Urban Beer Hike Triple Header

It was an epic night of battles as we teamed up with Urban Beer Hikes for a three location triple header. Our first stop was at Beer Authority for a Sierra Nevada Fresh Hop tap tussle.



Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere
Harvest Wet Hop Ale
ABV 6.7%

Color: Clear orange.
Aroma: Sweet malt and lemon rind.
Flavor: Toasted malt and intense piney bitterness.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Intense, long-lasting burnt toast and lemon rind bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Sierra Nevada Estate
Homegrown Ale
ABV 6.7%

Color: Clear orange with slight red tint.
Aroma: Grassy with some nice citrus.
Flavor: Fresh, grassy hops with good malty sweetness as well.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Pleasant mellow bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good +

Blow by Blow
We were pleased to find two fresh hop beers from Sierra Nevada on tap so we promptly threw them into the ring together to see who would reign supreme.

Both were served really cold, so it was kind of difficult to decipher the aromas but the Estate clearly had the upper hand. It offered the classic fresh, grassy hops with a nice citrus element as well. The Harvest struggled with its aroma and ended up being mostly sweet toasted malts with some piney hops in the background.

The Estate continued to dominate in the flavor and finish while the Harvest was exposed as a one dimensional bitter bomb without any of the typical fresh hop flavors. We all agreed that if we had tasted the Harvest blind, we probably wouldn't have guessed it was a fresh hop.

Winner by unanimous decision: Estate Homegrown.

The second fight on the card featured two bottles purchased at Big Star Beer Market. The theme: Beers named after tasty marine animals.



Porterhouse Brewing
Oyster Stout
ABV 4.8%

Color: ? (We drank from the bottle. Probably dark.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the neck of a bottle.)
Flavor: Cola, chocolate, coffee, earth.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Bitter lemon and coffee.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre +

Rinkuskiu Alaus Darykla
Lobster Lovers Beer
ABV 9.5%

Color: ? (We drank from the bottle. Probably amber.)
Aroma: Sweet (We could even smell it through the neck of the bottle.)
Flavor: Sweet cough syrup with some Belgian yeast characteristics.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and medicinal.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Bad

Blow by Blow
It was an international duel with Lobster Lovers hailing from Lithuania and Oyster Stout coming from Ireland. They both were feisty even before the fight as the Lobster offered an enticing naked lady/lobster label and the Oyster countered with the novelty of a pull off cap.

In the ring things got ugly quick. The big Lithuanian was sweet and medicinal, just a mess of a beer. We couldn't even finish it. The Oyster Stout won by virtue of being not quite as bad. It had some weird sweet cola flavor that took away from the chocolate and coffee stout flavors.

Winner by unanimous decision: Oyster Stout.

The final battle turned out to be a can clash featuring beers that we purchased at the 85th St. Market, a place with a surprisingly good beer selection and an extremely nice owner named Chuck.



Maui Brewing Co.
Bikini Blonde Lager
ABV 4.5%

Color: ? (We drank from the can. Probably light yellow.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the mouth of the can.)
Flavor: Sweet, smooth, creamy and easy drinking. Dave noted that it had tiny bubbles (very Don Ho of it.)
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Malty
Finish: Sweet and malty.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Oskar Blues
Mama's Little Yella Pils
ABV 5.3%

Color: ? (We drank from the can. Probably light yellow.)
Aroma: ? (Hard to smell anything through the mouth of the can.)
Flavor: Crisp, with light citrus hops and some graininess.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced
Finish: Grain and teeny, tiny bit of citrus hop bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good -

Blow by Blow
These beers are meant for hot weather, but we decided to see what they were made of on a mild October night in Seattle.

It kind of turned into a slap fight with a lot of flailing of the arms without much contact. Both beers were predictably simple and didn't offer much more than something to wash down whatever you're eating.

Turns out, Dave and I have different preferences when it comes to simple, session beers. He prefers something a bit sweeter and thus chose the Bikini Blonde, I prefer something with some kind of hop presence so I went with Mama's.

Final note: We rated them both "Good -", but they would probably be rated higher if we tried them on a hot day. They both would definitely be acceptable for a beach or a bbq.

Split decision: I chose the Pils, Dave chose the Lager. (Ellen sat this one out.)

Fresh Hop Tap Tussle — Snipes Mountain Brewing

Snipes Mountain
Harvest Fresh Hop Pale Ale
ABV 5.5%

Color: Hazy, golden yellow.
Aroma: Huge sweet grapefruit and bit of cheese rind funk.
Flavor: Grassy, sweet and citrusy.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy
Finish: Grassy fading to nice, mellow lingering bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Snipes Mountain
Zombie, The Fresh Hop Killer
ABV 7.5%

Color: Clear orange with a little brown.
Aroma: Very subtle aroma of citrus hops (perhaps due to lack of carbonation).
Flavor: Sweet grapefruit juice.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy.
Finish: Bitter grapefruit.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good-

Snipes Mountain
2Fresh Double IPA
ABV 8.3%

Color: Ruby brown.
Aroma: Sweet and juicy hop candy.
Flavor: Rich, grassy with prominent bitterness (like bitter greens).
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Hoppy.
Finish: Big, bitter and long-lasting.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Good

Winner by unanimous decision: Harvest.
Fresh Hop season is here! In honor of this special time of year, we interrupt your regularly scheduled Bottle Battle for an old-fashioned, knock-down, drag-out Tap Tussle featuring three beers that all feature loads of fresh hops. The battle was conducted at the north Seattle beer mecca, Naked City Brewery and Taphouse during a special event promoting the beers of Snipes Mountain Brewery from Sunnyside, Washington.

So what's with this "Fresh Hop" stuff? Well, it's basically beer made with hops fresh off the vine rather than hops that have been dried. Brewers go to great lengths to get these fresh hops into their beers as quickly as possible since once they are picked they immediately begin to degrade and lose their precious hop essence. It's a great way to celebrate the hop harvest and, when made well, these beers have a very distinct flavor that can only come from fresh hops.

The battle was very entertaining. We could definitely detect the green, grassy notes of fresh hops in all of the beers, but it was most prominent in the Harvest Pale which had an aroma that just jumped out of the glass and assaulted us with hoppy goodness. Unfortunately, the carbonation in the Zombie was, ahem, dead, which may have been the reason it didn't have much aroma. And the 2Fresh was good, but the fresh hop flavors were masked a bit by the big, malty sweetness. So, if you're looking for a pure, clean, delicious expression of fresh hops you should definitely seek out the Snipes Mountain Harvest Fresh Hop Pale. It was a dominant and unstoppable force in this inaugural Tap Tussle.