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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The Pour: Watching that pour settle is one of the greatest joys about drinking a beer in the draught system.  The soft, creamy, and extremely stable head sits, once it makes it’s way to the surface, atop a deep black body (with some red hints) while the slowly active body pushes carbonation to prop up of the lovely sight.  The head is clingy and sticks to the glass, leaving a residue from the previous sip.

The Nose: Hints of coffee, caramel, and a deep roast give the beer a soft, dry aroma.  I’ve always thought the aroma also smacked of mint tobacco and hints of licorice.  Touches of smoked peat also gives the beer an subtle touch of roundness.

The Taste: The tobacco (very subtle mint) and licorice are dominant features of the brew.  Bits of acidic sharpness, dryness, and coffee really lend to the impression of drinking espresso.  Subtle caramel and chocolate fit with a drop of smokiness and sweetness.  A miniscule hint of a lactic sourness makes for a perfect finish with the roasted grains and a slight metallic touch.  This beer is smooth, subtle, and beautiful in its stoutness.  Even though it’s full, the 4% ABV lends to this being a wonderful session brew.  Here is a recipe for Irish Stew.

Overall:  What can I say?  I think this is a terrific beer.  It’s very drinkable, delicious, makes a good stew and is creamy. I suppose a touch more grain depth might be nice in the brew.  However, it’s still so drinkable that I’m not sure I’d want that.

Mike’s Review:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among Other Irish Stouts: ★★★★¾ 

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Which brings me to beer ratings…

I’ve discussed in the past how at times, certain beers achieve cult status, simply because in a viral sort of way, the herd deems one beer “the best,” and the intrepid reviewer would hate to disseminate a contrary opinion.  Now, some beers are the best, because they simply are, “the best.”  I have had plenty of top rated beers achieved beer God status on their own merit.  From time to time, however, I stumble across a beer that makes me wonder why it is so coveted by the craft community.

Yes I have a beer in mind.  It is Hopslam.

Before I go further, let me silence the haters.  I LOVE Hopslam.  I think it is delicious.  I buy a bottle or two every year at it’s release.  I love Bell’s Brewery.  They produce quality, delicious beers.  Hopslam included.

Why the disclaimer?  Not to long ago someone on Twitter asked, “What beers do you think are overrated?” I responded, “Hopslam;” to which the inquisitor replied, “even this year’s? i think it’s pretty tasty.“ Tasty, yes…overrated…yes.

I drank three Hopslams this season, one a week three weeks in a row, trying to see if I could taste the pixy dust in this brew that inspires someone to pack the trunk of their car (saw a picture of that scenario) with the stuff.  Each sip was good…very good, but each sip wasn’t a euphoric experience as described by countless twitter updates the past month or so.  The beer is very well balanced, has a nice sweet and fruity malt with a caramel aftertaste, and a tasty hop profile (I picked up on Centennial).  It finishes smooth.  No complaints.  I’d rate it 4.25 out of 5 subjective but not arbitrary stars.  That’s a great rating.   But it’s not the 6 out of 5 (yes I saw that on twitter) that the community attributes it.

I’m not alone in this.  Billy Broas quickly agreed and said that in his opinion, were Dogfish Head’s 90 minute a special seasonal release it would be considered as sacred as Hopslam.   He’s on to something.  The fact that 1) Hopslam is a limited seasonal release, 2) it comes in an expensive $17.99+  six pack (actually this is a great deal compared to other Double IPAs that are served up in bomber sizes) and 3) it’s called Hopslam, contributes to its respectable yet overinflated (in my opinion) eminence.

I know in your head you are asking me, “Nate, so what IS better than Hopslam?”

Plenty, I’m sure but here’s one: Southern Tier’s Oak Aged Unearthly
Imperial India Pale Ale.  After reading about the non-oaked version over at Beer and Whiskey Bros, I had to try it, and boy an I glad I did.  This beer is packed full of complexity, even moreso than Hopslam.  The flavors are so familiar but so unique and avant garde at the same time.  Hops and fruity malts give way to serious whiskey flavors and lush earthy oakiness, peppered with occasional sour bites.  Like Pavlov’s dog, I’m drooling on my keyboard (Pavlov’s dog was a renowned blogger, you know).

Feel free to disagree with me.  It’s beer after all, and beer is open to a wide (but not total) degree of subjectivity.  Before you go and answer one or both of these questions:

1) What beers do YOU feel are overrated in the craft community?

2) What makes Hopslam so highly rated?

And remember, this post is not a diatribe against one of my favorite brewery’s beer.  I love the Hopslam, I’m just not prepared to marry it.

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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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When I was touring the brewery, the amiable Steven Pauwels did try to send me home with a bottle, but unfortunately none were to be found un-boxed, and I had to leave Kansas City before Collaboration was released.  Fortunately, a good friend recently visited Springfield, MO–and old stomping ground of ours–and brought me back a bottle.

Every limited release beer I get I have a hard time drinking, especially when I only have one.  But with an imperial pilsner (contra an imperial stout or IPA) I was so geeked over this beer I waited only minutes to open this brew and share it with friends.  I was a bit nervous since it was smuggled back to Toledo via non-carry-on luggage…good chance for oxidization.

The Pour:
This strong European lager is golden to the hilt with a slight greenish tint.  It is quite clear in the initial pours, and bursting…I mean BURSTING…with effervescent carbonation.   The crisp two finger white head paired with the bubbly action in the glass would lead you to believe you are holding a glass of champagne in your hand.

The Nose:
It does not smell like champagne, thank God, because I like beer.  Up front, the aroma fills you in that this is not a typical Pilsner, and the Orval influence is apparent.  It has a very earthy and mineral smell, and there is a profound copper penny aroma.  You’d think Jean Marie Rock brought some well water with him to Boulevard!  The lemony and spicy Saaz hops are unmistakable.  For those who brew at home, it smells as if you just opened a package of raw Saaz leaf hops.  The maltiness is clearly pilsner, and smells like sweet honey.

The Taste:
The flavor is very delicate and well balanced.  Please note that I used the term “delicate” to describe a beer with 8% alcohol content.  No where in the drinking experience did I discover any astringent flavors.  I don’t have to make up a bunch of nonsense like, “this beer tasted like wild honeydew with a machiatto glaze and elderberries.”  This is a simple beer.  It tastes like a true Pilsner should and is a starling example of balance and a demonstration of brewing know-how. The beer tastes like it smells.  Up front there is a mineral/coppery flavor, immediately replaced by the lemongrass nature of the hops.  As the beer is nearing the throat the sweet hay flavor of Pilnser grain takes over.  As it washes down, the flavors perfectly compliment each other and leave you instantly craving another sip.  All the while the liquid was in your mouth, the intense carbonation never felt foamy, but rather dry and pleasant.  We all agreed…this beer was fantastic.

Overall Thoughts:
I’ll put my money where my mouth is.  In my opinion, this is the best American brewed (although, it’s not really American…more an American/Belgian hybrid) Pilsner I’ve encountered.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¾ 

Among Other American Brewed Pilsners: ★★★★★ 

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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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I am just now getting around to reviewing the beer because since Buckbean was so kind as to send me a free sample for review, I wanted to make sure to put some pics of their product up, and my camera was broke.

It takes guts for a brewery to send out a free sample for review to sites such as ours.  You see, we will be honest…brutally honest.  Not only could it be a waste of their money, but the internet has an eternal memory and a bad review is one evil spirit to get rid of.  When I opened the box, I picked up a can (Buckbean is one of those craft breweries that chooses can over bottle).   Ironically, Buckbean included a little key chain bottle opener.

At first glance, I saw “Doug’s Very Noddy Birthday Lager,” and put it in my refrigerator.  Without knowing anything about this brewery I assumed it was a pilsner.  However, when I went to sample it and surveyed the very minimalistic packaging (which was cool) closer, I was delighted to see that this was actually a schwarzbier (a black lager, some might say bock) and imperial one at that.  Very cool.  It was nice to see something besides the overdone imperial stout as a special release, and also, schwarzbiers are somewhat of an endangered species in the American craft scene.

The Pour:

This beer pours a creamy dark brownish black.  It is visibly a smooth beer.  The head was impressive.  Admittedly, I’ve not had much in the way of American canned craft beer, but this can boasted the thickest head to date.  I had to wait a good 3 minutes for the brown billowy cloud to dissipate!

The Aroma:

I haven’t read a single review on this beer, but I found the aroma to be very smokey.  I picked up scent of smoked hickory and campfire.  There was a pronounced coffee aroma, as well as fresh cocoa and vanilla bean.  Not much in the way of hops, but that is to be expected for the style.

The Taste:

The more I sipped on this beer, the more I liked it.  I served it too cold, so after the first couple of sips I let it sit and warm up.  The  flavors really came out at this point.  The beer was sweet and candy like (but no sickening sweet).  It tasted a lot like bittersweet dark cocoa, mocha, espresso, vanilla, smoke, and mild flavors of raw grain.  The beer is exceptionally smooth.  The cool thing about this beer, unlike stouts/porters, is the lack of fruity notes.  Just go look at any review of a porter and you’ll find descriptives like “figs” “plums” “cherries.”  You don’t get that in this beer (in my opinion) and that’s the point.  It really lets the grain qualities shine.

Overall Thoughts:

This is an unbiased review.  To be honest, at first glance I wasn’t expecting much.  I haven’t had anything else from this brewery, but I can tell you, Doug’s Noddy is fantastic, and a nice break from the trend.  Usually American black lagers let me down.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among Other American Schwarsbiers: ★★★★¾ 

Among Other Schwarzbiers: ★★★★¾ 

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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 came up in a recent discussion in which we wondered if they listened to their customers, since  overwhelming disdain for a particular beer has been expressed. It seems that Sam Adams’ still has their ear to the ground since Noble Pils was voted into distribution by the public, and from the quality of the beer, I would be willing to be that Sam Adams has decided to step up their game as more (1400+) craft breweries are now a part of the once exclusive craft beer industry.

The Pour:

Sam Adams pours like a Pilsner should.  The golden straw color beverage is crystal clear and teeming effervescent carbonation that bolsters a thick two finger head the rapidly dissolves leaving behind thin lacing.

The Nose:

Unlike a Macro Pilsner, the Noble Pils offers a rich aroma.  The beer is grassy on the nose, with strong lemony hop aromas.  There is spicy pepper aroma, and flowery breadiness going on.  The beer is overall a very earth beer.  The aroma reminded me quite a bit of a saison minus any distinct Belgian qualities.

The Taste:

For a Pilsner, the Noble Pils packs a delicious hop punch.  The noble hops used inpart a delicate spicy and very citrus bitterness not typical to the style, but at the same time don’t overwhelm the palate and flavors of the yeast.  The beer is extremely bready.  If you’ve ever smelled a lager yeast culture, that is how this beer tastes.  The malty backbone is in the foreground, but the sweet balance is close to on target.  I think it could have used just a bit more.  The crisp dry finish leaves the lemony grassy bitterness clinging to the back of the tongue.

Overall thought:

Well done Sam Adams!  This beer boasts of quality and brewing passion.  I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★½☆ 

Among Other Pilsners: ★★★★☆ 

Among Other American Pilsners: ★★★★½ 

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