Beer Review Flat Earth Brewing Angry Planet Organic Pale Ale

Angry Planet

Brewery: Flat Earth Brewing

Location: St. Paul, MN

Beer Name: Angry Planet Organic Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale

ABV: 6.0%

IBU: 48

The beer was poured from a 22oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours an orange hue with amber edges, thick fluffy light tan head with decent lacing. The aroma is sweet malts with slight fruity esters and some floral hops. The taste is similar to the nose, caramel, bread notes, with some yeasty fruit esters, followed up with some citrus and pine bitterness from the hops. The body is medium with a generous amount of carbonation.

Overall a good Pale Ale. Nice, humorous label. I like the cartoony earth, but I’m sort of lost on the angry planet title. Is the planet angry because of the way people abuse it, hence the organic theme, or is angry because it’s a slightly bigger and hoppier version of an American Pale Ale? Both? The nose seemed to be a tad subdued. The taste is nicely balanced for a pale ale. Good sweet malt base that carries the beer into a generous hop bitterness at the end. That being said I tend to enjoy my APA somewhat more hopped forward. Yeah I suppos for it being organic, but it doesn’t seem to step out amongst others.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	4/10
Flavor	6/10
Overall	5/10
Total	27/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Steinhaus Mission St Annversary 2012

Brewery: Steinhaus Brewing

Location: Paso Robles, CA

Beer Name: Mission St. Anniversary Ale 2012

Style: Imperial Brown Ale

ABV: 8.5%

IBU: NA

The beer was poured from a 22oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a dark brown color with ruby edges, a small thin tan head develops with limited lacing. The aroma delves into dark bread, spice, caramelized sugar, dark stone fruits, orange peel, and herbal hops. The taste speaks of sweet malt grains, raisins, spice, dark roasted coffee, cocoa, and alcohol. A medium to thick body beer with soft carbonation.

Overall a good beer. Bought this at Trader Joes. The price was super cheap for a bomber and when I read that it was actually a product brewed by Firestone Walker I figured it couldn’t be terrible. This is a blend of their barley wine, brown ale, and stout. The label was goofy and not very interesting. Kind of gives the feeling that Mission St is one of those housing developments that never got started after the show home got built due to the housing market crash. I got lots of booze out of the beer, in aroma and taste, which isn’t a terrible thing in my book but it was a tad overbearing. Had a nice malt base with yeasty spices, sweet dark fruits but then a big wallop of hot alcohol. I think with some aging this beer would be a little softer around the edges and quite drinkable. For the price it would be well worth buying a few and giving it some time to mature.

Score

Label/Cap	4/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	7/10
Flavor	5/10
Overall	5/10
Total	27/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Bridgeport Brewing Hop Czar

Hop Czar

Brewery: Bridgeport Brewing

Location: Portland, OR

Beer Name: Hop Czar

Style: Imperial India Pale Ale

ABV: 7.5%

IBU: 85

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a golden orange with a white head, moderate retention and good lacing upon the glass. The aroma is hop dominated with floral notes of pine and citrus and just a touch of malt. The taste follows the nose, with grapefruit, citrus peel and pine resin hop bitterness with just a smidge of a caramel malt backbone. Medium body with soft carbonation.

Overall a good Imperial IPA. Quirky label graphic that evokes a chuckle with all the odes to hops. A good hop invitation in the nose. Nice mix of piney and citrus in the taste with just a hint of sweet malts. The beer hides the alcohol well. Was a very solid Double IPA that neither stood out from the crowd nor hid amongst it.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	6/10
Flavor	5/10
Overall	5/10
Total	28/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Bridgeport Brewery IPA

Brewery: Bridgeport Brewing

Location: Portland, OR

Beer Name: IPA

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 50

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a hazy golden orange with a decent off-white head and moderate lacing on the glass. The aroma speaks of biscuity malt, pine, citrus fruits and some yeast. The flavor is well rounded with bready slightly sweet malt beginning then followed with some earthy and citrus fruit hops that ends a bit bitter. Light, but creamy body that is crisp.

Overall a great IPA beer. Nothing spectacular about the bottle and label, but bridges aren’t something I get excited about either. Really didn’t stand out aroma wise as many other IPAs do today. The flavor was really nicely balanced, which is sort of unique in today’s big hoppy IPA world. Nice underlying malt flavor paired with yeasty characteristics and a pleasant hop bitterness made for a nice complex and crisp beer. Flavorful, smooth, and well rounded is probably the best things to say about this beer, and that’s not a bad thing no matter how you say it.   

Score

Label/Cap	5/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	5/10
Flavor	8/10
Overall	7/10
Total	31/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - New Belgium Brewing Trippel

Trippel

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Beer Name: Trippel

Style: Spiced Belgian Style Ale

ABV: 7.8%

IBU: 25

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a golden honey with a rocky head that reduces quickly with spotty lacing. The aroma hints of dough, fruity yeast esters, phenols. The flavor starts with a malty sweet biscuit base that follows into a earthy hop bitterness with touches of peppery, clove like spice that eventually lead into a big wallop of coriander spice and a touch of alcohol. Light and crisp.

Overall a good spiced beer. I like the label coloring, not too flashing but attracts the eye. The look of the beer is very nice and enticing. The smell was a bit understated, due to a  big slant towards coriander. I rather enjoyed the taste. A nice biscuity caramel sweet base, typical of New Belgium beers, that had hints of earthy hops, some slight Belgian yeast qualities, before a big helping of coriander. I like coriander, find it refreshing and interesting in taste, but I can see how people wouldn’t care for it. This beer has a lot of coriander and might turn people off, but for me i enjoy it but it was a little strong. There is a touch of alcohol to the beer but it’s not overpowering and gives it a gentle warmth to the beer and tames just a bit of the spice characteristics, perhaps some other flavors too tho. Light and crisp, and very drinkable on a warm sunny day.

Score

Label/Cap	5/10
Appearance	7/10
Aroma	5/10
Flavor	6/10
Overall	6/10
Total	29/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Crown Valley Brewing Worktruck Wheat

Brewery: Crown Valley Brewing

Location: Sainte Genevieve, MO

Beer Name: Worktruck Wheat

Style: Hefeweizen

ABV: 5.3%

IBU: 14.5

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a very slightly hazy, golden yellow with a thin, white head with no lacing. The faint aroma is of yeasty bready, cloves, and a touch of banana. The flavor is spice oriented, cloves and nutmeg, with just a hint of banana, followed with some bread dough and wheat malt characteristics. Light bodied and a nice level of carbonation.

Overall just an OK Hefeweizen. Label probably was the favorite thing for me about the beer. Not as cloudy as I would have expected for this style of beer. Aroma was very subdued. Flavor was over the top with big doses of cloves and nutmeg, giving it a very spicy heat taste, almost a peppery taste. For my preference I would have liked a bit more banana esters to balance the spice. Wheat and malt flavors were good. Body and carbonation was nice. To be fair the Crown Valley website says to best in enjoy this brew young, and that it matures within a few weeks. I didn’t check for dating and I also purchased this as build your own six pack, so chances are it was much later than a few weeks old. Perhaps I’ll give it a try again another day.

Score

Label/Cap	4/10
Appearance	3/10
Aroma	3/10
Flavor	3/10
Overall	3/10
Total	16/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Brew Day Review - 5/20/12 Pavlov's Belgian-Style Pale Ale

Pavlov's? Because it looks so good you'll drool.

Name: Pavlov's Belgian-Style Pale Ale

Style: Belgian Pale Ale

Gallons: 10 split

Yeast: Whitle Labs 550 Belgian Ale & White Labs 575 Belgian Style Ale Blend

Grain Bill: Pilsner, Aromatic, Munich, CaraVienne, Flaked Oats

Hops: Amarillo, Czech Saaz

Additions: Local Honey

The Plan 
It has been a few weeks since I got a brew fired up in the Roadhouse. The itch needed to be scratched. In a first ever attempt, we (my brother and I) decided we would take the brewstand on the road. It was something we had talked about and were curious how much time, work, and effort it would be. Surprisingly it really was not that bad. Thankfully we put casters on the frame so pushing it around was no problem. Once you take the keggles off and detach a couple of houses the frame is easy enough for two people to pick up and slide into the back of a truck. Arranging the keggles so that bulkhead and dial thermometers did not get bent or broken was of the highest concern. We switched out the 100lb gas tank to a much more easily movable 25lb tank. Lastly we loaded up the Dalton, the cooling unit, and hit the road. I have to say we managed to pack all this into the back of a Chevy S10 truck easily. Future trips look bright.

The Brew Plan
I have been drinking a lot of pale ales and IPAs lately and I’ve really been digging some of the Belgian style brews. I really like the balance of the malt with the spicy characteristics the yeasts lend along with the slight hop bitterness. So I whipped up a recipe and hit the brew shop. The grain bill was built fairly close to a traditional Belgian Pale model. The majority of it was Pilsner with a good amount of Aromatic (for color and malty aroma), a touch of Munich (to balance), a dash of CaraVienne (for some toasty sweetness), and some flaked oats (had a bag lying around and tossed in for some silky smoothness). I'm a local honey guy so I usually end up adding some to most of my brews. I hit the road on the hops, choosing to go nontraditional. For bittering purposes I used Amarillo hops, with their cinnamon and herbal qualities it seemed like a natural compliment to the yeast. My initial choice for an aromatic was Crystal, but the brew shop was out and I settled for a more traditional Czech Saaz. I choose the White Labs 550 Belgian Ale yeast for its phenolic and spicy flavors and the White Labs 575 Belgian Style Ale Blend because of its versatility. The ability to be able to compare the two side by side I feel helps me perceive slight differences and hopefully makes me a better brewery down the road.

The Good
The move went smooth. Reassembly was just as easy. Really aside from set up, the start up was uneventful and I think the change of scenery maybe helped make it seem far easier. Used a single infusion mash, which made for an easy start. The sparge went smoothly. I've really seemed to hit a stride with sparging. The boil went excellent. Did a 90 boil to really build a nice color to the brew and from all accounts that looks to have worked out great. No boil over’s. Was close a couple of times but a watchful eye is key. Almost bought some Fermcap, but surly it has to add something to the flavor? I rather like to think less is more when it comes to adding chemicals. Hop additions went fine. Used a couple of really big tea balls to contain the whole leaf hops and that really helped keeping the machine sediment free. Although I'm a bit concerned that there will not be as much hop bitterness because of possible non full contact between hops and wort. Something about seeing hops flouting around your boiling wort makes me happy, but cleaning up is much easier this way. Cool down was good and no plug ups. Pumps worked great, priming the hoses are key. Somehow managed to not leave a ball valve open while switching out hoses, so no mess to clean up or hot wort on my crotch. So perhaps I do have the ability to learn. Either that or the 100 monkey theory is true. Anybody else have this same thing happen to them this weekend?

The Bad
Was a little off with mash temp at the start. Started out great but I must have had heat on a little to high and got a spike a few minutes in to the initial mash in. My brother showed me a good trick to get it down. He used the air gun to cool the hoses that was recirculating the mash. Within a couple of minutes he brought the temp down to exactly where it should be. With a slight temp adjustment, everything went on as normal. Cool down seemed to go a bit longer than normal, but with weather temps increasing this is to be expected. I swear one of these days I'm going to run it through the therminator before the cooling unit and see how long it takes. Its been awhile since I used a White Labs tube of yeast. I forgot those suckers can gush when opening. Lost a little on the first pitch.

The Ugly
Not to much to complain about on my end. My water quantities were a little off, to much in this case, I thought. Ended up being a gallon short when I thought I was way over. Need to do some remeasuring and marking on the keggles. Dumped the grains into a container and left them in the garage over night. Those grains sour fast, and you know it quickly. Makes me want to try a sour mash sometime tho. I really need to do better with taking pictures to make available for the blog. Equipment wise, the thrumometer I bought didn’t seem to work worth a shit. The directions said it was rated for temps up to 140 degree, which didn’t make me happy. I was hoping to use it as a permanent part of my rig, to monitor boil and cool down. Really it wasn’t more than a square pipe with barbed hose ends and a terrarium thermometer taped on the outside. Blah. I could have made that, and done a better job. Buyer beware. Also the temp gauge wasn’t reading as accurate as my digital hand gauge, actually by quite a bit. I'll give it another shot but I'll be sending it back I feel.

Overview
Great day. But really any day brewing is a great day. The beers are bubbling away nicely and I'm going to temp control them in a day to try to get a nice fruity/spice balance from the yeast. Tried my brothers Whiskey Soaked Oak Chipped IPA, which I helped brew with him. I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but in a good way. After having had the Great Divide 18th anniversary Oak IPA I was expecting a lot of wood taste. But that wasn’t the case. Ill get some pictures and a review of it to follow. As well as the Pale Ryeder Honey Rye Beers I homebrewed a month ago. Cheers!

Next Up
I'm thinking a Berliner Weisse for the coming summer months. Any suggestions?

Beer Review - Magic Hat Brewing Elder Betty

Elder Betty

Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing

Location: Burlington, VT

Beer Name: Elder Betty

Style: Wheat

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 13

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a cloudy golden orange with a rocky, rapidly dissipating white head with spotty lacing. The aroma hints of light yeasty bread and big whiffs of berries. The taste is very similar to the smell. A light base of wheat and dough that moves fast into a berry dominated experience. Light in body with a medium carbonation.

Overall a good fruit flavored wheat beer. I kind of like the label graphic, it is interesting and draws you to the beer. The coloring is a little extreme but oddly works. The aroma was a little one dimensional and faint with berries the predominant factor. I found the taste out of the ordinary and unique. Here again not much going on but the berry flavor but it added a nice slightly tart finish to the beer that was enjoyable. A light body and a lively carbonation lend to the cause. Probably not something I would drink often or many of but would be enjoyable on a hot summer afternoon.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	5/10
Aroma	4/10
Flavor	6/10
Overall	5/10
Total	26/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Deschutes Brewing Red Chair NWPA

Brewery: Deschutes Brewing

Location: Bend, OR

Beer Name: Red Chair NWPA

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.2%

IBU: 60

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a coppery orange with ruby edges. A frothy white head develops with good retention and soft lacing. The aroma faintly hints of bready malt and sweet caramel that is enveloped quickly with a hop blast of floral notes, pine, citrus, and earth. The flavor is hop forward, with hints of pine, grass, grapefruit, apricot, but balanced well with a bready, toffee sweet malt backbone. A medium body beer with ample carbonation

Overall a great take on an IPA. An ok label, not sure what red chairs have to do with beer, but to each their own. Found it sort of strange the beer wasn’t a truer red color with red in the name, but overall it was a nice looking beer. The aroma was pleasant and well rounded. The flavors melded well with each other. Nice earthy tinges that lead into a thump of citrus notes hovering nicely over a biscuity, caramel base. Very interesting, sort of blurs the lines of a IPA with its hop profile and a Pale ale with its malty characteristics. A very nice sipper.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	7/10
Flavor	8/10
Overall	7/10
Total	34/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Lakefront Brewery IPA

Brewery: Lakefront Brewing

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Beer Name: IPA

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.9%

IBU: NA

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a hazy orange with a thick white head that retains well with supple lacing. The aroma really shines with big hits of citrus and floral characteristics with undertones of dank earth. For the flavor the solid mildly sweet but clean malt provides a nice backbone for the bitter citrus dominated hops at the end. A thick medium body beer with moderate carbonation.

Overall this was an all-star IPA. Sort of a quaint eye for the IPA on the label. A little weird to have it staring back at you. The beer looks phenomenal in all its orangey, hoppy oil viscous stature. The aroma really speaks to you, even a little ways away from it. Lots of citrus, grapefruit with just enough herbal, pine resin, and dank earth to keep it in check. The taste matches the above goodness. Well balanced with a touch of malt sweetness at the front that carries well into the hop wave. The hops are the star, but nicely balanced. Lot of big citrus, grapefruit the dominate one, with herbal qualities of pine, mint and some tobacco backing notes. Finishes slightly bitter, resiny but not overwhelming or astringent. A very well crafted, quaffable IPA.   

Aroma

Score

Label/Cap	7/10
Appearance	9/10
Aroma	9/10
Flavor	9/10
Overall	9/10
Total	43/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer