[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Deschutes
Style: Amber Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: A-
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.35 (74th percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

To say I’m excited about this beer is a huge understatement. Deschutes is one of my absolute favorite breweries and they’re finally giving organic brewing a shot. This brew’s press statement alone has impressed me so much, in fact, that I’m going to share the majority of it with you right now:

“Green Lakes is a classic amber ale,” says brewer Paul Arney. “We used caramel and Munich malts for a nice color and six different varieties of hops.” The reddish colored brew has a nicely balanced taste with a distinctive but restrained hop profile that includes Salmon-Safe certified Sterling hops.

After working with Oregon Tilth for nearly six months, Deschutes Brewery received organic certification for its 50 barrel brew house and can now brew tasty organic ales for year-round enjoyment.

Let’s see what this organic and salmon safe brew tastes like!

Appearance - Rich, translucent amber color with minimal carbonation. A thick, beige head slowly dissipates to a thin lace about 1/3 of the way through a pint.

Smell - Hoppy enough to let you know they’re there, but not overwhelming at all. Also a slight hue of maltiness that piggybacks after the hops.

Taste - Amber ale perfection. A medium amount of hops (slightly less than Mirror Pond for comparison) greet the palate followed by subtle tastes of caramel and malt. A flowery hop taste rounds out each sip as the last of it dissipates off of the palate. The mouthfeel is incredibly smooth and the brew itself is both highly refreshing and drinkable.

I know I haven’t really said much, but Green Lakes is the epitome of what an amber ale should taste like. The fact that this brew is both certified organic by Oregon tilth and salmon safe just brings home that yes, brewers can brew amazing, world-class craft brews while being environmentally responsible. I’m going to go on record and say to this date that this is my absolute favorite amber ale.

And as a special note to Eric; I’ve got one of these waiting for you as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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Brewery: Midnight Sun
Style: Brown Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.26 (67th percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

After trying Midnight Sun’s Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter I absolutely had to sample another one of their brews. I’m a huge fan of brown ales, so this sounds right up my alley.

“Rugged yet smooth, Kodiak Brown Ale sports abundant yet graceful portions of pale and specialty malts, balancing caramel sweetness with a roasted malt character. Perle and Willamette hops accent without overpowering this brown ale’s intrepid maltiness. The result is a bit bold but beautifully balanced. That Kodiak Brown Ale is our most popular beer says something about the adventuous spirit found in Alaska. But we are not surprised; we know Alaskans are not afraid of the dark.”

Appearance - Translucent mahogany with a little bit of tan head that dissipates to a thin lace. Virtually no bubbles either.

Smell - Sugar, malt, and hazelnuts all come through at once. Nothing particularly overtakes the other. Very inviting aroma. Smells fairly similar to most nut browns.

Taste - This is absolutely delicious! Tastes like a solid nut brown, but without the syrupy taste that some browns suffer from. What caught me off guard is the carbonation actually feels pretty high while being sipped, so the mouthfeel is unique in that it isn’t quite as smooth as other browns. Taste-wise there isn’t a whole lot about this brew that is incredibly unique compared to brews like Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar. However, this is still tasty and puts its own very unique spin on what the mouthfeel of a brown ale should be.

So far Midnight Sun is 2-0 for me, so look forward to more reviews of their brews in the future. I’d also like to point out that more than one person in Beeradvocate’s comments section has noted that in their opinion this is the best American brown ale out there. I’ve visited Beeradvocate for quite some time and I rarely see comments like those.

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Brewery: Laurelwood
Style: Winter Warmer / Red Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.58 (86th percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Laurelwood Brewing Company is quickly becoming one of the prominent brew pubs in Portland, Oregon. According to their site they now have four brew pubs; one actually located in the terminal of PDX! If you’ve ever taken a Horizon flight out of PDX you’ve probably seen it.

I had heard of Laurelwood a few years ago, but for one reason or another never made it out to any of their pubs. Lo and behold I found a bottle of their Vinter Varmer seasonal ale at the Belmont Beer Station. For the most part, Laurelwood brews mostly organic beer. This one, however, is not organic. I’m ok with that though as I’m a sucker for both Oregon beer and red ales.

Appearance - Looks like the darkest mahogany you can get with a very small, yet lasting lace of a tan head. Not a lot of light gets through this one.

Smell - Smells pretty hoppy with only small hues of malt and alcohol shining through. Somewhat sweeter than a standard red ale.

Taste - To be completely honest I’m kind of underwhelmed. A lot of breweries are putting out hoppier winter ales and this one just kind of fades into the mix. The hops and malt are there, but there’s nothing tying them together. The first thing that came to mind after thinking about similar red ales is how perfect Eugene City crafted their 100 Meter Ale in comparison. Nothing unique with this one though.

I’m honestly really disappointed. Almost all of the reviews on this site are positive and it kind of bothers me that I don’t have much to say about this one. It’s not that it’s bad by any means and maybe I set my expectations too high. I would recommend, however, ordering a pint of this for a friend who maybe isn’t quite into craft beer yet. There isn’t anything threatening about this brew to put off the average person that I can think of.

Look forward to Laurelwood’s second chance somewhat soon as I still have a bottle of their organic Tree Hugger Porter waiting to be opened.

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Brewery: Oskar Blues
Style: Pale Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+ (Community), D+ (The Brothers)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.75 (95th percentile)
Serving: 12oz aluminum can

Note: What you’re about to read may lead you to disregard all credibility you may have given me in the past. I promise I’ll try my best with the next few reviews to aid in recovering my credibility as a respected beer reviewer. Enjoy!

I’m breaking from my regular review format because, well, this isn’t about a regular beer. Recently I noticed that my local beer store started carrying Dale’s Pale Ale. What’s the big deal about Dale’s? It’s in a can!

So why am I breaking from my standard review process? I believe it has something to do with the can. In short, Dale’s itself is a very delicious, slightly hoppy pale ale that any brewer would be proud to brew. By no means is it very unique in taste, but it hits the genre spot on. However, through my journey of drinking beer I have associated cans with session drinking. Well, to cut the crap, cans mean I’m doing to get drunk. I’m not going to pour this stuff into a glass, I’m not going to tell you how it smells, and I really don’t care if the hues change as it warms. I probably should, but I don’t. Brew this stuff in a bottle next time and I’m all over it, but that’s not the case. So, for the first time on BobWoodshed.org I’m going to share with you my journey through a case of Dale’s.

It was Friday night and my two friends and I had a fridge full of delicious beer. To entertain us through our journey we had the opportunity to borrow the video game Rock Band for the first time. For those of you not familiar with Rock Band, it’s a video game where you have two fake guitar controllers, one fake drum set controller, and a very real microphone. The idea is that up to four people can play together as a band; three playing fake instruments and one actually singing into the microphone. Here’s kind of how the night went:

8:00 - Guitar, bass, and drums are called for. Microphone isn’t even plugged in.

9:00 - Plugged in microphone just for fun to see how it works. No actual singing.

10:00 - Still no singing

11:00 - Friend 1 picks up the microphone and sings the first song. Man this guy sucks!

11:30 - Other friend begins to sing and damn, he sucks too.

12:00 - Wow, my friends can’t sing worth shit. Looks like I better save the day and play the vocal assassin on the mic. I’ll have a lot more time to sing now that I’m out of beer.

1:00 - I’m the greatest lead singer of all time.

1:15 - Pass out.

You see folks, without Dale’s Pale Ale I would have never found out that in my opinion I am an amazing singer. Sure I could have gotten drunk enough to think I’m awesome with any beer in the world, but it’s Dale’s that gave me the confidence to loudly slur “Creep” by Radiohead and I owe it all to the fact that they brew craft beer in cans. Oskar Blues really has something unique going on with their idea to exclusively bottle in cans. Pick some up if you get the chance, but please, friends don’t let friends sing drunk.

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I honestly had a much more serious beer-related post ready to go tonight, but what you are about to watch is just too good to pass up. I saw this today posted on Digg and it turns out that this is a Chinese beer commercial for Bavaria beer. I have no idea what they’re saying, but that didn’t keep me from watching it half a dozen times. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHsYhORsQPo

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Brewery: Bison
Style: Winter Warmer / Belgian Strong Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.34 (73rd percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Bison has quickly become one of my favorite breweries and to say I was excited when I saw this winter warmer is an under statement. I haven’t tried all of Bison’s brews yet, but of the ones I have tried (Gingerbread Ale, Barleywine, and Chocolate Stout), I can say that Bison has set the gold standard of what it means to be an organic craft brewery. This is not to say that Bison’s brews can’t hold their own against their non-organic counterparts. In fact, many of Bison’s brews put their non-organic counterparts to shame.

From Bison - Brewed with organic raisens, this is a wonderful strong Belgian Dark Ale that combined abbey ale yeast and roasted malts to give it hints of dark fruit and coffee.

Appearance - Somewhat creamy brown color with no head. Bubbles are continuous and there was a surprising amount of sediment. Perhaps I should have read more about this one before I poured it.

Smell - Smells yeasty and sweet with hues similar to apples shining through. The raisin scent also comes through, but in an almost kind of sneaky way. By no means are the raisins overwhelming.

Taste - For being 9% alcohol it sure doesn’t pack much of a punch at first. The alcohol then shines through as you start to feel it on the inside. Winter warmer indeed! The taste itself is really unique in that it tastes like a non-spicy winter warmer influenced by a Belgian. For a Belgian strong ale, this is definitely one of a kind. The raisins really make this unique as they’re sweet, but not overpoweringly sweet like apples, pears, and other fruit can be at times. The mouth feel is somewhat creamy as well. The pinnacle of taste really shines through about half way through the pint as it warms a bit.

Bison’s Winter Warmer is yet another completely unique brew. My hat is off to the brewers at Bison for yet another absolutely incredible organic ale. Pick this one up if you can find it because it’s a limited release and won’t be available for very long.

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Brewery: Nøgne Ø
Style: Winter Warmer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.79 (96th percentile)
Serving: Imperial Pint-sized Bottle

On my latest trip to the Belmont Beer Station I picked this brew up for two main reasons. One is that I love winter ales and the other being that I’ve never tried Norwegian beer before. I’m all about killing two birds with one stone, so I didn’t think twice about picking this one up.

I’ll admit I don’t know a whole lot about Norwegian culture, however I do know that their relatively-close neighbors to the east, Finland, drink beer like it’s going out of style. However, what I’ve heard from my Finnish friend is that they drink crap beer. Is Norway trying to start a Scandinavian beer renaissance? I have no idea, but Nøgne Ø seems to be making an impact if their brews made it all the way to Portland, Oregon.

From their site - Nøgne Ø was created by two home brewers. Unable to stay at home we started Norway’s first microbrewery for creative brewing. Some times, when we get a momentary glimpse of sanity, we ask ourselves what we have achieved. We think we can say that we have achieved some level of fame, at least locally and among dedicated beer geeks around the world. But more important - before we started Nøgne Ø most Norwegians did not know much about beer styles like IPA, Porter or Amber. This has for sure started to change, and we do feel that we have contributed to what you can call a renaissance of Norwegian beer-culture.

I SWEAR I wrote about the possible renaissance before I read that on their site. Turns out these are my kind of brewers. Let’s drink!

Appearance - About as dark as mahogany can be without being black. Tad more on the red side than brown with a very thin lace of a head that dissipated almost immediately. Only a very slight amount of light shines though.

Smell - Malty with hues of spice coming through. Compared to other winter ales, this one has one of the mellowest aromas I’ve experienced.

Taste - First thing I noticed immediately was hues of coffee. The coffee taste suddenly disappeared, however, and toffee/caramel took over. As with most winter ales the alcohol comes through as well, but not too overwhelming as it’s at a safe 8.5%. The oddest and most unique aspect of this brew’s taste is the alcohol is just high enough to where it gives the same sensation (not taste) as a barley wine as the very last 1% of it dissipates off my palate.

Overall this is a very good brew and I can definitely see myself picking up some more before the winter is over. I am incredibly impressed and it has its own unique complexities to make its own segment of fans in what has become a huge selection of winter seasonal ales. This has also been an incredible introduction to Norwegian ales for me. Expect more reviews from this brewery in the future.

On an unrelated note, I propose that the US ditches the 12oz bottle and embraces the imperial pint-sized bottles. They’re the perfect size for pouring into a pint glass and just large enough to feel bad ass drinking out of, but not large enough to look like a total alcoholic.

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Brewery: Marin Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.65 (92nd percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

From Marin - Our richest ale has a deep copper color, is full flavored and very hoppy in the finish. We use East Kent Goldings and Styrian Goldings to hop the balance of flavor just right. Ideal for sipping after dinner.

While some breweries just ramble off about their brews being great just to sell more, Marin backs up every word they print with a whole slew of medals from various beer festivals. As a huge fan of barley wines and organic ales, this one seems right up my alley.

Appearance - My very first reaction was in response to how dark this is. Pours an incredibly dark amber with a healthy head on it for a barley wine.

Smell - English style for sure with strong hues of apples and berries.

Taste - Wow! This is definitely delicious. The very first sip hits your palate with all of the regular tastes of an English style barley wine, but then surprised the hell out of me with toffee/caramel hues as the taste dissipated off my tongue. What I also enjoy about the taste is it doesn’t overwhelm you with alcohol to get the point across.

Overall this is an incredible barley wine, but more importantly this makes an even bigger statement for organic brewers. I definitely look forward to sampling more brews from Marin.

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