[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Cream Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 84
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.11 (52nd percentile)
Serving: 12oz Bottle

One of the many things I look forward to every summer is the release of seasonal cream ales. I had the privilege of drinking my first cream ale from a nitro tap and have been in love with them ever since. The catch to cream ales, or at least from what I’ve seen, is that they’re either delicious or completely undrinkable. I have yet to have a cream ale that was somewhere in the middle. I enjoy a good gamble though, so let’s take a look at what I found.

Appearance - Dark amber in color. Quite hazy with almost zero head.

Smell - I really don’t have much to say about the smell other than my initial reaction is it smells sweet. Also a hint of hops comes through.

Taste - The mouthfeel is very smooth when it first hits your tongue. From there it coats your entire mouth in a smooth, vanilla taste as the beer slides right down your throat. Some reviews I have read even refer to it as an ice cream taste. The great part is although this beer is sweet, it is by no means disgustingly sweet like some. The low carbonation makes it incredibly easy to drink.

As far as cream ales go, this is one of my favorites so far. It’s similar enough to vanilla or ice cream that I would even go as far as to say you could enjoy this as a dessert by itself. Definitely pick this one up if you enjoy cream ales.

INVENTION:
One fairly popular concoction in Oregon is the Rogue Chocolate Stout Float. My girlfriend took this one step further and decided to create the Cerveza Crema Float.

Ingredients:
-One frosty beer mug
-One bottle of Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema
-Three scoops vanilla ice cream

This, my friends, is even more delicious than the Chocolate Stout Float. Hear me now and believe me later; you want one of these. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.

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Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Company (He’Brew)
Style: Imperial Amber Ale / Fruit Beer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 84
RateBeer.com Rating: 2.98 (42nd percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Pomegranate Ale? To be totally honest I originally went to my local beer store to buy some cream ale, but this one caught my girlfriend’s eye. This is my first foray into He’Brew beers and I couldn’t ignore the fact that this beer’s label has it listed as “The Chosen Beer.” Well I have chosen to drink it, so let’s find out what this beer is all about.

Appearance - Medium amber in color with a small, white head. Fairly rigorous carbonation noticeable throughout the duration of my pint.

Smell - Surprisingly I don’t smell any pomegranates. Smell is consistent with most amber ales, although I smell the alcohol already.

Taste - Tastes like a pretty standard amber ale, except when you sip it, the remaining beer coating your tongue dissipates and leaves the slight taste of pomegranates. Also noticeable is the alcohol, but so much to where it interferes when drinking a pint. The 8% ABV may catch some people off guard if they are not used to drinking beers with higher alcohol contents. Hops also jump at your taste buds, but not in an overwhelming way at all.

Also noteworthy is although this is a fruit beer, it is by no means fruity. If you have ever had Pyramid’s Apricot Ale, think of this as the opposite in terms of fruity. Apricot Ale bombards your taste buds with candy-like Apricot flavoring the entire journey from the smell to your belly. This Pomegranate Ale is different in that it relies more on brewing a delicious beer first and letting the pomegranate compliment it.

Overall this is a very unique and delicious beer. Pick some up if you can, however BeerAdvocate has it listed as brewed only once. Organic brewing has seemed to taken off like wildfire, but who knows? Maybe this brew could lead a new trend in Kosher brewing.

The beer itself aside, Shmaltz.com is quite possibly the best brewery website I have seen. There’s tons of documentation, it’s entertaining, and the downloads section is hilarious. My favorite is a downloadable poster saying “‘Christ, that’s good beer’ -God.” There’s even an unpaid college internship you can apply for. I just wasted a good hour looking around, so you should do the same.

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I’m kicking myself for not taking notes when I tried these, but recently I had the pleasure of trying both Stone Russian Imperial Stout (Spring 2007) and Stone Old Guardian barley wine (Early 2007). Here’s what I can recall from memory.

Russian Imperial Stout
You know how most people who spend their days pounding Bud Light think Guiness pours like motor oil? Well this stuff makes Guiness look like Gatorade. VERY thick and jet black. I love a pint of delicious stout, but whatever made me think pouring a pint of this was a good idea was quite the opposite. I’ve had imperial stouts before, but the alcohol in this one hits you immediately. This is probably the first brew where I’ve tasted the alcohol before the beer itself. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing though as it warms you right up before the rather delicious taste hits you. I recommend pouring this into a glass and take your time. Definitely try this one if you get a chance.

Old Guardian
Anybody who reads this blog regularly knows I love barley wine. How does Old Guardian hold up? This may be my favorite American-style to date. It pours a dark ruby color with a head that dissipates almost immediately. Like many barley wines, this one relies on citrus-esque hues. However, the big difference is Stone doesn’t mess around with hops, so they tossed a bunch in this brew too. On paper that may not sound too delicious, but it really is. Maybe it’s because on the west coast I’m used to having pretty much every brew hopped to high hell, but I enjoyed it. If you’re a fan of barley wine you owe it to yourself to try this one as well.

Next time I have the opportunity to try these I promise both full reviews and pictures.

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