Beer of the Week: Elysian Raconteur

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The beauty of Elysian’s beers is that they not only have some grate creativity, but they do produce a good number of tribute beers – beers that are clones of very well known, but not necessarily great beers. One they did recently was a clone of Yuengling Porter as a tribute to one of their employees. In case you are not aware, Yuengling from Pottsville, PA, is the oldest continuously operating brewery in the United States, brewing beer back to 1829, and their porter holds a soft spot in my heart as one of the first dark beers that I truly loved 20+ years ago (although calling the beer a porter is a bit of a misnomer, it is actually a black lager and not a true porter). The beer was only available on tap and clocked in at just 25 IBU and 4% ABV.

Raconteur looks very much like Yuengling in the glass – a slightly opaque black, not the deep black that you might expect from a porter. Chocolate malt with hints of grain dominate the nose, with much a more pronounced aroma than the original. There is lots of grain up front on the initial sip with notes of chocolate and caramel interspersed – much bolder than the original, with a long and slightly hoppy finish. You get a great deal of the lager character on this beer, same as the original, but the malt, roasted flavors and hops are amped up making the copy a bolder and better beer than the original while still retaining much of the original character of the recipe. Raconteur takes a stab at an American classic and delivers a fine tribute while taking the flavors from a mass consumption beer to a fine specialty beer.

Raconteur brings me back to my college days and delivers a solid 3 TEP’s out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Pumpkin Spice Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Populuxe Brewing decided to venture into the realm of pumpkin beers, albeit with a bit of apprehension, with their Pumpkin Spice Porter. Given my love of their base Porter and my overall love of pumpkin beers, I had to give this one a shot. Pumpkin Spice is a bit bigger than their regular porter, clocking in at 6.9% ABV.

The beer pours very dark brown but not completely opaque with notes of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg coupled with a nice roasted malt background on the nose. The beer starts out on the roasted side of the flavors with hints of chocolate before progressing into the spice realm –a nice lineup from cinnamon to cloves to allspice, each distinct without being overpowering or palate deadening. The spice balances rather than dominates the roasted notes, bringing a pleasantly warming feel to the beer – nice for sipping on a chilly fall day. The spices are well-integrated into the beer and the alcohol is barely noticeable with being warming rather than burning. The only thing really missing is a nice background pumpkin flavor – that would have brought this beer to a higher plane.

Populuxe Pumpkin Spice Porter hangs out in the pumpkin patch for a limited time with a solid 4 gourds out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews German Hefeweizen

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A trip to Reuben’s yielded a few new beers, one of which was a new hefeweizen. Hefe is not a style that tends to be my first choice when ordering, but is definitely a style I do enjoy and appreciate. Being a new Reuben’s brew also means that I needed to try it. The beer brings in a miniscule 14 IBU and a healthy 5.4% ABV.

Hazy pale yellow in color with heavy notes of wheat and light notes of lemon, apple, pear and banana. Very crisp to drink, the beer starts out with a strong wheat flavor before mellowing out and transitioning into strong flavors of banana and ginger (mild spicy notes, but not a hard ginger flavor) before finishing slightly sweet an clean with a lingering banana note reminiscent of banana bread (I keep looking for some nut flavor in the beer) and just a hint of spice. A very hearty hefe, much deeper than what you normally get from NW breweries, and one that I am not sure that most hefe drinkers would appreciate, but one as an advanced beer drinker that you would appreciate.

Reuben’s German Hefeweizen bunches into the picture with a slippery 3 banana peels out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Sam Adams New Albion Pale Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am not sure why I waited so long to review this beer. I wrote about the beer here a few months back, and, in case you don’t want to go back and read it, the short version is that this recipe is generally considered to be the first American microbrew. It was available in 12 oz. bottles and ran about $9 for a 6 pack. Some additional info on the beer here:

Jack McAuliffe’s pioneering spirit paved the way for the American craft beer revolution. We’re rereleasing his original Pale Ale, with its distinct American hop character for the first time in 30 years in honor of Jack and his contributions to craft brewing. Cheers!

The beer pours golden in color with a fizzy white head. There are major grain notes on this beer – from a foot away, I immediately thought of a baguette when I smelled it. Upon closer inspection, grain dominates the nose with hints of hops and a touch of yeast interspersed. A very crisp and refreshing beer that is light on the palate – mild grain dominates and is followed by just a very light touch of hops, finishing long with a strong grain profile. Has some very lightly roasted character and very mild hop characteristics, such that you might not recognize this beer as a pale ale, but enough punch from the yeast that you know this beer is not a pilsner of lager. More of the pale character shows through as the beer warms but it is light enough on the palate that you can enjoy several in one sitting.

The beer is a study in how far craft brewing has come from its infancy in the 1970’s and New Albion Pale is a beer that every craft brew drinker should have at least once, just so that you can appreciate a time when that beer was so much different than anything else on the market.

New Albion Pale Ale waxes nostalgic with a solid 3 antiques out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Oak Aged Double Redoubt Red

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of my favorite things about NW Peaks is that their brewer, Kevin, is not afraid to take some risks and put out a beer that isn’t exactly commonly found in the Northwest. He took his already tasty Redoubt Red and effectively doubled the malt and hops and made a delicious malt/hop monster. He then decided to take it one step further and aged some of it in a new whiskey barrel and blended it back with the base Double Redoubt to come up with the Oak Aged Double Redoubt.

The beer pours deep reddish brown in color with copious amounts of malt, strong notes of hops and hints of wood and oak on the nose, with the oak really being a supporting cast member rather than dominant as it is in so many oak aged beers. Malt and an almost creamy mouth feel are your introduction to tasting this beer before it moves slowly over to a spicy citrus middle, with very mild hints of bitterness, before finishing with a slight oak character, interspersed with hints of whiskey, malt citrus, spice and resin that lingers for a very long time, and, when it does fade, you wish it would come back. The beer is extremely well balanced – malty without becoming syrupy sweet, hoppy without becoming overly bitter or citrusy, warming without an alcohol burn, and notes of oak that don’t overpower everything else in the beer. This is the perfect beer for a chilly Northwest evening, complicated and rich, but one you could easily go back and have a second of (yes, I did) or switch over to something else and not have killed your palate in the process.

NW Peaks outdoes itself with the production of Oak Aged Double Redoubt Red, erasing any doubts you might have with a perfect 5 stills out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Mild

By Iron Chef Leftovers

There are times when I just don’t want something that has a great deal of hops but I do want something with complexity, especially on a warmer day. That means I am not usually in the mood for a something heavy like a stout or a porter and don’t particularly want something light like a kolsch. Populuxe has that niche covered with their Mild. It has everything that I want from a flavor standpoint – richness and complexity without being overly hopped and is a small beer, clocking in at less than 4% ABV, meaning more than one can be on the menu. Besides, how many other NW breweries do you know doing the old English style of a mild?

The beer pours deep brown in color with a solid foundation of chocolate and malt on the nose. Very light on the palate, almost surprisingly so, with light malt and caramel at the front followed by subtle chocolate in a very long and clean finish that lingers pleasantly. Very easy to drink despite its heavy flavor profile and incredibly complex beer – malty without being sweet, chocolaty without having strong burnt notes and different enough to make me want to drink it when it is on the tap list and I am in the mood for something darker but not heavy.

This is a gateway beer into the realm of darker beers – some of the complexity and depth of flavor that you find in a porter or stout, but restrained enough that those are not all of the flavors you are tasting. A versatile “session” beer that works on both a warm sunny day and a cold wet evening, if you have never tried a mild, you should definitely give this one a shot.

Populuxe Mild eases in with a not so middle of the road 4 Union Jacks out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Snoqualmie Brewing Louis Quatorze 14th Anniversary Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I have become a big fan of Russian Imperial Stout over the years, so I was excited when loyal reader Annie S. was willing to share a bottle of Snoqualmie’s 14^th Anniversary beer – Louis Quatorze, which she had been aging for about a year. The beer came in a 22oz. bottle and clocked in at 8.6% ABV and 60 ibu.

The beer pours jet black with a tan head as expected. Coffee and chocolate dominate the nose with hints of toffee and what smells like either oak or vanilla, but it does not appear that there was any oak aging on this beer, so it is probably coming from the malt. The initial sip has loads of malt and chocolate character up front with a slight astringency (licorice maybe?) before mellowing out to a roasted malt middle and then finishing with an oddly aggressive finish reminiscent of juniper with a bit of alcohol bite. The initial taste is wonderful, the smell is wonderful, but the finish isn’t the most pleasant I have ever had and is somewhat off-putting. The beer lacks the balance of many Imperial Stouts, and I would love this beer more if the finish was less aggressive and more subdued. Maybe this beer could have used another year of aging to round out the finish.

Snoqualmie Brewing’s Louis Quatorze 14^th Anniversary Stout rises to power with 3 sun kings out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Cask Kolsch

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Kolsch is a style that you normally would not find done in a cask, so when Reuben’s decided to give it a shot, I of course had to be there to try it.

The beer pours pale yellow in color and surprisingly cloudy – reminds me of a hefeweisen, with lots of grain, slightly floral notes and hints of grapefruit and citrus on the nose. The initial taste yields a significant amount of very mild grapefruit with hints of spice and grain playing hide and seek among the hop flavors. The beer fades in a long and subtle finish with very little bitterness and just a touch of sweet grain and yeast character. Very easy drinking and smooth, probably more hoppy than a light beer drinker would enjoy but a pleasant hop character coupled with the subtlety of the kolsch make this a beer which you could be happy with drinking all day on a warm summer afternoon.

Reuben’s Cask Kolsch surprises with a refreshing 4 summer winds out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Kyes Kolsch

By Iron Chef Leftovers

We are into October, which usually means Fresh Hop and Pumpkin beers, but there are still a few straggling summerish brews out there, one of which is still on tap at NW Peaks – their Kyes Kolsch. I am not a huge fan of kolsch, it is fine, but it is rarely my “go to” style of beer as it lacks much of what I love about beer – bold flavors and complexity. Would NW Peaks change my mind, we shall see.

From the NW Peaks website:

The name. The mountain. Kyes Peak is a lesser known peak located in the Monte Cristo group. It is rises from one of my favorite lakes in the North Cascades: Blanca lake. Blanca lake offers a wonderful day hike on nice trail with Kyes and the other mountains in the Monte Cristo group offering some nice scrambles of varying difficulties and exposures.

The beer. Like the mountain, the kolsch style is lesser known amongst the US audience, but gaining popularity. Our interpretation is light, refreshing, and contains some fruity notes from the yeast fermentation on top of a very bready backbone. Compared to other examples of the style, Kyes is slightly lower in alcohol and strength, and hence the lighter fruity notes from the yeast. This is a light, refreshing, crisp, straw colored beer, perfect for quenching the thirst on a hot summer afternoon. Original gravity: 1.043. Finishing gravity: 1.008.

ABV 4.5%. Malts: pils, wheat. Hops: Hallertau.

The beer pours very pale yellow in color, almost clear but with a heady amount of yeast and grain on the nose interspersed with touches of lemon. The beer is surprisingly bold for such a light beer – plenty of yeast and grain at the beginning before transitioning to a slightly fruity middle and finishing off with light hops and a slightly sweet/bitter slide of bread, yeast and hops. The finish is long and delicious and slightly Belgian as the beer warms – there were very light notes of cloves and banana that were barely detectable. The beer has a great deal of complexity and layered flavors and could stand up on its own on either a warm summer day or a chilly rainy one.

NW Peaks Kyes Kolsch alters my perceptions of the style with a strong 4 mindbenders out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Speakeasy Double Daddy IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Living on the west coast means an abundance of double and imperial IPA’s tend to be available and it also means that I want to try any new ones that enter into the market. When Speakeasy became available in Seattle and one of the available beers was their Double Daddy IPA, a beer which I have tried and liked in previous trips to SF, I figured it was time for a review. The beer was from a 22oz. bottle.

From the Speakeasy website:

Doubling down on malt & hops, Double Daddy raises the stakes. With its good looks and no-limit style, DD takes the pot every time.

Style: Imperial India Pale Ale

Release Date: January, 2003

Alcohol Content: 8.5% by volume

Malts: Pale malted barley, English Munich Malts

Hops: 4 Varieties of Pacific Northwest Hops, 3 hop additions, including dry hopping

Yeast: Speakeasy Ale Yeast

Tasting Notes: Copper color. Huge hop aroma. Bitter, hoppy and warming alcohol on the palate. Finishes incredibly dry and clean for such a big beer.

The beer pours amber in color with a white head. Lots of citrus and grapefruit on the nose with grain and some floral notes hiding in the background. This beer is a major hop bomb – slightly bitter with juicy grapefruit and orange peel dominate with a long finish that contains hints of grain in addition to the hop character. Some green hops and resin become present in the middle of the finish as the beer warms, which was surprising but not unpleasant and an nice addition to balance out the citrus a bit more. The alcohol is well integrated and not noticeable, making this an easy drinking beer for any hop head.

Double Big Daddy is a find double IPA, and one that will hold up in the crowded NW beer market.

Speakeasy Double Daddy IPA slides into the party with a solid 4 zoot suits out of 5.