Troeg's Nugget Nectar

 

 

So this is the second Troeg's beer that I've reviewed on this blog, the first being Mad Elf a few month's ago. Troeg's is yet another testament to how booming the craft industry in Pennsylvania has become!This wasn't my first encounter with Nugget Nectar, despite its elusive release schedule and distribution. I managed to get my hand on a couple of six packs of this brew last year as well, and I had very fond memories of the hop characters of the brew. When I saw it available at my local distributor again I had to pick it up (and I am lucky to have 3 amazing distributors within a 10 minute drive that can get really rare stuff). It's a very satisfying, hybridish brew that holds back no punches at all with their hop characterization. A lot of people call it an "IPA", but the truth is it's a hopped up red ale (think Lagunita's Imperial Red). So, before I give away anymore about this gem, read the full review below:

 

Name: Nugget Nectar

Brewery: Troeg Brother's

Location: Hershey, PA

Style: IPA? Imperial Red Ale
ABV: 7.5%
Price: $15/6 pack
Packaging: 12 oz bottle

Appearance: Pours a beatifully clear reddish/dark amber hue, with a copper piping brightness when held up to the light. The beer pours a solid 2-3 finger thick cream colored head. The head provides spotty lacing on the glass that sticks around for quite some time.

Aroma: A lot of pine/skunky cannabis notes on the first scent. A lot of piney resin on the nose, with muffled citrus notes.

Taste/Mouthfeel: A moderate amount of carbonation on this one, and a medium body that leaves a generous, lingering mouth coating. This is total resin galore! A ton of pine and resin on the front of the tasting, followed by more pronounced citrus notes (orange peel mainly) in the middle, followed by a sweet malt finish. A nice bitterness up front, but not at all overpowering due to the welcomed balance of the sweet malt characters. A beautiful breadiness in the finish, reminiscent of biscuit/biscuit dough.

Overall: 9/10 Definitely a bitter beer, but not nearly as bitter as one would think drinking a beer that touts "93ish" IBU's. What really quells the bitterness is the focus of the malt in this brew, and it's also what impressed me the most. You still get the pine and resin of the nugget, warrior and tomahawk hops up front, but the malt characters quell it enough for you to fully appreciate the complexity of these hop varieties. I would suggest this one for hop heads, as well as those that enjoy a delicious sweet malt character in their beer. Although the beer is bitter, the malt balance will leave those of you that are into a more balanced beer scratching your heads with this one. Personally, I remember this being far more bitter last year, and I was expecting a slightly more bitter offering. However, Troeg's has once again offered us all another balanced, beautifully crafted ale! Cheers!

Full Sail's Pale Doppelbock

 

I am apparently a late bloomer when it comes to west coast breweries outside of the borders of California. Once I discovered Rogue over a decade ago, it took me about four years before I allowed myself to explore more deeply into other non-Californian west coast craft brews . Well, recently I found a brewery that also hails from Oregon, and can seriously give Rogue a run for their money (or market share). That brewery is Full Sail from Hood River, Oregon. Yes, they've been around for 25 years (slightly longer than Rogue), and I am completely aware of how late I am in discovering them, but I am just grateful I finally got into their brews. Oregon is a bastion of amazing breweries, and I completely fell in love with Full Sail over the winter after purchasing a six pack of their Wassail winter warmer ale.  A fantastically spicy, peppery winter warmer that deserves far more than the 86 beer advocate gave it. Well, I'm not here to review that beer, however, I am here to review their Pale Doppelbock. So, here it goes...

 

Beer Name: Full Sail 25th Anniversary Pale Doppelbock

Brewery: Full Sail

Location: Hood River, OR

ABV: 9%

Price: around $8/1pt 8oz. bottle.

Packaging: bottle (1pt 8oz)

Poured into a tulip glass

 

 

Appearance: A bright amber color, indicative of a lager. A finger thick cream colored head, with a slight caramel tint. The head leaves spotty lacing behind on the glass.

 

Aroma: Bread and peppery hop notes on the nose, as well as some caramel and slight brown sugar. Also, some mild spiced fruit notes.

 

Taste/Mouthfeel: Moderate amounts of carbonation, and a medium body. Sweet bread notes up front, with mild pepper in the middle. There is a slight alcohol bite on the finish (hardly even noticeable) followed by a nice, lingering hop bitterness. Think of a more spicy, peppery lager with a larger bittering hop finish. The malts shine in this brew, and the bread/biscuit sweetness is really this star.

 

Overall: 8/10 I really enjoyed this brew, but I was expecting more of a full body There was an unexpected hopiness to this on the finish, which I found a bit misplaced but intriguing and enjoyable. This beer reminded me of a traditional British IPA crossed with a lager. Sweet, spicy, with a medium body. It was very drinkable, and very dangerous with a 9% abv. If it wasn't for the slight bite at the end, I would swear to heaven I was drinking a session lager. Overall, a successful brew that has you scratching your head afterwards wondering just what style of beer you just drank. Worth trying, and I would definitely try again. Cheers!

Keegan Ales, Keeping it local!

When I first got into craft beer, it was due to my initial love affair with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. That was almost 15 years ago, well before breweries began popping up in the Mid Hudson Valley of upstate New York. I became quickly hooked on many west coast brewers, mainly Anchor and Sierra Nevada. There was no locally brewed option back then, and there weren't many regionally produced beers either.

10 years ago Keegan Ales was born in Kingston, NY. They quickly became a "go to" spot for local, fresh, handcrafted ales and lagers. Besides Hyde Park Brewing Company, Keegan was one of the first breweries in the Dutchess/Ulster county area to offer good food, great atmosphere, and a solid line of beers for the populace to indulge in. I recently stopped in there (it had been about a year since my last visit) to see what's new with Tommy Keegan and his crew. Let me just say, I was impressed yet again with how timeless this place really is. The atmosphere always stays the same, their mainstay beers stay the same as well, but they always offer you something new and different on the tap lines and in the kitchen. Here's a review of how our visit went.

My father and I pulled into the parking lot at around 12:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon in early February. As we pulled into our parking space, I gazed across the parking lot at an adjacent building and saw a sign that read "Keegan Home Brew and Mercantile Exchange". Holy sh#t! Keegan Ales now has a home brew and merchandise store right next door to the brewery. The staff in the shop are very knowledgeable (the guy I spoke to for 45 minutes brews during the week at the brewery). The shop is also staffed by home brewers who know what they're talking about. They have malt extract as well as grain malt for you to choose from. This makes the transition from extract, to partial grain, to all grain brewing possible. The people staffing the store will walk you through what you need, and can answer any questions you might have about home brewing. The store offers any kind of grain malt you could think of, including roasted, pale , and rye malts to name a few. Whatever you are looking to brew, theses guys have you covered! The store also offers Keegan Ale merchandise such as beer, t shirts, hats and other nick-nacks. They are also offering home brew classes for just $20, and home brew starter kits for just $85! A conveniently located shop for those of us that get inspired having a pint in the tap room next door! I plan on taking some classes there, and buying my home brew kit from them soon.

After out 45 minute nerd out session at the home brew shop, my Dad and I sauntered back across the parking lot to get some lunch and brews at the brewery tap room/pub. The first thing that strikes you when you walk in is the glass wall to the right that gives you a full, panoramic view of the actual brewery. You can gaze out, while sipping your beer and see where it was produced. It's really a great idea, and like everything else at Keegan, it's clearly designed to get people interested in the art of brewing.

The second thing you notice walking in is the non-posh, working class feeling you get from the tap room/pub. If there's one thing I hate while enjoying a beer (especially with the elite catching on to the craft beer craze) is pretentious assholes lurking around while I am trying to enjoy my beer. Beer is a working class drink, and I don't want to hear some douchey day trader spouting off about how much he made in the market this past week. I would rather hear people vent about shitty bosses, callused hands, and trying to make ends meet. This place is exactly that. You can tell Tommy Keegan and crew bust their asses to bring you their labor of love, and they clearly want to share it with people that bust their asses as well.

Then, of course, there's the beer on tap! That day I had the barley wine ale called "Super Kitty" (12%abv), "Black Eye" black IPA (6.5%), and the "Swarmin' Hive" honey vanilla porter. The Super Kitty was strong, very strong. I could really taste the alcohol, and it had an almost barrel aged flavor to it (like whiskey). However, it was quite delicious and very dangerous indeed. The Black Eye was my favorite, combining strong floral hop characters with roasted malts. This created some complex flavor profiles, with the aroma hops hitting you up front and fading into a dark chocolate/roasted coffee character, and finishing with a lingering hop bitterness. The Swarmin Hive was also quite delicious, with neither the vanilla nor the honey being too overpowering, and there's a great balance between the roasted malt sweetness and hop characters as well.

The food is also killer! My dad and I ordered the Nachos, Carrot Ginger soup, and soft pretzels. Everything was fantastic, and the Carrot Ginger soup was to die for. It was sweet, with a nice amount of spice from the ginger. An excellent soup for the winter doldrums, and it paired well with the Super Kitty barleywine ale which complimented the bold flavors of the soup well.

If you haven't been to Keegan, I don't know what the hell you are waiting for. Go check out their website at www.keeganales.com to see their menu, and what they currently have on tap! Organize a group of friends, and head on up (or down) to Kingston for an overall amazing time, with a brewery that promotes local business as well as the DIY (do it yourself) ethic of craft brewing! Cheers!

Lagunitas Sucks Ale

 

 

To say that  I love this brewery would be an understatement. Since I first had my first tasting of Hop Stoopid over two years ago, I've been pimping this brewery around as though I owned it myself. They're masters of the manipulation of hop profiles, and manage to get some of the most complex hop aromas and tastes on the planet. They've mastered IPA's in all of their forms, and I tell anyone who asks me for a good IPA to try anything Lagunita's has put out. Hop Stoopid, Maximus IPA, IPA, Lil Sumpin Sumpin, Lil Sumpin Sumpin Wild, and the Imperial Red Ale are all some of my favorites on the planet. When I want hops, I want Lagunitas. It's as simple as that.

 

I've heard about Lagunitas Sucks Ale for the past couple of winters, but before this past winter I had yet to get my paws on a bottle of it. I asked my local distributor if they would be getting it in a week after its release in December, and they couldn't tell me jack shit. So, I waited patiently...very patiently. I went to the distributor every single day for three weeks straight to see if it had come in yet. Then, one glorious Wednesday evening I went on to the beer distributor's website and saw Lagunitas Sucks listed as one of their beers recently added to the roster. Sure enough, I ran down to the store the following day and quickly swiped up a six pack of it. I was like a little kid, boring the hell out of my girlfriend by going into great detail of my excitement about mynew acqusition. Surely, she couldn't have cared less, but I needed someone to share my excitement with. So now, I will share it with you, my trusty readers who will appreciate the love I have for this brew, and this brewery. Alas, let my review begin...

 

Name: Lagunitas Sucks Ale

Brewey: Lagunitas Brewing Company

Location: Petaluma, CA

Style: Double/Imperial IPA

ABV: 7.85%

Packaging: 12oz bottle

Price: $13/6 pack of 12 oz bottles

 

Appearance: Beautiful bright copper hue, with a thick, creamy white 2-3 finger thick head. Loads of lacing on this one that sticks rather firmly to the glass.

 

Aroma: A graefruit explosion on the nose! Load of citrus esters (grapefruit, orange peel and lemon zest). Also floral hops aromas, reminiscent of orange blossoms. Also some mild sweetness on the nose.

 

Taste/Mouth feel: Medium bodied brew, with plenty of carbonation and a dry mouth feel. The citrus hop characters really add to the dryness of the beer, and give it an almost dry Riesling type of mouth feel. I am also getting a moderately thick mouth coating, especially on the roof of my mouth, which also rolls over my tongue toward my throat on each sip. Beautifully complex citrus notes up front, which fade slightly to allow candied fruit esters to settle in for a bit before a clean, bitter hop finish. The candied fruit esters are reminiscent of fruit esters you'd get from Belgian ales. A very complex flavor profile, as well as mouth feel.

 

Overall: 10/10 This has taken the lead as my new favorite brew from Lagunitas. If you like hops, you'll want to marry this beer on the first sip. The aromas, taste, and mouth feel evolve and tease you with each sip. It's an insanely clean, dry, crisp beer that bombards you with citrus esters, and a medium bodied malt sweetness. If you like Lil Sumpin Sumpin, this beer will surely throw you for a loop. Highly recommended. Cheers!

 



Alesmith's Nut Brown Ale

I am always elated, and filled with nothing more than complete enthusiasm when I discover a brewery that is new to me. It's like a new avenue of delicious possibilities opens up, and another craft genius collides with me and allows me to sample and enjoy her/his elixirs. They've been around since 1995 (making them a fairly young brewery). What I really love about this brewery is that they really focus on classic styles of ales and lagers, and really focus on balance in the brews that they make. The Nut Brown Ale was no exception to their focus and attention. You should really check them out online at www.alesmith.com and get down to your local distributor and DEMAND their brews! Well, here is my review of their Nut Brown Ale:

Name: Nut Brown Ale
Brewery: Alesmith Brewing Company www.alesmith.com
Location: San Diego, CA
ABV: 5%
Price: $6.49/1pt, 6oz bottle
Packaging: 1pt, 6 oz bottle

Appearance: Dark, rich mahogany in color with a mocha-caramel cream colored head that is 2-3 fingers thick. There's loads of heavy, thick lacing on the glass, adding to the overall visual appeal of this beer.

Aroma: At first you definitely get roasted coffee and cocoa notes on the nose, followed by bread and biscuit scents. Overall a lot of sweetness on the nose.

Taste/Mouthfeel: A moderate amount of carbonation, creating a very dry flavor despite the sweetness of this brew. Up front, there is a lot of sweet roasted malt flavors (coffee, cocoa), also molasses notes quickly followed by bread and biscuit notes. Toward the end, an earthy hop bitterness bites you just before fading off into the horizon. The full body on this beer leaves a lingering mouth coating of molasses and biscuit.

Overall: 10 out of 10. This is an excellent representation of a tradtional English Nut Brown Ale. This is a near perfect, sessionable beer that I could easily see myself drinking over a plate of bangers and mash at a British pub. It would pair perfectly with any red meat dish, from burgers to beef stew. I would also drink this paired with venison, as well as any sausage or fatty pork dish. Try it as soon as you get the chance! Cheers!

21st Amendment's Fireside Chat

I heard a lot about this beer from my instagram/facebook beer buddies, so I naturally had to pick up a six pack of it. I picked up the six pack as an X Mas day brew, to have with X Mas dinner. I saved one beer to review, and it was near impossible to impose enough self control to make that possible. Anyway, here's my write up of the brew:

Name: Fireside Chat
Brewery: 21st Amendment
Location: San Francisco, CA
Style: Winter Warmer/Winter Spiced Ale
ABV: 7.9%
Packaging: Can
Price: $9.99/six pack of 12 oz cans.

Appearance: Very, very dark mahogany in color, with a 2-3 finger thick caramel cream colored head. Light lacing around the glass that falls rather quickly.

Aroma: Clove and nutmeg, as well as cinnamon. Warm apple cider notes as well, coupled with banana bread, as well was dried fruit. Spicey and fruity.

Taste/Mouthfeel: The carbonation is on the light side, and the beer itself has a very "dry" mouthfeel. This is definitely a full bodied, complex brew. There are a lot of spice notes up front, such as clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon, followed by roasted coffee and dark chocolate notes (with accompanying bitterness). I am also getting some sweet cider notes before the finish, followed by banana bread, and a long lingering bitterness on the finish. At times, this is very reminiscent to a spiced dunkelweizen with it's rich chocolate/roasted malt taste coupled with the added spice. Moderately drinkable, but it definitely fills you up.

Overall: 10/10 I have had a few other 21st Amendment beers, but this has been the best offering I have had from them. If you're into dunkels, as well as belgian ales, well then this is the perfect almagamation for you. It's a very unique mix of two very different styles of beers, but both styles (belgian ale and dunkel) have their roots deep in winter time sippings. If you are a fan of either styles of beer, I strongly suggest you try this one. It definitely lives up to the name of "winter warmer". I am finishing up my glass as I type this, the snow outside is falling pretty hard, and this beer just makes the pearl white blanket falling outside feel "just right". An excellent winter brew. Cheers!

Widmer Brother's Drifter Pale Ale

This brew came as part of a mix 12 pack that I bought on a whim. I had never had any Widmer Brother's beers previously, and I thought this would be a good chance to get a sampling of a few beers this brewery has to offer. The first brew I am reviewing here is the Widmer Brother's Drifter Pale Ale. The west coast (thanks to Sierra Nevada, Rogue, Stone, and others) has done a very good job redefining what pale ales and IPAs have been commonly known to be. They've all created new, distinct, and diverse hop profiles that keep hop enthusiasts coming back for more and more. I will be the first to admit, I am a hop junkie. I love hoppy, bitter beers more than anything in the beer world. However, I often times can find the overuse or misuse of hops incredily offensive. I wants my hops, but I still want my malt as well. So, when hops are overdone, especially in a pale ale, I get very offended. With IPA's I expect an overuse of hops, but when I am drinking a pale ale I expect more of a balance. So, I was curious to see Widmer Brother's take on a traditional American Pale Ale. I was pleasantly surprised.

Brewery: Widmer Brother's
Location: Portland, OR
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.7%
Price: $16 for mix 12 pack (also included a grapefruit IPA, a hefeweizen, and an oktofest beer as well)

Appearance: Not a very pale ale at all. In fact, the beer pours a rather dark amber color. Not at all reminiscent of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or any of the other West Coast vairieties of Pales. There is a nice, finger thick head and generous amounts of loose lacing around the rim of the glass. There is also generous amounts of carbonation.

Aroma: Some grapefruit and lemon zest on the nose, followed by faint piney notes. Also, a lot of bread on the nose as well, remiscent of pizza dough.

Taste/Mouhfeel: Medium body, a lot more body than other pale ales I am used to. Generous amounts of carbonation  help ease out the medium body of the brew. Beautiful hop characters up front such as grapefruit bitterness, but not overpowering at all. Very subtle hop characteristics, that quickly take a step back and allow the pale malts to take over the show. The finish of the beer has the sweetness of thepale malts dominating, resmiscent of a sweet citrusy dessert bread on the back end. Think of lemon bread, with a slight bite of bitterness of the lingering aftertaste.

Overall: 8/10 I enjoyed this a lot. However, it was a bit more body than I am used to in a pale ale. This was definitely a darker brew, and far more complex in flavor profiles than most pales that I have had. The balance between malt sweetness and hop characters, however, was excellent and really allowed the pale malts and sweetness to shine through without being overpowered with aroma or bittering hops. A well balanced, delicious pale-ish ale (he he he), that serves as a great salute to pale malt and hops. Cheers!