June 30, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
STYLE: Dubbel
ABV: 7%
APPEARANCE: Hazy chestnut
HEAD: Tan, fizzy, fades quickly
LACING: Fair, but unremarkable
NOSE: Not a great nose for a Dubbel. Mostly candi sugar, molasses, and roasted malts. A touch of fruit and spice, but far less than you would hope for in the style. Very subdued and faint.
TASTE: Sweet caramel up front and more fruit in the taste than in the nose. The middle actually has an oddly citrus bite like there are some hops coiled up in there waiting to strike like a cobra, but then fainting like a goat. Finish is strangely clean and grassy like a lager. To be honest, it’s kind of a mess.
MOUTHFEEL: Really good mouthfeel. Medium-bodied, but fluffy and fizzy.
DRINKABILITY: Not a lot of alcohol burn or huge flavors, so it’s actually somewhat drinkable. But it’s too scattershot to really enjoy.
RATING: 2 Hops
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Tasting Notes | Tagged: Boak's, Dubbel, Eulogy Belgian Tavern, Two Blind Monks | 
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Posted by Barley McHops
June 30, 2010
Smithsonian Magazine takes a fascinating look at how an astonishingly powerful ale-hating teetotaler by the name of Wayne B. Wheeler leveraged a multitude of early-20th-century political interests from womens’ suffrage to federal income taxation to good-ol’-racism to effectuate the passage of the 18th Amendment, and, with it, a dark (yet not necessarily dry… kudos, Yale Club) chapter in American history. Read it and rejoice your birth into 21st Amendment America.
Wayne B. Wheeler: The Man Who Turned Off the Taps by Daniel Okrent – Smithsonian magazine, May 2010
2 Comments | Brews in the News | Tagged: 18th Amendment, Prohibition, Smithsonian, Wayne Wheeler | Permalink
Posted by Sudsy von Brüe
June 29, 2010
The Wire is the greatest series in television history.
That would have been a bold statement a few years ago, but recently, as the masses have had time to reflect on the show, more and more people seem to be coming to that conclusion. Is it debatable? Good lord, yes. A statement like “X is the greatest X in history” is amongst the most debatable phrases you can utter. The Sopranos has its supporters. I think The Sopranos probably had more remarkable standalone episodes that were better than any single Wire episode. And, of course, head to head, Tony Soprano is a better realized, more complex, and more influential character than anyone on The Wire.* Read the rest of this entry »
13 Comments | Aleheads Take On | Tagged: Pop Culture, The Wire | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 29, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ a backyard BBQ
STYLE: Spiced Beer
ABV: 5.3%
APPEARANCE: Hazy, pale gold
HEAD: Small white, quickly fading
LACING: Insipid
APPEARANCE: Mostly biscuit and bread with a hint of spruce and pine resin. Very mild and quite boring.
TASTE: Didn’t really taste the juniper other than the faintest hint of pine in the finish. It’s predominantly sweet, pale malt up front, a drying, citrus hoppiness in the middle, and some funky off-flavors mixed with the pine resin in the finish. The taste is kind of a mess.
MOUTHFEEL: Medium-bodied with weak carbonation
DRINKABILITY: Very low. Uninspired nose, poor balance…it’s a beer without any character or interest. Another dud from Rogue.
RATING: 1 Hop
3 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Juniper Pale Ale, Rogue, Spiced Beer | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 28, 2010
NOTES: Draft @ Monk’s Cafe
STYLE: Imperial Stout
ABV: 11%
APPEARANCE: Black as the Gulf Shore beaches
HEAD: Toffee-colored, thick and tight…fades slowly
LACING: Chunky and steadfast…like the female sidekick in a RomCom.
NOSE: Roasted and bitter, with a hint of sweetness. Baker’s chocolate, black-strap molasses, espresso, and a sharp bite of licorice.
TASTE: Dark chocolate and coffee up front which fades to a slightly acidic fruitiness in the middle. Finishes earthy and bitter with a good alcohol presence. Nice.
MOUTHFEEL: Full-bodied and chewy. Average carbonation doesn’t help or hurt the body.
DRINKABILITY: It’s a thick, rich, 11% ABV Imperial Stout. Those generally aren’t the most drinkable brews on Earth, but this one is a winner. I’m a fan.
RATING: 3.5 Hops
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Posted by Barley McHops
June 28, 2010
Salt Lake City, Utah is not a location where you might expect to find a pocket of noteworthy brewing activity. While the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute people may have been brilliant connoisseurs of the hoppy science (you never know), the arrival of Brigham Young and his abiding band of religious settlers put an abrupt end to the dream of a robust Utah craft culture. Upon arrival in that storied valley, the American Moses declared: “this is the right place.” Sadly for any beer lovers among the group, he was referring to the establishment of Deseret; not the establishment of a kick-ass community brewery. Pursuant to the Words of Wisdom, part of Doctrines and Covenants in the LDS scriptural cannon, consumption “strong drinks” is prohibited among members of the faith. This, it’s worth noting, is why LDS membership ranks only second in Aleheads reader demographic polls. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments Off | Ale Factories | Tagged: Brigham Young, Crooked Line, LDS, Market Street Grill, Mormons, Salt Lake City, Three-Two Beer, Uinta, Wind Power | Permalink
Posted by Sudsy von Brüe
June 27, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
STYLE: Wee Heavy
ABV: 8.3%
APPEARANCE: Tawny brown, cloudy
HEAD: Walnut-colored, rich, dense, and creamy, eternal
LACING: Ridiculous. Sticks to the glass in clumps.
NOSE: Malt malt malt. Roasted. Toasted. Caramel. Not sugary sweet, but no question this is a barley-heavy brew. A touch of peat, but not the same overwhelming smokiness you sometimes get from other Scotch Ales.
TASTE: Really nice. Not cloyingly sweet at all. A touch of bitterness from hops and alcohol are present and wend and wind their way through the malt labyrinth. A little bit of sour fruit adds an interesting undercurrent, but it’s 90% roasted grain and coffee/toffee overtones. A fine Wee Heavy.
MOUTHFEEL: Thick, lush, and rich. Full-bodied with excellent carbonation.
DRINKABILITY: Wee Heavies aren’t exactly drinkable, but this is a well-balanced version of the style. I’m heavily biased towards Founders, but I think this is as drinkable as the style gets.
RATING: 3.5 Hops
6 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Dirty Bastard, Founders, Scotch Ale, Wee Heavy | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 26, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Againn in DC
STYLE: Flanders Red Ale
ABV: 6.2%
APPEARANCE: Dark ruby
HEAD: Full tan head that lingers
LACING: Luxuriant
NOSE: This is a fun one to sniff. Sweet, sour and spicy. Sour wine, over-ripe, dark stone fruits, candi sugar, and bursts of cinnamon and licorice.
TASTE: Fun to drink too. Big tart, sour burst up front that fades to candy apple and molasses at the finish. Bigger, bolder malt profile than other Flanders Reds. Complex at the start and gets even more so as it warms. Very cool beer.
MOUTHFEEL: It’s a full, lush brew, but the powerful carbonation keeps it light on the tongue.
DRINKABILITY: Perhaps not as refreshing as something like the purely sour Monk’s Cafe, but this is one of the best Flanders Reds around. A beer to ponder and appreciate as it changes from sip to sip. Wifey McHops loved it.
RATING: 3.5 Hops
Comments Off | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Duchesse de Bourgogne, Flanders Red, Verhaeghe | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 25, 2010
Clown Shoes to the left of me, Clementines to the right. Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, time to belly up to some delicious Summer Witbier. Baron Sudsy was the first of the Aleheads to come across Clown Shoes and blessed us with some notes on their well-rounded Black IPA called Hoppy Feet. Since that time I’ve desperately been waiting for a new addition, and while I missed out on the Brown Angel, I’m happy to report that I’ve found a bottle of the Clementine. It’s plus 90 in Boston, can’t imagine how a Witbier brewed with clementines, orange peel, and coriander won’t make my world a little bit brighter.
Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Clementine, Clown Shoes, Massachusetts, Witbier | Permalink
Posted by Ripped Van Drinkale
June 25, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ McHops Monastery courtesy of Beerford McBrewin’
STYLE: American IPA
ABV: 6%
APPEARANCE: Bright, hazy orange
HEAD: White, smooth on top, and lasts about a minute…like Lord Copperpot.
LACING: Thorough and resilient
NOSE: Nice restraint. Very floral, piney hops…a touch of cannabis. The hop burst settles down and reveals a complex caramel malt aroma. No noseburn from the ABV…just persistent hops cresting and falling around the sweet malt base.
TASTE: Interesting flavor. The only sweetness comes right up front, then the hops takes over aggressively. They’re bitter and astringent and leave your palate with a bold, pine/weed aftertaste. The clever balance in the nose is not present in the taste. A little funky compared to other well-crafted American IPAs.
MOUTHFEEL: Nice, fluffy, well-carbonated mouthfeel. Medium-bodied.
DRINKABILITY: Not bad. The aftertaste is challenging and the pine flavor can be cloying after awhile. But I enjoyed the bomber….I certainly had no problem polishing it off.
RATNG: 3 Hops
4 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: American IPA, Organic, Roots, Woody | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 24, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
STYLE: Barleywine
ABV: 16.45%
APPEARANCE: Dark orange with ruby highlights. Gorgeous beer.
HEAD: Frothy off-white, but dissipates quickly.
LACING: Good, long-lasting
NOSE: Ripened stone fruits and vanilla. Candy apple shell, dark caramel malt, toffee…lots and lots of sugar. Before the diabetes sets in, the gigantic alcohol noseburn cuts through like a scalpel.
TASTE: One of the sweetest beers I’ve ever sipped. Pure, cloying, sugar with the very faintest hit of citrusy hops. Like the nose, the only thing that manages to cut through the overwhelming sweetness is the huge alcohol kick at the finish.
MOUTHFEEL: Lush, thick, impossibly full-bodied
DRINKABILITY: Zero. 16.45% ABV and so sweet you’ll get cavities just by looking at it. Still, it’s an interesting beer and worth trying once.
RATING: 2.5 Hops
Comments Off | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Avery, Barleywine, Samael's | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 23, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
STYLE: Strong Ale
ABV: 7.3%
APPEARANCE: Amber-red with good clarity
HEAD: Tan-head, fades quickly
LACING: Minimal
NOSE: Smells like a pine tree air freshener at first blush. As it warms, some juniper and gin notes are present and a fair amount of vanilla, cinnamon, and other less-apparent spices.
TASTE: Like licking a pine tree. It actually has some nice, well-rounded sweetness, and a decent bitter bite at the end, but it’s hard to get past that massive spruce flavor up front. It’s just too much….wickedly off-balance.
MOUTHFEEL: Medium-bodied, but drinks heavier thanks to weak carbonation
DRINKABILITY: Bleh. If I wanted to drink a pine-scented candle, I’d drunk a fucking pine-scented candle.
RATING: 1.5 Hops
Comments Off | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Spruce Goose, Steamworks, Strong Ale | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 22, 2010
NOTES: Draft @ Monk’s Cafe in Philly
STYLE: Witbier
ABV: 5.2%
APPEARANCE: Hazy, pale gold
HEAD: Bright white, persistent
LACING: Excellent, clingy
AROMA: Perfect Belgian witbier aroma. Citrus, lemon, biscuity yeast, clove, and banana.
TASTE: Smooth and refreshing. Citrus up front. Bready yeast in the middle. Crisp, clean wheat finish.
MOUTHFEEL: Medium to light-bodied. Excellent carbonation.
DRINKABILITY: Uber-high. Light, refreshing, and flavorful. One of the best flagships there is.
RATING: 3.5 Hops
7 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Allagash, Monk's Cafe, Philadelphia, White, Witbier | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 21, 2010
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
STYLE: Rauchbier
ABV: 5.2%
APPEARANCE: Cloudy mahogany
HEAD: Off-white, pillowy, long-lasting
LACING: Weak
AROMA: Smoked salmon, smoked salami, liquid smoke. A touch of clove and spice, but mostly, you know, smoke.
TASTE: Burst of smoked meat up front, followed by clean, wheat flavor and minimal finish. Smoke flavor becomes more pronounced as beer warms up.
MOUTHFEEL: Medium-bodied, good carbonation, slightly astringent
DRINKABILITY: Low. Clean finish, but smoke simply overwhelms the palate
RATING: 2.5 Hops
5 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen, Eulogy, Philadelphia, Rauchbier | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 18, 2010
Warning - Do not consume when outside temp falls below 95 degrees
Woh there skippy, don’t let that picture of Coronas on the rocks deter you from reading on. I know, I know – Aleheads and Mexican piss-water generally don’t mix. To be honest though, what better typifies the dog days of Summer better than a bucket of suds? Maybe we’d all prefer a pail of pale ales, but when the sun’s beating down on your back and sweat’s dripping down your neck, sometimes even the stoutest of Aleheads will reach for something less than craft. Be it Corona, maybe something with a lemon in it, maybe even something – gasp – straight from the bottle. Whatever the case may be, it’s Summer time and the livin’s easy. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | WTF | Tagged: Brasserie Dupont, Corona, Leinenkugel, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Summer | Permalink
Posted by Ripped Van Drinkale
June 17, 2010
Lord Copperpot requested…nay, demanded, a Gubna tasting note in the Comments section of the Oskar Blues Gordon post. Who am I to deny a request from a fellow Alehead?
There’s a reason I’ve held back on writing about the Gubna. It is far and away my least favorite Oskar Blues brew. I first had it canned in Colorado and thought it paled in comparison to their other offerings. But I figured I’d give it another shot in Philly since it was on tap. I thought a draft Gubna might be better…I was wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
8 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Gubna, Imperial IPA, Oskar Blues | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 16, 2010
Next up in our Philly Beer List tasting note series…the inimitable Oskar Blues Gordon. We’ve written about the spectacular Oskar Blues Brewery in these pages many times, but we’ve yet to talk about the Gordon…arguably their finest creation (unless you’re a Stout guy in which case the Ten FIDY is the clear champion). I sampled this fine brew on tap at my favorite Philly bar, the Eulogy Belgian Tavern.
The Gordon is hard to categorize…Oskar Blues calls it a Double Red Ale while BeerAdvocate has it listed as an Imperial IPA. I prefer to think of it as an Imperial Red…like Terrapin’s Big Hoppy Monster. As someone who loves big hop flavors but craves a hefty malt backbone to balance things out, the Imperial Red style is right in my wheelhouse. So it should come as no surprise that when one of my favorite breweries meets one of my favorite styles…the stars align for Brother Barley. Read the rest of this entry »
7 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: Eulogy, Gordon, Imperial Red, Oskar Blues, Philadelphia | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
June 15, 2010
On the subject of Russian River, sensational brews, and otherwise blurry memories from the City of Brotherly Love, the Baron would be remiss not to recount two Philly favorites. As Brother Barley aptly summarized, Russian River is a gem. For years this daft bon vivant has sought out the joys of a Pliny or a Pig only to be thwarted by the fairly limited distribution aparatus employed by our heroes out in Santa Rosa. It was, therefore, with considerable enthusiasm that I cracked into two truly stellar Russian River offerings: Supplication and Damnation. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Apocalypse, Chant des Partisans, Damnation, Philadelphia, Revelation, Russian River, Supplication | Permalink
Posted by Sudsy von Brüe
NOTES: Bottle @ Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Philly
