As I've mentioned on other posts, this brew is a reincarnation of Stone's 11th anniversary Ale.  From what I understand, people clamored until Stone starting making this beer on a regular basis (I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease after all; the black grease beer, that is).  Other sites defer by calling this an American Strong Ale, which seems to be a catch-pan category for the "what the hell should we call this?" sentiment.  Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I'd call it a stout.  Of course, Stone calls the 11th anniversary a black IPA, so it would stand to reason that they would designate this beer with the same nomenclature. The Pour: As I hinted, this beer is fairly dark in complexion.  Maybe it's not quite grease, but it was black/very dark brown in it color.  The head was a very stable, off-white cloud.  The body, being semi-active, helped to prop it up for the duration of drinking.  Additionally, some decent lacing appeared as I sipped the brew. The Nose: It's almost a foregone conclusion that citrusy, piney hop aspects will make it into most of Stone's products.  I'm not saying this negatively, but it is a predictable aspect of their ...

Many of you know that I normally don't go after an IPA.  I find rye beers interesting, though, so I struck a compromise.  Hop Rod is a Rye P.A. of sorts, and it's not something I would normally pick up.  However, since it was "Gamble with us Saturday," I decided that this might be just the beer for the occasion—and who knows, I might be able to find out whether or not it was actually a good beer.  I've reviewed one or two other things by Bear Republic, and they've been okay but not great, so I was hoping that my gamble wouldn't turn up to be snake eyes. 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 ...

I've already posted about my enthusiasm for Older Viscosity, which is Port's/Lost Abbey's brew, a stout with bourbon aging and more strength.  The label states that this is not your dad's wimpy 30 weight motor oil.  So, I went into the beer expecting some serious thickness and depth, especially since this is 80% fresh viscosity mixed with 20% bourbon barrel aged beer.  The beer is either 10% or 10.5%. (The website appears to need an update since the bottle says 10%...maybe a minor detail but a detail nonetheless.) The Pour: Maybe this beer is dark, maybe it's strong, maybe it's big but not as big as the label claims.  I honestly expected Dark Lord thickness or something somewhat close.  If you call a beer thicker than motor oil, make it truly big.  I've spoken my peace about it, so let me talk about the merits of the beer.  Again, this was not as dark or viscous as I expected.  It was still dark but not like a still night.  It had a small but steady, brown head. The Nose: Plenty of grains, coffee tones, and ripe juicy fruits graced the nose of Old Viscosity.  I almost thought I caught an aroma similar to ...

I've done it, folks.  I've finally gotten through three of the reserve beers by Deschutes.  The unfortunate part is that one of these wasn't The Dissident, which I am, perhaps, more interested in trying than any of their other beers. Fortunately, I picked up The Abyss the other day, and some friends brought me Mirror Mirror and Black Butte XXI quite a while back.  Now that I've had all three and some time to reflect, I'm going to give a taste to reviewing the trio. The Abyss: Critical acclaim for this one sets the bar really high.  It's number 4 on Beer Advocate and 23 on Ratebeer.  It has received multiple awards and is worthy of respect.  The cumulative effect of these ratings makes one believe that it is, in fact, one of the best beers on planet earth. Some beers live up to the hype. (my experience of Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout by Three Floyds).  They say the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, and The Abyss, unfortunately, did not live up to the ratings that I've seen.  Again, don't mistake me, it is still a good beer and I'm not bashing it.  I do think it had ...

As I've mentioned previously, I occasionally like to write something about the local beer scene.  So, if you are in Southern California (close to Claremont, specifically), then this is a post of particular interest for you. About twenty minutes or so from my apartment in Pasadena, there is a place called The Back Abbey.  A friend of mine, let's call him Dan, introduced me to this place.  As a lover of Belgian Ales, I was already intrigued by this place since I knew that Belgians are their specialty. I've written before about how important a beer selection is to me vs. simply having a large quantity on tap. Although these guys don't have the number of beers to match corporate models, what they do have is what one might call a deep cut.  So, when Dan told me that they didn't have tons of beer on tap, I wasn't too deterred...and that's a good thing. When we arrived, I immediately took note that the Back Abbey had a display above the bar of bottles from every Trappist Ale, even the rare Westvleteren selections.  That is the one Trappist coveted by beer drinkers that can't be obtained very easily since they do not ...