Posts Tagged ‘Colorado’

After a rather crazed Labor Day weekend (wherein the Cha Cha Hut made its official commercial debut), we decided to journey to Oliver’s Discount Beverage in Albany to restock a quickly dwindling cellar. I once stated the selection here is much smaller than Half Time in Poughkeepsie, but what is there is truly amazing. I always find a ton of interesting new brews when dropping into Oliver’s So much so, I can’t remember the last time we made the trip to Half Time. Plus – the Oliver’s staff seem to be really excited to be selling something other than the endless stream of BMC we see going out the door.

Bombers
Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale
Southern Tier Imperial Mokah (chocolate & coffee stout)
Southern Tier Imperial Cherry Saison
Southern Tier Imperial Heavy Weizen
Dogfish Head Fort (brewed with pureed raspberries)
The Bruery Black Orchard
Brown’s Whiskey Barrel Aged Porter
He’Brew Rejewvenator Harvest Ale
Avery Fifteen Anniversary Ale
Avery Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
Red Hook DB Double Black Stout with Coffee

40 oz.
People’s Pint Tap & Die Malt Liquor

6 Pack
Wolaver’s Certified Organic Will Stevens’ Pumpkin Ale
Brown’s Oatmeal Stout
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Atwater Block Brewery Vanilla Java Porter
Boulder Beer Mojo IPA

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Location: Chico, CA
Style: Extra IPA

I’m a bit late getting around to this one even though I picked it up (and drank it all) months ago. When I heard on teh internets that Sierra Nevada was coming out with a hop bomb, I was definitely intrigued. I’m a Sierra fan though I’ve always felt their pale ale was – well – pale. So, when I ran into Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA I grabbed a six.

Checking out, the clerk at the beer store asked if I had tried it before. I said no, but I was looking forward to it. He had a less than stellar review – calling it WAY too hoppy and very very dry. Didn’t exactly hate it – but said he would not recommend it.

Well, I WILL recommend it.

Yes – it is a big hoppy beer. It uses something called a “hop torpedo” that dry hops the beer in a new way. (Or at least that what the press release states.) This results is a big hop aroma and flavor. No surprise – Mrs. Ohabeer is not a fan and lets me have the sixes of this all to myself. That’s just fine with me.

This pours a clear copper amber color with a medium head. Right away you’re hit with the hop aroma. Big flowery scent with a slight fruit undertone. The taste is extremely dry – like desert arid. Big hop whollop up front rolls out into a slight maltiness. Definitely a hop bomb. The hops definitely tug at the palette keeping whatever sweetness there might be in check. that’s not to say there isn’t a balance here. This is not like some extreme “sucking on a hops cone with a bit of water” beer. The hops play between a flowery/grassy taste and a semi-citrus bitter all the while raiding on a nice subtle sweetness.

Medium bodied with 7.2% ABV, it’s definitely not a session beer. Still, I find a couple after work on the deck during spring/summer just the thing to ease out of the day. I was quite pleased to find the bywater bistro in Rosendale, NY had it on the menu during a recent visit. Always nice to see a big hoppy beer on a restaurant menu.

Need to remember to grab some more for the cellar next time I see it…

I’m calling this the “Western Mass. Edition” due to a weekend OAB roadtrip to the I-91 corridor of Massachusetts. We decided we needed to get out of town for the weekend and decided to use the beer map in Yankee Brew News as our guide. There are many upcoming articles about the trip, but I decided to kick things off with a beerventory update that is now decidedly Massachusetts heavy.

As we were staying in the Northampton area, we THOUGHT we would do the beer run at Spirit Haus in Amherst on our way out. No such luck. We’ve see great reviews for this place, but the selection on a Sunday morning pretty much sucked. Perhaps we missed something other than the weak selection of bombers and 6/12 packs on the floor near the register. Perhaps it had been a heavy Saturday night – though to me most of the shelves looked stocked.

Thankfully, we had gone to Greenfield, MA on Saturday and looked around in Ryan and Casey Liquors. So after the Spirit Haus disappointment, we hit the highway, headed up to Greenfield and stocked up before heading back to OAB HQ. Looking forward to the coming weeks and drinking these. (Also looking forward to another beer run to Massachusetts.

Bombers
Berkshire Brewing Hefeweizen Ale
Berkshire Brewing Coffeehouse Porter
People’s Pint Pied pIPA
People’s Pint shWheat Ale
People’s Pint Natural Blonde
High & Mighty Two-Headed Beast Chocolate Stout
High & Mighty St. Hubbins Abbey
High & Mighty Purity Of Essence Lager
High & Mighty Beer of the Gods
Pretty Things Baby Tree Quad with Dried Plums
Pretty Things St. Botoisph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale
McNeill’s Ruby Ale
Southern Tier Mokah Stout
Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Ommegang Biere de Mars
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

40 oz.
People’s Pint Tap & Die Malt Liquor

12 Pack
Opa Opa Sampler featuring Opa Opa Light, Red Rock Amber Ale and Opa Opa IPA

6 packs : cans
21st Amendment Brew Free! or Die IPA
21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat

6 packs : bottle
Saranac Summer Brew

Brewery: Boulder Beer
Location: Boulder, CO
Style: American Pale Ale

Time to make a return to my current spring/summer project: Embrace The Hops.

Quick recap…up until recently I had quite an aversion to strong hop beers. My preference ran in the stout/dark ale realm so I have made the commitment to buy at least one big hop brew on every beer run until the winter.

This time around, I went for a beer I’ve been eyeing for a while and just never got around to buying: Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused Dry-hopped Ale. I wish it had not taken me so long to finally get to this. This has quickly become one of my favorite summer session beers – though sadly not readily available at my local gas station. Having this in the cellar means a bit of a trip and some stocking up.

It is a beautiful amber colored ale that is strangely very clear for being unfiltered. A good pale yellow head falls fairly quickly but that;s not really a big issue. There is a huge hop aroma with the slightest edge of maltiness. The taste is solid hops – but not a dry your mouth to the point of arid. Just a big punch of flowery and citrusy hops (Crystal and Centennial according to the bottle) with enough malt underneath to keep this nicely balanced and out of the hop bomb territory. The flower/citrus aftertaste builds over the course of a glass making the hop taste strong the longer you drink.

Medium bodied and quite refreshing – at 4.85 % ABV it might be a bit on the high side of a session – though not for the usual craft drinker. A great afternoon on the deck in summer drink. My only regret was not stocking more when I had the chance. I plan to correct that this weekend.

Brewery: Great Divide Brewing
Location: Denver, CO
Style: Double IPA

Speaking of Double IPAs, Great Divide has a great one in their Hercules Double IPA. After tasting this, I was glad I picked up two for the cellar.

It a great amber gold color with a thick foamy light yellow head. This is quite heavy on the hop scent – very grassy/flowery. Mrs. Ohabeer was not too happy with that as she is definitely NOT a hop fan. I – on the other hand – thought the scent was wonderful.

That hoppiness – not surprisingly – carries through into the tasting. It’s not exactly a hop bomb, but hops it certainly the major component here. It comes on quite strong at the start – flowery/grassy – then rounds out to a more citrusy flavor with a touch of malt sweetness.

I have been working through big hop beers lately in an effort to “embrace the hops”. This is one of those big hop beers that does not cross into the “hop challenge” category. There is a lot of hops with it being some sort of extreme challenge to see how much hops you can take. (In the case of Mrs. Ohabeer, it’s very little. She was not a fan of this.)

I was surprised that – at 10% ABV – the alcohol stays nicely under control. There is no apparent harshness and the body stays in a nice middle range. Then again – this is no session beer. The fact Mrs. Ohabeer was not a fan means the second bomber in the cellar is all mine. That’s a good thing for me as long as I remember to have a little food before drinking the full bomber.

Brewery: Avery Brewing
Location: Boulder, CO
Style: Double IPA

Though I do not remember there being any for the Bush elections, I cannot blame breweries for jumping on the inaugural bandwagon and putting out special release ales. I sadly missed the Ommegang Obamagang release – though I hear some does still exist out there if you look in the right place – so I was pleased to come across the Avery Ale To The Chief Presidential Pale Ale on a recent cellar stock up.

This is – without a doubt – one of the most beautiful pale ales I ahve ever had. A gorgeous clear dark gold color with a thick pale yellow head. This is got to be the creamiest head I’ve seen on a pale ale. The scent is a great balance of hops and malt with the hops being dominant. There is a fair amount of carbonation helping to raise that scent up.

This is a rolling taste beer. You start with a hop kick at the beginning followed swiftly by the malt. It is a sweet mellow malt taste that is replaced by a final hop burst at the finish. Each comes and goes at the right proportion making for a pale ale that is not too hoppy but not too sweet. The hoppiness is more in the citrus than flower realm adding to an overall excellent crisp ale experience. It is somewhere between light and medium body and the 8.75% ABV gives it a solid kick. Luckily, the alcohol does not overwhelm the flavors.

As it was brewed in two batches in 2008 – as with many other inaugural beers – what’s out there is all that is left. My suggestion is pick a couple up if you see them – especially if you are a fan of double IPA.

I haven’t really done much of a restock lately to the cellar. We’ve been a bit too busy around OAB HQ drinking various foamybeers – our own line of brews. A recent trip to pick up more brewing supplies lead us to drop by Oliver’s discount Beverage in Albany. so, the latest beerventory…

Growlers
Cave Mountain Hefeweizen (bought at the brewery on $8 browler Sundays)

6 packs
Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale
Widmer Drifter Pale Ale
Saranac Summer Brew
Wolaver Ben Gleason’s White Ale
Sherwood forest Friar’s Belgian White ale
Boulder Brewing Hazed & Infused
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

12 Pack
Smutty Nose Sampler featuring Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, IPA and Robust Porter

Bombers
Long Trail Brewmasters Series Double IPA
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Gravitation Belgian Quad
Ommegang Biere de Mars
He’Brew Jewbelation 12
Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

After a recent sweltering Sunday in New Paltz, NY chilling at the Gilded Otter (great beer – bad website) with The Beer Wench (as much fun to drink with as she is on Twitter) and some other fine folks, we swung by K & E Discount Beverage to do a little stock up since we were in the area.

Bombers
Brooklyn Brewery Local No. 2
Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
Rock Art Brewery Ridge Runner Barley Wine
Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
The Bruery Orchard White
Troegs Flying Mouflan

Six packs
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
Sherwood Forest Friar’s Belgian-style White Ale

Promo bottle (yes! free beer!)
Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout

We bought the Troegs Flying Mouflan in order to cellar two more. We already had one in the cellar. Troegs claims this ages nicely – turning into a whole new beer. We’re looking forward to seeing if that is true. I am also a bit curious about the anniversary Guinness. It is not out yet, but – when I asked about it – the clerk gave me a free bottle from a promo pack. Given some of the press – and being a huge traditional Guinness fan – I’m a bit dubious about this one. Claims of it being “fizzier…maltier…made for the U.S. market” makes me think “Guinness dumbed down” but the 5% ABV (up from the 4.2 ABV of traditional Guinness) is intriguing. Then again – at $10/six pack – I’m betting this promo bottle is all I’ll have of the anniversary Guinness.

Brewery: Boulder Beer
Location: Boulder, CO
Style: Imperial stout

So we finish out a week of stout reviews with the last stout drank in the 2008-09 stout season. I’m sure a couple will sneak in during the summer, but pretty much attention is now turning to ales and my education on learning to love the hops.

The Obovoid Empirical Stout was recommend to me by one of the folks who works at Hennessey Homebrew Emporium in Albany, NY. I always forget to get his name, but he has made some great recommendations – both on beer and brewing. He is a big fan of the Obovoid, and – while I sort of see it – I did not find this a great as he does.

Once again, we have another oak aged stout. I was hoping that would make this bigger than it was. Pours a deep brown with a tan creamy head. There is a heavy roasted malt scent with a slight hoppiness.

It is a nice bitter stout. The main taste is roasted malt with a bit of coffee. Also a nice bite of hop at the end. It’s got a big taste, but not the kind of bigness most oak aged stouts have. There is no real complexity. No vanilla tones. It’s like a big well done Russian Imperial. Certainly worth the drink, but a little weak in the oak aged field. The 8% ABV makes it a bit of a warmer, but nothing too dangerous for the experienced big stout drinker.

Perhaps the fact the last few stouts have failed to impressed is a clear indication it is time to shift drinking styles. Spring and summer bring BBQ, outdoor drinking and a a slew of great ales to try. I’ll be kicking off the season next week with a week of recent ales.

Cheers…

Brewery: Great Divide
Location: Boulder, CO
Style: Imperial stout

I ran into a bomber of the Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout on the craft beer rack at a local Hannaford Supermarket. Unfortunately, I had drank the Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout the week before basically mucking up any chance of doing a Yeti to Yeti tasting similar to the Rogue Dead Guy Off I did a while back. Luckily, I had the notes from the Oak Aged and the review to use as a guide while drinking the standard Yeti.

The standard Yeti also pours a deep black with a thick dark brown head. There is a nice roasted malt scent that is much less strong and complex than the Oak Aged. The scent does not really give off much more than the roasted malt.

The taste also is a bit of a let down. Somewhat on the thin side, this is definitely more bitter than the Oak Aged – probably due to the high hops content. While I am quite a fan of bitter stouts, this left me missing the balanced sweetness of chocolate or coffee tones. No real complexity here initially. The more I drank, the more the coffee started to come out. As the glass warmed up, I started getting faint chocolate tones. As this came up straight from the cellar – which currently reads 58 degrees – it might have initally been a bit chilled, but certainly not overly so.

In any case, I think what really made be a bit disappointed about this was the memory of the Oak Aged version from the week before. Sure – it’s a bit unfair to compare the two – but that’s life. The Oak Aged had a bitter edge balanced with prominent chocolate, coffee and malt tones. The standard Yeti was a more one note bitter stout with only faint hints of a sweetness that might have gone a long way to balance the flavor. It’s definitely not a beerfail by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just not the stout I was hoping for.

The standard and Oak Aged Yetis both clock in at 9.5% ABV, but I give the win to the Oak Aged for adding a taste complexity while you’re slowly getting bombed.