Firestone Walker - Velvet Merkin

Hello everyone! It's that time again. Not necessarily time to take over the world, but time to get another beer review up. This one also happens to be my October Beer of the Month. Yep, right on time with my monthly beer, I know! 

I'd have had this up earlier but I've been ill the last few days. So without further delay, tonight's beer is none other than the latest release from Firestone Walker. That's right, we're drinking Velvet Merkin, and 8.5% abv Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout. I'm pretty stoked to get this one and I'm really looking forward to trying it. So let's get this thing poured and I'll give you my thoughts on the Velvet Merkin.

This one pours out a pitch black. No light coming through at all. There's about a finger and a half of a beige head that's very foamy. Not a ton of retention time on this and honestly not a lot of lacing left behind. Sort of surprising on the lacing at least. This looks like a pretty standard stout. Nothing too crazy. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is a lot of vanilla, lots and lots of it. Maybe more than any other beer I can recall in recent memory. Vanilla boozy notes. There's a lot of caramel sweetness. Lots of woody, oak qualities. You can definitely smell that this is a big bourbon barrel beer. Some nice toasty notes from those oats. There's some big milk chocolate and cocoa notes too. Big time vanilla and oak bomb here. I'm ready to see how this one tastes. Let's drink! 

Interesting. First thing I'm hit with is a big blast of vanilla and bourbon goodness. That immediately is erased by a tidal wave of oak. It's almost like I'm drinking the barrel itself. That sensation, flavor, note, basically plows through the entire palate. Sides of the mouth there's more oak, almost a charred wood flavor. A little bit of vanilla and a lot of a bourbon quality. Back end of this thing almost tastes like I just took a shot of bourbon. Lots of caramel and vanilla with a bit of an alcohol burn. This one definitely warms as it makes it's way down the chest. I don't get any of that chocolate/cocoa I caught a whiff of before we started drinking. 

This beer is also a little thin in the body. I know a lot of oatmeal stouts tend to be a little thinner than their imperial counterparts. However, this one is thinner than even some of the local oatmeal stouts. I'm kind of surprised in that regard. I was hoping a little bit for more body and I'm left wanting a little bit more in that department.

So overall, Velvet Merkin is good... but maybe not what I'd call great. The nose is awesome but those characters fall a little short while drinking. I sort of wish I'd given this a little more time to develop or mellow just to see what happens. I may pick up another just for that reason alone. Give this one a shot if you want. For $20 a bottle I'd consider this a touch pricey. Your call.

Rating: B+

Clown Shoes - Genghis Pecan

I don't know about you but I had a really rough work week. There's nothing I want more than to forget everything I did work wise this week and just zone out. Of course I'm going to help myself with some good beer and some good tunes. 

So tonight I'm drinking another Clown Shoes beer. I've really enjoyed what I've had so far from them and I'm hoping this one is no different. Tonight we've got Genghis Pecan which is a 7% abv Pecan Pie Porter. And yes, the label on this one is awesome just like all the others. But enough rambling and stalling, let's get this one poured and I'll give you my thoughts on the Genghis Pecan! 

Genghis pours out very dark almost pitch black. Maybe the slightest bit of mahogany/chocolate color around the bottom of the glass. There's about a finger of beige head, very fluffy. The head dissipates pretty quickly and leaves behind a very weak lacing. Almost none to speak of which is a bit surprising. Looks like a pretty standard porter honestly. Nothing new to report here. Let's get the nose.

Big pecan flavor on the nose. That's mixed in nicely with an almost cinnamon like spice note. A bit of brown sugar lingering in the background too.There's a nice graham cracker character here too. This is a pecan pie porter and honestly I think it gets the smell of a pecan pie pretty nicely. There's maybe the slightest hint of alcohol in the background. Honestly, pecan pie with a little bourbon is one of the best things ever so this has me very much intrigued. A really nice smelling porter, one that definitely smells like the style/name it's been given. I'm ready to do some drinking so let's do this! 

Surprisingly at first impression I'm not getting a lot of pecans. It's more of a buttery, pie crust like character. There's a little bit of a caramel sweetness, some brown sugar. None of that cinnamon spice I was getting on the nose. Sides of the mouth you do get the pecans but they are very subdued and muted. I was hoping for a little more in that regard. I'm going to let this warm a little and see how it's developed, if at all.

I've let this warm a bit and I'm still not getting a lot of the pecan, mostly just a buttery crust. This does remind me of a pie but maybe not a pecan pie. There's some boozy stickiness lingering in the back of the palate. Slightly nutty so I guess that's where the pecans went. It's not that they're not here I just think they've taken a back seat to everything else.

So overall, Genghis Pecan is just OK. It's a good porter but for what is dubbed as a pecan pie porter I'm left wanting more, a lot more. If this was just a porter from Clown Shoes I'd be stoked and happy. Unfortunately, I think they've left a lot to be desired which is surprising. I've genuinely liked everything I've had from them, a lot. This just sort of falls short of the mark. It's probably a mark I'e set WAY too high but I'm accepting of that. I'd drink this again but I don't know I'd want to pay the $8 or $9 I did. So, good porter, so-so execution.

Rating: C+

New Belgium Brewing - Cascara Quad

Hey guys! It’s time for another beer review. Did you think I’d forgotten about the blog? Eh, maybe just a little. Kind of trying to figure out what I want to do with the blog going forward. But that’s a discussion for another post down the road.

Tonight I’m drinking a new beer. Yeah, surprising I know! I’ve had this one stashed away for a little bit, maybe 6 months or so. I think I bought it back in late March or even early April. Tonight’s beer is part of the Lips of Faith series from New Belgium, this is their Cascara Quad, a 10% abv Quad brewed with date with coffee cherries added. Honestly not sure what a coffee cherry is but I’m a little intrigued. Not a huge fan of Belgian style beers but I’ve been kind of dabbling a little with Quads this year. Had some good ones and I have high hopes for this one. Let’s get this poured out and I’ll give you my thoughts.

The Cascara pours out incredibly murky. It’s a mix of a brown with some slight reddish-brown hues. Reminds me a bit of some dirty watered down coffee to be completely honest. It’s definitely a nasty looking beer. There’s about a finger of a bright white foamy head that doesn’t linger for very long and leaves behind a pretty thick lacing. Let’s get the nose.

First thing I pick up is a massive amount of dates. Very nutty and sweet. Lots of dark fruits. Lots of cherry, fig, some plums as well. There’s a slight sourness I’m picking up that reminds me a lot of a plum skin. Tons of sweet caramel, lots of sugars too. There’s some sweet breads here, definitely getting those Belgian quad characteristics. There’s a slight alcohol note on the nose that’s not over powering but it’s there, lingering and creeping up on everything good this beer has offered so far. Yeah, I’d say this smells pretty good. Definitely not what I was expecting just simply based on looking at this thing. I’m ready to see how it tastes so let’s do this!

Right away I pick up a bit of that nutty character I was getting on the nose. That’s immediately washed away by those very ripe, dark fruits. The plums, figs, and even some cherry. I’ve never had a coffee cherry but I’m guessing these are what I’m getting a lot of. You get those Belgian bready notes on the sides of the palate along with some big caramel sweetness. This beer is surprisingly bitter and you pick up a bit of that bitterness throughout the mouth. This quad finishes pretty dry, not like an IPA but almost like a wine. There’s almost a syrupy after taste as I let everything kind of linger. Very different than what I’d expect from a Quad.

 

So overall, I don’t hate this but I’m not sure I really like it. I’ve had far better Quads both locally and from breweries across the country. This doesn’t really have a lot going on that catches my attention. If I had to describe it in a single word I’d probably use the word underwhelming. I want to get more from this and I want to really like this a lot. But unfortunately, I think it falls short of being “good” and it falls way short of being a beer I pay another visit to down the line. I’d say if you were thinking of picking this up you may want to skip it and get a good Quad rather than something that’s just OK at best.

Rating: C-

Stone Brewing Co - Suede Imperial Porter

Evening all! Hope everyone is enjoying their week. Wednesday night and the wife has taken over the TV. I need to occupy myself so I figure it's as good a time as any to post a new review. Makes sense, right?

Tonight I'm drinking the latest collaboration beer from Stone Brewing Co. This is their Suede an Imperial Porter brewed in collaboration with 10 Barrel brewing and Blue Jacket brewing featuring Calendula Flowers, Jasmine and Honey. I'm sorry, what? An Imperial Porter with what I can only describe as tea spices? Interesting to say the least... and maybe slightly odd sounding. This is 9.6% abv so at least it's not lacking in that the department. Coming from Stone, that's not a surprise in the least. So let's get Suede poured and I'll give you my thoughts.

Suede pours out incredibly dark pretty much pitch black. If I hold my phone light up to it I'm maybe seeing a little bit of a dark brown... but it's so dark I'd call it black. Yeah, this beer is black. There's about a finger of a foamy, frothy beige head which I got after a pretty vigorous pour, more vigorous than I usually pour. It dissipates pretty quickly and leaves behind a very thick lacing. Incredibly sticky looking and slightly soapy. This looks like pretty straight forward Imperial Porter. Let's get the nose.

Big roast coming through right away. Some cocoa nibs, dark chocolate following right behind. But right after that I get a big blast of earthy floral characters. Those flowers are surprisingly present and holding their own on the nose. There's the slightest bit of spice as well. Maybe from the Jasmine. I'm also getting a sweetness that's most likely from the honey. It's doing a nice job of cutting that roasty note I picked up at first impression. This is a very good smelling porter and these additions of calendula, jasmine and honey have me intrigued. Only one thing left to do!

Right away I get that floral sort of earthy bitterness. It has to be from the flowers and whatever hops they used in this. Coupled with the Jasmine the beer is definitely not what I expected. The spices and floral notes really linger on the front and middle of the palate. Sides of the palate I'm getting some sweetness but very subtle. Back end of this I get a blast of those dark chocolates and bitter chocolate I got on the nose. They don't linger very long. The lingering taste I get more than anything is jasmine. Very tea like. Very subtle and smooth. Honestly if I closed my eyes I'd think I might be drinking tea! The longer I let the flavors linger I pick up more honey sweetness and a lot more tea character. So interesting!

So overall, I like this a lot. It's not what I was expecting at all from this latest collaboration from Stone. I was expecting a big, sort of in your face porter and I'm really left looking for that. This is really jasmine, calendula, honey forward. More so than I would have ever guessed. I can honestly say I've never had a beer like this. There's no hint of that 9.6% that the bottle boasts which makes this a pretty dangerous drinking beer. Body wise this reminds me a lot of an English porter. Not like a lot of the imperial porters brewed here in the states. Get this if you can. It's worth it.

Rating: A

Ninkasi Brewing Company - Tricerahops Double IPA

Evening everyone! Hope you're having a good week. It's actually raining here in San Diego tonight. That has nothing to do with tonight's beer, I just figured it was somewhat newsworthy. It IS San Diego after all, the land of 75 and sunny year round. But enough bragging.

It's a new beer tonight for me. I've never had this one and I'm really looking forward to trying this one. Tonight I'm drinking Tricerahops from Ninkasi Brewing out of Eugene Oregon. Tricerahops is a Double IPA coming in at 8.8% abv. So pretty big DIPA and I'm quite all right with that. So let's get this one opened and I'll let you know my thoughts on the Tricerahops (awesome name btw).

Tricerahops pours out a beautiful golden color, slightly copper maybe with some hints of orange. This beer is crystal clear, no haze whatsoever. There's about a finger to maybe just a tad more than a finger of fluffy white head which dissipates very quickly. There's a nice web-like lacing left behind. A decent amount of carbonation streaming up from the bottom of the glass which is nice to see. Not sure when this was bottled but at least this tells me we're not looking at a flat beer. Always a plus! Let's get the nose.

Big fruit notes. Big pear, peaches, a bit of a sticky peach sweetness. Quite a bit of orange citrus, maybe even a mandarin orange going on here. There's a nice bit of floral shining through behind that initial blast of fruits. There's a good hop bitterness too, smells very fresh, slightly dank but not dank in the garlic/onion sense. Just a big hoppy, bitter beer. Smells wonderful. Let's see how Tricerahops tastes! 

Honestly this follows the nose very well. First thing I notice is a real nice bitter hop character, very floral and slightly earthy. That initial bitterness is followed up by a lot of those fruits; pears, peach, orange citrus, and surprisingly a bit of an apple. Not an overly sweet apple, slightly bitter. Sides of the palate you get the fruits and some sweet caramel kind of notes. Back end of this beer, this finishes incredibly dry. One of the more drying DIPA I can remember having in recent months. No alcohol from that 8.8% at all. Not even a warming sensation as it goes down. Really easy drinking DIPA. 

So overall, I'm really digging the Tricerahops. I went into this not expecting much but I'm definitely surprised by how good and balanced this beer is. It's not a big time hop bomb. The hops are certainly present but not kicking you in the teeth like a majority of DIPA are these days. I'd honestly have never guessed this was a DIPA. It's mellow but in a very pleasing way. I'd recommend this one for sure. Easy drinking, flavorful, reasonably priced. If I had to have a complaint I'd just say it's a little easy on the bitterness for a DIPA. I'm used to the big in your face palate destroyers and this is not one of them. So that's it. That's my only knock and it's minor at that.

Rating: A-

Here's a video of my wife trying Tricerahops. Requested by some of my friends. 

Uinta Brewing Co. - Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin

It's finally the weekend! Seriously, this has been the week from hell for me work wise. I'm ready to unwind. I'm ready to kick back and do nothing. I'm ready to get some serious beer drinking done. That's right. Opening up some good stuff this weekend and I'm starting tonight with another beer from one of my personal favorites.

Tonight I'm drinking another beer from Uinta, their Crooked Line series to be exact. Tonight I've got their Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin which is a pumpkin beer (if you didn't know from the name already) aged in Oak Barrels. This one comes in at 10.31% abv (you know, Halloween) and this particular bottle is over a year old with a bottled date of 8/28/12. So, a little age on this one. Let's get it poured and I'll give you my thoughts on the Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin.

The OJIP pours out a really nice dark amber-ruby red-mahogany color. Lots of that ruby red on the bottom of the glass as it rounds up to the sides. There's about a finger and a half of a white, fluffy, billowy head. It doesn't stick around too long and leaves behind a very sticky and soapy lacing. There's a moderate amount of carbonation coming up from the sides and bottom of the glass. This looks like a real nice beer, definitely got the autumn colors going on. Let's get the nose.

Interestingly enough, the first thing I'm picking up is dark fruits. Plum, raisin, maybe some cherry kind of sweetness. There's some earthy kind of bitterness kind of tucked behind those fruits possibly even from those oak barrels. There's a bit of a yeasty ester and some breads. You get some brown sugar, nutmeg, some subtle cinnamon spices here. To be completely honest here, I'm not picking up a lot of pumpkin or gourd on the nose. If it's there I may just be missing it (as I'm typing this someone is outside smoking and it's kind of wafting into my room). With that said, let's see how the OJIP tastes. There's bound to be some pumpkin there.... I hope!

There we go! Right away you get sweet pumpkin. Really glad it's there. That pumpkin character coats the entire palate with it's richness. Right behind that initial blast of pumpkin you get those spices, lots of brown sugar, maybe even a bit of a buttery note. Sides of the palate you get a little more of the brown sugar, some of those dark fruits come through too. Back end of this you more creaminess, more pumpkin, sweet caramel shining through, little bit of earthy tones. As I let the flavors linger a bit and the beer warms a tad, those oak characters really start to make their appearance. Big woody notes. Really plays well off the pumpkin here.

So overall, this beer is pretty good. I'm still not sold on Pumpkin beers and this is really the 2nd one I've had this season with Fat Jack from a week or two ago being the other. Comparing the two I'd have to lean more towards the Fat Jack. It's a bit more balanced and a bit more true to what I'm looking for. Saying that, the Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin is solid, bordering on good. Really surprised not to get much pumpkin on the nose and I think that might be why the Fat Jack was a bit better for me. Either way, get this one if you can and give it a try. Chances are, the bottle you get will already have about a year on it.

Rating: B

AleSmith Brewing Company - Evil Dead Red Ale

Hey gang! Hard to believe it's already October. So like most of the first reviews of each month, it's time for my September BOTM beer my wife picked up for me. Pretty stoked for this one. Admittedly, I've had it once before on tap so I'm very interested in trying this one from the bottle.

So tonight I'm drinking the fall seasonal from AleSmith Brewing Company down in San Diego, this is their Evil Dead Red Ale which is a 6.66% abv red ale, or amber ale. One of the two. You can go ahead and pick. On tap this was fairly hop forward with some nice caramel malts keeping everything together. I very much enjoyed this on tap so I'm anxious to get this one poured into a glass. So with that said, enough babbling. Let's get this one opened up!

Evil Dead Red pours out a really dark amber color, bordering on a red/blood red. Holding this up to the light you definitely get the red colors shining through. There's a really fluffy and thick white head about a finger to a finger and a half worth. It sticks around for a while and leaves behind a really thick and sticky soap-like lacing. A good amount of carbonation streaming up the glass. Overall just a really nice looking red/amber ale. Let's get the nose.

Wow, right away a huge hit of citrus hops. Big grapefruit and maybe mandarin orange. Very sweet smelling, very fresh smelling. There's a bit of a sticky caramel malt shining through behind the initial blast of hops. This beer smells incredible! Really fresh hops, tons of citrus, and just more hops. Much more citrusy than I was expecting or what I remember. This is a pretty fresh bottle so I'm thinking that's a big factor. I'm ready to drink this one. Let's get to it! 

First thing are really fresh citrus hops. Lots of them. They really drive straight through the palate. Sides of the palate you get that caramel malts, lots of sweetness, some sugar, a bit of a bread-like, cake-like type of taste and similar mouth feel. Back end of the palate you get more caramel maybe even a hint of vanilla believe it or not. More of that citrus lingers throughout tap dancing on the tongue. As I sip on this some more the orange flavors really shine. Very juicy and sweet. This is a fantastic tasting beer! 

So overall, Evil Dead Red Ale from AleSmith Brewing Company is another winner. There's nothing wrong with this beer. I literally cannot say a single negative thing about this beer. It's so incredibly balanced. I'd even consider going as far as saying that Evil Dead Red is the BEST red ale I've ever had. If you can get this, you need to do so. It's amazing fresh so get it now and drink immediately. I don't remember this being as good as this on tap. If I see this again before it's out of the stores I'll be buying it. Do the same! 

Rating: A+