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

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

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

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.

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

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

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