The Devil is in the Details



Victory HopDevil

One of the beers I bought on a swift trip to MN. The label is superb, one of the best uses of a hop cone ever. Really nice hazy copper beer with a fluffy head and good lacing. The aroma is very pronounced grapefruit and some pine hop with sweet caramel and bready malts to keep everything in balance. The flavor is wonderful, with a very solid base of caramel malt that is gently washed over with growing waves of citrus and herbal alpha hop goodness. A nice bitterness that seems to go hand in hand with a drying finish. Overall a excellent example of an IPA due to its balance and complexity.

Sorachi Ace Inhibitor

Great bottle with the Brooklyn B stamped into it. Nice coloring on the label with the gold and red, giving it a classy ace in the hole playing card look. The is beer is a wonderful slightly hazy golden hue. Really foams up on the pour and settles thin. Some musty hay like saison qualities to go along with subtle hints of lemon, pepper, and bubble gum in the nose. The flavor has a really nice malt quality to the beer itself. Big hits of lemon grass, pepper and earthiness play into a nice complexity that rounds out with a dry but slightly bitter finish. A nice smooth, light body lends itself to an easy drinking beer which is needed when consuming a 750ml yourself.  Initially I wasn't big fan but well into the bottle I found it interesting and complex but yet a bit understated in the qualities that make saisons great. Perhaps it may have more to do with me being a bit on the fence with the Sorachi hop in general, which is the star of the show here.

Caged Radler



Hoppin' Frog Turbo Shandy

I'm just going to say it. I like shandys, radlers, cyclists, whatever you want to call them. On top of that I like most fruit beers in general. I know that bugs a few guys (read as, macro swilling neanderthals) who find it emasculating to drink fruit beers, but nobody gives two shits about what they think, nor should you. Besides I, like many of you, tend to not eat as much fruits from the food pyramid, or whatever they are calling it these days as we should, so to prevent scurvy I think of these beers as beneficial to my health. For the most part these are refreshing, light, low alcohol beers that deserve as much respect as some of those big boozy dark malty winter brews or over the top imperial IPA's out on the market.

The turbo shandy by Hoppin' Frog piqued my interest, sitting at a hefty 7% ABV certainly separates it from the pack. I was a bit concerned that a juiced up version might be overly boozy and take away from the taste that makes a shandy so refreshing and thirst quenching but I was willing to sacrifice my taste buds for scientific purposes. I must say i was pleasantly surprised.

I always enjoy a 22oz bomber of beer, and a shandy to boot, nice touch. Kind of a goofy graphic with a frog wearing sunglasses, and whats up with that sunny lemon slice. It looks like its bursting from the frogs crotch, I'm not sure i want to know how that lemon got squeezed for this beer. All jokes aside, it  pours a hazy golden yellow with a very thin head with next to no retention. The nose was pleasant with hints of wheat that is transformed into generous helpings of tart lemons with just a touch of booze. The taste has a slight backbone of wheat with some yeasty characteristics that quickly gets over shadowed by the sugary but slightly tart lemon flavors. For such a high level of alcohol it really doesn't play out on the palette and the beer is refreshing but a bit cloying in a lemon soda way. Certainly would be something to enjoy in the summer months but unlike a traditional shandy a couple is going to do the trick. A nice beer that is well worth seeking out and trying.


Where do we go now?



Fulton Sweet Child of Vine

With a name hinting at a popular song from my teenage years I couldn't just kick it down the line.
This is another local MN product I snatched while on my fast trip to the Nations northland. By the way, if your ever in Rochester MN, stop at the Cap and Cork, a good selection of craft beers and a really nice owner.

Bottle and label nothing to really talk about, kind of an interesting brewery symbol but would have been something I passed over if not for the name of the beer. Pours a deep coppery red with a nice fluffy beige head. The aroma was mild with sweet caramel malt under whiffs of citrus and herbal hops. Taste was a nice but slightly tilted towards bready grains and sweet toffee with a delicate hop punch of piney resin and grapefruit/citrus. Nice mediumish body with a high level of carbonation that ends slightly bitter with an earthy dryness. Overall a tasty beer that seems to fall somewhere along the lines of an English ipa malt bill and a American ipa hop profile. If I had to put a voice to it, I'd say more Sheryl Crow than Axl Rose.

Sipping Wheat, Spitting Seeds

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

I have to admit, I'm not very keen on watermelon. I like the occasional late summer, ice cold slice of watermelon drenched in a patina of salt, but any type of candy flavored with watermelon, I'll gladly pass on. So the idea of a wheat beer with watermelon slightly appealed to me and at the same time gave me the willies. A wheat beer, done right with a touch of watermelon that didn't taste artificial might just be delectable. So on a quick trip to MN I bought a six pack of 21 Amendment cans and returned home to KC and waited for the proper day to try. Which was the next day, with temps in the 100s already in late June, it was a perfect time to try as I sat comfortably inside my air conditioned home.

Awesome can, I suppose anytime you can get Lady Liberty lounging around, snagging a watermelon from a trash barge, you outta. Pours a hazy golden yellow with a thin head that quickly subsides. The aroma was of wheat and yeast with subtle hints of tart watermelon. The flavor was actually quite nice and surprisingly refreshing. A very nice wheat character that set the table for the gentle waves of watermelon that followed. The watermelon taste was light but clean and crisp, not at all artificial or sweet syrupy which isn't something I ever want in a fruit laced beer. So natural it wouldn't have surprised me to have to spit a seed out while drinking it. While not something I would drink a lot of on a consistent basis, its certainly a interesting beer, and one worth trying, especially on a hot summer day.

Tales from the Darkside

I've been looking forward to this one for quite sometime. Deschutes calls it a Cascadian Dark Ale, but essentially its a black IPA. Interesting label with the moon and a sign that makes you think your in the middle of nowhere but leading you to somewhere you wont forget. Pours a very dark almost black color with a thick bubbly tan head. Very dark and inviting. The nose lends itself to dark malts with hints of chocolate, and grapefruit hop notes from the Cascade hops. Just a really great taste. Rich malt base with coffee/dark chocolate flavors that doesn't over power like you would think from such a dark beer but accents the floral and grapefruit notes that rounds into a nice bittering finish. A nice upper medium body with a moderate carbonation really makes the beer shine.

For me Deschutes is becoming one of those brands that just can't seem to make a bad beer. This beer may perhaps be the pinnacle of all their beers I've tried. For purely greedy reasons, I hope they can exceed that expectation.

Hop Yeasty Freak Out



Green Flash Le Freak

Having tried Green Flash's excellent Palette Wrecker and Rayon Vert, it was logical to want to try their Le Freak. Really who could resist something that they noted as a meeting of Belgian Trippel and a American Imperial IPA. American Hops explosion +  fruity/spicy Belgian yeast esters has to = tasty brew town.

No idea how it pours since I winoed it out of the bottle. Some days it just fills good to have a big ole bomber in the hand to sip on. We were outside preparing to erect the hop poles and what better way to prepare climbing up a shaky 20 ft ladder than with the help of a little liquid courage. The nose, was a bit subdued but that's mostly from trying to cram my snooze over the tiny opening, but I got some hints of fruity esters, some sweet malts, along with some hints of cloves. The hop aroma rounded it out with a citrus note. The taste followed the nose. Fruity esters give way to bready yeasty malt that are back ended with a hop blast of citrus and pine resins. A nice bit of carbonation adds a refreshing crispness to the beer. Overall a very nice beer that takes some of the best characteristics of both styles and nicely melds them into a smooth, easy to drink but complex brew.