Belgian Style Ales — Full Sail vs. Lazy Boy

Full Sail Sanctuary
(Belgian Style Dubbel)
ABV 7%

Color: Bronzy amber.
Aroma: Sour bananas, orange caramel, cloves.
Flavor: Sweet, malty, toasted nuts and banana.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet, yeasty banana bread.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Lazy Boy Brewing Belgian
(Belgian Style Golden Ale)
ABV 8.7%

Color: Orangey gold.
Aroma: Vanilla yogurt.
Flavor: Floral. Bitter yogurt.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet, metallic and more yogurt.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre -

Blow by Blow
In celebration of the holiday weekend we staged a Bottle Battle featuring interpretations of Belgian style beers done by two Northwest breweries. Joining us for the battle were esteemed family members Tempa, Jim, Tom & Candace. In one corner we had the Belgian Golden from Lazy Boy, in the other corner we had a Belgian Dubbel made by Full Sail. The fight didn't last long.

Basically, the Sanctuary came out and just leveled the Lazy Boy. First round knockout. Game over.

The Sanctuary was a real nice, solid Dubbel with classic Belgian yeast aromas and flavors and a nice medium body. The Lazy Boy, however, was messed up. Tempa immediately noticed that it smelled like vanilla yogurt and every one of us agreed. It was very strong and very strange. Definitely unlike any other Belgian any of us had ever tried. A couple of us wondered if it could have anything to do with lactobacillus which is a bacteria that is used in yogurt and sometimes beer (to make sour beers). So we weren't sure if the Lazy Boy was infected or not, but whatever it was we didn't care for it.

Happy Thanksgiving from Bottle Battle headquarters. Hopefully your turkey went well with your beer.

Winner by unanimous decision: Full Sail.

IPA Can Clash — Caldera vs. Maui Brewing Co.

Caldera IPA
ABV 6.1%

Color: Dark reddish orange.
Aroma: Malt, moist ground funk, pine sap and caramel.
Flavor: Citrus peel hops, toffee, soap.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Intense and long lasting bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Maui Brewing Co.
Big Swell IPA
ABV 6.2%

Color: Light orangish yellow.
Aroma: Powerful floral and citrus.
Flavor: Sweet flowers, honey, cedar, citrus.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Mellow citrus and sharp acidity.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Blow by Blow
There is no shortage of IPA in the Northwest. However, your options are a bit more limited if you are looking for IPA in a can. This Can Clash features two imported (to the Seattle area) IPAs, one hailing from Southern Oregon and one from Hawaii. We popped them open on a brisk November evening to find out which one was best.

The Maui came out strong with an extremely intense aroma that packed a powerful punch. The Caldera was more subdued in the aroma but made up for it with a huge dose of hoppy bitterness in the finish. In a way, the beers were kind of mirror images of each other, with the Big Swell starting strong then slowly fading and the Caldera starting subtle and slowly building — two different approaches that both deliver the hops but in completely different ways.

In the end, both beers were still standing and both were confidently gesturing to the crowd as if they'd won. Turns out they both were wrong as the results revealed that it was a split decision. I preferred the wonderful aroma and sweet, citrusy flavors of the Big Swell while Ellen was drawn to the big, bitter finish and caramel notes of the Caldera. Neither quite reached the heights that some Northwest IPAs attain but both are well worth the space in your backpack should you need some liquid refreshment on your next hike.

Split decision: l chose the Maui while Ellen preferred the Caldera.

Rogue Wood-Aged Beers — John John vs. John John

Rogue John John
(Dead Guy Ale Aged in Dead Guy Whiskey Barrels)
ABV ?%

Color: Deep orange.
Aroma: Sweet malts and floral honey.
Flavor: Full body and sweet with orange honey.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Slight tannins and wonderful mellow whiskey notes.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Rogue John John
(Ale with Natural Hazelnut Flavor Aged in Hazelnut Spice Rum Barrels)
ABV ?%

Color: Reddish brown.
Aroma: Caramel, toffee, molasses with some barnyard funkiness.
Flavor: Medium bodied and acidic with vanilla, molasses and cola.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and simple with some vanilla and cola.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Blow by Blow
This battle turned into a revelation about temperature. The battle started with the beers being too cold which made it hard for us to really detect much of anything in either beer. However, as the beer heated up, so did the battle. What started as a tentative fight, turned into an all out brawl. The wood-aged character in both beers was absent when they were cold, but the warmth brought out the wood in a big way.

The Dead Guy had a richer, fuller body and a fantastic sweet whiskey finish with some tannins to offset the sweetness. The Hazelnut Brown was good as well, with a thinner body and a nice molasses and vanilla kick that evolved into a cola flavor as it warmed up. The cola flavor was unexpected and we wondered if it had anything to do with us associating the flavors from the rum barrel aging with rum and cokes.

So both combatants fought valiantly, but the Dead Guy ended up decking the Hazelnut in the last round with a wicked combo of beer and whiskey that we felt worked a bit better than the beer and rum combo. These were both limited release bottles for 2010 that I'm pretty sure aren't available in stores anymore. Hopefully they will continue the John John series next year. If they do, you can bet we'll be stocking up on the Dead Guy.

Winner by unanimous decision: Dead Guy.

IPAs — Flyers vs. Lazy Boy Brewing

Flyers Afterburner
India Pale Ale
ABV 6.5%

Color: Bright pumpkin orange.
Aroma: Hoppy, meaty, burnt toffee.
Flavor: Full body, sweet, yet also somehow savory.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Intense, long-lasting harsh bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre

Lazy Boy Brewing IPA
ABV 6.2%

Color: Dark reddish orange.
Aroma: Citrus hoppy.
Flavor: Thin body, clean and citrusy.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Late arriving moderate bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre

Blow by Blow
As is often the case with IPAs, it all comes down to balance. You can drown the thing in hops, but if you don't have the malts to balance out the flavor your beer is not going to be very good. Unfortunately, both of these beers fell short in the balance department.

The Afterburner was huge. As a matter of fact, it was so dense with hops and malts that we probably would have guessed it was a double IPA. In the end, the hops overwhelmed everything and left you with a super harsh bitterness that was tolerable but not necessarily pleasant. The Lazy Boy had different issues. It started off pretty decent with a nice citrusy aroma, but fell flat in the flavor with a very thin body that came across as a bit watery.

So the fight was sloppy. Neither combatant brought his A game and they both just sort of danced around until they got tired. It ended up being a split decision with Ellen not really caring for either but choosing the Afterburner because it had a richer body and me choosing the Lazy Boy because it seemed far less extreme and closer to being in balance.

But this time we were not the final word. We had the pleasure of having two distinguished guest tasters for this battle! Colin & Bekky stopped by and after trying both of the beers blind they both agreed that neither were especially good but the Lazy Boy was better.

We ended up rating them both Mediocre because they are definitely passable if you don't have any other options, but you might want to look elsewhere if you're in search of the holy ale.

Winner by majority decision: Lazy Boy.