Great first showings--Sea Symphony Strong Ale and Saison de Potiron

This weekend, I sampled both the recently-bottled Sea Symphony Strong Ale (or Barleywine, but it's a little outside of style guidelines...and deliciously so!) and the young Saison de Potiron, and they were both wonderful and wonderfully surprising.  On Friday night, I tasted my 11.6%ABV behemoth of a beer, the Sea Symphony Strong Ale, hopped with Chinook, Falconer's Flight, and the Falconer's Flight Seven Seas (Cs) blend.  It was very lightly carbonated at this stage, but the taste was wonderful.  The beer had notes of honey, pine, burnt sugar, citrus, flora, apricot, with lots of warming and a beautifully sticky mouthfeel.  I am so excited to enjoy that wonderful beast of a beer over time.  It is probably my favorite beer I've ever brewed.

The Saison de Potiron is showing amazing promise.  The WLP568 yeast RIPPED through this beer.  It is already deliciously dry, in the proper farmhouse ale fashion.  The yeast profile will develop over time, but I am already getting the wonderful peppery notes, with fruity esters in the background.  It already has a delightfully "Belgian" taste to it, so that has me very excited.  There's a nice nutty caramel malt background, with the proper light, spritzy farmhouse ale body.  The pumpkin made it just about the most wonderful color I've ever seen.  Tawny, autumnal orange-amber.  Mmm...just delovely.  The pumpkin added that delightfully earthy, squashy note to the beer as well.

Wow, it is so exciting to be back in the game.  Scarlett the Galway Girl on tap right now...used it to make some ale grilled onions to put on a buffalo chicken pizza tonight...freaking delicious.

Prost!

Ralph (Pronounced "Raif")

Ralph, or "Son of Sea Symphony"

Wow, now here is a beer that I kegged right as my CO2 was running out a year ago, and I never ever got to taste it!  If you remember from this entry, Ralph was an "American Bitter" that I made from the second runnings of the Sea Symphony Barleywine and hopped with Chinook and Falconer's Flight hops, fermented with a second generation pitching of the Rebel Brewer American Pub Ale yeast.  Now I will admit that a year later, I did not have high hopes for this one.  Hoppy beers are best enjoyed young, so that the fresh hop aromas are at their most potent.  This process, however, can be prolonged if the beer is put on CO2, which this one fortunately was.  I tapped the keg this evening, and out poured a beautiful golden/light amber hazy delight with a brilliant white head.  The aroma still held a citrusy, floral quality to it, with sweet malts in the background.  The flavor is bitter grapefruit and tangerine, pine, with an unprecedented malt sweetness and light esters.  Mouthfeel was medium body, spritzy, and surprisingly creamy. Overall impression of the beer is "How the hell is this only 4% ABV??" Tastes like a very smooth IPA with a solid malt backbone to it.  I think collecting the runnings of a bigger beer added some depth to this beer's maltiness.  I will definitely be doing partigyle brewing again.  You get so much bang for your buck and you end up with TWO amazing beers.  This makes me VERY excited to try the Sea Symphony Barleywine, which I will be bottling this weekend.  The bottles are currently in their sanitize cycle in the dishwasher, and I am really excited about not having to wash them by hand.

In the other kegs are the Limerick Session Stout (which I tasted and is also still delicious), Scarlett, the Galway Girl and the JuniorSenior RyePA, so we'll be rotating those into the kegerator as well.  Come by for a taste!

Prost!

Pretty Things St. Botolph's Town - Review

Well, due to some kinks in the works of UHaul, I am currently stuck in Massachusetts...with no more homebrew (Egads!).  I decided that I had to make the most of it and enjoy a beer from one of my favorite up-and-coming NE breweries, Pretty Things of Cambridge, MA.  They really impressed Dad and me at ACBF last year with their Jack D'Or and Baby Tree, and I decided to check out St. Botolph's Town (which I wanted to try at ACBF but that Pretty Things had run out of by then!).  Here goes:

Appearance: Poured from a bomber into Dad's prohibition-era glass beer mug.  Gorgeous off-white head that has a very creamy quality, dissipates slowly, and leaves nice lacing on the side of the glass.  Dark brown color with subtle garnet hues.

Aroma: Very earthy, with beautiful caramel/toffee notes and light sweetness

Flavor: Wonderful sweetness with rich toffee, and coffee/chocolate mild roastiness in the background.  Brown sugar notes throughout the taste, with a surprising amount of pleasing bitterness on the finish. 

Mouthfeel:  Medium carbonation and lovely smooth, rich body

Overall: Probably the best brown ale I have ever had.  I want to brew something like this.  Pretty Things, any chance I could get some hints on the recipe/specs?  Such depth and complexity that could be enjoyed any time of the year, and could go really well with food.  Almost reminds me of a brown porter...and some of the better milds I've had, honestly.  At 5.9% I'd almost classify it as an imperial mild.  Absolutely delicious.

Belgian Table Beer - Review

I've tried to wait as long as possible to review this one, just because its character has changed a bit since it was first bottled.  I also wanted to make sure to review it before I run out, so therein lies the dilemma.  Here goes...

Belgian Table Beer, brewed 6/19/11:

Appearance: very pale golden color, and now brilliantly clear (was a bit hazy from suspended yeast at first); a finger of brilliant white head dissipates into a nice ring of foam with some decent lacing

Aroma: bready, sweet malt aroma with mild spice, banana, and bubblegum notes in the background; not as super pronounced as in other Belgians, but actually quite lovely and delicate

Flavor: really nice biscuity flavor from the Pilsener malt, with a light sweetness (though the beer is quite dry) and smooth creaminess, floral and slightly earthy hop flavor all throughout the middle from the wonderful EKGs; subtle, quintessentially Belgian notes of spice, fruit (especially pear) and bubblegum towards the end with just enough bitterness at the back of the tongue

Mouthfeel: I was intentionally conservative with the carbonation on this one, and it really paid off.  Low to medium carbonation with a silky light body and wonderful smoothness/creaminess from the flaked wheat

Overall: This is a perfect summer beer, and next year I'll probably brew a batch earlier in the year so that I can start drinking it right in June.  I have loved how the flavor of the beer has evolved since I cracked the first bottle, which is good because it encourages patience, truly a virtue when one is a homebrewer.  As Ryan said on his blog, this beer pairs handsomely with food, particularly summer flavors like barbecue.  I noticed that it went particularly well with a light, lemony vegetarian pasta dish that we made, too.  Basically, I loved this beer and I am really excited to do some variations of it, particularly something along the lines of Ryan's dark version, which I think would make for a great autumn table beer.

Cicada Imperial Red Ale - Review

So, it must be the time of day or something, but I was unable to get a decent picture of the beer this afternoon...needless to say, I will try again and have a picture of the beer posted on this review very soon.  Rest assured, it is quite pretty.  I just wanted to get a review posted before that wonderful fresh hop aroma and flavor fades.


Cicada Imperial Red Ale, brewed 5/29/11:

Appearance: wonderful, rich deep amber with copper red hues; thick and rich creamy head that persists throughout with sticky lacing on the sides of the glass; slight haze from high hop content

Aroma: hops hops hops! grapefruit, complex fruity citrus and pine, with a light amount of cinnamon spice character, small nutty sweetness in the background

Flavor: bright, piney citrus up front with mild pineapple fruitiness and light cinnamon in the back of the hop character; bitterness is high but far from overwhelming...a deceiving 71 IBU on this bad boy (not to mention a deceiving 7.8% ABV...doesn't taste even close to that!); hop character melts into caramel malt flavors and light sweetness with a clean, dry finish

Mouthfeel: nice, big body with a really smooth feel; medium carbonation (I have had a 1-2 slightly overcarbonated bottles, but this one is perfect...glad I was conservative on the priming sugar)

Overall: This is a great beer, and I wouldn't really change anything about the recipe.  To me, this is my ideal big, bold, American ale.  More malt complexity than an Imperial IPA but tons of great American hop character, which is something that I tend to crave pretty often...must be in my Amurrican blood (my dad is also a bit of a hop head).  Definitely a beer that I can see brewing AT LEAST once a year.  Also, I think this would be amazing with New York extra-sharp cheddar.  Can't wait to brew this again and put it on tap (and thus have more control over uniform carbonation).

BowThai 2.0 review

It's been a while since we were first graced with the second coming of the BowThai ale, and I just now have gotten down to doing a formal review of it.  There were a few small issues with it off the bat: first off, the spices were just *slightly* harsh at first, when the beer was still "green;" second, the batch was a bit overcarbonated (I overcompensated for the fact that it was undercarbonated last time...stupid).  After relieving the batch of its excessive carbonation, I have now been able to enjoy it much more.  Here is my review:

Appearance: beautiful deep amber/copper color, slight haze, finger and a half of off-white head that slowly dissipates to a nice ring of foam with decent lacing

Aroma: lots of spice...coriander, ginger, licorice (basil) blended with smooth honey and coconut

Flavor: earthy lemongrass, melded together with same spices found in the aroma and medium hop bitterness, sweet honey and coconut balance it out with a bit of alcohol warming, and that oh-so-familiar spice (heat) on the finish

Mouthfeel: smooth and creamy feel that balances out the spice like a wonderful Thai curry, really nice body...and the *new* carbonation level is perfect

Overall: This beer is my baby, and I love it.  I still consider this a work-in-progress, and it will be perfect someday.  Next time I brew it, the one change I would make would be a cooler fermentation temperature (I didn't control the temp for this AT ALL because it wasn't my own house) for a slightly more well-rounded and mellow flavor.  Still, this is a great beer to drink with Asian food, and it's definitely not too "weird." You can still enjoy this beer anytime.

BowThai 2.0 Brew Day 4/2/11

First impressions of the Hogsmeade Mild Ale

Tried really hard to get a good picture of this. Oh well...

It's still young, and my VERY first impressions of it were, well, not impressive. The beer had picked up a slightly-too-strong banana ester, which is not appropriate in really any English style. It is quite possible that the beer fermented slightly too warm, or maybe I left it on the yeast a little too long. Anyway, after carbonating and sitting for a bit, here is my first critical review of Jeff's Hogsmeade Mild Ale:

Appearance: Quite lovely actually. Very dark chestnut brown with pretty ruby highlights on the side of the glass and a finger and a half of cream-colored head that dissipates into about 1 cm of persistent foam. A little bit of lacing, even on my poorly-cleaned college student beer glass. Nice, well-flocculated clarity. Visible carbonation.

Aroma: Much better without the banana esters...caramel and brown sugar, with a nutty, toffee-like sweetness. Subtle tones of raisin, but no spice like in the WB. Not too shabby.

Flavor: Caramel and toffee define the sweetness, with a nice backing of toasted walnuts. Light fruitiness in the beer with some mild esters that are only slightly more than I would like. Nicely balanced hop bitterness really rounds it out, and the finish leaves a little taste of bittersweet caramel on the tongue.

Mouthfeel: A little high on carbonation for the style, but nice medium body and a little smoothness from the addition of flaked oats into the recipe.

Overall: Considering this could have been a total throwaway batch (even NOT considering that), it is really quite good. This beer has really come through for me. Just goes to further Charlie Papazian's philosophy of "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew." It's good to have standards and try to hold them, but even when brew day seems like a disaster, one should really try to RDWHAH. Definitely a recipe for the books, given that the goodness of the recipe can even override my shoddy brew day and lack of temperature control.

Notes on products: Cooper's Carb Drops are awesome on the convenience factor, but so are Munton's Carb Tabs and they are like 1/3 the size and thus allow you to control the carbonation level better. This isn't over-carbonated necessarily, but the carb levels are still high. I really like the profile of WLP002 and will definitely want to use it again for more English-style ales. I tend to be a Wyeast guy (mostly because they have a great website and good descriptions of their yeast strains), but this is a really nice yeast.

Original Brew Day Post from 2/20/11

Reviews of MY brews

Hey readers. Following the lead of such exemplary beer bloggers as The Mad Fermentationist and Ryan Brews, I have decided to start publishing critical reviews of my own beers. I think that this will really help to make me a better brewer and bring my beer into the next level of excellence. I also think that, given my fall 2010 semester hobby of reviewing commercial beers on this blog, this is a perfect way to bring it all together. Like TMF and RB, I may review my beers a couple of times to give readers an idea of how the beers are progressing over time. So without further ado, I present to you my first review of Der Winterweizen, my weizenbock that is now two months in the making:
Appearance: beer pours a dark, chestnut brown with a finger of creamy off-white head that fades slowly into a smaller, but very lingering one; some nice lacing; a little bit of haze (though hardly noticeable the beer's so dark) because it's a wheat beer aww yeah

Aroma: mmm spiced dark fruit-dates, figs, raisins- is the first noticeable aspect; beautiful banana esters/alcohol coming through; a light caramel and cocoa smoothness; truly wonderful and interestingly close to a Belgian abbey ale such as a dubbel

Flavor: lovely sweetness and smooth caramel give way to a light banana flavor and lots of dark fruit esters with a very mild but present hop brightness and a dry, slightly bitter cocoa finish

Mouthfeel: very silky with fine-bubbled medium-high carbonation; relatively full-bodied which was exactly what I was looking for and is a miracle given that I was working with a totally new system

Overall: Waiting for this beer required some patience for sure, but boy was it worth it. I will absolutely brew this again in early fall to be enjoyed in late fall/early winter. Honestly, given the wonderful complexity of this beer, the turnaround time of two months isn't bad at all! Hard to say right now, but this might be my second favorite beer that I've ever made (first of course being the BowThai).

Original Winterweizen brew day post from 1/31/11

Jeff's Limerick Session Stout...

...is delicious. And I'm pretty sure I underestimated it when I first tasted it a week ago. Just look at how much I am enjoying it today:
It has now been in the bottle for two weeks and the whole thing has really come into its own.

Appearance: What can I say, it has been beautiful from the beginning, with a wonderfully opaque, ebony color (with that beautiful garnet red every time the light passes through a small amount of it!) and a cream-colored head. The head has developed with the carbonation, though. Where in the beginning there was barely any to speak of, a gentle pour now yields a finger of the off-white goodness with a bit of pretty lacing and a definite layer of foam that remains throughout my drinking a glass of it. Mmmm.

Aroma: Mmmm chocolate, coffee, and caramel. No complaints here.

Flavor: I had my first taste a week ago today, and for the first few days, I was detecting this bright, sort of fruity tang that I didn't like all that much and that wasn't exactly in tune with the style. In the last couple of days, however, that twanginess has all but disappeared from the brew, leaving it roasty, chocolatey, and wonderfully drinkable. Really nice coffee and cocoa tones with a nice clean finish.

Mouthfeel: This is another aspect of the beer that has changed for the better over the past week. Where my first impression of it was a little too light and watery, it now possesses more body and has a great sort of silky feel on the palate. I think the carbonation just needed to fully develop.

Overall: Holy smokes. The low ABV makes this an amazing session beer and super easy to drink anytime. Can't really say I'd change much about this recipe at all!

The moral of the story: I need to be just a little more patient! I've got some great brews on my hands!

Hit me up if you'd like to enjoy one sometime :)

Original brew day post from 2/13/11

Sláinte!
-Yer ruddy brewmakin' honorary Irishman

Another special edition: Flanders Red

After browsing through an amazing beer selection in Newton, MA, I brought to Nashville a couple of excellent Belgians. I chose two good sours and a six pack of a Great Divide Brewing Co (Colorado) Belgian Saison. Here is my review of one of the sours...I didn't have time to take a picture because the beer was too delicious, so I found a stock photo of it online. After this, I promise to go back to the regular order of the styles, as well as chronicling my new Nashville brewing adventures!


Beer: Duchesse de Bourgogne
Category: Sour Ale
Subcategory: Flanders Red (but close to a Flanders brown)

Presentation: 750 mL cork and cage bottle poured into tulip glass

Appearance: Beer pours a deep reddish-brown with a fluffy cream-colored head that starts off big and dissipates into a small film on the surface, with some of the most amazing lacing I've ever seen

Aroma: Sort of a sweet, musty cherry smell with a slight tart kick and a little funk, not as much as expected though

Flavor: Delicious. Tart cherries up front with some nice raisin/plum sweetness balancing the whole thing out. Some definite malty tones stand out in this one...edging on the side of an Oud Bruin (even though BA classifies it as a red). A tiny amount of hop bitterness graces the finish. Great to see how the flavor opens up as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and silky, with very balanced carbonation.

Drinkability: Amazingly drinkable, especially for a style that people seem to think is less accessible. I really enjoyed this a lot and could easily foresee drinking a whole bottle by myself. Great price, too! $10/bottle for something that is definitely as good as much more expensive ones.

The Russell House, Cambridge, MA

Last night, I was treated to dinner at The Russell House in Cambridge, MA. I knew going in that the restaurant had an excellent beer selection, so I was really excited to see what they had there. I was even more excited when Claire handed me a scrap of paper and a pen and said, "well don't you want to review them?" What a lovely lady :) Here's what I tried:


Beer: Brooklyn Pennant '55 Ale
Category: English Pale Ale
Subcategory: Extra Special/Premium Bitter, aka English Pale Ale

I should start out by saying that this beer was served on cask, which unlike keg and bottle beer is unfiltered (read: still some active yeast in there), unpasteurized, and served at cellar temperatures. What a treat, for few places in the US serve cask ale, and it is really a wonderful way to have fresh beer that is has a bit more character to it.

Appearance: Beer pours a pretty golden, light amber color with the smallest amount of haze and a nice smallish white head that leaves great lacing on the glass.

Aroma: Floral and earthy English hops, slight yeastiness and a little bit of grainy sweetness

Flavor: Mmm, nice English hops, biscuity cereal grains, and a bit of yeastiness with a slight residual sweetness. Very much like the aroma, but better!

Mouthfeel: Pleasant, light carbonation, medium-light bodied

Drinkability/overall: Wonderful, drinkable ale that is a total treat to have on cask. Balanced and flavorful, yet simple and perfect. I have no idea how to get my homebrew on cask, but I'm going to have to look into it. I know that some people have done it.

and up next...


Beer: Blue Hills Brewery Black Hops Ale
Category: Specialty Beer
Subcategory: Cascadian Dark Ale (Otherwise known as Black IPA)

This style is just what it sounds like. It is a higher gravity, dark ale with the hop content of an American IPA. This style is very much in vogue this year, and this was the first time I had ever actually tried the style.

Appearance: very dark brown, almost black but with some pretty reddish hues, head is cream colored and disappears very quickly

Aroma: toffee, coffee, a little roastiness and a hint of citrusy American hops

Flavor: lots of flavor, toffee and roasty espresso combine really interestingly with a decidedly citrusy hop flavor...great how this style of beer combines the dark toffee and coffee flavors with the very bright American hop flavor...very nice and balanced, quite enjoyable

Mouthfeel: medium body, relatively high carbonation (clearly IPA carbonation rather than porter carbonation...interesting choice for sure)

Drinkability: This beer is balanced and flavorful, but it doesn't overwhelm the palate too much. It is definitely an interesting style that I would be interested in brewing this year (especially since all the cool kids are doing it)

Special Finals Edition - Belgian Specialty Ale

Beer: Les Deux Brasseurs (A Collaboration between Allagash Brewery of Maine and De Proefbrouwerij of Belgium)
Category: Belgian and French Ale
Subcategory: Belgian Specialty Ale

I bought this bottle from the same fellow that sold me the bottle of Pliny, and thus I've been saving it for today when I finally finished my final exams. This is a strong Belgian pale ale fermented with two separate strains of Brettanomyces (wild yeast), one from each of the collaborating breweries. Pretty cool, huh? This should give the beer a more sour (but intentionally sour) flavor and some sublimely funky aromas and flavors in the mix. Let's see what we find!

Appearance: Gorgeous darker golden color, with more brown to it than red, so not really amber-colored. Wonderful clarity and a really nice white head that leaves great lacing.

Aroma: Sour apples and cherries with a slight vinous quality. Definite detectable yeasty character. Wild yeasts lend it that signature "horse blanket" quality for it. This is definitely some wonderfully funky stuff.

Flavor: Really nice oaky flavor up front, with almost a smoky and spicy quality to it. The brett yeasts add some really great funk to the flavor. There are lots of fruity tones...I detect apple, quince, and lemon. There is more hop bitterness than expected and a little bit of alcohol on the back of the tongue. The finish is also marvelously complex; very earthy yet surprisingly clean.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth, with medium-low carbonation and fine bubbles. Really enjoyable medium-bodied mouthfeel.

Overall: Man, this is a really interesting beer. I am still a rookie when it comes to wild beers, but this stuff is very complex yet very drinkable. It holds a lot of interest to the palate, especially offering up features that you might not get in other beers. I can't wait to try some more sour ales, because this has been an excellent experience.

Prost!
Der Braumeister

Category 14: India Pale Ale

Beer: Pliny the Elder (OMG!!!!!)
Category: India Pale Ale
Subcategory: Imperial/Double IPA

IPA is a very hoppy, high bitterness, high hop flavor, high hop aroma ale with a strong malt backbone to balance out all of that hoppiness. This style originated when English troops were stationed in India, and they wanted to have an ale that wouldn't spoil so easily. Hops act as a natural preservative in beer, thus a hoppier style of beer was born.

Imperial IPA is a bigger still version of IPA, bigger in pretty much every way, including ABV. Pliny the Elder is pretty much the definitive version of this beer, and is, according to beeradvocate.com, one of the best beers on the planet. This beer is brewed in California and is very sought after and rather difficult to find. I acquired a bottle by *somewhat* questionable means and had been looking forward to drinking it quite a bit. I celebrated my finishing of grad school applications by drinking this beautiful beer.

Appearance: a lightish, pretty golden color with a small but persistent head and EPIC lacing. EPIC.

Aroma: holy moley. I could just stop right here. Complex hop aromas with gorgeous American citrus and floral notes with a very prominent tropical fruit character, particularly pineapple-like in nature. what a treat to even just smell this beer.

Flavor: just like the aroma, with American citrus and pineapple flavors jumping out with amazing complexity, and huge hop bitterness that is beautifully balanced out by the malts in this high gravity beer. for a beer that is so big in flavor, it is amazingly balanced, and incredibly complex. I am officially blown away.

Mouthfeel: really not much like anything I've experienced before. Medium body and medium-high carbonation, but it seems that it is either the high gravity, the copious amount of (dry) hops, or some combination of the two, that gives the beer somewhat of an oily feel to it. Once again, I am pretty wowed.

Overall/Drinkability: not much that I can say that hasn't already been said. This is a truly amazing, world class beer and I am a huge fan. I can only say that I wish it was more easily available away from the west coast...and this beer definitely is PURE west coast stuff. The tropical fruit/pineapple flavor and aroma are what really blew me away here. Not like anything I've ever really tasted before. Can't wait for the day that I can have one again. I'll be sure to share it with my dad, Jeff Cutts, Sr. who is a huge fan of IPAs and other hoppy beers!

Good news about this one is that the brewmaster of the Russian River Brewing Company who brews this beer has actually published a homebrew-friendly recipe for a clone of the beer. I will definitely have to partake of that very soon (12 ounces of hops in five gallons!!!).

Category 13: Stout

Beer: St. Peter's Cream Stout
Category: Stout
Subcategory: Sweet/Milk/Cream Stout

Thanks to Arthur Guinness and sons, we all know about stout. However, people always seem to think that stout is an overbearing "heavy" beer. Folks, stout can actually be lower in OG (original specific gravity) than your basic American light lager! It is flavorful and delicious, and the weather now is such that it is perfectly in season. Sweet, cream, or milk stout is a specialty kind of stout, made with a lower bitterness and lactose (milk sugar) added to the beer. Milk sugar is unfermentable with brewers yeast, and thus it leaves a nice lingering residual sweetness in the beer. This can be a nice beer to sip for dessert. Pick it up if you find one, as it is a lesser made type of stout.

Appearance: wow, this stuff is dark! As far as I can see, it is pretty much opaque with a small, tan, very creamy head. PS interesting antique green bottle on this guy...didn't seem to light-damage the flavor/aroma, which is a good sign

Aroma: chocolate, a little hint of coffee, and an earthy hint of molasses, somewhat buttery in nature

Flavor: very nice chocolate character up front with lower amounts of bitterness. some definite sweetness and creaminess...some buttery diacetyl hangs out in there, too. finish is like a nice cup of sweet coffee...mmmm

Mouthfeel: fine bubbles and very creamy, this is a wonderful attribute of this beer

Overall: a very nice beer, and a great example of the style. would be a perfect after-dinner/dessert beer, wonderful to be enjoyed with chocolate chip cookies (who needs milk?), truffles, or a piece of chocolate cake.

Makes me excited for the Hot Chocolate Stout, which I will be tasting in t-minus two weeks!

Category 12: Porter

Beer: Samuel Smith Taddy Porter
Category: Porter
Subcategory: Brown Porter

For those who don't know, there is one very distinct difference between porter and stout. Stout gets its color and flavor from an addition of roasted unmalted barley in the mash (with other dark malts often also contributing to this as well), while porter gets its color (and flavor) just from dark malts, such as chocolate malt, brown malt, or black patent malt. Brown porter is the most traditional example of the style.

Appearance: very dark brown, almost black, with a gorgeous khaki colored tan head with very nice lacing

Aroma: Beautiful. English toffee, dark chocolate/cocoa notes, and very good coffee with a little bit of sweetness.

Flavor: very much like the aroma, but better still...sweet caramel malt taste, and a little bit of bitterness coming both from the hops and the dark malts in the grist--gives the beer a nice hint of coffee/espresso flavor. combination of hops, yeast, and dark malts give the beer a nice little twang at the end

Mouthfeel: smooth, creamy, and wonderful, with a still present carbonation that compliments the flavor character very nicely

Overall/Drinkability: What a treat this was! Samuel Smith makes a lot of delicious beers, but I would have to put this one up front. This has to be one of my favorite porters that I have ever tasted. It's like a good cup of coffee, except with more complexity. Pretty much no flaws...wish I had more of it!

Category 11: English Brown Ale

Beer: Newcastle Brown Ale
Category: English Brown Ale
Subcategory: Northern English Brown

Ah, English brown ales. Tasty, low gravity, malty creatures that make for wonderful session beers and still never sacrifice flavor. They tend to be great for both cooking and pairing with food. When I found a mini keg of this in my local Publix in Naples, FL, I had to pick it up. Never did care for Newcastle in the clear bottles (skunkaroni!).

Appearance: Pretty, dark reddish-brown color. Nice cream colored head with decent lacing.

Aroma: Sweet caramel with some nuttiness and a dash of alcohol

Taste: A small amount of caramel sweetness develops into a nutty, slightly toasty, vaguely chocolatey flavor. Some bready maltiness and small kick of hop bitterness. Glad that the skunkiness is lost with the on-tap version, because the clear bottles pretty much ruin the whole beer otherwise. So much more pleasant this way. Great beer to drink with dinner!

Mouthfeel: Pretty smooth, fine bubbles, medium body and medium-high carbonation.

Drinkability: Well, out of the mini keg, this guy is pretty damn drinkable. It's tasty and goes down easy. Not bad at all. I kind of prefer some of the better nut browns like Samuel Smith, but on tap, Newcastle is alright by me. I definitely think that the two milds I brewed this summer were better, but English brown ale is a great style of beer, and very versatile.

Sidenote: I made some EPIC fish tacos using some Newcastle in my beer batter. I highly recommend it.

Category 10: American Ales

Got to have this one on the beach!

Beer: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Category: American Ale
Subcategory: American Pale Ale

For a category that originally started out as American versions of English Ales, the American ales of today really have found their own identity. Using very flavorful, citrusy American hops (particularly the ever-popular Cascade variety), these ales all tend to showcase delicious, refreshing hop flavor, and the subcategory is dictated by the varying types of malt backbone that these have. I decided to go totally definitive with this one, reviewing the classic example of the American pale ale, which is interestingly enough one that I had tasted but had never really drank critically before writing this review. Ladies and gentlemen, the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Appearance: a pretty, light golden amber, small white head with very nice lacing (even on my cheap plastic glass!)

Aroma: a bouquet of citrus. fresh American hops, a little earthy malt sweetness, and a little tang (perhaps from the hops themselves)

Flavor: Mmm mmm. Citrusy, fruity hops up front with a surprisingly nice malt background and a mall bit of complimentary sweetness. Moderate hop bitterness makes this a very balanced beer (this style can often be very unbalanced towards the hoppy side of things).

Mouthfeel: very smooth, medium body, and medium-high carbonation. not overcarbonated like other examples of this style can often be.

Overall: great example of the style, especially because it is not overdone on the hops. Honestly, I feel that this is what brewers should strive for when they brew American pale ales, because it is easy for this style to be too bitter with not enough malt support. Sierra Nevada did well with this one.

Category 9: Irish and Scottish Ale

Beer: Smithwick's Irish Ale
Category: Scottish and Irish Ale
Subcategory: Irish Red Ale

Scottish and Irish ales are characterized by a very solid malt character, moderate hop bitterness, and a distinctive baked cookie flavor exuding from the crystal malt-rich malt profile. They are very enjoyable, balanced ales when done well, so today I did a review of Smithwick's (pronounced smithix) Irish red ale.


Appearance: a deep reddish-brown with a healthy, creamy, off-white head that fades away at a moderate pace and leaves some nice lacing on the sides, dark but still quite clear

Aroma: definitely earthy, definitely somewhat caramel sweet, with subtle but detectable tones of scones or cookies

Flavor: very balanced, and very much like the aroma with a sweet, bready maltiness reminiscent of baked scones or cookies, but with a nice taste of earthy hop bitterness on the end. no hop flavor

Mouthfeel: wonderfully pleasant--deliciously smooth with medium-low carbonation and a medium body that complements the flavors perfectly...this is perhaps the best feature of the beer

Overall/Drinkability: incredibly drinkable ale because of the balanced flavor and the excellent mouthfeel. not earth-shatteringly exciting, but definitely enjoyable and a great session beer. I enjoy this quite a bit, but as I look back over all of my reviews of beers with comparable profiles, I would be likely to reach for an Oktoberfest or Schwarzbier first, which is funny because I consider myself more of an ale drinker, and those are of course lagers. That being said, I would definitely want to consider brewing this style because of its malt interest and excellent sessionability. I would strive to get a mouthfeel similar to that of Smithwicks, too!

Category 8: English Pale Ale

Beer: Tetley's English Ale
Category: English Pale Ale
Subcategory: Ordinary Bitter

I love a good English pale ale. The first beer that I ever brewed was a special bitter, so I am certainly a fan of the style. Ordinary Bitter (as opposed to special) implies that the beer is lower in gravity, therefore lower in alcohol.

Appearance: Beautiful amber color with a pretty, creamy white nitro head. Brilliant clarity. Definitely a pretty beer.

Aroma: Nice malt profile with some fresh, clean graininess and minor sweetness. Small amount of grassy, earthy hops in the background.

Flavor: Nice flavor exuding from the crystal malt-rich profile, with some definite caramel and cereal grain character. Definitely a buttery diacetyl flavor. A small amount of English hop flavor floats in, but there is a nice pronounced hop bitterness on the back of my tongue. Really nice taste overall.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth nitro feel. Medium body, very pleasant. I appreciate a good nitro English bitter, especially when all one usually sees in the US is nitro stout.

Overall: Great beer. Totally drinkable, but still plenty of complexity in this guy. I always find myself wishing that this were the style of beer that one could find on tap in every American bar, instead of Bud Light. At 3.6% ABV, this is a wonderful session beer that I could just drink all night. Definitely a style that I want to try my hand at brewing once I start up again.

Category 7: Amber Hybrid Beers

Beer: Anchor Steam Beer
Category: Amber Hybrid Beers
Subcategory: California Common

Love me some amber hybrids. Funny how certain styles can be born out of necessity. California Common, or steam beer as it is most commonly (lol) known, is fermented with lager yeasts on the lower range of ale temperatures, reaching back to the days when refrigeration was hard to come by. Anchor Steam Beer is the classic example of this style, and they only remaining brand of the original California Common beers, thus making it the golden standard for this subcategory. I've already had it, but I love it and I've never reviewed it, plus you can find it at most any decent beer store. Flying Dog Old Scratch is another great, more recent example of this subcategory.

Appearance: Pours a beautiful amber color with nice clarity and beautiful, visible bubbles sparkling through. Small but persistent white head. Some lacing. Overall very pretty. Not all that different from a nice IPA.

Aroma: Sweetness in the aroma, with the fruitiness of raisins up front. A little bit tropical pineapple as well. Very west coast. A little grassiness from the hops but overall lots of malt character.

Flavor: A nice toasty malt background with some cereal graininess and a little hint of sweetness. Definite detectable Germanic lager character with some sulfites present. Great west coast hop flavor, nice and floral but also a bit spicy and citrusy...definitely Northern Brewer hops. This beer is at once totally California and totally Germany, if that makes any sense. Completely balanced and totally satisfying.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, medium-high carbonation. Crisp like an IPA but with a lager finish.

Overall: Drinking this beer is always a pleasure. It is very balanced and very drinkable, with enough complexity to stand out over other "drinkable" beers. The fact that it is a lager but is fermented at ale temps and aged/conditioned in interesting ways definitely adds to the complexity. This is one of the few American styles of beer that doesn't just shove a mouthful of hops down your throat. That can be enjoyable, and there is a time and a place for it, but Anchor Steam is a very balanced beer that could stand up to any type of food and be enjoyed any time of year. Definitely just a great session beer.

Personal: I will always remember this beer for being one of the first beers that I thought of as my favorite. A little while after turning 21, I had this guy on tap (it is especially good on tap) at the Flying Saucer in Nashville, and I loved it. Though I have moved on and just love adventuring through all sorts of beers, I do love coming back to this one. It never fails me.