Proof of Organic Concept

A few days ago I lost one, but today I came out a winner. How might you ask? Well, I took down a Sierra Nevada Estate Ale today while watching the Giants game. Double win. I had been looking for this beer for a while. It is listed as a special release on the Sierra website, but I had never seen it around here until the other day. There was one lone bottle sitting on the shelf at Joe Canals and I snatched that bad boy up. This beer is an IPA in the same vein as their other fresh hop harvest ales, only it is certified organic and the hops and barley come from Sierra Nevada's on fields located on their property in Chico CA. It pours a dark amber with a nice white foamy head. It has a citrusy, floral aroma. Flavor is citrus, pine, and hops. There is a malt backbone to it and overall it is very well balanced. A good find to say the least. I have to say, this is the best organic beer I have ever had. For whatever reason, organic beers tend to fall short of the mark for me. Often they are well brewed but lack real character or depth. I'm not sure why that is. The few exceptions that I have had before trying this beer were Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout and a few beers that I had from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Co over the summer. This is a somewhat interesting conundrum coming from an employee of a certified organic grocery store. Leave it to Sierra to really push organic beer in to the realm of legitimate craft brews.

On another tip, has anyone else noticed that beers within a craft brewers catalog end up tasting very similar and in some cases the same? I love Sierra Nevada. They make many of my all time favorite beers. However, a lot of there IPA's and pale ales, tend to taste similar and sometimes the same. For instance, if you put the Northern Hemisphere Harvest ale next to the Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale next to the Anniversary Ale next to this beer, I would have a hard time telling them apart. They even taste similar to the new brown ale they came out with this fall. I'm not really complaining, I'm just bringing up the point. The same can be said for Rogue and Anchor Brewing Co. Probably a bunch more craft brewers. Why is this. Could it be repetitive ingredients (yeast in particular), could it be technique or equipment, maybe the brewer him/herself. I don't know. Just throwing spaghetti here. Anyway, check out the Estate ale if you can get your hands on it. It has a waxed top which is pretty cool. The bottle looks cool. It is 6.7% and delicious. Later and cheers.

Black to the Future

I haven't done a beer spotlight in a while. Actually haven't done a post in a while. Blame the holidays for that. One day off in the last two weeks. Anyway, there is a new beer style out there that has become a bit of a fad. I'm speaking of Black IPA's. Also known as Cascadian Dark Ales or India Black Ales, these beers are dark in color but deceive a bit because their focus is more on hop flavors and aromas. According to the Brewers Association there should be some caramel malt flavor as well as a moderate amount of dark roasted flavors, however the focus should be hops. Burnt flavors should be absent. A few years ago Stone released their 11th anniversary black IPA. This thing was so bangin. It was chock full of citrus hop flavors and aromas with a nice complimentary caramel malt backbone and dry hoppy finish. Superb. They re-released this one off as Sublimely Self Righteous Ale which is now in regular release. Check that shit out.

So, when I picked up 21st Amendment's Back in Black, I was expecting something in the same vein. I was sadly let down. When I saw the smart package in the beer store, I was instantly intrigued. My expectations were high. The beer is part of the new wave of canned craft brews that has been gaining popularity in recent years. According to the packaging this beer is inspired by Paul Revere's midnight ride and is brewed with rich dark malts. It clocks in at 6.8% abv. The beer pours black with a substantially tan head that leaves a nice lacing behind. Aroma is sweet malt and some light citrus hop aromas. I expected a lot more hop in that aroma. The flavor of this beer is interesting, but not in a good way. There are some roasted flavors up front, but they are subdued. There is a moderate hop bitterness but the hops stop there. There is a lingering malty sweetness that seems really out of place in an IPA. All this is set against a really light body that kinda feels like a mind game. You'd expect this beer to be thick and heavy from the look of it, but it is quite thin. The sweetness of the malt really messes things up here. It doesn't taste focused at all, and frankly the flavors are kinda weak. All in all, this beer is just out of whack. It seems like they made the beer just to be one of the first companies to have a black IPA as a regular release. I would suggest that they retool their recipe and try to get some more IPA hopiness up in this piece. Some cascade in the hopback definitely wouldn't hurt this brew. In any event the focus of this style should be hops first and foremost with roasted and sweet malt as a counterpoint that also gives the beer a nice smooth body. Here you just get a sweet, slightly bitter beer that lacks body. There's a bunch more new Black IPA's out there. If you find a good one, let me know.

On being a hophead

Lately I have been making a concerted effort to not just drink pale ales and IPA's. I definitely dig on many beer styles and I have a desire to expand my pallet, but if I'm not paying attention I will fall back on old habits. Like today. I was off from work and kinda bored. I got in the car with the intention of driving to Target to buy a new toothbrush. Somehow I ended up at a beer store in Westfield that has a pretty good selection. I meandered around for a couple minutes checking out what they had to offer. I picked up one bottle, picked up another, looked around some more. Before I realized it I had nearly $50 worth of brew at the checkout counter, all of which were IPA's, but one. I'm not complaining because I got some good stuff (Celebration Ale, Sierra Southern Hemi, Ballast Point IPA). Sometimes, though, I have to force myself to buy other styles, even if I know I will like it. Like, I have no idea when the last time it was that I bought a stout at the beer store. I just love those hops. The way they taste, the way they smell, even the way they look (fresh). So I'm asking my readers (the six friends i have that pay attention to this thing) to suggest non-pale ales for me to try over the next month. I have an IPA in primary fermentation right now that will be ready in about a month, so I'll be back on them lupulins by then. Help me mix it up in the mean time.

What I'm drinking: Various IPA's
What I'm listening to: Celph Titled