Tallgrass Brewing Co. - IPA

This is a special review for me. A couple months ago on twitter I stumbled upon the Tallgrass Brewing Co. out of Manhattan, Kansas. I then sent them a playful tweet wishing I could taste some of their beer. Obviously, Tallgrass is not sent to Pennsylvania or I wouldn’t have asked. Not only did Tallgrass Brewing Co. send in four of their flagship beers, Tallgrass’ founder Jeff Gill sent a handwritten note. Extremely classy, thank you very much Jeff. Today is going to be the first of a four part series on the Tallgrass beers I was sent. We’re going to look at their IPA today:

Tallgrass Brewing Co. IPA - Manhattan, Kansas
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 60
Pricepoint: ?

The Tallgrass IPA has an interesting history (as is viewed on their website). But basically, it was a homebrew recipe that was then refined into the beer we have today. They also give a little history on the IPA itself.

Another aspect of Tallgrass that should really be recognized is their devotion to canning craft beer rather than bottling it. You can read Tallgrass’ “canifesto” on their website.

But onto the beer.

The beer pours a hazy, pumpkin colored orange. Relatively aggressive carbonatoin upon viewing. The head is an eggshell white that dissipates relatively quickly leaving a layer of wonderful bubbles on top.

Obviously, since it’s an IPA, the nose is hop-aggressive but there is a really solid malt backbone to this brew. Really looking forward to tasting it, I am already impressed.

The beer begins very piny-hop forward and then quickly moves into the pale malt backbone with the hops taking the main stage at the end of the taste again. I’m not too sure about the hop varieties in the beer.

This IPA can definitely hold it’s own with other craftbeer IPAs out there right now. People in Kansas are lucky to be able to obtain Tallgrass Brewing Co’s beers. They’re doing great things out there in the Great Plains. Again, thanks to Jeff and the crew at Tallgrass Brewing Co for a taste of Kansas craft beer!

Cheers!

Caldera Brewing Co. Rose Petal Imperial Golden Ale

Today I decided to open I bottle I bought just yesterday. We’re looking at the Caldera Brewing Company’s Kettle Series Rose Petal. It’s an Imperial Blonde that’s brewed with rose petals and added Bulgarian Rose Water.

It’s a beautiful beer to look at. Pours crystal clear with a glowing golden tone. Head pours healthy and then fades to a thing foam. Really great looking.

Nose really doesn’t jump out at me. Pale malt tones with a tea-like herbal tone to it. Really nothing noticeable, and that includes the rose.

It tastes similar to the nose. There is a floral tone to it. Not hoppy floral but like an herbal tea floral. It’s difficult to describe. Luckily, I happened to have a bottle of rose water around so I took a sniff of it and I just couldn’t make the connection. The beer as a blonde ale is really very solid. The pale malts work wonderfully with the carbo to create an extremely refreshing beer. This would have been nice to have during those 95+ dog days of summer .

Overall, it is a solid beer. I have to say though, I had a difficult time pulling the “rose” flavors from the beer. I’m happy I was able to try this limited release and I look forward to more of what Caldera is going to offer.

Cheers!

I’m Back with 3 Floyds Robert The Bruce!

Greetings! I am back. Now, I haven’t blogged in quite some time. This is mainly due to laziness and lack of motivation. Alas, I recently came across some hard-to-get-in-Philly gems that have turned my attitude around. 

Before I begin the review, I have to give a huge shout-out to my good friend Greg. About a month ago now Greg took a roadtrip out to the midwest and just happened to stop in Chicago where he loaded up (and I mean LOADED up) on craft beer that we can’t get our hands on here in Philadelphia (Three Floyds, Goose Island, New Holland etc…) Being the good friend that he is, he also picked me up some. Okay, let’s start the review:

Today we are taking a look at 3 Floyds Robert the Bruce.

So this is my first Three Floyds out of the bottle. Robert The Bruce is what’s called a Scottish Ale. Scottish Ales basically go through an extra long boil to carmelize the wort and grants it it’s typical deep brown hue.

It pours a deep mahogany with about a finger of head that dissipates quickly into a delicate ring around the glass. Immediately the nose is of caramelized malt, not quite intoxicatingly sweet because it does have a nice hop balance to the nose. The taste is biscuity with an excellent malt sweetness. Really solid earthiness that just brings you to the Scottish Moors. The finish coats your mouth with a sweet maltiness and resides on the palet until you change beers. 

Now while this beer may not be mind-blowing or extreme, I think styles like the Scottish Ale really create the backbone for the more extreme beers. My goal is to not focus so much on the “rarest” or the “most extreme” beer I can get my hands on but rather build myself a backbone on the English, Scottish, and German styles. I think this will benefit my palet much more than drinking every extreme beer there is. 

Huppendorfer - Heller Kathrein-Bock

Today’s review comes to you from the Brauerei Johannes Grasser in Konigsfeld Germany.

Interested story on how I obtained this beer actually: I bought this at the Pliny the Younger tasting I went to at the Blue Dog in Chalfont, PA. The owner of the Blue Dog told us the story that the distributors, the Shelton Brothers, basically got sick of the beers that they were distributing and decided to take a trip to the small towns in Germany to visit these small family breweries. Which ever one of those breweries actually bottled their beer they had shipped back to Massachusetts to be distributed. I thought it was pretty cool though I don’t know how much validity there is to the story. On to the beer: 

The beer is a Bock meaning that’s it’s a bottom fermenting lager that takes about a month longer in cold storage. Bocks are generally stronger than typical lagers (this one is 7.5% ABV). Also, Bocks are supposed to be “…a symbol of better times to come and moving away from winter.” (As stolen from BA) Which totally makes it perfect for the unseasonably spring weather we’re having. 

It pours a hazy reddish golden color with a nice head that dissipates quickly but leaves some nice lacing on the glass as it exits. 

The nose is very malty and very biscuity. Sweet malts hit the nose and a slight bitterness may be in there.

The taste is exactly what I think of when I think of German bocks, a nice malt flavor hits the pallet first followed by a slight crisp hoppiness that finishes really dry with a dash of honey sweetness.  The mouthfeel is a little thick but overall very enjoyable. The ABV is well hidden by the excellent malt flavor. 

Overall an excellent beer. After sampling lots of “extreme” beers recently, it’s nice to come back to one of the beers that is at the roots of beer itself. If you can get your hands on this guy I’d do so but I’m sure that there are other comparable Bocks out there. Try one and taste some of the early history of beer!

Dogfish Head - Aprihop

Today’s review is a special beer for me. It comes to you from Dogfish Head in Milton, Delaware. Aprihop is Dogfish’s “fruit beer for people who hate fruit beers” as Sam Calagione aptly puts it. I first tasted this beer at the Dogfish Head event at Earth Bread and Brewery in Philadelphia and was blown away by it. On to the beer:

Aprihop is an American IPA that clocks in at 7.0% ABV with a modest 30 IBU’s. What really makes the beer unique, obviously, is the addition of real apricots to the mash. If you’ve read the previous post on the Dogfish event that I went to, you’ll know that Sam actually has been brewing this beer for many years but he wanted to bring it back to it’s original hoppiness because over the years it had grown into a fully fruit beer. The 2010 version is the only I’ve tried and I hope they don’t change it!

Aprihop pours a deep amber with an off-white head that sticks around for the entire ride. Modest lacing also is apparent. 

The nose is what first blew my mind. It starts off as if you’re sniffing their 90-minute IPA and then after you’ve deeply inhaled there is this wonderful fruity, apricot aroma. The hop aroma is balanced by the excellent malt backbone. 

The taste is a three gradient taste I think. It starts of sipping like a regular IPA and then slowly develops into this excellent hoppy, apricot flavor. The sweetness of the apricots are never overwhelming but compliment the hoppiness excellently.

The drinkability on this is high but the ABV will hit you quickly. I paired this with a tuna fish sandwich with banana peppers and it worked wonderfully. Big ups to Dogfish as usual. I may be a Dogfish fanboy but hey, nothing better to be a fanboy of eh?

Stone - 13th Anniversary (aged too long)

Okay. So this is a review where the beer is good and my judgement was poor. The beer that we’re looking at is a Stone 13th Anniversary that was supposed to be enjoyed in 2009 but wasn’t until March of 2010. Now, I was ignorant that this beer was supposed to be enjoyed early in 2009 much less 2010 but at the same time, I knew that it was 9.5% abv and thought, “hey, it’s high in etoh, it can age!”

Womp Womp.

*Disclaimer*
Before I go any further, I did have a growler of this stuff from much earlier in 2009 and it was one of my favorite beers of the season. This review has nothing to do with Stone and more my inability to read labels.

The Beer:

So this is Stone’s 13th anniversary Ale being enjoy well into their 14th year. First bad move. It poured a beautiful deep amber brown with a nice tan head that retained literally the entire pint. Relatively clear on the edges.

Smell: OK, this is where I got my first hint things weren’t quite right. The smell was a musty, deep woods, sweet malt. Almost nauseatingly sweet.

Taste: Take a tablespoon of molasses, hold it over a fire until it is crispy burnt, and shove it in your mouth. Yep, that’s pretty much what this tasted like. Really unenjoyable. I tried to convince myself halfway through the pint that it was all in my mind but it just got worse and worse as I drank it.

Okay now, I am going to rate an inappropriately aged 13th anniversary at a 35/100. IF it was fresh 13th anniversary it would have scored in the low 90s easily. I have learned my lesson and will read labels from now on.

Blech.

P.S. here’s the obvious label (my phone cannot focus on anything btw):

Founders - Nemesis 2009

Welcome to the first official PhillyBeerSnob post! Just to reiterate, I am not a professional by any means. I know what I like and what I don’t like and I like to talk about beer. Anyway, on to the beer!

My first review is the Founders Nemesis 2009. I purchased it at Capones on 2/17/10. It was about $9 if I remember correctly.

It’s a maple bourbon barrel aged wheat wine. Yeah I know, talk about adjectives! Visually this beer pours a deep golden amber color. I got pretty much no head to speak of. Really a beautiful beer in a snifter glass (bourbon-esq).

The nose on this guy is really smooth and sweet. I’m definitely getting a maple syrup smell along with vanilla and caramel.

The taste is outstanding! Really unique flavor. I’m not getting so much of the bourbon as the maple flavor. The mouthfeel is really interesting. I don’t want to say there is NO bite to it but there is really no alcohol heat that’s decipherable. It’s really smooth and really satisfying. I could definitely drink this in place of a digestivo for after dinner drinks.

On a 0-100 scale I would really have to put this at 92. Founders is such a good and quirky brewery. I can’t say I’ve been disappointed with anything they’ve ever created. If you can find this, get it. Founders Nemesis 2009.