Friday, May 31, 2013

Review: Caldera Ashland Amber Ale

Caldera Ashland Amber Ale
5.6% ABV
Caldera Brewing Company, Ashland, OR
12 oz can
Served in Duvel tulip glass
No date on can
Reviewed on 5/21/13 

This amber ale pours a hazy golden amber color with a decent off-white head that has good retention.  Moderate lacing.

Smell consists of malt, hops, grapefruit, herbal notes, sugar, slight caramel.

Taste consists of some sugary maltiness, mild hops, grapefruit, citrus, floral, herbal, touch of spice, breadiness.

Mouthfeel is dry with a touch of bitterness on the palate.  A touch thin.

Overall, a fairly decent tasting amber ale that has a good dry, malty, and somewhat hoppy profile of flavors.  It comes across as a touch thin and a touch flat at times, but it's still a decent if not exceptional offering overall.  After a few tastes, the flavor gets a bit muddled in the middle.  It would be interesting to taste this one fresh.


My score: 86

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Review: Brewer's Art Ozzy

Brewer's Art Ozzy
7.3% ABV
The Brewer's Art, Pottstown, PA
12 oz can
Served in Duvel tulip glass
No date on can
Reviewed on 5/11/13 

This Belgian style pale ale pours a light golden color with a thick bubbly white head that has decent retention.  Decent carbonation.  Decent lacing.


Smell consists of malt, hops, bread, wheat, banana, slight citrus, herbal, floral.


Taste consists of dry light hoppiness, biscuit, malt, slight banana, some citrus, slight spiciness, floral and herbal notes.

Mouthfeel is dry and smooth on the palate.  A decent earthiness lingers on the tongue.

Overall, a good tasting Belgian style pale ale that has a pleasing dryness and profile of flavors.  As the temperature rises, this brew's flavors come through more.  I'm not a huge fan of the style, though there are a few selections that I like, and this one compares well.  Brewer's Art Resurrection is an overall better beer, but this one is still nice.


My score: 90

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Review: Orkney Skull Splitter

Orkney Skull Splitter
8.5% ABV
The Orkney Brewery, Quayloo, Orkney, Scotland
11.2 oz btl
Served in Dogfish Head Signature Glass
Date on bottle: Best by end of May 2015
Reviewed on 4/20/13

This scotch ale pours a hazy light brown color with a good off-white head that quickly dissipates.  Decent lacing.

Smell consists of strong malt, hops, dark fruit, slight caramel, some floral, alcohol.  The smell is strong and hits you at an arm's length when pouring.

Taste has malt, hops, spiciness, floral and herbal notes, dark fruit, some caramel, hint of chocolate, hint of banana, cherry.

Mouthfeel is fairly smooth and creamy/velvety on the palate even as it has a good earthy character to it.

Overall, this is a complex tasting scotch ale that has some surprising fruitiness and a good balance of flavors.  The smell of this beer is quite strong when pouring--I could smell it at arm's length, whereas I can't usually smell a beer until I bring it to my nose.  Its earthy and floral characteristics mixed with malt and spice make it somewhat reminiscent of a Trappist ale, though it's not quite there.  Still, it's quite good.

My score: 92

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Review: Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
ABV: 7.2%
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
12 oz bottle
Served in Dogfish Head Signature Glass
Reviewed on 8/18/12

This IPA pours an amber/gold with a slight haziness.  Good white head that keeps some retention.  Decent lacing.

Smell consists of hops, grapefruit, citrus, some pine, slight malt, slight spice, hint of vanilla.

Taste has hops with good medium bitterness.  Citrus and pine notes as well as malt that is somewhat muted with a strand of spice.

Mouthfeel is smooth with a good earthy graininess.  Nice dryness comes through once the beer comes up to temperature.  Good balance of flavors.

Overall, this is a tasty, hoppy IPA with good bitterness and dryness.  Solid though not palate-overwhelming flavors.  For the price, you can't beat what you get with this IPA.  Actually, it's hard to believe that such a good tasting IPA can be so inexpensive. 

Score: 92

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Review: Weyerbacher Heresy

Weyerbacher Heresy
8.0% ABV
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, PA
12 oz btl
Served in St. Bernardus chalice
No date on bottle
Reviewed on 4/28/13

This Russian imperial stout pours a thick dark brown color with a fairly dark beige head that dissipates somewhat quickly.  Good lacing.

Smell consists of malt, chocolae, some alcohol, slight soy sauce, some bourbon, touches of caramel and coffee.

Taste consists of dark chocolate, malt, some hops, some alcohol, coffee, caramel, slight breadiness, touch of whisky.

Mouthfeel is quite creamy and smooth on the palate.  Has a nice substantial thickness to it. Exceptional.

Overall, this is a solid tasting stout that has an exceptional mouthfeel due to its smoothness. The flavors here are quite good--perhaps not as bold as, recently, Heavy Seas Siren Noire and some other imperial stouts--but it's close enough.  The chocolate, malt, and coffee tastes are nice here, though the bottle description "aged in whiskey barrels" only reveals a hint of a whiskey taste.  Still, it's smooth, tasty, and relatively easy to drink.


My score: 93

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Review: Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale

Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale
8.0% ABV
Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, CO
12 oz can
Served in Duvel tulip glass
Date on bottle: Canned on 11/27/12
Reviewed on 4/4/13 

This Scotch ale pours a dark, opaque amber color with a thick beige head that has decent retention.  Nice lacing.

Smell consists of hops, malt, caramel, alcohol, brown sugar, muted candy, spices.

Taste consists of hops, malt, chocolate (on the thin side), alcohol, caramel, brown sugar, raisin, cherry, mild citrus.

Mouthfeel is smooth yet earthy, with good bitterness at the back of the mouth.  Some dryness.  A bit thick on the tongue.

Overall, a solid tasting Scotch ale that has some good caramel and dark fruit tastes and some alcohol warmth.  Chocolate and brown sugar comes across as well, and there's decent bitterness and dryness mixed in.  Not overly familiar with the style, but this is a good beer.  Another solid offering from Oskar Blues.


My score: 91

Friday, May 17, 2013

Review: New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA

New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA
8.5% ABV
New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
12 oz btl
Served in Duvel tulip glass
Date on bottle:Best by 8/11/13
Reviewed on 4/25/13 

This IPA pours a light golden amber with a thick frothy head that has good retention.  Decent lacing and carbonation.

Smell consists of hops, grapefruit, some lemon, some orange, mild malt, some pine, floral and herbal notes, mild spice.

Taste consists of hops, citrus, grapefruit, some flat bitterness, mild lemon, touches of pine, floral and herbal notes, hint of spice.

Mouthfeel is fairly smooth with some decent bitterness.  At times, it's a bit flat and a touch thin for an IPA.

Overall, a decent tasting IPA that looks and smells great but falls apart some in the taste as it's a bit thin and flat.  Still, it's got a decent flavor profile with decent hops and citrus tastes coming through that are accented by pine and spice.  There are better tasting IPAs for sure, but this one mostly holds its own.


My score: 89

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A Specific Gravity: Now on Facebook

I've created a Facebook page for A Specific Gravity, here.  Have at it!  

Review: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
6.0% ABV
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
12 oz btl
Served in Duvel tulip glass
Bottled on 2/18/13
Reviewed on 4/13/13

This IPA pours a light golden amber color with a good bubbly white head.  Some decent carbonation evident.  Decent lacing.

Smell consists of hops, grapefruit, citrus, some malt, some pine, slight sugar.

Taste has hops, malt, grapefruit, citrus, pine, sugar, some wheat.  The malt complements the hops quite well.

Mouthfeel is fairly smooth on the palate with some good moderate dryness.  The malt and hops make this fairly well balanced.

Overall, a classic IPA from Dogfish Head that has a strong malt backbone (in classic DFH style) balanced with decent hoppiness.  This is not the dry, bitter hoppiness of West Coast IPAs (which I love), but it's a solid offering from the East Coast with quite a lot to like.  Fresh and citrusy, as sessionable in taste as an IPA can be.

My score: 91  

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Review: Port City Porter

Port City Porter
7.2% ABV
Port City Brewing Co., Alexandria, VA
12 oz btl
Served in Dogfish Head Signature Glass
No date on bottle
Reviewed on 4/17/13

This porter pours a thick dark brown color with a good beige head that has decent retention.  Decent lacing.

Smell consists of malt, chocolate, coffee, some hops, slight soy sauce, hint of caramel, hint of floral.

Taste consists of chocolate, coffee, malt, hops, caramel, touch of licorice, sugar, soy sauce, some bitterness.

Mouthfeel is smooth and velvety on the tongue with a good dry/bitter kick at the end.

Overall, nice tasting porter that's fairly smooth and creamy at the front and becomes somewhat dry and bitter on the back end.  Nice flavor profile comes through that has decent richness, even if overall it's not overly distinctive from other similar porters and stouts.  First offering from Port City that I've tried, and it gets a solid thumbs up.

My score: 90

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Review: Moab Desert Select Ale

Moab Desert Select Ale
8.59% ABV
Moab Brewery, Moab, UT
32.8 oz ceramic swing top bottle
Served in Duvel tulip glass
No date on bottle
Reviewed on 3/28/13

This black imperial IPA pours a fairly dark color with a thick and frothy light beige head that has quite good retention.

Smell consists of hops, malt, some citrus, spice, floral, herbal, pepper, some chocolate, rye, some bread.

Taste consists of hops, malt, coffee, chocolate, rye, bread, pepper, floral and herbal notes, slight soy sauce.

Mouthfeel as some good dryness and bitterness right at the front.  Fairly smooth and even on the palate.

Overall, this is a nice tasting black imperial IPA that has a nice flavorful profile that has shades of Heavy Seas Black Cannon and even Firestone Walker Wookey Jack. Fairly hoppy, malty with chocolate and coffee flavors, and distinctive rye and floral/herbal notes.  A nice find at Shab Row Bistro in Frederick, Maryland.  A huge bottle and somewhat pricey, but from a brewery that I haven't seen available elsewhere (so I couldn't pass it up).  The reviews online are so-so (what review there are--it's pretty much unreviewed), but I found it to be quite nice.

My score: 90

Monday, May 13, 2013

Review: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
9.0% ABV
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
12 oz btl
Served in Duvel tulip glass
Bottled on 2/20/13
Reviewed on 3/13/13

This IPA pours a solid amber color with a mild golden tint.  Nice bubbly white head that has good retention.  Good lacing.

Smell consists of hops, malt, citrus, some oak/wood notes, notes of sugar and grapefruit, hints of dark fruit and spice.

Taste has dry, somewhat bitter hops, malt, citrus, grapefruit, sugar, some prune/raisin type notes.  A nice, crisp, fresh taste.

Mouthfeel is smooth and dry, with a serious mix of hops and malt hitting the palate.  Nice balance of flavors.

Overall, great tasting IPA that is fresh enough to have some serious hoppiness and also have a strong malt backbone. Quite dry, somewhat bitter, with citrus notes like grapefruit, and good hints of prunes and raisins.  This is my second review of this beer (first posted here), and this time it's quite fresh and much more hoppy than I recall (going by the bottle date, it's only 3 weeks old).  Still one of my all-time favorites--number two on "My Current Top Ten."

My score: 98

Sunday, May 12, 2013

American Craft Beer Week: May 13-19

American Craft Beer Week starts tomorrow.  So, have a craft beer or two this week!  Here at A Specific Gravity, we'll be posting a new review each day to celebrate the occasion.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Summer Beers: Do We Have To?


The approaching summer season should be viewed as a great opportunity to enjoy the warm weather and abundant sun, perhaps having a beer or two on a patio with friends and family as sunlight remains past the 8:00 hour.  But summer also means lighter tasting seasonal beers—pilsners, lagers, wheat beers, and fruit beers.  With a few exceptions, I’m mostly disappointed by such offerings.  For most pilsners, lagers, and wheat beers—even those produced by craft breweries—I have trouble finding what makes them more distinct than similar products produced by the macro breweries, which I don’t care for anyway.  Fruitier beers often sound interesting, and who doesn’t like some good fruit flavor, but what passes for fruit flavor in beer—and not accents to hops and malts—often to me tastes artificial and weak. I think, simply put, I just don’t care for the styles of summer beer.

So, even though it’s summer and my palate should be looking for crisp, light, refreshing beers, I still find myself wanting my usual favorites.  IPAs, stouts, Belgian ales.  Other than some seasonals, IPAs and the Belgians are pretty much made year round.  Generally speaking, there are probably more fall/winter seasonal stouts out there, and a dark beer such as a stout can be firmly associated with the cold winter months, but many fine stouts are made year round as well.  Basically, while I’m open to trying something new, I want the dry bitter hops that I find in IPAs and the chocolate and coffee malt flavors that I find in stouts.  I don’t care about what the calendar says.  For me, these are rich, exquisite flavors that should be enjoyed year round.  Don’t look at me funny when it’s 95 degrees, the sun is frying eggs on the asphalt, and I’m pouring a can of oil black Ten FIDY that I’ve been saving since the previous fall.

If you made me drink a beer that had to meet summer beer criteria, I’d probably go with Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, though it’s not a summer seasonal but a world class, year-round offering.  Sam Adams Double Agent IPL wouldn’t be a bad choice either, as it’s a good mix of a maltier lager and hoppier IPA.  The classics--Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sam Adams Boston Lager, and Anchor Steam Beer--hold up well also, as they are relatively light on the palate yet still tasty and reasonably sessionable.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Review: Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot
11.1% ABV
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, PA
12 oz btl
Served in Dogfish Head Signature Glass
No date on bottle
Reviewed on 3/18/13

This barleywine pours a somewhat cloudy reddish amber color with a thin off-white head that dissipates quickly.  Moderate lacing.

Smell consists of malt, cherry, some alcohol, some hops, honey, syrupy sugar, a touch of maple.

Taste consists of quite sweet maltiness, cherry, honey, mild hops, hint of citrus, some maple, a bit like cough syrup, some alcohol.

Mouthfeel is smooth, syrupy, a touch harsh on the palate but not overly so. Flavors are fairly well balanced.

Overall, this is a sweet, syrupy barleywine that has a decent flavor profile and comes across as fairly interesting.  A bit like DFH Olde School, a bit like Troegs Mad Elf.  The sweetness can be a touch cloying, perhaps riding the line but not going over.  Something different, for sure.


My score: 88

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Review: Flying Fish Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA

Flying Fish Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA
8.2% ABV
Flying Fish Brewing Co., Somerdale, NJ
12 oz btl
Served in Duvel tulip glass
Date on bottle:Best by 7/6/13
Reviewed on 4/7/13
 

This IPA pours a pale, slightly hazy golden color with a thin bubbly white head.  Mild lacing.  Nice carbonation evident.

Smell consists of hops, grapefruit, slight orange, slight lemon, pine, mild malt, some mango.  Quite fruity.

Taste consists of dry, slightly bitter hops, abundant citrus with notes of grapefruit, mango, orange, lemon, perhaps, a hint of grape, hint of pine, touch of malt, wheat.

Mouthfeel is fairly smooth and dry with good fruity crispness on the palate.


Overall, this is a good, fruity IPA that is a decent mixture of sorts of a hoppy IPA and a fruity summer beer such as a DFH Festina Peche.   Not sure if I'd like this on a regular basis, but it presents a nice crisp alternative to a standard IPA (if you need one--do you?  I usually don't.) on bright, sunny spring and summer days.  A wide range of citrus flavors, with some nice wine/champagne like dryness.


My score: 91

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Review: Heavy Seas Siren Noire (2013)

Heavy Seas Siren Noire
Uncharted Waters - 2013
9.5% ABV
Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore, MD
22 oz bottle
Served in Dogfish Head Signature Glass
Reviewed on 4/26/13
 



This stout pours a dark brown color with a good bubbly toasty beige head that has decent retention.  Nice lacing.

Smell consists of malt, chocolate, coffee, caramel, some hops, alcohol, some wood some spice, hint of dark fruit.  The aroma comes across as fairly bold.

Taste has strong flavors of coffee, dark chocolate, and malt right off the bat.  Good accent notes of wood, hops, and spice and perhaps a touch or two of bourbon and red wine.

Mouthfeel is smooth on the palate with some good bitterness.  Good bite at the back of the mouth.

Overall, this is a superior tasting stout, part of the Heavy Seas Uncharted Waters series for 2013. Bold flavors of coffee, dark chocolate, and malt are strong right at the front and are complemented well with the right amount of alcohol flavor, wood, and hops.  The bourbon barrel aging is evident and comes through well.  A surprising stout from Heavy Seas that hits the right notes and stacks up well with similar offerings.


My score: 94