Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Kendall Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am the first one to admit that I am not a big fan of ginger in beer. Don’t get me wrong, I love ginger in food, but in beer, it tends to be used in such a way that it overpowers everything else in the beer rather than being a complimentary flavor. I was a bit apprehensive when NW Peaks did a beer with ginger in December, but, given their previous track record with ginger beers, this one had some potential.

From the NW Peaks website on the Kendall Porter:

The name. The mountain. Kendall Peak is located just off Snoqualmie Pass, part of the ridge that separates Commonwealth Basin and the Gold Creek basin. Due to its proximity to Snoqualmie Pass and PCT trail it’s a great destination for a summer hike or winter day in the snow. Besides great views of Commonwealth basin and the Snoqualmie area, a full ascent of the mountain nets you about 2750′ of elevation gain, but there are plenty of other excursions in the area if you need more adventure.

The Beer. Ingalls Ginger has been a summer favorite since NW Peaks opened and we continuously get calls fro it in the winter. Since we only produce Ingalls in the summer, we decided to try our luck at a winter ginger beer – and we’re pretty darn happy with the results! We used a brown porter as a base (slightly less roast and lower ABV than the more common robust porters). The porter consists of all English style ingredients with some chocolate and brown malt for the color, with ginger and bitter orange peel added at the end of the boil. The light refreshing nature of the ginger, subtle sweetness and citrus of the orange and light chocolate notes combine to a great, delicate aroma and flavor in a light bodied beer. The result is a full flavored, but very light bodied, easy drinking beer.

Malts: ESB, chocolate, crystal, brown. Hops: Golding (+ Ginger root and bitter orange peel). ABV: ~4.7%

The beer pours deep brown in color with a cream colored head. The nose is bold – significant notes of ginger, orange peel and roasted malt with hints of coffee and chocolate in the background; it is hard to believe this beer is under 5% ABV. The beer drinks very layered, starting out with pleasant malt with hints of roast and chocolate before beginning to show the ginger coupled with a slight touch of spicy heat from the root and a very mild bitterness before moving into pleasant orange peel and chocolate. The flavors build on each other and all appear on the very long finish with a nice tongue tingle. The use of ginger is restrained and acts as a supporting player, allowing all of the other complex players to come through in a well-balanced and deep beer.

NW Peaks Kendall Porter rolls into the station with 5 Red Lines out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Snowfield 2013

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I love the winter warmer style of beer – malty but not too sweet with plenty of character to get you through a cold evening. I was excited back in December to see that NW Peaks was bringing back their Snowfield beer, a wonderful winter warmer.

From the NW Peaks website:

The name. The mountain. With a name like Snowfield, we couldn’t resist naming our winter beer after it. Additionally, Snowfield is a mountain that takes more effort and time to climb. While it weighs in at a mere 8,347′ and Washington’s 90th highest peak, it stands 6,500′ above the Pyramid Lake trailhead with multiple ‘ups and downs’ and glaciers en route. The Pyramid Lake trailhead is right off hwy 20 just S of Diablo dam. While the trail is nothing to write home about, once into the Colonial basin views are truly spectacular with the whole N Cascades park within view and Snowfield a half day’s hard work from there. But we digress, we just loved that climb so much, just like the beer, that we could ramble on forever.

The Beer.This is our latest version of the Snowfield. We used largely the same ingredients, but played with the ratios and yeast. This year, we used the American yeast that ferments clean and dry, pushing the hop aroma forefront. We also added another variety of hops – Sorachi Ace – to increase the lemon/citrus aroma to play off the chocolate notes from the malt. The result is a nicely balanced winter beer featuring notes of chocolate and citrus hops. While not a heavy hitter in ABV for winter beers (6.6%) Snowfield is still a great winter beer, perfect to warm you up on a dark winter evening.

Malts: ESB, chocolate, honey, crystal. Hops: centennial, sorachi ace. ABV: ~6.6%

The beer pours dark brown in color with a cream colored head. It shows loads of malt on the nose with hints of dried fruit and chocolate coupled with a subtle note of spices. The beer starts out on the palate with lots of pleasantly sweet malt before moving into deeper flavors – first with roasted chocolate before transitioning into hints of dried fruit and finishing with a mild and pleasant hop bitterness that mingles with the other flavors in an extremely long finish. The beer drinks deep and complex with a great balance of malt and dark roasted flavors to warm you up on a cold winter day.

NW Peaks Snowfield 2013 straps in and goes for a hike with 4 snowshoes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Cave Ridge Rye

By Iron Chef Leftovers

For our loyal readers, I am going to take us back on a trip to January in my beer of the year post:

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).

Well, I am ready to reveal what that 5^th beer is since this is the review for it. In some ways it is better that the review slipped to 2014, it would not have won in 2013, but it is really the front runner for 2014’s title of beer of the year.

From the NW Peaks website:

Cave ridge, fresh hop, rye. Cave ridge rye features fresh simcoe hops, imparting a beautiful/delicate piney aroma and acidity in the beer. To feature the simcoe hops, we put the hops on top of a light, dry pale. We used ~35% rye, which aids in drying out the beer, but also adds a little complexity complementing the simcoe. Some might find this a strange pairing, but they work really well together in Cave Ridge rye.

The beer pours a very pale yellow in color with strong notes of berries, grain and mild notes of rye on the nose. The beer starts out quickly with a quick hit of hops showing some light resin and pine before moving into heavy rye notes with a mild fruitiness before finishing off with a tinge of very pleasant bitterness, pine needles and more rye dryness at the very end of the beer, showing notes of raspberry on the finish as the beer warms. Layered and complex, the beer doesn’t have the strong bitter/citrus hop character of most fresh hopped beer, but is much deeper and show how the hops can play with several other complex players, making a the hops an important member of the symphony rather than the star of the show.

NW Peaks Caver Ridge Rye stirs the cauldron and makes a prediction of 5 oracles out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Crooked IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

October bring fresh hop season in the beer world, which is fun since I love the freshies. The problem is that this year has led to a number of disappointing beers – beers that I have liked in the past just haven’t been as good. Maybe my tastes are changing or maybe I am just understanding more about how the beers are composed and seeing the flaws. Either way, NW Peaks gave us 2 fresh hop IPA’s in October. The first of the pair is the Crooked IPA. From the NW Peaks Website:

The name, freshies. We’ve been blessed with a wonderful summer this year and it’s continued into the fall. We hope you have been able to take advantage of the lengthened season! Sooner or later winter will be upon us and we’ll turn our thoughts to snowy adventures and finding all of the finest powder and “freshies” we can. One of the more popular places to go is Snoqualmie pass for the winter playground. Snoqualmie Mountain, the tallest mountain in the area, is a great mountain for non-aided winter recreation. Cave ridge is the standard climbing/snow shoe route up the ridge on the S, while the ‘Crooked’ couloir is a great back country ski down the mountain (note – rapel may be needed depending on conditions)

Crooked, fresh hop, IPA. Crooked IPA was made with amarillo fresh hops, imparting a distinct hop aroma/flavor in the beer. All of the fresh hops were added at the end of the boil (others varieties were used for flavor and bittering) and contribute almost exclusively to the aroma. There is a nice malt backbone and a full bodied IPA.

The beer pours hazy yellow in color – much more cloudy than I was expecting, with lots of hop character on the nose, supported by some grain and hints of pine and citrus. The beer starts off light with notes of grain before moving into bold hop notes – citrus, pine needles, resin and a very mild bitterness, before transitioning off into a pleasant juicy citrus peel finish with a hint of bitterness that seems to keep going in an incredibly long fade. Solid hop character with a nice malty background, really showcasing the hops with a great deal of depth. This beer is exactly everything that I love about fresh hop beers.

NW Peaks Crooked IPA tries to straighten out and fly right with a sneaky 5 juvenile delinquents out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Cascadia Shale Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

In 2012, NW Peaks made a dark version of their Eldorado Pale Ale which was outstanding. In 2013, they made a hoppy dark beer called Cascadia Shale Ale. The beer was a bit big at 6.5% ABV and was available on tap at the tasting room.

The beer pours very dark brown in color with a light tan head, showing lots on malt on the nose with hints of chocolate and hops supporting the malt. On the palate, the beer is hop forward; mild bitterness with hints of pleasant and not overpowering citrus followed by malt with hints of chocolate before finally yielding back to hops with more light bitterness and a hint of alcohol and resin on the very end of the beer. I would have liked a slightly smoother finish (the beer did come off as slightly hot) but it was still outstanding and complex with multiple layers of flavor. This was a somewhat malty version of a CDA, perfect for an overcast Northwest evening in the fall.

NW Peaks Cascadia Shale Ale rumbles in with 4 subduction quakes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I tend to stay away from the lighter beers, just because they usually lack the depth of flavors that I am looking for when drinking a beer. There are some breweries that I would still try their lighter beers, just because of their track record with making beers that I enjoy. NW Peaks is one of them. So when they released Kaleetan as part of the August Mountainbeers lineup, I was actually looking forward to drinking it.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Kaleetan is a peak close to Snoqualmie pass. It is one of the more impressive peaks in the area and its name means arrow, while others have described it as “matterhorn” (both aptly describing it). It’s a great day climb and/or ski depending on the time of year and conditions. In the summer trails go from Denny Creek to Melakwa lake. Heading up to the summit gully and easy class 3 scrambling can take you to the exposed summit. In winter, source lake is the preferred starting point.

The beer. Kaleetan is an “American Wheat Beer.” It has a wheat base and we used hops that have lemon qualities for the flavor and aroma. We finished off the beer with some lemon zest, enhancing the lemon properties. The result was a light beer with a light/delicate lemon aroma. The aroma is followed by a bready flavor with light herbal notes (a secondary characteristic from the sorachi ace hops). Overall, Kaleetan is an easy drinking wheat ale with light lemon and herbal notes.

The beer pours pale yellow in color with a fizzy white head. The nose is dominated by strong notes of yeast and wheat with touches of lemon interspersed. On the first sip, light notes of grain appear on the front of the beer with a very mild hint of yeast, before moving into slightly dry/tart lemon notes, before finishing with a hint of refreshing bitterness and touches of lemon peel. The beer is light and refreshing but surprisingly complex and it vaguely reminded me of a pilsner and would be perfect on a hot day. I think the beer is complex enough to keep an advanced beer drinker happy and subtle enough to have mass appeal.

NW Peaks Kaleetan-weizzen climbs to the top and announces its presence with a strong 4 yodels out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Easy Peak-an Nut Brown Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The second of the seasonally themed Mountainbeers from NW Peaks is their dessert beer – a nut brown ale made with the inclusion of actual pecans, basically setting you up for the end of the meal.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Easy Peak is not so much a mountain, but the high point on Easy Ridge, the ridge located on the other side of the Chilliwack river from popular Copper ridge. While the payoff is stupendous one must ford the Chilliwack river and ascend 3,000 feet back up to the ridge. On the ridge, I don’t know if there is a more beautiful, easy-going, completely back country experience in the N Cascades, including the hike up to the high point.

The beer. Last year we did Spickard Spice for Thanksgiving dinner, this year we moved towards Thanksgiving dessert. We brewed a nut brown as the base – a medium bodied, malty brown with a nice nutty hop (and malt) character. Per our desire to make a Thanksgiving beer, we added some pecans and pie spices, but just enough to give it a perceivable note. The result was a nut brown that dominates the character with a nice pecan note and a barely perceptible spicy note. With a nice brown color, the beer even has the color of a typical pecan pie, so we’d like to believe that it’s just like pecan pie in a glass. Maybe not “exactly”, but it goes down “easy as pie.”

The beer pours amber brown in color with hints of spice and nuts on the nose. The beer starts out on the palate with a nice mild sweetness before building into a slightly spicy nutmeg middle and then moves into deeper brown sugar and pecan nuttiness before finishing with a long, pleasant roasted pecan flavor. The beer has a small amount of perceptible pie spices, but they are definitely background flavors and work wonderfully supporting the deep richness of the nut flavors. This beer is really as close to a liquid pecan pie with great flavors of roasted nuts and I would love to see how this beer did if it got a short aging in a whiskey barrel (hint…hint). One note to add – when we drank this beer, we inadvertently left a small amount in the growler and ended up trying it a room temperature. The spice become the dominant flavor in the beer at that point, so I would say if you enjoy the nut flavor more than the spice, drink it around 45-55 degrees. If you want more noticeable spice flavor, go 55+ with your temp.

NW Peaks Easy Peak-an Nut Brown goes crazy with a spectacular 4 Carya illinoinensis out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Spickard Spiced Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The Mountain Beers from NW Peaks in November had a decidedly seasonal tone to them – Thanksgiving dinner. There was a pecan pie beer (review forthcoming) and a beer that invokes the flavors of stuffing – the Spickard Spice Ale. You don’t see too many beers that use savory (herbs) rather than sweet (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.) spices, so I was really excited for this one.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Spickard is juxtaposed to Mt Redoubt (the namesake for our red ale) and is a great alpine destination, although accessibility is limited to put it mildly. To get to Ouzel lake located at the base of Spickard, you have to travel through Canada and then hike back into the US to Depot cirque. The waterfall en route is one that might not be matched by another in the N cascades. Truly a splendid location.

The Beer. While many breweries are doing pumpkin spice beers in October, we decided to wait until November. And instead of using Halloween spices (pumpkin), we went towards Thanksgiving spices/ingredients. We started with a base that includes more than 25% maize giving the beer a thicker, sweeter flavor. We then added some spruce, rosemary, and thyme that give the beer a flavor reminiscent of thanksgiving stuffing. A great beer on its own and a perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner.

The beer pours and amber reddish brown with a cream colored head. The nose is dominated by strong notes of rosemary and sage with hints of corn and grain supporting the herbal character. The beer leads off with solid herb flavors of sage and thyme with supporting notes of wood (not oak – think tree branch) and rosemary (probably the spruce in the beer), before moving into a slightly sweet middle, supported by grain and a mild corn character before finishing long with notes of yeast joining the herbs and corn. The finish is long and all of the flavors integrate perfectly, forming a liquid cornbread stuffing beer. The beer drinks well on its own but it truly shined with a traditional thanksgiving meal where its depth of flavor truly stood out when paired with turkey and stuffing.

NW Peaks Spickard Spiced Ale makes a glutton out of itself, rolling in at 4 turkey induced comas out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Chair Pale Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

The counterpart to the recently reviewed Silver Pale from NW Peaks is the Chair Pale, a Belgian style pale, and one which Mrs. Iron Chef was looking forward to. According to the NW Peaks website, the beer may still be available in growlers, so if you are so inclined, you should see if they still have it.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Chair Pk is an intimidating mountain right off Snoqualmie pass. It heads the alpental valley and is a popular technical winter climb offering both ice and steep snow routes. All around Chair is a winter playground with “the chair peak circumnavigation” one of the most popular backcountry ski tours in the area.

The Beer. Chair is Belgian style pale ale. We used the Ardennes™ yeast strain to introduce the typical fruity esters (banana) and spicy phenols (pepper) typical of Belgian beers. The Belgian characters dominate the beer, but are supported by a nice hop character. The fruity and floral notes of Amarillo and NZ Saaz hops complement and support the Belgian character very nicely, resulting in a drier, crisp belgian style pale ale.

Malts: Pale, Pilsner, Vienna, Wheat, dextrin. Hops: NZ-Saaz, Amarillo, Cascade. ABV: ~5.25%

The beer pours golden yellow in color (and is hazy, which is not an indication of any issues) with a classic Belgian nose – clove, banana and yeast dominate the beer. The beer has a slightly hoppy bitterness on the initial sip but that fades quickly into the flavors that you would expect from a Belgian – coriander, yeast and banana linger for a long period of time before finishing in a slightly sweet and bready finish. Complex and well-balanced, Chair Pale drinks easily and is a nice change of pace from the hop heavy NW Pales that you commonly find.

NW Peaks Chair Pale Ale takes a seat at the table with 4 rockers out of 5.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Silver Pale Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months back, the NW Peaks Mountainbeers were both pale ales, brewed with different hop varieties. I was excited for both of them, but especially for the Silver Pale Ale, which included spruce tips in the beer.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Like one of the April beers (Tinkham), Silver is off Snoqualmie pass. In fact, it’s juxtaposed to Tinkham just off the PCT and a great place for a good, light summer excursion. The climb is ~ 1,000 feet of a boot path from the PCT. The summit offers great views of the ever popular summits peppering the Snoqualmie area and serves as part of the boundary that surrounds one of Seattle’s 2 major watersheds (the Cedar River watershed).

The Beer. Silver pale is a standard NW style pale, featuring a couple of interesting ingredients, namely the sorachi ace hop variety and spruce tips. It has a medium body with nice hop notes and slightly forward bitterness. However, the sorachi ace imparts a “lemony” and to a lesser extent “dill” aroma which we paired with the (very subtle) spruce tips (and a few other hop varieties to round out the taste). The result was a nice, slightly bitter, NW pale ale.

Malts: Pale, ESB, Rye, crystal. Hops: Sorachi Ace, halertau, chinook. ABV: ~5.0%

The beer pours hazy yellow in color with light hops on the nose coupled with grain and faint raspberry/spruce hints. The beer starts off as a combination of slightly bitter and sweet before transitioning into light grain middle with strong notes of hops and lemon. The beer then pushes to the finish with a slightly sweet notes of grain and significant notes of raspberry and lemon in a very long finish. The beer is interesting, producing pronounced flavors from both the hops and the spruce tips and is one that is definitely not your average Northwest pale ale.

NW Peaks Silver Pale Ale pans the river and comes up with a solid 3 prospectors out of 5.