Beer Festival: Great American Beer Festival - Denver, CO

If you are going to go to a beer festival, this is the one to go to.  With over four hundred breweries represented from all over the US, you would be hard pressed not to find a beer that you like.  Instead of doing the usual synopsis of all the beers that were tasted, I'm going to highlight beers I thought were so tasty, I needed to remember them. 


RAM Restaurant and Brewery had two offerings I thought were worth mentioning

Buttface Amber: Amber in color, malt aroma and malty flavor, very easy drinking

Saison:  unfiltered straw color, spice aroma, spice (clover most likely) forward with an estery malt finish

Uncommon Brewery - American Special Bitter:  This is a strong ale with minimal hops, lots of esters and residual sugars to finish.  It is very vanilla/bourbon forward

Olde Burnside Brewing Co. 10 Penny Ale: This is a nice scotch ale style beer, light on the residual sugar with a dark caramel color

TAPS Pumpkin Ale: Straw colored, nice spice (cinnamon, clover) aroma, lots of pumpkin forward with a smooth finish


Airdale Brewing Co Bombshell Golden: Unfiltered straw color, good head retention, estery aroma, sweet smooth forward with residual sugar towards the finish

AleSmith Horny Devil: Straw color, light ester aroma, mild forward, citrus banana finish; a dangerously easy drinker


Big Island Brewhaus Golden Sabbath: Straw colored, malt/ ester aroma, residual sugar forward with a smooth tasty finish

Harvest Moon Brewery Monkey Shiner Bock: Dark amber color, malt aroma, mild tasting forward with a malt finish


Papago Brewing Co Elsies Irish Coffee Milk Stout: Dark brown color, strong coffee aroma, Irish cream and coffee forward

Thunder Canyon Brewery Honey Brown: Dark amber color, good head retention, malt/nutty aroma, malt forward with a roasted malt/coffee-like and honey finish - this beer was probably my favorite of the weekend


Speakeasy Betrayal Imperial Red: Dark Caramel color, great head retention, malt aroma, strong bourbon forward with a smooth finish


Boundary Bay Brewing Co. Dunkles Bock: Amber in color good head retention, malt aroma, bourbon forward, malty/ residual sugar finish, sweet all around


Boneyard Beer Cascadian IPA: very good hop aroma, nice color with good balance (note: IPA enthusiast reviewed)


Eagle Rock Brewery Stimulus: Golden amber color, coffee aroma, and coffee finish very porter-esque despite the lighter color

Heretic Brewing Co. Evil Twin: Very forward hop flavor, good color and malt body (note: IPA enthusiast reviewed)

Left Coast Brewing Co.  Asylum Tripel: golden straw color, malt aroma, strong alcohol forward with sweet finish

Sly Fox Brewing Co. Quadrupel: Amber in color, good head retention, mild aroma, mild flavor forward with a sweet malt finish

Red Brick Brewing Co. Oktoberfest: golden in color, mild malt aroma, malt forward with a slight spice finish

These beers were sampled over two tasting sessions.  All in all there are some really great breweries across the country that I would like to visit and further explore their offerings. 

While in Denver, we found a really great Belgian Beer bar that is worth noting, The Cheeky Monk they have a great selection of Belgian beers and a pretty tasty looking menu.  If you're in Denver I highly recommending paying this bar a visit

Brew Review: Avery Brewing Company Boulder, CO

The only reason I hadn't visited Avery before, was a lack of coordination on my fellow beer enthusiasts, basically we didn't realize the tap room was closed when we went to go visit.  But our planning and waiting were met with huge rewards as I finally got to enjoy a wider breath of the offerings Avery produces besides Ellie's Brown Ale and White Rascal.

More on that later though, TO THE BEERS!

Lilikoi Mahu: This beer is basically a Hawaiin take on a Hefeweizen, it is straw colored, unfiltered, with a very fruity aroma, lots of ester forward and a passion fruit finish.

Salvation Golden Ale:  Part of the Holy Trinity of Ales Series, this beer is golden in color, with a light aroma, with a fairly mild flavor forward and a bitter fruity finish.

Old Jubilation Ale: This is a winter strong ale, dark amber in color, with a mild coffee aroma.  This beer has a chocolate malt forward with a bitter finish

Eighteenth Anniversary:  Golden amber in color, hint of rye aroma, mild forward, with a slight malt/ hop finish

duganA IPA:  Golden color, slight hop aroma, fairly mild flavor forward with a bitter hop finish

2011 Grand Cru: Dark amber in color, mild aroma, spice forward with bourbon finish, lots of residual sugars and a very syrupy mouth feel, may need to age a bit

Meph Addict:  Dark brown in color, coffee/ chocolate malt aroma, strong alcohol forward with a coffee finish

Margherite: Dark brown in color, bourbon/ vanilla aroma, thick mouth feel, bourbon vanilla finish.  Very strong beer

White Rascal: my favorite Avery beer besides Ellie's Brown, this Belgian white ale is an unfiltered straw color, with a mild, slight spice aroma, mild forward with a delicious ester finish.

The brewery itself is worth the visit because you can see how it's grown over the years.  It is located in a business park and took over openings that were not necessarily right next to the original brewery.  You can also see the experimentation they are doing in their barrel room, for the barrel aged series.  If you just want to go in for a tasting, odds are you will be waiting in line, there are plenty of tap menus floating around to help you with your decision.  

Decisions, decisions....

Avery, well worth the visit, or just grab a six pack, you won't be disappointed.

Cheers!!!!

Brew Review: Dry Dock Brewing Company - Aurora, CO

The Beer Lady found herself back in the great beer state of Colorado.  Brewery stop number one is high on the recommendation list of places you should visit.  Dry Dock Brewing Company offers a great selection of beers for everyone from the craft beer noob, to the serious beer geek.  Just a note, the only food at the brewery is popcorn.

But enough of that, onto the beer!

Keelhaul Kolsch: Very clear straw color, beer aroma with hint of sweetness forward slight bitter, standard lager taste at the end.  This is a very clean and smooth beer.

HMS Victory ESB: Caramel color, good head retention, hint of malt aroma, malt forward with slight bitter finish.  My other half got a more hoppy aroma and a malt finish, he felt there was a nice balance and color.  My second favorite of the tasting.

HMS Bounty Old Ale: My favorite of the tasting, this beer is dark caramel in color, good head retention, malt aroma, malt forward with a residual sugar finish and a syrupy mouth feel.

So yummy I almost forgot to take a picture

Belgian IPA: Unfiltered straw color, good head retention, hoppy aroma, smooth malt/yeast forward with a hop finish, a good example of this style of beer.

USS Enterprise IPA: Unfiltered caramel color, hop aroma, mild forward with a hop finish.

Paragon Apricot Blonde: Unfiltered cloudy straw color, strong apricot aroma, hint of apricot flavor forward, with a stronger apricot finish, if you like apricots, this is your beer.

This brewery is well worth the trip, and if you're into homebrewing, there is an awesome homebrew shop attached to the brewery!

More Colorado adventures to come!

Cheers!!!

Beer Festival: Montana Brewer's Festival

The Montana Brewer's Association held their 3rd annual  Brewer's Festival in Bozeman, Montana.  Over twenty Montana Based brewers showcased over 70 beers.

And. here. we. go.

Tamarack Brewing Co.

Fire Dancing Amber:  Nice Amber color, sweet malt aroma, malty flavor with a slightly bitter finish.

Fat Polly's American Pale:  Straw color, light malt aroma, bitter all around

Neptune's Brewery

Chocolate Cream Porter: Dark brown color, nice head, chocolate aroma, coffee forward, smooth chocolate finish, with a hint of oats

Crosseyed Kitty Imperial Nut Brown:  Dark amber color, malty, nutty aroma, smooth yet strong flavor

Balckfoot River Brewing Company

Kolsch: Straw colored, nice head, mild aroma, mild flavor, a nice easy drinking beer

Blackfoot IPA:  Straw colored, floral hop aroma, pretty mild flavor, sweet slight banana taste

Blacksmith Brewing Company

Hopper Hef:  Straw colored, mild aroma, strong banana flavor with a mild finish

Black Iron Black IPA: A Cascadian Black IPA, dark amber in color, good head, strong hop aroma, all hops in terms of flavor (IPA enthusiast: Hop forward, likely dry hopped, mild malts)

The Kettlehouse

Cold Smoked Scotch Ale:  Dark amber color, decent head, malty aroma, strong malt flavor with some residual sugar

Hemptober Spliff: Golden color, slight malt aroma, sweet with bitter finish

Double Haul IPA:  Clear golden color, floral hop aroma, mild forward with a strong hop finish

Bozeman Brewing Company

Bozone Select Amber:  Golden Amber color, malty arome, bitter forward with a mild finish

2nd Virtue Belgian Dubbel:  Amber color, no head, slight malt aroma, malt forward with a smooth finish

406 Brewing Company - Bozeman's newest brewery

Simcoe Pale: Golden straw color, estery aroma, slight malt forward, with a strong bitter hop finish likely due to the use of papaya hops

Saaz IPA: Golden color, hoppy aroma, very strong hops all around (IPA enthusiast: spicy, good Saaz hop profile)

Brown Porter:  Dark brown color, chocolate aroma, coffee forward, nutty chocolate finish

Glacier Brewing Company

Cherry Wheat:  No head, straw colored, strong almond/ marzipan aroma, mild in flavor, with almond/marzipan finish

Golden Grizzly Ale: Golden color, hoppy aroma, slight soap flavor with bitter forward - not a fan of this beer

Wildhorse Island Pale: Darker golden color, slight malt aroma, with malt forward and bitter hop finish.

Lewis & Clark Brewing Company

Back Country Scottish Ale: Dark Amber in color, with a malt aroma, bitter forward with a malty finish, there is a hint of vanilla and pretty mellow all around

Tumbleweed IPA: Golden Straw color, floral hop aroma, fairly mild forward, with a strong hop finish

Fat Jack's Honey Wheat: Straw colored, good head, mild aroma, slight honey forward with a mild finish

Quarry's Open Cab Copper: Amber in color, peaty malt aroma, with a hint of spices, mild roasted malt flavor

The festival itself was very fun to attend.  They had a good selection of food and were set up pretty well so that you weren't standing in  line for too long while waiting for a tasting.  My favorites were, Neptune's Cross eyed Kitty, Neptune's Chocolate Cream Porter, Lewis and Clark's Back Country Scottish Ale, the overall winner being Bozeman's 2nd Virtue Dubbel.  My IPA consultant also enjoyed the Chocolate Cream porter, his favorites were Blacksmith's Black Iron Black IPA, and 406's Saaz IPA.

The beer lady also made a new friend, Growler Fills, go check out his blog at growlerfills.blogspot.com

Brew Review: Portneuf Valley Brewing Company Pocatello, ID

Portneuf Valley Brewing Co is located in Pocatello, ID and is the first place the beer lady has encountered where the Head Brewer and owner is a Brew Mistress.  I find this to be inspirational given my ambitions to become a Brew Mistress somewhere, someday.

Onto the beers!

It's a beer tasting wheel!

Ligertown Lager: A nice golden straw color, slight hop, slight malt flavor, though mild overall.  No aroma to speak of.

Seasonal Brew: Rust Bucket Red: Golden in color, malt aroma, slight hoppy flavor

Penny's Extra Pale Ale: Straw color, minimal aroma, good flavor

Crystal Weizen Wheat Ale: Garnished with a lemon; straw color, filtered, minimal aroma, and a slight bitter flavor

Twisted Stick Amber: Light amber color, slight malt aroma, slight malt flavor, with a mild hop finish

Grog IPA:  Straw color, minimal aroma, hop forward and finish, but not overpowering

Seasonal Brew: Oktoberfest: straw color, with a hoppy aroma, kind of a soapy taste

Belligerant Ass Nut Brown: Dark amber in color, nutty malt aroma, coffee-esque finish, not much else

Portneuf Porter: Dark brown in color, coffee malt aroma, smooth malt flavor

Midnight Satin Cream Stout:  Dark brown in color, light malt aroma, mild flavor, with a smooth finish

Overall the beers are mild and easy drinking, especially for the novice beer connoisseur.  My favorites were the porter and the cream stout.  The brew pub itself is nice and is host to bands on the weekends.  The beer-lady's compatriot wanted to note how much he liked the apparel offerings.  This place is worth a visit if you find yourself in the Pocatello area.

Brew Review: Tracks Brewing Company - Toole, UT

Tracks is located about 40 minutes west of Salt Lake City.  Upon first walking in, the general atmosphere is that of a night club.  They do brew on site and they had three of their five offerings on Tap.

Hoghead Hefeweizen: Described as "Smooth, unfiltered wheat beer, light bodied easy drinking, crisp taste, gold in color and lightly hopped. Railway-lingo for "engineer", the Hoghead will conduct your tastebuds to TRACKS everytime!"  I thought this was a filtered beer for the tasting, but when I ordered my pint, you could kind of tell that it wasn't filtered.  It does have a nice straw color and shows hints of banana in the aroma and flavor.

Light Rail Ale: Described as "Lightly hopped, light bodied, American Light Lager with a nice malty finish, smooth going down and comparable to other light beers."  This beer is straw colored, slight malt aroma and slight bitter all around. 

Incinerator Pale Ale: Described as "Utah's True IPA! A very hoppy beer, emulating the traditional IPA (India Pale Ale) while staying true to Utah. This rich, unfiltered beer will light your fire!"  This beer is Amber in color, with a slight hop aroma, hint of roasted malt in taste with a bitter forward and finish.  Pretty mild for an IPA in my opinion.

Guest Tap Park City Steamer:  Brewed by Moab Brewing Company in Moab, UT.  This beer is a dark straw color, a nice malty aroma, slight bitter flavor to start with a nice smooth finish.

Mostly Southern California Beer Tasting

If you find yourself hard pressed to get to the local brewery because it may not be so local to you, see if any local eating establishments are beer enthusiasts.  That is what today's blog is, a taste of  (mostly) Southern California.

Bootlegger's Brewery out of Fullerton, CA, offers a wide variety of beers.  I have visited the brewery itself and found the experience very enjoyable.

Old World Hefe 5.0% ABV - A German style Hefeweizen, this beer presents a nice golden color, low carbonation, with a wheaty, citrusy aroma.  The taste is very smooth with a  hint of banana and clove.  Tasted without a fruit garnish

Rustic Rye IPA 6.2% ABV - Slight dark golden color, good clarity and good head retention.  The aroma is a mix of hops, rye, and some floral notes, very hop forward with hint of rye towards the end.  My companion/ IPA enthusiast adds, that the beer seems fairly sweet for a rye and is a fairly thick beer.

Golden Chaos 8.5% ABV - Notes on the beer: Belgian Style Golden, Bottle conditioned for 2-3 weeks and brewed with American Rock Candy - This beer presents with a cloudy golden color, good head and a slight malt aroma.  The beer tastes very sweet and kind of bananay.

Black Phoenix 6.7% ABV Chipotle Coffee Stout - dark color with tan head, good head retention.  This beer has a strong coffee aroma and is spicy sweet, pretty confusing on the tongue, with a roasted coffee to finish.

Our next brewery is one, I have mentioned before, The Bruery.  The Bruery offers two locations to taste their Belgian Style beers, at the Breury Provisions in Downtown Orange, or at the brewery itself in Placentia.  Both places are great places to go to try their beers.

Orchard White 5.7% ABV - This beer presents a light golden color with good head retention, with a clove/coriander/lavender aroma, it is very spice forward in taste and very well balanced.

Rugbrod 8.0% ABV Dark Rye Ale - This beer has a nice dark amber color with limited head.  It has a slight rye aroma, with a roasted malt forward with a nutty finish.

Mischief 8.5% ABV Hoppy Belgian Style Golden Strong Ale - This beer has a dark golden color, good head retention and a floral hoppy aroma.  This beer is very hop forward and finishes with a slight malt flavor and a citrus tartness.  As I have mentioned before this is my favorite beer the Bruery has to offer.

We move next to Rubicon Brewing Company which is actually in Sacramento, I have not had the chance to visit yet.

Capricorn Black Ale 6.5% ABV Black IPA - This beer is dark in color, with good head retention with a slight hop/ malt aroma.  The beer is actually malt forward with a strong hop finish with a hint of roasted flavor overall.

Our tour ends at Kern River Brewing Company in Kernville, CA another brewery I have yet to visit.

Class V Stout 8.5% ABV - This beer is dark, with a nice tan head, a nice cascade and excellent head retention.  This beer has a sweet malty aroma with a sweet malty/ coffee forward and slight bitter finish, as you continue to drink this beer, a hint of chocolate starts to present itself.  This was another favorite of the overall tasting and was a nice way to finish it off.

So there you have it.  If you are in your local beer store and find any of the above intriguing, grab yourself a bottle and share with a friend or two, or if you are one of those "does not share well with others" types, that's OK too.

Brew Review: Squatters Brew Pub - Salt Lake City, UT

Squatters Brew Pub  is apart of the Utah Brewer's Cooperative with Wasatch Brewing Company.  They brew a wide range of beer styles.

The tasting took place at their Park City, UT location, the sampler presentation is pretty fun in my opinion:

Better than a shot ski in my opinion

From tip to tail:

American Wheat Hefeweizen 4% ABV described as follows: This unfiltered wheat beer is brewed with German yeast and tettnanger hops and has delicate citrus flavors. Try it with a lemon wedge!
This has a nice golden color, with what I can only describe as your typical domestic lager aroma, very mild taste, with a slight banana finish.  Note: this was tasted ungarnished with any fruit.

Chasing Tail Golden Ale 4% ABV Described as follows: A real tail wagger! This inviting golden ale is brewed with premium English barley, English Golding and Fuggle hops producing the delicate bitterness and aroma. 
This beer has a nice clean golden color, not much in terms of aroma, pretty mild at first taste, with a hint of hops and citrus to finish

Provo Girl Pilsner  4% ABV Described as follows: In the Bavarian tradition, this golden-hued Pilsner is brewed with German variety Magnum hops, then lagered for 30 days for superb drinkability.
This beer has a nice straw color to it, with a slight hop aroma, but, to me, kind of a soapy taste, which could be from the hops.

Full Suspension Pale 4% ABV Described as follows: A rich northwest style pale ale. Unfiltered, dry-hopped and staggeringly drinkable. A local favorite. 
This beer has an amber color, with really good head retention.  The aroma is very mild and very hop forward, it was hard to taste much else.

Bobsled Brown Seasonal Brown ABV and description unavailable on the website.
Nice darker amber color, slight malt aroma, hint of hops at first but with a nice nutty/ coffee finish.  Very enjoyable and one of my favorites.  I hope the brewers plan on bringing this one around again

Captain Bastard's Oatmeal Stout 4%ABV described as: Smooth as silk, full of flavor with a big malty finish. Brewed with Chinook hops, oatmeal, roasted barley, pale, caramel and chocolate malts. 
Nice dark color with tan head.  This beer features a roasted malt coffee aroma, coffee flavor forward with a wonderfully smooth finish. Another favorite in the Beer Lady household

Emigration Amber 4% ABV Described as: A house favorite at Squatters since 1989 this medium bodied, copper colored ale gets its flavors and aromas from pale and caramel malted barley and Cascade and Chinook whole flower hops. 
I had a pint of this as a cask conditioned beer.  This beer features a crisp amber color with a hoppy/malty aroma, smooth creamy forward flavor with a hint of hops to finish.  My favorite of the tasting.

Cask conditioned Emigration Amber

At a separate restaurant, I had the chance to enjoy Hell's Keep Belgian Style Golden Ale
Per Utah Law, this is only available in bottles due to it's high alcohol content of 7.75%ABV  It is described as follows: Hell's Keep is deceptively refreshing and complex. A unique ester profile developed in fermentation and high level of carbonation produce this devilish golden strong ale.
This beer has a beautiful golden color, and superb head retention. The aroma is rich with malt and esters,  with a mild banana forward flavor and a slightly bitter finish.  Another pleasure to drink

From the Reserve Series

As I mentioned earlier, Utah Law restricts the alcohol content you can serve on draft.  If you want to enjoy (or brew) anything higher than 4%ABV, you have to have a bottle, which personally I think is unfortunate, because a lot of the beers above, and elsewhere in Utah, could have a much stronger aroma and flavor profile. 

Brew Review: Creekside Brewing Company; San Luis Obispo, CA

My friend and I literally stumbled upon Creekside Brewing Company as we were making our way back to our hotel.  It is a lovely, intimate place to go to enjoy a beer, I highly enjoyed the atmosphere in this place.

They have a seven barrel system with two fermenters. A sampler here consists of four beers, so here we go:

Honey Blonde 5.0% ABV: This beer had a beautiful golden color, a nice light aroma.  It has a light, slightly bitter forward presentation with an equally light honey finish.  According to the head brewer no actual honey was used, which threw me for a loop.  I enjoyed this beer so much I ordered a pint of it.

Check out the lacing on the glass!

Brew Crew Brown 5.5% ABV:  This beer has a nice dark caramel color, but weak head retention.  It has a very nutty, malty aroma and a very please roasted malt finish.  Another favorite of mine.

DBL Dark Stout 7.1% ABV:  As a stout should, this had a nice nice dark brown color.  It had a strong coffee/mocha aroma, but pretty mild in taste with a rough finish.

Guest Tap: Kern River Outstanding IPA 6.8%:  This beer had a nice golden color with very good head retention, very floral/ hoppy aroma, and very hoppy tasting, my palate couldn't detect much else.

I had a chance to speak to the brewer, who of course was intrigued by my note taking considering we were amongst the chaos that is a college bar.  He indicated that they normally have more house beers on tap, but demand has just been overwhelming.  So if you are in San Luis Obispo, look this place up and enjoy a pint.

Cheers everyone

Brew Review: SLO Brewing Company, San Luis Obispo, CA

SLO Brewing Company is located in downtown San Luis Obispo.  It is a brew pub and I'm told a good place to go see good live bands.  I couldn't keep the server around long enough to get much information on the place.

The offering board

These are not in tasting order:

Winter Brown: Big Malty Brown Ale 7.2%ABV
This beer had a nice caramel color, though minimal head but a nice malty aroma.  It has a good roasted, strong nutty taste with a slight malt finish, very well balanced, a favorite of mine

Dunkel Wizen: Stronger and Darker version of the Hefewiezen 5.6%ABV
When compared to the Hefeweizen, the color was to me, identical.  It has a light caramel color, a smooth, mild flavor, and a hint of banana to finish and a slight wheat aroma

Hefewizen: Traditional German Wheat Ale 4.4%ABV
When directly compared to the Dunkel the taste is considerably lighter with a much more pronounced banana/ citrus flavor

Reggae Red: no description available
Reddish caramel color a nice fine bubbly head, not much in terms of aroma, a slight malt flavor, with a bitter and, I thought, a slightly soapy finish

Tri Clover Irish Stout: Dry Irish Stout served on nitrogen
A nice dark color with a very stable white head, slight roasted malt aroma, with a creamy nutty flavor and just a hint of bitter finish, very enjoyable

Honey Blonde: no description available
This beer has a nice golden color and a light tangy aroma and nice hint of honey to finish.  A very smooth beer and another one of my favorites

Bluesberry: base consists of the honey blonde
Slightly darker color than the honey blonde, this beer has a light blueberry aroma, with a bitter but not hoppy bitter taste and a coffee finish.  Aside from the aroma, not sure where the blueberries come into play here.

Metal Porter: no description available
This beer has a nice dark brown color, some head, a bitter malt aroma, and a slight hop flavor to finish

From left to right: Winter Brown, Dunkel Wiezen, Reggae Red, Tri Clover Irish, Metal Porter and Honey Blonde

Overall some pretty good offerings, comparing the Hefe to the Dunkel was pretty fun, and the Honey Blonde to the Bluesberry.  The Winter Brown seemed to be a seldom offered nut brown, which is nice.  There are some good things going on here.  I didn't get to see some music, but the food was good and on a good night, a place with good atmosphere

Brew Review: Wynkoop Brewing Company Denver, CO

Our final stop on the beer/skiing tour was Wynkoop.  If you like beer and are in Colorado you need to come to this brewery.  Besides the beer, Wynkoop is also noted for its in house billiard tables upstairs and a movie theater downstairs. Oh yeah, and it's Denver's oldest brew pub

Now on to the beer:

Our fearless bartender served up two sampler sets to our group of four with their ten flagship beers:

Before picture

Starting from the near left and going across
Wixa Weiss: This had a nice citrusy, banana-y aroma with a refreshingly mild wheat taste, a pretty classic German Hefeweisen.

Two Guns Pilsner: this is a good beer for a hot summer day, as you can see from the picture (Left second from bottom) it has very good foam stability, this beer has a nice slightly hoppy aroma with a slight malt taste to it. 

Light Rail Ale: this beer has a nice floral aroma to it, but pretty light in flavor.  I'd say this is Wynkoop's answer to a Coor's light.

Patty's Chili Beer: To me, this smelled and tasted a lot like cardboard, my fellow tasters tell me that it's the green chili, the taste though consisted of a very intense chili flavor.  If you like spicy beer, this is probably for you, I was not a fan.

Rail Yard Ale: This was one of my favorites, if not the outright winner.  It has a beautiful red color, with a nice head.  It has a nice malty flavor with just a hint of caramel.

London Calling IPA: This was served cask conditioned, and was surprisingly not very hoppy considering it was an IPA, which was due to the use of fuggles.

Silverback Pale Ale: When you buy a pint of this beer, the proceeds go towards Silverback Gorilla Conservation.  My fellow tasters really enjoyed this one, I thought it had a nice floral aroma to it but a little too hoppy for my tastes.

St. Charles ESB: Another cask conditioned ale, which helped subdue the bitter and made this beer malty and delicious tasting.  I enjoyed a pint of this one.

Roll that beautiful beer footage

B3K Schwarzbier: A black lager, I got a lot of roasted malt in this one, but otherwise a pretty simple beer fairly mild beer.

Cowtown Milk Stout: Another favorite of mine, this beer had very creamy feel and taste to it and overall pretty yummy.

Our bartender, seeing our appreciation for the beers, decided to let us sample the rest of the board

I dare you ;)

Bill's Strong Scotch Ale:  This is a pretty malty beer, deep red in color, but not overpoweringly sweet, like some Scotch Ales I've sampled.

Skull and Crossbones Black IPA: A favorite for my other half, I found it to be super hoppy in both aroma and flavor

The Coupler Imperial Stout: This beer smelled like whiskey, it had a lot of residual sugars making it an extremely sweet beer to drink, too sweet for this palate

Pils Noir: A black pilsner, a style we had not seen anywhere else and prompted us to ask the bartender, how did the brewmaster come up with this one?  And she delivered the assistant brewer!  They basically wanted to experiment with a combination of an imperial and a pilsner with dark malts.  The outcome was a beer very similar to the B3K, which actually served as the base, but the malts were considerably more subdued and the were more prevalant.

 

 

After/ During Picture

Another point about Wynkoop is the food, I had their mac and cheese with chicken and it was Delicious!!!!!  Like I said, go there, like now.  Prost!!!!

Brew Review: Breckenridge Brew Co. - Breckenridge, CO

To continue our mini tour of Colorado, we decided to do some skiing in Breckenridge, and what better way to wind down from a great day of skiing than by having a beer.  Our tasting at Breckenridge actually took us a couple of days because of their happy hour offering of $6 pitchers.  Yes you read that correctly, everyday from 3-6, the Pub and Brewery offers $6 pitchers and $2 pints.

The offering board

Irish Red: 5.5% ABV, Rich Caramel Malt, Low Hops - I thought the "low hops" description was a bit deceptive because all I really detected was a hoppy aroma and very hop forward.

Agave Wheat: 4.2% ABV, American unfiltered wheat brewed with Agave Nectar - On this one I got a sort of lime aroma (though this may have been due to the pitcher being garnished with limes) the flavor was very mild, with the slightest hint of sweetness towards the end.

Blue Mountain Brown: 7.5% ABV Dry hopped, American Big Bad Brown Ale: This beer had a slightly roasted malt aroma, very malt forward with a nutty finish.  This was one of my favorite beers.

Vanilla Porter: 4.7% ABV Herb and Spice Beer with Roasted Chocolate and creamy vanilla finish: This beer has a great chocolate aroma to it and to me almost tastes like a root beer float, it has a lovely vanilla finish.


Trademark Pale Ale: 5.7% ABV, American Pale ale with moderate maltiness and a sweet floral hop character, Dry hopped with fuggles and Kent Hops - This beer was my favorite, there was a nice floral aroma with a nice golden color, mild hop and malt flavor.  This is a very easy drinking beer.

Ladies and Gentlemen Trademark Pale Ale

Brek Lite: 4.0% ABV cream ale with a subtle balance of malt and hops - this is a very mild beer, there didn't seem to be going on in terms of aroma or taste, it almost seemed like their version of a Coors light.

I enjoyed the atmosphere at Breckenridge.  They do have a full restaurant, but we did not sample the food, though judging by the number of people waiting to be seated for dinner, I assume the food is good.  One of the really cool things is the guide the bartenders use to further describe the beers in terms of the different malts and hops that were used to make the beer.  Great brewery wonderful beers

Cheers

Brew Review: Montain Sun Pub and Brewery Boulder, CO

Mountain Sun offers a wide variety of beer, such a wide variety in fact that we sampled 19 beers, 3 of which were guest taps.  The Brewery is an on premises 6 barrel system and is part of a chain of two breweries in Colorado.  It is a quaint place, with a nice atmosphere.  My co-tasters and I attracted a lot of attention when we ordered the full array of beers.

Holy lots of beer Batman!!!!

Just as a note: as the tasting progressed, as I'm sure you have all experienced before, some of the finer notes of the beer may have been lost.

Quinn's Golden Ale:  I didn't really detect much here on the nose, there seemed to be little to no aroma, however this is definitely a hoppy ale, but has some malt tastes to it.

Ginger Strong Ale: There's a definite ginger aroma to the beer, but refreshingly mild flavor at first but then the ginger hits at the finish, I enjoyed this one.

Colorado Kind Ale: This was a hoppy amber, it was kind of hard to detect anything else after the Ginger Strong ale.  When served on nitro, the hoppy flavor really became apparent, overpoweringly so for this palate.

Annapurna Amber:  This beer had a very nice caramel aroma, mild on the hops, but there was something in the after taste I couldn't quite place, another beer I enjoyed as well.

Blackberry Wheat:  True to its name, there was a definite fruity aroma to this beer, the taste however was not overpoweringly fruity, like you might find with some Lambics.  I also thought I detected a hint of citrus on the finish.

Cleveland Brown: This was my favorite beer. There was a nice coffee aroma, with a nutty, smokey malt taste.

Old School Dry Irish Stout:  This one had a smokey, coffee aroma, slightly hop forward, but with a mild malt finish. (I'm going to say this is the point where my palate was overwhelmed)

Java Porter: Surprisingly, little to no aroma, with a pretty mild flavor at first, the coffee comes in strong at the finish.

Smokescreen Porter: I detected a touch of bacon aroma to this one, with a bitter, smokey bacony taste to it.

Korova Cream: Not much aroma, but a nice smokey flavor and smooth feeling in the mouth.

Pearl St Porter: This beer seemed pretty mild, with a smokey taste to it but a bitter finish.

Guest Brew: Grand Teton Black Caldron: This beer was very malty, and had a smokey, bacony taste, very different from the Smokescreen.  When put on nitro, the flavors mellow out a bit and becomes deliciously creamy.

XXX Pale Ale: This was a relatively hoppy beer, and yet mild, there was also a citrusy hoppy aroma to it.

FYIPA: Hops, hops and more hops, this too had a citrusy hoppy aroma to it, but a pretty mild hoppy taste to it, for an IPA.

Dirty Blonde: This is a sour beer, though not overpoweringly tart, like I've tried in the past, I could actually drink more than a taste of it.

Illusion Dweller IPA: this was a pretty hoppy beer, but had a citrus finish.

Guest Brew: Avery IPA: Again another hoppy beer, with a citrus finish to it, but distinctly different from the Illusion Dweller.

I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere of the brewery, They also have some pretty good food.  My opinion though is that there was too wide variety of beer available.  To the novice beer aficionado, the selection can be overwhelming.  I did enjoy tasting how the flavor changes when you change the keg gas.  The staff was also very friendly and knowledgeable about what was being served, I'd say it's worth the trip to Boulder to check it out at the very least.

So as a poll to my fellow samplers, how many is too many?

Pro vaše zdraví!

Brew Review: Skyscraper Brewing Company

Tonight I had the pleasure of visiting Skyscraper Brewing Company who are currently working out of a 15 barrel system with 7 fermenters, but are in the process of doubling the size of their operation.  Skyscraper hit my radar thanks to the hubby who had a bottle of their Winter Warmer and decided he wanted a whole keg.  One thing I learned tonight was that Skyscraper does a lot of contract brewing, but from the sounds of things, they want to take more ownership of the beers they brew.  The "tasting room" is fun because it's a folding table located by one of the keg storage refrigerators, a nice low key way to try beer.  Jose "Cuervo" and Jorge "The Artist" were my hosts, Cuervo did most of the talking.

Now on to the important part:

Bulldozer Honeyweizen: This is Skyscraper's flagship beer, described as follows, "An unfiltered American Wheat Ale, brewed with Wildflower Honey. Subtle notes of honey and malt in the aroma. The flavor combines wheat and barley maltiness, balanced by a light, spicy hop flavor. Finishes crisp, without being overly sweet.
5.0% ABV
25 IBU
Bronze Ribbon - 2007 California State Fair"
To me there was a subtle yet pronounced aroma of honey, which I found highly enjoyable.  Cuervo told me what I was smelling was the Munich grains used to make the beer, but I stand firm with the honey, I could smell the flowers. The beer is refreshingly easy to drink and doesn't require the citrus garnish most Hefeweizens would recommend to bring out the Hefe flavor.

Beer Bitch (maybe BierBitzch) Pilsner:  I was very surprised that this was a pilsner, because it wasn't remotely hopppy and had a very strong aroma of cloves. This beer, to me, had a very wheat beer feel to it, it was mild and smooth and I could just picture myself sitting out on the deck enjoying this beer on a hot summer's day.  (This is a contract brew, but I didn't catch who for, unfortunately)

Firemen's Brewnette:  The Brewnette is a deliciously nutty, slightly malty, mocha enhanced ale. It's a thicker beer, but again very drinkable. According to the website, this is described as a German DoubleBock with 8% ABV so drink with caution

Gentlemen's Caller Requiem: An Espresso Stout.  This is a caffeinated beer, according to Jose, they toned down the espresso from what it was in the original batch, which left him awake all night from overenjoyment.  At first, I was skeptical about the espresso flavor, but as I continued to taste, I definitely got the feeling of drinking black coffee especially in the after taste

Firemen's Red:  After the Requiem, it was hard to detect much going on in this beer, but I could taste the malt and was considerably milder.  I know from previous tastes of this beer, it is very good.

Winter Warmer:  Well of course I'm going to review the keg!  The aromas presented by this beer, I thought were eerily similar to the Beer Bitch.  There are certainly a lot of spices and there is a heavy malty characteristic to this beer.  Definitely a sipping beer and recommended to be enjoyed at a slightly warmer temperature.


So my favorite? The Bulldozer, and maybe it was the honey that attracted me, but it's a well made beer full of unique flavors for a Hefe, I encourage you to try it.

Prost

Random Six Pack Review

Our local store allows you to build your own six pack from their wall of beer, unfortunately for the blog, the other five were enjoyed at a party this past weekend and I forgot my notebook.  For the future though, I'll be sure to be better prepared!

But never fear, I think we saved the best for last, I present to you Telegraph Brewing Company's Winter Ale!!

7.5% ABV comes corked in a 750mL bottle.  From Batch #65. The description reads as follows:
"Inspired by Mexican hot chocolate, Telegraph Winter Ale warms even the coldest of nights with hints of cinnamon, allspice, and sweet ancho chilies.  Using generous amounts of chocolate and caramel malts, we brew this beer in limited quantities  as a special treat for our friends and families.  Be sure to enjoy it cool, rather than cold, to fully appreciate its complexity.  Cheers!"

As you can see here, it has a pretty nice head to it and is a very dark amber color.  The head remained pretty stable for the entirety of the consumption.  For the aroma, you can definitely smell the allspice, it has a pretty strong presence in the beer.  The initial sip was pretty mild but the finish presented the roasted malt coffee-esque flavor.  The ancho chilies didn't start to present themselves until after a couple of sips when you can start to feel a slight tingling on the tongue and when the beer warmed up a bit, (I'll admit, this beer was stored in the fridge and was at a colder than the recommended serving temperature).  But, that kind of makes this beer pretty fun because as you get deeper into your glass the malts start to present themselves more.

This one is definitely a sipper an if you can find some, this is one I would recommend.

Prost!

Brew Review: Newport Beach Brewing Co.

So for my first real beer review, I visited Newport Beach Brewing Co. The bar is nice offering a view of the system with a nice open restaurant area/ Dance floor (fairly typical for Newport Bars).  Nice atmosphere overall.

Now to the beer:

Newport Beach Blonde: a pretty light beer, not much aroma, bitter, but otherwise mild, offered a wheaty aftertaste.

Pelican Pale Ale: nice floral aroma, hoppy but had a nice finish.

Newport Coast Steam: this one again, did not offer much in terms of aroma, but was very smooth going down, and had a slight malty flavor to it.

Bisbee ESB: very hoppy, not much aroma, the description said it was an English style red, definitely had the color, but again, the hops overpowered any flavor I could pick up.

DBL: Dry Hop citrusy, but hoppy, there were also some fruity tones, one of my co-tasters leaned towards blueberry  (notes: this beer was made with EKG and whole leaf Chinook hops).

Balboa Brown: this one was pleasantly nutty, with a smokey/malty taste to it, the favorite of the group.

IGOTWOOD: A barrel aged IPA on Nitro - I tried this one soley on the name and didn't notice that it was an IPA until I referred back the description.  It was a very creamy ale with citrus undertones, surprisingly not very hoppy considering it was an IPA.

My favorites were the Pelican and the Balboa Brown, I'd like to revisit because it looks like the brewery rotates it offerings fairly regularly.

One thing to note: I've only recently tried Steam Beers which are described by Beer Advocate as: "The California Common, or Steam Beer, is a unique 100% American style lager. It's usually brewed with a special strain of lager yeast that works better at warmer temperatures. This method dates back to the late 1800's in California when refrigeration was a great luxury. The brewers back then had to improvise to cool the beer down, so shallow fermenters were used. So in a way the lager yeast was trained to ferment quicker at warmer temperatures. Today's examples are light amber to tawny in color, medium bodied with a malty character. Mildly fruity with an assertive hop bitterness.

"Anchor Brewing Co. trademarked the term 'Steam Beer' and as such all other beers must be legally referred to as 'California Common.'"

Did you know: The Irish cheers sláinte, means health

A Unique Experience

Well at least for me anyway.  Yesterday, I had the pleasure of volunteering with an event hosted by The Bruery, in Placentia, CA.  They were judging the beers for their Batch 300 Contest and my job, along with about 10 others was to be a runner for the judges.  As a thank you we got a nice lunch out of the deal, and oh yeah, we got to sample the entries as well.

I can't really review the entries I tasted because, one, they were part of a blind taste test, and two, there were about 200 entries of various types of beer; anything from your traditional Belgian to Lambic Sours.

This is what the table looked like after the tasting was complete:

That is one full table

From what I sampled, there were a lot of good entries, among my favorites was on made with clover and honey, and a strong Dubbel.  So may the best beer win.

I thought the most interesting aspect of this experience though was the pool of judges.  There were about 50 - 60 of them all from varying backgrounds of, "I'm a Grand Master Beer Judge" to I work for the brewery.  One woman was even there because she wrote a book called The Naked Pint, one I'm going to have to look up when I'm in a bookstore.  I also thought it was pretty cool that as the judges were scoring the beers they were trying, they were offering the brewer constructive criticism on why their beer didn't score so well, or offered praises where their beer shined.

One of the funnier aspects was, as we stewards were clearing the tables, the judges would pass on their recommendations of the beers, "Try that one."  usually had us flocking to get a sample, of course that typically also happened with the "Drink at your own risk" beers, just out of shear curiosity, of how bad could it be. 

And generally those beers were kind of me to, something isn't right but it isn't terrible, but two of those beers... one made me gag, and one smelled just plain horrible, and tasted even worse. 

At the end of the day, I did get to try one new beer, The Bruery's Cuadruple,  a dark Belgian, with a rich thick malty flavor. 

The Bruery Cuadruple

I wish I could tell you more, but my palate was pretty much done by that time of the day.  I'll have to return and re-visit at some point.  In the meantime, one of my favorite beers from the Bruery is Mischeif, go grab yourself a bottle and enjoy.

Cheers!

Getting Started

Let me start out with, I like beer, not all types of beer, but I'll try anything.  Since graduating college, I have been visiting breweries, and trying new craft beers across the US, and a bit in Europe, to learn what styles I like.  This blog will be my way of sharing my experiences with you.

One of the things I've learned throughout the years is that everyone's palate is different, depending on what you eat, what you have drank prior to tasting, can affect how a beer tastes, so revisiting a beer can bring out a new experience.  And that is part of the fun.

I typically prefer red ales, or older style English and Scotch ales.  I've recently developed a like towards Belgian styles, specifically the Trippel.  Right now, I tend to shy away from IPAs, because the bitterness from the hops tends to overpower the beer itself.  I'm also not a big fan of Sour beers because again, the flavor presented from the lacto-baccillus (the sourness) overpowers the beer. 

So I hope that you will enjoy this blog and please feel free to suggest beers to try and places to go.  Cheers