Deschutes Black Butte XXI Imperial Porter

Deschutes Black Butte XXI
Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR
Grade: A-

Another big, bold, cellar-ready release from Deschutes, this one an imperial porter brewed with coffee and chocolate, 20% aged in bourbon barrels. How will it stack up to Deschutes' superb The Abyss? The suspense is killing me! 22oz bottle poured into a goblet. Elusive creamy tan head disappears gracefully. Gorgeous brown color that thins to a seductive amber-red at the edges. The aroma, aside from the expected coffee elements, is strangely similar to a Belgian golden ale, with notes of pear, sour apple and bubblegum, and traces of musty earth, gourmet mushrooms and molasses. Veeeery interesting... Sticky/chewy mouthfeel gives birth to intense initial flavors of bittersweet chocolate, honey and brown sugar, followed by interesting pomegranate and berry tones, capped by a jarring bitterness that unfortunately feels a bit overplayed. The high alcohol content makes for a pleasant, warm finish. All in all, an enjoyable and deeply interesting beer (I'd expect nothing less), though the overall balance just seems a touch skewed. Perhaps cellaring will bring out more of the sugary and earthy flavors lurking beneath the surface and take this beer to the next level.

Andrew

Deschutes Brewery - Red Chair NWPA

So what is this NWPA?
  Well its an inventive ale from the greatest brewery in Oregon, Deschutes.  Named after the mighty central Oregon river, the brewery has few beers that disappoint.  This seasonal, Red Chair NorthWest pale ale, is a real top 10.  Before delving into the taste odyssey that is a sweet brew, I want to give a little personal history of my relationship with Deschutes.
  At the time of moving to Oregon, a little over a year ago.  Rogue was my favorite beer.  Rogue Rogue Rogue.  Loved that shit.  But the more I headed over to Newport for a beer tasting, the more I realized that their beers were often quite full of gimmicks and less full of substance.  However, I was still a supporter.  I love their brewery and respect their courage in designing their brewery after a motto as simply as, "Fuck it man, try it.  Lets move on to the next one."  awesome.  Rogue is the jam.  Don't get me wrong.
  So how do I segue on to the NWPA.  Well let me just say this... Cinder Cone.
  A beautiful red ale seasonal by deschutes that is well developed, tasty and refreshing.  That should be the motto for deschutes, "We make a god-damn developed beer" and thats all there is to it.  Deschutes does not have a beer a minute, but they do have a damn good arsenal.  Every Deschutes beer is thought-out, planned, calculated, perfected.  After the recent great special editions, Mirror Mirror and HopTrip I was justifiably excited when I saw Red Chair NWPA.  Fucking NWPA! Yes Deschutes, make a beer of the Northwest, make a beer that embodies the taste and harvest of Oregon.
  Red Chair NWPA begins like a golden, with a sweet refreshing tone.  Symbolizing the sweeping desert of eastern Oregon.  The Alvord coming to its summit near Bend, OR the home of the Deschutes river and the brewery.  The terrain shifts steeply upwards in the Cascades just as the hoppy pale ale hints at the Willamette Valley in its shadow.  As it glides across your senses the hops stick with and continue to the bitter end of the rugged Oregon coast.  A spray of golden malt arrives as you are left to the open ocean.  The flavors combine and sink in, a fully developed beer, malt, hops, yeast and water in perfect harmony.
  Just as I finish my last sip of my last beer of my only case.

it was a good week.

A+

A. Diamonds

Rogue Double Dead Guy

Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale
Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Grade: A

I never cared much for regular old Dead Guy, but the Double's matte fire-engine red bottle always caught my eyes at the liquor store, so here it is... 22oz bottle poured into oversized pilsner glass. Pours a hazy copper-amber with a tall, sticky, sand-colored head that fizzles away a bit before it floats around indefinitely, trailing a moderate lacing. Massive and unmistakable nose of fruit pastries, complete with pie crust, peach, cherry, nutmeg and sweet cinnamon. Hope you left room for dessert... Big bready caramely roasty malts roll out the carpet and turn up the PA for a textbook Rogue hop bouquet, coming on strong with resins and crisp pine, riding a wave of ripe stonefruits, fading out on a gentler lavender and citrus tang. Leaves a unique spicy tingling long after you've finished sipping. Whew! This is one badass mutha of a maibock (a doppelmaibock...?) Dig it, and dig the sweet painted bottle.

Andrew

Bourbon County Stout
Goose Island Brewery
Chicago IL

C

Wow. This beer is intense! This is like an insane chocolate milkshake drowned in booze with a cherry on top. Honestly, and I don't say this very often, this beer was way over the top. I have been racking my brain for a food that would make this beer palatable, but I haven't come up with anything yet. Smells like a pecan caramel brownie covered in bourbon. Lots of alcohol in the nose along with some fruity esters. Feels like a sweet flavored sludge-shake that coats the mouth and leaves that same feeling you get after stuffing too much dark chocolate in your mouth. Lots of flavors happening here but a bit over the top for my personal taste. Carbonation is almost nonexistent and really makes the syrupy mouthfeel worse.

The label advertises that this beer can age for up to 5 years. My personal opinion is that a year or two in the cellar could only do this sludgy potion some good. I think there is potential here, but right now it's not doing anything for me.

The Abyss Imperial Stout

The Abyss Imperial Stout
Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR
Grade: A+

22 oz bottle poured into goblet, allowed to warm just a bit before consideration. Holy god, this beer is dark and heavy. Unflinchingly deep black alllll the way to the edges of the glass. Gnarly caramel-coffee head leaves a thick kiss of foam around the rim. Ridiculously complex on the nose! Rushing forth, in no particular order: coffee, chocolate, toffee, lavender, lilac, smoked salmon, blueberry, ocean breeze, sand, kalamata olives, pear, molasses, vanilla, truffles, mushrooms, redwood, oak, maple syrup... dear god, does it ever end? Flavors are similar, coasting on coffee, chocolate, burnt sugar and vanilla maltiness that bleeds into an expansive dark and spicy bitterness with prominent caramel and maple. Sweet and buoyant mouthfeel - all I can think of is a chocolate malt - is just as intense as everything else about this beer. Seriously, it could take several bottles to decipher what exactly is going on here. We're aging a bottle for a while, check back later on as we see how this gem changes with the seasons.

À votre santé,

Andrew

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA
Grade: A-

22 oz bottle poured into standard pint glass. Thin and foamy head disappears quickly with little trace. Gorgeous copper color thinning to pale yellow, with incredible clarity. Citrusy fruits on the nose with a mild floral bite and surprising touches of chocolate (!) The 102 IBUs manifest mostly as juicy citrus, mandarin primarily, with sweet candy and pine atop a supple malty backbone. Thick and rich mouthfeel is almost visible as the beer thins toward the edge of the glass, and finishes with a dry, deep resinous bitterness. I'm really glad this is more than a seasonal or limited offering - deliberately overhopped beers like this often flop gracelessly, but Lagunitas (as always) strikes a perfect balance of boldness and pure enjoyability.

À votre santé,

Andrew

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

I'm going to take this opportunity to review one of my very favorite beers. Is it presumptuous to say Rogue is one of the world's great breweries? The Oregon experimenters have produced some crap in their day (I absolutely detest Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and I think Dead Guy is one of the most overrated beers in the US), but their wild and uninhibited experimentation has also led to the creation of some of America's finest craft brews.


Rogue Shakespeare Stout
Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Grade: A+

22 oz bottle poured into standard pint glass. Luscious, thick, creamy mocha-colored two-finger head hangs out forever, leaving beautiful and persistent lacing all the way down the glass. Deep brown/black and opaque, with a touch of deep ruby red translucency at the bottom of the glass. Complex and evocative aromas rise from the pour, including bittersweet cocoa, toffee, tart fruit, earthy grasses, mushrooms, and wood smoke. Flavors are just as complex - the coffee and chocolate notes inherent to the style are present and beautifully balanced, along with sweet toffee, butterscotch and a welcome brushstroke of flowery hops. An impression of smoked meat and rich desserts lurks underneath the surface. Unbelievably smooth, almost cream-like mouthfeel with a gently lingering bitterness that appears at the last moment. This beer should serve as a benchmark for American stouts, and stands as one of the great achievements of American craft brewing.

I had the opportunity to try this beer on a nitro tap at the pub in Newport - if you see Shakespeare on nitro, DO NOT PASS IT UP!! While the bottled and carbonated version of this beer is spectacular, nitrogen shoots it into the stratosphere, giving it an even thicker, creamier, richer head and an insidiously decadent texture.

À votre santé,

Andrew

New Belgium Ranger IPA

New Belgium Ranger IPA
New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
Grade: B-

12 oz bottle poured into standard pint glass. Given their long-standing position at the forefront of American craft brewing, it's interesting, though not surprising, that NB took this long to release a take on the American IPA. Produces a thin, bubbly white head that barely sticks around. Crystal clear, golden color and lots of carbonation. Excellent aroma, bursting with floral and piney notes and a touch of grassy, tangy bite. Very smooth mouthfeel, almost like a light lager, drinks easy. Flavors are typical and overall underwhelming, in need of more malt, and the bitterness doesn't last long - nice if you're not an IPA fan, but hopheads will find themselves pining for a more robust mix. This beer is refreshing and well-crafted for sure, but would likely be lost among others in this already overstuffed style if it weren't for NB's stature.

À votre santé,

Andrew

Christmas Ale
American Brown Ale
Goose Island Brewery
Chicago, IL

A

22 oz bottle poured into large pilsner glass. Beautiful golden brown and reddish color with a thick creamy head that stays around until the last drop and sticks to the glass in large bands. The aroma is so complex that it took many smells to decide on what was there. Hints of dark fruit like cherries and plums supported by a grassy and earthy backbone that reminds me of northeastern forests. Medium mouthfeel with high carbonation when fresh from the bottle. Just thick enough to support the heavy flavors that follow. An appetizer of crisp hoppy freshness followed by the main course of deep malty and roasty character. For dessert, a medley of hoppy bitterness swirled with fruity prunes leaving a delicious dryness that beckons for another sip.

I would have liked to see a little less carbonation right at the beginning, but after the beer was sitting for a few minutes it was just about perfect. Mmmmmmm

Cuvée van de Keizer Blauw

Cuvée van de Keizer Blauw
Brewery Het Anker, Mechelen, Belgium
Grade: A

750 mL bottle, poured into goblet at roughly 10° C. Coppery/burnt orange color, with a cream-colored head that dissipates quickly, leaving minimal lacing. Sour fruits - apple and cherry predominantly - dominate the aroma, backed by traces of moss and damp earth and a slight twang of alcohol. Seriously thick and almost syrupy mouthfeel, with elements of plum, raisin, purple berries and red licorice, combined with gentle sweet cream and caramel flavors. The combination is suggestive of a delicious trés leches cake. The high alcohol content (11%) does not detract from the flavor, instead adding a needed bite behind the saccharine body. Did I mention it was sweet? Smoky, earthy, woodlike flavors peer out in the finish. Perhaps, a touch of red meat and herbs as well. This beer is deceptively complex behind its rich, bold, dessert-like façade. Fabulous. Enjoy it all by itself.

À votre santé,

Andrew

Beer Quote

A two for today:

"Are you guys brewing real beer or just ale?"
~Man walking by while I was brewing. He was drinking a PBR from the can when he said this.

"This beer is the dankest beer you have ever had. It tastes like drinking marijuana."
~Woman at the grocer. Thanks lady.

German Wiessbier

Kristall Weissbier
Weihenstephaner (Brewery)
Freising Germany

B+

This beer is the first in a seiers that I am hoping to do that roughly follows the BJCP style guidelines as I study for the BJCP exam this March.

Very light, straw color that is "kristall" clear. Tones of German maltiness in the aroma, with hints of grass, and spicy hops. Mouthfeel is light yet somewhat slick and more viscous than was expected. Flavor is on par with the style with a very malty yet balanced taste. Hints of bready and buttery yeast flavor. Good clean finish leaving a lingering sweetness and hoppy echo. Over all good but nothing to write home about. Very clean, very precise, very German.

I recently read an essay by Stephen Beaumont about the idea that a beer is not only good with certain food or certain time or whatever, but it is also about where you drink the beer. This idea manifests in even the most modest and uneducated (on the subject of beer) drinkers when they say "Man, it's a shame we can't get the Irish Guiness over here. It's SO much better over there." While that is no doubt true, I have news for these people: It's the same stuff. You just aren't drinking it in an old, creaky, cozy Irish pub in Ireland! Where you drink a beer has as much to do with how you remember it as the beer itself. I think this is the case, for me, with this beer. All the signs point to great beer here, but it just isn't the same as the beer I had in Munich because I'm not in Munich. Anyway, its worth the $2.99 I spent on the bomber and I hope you think so too.

I love beer.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA
Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Grade: B+

22 oz bottle, poured into standard pint glass. Cloudy; light orange thinning to pale yellow. White bubbly head dissipates quickly but leaves a nice lacing. Awesome floral aromas pop out of the glass, with a splash of grapefruit and sweet, oaty malt as well. This beer reminds me of the Eastern Sierra for whatever reason, with a righteous hop bouquet (Amarillo and Willamette) evoking scrubby pines, earth, and crisp mountain air, and hints of sweet citrus as well. Comfortable, easygoing mouthfeel and wheat-like maltiness mean this lacks the powerful presence of most American IPAs, but it seems they intended it that way. Rogue's signature lingering bitterness is hard at work at the end. I like the way this compares to Rogue's Brutal Bitter IPA: while that beer is intensely bitter and complex, this feels simple and approachable, and quite refreshing.

À votre santé,

Andrew

Welcome to Andy and Andrew's beer blog! We thought it would be a great idea to start talking about beer on the interwebs. I know there are lots of people talking about the beer on the interwebs these days but I thought that it was important for me to start talking about beer on the interwebs. We are going to talk about how much we love beer, beer reviews, and also hilarious beer comments heard in passing or from fellow customers at the grocer. And now it will begin the talking of the beers on the interwebs.