TLDR Beer Club

[absoludicrous]

Haven't been in here for a while. Really glad to see what you've done wookie. With that, I'm going to review a beer.

California, and the West Coast are home to tons of great micro brews. Some of the best in the world imo. Knowing that I was moving back home to the Midwest (MN), big shoes, and big expectations needed to be filled.

Fortunately for me, I live a block away from the best liquor store in Minnestoa; Surdyk's.

I pulled a sixer of Goose Island's Nut Brown Ale. As a big fan of this varietal, I couldn't resist. At $6.49, it's very reasonably priced. Let me say, Newcastle is extremely overrated, and this Goose Island beer just makes it that much more clear. It's just more robust, and flavorable.

At first sniff your olfactory glands are greeted with a nutty, chocolaty smell, almost espresso like.

This beer tastes how it smells. And, it's very good. It pours with medium head, and is very oxygenated. I like this beer a lot, especially for it's price. The only thing I don't care for is the lackluster Newcastle like finish, just not much there.

I award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]/5

[MrWookie]

Nice to have you back. Goose Island has gotten a few nice mentions in this thread. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it out in these parts, but I'll keep my eyes open, esp. if I'm in the midwest.

[MediaPA]

Sorry, I don't go into these beers with deep complicated reviews. Everyone has different tastes. I know what I like so I'll just list some of the IPA's that I've been drinking and where they rank in my opinion compared to each other. Hopefully, I find the occassion to add a proper review of Bear Republic Racer 5 this weekend.

Best (to my liking)
--Stone IPA
--Great Divide Titan IPA

Worth A try
--Bell's Two Hearted Ale
--Southern Tier IPA

Decent
--Victory Hop Devil
--Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale

Eh
--Redhook IPA
--Pyrammid Thunderhead
--Saranac IPA

Also in my fridge right now, I have some Bell's Oberon Ale. This is my favorite summer wheat beer right now. Sadly living in PA, I have to buy by the case normally, so I don't have many to compare. It's very refreshing on a hot day. It goes down very easily. Do not drink from the bottle. Take care when pouring to avoid yeast into the pint (unless you like that - I don't).

Southern Tier Pumking - I had some of my friend's draft at the bar the other day. The pumpkin and cinnamon aroma is very strong. When drinking this, tha flavors are impossible to mistake. It basically tastes exactly like pumpkin pie filling. The flavor is overpowering for the beer in my opinion. This is one that you will either love or hate. I personally hated it, as did my friend. Her review - it was like drinking runny pie filling. it was horrendous. Many people at the bar raved seemed to really enjoy it. So again, to each their own.

[MrWookie]

I generally agree w/ your IPA ratings, although apparently I like the Two Hearted more than you did. I generally don't go for American wheat beers, finding them rather bland and boring, and the Oberon is no exception. It's better than most though, so if you dig the variety, that's one to have for sure. I've really enjoyed the pumpkin ales I've tried, so I'll probably give it a shot and see how it stacks up against my current favorite from Post Road.

[absoludicrous]

When drinking IPA's, I drink the Two Hearted exclusively. At $3/pint in most bars, it's a steal. Love that beer.

Anyone here try the Rush River IPA, damn good too.

[MrWookie]

Alright, in continuing the series of follow up reviews, I got a bottle of Flying Dog's Double Dog, previously reviewed and enjoyed by RDH. I paid $2.85 for a 12 oz bottle of 10.5% beer, which is a little less expensive than the DFH 90, for a reference. I'm not going to bother w/ pics for this review. The beer pours a cloudy orange color without much head at all. There are actually little chunks of sediment floating around in it. I didn't expect this sort of beer to have sediment in it, so I guess I wasn't careful in pouring. The aroma is very appealing. It smells a little sweeter than the Hop Rod Rye, but the hop smells are perhaps a little more subdued. The flavor lets me down a little, though. There's a somewhat sweet malt up front, but that quickly gives way to a potent bitterness. I'm probably more picky about my strongly hopped beers than about any other variety, but this beer doesn't do it for me. It's missing the floral and citrus flavors I've enjoyed in the Bear Republic, the DFH 90, Stone Ruination, and other great imperial IPAs. I'm going to give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Miles might give it a 3.5, but this comes down to a personal preference, I suppose. It's a good beer that I'd expect hop heads to enjoy, but for me, there are others I like better. I prefer the Bear Republic Hop Rod, and it costs me less per oz.

[MrWookie]

One variety of beer that has consistently underwhelmed me since I started taking beer seriously has been the doppelbock. This has always bugged me, because I remeber early in my drinking, I tried a doppelbock from a tiny Seattle microbrewery run by a friend of my dad that I enjoyed greatly, even though I've long forgotten the specifics of its flavor. However, they've been BUSTO for years now, and nothing I've had since has really been all that good. Part of this may be due to only having tried American doppelbocks. Like with hefeweizens, it may be that the Germans are (almost) the only people who can get this style right. So, on my last trip to BotW, I picked up two German doppelbocks, one from Ayinger and one from Weihenstephaner, two of the best German brewers in my experience. Tonight, I'm going to review the doppelbock from Weihenstephaner. I paid $3.35 for a half liter of 7.5% beer, a little on the weaker side of doppelbocks.



The beer pours a dark but translucent (not cloudy) brown. There's almost no head, which is typical for this style.



The aroma for this beer is better than other doppelbocks I've had. It still has the alcohol and cough syrup smells that have put me off from others in this style, but there's a hint of coffee in there that gives me hope. The flavor hits with a heavy malt, followed by a hint of the cough syrup and the coffee. It's that cough syrup that's put me off to this whole style, but since it's competing with the coffee, it doesn't overwhelm as much. It's a sweet beer, and the sweet malt sticks to my mouth long after I've swallowed. This is the best doppelbock I've had outside of the distant memory, but it doesn't exactly floor me, either. I vacillated between 3 and 3.5 for this one, but I settled on an optimistic [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I felt like giving this a 3 would almost be punitive for letting me down somewhat, and conversely, this is the best doppelbock I've had so far. I'm not sure if I'll be buying this again, but for anyone out there who likes this style, this is definitely one to try.