Beer of the Week: Laughing Dog De Achtste Hond

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It is easy to be an underrated brewery in the Northwest, since there are just so many great breweries. It is even easier to fly under the radar when you are located outside of the Seattle/Portland corridor, since that is where most of the beer drinkers tend to reside. Laughing Dog falls into the underrated category being located way out in Ponderay, Idaho. Fortunately for us, they do bottle and are readily available. I follow them on FB and I was bummed when they announced they were brewing a special sour beer for their 8^th anniversary, which was only going to be in kegs. Unfortunately for us, kegs from Laughing Dog generally means we don’t get the beer in Seattle. Fortunately, Chuck’s Hop Shop came to the rescue and managed to get their hands on De Achtste Hond – the 8^th dog.

From the Laughing Dog Website:

…our anniversary beer De Achtste Hond” ( the eighth Dog) Belgian Sour Ale

Our first ever sour ale 7.2% abv aged for 1 month in new oak Crisp and Dry with a tartness to it.

The beer pours very orange in color with light floral notes and hints of citrus with just a hint of funk and Belgian yeast. The beer starts off more tangy than sour, almost like a tangerine chard candy, with just a hint of funkiness before moving into dry, crisp apples and just a note of sweetness and Belgian character. The finish is long and clean, mild tart sour flavors linger forever with hints of citrus, banana and apple. Very well balanced and sour enough to remind you that this is definitely a sour beer, but not so sour that it will make your lips pucker. Definitely not one to try if you don’t enjoy sour beers, but if you do, you might find yourself going back for a second without feeling like you won’t be able to drink it.

Laughing Dog De Achtste Hond grabs its leash and goes out for 5 long walks 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: Latona 25th Anniversary by Anacortes Brewing

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the beer week events that we went to was the Latona Pub’s 25th anniversary party which featured some beers from Anacortes Brewing. I have never been shy about my love of the beers brewed by the guys there – they are my favorite Washington brewery and I think they consistently put out the best beers in the state. For the Latona’s 25th, Anacortes brewed a Rye IPA – which was available in both cask and regular draught that night. The draught was great, the cask was amazing.

A very typical IPA from Anacortes, light amber in color; very hop forward and floral on the nose with lots of citrus; both the hops and citrus were more pronounced in the cask version. Hints of rye and malt show up initially on the palate, but they quickly give way lots of citrus (grapefruit mostly) fading into a long and intense lingering bitterness from what I can only imagine is copious amounts of hops (I am sure this beer was 100+ IBU). This beer is hoppy to the extreme, if you don’t like an overly hopped beer; this is definitely not for you.

I love the regular IPA from Anacortes, but this version might actually be better than their standard – I would drive the 80 miles each way from Seattle to Anacortes just to have this beer.

The Anacortes Latona 25th Anniversary Beer scores a 4 out of 5 birthday cakes for the regular version and 5 out of 5 birthday cakes for the cask version. Regardless of the version you have, you would be a very happy hop-head with this beer.