all the same song

Beer Review 0158: Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale

Smuttynose Brewing Company, located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has a beer called Old Brown Dog Ale. I reviewed this beer over a year ago, scoring it 89 points — on the bottle is Olive, the brewery’s canine mascot and spirit guide.

Old Brown Dog was the second beer Smuttynose created, and was released in 1994. Olive was much younger then, so thirteen years later in 2007, Really Old Brown Dog Ale was created, and Olive again graced the bottle, retiring in a cozy chair on the beach.

This website is known to be partial to breweries that feature animals on bottles — it’s just cool.

Unfortunately, Olive passed away in 2007 at the age of fifteen — but she lives on thanks to the two Smuttynose beers. And today we’re looking at the Really Old Brown Dog Ale, an Old Ale (or Stock Ale). This beer is part of Smuttynose’s Big Beer Series, which are limited release brews in big bottles.

Pouring from the bomber bottle produced an average size head, creamy and with tight small bubbles. The head lasted a good while, hanging around on top of a reddish-brown beer with tons of carbonation bubbles zooming to the surface. The drink had orange highlights when held to the light, and the body of the beer was clear, free of particles and sediment. The lacing was superb, thick and creamy, and it coated the glass with ease.

The aromatics were where I was highly impressed; smitten enough to award this one a perfect score in the category. As expected, this one is heavily malted. There were delightful upon delightful layer of rich toffee, cinnamon, and butterscotch, along with a general roasted note that provided just the right amount of warmth and bite. This one had that Tootsie Roll candy-like scent going on, which I have found in a few beers. There was so much going on here…you know all those pumpkin beers that come out at the end of summer? This one has the most authentic pumpkin aroma I have ever sniffed from a beer, believe it or not! There’s some dark fruit lying around in there, specifically raisin. Trust me, this one is worth picking up just for the aromatics alone.

On the palate, things start coming apart a bit. This beer is just simply not ready for prime time, and it’s a really good beer right now. There’s rich caramel and brownie-esque chocolate up front, very sweet, which leads to a raisin flavor that turns everything fairly bitter. The sweetness returns on the finish with another hit of the caramel, but there is a big alcohol note that was just straight up hot — Really Old Brown Dog is 10% ABV (alcohol by volume), so a little alcohol is to be expected — but this was nearly overwhelming. The mouthfeel was nice, thick and creamy, and although there was a heavy sweetness to this beer, it wasn’t cloying.

My verdict is this: Smuttynose have produced a damn good brew worthy of the big bottle and higher price. But if you find yourself with a bottle of this celebration of Olive’s life, you ought to lay it down and pick it up a year from now, because I think you will be rewarded. Better yet, buy two; sample one now, and have one later. When this calms down, the complexity is only going to go up, and I’m betting this one resembles more of the complex nose than the hot booze when rested.

On my next beer run, I’m looking for another bottle of this. And in one year, I will return to it.

Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale, 86 points. Price: $5.99 for one 22 oz. bomber size bottle.

Beer Review 0157: 21st Amendment Brew Free! Or Die IPA

I’ve reviewed a couple of 21st Amendment brews lately, so I’m going to continue the trend and have another from the San Francisco, California brewery.

Founded in the year 2000 by Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan, 21st Amendment is named after the repeal of that total American buzzkiller — Prohibition. After meeting in 1995, both Freccia and O’Sullivan gave up their successful careers and took a brewing science course at UC Davis.

The 21st Amendment Brewpub is located in San Francisco’s historic South Park neighborhood, just two blocks from where the Giants play baseball.

Brew Free! Or Die is 21st Amendment’s year-round IPA, and is their most popular offering at the brewpub. Brewed west coast style with six varieties of hops (Warrior, Columbus, Cascade, Amarillo, Ahtanum, and Simcoe), this India Pale Ale is made to achieve balance rather than overloading the palate with crushing bitterness. Brew Free! Or Die comes in at 7% ABV (alcohol by volume).

The pour produced a large and lasting head, creamy in texture and billowing over top of the glass. The liquid was clear in body with no particles or sediment, and the color was a nice deep golden-orange. There were a few bits of lacing as I drank, but nothing much to get excited over.

Right from the first sniff, the aroma indicates that if you don’t like hops, you won’t like this beer. This is literally a hop bomb — and I know that is an overused expression on beer reviews like these, but the hops explode out of the glass here. Big, juicy, sticky smelling grapefruit, pine, and resin greets the nose, with a supporting cast of citrus (orange/lime) and tropical fruits (pineapple/mango). This beer is also slightly catty, giving off that cat urine aroma sometimes found in highly hopped beers. And while this might be a superbly balanced brew, I have nothing to report but the hop category, because it totally dominates.

On the taste, there is a very soft orange up front, which slowly leads to some sweet pineapple, before hitting the tongue with just a touch of the 70 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) this beer possesses. The key word to this beer seems to be slow — all these flavors unfurl themselves rather dramatically, which is a bit strange for an IPA, but this was nice. The finish showcases an odd mild tobacco note that turns more bittersweet than bitter as it opens up. Then, on the last bit of finish, there’s a faded fruity taste, along with a display of sweet malt, specifically caramel.

I highly enjoyed this beer and thought it had a high drinkability. Before I knew it, half my glass was gone, and I was just loving how the flavors took their time to display. And the finish was superb; delightfully complex and unexpected. This isn’t an IPA that will hammer you with bitterness; hell, this isn’t even an IPA that will hammer you with hops (but the aromatics sure do). This is an IPA that will surprise even the most seasoned lover of India Pale Ale.

21st Amendment Brew Free! Or Die IPA, 92 points. Price: $2.29 for one twelve ounce can.

Beer Review 0156: Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager

Yes, ‘tis the season for summer seasonal beers. I tend to yawn these days at summer beers, because quite frankly, the majority of them are usually disappointing, trading “flavor” for “refreshing.” Which, there’s nothing wrong with that…but when you’re like me and looking for all the flavor you can get, something has to give!

The summer beer we’re looking at today (and keep in mind, summer doesn’t officially start for another half-month) is from Chico, California’s Sierra Nevada, a consistent maker of quality beers. Many of their offerings have been reviewed on this site and they usually score high marks.

But Summerfest is the red-haired stepchild of their portfolio; this is a lager, and goes light on the hops (by Sierra’s standards). Brewed to just 5% ABV (alcohol by volume), Sierra admits this is much lighter in body than their other beers, but just as complex in character. Brewed with Two-Row Pale and Munich malts, and hopped with Perle & Saaz, (kudos to Sierra for listing the grain and hop bill on their website!) this seasonal beer comes in at just 28 IBUs (International Bitterness Units), which has to be the sweetest thing Sierra Nevada makes. Technically, this beer falls under the Czech Pilsner style.

I feel like we have covered enough of Sierra Nevada’s history in other reviews on this website, so here’s a bit of a news update about them if you’ve been living in a cave: the company will be starting construction on a second brewery located in Asheville, North Carolina, very soon. Of course, let the debates begin: there’s already a group of people out there saying the beer from Asheville won’t be the same because it won’t be brewed with Chico’s water.

That’s an argument for another day and time. And website.

Emptying the bottle into a glass produced an average size head that quickly dissipated to just a thin, frothy cover. The beer was a brilliant bright golden yellow, which accentuated the carbonation bubbles flying about in the liquid. Like you might expect from a lager, this one was crystal clear, free of all particles and sediment, and left behind some good lacing.

The most disappointing part of the drink was the aromatics. There just wasn’t much here, other than a big hit of grain and bread, with a much smaller note of floral hop, with maybe a very faint whiff of some general citrus. Then there was a somewhat off-putting metallic scent. Very reminiscent of a macro lager here, unfortunately.

The taste revealed quite a nice balance between hops and malts; kicking things off was a nice floral hop, again hinting at the citrus; then the malts fire up and wash over the tongue, leaving behind a core of grain and bread. The mouthfeel is thin but exceptionally crisp and snappy. The finish turns just slightly bitter, which prepares your mouth for another sip and adds to the crispness. It’s almost like a cleansing effect.

The take-away for me on Summerfest is while this is a good, non-offensive beer, I’d really LOVE to see what Sierra Nevada would do with a lager if they took the gloves completely off. In fact, there are many breweries I could say this of — lagers are highly overlooked in the craft beer scene these days, and it’s time for breweries to step up to the plate and redefine this style of beer.

Summerfest isn’t *it,* but it is a good start. Hint, hint, Sierra!

Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager, 78 points. Price: $13.99 US for a twelve pack.

Beer Review 0155: Green Flash West Coast IPA

We’ve never featured a beer from Green Flash Brewing Company on this website. Time to change that.

Located in San Diego, California, Green Flash is a small brewery with big ideas. Ran by CEO Mike Hinkley and his wife (Vice President) Lisa, beer production began in 2004 by taking traditional beer styles and putting twists on them. The beers are assertive and distinctive, and have won numerous awards — and Green Flash enjoys excellent distribution across the United States, so getting your hands on a bottle or two shouldn’t be hard.

West Coast IPA is brewed with the following hops: Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, and Cascade. This beer has won multiple awards, including the 2008 National IPA championship and Best of Show at the San Diego County Fair. The numbers on this beer are formidable, at least on the IBU (International Bitterness Unit) scale; 95 IBUs, and 7.3% ABV (alcohol by volume).

Just the list of hops used alone has my mouth watering. I sure hope this one is tasty, and I’m going in with high expectations.

I gave this beer an easy pour after reading some information online indicating that this would produce a monster head — and even with my easy pour, I got an average size head that bordered on large; it was creamy in texture and lasting, a slightly off-white color atop a beautiful deep orange/amber beer. In the light, it had faded orange highlights and really showed off all the large particles and sediment floating throughout. This hazy-bodied beer left excellent lacing on the glass. Just a gorgeous beer that looked like a contender from the start.

And as you might expect on the nose, we have a hop explosion of mega proportions. Right off, there’s a dominant grapefruit, coupled with some resinous pine. There’s a heap of tropical fruits, pineapple, mango… a nice floral note and some citrus, burnt orange. There’s an underlying sweetness of caramel and a subtle biscuit aroma, along with a very tiny slight hint of alcohol. Complex in terms of the hops used. This one paints an exceptional hoppy picture.

On the taste, this beer lays notice to your palate quickly — HEY! — grapefruit and pine, with some very soft floral notes that linger under the tongue. There’s a nice sweet balance with some caramel, leading to an ultimately bitter finish that lasts and lasts, delivering waves of grapefruit and sticky pine, a hard candy caramel, and a bitter crush when you touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth. There’s no noticeable alcohol, and the mouthfeel is gritty thanks to the carbonation and drying, as is typical with most extremely hoppy IPAs.

Green Flash have made a superb beer here — my only gripe is I wish the taste had been as complex as the aroma, but that could be a freshness issue. Still, this is one hell of a beer; a solid, fine IPA sure to crave your hop curiosity if you have any. Trust me, this will satisfy…and you might be thinking about it the next day, wanting to return.

A beer that makes your night…

Green Flash West Coast IPA, 95 points. Price: $2.99 US for one twelve ounce bottle.

Beer Review 0154: New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere De Mars

New Belgium Brewing’s Lips of Faith series is a limited release set of beers, featuring brews that are more extreme than your ordinary craft beverages. The last Lips of Faith offering I reviewed, Cocoa Molé, was a beer brewed with cinnamon and various hot chilies, and I rated it 88 points.

The brewery released its Biere De Mars along with Cocoa Molé, although this is a beer they have made before and decided to brew again after it achieved some popularity. Most of the Lips of Faith beers are one time only brews.

Made with oats, wheat malt, and brettanomyces, a wild yeast strain, this beer is advertised to impart citrus flavors, hints of spice, and a slightly sour finish — thanks to the yeast.

New Belgium, based out of Fort Collins, Colorado, recently made headlines when they announced they would be building a second brewery in Asheville, North Carolina. New Belgium will join Sierra Nevada, who also recently announced plans to open a second facility in Asheville. Needless to say, this is a major victory for me, as my home state is North Carolina.

Pouring this one gave way to an average size head, which was very pillowy and lasting. As it diminished, it turned into more of a thick, creamy, bright white cover atop a beautiful orange/amber beer that had golden highlights when held to the light. The drink had a hazy body, but was clear of particles and sediment. The lacing was excellent, leaving behind thick wispy sheets that were as creamy as the cover of the remaining head.

To the nose, this beer featured a nice balance between hop and malt — the dominant scent was orange peel, backed by shades of sweet caramel, grain, and bread. There was a light yeast presence, funky and musty; and from afar, I detected a mild alcohol note, even though this beer is only 6.2% ABV (alcohol by volume).

Tasting the beer, there was a caramel note up front, sweet and creamy, followed by a blast of citrus (lemon and orange). The finish was sweet and ended on a big yeasty twang, flooding the taste buds with orange and a musty bread-like conclusion.

New Belgium’s Biere De Mars is a nice, enjoyable beer, but I’m not totally sure it is worthy of a limited release. Worth a try if you find it for a reasonable price; otherwise, you might want to spend the coin on other beers of this style. The major drawback was the yeast on the finish, which was almost too overwhelming. And be careful with this one — at just 6.2% ABV, this is sneaky, believe it or not.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere De Mars, 87 points. Price: $5.99 for one 22 oz. bomber size bottle.