Spring has sprung!

The forecast is out and there's not a drop of rain in sight. And what goes well with warm spring days? Why pale ales do of course!

This week I picked up a six pack of Kona Brewing Company's Fire Rock Pale Ale to celebrate the warm weather. 

Now normally I would wax on lyrically about light refreshing beverage but...

Summer of beer

Some people like Hefeweisen, some prefer an ice cold pilsner. For me, nothing says summer better than a delicious Pale Ale.

I recently cracked two new Pale Ales, and as I expected I would, enjoyed both thoroughly!

After a succession of cheep, crappy beers...

I enjoyed a couple of terrific English Ales last night!
The first was an organic pale ale by Witchwood Brewery-

-and a strong ale called Old Thumper (I use that term lightly because for a West Coast Imperial Hop-Head like myself, a 5.6 is hardly a 'strong' ale).

Deschutes Cascade Ale

This weekend I tried Deschutes Cascade Ale. The lable says it's: "Clean and crisp, with an herbal hop character and a smooth malt profile. A light-hearted citrus finish makes this the perfect thirst quencher." Unfortunately 'thirst quencher' is the part of this description that I'd agree with most...

Colorado may not exist...

I say that Colorado may not exist because for me, the state of Colorado frequently sounds too good to be true. Fresh air, beautiful mountain ranges, a healthy, friendly populace and dozens of great beer producers... I don't know about you but it all sounds a bit like a fairytale to me. And since I've never actually been there to see it with my own eyes, it's days like today, (as I sip back a few of the states wonderful beers) that I begin to consider whimsically that it may not really exist after all. Perhaps, I think as I day dream, it's really just a clever marketing strategy used to sell craft beer to the masses. As I mull this though over in my mind I lift a too-light pint glass to my lips and raise the bottom higher and higher until I'm snapped out of my day dream by the realization that my pint glass is empty (and quite possible has been for a while) and I am in need of a refill. Determined to get to the bottom of this Colorado mystery I head back to the refrigerator, fetch another cold rocky mountain brew, and return to my desk with a full glass, and a revived determination to get back to the project at hand.

The project at hand, so to speak, was a Tour d'Odell, a parallel tasting of four of Fort Collins based Odell Brewing Company's beers. The beers I tried were: 5 Barrel Pale Ale, Easy Street Wheat, 90 Shilling, and their IPA. Here are my notes, enjoy.
First stop the 5 Barrel Pale Ale. The beer pours a neon-mandarin. The flavors were light and delicious. It's an excellent example of what a pale ale should be. Light but flavorful, effervescent but not overly-carbonated, flavorful but not high in alcohol. There was a subtle but sound hops-presence, and a touch of Orange Peal on the finish.

Second stop, Easy Street Wheat Beer. This cloudy unfiltered yellow-orange beer had all the typical characteristics that a wheat beer should have. It was light, crisp and refreshing, and had a beautiful thick white foam and a long citrusy finish. In generally I try to avoid wheat beers (and pilsners) in the winter but this was one I could make an exception for (What really made this beer special was the finish... it was very long and had hints of spruce and pine-excellent).

The third beer up to the plate was Odells' 90 Shilling. This Scottish style ale was much hoppier, and richer than the pale ale. It was also more creamy, darker and higher in alcohol. My favorite part though wasn't the flavor but that it left little foam rings on the side of the glass marking each gulp as I drank.

I saved the best for last. One whiff of Odell's IPA and my knees went to rubber (actually that may have been the alcohol as this was to be my 4th beer of the hour (what, I working hard!)). The beer was hoppie and pleasantly bitter. It was robust and round, and it was very well balanced. Not a lot to say here (definitely nothing bad to say).

So there it is, my take on four beers from Odell Brewing Company, one of the many fine breweries from my 'el dorado' state. For more photos, check out the beer photos page.

-Prost!
D.Lux

BREW REVIEW - Shipyard Ale

In case you didn't already know, this past weekend Maine celebrated it's annual Brewers Festival! As I currently live in Tempe, AZ (approximately 27 hundred miles away) I was unable to attend :(

Eager to raise a glass in honor of my home state I decided to scrounged through some of the least traveled corners of Total Wines & More until I found a familiar label. I was quite excited when I found exactly what I was looking for. The bottle I proudly carried it to the front of the store was none other than Shipyard Ale, a household name back home-but in Arizona-quite a treat!

Now Maine may not be the first state you think of when you consider great craft beer states, but what you should know, is that while places like Colorado, California, and Oregon have been enjoying craft-beer's center stage for decades, Maine has been slowly and surely been gaining momentum (and respect), as a true craft beer state. Blogger's like Luke Livingston have even gone so far as to create entire beer sites based on the platform that Maine (in Luke's case, Portland specifically) is truly among America's greatest producers.

So enough about Maine, lets get to the fun part, the BREW REVIEW!

When I tasted the Shipyard Ale today the first thing I though was 'this beer tastes nothing like I remember'. The second thing I though was 'come to think of it, it's been 5 years since I've last had Shipyard, and I can't remember at all what it tasted like!'

After clearing my head of any preconceptions, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and enjoyed a generous second sip...

The color was a pleasant golden amber and average carbonation. The beer was bone dry, devoid of any hop flavor, and extremely light on the tongue. Maybe the most interesting thing I noticed about the brew was that it had a remarkably high acidity. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a citric acid, but there was clearly a sharp, clean zing to it. The acidity, I think, would make this beer an excellent pair for food that was light, buttery, and delicious (something maybe like fresh Maine lobster tail dipped in a butter sauce?)

As a true Mainer, I refuse to order lobster in Arizona, but you can be damn sure that next time I'm in Bangor, I'll give this pairing a through testing!

By the numbers, I give it an average score of 5/10 [Flavor 5/10, Balance 6/10, Complexity 4/10].

15/30

-Prost!
D.Lux