Beer Rant

Okay for this beer blog I decided to keep the hop train right on a chugging so to speak. This beer was one of the most well balanced IPAs I've ever had! For those of you unfamiliar with Fish Brewing, they make damn hoppy beers. Even their standard pale ale tastes like a full fledged IPA from the offerings of other breweries. The kicker being that for this line of their production they use nothing but organic material. They source everything necessary in order to be certified 100% organic from the U.S. government, which to me makes it all that more impressive that they accomplish what they do from the limited selection they have for their raw materials. Living in the state of Washington you might believe hops to be readily available on every corner, given we produce more than any other state in the union, but in fact a heavy proportion of the world's organic hops come from New Zealand! In economic terms that means supplies are limited, and expensive, and for those not in the know New Zealand is a group of two major islands that lie thousands of miles away from North America, and just about every other part of the world. But on the beer at hand, one of Fish Brewing's specialty ales, or Reel Ales, 10 squared. The beer is made from 10 different kinds of hops, and tops out the bitterness scale at 100 IBU's! What does that mean? Well it's kind of relative a normal IPA may be sitting around 35 IBU's and taste incredibly hoppy. An Imperial Stout may be tipping the scales at 60 IBU's, but trust me there will be little to zero hoppiness noticeable throught the entire beer drinking experience. This Imperial IPA is the most balanced of any I have ever had, period. Yes, I did have to spell it out to exemplify how perfectly this beer was brewed. Some Imperial IPAs taste overly sweet from alcohol content (ex. Runiantion IPA from Stone Brewing), others just taste like stomped hops leaving no other flavor or an incredibly dry flavor of the raw material used to make the brew (ex. Maritime Brewing Imperial IPA). This beer walks the line perfectly, it doesn't taste like a dry IPA, or a fresh hop, but rawest example of a beer brewed to IPA perfection which has the perfect amount of fresh taste without being to dry. And to me it's absolutely wonderful, the example by which all other Imperial IPAs should strive to achieve, complete and utter balance of hoppiness within the beer. Flavor is not lost on this one either, the use of 10 differnet types of hops gives it a variety of distinct flavors. This is the best part of this wonderfully balanced beer, it's extremely hoppy, but the unique flavor is not overwhelmed by the nature of the hops themselves. You should be able to taste some unique flavors without your tastebuds being overwhelmed by the nature of the usual hop flavor which can obliterate any other flavors in an IPA at times. Heavy, you bet, just like most beers this hoppy this one tips the scales at a wonderful 10% on the label, but after drinking it I firmly believe this may be underating the ale a little! It don't feel like 10% in the least! Carbonation and overall texture are perfect to match the rest of the ale. The sample I had was perfect all around right out of the bottle. Flavor, texture, smell, all the senses are in for a hoppy treat with this one. I have heard it is on tap at the 74th st ale house in Seattle, mine was bought right at the brewery when I picked up a keg of Winterfish (also excellent). I haven't even seen it at any of the specialty brew shops yet either, so if your in need a trip to our state capital may be in your near future. It may seem like a drive, but if you are an IPA lover, or genuine hop head, you should be visiting this brewery anyway. They make incredibly hoppy beers, and do a fine job on the overall crafting of any beer they produce. If one is lucky enough to be in the Greenwood area of Seattle, or at the old Fishbowl itself, I definitley say try or pick this beer up to see what the baseline of brewing perfection for what an Imperial IPA should be!

Beer Rant

Hello all again, I've been on a much needed vacation to the wonderful isle of Maui. To make up for my lack of beer literature I have a ton of rants planned, but first off I wanted to rant about a little bit of what they had going on over in Maui. That is right they are brewing on Hawaii's most picturesque island, and just about every resident in Maui pushes this beer like it is god's gift to man. Truth be told they do make some damn fine beer, and normally I don't say that about a brewery that solely uses cans! If you are on a quest their beer can be found stateside, but only their main brews they sell in cans. Their mainstays are Big Swell IPA, Coconut Porter, and Bleach Blonde Lager. They all have enough flavor packed in to overwhelm any aluminum flavor, or they can real well, and need to let the rest of the canning community in on their secret. The beer I have pictured here is only available at the brewery as far as I am aware, it is a Guava Weizen. I find the guava to be a nice subtle accompaniment to the wheat ale, more destinct, and complimentary than Kona brewing's Wailua wheat made with passion fruit. The difference being that the flavor though strong is not as overwhelming in the beer as that of the passion fruit, in Kona's Hawaiian twist of a classic wheat beer. Just like everything else I had at the brewpub it was silky smooth, the right amount of carbonation, and the right amount of flavor. Everyone may think mai tai's in Maui, but that cool silky smooth beer was heaven in the delightful Hawaiian air! Of course this is only available in the brewpub just north of Lahaina, and south of Napili. All the beer was awesome at this brewery though, I had a Cascadian Rye Ale (a dark rye IPA done in a belgian style, that a couple of breweries are making in competition to see who does best), a barleywine, ESB, English old Ale, etc. I could find little to complain about, the Cascadian was a little dry on the old tastebuds, but simple stuff like that isn't really of note unless you are completely anal, in the developing stages of OCD, or possibly just lame. The Guava Weizen for being a fruit beer is a definite try, take it from someone who is not the biggest fruit beer fan by any means. For everyone else, don't fret, as you can read from the list they actually brew a ton of the hardcore UK style ales, basically the barleywine will set you right for a good hour or so. I was oh so happy, neh giddy at having been able to try out so many of their wonderful beers, and happy to see even far off locals like Maui to get in on the brewing act. Thank you Maui brewing for adding a nice footnote to a wonderful vacation, and to everyone else give those cans a second look if you happen to find them, you'll be pleasently suprised, trust me!

Beer Rant

Well for midway through the week I thought I'd pick a standard ale of sorts. That is to say good, but more of a standard type beer that many breweries make, including the major ones. That of course being an Irish Red, typically not the sweetest, strongest, or even the hoppiness it still has a unique character and quality to it all it's own. Big Al's is a fairly new brewery, and since they opened the Irish Red has been what I would say is their flagship ale. For those who haven't been it's about the nicest find in probably all of the white center area, but a definite stop nonetheless. This Irish Red in my opinion is one of, if not the best out there. It actually has a wonderful robust flavor, where a great many of these ales have a rather bland taste about them. Big Al's effort is light years ahead of anything like Killian's (YUCK!), or even Ireland's own Smithwicks. This one has a wonderful robust amber flavor, with almost a hint of nuttiness about it. Two tastes that tend to blend into each other very nicely, especially in this ale. When it hits the tongue the flavor tends to have a lasting effect about it, something other reds do not. Unlike other standard reds, and many lagers, this one does not have a hint of being watered down, or an extreme exercise in bland beer. I do have a food side note to go with this one, I sat down with a beer and a couple of slices of some smoked cheddar, and OH MY GOD! What a find, if you have it available and this beer you will not regret it! The smoky flavor of the cheese only enhanced the flavors present, but also gave it a slightly sweetened aftertaste on the backed of the drink. The amber, the nut flavor, all kind of just poured out in awesome array of flavor. I was specifically having WSU 2 year aged smoked cheddar, but I don't see why any wouldn't work. As for texture it's incredibly smooth out of the tap, which is the only place you can drink this wonderful brew. Mine came from my own home bar of course, but you can find this beer in a large amount/variety of bars around the Seattle area, even some of the classier establishments in the Kent valley! I'm not sure on the exact alc. % either, but I would estimate it at somewhere around 4.5%, so while there is significant flavor, it does not have an overpowering heaviness to it like a barleywine or stout. If your looking for a simpler beer, without simple taste then this may be the beer for you. Great flavor without a lot of frills, and a solid effort as always from Big Al's.