The Pour: You can see for yourself (above) how lovely the pour and head really were.  Of course, I picked a glass that was particularly conducive to maintaining head and was evocative of a lambic glass.  The head was well retained and had a nice, creamy, off-white hue. I’d call the body, which had a nice touch of haze,  a copper-orange.  I’d also like to note that there was some nice lacing on the brew.

The Nose: Sour all the way.  I personally feel that I got a sour bubbly gummy quality in the brew.  Powdery yeast strains were another aspect.  Hints of metallic iron and an almost rubber quality made themselves known, as well as smoky tobacco and hints of a vinegar sour.

The Taste: Perhaps this is where the brew began to spin a bit out of control.  I can certainly say that this is a unique beer, there’s no questioning that…but is it good?  The beer was truly sour and had hints of vinegar.  The finish gave a strange tobacco smoke with an almost cigarette butt quality.  Sounds odd, right?  In it’s sourness, it had a bit of rubber and was effervescent.  For what it was, the beer wasn’t actually bad.  It dried out nicely, was intense and unrelenting.  However, the sourness was more of a burning acidity than a playful sharpness.  It was acidic in a way that most Flanders tend not to be.  The smoky barrel char was also evident and could have been a bit more restrained.

Overall, the beer was okay.  I wouldn’t purchase it again for $11.99.  I’d be interested to taste it on tap because of how different the qualities can be.  To me, the beer seemed a touch disparate in its qualities.  It seemed to just fall short from coming together–it was just a bit off target. I’m interested in tasting the Perseguidor 5 that Nate picked up for me.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¼☆ 

Among Other American Sours: ★★★¼☆ 

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The Pour:  I’m assuming it’s due to darker rye malts that this beer was a slightly darker version of an IPA.  Not black or brown, just deeper.  A touch of haziness was part of the overall appearance of Hop Rod, while the body was active and propped up a stable head, which incidentally, left very nice lacing as I drank it.

The Nose: Ever ubiquitous and perhaps starting to grow on me (to an infinitely tiny degree), grapefruity hops were a part of the nose. The citrusy nose was under-girded by a touch of tropical fruits, and the 8% ABV was a touch noticeable.  A slight caramel and rye pop made its way through the clusters of hops.  Also, an iron-like hint of metal emerged to the surface as well.

The Taste: Honestly, I expected quite a bit of spicy rye on the palate.  The bottle indicates that 18% rye was used.  Almost 1/5 of the grain bill is a notable amount, but it simply didn’t make the rye readily apparent.  Perhaps the hops stifled the impression.  Speaking of the hops, they dominated with high amounts of grapefruit qualities and a very nice and firm tropical fruit undertone.  The sharp bitterness and metallic tones cuts through the tongue like a razor while the bits of caramel malt and medium mouth-feel held the brew in check. This is very much and American IPA.

Overall: Truthfully, the beer was better than I expected.  It’s still not something I’d go after on a normal basis, but I enjoyed it as an occasional sipper.  Personally, a bit more mouth-feel and residual sweetness would benefit this beer.  This is, of course, a common criticism I have of U.S. IPAs.  That being said, I would recommend that those of you who like IPAs (not that I don’t) to try this one…if they don’t sue you for drinking it.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★½☆ 

Among Other American IPAs: ★★★¾☆ 

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Sip with us Saturday and tell us all about how jolly this beer made you.

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Here’s the thing: the basic message deals with the fact the all aspects of the market place are dominated by the big boys. Distribution independence is a rare commodity, and everyone is in bed with the big players.  I wish that I was simply being hyperbolic like I love to be, but the issue is real.  I remember a while back that a certain other website was grousing about not being able to get Stone while they were planning a new facility in Europe.  But maybe the fingers could have been better spent pointing right down the street at Budweiser.  Either way, fair distribution and a level playing field are veritable impossibility.

Have you ever complained about not being able to get certain beers?  Me, too.  There are a myriad of reasons why you might not be able to get a beer.  A brewery might just not be big enough.  Maybe there are simply a finite amount of possibilities.  Maybe you can see the beer at eye level (a point made in the movie).  But maybe, just maybe, the distribution is just not there.  Either way, is craft beer awareness a bad thing?  Is putting a dent in the wallet and mullet (NASCAR reference) of an empire such a bad thing? Click and read the original apologetic for the movie.  And purchase it.  I’m answering the call to action as many ways as possible.

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The Pour: I felt like I was sitting underneath the car changing my long overdue oil.  This baby is black, really black.  A nice dark tan head comes to the surface of this viscous bubbling caldron of a beer.  The beer likes to stick to the glass and could be said to have legs a whole torso.  It’s obviously a big beer with a thick body, you can tell by looking at it.

The Nose: Big!  Larger than life is the nose of the beer.  Sweet roasted malts came to the nose along with strong tones of vanilla a Bourbon.  In fact, all the typical bourbon tones came through; Caramel was certainly not the least of these.  It was sort of like smelling a good Bourbon ball chocolate.  I knew immediately that there would be a sweetness and thickness to the brew.  Barrel char and oaky qualities were certainly present among the chocolate aromas.  A thick does of molasses like aroma was yet another quality and the beer was also dripping with dried fruits. Figs and raisons come to mind.  Needless to say, the beer was pretty redolent.

The Taste: What can I say, there’s nothing small about this beer at all.  Nothing really subtle.  It’s an in your face sort of brew.  The pretty hot alcohol of the bourbon was immediately present in the mouth and even makes it’s way into the nose.  Vanillas and a hint of oak cinnamon spice were evident in the beer.  Huge amounts of maltiness and a fair amount of residual sweetness held the alcohol in check.  Dried fruits gave a touch of port quality to the brew, while touches of smoke and burnt coffee made themselves known.  The mouth-feel was pretty full but needed to be in order to check the thinness of Bourbon.  A big dose of molasses tastes came to the for in the middle to the end of the brew, while it dried up a bit at the end.  This is a big beer with a lot of roast, strength and alcohol.

Overall, I love the beer.  Then again, I love Bourbon.  Then again, I love some residual sweetness in a stout.  Then again, many of the aspects of the beer play into things that I love.  However, if you don’t like Bourbon, hotter alcohol, and sweetness, you won’t like this beer.  I can certainly see how one might criticize the beer for having too much bourbon, alcohol, hotness…whatever you might call it.  Depending on your view, you may be happy or unhappy that you never try the beer.  Not to sound elitist, but most people won’t even have a chance to try the brew but, if you do, don’t miss out.  Give it a swing…it’s better than a stock market crash any day of the week.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction while remembering how much I love Bourbon Stouts: ★★★★★ 

Among Other Bourbon Stouts: ★★★★★ 

Among other ales while remembering that this beer is not for everyone but still very well done: ★★★★☆ 

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I have to say that many of our fellow beer site people really set the bar high when it comes to embodying the altruistic attitude of beer brotherhood.  Because of this, I’m compelled to get the word out about The Great Arizona Beer Festival.  The date for the festival is March 6-7 with a pub-crawl preceding it by two weeks, which is Feb 20.  More relevant information can be found here.  If you live in Arizona (or close), see if you can make it out.  This is where you buy tickets in advance.  Remember, it’s all about the beer and raising craft awareness and helping a good cause.  Here is what Molly sent me on this:

Beer aficionados looking for a weekend event that combines fun and entertainment with giving back need to look no further than the 2010 Great Arizona Beer Festival. With the largest festival selection of specialty and micro-brewed offerings, guests will enjoy tasting a variety of craft beers, including local favorites such as Sleepy Dog Saloon and Brewery, while also supporting Sun Sounds of Arizona, a reading service for people who are blind or whose disability prevents them from reading printed material, such as newspapers, magazines and best-selling books. The festival, which Sun Sounds has hosted for the past 21 years, is the primary fund-raising event for the organization.

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The Pour: I wish I could say this beer was the color of a graveyard at night because it would help the metaphor of its death.  But this beer poured like a robust porter and had a light brown head, which was fluffy and billowed.  Whatever other problems the beer might have had, the bottle conditioning was not one of them.  It looked very nice.

The Nose: At 5.7% ABV, the alcohol was undetectable in the brew.  What was detectable were the iron-like metallic tones, the powdery yeast, and some spice from that same yeast.  Some of the darker grain coffee tones were evident, although not excessively.  Honestly, the beer aroma was pretty straightforward despite the ostensible complexity of ingredients.

The Taste: Here is where the rubber met the road.  Those darker coffee and metallic tones made their way into the palate.  The herbal spice tones were certainly less noticeable than in the Orchard White, which only makes sense when you account for the dark grains in this one.  However, the herbs that did come through took the angle of tasting like hints of mint.  The oats in the brew came on at the very end.

Overall, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’ll miss the brew.  I think I would drink it on occasion.  I think it might be a very nice pairing beer but not a regular beer on my shelf.  At the same time, I think that ironing out some of the issues with the brew could have made it a nice, mid-range brew to drink and enjoy.

Let me also add that The Bruery set an example in the respect of ditching a brew if it’s not up to their standards.  Too many breweries continue to make swill without any backbone what-so-ever.  At least these guys saw a problem and fixed it.

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The Pour: A maple, copper body placed this firmly within the acceptable colors of what an IPA should look like.  A nice, off-white, slightly yellow-tinted, finely carbonated head sat firmly atop the active body.  What a lovely sight, especially when the wonderful lacing of the head became visible after some sips.

The Nose: Atypical of many Northwest brews, the nose was not chalked full of extremely citrusy hops.  They were floral; there’s no mistaking that aspect of the brew.  However, they were much more tropical fruit and melon in aroma than pine sappy or grapefruity characteristic of many IPAs out there.  It was a very refreshing aroma, indeed (and in more ways than one).  I did catch a slight off aroma which was almost acidic and slightly putrid.  That sounds horrible, but it wasn’t an overt flaw.  Hints of sweet malts, plenty of fruitiness, and hop restraint made for a very pleasant set of aromas.

The Taste: The hop restraint was evident upon the first sip.  Still, it was firmly an IPA, albeit more balanced in the hop content.  A wonderful level of residual, sweet, caramel malt led to a nice mouth-feel and cut the taste and perceived bitterness of the hops.  However, the beer was still sharply bitter and a touch metallic (iron-like) in quality.  Between the tropical/melon hops and ale yeast, the beer had a very nice fruity tone.  It rode out the whole beer and ended with a semi-dry bitterness.

Overall, other than a touch of off aroma on the nose, the beer was really nice.  I tend to get a little more enthusiastic because it stands out a bit from the crowd.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among Other American IPAs: ★★★★¼ 

Among Other IPAs: ★★★¾☆ 

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The Pour:  To be honest, this beer simply wasn’t as dark as I expected it to be.  It was dark, but light pierced through the body.  However, a creamy, light brown, and stable head rested neatly on the robust porter colored body.

The Nose: Plenty of hops came through on the nose.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of large hop aromas for a stout, but this wasn’t too bad at all.  Hints of powdery yeast and iron-like metallic qualities were part of the nose.  Caramel, chocolate, and bits of coffee also played a role on the nose.  A treacle/honey tone was also detectible.  Sweeter malt aromas told me that the beer would have a fair amount of balance for all its bigness.

The Taste: The sweetness and caramel were perhaps the first impression that I had of Big Bear.  It wasn’t long after the beer hit my tongue that I caught some noticeable alcohol in the backdrop of this brew.  A dry and semi-bitter chocolate dominated the middle, while coffee made itself known in the far back.  Treacle/honey and vinous (wine-like) qualities were also notable flavors that occurred on the late middle to the finish of this Bear Republic brew.  Of course, the hop tastes and bitterness were a major factor in the beer as well.  Big Black Bear had a creamy mouth-feel, which held the biggest parts in check.

Overall, this is a good beer when fresh.  However, I’m inclined to let a bottle hibernate for 2-3 years because I think it could be much better than its current form.  This should cause the hops to tone down, sweeten the body, and mellow the beer.  It’s still worth trying fresh.

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Sam Adams describes Noble Pils as:

Samuel Adams® Noble Pils is brewed with all 5 Noble hops for a distinct hop character and fresh taste.  Deep golden in color with a citrusy hop aroma, Samuel Adams Noble Pils is a traditional Bohemian Pilsner.  The honeyed malt character from traditional Bohemian malt is balanced by delicate yet pronounced citrus, floral, and piney notes from the Noble hops.

What struck my attention in reading the description is that Sam Adams nonchalantly proclaims that there are a definitive five noble hops.  In reality, only two hop varieties are nobly agreed upon as “noble,” those two hops being Czech Saaz and Tettnanger.  Some also are gracious to include Spalt and Hallertau.  I do not know what fifth variety Sam Adams includes, but I guess it would be Styrian.

Regardless, bedazzle your macro drinker guests with your knowledge of Noble hops and introduce them to a familiar flavor from a familiar brand.  Who knows, it could end up leading them down the road to better beer conversion.

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