beernesday

not that i'm behind on my notes or anything... here's the past two week's worth of beernesday tastings at st. augustine's september 21, 2011 taster #1 elysian night owl pumpkin ale - 5.9%  brewed with 7 1/2 pounds of pumpkin per barrel and spiked in conditioning with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice rogue ales chatoe good chit pilsner - 5%  made with rogue farm barley that is floor-malted in small batches crannog bogtrotter brown ale - 4.8%  a nutty, sweet brown ale with a touch of toffee in the flavour red truck ipa - wasn't on the menu i found the bogtrotter to be a "nice little brown - easy drinking" the night owl was pumpkin pieish, not overly spiced... "pretty good, but i don't think i'm ready for fall beers" the pilsner was practically an ipa, so of course i loved it! the red truck ipa was "quite nice" taster #2 russell cranberry wheat ale - 4.7%  we take an already damn fine wheat ale and ad...

i hit up a birthday celebration at st. augustine's on wednesday evening and got to try the red truck limited release ipa! ( as featured in scout magazine ) when i first got to st. a's the staff were not aware of the ipa being on the premises after i told them it had been tweeted about they searched around and asked enough boss-type people until the keg was unearthed and hooked up yay! during that time i consoled myself with a deschutes inversion defintely my go-to ipa and a staunch member of my revolving evolving top ten beers list i am very happy that the red truck ipa was found! the juxtaposition of malts and hops, sweetness and bitterness was like a perfect tango on my tongue i really hope there is some left in the keg on sunday when i next get to stop by st. a's couldn't remember if i'd had the lagunita's lucky 13 before so i ordered me one "plenty of light roasted malt to keep it rich and mega-dosed with loads of hoppy - sweet and sp...

wow, this is my 900th post i sure am chatty! only two days away from international ipa day please, if you're in vancouver come join in on the pub crawl!!! 4 - 5:45 at yaletown brewpub (with a cask of iain's ipa dry-hopped with simcoe) 6 - 6:45 at railway club (with ipa on special) 7 - 7:45 at malones (with ipa specials and an appetizer for the group) 8 - 8:45 at steamworks 9 onwards at rogue wetbar (with ipa specials on crannog insurrection, moylan’s ipa, central city ipa and driftwood fat tug) no tickets no muss, no fuss just show up at the venue(s) at the appointed time and join in on the ipa adoration hop aboard, they're expecting us! let's make this an event to remember

happy beernesday! happy game one of the finals! looks like moylan's celebrates beernesday too... i love it!

glutton for hop punishment that i am not only did i attend hoppapalooza yesterday, i'm going back to the alibi for more today! what a good deal that was $49 for all the beer i could swill plus delicious chili for dinner (there were several chili choices, including the veggie one i had) and the program!  what a great idea, and a fun read not just a list of the beers available, its a novel about the craft beer movement in vancouver chock full of inside jokes and original artwork for the cover definitely one for the archives of the 40 some odd kegs and 5 casks i got almost half way through trying them yesterday (i do not hold out hope that i will finish the list tonight though - i shoulda gone with half pours yesterday) my original plan was to start at the top of the list and work my way as far down as i could but people kept suggesting beers i couldn't miss, so i took their suggestions and between those went back to following the list 1.   gary's impe...

for the april/may deschutes newsletter, click here especially exciting for me is the return of hop in the dark! HOP IN THE DARK Available late May-September Are you afraid of the dark? It appears not. In 2010, Draft Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine called Hop in the Dark one of the top 25 beers of the year! This ominous looking liquid combines Northwest hops with roasted malts to create a black tinted India Pale Ale type beer. Its aromas come from Cascade, Amarillo, Citra, and Centennial hops that float over a gentle undercurrent of velvet malt complexities. Take the plunge - a hop, if you will - into this delectable Dark Cascadian Ale. Available in 22 oz bottles or on draft wherever Deschutes beer is sold. 6.5% Alc. by Vol. / 75 IBUs for the moylan's newsletter, click here for the rogue phillips pairing dinner, click here for the huffington post article about flying dog's raging bitch ipa, click here

from beernesdays all the way back in january when i was on the wagon quotes and bons mots from those who were imbibing: amanda: on the rogue mogul madness:  i taste the hops and only the hops, maybe in another year [i will appreciate it] on the lost coast raspberry brown ale:  of course i love it - very berry raspberry, not so chocolate on lagunitas brown shugga:  uggh on storm highland cream ale:  love, love, love, so creamy, so nutty, not so dark but yum and caramel finish on hopworks 7 grain stout:  strong, hello america! yum, espresso taste that is so good!  can taste the 7 grains, not sure what they are, but good!  like having a shot of espresso with a shot of alcohol on moylans' irish stout:  low hops, defs malty, roasty & rich 4 sure, not chocolately or coffee flav like most.  delish bridget: on the crannog backhand of god:  makes the day bearable gwen: on russell's black death porter:  mediocre, wouldn't...

okay, so i'm just gonna admit it right from the top of the post i got pretty darned drunk at beernesday this past week not that i don't usually get somewhat drunk, but this was a bit beyond the norm people were doing beer shots from the divet of my clavicle... it was one of those kinda nights so, my tasting notes are even worse than usual but let me give you what little i can! began and ended with a pint of the rogue dry hopped st. rogue red:  5.2% named the world's best pale ale at the world beer awards.  reddish copper in colour, a roasty malty flavor, with a hoppy-spruce finish. i love this beer! it makes me happy - must be all them hops i can see why its the world's best ale its a maltier darker ipa... divine, simply divine my sampler was supposed to be an ode to hops in various styles but it ended up being rather disappointing... paddock wood 606 pale ale:  5.4%  featuring a blend of cascade, amarillo and willamette hops on top of a solid malt ...

next up is moylan 's hopsickle imperial ale its triple hopped! so i'm very much looking forward to some incredible hoppy goodness! not an ipa, it is quite balanced between the intense hops and its malts quite the big head on a vigourous pour hoppy nose dark caramel colour 9.2% (yay!) the bottle and the website say: "This is a "Hop" tribute, worthy of a King's Imperial Court! Enjoy the blast of fresh Tomahawk, Cascade and Centennial Hops as they stimulate the taste buds in a truly imperial fashion. Pucker Up!" "“Prohibition in this country ended our brewing tradition,” Moylan explained. “Budweiser and a few others moved in fast and captured many of the larger markets. Now we’re entering into a new phase of beer brewing. I think you’ll see it continue to grow.” In fact the craft brewing market share grew by 7% in 2004."

i love my busy life! it does make it hard to make longer posts in a timely fashion though! craft beer tasting at firefly on july 20th was amazing! and not just because they let us sample the tactical nuclear penguin! (omg - i got to try the tnp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) we began the evening again with a kokanee - just to make sure that everyone knew the difference between the craft brews (aka good beer) and the mass market offerings (aka piss). so almost first up was r&b's red devil pale ale. english style pale ale - not a red or amber ale despite its red colour "hoppy floral aroma and malty sweetness, which are followed by a slightly dry and very refreshing finish." i especially love this one for its colour - beautifully coppery and clear; good head and carbonation; fabulous hop and malt balance, but maltier than other pale ales:  totally tasty stuff! and what a great label! moving along, next we sampled the wells bombardier ale an english style ale.  ...

here for your reading pleasure is my real time reviews of Swans Extra IPA and Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial Ale. didn't have a great day today, so its a two beer review this time folks!  and two heavy hitters!  the extra ipa is 6.8% and the moylan's is 9.2%.  forget what ails you! swans was incredibly carbonated and heady.  unfiltered, so kinda cloudy.  had kind of a belgian lager taste to it to me... you know, on the sour yeasty side...  definitely not my favourite flavour... so not my new favourite ipa.  would i drink it again if you bought it for me?  for sure.  would i drink it instead of coors light - doubly for sure.  will i buy another big bottle for myself?  doubtful. i find the hopsickle a little on the malty side... drinkable for sure, but one the malty side for me.  good head, some lace remaining... live yeast, so its a bit sedimenty and cloudy.  the alcohol is nicely tempered though, it just feels a little...

i love a double ipa.  no, i really love a double ipa, like a lot. tonight's tipple is Moylan's Moylander double ipa.  a delightfully potent brew out of california. its a live ale, which to me meant that it pulled an iceland volcanic action when i popped the top (i am sheepishly proud to report that i chipped my tooth on the bottle trying to save every drop of this delicious nectar). it stayed hazy in the glass during the entire tasting of almost all 650 mLs, but also remaining to the bitter hoppy end was the head.  ah, live yeast! the bottle says:  "If One is Good, Then Two is Better!  Our Moylander Double IPA is fat and resiny, with aggressive and excessive hops swinging on an enormous malt backbone like naughty monkeys on a vine.  Double malt, double hops - do the math, its academic.  This brew has twice the things you're looking for, and its big enough to share with the one you love.  And isn't that what it's all about?" fat, and phat ...