Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA- Variety 291

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We now return you to your regularly schedule beer reviews. Yes, we've been bad on the reviews as of late, but life happens. Don't worry, loyal readers, we haven't given up drinking. I think I'd rather cut off both big toes than give up beer.

We ran into this at one of our favorite beer stores and became intrigued. Yakima #291 hops used. WHA?? It doesn't have a name yet? Ok, let's try it.

Sierra Nevada has a history of making good IPAs, so let's see how this rates up with them. So what little I can find about Yakima #291 is that it's the love child of 4 years of cross breeding a multitude of different varieties of the reason I wake up. So let's give it a go.

This poured a straw color with a fluffy white head that lingered. The head has dissipated as I've done the research (aka, putting links up and queued music up). The aroma on this is interesting. Faint citrus, berries, earthiness and spice. Huh. First sip is pleasant. Nice faint citrus blast with hints of blackberries fading in before giving way to a green tea-esque flavor and mouth feel. Slightly bitter at first which fades into a harmonious marriage of awesome that dances on the taste buds, bringing you closer to where you want to take your taste buds dancing. Not really what I would consider an IPA, as it's not hoppy enough, in my opinion to be classified as such. More like an awesome Pale Ale.  This drinks smooth with a nice slightly stickiness to it, from the hop oils, but not stripping the enamel off the teeth.

4.6/5 caps

-Nathan-

Not gonna lie, I'm so intrigued by the aroma on this I'm just going to cut to the chase. While Nathan wrote his portion, I somehow still have some fluffy head sitting atop my beer glass. I suppose that's not too surprising, considering this weighs in at a moderate 6.5% ABV.

I am seeing more medium golden amber or orange than straw on this. The head is fluffy and white, and I'll give Sierra Nevada massive props for the head retention on this. I think Nathan nailed the aroma, so I'm ready to swan dive into this. I am picking up caramel and orange up front that quickly fades into a grassy note, which then dries out to a bit of spice and black peppercorn note. The berry notes are noticeable on the back end of this, mostly blueberry and yes, even some blackberry. This is good. It's not going to strip the enamels off your teeth, but it's going to cut through any random flavors remaining in your mouth.

One thing I find intriguing is that IBUs don't always indicate the bitterness of the beer; that's ideally what the definition of IBU calculations are, but when a brewer balances out the beer with sweeter malt characteristics and yet manages to stay within the style guidelines, not all IPAs are going to be enamel-stripping. Contrarily, that's also the beauty of brewing: you can also take many liberties within each style and scoff at the stuffy people who make up the guidelines.

This is the first of five beers in the Harvest series from Sierra Nevada due out this year. They are going to feature the single hop (this beer), a fresh hop, a wet hop, and a wild hop, as well. Apparently they're going to double up on one of the hop methods, because I only count four different ones... ah, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, right? That being said, I'm very much looking forward to each of them. As a hophead and a homebrewer, I enjoy experimenting with hop methods. I've really enjoyed the single hop series we've had from various brewers (we have at least one more in our stash to review to you), as I thoroughly enjoy a solid showcase of each variety.

4.75/5 caps

-Jennie

Music pairing: The Twilight Singers, Blackberry Belle (yes, the entire album)
Cheese pairing: Double Gloucester
Food pairing: Homemade blueberry pie or blackberry cobbler

Founders KBS

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Here we are on National Beer Day, with over 2 cases of beer stashed to review just for you. Honestly, it's been more of a Monday today than I care to even discuss (it's amazing sometimes just how brashly ADHD and dementia can clash), so I'm in the mood for some nice, strong beer. I didn't figure we'd sit on this particular selection for too long. Last week was an epic chase for the mythical beer that is Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. I get it... it's one of the top-rated stouts, nay beers, in the country, and we live in this strange microcosm of the craft beer world that is Columbus, which has given rise to Hopslamgate and other such nefarious and questionable business and trading practices. Last week could be summed up by being also called The Chase for KBS. It was released, 1 to 2 cases to each establishment, throughout the city, to those establishments who purchased the required minimum of their regular Breakfast Stout. Most places sold out in 20 or so minutes of their entire stash. I was #25 in line for a place that had 24 bottles to be had. They sold out before they even were supposed to begin selling it. This town is crazy for limited release craft beer, but that's an entire other blog post. Regardless, we have befriended a couple of retail establishments with honest and fair business practices, and we were handsomely rewarded.

Enough rambling. On with the beer. I have a badge on Untappd to unlock. Priorities, Jen! This pours a rich, opaque black with a finger or so of coffee-colored head. There is better head retention than I expected from an 11.2% ABV behemoth, and it is leaving a gorgeous, tight lacing on my glass (mine would be the snifter with a long stem). The aroma on this makes me wish I had saved it for next week, when Peanut is on spring break and I'll need a good, strong morning brew. It's predominantly coffee with notes of vanilla, chocolate, an almost nutty tone, and definite booze. Taking a sip, I immediately understand why there is so much hype surrounding this beer. It's smoother than a baby's backside. There is a blast of coffee and chocolate and roasted malty goodness up front, which quickly gives way to a soft vanilla note (and not that fake tastes-like-I-just-ate-a-candle vanilla). It fades to a faint bourbon note from the barrel aging (hence the Kentucky in the name), and the finish is all booze. Crap. This is fantastic. Easily one of the best stouts I've ever had. And I drank a LOT of their regular Breakfast Stout over the weekend. It's also velvet smooth from the oatmeal, and just silky fantastic in the mouth, with just enough stickiness. I never thought I'd say this, but it's worth $7 for a 12-ounce bottle.

I was just telling Nathan earlier that it was quickly turning into a whiskey kind of night. Scratch that... the KBS filled that void.

5/5 caps

-Jennie

In the brink of seeking out of this mythical beer, we came to the realization that we obtained 3 bottles somehow. The 3rd one is being added to the beginning of our beer cellar. Not trying to brag, more of befriend us in real life and we might share when it ages. How else does one start a beer cellar than with a hugely hyped, unobtainable brew?

But I digress as I continue on my portion of the review. Mine has had time to warm up as my Partner-In-Zymurgy took lead. She needed to zone out with good beer and good music. I, being the man I am, can show extreme patience. I mean, my 9-5 job is problem solving/baby sitting adults in a factory, so I need to show patience. And speaking of factory, I need to speed up the process on this review factory and get to the beer. Damn my wandering mind.

As I turn up the music of a local musician (Scott Gorsuch), I slouch back in the chair and admire the look of this. Jet black with a small amount of creamed coffee-colored head. The head is lingering around despite it being poured roughly an hour ago. The aroma is bourbon heavy, sweetness from the malt, and notes of vanilla and chocolate popping in to lend themselves to this dreamy concoction. Now for the part I've been longing for all day, the taste.... How do I describe this using actual words and not grunts and drooling? There's a rich chocolate taste up front with a strong kick of bourbon  following that. Shortly after, a nice vanilla bean flavor jumps in to tame out the bourbon and rides smoothly until the end. There's some sweetness to this, but not overly sweet, nor cloying. Definitely a sipping beer. This 11.2% drinks smooth with a slightly sticky, yet dry finish, like a good wine. With each sip, the flavor develops to more of a blending of flavors. The tongue is telling me to hold onto this tight, while gripping a knife in my other hand, in case of marauders trying to take on sip of this drink of kings. I haven't heard of reports of Hessian soldiers or other various bandits here as of late in the neighborhood, but I can't be off my guard for a minute. No, not on my watch.

5/5 caps

-Nathan-

Cheese pairing: Artisinal farmer's cheese
Food pairing: Red velvet cheesecake
Music pairing:  Alice In Chains "Jar of Flies" (yes, the entire album) or support local musicians

Knee Deep Hoptologist

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Well, this has been a less-than-stellar winter so far, with me being too sick to review much good ole craft beer. Seriously, Mother Nature, wake the fuck up. We're ten days into spring and have now just had two good days. Sigh. That's not to say that we haven't been picking up and stashing a ton for later reviews, it's just that I've been too congested to really get a feel for the nuances of many beers. That is not to say that I've merely been drinking swill; nay, we've had plenty of good stuff recently.

So, remember how much we love love love Knee Deep Brewing??? Yeah, we almost forgot, too, until their brews hit the market again recently. They recently quintupled their production capacity, so now we can get more of their yummy brews. We attended a Knee Deep tasting recently, and discovered this as well as a couple of other treasures from this wonderful brewery. We chatted with the distributing rep for awhile and we learned that somewhere, somehow, this particular brew was rated better than Pliny the Elder in a blind side-by-side taste test. Hmmmm. This certainly piqued my interest. Let's see how it stacks up to some beers we can readily get here in Ohio.

It pours a deep golden color with a fluffy, light toffee-colored head. The aroma is grapefruit, malty sweetness, oranges, with a note of orange peel toward the back. Oh, and there's a hint of booze in the aroma. Yeah. Taking a sip, my taste buds are confronted by earthy flavors up front which yield quickly to bright citrus fruit flavors, which then fade out to pine needles toward the back end. There's a blast of grapefruit toward the middle and it sticks throughout the finish. There's a hit of caramel toward the middle from the extra malts that give this the oomph to be considered a Double IPA. Candidly, I recall this being much better and hoppier at the tasting than it is now. Don't get me wrong: it's a solid, tasty, delicious brew. It's well-balanced, let's say. It's just not quite as hoppy as I remember, and being the unabashed hop lover I am, I want the hops to come through just a tinge more than they do in this. The mouthfeel on this is just solid; that it's a well-balanced beer really comes through at every sip.

4.75/5 caps

-Jennie
 
Ah, Knee Deep. Many memories have been spent with your Hop Shortage, Simtra, and McCarthy's Bane. We've missed your distribution here in Ohio, but understand your need to expand. Apparently, since our last review of them (where we had a Knee Deep drought), they expanded to 4x their size, have a tap room and plan to expand to 16 states (instead of the previous 5). Good things are worth the wait. I emailed them recently to compliment them on their selections and to find out the background of their name. I was thinking it was drawn inspiration from the Funkadelic song "(Not Just) Knee Deep". Apparently I was far off. CEO Jerry Moore replied with "The short version of the answer is that "Knee Deep" refers to the depth of the snow one night in Reno when our Brewmaster was doing an 'all night' brew session."

As Jennie mentioned, we recently went to a tasting, and that's where we first tasted this 9%, 102 IBU behemoth. Talking with the distributor, who has a few bottles of Pliny at home, I asked him his personal preference between the two. He said they're both fantastic beers, but couldn't pick one. Fair enough. As someone who has never tasted Pliny (if you would like to send us a bottle to review, contact us), I have to take the word of mouth from others on this matter. Speaking of matter, I believe I'm supposed to review this.

This is a deep golden, almost amber color with some light head still sticking around. As this has had time to warm up, I'm catching grapefruit and citrus heavy on the nose with hints of sweetness from the malts. According to Knee Deep's website, this contains Cascade, Citra, Columbus, Magnum and Hersbrucker hops. The "C" hops come out heavy in the nose at this point. The first sip of this near room temp IPA is fantastic. Sweetness blending with citrus, tropical and grapefruit notes make the front fantastic. The middle is sweeter with the malt flavors (biscuit and caramel flavors). The finish is dry with a nice pine and grapefruit flavor to it. This drinks like a good IPA should, medium mouthfeel with decent carbonation, and a nice resiny stickiness that lingers.

Oh yes, Knee Deep, welcome back to our fridge.

4.9/5 caps

-Nathan-

Music Pairing: Funkadelic "(Not Just) Knee Deep" (I don't care about the real answer, this will always play in my head when I see your name)
Food Pairing: BBQ Pork
Cheese Pairing: Vermont Extra Sharp White Cheddar

Stone Brewing Company Stochasticity Grapefruit Slam IPA

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Clearly, I'm still in search of a great grapefruit IPA. I'm under the delusion that a) I'll be able to taste the grapefruit and the beer in general, and b) the vitamin C in the citrus plus the alcohol will be able to kill this ickiness that has taken over my body for nearly two weeks. This one is brought to us from Stone, and seems to be the first in a series of brews from them. This is a double IPA brewed with grapefruit peel. I'm definitely intrigued.

Aside from the wonderful bottle, which evokes Cold War-era high technology, this pours a medium amber with a fluffy eggshell-colored head that doesn't stick around too long. The aroma on this is interesting. It's not overly strong, yet there's a faint tinge of noticeable grapefruit, along with some freshly mowed grass and hay. I am not noticing any malt presence in the aroma, other than it smells slightly sweet. Taking a sip, it starts out with caramel and brown sugar from the malts, which then quickly fades into the bitterness of grapefruit peels. The finish on this is a bitter, dry bite. I wish they had used more zest than pith, which is where I think the bitterness is coming from, but it's also nicely cutting through the glue that is my throat right now. It's not overly grapefruit, but the grapefruit is definitely noticed, especially toward the back side. I'm not sure if there are more subtle notes that I'm missing; I'll let Nathan fill in any blanks.

Candidly, I kind of want to use this in a Netti pot. This is a good example of a grapefruit IPA. Stone, as usual, has yet to disappoint.

4.3/5 caps -- only because I wish I could get a full feel for this.

-Jennie

After letting this warm up, while she-with-lady-parts took lead on this review, the color remains the same (as it should) and there is still a bit of eggshell head struggling to hold on for dear life.  The aroma at this point is earthy, piney and grapefruit, as I'd expect from Stone. The flavor is interesting. It's a long interesting journey from start to finish. Biscuit malt at first, leading almost instantly into a brown sugar flavor while the hop flavors start making their presence known. There is some piney that leads into some grapefruit almost instantaneously. The grapefruit builds and builds to a nice bitterness while the oils start overtaking and giving a pleasant puckering to the mouth. At times there are hints of floral notes that pop in, but don't stick around long. The finish on this is nice and dry with a strong bitter bite (like Jennie said). There's a nice puckering oily finish that washes over everything on the backend.

Not my favorite beer by Stone (read: Dayman or Enjoy By), but damn good. A bitch to spell, a pleasure to drink. When your pint glass is done, your mouth will feel like you just ate a grapefruit (or drank a pint of grapefruit juice). Fantastic for those who love grapefruit.

And for those who are wondering, Webster's dictionary defines Stochastic as:

1

:  random; specifically :  involving a random variable <a stochastic process>

2

:  involving chance or probability :  probabilistic <a stochastic model of radiation-induced mutation>

So, randomly, this beer works. Thanks again to our friends at Wine and Brew for carrying this and for being stellar people in general.

4.5/5 caps

-Nathan- 

Music Pairing: Bullets and Octane "Pirates"

Cheese Pairing: Kerry Gold Irish Cheddar

Food Pairing: Reuben Poutine (yeah, that happened)

Abita Grapefruit Harvest IPA

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Firstly, we would like to apologize to our loyal fans that we've been inactive for a while. There's been some sort of sickness that we're just now getting over, killing our sinuses and taste buds for too damn long.

I've personally been longing to taste good beer again, not being able to taste made Two Brother's Outlaw IPA (upcoming review) taste like water, or even worse, Natty Light. Ick.  Regardless, my senses are back to almost full, so onto the review.

I've been intrigued by this since I first saw it in an email from Premium Beverage Supply (yes, I get email updates on upcoming releases of beer because I'm awesome like that). I love grapefruit, I love IPA, the combo has entered my mind many times when we've thought about that to homebrew.

This pours a nice golden color with decent carbonation and a white head that doesn't stick around very long. The aroma on this is a nice lighter crystal malt-like essence that is lending itself to the citrus/grapefruit that is prominent. I love this aroma. The flavor, however, falls short. This is not so much an IPA. There are some light earthy and piney tones up front that drop out of the flavor profile in about 2 seconds. After that, there is a watery blast that washes away the palate. The backend has a tinge of faint bitterness (that without hardcore analyzing, would be missed). This isn't bad, more like a lawnmower beer, but it's more like grapefruit flavored sparkling water. Definitely not an IPA. the 6% isn't noticed in this light-bodied brew. Smooth drinking with a light grapefruit juice finish sort of stickiness. Today's a good day to drink this (as it was 65 degrees in central Ohio, with a high of around 28 tomorrow), but would be better on a hot summer day.

3.0/5 caps- just due to such a light flavor

-Nathan-

I'm still sick, but after nearly two weeks of dulled senses, I'm wanting to get some extra vitamin C in my system, hence the grapefruit beers. Besides, I miss drinking craft beer. Well, I suppose our go-to cheap beer (Burger) could be considered craft, as it's made in small-ish batches here in Ohio, but nevertheless, I want something with taste. Phlegm be damned, I'm drinking anyway, so if I miss some tasting notes in this, I apologize.

Nathan nailed the appearance. I don't pick up as much crystal malts as well as I pick up citrus and grapefruit with some light cracker-y notes from the malts in the nose. The aroma is lovely, quite lovely, even through the clogged-ness that is my nose tonight. As I take a sip, I'm sadly disappointed. I could hope it was my dulled senses, but after Nathan's review, I am thinking I'm not that far off. It's weird, but I feel the grapefruit more than I taste it, if that makes any sense at all. I get some cracker, an almost metallic note, the grapefruit feeling, and then a dry finish. It's rather sweet in the middle. On the deep back end of this (read: as I'm belching it back, one of my favorite parts of the tasting -- yes, I'm weird and uncouth like that), there is noticeable grapefruit, but it's almost like it's too little, too late.

I'm a little saddened. If you're going to go with an Abita beer, their Purple Haze is pretty fantastic.

3.4/5 caps

-Jennie 

Cheese pairing: Colby-Jack
Food pairing: Key Lime cheesecake
Music pairing: Pharell, "Happy"

Fiery Foods Fest 2014

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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

Stout Night

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On January 23rd, we went to a event at World of Beer. This event had an epic beer selection. We took notes on our Untappd application.

Beer # 1
Bell's Black Note Stout

(picture of Bell's Black Note Stout- Photo by Nathan Shadley)
 
Oh, Bell's Black Note Stout. We've hunted for you for about a year. You are an elusive one. Finally we were able to catch you and enjoy your bliss. A barrel aged behemoth that is sought out by many, your 11.8% ABV was well noticed.

This was available on tap. The pour was pitch black with small amount of light caramel head. The aroma on this was fantastic. A lot of roasted, some chocolate, and some bourbon notes come through with the initial sniff. The taste is not disappointing. Roasted, molasses, brown sugar and chocolate toward the foreground, with some bourbon, oak and vanilla flavors coming through toward the back. This was thick and syrupy with decent carbonation, smooth sipping beer with some alcohol bite and bitterness on the backend. This makes up for the parking meter outside eating an extra quarter.

Suggested pairings:
Music: Miles Davis, "Bitches Brew"
Cheese: Parmiggiano-Reggiano
Food: Creme brulee

5/5 Caps

(side by side Bell's Black Note Stout- Photo by Jennie Koeper)


Beer # 2
Bell's Hopslam (draft)

(Bell's Hopslam in foreground, Flying Dog Kujo in background- Photo by Jennie Koeper)

We've previously reviewed Hopslam, and rightfully so as it's Jennie's favorite beer. We had the opportunity to have this on draft, and of course, we took advantage of this. The aroma is citrus (possibly Citra) hop heavy with hints of honey and pine. A lot heavier, fresher flavor on draft than in a bottle. The appearance is about the same (only different being this was in the proper glass for this). The flavor is much better on draft as well. A fresh blast of pine, followed by an onslaught of citrus. This finishes bitter and more resiny (as opposed to honey) than the bottle.

The residual staling of hops on my tongue...
The warmth of alcohol coursing through my veins.
-Ode To Hopslam, Jennie, 1/15/2012





Suggested pairings:
Music: The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"
Cheese: Vermont white cheddar
Food: Baklava

5/5 Caps

(Flying Dog Kujo and Bell's Hopslam- Photo by Nathan Shadley)

Beer # 3
Flying Dog Kujo

 (Flying Dog Kujo- Photo by Nathan Shadley)

Oh... Ho ho ho... This beer... Oh, yes, this beer. This saddens me that it's been so few and far between that I can obtain this. I personally love this beer, possibly my favorite beer of all time. We had this first in January of 2012. After that, we couldn't find any until May 2012 (while healing from my broken foot, Jennie found some old stock). We were hoping for a release last year that we could review, but unfortunately, it never made it to Ohio. I've been longing to have this sweet bliss bless my mouth again, and on this fateful night, it happened (actually, this and Black Note are the reasons we made sure we attended this).

This was the first time having this on tap. This poured black as coal with a light caramel lacing on along the edge of the glass. The nose was very faint, but upon deep sniffs, nothing but a good coffee. The flavor on this is roasted malts and coffee. Heavy on the coffee. Mmm, coffee. Jennie picked up heavy vanilla toward the back that I didn't. For being 8.9 % ABV, this is smooth drinking, with decent carbonation and a slightly sticky (sweet-like) mouthfeel. I find this interesting that this beer has less reviews on both BeerAdvocate and RateBeer than Black Note. Does this mean this is a harder to find beer? Regardless, I personally would bathe in this daily if it were readily available.

Suggested pairings:
Music: Mad Season, "Long Gone Day"
Cheese: Double Gloucester
Food: Belgian waffles or pain au chocolat

5/5 Caps

Beer # 4
Weasel Boy Barrel-Aged Anastasia 

(Weasel Boy B.A. Anastasia- Photo by Jennie Koeper)

This has been building a lot of hype around Central Ohio. Weasel Boy is out of Zanesville (30-40 minute drive from Columbus) and has had limited distribution here. The first time we saw this was at Kenny Road Market, which was priced at $50 for a pre-filled  growler. Ouch. The regular Anastasia was a Bronze medal winner in 2010 and Gold medal winner in 2012 at GABF, so we had to try this. At 10% ABV, Jennie decided to have this alone (as someone had to drive) with a couple sips from me.

Black as coal pour, decent carbonation with an off white head that was noticeable and lingering. At this point, the notes we were taking became 'humorous,' more or less, as we were feeling the previous heavy-test brews. What I can make from our notes is this had a flavor of chocolate that blended into an intense coffee flavor with some oak, bourbon and vanilla toward the backend.  This drank smooth as velvet with a slight tickle of the throat from the carbonation. The ABV was not really noticed while drinking this (unlike the Black Note Stout). "Totes Ma Goats Amazeballs" in the notes a few different times...

Suggested Pairings:
Music: Tchaikovsky, "Swan Lake". Yes, the entire opera.
Cheese: Baby Swiss from Amish country
Food: Georgian shashlik, a kebab from the Caspian Sea region

5/5 Caps



Beer #5
Bell's Smitten Golden Rye Ale

(Bell's Smitten- Photo by Nathan Shadley)


We rounded out the night with a good old standard, Bell's Smitten. This was poured from the bottle into a pint glass. We've previously reviewed this, so for our review, please click the link to it.

(Bell's Smitten- Photo by Jennie Koeper)