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.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Ate2Four Plum Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months back, Populuxe brewed a plum porter which I was very much enamored with. Since it was just about plum season, I offered them up the plums off my trees, which they took me up on. In exchange for the plums, the kind folks at Populuxe let me name the beer. I bounced around the names for a while and I finally decided to name it after my house number – 824. Being the deranged mind that I have, I couldn’t just use the number, so I decided to engage in a bit of word play – hence Ate2Four. Hey, it may not be the best name, but I get a kick out of it, and my goal in life is to crack myself up, so tough.

The beer pars dark black with strong notes of chocolate and coffee on the nose. The beer starts out with some bold but not overpowering flavors of chocolate and coffee on the initial taste with a strong malt character. Those flavors linger before finishing with mild balancing notes of dried fruit and raisins that linger for quite a long time. Those notes are there but are not dominating the beer, so you may not recognize them unless you knew they were there. This beer is very well balanced and is not your typical fruit beer – the plums compliment the roasted coffee and chocolate notes of the beer, acting as a balancing flavor rather than a dominant one in the beer. Think of this one as a really nice brown porter with a supporting plum flavor instead of a plum beer that is porter based.

The other day, this beer was poured at Brew at the Zoo. The keg kicked in about 1 hour 15 minutes – helped along by it being the most interesting beer being poured at the list and was one of a small handful of dark beers being poured. For those who did not get to try this beer, it may be making a comeback in the fall. Check out the Populuxe Facebook site for their current tap list.

I am very happy to have contributed to the success of this beer and yes, I am biased, but the Ate2Four version of the Plum Porter was every bit as good as the original, copying its brother with a perfect 5 Xerox out of 5.

Beers of the Week: Anacortes Brewing/North Sound Brewing Maple and Smoke

By Iron Chef Leftovers

You may remember last week when I posted a terribly disappointing review of the Rogue Voodoo Maple Beer and I said the following:

I am willing to admit that I am not a huge fan of rauchbier, but I can appreciate the subtle flavors that smoke can add to a beer, lifting it up to a different plain. Stay tuned to next Tuesday where I actually review a beer that does this.

Well, lucky for you, I am going to keep my word and take it one step further, I am going to give you 2 beers that use maple and smoke well.

Back during Seattle Beer Week, Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle held an Iron Brewer event. Basically a pair of breweries are given an ingredient that they have to use in a beer and then the two are put up head to head in a blind tasting with the winner receiving the most votes. In this case, North Sound Brewing and Anacortes Brewing were paired up together in this smack down. Here is what they turned out:

Anacortes Maple and Smoke – Amber in color with hints of brown depending on how the light catches it. Strong notes of maple and smoke on the nose, covering any other scents in the beer. Tasting it was a different experience; the beer was not as big as I was expecting, starting out slightly sweet with notes of nuts and malt and finishing up with a long maple syrup ending. There is very little smoke on this beer and it tasted like drinking a lightly smoked, maple glazed almond – all that was really missing was the salt. The beer was well balanced and easy to drink but I found myself wanting just a hint more smoke flavor to add more complexity.

The Anacortes beer fanned the flames with 3 roasters out of 5.

North Sound Maple and Smoke – tan/orange in color with light smoke and hops dominating the nose on this beer and maple in the background if you go looking for it. Slightly sweet on the initial taste before yielding to some resin hops and grain and then finally finishing with a long, slow transition to light smoke and hints of maple – reminded me of smoking fish over maple but being some distance from the fire. Incredibly restrained with the use of maple and smoke – they are there and in balance with the other flavors, but don’t completely overwhelm the other notes in the beer. North Sound made a maple and smoke IPA.

The North Sound beer torched the competition with 4 bonfires out of 5.

A few things about this event – there were 6 beers (3 pairs of beers with different ingredients) and I thought the North Sound was the best of the 6. I was absolutely convinced the North Sound beer was brewed by Anacortes – North Sound is not known for their IPA and Kevin at Anacortes brews what I feel is the best one in the state. These beers go to show that you can brew something with smoke and not have it taste like you are eating a smoldering log.

Beer of the Week: NW Peak Double Redoubt Red

By Iron Chef Leftovers

NW Peaks recently upped their number of taps from 4 to 7, which means more tasty beers to try. One of the new beers on tap is Double Redoubt Red, which is effectively the regular Redoubt Red with the recipe doubled. The Double clocks in at 7% ABV.

The beer pours dark red in color with lots of hops on the nose and a nice grain background. The beer starts out very malt forward and slightly sweet before moving into its hop character in the middle – somewhat hoppy but tempered by the malt and grain, making it just a touch smoky. The beer then finishes with a small amount of hop resin and a malty sweetness with an ever so subtle alcohol burn at the very end. Well balanced and slightly fruity as it warms, it is easily a beer that you could knock back several in one sitting.

My only complaint about Double Redoubt was the alcohol burn at the end; otherwise this beer is delicious and solidly put together, perfect for a fall day in the Northwest.

NW Peaks Double Redoubt Red removes all doubts with a self-assured 4 affirmations out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Experimental Sour Brown Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months back, Populuxe brewed a small batch of their Brown Porter as a sour beer. I tried it and thought that it was one of the better sours available and, for a while, thought it was the best beer that Populuxe brewed. It somehow got buried in my notebook and did not make it onto the blog as a result. It is time to correct that and oh, did I mention that the beer might be available on tap soon?

The beer pours medium brown in color with notes of chocolate and roasted malt dominating the nose with hints of light sour in the background. The first sip produces medium notes of chocolate and coffee at the front of the palate, yielding to malt and light English yeast in the middle before finishing off with a mildly sour/sweet malt finish. The sour lingers, not in a lip puckering way, but in a light and pleasant experience, almost like a sourball candy. The sour and chocolate flavors become slightly more pronounced as the beer warms, but neither ever become too heavy and dominate the beer. This isn’t a Flanders Ale – it has a great richness and complexity that you would expect in a porter and just enough sour to let you know that there is something beyond the porter going on here. The sourness integrates well with the malt character of the porter, leaving you with a complex and interesting drinking experience. The Experimental Brown Porter would be a good way to get someone who doesn’t like sours to try one – a number of friends who fall into this category tried this beer and liked it.

Populuxe Experimental Sour Brown Porter bellies up to the counter with a stellar 5 penny candies out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Roggenbier

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Until about a year ago, I had no idea what a Roggenbier even was, let alone what it really tasted like. Reuben’s changed all of that by putting Roggenbier on the menu and even making it one of the beers they initially bottled. The review is for the beer on tap, which clocks in at 5.3% ABV and 19 IBU. What is a Roggenbier you ask, well, the short version is a rye based hefeweizen. A much longer answer comes courtesy of the German Beer Institute:

Roggenbier is a medieval ale usually made from a grain bill of about half barley malt and equal portions of wheat and rye malts. Today, a Roggenbier may be either an ale or a lager. Modern renditions of the brew have about 5 to 5.5% alcohol by volume. Rye ales are mildly hopped, which allows the grain flavors to be dominant. Filtration appears to be optional in a rye ale and many, such as the Paulaner (depicted right) are “naturtrüb,” meaning naturally turbid. A yeast-turbid Roggenbier is more authentic, considering that the style had been around long before beer filtration was invented in 1878.

Being ancient brews, Roggenbiers can have a faint whiff of earthiness in the nose that is reminiscent of rye bread. The up-front sensation is one of mild fruitiness. There is a slight to extreme yeastiness and breadiness in the middle, and an almost smoky, spicy, faintly sour and very dry finish—clearly the effects of the rye malt. Effervescence ranges from medium to spritzy like a Hefeweizen. The body is substantial, almost reminiscent of a Bockbier. The brew has a pleasant, rich, off-white head when poured.

For the most part, Roggenbiers are tart, refeshing summer quaffing beers, a nice alternative to a Hefeweizen. They go extremely well with a succulent slice of barbequed roast pork.

Roggenbier pours dark amber in color with notes of rye, bananas, cloves and coriander on the nose. Slightly sweet when you first take a sip with notes of banana and wheat. The sweetness quickly drops off into light citrus and cloves before dropping the hammer with a rye finish = intense rye notes with hints of cinnamon with a dry mouth feel which lingers for a fairly short period of time before mellowing out and hanging around the palate with a background malt/rye/banana finish, noticeable well after you have taken a sip. For some strange reason, this beer seems like a liquid pretzel and that is a good thing. Incredibly well balanced and complex, you should try this beer if you have not done so already.

Roggenbier is a great alternative to a hefe or any other light beer if you are looking for something that isn’t terribly hoppy, is fairly low in alcohol and is refreshing, but still has a complex character.

Reuben’s Brews Roggenbier twists in with 4 Rolled Golds out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Founders Imperial IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Since I decided to post 3 beer reviews a week, I came up with a rotation: the Friday and Sunday posts rotate between NW Peaks, Reuben’s and Populuxe since I have a major backlog from those 3 and the Wednesday post is always some other brewery. I plan on keeping that rotation for the near future until I can get caught up or at least somewhat caught up. Today is an exception though and it is because I wanted to get this information out there to all of our readers in time for you to actually try a beer.

So why break from the plan now? Well, I sampled a beer that was so extraordinary that everyone should run out and try it.

Populuxe recently hosted a party for their Founders Club and were kind enough to put out 3 new beers for us to sample. One of those beers was their Founders Imperial IPA. As you can guess, this was a big beer, coming in at 9%. The beer is supposed to be on tap at the brewery starting this Thursday for anyone to enjoy.

The beer pours deep orange in color with a major amount of hops on the nose and copious amounts of citrus and citrus peel. An incredible hop bomb that is front loaded with juicy citrus and just a touch of barely noticeable bitterness. The beer then moves into the realm of citrus peel and hops where great balance keeps the beer from becoming overly sweet or bitter but with an abundant hop character (citra were used) that would please any hop head. The finish is long, with more citrus and decent amount of bitter peel but not so much to be unpleasant. The alcohol was very well integrated and not noticeable on the beer and the beer has enough bitterness to let you know what you are drinking but enough balance that you get to enjoy its many layers of complexity.

I haven’t been this enamored with a beer since the Imperial Rye IPA from Reuben’s and I will go as far to say that this may well be one the 20 best beers I have ever had. I would put the Populuxe Imperial IPA up against just about any other Imperial IPA and I think it would come out on top.

Check the Populuxe FB Page on Thursday and if it is on tap, get down to the brewery and drink it. Just save some for me.

The Populuxe Founder’s Imperial IPA builds its case with a perfect 5 monuments out of 5.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming already in progress.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Wheat IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the most amazing things about Populuxe is, that despite their tiny brew capacity, they manage to put out a wide variety of beers. The generally have around 8 taps on at any given point and still occasionally manage to sneak in new beers once in a while.

They recently released their Wheat IPA and, of course, I had to give it a shot.

The beer pours hazy orange in color and the nose permeates with citrus and lemon with notes of green hops and hints of wheat. The beer has a very interesting flavor profile; lemons dominate the beer at the beginning win a slightly tart way before moving into a completely different set of flavors. Grains appear next and dominate the middle of the beer in a complete change from the citrus heavy beginning, providing a nice change of pace. The beer finishes with just a hint of tannic hops that lingers with a light bitterness mixed in and what tastes like lit could be a small amount of rye at the very end of the beer, probably from the combination of wheat and hops.

Overall this beer is well integrated and refreshing; perfect for a warm summer day, plenty of hops and character to keep it interesting, but light enough that you could easily find yourself going back for more.

Populuxe Wheat IPA sings in at 4 amber waves of grain out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Nitro Roasted Rye PA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Sometime last year, I reviewed the Reuben’s’ Roasted Rye PA (short version, I liked it a lot, long version is here). Like everything else in my notebook, I never bothered to getting around to posting a review of the nitro version of the Roasted Rye, so here it goes:

The beer pours brown with hints of orange hue, almost looking like iced tea, and a short tan head. Light notes of rye and toast appear on the nose with a faint hint of hops hiding in the background. When you take a sip, a quick hit of hop bitterness gives way to a long, heady rye drag that seems to last forever before finally yielding to a burst of citrus and citrus peel on the very end. This beer has a creamy mouth feel from being on nitro. Some of the more interesting flavors from the regular version are subdued, but the rye is really the star of this beer; not quite the heavy rye bread flavor of the Imperial Rye PA, but a really pleasant rye/grain beer that feels the need to be its own beer.

Reuben’s Nitro Roasted Rye PA smokes it with a solid 4 kilns out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Speakeasy Payback Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It sometimes boggles my mind that a brewery that widely distributes its beer does not have one of its regularly available beers listed on its website. Speakeasy is a brewery like that. For a place that distributes to some of the bigger beer markets in the country and has been around for 15 years, you would think that you would be able to find information on their beers via their website. You would be wrong. So other than being a porter and being 7.5% ABV, I can’t tell you much about the beer, so here is the review (consumed in a 22 oz. bottle):

Jet black with a tan head. Notes of coffee and caramel dominate the nose with lots of roasted malt to accompany it. Much sweeter than you would expect, with coffee, chocolate and caramel dominating the palate in the beginning before yielding to a long coffee/roasted malt finish. This beer reminds me of drinking a caramel macchiato with a hint of bitterness and feels like it is a coffee porter without any actual coffee in it (as far as I can tell). Plenty of depth and complexity, with no single flavor overpowering the others and balanced with the alcohol. On a side note, this beer pairs extremely well with Mt. Townsend Creamery Seastack Cheese.

Speakeasy Payback Porter is a great beer to drink on a cold winter’s day if you are looking for something big and bold to get you through your evening.

Speakeasy Payback Porter breaks in with 3 revenge killings out of 5.