Since we don’t delve too much into our personal lives, some of you may or may not know details of what goes on for us on a day to day basis.  But in the interest of getting to know you better and for you to do the same, I’m going to write a bit of recent personal history.

Andrea and I moved to California slightly over one year ago for her to work on a Ph.D, and it was very tough from the beginning.  The whole thing started with me trying to transfer with a company (Lowe’s) that I had been with for about a year and a half.  The whole time I was an exemplary employee.  But lost in the amorphous mass of corporate structure, I had to take what was only a part-time job here.  On top of this, I was working another part time job, and so I was driving about 1 ½ hours a day.  When I landed a full-time job elsewhere, I was thrilled.

Well, it turned out to be a place with quite possibly the highest level of disfunction imaginable.  At any rate, my time there was brief (4 months), and I was then beginning my 4 ½ month journey of being jobless.  I had found a way to scratch out a meager existence with some savings and a bit of other routes and came to my wits end.  About this time, and I won’t give the details about this (except to say that everything turned out fine), I had to get a colonoscopy.  I don’t recommend ever getting one.

At any rate, let’s just say that the last 4 ½ months were pretty rough for several reasons.  I have no food, no job, my pets’ heads were falling off (either you get the reference or you don’t)—I wasn’t liking California during this time.  (When it rains, and it rarely does rain here, it pours.)

However, I did learn some valuable pieces of information about myself and began to have a lot of clarity concerning my thoughts on several issues.  Something happened not long ago that made me really rejoice: I got a three-pack sample from Buckbean. (See, this is related to beer!)  That might sound trite, but it was the proverbial straw that, in this case, mended the camel’s back.  About four weeks ago I landed a job that seems like a reward for my time of tribulation.  It’s going to be a great place to work, the benefits and pay are great, and I’m going to get some management experience, which will perhaps help for a future brewery.  Furthermore, I’m going to be meeting some very talented people would could very much design some beer labels.

Well, I’d made it through the storm and the sun was beginning to smile upon me again when it decided to come out full blast.  I’ve gotten a new motivation for the future of the brewery and have met some people who may really be able to help with the startup.  In fact, I am seriously looking into the nano idea in the meantime.  Time after time, recently, things are beginning to look up.  Of course, the good beer stuff is part of the equation, which is what makes this, in my mind, a justifiable post for the site.

Part of why I wrote this post is because I want to be able to share the full gambit of what is happening in my (mostly beer) world.  But I like the idea of hearing where you guys and gals are at and where beer is bringing you joy; the little things matter.  Conversely, I know that some of need to hear that life can be bipolar like this and that things will get better.  I don’t remember the last time life for me was just so-so.  It’s either famine or feast.  Anyway, I guess you could generically say that I’m sharing from the heart but, to me, there’s nothing generic about authenticity.  What about you people?

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The Pour: Trust me when I tell you, that, if you get this beer, let it settle and cool for a day or so.  I imagine that perhaps too much yeast or unfermented raspberry got into the bottle we drank because the cork started coming out on its own accord.  (The only other brew I remember doing something similar was the Gueuze from Hanssens I drank; it contained Mead, so those sugars made the cork really pop.)  Once the bottle was open (good thing it was thick), it was too late.  The Amorosa was gushing out.  Fortunately, we acted quickly and saved most of the brew (we probably lost an ounce or so).  At any rate, we gently poured our brews into a couple glasses and noted that the body was very reddish with some brown tones.  It was hazy, as the style should be.  Amorosa also had plenty of floating bits (the high co2 must have really stirred it up).  One of the lovely aspects of the brew was its prominently pink head.  My glass held the head well, but the goblet did not.  Either way, it still looked like a very drinkable beer.

The Nose: For those of us who like sour beers and sour stuff in general, this beer has the mouth-watering aroma that simply makes one begin to salivate in Pavlovian anticipation.  The prominantly tart raspberry stood beside acetic (vinegary) and lactic qualities, creating a beautiful nose.  A hint of sweetness seemed to be present and was a nice counter-balance to the woody sourness.

The Taste: As anticipated, there was a touch of residual sweetness in the brew, which almost certainly (along with the carbonation level) kept the higher than average 7% ABV in check.  Alcohol was well-hidden behind raspberries that gushed like opening bottle.  Drinking Amorosa was certainly more like eating a fresh raspeberry than a Lindemans.  (However it’s not quite as sour and tart as a Cantillion, for instance.)  Also, the seeds of the raspberry added their own distinct tones to the brew.  It seemed like raspberry through and through.  Slight bits of fresh lemon peel also graced the sour and slight bitter aspects of the brew.  The wood flavor and dryness were apparent but not over-powering.  A delectible sourness, tartness, and smaller acetic tones made this a wonderful beer.  On the back, the lambic tones really came through.  Paired with raspberries, the lambic was really emphatic.

Overall, this was a very tasty take on a framboise that seems like authentically drinking raspberries.  The sours with the touches of sweetness were harmoniously balanced.  The only flaw that I saw was the fact that the carbonation was so high.  I’ve seen that this is a problem across the board…I’m sure the next round will be spot on.  Still, like all other Lost Abbey brews, it’s good.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Lambic Ales: ★★★★☆ 

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10 Commandments: I first tried this beer at Dark Lord Day last year.  I remembered thinking it was pretty good.  I know that Nate and my brother simply loved it.  It’s a seasonal brew, so, whenever the time came, I picked up a few bottles.  One to try and a couple to age for future use.  FYI 10 Commandments was $11.99 per bottle, which is not too bad a price for a 750ml bottle at 9% ABV.

The Pour:  Strange to say, this beer was a deep, dark color with an almost purple highlight to it.  Odd to look at indeed.  A nice, light brown, foamy and stable head sat atop this beauty.  As I sipped the glass, the lacing was evident and nice looking on the glass.

The Nose:  Given that this brew has rosemary in it, the nose certainly had remnants of that aspect.  Those herbal qualities on the nose were, I’m sure, enhanced by the character of the yeast, which was evident and powdery on the nose.  Raisons/dried fruits could also be noted and hinted at a sweetness that would balance the herbal character the beer promised to have.

The Taste:  If there was any doubt about the rosemary content of the brew, it was certainly resolved on the palate.  The rosemary taste was definite and pronounced.  As suspected, the raison quality, along with the residual sweetness, kicked in to provide a balance to the whole.  The combination of the elements from above gave the beer a perfumey herbal character that lasted for quite awhile.  Throw in a bit of iron-like metallic tones, vinous (wine-like) alcohol qualities, and a nice, dry finish, then you have quite a beer.

Overall, my criticisms of this brew would very likely be different if I didn’t like rosemary.  Actually, I’m not a huge rosemary fan, but it works for 10 Commandments.  If you really hate rosemary, then don’t buy this beer.  Yet, despite the fact that it could seem over-bearing in the brew; I really enjoyed it.  Perhaps the beer was a little drier than I would have liked, but I really don’t have much critical to say beyond that.  Definitely pick up this brew if you see it.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Belgian Ales: ★★★★☆ 

Lost and Found: Having been deprived of Lost Abbey beers, I just kept things rolling along.  It’s hard to tell you how it will taste because the ABV seems to be variable.  For instance, Lost Abbey lists this as a 7.5% ABV ale while Beer Advocate has it as 8%.  The bottle I drank was 8.5%.  The only fair assumption to make is that the variance in ABV would change numerous aspects of the flavor profile. Describing a beer is already a challenge, but it’s even more so when there are such variances.  Perhaps others could fill in the other percents.  As for me, there is my review.

The Pour: Unlike some of the other problematic brews (at the time) from the Lost Abbey, this one had ample carbonation.  I knew this when the cork offered a big pop.  A tall, stable, light brown head emerged.  The fact that the body was pretty active helped keep the head firmly in place and provided lacing as the beer emptied.  I personally think Lost and Found was the color of a murky, hazy brown ale, perhaps something between a Sam Smith’s and Thomas Hardy blended together.

The Nose: Candy sugar tones and powdery yeast were immediately evident on the nose of the brew.  Residual sweetness took the form of caramel qualities, vinous (wine) like aromas, and dried fruits (raison).  A touch of iron hardness and hints of vegetable.  A bit of burnt smokiness was also present.

The Taste: The first sip testified that there was a bit of alcohol warmth to the brew, which combined with those vinous notes to give some wine-like impressions.  The dried and burnt fruit raison qualities combined with a nice touch of residual sweetness to balance out the alcohol heat.  I also noted a almost tart acidity and smoke along with metallic aspects.  The caramel candy sugar tones combined with the vegetable hints at which the nose hinted.

Overall, I think this is a good and complete beer.  The metal and vegetable qualities might seem off-putting, but I think they are preferable in a beer such as this.  From what I understand, Trappist yeast is used in this brew.  The metal and vegetable tones are entirely characteristic of these strains (in my opinion).  The grain profile with, perhaps, the exception of the wheat (the ostensible cause of the haze) is very characteristic of the grain profile for a dubbel.  Because of this, I think the flavors are consistent with the style of dubbel which has the above characteristics.  I personally prefer a bit more of a bready undergirding to a dubbel, but this is a good beer.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other Belgian Ales: ★★★½☆ 

Judgment Day: A good beer in its own right, this beer is maybe better known as being the basis for Cuvee De Tomme and (I’m not sure) Angel’s Share.  At an already hefty 10.5% ABV, this is a pretty big beer.  Of course, the attenuation level of 1.014 doesn’t leave too much sweetness.  At any rate, this is the biggest beer of the normal line-up.

The Pour: Judgment Day poured with a very deep brown, almost black color.  The bottle I drank had no head retention whatsoever.

The Nose: If this beer comes off as having a similar redolence to Lost and Found, it’s because it is very similar in structure, just an upped version.  Plenty of raisons on the nose along with hints of chocolate evoked a craving for some Raisonettes.  A burnt/smoke tone was, like Lost and Found, present.  Again, the vegetative qualities were noticeable.  Vinous port-like aspects were also readily present.  Yeast and, unlike Lost and Found, the wheat were evident.  Alcohol and residual sweetness factored into the overall complexity of the brew.

The Taste: The port alcohol qualities were evident immediately.  I don’t think the beer drank like it was too hot on the alcohol, but it was big.  A small hint of residual tenuously held the ABV in check.  Burnt, dry fruits, chocolate, and yeast hit very nicely.  The raisons and a notable biscuit tone, which was missing in Lost and Found was within the structure of Judgment Day.  Again, the Trappist vegetative qualities were in abundance.  Of course, the strain is proprietary, so I can’t be certain about what was in the mix.  I will say that the yeast aroma and flavor very much reminded of half Aventinus Wheat Double Bock, half eisbock of the same brew.

Overall, again, I cannot complain that this beer isn’t doing what it sets out to do.  It’s made in the Belgian tradition and it has the deep caramel of the dried fruits and special B malts.  It certainly is a tweak on a Belgian Strong.  I think maybe calling it a quad or a dubbel-dubbel works well.  Another excellent beer.  I’ve post about this beer before with similar thoughts.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★½ 

Among other Belgian Ales: ★★★★¼ 

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The Pour: Black would be an accurate description for the color of El Camino.  In fact, stout-like in color is maybe the best descriptor.  The creamy, light brown, and very stable head added to the stout perception.  At any rate, I thought the beer was very nice looking.  A small amount of lacing occurred as I sipped it down.

The Nose: Given the El Camino was 9.5% ABV, it wasn’t a surprise to catch some of the alcohol notes on the nose.  Citrusy hops also dominated.  In this way, the beer certainly had Stone’s signature on it.  However, the hops were not simply the piney/grapefruity hops that I’m used to; they had a very nice orange peel tone to them.  A bit of char also stopped by to say hello.  Some roasty grains, coffee, and a hint of chocolate were present as well.

The Taste: There was a fair amount going on in the brew.  Like many of Stone’s beers, there was an immediate hop impression.  In this case, the orange peel citrus tones came through.  The alcohol warmth on the nose came through to the palate.  Roasty grains, bits of cocoa, and a (more than average for Stone) nice, residual sweetness helped prop the beer up. In tandem with the sweetness was a nice caramel pop and a bready backbone.  Hints of smoke, oak dryness, and a pronounced black pepper spice moved El Camino along. It finished with a dry, oak tone and herbal quality.

Overall, I liked the El Camino.  It was just a little bit disparate and busy starting out.  I think a 6 months to a year of proper cellaring would really let the brew shape into a more unified whole.  Lucky for me, I’ve a got a couple bottles with which I can do just that.  I would certainly pay the $3.99 for a 12 ounce bottle and try it if I were you…I wouldn’t tell it to hit the road just yet.  $4 is pretty negligible for a one time brew. If you try it or have tried it, what do you think?

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★½☆ 

Among other American Ales: ★★★¾☆ 

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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 brewing.  Again, hops took the front row for the beer show on this one, but nice roasty malts, along with citrusy orange tones and wiffs of chocolate/coffee, were part of the profile.

The Taste: The hops were, once again, very up front, floral, and pefumey in this ale.  Maybe it’s starting to grow on me, but I enjoyed this part of the beer.  It wasn’t quite as bitter (although, make no mistake, it is bitter) as I thought it might be.  The mouth-feel was medium and the hints of alcohol kept it on the thinner medium side.  I find that this is often true when hops and ABV are at a higher level.  At any rate, chocolate tones, coffee dryness, citrus and  a touch of toasted caramel malts all contributed to the brew’s profile.

Overall, I think this is a solid beer that could use a touch more sweetness and mouth-feel to balance it out.  My personal opinion is that the attenuation level plus the hops made for a slightly astringent and thinned brew.  However, I would drink this brew again and did enjoy it; I would just enjoy it more if they tweaked a few things.

Mike’s Rating

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other Self-Righteously Named Brews: ★★★½☆ 

Other Reviews of this beer:  The Full Pint, The Local Brewery, and The Barley Blog.

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Nate and I love craft beer brewers and don’t exactly keep it a secret.  I’m personally one of the first to give craft brewers acclamation and praise where it’s due.  And I also make it an effort to be honest about my experiences and interactions with them.  It’s from that place that this post comes, so I hope you understand that I’m not being vindictive when I write this next bit; I’m simply being honest about the one craft beer jerk out there whom I’ve met.

As many of you know, Nate and I want to start our own brewery in a few years.  Any experience that I can get on a commercial level in the meantime is invaluable for our future venture.  As a result, I check in with craft brewers from time to time to see if they need some help (I now have a bit of experience to add to the equation).  Let me set the stage: when I first moved to CA I emailed a couple of brewers in Southern California to see if they needed any help.  Of the two that I emailed, one responded to me.  He told me that he was sorry and that he’d like to be able to help but couldn’t.  Later on, he got back with me, and I actually worked there for a bit.

The other person never bothered to email me back.  I understood, I really did.  Brewers are extremely busy people, and I’m sure they have a lot of emails to go through on top of working long and thankless days.  I fully expect this to be our situation when we get off the ground.  Disappointed, yes.  Angry, not in the least.  Fast forward to yesterday.  Having looked up the location and driven over to this brewery, I pulled in and started talking to a brewer.  He informed me that the owner (the one I’d emailed before) was out getting them some lunch.  Sounds like a good guy, I thought.  Anyway, the brewer was a really nice guy.  We chatted for a few minutes, and he had plenty of time to talk and shoot the breeze, so it didn’t seem things were a rush at the moment.

As I was asking him if the brewery needed any help, the owner pulled up, brought the lunch in, and set it down.  Looking askance, he seemed not to take much note of me.  The brewer identified him as the owner, and I proceeded to tell him my name.  Then I asked him whether they were in need of any help.  Obviously, I expected a yes or no answer.  If yes, I figured some follow up questions about qualifications and experience would ensue.  If no, I figured I’d maybe get a “Sorry, we don’t need help right now,” or “We’d like to, but we just can’t have any more people because we just don’t sell enough to justify employing them.”  Something like that.  You get the idea. Which is why I was so surprised a moment later.

“Nope” was all I got, and the owner walked away like I was simply an insignificant worm.  No dignifying of my presence, no explanation, no interaction with me at all.  Now I’m not an overly sensitive person, but between the short verbal and attitude, I was scarred for life.  Hearing the word no isn’t an issue for me.  They either did or they didn’t have a job.  Approach is everything, though.  Forgive me for demanding some civility from people, but “no” and simply walking away is a rude and ineffective approach to dealing with people. And now the unreturned email is making a little more sense, too.

(By the way, he wasn’t that busy.  He went to the office and sat down.  And if he was busy, he could have said so and I would have understood.)

It seems to me that it is in a craft brewer’s best interest to be affable to those people with whom they interact, especially those in their local market.  After all, those are the people who will say either good or ill about the product.  Beyond that, those people may have a site where they can actually promote a product and at least tell people how good a line-up is or what a great person a brewer is.  Either way, being an ass very rarely pays dividends.  I pledge, here and now, that this will never be the case when Nate and I are off the ground.

I’d like to be able to tell you how good or bad the products from this brewery are (I’ve tried a couple), but I won’t be able to.  Why? Because I’ll never buy a product from this brewery under any circumstances.  I’m not looking to be appeased, nor do I want an apology, and I certainly don’t want an explanation about how it was a misunderstanding…I know better than that.  What I do want our readers to know is that there are a ton of great craft brewers out there who are some of the best people on the planet but Craftsman Brewery’s owner, Mark Jilg, in Pasadena, California, in my experience, is not one of them.

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Angel’s Share: I don’t think that Lost Abbey makes anything for the faint of heart, and this is certainly one of their heartiest brews.  I think I paid about $15.99 for the 375 ml  bottle of beer (minus my 20% discount).  For such a rare beer and opportunity, I just had to do it.  At any rate, I’m very glad that  I did get the beer, which is their Judgement Day beer aged, in this case, in brandy barrels.

The Pour: Angel’s Share was a murky brown ale reminscent of a barley-wine, a feature that was actually prescient for the remainder of the brew.  Like much of Lost Abbey’s brews, this one didn’t have a ton of head retention (also like many a barley-wine).  The forboding murkiness kept calling me forward, so I decided to dive into the nose part of the brew.

The Nose: Strange to keep saying it, but the aromas were also very barley-wine like.  Given that Judgement Day is brewed with raisins, it’s not really odd or suprising that the dried fruits come off like the dry fruitiness of a barley-wine.  So, it has aromas very similar to something like Thomas Hardy’s.  Bread and raisons/dried fruits were prominent on the nose.  The sweet brandy scents and alcohol were also a major contributor to the overall aroma.  The brew promised to have a nice sweetness and caramel tone according to the aromatic impressions.

The Taste: Certainly, a nice alcohol burn was a major part of the brew.  But there was much more to this beer.  Those bready aromas, dried fruits/raisins, and caramel translated into a palate full of flavor.  Truly delicious.  Nice nutty tones along with a touch of sweetness and a medium mouth-feel rounded out the middle of this brew, while the brandy was ubiquitous but not overbearing.  The finish yielded a surprisingly nice touch of chocolate and, to a lesser extent, coffee.  Finally, the beer dried out a bit.

Overall, Angel’s Share was well rounded and complete as a beer.  It was strikingly barley-wine like, which was totally fine.  Maybe just a touch more of the brandy would have been nice.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Barreled Beers: ★★★★☆ 

Cuvee de Tomme: It’s no surprise that this beer from the Lost Abbey is sour.  Let me correct that notion.  It’s beyond sour.  Certainly, more sour beers exist, but this one is right up there.  I love a good sour ale, so it takes little effort to enjoy a beer like this.  Categorization is a little weird for this type of beer, but I’d call it a Flemish style with a lambic edge.  For almost $30 a bottle, it’s a beer of occasional enjoyment (I’m glad they make some smaller bottles, too).  The 375 ml format is wonderful.  What about the beer?

The Pour: Coloring on the brew was somewhere between a brown ale and a porter, like a Flanders brown.  Akin to not a few Lost Abbey beers, the head retention wasn’t huge, but it was there.  It was a nice tan color that was perfect for the beer.  The carbonation on the brew was fairly fine and slowly active.  A little pop from the cork showed me that, whatever carbonation problems there might have previously been, this beer was ready to go.

The Nose: I did catch a bit of the 11.5% ABV on the nose.  It seems inevitable for a beer of the style and strength.  Upon the first sniff, I knew that this would be a hugely sour ale.  Sour cherries, touches of smoky barrels, hints of caramel and and iron-like metallic tone were all players on the nose.

The Taste: Wow!  That’s sharp.  Sour cherry sharpness made this beer bitterly acrid and fairly dry in approach.  It’s like the beer was on the edge of being vinegary without quite getting there.  Alcohol from the nose minimally reached the palate, while the smoky oak from the barrel (as well as the woodiness) were noticeable.  A small caramel pop rounded the beer out to a dry finish.  One of the best things about this beer is that every sip hits like new.

Overall: Normally, I have more notes and descriptions to give about a beer, but a puckeringly sour beer like this needs no more than I’ve said.  If you are a sour fan, this beer speaks for itself.  It’s a must-try for the person who loves a beer with pucker.  If you don’t like sours, even a mild sour, this is not the beer for you.  I think few beers are more divisive than sour ales.  You love them or you hate them.  I absolutely love this one.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¾ 

Among other Sours: ★★★★¾ 

Among other Barreled Beers: ★★★★½ 

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Right after we started working, Terry (the bar keep) came over and asked me what I wanted to drink.  Fortunately, I’d seen a Tweet the day before containing this phrase, “Gozer the gatekeeper sent me.”  Confessedly, this was an odd phrase, but the gate entrance yielded something pretty special.  That phrase secured me a pint of Bourbon-aged Angel’s Share. This is not an un-coveted brew, so I sipped it discerningly and slowly.  Not a bad start to the day.

Upon the completion of my task, which incidentally, I would have done for the sheer joy of folding those boxes at a brewery, I retired to take a repast with my comrades.  They were sipping some Carnivale, also a delightful brew by the Lost Abbey.  Let’s face it, this brewery doesn’t make bad stuff.

While we were eating, I decided to check in about sampling a couple of homebrews I had brought, as well as a Bourbon County Stout (something I knew my friends had been wanting to try).  Our festivities commenced, and we sipped on some other delights, also trying a Port brew here and there.  I bought a couple bottles of brew in the meantime: two bottles of Red Poppy and Cuvee de Tomme.  I was content to hold on to my brews for future use.  Yet, it was far from over.

One of the six in the group was so kind as to purchase a bottle (a large one) of Cuvee de Tomme, which we split and enjoyed.  Also, a bottle of Red Poppy was opened.  Yet, this was not the end of the day.  What came next but the coup de gras…a bottle of Duck Duck Gooze that Sage delivered to the table (you may remember that he commented on one of my earlier posts, which is demonstrably awesome).  $40 a pop is nothing at which to scoff.  It was wonderfully sour and simply a beautiful beer.  I encourage you to try it if you can.  The other great part about the bottle of DDG, which is also true of the Isabelle Proximus, is that these brews are scalper-proof.  I mean, the early bottles are still floating around, but if you purchase a bottle at the brewery, you have to drink it right then.  Can’t buy it and sell it on eBay…terrific.  That’s a side note.

I got to try Duck Duck Gooze.  That’s outstanding.  Besides gas, my total for the day of drinking brew was $0.  I had a couple pints of Angel’s Share as well as a bunch of other stuff.  However, that wasn’t the best part about the visit.

When I arrived and they let me go to work, I knew that the attitude engendered there was completely unpretentious.  These people just love making good beer.  Go figure, I was folding some boxes for the brewery.  Folding boxes that would be shipped to stores carrying the coveted prizes from the Lost Abbey.

When the boxes were done and I joined the group, I pulled up a keg, threw a bag of dextrine on the top and sat.  Did you know that the bags sat on by people end up in the beer?  I learned that fact from Anya, a friend we were with.  The attitude was laid-back, warm, and welcoming. Trust me when I tell you that I’ve visited some pretentious breweries.  For the most part, patrons will follow the example set by the establishment.  You could tell that the tone set by The Lost Abbey was to relax, cut the attitude of superiority, and have a good time.

I learned a lot while I was there.  Did you also know that The Lost Abbey is located in Stone’s Old building?  While Stone has moved up to a bigger, cleaner, and sleeker facility (not that there is something wrong with that), The Lost Abbey seems as rustic and unique about its brewery as it does its beers.  Companies like Stone, New Belgium, and numerous others are great for beer.  They really help the industry and the smaller guys.

Sometimes bigger is better, but when Nate and I have a brewery, I would be honored to function in the same way as the Lost Abbey.

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Let me tell you that they have some info on their site already and are exclusively focusing on California craft beer.  Too often I’ve seen places that claim 200 taps–but when you get there they’ve got commonplace stuff and very little room for personal decision, and one of the first casualties these establishments is local/area craft beer (instead, Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat is on tap); no local stouts, only national ones, can be found.

California has some great breweries and some terrific beers.  It’s with this in mind that I commend Tony’s to you, especially those of you who are locally minded.  Let’s shore up the foundations of California beer by supporting this place when it opens.  Spread the word and your arms…get some brew at Tony’s.  Have a look at the beer list.

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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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