all the same song

Beer Review 0393: Dark Horse Edacsac Dekoorc Eert (Cascade Crooked Tree) IPA

Recently, Dark Horse Brewing Company (Marshall, Michigan) released an IPA variety 12-pack; the pack includes three bottles of Crooked Tree IPA, which I rated 88 points. The other three beers in the pack are single-hopped variations of Crooked Tree, featuring Citra, Cascade, and Falconer’s Flight hops.

I was excited about this variety pack until I got it to the cash register of my bottle shop, where it rang up $26.99. I was expecting maybe $20-22, but not that price! This steep price proportionally increased my expectations of the beers contained within the slick packaging…

I should also let you know that I’m writing this preamble AFTER I’ve had all the beers. There is one thing I must point out, especially with the three single-hopped beers contained in the pack — Dark Horse doesn’t filter their beer, which is fine, but the difference between pouring a bit of the bottle into a glass versus the full bottle is quite substantial. My tulip glasses I use for reviews only hold 13 oz. of beer, so I tend to pour about 8 ounces into my glass to start with — each of these single-hopped beers (the regular Crooked Tree didn’t do this) poured fairly clear to start with, but became choked with sediment by the end of the bottle. While it didn’t really affect flavor, it did presentation; pouring the whole bottle made for a much larger head. Here’s a picture of how chunky these beers are:

So…if you don’t like chunks in your beer, you have been warned.

Cascade Crooked Tree comes in at 6.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) Cascade hops were created in the United States and are an open-pollinated cross between Fuggle and Serebrianker. Cascades are notoriously easy hops to grow, and provide classic grapefruit aromas and flavor.

Once again, the pour delivered a tale of two beers. Pouring about eight ounces of the bottle yielded a beer that had a small, soapy head that was fast diminishing. The color was golden-amber, the body was hazy but had no particles or sediment. When pouring the remainder of the bottle in, the head kicks up to a large size, and has some staying power; the color of the beer changes to golden-orange, and the sediment becomes thick and chunky, leaving highly visible floating particles in the drink. Lacing is good, leaving behind nice sheeting.

On the nose, we’ve got nice amounts of grapefruit and pine, with a touch of juicy orange and tart lemon. This is backed by a malt body that is generally sweet, with a grainy caramel. Simple scents, but nice in a classic, balanced IPA way.

The taste presents some watery grapefruit and dark pine notes up front; these flavors deepen a bit when the beer is swirled in the mouth, breaking off orange peel and lemon, along with a nice caramel sweetness. This beer is sneaky in the fact that the finish packs some really nice, strong flavors; grapefruit and pine are the stars, with a crisp bitterness that tugs at your palate but is still clean. I found Cascade Crooked Tree to be light-bodied, with a thin, gritty mouthfeel.

Perhaps this is starting to sound like a broken record, but the Dark Horse IPA variety pack once again cooks up a nice IPA that is highly drinkable but is not remarkable. A solid beer I wouldn’t turn down, and an excellent way to study hops on an individual basis.

Dark Horse Edacsac Dekoorc Eert (Cascade Crooked Tree) IPA, 88 points. Price: $26.99 US as part of the Dark Horse IPA Variety pack, which contains three bottles of this beer.

Beer Review 0392: Dark Horse Artic Dekoorc Eert (Citra Crooked Tree) IPA

Recently, Dark Horse Brewing Company (Marshall, Michigan) released an IPA variety 12-pack; the pack includes three bottles of Crooked Tree IPA, which I rated 88 points. The other three beers in the pack are single-hopped variations of Crooked Tree, featuring Citra, Cascade, and Falconer’s Flight hops.

I was excited about this variety pack until I got it to the cash register of my bottle shop, where it rang up $26.99. I was expecting maybe $20-22, but not that price! This steep price proportionally increased my expectations of the beers contained within the slick packaging…

I should also let you know that I’m writing this preamble AFTER I’ve had all the beers. There is one thing I must point out, especially with the three single-hopped beers contained in the pack — Dark Horse doesn’t filter their beer, which is fine, but the difference between pouring a bit of the bottle into a glass versus the full bottle is quite substantial. My tulip glasses I use for reviews only hold 13 oz. of beer, so I tend to pour about 8 ounces into my glass to start with — each of these single-hopped beers (the regular Crooked Tree didn’t do this) poured fairly clear to start with, but became choked with sediment by the end of the bottle. While it didn’t really affect flavor, it did presentation; pouring the whole bottle made for a much larger head. Here’s a picture of how chunky these beers are:

So…if you don’t like chunks in your beer, you have been warned.

Citra Crooked Tree comes in at 6.5% ABV (alcohol by volume). The Citra hop was cultivated in 2008 by Sierra Nevada and Widmer Brothers Brewing companies. Citra is typically used as an aroma hop and in dry-hopping; it gives off citrus and tropical fruit flavors.

On the appearance, (as previously mentioned) this is a tale of two beers. The initial pour gave way to an average size, soapy head that lasted atop a golden-orange beer. The liquid was cloudy, but featured no particles or sediment. When I poured the remainder of the bottle into my glass after having a few sips, the sediment was knocked loose and thick chunks were floating in and sunk to the bottom of my glass. Also, when I poured the remainder in, the head became much thicker and larger. Lacing was excellent, leaving behind very thick pods of foam.

The nose featured lots of citrus, as promised. Tons of orange, fresh squeezed and rind delight, coupled with a floral component similar to fresh carnations. There’s just a touch of some malt body in the form of a light grain, but this is all citrus hops. It’s almost one-sided with the orange at first, but allowed to warm, some notes of lemon and peaches come out, too.

The flavors very much follow the nose with an ample presence of orange, but balanced on the bitter end with some grapefruit and an herbal tea-like taste. The orange is complex, rewarding the tongue with freshly squeezed juice, the peel, and even verges on tangerine and nectarine. The middle of the mouth continues much of the same but introduces a crispy, refreshing component, leading to a lightly bitter finish that darkens up a ton with bready malt and pine. But the orange still kicks, giving off a candy-like sweetness. This beer is medium-bodied, with a thin, foamy mouthfeel.

I know I’ve got a pretty good brew when I review it and it’s almost gone before I finish jotting down my thoughts. Crooked Tree Citra is very refreshing and I think this is a nice entry-level IPA that has a good base of flavors that everyone can identify with. This is a beer that will make those unaware of hops curious about what they have to offer. The only qualm here: all that sediment might turn some folks off. Don’t be scared: those floaty bits are good for you!

Dark Horse Artic Dekoorc Eert (Citra Crooked Tree) IPA, 91 points. Price: $26.99 US as part of the Dark Horse IPA Variety pack, which contains three bottles of this beer.

Beer Review 0391: Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA

Dark Horse Brewing Company (Marshall, Michigan) opened in 1997 as a restaurant owned by Bill Morse. Bill’s son, Aaron, suggested after opening that they should redesign the restaurant into a brewpub — after having success, Aaron turned the brewpub license into a microbrewery license just a year later.

Information about the history of Dark Horse is a little hard to find on the Internet; it appears to me that all their beers are unfiltered. They have a brewery and attached taproom, which houses over 3,200 mugs of patrons who have joined their “mug club,” which entitles members to a special mug and larger pour of beer when visiting the establishment. Earlier this year, the website RateBeer ranked Dark Horse 29th on the Best Brewers in the World list.

Crooked Tree IPA is inspired by west coast India Pale Ales, being heavily dry-hopped with a combination of Cascade, Columbus, and Centennial. Available year-round, the beer is 6.5% ABV (alcohol by volume).

Crooked Tree poured an average size, soapy, bright white head that had quickly faded into just a small cover. The beer was a nice burnt orange in color, along with a very cloudy body that made the liquid opaque. Although clouded, there were no particles or sediment, and lacing was beautiful, leaving behind lots of sticky suds.

On the nose, this seemed pretty balanced; some nice grapefruit and pine hops up front, mixed with a bready, cracker-like malt backing. There were notes of lemon peel and flowers, but overall, the aroma was subdued and you had to really put your nose in the glass to pick up on everything.

Initial flavors of grapefruit and pine come out of the gate first, followed by a touch of dark, bready malt that almost seemed like rye — it even had a little spiciness — which led to a finish that starts floral but finishes moderately bitter with a second chorus of grapefruit and pine. The tail end is dry and becomes a bit soapy, but it’s still crisp and refreshing. Medium-bodied, the mouthfeel is thin and foamy.

Crooked Tree is a solid, no-frills IPA that is easy drinking and would make an excellent addition to a lineup of regulars. Nothing spectacular here, but if you like an IPA with great pine and grapefruit flavors without the need for a high ABV monster, this is a good choice.

Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA, 88 points. Price: $26.99 US as part of the Dark Horse IPA Variety pack, which contains three bottles of this beer.

Beer Review 0390: Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA

The story of Ballast Point (San Diego, California) begins with home brew. While in college, Jack White started to like beer, and wanted more from the drink than you can find in the grocery store. So he brewed his own, and he got good at it; but he also found that getting his hands on equipment and ingredients were hard.

Mr. White decided to open his own home brew shop, the Home Brew Mart, in San Diego in 1992. Not only did the store provide a one-stop for making beer, it also opened up communication between other home brewers — and Jack made a friend in Yuseff Cherney. These two men would start a brewery at the back of the shop, later destined to become Ballast Point Brewing.

Ballast Point officially began operations in 1996, but got big enough to move out of the Home Brew Mart and into a dedicated facility in 2004. Combining the love of beer and fishing, White and Cherney decided to name all of their creations after fish. Today’s brew, Dorado, is named after Mahi-Mahi (Dorado is the Spanish name).

Dorado Double IPA employs three doses of hops in the beer — mash hopping, kettle hopping, and dry hopping. Ballast Point don’t list the hop bill; hell, there isn’t even any information about Dorado on their website. This beer has only been released twice, and is a limited offering. The ABV (alcohol by volume) is 10%.

The beer poured an average size, soapy and dense head, which quickly faded atop a golden-orange beer. The body was slightly hazy, but there were no particles or sediment floating about. Dorado’s color was extremely nice when held to the light and outside in normal lighting. Lacing was good, leaving patchy places of thin sheeting.

The nose presented a classic and typical west coast IPA; grapefruit and pine are the major players, along with undertones of citrus, especially lemon and lime. There is appropriate malt backing in the form of some sweet caramel. That sweetness really takes over the aromatic, providing candied hops. The pine notes give this IPA it’s astringency and the alcohol is completely hidden.

Tasting, there is mild grapefruit and orange peel before opening up to some pine, slightly dank and resinous. The sweetness kicks in here, with the caramel outdoing the pine for a brief time, along with some herbal tea lemon. On the finish, we’ve got soapy pine that is heavily bitter, drying out the mouth and making another sip extremely palatable. Dorado is medium-bodied, with a medium, foamy mouthfeel.

What we have here is a solid, very drinkable IPA from Ballast Point that has a simple but well done flavor profile. I found the dryness on the finish to be a bit much when approaching the bottom of the bottle, but that’s up to personal preference. The alcohol can creep up, too, but it is generally well masked and more of a feeling than a taste. Ballast Point should look into doing this year-round in 12 ounce bottles — I think they’d have a winner.

Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA, 90 points. Price: $12.99 US for one 22 oz. bomber size bottle.

Beer Review 0389: The Bruery Hottenroth Berliner Weisse

The Bruery opened in 2008, the home brew product of Patrick, Chris, and Rachel Rue. Patrick and Chris are brothers; Rachel is the wife of Chris. The first home brew batch the three made was an amber ale with Cascade hops; as the years went by, Patrick, who was going to law school, saw his beer passion become bigger than his law studies. He decided the rest of his life should be dedicated to making beer, so he got loans and started The Bruery, which is a fusion of his last name, and well… Brewery.

Located in Placentia, California, most of The Bruery’s beers are considered to be experimentations brewed in the Belgian tradition. None of their beers are filtered or pasteurized; all are bottle conditioned and use a proprietary Belgian yeast strain.

Hottenroth, a Berliner Weisse, has to be a special beer for The Bruery, as it is made in memory of Patrick’s grandparents, Fred and Sarah Hottenroth. The beer fits the Berliner Weisse style to a tee, coming in at just 3.1% ABV (alcohol by volume) and using lactobacillus and brettanomyces yeasts to sour the base wheat ale. Traditionally, Berliner Weisse beers are served with raspberry or woodruff syrup as a way to sweeten the beer. The bottle even mentions this serving suggestion, but we’ll just sample the beer sans any kind of syrup for this review.

The pour issued up a large collar of bright white foam, frothy in texture, fast diminishing. The beer was pale straw yellow in color, even paler than industrial macro-lager. The body was cloudy but contained no particles or sediment; it should be noted that the back of the bottle asks you to not disturb sediment at the bottom of the container. Lacing never existed.

On the nose, there’s some initial Granny Smith apple, tart and unripened, coupled with apple cider vinegar. There’s a solid wheat backing, which plays off well with the doughy, earthen yeast that is just a touch funky. I also pulled out a little pear and lemongrass.

The taste has a lot of tart apple up front, a gentle sourness, and then it all shuts off, only leaving a wheat flavor — it’s like the beer goes dead until the swallow, when the finish comes on moderately sour. The beer finally gives up all its flavors; unripened apple, pears, and a dash of lemon meet straw, and the finish leaves quickly. After a few seconds following the sip, the only thing left is some cereal grain. Light-bodied, Hottenroth has a light mouthfeel, foamy when swirled, and an average carbonation.

This beer is quite refreshing as Berliner Weisse tend to be, but it’s really light on flavor. Yeah, that’s the point, to a certain extent…but toward the end of my glass, this became like drinking tart water with a little apple flavoring. You can tell this is a well-made offering, but the value doesn’t match what’s here, in my opinion. It does work great on a hot, sunny day.

The Bruery Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, 81 points. Price: $8.99 US for one 750 ml bottle.