Beer of the Week: Populuxe Coffee Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Coffee and beer are a great combination of flavors, especially when you take an astoundingly good coffee, say from Seattle’s Slate Coffee Roasters and combine it with a stellar beer, say the stout from Populuxe Brewing. When done right, coffee and beer have an incredible depth of flavor that can either enhance each other or provide wonderful contrasts, depending on how it is done. Populuxe did a special batch of their stout blended with coffee from Slate Coffee Roasters to celebrate the winter solstice.

The beer pours jet black in color with a light brown head and shows strong notes of coffee, chocolate, roasted malt and hints of caramel and toffee on the nose. The initial sip of the beer yields a really strong coffee; not roasted coffee grounds but rather sweet espresso with cappuccino type notes as the beer warms up. The flavors deepen as the beer progresses with significant coffee notes, strong roast coffee, chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, finishing slightly bitter with that lingering espresso, almost burnt (mild and pleasant) aftertaste mixed in with dark chocolate and toffee. The alcohol is subtle and the coffee flavors dominate the beer in a very pleasant way, building upon each other each. This one of the better coffee beers I’ve had, the flavors blend better and mellow as the beer warms. You can really taste the style as the beer warms on top of all the coffee flavors, yielding great balance. Not a huge amount of bitterness feels like drinking a really good cup of coffee rather than shot of espresso.

Populuxe Coffee Stout orders 5 non-fat skinny soy mocha lattes with whip out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Alameda My Bloody Valentine

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Alameda Brewing is a long-time fixture on the Portland beer scene but only available in bottles in the Seattle market in the last couple of years. Seeing as I am a sucker for anything blood orange, My Bloody Valentine caught my eye in a trip to Chuck’s. After much debate, I decided that my love of saison and blood orange overrode the $17.59 price tag on the 22 oz. bottle.

From the Alameda website:

This farmhouse style Saison is dry, citric, tart, spritzy, and incredibly drinkable. The orange essence comes from the use of dried orange peels and blood orange juice. 21 IBU, 5.5% ABV.

The beer is surprisingly dark for a saison, almost tan in color with a cream colored head. Notes of Belgian yeast, blood orange, grains of paradise, lemon and grain dominate the nose with just a hint of noticeable hops. The beer starts off with significant farmhouse character – slightly sweet and funky with just a few grassy notes and touches of lemon interspersed, followed by a nice grain middle and a slightly bitter hop bite before finishing with notes of blood orange and light citrus and grassy notes in a long finish with a mild lingering bitterness. The blood orange becomes more pronounced as the beer warms, especially on the finish, replacing some of the bitterness at the end with a touch of sweetness.

This beer was very good and I would recommend it if it wasn’t for one thing – the price. It is an excellent saison and definitely had great character and balance, but the price tags is a bit off putting – unless you really love saison or really want to try this beer, you probably aren’t going to spend $17 for it, which causes it to lose a point in the ranking.

That being said, Alameda My Bloody Valentine comes in and shoots up the joint with a bullet ridden 3 Tommy Guns out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Anniversary Session Pale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Reuben’s Brews turned 1 in 2013 and to celebrate, they released a few new beers, notably their Anniversary Session Pale. Clocking in at 4.9% ABV and just 25 IBU, it isn’t really a beer that I would normally order, but what the heck, it was new and I will try anything once.

The beer pours hazy pale yellow in color with light grain on the nose and showing hints of citrus. The beer starts out grain forward on the front end before transitioning off to the hops – light citrus and citrus peel that lingers and a pleasant light bitterness, all were surprising considering the IBU on the beer. The beer then finishes long with a delightful yeast finale with hints of bitterness that linger without overpowering. Well balanced and complex despite being easy drinking and smooth, the session pale is a perfect beer to taste hops without blowing out your palate and plenty of other character to make you want to drink a few.

Reuben’s Anniversary Session Pale throws a party and celebrates with 4 papers out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Oakshire O’Dark:30

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Oakshire is a relative newcomer to the Northwest Beer scene, opening in 2006 in Eugene, Oregon. They have been around the Seattle market the last few years, available both on tap and in bottles at better bottle shops and supermarkets. They produce a relatively small, but solid, lineup of beers, with O’Dark:30, a CDA or black IPA, being their spring seasonal. The beers are reasonably priced, coming in at around $6 for a 22 oz. bottle.

From the Oakshire Website:

Dawn has not arrived, but we are awake, brewing this beguiling combination of dark malt and NW hops. Dry hopped with Cascade and Centennial Hops, this beer has a powerful hop aroma and flavor tempered with a sturdy malt backbone.

Style: Cascadian Dark Ale
OG: 15.0 Plato
IBU: 70
ABV: 6.3%

The beer pours jet black with a creamy tan head, it really poured like a Guinness, but that is about the only similarity O’Dark has with the beer from James Gate. Light notes of roasted malt and chocolate appear on the nose with hints of citrus and fruit peel that permeates the nose but doesn’t overpower it. With the first sip, I was surprised by the amount of roast that appears up front coupled with lighter notes of chocolate that fade quickly before moving into the hop profile – slightly fruity with notes of citrus peel and very light bitterness, surprising for a beer with a high IBU and roasted malt profile. The hops linger and fade after close to a minute and the beer leaves you with a very pleasant chocolate and orange peel finish. Incredibly well balanced and layered, this beer has deep complex flavors and a big hop profile without being palate killing or overly bitter.

Oakshire O’Dark:30 clocks in with a solid 4 half-past-the-hours out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Cascadia Shale Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

In 2012, NW Peaks made a dark version of their Eldorado Pale Ale which was outstanding. In 2013, they made a hoppy dark beer called Cascadia Shale Ale. The beer was a bit big at 6.5% ABV and was available on tap at the tasting room.

The beer pours very dark brown in color with a light tan head, showing lots on malt on the nose with hints of chocolate and hops supporting the malt. On the palate, the beer is hop forward; mild bitterness with hints of pleasant and not overpowering citrus followed by malt with hints of chocolate before finally yielding back to hops with more light bitterness and a hint of alcohol and resin on the very end of the beer. I would have liked a slightly smoother finish (the beer did come off as slightly hot) but it was still outstanding and complex with multiple layers of flavor. This was a somewhat malty version of a CDA, perfect for an overcast Northwest evening in the fall.

NW Peaks Cascadia Shale Ale rumbles in with 4 subduction quakes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Epic Ales Desert Rye Farmhouse Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

There are two breweries that drive me nuts because their names are almost identical. There is Epic Brewing out of Utah which makes some fantastic Belgian style beers and there is Epic Ales out of Seattle who tend to do some off the wall farmhouse style beers. I have seen more than one occasion where a tap last has listed the wrong brewery. In the case of the Desert Rye Farmhouse Ale, I originally just wrote Epic on my noted. In going back over them, I realized that I had no idea which Epic it was. After doing a bit of digging, I realized that it was the Seattle Epic that put out this beer. Given that it was a farmhouse beer with rye, I needed to give it a shot.

The beer pours cloudy with the color of peach/apricot jam and has an interesting nose – notes of grain and yeast dominate, supported by light notes of rye and hints of sugar. The beer is really complex on the palate, starting off with heavy rye notes before moving into a grassy farmhouse funk with lots of Belgian yeast and grain helped by very light citrus, finishing with light hops and more funk. The rye lingers thought the entire progression and is a bit harsh at the beginning, but it smooths out by the end of the sip and enhances the other flavors. The farmhouse component becomes more pronounced as the beer warms making for a very different beer by the end of the pint.

This is a beer that is really not for everyone, but is well balanced and complex to the point of being very different than most everything else out there.

Epic Ales Desert Rye Farmhouse Ale comes in out of the field with a heavy load of 4 hay bales out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Gingersnap Amber

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I know I have said this before, but I don’t really like ginger in my beer. Don’t get me wrong, I love ginger, I use it frequently in my cooking, but I feel like it tends to overpower the subtle flavors of beer to the point where it is all you end up tasting. Populuxe put on tap their Gingersnap Amber recently, and I decided that I needed to try it with some reluctance. The beer clocks in at just 5.5% ABV.

The beer pours amber in color with notes of toffee, malt and gingerbread on the nose. Gingersnap drinks heavier than it smells, starting off with a mild yeastiness before moving into light toffee and caramel notes which pleasantly linger for a long time before moving into a delicious cookie like flavor with hints of sugar and very light ginger coupled with light molasses and toffee. The finish is extremely long and pleasant, reminding me of a really nice gingerbread cookie without the crumbs. Well balanced and easy drinking, this beer manages to draw some big flavors into the picture without having to empty the spice rack or overpowering the palate.

Populuxe Gingersnap Amber preps for the holidays with 4 warm cookies out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Unita Sea Legs Baltic Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am always surprised that breweries coming out of Utah are able to make anything resembling good beer, considering the draconian laws they have around alcohol in that state. Breweries like Unita and Epic have really shown that a brewery can both survive and thrive in that environment. Unita does distribute to Seattle and has some pretty good beers, so a trip to Chuck’s where there was one on tap that I had never seen before – Sea Legs Baltic Porter, was a nice surprise.

From the Unita website:

December 18, 2012 SALT LAKE CITY– Uinta Brewing Company introduces the newest addition to their Crooked Line of beers, Sea Legs Baltic Porter. Sea Legs is a limited release, only 1,500 cases were produced.

Complex and drinkable, Sea Legs delivers flavors of roasted malt and chocolate. Sea Legs was aged in Bourbon Barrels for nearly 12 months adding toasted vanilla and bourbon notes to the flavor profile. This Medium-bodied Baltic Porter has a complex malt profile and mild hop bitterness. With a hidden ABV of 8%, Sea Legs is a siren of a beer.

The beer pours jet black with lots of chocolate, licorice and vanilla dominating the nose with roasted barley hiding in the background. The initial sip yields notes of vanilla with hints of roast before moving into a slightly woody/licorice middle and finally finishing with a long chocolate finish with strong notes of licorice. The wood is somewhat unexpected (and wood I mean like pine rather than oak barrel, which is odd since it is aged in bourbon barrels) and the licorice seems slightly out of balance with the other flavors in terms of dominating them, making this somewhat off-putting. It is an interesting beer and might give it another shot, but it definitely wasn’t one that I would run out to try again.

Unita’s Sea Legs Baltic Porter stumbles into port with 2 broken rudders out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Pumpkin Saison

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Reuben’s held out on me this year – they made a second pumpkin beer beyond their flagship pumpkin beer that they did not release until November. This beer was based on a saison, definitely a beer that you don’t see used very often in the pumpkin beer world. They had a very limited quantity of the Pumpkin Saison and it didn’t make it past the weekend that it went on tap, but you know that Iron Chef was there to try it and let you know what you missed.

The beer pours very dark reddish brown in color with notes of roasted pumpkin, pumpkin spice and saison funk on the nose. The beer starts out small with subtle grain notes and a distinctive saison background, then moving into a distinct pumpkin realm with light notes of roast and pumpkin seeds before hitting you with a burst of pumpkin pie spices – cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are distinctly present. The beer finishes long with strong pumpkin pie character a pleasant dryness and just a hint of cinnamon heat. The pumpkin saison manages to bring more to spices to the party than the Pfeiffer’s Pumpkin Rye that Reuben’s also brews, giving a nice counterpunch to that beer. They also took great care in preserving the grassy notes of the saison and not completely overwhelming them with the spices, creating an interesting and balanced beer. I still would rather have the Pfeiffer’s Pumpkin, but this would be a welcome change of pace next pumpkin beer season.

Reuben’s Pumpkin Saison carves out a niche with a spooky 4 jack o’lanterns out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I tend to stay away from the lighter beers, just because they usually lack the depth of flavors that I am looking for when drinking a beer. There are some breweries that I would still try their lighter beers, just because of their track record with making beers that I enjoy. NW Peaks is one of them. So when they released Kaleetan as part of the August Mountainbeers lineup, I was actually looking forward to drinking it.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Kaleetan is a peak close to Snoqualmie pass. It is one of the more impressive peaks in the area and its name means arrow, while others have described it as “matterhorn” (both aptly describing it). It’s a great day climb and/or ski depending on the time of year and conditions. In the summer trails go from Denny Creek to Melakwa lake. Heading up to the summit gully and easy class 3 scrambling can take you to the exposed summit. In winter, source lake is the preferred starting point.

The beer. Kaleetan is an “American Wheat Beer.” It has a wheat base and we used hops that have lemon qualities for the flavor and aroma. We finished off the beer with some lemon zest, enhancing the lemon properties. The result was a light beer with a light/delicate lemon aroma. The aroma is followed by a bready flavor with light herbal notes (a secondary characteristic from the sorachi ace hops). Overall, Kaleetan is an easy drinking wheat ale with light lemon and herbal notes.

The beer pours pale yellow in color with a fizzy white head. The nose is dominated by strong notes of yeast and wheat with touches of lemon interspersed. On the first sip, light notes of grain appear on the front of the beer with a very mild hint of yeast, before moving into slightly dry/tart lemon notes, before finishing with a hint of refreshing bitterness and touches of lemon peel. The beer is light and refreshing but surprisingly complex and it vaguely reminded me of a pilsner and would be perfect on a hot day. I think the beer is complex enough to keep an advanced beer drinker happy and subtle enough to have mass appeal.

NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen climbs to the top and announces its presence with a strong 4 yodels out of 5.