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    Eel River I.P.A.

    March 3, 2010
    / Beer Review /
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    Name – Eel River I.P.A.
    Country – United States
    Type – American IPA

    Appearance – Poured a clear amber color that was close to orange.  It had a finger wide white head that left some lacing on the glass.

    Smell – Hops as you would expect.  They are in the citrusy and piney variety.

    Taste – Same sort of hops taste as in the nose with a bit of a malt backing to it.

    We don’t get a lot of Eel River’s line down here.  I had the Porter some months back and really enjoyed it.  I’ve also been told their imperial stout is quite good but we do not get that here.  The I.P.A. is well balance IPA that has nothing crazy going on.  Just a straight forward and honest IPA.  Bold hops?  Check.  Malt backing?  Check.  Tastes good?  Check.  It’s great to see breweries that stick to the basics and do a good job at it.

    Overall Grade – B

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    Free Starr Hill Tastings in South Florida on Friday

    March 2, 2010
    / Beer Events, Beer News /
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    Total Wine and More will be offering two FREE tastings with Starr Hill Brewing and their owner Alan Willner this Friday.  The locations are the Palm Beach Gardens and Boynton Beach stores respectively.  Starr Hill starting hitting the shelves down here in the later part of 2009 and put out some solid beers.  If you enjoy Starr Hill or haven’t had them yet this is your chance to give them a try and for FREE!  Here are the details for each tasting.

    Friday March 5th
    3pm – 5pm
    Total Wine and More – Palm Beach Gardens
    11221 Legacy Avenue
    Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410

    Friday March 5th
    6pm – 8pm
    Total Wine and More – Boynton Beach
    850 North Congress Ave.
    Boynton Beach, FL 33426

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    Rogue XS Russian Imperial Stout

    March 2, 2010
    / Beer Review /
    8 Comments

    Name – Rogue XS Russian Imperial Stout
    Country – United States
    Type – Russian Imperial Stout

    Appearance – Pours an ink black color with a big brown head that goes down rather quickly.

    Smell – Citrusy hops?  Yes I am getting hops here.  A subdued bit of roasted malts and coffee.

    Taste – Wow the hops really hit you on this.  Wasn’t expecting that at all.  They are quite bitter and earthy.  There is some coffee and chocolate qualities but the bittering of the hops just sticks with you.

    Rogue has moved to 7 oz bottles for their XS series and will be doing the rest of their bombers in these bottles as well soon.  It’s nice because those ceramic bottles of the XS series are just so expensive.  I picked these up at Total Wine in Pembroke Pines.  I still have yet to see them closer to my house.  Two bottles were needed to adequately fill my glass.  The hops are very strong in this one.  It reminded me of Storm King but the balance just wasn’t there.  The bottle does say age for one year so I might have to try that and see if the hop profile dies down.

    Overall Grade – C-

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