Young's Double Chocolate Stout

type: chocolate stout
origin: Bedford, UK
price: ~$6/.5l (guess)
ABV: 5.2%
NSP: 4.3 (est.)
website (one of the more annoying "are you 21" verifications)

This damn beer has been in my fridge for well over a year now.  It's so ugly and unappealing that I just kept pushing it further and further to the back; but of course I couldn't throw it out!  In fact, the best-by date was 6 months ago (June 2011), so I won't be too critical here.

It's mediocre.  Not interesting, but not bad.  And I think it actually tastes more like a slightly acidic porter.  All that's probably my fault for not enjoying it soon, and I can see why people love this, but I wouldn't age it if I were you.  I would however, take a trip to Londan and try a Young's bitter out of hand-pump, in a proper pub; that sounds delicious.

More importantly though, I'm really glad this crap is out of my fridge so I can focus on more important things, like trying a two year old Black Butte.  Not looking forward to that.

Nogne O Two Captains Double IPA

Type: Double IPA
Origin: Grimstad, Norway
Price: $9.99/500 mL
ABV: 8.5%
NSP: 4.25 (unscaled)
website

Here I am at home with my car a couple of blocks away at the bank. Stop in to get my bank on, and bam, the damn thing won't start back up. So what does one do in such a situation? That's right, drink beer, and fix the fucking car later.

Nogne O has quite a reputation 'round these here parts. If the mouth on their bottles were smaller Andy would probably get all intercoursey with them. So when I saw this at BDBS, I immediately grabbed it so I could review it before any of the other rabble could get to it. Apparently the guy who won the 2010 Norwegian homebrew championship brewed this up at Nogne O...I sure hope they give him a chunk of the profits.

The head is, well, IPA head, pretty standard. The nose is really interesting. Most IPAs have a lot of light fruits, like citrus and green apple and such. This one's got some of that, but there's also something a little darker, like strawberry. It's light and would be hard to detect without a proper glass, but it's there, and definitely unique. The flavor's is pretty malty but dry (thank Odin it's not sweet), and the hops are nice and busty. There isn't really any complexity in the hop flavors, though, more just straight bitterness, and that's too bad. That kind of seems like a common theme with some of these malty IPAs- the weight of the malt whittles off the nuances of the hops. Or maybe they just can't get fresh enough hops up there...I'd imagine it's not ideal growing conditions in Norwaydia. All in all, this is pretty decent. Not my favorite, but there's definitely nothing off about it, and it once again shows that Nogne O is capable of some good stuff. And that strawberry thing on the nose is noteworthy. I'd say if you like the East Coast IPA style, definitely check it out. But for me, put it next to Maharaja, Racer X, or Pliny, and it doesn't quite stack up, particularly at the price. But then again, nothing really would.

Alpine Exponential Hoppiness

Type: Triple IPA
Origin: Alpine, CA
Price: $7/.25l at Toronado
ABV: 11.25%
NSP: 4.0
website

It's Friday and nothing is working out for me.  Suddenly, EXPO.  Toronado posts that it's tapping a fresh batch of Alpine Exponential Hoppiness (Expo).  OK, day over at 3pm.

This is one big mother effin IPA, but it's so well done that you wouldn't be able to tell it's 11.25% had you not asked.  Despite the huge malt backbone, it's so well-hopped it's a minor detail and you get to focus on the beer.  Because, most breweries can't even do a double IPA well (e.g. Laughing Dog), it seems clear that the folks at Alpine are clearly some of the most talented brewers in San Diego county (e.g. Nelson, and this obviously).

Foret Saison

Type: Saison/Farmhouse
Origin: Tourpes, Belgium
Price: $10.99/750 mL
ABV: 7.5%
NSP: 5.12 (unscaled)
website...? Couldn't seem to find an official site.

I was pretty surprised when I looked through the browse pull-down menus on the right side of the page and didn't find this one. I figured one of the other drunken hooligans on this blog would've gotten to it by now.

My saison experience is relatively limited, to be quite honest. I've tried a couple here and there, and reviewed the Boulevard Tank 7, and decided I needed to dig into the style a bit more (note to self- good decision). By most accounts, Foret is an archetypical example (though the bottle refers to Saison Dupont as the originator...though I wouldn't expect they'd give credit to any other brewery as such given that Foret's made at Dupont too), so it seemed a good place to start.

It's got a nice fluffy head that collapsed on the sides, leaving what looked like a marshmallow floating on top. The nose is really interesting- half wit (in yeast terms, not wheat), half pilsner- fruit and spice from the yeast, and some skunk from the hops. And the flavor pretty much follows the same beat, barley sweetness and citrus and funk. It's crisp and refreshing and really delicious.

I'd be curious to do a head-to-head with this and Saison Dupont, just to see the difference (other than $3, 1% ABV, and organicality). Brendan didn't mention any notable hop character, which Foret definitely has. But everything else sounds pretty much identical. Perhaps a saison tasting is on tap, gents/drunken hooligans?

Avery Eighteen

type: rye saison (dry hopped)
origin: Boulder, CO
price: $8 / 22oz
abv: 8.1%
NSP: 6.6
website

What an intriguing idea: a dry-hopped, rye saison.  I had no idea what to expect, but it sounded delicious.  I do remember enjoying this, but unfortunately I lost my tasting notes.  So to summarize: Shitty pics and shitty reviews, FO' LIFE!

Sebago Slick Nick Winter Ale

Type: Strong ale
Origin: Gorham, ME
Price: Not sure, let's guess $9/6-pack
ABV: 6.2%
NSP: 14.67 (unscaled)
website

My parents got me a craft beer club membership for Christmas, so you're going to start seeing me reviewing a lot of beers from random breweries all over the country from now on. I don't actually know the prices on any of these, and I can't be bothered to look, so I'm going to normalize them all to a $9/sixer for NSP calculation purposes. Although I suppose none of you give half a shit about that.

The website calls this a strong ale, but it's a winter warmer (hence winter ale) through and through. It's pretty malty on the nose, though not as much as I expected given the color. There's also some nice spice notes in there as well. The flavor's also lighter in malt than I anticipated, plus a twist of hop bitterness and a bit more of that spice. If you're wondering what spice exactly...I'm not really sure, it's not clear enough to identify it, but there's something spice-ish.

This isn't what I'd call complex, but all in all it's not half bad. I'm not a huge winter warmer fan, so it's nothing I'd hurry to track down in the future, but I appreciate that they used a light enough hand with the malt to keep it refreshing and clean. And there's enough complementary flavors, even if they're simple and limited, to keep it from being one-note. It's the sort of thing you might find at a dinner party, and nobody including you will mind if you drink four or five of them. That's about as non-snobby as a craft beer gets.

Mammoth Brewing Company

94 Berner Street
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

website

Last weekend with three of my friends we headed up to mammoth and the first night I headed straight to the store to pick up some Mammoth brew. I always liked their beer, but have mostly just drank their IPAs and of those my favorite was the IPA 395. The beer has a nice hop bite with some malts and a unique flavor with sage and juniper berries that surprisingly works and fits in with the mountain vibe.

After waking up Saturday a.m. with little snow we decided to head to the Mammoth brewery to check out the rest of their beers. The place is larger than I expected with several fridges of cold beer to purchase, growlers to fill up, merch to purchase, cool solid wood bar top, and beer to drink! Once you get there they go through all of their 9 beers and discuss each one (for free I might add). I liked this format and do not know why other breweries do it like this as you go from light beers to dark (the way you should taste). Also they used laminated sheets with information on each beer just in case you forget what you are tasting. All of their beers were great. The Hefe tasted very similar to one I would get in Germany, which is a great compliment, the Pilsner was smooth and refreshing, Paranoid Pale had a nice balance of hops to malts, and the Double Nut Brown was a in your face brown porter with lots of dark chocolate and coffee.

The remaining beers included some great IPAs, a delicious take on a Barleywine and a seasonal Owens Valley Wet Harvest Lager, which I probably could drink every day. The owner and tasting room guy said this has the "drinkability" of a lager with the taste of an IPA. Kind of reminds me of Evel Keel by Ballast Point, which I love except Wet Harvest one ups it with 6.8% alcohol. Keep up the good brewing guys.

P.S. They have a root beer that is easily the best I have ever had and they sell it in growlers.

Newcastle Founder's Ale

Type: ale
Origin: Burtonwood, UK
Website
ABV: 4.8%


I got this one in the mail Formula PR to review before its released to the US. I haven't been much of a fan of Newcastle brews in the past (I won't post the backlinks because the reviews are not flattering). In fact, I tend to think Newcastle Brown just tastes dirty, and is pretty much the only reason I hate brown ales (the non-snob crew was discussing doing a blind tasting of beer styles we hate - brown ale is first up).

Onto the Founder's Ale. You can tell that it comes from Newcastle because there is a very faint note of the brown ale in the background, although the rest of the beer is very crisp and enjoyable. It does taste a little watered down, however this I think is a positive since it mutes some of the off flavors from the brown ale background. This could almost fall into the session category because it wouldn't be hard to consume many of these (although there are other brews I would pick over it). Its definitely not a failure, and I wouldn't be disappointed if a few of these were leftover in my fridge after a party. If they upped the IBUs (sitting at 20 here), and maybe went towards a more floral hop variety, it would be incredible.

Green Flash Rayon Vert

Type: Belgian-style Pale Ale
Origin: San Diego, CA
Price: $8/4-pack/12oz
Abv: 7.0%
NSP: 12.4
Website


My opinion of the American BPA style is based on Ommegang's BPA, which is brilliant and delicious.  But Green Flash can't just make things delicious and traditional, they've got to add a butt load of hops to everything.  In this case the affected quality is the bitterness: it's simply too bitter to overtake Ommegang in greatness.  That's not saying it's a bad beer (the aromas are wonderful), but it's just not what I'm looking for in a BPA.

Anyone know the story behind the name?

Crooked Stave Fertile Soil Golden Ale

Type: Fresh-hopped (Belgian) Golden Ale
Origin: Fort Collins/Denver, CO
Price: $8.49/750 mL
ABV: 7.0%
NSP: 6.18 (unscaled)
website

I hope Andy's not too bitter that all the beer I used to share with him from my recon efforts I now drink and review myself.

I was a little confused about this one. The bottle says 'Brewed and Bottled at Funkwerks, Inc. in Fort Collins, CO'. So naturally, I thought this beer was a product of Funkwerks, a new (late 2010) brewery that focuses exclusively on saison-style beer. But I went on their website and found no mention of this beer. So then I looked up Crooked Stave, and I find a website for the Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project. Crooked Stave appears to be a registered but not yet built brewery in Denver started by a guy who wrote a Master's thesis on brettanomyces, the yeast strain responsible for the sourness in sour beers. I'm not sure about the details, but from what I can tell the Crooked Stave folks have been based in Fort Collins and are on the verge of opening their facility in Denver. And this beer appears to be either a) a collaboration between Funkwerks and Crooked Stave, or b) Funkwerks allowing Crooked Stave to use their facility to make a small-batch special release before their own place has opened. That's a whole lot of BS when I was just looking for a URL to link up at the top.

But enough of that, and on to the beer. These guys are clearly very meticulous about their craft- the bottle includes the batch number (1-11/11) and the bottle number within the batch (427/838). It also recommends a temperature range for serving, 40-50 degrees F (I checked, mine was at 47). Every single ingredient is locally grown in Colorado. So how's the beer? Pretty delicious. It's highly carbonated- the bottle coughed when I opened it, and the head exploded despite my best efforts at a smooth pour. The front part of the label contains no mention of Belgian yeast, but make no mistake, this is a Belgian golden ale, not an American golden ale. The yeast is definitely the most prominent thing that jumps out in the nose, with all the banana and cloves and such that you'd expect from a Belgian ale, though they're a touch muted relative to some of the others I've had. There's also a bit of the musty dubbel-style malt in there, but very little obvious hop aroma. The flavor's very nice, refreshing and well-balanced, with a nice tinge of bitterness from the hops and the usual Belgian fruitiness. There's also a touch of sourness in there...maybe the guy brought some of his brettanomyces into the equation? In sum, I quite enjoy it, and have no problem drinking it while watching Tom Brady carve up the Broncos like a Thanksgiving turkey.

I'm intrigued enough by this beer and what info I've found on Crooked Stave to keep my eye on them in the future. For the time being, I will be perfectly content to drink Cali-Belgique or the incomparable Le Freak if I want a hoppy Belgian, but this is a pretty impressive product for a brewery that's not yet a brewery.