Game of Thrones

Yup it's around that time where I'm brewing have a little time on my hands, and instead of school would love to write about something I truly love to spill words out of my mouth for....beer! Now for this one I decided to go hyper-nerd beer, I'm talking this one won't be trumped until someone has the legal rights to either go chewbacca's deep sensual brown ale, or Harry Potters blonde hemp ale (I'm sure both of which are currently being tossed around crazier heads than mine). No for this one I went into a category of nerdom that has caught fire across the United States, the Game of Thrones beer brewed by Ommegang in New York. Now for the most part I'm not the biggest fan of alot of the east coast brews, sometimes they just seem to lack that flavorful zing that the west coast beers just pop you in the mouth with. Since I'm a fan of the books (read every single one and eagerly await the next), and watch the show (best adaptation ever!), I felt an almost orgasmic drive to review this beer. This initial offering is a nice Belgian Golden Ale, or Blonde as it's labeled on the body. Also of note the second one is already getting ready with it being called the Night Watch Stout, I'm hoping a nice robust offering for the red wedding red beer I'm sure is coming hopefully in a much better setup and not as punny as I'm sure it has the ultimate possibility to sound like. Now upfront the beer accomplishes what it should as a belgian, it has that wonderfully lighty yeasty floral scent that the belgian yeast and beers do a wonderful job of accomplishing. It also seems to have a nice scent of zest or possibly lemon grass that tickles the nose perfect to set the mood in the early summer. The taste is the usual semi tastful blonde base that really needs the right combination of herbs and hops to really give it a character of it's own to make it more appealing then a mike's hard lemonade that's been aging in the sun for about a month or two. This one tends to have a real herbal sharpness to it upfront, which uses probably an herbal hop like hallertau to accomplish (some people are a fan, however I am but only in a powerful beer where that flavor does not decimate all. I'm not sure if they used any but on my tongue the late after taste gives the sort of juniper berry flavor, though light and not overpowering which I am a fan of, which could be the "spruciness" the bottle seems to claim. Lemon peel was added but mostly as a scent characteristic in my mind, you will not get the flavor of a blue moon, or wailua wheat (please don't judge I'm in Southeast Idaho and they were the best I could think of examples, I may cry if I dwell on this point to long). It's a real interesting mix, though not my favorite belgian blonde I've ever tasted. I'm really hoping the next ones blow my socks off because you would think in a specialized series with one offs you'd be making something pretty unique and not well done. My advice try harder and get off the little bus, I've had good beer from this brewery before so no excuses and come up with a stronger, richer recipe and not one that could be achieved by anyone coming off a peyote bender. Now onto the bottle artwork, now here is where the nerd part of me is just fainting like a little girl with this brew. The iron throne with some wonderful background art, and the game of thrones in golden writing, OMG OMG OMG!!! Hahahaha a little over the edge but I love it. I'd say it's worth a try if you come across it and it's not to ludicrously priced but if not you can find better in the belgian styles (try sound brewing). The nerd in me says must have though, like some stupid fish I took the worm, and have now been mounted for the glamour shot. Sit down grab a snifter and allow your nose to take in Westros.

Tanglefoot English Style Ale

For the most part many of the Idaho brews I've had haven't captured some of the punch I get from the let's say more flavorful entries that some Washington and Oregon breweries offer up. To be sure there are some examples of some some more complex and harder beers but not a lot. One that seems to be getting closer to it's neighbor states is McCall brewing with a fair amount of the beer they offer that I have had. For this one I chose their winter beer which is labeled a English Style Ale, which for the most part of a lot of other southern Idaho beers I've had makes many of the others look like they've been caught pulling their pants up and hurriedly scurrying off in the morning like a classic walk of shame. Which the label kind of alludes to which looks like a turn of the century pictorial of England with a sloppily drunking man trying to stagger upright, a kid who looks like a monkey, and an old hag which shows the remarkable abilities that have made the British dental system the superior force that it remains to this very day. The visual does intrigue and gives an inviting feel to with a wink in it's eye that makes you think it'll be a good beer, and it truly is. The name is very undescript as there are many English style ales, I believe this one was shooting towards that of an English Style Old Ale, which are awesome and for those unaware think of it as a bold malty type of barleywine as a comparator. This one comes close to actually achieving the British style alcohol level sitting at 8% which in comparison would be close to say Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barleywine. When you get a that opening whiff of the beer upon opening and a couple swirls you'll get that sweet punch to the nose that comes from a brown sugar or molasses. The flavor is a nice bold malty ale that leaves that sweetness sticking on your tongue and giving you a fairly balanced look of being not to sweet like some of the harder style barleywines. It warms the belly nice, and won't knock you over in one shot like Old Schoolhouse Barleywine will. It has a nice brash maltiness I love in these beers that I think get's lost in the translation sometimes with the incredibly smooth examples such as North Coast's Old Stock Ale. A bit more slightly carbonated to, which slows down the tasting experiences and allows the sweetness to kind of linger on the palate, it warms right up and after a thrilling experience sticks around and cuddles your mouth to satisfaction. I'm sure in a bigger market like Boise it costs a whole lot less, in Pocatello here though it got a little pricey at 9$ for the bottle which for the money back home equal up to some other great beers for that price, but I'm just happy it's here for me to buy! On their own description of the bottle they say the beer is balanced with hops for a nice floral and sweet offering. I don't know if that was the weed they were smoking at the time but they may need to lay off the pipe because it's about as warm and floral as a Hippo. Another reason I write these just because you add a floral hop to the brew and expect a floral sensation, and trick your mind into it, doesn't mean it happened. That being said awesome beer that I'd be happy to spoon with again anytime, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nice molassey, winter beer. In actuality I hope they never try and balance it more, that would make it a more west coast style barleywine, and if they want that then they should just let their testacles descend and make one in the lineup, their other beers are very enjoyable I'm sure it'll be a wonderful offering to that anyone will love to get ahold of down one of these meaty 22 oz long necks. Your on your way Idaho keep going, the little kid in the bunch is growing up and pretty soon that voice will quit cracking.

Griswald's Holiday Ale

Happy holidays, seasons greetings, and festivus for the rest of us. Since I dearly love winter beers (with which I love with a sensual fervor that would shake my entire house down)I decided to grab another semi-local delicacy from the rocky mountain region of the southeast Idaho area. I was taken in by a feisty looker that tickled me visually and gave me an immediate reaction, lazer beam, sucked me right in. The beer is Griswald's Holiday Ale from Red Rock brewery in Salt Lake City Utah. For those of you who do not know what the Griswald's is in reference to (PS for legal reasons I'm guessing is why they had to use the A instead of the O), you have lead an empty shell of a life until know. Please go out and rent National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation IMMEDIATELY!!!!! Don't stop for beer (I know heresy), don't pick up your kids, rent this movie, it should be on the naturalization test to be an American. By now you can probably guess why the label sucked me in then, the foot tangled in a smattering of lights, oh the light scene from the movie absolutely classic. And to be honest I do not know how this stroke of genius naming and labeling had been overlooked until now. On to the beer, this one is another standard style of beer in the holiday stable is the spiced beer. A beer that uses a blend of spices such as allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, etc. usually accompanying a sturdy plain ale so as not to overpower or overhop in most cases. Well this one totally undershot that notion and this pony should be put out to pasture and make room for a new recipe. Possibly to the reasons that I just mentioned so there is a nice soft flavor. This one however just has a very bland finish, and doesn't have the solid body of some other beers in this category of holiday ale such as Pike's Auld Aquaintance. According to the alcohol percentage of 8.5% this is another one of those beers that you would expect to be a little heftier in the body and provide a little more fulfilling in the taste department for this beer. Alas it tastes like Clark Griswold watered this one down with his garden hose. If the spices were not in this, I shutter to think how bad this beer would have actually been. It also helps with the smell because the beer hardly tickles the nose at all except for the spices that help to try and keep this pony standing on at least one leg. Now I've had a great IPA from this brewery, so this was kind of dissapointing considering and should not dissuade others from giving some of their other beers a try. Should you buy this, yes for the label along, just give the beer to some of your less refined or beertarded people. Just like alot of the world's newscasters attractive on the outside, with not alot of substance on the inside. Also sorry for the photography I know there are probably some solid finger paintings out there that have a clearer picture.

Back from the Dead!!

Yup that's right I'm still aware that this blog is sitting out there in the universe in existence and that I have neglected it to the point of having Sarah Mclachlan do a sad infomercial for it. (Cue Arms of the Angel) Alas brewing beer and other life choices have made me have as much affinity for extracurricular writing as I have for eating nasty ass Lutefisk (for those who have never tried don't, and those who have your some sick masochists). I also now live in Southeast Idaho which has severly limited many of the beers I love to the point of recreating the pottery scene from Ghost. There is one positive that there are many beers available out here that I have never even dared run into simply surfing the selection back home on the Pacific coast. That being said I have had many of the selections from breweries out of Fort Collins CO that do get distributed to the Pacific Northwest. One I never had that's one of the larger, and older breweries is Odell Brewing, never even had a clue it existed before I got out here much like Canadian football championship. Anyone who has ever met me, or knows much about my beer preferences knows that I go into orgasmic fits over winter beers to the point of being writhingly wet (ignore the spot on my pants). Now Odell I have had several of their beers by now to get a base knowledge of what a good range of their beers are like. I suprisingly was not a fan of their Scottish ale, so knowing that winter beer was on the way I did not have high hopes for a darker beer closer to that style, there hoppy beers have all tasted much better to me so I was going into the beer expecting it to be closer to a winter beer ala Full Sail Ale's Wreck the Halls; Hoppy Holidays, a good hoppy winter beer with a real crisp hop presence. Low and behold I was completely wrong, and this beer is closer to what I feel their Scotch Ale truly should be! There is a crisp sweet, malty smell right off the back which is usually the signal flare that I am going to love the shit out of this! It has all the deep rich malty notes that I LOVE!!! in all the scotch ales that are amongst my favorites. This does not have the peat, or subtle smoky notes in the flavor. Instead let it sit on your tongue for a minute and enjoy the crisp sweetness, with a terrific malt flavor. The bottle describes it as being a hint of caramel, I would say it has a sweetness that feels like the hidden love child of an agave honey, mixed with some rich caramel. Flavor from this beer as is typical with the sugar and sweetness of the tradtional winter beers wraps itself around your tongue and never let's go. If it was the end of titanic both of them would be sinking to the bottom of the ocean together. Another thing I do appreciate is the quaint little piece of beer art with every bottle, even the underplayed winter cabin scene is written out perfect, kind of saying this is the kind of beer you want to cuddle up to late at night in a winter cabin, making you feel all warm and fuzzy all over, and I do mean all over. So if it pops up in the PNW, I'd say pick it up for sure and add it to the usual list of winter goodness. It's available all over Southern Idaho which is a wonderful bright note in an area that has it's fair share of beer selection gloom and doom (though I will note trying to get better!). Here again another fine example of a winter beer to huddle up to and slip the tongue to!

No. longer No. Lights

Okay I had to slack a little last week, I know it's easy to just sit and type, but I haven't felt like doing much more sleeping my way toward recovery. For this review I've decided to go home for the holidays, or at least 80 miles south of where I was born. This week I thought I'd kick things off with a beer from Northern Lights brewery in Spokane WA. I've seen this beer in a varied amount of stores from Top, to a convenience mart in Spokane (although it is much easier on the other side of the cascades to find). This particular one came from 99 bottles which usually carries a nice amount of beer from these guys. I love me some dark winter warmers, and this one has a nice unique taste. I love the malt taste that accompanies the Scotch ales for the most part, and this winter warmer has a wonderful up front malted taste that also gives it a nice smooth finish. It gives this beer a brownish red color, a little darker than an irish red. For those of you who love the hoppiness of IPAs don't worry this one comes aquipped with a wonderful hoppy aftertaste towards the end. If you let it liner in your mouth for a while it has a wonderful hoppy/spiced taste to it after the initial blast of malted goodness to start. This one kicks it out at about 7.5% alc, and gives the belly that wonderful heat up most of us are looking for in a winter beer. Just about all the cover art on the Northern Lights bottles is the same, this one just has a snowing atmosphere to the background. It pays homage to the fact that during the winter time in that area it is possible to see the Aurora Borealis (outside the city of course). But that cover is always on their beer which is good. I have a couple of side notes to this first off if you ever visit the brewery have some of the beer jerky, it's DAMN GOOD! Also I happend to be eating Pad Thai before this, which initially gave it a real caramely flavor, not good or bad just unexpected. All in all it is a pretty flavor full winter warmer, those in Spokane may find this a bore as it's usually more available than water there, but for the rest of you folks I recommend it as one of the better winter warmers out there.

Ace of Spades!!

Um um um been a while, but for this blog entry I have a good one. Especially for the hoppy heads, this one might send you into an orgasmic frenzy for hoppy goodness. It's a beer thankfully bottled and distributed in Washington, but comes from probably one of the greatest breweries for hoppy beers down from our neighbor down south Portland, Oregon. Also I should say one of the most pleasant breweries in Portland to visit as well, I am of course refering to the wonderful people of the HUB (Hopworks Urban Brewery). Now all of their regular beers are pretty damn hoppy, so their Ace of Spades Imperial IPA is just about to stradel over from Defcon 4 to 5! The hop sting hits you right in the nose when your bringing the bottle up to your lips. You could drink it out of a snifter, but just the waft from opening the bottle is going to give you a good idea about what your in for. If you let it sit long enough you can tell there is a sense of sweetness of a heavier beer like Imperial's are meant to be, and the 9.5% alcohol tag proves that. What does that mean? Well judging by how hoppy this is I'm guessing bucket loads of most likely citra hops were added at absolutely any point in the fermenation process possible! There is a deep citrus taste that clings to the beer as well, something beyond just the normal aftertaste created by Citra hops, it has strong hints, and probably has some elements added, of red grapefruit. Which is the perfect ingrediant to engage, and wed this kind of hoppy beverage. Yes super hoppy, but actually with some other flavors that have some of the same acidic properties, and seem to stand up well and accomadate these particular hop oils. It's a wonderful, and well done Imperial IPA, the kind even non-hop-heads could enjoy. And I always expect as much from hopworks. If your looking for it, well this particular bottle has a nice ace of spades display, and motorcycle at the top, I'm also guessing that some of the brewers at hopworks, and I may be going out on a limb on this one, may be motorhead fans, just maybe. Thankfully distribution seems to be pretty wide to I've seen it at the Beer Junction, 99 Bottles, By the Bottle, Top Foods, QFC, etc. So there should be no real excuse not to find any, so enjoy another beautifully crafted hoppy beer from the HUB.

PS: I will try and spit these out when I can as I love writing about beer, but my schedule is nice and full nowadays so the blog may not be updated as often as it used to be, be assured I will write when I can. And thank you to the people who still read and ask about it the blog will march on!

Yum Smokey

For this one I decided to choose a dark beer a I dearly love!! It's not just a jizz in my pants kind of beer, it's the kind of beer you bend down on one knee and present the ring to. For my particular taste buds few are in it's echelon of taste. I will also mention that I am totally biased towards this beer by nature of also being a big scotch fan, and this beer is an awesome blend of both of those worlds. It comes from a great brewery in Scotland called Brew Dog. They make some great extreme beers, some that have collaborated with other breweries in as far away as the US and Norway. This one is called Paradox Islay. It is an Imperial Stout which is usually a great beer in itself, but this particular one is aged in 1998 Bowmore Scotch casks. There are the dark chocolaty flavors of an imperial stout, accompanied by all the malty notes of the scoth barrel. If your a person who enjoys tons of flavors this has it, you could spend a good portion of the day trying to pick out all the subtle hints of flavor that come from aging this ale in a scotch cask. There are other flavors of this particular brew which will all give a different flavor depending on the region the particular scotch cask came from (Islay, Speyside, etc.), each individual barrel will give off a unique flavor all it's own. So while you can have a similar brew each time you taste this beer, it is almost a guarantee the flavor will be different in some form. Now if your not a big fan of a smoky aftertaste, you may avoid this as aging in a scotch barrel will always give off some of the smoky flavor of that particular peat. As for the imperial stout part, the sweet edge is a nice complement towards giving the beer an overall smooth characteristic, all the flavors are in a battle of sorts so that no one flavor overpowers the other with any kind of intensity. Aging in the barrel gives it that wonderful cask finish to, if you've never had these beers they are given a longer natural fermentation which enriches both flavor and smoothness. Drink this at room temperature if you want the boldness of all the flavors, or refrigerate if you feel it's one of those drinks you need to temper the edge with so to speak. The one downside, it's about 12$ a bottle so she ain't cheap, but you will certainly get a satisfying experience. That being said I encourage anyone to try this beer, it's so pristinly made that even dark beer haters will admire the taste and finish of this product.