HEDONIST JIVE Q2 2012 BEER REPORT

It has been a while since one of these massive “omnibus” beer review posts either here or on my recently-deceased beer blog Beer Samizdat, but I know you’ve been patiently sitting on your hands waiting for my verdicts on the ales and lagers of April, May and June. So it’s time to reward you for your unceasing patience. Without delay, here’s a compendium of short-ish reviews for every new beer that passed my lips during that time period that we haven’t already covered in separate posts on this here blog. I’ll helpfully break them down into categories to help you further with your purchasing decisions. You’ll undoubtedly note that the outstanding & very good ones are front-loaded very heavily this quarter, which I guess shows more than anything else that I selected and paid for beer based upon the good recommendations of others, and that strategy paid off, as it shall when you take my advice and do the same with the reviews below.

Let’s start with the winners before moving on to denigrate and mock the losers, shall we?

THE OUTSTANDING

HAANDBRYGGERIET – “DOBBEL DRAM”: This Norwegian brewer, whom I’ve raved about before and whom I don’t believe have quite received their complete due in the beer dork world, had me from the get-go when advertising this one as a “Norwegian Double IPA”. What in the world could that be? Well, while it had absolutely zero head to speak of, bubbles just surged up the glass in a figurative race to my gullet, and the beer itself was tremendous. A malty, fruit-packed and mildly spiced orange IPA that definitely didn’t taste “American” or “west coast” in any way, yet retained many of the essential olfactory & gastronomic qualities of the classic imperial IPA. Definitely one to bring into regular rotation, provided you have the cash to do so (it’s pricey). 9.5/10.

RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING – “ROW 2, HILL 56”: A new and surprising bottled beer from one of humanity’s all-time finest brewers – a “tribute to the Simcoe hop” that is as good as Blind Pig IPA and better than Pliny The Elder. It has a lovely pine flavor and a tingling hop bite; more of a hoppy pale ale, I reckon, than an IPA straight-up. What’s the dif, right? Excellent beer and hopefully not just a one-off. 9/10.

ALLAGASH BREWING – “VICTORIA ALE”: You gotta hand it to Maine’s Allagash Brewing – I’d had this fruity Belgian pale ale pegged as only the second “low-alcohol” brew I’d ever tasted from them, only to find it pumped up at a big 9% ABV. It truly goes down smooth-n-easy, with herbal-ish tastes of apricot and grape. In my notes I’d totally pronounced it a “table beer”, and I’ll stand by that as long as you’re sitting at my table. 9/10.

THE VERY GOOD

ALMANAC BREWING – “SPRING 2012 BIERE DE MARS”: A beer made with fennel!! This delicious ale continues this San Francisco brewer’s 4-beer winning streak in a mighty way. “Biere De Mars” is very fruit-packed with a mild zest to it, and is quite different than anything else I’ve had, like, ever. It’s a farmhouse ale that tastes of figs and perhaps of honey, and is not dry and is far juicier than many of its ilk. Given its unique place among the many beers I’ve tried, not really sure what ilk that is, but I’m happy to bestow a hearty 8.5/10 upon it.

GREEN FLASH BREWING – “RAYON VERT” – Wanted to try this one so badly that I sprang for a 4-pack, something I never do (sixers are generally forbidden in the house as well - the better to try a new, weird and unfamiliar beer at every turn). Rayon Vert is Green Flash in Flemish or something, and this is a delicious, soapy Belgian pale ale which packs much more Belgium into its 12-oz. bottle than it does pale ale. Easily could have been made by De Proef or De Ranke or some abbey and we’d have been just as happy – nice to see this one for sale (and affordable!) at Safeway and Whole Foods. 8.5/10.

MIKKELLER – “BEER GEEK BRUNCH WEASEL”: This is a tribute to the transcendent and sometimes ephemeral powers of the imperial stout, attempted by many and mastered by few. So glad my pal Geoff hung onto this for me for many months just so we could experience it together. It’s a medium-bodied, roasty (but not bitter) chocolate ale; not velvet-smooth by any means, but certainly not a scorch-your-mouth firebreather either. It clocks in at about 11% alcohol but is finely engineered to taste like something closer to 8% instead. Outstanding. 8.5/10.

MARIN BREWING – “THREE FLOWERS IPA”: A super-fresh, light-yellow, crisp and juicy IPA that I drank on draft at City Beer Store and just loved from the word go. Not many notes taken on this one, but I remember its terrific hop balance and how much I just hated that I had to drive home and couldn’t drink seven more of these. 8.5/10.

DOGFISH HEAD BREWING – “MY ANTONIA”: I read the original “My Antonia” book in college, yet I missed the original beer, a collaboration with Italy’s Birra Del Borgo, in bottles and on draft. Looks like Dogfish is now going this one alone, and it’s exceptionally drinkable. It’s a creamy, hoppy pilsner that earns every letter of the word “imperial” but which is easygoing enough for the properly-adjusted palate. It’s as good a pilsner as I’ve had since Moonlight’s Reality Czech, and that’s pretty damn good. 8/10.

CIGAR CITY/THE BRUERY – “DOS COSTAS OESTE: LEMON-WOOD AGED”: “Two west coasts” – get it? A wonderful collaboration beer from Florida and California brewers who just happen to be two of the best in the business of great beermaking. This was brewed at Cigar City as part of a barrel-aging series of four ales. It’s a deep and rich beer; orange in color and taste; slightly sour with tastes of ginger, coriander and orange peel. Yes, like a witbier, except this one’s got a thick mouthfeel, lots of tang and has gone slightly off the rails in the best way possible. I’m crying in advance because I doubt I’ll ever see it anywhere again. 8/10.

STILLWATER ARTISINAL ALES – “OF LOVE AND REGRET”: Orange IPA color but a tangy, yeasty Belgian saison through and through. You definitely taste the yeast and even a little cinnamon once you let the enormous head of foam calm down and allow you to get down to business. Loads of spice in this one; like an experimental saison with enough moxie to beat the next beer by a half point. 8/10.

SLY FOX/DE PROEF – “BROEDERLIJKE LIEFDE”: This spicy saison sat in the beer fridge for a good 6 months waiting for someone to split it with – heavy bottle, cork-top, you know the drill. Imposing. Turns out it’s a very good dry Belgian saison with strong carbonation and rip fruit flavor. Smooth on the sip, but with a sharp and hoppy aftertaste. Expected something maybe a point or two higher – it is De Proef, after all – but no one’s gonna walk away sad after drinking a 7.5/10.

CATHEDRAL SQUARE BREWING – “BELGIAN-STYLE ABBEY ALE” : Got this via mail order from the excellent Wine and Cheese Place. I selected it somewhat at random in order to try some Midwest breweries I’d never heard of; Cathedral Square are from St. Louis, and let me tell ya, they make a pretty fetching Belgian-style abbey ale. In fact, that’s what they call it. Pours a reddish-brown, and is toasty, smoky and fruity with medium body. Ever had a Belgian “singel”, like Trappist Rochefort 6? This tastes like one of those – a little lighter and easier on the gut and on next day’s brain, but very impressive nonetheless. 7.5/10.

SIX RIVERS BREWING – “IPA”: I know this brewer, they’re part of the Humboldt county crew up in extreme Northern California, and now I also know that they make a strong and unique IPA that I’d be proud to go to again. Pours a deep reddish-orange with high carbonation, and while hoppy, has a citrus taste that actually leans more orange than grapefruit. Very approachable and good. 7/10.

BEAR REPUBLIC BREWING – “RED ROCKET ALE”: It had been many a year since I’d tried this imperial-ish amber ale, one of the first hoppy red beers ever poured far as I know; figured I should give it a go again. It is a sweet one, surprisingly, but still much grounded in the ways and means of the hop. It’s cool, smooth and malty but with a strong bitterness that was off-putting at first. This was tempered a bit by how much better it became as it warmed. I think this is exactly what I rated it five years ago, a comfortable and quite solid 7/10.

THE MARGINAL

IRON FIST BREWING – “DUBBEL FISTED”: This zesty dubbel from the San Diego area is definitely not without its charms. It’s a deep amber-brown ale that’s a little thin for my tastes and perhaps a bit sweet. They say I’m supposed to be getting tastes of chocolate, caramel and plum. I get none of any of those. OK, maybe a little caramel. Moving on. 6.5/10.

STILLWATER ARTISINAL ALES – “HOLLAND OATS” : A Belgian amber made with Emelisse in Holland.. Super hoppy. Lots of aftertaste. That is all I can say about this fairly unremarkable ale. 6.5/10.

OSKAR BLUES – “DEVIANT DALE’S”: Keep in mind that I gave this normally stellar Colorado brewery’s flagship “Dale’s Pale Ale” a savage review a couple of years ago. Was it any surprise I didn’t really care for its “imperial” brother either? This is an 8% ABV version and is, yes, Very Hoppy. What’s deviant about it is its marginality. It’s a fairly standard, bitter IPA with not a lot of malt action. Definitely for hopheads, but not a smooth nor particularly enjoyable ride for me. 6/10.

THE WEAK

KNEE DEEP BREWING – “SIMTRA”: With all due respect to the Sacramento-area’s Knee Deep Brewing, but this “triple IPA” is the worst beer I’ve tasted in 2012. Intense, ugly and teeth-gnashingly gross to its core, this is a total monster IPA but tastes like one that wasn’t completed. No head at all and zero balance whatsoever. It really tastes like someone grabbed it from an early-boil tank and forgot to complete the recipe. If you want to experience what a masterpiece “triple IPA” can taste like, grab a Moylan’s “Hopsickle” instead and stay far away from this one. 2/10.

ANOTHER OF OUR YEARLY LOOKS INTO "THE ABYSS"

I haven't been shy about proclaiming my love for DESCHUTES BREWING's legendary imperial stout THE ABYSS over the years, in both verbal and written form. Every year on this blog or that blog, I write up a review of this year's model that proclaims this glorious beer to be the standard-setter for the rich, milky, chocolate and barrel-aged manna that can be a well-crafted imperial stout. I'm not exactly breaking new ground with this post, either. I busted out the 2011 version, and rather than wait it out a year and "lay it down" for aging, the way some folks say ya should, I drank it clean on a crisp June day, and then begged the gods for more. They never came. 

I'll be waiting until December or so, I guess. That's when The Abyss hits the shelves, usually, and if it's not all snapped up immediately - some years are better than others - then you might still find some come January. I've even found a handful of bars that put this nectar on tap every year. That's the kind of bar where you might think about upping your 25-cent-per-beer tip a little, my friends - for they have the customer in mind. So let's get to it - Deschutes "The Abyss" 2011. Some things never change. Amazingly aromatic sniffs of vanilla and oak are the prelude to, you got it, rich and creamy tastes of same. The hops and the malt balance a sweetness you'd otherwise get from the 11% alcohol in perfect triangular symmetry. Chocolate and licorice, along with the oak and a faint and distant cherry taste form the core of the beer's construction as it warms.

As someone who feels that imperial, barrel-aged dark beers are a dime a dozen yet which is a style that only rarely touches greatness, I'm always happy to make this my go-to. It restores my faith in the style, after a year - every year - of scorched taste buds and that feeling of having been burned financially for having bought whatever this year's over-amped, over-hyped imperial stout or porter might be. They're never cheap, and dollars to doughnuts they're nowhere close to The Abyss in any way. They never are. 10/10.

WHO WANTS THEIR PALATE WRECKED?

I can see a lot of hands out there – such is the wonder and the glory of the palate-wrecking Imperial India Pale Ale revolution in America, in which rogue brewers nationwide have aggressively worked to outdo each other in mouth-scraping, high-alcohol, hardcore-bitter hop monsters that will repulse 90% of the ale-drinking population. For those of us left standing, it has been one of the finest developments of the past six/seven years. There are aggressively-hopped west coast IPAs, “the San Diego Style”; “the Pliny clones”; aggressively-hopped east coast IPAs; aggressively-hopped Midwest IPAs and so on. The shades between them may be slight, but hop lovers know a masterpiece when they see one. I’m still partial to MOYLANS’ “Hopsickle” as top dog in this crowded field, but I’ll gladly drink at least 100 different pretenders to the throne, gladly and with extreme prejudice.

So here’s yet another big IPA from the excellent GREEN FLASH BREWING out of San Diego, a brewer with no need to prove their IPA bonfides, having done so with West Coast IPA, Le Freak and Imperial IPA, among others. This PALATE WRECKER – no need to beat around the bush – was brewed for Hamilton’s Tavern in San Diego before the people up-n-demanded that it become a full-time bottled thing, to be shared with the rest of the public. Ain’t people great? Palate Wrecker’s a 9.5% alcohol imperial IPA, to say the least. It pours a lush, deep orange with some foam that sticks around about as long as you’d want it to. Decidedly piney, but not one hint of citrus – no matter what the label says. It’s hoppy, oh yes, but Palate Wrecker is not a dry one – in fact to my pleasure it’s big, aggressive and definitely attacks with some alcohol burn on the finish, and yet it’s still quite easy to drink. Perhaps when all of your taste buds have been seared off and washed down your throat with the beer, there’s really nothing to complain about, am I right? 8/10.

SONOMA COUNTY BEER SCENE REPORT

“Beer in wine country”. Talking about it is beyond passé now. But me, I’m giving thanks and praise that even beyond Russian River Brewing, Lagunitas, Moylan’s, Bear Republic and the whole NoCal crew there are still new brewers from Sonoma county peeking above their kettles and throwing their proverbial mugs into the ring. I recently procured bottles from two of the newest, HENHOUSE BREWING and DIVINE BREWING, and goshdarn if I wasn’t as pleased as punch with the results. To wit:

HENHOUSE BREWING – “SAISON”: My pal Chris surreptitiously brought down this bottle and their oyster stout from Petaluma and presented them to me, cloak-and-dagger, in front of the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco. He and I both agree that the oyster stout’s a little on the mushy middling side, but that this SAISON is pretty rock and rolling. It pours with a big, big head of fresh, frothy foam that forces the drinker to wait for it to settle before digging in. Classically yeasty and peppery and shining brightly with a clear yellow opacity, it’s a dry, thin-bodied Belgian copycat with a touch of sweetness in the finish. A very pleasant beer from an upstart with some great labels and tons of what they call “upside”. 7.5/10.

DIVINE BREWING – “TEUFELWEIZEN”: Finding any backstory on this small start-up was a bit difficult, but this article explains the Divine Brewing story very well, and they’ve instantly rocketed up the charts of my heart with this amazing weizenbock-style beer called “TEUFELWEIZEN”. Wow. It’s a malty, cinnamon-and-spiced dark ale that is not from Sonoma Spring Brewing (another upstart!), - it was just brewed there. A big, big smell and another blast o’ foam greets you at the gate, and then once you’re in, Teufelweizen has an incredible taste of black currant and a dull sweetness, along with multiple tongue-coating properties that ensure these delicious flavors linger. I bought it wholly on a “buy local, let’s see what this is” whim, and now I’m going to go out and buy more. 8.5/10.

THE RETURN OF BEER REVIEWS TO THE HEDONIST JIVE!

I've spent well over five of the past six years composing craft beer-focused blogs like Hedonist Beer Jive and Beer Samizdat, in addition to the non-beer one you're reading now. Hunting down and drinking the best beers of the world has been a passion of mine for some time and I've tried to popularize my favorite ales and whatnot via the internet since 2006. In 2010-2011, in the absence of a dedicated "beer blog", I occasionally used this forum as a place to discuss my beer reviews, beer travels and so on, though I knew that most of you folks could probably care less. So I started Beer Samizdat blog last year to cater to the beer dorks who used to read Hedonist Beer Jive, only to give that one up a month ago.

Truth be told, as much as I love beer, I'm not all that much of a drinker. I find maintaining a blog about beer to almost be a self-fulfilling prophesy: if I haven't had a new beer in 3-4 days, I make myself drink one if only to have something new to discuss on my "beer blog". The better angels of my nature have recently helped me to cut my fairly meager beer intake by a good 50% or so - and considering it wasn't all that much to begin with (3-4 beers a week, maybe?), it's done my waistline and my general ability to sleep, concentrate and save money some favors. It's here that I'll announce the official demise of the Beer Samizdat blog. It 'twas fun in the short time it lasted. I'll also seek to re-incorporate occasional beer reviews back into the Hedonist Jive blog, at least when I actually get the gumption to drink them. We're all over the map here anyway: film, music, books, sports, memories and so on. What's a few posts about great beer to ya? Hopefully it helps your personal forays into gastronomy and enables the discovery of beer that enhances the proverbial contours of your cultural life.

I decided to resurrect beer reviews on this site over not one, not two, but over three pints of beer partaken of at the Venice Ale House in Los Angeles, CA. Hey, when we fall off the wagon - it's been well over a week since any alcohol entered our bloodstream - we're all in! I'm down here in LA as I type on a business trip, and I often use my business-related trips as excursionary explorations of my host city's beer culture. I know "nobody walks in LA", yet I walked 3.5 miles from my hotel in Marina Del Rey to get to this place, past seedy adult book stores and drug addicts of all stripes in order to review for you the following three ales:

TELEGRAPH BREWING - "Los Padres Ale": (pictured above) After my epic walk through humanity's dregs I needed something to ground me again, and wow - this beer from our favorite Santa Barbara-based brewer delivered that in spades. It's a saison, but a super full-bodied one with incredible depth and flavor. Not only does it have a tingling hoppy aftertaste but it's devoid of the typical barnyard musk one expects from a saison, though it's still very much in that camp on all other dimensions. I tasted apricot and liken it to a saison-style version of Dogfish Head's "Aprihop". Totally in that league, and absolutely delicious. 9/10.

MONKISH BREWING - "Rosa's Hips": A Torrance, CA brewer dabbling in the Belgian arts with a dubbel, which is a hard beer to master even on a good day. It was served in a pint glass here at Venice Ale House instead of a pretentious goblet, which gave me more beer but sacrificed some style points. This dubbel is lighter in color and body than most, and is unfortunately a lot more watery than most, as well as being overly sweet. Really unimpressive overall and tastes like a homebrew version of the Belgian dubbel. I shan't drink it again. 4/10.

LAGUNITAS BREWING - "Waldo's Special Ale": One of the revelations of my beer layoff, in which I drank beer just for fun and stuff instead of to review it, was that I'd prefer to drink an IPA two times out of three - so I've stocked my garage beer fridge accordingly. So I wasn't going to walk out of this place without trying a new IPA. Lagunitas Brewing makes some good ones - Maximus, Freak Out and many other specialty one-timers. "Waldo's Special Ale", though, is not one of them. It's very sweet, not malty and has an unappealing thin body. I sorta liked it the more I drank it, but normally I'm really blown away by surprise beer from these guys and this one's pretty meh. 6/10.

HEY, WHERE’D ALL THE BEER REVIEWS GO?

Still checking daily into The Hedonist Jive or tirelessly refreshing your browser in hopes that we’ll review some of today’s up-n-coming craft beers? Well we understand and thank you for it – after all, a good portion of this site’s 200 total posts have been about beer. 64, to be precise, and you can read them all here. But in case you missed the breaking news from August 2011, I’ve started another blog to feed my beer obsession called BEER SAMIZDAT, and all beer talk, loads of it, is going on over there. Hedonist Jive retains everything else I want to write about, but beer – well beer’s in a class by itself. Please do us the favor of checking it out and following us on Twitter if you can - @beersamizdat.

INTRODUCING BEER SAMIZDAT

When it comes to blogging, which I’ve been doing with semi-regularity since 2003, I whipsaw all over the place on how I’d like to present my pontifications & cultural blather at any given time. I’ve started and abandoned at least five blogs, and I’ve changed the “mission” and focus of several others. I have no such plans for THE HEDONIST JIVE – I’m very attached to keeping this as a dumping ground for my writing on books, film, music, politics, sports, personal memories and gender/body issues (wait, I just made the last one up) – but there is a change in store.

Please note that I did not mention BEER in that laundry list. That’s the big announcement. I’ve started a new beer-only blog called BEER SAMIZDAT, which I’d love it if all you beer lovers came over and took a gander at. Sure, I once had a beer-only blog that predates the one you’re reading now, but as I explain in my manifesto, it had a dumb name and it needed to die so that other blogs might live and flourish. Like Jesus Christ, right?

So like I said, Hedonist Jive continues, and I sure do hope you’ll continue with me – unless you’re only into the beer talk, in which case I encourage you to check out our new thing and follow it on Twitter. Those are the only two active blogs going of ours, and I’m pretty sure it’ll stay that way until my next bout of restlessness. 

BALADIN NORA’S MEDIOCRE STEPBROTHER “SUPER”

Apologies for the lag time since we last posted over here; the anal retentive side of HJ operations would like to see this blog be a going concern a minimum of 3-5 times per week. I trust that you abide when we fail to hit that ambitious target. So a mere one night after we downed a glass of the magnificent “NORA” from Italy’s BIRRIFICIO LE BALADIN, reviewed here last week, we took a flyer on another Baladin beer to see if the magic could be matched.

This one’s called “SUPER”, and it’s unfortunately a shadow of its glorious sibling. A Belgian-style amber/brown ale clocking in at 8% ABV, BALADIN SUPER is heavy on the graininess and has a chestnut & fruit backbone. That said, it’s a little underdeveloped. I like the yeast “profile” and how it stings the back of my throat, but I’m not all that enamored with the taste as a whole. Would have loved a little less grain and a little more emphasis on tying together some pretty disparate elements into something more “alive with pleasure”. Like Nora! A mere 6/10. 

BELLISSIMO! BIRRIFICIO LE BALADIN’S “NORA”

See, I knew if we waited long enough we’d find an Italian beer worthy of that country’s long gastronomic heritage. You know, we even went there this past April and May and didn’t come up with any knockouts – not for the lack of trying, lemme tell ya. Sure enough, it’s the so-far most celebrated of the Italian brewers importing into the United States – BIRRIFICIO LE BALADIN – who’ve come up with the finest example of Italian craft beer to pass our lips. I suspect that with their full-on assault on the US foodie market – witness their new bar inside the hallowed halls of New York City’s temple of Italian indulgence EATALY – you’ll be seeing a lot more words spilled about the fantastic spiced tripel known as NORA.

NORA, served in a bottle so small that our enjoyment of it had to gently measured and gingerly sipped (the horror!), is a yeasty, fruit-forward ale that may not actually truly be a Belgian-style tripel, but one that shares many of the characteristics of them. That yeast, for one. Chewy, dry and tangy. I suspected the dominant fruit in the mix was apricot (that’s what it tasted like to me), but a little Googlin’ tells me instead that it’s ginger, myrrh and orange peel. Right, of course! Myrrh! And there’s even some hoo-hah about it being from an ancient Egyptian recipe or some such. Alls I know is that it’s a complex but remarkably drinkable ale that will do wonders to promote the newfound vitality of the Italian beer underground. Get some if you can hunt it down, even if it’s trapped inside these little stubby bottles. 9/10.

THE EVIL TWIN “YIN/YANG” EXPERIMENT

Having had some beer imbibing success with Scandinavian brewers over the past several years (NOGNE Ø, MIKKELLER, HAANDBRYGGERIET et al), it was no big stretch to take the bait on this hokey “black and tan” idea from upstart Danish brewer EVIL TWIN. I mean, it was all the rage in the dark worlds of the beer dork cognoscenti just a few weeks ago, and who am I to decline to partake? The idea is as follows. You buy a bottle of YIN – their imperial stout. You then buy a bottle of YANG – their “American-style” imperial IPA. You mix them together into a black and tan, and supposedly the sum of the parts will be even greater than the parts standing alone. Perhaps this might be the revival of the Irish pub parlor trick of sloshing some pale ale into a stout and selling the resulting concoction to the gullible, easily hucked young drinker. Let’s find out if this will be a trend with legs.

EVIL TWIN YIN is a spicy imperial stout with a big chocolate taste, but unfortunately brings a level of astringency that just overwhelms any goodness inherent in the beer. Alcohol is 10%, and it really tastes it – and not in a good way. So I then tried EVIL TWIN YANG to see if I could cut the harsh bummer that was playing itself out on my tongue. Hmmm- better, but not by much. There isn’t enough malty chewiness to balance out the insane levels of hopping here, and the hops themselves are far from “west coast” varieties my palate has adjusted to. They may as well be Icelandic – they certainly tasted that way.

Ah well, let’s mix ‘em up, just like ‘Ol Seamus McGillicuddy down at The Dubliner does! Well, it’s not a total loss. The stout totally overwhelms the IPA, as it was already hoppy and strong – so this is just more of the same. What a crock! I didn’t like any of these solo, nor together, and even though the blend got a little more drinkable as it warmed, most of it was down the drain before I could finish it off. YIN = 5/10; YANG = 5.5/10; YIN-YANG = 5.5/10. Never again. 

HEDONIST JIVE MID-SUMMER BEER DISPATCH

Hello again Americans and fellow travelers, thanks again for taking the time to peruse yet another one of Hedonist Jive's "I'm really not that much of a drinker.....really" posts where we rate & rank a whole caboodle of beers that have been imbibed and contemplated over the past couple of months. Naturally, we can't do them all two-paragraph justice. You'll have to settle for some pithy and barely-considered remarks, followed by a rating on our patented ten-point scale. Send me an email if you need to get the lowdown on any terrior issues, or need more evocative descriptions of any particular beer's smell or lacing-on-the-glass quotient. We've broken the beers down into consumer-friendly quartiles as well, so feel free to stop reading after the first one and head on out to the store. Here we go!

THE OUTSTANDING

DE STRUISE/MIKKELLER - "ELLIOT BREW" - Oh my. A collaboration between two Northern European heavyweights to make an American Double IPA. in Belgium, that just happens to be tannish brown in color and that is defined far more by its strong rich malts than its hops. And it is phenomenal. They say it's 130 IBU, the semi-bogus hoppiness index that some people cling to their bosoms, and it is furthermore claimed to be the hoppiest beer ever brewed in Belgium - whatever. It has amazing balance, creaminess not normally found in IPAs, and a tasty sugar-n-spice combination to boot. 9.5/10.

WESTMALLE - "DUBBEL" - The granddaddy gold standard and still champion of the dubbels. My dubbels project hasn't been going too well - too many other beers I wanna try and a brain/liver that can only take so much - but this Trappist ale is truly in a league of its own, and I returned to it recently after not having one for years. Woody and creamy with just a little backbite. Toasty malts and a delicious, easy-to-ingest medium body. No wonder the world's been going nutso for this one for decades. 9.5/10.

THE VERY GOOD

ST. FEUILLIN/GREEN FLASH - "BIERE DE L'AMITIE" - Hope I spelled all of that foreign stuff correctly. This is a stunning spiced ale, highly carbonated and a misty, cloudy blonde in color. These are two worldwide giants of brewing teaming up to fight the good fight, and this one, which I've only had on draft and not in the bottles I'm now seeing around, is an excellent spicy, malty, crisp & peppery yeast bomb. 8.5/10.

EDDYLINE BREWERY - "CRANK YANKER IPA" - Eddyline, you ask? Only the pride and joy of Buena Vista, Colorado, a tiny river/mountain town three hours from Denver on the banks of the mighty Amicas River. Their brewery and restaurant appears to be the very center of the town's action, and would you believe me if I told you their IPA is out of this world? This is what us beer lovers live for - the chance visit to the brewpub or the ham-handed bottle selection that ends up paying dividends in spades for the 30 minutes or whatever you spend drinking a given beer. A superb orange/amber look to this one, and a smooth bitter taste that even my IPA-disdaining wife thought was incredible. 8.5/10.

NAPA SMITH - "LOST DOG" - This is the finest ale (pictured) I've yet quaffed from Napa, CA's well-distributed if middlingly-regarded Napa Smith Brewery. What a deliciously light, drinkably hoppy imperial red ale this is. Dry and yet exceptionally juicy nonetheless. A paradox, you say? You'll just have to find out yourself. 8/10.

TALLGRASS BREWING - "VELVET ROOSTER" - A fruity and quite delicious tripel from Kansas, a state not typically known for brewing upper-quartile Belgian-style ales. I need to get to know these guys better based on this evidence, though this one appears to be draft-only and isn't even mentioned on their website. 8/10.

TELEGRAPH BREWING - "OBSCURA ARBOREA" - In all my time on god's green earth, I don't believe I've poured a foamier beer than this one, nor had to wait as long to drink it. A good 20 minutes went by before I could even snap this photo and start drinking it. It's a sour Flanders oude bruin and a big beer at 9% ABV. Takes a little getting used to, but once the foam calmed and I dug in my heels, I loved it. Cherry and oak and lots and lots of souring bacteria. Definitely tastes like a barrel-aging "project beer" crafted with lots of care. We love that stuff around here. 8/10.

BRIDGEPORT BREWING - "KINGPIN" - I'm glad I take notes because I totally forgot about this one from two-plus months ago - and hey, it was really good! 12-ounce bottle of "double red ale" goodness. Serious hop burn, with thin-bodied malts that are nonetheless very pronounced. There's not the usual caramel chewiness of most red ales - this is about the hops all the way. 7.5/10.

SOCIAL KITCHEN & BREWERY - "THING DEUX BELGIAN PALE ALE" - This local San Francisco brewer have kind of cool thing going here - they made nearly identical beers, Thing One and Thing Deux, seperated only by different yeast strains - an American and a Belgian. I rolled the dice and tried the good one; my pal Uli's american-style pale ale was quite mediocre (at best). A yeasty and chewy pale ale that I'd absolutely ask for again. 7/10.

SOCIAL KITCHEN & BREWERY - "MOULIN ROUGE" - But wait - there's more. They also make a dry, biscuity and malty Flanders red ale too that I dug and rated a 7/10.

BLACK RAVEN - "TOTEM NORTHWEST PALE" - Really had been wanting to try some Black Raven beers after reading good things about them for a while, and while in Seattle recently, I got my chance. This pale ale was a nice trifecta of creamy, malty and hoppy, with the hops fairly muted but with some nice bitterness in the aftertaste. Totally solid. 7/10.

THE MIDDLING

DOGFISH HEAD - "HELLHOUND ON MY ALE" - Winner of the worst pun award for 2011 beers, hands down. It may be limited, it may be one-time, but I'd only rush out for this one for novelty's sake alone. A lemon IPA! Citrus and tangy to the extreme, orange in color and maybe just a little too lemony. The 10% alcohol hides itself very well whilst drinking, but was quite clear in my noggin by the end of the 22-ounce bottle. 6.5/10.

EDDYLINE BREWERY - "PINE CREEK PORTER" - After the high of their Crank Yanker IPA (see above), it was perhaps a disappointment to encounter a mere middling porter, but this chocolately dark roasted beer held its own well enough to send me home with bells on. 6.5/10.

AUBURN ALEHOUSE - "GOLD DIGGER" - An IPA that comes off about one-half as good as their "PU20 Imperial IPA" that we reviewed here. Perhaps I'm spoiled for choice, with the proliferation of dozens of imperial IPAs that knock my friggin' socks off. This "single" IPA is bitter, piney, dry and solid across the board, but the lack of citrus juicyness and a general blandness puts it at a 6.5/10.

AMICAS BREWERY - "DOUBLE IPA" - Bought a 22-oz. bottle of this in Buena Vista, Colorado simply because I'd never heard of them/it and I like surprises. Surprise! It's a middling (double) IPA! These guys are from Salida, CO and make an eye-poppingly yellow double IPA that looks like a pilsner and yet still brings the noise with 9% ABV. Strong hops on the nose, bitter to the taste....so far so good...but a weak finish. Lacking in something. Taste, I think. 6/10.

GREAT DIVIDE - "TITAN IPA" - We were in Denver visiting family two weeks ago and I was starving for local beer. Though I was "psyched beyond belief" to find a bottle of this in a nondescript Thai restaurant, and glad to have some bittering hops and creaminess to cut the burn of my food, this IPA is simple and nondescript in a way that I just don't have a lot of patience for any longer (see above). 5.5/10.

BISON BREWING - "DUBBEL" - I know these guys have had a rough road the past few years, losing their  Berkeley brewpub and having to contract-brew in other people's abodes. But that's no excuse to come to market with a thin, overly sweet dubbel that only misses our bottom quartile due to simple, let's-get-this-outta-the-way drinkability alone. 5/10.

THE LAME

DURANGO BREWING - "AMBER" - As boring as you'd expect. A wimpy, watery amber ale with zero character, in a small Colorado town we visited that's just bursting with brewers. Watch out fellas. About all I can say in its favor is that I finished it, and that time passed successfully while I drank it. 4.5/10.

N/A

PORT BREWING - "MONGO IPA" - It's not like I can't find this beer in my home base of California, but what a lame-o experience to have a skunked, disgusting sour IPA right out of the bottle. It's been at least three years since I've had a beer that's gone bad in the bottle. No way am I pinning this one on the good people at Port. I mean - this is supposed to be a superlative IPA - right? It's not supposed to taste this way - right?

NEW BELGIUM’S “LIPS OF FAITH - DUNKEL WEISS”

That NEW BELGIUM BREWING “Lips of Faith” series has introduced a few ringers, hasn’t it? Let’s see – there was LA FOLIE, right, and then there was that LE FLEUR MISSEUR, and what else? Oh right, I know, this newish DUNKEL WEISS is one to beat the band as well. We don’t try too many dark wheats – or as the Germans say, “dunkel weisses” – around these parts. When we do, we likely and foolishly pass them up in flavor of some double IPA or something. Yet with the imprinteur of quality that has become the “Lips of Faith” seal of rarity and quality, we decided to give this one a gander. You know what? We’re happy we did.

NEW BELGIUM DUNKEL WEISS hits the glass dark and mysterious. It’s a black one, and the woody, malty smell of it provides similar confirmation that this is a rich and murky ale. What I got straight out of the chute was the taste of plum, with cherry being a faint and secondary flavor. Oh course, there’s the obvious “wheat” taste as well, but this isn’t your mama’s hefeweizen. It’s a woody, plummy, malty, dark and delicious expectation-exceeder from the same tanks & pumps that make the Fat Tire Ale you’re always ragging on. 8.5/10.

IF IT’S THURSDAY NIGHT, MUST BE ODELL “MOUNTAIN STANDARD” TIME

My recent trip to Kansas City had me prowling my usual haunts in search of weird and fantastic beers to take home. Mark Starr, “starr” of THE HOPRY beer blog/vlog, gave me the lowdown on the Lukas Liquors Superstore just over the Kansas state line up Missouri way (or as I like to call it, “Missoura”), and I made my way up there to see what treats I’d be able to stuff into my suitcase. So far the big winner is this ODELL “MOUNTAIN STANDARD RESERVE” that I found there. Odell, who are a Colorado brewer whom we’ve feted before on this site, actually sell their wares in Kansas too, where I was staying – but my usual Kansas beer stores weren't carrying this one, so thank you Missoura for getting this excellent ale into your “show-me” state.

You could probably call this beer just about any style you’d like. I hadn’t done any research on it before grabbing it, so I didn’t know that Beer Advocate has it classified as an “American black ale”. You know what I called it in my notes? A Belgian Imperial Amber – that’s right folks, get out your style books because I may have just invented a new one. MOUNTAIN STANDARD RESERVE is very dry, with good strong hopping and rich, chewy malts. Pours nearly black in the glass, but it tastes like a deep & murky amber ale. Some taste of melon, cough drop (the good kind!) and some exotic spicing. Bitter, yet very pleasurable and with 8.5% alcohol, not too much of a belly- and head-buster. I am incredibly impressed with ODELL BREWING’s imperial/seasonal beers, and can’t wait to try the amazing SABOTEUR again. I’d drink Mountain Standard Reserve again in a Missoura minute as well. 8/10.

THE GENIUS & BEAUTY OF A LEFT HAND BREWING “MILK STOUT” ON NITRO

Are you a cask-conditioned nazi? A man of the old-school people who storms out of a bar if there isn’t something readily available on the hand pump, and blanches at beer served from a bourgeois tap? I’ve never much cottoned to that whole thing after less-than-favorable results from most known beers served this way, though if there’s a stout on “nitro” I’m all for it. This is when a beer already given to natural creaminess is injected with nitrogen in order to bring said creaminess and smoothness to the forefront, leaving behind just about everything else except for primary flavors. Did I get that right, homebrewers? Well, I now know that nirvana can be and has been reached with regard to this hallowed nitro beer.

No one remembers that I once drank and reviewed a LEFT HAND BREWING “MILK STOUT” except for me. It was in Atlanta, it was a bottle poured into a glass, and I proclaimed it a little more than OK. This is a beer that many have busted a nut over, and one that I can’t get in California. Yet the other day in Overland Park, Kansas, at a place called OLD CHICAGO I had the most a-mazing glass of this stuff. And yes, it was “on nitro”. Never has a more chocolaty, milky, smooth and delicious stout passed before my lips. It quite seriously tasted like a glass of farm-fresh milk that just had the world’s greatest milk chocolate and the world’s greatest stout infused into it. More beer than milk, to be sure, which is as you’d want it, I’d imagine. But I just kept muttering to myself, “Whoa. Whoa. This is great. Whoa.” Ladies and gentlemen, the nitro pour of the century – Left Hand Milk Stout. Don’t let me catch you drinking this out of a bottle. 10/10.

A TRIP TO FREE STATE BREWING - LAWRENCE, KS

When I'm out there on the road, workin' and bringin' home a paycheck, I tend to make the centerpiece of every trip a visit to the area's most heralded brewery. I've made many such trips to Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas, yet I've never set foot in BOULEVARD BREWING - mostly because they don't really have a brewpub and a place to sit & sample the way others do. They have tours, but they're during the day - and as I might have mentioned, during the day, I'm workin'. So I've settled with buying their rare 22-ounce seasonal ales, as well as those from locals or nearby breweries SCHLAFLY, ODELL and GREAT DIVIDE, and stashed them in my suitcase where there's room.

This time I knew as well that I wasn't going to go to Boulevard, but what about this FREE STATE BREWING I've heard about in Lawrence? Why, back in 1993, when I was the "road manager" for CLAW HAMMER on their '93 North American tour, "we" played in Lawrence in an out-of-the-way dive called The Outhouse, and the whole evening was fantastic. The locals were great, the town was clean, funky & interesting, and hey, I guess I just wanted to go back. So this past Friday night I drove out there from Overland Park, Kansas, where I was staying, and painted the proverbial town in Lawrence. FREE STATE BREWING was my destination, and Free State Brewing was where I arrived.

I'll get this out of the way so we can move on and never speak of it again: this might surprise you a bit - it sure did me - but when you're in Lawrence, Kansas, you probably shouldn't order Mexican food. There aren't, like, any Mexicans for one. The black bean and cheese quesadilla I ate at Free State was one of the unquestionably worst meals I've had in some time, and I satisfied myself with the beer and the Canucks game on TV and tried to not think about eating again for some time. Atmosphere was lively and fun, and service was first rate. Just your basic well-run college town brewpub with bad good and great beer. Oh, the beer? Yes, let's talk about that:

FREE STATE - "LEMONGRASS RYE" - Now here's a curveball of a summer ale - a lemony ale liberally dosed with rye, low in alcohol and easy to drink. Bravo. Very light and citrus-fruity with a nice tang. Hops are  faint, lemon is not. Summery. And it's summer. I liked it. 7/10.

FREE STATE - "MEUSE RIVER IPA" - Of course it wouldn't be a trip to a brewery for me without getting the lowdown on their IPA, and this deep-orange model did not disappoint. Tingling hops, piney bite and rich malts, all balanced well and perched halfway between a single and a double IPA. 7.5/10.


Bonus:

FREE STATE - "WHEAT STATE GOLDEN" - Actually had this one a little earlier in my visit and was my impetus to visit the brewery in the first place ("if their humble golden ale is this solid, how might the rest of their beers be..."?). This is a classy, unassuming fruit-forward golden ale. You could drink a dozen of 'em. Very satisfying going down, and gave me zero discernible buzz. 7.5/10.

Next time you're in Lawrence you oughta get yourself some BBQ at another restaurant and then head over to Free State for some good times. Tell them the 'Jive sent you - they'll know what you mean.

ANCIENT ENGLISH DRINKING SECRETS

You'd think modern brewers had run out of trends to mine or piggyback on. Just when experimentation with new brewing styles and hybrids had hit its all-time peak, there's been a backslide focused on rediscovery of abandoned styles or recipes from 100 years ago or more. Now me, I wasn't around back then, but I have to think that most beers brewed at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th were vastly inferior to what we can get today. Certainly it's the case with every other form of gastronomic delight - the innovation, technological and hygenic curves move ever upward in search of better and better recipes. But if some brewers wanna dabble in a couple of ancient English pub recipes, who am I to stop 'em? Let's try a couple that recently hit the shelves and see what we think.

DE MOLEN - "1914 PORTER" - This is made in exceptionally limited batches, and my bottle was numbered 224/672. Just like the records I used to snap up in the 80s, that sort of thing hits the same nerdtastic pleasure centers in my brain. This is a 1914 recipe from England apparantly, but I taste a ton of Belgium in this thing as well. This porter is hoppy, for starters. Some yeasts too, and a tangy aftertaste. Not roasty, not chocolate - just a chesnut-flavored Belgian porter, supposedly based on an English recipe from the olden days. From a brewer based in the Netherlands. Oh - and it's excellent, too, and very worthy of the coin you'll need to throw down to get one. 8/10.

PRETTY THINGS BEER & ALE PROJECT - "NOVEMBER 5th, 1901 KK" - Let's go all the way back to 1901 for this one. A dark, dry and yes, somewhat hoppy ale from London. Dark bittersweet cocoa and a strong malt backbone. I kept thinking how I was going to rag on this one and yet every sip transported me to a pub in the UK, sheltered from the drizzle with pint after pint of this to lift my spirits. As I am with just about everything from Massachusetts' Pretty Things, color me impressed. 7/10.

THE BRUERY / CIGAR CITY’s “MARON ACIDIFIE”

OMG I could just die if I don’t get at least one blog post in a week here. I’m busy, but you people have a right to be entertained. So let me tell you about a beer I had last week. It’s called “MARON ACIDIFIE” and it’s one of those beers that you plunk your shekels down for now, and ask questions later. I paid too much money for it, but what are you going to do. I mean it’s THE BRUERY for godsakes, the Orange County magicians of barrel-aged beermaking, collaborating with Tampa, Florida’s CIGAR CITY, that hot upstart barrel-aging superstar of the tropics – whose brewmaster, incidentally, is named Wayne Wambles. Awesome name. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
 

MARON ACIDIFIE is a wonderfully rich sour ale, and is barrel-aged as you might have expected. I probably could have thrown some years on this thing before drinking it, but I’m an impulsive, impatient baby. It tastes of grapefruit and unripe plum at times, but still has a delicious sweetness that easily overcomes the puckering sourness. Low carbonation and a nice thick mouthfeel. For such a monster from two monster brewers, it’s quite approachable. On a difficulty scale, with some of the Russian River Brewing sours at the top of the chart and, I don’t know, Michelob Light at the bottom, I’d put this around a 6. As far as the Hedonist Jive scoreboard goes, let’s assign this one an out-of-this-world 9/10 and hope these guys have a long, fruitful sour beer partnership in years to come.

CONQUERING THE MORT SUBITE BLANCHE LAMBIC

As a young beer dork - let's say about five years ago - I heard much chatter from more educated quarters of the beer world about a gaggle of Belgian beers called "MORT SUBITE". They were spoken about in hushed and reverant tones, and until last night at LA TRAPPE in San Francisco, I'd never come across a one of 'em. I'm here to report that at least one does indeed exist, and that it is off-the-charts fantastic, as advertised.

It's called MORT SUBITE BLANCHE LAMBIC, and the "brouwerij" that makes it is Brouwerij De Keersmaeker from Asse-Kobegem, Belgium. You know, just down the road from Brussels and all. It's a fairly simply dry and fruit-packed 5% ABV ale that nonetheless knocked me for a total loop. Incredibly smooth and pouring a deep hazy yellow/orange, this Mort Subite doesn't remind one of a lambic so much as it does a witbier (white ale) pumped up with mega yeasts. The powdery, dry taste of the grains and yeasts is complemented in perfect balance by the richness of the fruits. I was so taken aback to be awarding amother 10/10 so soon after the TELEGRAPH GYPSY ALE that I ordered a second one - just to, you know, check my head. That one was a 10/10 as well. Look for it! Now!

TELEGRAPH BREWING's RIDICULOUSLY RAD "GYPSY ALE"

When I discovered the beers of Santa Barbara, CA's TELEGRAPH BREWING several years ago on a trip down South, lo, it was good. Real good. Real, real good. I gave them a good amount of hype on my olde Hedonist Beer Jive beer-centric blog, and made a point of going after pretty much anything of theirs that ever might have a chance to cross my lips. Then they nailed Northern California distribution in 2010, and wow - it was all here, available for the drinking. And yet, the new ones I tried just didn't quite measure up to those first few bottles of CALIFORNIA ALE and GOLDEN WHEAT. I did a little inventory of the Telegraph Beers I've had - which is most of 'em - and here are the scores I threw down at the time:

CALIFORNIA ALE - 9/10

GOLDEN WHEAT - 9/10

WHITE ALE - 7.5/10

WINTER ALE - 7.5/10

ROBUST ALE - 6/10

RESERVE WHEAT - Unrateable (because I flat-out can't stand the Berliner Weiss style)

Really, really solid - check that, beyond solid, with a couple of beers that rate in the near-stratosphere. Yet those were the very first two I'd had, and I was wondering what that one big trick was that they were holding up their proverbial sleeve. That trick, ladies and gentlemen, is called GYPSY ALE. Here's what they have to say about this magnificent creation:

Inspired by the exuberance of the Romani Gypsy culture, Telegraph Gypsy Ale celebrates the restless and adventurous spirit in all of us. We brew it with rye, unmalted wheat, and locally grown plums. Then we ferment it with Brettanomyces while listening to traditional Gypsy tunes. It's wild, it's unique, it's delicious. So go ahead, stray from that well-trodden ground you are following, grab a bottle, and dance along a crooked path. Opa!

Here's what I say - this is the beer of the year, 2011. Absolutely amazing in every way. It is a buttery, tangy, plum-dominated ale that may have Belgium written all over it, but also speaks to a Central Coast fermentation ethic that's totally and uniquely their area's own (Firestone Walker know what I'm talking about). This plum, it's understated, but it's there in every gulp. GYPSY ALE has this dry, tart but fruited-up deliciousness that's like nothing I've ever had before, not by a mile. They've outdone themselves, and created a beer to take up arms for. 10/10.

THE MOTHER OF ALL BEER REVIEW POSTS

This is what happens when I continue to enjoy (and rate) beer, but fall way behind on reviewing it here. I have to make you suffer through short, stuttered, pounded-out reviews that barely give you the context nor the subtleties of all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful ales I’ve tried the past few months. Well, skim them if you can, try to pick out some super-descriptive keywords to help your shopping list, words like “hoppy” or “delicious”, and hopefully you’ll give some thought to a few new beers you hadn’t previously considered. And please enjoy the savaging of some of the lamer beers I’ve recently had toward the bottom. Here we go!

The Outstanding

URTHEL – “SAISONNIERE” – Remember when Belgium’s URTHEL (De Leyerth Browerijen) shocked the world with the first “Belgian IPA” several years back, the excellent HOP-IT? Whoda thunk that they’d come up with something even better, and it would be in the form of the pedestrian farmhouse/saison ale? This is a true worldbeater. Yeasty like you wouldn’t believe. Crisp, light and fruity with slight bitterness and barnyard. Unflitered, bottle-conditioned mastery of the art of beer making, kids. 10/10.

EMILISSE – “DUBBEL” – One of the very best of its ilk. Absolutely delicious toasty dubbel, with smooth body, medium carbonation and the taste of chestnuts and sugars. Easy to drink and a little sweeter than most dubbels, and something that needs to get on your want list by the time you finish this post. 9.5/10.

THREE FLOYDS – “ALPHA KING” – Had my third pint of this ever on draft in Chicago last month. I’d drink it at least once a month if I could. The pale ale winner and still near-champion; only putative “pale ale” that I think beats it is the whopping “Bitter End” from their neighbors at Two Brothers Brewing. 9/10.

GREEN FLASH BREWING – “SUMMER SAISON” – Could this be the legendary saison I had on draft three years ago and also rated 9/10? Well, assuming that it’s so, they’ve now got it in bottles and it’s fantastic. Beautiful earthy smell and taste, just a near spot-on saison that’s winning in summer, spring or whenever. 9/10.

The Very Good

BEAR REPUBLIC – “MONKEY HIGH FIVE” – Oh yes. This is a smoky, hoppy, toasty beer that reminds me of nothing so much as what an “oatmeal IPA” might taste like. Leave it to these Healdsburg heroes to come up with something this great, albeit on draft only. 8.5/10.

DRAKE’S BREWING – “NYACK” – Took awful notes on this barleywine that I enjoyed at Beer Revolution in Oakland, CA, but figured you should know I scored it an 8.5/10.

RUSSIAN RIVER – “SALVATION” – An old “strong dark ale” friend has returned to the shelves, this time in smaller bottles. Hello yeah, it’s been a while. Chocolate and licorice, thick foam, high high carbonation. A degree of quality control and taste that you always expect and get from Russian River. 8/10.

MIDNIGHT SUN BREWING – “OAK-AGED BLACK XXX DOUBLE IPA” – My exact notes, typed like a dork into my phone: “Not expecting the dark caramel taste. Very toasty. Burnt toast. Oak. Heavy hops. 8.5%abv. Toward the end - wow. I like this”. 8/10.

DRAKE’S BREWING – “DENOGGINIZER” – First time having this old favorite in a bottle for me, and yes, it’s a guns-blazing “hop assault” but not in the manner of some other tongue-destroyers from this brewer like the legendary “Hop Salad”. They do a great job balancing them with malts and a general creamy, warm mouthfeel. Glad to have this one on the shelves for the first time. 8/10.

BALLAST POINT- “TONGUE BUCKLER” – Been wanting to try this forever – a ridiculously hopped-up red ale with all the bittering and malty sensations that conjures. 10% alcohol too. Not for the frail, nor those given to fainting easily. Like it a lot, but maybe once every six months or so. 7.5/10.

THREE FLOYDS – “ARCTIC PANZER WOLF” – Say what? A very strong, 9% ABV imperial ipa, tipping the scales at 100IBU. Not truly "balanced" at the end of the day. Strong hop attack, and very bitter with pine and grapefruit bitterness. For super, super, super hopheads.. 7.5/10.

BRAUEREI GEBRUDER MAISEL – “MAISEL’S WEISS” – What a delicious hefeweizen, pictured here in the glass from which I drank it. A fetching combination of banana bread and nutmeg – totally buttery and clean. 7.5/10.

NEW BELGIUM/ALLAGASH – “VRIENDEN” – A collaborative bottled beer made from hibiscus and endive (for real!). Sweet and flowery, with Belgian bacteria overtones. Really tangy combo of Belgian Brett and fruity hibiscus. Thick mouthfeel that lingers on tongue. 7.5/10.

NEW OLD LOMPOC BREWING – “C-NOTE IPA” – Slightly nutty and really fresh tasting; had this on draft at The Collins Pub in Seattle. Yum. Strong hops but totally manageable. 7.5/10.

BROOKLYN BREWING – “MAIN ENGINE START” – Had this on tap in NYC, which is the only place one can find it. It’s an abbey “singel” ale like Rochefort 6. Tasty, with some frothy zest and light sugars. Truly a “lite” Belgian ale as a “singel” might imply. 7/10.

CLOWN SHOES – “EAGLE CLAW FIST” – A dry hoppy amber ale with the fruit way, way in the back. Murky and deep and dark. Very enjoyable and even a little boozy at 8%. 7/10.

GOOSE ISLAND BREWING – “PEPE NERO” – A new dark farmhouse ale with 4 malts and 2 hops. Fairly nondescript but in the best sense of the word – smooth and simple and good. I can see how farmers could have glugged this by the bucketful after slopping the hogs all day – and perhaps still do, in the Chicago stockyards. 7/10.

MIKKELLER/BREWDOG – “I HARDCORE YOU” – Check it, this is an exceptionally malty imperial IPA from two showboating overseas brewers. Creamy! Easy to drink fast when thirsty. Whoa there homey – this is a 9.5% alcohol by volume ale. Less strange than I expected, perhaps less outstanding too, but such a cool curveball I have to award it a 7/10.

MARITIME PACIFIC BREWING – “NIGHTWATCH” – A very solid dark amber ale that I enjoyed with dinner one eve. Light-bodied and a great food compliment. Not much one can say about non-imperial reds; they just are, and this one definitely is. 7/10.

TWO BEERS – “EVOLUTION IPA” – Another one from the Northwest, enjoyed at Collins Pub, that defies much description. That’s right – the hoppy IPA. “Bitter”. “Hoppy”. “Not malty”. “Very Good”. 7/10.

PRETTY THINGS BEER & ALE PROJECT – “BABAYAGA SYLVAN STOUT” – A very solid American stout, black as night and easy to digest and carry conversation over. Strong coffee notes, and a dry, bitter finish. 7/10.

The Middling

SIERRA NEVADA - “OVILA DUBBEL” – I drank this the night after my dubbel post, totally excited and ready to roar…..and then, hmm. A sweet, low-carbonated brown ale; sugars, malts and a little far-out spice. Not classically Belgian, if that’s what you’re asking. At least that’s what The Jive says. 6.5/10.

BROUWERIJ GAVERHOPKE – “KOERSEKLAKSE” – Spicy, hoppy, zesty unfiltered Belgian blonde with some strong saison action going on. But truly middle of the road. Look up the list for better examples. 6.5/10.

CLOWN SHOES – “BROWN ANGEL” – The English might blanche at this “double brown ale”. 7% alcohol. Super frothy head that formed foam sculptures in my glass. Malty all the way. Not an insignificant hop bite; yes, a middling hoppy brown beer. OK then. 6.5/10.

MIKKELLER “EAST KENT GOLDINGS IPA” – An English single-hop IPA, part of their series of the same. Hops are strong. Piney, no citrus. Foamy, with high carbonation. Serviceable. 6.5/10.

UNCOMMON BREWERS – “BALTIC PORTER” – Enough. My third beer from this off-kilter Santa Cruz brewer, and while they promise wild experimental brewing & exotic tastes, the truth is, they’re all fairly middling to my palate. Star anise and licorice – and yes, I taste them in this hearty and strong imperial porter. But I don’t taste anything that’s going to make me want to grab this again. 6/10.

STONE/GREEN FLASH/PIZZA PORT CARLSBAD - “HIGHWAY 78 SCOTCH ALE” – Collaboration beer, nothing too exciting, and surprisingly even a notch below many of the better malty scotch ales on the market. Syrupy but strong at 8.8% alcohol. We call it a 6/10.

MIKKELLER – “IT’S ALIVE” – Stand back everyone, it’s a “wild ale”!!! And not a very good one at that. I’d call it a sugary fruit beer rather than anything wild per se, and I love Mikkeller as you know. This one actively annoyed me. 5.5/10.

PRETTY THINGS BEER & ALE PROJECT – “OUR FINEST REGARDS” – A barleywine-style ale that I found entirely unremarkable. Strong, with deep caramel taste – but so what? I rarely drink something so middling that I’ve forgotten it completely even before I’m finished. (And I love Pretty Things, but everyone gets a mulligan). 5.5/10.

NEW BELGIUM - “RANGER IPA” – Aggressively average IPA, light and piddling in terms of hops vs. most big boy IPAs. An easy drinker for times when you’re not really thinking about beer nuances all that much. 5/10.

BIFFICIO GRADO PLATO – “STRADA S FELICE” – Hope I got that name right – this is an Italian brewer who’ve experimented with an amber ale brewed with chestnuts. Deep brown ale with weirdo aftertaste. Completely still, with zero head at all. Thick and chewy, tastes of walnuts, chestnuts and nuts of all kinds. Didn’t like it. Totally bizarre. 5/10.

The Lame

CHERRY VOODOO BREWING – “TRIPEL” – This new San Francisco brewer tried to make a desperate splash at SF Beer Week by shuttling around some tarty pseudo-models in short skirts as “The Cherry Voodoo girls”. If you’re going to be that obnoxiously retro, you’d better have the beer to back it up. They don’t. A chalky, fruity, yeast-deficient tripel that tastes as if it wasn’t done fermenting yet, and was rushed to market because the Cherry Voodoo girls’ legs were getting cold. 4.5/10.

CHERRY VOODOO BREWING – “FILTH PIG IPA” – Oh but it gets worse. This imperial IPA was completely still with no head, tasted medicinal and was just an abomination. 2.5/10.

FULL CIRCLE BREWING – “BARLEYWINE” – Simply awful. Tastes like varnish that could peel the lacquer off your hardwood floors. Barely drinkable. 2/10.