Friday, August 31, 2012

Beer Review: Fremont Brewing Company Summer Ale

The cat hair did not enhance the flavor like I'd hoped


Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.2%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

I've already gushed a bunch on here about Fremont Brewing, but seriously I think it might be the best all around brewery in Seattle right now.

Thoughts: 

If you've been reading this blog regularly (hi Cassie!), then you've noticed how many summer ales I've been reviewing. Well, now summer is nearly over and breweries are releasing harvest ales and pumpkin brews already. I mean, I love fall, but oh god it's going dark soon and it's going to last forever. So, I'll end my summer seasonal reviews on a high note here. Fremont's Summer Ale is just fantastic this year. It was good last year, too, but this year's is better somehow. It's light and crisp, but still a bit hoppy and earthy tasting. There's a hint of orange or lemon zest in the aroma, but just barely. It's the kind of beer that makes you want to just float on an innertube in a lake all day and just throw a few back. You can get it on draft for a bit longer, in 22 oz bombers and now in cans.

Rating: 4.75/5 - It's a toss up for me between this one and Victory Summer Love for my favorite summer beer this year

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Beer Review: Bison Brewing Company Organic Honey Basil



Style: Herbed ale
ABV: 6%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

A fully organic brewery from Berkeley, California? Get out of town, right? Founded in 1989 by a bunch of filthy hippies, Bison is one of the few widely distributed organic breweries out there. They seem to specialize in offbeat kinds of brews, like the one I'm reviewing here.

Thoughts: 

I saw this on the shelf and was totally intrigued so I had to snag one in a mixed six pack. It pours a much darker copper hue than I was expecting. The basil aroma is very strong. I mean, basil is one of those herbs where a little bit goes a long way, and I think they may have gone overboard with it here. The honey is present, too, but not quite enough to take the overwhelming bite of the basil out. Also, the ABV seems a bit high to me for a spring/summer kind of ale like this. It just made it feel too heavy overall and not nearly refreshing enough. Not something I'd seek out again, but it's worth trying. I also have a bomber of Bison's Chocolate Stout that's been in my fridge for over a month that I need to bust out. I hear it's one of their best.

Rating: 2.75/5

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Beer Review: Chuckanut Brewery Pilsner



Style: German Pilsner
ABV: 5%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

When Chuckanut Brewing started a few years ago, I was like, "Psssh, yeah right!" (makes wanking motion with hand). In my heart and mind, there could be only one awesome brewery from Bellingham, like Highlander, and that brewery was Boundary effin' Bay. But Chuckanut kept building a good reputation and all the bars I like have continued pouring their stuff, so I decided to finally give them a chance.

Thoughts: 

I had the Pilsner on tap at Collins on a hot day and it was pleasantly refreshing. The pilsner, a style that's been fucked up beyond all recognition by American macro breweries, has been making a steady comeback through small craft breweries. I love the microbrewery take on most German styles and this is no exception. It has a nice grainy and floral aroma with a surprisingly zesty bite to the overall flavor. It makes for a crisp finish. With the low ABV, it's a great hot weather beer. So my skepticism on Chuckanut's brews seems to be unfounded and I will definitely try more of their stuff when I see it.

Rating: 3.75/5

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Beer Review: Deschutes Brewery Black Butte XXIV


Style: American Porter
ABV: 11%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Deschutes is one of my very favorite NW breweries, yet this is the first beer of theirs I've reviewed for this blog. That's more of a blog fun fact, though. Let's see, okay so Deschutes started in 1988 in Bend, OR, when I was 5. I've been to Bend many times, mostly to go snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor when I was a teenager, so I had no idea I was in such close proximity to such a fantastic brewery. Teenagers are dumb.

Thoughts: 

This is their 24th Anniversary reserve formula and it is a doozy. The normal, 6-pack version of the Black Butte Porter is one of my favorite standard and easily found beers. It's just so smooth and tasty. This is the fancier imperial version that they encourage you to age for a year before drinking, which I'm doing for a couple bottles. But, I had this on tap at Collins Pub and even without aging it for a year, it's pretty special. The first taste hits with the strong aroma of figs and dates, then you get the nice, chocolately and familiar porter smoothness. The dates give it a bit of a fruity taste to it, which is pretty unique for a porter. The alcohol is definitely strong and only gets stronger as it warms up. I can imagine it will blend a bit more as it ages, though.

Rating: 4.25/5

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Festina Peche



Style: Berliner Weissbier
ABV: 4.5%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Founded in 1995, Dogfish Head is a purveyor of world-class craft beers and apparently they recently started distilling spirits, too. These days, you can find their 60 and 90 Minute IPAs just about anywhere. And did you know DFH is in Delaware? Did you even remember that was a place? It's a state, even! Look it up, jerk!

Thoughts: 

I had this at Collins Pub last Friday after walking a couple miles in Seattle's one day of 90 degree heat for the year. So, at that moment, this was pretty much the most refreshing thing to ever cross my lips. Festina Peche is fermented with peaches, which allows the yeast to feed on the sugar from the peaches. This makes for just the smoothest, slightly tart and tangy fruit beer I've ever tried. And the mellow ABV is an added bonus. Long live delicious summer beers.

Rating: 4.5/5


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Beer Review: Boneyard Brewing Co. RPM IPA

Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.5%

Fun Fact About the Brewery: 
Boneyard was founded in Bend, Oregon, by some hesher lookin' dudes with a penchant for caps lock and angelfire-lookin' web sites. Fortunately, their beer is of much higher quality than their web site and graphic design skills.

Thoughts: 

Sweet Jesus, I hope these guys left some hops for the rest of the world to use. This is one powerful IPA. I heard lots of hype on this one, so I tried it at Malt n' Vine over in Redmond last weekend. Now, as I've stated, I'm not an IPA superfan, especially when it comes to just regular single IPAs. But, this one is exemplary for the style and it honestly gives Pliney The Elder, which is an imperial, a run for it's money. The aroma is packed full of pine, grapefruit, orange and of course, an utter shitload of hops. Once you get past the hop overload, the aftertaste is amazingly herby (yes, kind of like this) and the citrus flavors finish it off. I would have expected the overwhelming hoppiness to turn me off of this beer, but piney aroma just had me going back for more slow sips. Tons of complexity in this IPA. If anything, the ABV might be a bit too high for a single IPA, but I don't think these guys do subtlety. If Boneyard ever starts bottling, they could get huge very quickly.

Rating: 4.5/5

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Beer Review: Cascade Brewing Barrel Aged Bruin


Pardon the dark photo, good times were being had!
Style: Flanders Oud Bruin
ABV: 9%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

From the aforementioned Cascade Brewing night at Urban Family Public House. 

Thoughts: 

This is a style I am not at all familiar with. I feel like I need a degree in horticulture to fully understand it, really. It's very fruity and is very reminescient of red wine. Just a tad sour and funky, but really more on the fruity and slightly bitter side. If I had a bottle of this, I would only break it out for people i really, really like because this is some special stuff.

Rating: 4.5/5

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Beer Review: Cascade Brewing The Vine



Style: American Wild Ale
ABV: 9.73%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Cascade Brewing from Portland is well known around the NW for their awesome takes on sour ales. When it comes to sours, a lot of people are like, "Why in fucks name would you drink a sour beer?" But, beer nerds stroke their beards and say, "Yes, I enjoy sour ales because they are challenging and interesting." Well, I guess I fall on the the latter half of that discussion because I think sours can be pretty cool.

Thoughts: 

Urban Family Public House in Ballard had a Cascade Brewing night last weekend and so I got to try a couple of their excellent sours. The Vine is, according to the Cascade web site, "a blend of soured Triple, Blonde Quad and Golden ales that have been refermented with the fresh pressed juice of white wine grapes." Yep, there you have it. The grape flavor really comes through in the aftertaste. This beer is fantastic.

Rating: 4.5/5

Monday, August 13, 2012

Beer Review: Black Raven Brewing Co. La Petite Mort



Style: Belgian Dark Ale
ABV: 8.8%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Situated in a random commerce park over in Redmond, WA, Black Raven has quietly built a reputation for brewing incredibly solid standard offerings like their Trickster IPA and for brewing neat small batch brews like this one I'm about to review. Their tasting room is totally awesome. I'm curious to see if they ever make the jump to bottling their brews as they are currently only available on draft at various places around the NW.

Thoughts: 

Belgian dark ales tend to be on the stronger side and this one is no exception. It's a deep brown color and the strongest flavors are nuts, plums and figs. It's a very traditional, yet exemplary take on the style. It's very smooth and drinkable and the booziness is not hidden. But, the aftertaste is generally dominated by the fruit flavors. A top notch beer from a fantastic brewery.

Rating: 4.25/5

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Beer Review: Pike Brewing Co. Saison Houblon


 
Style: Saison/Farmhouse ale
ABV: 6.5%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Pike Brewing is one of Washington's oldest microbreweries. Founded in 1989 by a couple of old farts, they set up shop below the famous Pike Place Market in the heart of Seattle and started brewing English style ales with a furious passion. Pike Place Market may be a bit of a tourist trap these days, but places like Pike Brewing help keep a true pioneer spirit alive amongst all the goofy tourist shit.

Thoughts: 

I've become fairly familiar with the farmhouse ale style and one taste of the Saison Houblon is all it takes to realize that this is definitely a very NW take on this Belgian style. It's way, way hoppier than a typical saison, and therefore not quite as refreshing. Has a bit of a bitter tinge to it. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing depending on your tastes. Saisons were originally created to be a low alcohol content, highly refreshing break time drink for farm workers in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium some hundreds of years ago. So, if they hopped into a time machine and somehow showed up in Seattle looking for a saison, they'd be pretty bummed on this. But, myself, as a member of the current times, finds it to be a pretty solid ale overall.

Rating: 3.5/5

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Beer Review: Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel



Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 9%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

They have a lil' elf on their labels! What's more fun than that? What's that you say? Multiple elves? Yes, I suppose that would be more fun. God, always one upping me. Sheesh. Anyways, La Chouffe is a world class Belgian brewery known everywhere for their excellent takes on Belgian style ales. David the Gnome ain't got shit on these guys.

Thoughts: 

Cassie ordered this because she loves IPAs and this was the only one the Outlander had on their menu. She's not really a Belgian fan like I am, so I think she was just kinda whelmed by this beer, but I thought it was an excellent take on a Belgian style IPA. The hoppiness disguises the 9% ABV very well. It's a sneaky one for sure.

Rating: 3.75/4

Friday, August 10, 2012

Beer Review: Fremont Brewing Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout



Style: Imperial Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 8%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Fremont Brewing is just doing everything right these days. Their brewery and urban beer garden is laid back and no-frills in its layout. Just some tables and a couple guys working the taps. They've started doing more bourbon barrel aging for special releases. They just started canning 3 of their beers. All their logo design work is clean and distinct looking. And they pretty much haven't made a bad beer yet. Just a top notch and gloriously local operation.

Thoughts: 

As stated in other reviews, I love me a good oatmeal stout and this is a damn good one. They recently released a bourbon barrel aged version called Kentucky Dark Star, which i foolishly did not purchase when I saw it at PCC. Now it's all gone, so if anyone out there would like to sell or trade one, holler at your boy. Anyways, the oatmeal flavor of the Dark Star kinda gets pushed aside by the strong chocolate flavors at first, but are still present in the background. It's very, very smooth. If I didn't know it was an imperial I would have guessed an ABV around 5 or 6 because the booziness is well covered by the oats and chocolate. I will be very pumped if they start canning this in the winter. Also, I like the name because it reminds of John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's cult classic student film.

Rating: 4.25/5

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Beer Review: Fort George Brewery Spruce Budd Ale



Style: Herbed ale/pilsner
ABV: 4.9%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

My love for Fort George Brewery has been well documented here so far, but let me say again: These guys are awesome. They renovated an old historic building in Astoria, formerly an auto shop, and turned into their main brewery and pub. Really, really want to go to Astoria now and not just to re-enact scenes from "The Goonies." Their four main brews just started getting distributed in Washington in aluminum cans in early 2012 and they recently added a fifth one, Quick Wit Belgian Ale. Have yet to try anything I haven't liked from ol' Fort George.

Thoughts: 

The Spruce Budd ale is their summer seasonal and holy crap is it ever refreshing. Each batch is brewed with over 35 pounds of spruce tree tips, giving it a very herby and slightly spicy kick, but the pilsner malt keeps it mellow and crisp. The first taste just ignites your taste buds. And at 4.9%, it's a true session beer. I had this on draft at Bottleworks and haven't seen it on tap anywhere else yet. Overall, a truly unique beer and a very original take on a summer seasonal. Can this baby and ship it up to my doorstep on the regular, please!

Rating: 4.75/5

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Beer Review(s) - Outlander Brewing - Federal Defenestration Irish Red and Dasein, Confused Hefeweizen



Fun Fact About the Brewery: 

I attended Outlander Brewing's grand opening in Fremont last night with Cassie, my aforementioned buddy Jim and his wife Andrea, joined later by a gaggle of other hooligans. The Outlander is setting out to specialize in small batch, experimental brews, which I'm a huge fan of. The brewpub is in a converted old house, right on the main drag in Fremont. The inside is nice and charming complete with old antique furniture. Looks like a perfect kind of place to hang out on a cold winter night. Luckily, since it's summer, they have an awesome patio, too, where you can sit and watch the wacky Fremont nightlife unfold in front of you.

The owners, sporting a deer in headlights look on their faces as they served a larger than expected crowd, were friendly and gracious. They were already out of their first 3 brews by the time we got there. Unfortunately, we missed the peanut butter chocolate beer, but I'm sure they'll make more soon. The two Outlander brews that I got to try were quite good, though, so here's the reviews:




Name: Federal Defenestration
Style: Irish Red ale
ABV: 7%

Thoughts: 

The name had me scratching my head, but Jim quickly pointed out that defenestration is the act of throwing something out of a window. I immediately called bullshit, but the internet quickly proved Jim correct. Jim's vocabulary 1, Eric 0. Anyways, this is a great take on the Irish Red style. It's a bit stronger than most Irish Reds, but it's well-rounded and doesn't overpower. It has that nice, warming red malt with just a slight bite to it, complete with a traditional dry finish. Nothing too fancy, but it's a unique style that you don't see very often from small breweries.

Rating: 3.75/5

******************


Nothing like the warm glow of a 7/11 to a give a lil' suburban ambiance, right?
Name: Dasein, Confused
Style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.2%

Thoughts:

Hefeweizens, like blonde ales, are typically seen like the wimpy lil' girly beers of the craft beer world because they're so easy to drink and usually lighter on alcohol content. Hefs, with their high wheat content, are particularly smooth. The literal translation of the German word dasein is "being there." I dig the creative names these Outlander guys are coming up with for their beers. Anyways, I'm not a big hef fan at all, but this was one of the best hefs I've had. Lots of fruitiness in the mix to liven up the cloudy wheat malt. Very refreshing and perfect for a warm summer night.

Rating: 4/5

Overall, Outlander Brewing is a fantastic addition to the Seattle craft beer community and I'll definitely be back.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Beer Review: Epic Ales Simple Ale

Shit yeah it's Friday
 
Style: American amber ale / red ale
ABV: 6.5%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

I've been looking forward to trying some stuff from Epic for a while. It's a tiny operation run down in the SODO area of Seattle by expert homebrewer Cody Morris. According to the Epic web site, each batch is just one barrel (31 gallons), so most nerds would call Epic a "nanobrewery" since the term microbrewery gets applied to everyone from Alaskan Brewing to New Belgium. Places like Epic are super interesting to me because they get to experiment more with their ingredients and it's a much more personal product.

Thoughts: 

It has the smoothness of an amber mixed with the bite of a red ale. Very bready with a nice caramel malt. There are some various fruit flavors in there as well, most noticeably pear. You could compare it to Fat Tire or Mac and Jack's African Amber, but with a bit more complexity. It's pretty drinkable, but it does have a bit of a funky and odd aftertaste. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it wasn't that distracting. Overall, a very cool and unique take on an amber ale and I look forward to trying more of Epic's stuff.

Rating: 4/5

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Beer Review: Boundary Bay Brewing Co. IPA

Feelin' the good island vibes in this photo, brah
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.4%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Hmm, what's another fun fact about Boundary Bay that I haven't covered yet? Well, their shirts and sweatshirts are insanely popular. I swear you can go anywhere on the planet and within a few days of being somewhere you'll see someone wearing one. Also, wearing a BB sweatshirt in Bellingham, especially in combination with some sort of cargo short and perhaps sandals, is basically a really easy way of telling the world that you just wanna have a good time, man. Jah feel me?

Thoughts: 

Okay, this is a standard IPA I can get behind. It actually has a lot of balance and doesn't just overwhelm with hoppy bitterness. That seems to be due to the caramel malt they use. It's quite floral and has bit of citrus flavor to it, too.  But it definitely finishes with a good hoppy bite. It's on the stronger side for a standard IPA, which can be good or bad depending how your evening is going. I have distinct memories of foolishly trying to finish one of these at the end of a night out in Bellingham. I don't recommend that, as it's a deceptively big beer in flavor and overall punch. But I do recommend this IPA even as a guy who isn't big on IPAs. So there you go.

Rating: 3.75/5

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Beer Review: Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. Gale Force IPA


Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 5.25%

Fun Fact About the Brewery:

Without a doubt, Scuttlebutt Brewing is one of the better things to come out of the north Puget Sound stinkpile known as Everett. Founded by a couple of retirees who, according to their very ghetto-ass, Everett style web site, “...started the brewery because (we) never wanted to run out of beer.” 'Nuff said there, I guess. I'm a big fan of their winter ale, 10 Below, though.

Thoughts:

It's very middle of the road, even for a West Coast IPA.  It's really hoppy, but that is absolutely it. There is no complexity to the flavor profile. Just bitter hoppiness and an astringent aftertaste. It has a nice and low ABV, but overall this is pretty much a perfect example of the type of IPAs that I'm not a fan of and that are kind of flooding the market these days.

Rating: 2.75/5