Seventh Son Humulus Nimbus

Please follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. You can also follow us on Untappd with our names of @jenniek and @guitaristshad.

So to start off, yes, we've quasi-previously reviewed this at the Fiery Foods Fest back in February. With the palate shot then after a still-memorable inferno pizza, I don't believe we did justice to the 6% ABV, 53 IBU fantastic brew. It's still shocking to me that we haven't done as many local breweries as we should, as we have a fantastic brewing community that gets along all while producing fantastic brew. We've met a good portion of the professional brewing community here in town and I cannot speak ill of any of them. They're all good people and there's no animosity between any of them. To quote Frank Turner, "Colleges and friends condensed with a smile, yeah, but this is my culture, man, this is my home." The community is another reason I want to quit my factory life and get into the brewing scene. Even helping out different breweries with festivals or canning/bottling days, they treat their customers like they are part of their family.

So tonight, we thoroughly review a highly touted local beer; soon, we get into a highly touted brew that we obtained in a beer trade (Matt, we had every intention of getting to it tonight, I swear!). Seventh Son's website has this:
"A pale golden ale that is both super crisp and super hop forward with a refreshing mouthfeel and a summer friendly 6% abv. Mosaic & simcoe hops lend tart blueberry and fragrant pine to a pleasingly bitter dandelion finish. We wanted the hops to be the star in this seasonal offering taking its name from both the hop plant, Humulus Lupulus, and its light color and cloud-like feel, nimbus."

The color is, well, a perfect golden color. Good carbonation, leaving a nice white, foamy head that sticks around. The aroma on this.... yeah. Their website nailed most of it with blueberry and pine. I'm also picking up notes of almost mango-like notes. Amazing aroma.  The flavor on this is a wild trip of what you got in the nose, plus a whole lot more. It starts off with the blueberry, mango combo, and kicks in with some orange, all with a juicy blast that quenches your thirst. Midway through, there's some bitterness that starts to appear, with some faint earthy notes giving way to the pine notes that take hold at this moment, faint tea notes come through for a second. The hop stickiness is definitely making itself noticed by the time you get to the finish, which I will argue with their website's description. You get the dandelion in the finish, but there's so much more. The tropical fruits make a reappearance along with some faint grapefruit and orange notes. This finishes sticky from the hops. I don't really get much malt flavor from this throughout the entire thing. It's a great showcasing of the hops without overdoing it. Colin and Max rock.

4.8/5 caps

-Nathan-

Mmmmm. Mosaic hops, currently at the top of my hops list (no worries, Simcoe is on that list, too). They lend such a lovely, complex note to each beer to which they are lovingly added. At the North Market Microbrew Festival, I recall immediately identifying them in the flavor profile of a couple of IPAs (Truth from Rhinegeist and Musk of the Minotaur from Hoof Hearted come to mind, as well as a fantastic offering from Wolf's Ridge). Funny, as often as I have had this extra(ordinary!) pale ale, I have never picked up on Mosaic in here. It's most definitely time to remedy that.

Also, let me just mention how much I love Seventh Son's Seventh Son American Strong Ale. It's hoppy, yet lovely and just enough boozy. It was their flagship, and how I fell in love with Seventh Son.

As Nathan so well described, this pours a perfect golden color, with just a slight haze (and this has been sitting awhile). In the aroma, I pick up more grapefruit, but yet it's also blueberry and piney, with just a hint of mango and cracker. I am completely in love with this aroma. I want to swan dive into it. Alas, as my human form will not fit into a pint glass, let's reverse engineer this and force it into my body, instead of the other way around. Taking a sip, I would swear there were fresh grapefruit peel in here (proper subjunctive, bitches). Eh, fuck it, Nathan's description of it perfectly describes the roller coaster in your mouth, so go re-read his portion (if you have even made it thus far). Plus grapefruit zest. And just a hint of crackery malts hanging around in the back end. This is also perfectly carbonated, and leaves such a happy feeling in my mouth that I can't help but smile with each sip.

Do you remember the image of Snoopy doing his happy dance? That is what this beer evokes from me. Every happy moment I have had in my life flashes before my eyes as I drink this.

4.999999/5 caps

-Jennie

Food Pairing: Barbecued chicken, Wargoland style.
Cheese Pairing: Irish cheddar -- and this part is important -- on a Dill Triscuit
Music Pairing: "I Am Disappeared" Frank Turner (yeah. I know, I talk a lot about Frank Turner, but seriously, go listen to his music!)

Fiery Foods Fest 2014

Remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Also check out our Pilot episode in 2D and 3D on YouTube.

We returned to the North Market Fiery Foods Festival this past weekend. This marked our second time there (see previous Fiery Foods Festival post for reviews on beers from Elevator and mead from Brothers Drake). The Wargos and our family decided to tag team the event again. We picked up 3 hot sauces, a hot pepper jam, and talked with Ed Currie, the mad scientist who created the current world's hottest pepper (Carolina Reaper).

After having some gut wrenching, painfully hot pepper and cheese pizza, we decided to mellow out with some good beers.

Seventh Son
Humulus Nimbus Pale Ale

Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of this. The mind was not working with a gut full of pain. We picked this up at the festival (they were the only brewery who was in attendance, for some reason). They had two selections, a brown ale and a pale ale. I figured, having a stomach full of intense pain, a pale ale would be easier to drink and more soothing. Mind you, sometime soon, we'll have to redo this review, as at this moment, my senses were askew, due to the heavy onslaught of habanero, ghost, scorpion, and other hot peppers. [Side note: Nathan entered the hot pizza challenge, which entailed eating an entire pizza that was made of crust, cheese, and really hot peppers, such as bhut jolokia, Trinidad scorpion, and possibly Carolina Reaper. He made it through 4 pieces before he tapped out. To be fair, Jennie had two bites of this vile concoction and was sidelined for two days.] This poured a nice golden, amber color with decent amount of white head. A faint aroma (again, possibly because of the flogging my senses recently lived through) of hops and caramel. This was smooth drinking (and helped sooth the beast that was wreaking havoc on my previously iron stomach). Hop heavy, being grapefruit and tropical flavors with a nice caramel backing that blended perfectly, not too hoppy, not too malty.  Medium body, with a light lingering of hops on the backend. A slightly sticky finish that didn't linger. We're definitely interested in trying more of their brews (especially as they're local. And trust us, try the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, their American Strong Ale. That deserves some love from Hopsus).

Suggested Pairings:
Music: White Stripes, "Ball and a Biscuit"
Cheese: Monterey Jack. Just not pepper. Please, dear cheese gods, no peppers required after that hellacious pizza experience. Crackers, minimal cheese, and copious peppers do not equal pizza. Please find Mikey's Late Night Slice for their ghost pizza challenge next year.
Food: Shrimp California Roll. Eat the pickled ginger. Trust us on this, especially if it's at the Fiery Foods Fest.

4.2/5 caps

After we finished our Annual Assault of Capsicum, we decided to head over to Barley's Ale House (across the parking lot from North Market) for a beer. Well, as is tradition between the Wargos and our family, one pint turns into more.

Barley's Ale House
Bourbon Meyer Buckeye Stout

(Barley's Bourbon Meyer- Photo by Nathan Shadley)

 Angelo is a God among men for concocting this beer (well, this and Beastie Boysenberry.... but that's another post that has not been written). As we walked in, he happened to notice us as he was filling a pint and we were waiting to be seated. He asked if we had tried this yet; well, needless to say it ended up being our first beer there.

So, Jennie had a conversation on Facebook awhile back (that she doesn't fully recall) whence it forthcame. It seemed to be early fall, and several people had chimed in about peanut butter porters and stouts. Two homebrewers and a professional brewer professed to brew their own idea of what this should entail on their next brew venture. One ended up being Jennie's Birthday Brew, a peanut butter porter. The other that we've seen come out of this ended up as Bourbon Meyer Stout.

This poured a deep, rich, opaque brown with a small amount of creamed coffee head. The aroma was fantastic! Peanut butter-heavy with some oak, vanilla and bourbon notes lending a welcoming addition. Mike and Trish wanted to drown in the aroma (our words, not theirs, but theirs were quite similar... Mike actually did take forever to smell his portion and waited to actually drink it for a long time, which, if you know Mike, is rather unlike him. Trish waited even longer. Peanut, at our side, just complained about how Jennie had overly hopped the porter for her Birthday Brew, even though he only has tasted -- and will taste -- the wort). The flavor is almost like the aroma. Peanut butter-heavy, with gentle flavors of cocoa, wood and bourbon. This isn't overly boozy, which we find rare with barrel-aged brews. This drinks smooth with very light carbonation. A nice dry, woody finish tops this off to make something all other barrel aged stouts should be judged against.

Suggested Pairings:
Music: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"
Cheese: An entire cheese plate, replete with grapes and strawberries to recollect your favorite PB&J
Food: Sauerkraut balls from Barley's Ale House #1

5/5 Caps

We decided to stick around for another one, and the Wargos ordered the Christmas ale.

Barley's Ale House
Christmas Ale

(Barley's Christmas Ale- Photo by Nathan Shadley)

It's February. It's cold. We've hit a record number of snow in Central Ohio (as of the 15th, it's the 4th snowiest Winter on record with 45.8 inches so far, 5 inches behind the #3 spot, which was 1909-1910). With that being said, it's still a good time for a Winter Warmer style. Me (Nathan) personally, I'm not a huge fan of the WW style; it's too overdone nowadays. But regardless, when a beer is placed in front of me, I will not complain.

This poured a deep garnet color with a small amount of white head. The aroma on this is deep and complex. Malt-heavy with the typical WW spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, being the most common) lending a nice addition, but not overwhelming. The flavor is similar to the aroma, being malt-driven with hints of the spices. The spices don't try and overwhelm this (a problem I have with most Winter Warmers), which was pleasant. This is one of the best Christmas Ale/Winter Warmer styles I've had.

Suggested Pairings:
Music: Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite"
Cheese: Butterkasse
Food: Ham with pineapple. Or a turducken. Because why the fuck not?!

4.6/5 Caps

As we were leaving, we decided to pick up a growler for later on in the evening. I tried the Aphrodite, but thought it would be too much clove for Jennie's liking (I love clove; Jennie's not a big fan). I decided to go with a classic.

Barley's Ale House
Centennial IPA

(Barley's Centennial IPA in Growler- Photo by Jennie Koeper)

We took this growler of Centennial IPA back to the Wargos where we had dinner (pretzel burgers and a salad). The stomachs were still reeling from the atrocious pizza from earlier, so we decided to tame the lion, so-to-speak, with some more good beer. Good people drink good beer, eh, Hunter?

This poured a gorgeous copper color with decent amount of white head. The plastic, summertime themed cups we poured this in made me forget that it was bitterly cold outside. Damn deception. An
IPA in a summertime cup is a warm feeling.... Damn this winter. Hopsus, we supplicate you to please --PLEASE!!!!!!! -- save us and bring us into Spring, with new life forming and the bitter cold fading away. Regardless, I seem to be getting sidetracked. The aroma on this was nice earthy and citrus tones with a very dank note. The flavor is fantastic. Caramel and biscuit malts lend themselves perfectly to the herbal, earthy and citrus notes from the hops. We're familiar with the Centennial hop strain, but the hop characteristics being so complex must be from the blend of Williamette and Fuggle being in there as well. This is fantastic. This is smooth drinking with decent carbonation (even after 5 hours in the growler). This has a nice balance to it that leaves the tongue longing for more. There is a slight resiny feel to the finish. According to Barley's website, this is 7.6% ABV with 71 IBU.

Suggested Pairings:
Music: The Damned Things, "We've Got A Situation Here"
Cheese: Wisconsin sharp Cheddar, as long as they're not beating the Buckeyes in [insert sport here]
Food: The beer cheese dip with pitas, available at Barley's Ale House #1

4.8/5 Caps