tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30196172056056737852024-03-12T20:58:29.322-07:00Bottle BattleComparative beer reviews that just might help you decide on a selection when you find yourself baffled in the beer aisle.Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-29183943067468578332015-05-25T18:28:00.000-07:002015-05-25T18:28:25.811-07:00Three for the Road — The Final Battle (IPAs of course!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdXVidSX9YEPYNPr8oyO29TpFS97UDF8v-jcv8VZ51B5GsaifTnF6Lnlqxu-ghvSCsOjgiOt6Oy71Np8PgBCISu_hnNziki5q_b6C7fJs4BcO5Gzifu_DALMG3B09RRR4ZV8BdF9U3I78/s1600/IPAs1Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdXVidSX9YEPYNPr8oyO29TpFS97UDF8v-jcv8VZ51B5GsaifTnF6Lnlqxu-ghvSCsOjgiOt6Oy71Np8PgBCISu_hnNziki5q_b6C7fJs4BcO5Gzifu_DALMG3B09RRR4ZV8BdF9U3I78/s320/IPAs1Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Almanac India Pale Ale</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7.5%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Wild Ride Brew</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Hopperhead India Pale Ale</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.7%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Sunriver Brewing</b></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Vicious Mosquito IPA </b></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b></b></span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ABV 7%</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five years and over 300 beers later we have come to the end of the road. It was an epic journey of beer education and we enjoyed every sip (even those that we spit out). Along the way we drank some amazing beers and some amazingly infected beers and we learned a ton about the flavor profiles of many beer styles and what goes into making them taste the way they do. Hopefully we steered you in the direction of a great new beer or a new beer style in the process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many reasons we are calling it quits, but one of the big reasons is that traditional reviewing gets boring and repetitive. At some point we found ourselves following the "beer reviewer" script and grew tired of the purple prose of both our reviews and the reviews of others. Trying to come up with creative ways to describe aroma, flavor and finish is tedious and took away from our enjoyment of the moment. At some point what it all boils down to is, "Do you like it?" And the factors that go into answering that question go far beyond a beer's characteristics. It's about who you're with. It's about the weather outside. It's about your current state of mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, for this last post we enthusiastically do away with all the formality of typical reviews and get back to the true spirit of a Bottle Battle: which beer tastes better to us and why. It's completely and blissfully subjective, without any concern about beer knowledge or expertise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two of the three IPAs we chose for the final battle came from central Oregon near Bend (Sunriver & Wild Ride) while the third was brewed in San Francisco. We enjoyed all three despite the fact that they were very different stylistically. The Hopperhead came out strong with huge hops on the nose, while the Vicious Mosquito was far more subtle in its aroma hops. The Almanac smelled the maltiest of the three with some fruit and some funk thrown in for good measure. But as with many of our IPA battles it all came down to which beer found that elusive balance of malts and hops that we've described in the past as "hop candy." The answer here was clearly the Almanac. For a brewery that seems to have made a name for itself with barrel-aged and sour beers, this is a solid IPA. At 7.5% alcohol and with a distinct sweetness in the finish it could definitely fall into the double IPA category, but no matter what they choose to call it, it's damn good and has definitely made it into the rotation of excellent IPAs you are likely to find in our fridge if you come visit!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And before I sign off for good I'd be remiss not to thank my wife for being my co-conspirer in this whole concept and generously volunteering her nose and tastebuds to the cause. Also, a big thanks to all the guest tasters who helped out with a battle along the way! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And finally, in the spirit of new beginnings, we are pleased to announce that our bakery/restaurant, <a href="http://www.buttercloudbakery.com/" target="_blank">Buttercloud</a>, will be offering its own house IPA on tap starting on June 19th! It's called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ButtercloudBakery/photos/gm.1455412504756247/957490517635816/?type=1&theater" target="_blank">Hopcloud</a> and it's brewed for us by one of our favorite local breweries, <a href="http://www.oppositionbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Opposition Brewing</a>. Next time you're in Southern Oregon come by and enjoy a pint with your biscuit sandwich! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: <span style="font-size: small;">Almanac India Pale Ale</span></span> </span></div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-13736209765140421872015-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:002015-04-01T19:54:44.117-07:00Saisons — Joseph James Brewing vs. Ft. George/The Commons Collab vs. Under the Rose Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEN4AEy7zdAdsF3akkuoplH-stffSFi1nJhvUqVxayTQugT2Y67r1vq2DoQIJH2Vvsc9FNysblbpbdkJz5rEbcYVf4k6s4sWWjlVwNjF6R_kEdKdmQ5Um19WvDUXE1Al52wVWIC94L0aNv/s1600/SaisonsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEN4AEy7zdAdsF3akkuoplH-stffSFi1nJhvUqVxayTQugT2Y67r1vq2DoQIJH2Vvsc9FNysblbpbdkJz5rEbcYVf4k6s4sWWjlVwNjF6R_kEdKdmQ5Um19WvDUXE1Al52wVWIC94L0aNv/s1600/SaisonsSmall.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Joseph James Brewing</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Pro-Am Saison</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 4.7%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Ft. George/The Commons</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Collaboration Plazm</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Farmhouse Ale</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.5%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Under the Rose Brewing</b></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Saisonbeer</b></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ABV 4.8%</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Saisons (or Farmhouse Ales) seem to be gaining in popularity lately and we're beginning to see a good selection of options available on the beer shelves. On my recent trip to Las Vegas I brought home two saisons brewed in the state of Nevada to pit against an exciting collaboration between Ft. George Brewing in Astoria and The Commons Brewery in Portland. Beers were tasted blind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Beer #1 (Ft. George/The Commons Plazm Farmhouse Ale) was orangish brown with sweet citrus, fresh cut grass and cloves on the nose. It featured a medium body and a smooth mouthfeel with sweet malt, citrus and mild banana flavors. The citrus continued into the finish with some sweet honey and floral notes along with a mild bitterness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Beer #2 (Under the Rose Saisonbeer) was brownish orange with a nose of earth, funk, honey, ripe-banana and band-aid. It seemed a bit undercarbonated and had a medium body that featured savory herb and banana flavors as well as some tinny, metallic notes. The finish was simple, sweet and fast with no bitterness at all.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Beer #3 (Joseph James Pro-Am Saison) was a hazy, murky yellow and smelled of a bouquet of roses (seriously!). The flavor was more crisp and citrus focused with a medium to light body. In the finish we detected grain, yeast and a moderate citrus bitterness. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was a fun battle as all three beers were extremely different. When it came right down to it though, we both agreed that we had just experienced a Goldilocks Bottle Battle: The Saisonbeer was too sweet, the Pro-Am was too citrusy and the Plazm was juuust right (for us anyway).</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: <span style="font-size: small;">Ft. George/The Commons Plazm</span></span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-74154296947185938762015-02-27T20:10:00.001-08:002015-02-27T20:53:32.030-08:00Red Ales — Payette Brewing Co. vs. Ballast Point Brewing Co.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl5Ocji7C-BS4mgVYYYS8ud68HsVt8hrtSFENhq4m_bSKPxrZwbqvY4s1WMt-kcn0HUVwgKGMcNybcUsucfvSkQOM3VMgm9UreTk24GoW2BRd7Ue98UJUf6eLpAfeBZw1K0ynVSVIzXB4/s1600/RedAlesSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl5Ocji7C-BS4mgVYYYS8ud68HsVt8hrtSFENhq4m_bSKPxrZwbqvY4s1WMt-kcn0HUVwgKGMcNybcUsucfvSkQOM3VMgm9UreTk24GoW2BRd7Ue98UJUf6eLpAfeBZw1K0ynVSVIzXB4/s1600/RedAlesSmall.jpg" height="280" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Payette Brewing Co.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Slaughter House</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(India Style Red Ale)</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></span></span> </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7.5%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Ballast Point Brewing Co.</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Tongue Buckler</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Imperial Red Ale)</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></span></span> </b></span></span></span> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 10%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time we delve into the strange and unpredictable world of "red ales." We've always had a soft spot for a good, hoppy red ale. Unfortunately we've also run into our share of malty, roasty red ales that are essential just an amber ale with a different name. I chose these specifically because, based on their labels, they promised to deliver some attempt at hoppiness. It's a battle of Boise, Idaho vs. San Diego, California. Let's get it on! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Ballast Point Tongue Buckler) was an attractive reddish brown in the glass. The nose had plenty of hop character leaning toward piney, herbal & vegetal. It had a full body with lots of resiny hop notes to go along with a sweet, burnt caramel maltiness. It was moderate to heavy in bitterness and had an intense finish of burnt caramel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Payette Slaughter House) was the exact same color as Beer #1 but had a bit more clarity. The aroma was reminiscent of fabric softener, soap and pine. It had a thinner body than Beer #1 with lots of floral notes and a mild sweetness. The finish was short-lived with a mild to moderate bitterness and a continuation of the floral character and some underlying grain notes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one had us flip flopping a bit. At first we were drawn to the boldness of the Tongue Buckler, but eventually its aggressiveness just wore us out and we both chose the Slaughter House as the winner. This is not surprising as the Tongue Buckler was brewed in the "imperial" style, which nowadays means stuff as much malt and hops into the beer as humanly possible. Ballast Point has built its reputation on boldly hopped beers and this is no exception. Our biggest complaint was in the finish which was too bitter for our tastes and even had some of that "ashmouth" bitterness that we've detected in extremely hoppy beers in the past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Slaughter House lived up to a beer touting itself as an "India Style Red Ale," and resulted in a successful union between an amber ale and an India pale ale — nice and malty with a decent hop kick. Our only complaint was with the nose, which definitely had elements of artificially scented cleaning products. Aside from that, though, it was a beer worth stowing in your backpack for your next recreational endeavor. Heck, take two, you deserve it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Payette Brewing Slaughter House</span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-58724852046762676752015-02-04T19:49:00.000-08:002015-02-04T19:50:31.547-08:00IPAs — Base Camp Brewing vs. Stone Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBZHRz0MunXb_l35M7qEoKcfpb-mTE3ye0ZMGseN6syVwpYz7YTp0DUymZ5mhE5m-o-O_zhiwpqvg1lEjHzil0ZLzhHKNThPZ7d9pugOl2jGtxb-bCVaSLJFXUm9JNRADlmNISWLxGaQw/s1600/IPAsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBZHRz0MunXb_l35M7qEoKcfpb-mTE3ye0ZMGseN6syVwpYz7YTp0DUymZ5mhE5m-o-O_zhiwpqvg1lEjHzil0ZLzhHKNThPZ7d9pugOl2jGtxb-bCVaSLJFXUm9JNRADlmNISWLxGaQw/s1600/IPAsSmall.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Base Camp Brewing</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Ultra Gnar Gnar IPA</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.7%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Stone Brewing</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Delicious IPA</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7.7%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another IPA battle. This time featuring two beers with self-proclaimed greatness built right into their names. Can the laid back snowboard/skater slang of Ultra Gnar Gnar from Base Camp in Portland take down the brash pomposity of a Stone beer touting itself as "Delicious?" These are the questions we tackle at Bottle Battle. Tasting was conducted blind as is our custom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Base Camp Ultra Gnar Gnar IPA) was a hazy orangish brown that was quite a bit darker than your typical IPA. It had an intriguing nose featuring aromas of peppery and piney hops, sweet pipe tobacco and men's cologne. The flavor was quite fruity with sweet malts dominating while the peppery and piney hop notes stayed in the background along with some woodiness. The finish was a bit flat offering a bit of citrus, some moderate bitterness and a lingering vegetal taste.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Stone Delicious IPA) was a clear, golden yellow. It also featured a unique and intriguing nose featuring sweet citrus (more orange than lemon), fruity honey and a hint of funk. The flavor was heavy on the citrus with a mild honey sweetness along with some fun tropical fruit flavors. The finish started with an intense citrus rind bitterness but soon faded to sweet, floral honey with softer citrus notes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a fun battle, mostly because it seems as if brewers are straying from the typical IPA profile of just a few years ago by incorporating a whole host of new and experimental hop varieties that are expanding our definition of what an IPA can be. I can envision a time in the not so distant future where IPAs are categorized and labelled based on the hops they use, similar to the grape varietals in a wine. You'll have hopheads waxing philosophic on the merits of Mosaic hops and tweaking old wine acronyms like ABC (anything but Chardonnay) to "anything but Chinook." I can almost see it now, an entire refrigerated case at Whole Foods dedicated to IPAs organized by hops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back to the beers. While we were captivated by the aromas of both, we preferred the overall package of the Stone Delicious IPA. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Ultra Gnar Gnar was a fun and unique IPA, but to our palate the fruity and malty notes overwhelmed the hop notes leaving it a bit out of balance.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Stone's marketing, the Delicious IPA is an attempt to bridge the gap between IPA snobs and IPA noobs. On a very simple level we think they made a nice, well balanced IPA and somehow managed to make it a bit softer and sweeter without sacrificing that balance. And while we're not sure that they will find a huge market in the IPA snob population (count us in there) we do feel that it could be the perfect beer for IPA noobs wanting to experiment with IPAs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Stone Delicious IPA</span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-52837128812715620752015-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:002015-01-19T18:00:48.352-08:00Triple India Pale Ales — Green Flash vs. Knee Deep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWA5gb7tLZWwYHUQ3GwFS0HzOv3qp0y7hF2LgnmHNVnPy2x_wF3aeSGRyKSCR2WjT0EzzKM9IJ4CCUrnJ-1y3QCqrpPMlT6toKzisEAetCopKwiq5iwYfUTBvzN4v7q5NwTBCDCqKtBSRz/s1600/TripleIPAsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWA5gb7tLZWwYHUQ3GwFS0HzOv3qp0y7hF2LgnmHNVnPy2x_wF3aeSGRyKSCR2WjT0EzzKM9IJ4CCUrnJ-1y3QCqrpPMlT6toKzisEAetCopKwiq5iwYfUTBvzN4v7q5NwTBCDCqKtBSRz/s1600/TripleIPAsSmall.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Green Flash</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Green Bullet Triple IPA </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 10.1%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Knee Deep Brewing</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Simtra Triple IPA</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 11.25%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A friend dropped off the Knee Deep on the way through town (thanks Brandon!) which inspired me to hunt down another "Triple IPA" for a battle. File the Triple IPA style along with all the other hoppy beer styles that really have no official metric to distinguish one from another. I think that this inconsistency could potentially be quite confusing and frustrating to people just getting into craft beer, but perhaps I'm just an OCD stats geek that wants things compartmentalized and orderly? Regardless, let's see what this whole triple IPA thing is all about. Beers were tasted blind as usual.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Knee Deep Simtra Triple IPA) was a hazy orangish brown with a suspicious lack of bubbles. The nose was a punch in the face with a hop-soaked glove. Massive notes of grass dominated with such an intensity that it came across as almost medicinal. It also had lots of alcohol on the nose which contributed to that medicinal quality. As suspected, it had almost no carbonation but featured a medium body due to a load of malty, sweetness in an attempt to balance out the hop attack. Alcohol continued to be prevalent in the flavor and throughout the finish with a moderate bitterness reminiscent of grapefruit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Green Flash Green Bullet) was a crystal clear orangish brown with plenty of bubbles. It also featured a huge blast of hops in the aroma, focusing more on bright fruitiness with a bit of funk and some new oak woodiness. We also got whiffs of meat, nuts and a vegetal quality as the beer warmed up. All in all it was a very unique and complex aroma. The body was creamy and medium bodied with flavors of fruit forward hoppiness and nuts. It finished with a moderate piney and grassy bitterness and a bit of lingering alcohol flavor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As expected, these were both extremely intense beers — lots of hops, loads of malts and high in alcohol. And to be honest, as much as we love hops, both of these beers were just a bit too much. The Knee Deep Simtra strayed into territory reserved for smelling salts and bitter liqueurs which made it hard to finish the 22 oz. bottle even between the two of us. The Green Bullet was also a monster, but a slightly more tolerable monster with a unique nose and a nice body. Both should be taken in small doses unless your main goal in drinking them is to wince and then fall asleep.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;"></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Green Flash Green Bullet Triple IPA</span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-83385305601619197492015-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:002015-01-01T18:07:51.038-08:00Various Styles — Bridgport Trilogy Series<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrqdwoVGyE8KAUbI_9JRwbf4Xu_4GZgT9LRqOKv4-gr_nk3VqTbdBETi99OcN6j0lPprINljx22UfztaQEOB6b8G3C0hGUsxvZRMOBYx-qyAR9OVTQlYNm12_-uK2hAIkXnTkLG-3ALLa/s1600/BridgeportBeersSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrqdwoVGyE8KAUbI_9JRwbf4Xu_4GZgT9LRqOKv4-gr_nk3VqTbdBETi99OcN6j0lPprINljx22UfztaQEOB6b8G3C0hGUsxvZRMOBYx-qyAR9OVTQlYNm12_-uK2hAIkXnTkLG-3ALLa/s1600/BridgeportBeersSmall.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Bridgeport Brewing</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Crystal Dry Hopped</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Pale Ale </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 5.2%</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Bridgeport Brewing</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Aussie Salute IPA</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 5.8%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Bridgeport Brewing</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Brewers' Class<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Dry-Hopped Session Brown Ale)</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 5%</span></span></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first time we heard about the Bridgeport Trilogy series we knew it was destined for a Bottle Battle. First a little background: The trilogy series was brewed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bridgeport Brewing. Each beer represents a decade of their brewing history with #1 highlighting one of the classic aroma hops that defined northwest craft beer, #2 celebrating the IPA style (featuring Australian hops since the brewer of the original Bridgeport IPA was Australian) that exploded during their second decade of operation, and #3 focusing on the future with a collaboration beer created with the help of students from the Oregon State University Fermentation Science Program. Great concept, great execution, but when all is said and done what really matters is which one tastes the best. That's where we come in. This tasting also featured my parents as guest tasters and was done blind as usual.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Crystal Dry-Hopped Pale Ale) was an orangish gold and had a floral and citrus aroma along with some grain. It had a thin body with a grapefruit character that bordered on cleaning solution. It finished with more citrus and a mild bitterness.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Aussie Salute IPA) was a golden yellow with a huge aroma of tropical fruit and peach jolly rancher. The flavor continued with the same fruity characteristics to go along with a malty and sweet medium body. The finish was dominated by a lingering citrus peel bitterness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #3 (Brewers' Class) was reddish brown with dried fruit, roasted malts and alcohol on the nose. It was thin-bodied with a pronounced roasted grain character in the flavor. The finish was also mostly roasty and a bit flat and abrupt with no bitterness at all. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We all agreed that #2 was the best. The aroma was fantastic and it found a nice hop/malt balance with a not-too-aggressively bitter finish — all hallmarks of a good IPA in our opinion. Second place was a tie, with me and my mom choosing the #1 and Ellen and my dad going with #3. Neither were all that great in my opinion, with #1 having too much of that grainy quality I associate with macro-lagers and #3 tasting like a thin amber/brown hybrid that, despite dry-hopping, had almost no hop character at all.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Turns out that Bridgeport had a voting among fans to determine which beer was the best and #1 was the overwhelming favorite. That wasn't too surprising given that #1 would most certainly qualify as a familiar style for the typical northwest palate. Thanks to Bridgeport for being craft beer pioneers. Here's to another 30 years!</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: <span style="font-size: large;">Aussie Salute</span></span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-16585326241740267222014-12-10T19:51:00.000-08:002014-12-10T19:51:22.943-08:00Winter Beers — Anchor vs. Anchor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLGmlmsPPc8LiIkFiAB9zUGIWIOMdIJYWIZbm_oGYpTiTrhcq3OHtQmjQE5mB-HMufLXb_8lI50_qItQdTbbgCf-OkgmZmKN5-_VIFUUPg2dhIlCEKXYz6BcJmf9t0niqxKYdEW1WSX6VN/s1600/AnchorWinterBeersSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLGmlmsPPc8LiIkFiAB9zUGIWIOMdIJYWIZbm_oGYpTiTrhcq3OHtQmjQE5mB-HMufLXb_8lI50_qItQdTbbgCf-OkgmZmKN5-_VIFUUPg2dhIlCEKXYz6BcJmf9t0niqxKYdEW1WSX6VN/s1600/AnchorWinterBeersSmall.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Anchor Brewing</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Our Special Ale 2014 </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 5.5%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Anchor Brewing</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Winter Wheat</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not really that cold or wintery in southern Oregon but that's no reason to avoid the slew of winter beers hitting the shelves! For this battle we went with two seasonal releases from the craft brewing pioneers at Anchor Brewing Co. Beers were tasted blind as is our custom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Anchor Winter Wheat) was a deep, dark brown and smelled of vanilla and coconut. The body was unbelievably smooth, rich and creamy with subtly sweet flavors of dried fruit and vanilla. The finish was roasty, toasted grain with almost no bitterness at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Anchor Our Special Ale 2014) was a dark reddish brown with grass and honey on the nose. It had a light to medium body and a solid, malty/honey sweetness accented by herbal, mineral and dried fruit notes. The finish also featured the herbal and mineral notes with a mild herbaceous bitterness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being a big fan of Anchor's Our Special Ale releases throughout the years I expected that it would emerge as the winner. Wrong. As a matter of fact, it wasn't a very close fight. The Winter Wheat was superior on every level and left us disappointed that I'd only bought one bottle (that has since been remedied). It's truly a remarkable beer that manages to be deep and dark in color without the aggressive chocolate, coffee and burnt malt flavors that often lurk within a glass of dark beer. We both also agreed that it is one of the most unique and impressive winter offerings we've tried in awhile. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be it from a tough draw in a Bottle Battle or an off year at the brewery, the Our Special Ale just didn't seem that special this year. Where we were expecting winter spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg) we got indistinct herbs and minerals. It also just seemed thin for a winter beer and thin beers, in general, get no love from us in a battle. Mouthfeel is underrated and really can influence your opinion of a beer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big props go to Anchor for continuing to be relevant in a beer landscape that is surging with up and comers looking for a piece. Here's hoping the Winter Wheat becomes a key cog in their lineup of seasonal beers for years to come!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Winter Wheat</span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-50837645048567449982014-11-04T16:24:00.000-08:002014-11-04T16:24:42.614-08:00IPAs — Breakside vs. New Belgium/Odell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJH9wz9pTKSUBfiZTtc3CG0mMb_nddCTA2ecWWKhY-igCv4RpcfhYiFGs_p1OESIgwzT1EqArER6Jz01y0Zk9QJgIoS06nzgUcqabXsxjBNvb3zbKhzQv6coeMR6zbLYuf7PVZAhleSG_/s1600/IPAs2Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJH9wz9pTKSUBfiZTtc3CG0mMb_nddCTA2ecWWKhY-igCv4RpcfhYiFGs_p1OESIgwzT1EqArER6Jz01y0Zk9QJgIoS06nzgUcqabXsxjBNvb3zbKhzQv6coeMR6zbLYuf7PVZAhleSG_/s1600/IPAs2Small.jpg" height="320" width="267" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Breakside</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Feel Good Flagship IPA</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.8%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>New Belgium/Odell</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>FOCOllaboration</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(American Pale Ale)</span> </span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.75%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you hadn't heard, Breakside Brewery in Portland, Oregon just won "Best American Style IPA" at the Great American Beer Festival. Being big IPA fans ourselves, we thought it was our duty to feature this award-winning beer in a battle to see just how it stacks up. Its opponent was an "American Pale Ale" collaboration from two well known Colorado breweries. Tasting was done blind as usual.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #1 (FOCOllaboration) was clear golden orange with Nilla wafers and piny hops in the aroma. It had a very thin body and a watery pineapple juice flavor. The finish was watery and thin as well with just a touch of bitterness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Breakside) was bright brownish orange with a blast of grapefruit and citrus salad in the aroma. The flavor continued along the citrus theme with a great balance of malty sweetness. The finish featured a pleasant mild to moderate citrus peel bitterness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This wasn't even close as Breakside proved that it is certainly worthy of its accolades. We love grapefruity IPAs and the Feel Good Flagship had that whole citrus thing nailed. Add to that a solid malt presence and you get a truly stellar IPA in our opinion. Sadly, the FOCOllaboration (by the way the FOCO is short for Fort Collins) was not much of an opponent. The lack of body really doomed the beer from the start. "Watery" is never an adjective you want to use to describe a beer but that is exactly how it came across to both of us. Just goes to show that although flavor and aroma are certainly key parts of a beer, body and mouthfeel also play an important role in a well made beer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Congrats again to Breakside on a delicious IPA! Fortunately it is readily available in southern Oregon so you'll likely find a bottle or two in our fridge more often than not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Breakside Feel Good Flagship IPA</span> </span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-45818888608220837552014-10-06T20:47:00.000-07:002014-10-06T20:49:45.324-07:00Hoppy Wheat Beers — HUB vs. Three Floyds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsYuwK2TiETQg-sGHmYiJ9FhrAirKhWzJgrCBkjoH3AMiMUgRZchvGybZYYhDUcfSiL8b-gGj0p_dwG6KQK6hRPhNPeTrB6P8vr8XVwS3VUzR8IhlB0m1i1Xbvam4dV0TWHWqhvHiv4uk/s1600/WhiteIPAsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsYuwK2TiETQg-sGHmYiJ9FhrAirKhWzJgrCBkjoH3AMiMUgRZchvGybZYYhDUcfSiL8b-gGj0p_dwG6KQK6hRPhNPeTrB6P8vr8XVwS3VUzR8IhlB0m1i1Xbvam4dV0TWHWqhvHiv4uk/s1600/WhiteIPAsSmall.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>HUB</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Pig War White IPA</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.0%</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Three Floyds</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Gumballhead</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 5.6%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">This battle features another beer from Three Floyds Brewing in Indiana that was generously donated to the blog by Greg (see <a href="http://bottle-battle.blogspot.com/2014/09/ipas-three-floyds-brewing-vs-elysian.html" target="_blank">this battle</a>). My research revealed that the Gumballhead is a hoppy wheat beer so I sought something out that was similar and found Pig War from HUB in Portland. Battle was conducted blind (for me anyway).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Pig War) was hazy gold with grassy and citrus aromas. The flavor featured more sharp, grassy notes with a crisp acidity. It finished with a moderate, lingering citrus peel bitterness.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Gumballhead) was clear orange with floral and honey on the nose. The body was a bit flat (undercarbonated?) with some herbal and citrus flavors. The finish was mildly bitter and slightly watery with mostly bready, roasty and malty notes.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">This was a classic example of what can happen in a comparative beer review as opposed to a stand-alone beer review. Side by side tasting results in two beers being reviewed in the context of the other. So, while the Gumballhead wasn't a bad beer, it didn't show very well in this battle simply because its opponent was so much more full-flavored, full-bodied and dynamic. In comparison to the Pig War, the Gumballhead was just outclassed all around. Thanks again to Greg for sharing the Three Floyds beers. If anyone else wants to donate beer I heartily encourage it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">PS Is it just me or does it look like the pig is about to grope that poor girl in the photo? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Pig War White IPA</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-85658044843437334552014-09-24T20:23:00.000-07:002014-09-24T20:23:16.157-07:00Canned Beer from San Diego — Mike Hess Brewing vs. Modern Times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUcREDGtJmXXh2yoNpkTICn9MoFyFVnFcJES4yGu2NuevsX3Skp_4EsO689pY3sXC67LPrkpIacKG909aCiRc4_nIyj5ZZEruDacxkeYjujxgIvgP2mEWe4nT9lOpCeG4fMRVwQADLN_o/s1600/SanDiegoCansSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUcREDGtJmXXh2yoNpkTICn9MoFyFVnFcJES4yGu2NuevsX3Skp_4EsO689pY3sXC67LPrkpIacKG909aCiRc4_nIyj5ZZEruDacxkeYjujxgIvgP2mEWe4nT9lOpCeG4fMRVwQADLN_o/s1600/SanDiegoCansSmall.jpg" height="320" width="318" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Mike Hess Brewing</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Habitus Rye IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
</span><div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 8.0%</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Modern Times</b></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Blazing World Amber</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.8%</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">San Diego is serious about craft beer. During our short visit a couple of months ago we planned on checking out a bunch of the San Diego stalwarts like Green Flash, Stone, Speedway, Alesmith, Ballast Point, Lost Abbey/Port and Pizza Port. When we got there, however, we were far more intrigued by the vast number of smaller breweries that don't currently distribute to Oregon. We ended up checking out Acoustic Ales, Societe Brewing, Council Brewing, Belching Beaver Brewing (possibly the worst name for a brewery, ever) and Modern Times. We didn't make it to the Mike Hess brewery, but did sample their beers at an event where they were pouring. This battle features two of my personal favorite beers from the trip. They are not the same style, but who cares? They are both in cool cans, both from San Diego and I make the rules.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Mike Hess Habitus Rye IPA) was a bright orange. The nose featured pine and pineapple hop notes, sweet honey malts and a spicy rye character. The rye really stood out in the flavor with a distinct spiciness to go along with the piny, herbal hops. It finished moderately bitter with a smooth spicy finish.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Modern Times Blazing World Amber) was more of a brownish orange. The aroma was very complex with a sweet and fruity malt backbone combined with some serious dank (as they so aptly describe it), cat-pee, marijuana funkiness. The flavor was very rich with some smoky and sweet pipe-tobacco along with toasted wood and an intense, herbal hoppiness throughout. The finish had a solid bitterness with some slight smoke and herbal funk.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">I had a really hard time choosing as I think both of these beers are amazing. The Habitus is probably the best Rye IPA I've tried and the Blazing World is unique, experimental and absolutely delicious. I ended up choosing the Blazing World because it is just unlike any other beer I've tasted and I give them huge props for putting something so unfamiliar in their permanent lineup. It was an easy decision for Ellen, however, as she went with the stellar Habitus mainly because she found the super intense richness and aggressive funky hoppiness of the Blazing World to be borderline offensive. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Split decision</span></span>: Ellen chose the Habitus, I chose the Blazing World</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-60572646285732224492014-09-03T19:21:00.000-07:002014-09-03T19:21:25.446-07:00IPAs — Three Floyds Brewing vs. Elysian Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QPpJh3nhTwQpCKT44xLre8wXdbYMitVmCdyj2FCuBAHA8mLjJeEw3KLED_DGu6hU9DKdU96KQlQf4bFbnEPWx46BAzzen4L3MVAph9x4nt1NtlFcuqu39wOc7Q2r40RpXtKdugT9VhuP/s1600/IPAs1Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QPpJh3nhTwQpCKT44xLre8wXdbYMitVmCdyj2FCuBAHA8mLjJeEw3KLED_DGu6hU9DKdU96KQlQf4bFbnEPWx46BAzzen4L3MVAph9x4nt1NtlFcuqu39wOc7Q2r40RpXtKdugT9VhuP/s1600/IPAs1Small.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Three Floyds Brewing</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Zombie Dust Pale Ale</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
</span><div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.2%</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Elysian Brewing</b></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Dayglow IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
</span><div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.2%</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">This battle could not have happened if not for the generous contribution of Greg, a new follower of Bottle Battle and a fellow IPA geek. You see, Greg was able to get me a bottle of Zombie Dust which happens to be somewhat of a cult beer, adored by beer drinkers and beer judges alike. It's brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company in Indiana and is not distributed on the west coast so we were very excited to see how it fared in a battle. For the opponent we chose a bottle that is getting a lot of buzz among IPA lovers, Elysian Brewing's Dayglow IPA. As usual, beers were tasted blind.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Zombie Dust) was brownish orange with a yeasty, herbal, piney aroma. The flavor was amazingly balanced with sweet malt and citrus hops to go along with an incredibly smooth mouthfeel. The finish had some mild grain notes and the most pleasant citrus hop bitterness that we can recall tasting — not harsh in any way while still managing to be moderately bitter.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Dayglow IPA) was almost the exact same color as Beer #1. The aroma was bold with cat pee, marijuana and an all around funk. The flavors were similar to the aroma with great balance as well leading to a very harsh herbal and citrus rind finish.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">First off let's talk labels. I have no idea who would win in a fight between a metal-armored, giant hammer-wielding zombie and a tiger that shoots lasers from it's eyes but I'm sure it would be entertaining. Regardless, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">both
of these beers have amazing labels that feature foil accents and
stunning graphics. Kudos to the design teams for some excellent
artwork.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Regarding the stuff inside the bottles, both were damn good but both our votes went to the Zombie Dust for being some of the most full-flavored, yet easily drinkable beer we've ever had the honor of drinking. And for those sticklers out there who might point out that one is a Pale Ale and one is an IPA, we say "shut your yapper," because nowadays those stylistic lines are completely blurred by the whims and philosophy of each brewer. It's chaos in the hoppy beer world but it's very tasty chaos. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Thanks again for the beer Greg! Cheers! </span> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Zombie Dust</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-55661496513283082992014-08-08T20:21:00.000-07:002014-08-08T20:21:10.300-07:00Barrel Aged Belgian-style Quads — Deschutes vs. Deschutes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3v3Yp-mS1h5QImaiEYETcKwm1lMQXfpq9C9-7-Pq3DvcRprGO_6bzLYR_67WGvqqVdRY10s5CYG-YGlgNHgNlW5BAcdNFzbqKu8z4URNdyAniyendXtNinVKroMAz2KOAQEULSC-GIefh/s1600/StoicsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3v3Yp-mS1h5QImaiEYETcKwm1lMQXfpq9C9-7-Pq3DvcRprGO_6bzLYR_67WGvqqVdRY10s5CYG-YGlgNHgNlW5BAcdNFzbqKu8z4URNdyAniyendXtNinVKroMAz2KOAQEULSC-GIefh/s1600/StoicsSmall.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Deschutes</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>The Stoic</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;">(Malt Beverage Brewed with Pomegranate with 16.5% Being Aged in Oak Wine Barrels and 16.5% Being Aged in Oak Rye Whiskey Barrels)</span></span></span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;">(Best By 8/4/12)</span></span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 11%</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Deschutes</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Not The Stoic </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;">(Malt
Beverage Brewed with Pomegranate Molasses with 15% Being Aged in Oak Wine
Barrels and 15% Being Aged in Oak Rye Whiskey Barrels)</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;">(Best After 4/22/15)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 12%</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">On a recent trip to Portland my brother-in-law pulled these two beers from his cellar for a battle. It's worth noting that we failed to drink The Stoic before its "Best By" date and we jumped the gun on Not The Stoic by drinking it before its "Best After" date. That's just the kind of rebellious, rule-breaking beer drinkers we are. Deal with it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">My sister and her husband were guest tasters for this battle which was conducted blind for all but one of us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (The Stoic) was orange with aromas of honey and pomegranate juice with the distinct quality of many sour beers we've tried. The flavor was sweet and fruity with some oak tannins and the finish was dry and slightly tart.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Not The Stoic) was reddish brown with a complex mix of banana, cola, dried fruits and dates on the nose. The flavor continued with more sweet dried fruits and dates and the finish had smoke, coffee, wine barrel funk and a savory herbal quality.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">I don't think any of us were blown away by these beers. Both were interesting and unique but neither made us say "wow!" The Stoic had definitely turned a bit sour. I think this had to do with the beasties from the barrel-aging taking over. But the sour quality didn't make the beer bad, it just tweaked the style a bit into another category. We've had many intentionally sour beers that were not nearly as good as this unintentionally sour beer. Regardless, if you are hanging onto a bottle you might want to open it soon just in case yours is starting to turn as well. I guess the lesson here is: pay attention to Deschutes date recommendations!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Not The Stoic was a completely different beast. It was extremely complex and had a body not unlike a rich red wine. The aromas were also reminiscent of some red wines.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Although a couple of us wavered, in the end the battle was a draw with myself and my brother-in-law choosing Not The Stoic while Ellen and my sister chose The Stoic. The ladies both preferred the slightly tart and acidic beer over the rich and sweeter beer. My B-I-L explained his pick with one word, "juicier," and I sided with the beer that I felt was most complex and unique.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">It will be interesting to see how NTS changes in the bottle between now and its "Best After" date. In the meantime, if you are impatient NTS is tasting pretty decent right now.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Draw</span></span></span></div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-88313494735557873502014-07-15T17:50:00.001-07:002014-07-15T17:56:08.284-07:00Imperial IPAs — Green Flash Road Warrior vs. McKenzie Brewing Hopasaurus Rex<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAYlJryu78UtCp77lXCyU59YpdsRGl7Rp8MpmUhWx-mLgV31W0QUJ2JWm1c9osfyianE450WuDVG8IoOcHSiJfBpwM2Pec5IctsWTQ7II0YfsYcy8pLtHjLj_fXtaqP6Y4BR6Su_rG3k3/s1600/IPAsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAYlJryu78UtCp77lXCyU59YpdsRGl7Rp8MpmUhWx-mLgV31W0QUJ2JWm1c9osfyianE450WuDVG8IoOcHSiJfBpwM2Pec5IctsWTQ7II0YfsYcy8pLtHjLj_fXtaqP6Y4BR6Su_rG3k3/s1600/IPAsSmall.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Green Flash</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Road Warrior</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Imperial Rye India Pale Ale)</span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 9%</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>McKenzie Brewing</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Hopasaurus Rex</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 9.5%</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">I'm always pleased to see a new Green Flash beer on the shelves so I snatched up this bottle of Road Warrior. Unfortunately I could find no other Imperial Rye IPA options so I went with a bottle of IIPA from McKenzie Brewing (which is the outside distribution line of Steelhead Brewery in Eugene). So we've got Rye vs. Regular and San Diego vs. Eugene. Here's how it went down.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">We tasted blind as usual, but it was pretty pointless because rye malt imparts a dark reddish hue to beer so it was obvious based on the color which beer was which.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Road Warrior) was reddish brown with a real spicy rye bread and grass aroma. The body was rich, creamy and malty with more rye spice showing through and the finish was dominated with rye notes as well with a mellow bitterness.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Hopasaurus) was a rich orange hue and featured a sweet, vanilla, caramel and cotton candy-like aroma. The flavor was sweet with notes of dried fruits and toasted nuts. The finish was a tad citrusy with some burnt wood bitterness. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Our overall impression was that both beers fell on the malty side of the IIPA spectrum. Neither offered up anything special in the way of aroma hops and neither were very bitter in the finish. Being a malty IIPA is nothing to be ashamed of, it's just one of many interpretations of the style. Both were enjoyable but the Road Warrior really impressed us with its strong rye presence and fantastic body. It was the first time we've had a rye beer that we could actually detect much rye character. So if you're looking for a fun and unique IIPA we'd recommend getting a bottle (or two) of the Road Warrior before it disappears in August.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Green Flash Road Warrior</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-64264268274456633792014-06-11T17:29:00.000-07:002014-06-11T19:46:23.581-07:00Saisons — Firestone Walker Brewing vs. Stone Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Firestone Opal </b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Dry Hopped Saison)</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7.5%</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Stone Brewing</b></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Saison</b></span><br />
ABV 6%</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">First of all we must apologize for the extended blog silence. Last month we moved to a new home and transitioned to being open 7 days a week at <a href="http://www.buttercloudbakery.com/" target="_blank">our bakery</a>. Much beer was drunk but we hadn't the time or energy to conduct a proper Bottle Battle. Now that things appear to be stabilizing we will attempt to get back to our semi-regular battles.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">For our first official battle at our new home we chose one of our favorite styles of beer: Saison. It's an all California Saison showdown. Let's get it on! Beers were tasted blind.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Firestone Opal) was a clear, straw yellow with a constant stream of bubbles from the bottom of the glass. The aroma brought Belgian yeast, spices, bubble gum and tropical fruit. The flavor was complex, featuring a mild sweetness with bright citrus notes and some underlying spice. The finish was mild and almost savory with just a hint of bitterness.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Stone Saison) was a hazy golden and also had a constant stream of bubbles rising from the bottom. The aroma featured a big funky, barnyard component with lots of herbal and spice notes (especially cardamom). The flavor was very herbal and spicy with a mildly bitter finish followed by more spice.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Both of these beers are good but ultimately we chose the Opal mostly because it had a finesse and complexity that was unique and extremely tasty. The big spice characteristics of the Stone saison just seemed to be clumsy and heavy-handed in comparison to the Opal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">This battle also provided us with more reason to believe that Firestone Walker is one of the best breweries in the US. They make an amazing array of superb beers that range from subtle and refined like the Opal to beautiful, barrel-aged behemoths like Parabola, Sucaba and their anniversary beers. They are often kind of spendy, but every one we've ever tried has been well worth the money. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Firestone Walker Opal</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-36557042470854378132014-04-16T21:03:00.000-07:002014-04-16T21:03:15.891-07:00New Stone Beers — Go To IPA vs. Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Stone Brewing</b></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 28px;"><b>Go To IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 4.5%</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Stone Brewing</b></span></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Stochasticity Project</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Grapefruit Slam IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Ale with grapefruit peel added)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">ABV 8.2%</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">I bought the Stochasticity Project thinking that it was a new brewery with a weird name. Plus we love citrusy IPAs so the addition of grapefruit peel peeked my interest. Further investigation revealed that the Stochasticity Project is actually a newly introduced second label of Stone Brewing used to showcase some experimental brews. We decided to pit the Stochasticity against another new release from Stone, the Go To IPA which is their attempt to make a big, flavorful IPA without a high alcohol content. Tasting was conducted blind as usual.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #1 (Stochasticity Grapefruit Slam) was clear orange with pine, citrus and grain in the aroma. The flavor was pure, piney, hop candy, which is our way of describing a beer with a nice balance of malt and hops. It finished with an aggressive and long-lasting citrus rind bitterness.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Beer #2 (Go To IPA) was golden yellow with a pungent and funky, dank, cat pee aroma. The flavor was like concentrated citrus that bordered on cleaning solution. The finish was moderately bitter with lots of grapefruit and a musty dankness. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">We both assumed that Beer #2 with its pronounced grapefruity finish was the Grapefruit Slam IPA but that was not the case. Turns out that all that grapefruity goodness came from the Go To IPA. Normally this would be a good thing, as grapefruit is one of our favorite flavors in a beer. However, as is often the case with Stone, they may have pushed the boundaries a bit too far with the Go To IPA. The beer is so aggressively hopped that it borders on offensive. Ellen didn't drink any more after her first couple of sips. I finished the bottle but noted that it may have been the first "session" beer I've ever had that was so intense that I don't think I could drink more than one in a sitting. So, in one sense Stone accomplished its mission to create a boldly flavored beer with low alcohol, but they may have made it too boldly flavored for simple, summertime sipping.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">To us the Grapefruit Slam, despite not being very grapefruity was the clear winner. It's also a bit misleading on the label as it says IPA on the front and Double IPA in the description on the back. Whatever it actually is, it was the winner in this battle and has us eager to try the next release in the Stochasticity Project. Say it aloud a few times, Stochasticity... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Stochasticity... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Stochasticity... . Fun word. Fun beer. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-28391537558495400652014-03-26T21:15:00.000-07:002014-03-26T21:15:13.978-07:00Imperial IPAs — Left Coast Brewing vs. High Water Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVAio9npkpxo9TPokIs4WcP9CNh5EsUbGXs5ltvSsO2XyIutzYlz51VAfry3jNyHCYo8TlMc9rg0oKnUz0w0Giwe614YOojC9tS7RjfwzGs2VCs8mb6iJaPJBrEITKxWPAqQniuUXjcMi/s1600/ImperialIPA1Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVAio9npkpxo9TPokIs4WcP9CNh5EsUbGXs5ltvSsO2XyIutzYlz51VAfry3jNyHCYo8TlMc9rg0oKnUz0w0Giwe614YOojC9tS7RjfwzGs2VCs8mb6iJaPJBrEITKxWPAqQniuUXjcMi/s1600/ImperialIPA1Small.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Left Coast Brewing</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Hop Juice</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Double IPA</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 9.7%</span></div>
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<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>High Water Brewing</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Hop Logic</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Imperial IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">ABV 9.5%</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">
Two California beers squared off in this battle. Hop Juice hails from Left Coast brewing in southern California while Hop Logic represents High Water Brewing in Chico. Both beers claim to use a mixture of five different hops which is interesting, but perhaps more interesting is who made a better beer with all those hops. </div>
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Beer #1 (High Water Brewing Hop Logic) was a clear orangish-brown with earthy, spicy hops coming through on the nose. It had a rich, almost creamy, full-bodied texture with flavors of tropical fruit. The finish was deep honey with a moderate bitterness and some floral hops.</div>
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Beer #2 (Left Coast Brewing Hop Juice) was a hazy pinkish-brown. The aroma was very fruity, bordering on Fruit Loops. Flavor continued with the fruitiness along with lots of honey. The finish was sweet followed by an intense and long-lasting bitterness.</div>
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Not knowing either of these breweries very well I guessed which was which based on the bottles alone. The Left Coast's nice, screen-printed bottle led me to believe that their beer would be the cleaner, clearer, more polished beverage so I guessed it was Beer #1. Wrong. Turns out that the hazy, malty and overly bitter beer was from Left Coast. High Water Brewing on the other hand, despite having an inferior label, had a much superior beer. It was an easy decision for both of us as the Hop Logic is a really, really good Imperial IPA. So good, in fact, that we will most certainly seek it out again in the future. If you like Imperial IPAs we suggest you do the same. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: High Water Brewing Hop Logic</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-80529265036090445602014-02-18T11:25:00.001-08:002014-02-18T11:25:34.062-08:00Imperial IPAs — Lompoc vs. Natian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvL-hB3cTqEPkm4fbnf8Q1dkMHvflbs3sqQFSCX0AXYKiAeUZuH388b1JCWyEolBgpliqJS5z2mYv6XSRfFoWzxPrCiAxOrl1rd5iJQ7prnOnKDPibVt1uaF17E046F0e-XDOObd2X1U_a/s1600/ImperialIPASmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvL-hB3cTqEPkm4fbnf8Q1dkMHvflbs3sqQFSCX0AXYKiAeUZuH388b1JCWyEolBgpliqJS5z2mYv6XSRfFoWzxPrCiAxOrl1rd5iJQ7prnOnKDPibVt1uaF17E046F0e-XDOObd2X1U_a/s1600/ImperialIPASmall.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Lompoc Brewing</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>C-Sons Greetings</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Imperial IPA</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 8%</span></div>
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<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Natian Brewery</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Old Grogham</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Imperial IPA</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">ABV 8.5%</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 28px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">It's a Portland showdown! Lompoc represents the wily old veteran (founded in 1993) and Natian plays the part of the cocky new kid on the block (founded in 2009). Tasting was conducted blind as usual.</span></span><br />
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Beer #1 (Natian Old Grogham) was hazy brown with some orange around the edges and featured a huge head of foam. The aroma had some tropical fruit, caramel malts and a disconcerting chemical note. The flavor also had that chemical/cleaning solution profile and the finish was more malty and roasty than hoppy, with a mildly bittersweet chocolate and burnt wood finish.</div>
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Beer #2 (Lompoc C-Sons Greetings) was almost the exact same color as the Natian but had no head at all. The aroma featured lots of molasses along with some grassy hops. The flavor was strongly malty with some underlying fruitiness. It finished with a floral maltiness and a nice medium bitterness.</div>
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Interesting that neither of these Imperial IPAs seemed to show off their hops that well. Both were predominately malty and sweet which is the case with many Imperial IPAs. In our experience IIPAs usually fall into two styles: one leaning on a sweet maltiness and the other on a huge, bright and bitter hoppiness. We have no doubt that both are generously hopped, but sometimes the malts just win.</div>
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We both ended up choosing the Lompoc. It was a rich and warming brew that really made sense as a winter seasonal. With further research I found that the Natian Old Grogham had some rum soaked oak spires added during fermentation. Perhaps that explains what we perceived as a strange roasty, chocolaty and woody finish. We're all for adding complexity with spirits-soaked wood, but in this case we felt it actually detracted a bit from the beer.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Lompoc C-Sons Greetings</span></div>
Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-62811629067161287732014-01-29T18:51:00.000-08:002014-01-29T20:10:24.408-08:00Big Island Brewhaus — Belgian Style Strong Ale vs. IPA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGF3lN9CBTOczHAiNYmN-FWYM1JIRU8AgnJQgXLFFqhQYvPzWMSP91AiUnD_q-zqKoqKPTPp8x50asAbPmC7qqdh7PSa_rmN0oLz7J13DBJUlu5oV-gznpF2AEpLNbu43y_Pf_aKfLeTr/s1600/BigIslandBrewhausSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGF3lN9CBTOczHAiNYmN-FWYM1JIRU8AgnJQgXLFFqhQYvPzWMSP91AiUnD_q-zqKoqKPTPp8x50asAbPmC7qqdh7PSa_rmN0oLz7J13DBJUlu5oV-gznpF2AEpLNbu43y_Pf_aKfLeTr/s1600/BigIslandBrewhausSmall.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Big Island Brewhaus</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overboard IPA</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.9%</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Big Island Brewhaus</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px;"><b>Golden Sabbath</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">(Belgian Style Specialty Ale Brewed with Hawaiian Honey)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">ABV 8.5%</span></div>
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Yep, we were in Hawaii. While there we managed to fit in a few beers in between the Mai Tais. Despite the fact that we were on Maui, I picked up these two beers from the Big Island for a battle. Don't fret, we drank our share of Maui Brewing Company's canned beers but we were too busy lazing around the beach to organize an official battle with those.<br />
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The Golden Sabbath was full of banana and clove aromas. It tasted mostly malty with notes of dark dried fruits, banana and honey. The finish was a bit clunky, with a surprising amount of bitterness and a touch of grain alcohol.<br />
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The Overboard IPA featured a blast of citrus hops in the aroma while the flavor ventured into the tropical fruit arena. The finish was a superb balance of hops and malts with moderate bitterness.<br />
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It wasn't much of a fight. The Overboard crushed the Sabbath. It would have been closer if not for the weird finish of the Sabbath that neither of us cared for.<br />
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Two side notes:<br />
1) We drank four different IPAs on the trip (Kona Castaway, Maui Big Swell, something from Ballast Point in San Diego and Overboard) and Overboard was our favorite of the lot.<br />
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2) Our second favorite beer on the trip was a draft beer from Hawaii Nui Brewing called Bitter Brown (which is probably the same as their Hapa Brown). Great brown ale that was pleasantly packed with plenty of hops! </div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Overboard IPA</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-79363330852587273722013-12-25T15:04:00.000-08:002013-12-25T15:06:44.819-08:00IPAs — Phat Matt's vs. Crazy Mountain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tG4W1Bm9uHoI8Be3HiL2MPqNx2QIVLX2xGeh3hnM2HdF2SCf2D0a1SeCDrsGtxXIhqgXp4MRTAyBEjY04BwRS4b5IIjE0e1arkNmzqcXLPUR0E8yBR7hZYzYSAR1x2FLCl47KOUUUErs/s1600/IPAs4Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 50em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tG4W1Bm9uHoI8Be3HiL2MPqNx2QIVLX2xGeh3hnM2HdF2SCf2D0a1SeCDrsGtxXIhqgXp4MRTAyBEjY04BwRS4b5IIjE0e1arkNmzqcXLPUR0E8yBR7hZYzYSAR1x2FLCl47KOUUUErs/s320/IPAs4Small.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Phat Matt's IPA</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">ABV 7%</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crazy Mountain</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hookiebobb IPA</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">ABV 6.7%</span></div>
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While combing over the beer shelves recently a bizarre label featuring an image of an elephant peeking out of a tangle of hop bines caught my eye. Turns out it is from Crazy Mountain Brewing, a brewery out of Vail Colorado that we've never seen in these parts before. I chose to pit it against a bottle from Oregon brewery, Phatt Matt's, whose labels are not nearly as intriguing. Beers were tasted blind as usual.</div>
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Beer #1 (Phat Matt's IPA) was a clear reddish orange with a very nice tropical fruit aroma. The flavor was bready with lots of sweet fruits and the finish was moderately bitter. <br />
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Beer #2 (Hookiebobb IPA) was a hazy brownish orange and featured a complex nose of earth, pine, ash and a bit of cat pee. The flavor was very herbal and savory with some citrus in the finish that left a harshly bitter aftertaste.<br />
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As we've discussed many times before, making a good IPA is all about getting a good balance of malt to hops. Both of these leaned a bit too much on the malty side for our tastes. In comparing the two, Ellen immediately preferred the Phatt Matt's while I waffled for a bit before finally choosing Matt's as well. The Hookiebobb was interesting at first but got stranger and stranger as it warmed up and the herbal savoriness just turned out to be too prevalent. Congrats to Phatt Matt's on wining the battle — here's hoping they have enough time in between brewing batches of beer to upgrade those labels!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 23px;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Phatt Matt's IPA</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-20326347981480945832013-12-04T21:23:00.000-08:002013-12-04T21:23:14.473-08:00Oaked Beers — Stone vs. Widmer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhZVnTYVCH5RpB9uWeC8nNMZrwvWqk6Acw5yQNG7BentFqY-Eo9Y0O7Kd63XEc2LtugNjlOnWagACXT4PbElsq0IObwAU1ImBJ06WGBLAKR14E1WUaqXDU_gjXSoE00RV6kUidaAW92dJ/s1600/OakedBeersSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 100em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhZVnTYVCH5RpB9uWeC8nNMZrwvWqk6Acw5yQNG7BentFqY-Eo9Y0O7Kd63XEc2LtugNjlOnWagACXT4PbElsq0IObwAU1ImBJ06WGBLAKR14E1WUaqXDU_gjXSoE00RV6kUidaAW92dJ/s320/OakedBeersSmall.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arrogant Bastard</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(Ale Aged with American Oak Wood Chips)</span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">ABV 7.2%</span>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Widmer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(Imperial India Style Pale Lager Aged on Oak Spirals)</span>
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All hail oak! From wine and beer to spirits and cocktails, oak has been imparting wonderful richness and complexity to many of our favorite beverages. With my parents in town I invited my dad to help me out with a battle featuring two beers that have spent some time with wood. Beers were tasted blind as usual.</div>
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Beer #1 (Widmer Downward Spiral) was a clear orangish gold with clean, piny hop notes in the nose along with some floral orange blossom. The flavor was sweet, malty and full-bodied with some buttery flavors coming out as it warmed. Finish had two levels, offering a nice orange rind bitterness at first that eventually gave way to a rather harsh burnt wood bitterness.<br />
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Beer #2 (Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard) was quite a bit darker with a reddish brown color. The aroma featured chocolate, herbs and cedar. The flavor was mostly bitter, dark chocolate and the finish featured an aggressive bitterness with some light vanilla notes to go along with burnt toast and charcoal.<br />
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It was an evenly matched battle, albeit featuring two beers that were not my favorites. Neither beer seemed to offer much in the way of oak character aside from possibly some enhanced bitterness and tannins. Ellen (despite not being a full participant in the battle), took a whiff and a sip and pointed out the butteriness in the Widmer. This is likely the result of some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl" target="_blank">diacytl</a> which is commonly found in beer, but in large amounts can dominate a beer in a negative way. In my many tastings with friends and family I've discovered that some people are far more sensitive to diacytl than others. We have another bottle, so I'm curious to see if we detect butter in that one as well.<br />
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In the end, as is often the case with fathers and sons, our opinions diverged. My dad really liked the Widmer Downward Spiral and said it was something he'd gladly drink again. I liked the Widmer at first, but as it warmed I felt that the aroma and flavor changed from pine to floral to bizarre and buttery. To me, the Oaked Arrogant Bastard didn't seem as messy. It was very bold, a bit harsh and ultimately befitting of its name. <br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Split decision</span></span>: I chose the Arrogant Bastard, pops chose the Downward Spiral</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-30861054084231724172013-11-13T16:50:00.001-08:002013-11-13T16:50:56.355-08:00Pumpkin Beers — Shipyard Brewing vs. New Belgium Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQM66fFwvnt6K9CPNfLo-fZR6zGM5B5lCn_0fvASGH6Fl9pW7PZl8K6OiLp3bucRtDXHDQb661ZLk8Y8gBFJsZhjjE_0YmqV5F3gIvhoPiKY0NLgjrY9W0yS4TubVKI7_MiICAkZBftRBp/s1600/PumpkinBeersSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQM66fFwvnt6K9CPNfLo-fZR6zGM5B5lCn_0fvASGH6Fl9pW7PZl8K6OiLp3bucRtDXHDQb661ZLk8Y8gBFJsZhjjE_0YmqV5F3gIvhoPiKY0NLgjrY9W0yS4TubVKI7_MiICAkZBftRBp/s320/PumpkinBeersSmall.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kennebunkport Brewing Company</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Shipyard Brewing)</span></span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pumpkin Ale </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pumpkick</span></span></div>
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For this battle we again pulled something from the shelves of Trader Joes. Included in their crazy selection of pumpkin-flavored items this year was this Pumpkin Ale from Kennebunkport Brewing Company. A little internet sleuthing revealed that KBC beer is brewed for Trader Joe's by Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine. The Pumpkick is from the good people at New Belgium Brewing in Colorado which gives us a Colorado vs. Maine pumpkin showdown. <br />
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Beers were tasted blind as is our custom.<br />
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Beer #1 (KBC Pumpkin Ale) was a clear golden yellow. The aroma was very sweet with lots of pumpkin pie spices and some grain. Flavorwise it was very malt forward with sweet honey notes followed with all the pie spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves) and a bit of citrus. The finish was all pie spices and sweetness with just a touch of acidic citrus.<br />
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Beer #2 (Pumpkick) was a clear brownish orange. It had a slightly vegetal aroma that also featured a sweet, roasty, toasty maltiness. There was very little carbonation and perhaps partly due to that the flavors were muted and a bit dull, featuring roasted malts and light pie spices. The finish was a strange combination of spices that didn't seem to mesh well.<br />
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We both assumed that the Pumpkick would dominate this battle. As you can see, we were wrong. It's an ambitious beer — the bottle reveals that they added cranberry juice and lemongrass along with the expected pie spices in the brewing. While we appreciate the creativity, the experiment did not work for us. The strange finish was likely a result of the lemongrass trying to find a way to live in harmony with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. The sweet roasted malt backbone reminded us both of Fat Tire, making us wonder if Fat Tire or something similar was used as the base beer. All in all it just seemed messy.</div>
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The KBC Pumpkin ale was nothing to write home about but we both picked it anyway. It's a real typical mass-produced pumpkin beer with a light body and a heavy dose of pie spice — a good novelty beer but nothing real complex or exciting. We wouldn't buy either of these beers again, but don't let that steer you away from pumpkin beers in general. As we've experienced in <a href="http://bottle-battle.blogspot.com/2011/10/pumpkin-beers-laurelwood-vs-dogfish.html" target="_blank">past battles</a>, pumpkin beers can be most excellent. Seek them out and drink them. It's a worthy pursuit. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: KBC Pumpkin Ale</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-33267576415785231762013-10-22T19:01:00.000-07:002013-10-22T19:02:45.067-07:00IPAs — Fort George/Gigantic/Lompoc vs. Goose Island<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fort George/Gigantic/Lompoc </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">3-Way IPA</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">ABV 6.69%</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goose Island IPA</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 100%;">ABV 5.9%</span><br />
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The two IPAs you see above come from vastly different backgrounds. The 3-Way is a collaboration beer from a trio of well-known Oregon craft breweries (Fort George in Astoria, Gigantic in Portland and Lompoc in Portland). The Goose Island hails from a seminal craft brewery in Chicago that was gobbled up a couple years ago by macro-beer behemoth, Anheuser Busch. So, it's three little guys vs. one really freaking huge guy. Exciting no? Let's see who wins.<br />
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Beers were tasted blind as is our custom.<br />
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Beer #1 (Goose Island IPA) was a clear orange/brown. The aroma was mostly malty in a floral honey sort of way. The flavor was also malty with a slight fruitiness and the finish had a mild citrusy hop bitterness.<br />
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Beer #2 (3-Way IPA) was a hazy pumpkin orange. The aroma was shockingly hoppy with huge notes of pine and cleaning solution (perhaps due to the pine). The flavor continued the hop assault with a huge resiny character followed by a long lasting, intense bitterness.<br />
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For two beers calling themselves IPA, these couldn't have been more different. The Goose Island was very one-dimensional and felt to us like it needed a bit more of a hop bite to balance the solid floral and fruity maltiness. It wasn't a bad beer, it just seemed... safe. Whether that is a result of being owned by AB or whether that is just how Goose Island has always interpreted IPA we can't say, but either way it's a beer that isn't doing much to stand out.<br />
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The 3-Way, on the other hand, seems to be continuing in the tried and true west coast tradition of hopping the holy crap out of everything. It was the obvious winner in this fight but it's not for the faint of heart. If you're the type of beer drinker that likes hop aroma to be something akin to smelling salts then this is the beer for you. We enjoyed it quite a bit but you probably won't see us swigging a 4-pack anytime soon. It seems just right for a special occasion IPA though. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: 3-Way IPA</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-59857817292895885262013-09-17T15:05:00.000-07:002013-09-17T15:05:19.782-07:00Ballast Point IPAs — Sculpin vs. Big Eye<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Big Eye IPA </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ballast Point</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sculpin IPA</span></span></div>
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San Diego has a ton of great breweries, many of which are well known for their deftness with hops. Being fond of the hops ourselves, we were very pleased to see that Ballast Point recently expanded its distribution to Southern Oregon. As I scanned the new selection of Ballast Point offerings I was surprised to see that there were two different IPAs available. Turns out that the people at Ballast Point are so enamored with hops that they have two IPAs available year-round. Two IPAs, one brewery — sounds like a Bottle Battle! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As always we did a blind tasting to keep everything unbiased.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Big Eye) was clear and reddish orange. It featured a fresh, grassy and piny aroma. Flavor was pine resin throughout with a nice clean balance of malt and hops. There was also a distinct fruitiness in the flavor that added extra complexity. The finish was moderately bitter — enough to know you were drinking an IPA, but not so much that your taste buds cringed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Sculpin) was a hazy brownish orange. The nose was earthy (almost vegetal) with some tropical fruits and peach mixed in. Malty fruit flavors dominated the flavor with a bit of tropical fruit hoppiness coming through as well. The finish was more sweet than we were expecting from an IPA, but even so, it managed to provide a pleasantly mild bitterness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interestingly enough, we thought both of these hoppy beers really excelled with their use of malts. We've tried our share of IPAs that were not much more than hop water so it's always nice to try some that seem to find that elusive balance. In both cases the malts provided a fruity complexity that was much more than just added sweetness. In the end, however, it was the hops that won us over as we both chose the Big Eye which was the hoppier of the two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Unanimous decision</span></span>: Big Eye</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-41518991857887633842013-08-12T17:16:00.000-07:002013-08-12T17:22:13.216-07:00Oregon Pilsners — Southern Oregon Brewing vs. Base Camp Brewing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Southern Oregon Brewing</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Na Zdravi Czech Style Pilsner </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Base Camp Brewing</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ripstop Rye Pils </span></span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">ABV 5.7%</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's hard to beat a good pilsner on a hot day. If it's made right it should be crisp, refreshing and even a bit hoppy and bitter. On a broiling southern Oregon summer evening we put two Oregon pilsners into the ring to see which we liked best. As always we tasted blind for dramatic effect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #1 (Na Zdravi) was a hazy yellow with some grain and clean citrus hops on the nose. It had a nice sharpness/crispness with some flavors of grain and bread. The finish was mellow with more grain and a mild citrus bitterness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beer #2 (Ripstop) was clear and golden. It had a bit of a barnyard funkiness on the nose while the body was much richer and featured prominent bready flavors. The finish was quite malty and somewhat sweet and grainy with no hop bitterness at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If we judged these according to style the Na Zdravi would have won hands down, however that's not how we roll. We always judge on which beer we liked better and in this case we ended up choosing different beers. Ellen thought that the Na Zdravi was a bit too clean (bordering on lemon pledge) and preferred the smooth maltiness of the Ripstop. I went with the Na Zdravi simply because I was craving a beer with a modicum of hops and the Ripstop really had almost zero hop presence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Split decision</span></span>: Ellen chose the Ripstop, I chose the Na Zdravi</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019617205605673785.post-85747768312313397512013-07-24T11:09:00.000-07:002013-07-24T11:09:00.773-07:00Beers We Picked Up in Los Angeles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2UJuDPbRbzY53LVzN56KU3RyOQ3_bnD_VWHv0SMwQTkk3ALMPpD0u_1Ni6SvGRIHd2MYHG6n-ObYMLnXcjKT0IExxJIxT-zNkDVbjR1ejgD0njwg27YA-piejMtMuCJUqFUZpLjHHBAt/s1600/CaliBrewsSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2UJuDPbRbzY53LVzN56KU3RyOQ3_bnD_VWHv0SMwQTkk3ALMPpD0u_1Ni6SvGRIHd2MYHG6n-ObYMLnXcjKT0IExxJIxT-zNkDVbjR1ejgD0njwg27YA-piejMtMuCJUqFUZpLjHHBAt/s320/CaliBrewsSmall.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beachwood Brewing</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thrillseeker IPA </span></span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">ABV 7.1%</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Surf Brewery</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">County Line Rye Pale Ale </span></span><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">ABV 6%</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span> </div>
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Apologies for the extended silence. We have been quite busy at the bakery and with entertaining guests so far this summer. We did have time to sneak in this bottle battle featuring two beers we picked up at a grocery store in LA. The Thrillseeker IPA is from Beachwood Brewing & BBQ in Long Beach and the County Line Rye is from Surf Brewery in Ventura. </div>
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Right out of the gate neither beer really impressed us. The County Line Rye had a sweet rye bread aroma with a fairly simple malt-dominated flavor and a touch of citrus. It finished with lots of roasted malts and a burnt toast bitterness. All in all it was a bit too malty for our tastes. </div>
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Upon drinking her first sip of the Thrillseeker IPA, Ellen declared, "It offends me." I could see what she meant as it was aggressively hoppy with tons of grass and citrus character that was a bit shocking to the senses at first. However, as time passed the intense flavors and aromas grew on me until by the end I was longing for more. Ellen never really came around to enjoying the Thrillseeker and chose the County Line Rye because it didn't offend her. I chose the Thrillseeker not just because it has a mustachioed hop cone flying through a ring of fire on its label but because it turned me from a skeptic to a believer in the span of 22 oz. It is not a beer for the faint of heart and most definitely rides a fine line between offensive and awesome. Pick up a bottle next time you are in southern California just to see if your palate can handle it. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Split decision</span></span>: Ellen chose the County Line Rye, I chose the Thrillseeker</div>
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Gibson-UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07553433916689799461noreply@blogger.com0