Mike Loves Beer

Name – Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
Country – United States
Type – Saison

Appearance – Poured a cloudy straw yellow color with a big fluffy white head.

Smell – Yeasty with hints of citrus and some pepper like spices.

Taste – Again pretty yeasty with a bit of a funk that you would expect from a saison.  There is some citrus like hops, I’m guessing the Sorachi hops.  Some spice along with it.  Pretty dry to style.

Ah the Sorachi Ace from Brooklyn.  It originally started as just kegs and now they have bottled it.  It uses the rare Sorachi hop that originated in Japan.  I wish I could say I can taste the hop used in it but I’ve never had anything with this hop variety before so I don’t know.  I thought it was a really well balanced saison with a little bit of all the aspects that you come to know of the style.  Dry, some funk, yeast, citrus.  It has it all.  If you can still grab some of this that I absolutely say go for it.  This hop variety is not used all that often so think of it as a special treat.

Overall Grade – B+

Posted July 12th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Brooklyn Brewery | Category: Grade B, Saison |  Email This Post | Comments (3)

Name – Rogue XS Imperial Red Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Red Ale

Appearance – Pours a very deep red, almost brown, color with nice creamy looking tan head.  There was a bit of lacing on the glass.

Smell – Maltier than I expected it to be.  There are hops present in the nose but the malts and caramel like smell come forward way more.

Taste – Ah here are the hops.  Nice earthy type of hops with still a good amount of malts.

The next in the 8 oz XS bottles to hit shelves down here is the Imperial Red.  If you remember I was disappointed in the Imperial Stout when I tried that.  And Rogue does have reputation with me as being a major hit or miss brewery.  I either love it or hate it with most of their beers.  This one I haven’t wanted to try for quite awhile but couldn’t bring myself to buy the $18 ceramic bottle.  Now the nice like 8 oz bottle isn’t cheap at around $4 or $5 but I can convince myself on that more.  I love big red ales so I was expecting a hop attack but just never got it.  Is the bottle not fresh?  I don’t know.  While I enjoyed it overall it just wasn’t up to what I come to expect from something that is classified as an “imperial” anything.  If someone can tell me that it’s way hoppier fresh than I will believe you but this just kind of fell flat for that purpose of having imperial in the name.

Overall Grade – C

Posted July 10th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Rogue Ales | Category: American Red Ale, Grade C |  Email This Post | Comments (2)

Name – St. Victorious
Country – United States
Type – Doppelbock

Appearance – Poured a very clear reddish/brown color with a very thin bubbly head that was gone almost immediately.

Smell – Pretty bready with dark fruit and caramel present.

Taste – Sweet cherries mixed with a lovely caramel taste.  There is bread like notes to it as well and as you would expect plenty of malts.

Got this in a “mini trade” of sorts with Phil.  He gave me this for a bottle of 1554.  This is a really nice doppelbock right here.  The color of it alone is pretty awesome.  If it only had more of a head to it the appearance would have been one of the best ever.  The taste and smell are pretty dead on to the style and makes it very enjoyable.

Overall Grade – B+

Posted July 8th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Victory Brewing | Category: Doppelbock, Grade B |  Email This Post | Comments (2)

If you are local down here in South Florida you have probably heard about the the building of a World of Beer in Coconut Creek for some time.  After some hurdles with the city and such the grand opening is finally upon us and that day is today.

The chain of bars is pretty popular in the Tampa area and this is their first location down here in the south.  I don’t know the details of what beers are there just yet but Blake and Ian from Fresh Beer says there is a lot of stuff just from them.  And that is enough to get excited over.

So today at 2pm the doors will open and it will be a party all day with live music, free food, giveaways and most importantly the awesome beer.  If you have nothing to do tonight I implore you to go tonight (you see that, implore).  I along with Phil and Kelly from Dos-Beerigos will be there along with some folks from Fresh Beer and probably others in the local craft beer community.  So we’ll see you tonight.  Right?

World of Beer – Coconut Creek
The Promenade at Coconut Creek
4437 Lyons Road
Suite E-101
Coconut Creek, FL 33073
http://www.wobcoconutcreek.com/

Posted July 6th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: World of Beer | Category: Announcement, Beer Events |  Email This Post | Comments (6)

I was at the Total Wine in Boca Raton last night for the wonderful fundraiser that I was advertising last night and I got to thinking.  I thought about a subject that some of my friends and I have talked about before.  It’s sort of a controversial topic because it seems to really get some peoples’ juices flowing.  And that is what I hope by this article.  I want to hear all of your thoughts on this.  And the topic is pretty much are big stores good for craft beer?

Now and days you can go to a lot of large name liquor or grocery stores and find craft beer.  You have your Total Wines, BevMo, Publix, Whole Foods, Wegmans.  The list goes on really.  But some people think that this large expansion and spot light for craft beer isn’t good.  The main argument I always hear is that they put small beer stores out of business.  While I won’t say that has never happened I think it happens far less then some may think.

I know many in South Florida were upset when Case and Keg in Boca closed down at the end of 2009.  Many pointed blame directly at Total Wine in the same city.  People went even as far as calling Total Wine the “Walmart” of alcohol.  I think that is just absolute horseshit (yes I said it).  For the sake of not getting to in depth with my hatred for Walmart you just have to realize based on business ethics they are no where close to the same.  And calling them that is insulting to every man and woman that works for Total Wine.

People say that Total Wine doesn’t care about beer and is just trying to monetize a big movement for craft beer.  I can name a good amount of people that work for Total Wine locally and on the corporate level that care about beer.  I had the pleasure of meeting Greg Tuttle from the corporate offices of Total Wine a few months back and the man loves craft beer.  This is also the same company that gave me free tickets to a Total Wine beer class to give out to my fans.  Yes a small little beer blog like me received notice from a company that “doesn’t care about beer.”

And saying they are monetizing the craft beer movement?  Um yeah so is any number of bars and small beer stores as well.  What better job to have then make money doing something you love, like work in the beer industry.

Lastly one really big thing that I don’t think people realize is that if it weren’t for these big stores coming in and wanting to carry craft beer then the distributors wouldn’t be making as much money.  And if they aren’t making money then they can’t try to bring in new brewers to the area.  And a lack of new brews makes beer lovers sad.

In the past 12 months the always amazing folks at Fresh Beer have brought South Florida Victory, Southern Tier, Cigar City, Jolly Pumpkin, Summit, The Bruery, Magic Hat, Mikkeller, Nogne O, Shiner along with bringing Flying Dog and Terrapin back to the market after absences.  And a lot of that probably wouldn’t have been possible if some bigger stores weren’t around and giving more people the opportunity to buy craft beer.

Plus I thought the craft beer community was about that, community.  Bringing people together through beer.  And the way of doing that is by giving people more of a chance to get their hands on craft beer.  I love the fact that I see Dogfish Head and Rogue in my local Publix now.  It’s awesome to see a great selection of beer in Whole Foods.  Some Winn Dixie stores down here are even starting to carry craft beer.  It’s growing and it needs to be in the masses.

So in conclusion while small stores like BX Beer Depot here are really great that they are small, independently owned places that love their beer I think that your big places having craft beer are great too.  It is easier for a casual drinker to get hooked there.  I don’t want to see people go out of business at all.  Especially those that fight the good fight but I don’t think it is right to blame a bigger store that very well may have the same intentions of expanding craft beer.

What are your thoughts on this?

Posted July 2nd, 2010 by Mike | Tags: BevMo, BX Beer Depot, Fresh Beer Inc, Publix, Total Wine, Whole Foods | Category: Rant |  Email This Post | Comments (10)

Name – Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary – Charlie, Fred and Ken’s Bock
Country – United States
Type – Maibock

Appearance – Pours a very clear copper/amber color with a big foamy white head.  It leaves some lacing on the glass.

Smell – Very surprising nose.  I am getting floral hops with a citrus like zest to it.  Some malts and a little boozy.

Taste – Pretty hoppy for a bock.  More of the malts and spices.  There is a slight metallic taste I was getting in the back.  Then it finishes with an alcohol bite to it.

The next in the collaboration brews to celebrate Sierra Nevada’s 30th Anniversary is a Helles Bock done with home brewer extraordinaires Fred Eckhart and Charlie Papazian.  This is a pretty impressive bock.  There is a lot going and a pretty big hop presence to boot.  This series is just a great idea and I’m glad Sierra Nevada are doing them.  Cheers to you SN!

Overall Grade – B

Posted July 1st, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Sierra Nevada | Category: Grade B, Maibock |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

If there is one thing better than drinking craft beer it is helping a good cause while drinking craft beer.  That is the case for tomorrow when Total Wine will be sponsoring a fundraiser for one of their own.  Here is the story.

On May 18, 2010 a 26 year old FAU student, Frantzdy Cherisma, left class and never made it home. For ten days his friends and family were worried sick, not knowing where he was or what had happened to him. Today, May 27, they found out the worst possible news- he was badly injured, and he was in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. It turns out on that night, May 18, while heading home Frantzdy had ran over some road debris, and his car became disabled in the middle of northbound I-95. Shortly after, his car was rear-ended by another driver. Somehow in the seconds after he was hit, his car went up in flames. (No official news yet on how or why). Frantzdy was badly burned but his will to survive pushed him through, and he was able to make it out of the car alive, and to the side shoulder where he awaited help. An off-duty firefighter of Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, came up on the scene and helped out as much as he could until on duty emergency services arrived, PBCFR Rescue 35 and Florida Highway Patrol. Minutes later, he was taken away to Delray Medical Center and from there transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with over 50% of his body burned. Here, he was mistakenly registered under his father’s name which made it nearly impossible for him to be tracked down, until an insurance investigator was able to help this morning, May 27.

So tomorrow at the Boca Raton store there will be a fundraiser to help raise money for Frantzdy’s medical bills.  The cost is $25 and for every paying person that attends Total Wine will match that.  I don’t know about you but that’s freaking awesome!

If you have the time you can come out and enjoy samples of wine, spirits and (most importantly) craft beer.  There will be some food and some other goodies as well.  Plus you are helping out a great cause.  Yours truly will be there to give support.  If you can make it I hope to see you there.  It starts at 6 pm and goes until 8 pm

Total Wine and More
5050 Town Center Cir
Boca Raton, FL 33486

Posted June 30th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Total Wine | Category: Beer Events |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Name – Rogue John John Ale (Spruce Gin Barrel)
Country – United States
Type – Spiced Beer

Appearance – Poured a very hazy orangish color with a big white head.

Smell – Citrus like hops with a hint of juniper berries in there.

Taste – More of the citrus hops with a bit of a malt backing.  You can pick up the juniper again and bit of the spruce.

I was looking forward to this one when it was announce because gin is one of very few liquors I actually enjoy.  But I had no idea what to expect as I’ve never heard of a beer being aged in a gin barrel before.  Well luckily I didn’t have that high of hopes because I really got no hints of gin in the smell or taste.  You could probably make an argument that the juniper and slight spruce taste were from the gin but I don’t know.  I’ve had beers with those flavors before and they weren’t aged in gin barrels.  Definitely didn’t get any barrel taste to it.  I guess what we are left with here is the regular Rogue Juniper Pale Ale.  That’s pretty much what it tastes like to me.  While it was enjoyable as just a beer I am a little let down by the lack of gin presence considering the John John Dead Guy was very bourbon present.  Oh well I guess.

Overall Grade – C+

Posted June 30th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: Rogue Ales | Category: Grade C, Spiced Beer |  Email This Post | Comments (5)

Name – 1554 Enlightened Black Ale
Country – United States
Type – Belgian Dark Ale

Appearance – Pours a very dark brown to black color but there is some ruby red highlights along the edge of the glass.  There is a good sized tan head that leaves a bit of lacing on the glass.

Smell – Definite dark malts there.  Some roasted goodness and a hint of chocolate.

Taste – Great mix of roasted malts, some buttery toffee, bittersweet chocolate along with hints of smoke and coffee.

I had 1554 back last summer when I was in Arizona and fell in love with it.  Then this past weekend when my friend from Gainesville Amie was coming down she said she would make a run to Georgia to pick up some for me.  A friend indeed.  It’s a lovely beer that is lighter in body than you would think with lots of flavor.  I just hope for the day that New Belgium comes to Florida.

Overall Grade – A-

Posted June 29th, 2010 by Mike | Tags: New Belgium Brewing | Category: Belgian Dark Ale, Grade A |  Email This Post | Comments (3)