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