TLDR Beer Club

[MrWookie]

Nice reviews. As I've mentioned earlier, I feel like I should be drinking more English beer. Beers of the World has a huge section for Great Britain, but I'm consistently drawn away from it with the allure of either more exotic brews from other countries or cheaper American micros. If people have some good recommendations or reviews for these, I'd love to hear it.

[MrWookie]

Tonight, I'm going to review the latest in Anheuser Busch's line of seasonal beers, their Spring Heat Spiced Wheat. I paid $6.99 for a six pack. I've reviewed their winter offering, the bourbon casked vanilla thing that wasn't bad, but was too strong on the vanilla. I was curious to see how they do here. This beer is actually a little stronger than I was expecting from AB: 5.2%, and to my pleasant surprise, it's also unfiltered. It's not bottle conditioned, but hey, baby steps. Basically, I'm curious how this beer stacks up to Blue Moon (Coors), not how it stacks up to Allagash's Belgian white.



The beer pours a very light color. It's just slightly cloudy, so it's probably not as yeasty as better brews. The head isn't bad, though.



I'm actually impressed with the scent of this beer. It smells nicely of the usual orange and coriander, and the malt is in there, too. The flavor doesn't quite live up to the nose, unfortunately. It's a little milder than I expected, and there isn't as much of the malt, yeast, or wheat flavors as I would have liked. Compared to Blue Moon, it's not as flavorful in pretty much every aspect. I'm going to give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. For an Anheuser Busch brew, that's not a bad rating, really. However, Blue Moon wins this battle, and it's comparably if not identically priced.

[kerowo]

Hey Wook, did you try out the Lime Blue Moon? Blue Moon is my macro brew of choice and I have to say I wasn't impressed with the Lime version. It tasted more like a regular non-wheat beer than a limed up wheat beer.

[MrWookie]

I don't think I've ever seen the lime version for sale. I've seen the pumpkin version in the fall, but I didn't try it. Honestly, I'd be kind of scared of a lime version.

[kidcolin]

I'm not a big fan of lime + beer unless it's a Corona.

During the Suns Spurs game I tried an impulse buy: I saw a bottle of the DIPA by Cica's Blue Frog Grog and Grille at BevMo. I guess it's a bar and grille in Fairfield, CA. It's a Double IPA. It wasn't cheap. $8.50 for a 750mL corked bottle. 8% ABV. I bought it solely based on the description, which sounded unique and interesting:

"This monstrous version of our IPA has been overloaded with everything from the malt to the hops, even the tunes we rocked out to during the brew day were huge. This bottle conditioned Double India Pale Ale is abound with aromas of citrus hops, English toffee, and fresh baked biscuits. Caramel notes, hoppy lovin' and slight yeastie [sic] notes jump off your tongue."

So onto the beer. I poured the first glass in a standard pint glass, second into a tulip glass. Didn't notice much difference between the two.

Pour - nice head, though dissipated quickly w/o much retention. Color is sort of a clear, dark, orangey amber color.

Nose - not your typical Double IPA. Almost Belgian, actually. A little fruity with some caramel. Hmm.

Taste - My initial reaction: WTF?! This is NOT a double IPA. I really didn't like it at first. The initial flavor that you pick up on the palate is sort of odd... almost like an ESB. The caramel and toffee flavors come through a little. Weird. It also has some characteristics that can be labeled as almost stout-ish.And what about the hops? For a Double IPA, the hop flavor is very underwhelming. Just not a strong hop character and a flavor that isn't all that interesting. This beer just seems confused about what it wants to be.

That's my major problem with it. I expected some hops, and it didn't deliver. All things considered, it wasn't a bad beer, but it was nothing to write home about, and certainly didn't kick the way I expect a double IPA to.

I award it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I just can't imagine spending this much on such an underwhelming beer. The only redeeming value of my $8.50 is I had a pretty solid conversation with the cute BevMo girl. I'm pretty sure she digs me so I'm going to ask her out. But yeah, screw this beer.

Also a quick note of another beer I tried this week: Anderson Valley's Poleeko Gold Pale Ale. A quick, apt description of it would be a light version of the Boont Amber Ale. It's not as flavorful or as strong, but that same malt character comes through and it's very refreshing. Solid beer.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Guys, I had a few of Rogue's beers last night. Some time tonight I will post the pics and reviews.

The list includes
Rogue's Imperial Stout (11%)
Mad Monk Ale
Chocolate Stout
Issaquah Bullfrog Ale


briefly about the Imperial Stout, it cost $14.00 for a 25oz beer, and the bottle is SICK. I thought this beer was fantastic.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

has anybody visited any breweries or great bars in Brussels? I am going in a couple of weeks, and have a couple days to cruise around. would love to do some beer touring. all recommendations of anything beer related appreciated!

[JPinAZ]

Zod,
Here you go:
http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/city/24

All,
I think it's time I've posted some more reviews. I picked up a case of different stuff last weekend while visiting San Diego & think I'll review the Alpine Brewing Pure Hoppiness & Mandarin Nectar. I have some stuff going on this weekend so I probably won't be able to post the reviews until Sunday.

[JPinAZ]

I wasn't able to have a "proper" tasting of the Pure Hoppiness so I'll just review the Mandarin Nectar. Here's what Alpine's web site says about the beer:
[ QUOTE ]
Mandarin Nectar - A Honey Ale with natural orange flavor. Spices used in a Belgian Wit beer, coriander and orange zest, complement the orange blossom honey used in this ale. 1.052 O.G. - 1.002 F.G. 4.1 IBU 6.5% ABV

[/ QUOTE ]

The beer pours with a pleasant aroma & nice head. Unfortunately, that's what I liked most about it. It's a standard clean ale. The corriander gives it some spice to go with the sweetness from the honey. Contrary to it's name, I really didn't get much orange taste from it, which is what I was looking for.

All in all, this is a decent beer. Very refreshing for the 100 degree afternoon here in Phoenix. But given the beer's name, I wanted more orange flavor. I give it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 1/2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[MrWookie]

Was this beer going for something along the lines of Blue Moon? How do the two compare?