[BW] Beer Blog

As I sit here working between various projects I decided I needed a cold one. Sure I have a few imperial stouts I could pop open, but no. Forget that. I need a cold one.

Enter Surly’s Bitter Brewer. This gem was sent to me by Eric at Bearded Brewing and I was immediately intrigued because it’s a pint-sized can. You know my policy on can beer, so there won’t be any mention of smell or appearance this time around.

The beer itself is exactly what it says it is. A generally inoffensive bitter in a can. I must say, I could easily go through a few of these. It’s even easier because it has a handy wide-mouthed opening.

The only part of this beer I have to disagree with is its tag line, “Beer for a glass, from a can.” No beer from a can should ever be poured in a glass. Ever.

Definitely way better than Flat Tire from a can.

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Brewery: Bearded Brewing
Style: ESB/Pale Ale (loosely)
Serving: 12oz Bottle

Northwoods Ale is the second ale sent to me by Eric over at Bearded Brewing. This one intrigues me as its both organic and sounds truly unique.

This beer is brewed with maple syrup and wild rice. The rice gives it an interesting taste. Its a fairly light ale, but I don’t really have a category for it. I kind of based the recipe off a British Bitter, but it turned out much lighter and I also use a fairly standard American yeast

Let’s see what this light, British, earthy ale is all about!

Appearance - Eric warned me about the possibility of a ton of head pouring with this one, but my results left a healthy finger’s worth of white head. The color is a light gold and fairly translucent. A healthy amount of bubbles are apparent as well.

Smell - Somewhat yeasty, yet also sweet. This is probably due to the maple syrup. For some reason I’m also smelling a little citrus coming through, although I don’t know if that was intended or not.

Taste - This took me a sec, but I think I’ve got it. At first it tastes like a fairly carbonated light ale, but then the brown rice reveals itself as one is left with a slightly earthy taste as it dissipates off the palate. This sensation is probably most similar to Rogue’s Morimoto Soba Ale if that helps at all. The maple syrup is only apparent as the very last 1% of it finishes going down the hatch.

All in all this is a very tasty brew and I think Eric is onto something, but I think he could experiment by adding even more brown rice to see how far he can take the earthy hue without it being overpowering. This is not to say that this brew can’t stand on its own as it is very refreshing and I can easily see this stuff disappearing in an instant at a bbq/party/etc. Yet another excellent brew from the Bearded Brewing Company.

As a huge thanks to Eric for attempting to send me three of his brews (one broke in transportation), tomorrow I’ll be sending him a package with the following:
-Bison Organic Belgian (22oz)
-Deschutes Organic Green Lakes Amber Ale (22oz)
-Roots Organic Island Red Ale (22oz)

Overall I’d say this experiment was a huge success. We’ll definitely have to do it again some time.

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Brewery: Rogue
Style: Imperial English Style Bitter
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 86
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.42 (79th Percentile)
Serving: Ceramic Swing-Top Bottle

Today I have a very special guest who will be adding his thoughts on today’s brew. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce my friend Jake. Jake is currently an intern working with me from Wisconsin, so believe me, this guy knows beer. Is his taste similar to mine? We’ll find out. If you like what he has to say then you’re in for a treat because we’re working on a couple ideas as to how he can help contribute to the site when he goes back to Wisconsin.

Appearance: Dark amber in color with no chance of light shining through. Literally no head after pour.

Smell: You can smell the alcohol already with a slight hue of fruit. Think of it as almost a light barley wine in terms of said combination.

Taste: I’m a huge bitter fan and this certainly doesn’t disappoint. This brew is absolutely honest in what it claims to be; a traditional bitter gone imperial. Everything about a world class bitter shines though, but with the obvious kick of the added alcohol content. You owe yourself a pint of this if you are a bitter fan and can get your hands on some. Be forewarned that as with every imperial to take your time with this one.

Jake: Tastes like a bitter, but the aftertaste has a little more lingering effect to it. Doesn’t go away instantly, therfor each sip doesn’t blend into eachother. This is not in a bad way as in “I’m drinking such a heavy beer,” but clear and distinct. When you first take a sip of the beer it doesn’t taste above and beyond what has come before it. Yet, as you develop into the taste of the brew you can feel the distinct textures present. It’s like taking vanilla ice cream and making it vanilla ice cream 2.0, the same thing but better. It feels distinct, but has a down-to-earth quality that so many beers overstate with macrobrewing standards.

I also have one last bit of news and that is I move to Pullman, Washington two days from now. I’m going to start grad school at Washington State University and will be leaving the Willamette Valley. While from what I have seen Pullman has nowhere near the beer selection that I currently enjoy, expect to still see updates. There are many more breweries from Washington, Idaho, and the rest of the world that I haven’t even began to touch on yet. I’ll miss Corvallis and Oregon in general, but this is yet another adventure that I am looking forward to.

Thanks again to everybody out there who reads my completely unprofessional reviews on a regular basis. It still amazes me how many of you seem to enjoy what I write for this site. You all rock.

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Once again I have neglected this site too long. Recently I have had quite a few new beers and while I really am working on full reviews for a couple, here’s some quick thoughts on others:

Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale
I should have known better to pick this one up. Blue Moon is owned by Coors Brewing and guess what? This stuff tastes like Coors with some nutmeg tossed in! I swear you can seriously make this yourself for a lot cheaper just by buying an 18 pack of Coors and mixing in some nut meg. I honestly couldn’t finish this brew. Of all the meticulously hand-crafted and delicious seasonal brews out there, this is probably among the worst. In its defense I tip my hat to Coors for giving it a shot.

Calapooia Riverdog ESB
I tried this brew on tap at a local bar here and wow, it hit the style dead on. I really can’t say much more than if you want a delicious ESB and you live in the Corvallis/Albany area then do yourself a favor and give this a try. I’m really curious as to what else Calapooia has brewed up, so I may have to take a trip to their pub in Albany.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
A lot of people believe this to be the pinnacle of pumpkin ales and from what I’ve had I agree. According to the label this is “a full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg.” This is the most honest description of a beer I have ever read. It seriously tastes like their brown ale with a hint of pumpkin pie. If you want to try a pumpkin ale then do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of this. The only thing I have to say negative about it is for some reason it got kind of hard to drink towards the end.

That’s all I got for now, but I promise I’ll have reviews for Deschutes Jubelale 2006 and Bison Brewing’s Gingerbread Ale up within the next couple of days.

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