Josephs Brau PLZNR

A Czech-style Pilsner from Trader Joe’s. What else do you need to know?

Stats:
Czech Pilsner. 5.4% ABV. California.

Dark yellow color. Head is nothing to write home about, because that’s something you write home about.

Nose isn’t too bad, but quite sweet. Malty with a faint spicey Noble hop aroma.

Mouthfeel is low-medium. It’s a bit carbonated, but not fizzy.

Boy, is this sweet. By far the sweetest Pils I’ve ever had. Grainy malt, caramel, hint of raspberries in chocolate. It’s got a decent finish with grainy malts and a surprising amount of bitterness.

It’s almost cloying, it’s so sweet. The aroma is far better than the palate. There are many good choices out there for a Pilsner, why bother with this? 79 points.

No-Li Born & Raised

This is my first beer from No Li. They’ve recently been getting a lot of buzz, mostly due to their marketing campaign. I must say, their bottles are eye-grabbing, and that can’t be a bad thing for Washington state. They don’t say what malts are in here, but do say it was brewed with Cascade, Columbus, and Chinook hops.

Stats:
American India Pale Ale. 7.0% ABV. Washington.

Fairly dark on the IPA color scale. Can’t see through this one. Great head on here.

It’s got a nice nose. Lots of hops, with a mostly piney aroma. Fairly earthy and grainy on there, too. Smells like a Washington IPA should.

Wow, this has some body. Medium-full with medium-low carbonation.

Piney, earthy, with a nice bit of grapefruit and hint of orange. Grainy middle and finish. Pretty legit bitterness. Grapefruit sticks onto your palate for days.

When I think of a Washington IPA, this is what I have in mind. If this is the kind of beer this brewery is producing, then I cannot wait to taste more. 91 points.

New Belgium Fat Tire

How classic is this beer? We’ve all had this one many, many times. Yet, I’ve somehow never reviewed it. Here we go! This amber features Pale, C-80, Munich, and Victory malts with Willamette, Goldings, and Target hops. Let’s give this flagship a try.

Stats:
American Amber Ale. 5.2% ABV. 19 IBUs. Colorado.

Amber color. Shocking, right? Sticky lacing, which is nice to see.

Toasted nuts and biscuit on the nose. Floral hops. Hint of sweetness.

Light-medium body. Medium carbonation. Highly drinkable.

Floral hops followed by that biscuit and toast malt flavor. Slightly dusty on the finish with a hint of chocolate. Just enough bitterness to balance the little bit of sweetness.

Nothing wrong with this brew. 89 points.

Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout

Well this is interesting. This imperial stout is a collaboration between Greg Koch (Stone), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek dude and general geek), and Drew Curtis (Fark.com). And it’s huge: 13% ABV. This beer also features pecans, wheat and rye malt and a quarter of it is aged in Bourbon barrels. Let’s give it a taste.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 13.0% ABV. 65 IBUs. California. Limited Release.

Really, really dark brown color, so let’s say black. Dark tan head.

Holy booze. Booze, wet rocks, hint of chocolate. Slightly nutty and vanilla component on there too.

Mouthfeel is very thick and creamy.

Chocolate covered nuts, booze, vanilla, bourbon, vanilla, booze.

I shouldn’t be breathing near any flame. It’s rich and complex, but just way too over-the-top for it to be enjoyable on my palate. I might have gone crazy for this a couple years ago, but I just don’t see the point today. Perhaps age will help, or it just might turn into soy sauce. 89 points.

Beer Club 23: Hefeweizen

Last Saturday’s Beer Club was brought to you by the wonder hefeweizen. This is one of my favorite styles in the Summer. I love filling up my 22 oz Weizen vase while sitting outside reading…about beer. I grabbed a few classics, and a few American modern’s.

We started out with the all time classic, Weihenstephaner. It should come as no surprise that this was the favorite beer of the tasting. Let’s just go ahead and call this a perfect beer.

One of my favorite beers is the Ayinger Brauweisse. I love this beer, but I have to say it tasted a bit flat after the first beer.

The other Great German beers were the Franziskaner and the Paulaner. Both fantastic, but not quite as good as the first two.

We were lucky enough to get a beer from a friend of mine in Minnesota. I’m so glad this made it into the tasting, because it became the second favorite beer of the night. It’s a really fantastic brew, that hits all the notes.

Going a bit more local, we then had the Widmer. This beer is available at most bars in the area and is a pretty darn good brew.

If Widmer isn’t on tap, the Pyramid Hefe probably will be. This is sweeter and fruitier than the Widmer and just isn’t doing it for me anymore.

The Leavenworth Whistling Pig Hefe is actually brewed by Fish down in Olympia. It’s an okay beer, pretty forgettable.

One of the biggest surprises for me was the Hale’s El Jefe Weizen. This was really a fantastic beer, and was one of my favorites in the tasting.

We tried my homebrew after that. Let me just say that I usually serve this as the first beer and will continue to do so.

We finished up the tasting with a slightly out of category beer. The Iron Horse High Five Hefe is a wheat brewed with honey and ginger and it was a really nice change to finish the tasting.

This was an excellent Beer Club. Lots of great beer and a relatively intimate setting. It was one of the smallest Beer Clubs ever. Oh, and we had some excellent food, as well. Next month is American Amber/Reds.

Schell’s Star of the North

I have some pretty awesome friends. All of which are far too generous to me. I’m a pretty lucky guy to be able to try some beers that aren’t available in Washington. Not to mention, everything that I’ve had from Schell’s has been unbelievable. Thanks again, Josh. And I havn’t forgotten about you, Ben! This Berliner Weiss has been aged in a cypress wood lagering tank from 1936 with an “authentic mixed culture of yeast and bacteria from Berlin.”

Stats:
Berliner Weiss. 3.5% ABV. 4 IBUs. Minnesota. Limited Release.

Hazy, pale yellow color. Very loose head.

Lactic acid twang, wheat, nectarines, pineapples, and even a floral component come through on the nose. It smells like Summer.

Medium thin body, highly effervescent, highly drinkable.

First, the sourness, with a pineapple juice and a peanut thing I tend to get with lactic acid. Little bit of funky-ness with hints of apricots and honey. Finishes pretty dry.

This being the fourth Berliner Weiss that I’ve ever had, it’s hard to compare it to any baseline. That being said, who cares. It’s fantastic. It’s the kind of beer that gets me excited about beer. It’s complex, but drinkable and refreshing. And it’s the best beer that I’ve had this year. 94 points.

Stone RuinTen IPA

Originally released in 2012 to celebrate Ruination’s tenth anniversary, the RuinTen will now be released annually. This beer is essentially a bigger, badder version of the Ruination, with 10.8% ABV and 5 pounds of a 50/50 blend of Centennial and Citra in each barrel.

Stats:
Imperial India Pale Ale. 10.8% ABV. 110 IBUs. California. Limited Release.

Copper color with a beautiful fluffy head. Small streams of carbonation appear through the murky beer.

I can already smell the beer and I’ve only just poured it. Huge nose with just a ton of pine and earth with orange and lemon zest. Hints of black pepper, honey and even a little floral peddle thing going on.

The carbonation really cuts through the body, thank god. Otherwise, this is syrup. Hop syrup. Delicious.

Incredibly complex. Pine, orange peel, lemon, black pepper, vanilla, and earth. This beer will destroy your palate….but, it does have some malt backbone here. Just enough to make it drinkable, and give it just a bit of a sweet kick. The finish is along the lines of orange flavored charcoal.

Make no mistake, this will destroy your palate for quite awhile. That being said, it’s got some beautiful complexity and is the most stand-out IPA I’ve had in some time. 92 points.

Schooner Exact 3 Grid IPA

This is the flagship beer of Schooner Exact. I’ve had it on tap, but it’s made it’s way into bottles recently. Let’s give it a taste.

Stats:
American India Pale Ale. 6.7% ABV. 62 IBUs. Washington.

Burnt orange color with a fantastic head and just a beautiful ring of lacing on the glass.

The nose is really nice, too. Citrus and pine, as you would expect. I also get a pineapple play on there, as well.

Prickly carbonation and a low-medium carbonation. I’d like to see a bit more tooth.

More pine than fruit on the palate. Grainy mid-to-back. Considerable bitterness on the finish.

Not for the faint of heart. It’s a solid Washington example, if you are an IPA fan. 88 points.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA

This is the newest creation in the Bond Street Series of IPAs from Deschutes. They’ve never made a bad one, so this excites me greatly. This beer features Pale, Crystal, and Munich malts with Nugget, Citra, and Mosaic hops.

Stats:
American India Pale Ale. 6.0% ABV. 60 IBUs. Oregon. June-September Availability.

Burnt orange color. The head is a beautiful thing, as well as the lacing.

Quite a bit of a tart citrus thing going on, but you can get that vanilla/caramel malt profile underneath. It’s very Washington in that respect.

Mouthfeel is fantastic. Medium body, medium carbonation. Pure silk.

Sweeter than I thought. Some orange and citrus flavors and that vanilla with a hint of caramel on the finish. Floral aftertaste that lasts forever.

When has the Bond Street Series ever been bad? 91 points.

Alaskan Freeride APA

When Alaskan stopped brewing their Pale Ale because of hop supply inconsistencies, they developed this recipe to take it’s place. This one features 2-row and Crystal with Cascade, Citra, and Centennial hops.

Stats:
American Pale Ale. 5.3% ABV. 40 IBUs. Alaska.

Light orange color. A ton of head when poured down the middle with some nice sticky lacing.

Nice hoppy nose. Lots of citrus, hint of peaches, and a bit of grain coming through. Just a bit of sweetness on there, as well.

Highish carbonation, light-medium body. Highly drinkable.

Quite fruity up front with a hint of tea and a nice grainy mid-back. Lovely finish of honey and peaches.

I’m perfectly okay with this beer replacing their regular APA. I’ve actually had this beer quite a few times around town, and it’s just a nice, easy-drinking beer that delivers on flavor. 89 points.