Mike Loves Beer

Name – Smuttynose Big A IPA
Country – United States
Type – American Double IPA

Appearance – Pours a very cloudy copper color.  There is a lot of particulate floating around in there.  It has a big fluffy white head and leaves a tremendous amount of lacing on the glass.

Smell – I get malts right up front with a very bready smell.  The hops in here are citrus and piney and blend well with the malts for a nice nose.

Taste – Quite malty just like the nose.  Hints of caramel, bread and rye balance well with the grapefruit like hop taste and slight earthiness.

I’ll admit that I haven’t been a fan of anything I’ve had from Smuttynose in the past but my friend Kevin from the Funky Buddha told me I have to give stuff from the Big Beer Series a chance.  So recently I have seen this one pop up in stores and figured I’d make this my first try at the BBS.  And I will say now that Kevin was at least right on this one.  A very big yet well balanced DIPA.  Lots of hops and lots of malts.  I really did enjoy it and can now say I like something from Smuttynose.  I look forward to trying other things from the Big Beer Series in the future.

Overall Grade – B+

Posted July 29th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Smuttynose Brewing Company | Category: Double IPA, Grade B |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Name – Oro De Calabaza
Country – United States
Type – Bière de Garde

Appearance – Poured a very cloudy orange color with a big fluffy white head.

Smell – Acidic sour apple, yeasty and a slight bit of vinegar.

Taste – Very crisp lemony and sour apple tartness to it.  There is a small bit of a vinegar taste but not overbearing at all.

I was careful with this bottle after many Jolly Pumpkin beers turn into gushers so I opened and poured the beer over the sink.  Luckily no gushing here, just a nice pour.  Another really good beer from America’s sour masters.  I still wish Shelton Brothers would bring more of their stuff down in the southern part of the state like they do central.

Overall Grade – A

Posted July 28th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales | Category: Bière De Garde, Grade A |  Email This Post | Comments (5)

You all know I am a big fan of beer.  I mean the site is evidence of that.  But you probably know I love me some good food to go with that beer.  So here you go with a been and dinner pairing with Victory and Racks in downtown Boca Raton.  Thanks to the lovely flyer below I don’t have to write all that much as all the details are laid out here.

Click on the image for the full size one.

Posted July 27th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Victory Brewing | Category: Beer Events, Beer and Food Pairing |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Name – Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Country – United States
Type – American Porter

Appearance – Pours an opaque dark brown color.  There is some lighter brown along the edges of the glass.  A very thin off white head was gone just about as quick as it arrived.

Smell – Pretty straight forward with roasted malts and vanilla smells.

Taste – More roasted malts with a nice mixture of the vanilla and a chocolate tastes in there.  A small amount of coffee peaks it’s head out but not a lot.  Slight boozy backing once it really starts warming up.

Lately I have been hearing a lot about Breckenridge from people.  I saw them in Philly and have been seeing their name at places in Central Florida.  So on my latest beer trip to Roy’s Liquors in Fort Pierce I picked this one up.  It’s a pretty standard porter to me with the nice addition of the vanilla to it.  It’s pretty light in body too.  I look forward to having some other things from these folks in the future.

Overall Grade – B

Posted July 26th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Breckenridge Brewery | Category: American Porter, Grade B, Porter |  Email This Post | Comments (7)

This Saturday Tampa’s own Cigar City releases what is probably my favorite brew of theirs, Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout.  But not only that but they will be releasing an extremely small quantity of Double Barrel Aged Marshal Zhukov.  There is a very small amount so if you plan on going you better get there early.  Plus there is a strict 2 bottle limit per person.

Also for the special occasion Cigar City will be pulling out some very cool kegs to help celebrate.  They were just announce today as the following.

• White Oak Aged Jai Alai IPA
• The Sound of Big WOOD Vanilla Aged Scotch Ale (Big Sound Scotch Ale aged in Brandy Barrels with Cherry Wood and Vanilla Beans)
• The Sound of Big NUTS Vanilla Aged Scotch Ale (Big Sound Scotch Ale aged in Brandy Barrels with Pecans and Vanilla Beans)

Tickets for the Double Barrel Aged Zhukov are going out at 11 am with them starting to give them out at noon.  Barrel Aged Zhukov is $20 a bottle with regular Zhukov being $13.

The southern part of #FlaBrew will be represented in full force as I will be traveling up with my good friends Phil and Kelly from Dos Beerigos, Joel from Brewkkake and Casey who you may know as Evil Twin from Dos Beerigos.  So if you see any of us please do say hello.

Posted July 22nd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Cigar City Brewing | Category: Beer Events, Beer News |  Email This Post | Comments (6)

Name – Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
Country – United States
Type – English IPA

Appearance – Poured a mostly clear golden orange color but there was some haze to it.  Big fluffy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass.

Smell – As with almost all Stone brews, here come the hops!  Big citrusy/lemony hops dominate the nose with some pepper like spices in there as well.

Taste – More citrus and lemon hops with some very grassy and earthy hops as well.  But they seem to all balance each other out with not one being more dominate than the other.  There is a pepper like bite and then a yeasty character to it as well.  If you are looking for a strong malt backing you are going to get much here.

Stone doing an English style ale really excited me when it was announced.  Now after all the wait I finally got a bottle.  The English character of the hops is there for sure but this is Stone we are talking about so you know there is going to be a lot of hops.  And honestly I know most people will not agree that this is true to the English IPA style but I loved this.  They put a twist on the style and made it their own.  Happy Anniversary Stone and thank you for another great brew.

Overall Grade – A-

Posted July 22nd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Stone Brewing | Category: Grade A, IPA |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Name – Hoppin Frog Outta Kilter
Country – United States
Type – Scotch Ale

Appearance – Pours a clear amber/red color with a big bubbly off white head.

Smell – Awesome nose here.  Lots of malts and caramel with some nutty and bready notes as well.

Taste – Very sweet and caramel like malts here again.  A little oakiness in there along with a slight Scotch taste.  There is some hop profile that just peaks out for a second then goes back into hiding.

One of the pick ups on my little beerventure I went on Friday.  The name is Outta Kilter and I think this beer was outta this world.  Absolutely lovely.  This is a great American version of a Scotch ale, probably my favorite so far.  Hoppin Frog needs to make that one more hop and come on down into South Florida.  I will be a very happy man when that happens and I can get a beer like this more regularly.  Again sorry for the bad pictures.  The batteries on the camera went and had to resort to the ever amazing camera of the iPhone.

Overall Grade – A

Posted July 21st, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Hoppin Frog Brewery | Category: Grade A, Scotch Ale |  Email This Post | Comments (8)

For those of you that do not subscribe to Fresh Beer’s newsletter you may not know this yet.  But the gurus of craft beer down here have done it again.  They are bringing a brand new brewer to our area some really good beers.

Blue Point is based out of Long Island, NY and do both lagers and ales with their lineups.  I had the chance to have all three of their standard line of brews when I was in Pennsylvania in June and boy are we in for a treat.  Here is their take on each of these brews.

Toasted Lager – Blue Point Brewing’s Toasted Lager is the flagship product. Copper in color this brew is made from Six different malts including: English Pale, Crystal, Munich, Carapils, Wheat and Belgian Caravienna. Toasted Lager displays a balanced flavor of malt and hop which makes it easy drinking. Special lager yeast is used to produce that long lasting, smooth finish. The “toasted” part of the name refers to Blue Point’s direct-fire brew kettle; hot flames imparts a toasted flavor to their most popular microbrew.

RastafaRye – Blue Point Brewing Company humbly honors the Rastafari and dedicates this beer to them. Their RastafaRye Ale marries a hearty rye malt with a blend of freshly harvested west coast hops resulting in a delicious deep copper ale, with just the right amount of rye flavor to offset the spicy and floral characteristics of the hops, RastafaRye will stay on your palate and your mind evermore.

Hoptical Illusion IPA – This IPA won the Bronze Medal at The 2005 Great American Beer Festival. It was also named the best IPA at The 2005 United States Beer Tasting Championship. This classic American style IPA features a rare hop exclusively grown on a farm in Oregon. One taste of the Hoptical Illusion and you’ll know why Blue Point bought the entire crop. A generous amount of the select hop balances out malty backbone of this delicious golden beer.

My personal favorite of these was the RastafaRye.  The rye taste on it was very well pronounced and it drank so well.  I have feeling that the Toasted Lager will become a pretty popular session beer and the Hoptical Illusion is very solid IPA that should make hop heads happy.

So be on the look out for these offerings from Blue Point very shortly.  Cheers!

Posted July 19th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Blue Point Brewing Company | Category: Beer News |  Email This Post | Comments (3)

Name – Pike India Pale Ale
Country – United States
Type – English IPA

Appearance – Poured a slightly hazy copper color with a nice sized white head.

Smell – The nose is pretty faint but you get malts, some floral and citrus like hops and a grain like smell.

Taste – It is pretty malt forward and hops are just sort of an after thought here.  You get some hops but ever so slightly.

BA lists this as an American IPA while I was told that it is an English IPA.  I believe the later but it is even a bit of a stretch.  It is a malty base like an English one but the hops just do not come through like they should.  This one is kind of lost in the no mans land between the two IPA styles.  While it isn’t undrinkable at all I just feel it lacked character.  It might be a good entry level beer for a person just getting into craft but just not my cup of tea for English styled IPAs.

Overall Grade – C

Posted July 16th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Pike Brewery | Category: Uncategorized |  Email This Post | Leave a comment