Ninkasi Brewing Company - Vanilla Oatis

Hey guys! It's Sunday night and I'm dreading going into work tomorrow. Yeah, I'd imagine a lot of you are in the same boat. So to ease the pain of working Monday morning I'm drinking a new beer that seems to have just made it's way to my area.

Tonight I'm drinking Vanilla Oatis from Ninkasi Brewing Company out of Eugene Oregon. This is a 7.2% abv Oatmeal Stout brewed with Vanilla. It was a little warm here today in San Diego so it's still not exactly stout weather but I really don't care. Let's get this one open and see how it is.

The Vanilla Oatis pours out pitch black in color which isn't surprising since this is a stout after all. There was about a fingers worth of a beige creamy looking head. The head is sticking around for a long time. In fact, there's still a nice little ring of beige/tan head still on top of the beer like a lid or cap. It's leaving behind a very thick and foamy lacing. This is a very nice looking oatmeal stout. Let's get the nose.

First thing I pick up is the Vanilla. Thankfully this is a beer with Vanilla that ACTUALLY smells like vanilla. It's not in the background, hidden behind a shitload of coffee. This is right there in your face. There's some roasted oat coming through behind the vanilla. I'm picking up some creme brulee like sweetness in here as well. It's not quite like a burned sugar but that richness you get from the creme is coming out in this very nicely. There's some subtle milk chocolate notes in here too. Really impressed by the nose on this one. Very stoked the vanilla is dominant. Only one thing left to do now.

There's an immediate blast of roast, like a roasted oat to be exact. That lends itself to a really nice, creamy mouth feel. Behind that is the vanilla. Very sweet and a perfect compliment to the creamy, roasted oats. Sides of the palate you get more of the vanilla and more of that creme brulee sort of feel. Sort of fluffy, sort of creamy, definitely a bit on the rich side. Back end of this beer sort of explodes into a bitter coffee experiment. This really brings the beer altogether. Definitely makes it more of a vanilla latte than it does a creme brulee. As the flavors linger a bit you get a lot of that bitter coffee, a bit of bitter chocolate, very earthy.

So overall, I'm really digging this beer. I vaguely remember having the regular Oatis years ago and wasn't all that impressed. But this is just really nice. I think where this one stands out is the vanilla. It is really up front and put out there. It's kind of surprising that they really nailed this. Not because Ninkasi is bad or anything, but from my experience a lot of breweries use the vanilla in the background, maybe as an after thought. Just used to that I guess. I'd give this one the nod if you're thinking about picking it up.

Rating: A

Samuel Adams - Fat Jack

Evening everyone! So Fall has finally arrived here in San Diego and I just so happen to have a fall type of beer in my fridge. I've never had this one and I'm really happy to have found it this year. I tried to get it last year and came up empty. 

So tonight I'm drinking Samuel Adams Fat Jack which is an 8.5% abv Double Pumpkin ale brewed with pumpkin and spices. That's right! It's time for a Pumpkin beer! I'm going to throw this out right now, but I'm not a fan of pumpkin beers. I've never had one that has made me want to buy it again. I've had a few and they're OK but just not really my thing. But enough intro, let's get the Fat Jack poured and see if this is a Pumpkin beer I can fully endorse.

Fat Jack pours out a pretty clear ruby red color, maybe amber but definitely leaning more towards the red category. There's a nice little bit of a very steady carbonation streaming up from the bottom of the glass. There was about a finger of egg shell colored head, fairly foamy with a lot of tight white bubbles. It doesn't stick around too long and leaves behind a somewhat sea foam-esque lacing. This looks like a pretty nice beer, definitely reminiscent of fall with the red/amber tones. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is brown sugar. Lots of sweet brown sugar. I'm picking up some nutmeg and some cinnamon. The cinnamon is a little on the subtle side. It's more hiding in the background, lurking, stalking.... you know it's there but it's not overbearing. A nice bit of pumpkin pie coming through as well. From the pumpkin filling to the buttery crust. There's also a little bit of dark fruits. Raisins and dates are present but very much in the background like the cinnamon. Some bread like characters here as well. Genuinely a really nice smelling pumpkin beer, very much reminds me of a slice of pumpkin pie. Only one thing left to do now. Let's drink! 

Wow. This follows the nose perfectly! Right away there's some sweet brown sugar on the front of the tongue. Immediately followed up with some creamy pumpkin pie filling with nutmeg, cinnamon and maybe even some vanilla, or vanilla cream. Sides of the palate you get more of that pumpkin, more brown sugar, a nice bit of a buttery crust. Back end of this you get a little burst of bitterness, some more spice, cinnamon is more noticeable here. As the flavors linger a bit you get the dark fruits especially the raisins. This is just a really nice, enjoyable pumpkin beer.

So overall, this beer is fantastic. I came into this expecting nothing. Honestly, I expected this to be OK and maybe a bit difficult to finish a full bottle. I was wrong. This is exactly what I want in a pumpkin beer. Good spices, nothing too overpowering, full pumpkin flavor, great mouth feel. It covers everything I look for in a pumpkin pie all while still keeping that integrity of being a beer. If that makes sense. Basically, this isn't a pumpkin syrup nightmare. Get this if you can. I think it's highly enjoyable and very much a fantastic early fall/late fall beer.

Rating :A

Left Coast Brewing Co - Hop Juice

Hey all! It's Tuesday night and I'm in the mood for something new. Well, I should rephrase that. This isn't exactly new. At least I don't think it is. I vaguely remember having this beer several years ago, back before I could appreciate good beer. I don't remember anything about this other than I've once tried it. 

What's that? What beer? Oh, tonight I'm drinking another beer from Left Coast Brewing out of San Clemente, CA. This is Hop Juice, a 9.7% abv Double IPA. Yep, still sticking with the hops here. C'mon, I'm in San Diego. Would you expect anything less?? 

So lets get the Hop Juice open and see if it's as good as I don't remember... 

Hop Juice pours out a really deep copper, rust, orange, amber color. Very much clear, not much haze at all. There was about a finger and a half of a very thick, fluffy looking white head. Lots of bubbles in here. The Hop Juice head doesn't linger around very long and leaves behind a very thick and sticky lacing. There's not a lot of carbonation streaming up from the bottom of the glass. I'm guessing just based on looks that this is going to be a thick, heavy DIPA. Let's get the nose. 

Tons of syrupy peach sweetness. I mean, TONS! I'm also getting some mandarin orange, mango, papaya like fruits. There's a lot of caramel and malt sweetness. Very potent. Honestly, the nose is pretty much what I was expecting just from looking at this beer in the glass. Surprisingly, I'm not picking up a lot of hop bitterness so this might not be the freshest of bottles. There is some grass like qualities in the nose, like a wet grass kind of scent. It's more back end then anything else but to me, it's there. I'm ready to see if Hop Juice is worth it. Let's drink up! 

First thing I get is a somewhat subdued hop bitterness. It does a nice job of driving everything else through the palate though. Middle of the tongue is where you get hit with a heavy dose of IBUs. Sides of the palate you get that peach sweetness, mango and papaya. Back end of this you do get more bitterness, some fresh hop characteristics. Actually that's probably the wet grass sort of note I was picking up on the nose. There is some subtle bitter citrus lingering on the palate as well. The caramel-like sweetness is definitely present throughout. 

So overall, Hop Juice isn't bad... but I don't think it's really that great. This has a nice mouth feel, definitely on the thicker side of things. But it's not exactly balanced. I was hoping for more of a balanced DIPA and ended up with the stickier, syrupy sort of sweet DIPA. Again, it's not bad but I wouldn't really go out of my way to pick this up again. Certainly wouldn't turn it down if offered but it's one that otherwise I'd say is a pass. 

Rating: C+

Drake's Brewing - Denogginizer

Hey gang! Time for another beer review. I picked this one up the other day and decided to crack it open and see if it's really worth it. So tonight I'm drinking Denogginizer from Drake's Brewing out of San Leandro, CA. 

Denogginizer is an 9.75% abv Imperial IPA. This one is hopped up with a ton of Simcoe, Columbus, Amarillo & Cascade hops. That's a lot of hops which are counter acted with some Munich and Crystal malts. Sounds like a pretty good, ramped up, DIPA. Let's see how this one looks.

The Denogginizer pours out a really nice copper color, bordering on a slightly rusty color. There's a real nice finger to maybe just a bit more than a finger, of a fluffy white head. Lots of bubbles on this one. Head has a decent retention time and leaves behind a fairly standard looking soapy-like lacing. There's a decent amount of carbonation in this one which is nice to see. Looks like a good one. Let's get the nose.

Wow, really interesting nose. Lots of sugary, caramel like sweetness. Doesn't immediately strike me as an IPA at all. There's an abundance of peach juice in this. Big sweet, overly ripe peaches. I'm picking up some nice Mandarin Orange like characters. Some nice sweet, bread or cake like body in the nose. Really not picking up a ton of bitterness in this because it's just so potent in the sweet malts. I'm intrigued. Time to do some drinking.

So first things first, there's a nice hop bitterness present right away at the front of the palate. But big surprise, this is immediately slammed to the ground by a ton of caramel sweetness. That paves the way for that hop bitterness to make it's way into the middle of the palate. Sides of the mouth you get that sugary sweetness, lots of peach syrup. Back end of this you get a lot of bitterness and some of that bready sort of cake like body. There's also more of that peach character, maybe even a bit of a rum-like flavor. For 9.5% you kind of get the alcohol but it's pretty well hidden. 

Overall, I'm liking the Denogginizer from Drake's. It's not like a typical DIPA I'm used to. Not much in the way of citrus. This is really more of a malty DIPA, big body, nice mouth feel. It's a little on the syrupy side for me though. I definitely am more in favor of the citrus bombs that lean more towards the juicy side of the spectrum. Despite that, I do like this and wouldn't say no to picking up more of this. I'll definitely pick up a few more Drake's in the future and see how the rest of their beers compare and stand up to this one.

Rating: B

The Bruery - Bryeian Batch 1000

Hey guys! Been a while since I've posted and I've got a whole lot of nothing going on. No better time than now to review a new beer. I've had this one for a couple of weeks now and I just haven't had the time to crack it open and do it justice.

So tonight I'm drinking another beer from The Bruery out of Placentia, CA. This is their Bryeian which is their Batch 1000 beer that is a Cascadian Dark Rye Ale/Black Rye IPA. The Bruery held a contest for home brewers to brew a beer with the winner being selected as the beer they'd make as their Batch 1000. Looking forward to this one so let's get it cracked open and I'll let you know what I think of Bryeian!

The Bryeian pours out a pitch black with a slightly tan head. There's no light whatsoever visible through the beer. There's about a 2 to 2 1/2 finger of that tan head with a somewhat decent retention time. It's leaving behind a pretty nice soapy, foamy lacing and hasn't fully dissipated back into the beer. This looks like a pretty standard black IPA. In other words, it looks pretty damn good. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is a nice pine presence. There's a lot of hop bitterness as well. There's a slight bit of roast character trailing behind the pine and bitterness. The rye isn't as strong as I was expecting but it's there lending itself to some spice notes which in turn is helping to bring forth some subtle grapefruit citrus. As it warms ever so slightly I'm maybe picking up some caramel sweetness. This is a pretty decent smelling beer. Nothing too crazy though. Let's see how it tastes.

There's a nice little pop of bitterness that is immediately kicked out of the way by that rye spice. Middle of the palate there's a sweetness, slightly caramel, slightly creamy. Sides of the palate is where the bitter grapefruit and pine really sticks out. It really does a number on the palate. Back end of this beer there's a bit of bitterness, slightly drying beer but not too intense. Back end you get a bit of that roast character as well as maybe a slight bit of tobacco or espresso even. It's a pretty decent tasting, if not, safe beer.

So overall, I think this beer is OK. As I mentioned, it's a pretty safe beer with nothing really standing out over anything else. I was expecting a little bit more from The Bruery with this one but considering they don't make an Black IPA or even a regular IPA, I guess I shouldn't have expected a hop bomb. It's super easy to drink and for 7% ABV it's a genuinely easy drinking IPA. I think I paid about $8 for this one and honestly, for the size and price, it's not bad. If you're looking for a strong Black IPA, you'll want to skip this. If you're looking for something that's easy to drink and enjoyable, give this one a shot.

Rating: B

Uinta Brewing Co - Cockeyed Cooper

Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday night. I'm a little bummed because I head back to work tomorrow after a nice and long 4 day weekend. Tonight I'm drinking my August entry in my wife's beer of the month club and I'm really stoked for this one. I've been looking for it for quite sometime and managed to find a lot of these bottles at my local Cost Plus World Market.

Tonight I'm drinking another beer from Uinta's Crooked Line series. This is their Cockeyed Cooper which is a Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine. That's right, a bourbon barrel barley wine. It's been rather hot here in San Diego the last week or so but that's not going to stop me from enjoying this awesomeness. The Cockeyed Cooper is 11.1% and this particular bottle was bottled on 11/29/12 so, already got nearly a year in the bottle. Let's get this one poured and see how the Cockeyed Cooper tastes.



The CC came in a 750ml corked and caged bottle. There was a very audible pop and quite a bit of "steam" once I go the cork popped. It pours out a really beautiful mahogany color that when held up to the light reveals some really dark, blood red/ruby red hues along the sides and bottom of the glass. There's the slightest bit of carbonation coming up from the bottom of the glass. There was a nice 2 fingers of a fluffy and thick khaki colored head that stuck around for quite a bit, leaving behind a pretty nice, web-like lacing. Just a really solid looking Barleywine. Let's get the nose.

Big Big Big burnt caramel and sugar sweetness. Almost like the top of a creme brulee dessert. There's a nice dark fruit character of raisin and fig. A TON of barrel character. Quite a bit of an oak woodiness. Lots of vanilla sweetness here. There's a noticeable chocolate covered raisin character as well. Of course there's a bit of a bourbon alcohol smell. No surprise there. This is just an awesome smelling beer. Let's see if this tastes anything like it smells.

Wow, this is incredible! First thing I get is that woody, oak-like character. That's intertwined with a really nice vanilla and a caramel sweetness. Middle of the mouth you get a little more woody character and some earthy, bitterness. Maybe even a little bit of a burnt flavor. Sides of the palate you get the dark fruits, those chocolate covered raisins and some more of that caramel sweetness. Back of the palate you get a nice bourbon burn, some more of that vanilla sweetness. A bit of the chocolate flavors coming through. Definitely a warming sensation as it makes it's way down the chest. There's a lot of oak, bourbon, vanilla playing with each other throughout this entire beer.

So overall, this is just an amazing beer. Definitely one to sip on. Definitely one I want to see what happens with some age. Fortunately for me, I have another bottle in my cellar cabinet so I'll get to experience that. This is just another solid effort from Uinta who to date, I've yet to have a bad beer from. If you can get this, check it out. Everything about this beer is a home run. Do yourself a favor, seek this out and purchase/trade for a bottle. You will not regret it if you like Barleywines, especially barrel aged offerings.

Rating: A+