Beer of the Week: Populuxe Amber

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A long time ago, back when Populuxe first opened, there was an Amber on tap. It then disappeared for a while, only to recently resurface recently on their tap list, thanks to their ever rotating number of beers. That definitely meant I was trying it despite it just being up on the board as “Amber” with no snappy name (more on that later). The beer clocked in at 5.5% ABV.

The beer pours deep red in color with a white head. Nice notes of malt and light notes of dried fruit and hops appear on the nose with just a touch of floral perfume showing itself. The beer starts off on the palate with a nice floral hopiness and a surprising punch of bitterness (not unpleasant, just unexpected) before mellowing out with a touch of sweetness and malt. The beer finishes with a combination of malt, a touch of sweetness, just a touch of caramel and a really nice bitterness that lingers well after the other flavors have gone. This beer is incredibly easy to drink, deep and surprisingly hoppy and worth checking out if it is on the tap list.

Populuxe Amber reads the writing on the wall with 3 for a good time calls out of 5.

Ed Note: I suggested that they call this beer “For a good time call Amber” but my suggestion was shot down.

Beer of the Week: Big Time Whiny the Complainer

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the beers that I usually wait for every year is Big Time Brewing’s Imperial IPA, Whiny the Complainer (take a guess what that it a play on words referring to). They were one of the first Seattle breweries to put out a Pliny clone and it usually sells out quickly despite being a big beer, mostly because it is brewed once a year in a relatively small batch. The nice thing is that it is also available in 22 oz. bottles at the tap room upon release for $15. This year, the alcohol was dialed back a bit to 9.4% ABV (it is usually over 10%). This review is for the bottled version of the beer.

From the Big Time website:

A triple IPA that has more of everything. Alcohol and hops dominate the flavor of this intense bitter treat. Hops include Cascade, Magnum, Columbus, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cetennial, Nelson Sauvin. OG 22 ( Plato1.088), 9. alcohol by volume. Brew # 2,300.

The beer pours hazy orange brown in color with a significant amount of citrus peel on the nose with hints of grain and just a touch of spice hiding in the background. The beer starts out on the palate with a bit of sweetness which lingers a few seconds until it is joined by a significant orange presence and just a touch of bitter orange peel. The finish is fairly low key considering the size of the beer, with touches of bitterness and orange peel and just a touch of resin bringing a bit of burn to the back of the throat. The finish is long but not overpowering, which is a nice change for an Imperial IPA. The beer drinks fine, but not as big and hoppy as it has been in the past and I was expecting more from it based on past experience and the cost of the beer. It was a fine beer, but disappointing compared to its past incarnations.

Big Time Brewing’s Whiny the Complainer steps up to the window and files 2 complaint forms out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Yirgacheffe Rye

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the highlights of the last couple Seattle Beer Weeks has been Ryefest at Reuben’s. They go all out and brew a bunch of different rye based beers that many of which are generally only available that weekend since they are small batch and it is a popular event. This year’s Ryefest brought us a total of 12 rye beers including the impossible to pronounce Yirgacheffe Rye, which is a coffee from Ethiopia. The beer clocked in at 32 IBU and 5.4% ABV and I believe was based on the American Rye.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color with a touch of white on the head. Touches of coffee, rye and grain dominate the nose of this beer. It starts off on the palate with light notes of lemon peel and hops before adding a touch of sweetness from the rye, with just hints of bite, finishing with a very mild coffee note with a touch of bitterness and hints of chocolate and dried fruit. The beer is light and crisp and easy to drink with a very nice hint of coffee that does not overpower the other flavors in the beer. It is also a nice change of pace from coffee stouts and porters that allows you to drink something lighter and still enjoy the nuances of the coffee contained within the beer.

Reuben’s Yirgacheffe Rye takes out the jeep and goes on safari with 4 Seregetis out of 5.

Pop Up Beer Tasting Notes

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I cracked open a couple of bottles of IPA tonight because I needed them. They were not exactly the freshest IPA’s in my collection. I will be honest, I was fully expecting to just dump these beers. This is something I wrote on facebook in my personal account:

My aged IPA experiment (ok, it was more that I forgot about the bottles) is surprisingly a success. A couple of nearly 2 year old IPA’s are surprisingly good – malty with just a touch of hops. The American Captian Munson (which is probably closer to 1 than 2), is really complex and delicious. The Seven Brides FrankenLou is nice but horribly overcarbonated. There might be hope for my DFH 120 minute IPA’s in the cellar yet!

The American Captain Munson is probably about 18 months old. It was malty with hints of hop character and as it warmed it had an amazing dried fruit (cherries, figs) finish that really made me wish I had another bottle. I like Captain Munson fresh, I really liked it aged (keep in mind the beer is being kept between 58 and 64 degrees in my basement) and think that I might actually try this again with this beer. I wish I had taken notes on this.

The Seven Brides is good, but the beer is horribly overcarbonated and I think it may have actually been infected with some Belgian yeast that went to happy town in the bottle. The beer is drinking nicely (it was bottled on 4/12/12 according to the bottle) but it has a bunch of Belgain fruity esters going on and actually is drinking like a slightly hoppy Belgian Brown. I actually have no point of comparison on this beer as it was one I bought in Portland a few years back without trying and never opened, but they are distributing now in Seattle, so I may have to pick one up.

As for the DFH reference – I have a few bottles of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA in the cellar, I believe vintage 2011 and 2012. I can never seem to find the sweet spot on this beer as it seems that when I open it, it is either too hot or has that cardboard flavor. I think I am going to take the oldest bottle and just let it go for 3 or 4 more years to see what happens with it.

Hope springs eternal.

Beer of the Week: Maritime Pacific Lady Jane Bitter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

With all of the love that I give to the Ballard breweries, there is one that up until this point (200+ beer reviews) that has never appeared in this space, which is disappointing, because they are a) on of the oldest breweries in Seattle and b) a place that the Mrs. and I go to on somewhat on a regular basis, albeit for food not necessarily the beer. Maritime Pacific has a great tap room/restaurant and I highly recommend them for their excellent and inexpensive pub fare and their solid but unspectacular beers. They have a pretty consistent tap lineup and brew pretty much to style, so you won’t find a bunch of super hoppy imperial IPA’s or weird adjuncts in their beer, just solid, straight forward, refreshing suds. I started off a tasting tray with the Lady Jane Bitter.
The beer pours medium tan in color with an off-white head. Notes of grain and caramel dominate the nose with just a hint of hops hiding in the background. The beer starts off on the palate slightly sweet with a nice amount of grain before moving into light caramel and toasted malt flavor with notes of caraway and rye. The beer finishes short with a slight bitterness that comes and goes quickly coupled with touches of sweetness and caramel on the finish. Drinks a bit differently than you would expect from a bitter, but it was easy to drink, tasty and smooth.

Maritime Lady Jane Bitter pours a long, cool 3 women in a red dress out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Peak 6522

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I was cleaning off my iPhone and I happened to stumble across notes for a beer that I had not previously published – NW Peaks Peak 6522. It was a one-off experimental beer that they produced back in 2013 and I don’t really know much of the details on what the style was or the stats because they just are not in my notes (I don’t know why). So you get to enjoy the notes for what they are, just a flat out description of a beer (After reading what I wrote, I can tell you it is a dark beer and I believe it had the inclusion of almond fondant, or at least that is what my spotty memory is recalling).

The beer pours jet black with a pale white head. Notes of cola, nuts and sesame dominate the beer with hints of caramel – kind of reminds me of a jack and coke. The beer drinks lighter than expected, starting out with hints of caramel before progressing to light roast and mild almonds and finishing slightly sweet with a very long background almond finish. Very well balanced and subtle with amazingly well integrated alcohol. The roasted flavors are a bit more prevalent as it warms, but it is still subtle and balanced.

NW Peaks Peak 6522 reaches the summit and catches 5 sunrises out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Smoked Rye Saison

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Smoked beers can be pleasant and roasty with notes of smoked salmon or BBQ that really compliment the other flavors in the beer when they are done well. When they are not, the beers tend to be roughly the equivalent of chewing on a campfire log. I was excited when Populuxe brewing partnered with Bitterroot BBQ to produce the Smoked Rye Saison. I love the Populuxe Saison, I love rye beers and I was very intrigued over what the combination of smoked rye and saison would end up tasting like. The beer clocked in at 6.8% ABV.

The beer pours deep red in color with a white head. Strong notes of roasted caramel with hints of smoke and rye dominate the nose with just minor notes of grass in the background. The beer has a significant amount of smoky sweet malt up front on the palate before quickly moving into light notes of lemon and grass with hints of Belgian character before finishing with layers of rye and very light smoke coupled with lemon and Belgian yeast that lingers pleasantly for a long time. The beer reminds me of smoked salmon with lemon and dill, with the dill (in a very light way) either coming from the grassy notes or my mind inserting it because of the smoke and lemon flavors. This beer is very well balanced and layered and is very easy to drink for a smoked beer. It would pair fantastically with just about anything grilled.

Populuxe Smoked Rye Saison grabs the blue ribbon with 5 low and slows out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Hoppin’ Frog Hop Dam Triple IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Along with the Hoppin’ Frog Double IPA came their Hop Dam Triple IPA. This thing was a monster at 10% ABV and an indeterminate amount of IBU in a 22 oz. bottle that ran about $16. Give the nutty numbers on the double, I had no idea what to expect from this beer.

From Hoppin’ Frog:

Some say “bigger is better!”. At Hoppin’ Frog, we built a massive hop dam to handle the enormous amount of hops added to this colossal American Triple I.P.A. An intense experience of citrus and piney hop character is complemented by layers of rich malt flavor. Behold our new standard for hoppy beers.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with a significant amount of sediment in the glass. Boozy and floral with strong notes of citrus and orange blossom and not much else on the nose. A very tea like quality on the first sip – tannic and bitter, so much so to the point of overwhelming everything at first. Once your palate has a chance to adjust and settle in, the beer becomes rich and full of citrus with a significant but pleasant bitterness. The finish is long with plenty juicy citrus and black tea that just lingers (there was one other flavor component on the description, but I can’t read my own writing – it looks like dilberness, whatever the hell that means). The beer surprisingly has no discernable alcohol burn making it surprisingly easy to drink from that respect, but the balance could have been a bit better, bringing out some of the more subtle notes in the beer. In all, this beer reminds me of where West Coast IPA’s made on the West Coast were about 10 years ago when it was a race to see how many hops they could fire into a beer. It might be the new standard for hoppy beers, but give me a Pliny or a Blimey any day.

Hoppin’ Frog Hop Dam Triple IPA crosses the road with 3 Froggers out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Bad Jimmy’s India Red

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I couple of weeks back, I posted my notes on Bad Jimmy’s Habanero Amber, which I called, “…one of the least enjoyable beers I have had in a long time.” It really was not drinkable, although I know people who love it. In the interest of fairness, I feel like I should now post my notes on the best beer that I had at Bad Jimmy’s, the India Red. The beer clocked in at 67 IBU and 6.9% ABV, both at the upper range for a Red Ale.

The beer pours ruby red in color with notes of roasted malt and caramel on the nose and hints of grain in the background. The beer starts out on the palate with a lightly sweet caramel hit before bringing a tinge of bitterness which fades quickly before finishing with a very pilsner like character and crispness which lingers for quite a while. The beer seems slightly off balance with a big hit of hops that fade quickly and a touch of alcohol burn, but it was enjoyable enough to drink that I might have ordered a full pint.

Bad Jimmy’s India Red hops the train and scores 3 Darjeeling Expresses out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Kenya Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Coffee beers can sometimes suffer from being too much coffee and not enough beer, even when the brewers are doing everything right and using really high quality coffee. It takes an even hand to get a balance where you can taste the subtle flavors of the coffee and still get the subtle flavors of the beer. It gets much harder when you try to make a coffee beer that is not a stout or a porter – the coffee can easily overwhelm the non-roasted flavors in lighter beers. I was intrigued when Reuben’s released their Kenya Cream, combining their Cream Ale with Kuma coffee. The beer clocked in at just 5% ABV and 17 IBU.

The beer pours hazy golden in color with light notes of stone fruit and chocolate and hints of milk and grain on the nose. The beer starts off on the palate with a creamy feel to it with notes of yeast and bread before moving into berry and stone fruit flavors with a touch of roasty chocolate – definitely complex flavors coming from the coffee. The beer finishes with a touch of bitter black coffee and plenty of fruit notes and hints of chocolate, coupled with notes of steamed milk. The beer finishes like a nice café au lait. The coffee is definitely complex with a light fruit profile that compliments the milk like qualities of the cream ale without completely dominating it. The beer is increasingly complex as it warms and the balance is superb showing dramatic flavor from both the beer and the coffee. Kenya Cream surprises with being able to pull off a light coffee beer without feeling like you are just drinking a cup of coffee.

Reuben’s Brews Kenya Cream comes out of the savanna with 4 Masai out of 5.