Lagunitas Lucky 13
December 19, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
This beer was created to celebrate Lagunitas Brewing Company’s 13th anniversary. I’ve always liked Lagunitas, they are like Stone but less arrogant and more accessible. They have a very strong line up of regular beers, but this one just doesn’t do it for me. Lucky 13 is an American Strong ale, red in color and with ample hops and malt. The dominant flavor is caramel sweetness, but this is a bitter beer as well. I feel like this beer didn’t do enough with the malt to really earn any praise. The beer is aggressively hopped, with spicy, bitter and somewhat tobacco-y hops, but they are clearly only here to balance the malt. This is like a double IPA without the hop-bomb character. I feel like this could be the timid little brother of a beer like Arrogant Bastard. All of the same flavors are there, but they are muted. Do not get me wrong, this is definitely a tasty beer, but I feel like Lagunitas has done so much more with similar beers like Brown Shugga, Hairy Eyeball and Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale, that this really isn’t deserving of the 13th anniversary title. Good, but not reccommended. There are more interesting beers in this style out there.
Local 2
December 4, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
Well it has been a tough week here in Upstate NY, and I have been saving a big beer for a night like tonight. Local 2 is one of only two beers brewed in New York City by Brooklyn Brewery. Local 1 being the other beer. Fun fact, the rest of Brooklyn’s lineup is contracted brewed in Utica, NY at the F.X. Matt brewing company, makers of the Saranac brand of beer as well as a few other macro offerings. I have never had Local 1 because honestly I am not that big of a fan of Belgian-style beer, with a few notable and spectacular exceptions. I got the chance to try Local 2 at the Great American Craft Brew Fest in Boston a few years ago and I remembered it favorably. Personally, I perfer my Belgian-style beers with a little sweetness and color and Local 2 fits the bill nicely.
Local 2 is a darker beer. I suppose it would be classified as a dubbel, but it is a little bit lighter on the palate than most other dubbles I have had. I made myself a fairly fantastic dinner this evening consisting of a roasted pork loin, asparagus and fried potatoes. What set everything off was a cardamom and red-ale gravy that I had made a few days prior. This was a very savory meal and the complex flavor of Local 2 complimented it perfectly. Local 2 is crisply carbonated and has prominent flavors of dark fruit, with a lingering alcohol on the finish. Digging a little deeper yields some caramelly notes, but they are gone almost as soon as they are noticed. Since this beer comes in a 22oz bottle, I had quite a bit left after dinner. I broke out some Roquefort cheese and the pairing is a slam dunk. Roquefort is a fairly pugent and sharp blue cheese, with a lot of creamy richness. The alcohol bite from the beer matched the bite from the cheese and they seemed to neutralize each other. The beer and the cheese served to mellow each other out and really let the richness of each piece sing. The sweet malt flavors came out on top of the creamy dairy flavors to make a really amazing combination. This beer is good, no doubt, but by itself it is a little harsh. With food, however, this beer shines. Worth trying, but make sure you’re pairing it with a hearty meal.
Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout
November 14, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
Back in June, Jusin reviewed the Porterhouse Oyster Stout. I recently got to try that beer and while I pretty much agreed that it was solid but nothing special, all the talk in the review about the Harpoon Oyster stout piqued my intrest. When I saw this in my local specialty beer store (one of only two bottles left!) I pounced on it. My first impression was that this beer is very similar to the porterhouse oyster stout, which I found disappointing. I thought the porterhouse beer was tasty, but too bitter with a weird astringency and not enough body on the palate. Having tasted a second entry in the style, I’m beginning to think that the astringincy is a characteristic. This beer also exhibits a astringent bitterness, different from the bitter flavors that come from hops. The label mentions “mineral flavors” from the oysters, so I have to conclude that it comes from their shells. The astringent flavor itself is not bad, per se, but feels like it needs a lot of malt backbone to support it.Brasserie Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
September 22, 2010 by justin · Leave a Comment
Guest blogger, Kevin is back with another good brew! I must agree, this is a good oneVictory Brewing Company Golden Monkey
July 11, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
First off let me just say that this is one of my favorite beers. Victory Brewing Company, located in Downington Pennsylvania, is perhaps best known for their Prima Pils, a hopped up German-style Pilsner, but I have found that the majority of their products are also of very high quality. Victory simply makes good beer.
Golden Monkey is brewed in the style of a Belgian Tripel, but has a character all its own. The aroma of this beer is very heavy on the spices, with what I think is coriander dominating the nose. At 9.5% ABV, the alcohol definitely plays a part as well. Overall the smell is very sweet and might come across as quite un-beer like to the casual beer drinker. As for appearance, the name is spot-on as this beer is golden in color with no monkeying around (ouch…). Bad puns aside, the head of the beer is stark white and rocky, with a very loose foam that fades to the danitest ring around the top of the beer, leaving no lacing. The flavor of the beer mirrors the aroma in the beginning, with a sweet and heavily spiced flavor up front. There is much more spice to this beer than a traditional tripel, but to me that is not a bad thing, as the flavor of the spice plays well with the characteristic flavor of belgian yeast. The perceived sweetness to this beer is an illusion, however, since there is very little residual sugar and the beer actually finishes quite dry. The delicate carbonation sets the stage for complex and intriquing flavors to mingle, supporting the show without getting in the way.
All in all, this is one of the most refreshing beers I have had that is pushing 10% ABV. I certainly wouldn’t reccomend it to replace your sports drink, but unlike the majority of high-gravity stouts, barleywines and double-IPAs out there this does not seem like a meal in a glass. The alcohol is masterfully hidden and winds up being felt much more than tasted. Certainly one of the more interesting offerings on the shelves today, Golden Monkey is definitely worth trying, even if it is not exactly “to style”. Reccomended.
Southern Tier Brewing Company Hop Sun
June 26, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
You know it’s Summer in Upstate NY when the 6-packs of Hop Sun start rolling out. I visited Southern Tier Brewing Company about a year ago and they have become my favorite NY brewery. Southern Tier is known for their more experimental line of “big beers” that come in 22oz bottles, but I have found that their year-round and seasonal “normal” beers are exceptional as well.
Hop Sun is Southern Tier’s unique summer seasonal brew. It is an American-style wheat beer that’s been dry-hopped to give it an extra kick. The color is a pale gold and the beer is very bright, almost looking like sunshine in the glass. The head is stark white and fades pretty quickly, leaving minimal lace on the glass. Don’t quote me, but I think Southern Tier uses exclusively Columbus hops and the smell of this beer reflects that.
This beer has a wonderful floral hop aroma that invites that first sip and many after. As far as flavor goes, Coors can suck it; this actually is the most refreshing beer on planet earth. American wheats on their own can tend to be bland, with a mild flavor and not too much depth to accentuate the wheat. By adding the extra hops to this beer, Southern Tier has created a masterpiece.The wheat is a perfect canvas for the hop flavors, and the combination of mild wheat with pungent, floral and slightly bitter creates THE perfect summer beer.
Bring some Hop Sun to your next cook-out to supplement the usual shitty canned beer and see what your guests think. Highly recommended.
Gubna Imperial IPA
Gubna is the latest beer from Oskar Blues, the Colorado brewery famous for bringing cans into the realm of craft beer. Oskar Blues was one of the first craft breweries to can beer, refuting the stereotype that only bad beer comes in cans. Gubna is an imperial IPA that weighs in at 10% alcohol by volume. The beer is not quite as red as I was expecting, but is a rather pleasant bright orange color. The head is minimal and quickly fades to a thin beige lace on top of the beer.
The beer has a very fragrant nose and you can tell from the beginning that there must be a ton of hops in this beer. The smell is sweet and sticky, with a very pungent citrus character. In fact, though I have heard the term “citric” used to describe hops before, this is the first time I can really go along with the descriptor. The smell is not exactly like citrus fruit but certainly brings to mind grapefruit or pineapple.
The first taste is a short but sharp bitter burst that awakens the palate. This beer has a very complex flavor profile. The sweetness of the malt balances the hop profile very well, and everything blends together such that I’m having a hard time determining where the hop flavors end and the malt flavor begins.
This is what I like to call “superbeer”, all the flavors that I love are present and accounted for and turned up to 11. This beer manages to be both very hop-forward and malt-forward at the same time. The alcohol is extremely well hidden, which is impressive for the strength. All in all, this beer reminds me very much of one of my favorite brews, Stone Arrogant Bastard, but is even more bold and flavorful. Highly recommended.
Sweetwater Brewing Company 420 Extra Pale Ale
March 28, 2010 by kevin · Leave a Comment
This beer is from Atlanta, GA and I picked it up over break as it is not normally distributed where I live. The beer is a very clear pale amber color, with about an inch of foamy off-white head that fades to just cover the top of the beer. The appearance is nothing special but there’s nothing off-putting about it either; it just looks like beer. The smell is very potent hops. Not overly flowery like you might find in an IPA but based on the smell you can tell this is definitely a hop-forward beer. The taste is crisp, refreshing and very balanced. There is some bitterness up front that gives way to a hop flavor similar to how this beer smells. A little bit flowery, a little bit resinous and just a touch of pine-needle type flavor is present but not overpowering. There is just enough pale malt here to sweeten things up a little bit and remind you that you’re drinking a pale ale. Overall this is a very solid beer. The flavor reminds me very much of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is my go-to beer if I’m ever at a bar with a limited selection. My only complaint is that there is nothing much to distinguish this beer from other well-made pale ales, but if you ever find yourself south of the Mason-Dixon line you could certainly do much worse than this. Recommended.
D.G. Yuengling and Son Yuengling Traditional Lager
This is Kevin Easton’s first post on Beer Geek, Dude. Please welcome him to Beer Geek, Dude.
My friend from Massachusetts visited this past weekend and commented about how one of the things he misses most from living in NY is Yuengling lager.
Yuengling (pronounced ying-ling) is brewed in Pottsville, PA and is produced by the oldest active brewery in the United States. Yuengling is only distributed in a handful of states, so most Americans likely never get to try this historical beer. The beer pours a nice bright copper color but the head is only a thin and watery lace that quickly fades to nothing. This beer does not have a very prominent aroma either. The main smell is simply water, with a little bit of a metallic tinge. This beer delivers on taste though. Bear in mind that this is a simple lager without any fancy dry-hopping or exotic ingredients thrown in, so some might describe this beer as being bland. The beer has a crisp and refreshing taste, with just enough carbonation and a wonderful malt character that makes you want another sip. This beer is what all of those other mass-marketed and over-carbonated lagers should try to be; refreshing and tasty without anything too fancy going on. Yuengling lager is not as prestigious as most other craft beers out there but it is an absolutely solid no-frills lager that is perfect to wash down that ham and cheese sandwich or bacon cheddar burger. It’s also only 4.4% ABV, which makes it the perfect session beer for a mild spring day. Recommended.
Kevin Easton
March 27, 2010 by justin · Leave a Comment
Welcome to Kevin Easton a guest blogger here on Beer Geek, Dude.
Kevin Easton is a senior studying Computer Science at the University of Rochester in Rochester NY. He has been homebrewing for 2 years and
has been developing an appreciation for beer for about 3. He learned a lot about beer and beer styles through his roommates in college and loves a good IPA, Scotch Ale, Porter or Barleywine.