The bottle. Don't let them tell you that Pliny the Younger can't be found in the bottle.  Well, that's where the story really starts.  I knew that Russian River was tapping Pliny the Younger at Lucky Baldwin's (Pasadena) down the street.  I had one problem...I had to work.  So, despite the anticipation, I was stuck not being able to taste it. Having come to terms with it, I called up  friend who I knew wanted to give it a whirl.  She told me that she and some friends were planning to go around 8 p.m., and I immediately advised against it, telling her that it would be gone.  They changed their plans and headed to the pub to get in on the action.  Incidentally, the beer sold out in twenty minutes. It was nice that they were able to try it, so I was happy for them... then the text came: "We got one extra, when's your lunch break?"  I knew that lunch wouldn't be coming until 6, so I couldn't go get the beer.  If I had anticipated it, I would have made it a point to send them with a beer bottle, my capper, and a bottle cap.  I gave them ...

Not too long ago I turned on a dog show on Animal Planet to indulge my 3 year old daughter who is a huge dog lover.  It was interesting listening to the judges rant and rave over these dogs.  I mean, you'd think they thought this Cocker Spaniel's slobbery mouth with it's tongue hanging out rivaled the Mona Lisa's smile by the way they talked.  Don't get me wrong.   The dog was cute.  Very cute.  But it wasn't the Mona Lisa. 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.  ...

At 55 IBUs (International Bittering Units) and 6.4% ABV, this is a comparatively small IPA, at least for American versions.  Maybe it's more normative for what I like IPAs to be.  I picked  Red Chair IPA up at Bevmo many moons ago and have just now gotten around to writing a review for it--why good notes are important.  Okay, now that you know what not to expect (i.e., a huge IPA), let me tell you what you can. 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 ...

As far as beer fads go (which we have discussed here and here) the imperial craze (that is, big malty beers with big ABVs) was never so obvious to me as when I went to purchase the Sip With Us Saturday beers, Avery's Maharaja and DuganA.  There, sided by side on the shelf, were not only two imperial style beers, but two imperial IPAs made by the same company. While I realize that Maharaja is seasonal release and DuganA is a limited release, brewed at the whimsy of its creator, I thought it a bit odd to see these two side by side.  It's natural to compare different takes of one style, and Avery seemed to set themselves up for reviews such as this.  In fact, as I sat looking at those two bottles I chuckled as the words of Christ came to mind, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Hmmm...I wonder how Christ would rate these beers?  I digress... If you recall, I wanted to taste these beers side by side to determine which I preferred.  Since these brews come loaded with alcohol and only come in 750 ml bottles, my wife and one of my buddies offered to lend ...

"This beer is twister proof"...at least that's what Boulevard says.  Suddenly, it's clear to what the Double Wide refers.  So, if you are drinking this beer in your trailer, then rest assured that if your home is sucked up and obliterated by a tornado, ostensibly, your beer will remain intact.  That's reassuring. Many of you know my feelings on IPA, especially Double IPAs.  I'm not a huge fan of them unless they are balanced in the malt profile.  I like a bit of sweetness and fullness in the body to keep the hops in check.  I prefer that they work together in their extremes to achieve what I call "extreme balance."  How did this beer stack up? The Pour: Double Wide had an orange brown body and was fairly opaque.  The body was active and retained the head of the beer nicely.  So far so good, it looked very nice. The Nose: The best thing about this brew was that I didn't have to smell any grapefruit or pines tones.  To me, that meant no Cascade hops...a plus in my book (although I don't mind them sometimes).  What I did smell of the hops was certainly more lemony than it was other citrus ...

A brief email conversation with Scott of Manland led to this week's first Sip With Us Saturday beer, Maharaja.  A little bit of conversation with Peter, of Simply Beer regarding his review of Maharaja and its sister beer, DuganA led me to choose DuganA as a second beer this week.  You see, I've had both and prefer Maharaja from memory, but perhaps if I drank these beers side by side I might be swayed towards Peter's opinion, which favors DuganA. So this week, you can choose to drink either the Maharaja or the DuganA, but I would suggest you try both.  I would love to post a guest review, so if any of our readers feel so inclined, let me know an I'll post your review of one of these beers. These are both Imperial India Pale Ales.  Anyone familiar with Thank Heaven for Beer knows that we don't often post IPA's as the Sip With Us Saturday beer, so this week is for all the hopheads out there. DuganA Original Gravity: 1.076 ABV: 8.5% IBUs: 93 A big beer with a big hop profile Maharaja Original Gravity: 1.090 ABV: 10.24% IBUs: 102 A bigger beer with a bigger hop profile (in numbers, that is) Let us know ho wins the battle of ...

We're gonna rock around the hop tonight.  Since these were both "sip with us Saturday" beers from the same brewer, I've decided to put them together.  They have something in common, can you guess what it is?  Two hoppy beers?  Not normally my thing but I want to give all beers a chance.  Without further ado we'll see how these beers stacked up.  Hop Rocket will be first and Hopmouth second. Hop Rocket: Hop Rocket is Arcadia's 11th Anniversary Ale (An Imperial IPA) that weighs in at 9% ABV and 111 IBUs of hops.  That is a ton of IBUs (International Bittering Units).  I purchased this beer in Springfield, MO at the Brown Derby International store on my way out to California...I've waited a while to drink it. Here's the skinny on this one. The Pour:  Gold, gold, gold.  Hop Rocket had a very nice golden body and a small amount of head retention due to its slowly active body. The Nose: The hops on this seemed more like tropical fruit than some others that I've had.  Don't get me wrong, there was still some piney, grapefruity, and lemon citrus from the hops.  But this had a nice tropical tone.  I noted a ...

Nate mentioned quite a while back that we would eventually get around to reviewing Pliny the Elder.  He said this in his article on hops, which is worth a read.  Anyway, let me say that I'm not intentionally iconoclastic and that I simply don't go looking for beers to denigrate.  In fact, I'm not going to denigrate this one...but, for some people, rating this IPA as anything other than spectacular is exactly that.  Beer Advocate rates this as an A+ overall, with the low rating being a C.  This sort of disparity can happen anywhere.  In fact, Nate and I disagreed on Red Rye P.A. Additionally, it's actually nice to see some swings on a beer sometimes because you are aware that it is simply not being accepted uncritically.  I don't normally link to other people's reviews, but I think Hedonist Beer Jive's title says it all, "A very good overrated beer."  I agree 100% on the title.  Onto my review...and I have some different thoughts on it (taste-wise) than the Hedonist. Pour: A golden body, which remained pretty active, sat below a white and somewhat quickly dissipating head.  There isn't a great deal to say about the body of Pliny. The ...

I have been accused of not liking and/or being overly critical of IPAs (India Pale Ales).  Neither statements are true, but the latter is close.  In reality, I love the style.  A well balanced IPA in any season is delicious and refreshing.  I am not overly critical of beers within the style, but I am critical of IPAs, as I am with any style.  I might come across as aggressive, simply there are more IPAs to judge than other styles, if not in the US, at least in my region of the country. As with any culture, abundance leads to finicky habits, as is the case with the IPA.  America has become hooked on this revived style, and have flooded the shelves with many, many varieties.  As a result, I have a wider range to from which to judge superiority.  Simply put, they all be good, but they are not all the best. While I was in KC, I really indulged in beers that are not typically available in Northwest Ohio, and really became quite fond of beers from the St. Louis based, Schlafly.  While I was looking through some randomly assorted single 12oz bottles, my eye hit upon a bottle of ...

As many of our readers know, I don’t go for IPAs on a regular basis. If I do, it has to be intriguing. This Simcoe Single stood out to me for its simplicity in both label and approach, so I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about. Simcoe measured 6.9% ABV, which is not abnormal for an American version of IPA, although this one is from Denmark. Mikkeller has a great reputation as a brewer; consequently, it wasn’t too hard a choice to make. The Pour: Simcoe poured with an orange blonde body and a nice, foamy, stable head. It was nice and clean looking in the glass. The Aroma: Some very nice sweet tones came through on the nose along with some citrusy grapefruit qualities. Grains popped through in the aroma of the beer. I also noted a nice powdery yeast strain tone. The Taste: What would an IPA be without citrusy qualities? Mikkeller’s offering had plenty of grapefruity zest to put forth. I’m also on the record as saying that I prefer my IPAs to have a good malt backing, which was not a problem for this beer. A nice mouth-feel combined with malty grains gave ...