Here's a nice little gem I picked up. It's a very basic brew seeing as it's brewed year-around by the Samuel Adams company and it doesn't have a higher-than-usual alcohol content. But...it's good.
Poured into my mug it produced a pretty nice, dark appearance. It let almost no light through and it had a very lasting head - even in the mug. It reminded me a little bit of Guinness. It had a bouquet of hops and the roasted scent of barley. There was also a slight hint of coffee or cappuccino. The taste started off very smooth, although it was a bitter beer. It followed through bitter as well with hints of coffee in the middle and end. It also leaves a coffee aftertaste leading me to believe coffee beans are in the brewing process somewhere. The texture was pretty smooth, but it was harsh at the end. It had the same flow of flavors and sensations as coffee.
Yet another fantastic dessert beer. It amazed me with how good it was even for being so "cheap". Definitely something up for a re-buy.
Appearance - 3.9
Smell - 4.2
Taste - 3.9
Texture - 3.6
Overall - 3.9/5
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
Ah, Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA, the first Imperial IPA that we have reviewed on this site. What a treat. This brew is actually quite low on the alcohol chart for an Imperial IPA, coming in at only 7.7% alcohol (most are around 9%). This hops-infused beer pours a light golden brown color with a small ring of a head. The smell is instantly citrusy and bitter: orange, lemon, grapefruit. Tastes exactly as an IPA should: bitter. There are also many other notes including oranges, pine, caramel malts, and of course, hops. It is relatively smooth, could be better, but not bad considering it is a double IPA. Obviously Deke doesn't know a good IPA when he tastes one and maybe he's too much of a wimp to handle the 100+ IBU's in this brew, either way this is one very good bitter brew.
Appearance - 3.9
Smell - 4.1
Taste - 4.2
Texture - 4.0
Overall - 4.05/5
Rochefort Trappistes 8
This Belgian Strong Ale is the baby brother of the Rochefort Trappistes 10, the 8. It has lower percent alcohol, taste and strength, but still a good brew all around. This 9.2% alcohol beer pours a murky dark brown with a nice off-white head. It seems as though all the Rochefort brews hold their head up high and its very impressive. The aroma is of sweet fruits, coffee, chocolate, and brown sugar. The taste instantly reminds me of the 10, but only weaker, it tastes of bitter sweet fruit, brown sugar, and roasted malts. This brew finishes very smoothly, which is to be expected, and leaves a nice alcohol/fruit taste in the palate. Overall this is a great brew, although it pales in comparison to its older brother.
Appearance - 4.3
Smell - 4.3
Taste - 4.0
Texture - 4.2
Overall - 4.2/5
Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
Ah...yet another Stone Brewing Co. brew for us to taste. It's rated pretty highly on the sites we frequent, but, as my review will show, I'm gonna argue that.
I poured it out into the glass and it produced a very nice golden color. Transparent characteristics with a fine white head. In my opinion, a great looking brew. Smell? First red flag. It smelled somewhat of oranges, but it seemed a little stronger than that - in a bad way. It was a little sweet but every time I kept smelling it I was reminded of orange cleaning product. Not pleasant. Taste? Second red flag. It had a very strong taste of hops with a strange fusion of oranges in it. Problem was that it tasted just like it smelled. It reminded me of cleaning solution and I did not enjoy it at all. I had two other people try it and they agreed with my conclusion. The texture was actually nice if you rule out the other characteristics. It was a pretty smooth beer with an interesting contrast of flavors. Although it was a little too sharp.
Overall, it was an okay beer. Something tells me I either strongly dislike this usage of flavors or we got a bad brew and Fonnie just doesn't know what cleaning solution smells like. I'm going to have to try some other moderate IPA's to make sure I just don't like this brew and not IPA's.
Appearance - 4
Smell - 2.9
Taste - 2.9
Texture - 3.6
Overall - 3.35/5
I poured it out into the glass and it produced a very nice golden color. Transparent characteristics with a fine white head. In my opinion, a great looking brew. Smell? First red flag. It smelled somewhat of oranges, but it seemed a little stronger than that - in a bad way. It was a little sweet but every time I kept smelling it I was reminded of orange cleaning product. Not pleasant. Taste? Second red flag. It had a very strong taste of hops with a strange fusion of oranges in it. Problem was that it tasted just like it smelled. It reminded me of cleaning solution and I did not enjoy it at all. I had two other people try it and they agreed with my conclusion. The texture was actually nice if you rule out the other characteristics. It was a pretty smooth beer with an interesting contrast of flavors. Although it was a little too sharp.
Overall, it was an okay beer. Something tells me I either strongly dislike this usage of flavors or we got a bad brew and Fonnie just doesn't know what cleaning solution smells like. I'm going to have to try some other moderate IPA's to make sure I just don't like this brew and not IPA's.
Appearance - 4
Smell - 2.9
Taste - 2.9
Texture - 3.6
Overall - 3.35/5
Rochefort Trappistes 8
We've already had a pretty good experience with this brewery. Their #10 was quite a fine brew and was highly rated by the both of us. Let's see how it's little brother fared.
This brew poured with a pretty neutral brown hue. It was pretty murky - probably because I got the end of the bottle, so bits of barley were in the head and in the brew - it made it look like coffee. There was also a fantastic off-white head that lasted for quite a while. It had a pretty sweet scent with a hint of coffee and hops in it. Strangely, on first taste, the first thing I got was alcohol. This is pretty strange considering most brews will have the alcohol taste at the end. It reminded me strongly of a thick cappuccino and it ended very sweet. This was wildly different than most other high-alcohol brews that we have where it starts alcoholic and ends sweet. Dare I say: it tickled my fancy.
Overall - a new, very interesting brew. Much different than it's older brother. It was very, very reminiscent of coffee and I thought it would go pretty nicely with some dessert or something of the like.
Appearance - 3.9
Smell - 4.1
Taste - 4.4
Texture - 4.5
Overall - 4.23/5
This brew poured with a pretty neutral brown hue. It was pretty murky - probably because I got the end of the bottle, so bits of barley were in the head and in the brew - it made it look like coffee. There was also a fantastic off-white head that lasted for quite a while. It had a pretty sweet scent with a hint of coffee and hops in it. Strangely, on first taste, the first thing I got was alcohol. This is pretty strange considering most brews will have the alcohol taste at the end. It reminded me strongly of a thick cappuccino and it ended very sweet. This was wildly different than most other high-alcohol brews that we have where it starts alcoholic and ends sweet. Dare I say: it tickled my fancy.
Overall - a new, very interesting brew. Much different than it's older brother. It was very, very reminiscent of coffee and I thought it would go pretty nicely with some dessert or something of the like.
Appearance - 3.9
Smell - 4.1
Taste - 4.4
Texture - 4.5
Overall - 4.23/5
Brew Tasting the Fifth
Starting to run out of brew, I think. We might need to go on another run soon. But tonight we're gonna work on a contrast so we don't get bombarded by imperial stouts from Russia. Tonight we're gonna try a little brother to the Rochefort we tried earlier on this site and another gem from the Stone Brewing Co. Full list after the break...
1) Rochefort Trappistes 8
2) Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
1) Rochefort Trappistes 8
2) Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
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