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.

Polish that Apple

Well due to request, and the fact I probably won't be writing much for about 5 days due to my wonderful nightshift spree I have yet another beer. Also for Randy I chose a fruit beer of sorts to review, Ephemere from Unibroue a French Canadian brewery that specializes in Belgian style ales. This particular beer starts out in a belgian white style of beer (if unfamiliar with term think Blue Moon), sometimes called Wit beers. These typically have spices added to complement the natural flavor. Some are made smooth, other have a nice bite depending on what the particular brewer has added. This one has the juice of Granny Smith apples added to it, and dear god its strong. Drink it in a snifter like I did and you'll swear your about to gulp down some cider, or feeling like your standing in an orchard. It's a strong damn odor, and my old roomate could attest to it. The beer also has Curacao added to give it a little more of interesting tinge, and as with all good belgians what else but corriandor. It does make a wonderful complement to the spices and natural flavor of the white ale. I'm not typically a fruit beer fan by any means but this one I could handle. White ales are probably my favorite of light colored ales simply because each one does have a uniquely strong taste and flavor to it. It's these things that I do like about this ale, however I was not a fan of everything about it. First off as is the trouble with many other Unibroue belgian style ales I've tried, this one is also very carbonated. If you don't have reflux already this is the drink that can put anyone over the hump. So if one were neither fan of cabonated drinks or apples avoid this like the plague, you may hate beer after. For all others I say enjoy the strong flavors, it is a very unique drink which I'm always a fan of. As with most of Unibroue's bottles you get a wonderfully stylized piece of artwork featuring a fairy on the bottle, for those unaware the Quebecqois still love holding on to the lore of their romantic French culture of many years past. I found this one in a taster pack from this brewery at Top Foods again, for all those who have found this insightful enjoy the alcoholic explosion of granny smith flavor with a belgian kick.

Light and Flowery

Okay for this one I picked a bit of an awkward one that I enjoy, but definintley in the different category. This particular one is called Fraoch, and it is a heather ale. Heather is a small flowering plant that can be found around the globe. This ale originates in where Scotland is today, but traces it's roots back to around 2000 B.C. when there was no Scotland. Is this that exact recipe, no that would be a miracle considering the lack of written material from that era. We do know through general research that an ale was made from heather in the area for thousands of years and that's about it. The original recipe has probably been changed so much since it's inception it's really kind of irrelevent in the long run, although in medieval times it was supposedly extremely potent. This one comes in at about 5.4% alc. so pretty much close to any microbrew you may have today. It has a nice light color to it, and as shown is best served in a goblet. Why? Because this brew still has an extremely strong floral presence, it smells exactly as if you were to smush your face right down into a patch of these flowers. This also gives it a light sweetness on the aftertaste, that nectar flavor that comes from natural flowers close to a honeysuckle if you've ever had one. IPA lovers BEWARE!! There are absolutely no hops used at all in this beer! Not a one, because the heather acts as the flavoring agent instead of hops. Other plants can also be used in a similar pattern, but heather is one of the most prominent. I have seen another heather ale in a bottle, but I don't recall the name of the beer or brewery. The only other brewery I know that prominently brews a heather ale is Roots brewery in Portland (MANDATORY if you ever visit this city!!). Besides the wonderful floral and herbal sweetness, the beer has a wonderful crispness that gives it a completely different, but definetly wonderful flavor. And hey if you homebrew and have trouble getting hops, why not give it a try. I picked this one up from Top Foods in Puyallup (best Top for beer selection), but I've seen it at 99 bottles, Metropolitan market, and Tacoma Boys so it's not extremely difficult to find. So sit down and drink up a good brew that if you have roots to the UK your ancient naked relative could have been getting ripped on thousands of years ago.

Ivan the Terrible Stout

Well christmas was recently upon us, so as per usual I dug in to my collection of rarities to celebrate the holiday season. The particular beer I'm talking about today I had never tried before, partly because it's rare, and also newer brew to the scene. Out of the 9 people who I poured this out to try (it comes in an extra large bottle ie. wine) 8 were blown away by the taste. It was that good, and the one who didn't like it was not only an IPA junkie, but also a beer salter yuck! When most people think of Big Sky Brewing, they think of Moose Drool, Powder Hound, Scapegoat, etc. Recently the brewery has taken a little different tact, and began making limited edition specialized beers. The one I had is called Ivan the Terrible Imperial Stout. All the great parts of a stout are there, the chocolate taste, the thick dark froth that can only come from an imperial stout. There were so many flavors hitting the palette it was unreal. The Imperial Stout is another brew aged in bourbon barrels, which gives it a wonderful finish complete with all the malty/caramel flavors that are the essence of the bourbon production. Another suprise was after it sits in your mouth for a couple of seconds you get the slight taste of honey accompanying the flavor. I've personally never had an Imperial Stout with this kind of flavor added, but I'm a definite fan. The sweet sugary flavor of the honey was a great complement to the chocolate, fruit, and bourbon flavors already spiraling around this wonderful beer. I may get flack from all the Deschutes fans for this, but I like this more than the Abyss which is always a top rated imperial stout by just about every magazine and beer fan out there. There are only 3000 of these out there, and they are also a little pricey (about 18.99 a bottle), but I definitely say pick one up if you find it. Another wonderful tidbit I loved about this beer was it's raw unfiltered state, in the foam and at the bottom you'll not only taste but see several leftover chunks of ingrediants added in the production of this wonderful ale. After most of the beer was gone you can see just how dense the foam and material are, it's wonderfully thick, just right for these long cold months. I think 99 bottles has some left, but probably not much so if you're interested hit'em up quick. Well hope whoever wants one gets one, your mouth is gonna melt from all the flavor!

Panty Peeler

I get asked quite a bit about my opinion of a certain beer, for instance what do you think of the taste? Is it worth the money? etc. So I figured I'd just post my thoughts on a certain beer every week, and let people know if it's something they would like or merely just ramble my own opinion. After all I can only tell you from my perspective, and as one person loves to point out my taste buds are probably screwed up from my deviated septum. I'm simply one man whose been to a lot of breweries (almost every one in WA and OR), and tried a lot of different beers. Well with that disclaimer out of the way here I go. My pick this week Midnight Sun Brewing Co.'s Panty Peeler Belgian-Style Tripel. If you've never had a Belgian Tripel, have one! It's a smooth, but heavy ale, and usually very thoroughly crafted. As is usual with many Belgian ales this one is accompanied with a hint of coriander oranges, that tend to complement the ale with a stinging yet smooth finish. If you don't like the taste of belgian yeast avoid this ale! It's ripe with it, but that's what I love about it. A major plus making this my ale of the week is the fact that it was not overly carbonated as some belgians can be at times. Alcohol already reeks havoc on your reflux system why add to the issue. The beers from this brewery in Alaska have been popping up more and more around the area markets, which is a good thing cause almost everything I've tried from them so far exemplifies awesomeness! And as usual with most tripels and this being no exception, exercise caution as it may look like your average light beer but it's packing a 9% punch to it. Since I am just an informal observer judging from a buyer standpoint, I'm also giving brownie points to the clever title and goofy artwork, its all part of the wonderful experience. I purchased my from Top Foods for anyone who is interested. On a scale from 1 to 5 I give it a 3.5. It's not perfect, but definitly one you'd look forward to after a long hard day of work in order to break into relaxation