December « 2009 « Brews and Blues

13Dec/091

The Reverend

Brewery: Avery Brewing Company
Where: Boulder, Colorado
Beer: The Reverend
Style: Quadrupel (Quad)
IBU: 10
ABV: 10%

Tonight, I decided to take a sample of one of Avery's bigger beers. I have seen these in the cases for quite a while and never bothered to try them, but after listening to some information about this brewery on a podcast recently, I thought it was time to check them out.

This is, by all standards, a big beer. It poured with a beautiful light amber color with a big foamy head. The malt aroma followed by the typical belgian 'funk' associated with the yeast to produce this style is well noted. The malt flavor from the caramel and special B malts are also quite pronounced on the tongue. This beer also needs a little warmup period in the glass before drinking. My estimate is that 52° is a nearly perfect temperature for this one. This beer, like others from the Belgian style, is also highly carbonated, so drink it slowly!

Filed under: Beer Reviews, Quadrupel (Quad) 1 Comment

12Dec/091

Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale

Brewery: Samuel Smith Old Brewery
Where: N. Yorkshire, England
Beer: Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
Style: English Brown Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: N/A

Here's another severely underrated beer in my opinion... It's not actually underrated as beeradvocate.com gives it an A- average over 900+ reviews. What's unique about this beer is the simple fact that it IS a world-class beer and it sells at an every-day price compared to most other craft and micros.

This beer pours with a deep and rich walnut brown color with a foamy head that maintains its presence throughout the entire drink. This style is represented by a faint note of hazelnuts with a strong presence of crystal malt that creates a light roasted caramel flavor and aroma. This beer is definitly on the sweeter side of the malt/hop scale and has a fantastic mouthfeel.

I made a visit to Gail's Hops and Grapes yesterday and picked up a few Trappist beers, so we have some good Belgians in the tasting queue in the near future...

8Dec/091

Rogue XS Imperial Younger’s Special Bitter

Brewery: Rogue Ales
Where: Newport, OR
Beer: Rogue XS Imperial Younger's Special Bitter
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
IBU: 52
ABV: 7.4%

If they don't serve Rogue Ales in Heaven, I'm not sure I want to go. Beer after beer, I'm always impressed each time I pop the cap on a Rogue. I can tell that I'm going to just have to make a trip to Oregon one of these days for the sole purpose of visiting Rogue's brew pub and brewery. This is my ninth sampling of a Rogue Ale, and I have two more in the queue that will be coming up soon enough. The only thing that makes me sad is that I'm coming very close to the end of my opportunities to sample the Rogues. There are only three or four more available to me that I haven't tried already. I guess I'll have to see what I can do about that in the future...

Anyway... The Rogue Imperial Younger's Special Bitter is a definite treat. This beer poured with a rich amber color and a beautiful head of foam. The initial aroma was a sweet toasted caramel with very little hop presence in the nose. The first sip allowed the 52 IBUs to kick in with a nice warm HELLO when combined with the overall maltiness of this fantastic beer. This beer, like many of its cousins, is much nicer in the mouth at around 52-55° At 7.4% ABV, it's a kicker by the time you reach the bottom of this 750ml bottle (26 ounces).

And yes... it has been a while since I posted here. Work is getting the best of me lately and I'm totally swamped through the end of December, but hopefully I'll squeeze in a few more beers before the end of the year...