Today's beer adventure: Deschutes Brewery Jubelale (Oregon). 355ml bottle. 6.7% ABV. Served in a stemmed porter glass. Purchased in the craft beer capital of Saskatchewan - Plentywood, Montana, USA.The pour is clear ruby brown with a huge tan head. Terrific lacing. High carbonation in glass.The aroma is bready, biscuity malt followed by pine-y hops. Small amount of lemon and grapefruit. Graininess. A bit of toffee.
The flavour is HOP FORWARD. Toffee, biscuity malts married to a resin-y pine hop character. A bit of coffee? A slight bit of malt sweetness balances off the brew very well. Medium hop-bittered finish. Full mouthfeel.
Rating is 8.5/10 dogs. This is a seasonal offering from Deschutes that cellars well enough that they had a vertical tasting of it this year I believe. Would have been very neat. Very nice hop-forward warmer. I have one bottle left. I think I might stash it away somewhere.What other people think: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/deschutes-jubelale/2142/Brewer's website: http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/jubelale
Today's beer adventure: Big Sky Brewing Cowboy Coffee Porter (Montana). 355ml bottle. 6.2% ABV. Served in a stemmed porter glass. Purchased in the craft beer capital of Saskatchewan - Plentywood, Montana, USA.The pour is blaaack with a small amount of ruby highlights when held up to the light. No actual light gets through though. Large, tan head with excellent retention.The aroma is of coffee (duh), bittersweet chocolate, a hint of dark fruit.The flavour is roasted espresso coffee beans, chocolate, and plums/cherries. Roasted malt and hop bitterness is very present. Excellent medium-full mouthfeel both from the thickness of the porter and the carbonation. Finish is bitter, a bit fruity, and relatively short.Rating is 7.75/10 dogs. Actually I had a bottle or two of this a few weeks ago, but just got around to having one more for the review, and it is better than I remember by a fair bit. At first it seems like it will just be a huge coffee-infused porter, but the porter itself stands up very well once you get past the coffee Very tasty!What other people think: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/big-sky-cowboy-coffee-porter/121259/Brewer's website: http://www.bigskybrew.com/cowboy%20coffee%20porter
Today's beer adventure: Brasserie d'Achouffe La Chouffe (Belgium). 330ml bottle. 8.0% ABV. Served in a tulip glass. Purchased at the mighty SLGA. About $3.50ish.The pour is slightly hazy yellow amber with a huge rocky white head. Heavy lacing on glass. High carbonation. Perfect Belgian.Aroma is of sweet bready malt. Some banana. Pineapple. Some spiciness - cloves and coriander. Some pepper as well. Small amount of general Belgian funkiness.The flavour is fruity sweet. Banana again and pineapple again. The spiciness follows. Some breadiness and candi sweetness. Very crisp. Sweet Belgian yeast finish with just the slightest hint of bitterness on the very very end. Fantastic full mouthfeel. Soooo good.Rating is 8.75/10 dogs. Yum yum yummers. World class Belgian strong. The sweetness is so balanced with the crispness that it is never cloying. Also, there is no booze in this. None. Zero.What other people think: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-chouffe/1614/Brewer's website: http://www.achouffe.be/en
Today's beer adventure: Full Sail Amber Ale (Oregon). 355ml bottle. 6.0% ABV. Served in pint glass. Purchased in the craft beer capital of Saskatchewan - Plentywood, Montana, USA.The pour is rich amber. High carbonation in glass with one finger of off white head. Excellent clarity. Tons of lacing on glass.
The aroma is of sweet biscuity malt with fruity, floral hops fairly prominent. A bit of lemon. A bit of grass. Very bright nose.The flavour is toasty sweet malt and brilliant fruity hop followed by more grassy, slightly piney hops. Medium full mouthfeel. Slightly creamy? Dryish finish. Alcohol not prominent..a good thing.Rating is 7/10 dogs. Decent Amber. More "brilliant" and definitely hoppier on the palate than a Fat Tire or an Alaskan Amber (yes, I know that's an Alt, but it calls itself an amber, so there). Would be a great deck beer.What other people think: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39/131Brewer's website: http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/beers/amber.cfm
Today's beer adventure: Bayern Brewing Face Plant Doppel Weizen (Montana, USA). 355ml bottle. 7.5% ABV. Served in a stemmed porter glass. Purchased at the SuperValu in the craft beer capital of Saskatchewan, Plentywood, Montana USA.The pour is dark brown with some red-amber highlights. Good clarity. Two fingers of off white head. Great retention. Low carbonation.
Aroma is sweet toasted malt, pumpernickel bread, some fruitiness. A little bit of alcohol on the nose as well..just slightly. Not much of the traditional "weizen" character..more bock-ishThe flavour makes up for the relative lack of weizen quality in the nose. Big toasted malt and some banana, floral and fruity esters from the yeast. Decent carbonation and very good mouthfeel. Short, somewhat bitter finish - just a little bit astringent? Rating is 7.25 dogs. Interesting offering from Bayern. I had been looking forward to this for quite some time as I could never find it during my travels to the US, and to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed. Was hoping for a little more weizen character in this one in addition to the big malty bock-y character. I am a HUGE fan of Bayern's Bakken Bock Doppelbock, and maybe was expecting to be wowed by this one equally, but wasn't.What other people think: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/605/54452Brewer's website: http://www.bayernbrewery.com/beer/faceplant.htm
Today's beer adventure: Coors Brewing Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale (Colorado, USA). 355ml can. 5.6% ABV. Served in my now neglected stolen BP pint glass. Purchased on my last trip to Plentywood, MT.The pour is fairly dark reddish amber with one finger of white head. Light/medium carbonation.
Aroma is toasted malt. Biscuit. Small amount of vanilla and even less spice. Not much nose to speak of really.The flavour is sweet toasted malt. Caramel and vanilla notes. A bit of toffee. Some green apple (acetaldehyde). What ISN'T there is spice, or alcohol warmness or anything resembling an winter ale. Finish is fairly typical macro-beer...acetaldehyde. Lightish mouthfeel.Rating is 5.5/10 dogs. It's drinkable. That's about it. Regular Blue Moon is actually alright most of the time, which is why I gave this a shot. It's BORING and not even as good as the original. Meh times 100.
What other people think: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/blue-moon-winter-abbey-ale/132956/Brewer's website: http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.com/OurBeers/Product/winter-abbey-ale
Today's beer adventure: Uncommon Brewers Baltic Porter (California, USA). 500ml can. 7.8% ABV. Served in stemmed porter glass. Purchased at Willow Park Wine and Spirits in Regina. ~$5.00.The pour is dark mahogany brown topped with a two fingers of foamy tan head. Clear, but opaque. Carbonation can't be seen to the naked eye. Good retention.
Aroma is star anise, roasted malt, espresso coffee, black liquorice (of course). Woody smokiness. Some dark fruit character - plums and dates - is present as well, but is hiding behind the liquorice and coffee.The flavour is smoky, liquorice flavoured coffee. The black liquorice gets into every fibre of your palate and doesn't let go. Some malt sweetness and is present but is overwhelmed by the blacky blackness of the anise. As the glass warms, the wood smoke gains momentum as well as some bitter cherry. High carbonation leads to a full mouthfeel.Rating is 7.75/10 dogs. Very complex beer. Once you get past the anise, there are a lot of other things going on. Certainly if black liquorice isn't your thing (as it wasn't with the friends I shared the first can with), I would steer well clear of this inky black offering. Enjoyable beer, especially at the price.What other people think: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17962/47631Brewer's website: http://www.uncommonbrewers.com/baltic.php
Today's beer adventure: Deschutes Brewery Jubelale (Oregon). 355ml bottle. 6.7% ABV. Served in a stemmed porter glass. Purchased in the craft beer capital of Saskatchewan - Plentywood, Montana, USA.
