Tag: Imperial

Beer of the Year: Cheapseateats.com’s Best of 2013

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I really intended to post this on December 31st, but I forgot to switch the date on the post, so it is a couple of days late.

Overall 2013 was a banner year for beer in Seattle, particularly Ballard with a significant number of new breweries opening and the existing breweries kicking it up a notch with the quality of their beers. It was a particularly banner year for beer reviews on this site also, with me posting just north of 100 beer reviews on the site (that is a ton of beer and that doesn’t even take into account the beer notes I have but have not posted yet). This has made determining my best beer of 2013 much more difficult than last year. Here are the rules for determining the winner:

  • The beer had to score 5 out of 5 on the Iron Chef Scale
  • I had to post a review of the beer sometime in 2013
  • Vintage beers are not eligible to win
  • If I named the beer, it wasn’t eligible to win (so, no, my beloved Ate2Four Porter is not the beer of the year)
  • Previous winners are not eligible win again, no matter how delicious they are (It means Reuben’s Pfeffer’s Pumpkin can’t win again)
  • The winner is picked by an esteemed panel of me, myself and I

This really was a challenge – I had about 15 beers that I scored 5 points so I took down my list from there to 4 contenders for the best. It was actually going to be 5, then I realized that the one that would have been in the 5th spot has not yet had a review posted, so, it is an early contender for 2014 (and no, I won’t tell you what it is). The final 4 came down to hoppy vs. roasted, so let me show you how this played out:

Matchup 1: Battle Hops

Our contenders are Reuben’s Imperial Rye IPA and Populuxe Full Spectrum (previously Founders) Imperial IPA.

A good old Ballard brewery smack down and a competition between 2 breweries I love and what I think are the 2 best beers these breweries make. This was a hard choice. Full Spectrum is one of the best Imperials out on the market and I think it holds its own against beers like Pliny (yes, it is that good). The problem is, I think this about the Imperial Rye IPA (the cask version particularly):

I tasted this side by side with the regular version of the Imperial Rye, a beer I dearly love, and honestly, the cask version blew the doors off the regular version. After tasting the cask version, the regular, a fantastic beer in its own right, didn’t have the same level of intensity as its sibling. I am going to go on the record here as saying the cask version of the Imperial Rye IPA is one of the 10 best beers I have ever had and quite possibly in the top 5. Yes, it was that good. Next time it makes an appearance, you should be waiting in line for this beer when it gets tapped.

As good as Full Spectrum was, the Imperial Rye edges it out just slightly and moves onto the finals in a close match between 2 heavyweights.

Matchup 2: Battle Roast

Our contenders are Reuben’s Bourbon Imperial Russian Stout and Midnight Sun Moscow Russian Imperial Stout.

This could also have been called battle barrel as both beers spent some time in oak.

Again, a tough choice. Both were massive beers and both were spectacular. Both of these beers had tremendous balance and flavor, and it really came down to a number of small differences. I can sum it up about the winner in a post I made about the beer in its initial review:

If you like Russian Imperial Stouts, you need to try this beer. Really, it is that good, and possibly the best I have ever had.

That beer was the Midnight Sun Moscow, edging Reuben’s (and preventing an all-Reuben’s Final) by the tip of a Cossak’s bayonet.

That sets up the final between Anchorage and Seattle, with 2 heavy hitter ready to slug it out in the ring. They went 15 rounds, toe to toe, bringing us in with a split decision. I will turn it over to our ring announcer for the results:

The winner, by split decision, and 2013 Cheapseateats.com Beer of the Year…Reuben’s Imperial Rye IPA!

A Reuben’s beer takes the title for the second straight year! Another well earned (and hard fought) victory for Reuben’s and congratulations to Adam and Mike for making such fantastic beer. Can Reuben’s do it again in 2014? Only time will tell. I can say that they have some pretty stiff competition to go up against if they want to 3-peat.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Cask Imperial IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

untitled2Reuben’s has temporarily gotten away from its cask program, and that is not a good thing since their beers generally do well with a cask treatment, revealing an incredibly deeper flavor that you don’t get on their regular versions – it is not to put down the regular versions of the beer, but the cask seems to take the fantastic regular version to a completely new level. One of the last casks that they did was their Imperial IPA dry hopped with Citra and Amarillo. If there was ever a beer that was screaming for the cask treatment, it is this one.

The beer pours heavy orange-brown, almost the color of tea with an in your face citrus nose with notes of grain on the background and just hints of resin interspersed. The beer builds slowly at first with citrus peel and grapefruit gaining traction on the palate for quite a long while before transitioning into a somewhat tea –like profile with a slightly tannic finish that is enhanced with a mild bitterness that lingers for a few seconds before fading away. For a high alcohol cask beer, there is no alcohol burn and the beer is clean and smooth with great balance and layers of flavor that evolve as you get further into the pint. The beer goes down almost too smooth and, despite the significant hopping, isn’t a palate killer, giving you the chance to actually move on to a different beer, but honestly, if you are drinking this one, you probably aren’t going to consider anything other than ordering a second pint of the IIPA.

Reuben’s Cask Imperial IPA with Citra and Amarillo dances into the picture with a graceful 4 Texas two-steps out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Russian Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

untitled2Reuben’s recently released their Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout for their first anniversary. I went it to taste it and compare notes from the first time I had it and realized that, for some reason, I never got around to posting about that beer. So you are in for a treat – you get a review of both versions of the beer in one post! Aren’t you all just lucky readers?

Batch #1 – 11% ABV, 64 IBU. Jet black with no head. Light notes of bourbon and vanilla with hints of wood on the nose. The beer starts off with slightly sweet roasted malt before it quickly transitions to wood with a strong but not overpowering bourbon finish which is coupled with a slight sweetness. As the beer warms at coats the palate, the vanilla and roasted components begin to take over, balancing out the wood and bourbon notes. The beer opens up the further into it you get. The beer is an alcohol bomb and there is definitely a slight alcohol burn associated with it (not nearly as much as I expected), but it dissipates/becomes less noticeable the further into the beer you get. This beer is definitely something you need to be in the mood for because of the heavy wood and bourbon components, and is probably something that you are not going to drink more than one of, just because it is such a big beer and is something that you are going to be sipping over quite a long time. I really liked this big, heavy, malty, boozy beer. Batch #1 dances in with 4 Cossacks out of 5.

Batch #2 – They reused the barrels from batch #1 and, from what I was told, the second use of the barrel tends to produce better results. The beer seemed more integrated than the first batch – there was less single flavor transitioning as you were drinking it. Each stage seemed to have multiple layers of flavors. The nose was more complex, yielding notes of chocolate, coffee, bourbon and vanilla. A slight sweetness once again starts you off followed by heavy malt and bourbon notes with hints of oak, vanilla, coffee and cherries. The oak and bourbon are much more supporting cast members in this version with then adding a pleasant background to the stout flavors without overpowering them. With the same alcohol as the first batch, there was no astringency, making this an incredibly smooth and well integrated wood aged beer. Batch #2 storms the Kremlin and takes over singing an amazing 5 International’s out of 5.

 

The good news is that Reuben’s is planning on making this beer again and bottling it sometime in the near future, so you will be able to take this home and enjoy it. I already am making room in the beer cellar for this one.

Beer of the Week: Reuben's Brews Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Russian Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

untitled2Reuben’s recently released their Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout for their first anniversary. I went it to taste it and compare notes from the first time I had it and realized that, for some reason, I never got around to posting about that beer. So you are in for a treat – you get a review of both versions of the beer in one post! Aren’t you all just lucky readers?

Batch #1 – 11% ABV, 64 IBU. Jet black with no head. Light notes of bourbon and vanilla with hints of wood on the nose. The beer starts off with slightly sweet roasted malt before it quickly transitions to wood with a strong but not overpowering bourbon finish which is coupled with a slight sweetness. As the beer warms at coats the palate, the vanilla and roasted components begin to take over, balancing out the wood and bourbon notes. The beer opens up the further into it you get. The beer is an alcohol bomb and there is definitely a slight alcohol burn associated with it (not nearly as much as I expected), but it dissipates/becomes less noticeable the further into the beer you get. This beer is definitely something you need to be in the mood for because of the heavy wood and bourbon components, and is probably something that you are not going to drink more than one of, just because it is such a big beer and is something that you are going to be sipping over quite a long time. I really liked this big, heavy, malty, boozy beer. Batch #1 dances in with 4 Cossacks out of 5.

Batch #2 – They reused the barrels from batch #1 and, from what I was told, the second use of the barrel tends to produce better results. The beer seemed more integrated than the first batch – there was less single flavor transitioning as you were drinking it. Each stage seemed to have multiple layers of flavors. The nose was more complex, yielding notes of chocolate, coffee, bourbon and vanilla. A slight sweetness once again starts you off followed by heavy malt and bourbon notes with hints of oak, vanilla, coffee and cherries. The oak and bourbon are much more supporting cast members in this version with then adding a pleasant background to the stout flavors without overpowering them. With the same alcohol as the first batch, there was no astringency, making this an incredibly smooth and well integrated wood aged beer. Batch #2 storms the Kremlin and takes over singing an amazing 5 International’s out of 5.

 

The good news is that Reuben’s is planning on making this beer again and bottling it sometime in the near future, so you will be able to take this home and enjoy it. I already am making room in the beer cellar for this one.

Or was the Rabbit Correct?

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am referring to this post.

I don’t normally order a pilsner, let alone when it is cold and raining in April. A recent trip to Elysian Fields caused me to make an exception to this rule when I saw that they had a new beer on tap – Discount Double Czech Imperial Pilsner. I will be honest, I ordered the beer solely because I loved the name – it does happen.

I tried to take a picture of the description from the beer menu, but I did not get a great exposure, so I know this beer has Czech Saaz and Mosaic hops and Pilsner, Munich and one other malt, clocking in at a whopping 7% ABV and 42 IBU. This is not your father’s pilsner. The beer is only available on tap.

The beer is golden straw in color with a creamy white head. It has a very subtle nose – light grain and malt with hints of hops interspersed. You are deceived into thinking that this big beer is anything but by the way it smells and its subtle nature. The first sip is lightly bitter with notes of yeast and malt giving way to a surprising grapefruit finish – very long and slightly sweet but not overpowering, with hints of orange peel. As the beer warms, the citrus flavors become more subtle and the beer becomes slightly more balanced between the malt and hops. This beer definitely has more hops than you would normally expect from a pilsner, but it felt just slightly out of balance between the hops and the grain if you are looking for a more traditional pilsner. If you like hops however, this beer is definitely right up your alley. There is enough balance to hide the 7% ABV on this beer and it has a hybrid pilsner/pale flavor profile – there is enough pilsner character in the beer to recognize the pilsner hops and malt, but enough hop complexity to know that this is something more than a pilsner.

I liked this beer – it was a nice change of pace from what I have recently been drinking and probably would order one without hesitation on a nice warm sunny day. The rabbit is incorrect, I would be happy if you ordered me this pilsner.

Discount Double Czech strolls in like a good neighbor with a respectable 3 Aaron Rodgers out of 5.

In case you don’t remember “Discount Double Check” because you were not paying attention/don’t care/hiding under a rock/abducted by aliens, here you go: