Caldera Brewing Company Hop Hash

Having grown up on the East Coast, my main exposure to West Coast IPAs is either through larger companies in my beer store (Stone, Sierra Nevada) or legend (Russian River).

I know when I hear “West Coast IPA,” I’m thinking some insanely hop-forward, piney, citrusy brew. Leave it to the folks at Caldera Brewing Company to alter my expectations a bit with their Hop Hash beer, which has an 83 on Beer Advocate.

Technically, Caldera classifies this as a “strong pale ale,” but to me that just means IPA. This brew is unique because it takes pure hop lupulin extracted and scraped from the pelletizing line that takes hop cones and turns them into cylindrical pellets. That is, they get their hops for this beer by scraping the leftover bits of resin.

Sounds … interesting.

The smell of Hop Hash was inviting enough, with scents of honey and orange coming through early and often. There’s no mistaking the novel use of hops (Simcoe and Centennial) gives this beer intense citrus dankness, although it becomes a little vegetative after a few whiffs. The use of Munich malt gives this beer a solid, baked bread backbone that I found hints of at the end of each smell.

It’s the taste that ruined this beer for me. It may be because the way Caldera utilizes its hops for this beer, but the bitterness was just too intense. Each sip gave piney impressions of a Oregon forest on my tongue, but with some heavy carbonation, flavors were wiped away in lieu of lingering bitterness. While the aroma of the hops fit their typical West Coast profile of citrus, there’s nothing really nothing going on with the flavor. It’s all muddled and nothing is distinguishable.

To make it worse, the aftertaste of Hop Hash was decidedly medicinal. If you like sucking on aspirin pills, this beer is for you!

I don’t, so this will be the first and last time I’ll probably have this beer.

Hop Hash stats:

• Malt: 2-Row, Munich and oats
• Hops: Simcoe and Centennial
• Additives/Adjuncts: N/A
• ABV: 6 percent
• Brewery: Caldera Brewing of Ashland, Oregon

+Bryan Roth
“Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.” — Jack Kerouac

16 Mile Brewing Old Court Ale

With so many great American craft beer options, sometimes it’s easy to forget where many of our styles come from. Especially in the case of our super hopped-up American pale ales and India pale ales.

Every now and then, it’s good to be reminded where we come from. 16 Mile’s Old Court Ale, while described as an “American ale,” drinks more like a malt-forward English pale ale with an American ABV influence – it registers at 6.1 percent. It’s also got an 81 on Beer Advocate.

Weakened, spent hops and buttered biscuits lead the charge on your senses with this one. The caramel and grainy aromas of malts like Biscuit, Munich or Vienna linger, combining to enhance a bread-like flavor. Concentrating hard enough, my nose wanted to tell me somehow there were touches of strawberries and bananas hiding behind it all.

The taste of Old Court Ale is very clean and balanced, but with noticeable biscuit and malt aftertaste. Holding a swig on my tongue the flavor nearly turns into caramel candy. A good match for the amber color of this brew.

Old Court Ale stats:
ABV: 6.1 percent
Brewery: 16 Mile Brewing of Georgetown, Delaware

+Bryan Roth

Maine Beer Company Peeper Ale

The best way to ‘peep’ is with beer goggles.

Quick science lesson: There is a biological connection between marijuana and the hops that go in our beer. Both are members of the Cannabaceae family and share similar a cellular structure that shows up in their aroma, typically while still hanging from their vines/plant.

I’ve found that the fresher your cone hops are, the closer your nose is able to determine that similarity. Not that I’m growing or hanging out around anything illegal, mind you. Science!

This is all important because it was the first and lasting impression I got when I had my first-ever bottle of Maine Beer Company’s Peeper Ale. It’s got a 93 on Beer Advocate. This generously-hopped pale ale was fresh, delicious and for one reason or another, made me think of the hop’s taboo cousin.

Westbrook Brewing Citra Rye pale ale

Beer people are good people. But, we already knew that.

While there are many things to be thankful for when it comes to local beer, we will also forever lament the problem of enjoying that beer … non-locally. Thankfully, Nick from over at Drink. Blog. Repeat. was recently kind enough to break down this barrier and ship me some beery goodness from South Carolina’s Westbrook Brewing, a Mount Pleasant-based company that’s churning out some pretty solid brews.

Nick sent me three of their beers, the first of which has set the bar fairly high for the others. Their Citra Rye pale ale, which sits with an 87 on Beer Advocate, is a great entry into the brewery’s single-hop beer series.

How did the sum of this beer’s parts make for a top-notch brew? Let’s hit the jump and discuss.

Out of town – home to (up) Upstate New York

… no, I’m not talking about the Hudson Valley.

Photo courtesy of cs2901 on Flickr

I recently made a (mostly) annual trip back home with The Missus to the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York. While it’s certainly no Green Bay, you should notice the pride my hometown takes in its claim to fame (aside from that whole Gym Class Heroes thing).

While my hometown of Geneva and its surrounding cities/towns have been forever known as bustling wine country, beer is slowly becoming a fad. As with any trip outside of the Triangle, I tried hard to sample some local/regional beers that I can’t find in North Carolina.

If you happen to find yourself in or around Upstate New York, hit the jump to read about a few that stuck out you may want to try…

Out of town – Milwaukee (Part 2: The New Glarusing)

While I have no visual documentation regarding New Glarus, I can assure you any photo would involve me in the fetal position, crying tears of joy while yelling “mmmMMMMmmm” and patting my stomach. New Glarus is not available outside of Wisconsin, with the exception of one beautiful, fleeting moment I found it at the World Beer Festvial-Durham a couple years ago.

They had a java creme brulee stout and Simcoe-based double IPA. It was like an angel pissing on my tongue.

This was a big reason for my excitement of traversing the Wisconsin beer scene, which also included a stop at the Milwaukee Brew Fest. First, some quick thoughts on a few of the six New Glarus beers I tried…

Spotted Cow: How cool is it that a brewery has a farmhouse ale as one of its staple beers? So cool. Not to mention it’s a staple beer that’s conditioned in 12-ounce bottles. I never would think the average drinker would buy enough of this to warrant a year-round run, but it works for me. It pours clear and has a nice, easy funk smell to it that is certainly light enough to please any. It doesn’t come across as sour as Jolly Pumpkin’s Weizen Bam, which had just a little sourness that I consider easy-going. The taste hardly had any sour flavor and came across as crisp and smooth. Like sunshine on my tongue.

Moon Man: This is perhaps my favorite pale ale ever. Being a fan of hoppy beers, this falls perfectly in line with what I’d want from a hopped-up pale ale. It’s got a great smell of hop resin and a flavor that starts pretty calm and finishes with a pine quality. It’s well balanced enough for most beer drinkers, although I fear it might scare off some who want their pale ales to lack any powerful flavors. Well, who needs them anyway? I’ll take Moon Man.

Chocolate Abbey: It’s a dessert beer as far as I’m concerned. Some time ago I wouldn’t have thought a Belgian beer would brew well with chocolate, but by now, why wouldn’t it? While Belgian yeast give the beer it’s usual Belgian ester flavor, there was barely any fruit notes at all. The sweetness of the fruit/esters stayed and mixed well with the chocolate, creating a beer that quickly becomes a chocolatey wonder. The body is light, the flavor is thick. An interesting combination.

Milwaukee Brew Fest “taster”

As for the beer festival – also a win. You know it’s going to be a good time when there are never any lines for the Porta Potties. Also, this was the “taster” glass they give you…

‘Sconsin does it right. Some quick thoughts on great beers after the jump.

#HomebrewProblems (but not really)

I’m overdue for a homebrew post. Long overdue, actually. I’ve currently got a honey basil ale fermenting – my ninth solo homebrew – there are a bunch I’m slowly working through sitting in my closet. I’ve got well over 100 bottles waiting to be had (#HomebrewProblems) varying from a few final bottles of my honey double IPA to a chocolate-vanilla porter.

This week I’m starting in earnest to drink my latest India pale ale – a single-hop Cascade IPA. I used only Cascade hops for this batch, six ounces in total. I brewed the beer with four ounces and dry-hopped with two for 10 days. It was the first recipe I made up myself, although IPAs tend to be easier to create, I suppose. I referenced Ray Daniels’ Designing Great Beers for the hop count. According to him, just over three ounces is an award-winning amount of hops to use for the entire recipe.

My single-hop Cascade IPA and (fake) bacon cheeseburger

This week I paired it with a (vegetarian) bacon cheeseburger. I think it would also go well with any dish made or topped with bleu cheese. I also have a strong opinion that IPAs pair wonderfully with uber-cheap, store-brand, dry chocolate chip cookies. Just sayin’.

If you’re familiar with Cascade, you’ll have an idea of what this beer offers. As a good, American hop, Cascade is a bit floral, but mostly citrus-like smell and flavor. To me, it can also be a little sweet if used in high amounts. I think my beer almost gets to that point, but not quite.

The Cascade smell is VERY pronounced on the nose thanks to the two ounces of leaf hops I used, but the taste is a bit more subdued. My thought is it could be because the alpha acid amount was just over 5 percent, which is about middling for Cascade. It gives the IPA a nice bitterness, but because the smell of hops is so heavy – something I like – it might be harder to get the hop flavor from the beer.

All of this isn’t a bad thing, exactly. I rather like the beer and I think aside from the smell, it might be a good IPA starter beer. Then again, my palette is a bit different than those who don’t like IPAs. I used an online calculator to determine the IBU amount, which was 60. Most brewers consider around 100 to be around the highest you can go.

I also pulled a bottle of an English pale ale, which is probably the most balanced, easy drinking beer I’ve made. It’s one that I think anyone can drink and enjoy. Hooray me!

English pale ale

The recipe was from a pretty simple kit and used a total of three ounces of hops -Kent Golding and Fuggle. It’s OK to giggle if you want.

What I like about this beer is its balance – the hops are pretty mild and the malt bill evens everything out nicely. It’s a good non-beer lover beer, but I’ve also gotten positive reviews from fellow homebrewers on it. Hooray me!

On the bright side, I’ve just returned from a trip to my local beer store where I splurged and picked up a couple new brews, as if I needed any more. Tonight I’m cracking open a 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon and I’m stashing a Widmer Brothers Kill Devil brown ale.

Hooray me!

Port City and Highland pale ales – “The Session” June 2012 tasting

As part of my initial foray into “The Session,” a monthly beer blogging effort, I picked up two pale ales for this month’s event. I was trying to accomplish a couple things with my selections – stay “local” with a couple beers distributed to regionally to this area and pick two beers I haven’t had before. As someone who generally doesn’t care for regular pale ales in lieu of more extreme flavor beers, this was a good task. On with my thoughts:

First up was Port City Essential Pale Ale, which has a 81 on Beer Advocate.

I made a note of this one on Untappd: “Odd. Complex in flavor, but kind of boring overall. Well balanced, at least.” The more I thought about it, however, I think the more I liked it. Sure, it didn’t blow me away, but for all the different aspects I got out of a pale ale, I’d call it a success.

On the nose, the beer had more of a floral tone than hop or hop bitterness. Maybe a little pine. It’s mostly citrus, but don’t take that as it will smell like grapefruit/orange/etc. The smell is very light and it’s just the predominant aroma. Slightly sweet, but not from the hops – the malt, I guess. Pretty even-keeled.

As for the taste, it came across as fairly basic. The hops aren’t overwhelming, but move very quickly from sweet to bitter. Served cold it actually reminds me of a very simple, mass-produced beer like Bud in the way that it’s crisp and fresh, but doesn’t offer anything terribly pronounced. As it warms, it has more of a resiny flavor – perhaps from the high alpha acid concentration of the Chinook and Columbus hops used. That taste doesn’t linger and is more of a quick flash of hop flavor. To me, this all seems appropriate for being a pale ale – the hops would really be front stage if this were an IPA, but instead the malt/hops balance each other out, no matter how badly the hops want attention.

My second beer was Highland Brewing Company St Terese’s Pale Ale, which has an 84 on Beer Advocate. While I wasn’t crazy for Port City’s offering, I didn’t particularly care for this one.

The smell was … yeasty? At least that’s the first impression I got. I wanted to say malty, but I don’t think that would do it justice to the precise smell. To me, it’s definitely a fresh yeast kind of smell, just subdued. Like if you opened up a Wyeast smackpack and took a sniff. There’s some citrus there too, although stale in its blandness.

The first sip was almost all bitterness up front. Unlike the Essential Pale Ale, this one doesn’t have much of a bridge between flavors. To me, it’s bitter straight through. On a second sip, I start to get hops, but it’s still like they’re hidden. The beer’s page on the Highland’s website says it has an “assertive American hop flavor,” but I’m just not getting it. I mean, Cascade and Chinook are American hops, but if I want a beer to be assertive, there’d have to be more than this. It’s clean, it’s balanced, but there’s not much else going on here. I’d get very bored with this very quickly. On the bright side, there’s some honey-like sweetness once it starts to warm up. So it’s got that going for it.

If I had to choose a better of the two, I’m all in on Port City’s Essential Pale Ale. I’d be bored of it, but I could drink multiple bottles. I know I have a very subjective palette, but when I’m looking for a new beer, I want something to “wow” me. Neither of these did that, but the Essential Pale Ale was the lesser of two evils.

Out of town – Savannah’s beers (and not Savannah’s beers)

The Missus and I made a trip to Savannah, Georgia recently, where I (naturally) was excited to give the local beers a try. There was a brewery not far from our hotel, which I made sure to stop by a try a flight.

Overall, Moon River Brewing was a bit of  a “meh.” The first three beers I had – a wit, golden and blonde – were all boring and somewhat flavorless. The wit had some decent taste to it, but nothing beyond the kind of wheat-like malt flavor you’d find in anything else.

I did like the brewery’s stout, which was low in ABV (3.2 percent) but very high in coffee notes both on the nose and tongue. It was very smooth – a little thicker than “watery” – but not in a bad way. No one could tell me how much grain they used in the batch, but my guess is they really went hard on chocolate malt.

The brewery’s IPA was also good – they likened it to Dogfish’s 90 Minute IPA. I wouldn’t go that far, but there was a lot of good grapefruit in there. Again, no one could tell me what hops/grains used for the beer, but any of the traditional American hops that fit the citrus profile could’ve gone into it. I wouldn’t have minded having a full pint of this. There was just enough hops to pique my interest and not enough to be a turn-off.

I also stopped by The Distillery, which is apparently the city’s go-to craft bar. I had a few beers that I’ve never sampled before:

Coastal Empire Beer Company Savannah Brown Ale (~3 from two reviews on Beer Advocate)
I was excited to have a “local” Georgia beer, but this one was pretty boring. As far as nut brown or “brown” ales go, it’s probably among worst I’ve had. There’s really no good smell or flavor to it. If anything, it’s a lawnmower-type brown beer if there ever was one.

Cisco Brewers Whale Tale (85 on Beer Advocate)
I was excited to try this because I had never heard of the brewery and found it strange it hails from Massachusetts but isn’t found in North Carolina while it’s in Georgia. Unfortunately, nothing to get excited about. I assume it’s supposed to be more of a “session” type beer by taste due its English origins, but it’s also 5.7 percent ABV and I’d expect more. Another pretty bland beer and surprisingly yeasty for a pale ale.

Wild Heaven Let There Be Light (~4 from three reviews on Beer Advocate)
At least they all weren’t duds. This was my second pale ale and so much better than the first. This brew was more hoppy in aroma and taste that any typical pale ale you’ll find commercially, which I really liked. It made the beer stand out – I’m a big fan of Nelson Sauvin hops, which went into this one. It had a pretty clean finish and I could definitely drink a few of these in a row.

Great Lakes Brewing family of beers

Great Lakes Brewing recently arrived to the Triangle area, so having never had their beers before, I felt compelled to give them a shot over the past week. I picked up a bottle of each of their year-round brews that are now available around here: pale ale, IPA, porter and amber. Needless to say, they’re all good. I could easily drink any of them at any time, although the porter now has a special place in my heart.

Burning River Pale Ale – 90 on Beer Advocate
This is definitely hoppier than a normal American pale ale, which you can easily smell, along with some grapefruit. On the tongue, it’s got a little bitterness at the start, but an overall good balance. It almost feels like a subdued IPA.

Commodore Perry IPA – 88 on Beer Advocate
More or less the pale ale, but just slightly more hop-infused. The taste is much more bitter, but not anything that will kill tastebuds. However, one of these will be good enough, especially if you’re having other beers in one sitting.

Eliot Ness Amber Lager – 91 on Beer Advocate
The smell was really good – a sweet caramel, malty backbone. The taste was much the same. It was smooth and sweet, but in a rich kind of way, not sugary. It actually reminded me a bit of Saranac caramel porter.
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter – 95 on Beer Advocate
Smell was nothing but chocolate malt. So good. It was among the stronger chocolate smells I think I’ve ever had in non-chocolate beers. The taste was so, incredibly smooth with no ill effects on the finish. Usually with a porter you’d find some kind of roasted flavor, but not with this.