Bottled American beer tastings

Since my occasional American house-guests and other visitors are very generous and always bring over a few bottles or cans of beer with them, I try to keep tasting notes of the less usual pints we have at their expense! Presented here in no particular order (and with more to come…).

Ballast Point, Sculpin IPA: a nice San Diego-brewed blond and foamy ale, with lime zesty hoppiness in the nose, and green fruit sweetness that quickly tarts up to a pithy bitterness that lingers quite nicely. This one went down well. (****)

Sierra Nevada, Harvest: this single hop IPA from California is a very light, orange/yellow beer, almost the exact colour of a pint of wifebeater, with a light head (bit a bit excitable if not chilled enough, again reminiscent of “classy” lagers). There’s a very faint fruity hop aroma, but surprisingly odorless for an IPA; the first taste is sweet orange on the tip of the tongue, very quickly washing over with a brutally bitter follow-on in the mouth before you can say much more about it, like taking a huge mouthful of pith and tart juice. The bitterness is what dominates throughout thereafter, sappy, like a bitter bark tea. Breathing in over the aftertaste I got a bit of yeasty fruit and pits, malty with hints of burnt raisin, but also a very intense green-wood tangy sweetness. The hoppy bitterness dominates so overwhelmingly that it drowns out anything else you might taste in there, or enjoy. Perfectly drinkable, but a bit disappointing. (**)

Alaskan Brewing Co., Jalapeño Imperial IPA: cheeky amber in colour, with a fruity, hoppy aroma, somewhere between juniper honey and unripe cranberry (Silke said it reminded her of a hair product: when pressed she said only, “It would be a nice perfume for a shampoo, anyway.”) A nice peppery first taste, hints of paprika, tart but not spicy, sweet and zesty like tropical fruit in the mouth; there's a faint coconut or pineapple aftertaste, with pleasant but not especially lingering capsaicin notes in the piny finish. A bit gimmicky, but not at all bad. (***)

Knee Deep, Citra Extra Pale Ale: another strong California ale, with a cloudy caramel colour (it may not have settled properly before we opened it), a tart smell of lemon and almond, and a sweet, tropical fruit first taste with some apricot. There are notes of lemon zest and pits in the mouth, with an intense cakey, molasses and lemon skin bitterness. The heavy yeast gives a lovely kick to this very nicely balanced beer. It's a little bit monolithic, on our judgement, but still a very good drop. (****)

Avery, Maharaja Imperial IPA: this is a barleywine-strength super-IPA from the enthusiastic Avery brewery in Boulder, Colorado, which comes in a highly (if somewhat appropriatively) decorated 20 oz bottle, festooned with a rather annoyed-looking Indian monarch in full regalia. The beer itself is red-amber in color, only slightly foamy, with an odor of yeast and poached apple; very tart, with honey and bark in the first taste, expanding to crushed lime kernels in the mouth, smoky and intensely yeasty on the swallow, although the sparkly and dark taste lingers better on the tongue than the bitterness does in the throat. Overall this beer is warm and spicy, good with hearty, savory food, but at 10.2% is a little too intense for my tastes. (***)

Gluten-free Real Ale

One of the SFTP reviewers was diagnosed with Coeliac disease a few months ago, which at first led to much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair that she was never going to be able to drink real ale again. The challenge raised, we gathered together and have now sourced half a dozen brewers in the UK who produce at least one gluten-free real ale, plus myriad others in the USA and around the world. The landscape looks pretty promising, so far (but we'd appreciate more suggestions or comments in this GoogleDoc).

Last night we had a tasting of the first few beers we've been able to track down, and our notes and comments follow below.

Clown Shoes, Crunkle Sam

The last of the gift bottles of American craft ale, which I didn't drink during my tasting marathon over the vacation, because I was a bit scared and wanted someone to share it with. I'm not sure 22oz of barley wine in one sitting is a good idea for anyone! The following review includes the input of my co-conspirators/co-revelers.

Clown Shoes, Crunkle Sam Barley Wine (11% ABV): this potent ale from Ipswich, Massachusetts is somewhere between a ripe red and a dark amber (there was a bit of argument within the group over whether there was any red in there at all; others preferred to say it was just brown), with a creamy foam and a rich smell of cherry and dried fruit. On the tip of the tongue the beer is sickly sweet, with orange zest, burnt toffee and stewed currant; a lovely blend of hops combines with harsh sweetness further back in the mouth, making it hard to swallow in any quantity, but somehow comforting a sip at a time. There's a subtle but not particularly long-lasting aftertaste of citrus, sand and fruity yeast. It was really not bad at all, less brutal than some barley wines, but still far too sweet for my taste. Nobody was especially scathing about it, but I don't remember any great enthusiasm either (even among the cider drinkers who presumably don't mind cloying, fructose-filled drinks!).

The rest of the American craft beers

Following from my last post about bottled American craft beers, brought to me as gifts by Scott, Elli and Hugh last year, here (without further elaboration or digression) are my tasting notes:

Avery Brewing Co., duganA IPA: this powerful pale ale from Boulder, Colorado, modest at 8.5% abv, is a slightly cloudy orange color with a lively but thin head of foam (recurring enthusiastically if you swirl the glass a little) and a biscuity aroma of both fruit and caramel. It's tangy with a berry flavor on the tip of the tongue, then rapidly spreading sour pith, like unripe orange or kumquat; a lovely mix of citrus notes sizzles all the way back in the mouth—some lime flesh, grapefruit pith and unwashed zest, with crushed pits in the back for that wince-making intense bitterness. Overall this beer comes with hints of buttered yeasty bread, malt cake or ovaltine, but all washed a bit to the rear by the rich, raw hoppiness, blended and complex to give the subtle IPA tones, plus that little something extra for the undiluted American double-drop intensity. A lingering wood-smoked meatiness in detectable in the aftertaste. Nice, though, and while too strong for a session ale, if you drink it at the pace of wine with something light to eat like omelette or stir-fry, it would go down very nicely of an evening. Clearly a lot of thought went into the production and presentation of this beer; it's just a shame that the label had to be so fetishistically objectifying and exoticizing, because otherwise it would have been worth keep as a monument to a fine drink.

Looking Gift Beers in the Mouth

In one week in November, I received three different visitors from the USA, who between them brought me over a dozen bottles of American craft real ale. I promised I'd share my notes on them, and here are the first few. (I don't remember who gave me which bottle, now, but needless to say it was all massively appreciated, even the ones I may be snarky about below.)

Cosmic Ales, Cosmonaut California Blonde Ale (5%): this bottle has an absolutely adorable label with a way-over-the-top cartoon space scene, which always goes down well around here. It's a slightly cloudy golden beer with an ephemeral head of froth, and a cheeky aroma of orange, pollen and spring berries. A first taste of light fruit and flour is a bit sparkly, turning sour quite quickly in the mouth, but with a lovely sweet/hops balance. In fact it's very smooth all the way down; the pithy bitterness isn't very complex or lingering, but it was a very pleasant pint for a Fall evening.

Bier Baron, Washington DC

On Monday night we visited the Bier Baron in Washington DC, which is a homely cellar bar beneath the Baron Hotel (on 22nd NW between P & Q). It's a nice, grungy, English-style pub, with lots of niches and corners to make it feel more private—although it's a pretty large venue—wooden chairs and age scarred tables, uneven floor and mismatched chairs. In some ways it's more like a club, with id checked at the door and regular music and other events (there's a burleque night lined up next month, which I think I'm more glad than sorry to be missing), but on a regular night it's pleasant, not too noisy, with good service and, most importantly, hundred of bottled beers on offer. (A small selection of draft ales too, as usual I think all from keg.)

New England & E Coast tasting notes

On a recent trip to New England and the Sprawl (Boston -> Providence -> New York -> Washington DC) I made notes on a few ales I tasted, and in some cases the venues I tasted them in. Notes below are in roughly chronological order, and include state (or country) of origin, so that I can label the beers from the same state I was in as #LocAle).

Bottled beers at house party in Providence (at which a wonderful spinach pie was also served):

Lagunitas Rich Copper Ale (CA): a light smoky copper color, with thin frothy head and a constant stream of bubbles; this pint had a very gentle, sweet, slightly maritime smell to it. The taste is very bright, bitterly metallic, but a bit sweet and lambic too; it tastes a lot stronger that its 6.5%. There are quite coarse charcoal and hop notes on the swallow. As it warmed up, the smell of sap and green leaf got stronger and nicer. Should have taken it out of the fridge half an hour ago.

Californian Craft Beers

Last week, a friend very generously brought me six 22oz bottles of craft beer from California. I have been sampling them ever since. As expected, hops is very evident, with many double-hopped brews, but there's also a very interesting range of flavours and styles.

Lagunitas Lucky 13 (8.9%) is an orange-amber ale, bright and the colour of caramel, sparkly in the glass and looking almost exactly like Irn Bru. It has a strong fruity hops aroma, but with more berry than citrus; sharp at first taste, sparkly on the tongue and oaky. Mellow and smooth in the mouth, with hints of gooseberry or greengage, but an intense bitterness that lingers, and coarse on the swallow, with a sappy, slightly smoky finish with just a hint of capsaicin. Very complex and pleasing. (This ale lost points on the slightly cheesy label design, although some liked the tattoo-style quality of the image.)

Deschutes Hop in the Dark C.P.A. (6.9%) (from Oregon) is an opaque, darkest brown ale, syrupy with a creamy meniscus. It has a sweet hoppy smell of green fruit, with an undertone of fresh cacao beans. It was very sweet indeed, like mango or pineapple on the tip of the tongue, leaving a lingering hint of rose, and then an intense woody bitterness when swilled, with a suggestion of cherry and liquorice, but surprisingly mild on the swallow, with liquorice root and cardamon. A very interesting beer that mixes the hoppiness of a pale ale with the dark, sweet maltiness of an old or English ale. Not sure how well this would scale to an evening's drinking, though.

Russian River Pliny the Elder (8%) is a famous ale, especially among classicists (!), which certainly deserves its reputation. A light, honey-amber beer, still and clear and almost the exact colour of precious topaz, with the hoppy odour suggesting peaches and a carbonated soft drink. The first taste is of sour hops, but with an overwhelming sweetness of peach or very ripe pear, and then sharp green hops throughout, with a hint of honey and fresh mint. Most surprisingly, though, Pliny is very smooth and subtle on the swallow, with no roughness at all but the soft smokiness of caramel or crême brulée. Like its namesake, this beer is very cleverly put together, almost recherché, but perhaps too much to really enjoy it unpretentiously. A very fine pint, but not a quaffing ale.

Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale (6.8%) is a beautiful beer to look at, very dark red, like an auburn standing in the shadows. It fills the nose with malt and yeast as well as that undercurrent of tropical fruit so popular in these American ales, but has plenty of treacle and berry on the tongue; not very sweet, surprisingly, but with a coarse, hoppy overtone. It finishes with a deep satisfying swallow, with hints of elderberry and wild nettle. Not a bad beer, but not terribly memorable.

Speakeasy Betrayal Imperial Red (8.2%) fills a glass with very clear ale the colour of dark morello cherry or cola. The aroma is of dark chocolate and dried fruit, like a delicious rum and raisin fruit cocktail, and it is shockingly sweet on the tongue, like drinking a glass of port. In the mouth it is smoky with the bitterness of cold coffee, but leaving a chocolaty residue, and a bit too intense on the swallow; I couldn't help thinking that someone had spiked my beer with Vermouth. I wanted to like this beer, as all the ingredients were right, but I couldn't have drunk another glass of it.

Lagunitas Imperial Stout (9.9%): this impressive, pitch black ale is completely opaque with a brown-tinged foam ring, and smells gently hoppy with a hint of molasses. Sweet at first taste, with caramel and lime and a smoky spiciness which I can only describe as like chipotle, it is warm and chocolaty in the mouth, with hints of barley and malt, a really lovely balance of ale components. The strength really hits you on the swallow though, like downing a Tia Maria; it is sharp and bitter and syrupy, but also coarse and nutty. Unlike the Lucky 13, the Imperial Stout feels every inch of its 9.9% alcohol, and could never become a session ale in my book.

GBBF 2011, Earl's Court

We attended the 2011 Great British Beer Festival, at Earl's Court, on Saturday, August 6th, arriving about 13:15. At that time, most bars still had some choice of beers (although even then many were down to half the advertized range and a couple were already closed). Over the course of the afternoon the situation steadily worsened, however, until by 17:00 (when the festival still had two hours to go), it took 20 minutes of wandering around the entire hall (and Earl's Court is not a pretty place) to find a single bar that was still open. The "World Beer" bars all ran out before I had a chance to see much of them, and "New Breweries" was already shut down the first time I saw it.

By the end of the afternoon this frankly unsatisfactory situation had led to frayed tempers and an unruly atmosphere. (At one point a drunken idiot was trying to perform circus tricks with a plastic chair, and when a steward politely told him to stop this dangerous behaviour he began shouting at the poor man who was only tryign to do his job. The steward had to call security, but ending up standing alone for several minutes facing a baying mob growing to dozens of louts. When the security guard did arrive, he utterly failed to back the steward up, instead laughing along with the idiot and walking off. It's a telling sign that this dangerous behaviour was treated a lot less seriously than when a couple of louts decided to strip naked and perform cartwheels, only to be very swiftly apprehended and escorted off the premises.)

It's to be expected that toward the end of the last day of the festival some brews will run out before the end of proceedings day, but this year was the worst I have seen at any festival, local or GBBF. For someone who brought a party of six to the festival and spent nearly £50 on tickets, this poor show was completely unacceptable. Frankly I would rather pay a 20% premium on all beers for them to overstock and guarantee there's still a good choice at the end fo the day. I'll be making this opinion known to CAMRA. It will take some convincing to persuade me to shell out and attend next year, to be honest.

In the meantime, however, I was able to sample a few beers in the early part of the afternoon when they were still available. My notes (posted at the time via Twitter) follow:

• Magpie's Midnight Porter: this was a very nice looking, completely opaque, very dark brown beer with rich and ripe, slightly musty aroma; it was dark and earthy on the first taste, quite smoky and smooth on the swallow. I was pretty happy with this start to the session.
• Herok & Howell's Tantallion Sunrise: a very clear pale ale with a green, almost lime-hinted fruity aroma. The first drop on the tip of my tongue filled my mouth with citric sweetness to an expected degree. When I took a bigger swig and swallowed, it proved tangy and coarse, full-bodied and satisfying. A very nice drop indeed. I know Belhaven, who own Herok & Howell, and like the Edinburgh beer style in general, but this beer was new to me. I'm happy to have found it.
• Cropton's Yorkshire Warrior was one of the few Yorkshire ales still available when we arrived, a dark beer with auburn highlights and an aroma of creamy coffee. It's coolly sour on the first taste, but has a heavy woody finish. I liked it, but probably wouldn't drink several pints in a sitting.
• Wold Top's Gold: a cloudy gold beer with a light smell of tropical fruit, not very strong, but enough to put me off: it might work on a summery day out by the river, but standing around in a crowded warehouse in Earl's Court I wanted something heavier. On the tongue it was sparkly like peach spritzer, but a coarse hoppiness follows very quickly, and this pint was very bitter on the swallow. A pretty good balance overall, once the initial shock was past.
• Quantock's Stout: a pitch black stout with a chocolatey aroma, but not at all sweet on the tongue; quite a rough smokey finish, in fact. A nice taste but not really a session ale (or at least not at this time of year).
• Isle of Purbeck's Best Bitter: a light bitter with a nice heathy aroma and subtle but not watery first taste; quite smoky and harsh on the finish, but in a good way, satisfying rather than tearing the throat. Although from my notes I seem to have liked this one, I have no recollection of it.
• Grainstore's Rutland Panther: a dark ale with orange highlights and a soft mulchy odour, like wood softening in the rain. A mild and slightly fruity sweetness on the tongue, which proves to be deceptive as this beer delivers a kick-in-the-throat smoky finish. Strong stuff. Worth a try, to be sure.
• O'Hanlon's Stormystay: a slightly cloudy light amber, sweet oak-charcoal malt aroma, as if there's some whiskey in there. There's a thick chewy sweetness when you first take it in your mouth, no bitterness in finish. Drinkable, but didn't tempt me back.

• Arundel's Black Stallion: an opaque rich brown old ale with the aroma of fruits of the forest, sweet and tangy. Strangely sweet on tongue with a very clear taste of cherry, very ripe on the swallow like a good old ale should be, but an almost bloody aftertaste. I'd like to try this again to be sure I hadn't just bitten my tongue when I drank this or something.
• Left Hand's 400 Pound Monkey: the one American microbrew I was able to get hold of this time. A bright, pale, very fruity IPA, with a hint of tangerine in the first taste. After that it was more hoppy, bitter and ferrous on the swallow. I may look this out next time I'm over the water.
• Hepworth's Conqueror: we finished the night with this memorable pint. Holding it up to the light was like looking into the eyes of sheer darkness; sniffing the glass gave a whiff of fire smoke. The first taste was of a steely barley mash with a hint of rust, and swallowing gave a mouthful of sticky sweetness. Very impressive, but again not something you'd drink all night.

Tied House in Mountain View CA

Finding ourselves in northern California, a state that offers fine locally produced microbrews, but with the usual problem of nonexistant transport to anything further than cheesy campus sports bars serving watered down, fizzy lager, we decided to track down a Californian brewery/restaurant, distance being no object this one night. In the end we picked the Tied House in Mountain View, which was only a $25 cab ride away, and served a most satisfactory range of food. As for the beers:

I started with the Ironwood Dark, which was billed as an "English style" brown ale, and was very good indeed: nice and malty, with a hint of overripe fruit in the odour, sweet to the tongue and then satisfyingly bitter on the swallow. My only complaint was that it was served a little too cold and fizzy for my liking, but it was still a great brew. (Ryan noted: "a nice malty dark brown ale, not too hoppy or bitter.")

Later in the evening I moved onto the Oatmeal Stout, a more typical American beer style, which was also a good example of its kind: pretty rich smoky odour, but served too chilled and frankly a bit watery on the first taste. It was more satisfying to drink in hefty mouthfuls, and offered good bitter smokiness on the swallow with a hint of fragrant cedar charcoal that made it a little more unusual.

Ryan moved onto the Alpine Gold, which he reports as "an easy generic pils style without being too watery" (explaining that he "thought it would be a better pairing for the baja veggie burger"). One of our companions also tried the New World Wheat beer, but found it too sweet and bubblegummy, and on that advice none of the rest of us risked it.