New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA

India Pale Ales are undoubtedly an acquired taste. My son John, before he became a craft beer aficionado, ordered a Ranger IPA at a bar, not realizing the effect that the ridiculously high hop content would have. I believe his response was some variation of "What's wrong with this beer?" He got better. 

New Belgium's India Pale Ale was originally just styled "Ranger IPA", in 2016 they rebranded all of their IPAs as "Ranger Voodoo", with what used to be Rampant Double IPA becoming Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, which I did a review for in 2013:

https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-belgiums-rampant-imperial-ipa.html

Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA pours the color of ripe pineapple with a fluffy white head. The IBUs clock in at 70, a pretty healthy hop level, but unlike earlier versions of New Belgium IPAs, it doesn't feel like the enamel of your teeth is being removed. The 9% ABV puts it solidly in the "imperial" camp. There are subtle citrus notes, not much pine. Other than that, a decent enough IPA, but nothing outstanding. 6.0 on the IGB IPA Scale.

 

New Belgium Mountain Time Premium Lager

There's always been an emphasis on ales in the craft beer community. There's a lot more that you can do with flavor profiles with top/warm fermentation. The mass-produced beers all tend to be lagers, so many craft beer folks tend to turn up their noses at lagers, and admittedly, there's fewer descriptors that you can use in talking about a lager. 

Mountain Time pours a pale, straw-colored hue, with a lacy two-finger head. Like the old cliché, so clear that you can read a newspaper through it. Contrary to expectations there is a lot of subtlety in the flavor profile: low-key floral aroma, saltine cracker and some understated caramel sweetness.  All in all, a great winter lager. 8.5/10 on the IGB Lager Scale. 
 

Hire-Wire Brewing: 10W-40 Imperial Stout with Coffee, Chocolate & Vanilla

Did anyone really mistake this for a can of oil? They had to print "contains alcohol" on the can, so may "yes". It's a slightly lower ABV than I've been drinking lately at 8%. In my opinion you don't need double-digit alcohol content in order to make a good stout, although some brewers mask a less-than stellar offering with more ABV. Not so 10W-40. It pours an inky black, with a thunderous four-finger khaki head that flows from bottom to top. They say it's brewed with coffee, chocolate and vanilla, but. while all those flavors are present, none are overwhelming. I'm not detecting any other flavors, but they aren't needed. Good stuff. 10/10 on the IGB stout scale. 
 

Lagunitas "Willettized" Coffee Stout Aged in Rye Oak barrels

The kings of hoppiness, Lagunitas Brewery, do some styles other than IPAs quite well, and this is one of them. Did I say "quite" well? I meant amazingly well! They're calling it a coffee stout, but it could easily be categorized as an imperial stout due to the 13.1% ABV. The "Willettized" refers to J.D. Willett in Kentucky, a distiller of rye and bourbon, who provided the rye barrels in which this incredible stout was aged. 

It pours a deep, dark mahogany brown with smoky ruby highlights and a scanty chocolate head. The high ABV imparts a heady boozy heat, the rye & oak is detectable, as is a very subdued coffee flavor. There are also hints of licorice, dark chocolate, and brown sugar with a tiny bit of fig and raisin wafting in as it warms up. 

Not a "quaffing" beer, not one for Mom's lawn guy, but without a doubt a 9.5 on the IGB Stout scale

Sierra Nevada 40 Hoppy Anniversary Ale

Sierra Nevada was one of the first craft brewers in the United States, and from Day One specialized in hoppy ales and pioneered the style known as West Coast IPA. 40 pours a pale copper hue with a fluffy two-finger head. The 6% ABV gives it a bit of a kick, but won't limit you to one. The 65 IBUs put in firmly in India Pale Ale territory, and not just a pale ale with big dreams. The hops give it a smooth combination of pine and citrus; there's also some adjacent notes: pear, peach and white grape. Orange peel and grapefruit finish off the experience. Solid IPA, but honestly I don't detect a lot of difference between this and their regular offerings. 
 

Deschutes Super Jubel Imperial Winter Warmer

Super Jubel is based on Deschutes' seasonal Jubelale, a winter warmer, reviewed here: https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/11/deschutes-jubelale-winter-ale.html
The Winter Warmer style is pretty nonspecific, in general it's any kind of ale, often a brown or red ale brewed with "winter" spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon. "Imperial", which derived from the Imperial Russian Stout style https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2017/09/beer-styles-barleywines-and-imperials.html has come to mean either extra high hop content, (IBUs) or extra high alcohol content (ABV). 

Super Jubel comes across to me like a barleywine. It pours a dark brown with ruby highlights and a thin tan head. The ABV clocks in as 10.4% and imparts a boozy quality similar to red wine. There's a crazy amount of complexity, with favors falling all over themselves for dominance. Raisin and gingerbread lead the pack; oak and raspberry follow closely behind; there's also some orange peel and maraschino cherry, with figs and dates bringing up the rear along with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. 

 

Empyrean Match+Maker Chocolate Salted Caramel Stout

Ill-Gotten Booty has some opinions about adding flavorings to beers: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it's just cleverness just for the sake of cleverness. Fruit flavors go well with sours, spices go well with winter ales, bourbon barrel aging adds to the quadruppel experience. And things like coffee, caramel and chocolate add to stouts and porters. 

The base beer of Match+Maker is a stout. Empyrean has always done good stout & porters, their year 'round oatmeal stout and vanilla porter are some of my favorite locals. Like most stouts, the hop bitterness is low, 16 IBUs, with a healthy 6% ABV. Not quite sessionable, but you can have more than one! Added to the brew are Guatemalan cacao nibs, with cacao, sea salt and caramel added to the finished beer. This l'il beauty would go well with brownies or vanilla bean ice cream, or even cheesecake.  8.5 on the IGB flavored stout scale. 
 

Zipline Berried Gold Lager Brewed With Currants

Many years ago Sam Adams produced a cranberry lambic, https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2009/11/beer-review-sam-adams-cranberry-lambic.html which introduced me to lambics, https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2011/11/below-is-last-years-review-of-lindemans.html but was also one of the few cranberry ales that I have been able to source for Thanksgiving. https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2009/11/beer-review-sam-adams-longshot.html , https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2014/09/leinenkugels-cranberry-ginger-shandy.html . Later I discovered Lindeman's lambics - they had a cassis, i.e. black currant lambic, that was my go-to drink at Thanksgiving, but this year I couldn't even find that. I have a raspberry lambic for later, but for now, I'm enjoying a lager, brewed with currants. 

Zipline is one of those local breweries that rarely steps wrong. Their lager is everything you could want in a lager. It's crisp, clear, but without a lot of extraneous flavor profiles like you'd get in an ale. With a good lager, you get the taste of BEER. The currant flavoring adds a lot. Lagers, being in some ways the blank canvas in which brewmasters can draw, are uniquely suited to accept fruit flavorings. And the currant is almost perfect as a Thanksgiving addition to a holiday beer. 

 

The Abyss 2019 Reserve Imperial Stout from Deschutes Brewery

I never tire of saying it and I hope you never tire of hearing it - but I love barrel-aged ales and I love stouts. The Abyss 2019 Reserve is an Imperial stout, aged in bourbon barrels. This beauty pours like tar, black and thick, although not much of a head. The 11.7% ABV gives it a nice boozy heat. The Deschutes website uses the word "quaff" in connection with this ale, which I believe means drinking, but with a lot more spilling. I would not recommend spilling any of this valuable diamond-in-the-bottle. You're going to detect plenty of competing flavors, licorice and molasses the most forward, but with fig, date and raisin in the mix. Look hard enough and you'll uncover coffee & chocolate, cherry & maple, and of course some bourbon shyly hiding behind the rest of the gang. I just ate a brownie minutes before pouring this, it would have made a great pairing with this lovely imperial stout. 
 

Empyrean Ales Winter Wisdom Hazelnut Brown Ale

Empyrean Ales was the pioneer craft brewer in Nebraska and I owe much to my craft beer education to Jim and Rich and my many first Mondays at the monthly Lazlo's Beer Tour. Sadly I have been neglecting Empyrean lately - there are just so many craft and micro breweries out there, including a growing number in Nebraska that it's difficult to keep up. 

One of the trends in craft brewing over the last few years has been a race to see who can come up with the craziest, most unusual beers. Not just unusual styles, but unusual flavorings. I'm not against added flavorings to traditional styles, or even new hybrid styles, but sometimes we forget that underneath it all it beer, and the platform that all the extras are built upon must be solid. 

Winter Wisdom is a winter seasonal. There winter seasonal has been called "Winter Tilt", then got a cease and desist order from the makers of a drink called "Tilt" and changed it to "Winter Axis". This is not the same as those previous winter warmers, although in that winter tradition. It's a brown ale. Brown ales are the workhorses of the ale world. They're not fancy, and they don't put on airs. Heavier than a pale ale or an amber, lighter than a porter, they are solid and don't need much embellishment. There's some hazelnut flavoring added, but it's subtle, not overwhelming. Hints of caramel and teeny, tiny shades of brown sugar and dark fruit, but so underwhelming that you might miss it. Looking for a no-nonsense beer that nonetheless is a champ, get yourself a few of these. 
 

Lagunitas 'Woodshop Series' Sonomica

Sonomica from Lagunitas Brewery, is a sour farmhouse ale, aged in Sonoma Red Wine barrels. I thought I was done with the sours, but this guy is aged in red wine barrels! I had to try it! A farmhouse ale, also called a saison, is very similar to Belgian ales. They were traditionally brewed in the cooler months and consumed in the summer. Lagunitas is normally known for its super-hoppy brews, but this one is an exception. The wine flavor is very evident, and the sourness is moderate. There are predominant notes of green apple, pear, peach, white grape and strawberry. Initially I thought it was an off choice as a holiday beer, but after half a bottle, I'd serve this at any holiday gathering. 
 

Ommegang Bourbon Barrel Adoration

Ommegang Brewery is one of those breweries where you just can't go wrong. They do a lot of quads and stouts and love to age their ales in bourbon barrels! Bourbon Barrel Adoration is obviously aged in bourbon barrels (according to the label) but it tastes to me more like aged in wine barrels. There's a hefty 11% ABV, which imputes some nice alcohol heat. The label calls it a "noël" ale, and can't find any information as to what that is, but I would assume that it refers to the spices that one normally finds in Winter warmers, and there are spices: coriander, nutmeg, cardamom, and a tiny bit o' cloves. There's also a vanilla sheen over dark fruit - black cherries, figs, raisins, and plums topped off with brown sugar and molasses. Quite a complex glass of holiday goodness. 

 

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter

Halloween is over, as far as I'm concerned it's Christmas Season, Yule and Midwinter is on it's way, as much as I like cooking for Thanksgiving! 

I'm a big fan of winter warmers, those brown ales chock full of spices, but I don't believe that I've ever had a beer brewed with peppermint! Kentucky Bourbon barrel Peppermint Porter is about what you'd expect from the label: it tastes like chocolate and peppermint. 

The base ale is a typical porter, deep, dark brown with ruby highlights and a healthy tan head. It's got a moderate creamy consistency and would make a fine porter even without the added flavorings. The chocolate and peppermint are evident, but not cloying or overpowering. What I'm not detecting is any hint of oak or bourbon, but if they didn't advertise it on the label I'd have never known. I'd recommend it for a beer lover's holiday party. 

 

New Belgium Oakspire Old Fashioned Bourbon Barrel Ale

The Winter holiday beers are here! New Belgium has been producing the Oakspire special edition holiday ales for the last three years, with a slightly different take each year. This year it's a bourbon barrel aged ale inspired by the Old Fashioned. It's an ale aged in oak bourbon barrels infused with cherry and orange and a touch of bitters. 

(I have to admit that, aside from my love of bourbon oak barrel aged ales, the name "Oakspire" sounded similar enough to my adopted "pagan/craft" name of Oakspear to get my attention)

Oakspire pours a coppery hue without not much of a head. There's a subdued whiskey taste,  surprisingly mild alcohol heat from the 9% ABV, with vanilla & oak, mixed with the cherry and orange. A tiny taste of anise and nutmeg. A very smooth ale. Could be a new holiday favorite!

 

Oskar Blues BA20 Series Volume 2: Amburilla

"Imper-i-al Stout and beans of vanilla
Aged to perfection in barrels of bourbon
Choc-o-late, oak and sweet car-a-mel 

These are a few of my fav-o-rite things!"

The other day I heard a few regional radio guys putting down flavored craft beers and talking about how much they like "regular" beer. Mainstream lagers are fine. I have no problem with them, but to drink a fruit enhanced sour beer or a quad or a bourbon barrel aged stout and say that it "doesn't taste like beer" doesn't take into account that it's not supposed to. Does Mountain Dew taste like Pepsi? Does Dr. Pepper taste like Sprite? Does coffee taste like tea? No, of course not...because they're not supposed to! They're different drinks. A Budweiser lager (or even a Pilsner Urquell) is a different beverage from some of the specialty varieties of craft beer. Amburilla does not taste anything like a pilsner. 

Amburilla pours a deep mahogany with a skinny beige head with ruby highlights. There is an obvious alcohol vapor tickling the nostrils (12.5% ABV) and oak and vanilla that virtually assaults the senses. There is a lot of ginger in the mix, which is unusual, and though I like ginger as a cooking spice, I could do without it in my beer. There is a veritable orchestra of flavors - dark fruits, vanilla, toffee, caramel, chocolate, coffee and of course the bourbon. 

I'm going to have to give this only a 6 on the IGB scale, mainly because of the ginger, but if can get past that, it's pretty solid. 

Dragon's Milk 2020 Reserve 3: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout w/Vanilla & Chai Spices

 Dragon's Milk strikes again! See my last entry for my thought's on the use of the Dragon's Milk brand by New Holland Brewery, also see this link for all the varieties of  Dragon's Milk:

https://dragonsmilk.com/dragons-milk-reserve

This version has got several of my favorite things: it's a stout and it's bourbon-barrel aged (not a quad, but one can't have everything!)

Two things hit me immediately: the alcohol heat of the 11% ABV tickles the nose and evaporates at the back of the throat; and the chai spices all but stand up and do a dance on the taste buds. The 30 IBUs give it a moderate hoppiness that is somewhat lost in all the flavor. Speaking of flavor, the vanilla bean is certainly not neglected and the bourbon aspect is stronger than most other barrel-aged brews. As it slowly achieves room temperature there are hints of raisin, fig, plum and weirdly, banana. Background tastes of cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Pretty damn good. 

Dragon's Milk Solera

One of the things that I tend to notice is how one item from a producer "becomes the brand". Good examples of this are Mountain Dew and Cheerios. Original versions of both were stalwarts for years. Their marketing people extended the brand by labelling drinks that had no resemblance to Mountain Dew as Mountain Dew [added descriptor]. Cheerios was slightly different. Plain ol' Cheerios spawned a whole family of cereals that sometimes had nothing in common with the original other than the shape. New Holland Brewing has started to turn Dragon's Milk into a brand. As an Ill-Gotten Booty reader, you've seen several versions of Dragon's Milk ales.  

Trying out different beers can be an educational experience. The description of Dragon's Milk Solera contains a few terms that I was unfamiliar with:

"Aged in a series of oak foeders using a blending technique known as solera ..."

* A foeder (pronounced 'foo-der') is basically just a large barrel. Here's some more detail:

https://beerconnoisseur.com/articles/what-foeder

* Solera is a process for aging wine, beer, vinegar or brandy by 'fractional blending' in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages. It is most typically used of 'fortified wine' varieties such as sherry, Port, Madeira or Marsala, but also rum or brandy. Here's a good article explaining the process:

https://thewhiskeywash.com/whiskey-science/solera-whiskey-real-historic-fraction/

Dragon's Milk Solera pours a hazy chestnut, with a thin tan head. The 10% ABV provides a boozy haze that immediately tickles the nostrils.There is so much going on. Before it warms up, the oak from the foeders is up front, as is the bourbon and vanilla. As the ale achieves room temperature the dark fruits appear, especially figs. Brown sugar, dates, black cherries, and caramel pop up as the level of liquid decreases. There are some similarities to a high-end barleywine, less so to an imperial brown ale. Very different than previous iterations of Dragon's Milk, but that's marketing. 

Upslope Pumpkin Ale

Even though we're still seeing 80˚ plus days, the leaves are falling and there's a cool breeze in the mornings, Autumn is here, and with it, pumpkin ales! 

The days or times which we consider the beginning of our seasons are tied to the solstices and equinoxes, which are sidereal (sun-related) or celestial events. I prefer to look at what are sometimes called the cross-quarter days as the beginning of the seasons, with the sidereal days marking the mid point. Think about it, June 21^st, which we considered the beginning of summer, is traditionally called Midsummer's day, while December 21^st, which we call the beginning of Winter is also referred to as Midwinter. Your mileage may vary. 

I look at Lughnasadh, August 1^st, as the beginning of Autumn and when it is acceptable to start drinking Märzens (Oktoberfests) and Pumpkin Ales. 

Upslope Brewing puts out a pretty decent pumpkin ale. What most of us think of as "pumpkin flavor" is actually pumpkin pie flavor. Upslope's pumpkin ale is definitely pumpkin pie-ish. It pours a coppery orange with a generous fluffy white head. There's lots of spices: nutmeg, a hint of cloves, anise, and cinnamon. I was surprised to detect some dark fruit: raisins and prunes (don't laugh)  as well as some caramel and brown sugar. Overall a tasty and complex brew

 

Mikkeller Raspberry Blush Berliner Wiesse

Here we are at the end of the sour road. Mikkeller Brewing has produced some fine sours to date and this is no exception. Berliner Wiesse is a traditional sour style, originating in Berlin. This style can be brewed with wild yeast, or kettle brewed. The grain is mainly wheat, with some barley. Raspberry Blush pours a pink grapefruit hue with a thin white-ish head. The tartness is mid-range, it might be a good introduction to sour ale neophytes. The main flavor is, naturally, raspberry, and oddly, coffee. I'm picking up some grapefruit as well. Not the most exciting sour, but fairly decent. 
 

Almanac Barrel-Aged Strawberry Sournova

The sour ale trek continues! With the cool temps coming, I'm going to have to switch to some Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales soon - but let's enjoy the sours for now! 

Let's start off the review by sating that I've never heard of this brewery, although with craft and micro breweries numbering in the thousands, even Ill-Gotten Booty can't keep track of them all. 

Over the last few weeks I have learned a new term: "kettle-brewed sour". This refers to a sour ale that is brewed quickly, sometimes in days, rather than the longer process of aging, including the use of wild yeast. Kettle brewing is an attempt to rush sour-style ales to market and to meet the demand, where the traditional methods supposedly can't keep up. Almanac Brewery derides kettle brewing and produces their sours the old-fashioned way, aging them in oak barrels using wild yeast. They have a complete line of "sournovas" with fruits. 

Oh yeah

Almanac claims on their website that Strawberry Sournova was aged for months using thousands of pounds of strawberries. It's not overwhelmingly tart, but has a mild sour intensity. Obviously the taste profile is dominated by strawberries, but I can detect just a hint of green apple and pear. They're not going for super-complex, just a good, drinkable ale.

They succeeded!

 

Ommegang Brewery's Three Philosophers Wine Barrel: Quadrupel Ale Blended with Kriek Lambic

This is the best of several worlds. Ill-Gotten Booty fans know that I'm partial to quads, especially bourbon-barrel aged. This one is aged in wine barrels, not bourbon, but that hardly detracts from the quality. I've also been experimenting with sours lately. This version of Three Philosophers is blended with Kriek ale. A Kriek is a lambic, a traditional Belgian ale that is brewed with wild yeast. Lambics usually are flavored with fruit. A kriek is brewed with cherries. I often pair my Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing with a cassis, or black current, lambic. Quadrupels or quads, are typically high in alcohol content, tend to be a medium dark hue and a smooth taste reminiscent of whiskey. 

Three Philosophers Wine Barrel pours a coppery hue, with a teeny-tiny beige head. Initially the taste experience was one of a fine bourbon, with cherry undertones. There is medium alcohol heat with a hint of other dark fruits hiding just beyond the veil of perception. As it warmed up there were suggestions of vanilla and toffee. There is a faint tartness, but not as much as I suspected when I saw "kriek" on the label. 

Overall, one of the few beers which earned the coveted "10" on the IGB Scale. 

 

Mikeller Passion Pool Gose with Passion Fruit

Surely I don't need to rehash for you IGB fans what a Gose is, but it's a sour style that originated in Goslar, Germany. It doesn't conform to the  Reinheitsgebot, the German beer purity laws since coriander and sea salt are added. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that the Gose style has become my favorite. Passion Pool pours a pale hazy golden hue, with a barely visible white head. It's pretty tart, maybe an 8 on the IGB Sour Scale. The passion fruit is upfront, with some lemon as well. There's a bit of green apple in there as a special guest. Recommended as a summer ale, would go great with spicy tacos or BBQ pork. 
 

Duclaw Brewing Sour Me Unicorn Farts Glittered Sour Ale

A partnership with Diablo Doughnuts' doughnut of the same name, this is a crazily fun beer. Supposedly brewed with fruity cereal, there is a taste of Fruity Pebbles, along with lemon, apricot and peach. Unicorn Farts is pretty high on the sour scale, not for the sour-phobic at all. It's brewed with pilsner barley as well as wheat, giving it a light feel. I'm not seeing any of the promised edible glitter, but perhaps on the second pour (it's a 16 oz can). Gimmicky, but I'd drink it again. 

Ommegang Apripêche Tart Wheat Ale with Peach and Apricot

 

Ommegang Apripêche is the last of the stash of sours in the fridge. First off, this l'il number is tart, - it's definitely worthy of the name! Ommegang Brewery, from Cooperstown, NY, is one of those breweries that never produces a bad beer. Apripêche is no exception. It's a combination of a Flemish Sour and a Belgian Witbier. Underlying the tartness there's the unmistakable signature of a Belgian ale. The apricot and peach flavors blend seamlessly with coriander and orange peel adding to the melange. There's a modest 15 IBUs, but the 6.3% ABV gives it a nice kick. I can imagine pairing Apripêche with a sharp cheddar cheese, or some crusty bread. 8.5 on the IGB scale. 

Dogfish Head & Rodenbach Breweries Collaboration: Vibrant P'Ocean

Still working through Moran's collection of sours. Dogfish Head's Vibrant P'Ocean is a collaboration with Rodenbach Brewery. The Belgian brewery contributed a foeder-aged sour. A foeder is a wooden barrel, usually used to age wine, but has been used recently to age sour ales. Dogfish Head's portion was a kettle aged sour. Kettle aging refers to a quick-souring process rather than the slow process of aging and souring found in lambics, goses, berliner wiesses and other traditional styles. The Dogfish Head sour was brewed with pilsner malt, malted wheat and elderberries, with some elderflower and Belgian fleur-de-sel mixed in. Vibrant P'Ocean a cranberry hue, and the main taste is indeed cranberries (maybe elderberries taste like cranberries). I don't know if there's a standard for measuring tartness in ales, but I'd give it a 3 out of 10 on the IGB tartness scale. There's a little bit of lemonade in the mix, as well as cherry. Like yesterday's offering, this might be a good introduction for a neophyte into the world of sours.  

Great Divide Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale

Great Divide Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale is today's offering. Sour ales are among the few styles where fruit flavors add to beer, rather than detract from it. I expected the color to be pinkish, but it poured a hazy straw hue, with a fast-disappearing white head. I was surprised that the tartness was rather subdued, although the rhubarb itself should have imparted its own tartness. Not much else to say about it, but it might be a good introduction to sour beers for those who haven't tried them yet. 

Keg Creek Oktoberfest Märzen

I used to keep a strict beer drinking calendar, drinking certain beers only during their season. While many beers are brewed year-round, some traditionally are only brewed and served at specific times of year. The Märzen style, popularly referred to as Oktoberfest is a Bavarian lager that is brewed in March (whence comes the term Märzen) and served, after lagering throughout the Spring and Summer, August through October. I always reserved my Märzen drinking for Autumn. Not the solar autumn, which runs September 22nd-ish through December 20th, but the pagan Celtic Autumn, running from Lughnasadh (August 2nd) through Samhain (October 31st). And here it is, Lughnasadh 2020 and on my beer-buying venture to Moran's I spied one lone Märzen in the single bottle cooler. 

Keg Creek's version of this Bavarian favorite pours a clear bronze, with a lacy copper head that dissipates quickly. Being a lager, the fruity esters that give an ale its character won't be present, but there's still plenty of flavor. Like most Märzens, the malt is much more prominent that the hops, giving it a breadiness, with sides of caramel and biscuit. 

Nice start to the Oktoberfest season. Even if Oktoberfest was cancelled. 

Dogfish Head The Perfect Disguise Double IPA

This, my craft beer friends, is an exciting find. It could be a Kölsch, brewed with Kölsch yeast and lagered for that crisp, smooth taste. But The Perfect Disguise also has enough hops to qualify as a double IPA. So which is it? Who cares? It's a tasty brew, pouring a clear golden hue, with a snowy white head. The hops register at 70 IBUs, a healthy level for a DIPA. There's a melange of flavors, including mango, tangerine, peach and pineapple. The mixture of the two styles results in a smooth summery ale. Enjoy!

New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve - Scotch Barrel Aged Stout with Marshmallow & Dark Chocolate

New Holland Brewery has been making Dragon's Milk one of their brands, tagging all sorts of stout varieties as Dragon's Milk". This particular iteration is Scotch Barrel Aged Stout with Marshmallow & Dark Chocolate. I'm always up for a barrel-aged stout. Reserve 2 is aged in Speyside & Highland Scotch barrels - the whiskey always adds a distinct character to the ale, in this case, a subtle smokiness. The 11% ABV means it's not for the faint of heart. 30 IBUs gives it a moderate hop bitterness. It pours a chocolate hue with a thin tan head. I'm detecting coffee and dark chocolate, barely catching the marshmallow (which is really vanilla anyway). Another fine late night brew.

Deschutes Black Butte XXXII Imperial Porter

Deschutes is one of  those breweries that can do no wrong. I can't think of one of their beers that wasn't a great representation of the style they were going for. Their regular Black Butte Porter is one of the year-round offerings. Here's a short review from 2013:
https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/11/deschutes-black-butte-porter.html
Black Butte XXXII Imperial Porter was brewed in recognition of Descutes' 32nd anniversary. It was aged in Colombian rum barrels (mmm) and infused with cold-brew coffee, nutmeg, vanilla bean and sweet orange peel. ABV is a bracing 13.4% with 50 IBUs.

It pours a deep mahogany brown with a two-finger beige head. The aroma arrives as it's being poured (tulip glass in this case) with strong overtones of coffee and vanilla (not unexpected). The main flavors impart a creamy constancy and the rum aging gives it a moderate alcohol heat. It's like drinking a gourmet chocolate brownie.

Mobcraft Low pHunk Sour Ale

The last (for now) of the sours, Low pHunk is SOUR! Their website description reads like a chemistry text, check it out yourself if interested. It pours a pale straw-ish color with no discernible head. Of all the sours that I have sampled over the last few weeks, this one is by far the most tart. The best descriptor that I can come up with is that it tastes just like unsweetened lemonade. They're not trying to re-imagine any of the traditional sour styles, just out to make a SOUR ale.

They succeeded.

Prairie Artisan Phantasmagoria Double IPA

This is the penultimate IPA in this review series, as a reminder, "double" usually indicates elevated ABV or IBUs or both. It's equivalent to "imperial". Phantasmagoria Double IPA pours a cloudy ripe pineapple hue, with a thin white head. The 8% ABV and 70 IBUs put it solidly in IPA territory, but on the low side, in my opinion, of a double or an imperial. The perceived bitterness is somewhat subdued, piney notes that suggest, but don't overwhelm. There's also quite a bit of citrussy hops in the mix as well. There's hints of mango and pineapple, but overall, if I didn't know that the ABV and IBUs were as high as they are, I'd suspect this was a light beer (not in a bad way).

Destihl Wild Sour Series: Flanders Red

The sour adventure continues! I've explained in previous reviews what makes a wild sour, please refer to them for details. A Flanders Red is a specific type of sour ale, characterized by the year-long aging in oak casks and the use of red malts. They typically have intense fruit flavors. Destihl's Flanders Red pours a dark copper color with an almost nonexistent head. At 5.9% ABV and only 18 IBUs, is pretty mild in both the alcohol and bitterness categories. The overwhelming impression is of tart cherries...and boy, the tartness really comes through. Subsidiary flavors include grapefruit, lemonade and green apple.

Melvin Citradamus Imperial IPA

Another IPA with lots and lots of hops. The "Imperial" descriptor originally referred to Imperial Russian Stout, a stout that was shipped to the Tsar in Imperial Russia. It was known for having higher than usual alcohol and bitterness level. These days it refers to any beer where the alcohol or hops levels, or both, are higher than usual. "Imperial" for all practical purposes is equivalent to "double". Citradamus has a respectable 9.5% ABV and 88 IBUs, not as high as that insane 100+ in 2x4, but still pretty stiff. Citradamus pours a cloudy orange, with a yellowish one-finger head. The Citra hops impart a citrus flavor - orange, lemon zest and lime. There's a bit of pine hoppiness, and a honey-ish aftertaste. I can imagine pairing this with hot barbecue, or even some spicy meatballs.

Destihl Wild Sour Series: Lynnbrook: Berliner Style Weisse with Raspberry

It's sour time! Destihl Brewery has been brewing a sour series; Lynnbrook is a raspberry flavored Berliner Wiesse, a wild sour wheat beer. Wild sours ferment using "wild" yeast, i.e. yeast that isn't added by the brewer, but the ale spontaneously ferments due to ambient yeast in the environment. Berliners usually are 25-50% wheat and generally are flavored with added fruit or fruit syrup.

Lynnbrook pours a pale red with a scant pink head. It registers 4 IBUs, hardly any hops at all, probably the lowest bitterness rating of any beer that I have ever reviewed. At 4.2% ABV, it definitely a session beer. Obviously there's a strong raspberry taste, but there's also strong hints of lemon and honey.

If you're a sour fan, Lynnbrook should be on your shopping list.

Melvin 2x4 Double IPA

When I began my India Pale Ale trek a few weeks ago I had picked a few beers that were well outside the bitterness level that I would attribute to an IPA. Coincidentally each one that I chose had higher ABV and IBUs. 2x4 DIPA (double IPA) clocks in at almost 10% ABV and over 100 IBUs. Yes, I said ONE HUNDRED IBUs!  Surprisingly this ridiculously high bitterness level doesn't translate into the astringent, paint peeling quality that ultra-hoppy ales often have. It pours a hazy apricot hue with a pure white FOUR-FINGER HEAD! The astronomically high hop content imbues 2x4 with complex flavors rather than bitterness. There's ripe citrus, pine, honey, pineapple, mango, peach, grapefruit and indistinct floral. All of them swirling around in a tasteful dance.

9.5 on the IGB IPA scale.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA

The last of the crop of IPAs that I picked up last week, Fresh Squeezed IPA by Deschutes is an ale that I've sampled many times, but just haven't had the opportunity to do a review yet. And, following the trend of increasing IBU counts, this one clocks in a 60, with a 6.4% ABV. Fresh Squeezed IPA pours a orange-ish hue with an off-white head of about a finger and a half. Despite the high IBUs, it doesn't come across as particularly bitter. There's a nice combination of piney and citrus hops, along with floral notes and tropical fruit. As it warms, apple and pear become evident. As with all Deschutes beers, Fresh Squeezed IPA is a top notch ale and rates an IGB score of 9.0.

Upslope Rocky Mountain Kölsch

The Kölsch style is one my favorite undemanding summer beer styles. So much so that I thought I'd explained just what a Kölsch is recently. I had not.

A Kölsch is one of the hybrid styles, based on the type of yeast and method of fermentation (warm, top fermenting) it's an ale, but like a lager it's allowed to age in a cool place (lagering). What you get is a beer where the hidden tastes that come out in an ale combine with the refreshing crispness that comes with a lager. Most Kölsches tend to be on the sweet side - Upslope's Rocky Mountain Kölsch is a bit sweeter due to the added honey, but I'd say they added just the right amount - it's not at all cloying. The sage is very subdued; you can barely detect it until it starts to warm up a bit. There's also some subliminal citrus, predominantly lemon zest. Surprisingly good. Up until now Zipline has been my favorite Kölsch, but I believe that it has now been dethroned.

Avery's Colorado IPA

I didn't purposely start my IPA journey will the low IBU beers and work my way up to the higher hop content ales, but that's the way it worked out. It's a "Colorado IPA". According to my research (i.e. 5 minutes of Googling, Colorado IPAs are kind of a middle ground or amalgamation between the ultra-bitter West Coast IPAs and the East Coast IPAs that concentrate on extracting fruity esters from the various hop varieties. 

Avery's Colorado IPA does seem to fit the bill. At 69 IBUs, it certainly packs a hop bitter bite. But that bitterness is far from the astringent quality that you often find in true West Coast IPAs. In addition to the hoppiness, there's an unexpected malt character that you often find in a brown ale. There are various lurking-beneath-the-surface favors competing for attention: pine, citrus, pineapple, and even some sweet bell pepper. There's a floral halo surrounding it all that makes for a wonderfully complex brew.

Deschutes Fresh Haze IPA

Deschutes Brewery has never let me down. They brew some outstanding ales in many different styles, and Fresh Haze is no exception. It pours a hazy apricot hue, with a thin amber head. The 6.5% ABV puts in solidly in the IPA camp, with the 45 IBUs being in the low to mid range of a traditional IPA's hoppiness. There's a mixture of hop profiles, with a balance between piney and citrussy. The citrus manifests as lemon, orange and grapefruit with a little tangerine. Not particularly complex, but a good, solid IPA.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

As we continue on our exploration of India Pale Ales, we come to Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. Remember when, during yesterday's beer reviews, I bemoaned the bastardizing of the term "India Pale Ale" by calling virtually anything an IPA ? Well I can say with all confidence that 60 Minute IPA is fully worthy of the name. A 6.0% ABV and a rockin' 60 IBUs are all the receipts that it needs to claim the title.

With the high bitterness level (SIXTY IBUs!) there is an obvious, yet surprisingly, not an overwhelming hop character. It's there, but it isn't taking the enamel off of your teeth. The pour is the hue of ripe pineapple, with a hefty three-finger cumulo-nimbus head. And there's a lot of hoppy variety, There's some sweet pine, there's citrus, there's even a little generic floral. The citrus leans toward lemony, with a little grapefruit sneaking up from around the corner. I'd pair this with some broiled salmon, or maybe even some hard cheese and honey crisp apples. Good stuff! 7.5/10 on the IGB IPA scale.

Crane Brewing Farmhouse IPA

Along the lines of the definition of an IPA changing to include just about everything, we have the combination of styles: you have black IPAs, red IPA's, session IPAs, Baltic IPAs, Belgian IPAs...the list goes on and on. Today's beer is a Farmhouse IPA. The Farmhouse style, sometimes referred to as a saison, is a style that has many similarities to a Belgian ale, and indeed originated in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. Farmhouse ales tend to be creamy, smooth and light.

Crane Brewing combined the farmhouse style with the IPA style to create what is essentially a higher ABV, medium IBU Farmhouse. The 6.8% ABV could qualify it as an IPA, while the 28 IBUs are more in pale ale territory. There is virtually no hop bitterness, although the higher alcohol content is evident. There are a lot of flavors competing for attention - they include banana, bubble gum (don't laugh - that a fairly common result of Belgian yeast in a beer), some breadiness and a hint of pine. As the ale warms up there are some tropical fruits - mango and pineapple - in there. Pretty decent, especially of you're a fan of Belgian ales.

Avery's Pacer IPA

As most beer aficionados know by now, the India Pale Ale  style originated when English brewers, in order to ship their product to their troops in India, increased the alcohol count and the amount of hops, as preservatives. In American craft beer circles, India Pale Ales (IPAs) originally had quite high IBU hop bitterness) ratings, as well as high ABV (alcohol by volume). Eventually "IPA" became more of an overarching "brand" than a strict style descriptor. Anything that wasn't a stout or porter seemed to have "IPA" in the name, beers that could have been better described as pale ales, or ambers.

Pacer IPA from Avery brewing, should probably have been styled a pale ale with its 4.5% ABV and only 25 IBUs. Nonetheless, if we set aside the inappropriate name, Pacer is a pretty decent ale. It pours a lemonade yellow topped with a pinky's width of brilliant white foam. There's a melange of flavors that float around: lemon, mango, papaya, orange zest, pineapple. There's a little bit of pine, but very subdued. I'd recommend Pacer IPA as a summer ale - 7/10 on the IGB scale.

Upslope Blackberry Lemon Sour Ale

Two in a row! Yay! Upslope isn't a brewery that I'm familiar with - this may be the first of their beers that I have tried, but I am not disappointed. This sour ale pours an interesting shade of pinkish red, with a dinky little pink head. It's referred to a wild ale (see previous review for explanation). The tartness is quite subdued, but also very refreshing. The blackberry and lemon balance together very well and make for a lovely lawnmower beer.

Odell's Sippin' Pretty Fruited Sour

After last night's pineapple catastrophe, my faith in fruit-flavored beers was restored. I'm keeping with this week's theme of sour beers, many of which have some kind of fruit flavor added. Sippin' Pretty has açai, guava and elderberry, as well as pink Himalayan Sea Salt added. It doesn't say so on their website, but Beer Advocate says that it's a wold ale, which sours often are. A wild ale is an ale that is fermented, not with yeast added in production, but by leaving the vats open to air and letting "wild" yeast, i.e. ambient yeast, do the job. Sippin' Pretty pours a delightful pink, similar to what you'd see with pink grapefruit, with an unexciting pinkish head. All of the aforementioned flavors meld beautifully, and the tartness is just right. 9/10 on the IGB Sour Scale.

Destihl Brewery Hawaii Five Ale

I am not generally opposed to fruit flavors in light ales

But

Too fucking much...

Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale

Dogfish Head is one of those breweries that just can't get it wrong! I've had this sour mash-up a half dozen times on tap, but this is the first time I've been able to sit down & do a review.

SeaQuench is a combination of three ale styles: The lager-ale hybrid, Kölsch; Gose (both of which I've reviewed recently) and Berliner Weisse, a sour wheat beer that originated in Berlin. It's flavored with sea salt (as befits a gose), lime and black lime (dried lime). Two of the three components are sours, so SeaQuench is quite tart, but balanced by the smoothness of the Kölsch. In addition to the main flavors there's a hint of coriander and white pepper. If you're a sour beer fan, this is one that I'd recommend. 8.5/10 on the IGB Sour Scale.

Firestone Brewing Coconut Merlin Milk Stout

You know, you just know that Ill-Gotten Booty loves milk stout - and we've got another beautiful example of the style with Firestone Brewing's Coconut Merlin Milk Stout. It pours, as you might expect, an impenetrable almost-black brown with a frothy three-finger head. It's rich and velvety. The coconut flavor, of course, is there, but very laid-back, hardly noticeable. There are also coffee and vanilla in the mix, and a teeny tiny bit of chocolate. This is a great milk stout!

Kinkaider Brewing "Dan the Wiser" Kölsch

What's a kölsch? I'm glad you asked! It's one of those hybrid styles. A hybrid style generally mixes some aspect of top/warm fermenting ales with bottom/cold fermenting lager resulting in a unique blend. Some examples include:

• Cream Ale: an ale that is attenuated, that is, stored cold to age, like a lager
• California Common: also called a steam beer, results from using lager yeasts, but fermenting at high, i.e. ale temperatures. 
• Altbier: traditional Dusseldorf beer; pilsner yeasts brewed at high temperatures
• Kölsch: an ale that originates in Köln (aka Cologne) Germany, top fermented, and then lagered at cool temps. 

Dan the Wiser Kölsch pours a pale yellow with a fluffy white head. Kölsches are typically light and a little sweet, but if I was to try this without knowing that it was a kölsch, I would've guessed that it was a Czech Pilsner, due to it's distinct hoppiness. So, if you're looking for style purity, it's not really a kölsch, but if you're just looking for a decent beer, then you're on solid ground. In addition to the pilsner-like bitterness, there's lemon and lime notes, and some hints of pear and apple as well.

Cosmic Eye Brewing - Arrow of Time Black IPA

It's beers like this which should convert those who "just don't like dark beer". "Dark" is not a flavor! See this old article about what the color of the beer means:

https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2014/03/dont-be-afraid-of-dark.html

So, if you just closed your eyes and took a sip of Arrow of Time I guarantee that you would not notice that it poured a dark hue. Granted, the dark malts give it more of a chocolatey taste than a typical IPA, but only really noticeable if you're looking for it. The dominant notes are mainly citrus, with a little bit of piney hops. I'm catching some lemon zest, and maybe a hint of pineapple. None of these flavors are overwhelming - they all blend really well to deliver a unified whole rather than a free-for-all of competing flavors. The 60 IBUs give it an uppercut punch of hop bitterness. Good stuff!