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Walkabout Brewing Co.
Worker's Pale Ale
ABV 5.5%
Color: Crystal clear orange.
Aroma: Spicy hops, roasty malts and a bit of dank funkiness.
Flavor: Clean with mildly bitter citrus hops and herbal notes.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Mild bitterness turning to moderate bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good
Seven Brides Brewing Co.
Lauren's Pale Ale
ABV 5.7%
Color: Cloudy orange.
Aroma: Floral and perfumy with tropical fruit notes. Alcohol is also noticeable. Kind of like a fruit brandy.
Flavor: Tart. Almost like a hard cider with a bit of lemon squeezed in.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): N/A (tart and sour)
Finish: Harsh lemon rind bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Bad
Blow by Blow
Another day in the low 90s down here in Southern Oregon had us craving some refreshing pale ales. Fortunately many craft breweries make a pale ale as it is usually a gateway beer to get people hooked on hops. After featuring a brewery from the midwest in last week's battle we decided to keep it closer to home for this one with two breweries from Oregon, one close to us in Central Point (Walkabout) and one near Salem in Silverton (Seven Brides).
Unfortunately it was a lopsided fight. So lopsided, in fact, that we suspect foul play. And by foul we mean that the Seven Brides seemed tainted. It had an intriguing aroma with tropical fruit and alcohol notes, but the flavor was so tart that we would have guessed it was a mild sour beer. We're pretty sure that Seven Brides did not intend to make their Pale Ale sour, so either it was improperly stored, spent too much time on the shelf or the batch was bad. So that was a bummer. We never like to dump a beer down the drain, but we had no choice with the Lauren's Pale Ale.
So the winner by default was the Worker's Pale Ale. It's a classic northwest pale ale with plenty of citrus hops to round out the roasty malts and even has a bit of funkiness thrown in for good measure. Walkabout is a pretty small brewery, so we're not sure how much distribution it gets outside of the Rogue Valley, but if you see it on tap or in a store it's worth checking out. They have quite a loyal following down here in southern Oregon and we hear that they are in the process of getting a tasting room up and running so we look forward to visiting that in the future.
Winner by unanimous decision: Walkabout Brewing.
Boulevard Brewing Co.
Smokestack Series SaisonABV 6.2%
Color: Hazy yellow.
Aroma: Rich, sweet malts with slight mustiness.
Flavor: Citrus and mild grain.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): BalancedFinish: Mild bitterness turning to moderate bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +
Boulevard Brewing Co.
Smokestack Series
Two Jokers Double-Wit
(Brewed with Cardamom, Coriander, Orange Peel, Lavender and Grains of Paradise)
ABV 8%
Color: Hazy orangish yellow.
Aroma: Clean lemony hops and spicy herbs.Flavor: Refreshing citrus at first turning to rich, complex and tart.Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): BalancedFinish: Tart and lemony.Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +
Blow by Blow
These two beers are both from Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Missouri. We found them on sale at the Harry & David store and decided to match them up against each other to see if we like what they're doing out in KC.
It turned out to be a tight battle. Both beers came prepared and really delivered. The Saison wasn't as funky and barnyardy as some of the classic Belgians, but it had a well balanced simplicity with a mild hop presence that was a pleasure to drink and went well with our dinner. The Double-Wit had us confused at first because we really liked it but couldn't really pinpoint any distinct flavors or aromas. The combination of the spices in the beer ended up giving it a pleasant herbal spiciness with no one spice dominating the others. It was also very refreshing and tart which made sense after we read the back and found out that they had used some lactic fermentation.
When it came time to cast our votes we were not in agreement. Ellen chose the more aggressively flavored Double-Wit and I went with the mild and easy-drinking Saison. But, honestly, they were both so good that it could have easily been the other way around. After this battle we will definitely keep our eye out for new Boulevard Brewing releases in the future.
Draw: Ellen chose the Two Jokers, I chose the Saison.
Lagunitas Lucky 13.alt
Anniversary ReleaseABV 8.9%
Color: Orangish yellow.
Aroma: HOPS! Floral/perfumy and stinky/funky at the same time.
Flavor: Sweet to start then intense orange blossom and big grassy hops.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): HoppyFinish: Sweet grapefruit with just a touch of bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic
Trader Joe's Mission St.
2011 Anniversary Ale
ABV 8.5%
Color: Dark brown.
Aroma: Malty, smoky and woody.Flavor: Smoky with some sweet cola notes.Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): MaltyFinish: Very smoky with some woodiness and mild bitterness.Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +
Blow by BlowThis week's battle features two anniversary ales that were/are extremely reasonably priced. The Trader Joe's Mission Street was $2.99 when it was released earlier this year and the Lagunitas Lucky 13.alt is currently selling for $3.99 in Southern Oregon grocery stores. The Mission St. is contract brewed for Trader Joe's by Firestone Walker in Santa Barbara. If you know anything about Firestone Walker beers then you know that $2.99 is a ridiculously good price for a beer brewed by them.
We had the pleasure of trying the Lucky 13.alt at the Battle of the Bones this year and we both chose it for best in show for the craft beer competition. We were hoping that the beer in the bottles would be as good as the beer we had on tap and we were not disappointed. The Lucky 13.alt is a hop lover's dream. It's full of ripe, juicy hop aromas and flavors. What stood out most to us was the strange and alluring aroma that was very floral and perfumy but also had a distinct barnyard funk. The finish is also fantastic, offering a great mellow grapefruit bitterness. Beer geek style note: The .alt in the name is not an indication that this is an altbier. Apparently it's just an obscure reference to alt.* newsgroups of the past. Confused yet? Based on the rambling text on the side of many of their bottles, Lagunitas probably likes it that way.
The Mission St. is also a great beer but it's a completely different experience. According to the Beer Advocate website the beer is actually a blend of Firestone Walker's barleywine, imperial stout and robust porter. As you'd expect from a blend of those beers, the Mission St. is a dark, sweet and malty beer. The dominant flavor and aroma that we detected was smoke but it had some cola and wood notes as well. We tried it along with some smoked brisket and found the similar flavors to complement each other quite nicely. It would also serve well as a dessert beer.
Being unapologetic hop heads we both picked the Lucky 13.alt. Next time we head to the store I plan on buying a good stockpile of bottles to get us through the summer. For those of you fortunate enough to live near a Trader Joe's (none in Southern Oregon!), don't underestimate some of their seasonal beer that is contract brewed. If the 2011 Anniversary is any indication, future anniversary beers should be something to get your hands on.
Winner by unanimous decision:
Lucky 13.alt.
Rogue MoM Hefeweizen
(Ale Brewed with Coriander and Ginger)ABV 5.2%
Color: Hazy bright yellow.
Aroma: Funky barnyard grain, clean lemon.
Flavor: Crisp, acidic, lemony. Herbal bitterness.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): BalancedFinish: Grainy with moderate citrus bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -
Malmgard Brewery
Arctic Circle Ale
(Finnish Ale Brewed with Juniper Twigs)
ABV 7.3%
Color: Dark reddish brown.
Aroma: Smoky roasted malts, chocolate, raisins, brown sugar.Flavor: Rich and complex with same stuff as aroma, but also had a distinct savory quality.Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): MaltyFinish: Brown sugar, raisins, molasses.Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good
Blow by Blow
This battle was inspired by a bottle of Finnish winter ale that we bought while we were in California last Christmas. We meant to drink it sooner, but we kept getting distracted by all the other beers crammed in our fridge. So here we are in the heat of summer doing a bottle battle with a winter beer. Sometimes that’s just how things work out.
The Finnish beer was brewed with juniper twigs so we looked to match it up against another beer featuring herbs. We found a worthy competitor in the Rogue MoM, a hefeweizen brewed with coriander and ginger. Finland vs. Oregon. Perhaps this is the beginning of a nasty international rivalry?
As expected the beers were of two totally different styles. The Rogue was meant for summer sipping with lots of lemony and grainy flavors and a crisp herbal bitterness. The Arctic Circle, on the other hand, was built for dark Finnish winters, offering notes of brown sugar, raisins, and smoky chocolate. It also had an intriguing savory characteristic that we though might be from the juniper twigs but it could also have been the influence of the rye malt which we weren’t aware of until reading the back of the label.
Neither of us could really detect the specific herbs in either of the beers, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Overly spiced beers can be a mess. Then again, if you list it as a flavor ingredient, don’t you want your customers to taste it? There is a fine line here that also involves some palate subjectivity so there is really no absolute answer, but it’s a topic worthy of some thought. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.
Based on the season you’d think that MoM would have won handily, but that was not the case. The Rogue just didn’t have enough going on to keep it interesting, so in the end the Finnish beer beat the odds and proved that winter beers can be just as tasty on a hot evening in southern Oregon as they are on a frigid Finnish night. Kippis!
Winner by unanimous decision:
Malmgard Arctic Circle Ale
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