Mike Loves Beer

Name - Rogue Brewer’s Ale 2008
Country - United States
Type - American Strong Ale

Appearance - Very nice brown color with a great sand colored head.

Smell -Very hoppy with a tint of caramel malts.

Taste - A roasted, hoppy taste with a very slight sweet caramel malt taste to it.

This is a special occasion beer for Rogue. They do not put this out except for milestones or special occasions. This particular one was for the lose of, Rogue Brewmaster, John Maier’s dog Brewer. This is by far the most I have ever paid for a beer at $26. The bottle is beautifully done with a drawing of Brewer right on the bottle. It also comes with commemorative dog tags with Brewer’s name and dates of life. As for the beer itself I thought it was going to be one of those unbearably strong ales with an almost coffee taste but I was wrong thankfully. I loved the hoppy flavor as it was not overly strong and the sweet caramel tint helped as well. Rogue with another great beer.

Overall Grade - B+

Posted October 15th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: brewer's ale 2008, rogue | Category: American Strong Ale |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

This past weekend was the 2008 Great Americna Beer Festival in Denver, CO.  It was designed to appreciate American beer and brewers.  During the festivities they gave out awards for the best beers in particular categories.  I am proud to say that, the reviewed her, Rogue St. Rogue Red won the gold in the Amercian Style Red/Amber Ale category.

Here is the complete list of winners from this years festivities.

Posted October 14th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: great american beer festival | Category: Beer News |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

So on Saturday I along with follow beer enthusiast Danno attending a home brewing class at BX Beer Depot in Lake Worth, FL.  I found it strange that we were the only ones attending the class but that left it for more one on one work with our instructor John.  John told us that he has been brewing for over 3 years now and assurred that it was much easier than one may think.

He emphasized that the most important thing is cleaning and sanitizing all equipment used.  Not having clean and sanitized equipment is the number one cause of making a bad batch of beer.  He told us a lot of information that I did not even know about beer and beer making while showing us every step of the way of what to do.  Believe it or not the hardest part of the whole beer making process only takes about 2 hours!  This is actually cooking of the beer and adding the malts and hops to the water.  Then after everything cooks for about an hour you need to bring it all down to a specific tempeture in order to add the yeast.  Upon adding the yeast you just let it sit covered up for a few days for it to ferment.

After this John, along with fellow employee Cory, showed us all the different kits to get you started as well as their supply of grains, malts, hops and everything else brewing related that you might need to get started.  They also are quite a nice supplier of micro and craft beers in both bottle and kegs.

The BX Beer Depot also has a Home Brews Club where local home brewers meet up monthly to discuss their brews and hold little blind competitions where they all brew a certain type of beer and have everyone blindly taste them and select a winner.  They also host monthly beer and food pairings where they pair food up with particular beers that will go well with the meal.

If you live in South Florida and are interested in home brewing or just good beer you should head over to the BX Beer Depot in Lake Worth.  You can also visit them on the web at www.bxbeerdepot.com and do sign up for their mailing list so you can be kept up to date on all their fun happenings.

Posted October 13th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: bx beer depot, Home Brewing | Category: Home Brewing |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Lantana, Florida’s American-German Club will host their 35th annual Oktoberfest starting this Friday October 10th.  Complete dates are available on the events page of the site.  It is sure to be a great 2 weekends of beer, food, music and fun.  Authentic German style beers and food will be available as well as domestic and American food for those that don’t have that particular taste.  There will be 2 Oktoberfest bands being brought in straight from Munich for the festivities and of course carnival rides for the kiddies.

Admission is just $7 and parking is available for free at the American-German Club for free while it lasts.  It does fill up quickly so be sure to get there early.  Local businesses will usually open their lots to parking for $10.  Don’t park at the apartment complex or the park across the street or you will get towed.  People patrol the areas looking for people parking and walking to the festival.

I’m not sure what day I am going yet but any local South Florida people should be sure to head over for a good time.  If you aren’t in South Florida I am sure there is a Oktoberfest somewhere in your area to enjoy.  So Happy Oktoberfest to everyone!  Have fun and be safe!

For additional information please see the American-German Club’s Website here.

Posted October 7th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: lantana oktoberfest | Category: Announcement |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name - Rogue Brutal Bitter
Country - United States
Type - ESB

Appearance - Pale and hazy copper color with an amazing sized white head.

Smell - Smell of citrus which I found odd for an ESB but good nonetheless.

Taste - The taste was quite sweet of citrus and malty.  No bitterness really at all to it.

I was pleasantly surprised by this selection.  I expected typical ESB and was thrown a curve ball but I enjoyed it a great deal.  I have still yet to have a Rogue brew that I haven’t liked

Overall Grade - B-

Posted October 3rd, 2008 by Mike | Tags: brutal bitter, ESB, rogue | Category: ESB |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name - Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale (2008)
Country - United States
Type - IPA

Appearance - A clear amber color with a small white head.

Smell - Hoppy smell with pine.

Taste - Very hoppy but over powering with a taste of pine.

I did not know this was an IPA when I purchased it and when I found out was looking forward to trying it.  But upon the first smell I had a bad feeling about it.  It had this strong pine smell to it and the taste was much the same.  It just didn’t sit well with my taste buds.  The pine taste was just way to strong for me.

Overall Grade - D

Posted October 3rd, 2008 by Mike | Tags: anniversary ale, IPA, sierra nevada | Category: IPA |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name - Anchor Steam Beer
Country - United States
Type - California Steam Beer

Appearance - Hazy amber color with a nice sized frothy white head.

Smell - Sweet malt with a hint of honey.

Taste - A nice sweet malty taste with a bit of a hoppy presence.

This is very nice straight forward beer.  Overall a very nice presentation with it’s appearance, smell and taste.  Will definitely have this again in the future.

Overall Grade - B+

Posted October 3rd, 2008 by Mike | Tags: anchor steam, california beer | Category: Steam Beer |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name - Rogue Double Dead Guy
Country - United States
Type - Doppelbock

Appearance - Light brown amber color with a nice sized off white head.  The picture doesn’t show because the battery died right as I was pouring and had to change them.  By the time I changed them the head went down.

Smell - Sweet smell of caramel and malts.

Taste - A sweet taste with a presence of caramel.  There is a slight taste of alcohol in the after taste but not enough to make this a bad taste.

Being a fan of the original Dead Guy Ale I was intrigued by this one.  Also the very cool painted bottle drew me to it as well.  I wasn’t disappointed with this beer at all.  The little bit of alcohol taste is a bit annoying but overall this is still a top beer.

Overall Grade - A-

Posted September 28th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: Doppelbock, double dead guy, rogue | Category: Doppelbock |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Name - North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner
Country - United States
Type - German Pilsner

Appearance - Light straw color with little to no head.

Smell - I struggled with any type of smell at all.  There was a faint smell of malt and fruit.

Taste - Simple and to the point.  A crisp, malty taste with a hint of hops.

The label on the bottle claims it as a very simple beer and that’s exactly what it is.  Nothing special or fancy to any aspect of it.  While pilsners aren’t my favorite beers this one wasn’t bad.  It was very refreshing and would go well after any manual labor.

Overall Grade - C

Posted September 26th, 2008 by Mike | Tags: north coast brewing, Pilsner, scrimshaw | Category: Pilsner |  Email This Post | Leave a comment