Black Diamond Brewing Company Peak XV Imperial Porter

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Black Diamond Brewing Company Peak XV Imperial Porter.

From the Black Diamond Brewing Company website: “Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Did we mention chocolate? This is attained with the addition of the finest cacao nibs, sourced locally from the world renowned Chocolatier TCHO (https:/ /www.tcho.com/).  The Vienna malts provide a nice base hue that the amber and light Munich malts enhance. The amber malt has a subtle roast flavor that is counterpointed by the maltiness of the light Munich. The crystal malts provide sweetness and the flaked oats are for texture in the mouth. Brown sugar provides a rum-like, molasses flavor.

Oh, and vanilla..... we source only whole beans from around the globe: Tahiti, Madagascar, Mexico, South America and the West Indies. Aside from saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world. We source the finest whole pods we can obtain- never extract - and blend them to complement the cacao and malt flavors.

This beer is a natural with many dessert courses; its lush decadence complements dark acidic fruits such as berry, orange, tangerine perfectly and marries nicely with anything cream based. It can also be used in various reduction sauces and for pure indulgence and simplicity -- it makes the best ice cream floats you have ever tasted.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a very dark brown with ruby highlights, a large cream colored head and spotty lacing.

Aroma: Chocolate, vanilla, coffee and sweet malts.  Smells incredible.

Taste: Sweet malts, lots of chocolate, coffee, caramel and vanilla.  Finish is slightly bittersweet.

Overall: I completely enjoyed Black Diamond Brewing Company Peak XV Imperial Porter so much that I plan to head out to get a few more 22s.  Easy to drink, delicious, balanced, and just damn tasty at 8% ABV this beer is a must try. 

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Heretic Brewing Company Torment Dark Belgian-Style Ale

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Heretic Brewing Company Torment Dark Belgian-Style Ale.  I was very happy to see this beer at my local bottle shop the other day and couldn’t wait to pop the bottle open and try it.

From the Heretic Brewing Company website: “This 10% Belgian-style dark ale is the dark counterpart to Worry. Torment is a rich beer with lots of caramel, malt, dark fruit, and Belgian candi sugar notes. The luscious fruity character is full of caramel apples, candied pears, and chocolate covered oranges.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a dark amber with a small khaki colored head and good lacing.

Aroma: Sweet caramel malts, dark fruits, brown sugar, toffee, Belgian candi sugar and banana.

Taste: Sweet malts, raisins, brown sugar, banana, dates, plums, Belgian yeast, slight chocolate flavor and molasses.  Very light alcohol on the finish.

Overall: Decadent and delicious, Heretic Brewing Company Torment Dark Belgian-Style Ale is excellent and the 10% ABV well hidden.  This beer is well balanced, smooth, complex and dangerous as I feel the need to go out and buy many, many bottles of this. Another VERY well done offering from Heretic Brewing Company!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Boulevard Brewing Company The Sixth Glass Quadrupel

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Boulevard Brewing Company The Sixth Glass Quadrupel. 

From the Boulevard Brewing Company website: ”Do you know what dwells in a glass?” asks Ole, in Hans Christian Andersen's The Watchman of the Tower. Better known for stories such as The Little Mermaid, Andersen wrote this short, cautionary tale for a somewhat older audience. Our quadrupel ale, also meant for the mature connoisseur, is a deep and mysterious libation, dark auburn and full-bodied, its sweetness deceptive. As Ole describes the glasses in turn, their contents become more ominous until, in the sixth glass...”

Let’s get started!

Appearance:  Pours a very nice copper color with a fluffy off-white head and super sticky lacing.

Aroma: Dark fruits, sweet malts, Belgian yeast, candi sugar and slightly boozy.

Taste: Wow!  Raisins, figs, cherries, sweet caramel and bready malts, Belgian yeast, booze, sweet and peppery.

Overall: Full bodied and just plain outstanding, Boulevard Brewing Company The Sixth Glass Quadrupel is remarkable.  At 10.5% ABV the alcohol is noticeable, but it doesn’t take center stage. If you are a fan of the style you MUST try this beer. It is smooth, a little thick and incredibly drinkable.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Ruth McGowan's Brewpub Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Ruth McGowan's Brewpub Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout.

Commercial description: “Our seasonal winter ale. A big oatmeal stout with hints of cinnamon & raisin. You know Santa would rather have this than a plate of cookies.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours nearly black with a thin off-white head and little lacing.

Aroma: Oatmeal raisin cookies, roasted and black patent malts and brown sugar.

Taste: Subtle raisin flavor, cinnamon, chocolate and coffee.  Not as sweet or oatmeally as I had thought it would be. Flavors come together as it warms.

Overall: I enjoyed Ruth McGowan's Brewpub Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout and feel compelled to visit them in Cloverdale.  At 8% ABV this is a tasty Stout with a nice roasted malt finish. 

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Brewery Ommegang Biere D'Hougoumont Biere De Garde

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Brewery Ommegang Biere D'Hougoumont Biere De Garde.

Commercial description: “Our Limited Edition Biere d’ Hougoumont is brewed with traditional French ale yeast, eight malts, French Strisselspalt hops, and aged on white oak and hard maple wooden staves. A traditional Biere De Garde style, this malty French-style farmhouse ale is brewed to be aged. The name honors the Hougoumont farmstead at the pivotal center of the Waterloo battlefield. Napoleon repeatedly failed to take the fortification, he then lost the battle and “met his Waterloo.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours an amber color with a frothy white head and sticky lacing.

Aroma: Sweet caramel, stone fruits, bready malts, Belgian yeast, vanilla, oak and banana.

Taste: Malty sweetness – caramel and biscuit, toffee, vanilla, citrus and grassy hops, Belgian yeast, dark fruits and slightly tart.

Overall: Very drinkable and delicious, Brewery Ommegang Biere D'Hougoumont Biere De Garde is excellent. At 7.3% ABV this complex offering is great now and would be fantastic for cellaring. Brewery Ommegang continues to impress…beer after beer…

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout.  For Christmas I was given a three pack of Samuel Smith beers and a pint glass from Luke, a gentleman I work with.  Although I had always heard great things of their beers it was never something I gravitated toward seeing as I drink local most of the time.  Well, thanks to Luke I’ll now have three Samuel Smith beer reviews posted here (in time).

From Samuel Smith’s Brewery website: “Brewed with well water (the original well at the Old Brewery, sunk in 1758, is still in use, with the hard well water being drawn from 85 feet underground); fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’ to create an almost opaque, wonderfully silky and smooth textured ale with a complex medium dry palate and bittersweet finish.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a very dark brown, nearly black with a large cream colored head and lots of lacing.

Aroma: Caramel, roasted malt, toffee, chocolate, coffee, nutty and touches of dark fruit.

Taste: Caramel and dark roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, nutty with just a slight bitterness.

Overall: Incredibly smooth and drinkable, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is extremely good.  At 5% ABV I highly recommend this beer as a nice light stout for those who are looking for a good session stout.  I won’t pass this by next time I’m looking for a well-made British stout.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

If you're looking for me tonight...

...you'll find me at the 2013 SF Beer Week Opening Celebration!

This event at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco kicks off the nine day marathon of beer tastings, festivals and food pairing dinners across the Bay Area that is SF Beer Week.

The tickets are a bit pricey, but how often do I go out and do this sort of thing (rarely).  The last time I joined in on an event like this was the 11th Annual Double IPA Fest at the Bistro in Hayward on February 12th, 2011.  I got pretty torn up that day so I guess it took me a couple years to dare go to another event serving this quantity and quality of beer in one place. 

With 78 participating breweries I'll be sampling new, rare and classic beers from:

101 North Brewing Company

21st Amendment Brewery

Almanac Beer Company

Altamont Beer Works

Anchor Brewing Company

Anderson Valley Brewing Company

Ale Industries

Auburn Alehouse

Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant

Bear Republic Brewing Company

Beltane Brewing

Berryessa Brewing Company

Bison Organic Beer

Black Diamond Brewing Company

Calicraft Brewing Company

Devil's Canyon Brewing Company

Drake's Brewing Company

Eel River Brewing Company

Elevation 66 Brewing Company

El Toro Brewing Company

FreeWheel Brewing Company

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company

Half Moon Bay Brewing Company

HenHouse Brewing Company

Heretic Brewing Company

Hermitage Brewing Company

High Water Brewing

Hoppy Brewing Company

Iron Springs Pub & Brewery

Knee Deep Brewing Company

Lagunitas

Lassen Ale Works

Linden Street Brewery

Lost Coast Brewery

Lucky Hand Beer

Mad River Brewing Company

Magnolia Pub & Brewery

Marin Brewing Company

MateVeza Brewing Company

Mendocino Brewing Company

Mill Valley Beerworks

Moonlight Brewing Company

Moylan's Brewing Company

Napa Smith

North Coast Brewing Company

Oakland Brewing Company

Pacific Brewing Laboratory

Palo Alto Brewing Company

Pine Street Brewery

Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Company

Pyramid Breweries

Rubicon Brewing Company

Ruhstaller

Russian River Brewing Company

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Company

Schubros Brewery

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Six Rivers Brewery

Social Kitchen & Brewery

Sonoma Springs Brewing Company

Southern Pacific Brewing Company

Southpaw BBQ

Speakeasy Ales & Lager

Strike Brewing Company

Tahoe Mountain Brewing Company

Third Street Aleworks

ThirstyBear Brewing Company

Track 7 Brewing Company

Triple Rock Brewery

Triple Voodoo Brewing

Trumer Brauerei

Two Rivers Cider Company

Uncommon Brewers

Ballast Point Brewing Company

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery

Stone Brewing Company

If you're attending - look for me and say "hello". 

I'm pretty stoked (wish me luck).

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Eel River Brewing Company Organic IPA

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Eel River Brewing Company Organic IPA. 

From the Eel River Brewing Company website: “Brewed with the finest organic malts and hops, this IPA features a bright-minted copper color with a crisp, yet smooth hop bitterness taste. A malty caramel sweetness is balanced with an aggressively clean burst of fresh hop flavor in the middle palate without lingering bitter astringency. A strong floral and citrus character from generous dry hopping blends with strawberry esters from our house yeast strain for an inviting and satiating aroma.

This English-style IPA differs from its West Coast IPA brethren in that it lacks the intense hop bitterness characterized by the American IPA.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a bright amber color with a nice off-white head and decent lacing.

Aroma: Pine, grapefruit and sweet malts.

Taste: Caramel malt followed by pine and citrus hop notes. Not as bitter as I'm accustomed to, but nice tasting.

Overall: Pleasing and easy to drink, Eel River Brewing Company Organic IPA is a nice IPA.  At 7.2% ABV the alcohol is extremely well hidden.  Balanced and enjoyable I’m not sure I’d stock this regularly in the beer fridge, but it is something I may pick up from time to time and I would certainly not refuse it.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

Stone Brewing Company Vertical Epic 12.12.12

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Stone Brewing Company Vertical Epic 12.12.12. 

Commercial description: “As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics, and twists and turns as the adventure unfolds. This bottle-conditioned ale is chapter eleven. Now is the time to enjoy it in a “vertical” tasting side by side with its ten Stone Vertical Epic Ale brethren! Each one unique to its year of release. Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plot line. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition. This year’s Stone Vertical Epic Ale is the very last one. Yep, this is it. The final chapter. Or as they say on the last slide in some old films: “Fin.” No worries though: this edition is particularly well-suited for prolonging the experience, as it’s as cellarable as any in the series, or more. In this, the final edition, you can expect a perfectly balance *womp* of spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, sweet orange peel, clove (only a little!) and rosehips, all in the context of a dark Belgian style abbey-ish beer…but not as sweet. Dry even. Stone style. Thanks for coming on this Epic Stone-style journey with us! You can rest assured there will be new adventures to come…” 

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours jet black with a dark brown frothy head and a bit of lacing.

Aroma: Baking spices – cinnamon, clove and allspice mixed wonderfully with Belgian yeast scents, banana, caramel, molasses, toffee and roasted malts.

Taste: Spices hit my taste buds first – cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and clove followed by Belgian yeast and banana.  Citrus hops, chocolate and roasted malts and molasses.

Overall: Complex with excellent balance, Stone Brewing Company Vertical Epic 12.12.12 is amazing.  At 9% ABV this beer is perfect for these colder months and definitely worth picking up.  I plan to buy a few for cellaring purposes.  This one IS epic!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

a little break from beer for...

The Super Bowl!

As a native Bay Area resident I'm very happy for the San Francisco 49ers and their incredible season.  I raise a glass to the NFC Champs and wish them a fantastic game today!


GO '9ERS!

Of course I'll be pouring home brew and various other "NorCal centric" beers, but since the game is being played in New Orleans I may just have to have a couple Abita Brewing Company Andygators on hand.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey