Heather

Well for all those who may not know, the state of Washington produces a lions share of the world's hops just east of the Cascades across the Yakima Valley. Most of these hops are siphoned off to become bastardized by some of the nastiest ales in the world namely Busch Lite, and I could keep listing but that one beer should tip you off as to what I'm talking about. If not please visit your local mini mart and check out the nearest 24 pack of whatever is on display at the moment. But I digress, recently a very wonderful trend has reared it's head as local breweries have begun to dot all the small cities and towns of the Valley, mostly through their ability to garner a share of hops from the plantations in the area. One of these new breweries making a good start is Yakima Craft Brewing out of where else, Yakima Washington. Now given the proximity you may think I'm going to right about some wonderfully fresh hopped ale, hahaha not so fast. This brewery has been producing a wonderful variety so far, including a hop-less heather ale. Heather ales are an ancient ale (records go all the way back to 2000 BC), brewed using heather tips as the bittering agent. I've had some awesome variations on this ale, as more and more breweries have started to experiment with these types of ales. None that quite had the wonderfully light and floral taste of this particular ale though. The reason for that is the honey that was used in the brewing process. The initial floral scent of the heather ale is only heightened by the honey. This beer actually smells like spring, it's sweet floral smell is nothing short of wonderful. The taste is equally as nice, this is a light drinkable ale. Unlike alot of other lighter ales though this one is loaded with flavor. The sweet taste of the honey sugar is perfect for the floral nature of the heather ale. Heather ales I've found to be slightly sweet anyway, the honey instead of becoming overpoweringly sweet, seems to instead be a wonderful helping hand to the heather flavor. Is it hoppy? No not at all, but then again this isn't that sort of beer. Think of it as a marriage of Fraoch Heather Ale, with Big Sky's Summer Honey ale. The alcohol level is 5.5%, nothing astronomical but high enough to let you know this brew has some flavor over say your usual blonde ale. So far I've liked a lot of what these breweries in the Yakima Valley have been cranking out. Yakima Craft Brewing is another stellar brewery with a wonderful beer. So if you want a light ale to make this dreary winter seem a little sunnier this is a great place to start. I've only found this kind at 99 Bottles so far, but I'm sure more markets are sure to come, enjoy!

Lips of Faith Sahti

Another varied entry from New Belgium's more exciting line (or at least in my mind, and for all you who think fat tire is the greatest of the bunch you may be reading the wrong blog). This variation of ale is Sahti, a juniper based ale that is originally from Nordic punching back Finland. That's right the land that brings you one of the rarest languages in the world, Simo Hayha (look him up), and travel via reindeer sled bring you this variety of juniper based ale. This is the first type of this ale I have tried that is actually labeled by it's correct name (Dogfish head makes Sah Tee, which is Sahti, blended with Chai Tea, which I guess is a close name). Traditional Sahti is made with Juniper berries providing the bittering factor mostly in olden times, nowadays as with this entry they use hops with the process as well. I'm happy to report though that the hop flavor does not translate at this one at all, yup hop heads time to face the ground and walkaway to a downtrodden Charlie Brown song. The Juniper though is much lighter than I expected going into this beer. It smells strong initially when you go to take that first sip, but doesn't seem to translate into a real strong taste. I read on the website that New Belgium added some citrus elements, I actually think the Juniper flavor is tempered out a little too much by mainly the orange taste. They should either remove this flavoring, or taper it off something fierce, as I believe the Juniper flavor could be so much better. The Rogue Juniper Pale ale by comparison has a much richer Juniper flavor, the finest example is Alba Scots Pine ale which uses no hops and pine with the fresh spring juniper which was the bar I had set when setting my mind on drinking this ale. Well New Belgium dove right under that bar, hopefully Finland petitions them to increase the quality on their national brew. As with all these style ales for the ease with which this ale can be drank, watch out cause it usually marks in at about 8% alc. With the right combination of food though, this ale may come to life, but as a straight I want to try this beer, might want to pass it by, especially at the price. I've only found it at the specialty beer stores so far (Beer Junction, 99 Bottles, etc.), but you may be able to find it at some specialty grocers. Well I guess it's a first try, but for this Lips of Faith entry it looks like New Belgium might have been channeling their inner Fat Tire.

Black Douglas Ale

Well once again I'm going to my ancestral well for another great brew to write about. This is my personal favorite from the selection of Broughton Beers out of Broughton on the Scottish/English borderlands. Typically all their beers have some cultural and historical name, and illustration. A quick history note Black Douglas is a revered knight who fought in the Scottish Wars of independence(for historically challenged that thing Braveheart is all about). Anyways he was a great fighter and friend of King Robert Bruce I, and carried his heart into crusade as was wished on his deathbed. The beer label will actually give you that little cliff note. So how does this beer stack up against the image of such a badass historical firgure? Pretty well actually, your first hints are that this is going to be a full-bodied beer with a lot of heft. Visually it looks more like a stout or porter, which is what you may prepare yourself for. This would be a mistake, because this is actually lighter, and extremely drinkable in just about any circumstance. As with most beers out of the UK it has a wonderful frothy finish to it as well. The smell is actually a wonderful roasted aroma sticking out, when I smell it I kind of get a little hint of nut, floral, and malt smells from it as well. It's nothing like a Scotch ale though in terms of flavor, this beer is completely different beast as it is not the uber-malt those ales attempt to be. Like I said this beer is pretty much drinkable to the entire spectrum. It has a nice light roasted taste about it, with just the right amount of heft to it so that it's nothing like a stout or a porter. I've had other ruby ales before, but officially this one is slated as a dark ruby by Broughton Beers. I believe the difference in this beer though, is that this beer doesn't really let on any real hop sense to it. Other ruby ales I've had still have a faint hop taste, but this one just has the enjoyable roasted grain taste executed perfectly. Keeping in step the alcohol percentage isn't astronomical either stepping in at 5.6%. While the beer mostly applies to the historical badass in mostly just the name I imagine, Douglas seems like the hearty kind of fella that one mind kicking back a barrel or two of this. Well sit back an enjoy a highly drinkable beer that fits right in the middle of the spectrum, with a little history to boot, after all in the immortal words of NBC "The More You Know"

Abominable Winter Ale

I feel ashamed to say that I have not reviewed a beer from Portland Oregon's own Hopworks Urban Brewery (or HUB for short) for the entire duration I have been writing on this blog. I can only think of one real complaint from these guys, and that's the lack of strong, malty, and darker ales I so love and adore. Other than that I have zero complaints not one. Their beers are definitely for the hop-headed, bushels of hop taste in just about every brew, though they do have a smooth pale ale, stout, and red that are very good. Their bottles are readily available at the Beer Junction and 99 bottles, and a whole host of supermarkets in the area. On a brief side note of the blog, if you find yourself in Portland take time to visit the brewery. It's the epitomy of a green brewery, with all sorts of cool inovations around the place. Besides having great beer, the place is run and operated by great people. Several family and friends of mine went on a brewery tour last spring that we planned, they accomadated us with a free tour, and samples galor! My god I really needed a breather after all the brew they were handing out. So if you have not been yet, go it's worth the trip, and they blew the next brewery we went to out of the water (I'm scouring at you Lucky Labrador on Hawthorne, for shame). Anyway for my first review I decided to go with a maltier ale from the group at HUB, and went with their Abominable Winter Ale. First off, I love the drawing! I know peripherals, but catoonish yetis somehow make me wax nostalgic about my youth. Now as with just about every ale they crank out, the first impression is this was brewed hoppy, and with a tinge of citrus smell. The citrus part does not really translate to the taste on this one. Instead as you delve in it starts to get a taste similar to a spiced type hop ale. Now the bottle says a nice maltier finish to this beer, and as a big scotch ale fan I can say that it is not really malty at all. Though there is a better hint of that flavor than most of their other intensely hoppy ales. It seems it may be taking it's powers to squash that citrusy hop taste into something that it is a slightly malty hop ale. Now alot of other winter warmer ales are generally nice and malty, with a dark roasted taste. There are some variations that veer more towards the hoppy end of the spectrum, and the Abominable Winter Ale is one of these. I would say it compares closer to Full Sail's Wreck the Halls winter ale (this is not the Wassail winter warmer, but another ale). It's always best to break out and have an ale that doesn't imitate every other winter warmer out there. This beer like all great winter ales has a kick that would make a donkey blush (yeah that's right vague farm references) clocking in at a healthy 7.3%. As with all their beers, HUB crafts a very drinkable, well rounded ale that is of some of the best quality out there. If you haven't had the pleasure of one of their ales this is a great place to start, and I request, ne demand you the drinking public take the time to enjoy a HUB ale once before you die.

Flume Creek IPA

I'm back from a prolonged period of oh let's call it busy time. For this blog I'm reaching out to my roots sort of. Back to that somber, reclusive area known as northeastern Washington. If you go north from Colville, right next to FDR lake (aka the Columbia River), there lies the small town of Norhtport Washington. Now sadly this is one brewery I have not yet reached, and if any of you know the distance to this area, then you'll also know why I'm saving it way down the list. I have managed to have a taste here and there at the odd brewfest, but not a good helping. Well hope comes to forwishen, as I laid eyes on one of two bottles from Norhtern Ales while perusing the isles of 99 Bottles. After a rigorous amount of scientific analysis and calling upon all my supernatural capabilities with statistics, eenie meenie miney moe yielded the IPA for me to sample. What I love about this beer, it's the first bare bones IPA I've had in quite some time. No hints of citrus, or dash of herbs, or touches of honey, nope just straight mashy hop smell. It has been the closest to a straight hop on the vine smell I've come across yet. The taste translates right from the smell. Once again this is just a pure bitter IPA, with none of the bells and whistles attached. It tastes like a hoppy mash, and it's wonderful. Not to fruity, not to hardcore, it's positioned itself in the center of varieties. I'm glad to see a company like this thriving and bottling out of one of Washington's most rural, and economically slowed areas. Whats more impressive is just having the ability to bring up a straight shooting IPA, that goes down smooth, not to sweet, just a wonderful hoppy mash of flavor.

Lobster Lovers Beer

Okay I went far off my normal range of beer countries this time. For this ale I journeyed to that awkward part of the globe that isn't quite Scandanavian, and not quite Russian either. From a country once known as the basketball powerhouse of Europe comes an interestingly labeled beer. This is the first beer from former soviet bloc member Lithuania that I have ever had. And it will not be my last, not because it was that good, but because I believe all things are worthy of redemption and because of this beer I deeply feel the good people of Lithuania deserve that when it comes to their beer. The brew is called Lobster Lovers beer, and it has a very interesting name and picture. I know photography is top notch and all, but for those who can't make it out, it depicts a lobster on the back of a naked female. I'm not sure if this is just some art I'm totally missing the point on, but it seemed like the kind of kooky out there kind of beer I'm drawn to. This beer may be the poster child for not judging a book by the cover. This beer looks like cloudy bright, with a golden hew. The taste really matches the look though as it has a kind of cloudy grain like taste to it. Although it is a lager based beer it does have a slightly strong aftertaste. I looked up the beer and I guess it is supposed to be a European style pale lager. I guess that is one way of describing it, another is just a strong lager with a very distinct aftertaste. Now it said the beer was about 8.5% alc on my bottle, and well if it was truth, and it was that strong, bravo on their part for making it that seemless. There was no strong sweeter taste that is typical with a higher alcohol beer. Now the only place where the pale might have reared it's head was the smell, where it did have a slightly similar hew to what all us regular beer snobs would spot as a regular pale ale. All and all this beer was rather bland and closer to a regular blonde ale, with a goofy aftertaste, and a grainy smothered flavor up front for a blonde. Now for a little counterpoint having eaten some lobster a while back I can say that this beer is the closest thing I've ever drank that comes close to that flavor, and in a beer that is not good. If they set out with the goal of creating something that tastes like a fermented lobster, they may want to talk to our former president about borrowing that giant mission accomplished banner. To the brewery itself, it may be time to go back to the drawing board and try making some tastier brews. And to the marketing department over there in Lithuania, congratulations you baited and nabbed this fish. Although I am eager to try a new beer from Lithuania, this was quite happily my last Lobster Lovers beer.