Brewery Website: http://www.cigarcitybrewing.com
Type of Beer: American IPA
Alcohol Content: 7.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This handsome IPA poured a bright copper color with perfect clarity. Head was about two-fingers of creamy goodness that settled to a thick film. The head lasted quite a while leaving behind some incredible lacing that covered the walls of the glass as if it was painted on.
Smell: Right off the bat the hops jump out at you with a mixture of citrus and fruit (grapefruit, orange and peaches) and a piney earthyness. Some caramel makes it’s way into the nose adding a nice sweet addition to the bouquet or hops. The smell of this one really gets the mouth watering.
Initial Taste: The flavor starts off with a caramel and toasted bready sweetness. This sweetness doens’t stick around long as the big hoppy backbone comes busting through with a big citrus and pine spiciness that leaves your tastebuds begging for more. This big hop profile finishes smooth with a subtle fruitiness that tastes like a mix of peaches and apricots. Aftertaste is dry and a little citrusy.
Thoughts: This is the flagship beer for Cigar City Brewing Company in Tampa Florida. Jai Alai IPA (pronounced “high-lie”) pushes the boundaries of an American IPA with almost enough hops to push it into the Double ( or Imperial) IPA category. However when you try it you’ll notice that even though this is a hop monster its also beautifully balanced with a caramel sweetness that makes this one of the best IPA’s I’ve had the opportunity to try. The hop profile is professionally choreographed with flavors of citrus and piney bitterness that has fruity highlights of peaches and apricots. This is proof that the brew geeks over at CCB know how to make some pretty decent suds. If you haven’t tried this, or any CCB beer for that matter, don’t delay any longer. Get out there and try some of the best craft beer America has to offer. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.lagunitas.com/
Type of Beer: American Pale Wheat Ale
Alcohol Content: 7.3%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Pours a clear, golden orange with a bright white one finger head. The head quickly falls to a film leaving behind some scattered lacing on the glass. There is also quite a bit of visual carbonation.
Smell: Hops, hops and oh…hops! For being a wheat beer this sucker smells like it is loaded with hops. Lagunitas claims it has every hop starting with the letter “c”. Certainly smells like. With scents of pine, apricots, grapefruits, peaches and some pale malts climbing into your nose all at once, this is one powerfully scented beer. The mind immediately expects an IPA style taste to follow.
Initial Taste: Surprise, the initial flavor that comes racing across the mouth is ….Hops! Just like the smell, the flavor is big on the hop spiciness but not nearly as heavy as the smell leads on. A bold yet complex potpourri of wheat, grapefruit, citrus and pine coat the mouth in a flavorful and slightly bitter flavor. While this is indeed a wheat beer (brewed with 50% wheat) the flavor profile is much more that of an IPA. Yet unlike an IPA this has a nice grainy sweetness on the end that helps balance out the hops. Little to no alcohol taste even with an abv of 7.3%.
Thoughts: Lagunitas has always been known for quirky and unique beers but this one takes the cake. The name alone gives the reader a hint that this beer is more than meets the eye. Being labeled as a wheat beer due to being brewed with 50% wheat, Lagunitas decided to change things up and toss in a score of hops. Not just a score but every hop starting with the letter ‘C’! I’ll let you count how may that actually is. What you end up with is an IPA with a wheat beer base…Delicious. Lots of complex hop spiciness with a good pale wheat malt backbone. And good news for hop-heads, in the fight for power between the hops and pale malts the hops certainly win out. This is now one of my favorite beers from Lagunitas and I’m not even that big of a hop lover! I highly recommend this little sumpin’ sumpin’, but you better hurry because this is a summer seasonal and it won’t last long. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.dogfishhead.com
Type of Beer: American Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 7.2%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Color is very dark brown bordering on black with ruby highlights. Nice tan two finger head that sticks around for a long time leaving behind some beautiful lacing.
Smell: A solid mix of floral hops, coffee and sweet caramel malts. Molasses, raisins and unsweetened chocolate round out the smell leaving you drooling to take the next step.
Initial Taste: The flavor is incredibly smooth and creamy. The delicious sweetness of the caramel malts come on first then followed by subtle burnt sugar and molasses. After the sweet flavors dissipate a bit the flavor turns into a nice mixture of bittersweet chocolate and bitter hops. The hops do a great job of clearing the palate and building a great balance to this big sweet malty beer. You can taste a little bit of the alcohol in the finish but it’s very smooth and not what you would expect from such a high abv beer.
Thoughts: The problem with being at the top of the craft beer food chain like Dogfish Head is that you come to expect nothing but the very best from their beers. And Indian Brown Ale is yet another jewel in their ever growing beer crown. Dogfish Head considers this beer a ‘hybrid’ mixing an IPA and an American Brown Ale. The result is a beautifully smooth sweet malty beer with a nice hoppy backbone. The flavors of the organic brown sugar and bittersweet chocolate from a American Brown Ale are balanced to near perfection with a hopping regiment of an IPA leaving a flavorful beer with high drinkability. I highly recommend this beer to anyone who likes beer. This ‘hybrid’ beer will appeal to both hop and malt lovers. Another home run from the guys at Dogfish Head.
http://www.smithwicks.ie
Brewery Website: http://www.sierranevada.com
Type of Beer: American Barleywine
Alcohol Content: 9.6%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Dark copper color with thick two finger head that recedes very slowly leaving incredible lacing and nice foam peaks. Clarity is good with some sediment on the bottom.
Smell: Rich, bold smell. Hops are quite strong, floral and piney. Hop scents are rounded off a bit with some malty sweetness and dark fruits like figs and raisins. Alcohol esters are noticeable.
Initial Taste: Like the great Emeril once (or twice) said “BAM!”. The aggressive hops instantly dominate your palate – citrus, pine, leafy and earthy. After the initial wave of bittersweet hopiness the malts comes in to help smooth things out. The malts, while not as powerful as the hops, do give a welcome sweet caramel flavor that takes some of the bite off the hops. The mouth feel is smooth and creamy with a dry and slightly alcohol warming finish.
Thoughts: Like most barleywines this is true to their nature with lots of flavor and tons of hop goodness. Bitter, oily, sweet and earthy this Bigfoot is a beer to be sipped and enjoyed slowly. This being my first time trying this particular beer from Sierra Nevada I can’t comment on the differences from previous years. I will say that if you are a fan of hoppy barleywines you will be hard pressed to find one like Bigfoot. The recipe for this beer changes slightly every year so if like me you enjoy this make sure you grab a few. And with the high alcohol content it’s ok if you let it sit for a while….if you can. I highly recommend this to all hopheads and barleywiners out there. Cheers!
http://www.smithwicks.ie
Brewery Website: http://www.brooklynbrewery.com
Type of Beer: American Amber Lager
Alcohol Content: 5.2%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Clear golden-amber color with medium carbonation giving a beautiful fluffy white head that leaves behind walls of lacing.
Smell: Smells just like what you would expect an American craft lager to smell like; clean beer essence with sweet malts and some flowery hops.
Initial Taste: The first flavor to cross the tongue is bready malts followed up very quickly with a hop bite with some grainy finish. There is a nice contrast between the spicy hops and sweet malts yet the balance seems to be pretty hop heavy. The aftertaste is bitter, crisp, clean and refreshing.
Thoughts: This lager is the flagship beer for the Brooklyn Brewery. This is their interpretation of a Vienna style lager. It is complex yet smooth enough to be a session beer without question. I do have to say that there were a little more hops than what I expected to find in an American style lager. This is not a bad thing…just something out of the ordinary. The positive thing about making this beer hoppy is that the bitterness helps to clear the pallet and leave you longing for more beer! Always a good thing. If you’re a fan of Brooklyn Brewery then you must check out this lager. Like the rest of their lineup, this lager does not disappoint.
