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.

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: Reuben's Brews Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I personally think that anything new that Reuben’s puts on tap is worth trying at least once. Usually the beers are somewhere in the very good to outstanding range, so there is very little disappointment. At the beginning of August, they debuted a few new beers in their lineup, one of which is their Cream Ale. The beer comes in at 17 IBU and 5 % ABV.

The beer pours very pale yellow, almost transparently so. Note of cream and grain with hints of what smell like English yeast permeate the nose. The beer builds slowly – it starts out with pleasantly mild yeast and a slight dryness before moving into a slightly fruity realm with some light sweetness before exploding into a long, slightly sweet, mild caramel finish. The finish was unexpected and was much less pronounced on a separate occasion where I had the beer. The second time there was more of a dry, yeast finish with very mild notes of the caramel. The caramel was also more restrained the further I made it into the pint on the first go around. The beer was a little more fizzy than I would have liked (personal preference, l like cream ale on nitro – hint to Mike and Adam), but it was a very enjoyable beer, crisp and refreshing, a nice beer if you are looking for something not terribly hoppy and perfect to be sipping on a warm summer day, especially if you are looking to have a couple.

Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale delivers with a strong 4 milkmen out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale delivers with a strong 4 milkmen out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Pelican Pub and Brewery Kiwanda Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The Pelican Pub and Brewery is located in beautiful Pacific City, OR, and has been around for 15 years, although there beers are just starting to show up in the Seattle market. We sampled the Kiwanda Cream Ale from a 22 oz. bottle. Kiwanda clocks in at 5.4% ABV and 25 IBU. From the Pelican website:

Inspired by one of America’s traditional 19th century beer styles, Kiwanda Cream Ale is pale gold with a fruity, floral hop aroma. A sweet malty flavor and a smooth snappy finish round out this tasty, refreshing brew!

Kiwanda shows as very pale in color with very little head. There was almost nothing on the nose – a minimal amount of grain, but that was about it, which was very disappointing. The first few sips were drier than I was expecting from a Cream Ale; almost to the point of being tannic. There were hints of cream and barley but it was subtle and you almost had to go searching for it. I kept hoping that the flavor would develop as consumption progressed, but it never really developed beyond subtle hints. We even tried some food to coax flavor out of this beer, to no avail. I kept hoping for a Boddington’s but got something closer to a Bud.

Kiwanda was a real disappointment as I tend to like Pelican’s beers. This beer had absolutely nothing going on and really wasn’t something I have any inclination to go back and try again. Pelican Brewery’s Kiwanda Cream Ale flies out of here with just 1 Pelecanus erythrorhynchos out of 5.