Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Altbier

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It is strange that many of the European styles of beer have not carried over to the U.S. Sure, the popular ones like lager, pilsner and stout have well established followings, but there are some hyper-regional styles that have never really had a mass following in the U.S. Altbier is one of them. Sure, there are a few out there (I had a blurb about one of them a few years back here), but you have to do some digging if you want to find one. Altbier is in that grouping. Fortunately for us, the fine guys at Reuben’s were kind enough to brew one. The Reuben’s version comes in at 5.1% ABV and 32 IBU. What is Altbier you might ask? Well, from Wikipedia:

Altbier (German for ‘old beer’) is a style of beer originating in Germany. It was first brewed in the historical region of Westphalia and is a speciality of the city of Düsseldorf. Its name comes from its production using the technique of top fermentation, an older method than bottom fermentation, characteristic of lager styles of beer.

The beer pours dark tan in color with a milk white head. Notes of malt and dried fruit dominate the nose with mild hints of citrus supporting. The beer starts out on the palate light and crisp before moving to a quick hit of toffee and stone fruit before finishing mildly bitter but in a very pleasant way – not a hop bitterness, but a coffee like bitterness. Refreshing with a good level of complexity and depth, slightly stronger flavors than a mild, but not as rich and deep as a brown. My only complaint is how quickly the beer moved between its layers – they were delicious and complex and I found myself wanting them to hang around longer. Otherwise, this beer is very easy drinking and refreshing and you could easily sit down with 2 or 3 in a session.

Reuben’s Altbier invades with 4 blitzkriegs out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Skookum Brewery Imperial Breakfast Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Skookum is a funny sounding word, but I really solid (albeit small) brewery up in Arlington, WA. For the longest time, if you wanted their beers, you needed to make the trek up I-5 and wind your way through Arlington to get to their brewery, which kept inconsistent hours. Things have changed and their beers occasionally make the trip down to Seattle and show up on tap at various places. Seeing the Imperial Breakfast Stout on tap at Chuck’s, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try it.

The beer pours jet black in color with a coffee colored head and shows off with lots of dark roasted malt and coffee – definitely reminded me of my morning cup of coffee. The beer starts out slightly sweet before moving on to its heavier flavors of toffee and dark chocolate with a hint of cocoa nibs before finishing with a light bitterness couple with black coffee and roasted grains. The bitterness is just enough to give it a little bite without being off-putting and really made it remind me of a good cup of black coffee (as far as I can tell, there is no actual coffee in the beer). Well balanced with deep and bold flavors, the Imperial Breakfast Stout is a great beer to have with your toast and morning paper instead of your regular cup of joe.

Skookum Brewery’s Imperial Breakfast Stout draws in with a strong 3 double espresso shots out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Crooked IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

October bring fresh hop season in the beer world, which is fun since I love the freshies. The problem is that this year has led to a number of disappointing beers – beers that I have liked in the past just haven’t been as good. Maybe my tastes are changing or maybe I am just understanding more about how the beers are composed and seeing the flaws. Either way, NW Peaks gave us 2 fresh hop IPA’s in October. The first of the pair is the Crooked IPA. From the NW Peaks Website:

The name, freshies. We’ve been blessed with a wonderful summer this year and it’s continued into the fall. We hope you have been able to take advantage of the lengthened season! Sooner or later winter will be upon us and we’ll turn our thoughts to snowy adventures and finding all of the finest powder and “freshies” we can. One of the more popular places to go is Snoqualmie pass for the winter playground. Snoqualmie Mountain, the tallest mountain in the area, is a great mountain for non-aided winter recreation. Cave ridge is the standard climbing/snow shoe route up the ridge on the S, while the ‘Crooked’ couloir is a great back country ski down the mountain (note – rapel may be needed depending on conditions)

Crooked, fresh hop, IPA. Crooked IPA was made with amarillo fresh hops, imparting a distinct hop aroma/flavor in the beer. All of the fresh hops were added at the end of the boil (others varieties were used for flavor and bittering) and contribute almost exclusively to the aroma. There is a nice malt backbone and a full bodied IPA.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color – much more cloudy than I was expecting, with lots of hop character on the nose, supported by some grain and hints of pine and citrus. The beer starts off light with notes of grain before moving into bold hop notes – citrus, pine needles, resin and a very mild bitterness, before transitioning off into a pleasant juicy citrus peel finish with a hint of bitterness that seems to keep going in an incredibly long fade. Solid hop character with a nice malty background, really showcasing the hops with a great deal of depth. This beer is exactly everything that I love about fresh hop beers.

NW Peaks Crooked IPA tries to straighten out and fly right with a sneaky 5 juvenile delinquents out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Skagit River 404 IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I love Skagit River Brewing, they are one of the most consistent breweries in Washington state and make some of my favorite beers, particularly IPA’s. A trip there in 2013 brought some excitement for me as there were a couple of beers on their tap list that I had not tried, particularly the 404 IPA. A new IPA, I am game. The 404 IPA is actually more of an imperial pilsner than an IPA (or at least should have been), but, having had a couple imperial pilsners that I loved, I decided that this was worth having.

The beer pours very pale yellow in color with light notes of grain, virtually no hop character and not much else. It didn’t get any better when I started drinking it – the beer has virtually IPA character with just a touch of hop bitterness to remind you that there are actually hops in this beer, but that is almost completely overwhelmed by the pilsner yeast just about immediately. The beer has just the one pilsner note, fades quickly and really wasn’t all that interesting. It would have been a solid beer if it was advertised as just a pilsner, but it was a complete failure as an IPA.

Skagit River 404 IPA disappoints and fails to connect with 1 “404 Not Found” Errors out of 5. (Which makes me wonder if the name is an inside joke).

Just a sidebar to this story – Mrs. Iron Chef ordered the pilsner when I ordered the 404. Initially I thought the waitress switched the beers because mine seemed too light and Mrs. wasn’t happy with hers because she thought it was too hoppy. The waitress got the right beers to the right people and we ended up switching, I drank a nicely hopped pilsner and the Mrs. drank an IPA. That may be the only time in history that scenario will happen.

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.