A Flowery Song

Background: Hey, it’s got pomegranate in it. From everyone’s favourite kosher brewery, this beer was launched back in 2007 to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

Nose: Caramel and a bit of musky fruit.

Taste: I blush to admit that I don’t know what pomegranate tastes like. Still, there’s some juicy and tart red fruit flavour here, with a solid backbone of toasty malt and caramel. Good balance of sweet, sour, and bitter and a satisfyingly chewy mouthfeel.

Overall: I’m very happy right now. Now go away so I can stay happy. Mmm, good beer.

Background: Yes, I’m a sucker for collaborative beers (among many other things). This was brewed at SN’s facility using their own barley and maple syrup from the Calagione family farm. Clocking in at 10% ABV, it was fermented using a mix of the house strains from the two breweries, and bottle-conditioned (with Alaskan birch syrup used for priming). There was also a companion beer called Limb and Life made from the second runnings, but that was a very limited release and draft-only.

Nose: Boozy. Darkly fruity. Not much else, to be honest.

Taste: Hot alcohol. Mildly sweet, with some dark toasted character. Medium hop bitterness. Chewy maple toffee.

Overall: Disappointing. I was hoping for a bit more complexity, but whatever was there was buried under an overwhelming alcohol presence. The combination of the heavy alcohol and the unsubtle hops also makes the bitterness a bit too prominent in comparison with the other components.

Background: Brewed to celebrate Sierra Nevada’s 29th anniversary, this is a big bold IPA showcasing Cascade, their favourite hop variety.

Nose: Toasty malt and citrusy hops, mainly clementine with a bit of grapefruit.

Taste: Solid, tasty caramel malt, with toast and honey character. Medium hop bitterness, but mainly the Cascades contribute a bunch of citrus flavour, with a bit of herbalness. Slight sweetness to start, then a long hoppy finish.

Overall: Sierra Nevada knows what they’re doing when it comes to IPAs, and this one does not disappoint.

Background: This seasonal ale from Sierra Nevada is an American IPA made with Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial hops.

Nose: Lots of floral and citrusy hops.

Taste: Sweet caramel malt, aggressive fruity hoppiness fading into a grapefruit pith finish.

Overall: Excellent. Well-balanced and exceedingly drinkable.

Background: Probably contract brewed by Gordon Biersch, this Trader Joe’s exclusive is brewed with imported malt and Hallertau hops.

Nose: Subdued grain, sweet golden syrup, and not much else.

Taste: Slight hints of spicy noble hops. Alcohol is on the evident side, with a hearty body. Pale malt with a bit of biscuit character.

Overall: Meh. Slightly candyish, and in all the flavour fails to impress.

Background: This hefty beer comes to us from North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg, California and weighs in at 9% ABV. Rasputin is a historical Russian figure who today is remembered mainly for the legend surrounding his death: that he was poisoned, shot, beaten, and then thrown into an ice-covered river where he finally died.

Nose: Chocolate, and lots of it. Other than that, there’s coffee, molasses, figs, some mild leafy hop aroma and a bit of solventy alcohol.

Taste: Bitter roastiness and chocolatey sweetness, with medium hop bitterness, some earthy hop flavour, and a light fruity edge. Finish is long and not the most pleasant, with an acrid bitterness that I attribute to a heavy hand with the black patent malt.

Overall: This is a style of beer you normally want to savour, but this one doesn’t easily lend itself to that. However, if you drink more quickly and don’t let the finish shove itself forward this is a very nice beer.

Background: No age statement brandy from Korbel in California, aged in American oak barrels that previously held Jack Daniels.

Nose: Very sharp. A bit of vanilla.

Taste: Vanilla, caramel, and a bit of smoke.

Overall: Unobjectionable, but nothing to recommend itself other than price.

Background: Collaborative brew between everyone’s favourite Michigan brewery, everyone’s second-favourite Norwegian brewery, and Stone. Brewed on Stone’s equipment, but the recipe was worked out via emails between the three head brewers and they all helped with the brewing. The recipe incorporates juniper berries from Italy (standing in for Norway, since they were unable to source any from there), white sage from California, and chestnuts from Michigan. In addition to the other spices, caraway seed was added as a complement to the 25% rye in the malt bill.

Nose: Green, herbal hops, followed by a touch of sage.

Taste: Lots going on. Very clear sage note, with spicy rye and juniper also quite evident. Caraway and a medium hop bitterness come through in the finish. Indistinct hop flavour; if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say an English hop variety. The 9% ABV starts to become evident after a few sips.

Overall: Very unique. Definitely not a session beer, but for an occasional taste sensation it’s quite nice. (Especially since I love sage.)

The Mission: [C]omparing how more northerly and more southerly vineyards produce different results with the same grapes.

Being from Michigan, the natural choice for North was to go with a local wine, so I rummaged around and found a bottle from St. Julian. St. Julian is Michigan’s oldest winery, and is also the largest. They source grapes from a large number of growers, all of which are located within 50 miles of the winery.

For South, I turned to the sunny climes of California. Honig is located in Napa Valley (Rutherford, to be precise) and has a terrible Flash-infested front page that refuses to work on my computer.
(continue reading…)

Background: Weighing in at 12% ABV, this is mead at its simplest: no fruit, no sweetness, no nonsense.

Nose: Gentle, fruity honey.

Taste: Much like the nose. Slight bready notes from the yeast. A hint of alcoholic heat.

Overall: Nothing stunning, but decent (and dry, which all too few commercial meads are).