Beer of the Week: Stoup mk Special Bitter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I have a soft spot in my heart for bitters (both the beer and the flavoring agent in mixed drinks), probably because it is a style of beer that, when it is done well, is deep, complex and enjoyable, but easy drinking at the same time. There seems to be a resurgence of the style in the Northwest and this winter it seems that a good number of breweries were rolling one out, which means that there were lots of them for me to try. Stoup threw their hat in the ring with the mk Special Bitter, which clocked in at 5.3% ABV and 35 IBU.

The beer poured deep amber red in color with significant notes of grain and malt and just a touch of hops and citrus on the nose. The beer starts off dry with just a hint of toffee before quickly moving off into the grains and malt, finishing with just a tough of bitterness and a long slightly sweet malt profile that keeps lingering coupled with a very subtle fruitiness, which become notes of dried fruit as the beer warms. Lightly bittered and hopped, this beer is easy to drink and balanced with enough character to be interesting and leaving you wanting more.

Stoup mk Special Bitter comes in from the cold with 4 neighborhood pubs out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Randall Red

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Randalls are a fun way to infuse flavors into beer without having to brew an entire batch of beer with those ingredients. It means you can use fun stuff like fruit or obscure hops to get some additional flavor in the beer without being intimidating and making it a cask beer. Reuben’s has started its randall project thanks to their new employee, Thor (yep, that is his name), who comes to them from Fremont Brewing where he was responsible for their randalls. One of the first randalls that Reuben’s had was a simple one – their Red with centennial hops.

The beer pours deep ruby in color with a creamy, light tan head with light amounts of hops and grain on the nose. The beer has a light sweetness at the front, joined by a mild fruitiness to start before moving into pleasant grain middle and finishing with a nice light bitterness/hop character that lingers with the grain in a fairly long finish. Nicely layered and a nice progression of flavors, this beer is balanced and the subtleties are not overpowered by hops.

Reuben’s Randall Red storms into Valhalla swinging 4 Mjolnirs out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Machine House Brewery Imperial Oatmeal Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I really do love oatmeal stouts, especially in the winter. The beer is hearty and warming and really just fits the bill with what I am looking for in those situations. One thing that I can say that I have never tried is a cask version of an oatmeal stout, but Machine House Brewing took care of that for me.

The beer pour jet black in color with deep chocolate and espresso notes dominating the nose, coupled with secondary notes of vanilla and malt. The beer has an interesting first sip – not as heavy as I was expecting with mild coffee notes appearing first before switching to a distinctive oat profile. I wasn’t sure of what to make of this at first – this was a very pronounced flavor, similar to uncooked rolled oats. The beer finishes long with hints of chocolate and dried cherries and just a hint of vanilla, coupled with the oat profile. That is when I got it, the oats blended with the deeper flavors to produce a rich profile with a slightly gritty mouth feel making the beer deep and complex but at the same time balanced and easy drinking. I would have liked more coffee/chocolate notes from the beer, but it was a cask and the amount of depth that this one contained made me want to go back for more.

Machine House Imperial Oatmeal Stout races in with 4 thoroughbreds out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Stuart Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I believe in the 150+ beer reviews that I have written, I think that I have only once reviewed a beer multiple times, Elysian’s Dark O’the Moon. Well, I am doing it again, this time with NW Peaks Stuart Stout. The beer only gets brewed once a year, so I felt it was a good time to review it again, especially since there were probably minor tweaks to the recipe.

From the NW Peaks website:

Since Mt Stuart is one of the most noticeable, bold, non-volcanic peaks in WA we tried to make the beer bearing its name similar. Stuart is medium-full bodied stout that is roast forward. The end result is a rich, deeply roasty interpretation of the style that starts smooth and ends with a slight lingering bitterness from the roasted barley . A fine beer to drink anytime, but best enjoyed in front of a fire on a cold rainy winter evening.

The beer pours jet black in color with a tannish-brown head and shows significant amounts of chocolate and coffee on the nose with backing hints of caramel, vanilla and malt supporting. The beer states out with notes of caramelized sugar before quickly moving into deep roasted flavors of dark chocolate and dark roasted coffee before beginning its finish with a very pleasant bitterness (think black coffee) with notes of vanilla and caramel coupled with a very long and mildly boozy dark chocolate finale that keeps lingering in a pleasant way. Layered and complex and creamy and unctuous, this beer is very drinkable and works well either with food or on its own.

NW Peaks Stuart Stout does it again with a solid 4 self-affirmations out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Machine House Brewery Gold

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Machine House brewing in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle is fairly new to the scene and very unique among Washington breweries – they produce all English style beers and all of them are served either on a beer engine or on cask. This means that you are going to get beer that is warmer, less hoppy, less fizzy and low alcohol – a nice change of pace from the high ABV, high IBU beers that you typically find around Seattle. As an added benefit, their tasting room is interesting, located in an old warehouse space, just across the street from Full Throttle Bottles.

From the Machine House website:

Gold – 4.5% ABV

A pale-straw coloured ale, again with English hops in the ascendancy. Reasonably assertive bitterness balances a slightly sweet malty finish.

The beer pours golden in color with an off-white head and shows strong notes of English yeast, grain and dried fruit on the nose. The beer drinks slightly bitter on the first sip with a tea-like quality (from the hops) followed by a nice yeast and grain middle and finishing clean with touches of dried apricot and peach and just a minimal amount of hops. The beer is slightly sweet, but not cloyingly so and well-balanced and easy drinking. It is a nice change of pace from the heavier beers that I had been drinking and a great experience to have a beer you don’t readily find in Seattle.

Machine House Gold strikes it rich with 3 prospectors out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Burke-Gillman Smoked Tea Bitter Cask

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Yes, I figured that since I posted the Sorachi Ace Bitter, it was time to post the Smoked Tea Bitter review. This cask version used a scant one ounce of Chinese smoked black tea in the cask, something that is probably not a traditional cask ingredient, but definitely something that piqued my interest.

The beer pours the color of iced tea with significant notes of smoke on the nose with backing notes of dried fruit and malt. The beer starts out lightly tannic with hints of malt and hops before crossing into deeper tea notes before the smoke component shows up. The smoke starts strong with forest fire qualities (in a good way) before mellowing out into a pleasant campfire background without ever really disappearing. The beer finishes with a distinct black tea character showing light tannins and mild notes of dried fruit with notes of smoke and hints of caramel. The beer drinks like a light rauch beer without the heavy malt and smoke qualities, making it easier to drink. It is surprisingly balanced and deep without being ashtray like or losing the qualities of the beer in the process, and I found myself wanting to go back for another pint. It is definitely not a beer that you would enjoy if you don’t like smoked beers, but if you are looking for something very different, this would beer to try.

Populuxe Burke-Gillman Smoked Tea Bitter Cask races in with 4 mountain bikes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Burke-Gillman Bitter with Sorachi Ace Cask

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I have had some great cask beers, some good cask beers and some mediocre cask beers. The style of the beer almost doesn’t matter, some of the best casks I have had over the last couple of years have been non-traditional cask styles or casks with really non-traditional ingredients. Populuxe has been on a roll with putting out their Burke-Gillman Bitter in cask form – a traditional beer done in a few non-traditional ways. (I have to get around to posting the Smoked Tea Bitter review). I usually try to post my reviews in chronological order, especially for one-off beers since there is no hurry to go out and drink them. This is an exception – the latest version of the Burke-Gillman Bitter, dry hopped with Sorachi Ace and Horizon hops will be available at the Cask Festival on Saturday, March 22^nd and this is one that is worth seeking out there.

The beer pours cloudy brown in color with nice notes of caramel and orange with just a hint of grassy note and very light roasted notes. For a cask beer, this one has big, complex flavors. The beer starts out with a medium caramel profile with hints of roast before the hops start to kick in. The Sorachi brings a very light herbaciousness to the party and the Horizon brings a nice orange kick and just a touch of bitterness. These notes intertwine with the caramel and remain throughout the beer all the way to the finish making for an almost hard candy like profile as they are joined with just a touch of sweetness from the malt. The finish is very long for a cask beer and is incredibly pleasant and smooth. The beer drinks extremely easily and at less than 5% ABV, it goes down way too easily, leading you to want pint after pint.

Populuxe usually does a great job with their casks, but this one may be the best one they have ever done.

Populuxe Burke-Gillman Bitter with Sorachi Ace Cask lays down its cards with a perfect 5 Royal Flushes out of 5.

Get this beer early at the Cask Festival – it is worth the experience.

Beer of the Week: Elliot Bay Brewing Paint It Black Lager

By Iron Chef Leftovers

In looking through my beer notes, I realized that I had quite a run of dark beers in December. I guess I was either just drinking to the season or drinking what was new and interesting. Either way, a December trip to Elliot Bay Brewing yielded a beer which I had not seen before – the Paint It Black Lager. Black Lagers are a beer style that you don’t see too much these days so that appealed to me and it figured that I had to give a shot to a beer that was named after my favorite Rolling Stones song. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any details about the beer on the interwebs.

The beer pours jet black with a creamy brown head. Roasted malt dominates the beer with hints of grain and mild hops supporting on the nose. The beer starts out on the palate strong with a slightly boozy vanilla, followed quickly by a pleasant milk chocolate and grain component, before moving into light coffee and sweet roasted malt. The finish is long and pleasant with lingering notes of coffee and chocolate supported by sweet malt and just the faintest hint of hops. The beer is deep and layered, and a nice change of pace if you are looking for something dark without venturing into the world of stouts or porters.

Elliot Bay Brewing’s Paint It Black Lager strums in with 4 Red Doors out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Blimey That’s Bitter Cask

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It takes some guts to do an imperial IPA as a cask, not only because these beers are a monster to brew, but you run the risk of having something that is borderline undrinkable with all of the alcohol and hops involved. Reuben’s took a chance by putting Blimey on cask, of course adding more hops to the cask, because, you know, it wasn’t hoppy enough.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with a mind numbing amount of citrus and citrus peel – it smells like fresh orange rind with bare notes of orange blossom and grain. The beer starts out lighter than its carbonated cousin with a slightly sweet/floral component before moving into juice oranges, orange peel and orange blossom. The finish is incredibly smooth with significant hop bitterness with plays well with the citrus and a touch of resin at the very end. The alcohol isn’t perceptible in the cask version of the beer, but the resin is, giving the beer a touch of burn at the back of the throat at the very end. The fruit is definitely more pronounced in the cask version, so if you like citrus dominant IPA’s, this is the one for you.

Was the cask version better than the regular? That is a tough call since they drank like 2 very different beers. Either way they were both fantastic and worthy of the 5 hop cones out of 5 that the cask version receives.

Beer of the Week: Salish Sea Brewing Brown Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I will give new breweries a shot, just because you never know what gems you might uncover. I recently had the opportunity to try the Porter from the newish Salish Sea Brewing out of Edmonds when they were on as a guest tap at Stoup Brewing. It was a cool December day and the porter seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.

From the Salish Sea website:

Not your typical porter… Our house porter is light, crisp and clean. Featuring Simcoe Hops and a clean finish. Full with flavor, light in body, with a great light coffee finish. 5.5% ABV 35 IBU

The beer pours dark brown, almost black in color with mild notes of roasted malt and hints of grain and sugar on the nose. The beer starts out dry on the palate with very little grain and malt and just hints of roasted flavors. The beer then moves on to a fairly long sweet streak before finishing faintly malty with a slight astringent burn at the very end of the palate at the back of the throat with minor hints of roasted grains making an appearance. I kept hoping for the flavors to wake up the further into the beer I got, but it never happened – if anything, the beer got sweeter as I went on. I felt like this beer would have been better served by being called a brown rather than a porter.

Salish Sea Brown Porter limps into port and offloads with just 2 cargo crates out of 5.