Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Cream Ale Randall with Belma Hops

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few weeks back I posted about the Reuben’s Roggenbier cask with Belma and its strawberries and banana qualities. Well, about a month later, Reuben’s came up with another Belma based cask, this time with using their Cream Ale as the base, going for a strawberries and cream profile.

The beer pours pale golden in color with light notes of cream, yeast, grain and strawberries on the nose. The beer starts off crisp with a pleasant hit of grain before moving into light fruit and jam, with notes of mild strawberry and sweet hints reminding me of a nice strawberry jam, before fading out into a very crisp and creamy finish. There is just the slightest note of grapefruit on the finish as you get near the end of the beer, making for an even more interesting end of the pint. The beer is not going to present big flavors, it is a cream ale after all, but it has plenty of balance and depth and is very easy drinking and it hits the mark for exactly what they were trying to do.

Reuben’s Cream Ale Randall with Belma Hops hits the mark with 3 William Tell’s out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Stoup T2R Haymaker III IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Back a few months ago, a bunch of breweries got together and decided to each brew an Imperial IPA and then take them on the road. Most were good, a few were great and a couple, well, let’s just say that I won’t be drinking them again. Stoup was one of the breweries that participated in the Road Show with their T2R Haymaker III IPA (say that three times fast).

From the Stoup Website:

ABV: 10.5 IBU: 90 SRM: 6

Hops: Lots of “C” hops (Chinook, Centennial, Cascade, Columbus and some Simcoe for good measure).

Malt bill: Pale, Pils, cara Pils, C15 caramel and a little kettle sugar.

Given our love of science, it should be no surprise that we named our first-ever triple IPA after T2R, a class of bitter receptors on your tongue. We had a little fun with the hopping procedures, Mill hops, mash hops, kettle hops, hop bursting, hop imploding, hop exploding, hop back, dry hops, hop missiles and rockets. We slept on hop pillows the night before the brew. We prayed to the hop gods and even the hop devil, just to cover our bases! Ultimately, we decided to go for balance in the beer. You can put some T2R on your T2Rs at the Stoup tap room and a few select events and locales around town.

The beer pours golden orange in color with a fizzy white head. Strong notes of citrus and candied fruit peel dominate the nose with hints of grain and minimal floral notes showing. The beer starts off slightly sweet before quickly moving into a light bitterness coupled with plenty of citrus and burnt citrus peel. The finish is a touch hot with strong bitter hop and bitter citrus components which linger pleasantly. The alcohol burn, while present, dissipates quickly and enhances the hop bitterness, and completely disappears as you get further into the beer. This is a big and flavorful beer with many complex flavors but it also drinks easily and well balanced, assuming that you love hops.

Stoup T2R Haymaker III IPA delivers the knockout punch with 4 body blows out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Goose Island IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Back in the day before AB-Inbev bought Goose Island, they made some pretty great beers. They still do with their barrel aged and vintage beer line, but there has definitely been a decline in the quality of their regular line of beers – so much so that they are in the ‘just another brewery’ vein. I rarely find myself buying anything from their regular line these days. It is readily available though if you want to drink it. Recently, Annie S. gave me a few bottles of Goose Island stuff, so I figured it was time to give the IPA a shot and see how they are drinking these days.

From the Goose Island website:

Brewer’s Notes: Our India Pale Ale recalls a time when ales shipped from England to India were highly hopped to preserve their distinct taste during the long journey. The result is a hop lover’s dream with a fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle, and long hop finish.

Recipe Information:

Style: English Style India Pale Ale Alcohol by Volume: 5.9%

International Bitterness Units: 55

Color: Bourbon

Hops: Pilgrim, Styrian Golding, Cascade, Centennial

Malts: Pale

Serving Suggestions:

Preferred Glass: Thistle

Food Pairings: Curries, Chicken, Pork Cheese Pairings: Blue, Aged Gouda

Cellaring Notes: Enjoy within 180 days

The beer pours orange in color with a light tan/off-white head. Strong amounts of citrus and hops appear on the nose with light notes of citrus peel and grain supporting. The beer starts off on the palate with hints of flora citrus before moving into lightly bitter citrus peel with gradually building hop bitterness before finally finishing pleasantly mildly bitter with notes of orange peel and citrus fruit. The finish is short and to the point making this a fairly easy beer to drink. As with the British style IPAs, the beer is not overly hoppy (but maybe a touch too citrus forward) and is a good beer to introduce someone to an IPA without completely overwhelming them with a hop bomb.

Goose Island IPA flies in formation with a solid 3 Snow Geese out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Bitter with Goldings Cask

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I do have a love for cask beer, and, while I have a soft spot in my heart for the ‘hoppy’ casks like IPA, CDA and Pale, I do really love the more traditional casks of Mild and Bitters. I was excited then when a few weeks ago, Populuxe went very traditionally British with their cask and rolled out a Bitter with Goldings hops. I am a big fan of the Bitter and with its sub 5% ABV, it is a great beer if you are planning on bellying up to the bar for a long evening.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with hints of grain and lemon on the nose. The beer starts out with a nice light grain component with hints of caramel on the palate before moving into light lemon with hints of mild malt sweetness. The beer finishes pleasantly with just a hint of bitterness and light tannins, coupled with notes of toffee and just a touch of chocolate. The finish is surprisingly long for a cask and the beer is complex without being too deep and drinks easily and goes down smoothly. If you want a nice change of pace from the big hoppy stuff you normally find in the Northwest, this is the beer you want to be drinking.

Populuxe Bitter with Goldings brings you all the way back to the station with 5 double deckers out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Silver City Whoop Pass Double IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It has been interesting to see what I have been drinking and it seems to come in runs. Lately it has been IPA’s. Silver City out on the Kitsap Peninsula has produced some great beers over the years and have really cemented themselves as one of the better breweries in Washington, including a strong reputation among IPA’s. Fortunately for us, they bottle and are pretty readily available so I can enjoy their beers almost any time. Whoop Pass, their Double IPA, is one of my favorites, available in 22 oz. bottles.

From the Silver City website:

Without a doubt, the boldest and hoppiest mother of a brew Silver City has ever created. More than 50lbs of Washington State Cascade and Columbus hops are infused, injected or otherwise inflicted upon a single 15 barrel batch. Welcome to hop country!

Food Pairings: Strong Cheeses, Smoked Meats and Seafoods,

Perfect with a Big Daddy Burger!

Alcohol By Volume: 8.5%

Hops: Columbus, Cascade

Malts: NW Pale, Caramel, British Pale, Munich

The beer pours deep orange in color with a creamy white head. Strong notes of orange peel and citrus show on the nose with hints of grain and floral notes. The beer starts off on the palate slightly sweet before quickly building into a significant amount of citrus and citrus peel with a mild bitterness. Those notes continue to build and reach a pleasant plateau before fading and lingering for a significant amount of time with just a bit of warming alcohol. As he beer warms, the citrus is much more pronounced and it really enhances the beer. The balance between the hops and bitterness is pleasant and enjoyable and this is a surprisingly drinkable beer for its size.

Silver City Whoop Ass comes in and takes names with 4 Ass-Kickings out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s American Brown Randall with Cocoa Nibs and Raspberries

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I really have become a fan of the brown style of beer over the last year or so. Actually, that is not accurate, I have rediscovered my love of browns over the last year or so. They were a staple for me back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s before I discovered my love of hops. That, coupled with a decline in breweries making browns, I sort of forgot about them until the last year when the Ballard breweries started making them regularly. Reuben’s produces a great one and they took a shot at putting it on randall with cocoa nibs and raspberry. Couple those flavors with a nicely roasty, malty beer and we have potential for greatness.

The beer pours deep brown in color with a just a tinge of ruby color. Significant notes of malt and berries appear on the nose, with just hints of chocolate in the background. The beer is surprisingly chocolate forward with nice cocoa nib flavors coupled with hints of sweet chocolate from the malt, coupled with a light raspberry flavor, bringing a mild tartness to the picture. The beer then moves into the malt with touches of hop bitterness before finishing off slightly sweet and chocolaty with a pleasant dark chocolate bitterness and a very long chocolate finish. The chocolate and raspberry start to show more prominently as the beer warms, making this beer nice and deep with great balance and complexity, reminding me of a chocolate truffle.

Reuben’s American Brown Randall with Cocoa Nibs and Raspberries fills you days 4 worlds of pure imagination out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Flying Fish Exit 16

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Another beer that I really was excited to find on my last NJ excursion was the Flying Fish Brewing Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA. I read a review of it a couple of years ago and had really wanted to try it since it was different – an IPA brewed by a craft brewery, with rice as one of the ingredients – not something that you see every day. The added plus is that the beer is actually named Exit 16 – playing off the joke that folks from NJ are familiar with – when you meet someone from NJ for the first time, you ask them what exit rather than what town. I had this beer in a 12 oz. bottle.

From the Flying Fish website:

Although usually identified with landfills and pipelines, the Hackensack Meadowlands is an amazingly diverse ecosystem providing vital animal and plant habitat. In a nod to a once common food plant here, we’ve brewed this beer with wild rice. We also added organic brown and white rice, as well as pils and pale malts.

Rice helps the beer ferment dry to better showcase the five different hops we added. Lots and lots of them. We then dry-hopped this Double IPA with even more–generous additions of Chinook and Citra hops to create a nose that hints at tangerine, mango, papaya and pine. This beer pairs extremely well with spicy foods and all kinds of seafood. And of course, it’s quite enjoyable all by itself.

Malt: MFB pilsner malt
Other: Wild Rice, Brown rice
Hops: Citra, Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe, and Chinook
Original Gravity: 6.6 Plato
Alcohol by volume: 8%
IBU’s: 62
Formats: 12 oz. bottles, 1/2 kegs, 1/6 kegs
Availability: Year round

The beer pours light golden in color with a creamy white head. There are moderate notes of citrus and hos with backing notes of grain, yeast and rice – it vaguely smelled like a domestic American lager. The beer starts out mild on the palate with a very light sweetness and a touch of grain and rice before slowly delving into a deeper IPA profile. First a mild bitterness appears, then it is coupled with a dry mouth feel before finishing with a pleasant medium citrus note with hints of floral orange blossom – I was expecting a slightly bigger hop profile from the beer considering it is a double IPA. There is a very mild touch of alcohol at the back end of the throat after a short finish; nothing terrible or off-putting, but definitely noticeable. The beer is layered and fun with some interesting characteristics that you don’t find usually in a craft beer, but I was expecting something with a bigger IPA profile, and got something that was approachable and restrained. It was enjoyable and worth seeking out just for the novelty of the ingredients.

Flying Fish Exit 16 turns on its blinker and heads to the ramp with 3 New Jersey Turnpikes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Bad Jimmy’s Habanero Amber

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It is both a good and a bad thing to be a brewery in Ballard these days. Having 10 breweries in a one mile radius means that from a consumer standpoint, I can hit multiple breweries on a single trip. The bad thing is that it leads to the inevitable comparison of beers between the breweries. The newest kid on the block is Bad Jimmy’s Brewing, tucked away in a garage behind the Bourbon and Bones BBQ restaurant, just across the street from Hales. They have been open since late last year with the idea that their mission “is to reinvent intensity as it exists in the craft beer world.” One of the beers that they produced to keep with their mission is the Habanero Amber. I am a lover of spicy foods but there have been very few pepper based beers that have been worth drinking – they all tend to be overpoweringly spicy and miss their mark.

The beer pours dark red in color and smelled like stale beer on the nose with hints of ground pepper. The beer starts out with just a hint of grain before the pepper sets in, building in quickly and completely overwhelming everything else that might be in the beer. While the spice is pronounced and dominating on the first sip, it becomes completely overwhelming on the subsequent sips through a cumulative effect – the spiciness from the previous sip lingers on the tongue and does not fade before the next sip, so it just continues to build with each subsequent sip, becoming completely intolerable, so much so that I couldn’t finish a 5 oz. taster of the beer due to the overwhelming heat. One note and completely unbalanced, this is one of the least enjoyable beers I have had in a long time.

Bad Jimmy’s Habanero Amber attacks the senses and sprays you in the eyes with just 1 pepper sprays out of 5.

Beer of the Week: River Horse Hop-A-Lot-Amus

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Despite being one of the most densely populated states in the country, New Jersey beer, is, and I am being nice here, not exactly some of the best in the country. Sure, there are a couple of beers that are worth while, but as a whole, they generally aren’t anything to write home about. One that did come recommended to me was Hop-A-Lot-Amus from River Horse Brewing. I am always skeptical about IPA’s that are not produced on the west coast, let alone double IPAs from a brewery in NJ. I have found them lacking in general compared to the ones you find out west. Given that this was accessible from my trip to NJ, I figured that I would give it a shot. I had this beer in a 12 oz. bottle.

From the River Horse Website:

Style – Double IPA

Malts – Pilsen, Munich, Melanoidin, Caramel 15, Caramel 60, and Carapilsen

Hops – Chinook, Simcoe, Cascade, and Cenntenial

ABV – 8.5%

Continual hopping during boil gives our Double IPA tons of hop flavor and aroma. Pine and citrus notes are backed by rich malt base.

The beer poured deep orange in color with a creamy tan head. Strong notes of grain with surprisingly subtle citrus show on the nose. The beer starts off with a very mild sweetness on the palate before completely changing direction and quickly moving into a building bitterness with very light floral hints. The bitterness starts slowly and continues to build with great depth until finally fade in in a long finish. The sweetness becomes slightly more noticeable throughout as the beer warms and the beer has bester balance and structure as it warms – it felt out of balance and overly bitter with an alcohol harshness when first opened but it mellowed and smoothed out as the beer progressed. It lacked the deep citrus notes I have come to associate with a west coast IPA, but this beer was surprisingly easy to drink for its ABV and style. It is not going to make me give up west coast IPA’s but it was a nice beer in its own right.

River Horse Hop-A-Lot-Amus comes charging out of the river with a scary 3 Hippopotamus amphibius out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Horizon Pale Ale Cask

By Iron Chef Leftovers

As contrast, Populuxe release 2 different Pale Ale casks in consecutive weeks, one that was with Crystal hops and one with Horizon. From the beerlegends.com site:

Horizon will add notes of a floral bouquet to the aroma, as well as provide some essence of citrus fruits. Horizon can be used from beginning to end throughout the brewing process.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with significant citrus and spice on the nose. The beer starts out with light citrus before quickly moving on into an interesting spice – think of black pepper, but subtle, not spicy, before finishing off with citrus oil and orange heel that bring a light bitterness that pleasantly lingers on the front of the tongue with more subtle notes of black pepper at the back of the palate. The beer drinks well with a great deal of complexity, but it moves quickly though its range of flavors, making you want more and more.

Populuxe Horizon Pale Ale Cask sets sail for the edge of the world with 4 sunsets out of 5.