It's been a while since we got a good beer panel group together. Hey, it's summer, who has time to sit around and drink beer with a bunch of friends?
This week we were joined by Matt and Heather McClung of Schooner Exact fame so we really had to pretend we knew what we were doing. I think we fooled them.
Read on dear, lonely, reader, read on:
First we tried a bunch of canned beers that Dustin brought back from his Hawaii vacation.
Maui Brewing
Bikini Blonde Lager ABV 4.5%
Looks like a Rainier. Clean and creamy up front and a little bready in the middle. A perfect beer for Tacoma if Tacoma was a small island floating in the distant, tropical, Pacific.
3 out of 5
Maui Brewing
Big Swell IPA ABV 6.2%
Do the hops get to Hawaii on the same ship as the Spam? Quite minerally, clean, and a touch malty. Not bad for an Hawaiin IPA in a can and very sessionable.
3 out of 5
Maui Brewing
Coconut Porter ABV 5.7%
Smells like a coconut porter, tastes like a coconut porter. Chocolatey, roasty, nose. Mild coconut flavor but becomes more like an Almond Joy as it develops. Might be a good idea to keep candy bars and beer separate. Just sayin...
3 out of 5
Wittekerke
Blik Witbier ABV 5%
Very pretty color but long strands of schmegma were a little disconcerting. My land!! That tastes awful! If this didn't come out of a green bottle how did they get that skunky flavor into it. And why put Belgian beer in a can?? A quick tour of the website might answer a few questions.
1 out of 5
Pelican
India Pelican Ale IPA ABV 7.5%
This smells delightful, darling. Malty in the middle and finish ( who took these notes?) Kind of a standard IPA with a long finish. A range of scores 1 through 4 but the consensus is:
3 out of 5
Port Brewing
High Tide IPA ABV 6.5%
Not as bad as we thought it would be, there's objectivity for you. A little green, it's a fresh hop, but in July? Hay notes, aromatic. Kinda like cigarettes, not the tobacco flavors in wine but more like the chemicals in a Pall Mall.
2 out of 5 and a big "Fuck you, Tomme Arthur!!" just for the sake of it.
Schooner Exact
Heather Ale ABV ?
One of the first beers made by the lovely Heather from Schooner Exact. Her time at the University of Puget Sound shows through because this beer smells like one of those pretty hippy girls and finishes with a hint of sourness. Like a slightly scented flower. (Who took these notes for chrissakes...you're fired!)
2 out of 5
Primator
Maibock ABV 7.5%
Another gem brought by the Schooner folks. Aroma of creme brulee. But does all Czech beer taste the same? Little sweet, quite pleasant if you like beer that tastes like a corn taco shell. And apparently we do.
3 out of 5
He'Brew
Rejewvenator ABV 7.8%
Half Doppelbock and half Belgian Dubbel with a bunch of date juice thrown in. Apparently, there's some religious significance to using date juice but even God would get tired of brewers blending and juicing. Suffers next to the previous Maibock, big dry finish, and dates that taste like molasses.
3 out of 5
Dogfish Head
Burton Baton ABV 10%
Here we go again; a blend of oak-aged English strong ale and 90 Minute IPA. Classic Dogfish. Smells like Grandma's cedar chest. Yup, the one she fell into and wasn't discovered for a week. Overwhelmingly sweet. What a waste of 90 Minute and two minutes, too.
1 out of 5
Well, that's the end of this week's "Grumpy Old Beer Geeks Drink Beer." Unfortunately the moron taking notes didn't record our reaction to the Dumpbucket but I'm pretty sure it was awful. We had also hoped to taste New Belgium's Transatlantique Kriek but were unable to get a sample. Anyone out there tried it?
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6 comments:
I’m glad to hear that I am not the only one who doesn’t love every beer from DFH.
Just because a beer costs $12.00 does not mean that it is good.
Putting 11 ingredients in a single brew does not make you a pioneer.
Brewing a tasty thirst-quenching pale ale or lager from just 4 ingredients is much more impressive.
Hmmm…. I should probably post this as anonymous as it seems unpopular with some of the posters to have opinions on this blog.
Whoops.
Oh snap now you done it Berry! I do agree with you though. Make a good beer with less and keep it good. Don't make a good beer then spend way too much time adding other stuff so that it ends up sucking. Does not make sense to me. Hey my word verification rhymes with scooby. Hope I didn't piss anybody off by talkin about my word varification.
John, the Kriek was terrible, it just tasted like cherry juice and not even good cherry juice more like cough syrup without the buzz.
I don't know who the mysterious "Barry" is but I agree with every word he says.
I'm getting a little burned out on oak, lemongrass, Laotian grumbleweed, and all the other crap that's getting ditched into our beer.
Seems like there's plenty of scope for creation and variety using the sacred few ingredients.
And, yes, make it thirst quenching!
I didn't think the Kriek was too bad, keeping in mind it's supposed to be made from refermented lambic and cherry juice. At 8%, I think it has more kick than Tussin...
Maybe I was still pissed about everyone passing on the MOST EXCELLENT AND FACE OWNING DELICIOUSNESS THAT IS PELICAN IPA!
C@TRH
Burtan Baton a 1?
Common! You know damn well that if you drink it out of a snifter at exactly 55F, in a big comfy chair, in front of a fire, with your slippers on, in a cabin in Alaska on a cold frosty night it would definitely bump up to a 2.
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