Widmer Deadlift Imperial IPA

I've been drinking craft beer for quite some time now.  About 14 years ago while off to college I got a nice job at a little liquor store.  In Wisconsin going to school at UW Madison there was a plethora of very good beers, and I came to realize this to it's fullest while working at Riley's Wines of the World.  At Riley's we dominated the town.   Everyone came to Riley's from the frat boys, the hippies, professors, the locals, everyone.  Once I got my job there, I ended up getting all of my friends jobs as well.  While all the kids were in the front of the house buying up kegs of crap beer, me and my boys were making money in the back of the cooler all the while sampling the plethora of different local and national craft beers.  After college many of  my friends ended up working for different wine or beer distributors across the nation after they graduated.   I didn't, although I'm obviously obsessed with beer.   But my boy Pauli ended up getting a great job out in Portland working for Widmer.  That was before they became a part of the Craft Brewers Alliance.  He's still working for them out in Tacoma, WA and he's got some great brands to stand behind.

Now, I guess I gotta talk about the IIPA from Widmer.

This is a nice IIPA, nothing that amazing though. The aroma of citrus and piney hops is definitely in the forfront.  It taste's  malty and very caramelly which doesn't bother me at all.     You get some sweetness up front and then it finish's with a little bitterness.  As it warms the piney hops become much more present.  My mouth waters after every sip.  The carbonation seems a bit low to me.  I gotta say...this is a decent beer but nothing I'd claim as the best beer in the world, but I'm not exactly going to be going raving to Pauli.

Two Brothers - Domaine DuPage - French Style Country Ale

Saw this on the shelf at the Byerly's in St. Louis Park.  It was sitting by some Surly Bitter Brewer...man...must be the only store that still has Bitter Brewer on the shelves.   Never had anything from these Brothers, and I was intrigued by the French Style County Ale on the label.   I immediately thought of the classic Saison, and Bier de Garde styles which I love equally for their opposing characteristics.   The label isn't clear as to which style this is, so I decided to give the Two Brothers a taste.  I guess Saison's are typically referred to as Farmhouse Ales, and thinking back to drinking my favorite Bier de Garde, the label clearly calls it a French Country Ale. 

I poured this in a nice big chalice and it was a brilliant reddish brown.  I'm thinkin maybe a Bier de Garde, long boil, malty, malty backbone creating a nice darker colored beer.   Take a whiff and I get a nice bready smell, with some fruit.  Yep, this is gonna be a malt bomb!   Took a sip and it was completely confirmed that this is a great malty beverage.   Fairly thin to medium bodied mouthfeel which, I think, is typical of the style, because of the traditional mash schedule to maximize fermentability.   Who knows what the Brothers are doing, I'm assuming thei mashing in the 147-150 degree range on this.   The beer finish's sweet, but with a very delicate hop bitterness to keep you coming back for that next sip.   Very highly carbonated which is fantastic in this style of beer!   This is a perfect Autumn night cap, and a good example of a classic, under appreciated, and hard to find style of bier.   Don't now if I'll be able to "garde" this one.  It's pretty tasty right now.  

B+

Lagunita's - HopStupid

Hop Stupid...with a name like that I decided that I had to give it a try.  I went away from the experience a little bit like a recent lunch outing to Burger Jones.  I wasn't exactly Jones'n for a  burger after my visit at Burger Jones.  I'm not really sure why they called it hop stupid.   It was more like a well balanced IPA, not a stupidly hopped up DIPA.   It didn't have a crazy lasting bitterness on the end.   It didn't have a crazy amount of hop aroma.   You could definitely get the american C hops coming through.  Overall much more well balanced then most DIPA's I've tasted.  Just didn't seem like it fit the name.  That being said.....I prefer my DIPA's this way.  Maybe I'm jaded by how crazy bitter a lot of these DIPA's are these days.   If you prefer to pucker, then maybe this isn't for you.  It is for me though!  Cheers Lagunita's!

A-

Vichtenaar - Flemish Red Ale

This is obviously a sour style ale.   I've decided that these Flemish Red Ale's are perfect for me, so I'm eventually going to delve into brewing something like this.

Funny thing about this beer...it has a "Best before 14/01/2012"
This pours a nice reddish brown and fairly clear.  Nice amount of carbonation.  The head dissipates very quickly when poured.   The smell is of sweet vinegar.   The taste is sour then sweet and then sour again..  It's extremely refreshing with a lasting sourness on the finish.   It kinda tastes like vinegar, or apple cider vinegar or something kinda fruity and acidic.

A-

Bell's Oracle - DIPA

Got my hands on a few bottles of Oracle.  I had really high hopes as HopSlam is one of my favorite beers on the planet.


It poured a nice amber color and had a small head on it but with good lacing.  This thing smells and tastes exactly like Pineapple juice.  Sweet, and fruity. When you take a sip you get slapped in the face by the bitterness of the huge hops in this.  Lots of sweetness from the crystal malt.  Thin mouthfeel which I like in  DIPA.   Strong, lingering bitterness on the end.   If you like mouth puckering pineapple juice then this is for you, but it's not for me, although it did grow on me towards the end as it warmed. 

B+

New Glarus Cherry Stout

Hot damn this is a tasty beverage.  It's pretty much a cherry bomb wrapped around a very nice drinkable stout.  This starts out with a smell of sweet cherries, but at the end of the sip you get more of the tart cherry taste.   Very Cherry, Not too stout.  You definitely can taste the chocolatey stout in the background and the sweetness of the stout plays with the tart cherry very well.   More drinkable then you'd expect.  I love this beverage and basically any fruit beer that Dan Carey of New Glarus puts out.  He's a wizard with cherries!   Not sure why, but Dan turned me into a fruit and I love it!

This beer really is a great complement to eating chocolate, or as an after dinner aperitif or dessert!

A-