Beer Review: Firestone Walker Double Jack

I got this bottle of Double Jack from my buddy Greg in New Jersey about a month ago in a fairly large trade. We don't get Firestone Walker stuff in Maryland and he raves about them. I could not pass on a chance to get a bottle of their imperial India pale ale, one of my favorite styles. My wife and I split this bottle one fine evening.

I poured mine in to a Weyerbacher tulip. It appears clear faded copper with a foamy white head and some super sticky lacing. It smells of piny resinous hops with a touch of citrus tart sweetness. The nose is huge. Typical for Jersey, right?

The up front flavor is of huge grassy hops. It settles in piney and gooey with a touch of cane sugary sweetness in the middle balanced out by a somewhat dark malt backbone. It's got a long fading bitter finish. To me it feels pretty well balanced considering the potential sweetness of this brew The is a very sensory beer. It wakes up your palate and subsequently kicks the shit out of it.

This is an excellent beer. I'd put this just a notch above Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA simply because this is more balanced for the hop profile. At close to 10% in alcohol content it will weigh heavy on your balance and judgement. It's a borderline palate killer with it's huge flavor profiles. But, if you're going to have one craft brew for an evening this is certainly an excellent choice.


I'm looking forward to trying the other stuff from Firestone Walker that I've got sitting here, Abacus and Robust Porter.

Beer Review: Sly Fox Odyssey Imperial IPA

Another treat from PA.

I bought a bottle of Sly Fox Brewing Company's Odyssey Imperial IPA a few weeks back with I was up in the Philly area. Remember that epic beer weekend? Here's the run down if you missed it. At about $6 for a 22 oz bottle the price was right. I enjoy the style and we don't get this back home. Here we go.

Poured in to a Dogfish Head signature glass. Appears hazy light copper with a thin and firm fine bubbled white head, small dotted lacing and minimal carbonation streams. The head thins out and dissipates a bit, but stays through the end of the tasting. Odyssey smells of spicy hops, almost floral and perfumy. There is some malt sweetness present in the nose as well.

Upon the first sips I'm greeted with huge spicy and bitter hop flavors. Tastes kind of like what I imagine candied grapefruit would taste like. The malt sweet and richness is less present in the flavor profile than in the aroma. It finishes with subtle hop bitterness with an aftertaste that doesn't stick around for more than a few seconds.

This tastes and feels like an above average double IPA. It's not a total hop or booze bomb, which is nice. At 8.4% ABV I was expecting this to taste a tad on the boozy side. But Sly Fox did a decent job of balancing out the flavors in this beer, though it leans a bit more towards the hoppy side as expected. I'd get this again in a few years, but it's nothing I'd go crazy to find.

Beer Review: Weyerbacher Harvest Ale. Fresh is best for IPAs!

You don't look a day over 3 months.

I picked up this as a single about three weeks ago at the Perfect Pour in Columbia, MD. Weyerbacher's Harvest Ale is completely new to me. I've enjoyed many beers from Weyerbacher and I'm a big fan of American India Pale Ales.

Printed on the neck is:

09.08.10
12.08.10

I'm assuming that the top is a bottle date and the bottom is a "best by" date. So, I'm more than four months past prime. Damn. I should have checked that one out before purchasing. Shrug.

Poured a 12 oz. bottle in to a Hop*Ruiter glass. Comes out bright cloudy copper orange with a decent sized white head and sticky lacing that stays through the tasting. No hop notes in the aroma, mostly bready sweetness and a hint of citrus sweetness. I'm pretty sure it's underwhelming due to age. The flavor profile is similar to the aroma but with lightly bitter fruity hops up front. The middle is creamy and finishes sour with a long aftertaste. Feels medium in body. Pretty easy to drink, but the long muddled aftertaste makes me want something else.

It's my own dumb fault to have bought an old bottle, so I'm not passing too much judgement on this tasting. The mildly malty middle has me thinking that when this is fresh that it's very well balance with a full floral aroma. So, I'll look for this one in September and experience it fresh.


So, the moral of this story is to only drink fresh IPAs. This is something that my friends and I discuss a lot and I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't follow it. In my opinion there are few greater beer tasting experiences than enjoying a super fresh American IPA. But, I do believe that the beer isn't terrible after it's prime date. It's like a faded picture, you get the general idea but you've lost it's color and depth.


I plan to continue to purchase and enjoy Weyerbacher's brews. Quad and Blithering Idiot English barleywine are regulars in my house. We've got a few different vintages of each in the cellar collection. I very much have enjoyed Double Simcoe IPA in the past as well. It's always nice to support local(ish) brewers!

Beer Review: New Belgium Ranger IPA

New Belgium Ranger

I got this bottle from my buddy Jeff in Seattle. I'd read and heard that this was a very good standard IPA. I'm very much excited about New Belgium beginning distribution to my area later this year. I've enjoyed a few from their Lips of Faith line, and have a few more sitting in the cellar.


I poured this 22 oz. bottle of Ranger in to a Weyerbacher tulip. It's crystal clear light copper with a big fluffy white head and sticky wedded lacing. There is some decent head retention throughout the tasting. It smells sweet, malty, citrusy and with some pungent hop notes. The flavors are mild hop bitterness up front, creamy fruity grapefruit sweet middle and a long lingering hoppy bitter finish. It feels medium bodied and crisp.

This is a decent and fairly well balanced IPA. It stands up there with the rest of my craft IPA choices and I can see myself getting a six pack or a few bombers a year. It's not mind blowing but it's very good for what it is. It's always nice to have options and to support craft brewers.

Beer Review: Russian River Pliny the Elder

Pliny!

I got a bottle of Pliny the Elder from my buddy Jeff in Seattle just a week or so ago. Being so sought after I was expecting a lot from this beer. A few of my friends have come across it in the Philly area on tap, but I had yet to have it. I split this bottle with my buddy Greg to celebrate a very special occasion.

Poured from a 500ml bottle dated 3.21.11, one month and one day old at the time of tasting, into a Duvel tulip. Appears cloudy bright gold, foamy off white head with a light sticky lacing. There's a small bit of head retention through the tasting. Steady carbonation streams at first that eventually calm. 

The aroma is delicately present without being overpowering. Smells of a complex blend of hop and citrus notes. Some dank earthy hop tones creep up as it warms. Up front it tastes citrusy sweet with mild hop bitterness. The middle is tart and creamy orange sweet. This beer feels extremely well balanced between the sweet and bitter side. Both sides shine! Feels thin to medium bodied with crisp carbonation.

Pliny tastes and feels very well balanced, looks gorgeous and there's no hint of alcohol. It's very easy drinking and not a palate killer. This beer lives up to the hype. It's an extremely well made brew and within this style you won't find one better.


I've got some more goodies from Russian River that I'll eventually be getting to:
Consecration, Redemption, Salvation & Damnation.

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Robert Johnson's Hellhound On My Ale

Fresh Snifter Pour

My wife and I are down in Delaware for a few days on vacation. She wanted to surprise me with a trip to the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth for an afternoon of fun. The secret got out a few days before our trip. I was extremely excited for this day. I dutifully did my homework and saw that there were four or five brew pub exclusives on tap this week, all of which I had never had. I was able to enjoy all of them. What really excited me was the beer I had not yet heard of, Hellhound.

From what I've read this is the second in the series of the Sony collaboration, a follow up to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. I had not heard one peep of this brew prior to arriving. I am a music fanatic and was very pleased with Bitches Brew. Being a Miles Davis nut I was like a pig in shit when this one finally came out. Finding out that there's another in the series? Hell yeah. It's on. I feel like I've struck gold. I was quite excited that it was on draft at the brew pub. We were able to leave with two 750ml bottles to take home. We were told that this is a production batch and that we will see it in stores.

Full bottle shot

Hellhound is an imperial India pale ale brewed with lemons. IPA is a style that is not at all new to the folks at Dogfish head. Their sessionable 60 Minute IPA, hop bomb 90 Minute IPA and cellar dweller booze bomb 120 Minute IPA are all regulars in my household. Their Burton Baton is a nice oak aged imperial IPA and their brew pub/ale house exculsive 75 Minute IPA are both very enjoyable. Their Spring seasonal ApriHop is a excellent tart fruit IPA. So, why do we need yet another IPA from Dogfish Head? It appears to be about inspiration here.

When we first arrived it was not yet tapped. About an hour in to our visit the bartender told us that it was on an ready to pour. One please! He poured a fresh one in to a snifter for me. It appears light hazy copper with big off white fluffy head and sticky lacing. The aroma is of sweet sticky non-bitter hop notes, not much else surprisingly.

The flavor is surprisingly mild with earthy hop notes up front. It has a sweet and lemon juicy feel to it. Creamy sweet middle with some grapefruit and bitter lemon notes, with a fading bitter finish. This is not the hop bomb I expected. It feels medium to light-medium bodied and only a hint of alcohol warmth. Very enjoyable and not very heavy on the palate.

Overall I'd have to say that Hellhound is a very good representation of the imperial IPA style. Much more fruity than I expected. This is an excellent alternative to the 90 min IPA if you don't want the overwhelming bitter bops and alcohol feel. This clocks in at a slightly higher ABV than the 90 but you wouldn't know it at all. I really do enjoy (the side effects of) high gravity and high ABV brews, but sometimes it's just not practical or convenient to enjoy them. This one will sneak up on you. It's incredibly easy to drink for 10% alcohol by volume. A full pint will have you feeling warm and fuzzy.

In my opinion, success in brewing is achieved when all ingredients are represented in flavor and aroma and the alcohol content is well hidden.  This one is very close to being perfect for me. The aroma was a tad underwhelming. If it the smell matched the flavor profile they'd have hit a home run. Instead, they hit a triple which subsequently got two runs in.

So, I've got two big bottles to bring home to Baltimore to share. Who want's to come over for a tasting?

I'll be completing a full write up of the brew pub exclusives Noble Rot, Ta Henket, Fungus Tea'Mungus and Black & Red sometime later this week when we get home. Check my Twitter posts (@AleThoughts) for pictures and a few tasting notes.

Here are some close ups of the bottle label.