[BW] Beer Blog

So after sitting down tonight and watching a good few hours of television and a pot of irish like coffee I was just buzzed enough to want to have a good pint of beer. (although when am I not in the mood for a pint of good beer?) The Rogue Bullfrog Ale was one of the little gems we picked up in Portland and so far It has a really good mellow “I’m a bastard child of a traditional ale and a slightly mild hefeweizen” taste to it.

I’ve made it through about a third of a glass and the taste and texture has stayed close to the same. It has no bitter bite and after taking a drink I immediately want to take another before setting the mug down again.

I do have to recommend this Bullfrog Ale to anyone wanting to sit down and just drink straight through a pint. It felt like a flavored water to me, just water with a very, very good kick.

Cheers to you Issaquah! Three and a Half Barrels.

-Nick

Rick’s Thoughts
I don’t know where Nick got the whole “water” thing, but it tasted like anything but water to me. Perhaps he meant it went down like water, but to me this was one of the heartier wheat ales I’ve had. Hell, I like to think I can pour most wheat beers like a pro, but even this one had some serious sediment to it. Take a look:

Yeah that’s kind of embarrassing to show on a beer site and all, but just thought I’d show how much sediment we’re really talking about here. Apparently this one bends the rules of pouring. Either way this is a pretty damn good wheat beer, but definitely one of those brews you have to be in the mood for. I’m really looking forward to getting a pint of it on my next trip to the Seattle area.

-Rick

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After many conversations with friends, it has came to our attention that there was high demand for us to host a beer tasting party. After sending out some feelers over the last couple weeks the response has been enormous. We’ve had parties at our apartment before, but mention beer tasting and everybody seemed to be interested.

With that said we’ve decided to host our very first beer tasting party this Friday night. The biggest surprise? So many people want to come that there’s no way our apartment can possibly contain this thing. The solution? Our totally awesome friends who have a big house are letting us do it there.

We’ve already made our friends try some of the “weirder” beers (in terms of mainstream beer) such as Rogue Chocolate Stout, so we decided to grab one of our favorites and one brew we’ve never tried. After not a whole lot of deliberation we decided to purchase both Morimoto Signature Soba Ale and Deschutes 18th Anniversary Pilsner.

Our only requirement for this party is that price of entry is a 22oz bottle or six pack of “good beer.” What “good beer” means to our friends is going to be all over the place, so I can’t wait to see what shows up. Pictures and thoughts will be posted some time Saturday. Feel free to leave any comments with advice or suggestions.

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I’m going to be totally honest. I really, really wanted some Deschutes Mirror Mirror barley wine. However, we already drank our (only) 3 bottles and University Market here in Corvallis is completely out. For good. No more. Sad day. What was one to do?

Well we went for what we figured would be the next best thing; Rogue’s Old Crustacean barley wine. I love barley wine and I love most of Rogue’s offerings, so it was a sure bet. I’m not going to do a standard review, but more of a comparison to Mirror Mirror because that’s what was going on in my mind the whole time.

Unlike Mirror Mirror, Old Crustacean seems to rely a lot more on citrus flavors. Grapefruit is what hit me right away and seemed to be a continuing theme. Mirror Mirror is much more subtle with its flavors while still being very flavorful, almost so you can’t pick out any one outstanding flavor. Old Crustacean seemed to rely on a few select flavors, which isn’t a bad thing at all because I thought it was very delicious.

Old Crustacean is also darker than Mirror Mirror with a bigger head.

However, the biggest difference between the two is to me, Mirror Mirror is much more drinkable. Apparently Old Crustacean was originally just available in 7oz bottles, which is the PERFECT serving size for this particular brew. I got used to drinking Mirror Mirror no problem in pint glasses because it’s so good, but half way through a pint of Old Crustacean and I was kinda hurting. This is mostly due to the alcohol content in Old Crustacean being much more evident. I highly suggest not doing what Nick and I did and that’s split the ceramic bottle into two pint glasses. There’s four servings in that bottle, trust me.

All in all it’s obvious that I enjoyed Mirror Mirror better, but Old Crustacean is still very delicious and I am definitely going to buy more in the near future. I suggest you do the same and let us know what you think. By stealing Nick’s barrel scale and using Mirror Mirror as a perfect seven, I’d give this a 5.5/7.

-Rick

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Style: Double India Pale Ale
Brewery: Hair of the Dog
Availability: Special Earth Day release
Beer Advocate Rating: 85
Rate Beer Rating: 3.8/5 (95th Percentile)

Although I live in the Pacific Northwest, I haven’t always been a big fan of India pale ales. However, they’re quickly growing on me and so I decided to give Hair of the Dog’s Blue Dot double India pale ale a shot. I’m a big fan of Stone’s hoppy-as-hell Ruination double IPA, so bring it on.

A first for me is this is my first brew from Hair of the Dog. I’ve heard great things, but never actually got around to picking up a bottle. I guess I’m just a sucker for 22oz bottles and this is the first 22oz bottle I’ve seen from Hair of the Dog. According to the Belmont Station Beer Forum, this brew was distributed at Hair of the Dog’s Earth Day event, whilst the rest went on sale for a limited time.

Appearance: Instead of describing what it looked like, have a look for yourself. I was surprised at how little head this brew had. What was there quickly dissipated. Normal for a double IPA? Leave a comment and let me know because I honestly don’t. Dark amber color that’s slightly cloudy.

Smell: Uh oh. I know this smell. This brew smells like a Belgian.

Taste:Yup, tastes like a Belgian. Very citrusy as well. Definite hues of lemon shine through with slighter hues of oranges or tangerines. This really surprised me because it tastes absolutely nothing like Ruination. Creamy mouthfeel as well.

The Verdict: Well it’s well known that I’m not a fan of Belgians, but I did enjoy the strong citrus hues that shined through. The biggest barrier between this beer and me liking it is I was really in the mood for an Indian pale ale. I made the mistake of assuming a double IPA would taste similar to a regular IPA. If you’re a fan of Belgians and you’re already a fan of Double India pale ales then I see no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this brew. It’s only around for a limited time though, so snag a bottle while you can.

The lesson I learned is never treat two double IPAs the same. If I was to pick between this or Ruination, I’d easily pick Ruination.
-Rick

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Eat your heart out, Martha Stewart.

Bored? Perhaps. Visually appealing? Perhapser.

Oh we also decided to have some fun and make a list of what beers we happen to have laying around on the left hand side. Each beer goes to Beer Advocate’s page unless for some reason it isn’t listed on Beer Advocate. I’ll admit we’ve excluded the swill our friends have left behind.

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Over the last few days I’ve had the opportunity to try out a few new brews. However, I’m not going to write full reviews for them as it wouldn’t do them any justice trying to recall specifics either days or, in the case of one, hours later. Here’s what I had:

Bridgeport Supris
After reading Bridger’s review of this brew I felt that I had to finally try it for myself. It had been staring back at me from virtually every beer aisle in town, so what better day to try it then the third of July?

While Bridger obviously liked it, I can’t say the same. Actually to be totally honest I debating pouring this out. It’s not that this is bad for its style, but I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t like Belgians. I know, I’m crazy, yeah yeah yeah. It did warm up to me a little more as I drank it, but I still wasn’t digging it. Because of my dislike for this style in general I suggest you completely ignore my opinion of this ale and try it for yourself. It seems to be generally liked on Beer Advocate and I doubt Bridger would steer you the wrong way.

Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale
I’m a HUGE fan of the Morimoto Soba Signature Ale, so I absolutely had to pick up a bottle of this. The verdict: I love it.

This may be a soba ale, but it has the appearance, smell, and taste of an awesome porter. The first thing that came to mind was a very similar taste to Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter, although with a smoother mouthfeel more consistent with the Morimoto Soba Signature Ale. I highly suggest picking up a bottle of this if you like porters and want to try something new.

Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale
I hope none of you cringe over what I’m about to say, but this limited-run, $5.99 bottle of Belgian dark ale didn’t do it for me either. I know for a fact it’s just my opinion of the style and not the beer itself. Of all Belgian-derrived ales I’ve had though, this has been my favorite. I was even drinking with a true Irishman and he asked me if it was Guinness.

I know I don’t have the willpower to keep my second bottle around until 2012 and I doubt I’ll ever feel the urge to drink it, so if it’s not in your area and you want to work out a trade, hit me up.

Henry Weinhard’s Summer Wheat Ale
Nicholas and I have a friend and his name is Rian. Rian recently purchased a keg of Natural Ice Light. We also have four cans of Miller High Life in our fridge that he left over. Rian either hates himself or legitimately has no taste when it comes to beer.

However, while at his apartment one night he offered us one of these gems. Henry Weinhard’s? “Oh yeah, this is gonna taste greeeeeaaaat.” You know what though? This incredibly cheap brew actually impressed me. Keep in mind I have no intention on ever pouring this into a pint glass and getting a big whiff of it, but it’s surprisingly refreshing. Wanna know what makes it taste so unique?

This stuff tastes like Kellogg’s Fruit Loops.

Try it for yourself! I don’t mean this in a bad way either as I actually ended up buying a case for the fourth of July and it was a huge hit. It’s different, it’s not amazing by any means, but it does the trick.

Whew, ok I swear I’m done. I really hope I didn’t just lose all credibility with this post.

-Rick

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Yesterday we took a trip up to Portland and decided to hit up the Rogue Public House for the first time. Let me say that this was definitely worth the trip.

Seating is available either indoors or outdoors, but we sat inside because it was too damn hot to sit in the sun. Upon entering you can either go left for all ages sitting or right to the bar. The all ages section is a sea of random tables and booths with a ton of Rogue-branded flags hanging from the ceilings. The bar is a pretty standard looking bar, but with a bazillion bottles of Rogue 22oz bottles all over the place for you to take home. There’s also a glass cabinet that shows the history of Rogue brews in the form of bottles.

The service and food was awesome. Our waitress (I wish I would have gotten her name) was really cool and knew her stuff. The food was amazing too. I actually ended up getting the Brutal Rueben, while my roomy got a Kobe beef bacon cheeseburger. While a little pricey (something like $15), the look on his face said it was worth it.

The first brew I ordered was a Morimoto Soba Ale. I had already had it in bottles before and I was very excited to try it on tap. I wasn’t let down at all. When I was about 80% through my first pint our waitress came by with two sampling glasses full of American Amber because I guess they were sampling that beer for free that day. Awesome! I’m not going to write a full review on it based on a sample glass, but it kind of tasted like Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale, but about a step above. The next pint I ordered was the Honey Orange Wheat, which I already did a review of.

It came to our attention that Rogue was having a Garage Sale and tons of stuff was 25% off. While getting a case of Hazelnut Brown Nectar for $40 was REALLY appealing, I had to take advantage of this situation and satiate my curiosity by buying a bunch of brews I had never had before. I ended up getting the following:

-22oz Bullfrog Ale (Issaquah Brewery)
-22oz Half-E-Weizen
-22oz Smoke Ale
-22oz Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale
-Ceramic 26oz Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
-Ceramic 260z Old Crustacean Barley Wine
-2 t-shirts

I’m going to apologize ahead of time if this blog turns into a review site for Rogue brews, but we’ve got a ton of it now and we couldn’t be happier. If you’re ever in Portland then you definitely need to hit up the Public House. It was a great time and go while the Garage Sale is still going on. $35 for a case of Shakespeare Stout, anyone?

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Style: Fruit/Vegetable Beer
Brewery: Eugene City Brewing / Rogue
Availability: Year-round
Beer Advocate rating: 84

I ordered a pint of this from the Rogue Public House in Portland and was definitely surprised. This was the first time I had ever been to Rogue’s Public House and wanted to try something new. Just as a word of caution this was the second pint I ordered. However, the first was a Morimoto Soba ale, which is also a vegetable/fruit beer.

Appearance: Golden ale with not much head. Just golden enough so you can’t see through it. Not as cloudy as most wheat beers.

Smell: A hint of honey is what stands out the most. Also a very faint hint of orange.

Taste: This is what surprised me the most. Now don’t knock this comment because it’s not meant as an insult at all, but this tasted like a really good wheat beer with a hint of Tang. Yes, the space drink. This is NOT A BAD THING. I very much enjoyed the taste of this ale and would not hesitate at all to order another one, especially on a very hot day like today. This is definitely one of the most refreshing beers I’ve ever had.

Overall I definitely enjoyed this beer. Rogue’s website says it is just available on draft, so it looks like I’ll have to go to the public house to get more. Definitely worth a try if you ever get a chance to visit one of Rogue’s public houses and it’s a hot day.

-Rick

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