering, surprisingly off-dry finish

A Tart cherries, a little tobacco, some astringency

C This is as sweet as fruit juice, and more like a wine spritzer than a beer. Nonetheless, I’m sure it’s right up someones alley, just not mine. I prefer a straight lambic or a gueuze. But I’m happy to have had the opportunity to try it! 

FP Pear and candied walnut pizza with caramelized onions. Chèvre cheesecake with graham cracker crust. Salted caramels.

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

I'm sure many of you are familiar with how Guinness in a can works. It has what they call a "widget" inside of the can that releases nitrogen when the can is opened, effectively replicating that creamy mouthfeel and visual cascading effect that's most often enjoyed on draft. In 2011, the geniuses over at Left Hand Brewing Co. figured out a way to bottle a nitrogen beer without a widget. After an extensive 15 minute research session, I am here to tell you I have no idea how it works. I don't know if it's a dearly kept secret or something, but I wasn't able to find any sort of scientific or dumbed down explanation of this black magic. If I find one, I'll be sure to put it up here!

Nitro beers are very visual, and if you pour them wrong, you're failing the beer. Pay attention, kids! This is how it's done.

You can read more about Left Hand's nitro beers here.

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

BG Poured from a 12 fl oz (355ml) bottle into a nonic pint, 6% ABV, Enjoy By 06/11/15

A Dark chestnut in color with ruby highlights. Two fingers of super thick, khaki colored froth rest on top. I could watch that gorgeous cascade of beer settle in the glass all day. Sheets of froth cover the glass as I drink, not unlike my upper lip.

A Equal parts sweet and roasted malt. Plenty of coffee, nuttiness, and a hint of oak.

T Oh my… a great sadness has just come upon me. I have found another favorite beer that doesn’t distribute to Utah. This. Is. Incredible! Vanilla bean, coffee, and dark chocolate all wrapped up in a soft blanket of sweet lactose. Walnuts, fresh cream, roastiness. And everything is so perfectly balanced. This is actually perfect. 

M The mouthfeel of this beer contributes tremendously to the overall impression. Nitrogen gives beer a silky, milkshake texture that you simply never get from carbon dioxide alone. 

A Cafe latte, nougat

C This is as close to a beer milkshake as you will ever get. This just might be a perfect beer. I lend not just my left hand, by my right as well in applauding the creators of this masterful milk stout! This isn’t an extreme beer. The subtleties of flavor are all in balance, creating a flavorful but not overwhelming beer. I wouldn’t change a thing. Bravo Left Hand Brewing!

FP Buttered whole grain toast with avocados and a dash of salt and pepper. Fish and chips, no sauce. Angel food cake.

Japanese Green Tea IPA - Collaboration between Baird, Stone, and Ishii

I'm starting to wonder if it's fair to review beers that are a few months old. I'm not talking about beers that are meant to be aged for years, but beers like IPAs and weissbiers that are meant to be consumed fresh. Working at a brewery has given me the ability to experience firsthand just how different a day old IPA is from a 2 week old. It makes me wonder if reviewing an IPA that's almost three months old is giving those who read it a true representation of what the beer will taste like if they were to try it. I suppose so long as I let you all know it's approaching the three month age, then it should be ok. I think I'm at the point where I should just stop buying them so old, let alone reviewing them. Snobbery aside, who can resist buying a green tea IPA from Stone and friends???

Japanese Green Tea IPA - Collaboration between Baird, Stone, and Ishii

BG Poured from a 22 fl oz (650ml) bottle into a stemmed tulip, 10.1% ABV, Bottled 01/09/15

A Golden honey in color with a finger of pure white, mouse-like head. It slowly dissipates, leaving behind some nice lace. This beer is very cloudy, and I’m sure there must be a good amount of wheat in here. 

A Grapefruit, citrus and floral hops, lightly sweet malt in the background that becomes more bready as I swirl. A touch of green grass, pineapple. The nose is on the lighter side.

T Woah, there are two completely different levels of flavor happening throughout the entire palate. The top level is a citrusy hop bitterness that firmly grabs the tongue and doesn’t let go until well after I’ve swallowed. The lower level is more dynamic, gently introducing softer citrus flavors of pineapple and mandarin with the roundness of green tea before more assertive hop flavor joins the ranks of the top level. There’s certainly a good level of yeast-derived spiciness that gives the hops some oomph. Biscuit malt holds down the fort, and subtly stands out underneath the citrus-fest. There’s some sweetness mid-palate, but the finish is dry. This has Stone’s fingerprints all over it.

M Creamy, yet biting. It dries out the mouth just a touch, and gives the tart impression of grapefruit. Medium-high carbonation. Medium-full body.

A Bitter citrus hops for daaaays. There’s also a strange impression of bitter dark chocolate I’m feeling on the aftertaste. It’s basically a chocolate orange. I might be imagining it, or simply craving it. Food pairing, anyone?

C I feel like this is more of a double IPA with subtle hints of green tea and nearly overwhelming amounts of citrus than it is a green tea IPA. That being said, I’m not drinking this beer anywhere near its prime time for consumption, as it’s 11.5 weeks old. It’s amazing how just a few days can change the flavors of the beer, especially the subtle ones. Months down the line, it comes off as an extremely strong citrus bomb of a DIPA. My nose and mouth are doing the equivalent of when I squint my eyes so I can see things far away. I think the subtleties are just too far gone here. But for what it is, I think it’s pretty tasty! What I hope for and what I perceive is all part of the tasting game, and why I sometimes like to not have any idea what I’m drinking. 

FP Fried calamari with chipotle aioli and a squeeze of lemon. Asian greens salad with baby spinach, carrots, grated ginger, mandarins, and a sesame vinaigrette. Dark chocolate covered ritz crackers.

Epic Elder Brett Saison-Brett Golden Ale

'Tis the season for Brett!... or something. The Brett I'm referring to isn't a person, but a strain of wild yeast that normally lives on the skins of fruit. Its full name, Brettanomyces, is Greek for "British fungus". Who knew such a wretched-sounding thing could make beer taste so good?

Also, it's not really Brett season. It just so happens that I've had access to such brews as of late. Wild yeast FTW!

Epic Elder Brett Saison-Brett Golden Ale

BG Poured from a 22 fl oz (650ml) bottle into a stemmed tulip, 9.1% ABV, Release #7, Brewed 11/02/14, Bottled 11/24/14

A Golden yellow in color with little to no foam. It’s brilliantly clear. 

A Oh, yeah! There’s that mouth watering Brettanomyces again! Tart green apples, golden honey, bread crust, peary, lemon zest, hint of sweet stone fruit.

T This is much more gentle than what I was bracing myself for. But it’s nice! I wasn’t zapped in the face by a sour lightning bolt. This is slightly tart, not sour. Tart apples and pears wash over the palate and make way for buttery chardonnay and crusty honey wheat bread. There’s a touch of spiciness, and a little grainy. The finish has a steady umami quality, and also reminds me of Sauvignon Blanc.

M Slightly waxy, moderately high carbonation, medium-light body

A Strong diacetyl and green apples

C This tastes closer to an effervescent white wine more than any beer I’ve ever had. Seriously, is EPIC playing a trick on all of us? Is this wine instead of beer? I would love to see what people think of this in a blind tasting. It’s really enjoyable and light. 

FP Bruschetta. Broccoli and brie stuffed chicken on a bed of polenta with a red wine ju and kalamata olives. Shortbread cookies.

Cuvée des Jacobins Flanders Red Ale

Nothing makes my mouth water quite like a sour beer. It's usually the first whiff that sends my eyes to the back of my skull and the glands under my tongue gushing. The same thing that makes others squirm and scoff brings me true delight in the form of turning my head inside out. Hah!

Cuvée des Jacobins

BG Poured from a 11.2 fl oz (331ml) bottle into a stemmed tulip, 5.5% ABV, 06/14 - I don’t know if that date refers to bottling or importation. It probably isn't a best by date. 

A Ruby in color with dark hues of maroon. A half finger of creamy white foam springs up as I pour, but it quickly dissipates to a thin ring clinging to the side of the glass. 

A Dark cherries, smarties candy, red lifesavers, plenty of sour Brett, honeyed bread crust, Macintosh apples

T Oh my god… it’s so sour I feel like sneezing! This is bliss! My mouth is watering so much that my eyes are watering, too. This is a sour cherry bomb! There’s a savory, bready malt character on the front, and then you’re suddenly being walloped in the kisser with a boatload of sour cherries. This is a full head experience. My mouth puckers hard, and I ache behind my eyes like a brain freeze. It takes some concentration, but beyond the eye-squinting sourness lies a woodsy, herbal, nutty character. 

M There’s a mouth coating, warming cherry cough syrup-like action mid-palate, but then it’s rudely stripped off by the sourness. My mouth is left quivering from the hard pucker. My brain hurts. I’m in love.

A Fighting through the sour apple toward some semblance of balance in my head. I think this is a form of masochism. 

C Mouthfeel takes the cake on this one. The sourness is so commanding that I have a hard time picking out the different flavors under it. My vocabulary is also very limited when it comes to sour thrashers like this. There’s a bunch of stuff going on here I just don’t know how to describe. But what I do know is that I like it! I also know this is but the tip of the sour iceberg. I need to get on my sour game!

FP Margherita pizza with the freshest possible ingredients. Apple glazed pork tenderloin with deep fried rosemary potato wedges. The richest chocolate cake you can find.

Epic Straight Up Saison

I've been on a bit of a saison kick lately. I can't get enough of those Belgian yeasty characters of citrus, spicy phenols, and bubblegum. It's intensely refreshing, and feels like the perfect celebration beer for having such lovely 70 degree weather at the end of March. This summer will likely make Utah pay for the early warmth and very mild winter we had, but for now, I'm loving the weather.

Epic Straight Up Saison

BG Poured from a 22 fl oz (650ml) bottle into a stemmed tulip, 7.6% ABV, Release #21. They don’t have info up on their site for Release #21 yet, so I’m guessing it was bottled very recently. I purchased it on 3/21/15. It annoys me that you have to go online to figure out the bottling date. That being said, they do have lots of other cool info online for each release (Specific malt and hops used, when and where it was brewed and packaged). It's pretty cool, and I don't know any other brewery that does that.

A Golden yellow in color with a finger of white suds on top. The foam quickly fades into a thin film. The beer is quite hazy, and glows like sunshine even in low light. There’s a splotch here and there of lacing.

A Strong belgian yeast character of bubblegum and spicy phenols, fresh orange and pineapple juice with spritz of lime, tartness that makes my mouth water, a hint of barnyard

T Again - fresh citrus juices, gently tart, spicy, green grass, dried mango, a hint of banana, some clove. It’s just loads of sweet citrus and spice.

M The body is much lighter than I anticipated, but still slightly creamy. Moderate carbonation, refreshingly dry finish.

A Yeast derived green grassy bitterness - it’s pretty bold and long lasting. Quite nice!

C This isn’t a bad saison at all! It’s fairly sweet mid-palate, but finishes dry with a grassy quality that goes on for days. I’d be downright thrilled to have this on a hot day! Given, at 7.6% ABV it’s more of a post-lawn mowing beer than a pre or mid, but it’s refreshing all the same!

FP Bitter greens salad with carrots, radishes, a hard boiled egg, and a ginger citrus vinaigrette. Cilantro shrimp tacos with fresh pico de gallo and lime. Pizzelle cookies dusted with powdered sugar.

I'm very much looking forward to drinking the Saison Dupont from my last haul. I've never had it before, and it's considered the benchmark for all saisons. Woo!