Caldera Brewing Company Rauch Ür Bock Smoked Lager

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Caldera Brewing Company Rauch Ür Bock Smoked Lager.

From the Caldera Brewing Company website: “Caldera’s Rauch Ür Bock is a German-style lager billowing with intense cherry and beachwood smoke flavors. We used two different smoked grains in this lager, one cured with cherrywood and the other cured with beachwood. Warning, this beer has an intense smoked flavor.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a dark amber color with a tan head and great lacing.

Aroma: Overall the nose is very smoky, smoked wood and an aroma that reminds me of smoked meat – bacon or sausage and grainy malts.

Taste: Caramel, biscuity and roasted malts, burnt cherry wood, smoky and touch of dark fruits.

Overall: Nicely balanced, Caldera Brewing Company Rauch Ür Bock Smoked Lager is smoky and sweet.  This 7.4% ABV is an excellent representation of the style.  Not as smoky as some I’ve tried which is probably why I liked it.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Clown Shoes Beer Galactica IPA

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Clown Shoes Beer Galactica IPA.

From the Clown Shoes Beer website: “Galactica, a hop staff wielding heroine, patrols in karate kick mode through the heavens. Dry hopped with Galaxy hops, a clean malt backbone enhances the dank and luscious IPA flavors.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance:  Pours a hazy orange with an off-white head and solid lacing.

Aroma: Tropical and citrus hop scents, caramel, bready and roasted malts.

Taste: Citrus and tropical hop flavors, sweet caramel, toffee and bready malts.

Overall: Sweet yet balanced, Clown Shoes Beer Galactica IPA is good.  This 8% ABV offering is yet another solid offering from Clown Shoes Beer.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Missoula Brewing Company Highlander Beer - Scottish Red Ale brewed by Great Northern Brewing Company

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Missoula Brewing Company Highlander Beer - Scottish Red Ale brewed by Great Northern Brewing Company.

From the Missoula Brewing Company website: “The Missoula Brewing Company is working in partnership with the Great Northern Brewing Co. in Whitefish, Montana to brew a fine Scottish Red Ale for the 21st Century. It is designed to be a fine craft beer, using the very best of ingredients. The recipe was crafted with great care and the ale has proved to be remarkably tasty. We find it to be smooth, well balanced and very flavorful and trust that upon your first taste, you will agree.

Lift a glass and enjoy a Highlander Beer at your local restaurant or pub. And, you will find the Highlander 22 ounce bottles very convenient to grab for a beverage back at the house.

The Missoula Brewing Company is all about reviving the history and tradition of a remarkable company that at one time, brewed one of the most prominent beers throughout the Montana region. Although our efforts and marketing are modern, everything is designed to respect the great tradition embodied in the Highlander Beer brand.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance:  Pours a dark reddish brown with an off-white head and soapy lacing.

Aroma: Biscuit, toasted and caramel malts with a touch of fruit and earth.

Taste: Sweet malts – caramel, toasted and biscuit, brown sugar and a touch of molasses, nutty, fruity and a slight hop bitterness.

Overall: Malt forward and delicious, Missoula Brewing Company Highlander Beer - Scottish Red Ale brewed by Great Northern Brewing Company is good.  At 4.6% ABV it was easy to polish off a 22 ounce bottle and I wish I had another. 

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Drake’s Brewing Company Headzo 25th Anniversary Beer

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Drake’s Brewing Company Headzo 25th Anniversary Beer, an American Strong Ale aged in Wild Turkey whiskey barrels.

I picked up two bottles at the Drake's Barrel House (here) before the anniversary festivities began.  I wish I could have stayed for the main event, but I had previous plans so I just cruised in for my two bottle allotment and headed home.

Commercial description: “For our 25th anniversary beer, we knew we had to brew something, big, bold, delicious and maybe just a little crazy. Headzo American Ale is just that. A truly massive amount of English malts lend flavors of caramel and biscuit to our biggest brew yet. Then, through fermentation our brewers nursed Headzo to a 18% ALC/VOL before transferring the beer to Wild Turkey Whiskey barrels that infused flavors of caramel and vanilla to this smooth, monstrous beer. From our smallest brews to this behemoth, thanks for drinking different for 25 years.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours clear gold (almost looks like apple juice) with nearly zero head and some light lacing.

Aroma: Vanilla, caramel, honey, bourbon…very sweet with a touch of oak in the nose.

Taste: Sweet caramel, honey, bourbon, coconut, vanilla and oak.

Overall: Sweet, giant and so easy to drink, Drake’s Brewing Company Headzo 25th Anniversary Beer is simply amazing.  This 18% ABV monster did not drink that big and I finished the 500 ml bottle and wanted more.  Glad I bought two bottles, but wish I had more as it will be hard to cellar the second bottle.  All weekend long it called to me, but I am going to hang onto to it.  I’m hoping to source a couple more bottles so I can enjoy another bottle of this one now.  This is everything I like about barrel aged beers from one of my favorite breweries.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Coronado Brewing Company Sock Knocker Imperial IPA

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Coronado Brewing Company Sock Knocker Imperial IPA.

Commercial description: “Coronado Brewing Company’s bold and fruity Sock Knocker Imperial IPA launches this May as part of the company’s Brewer’s Series. This seasonal series features beer produced in partnership with fellow brewers, and in Sock Knocker’s case, small-batch brews. Sock Knocker pours golden orange, with a hoppy, citrus flavor that lingers well into the finish. Amarillo, Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe hops unite to create an immensely floral, botanical nose and a veritable explosion of citrus and pine on the palate. With an even more obscene hop overload than Coronado’s infamous Idiot IPA, Sock Knocker is an India Pale Ale truly deserving of its imperial crown.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a golden copper color with a large slightly off-white head and good lacing.

Aroma: Floral and pine and a touch of citrus mixed with bready and biscuity malts.

Taste: Bready upfront, somewhat malt forward with hints of caramel, biscuit and toffee followed by citrus and pine hop flavors.

Overall: I nice DIPA, Coronado Brewing Company Sock Knocker Imperial IPA is delicious.  This 8.5% ABV offering is yet another solid effort from Coronado Brewing Company.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Castle Brewery Eggenberg Samichlaus Classic Bier Dopplebock

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Castle Brewery Eggenberg Samichlaus Classic Bier Dopplebock - bottled in 2006.

From the Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg website: “Only once a year on December 6th brewed this stout is internationally the best known beer from our brewery, with a large following among the growing number of beer-connoisseurs. The very elaborate and long-lasting manufacturing process (10 months in the storage cellar), it makes it a real rarity. Santa Claus may be many years in bottle, older vintages become more complex and receive their creamy warm aftertaste. The proof: The 2004 vintage was at the World Beer Cup 2012 Goldmedailliengewinner in the category "aged beers".

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours reddish brown with a very thin tan head and nice lacing.

Aroma: Dark fruits, caramel and bready malts, toffee, chocolate and vanilla.

Taste: Sweet caramel, figs, dates, raisins, vanilla, chocolate, toffee and a certain brandy or red wine flavor that I can’t quite make out.

Overall: Sweet, syrupy and delicious, this 2006 version of Castle Brewery Eggenberg Samichlaus Classic Bier Dopplebock was fantastic.  This 14% ABV beer was very drinkable and the alcohol wasn’t very noticeable.  Really happy I got to drink this one and I’ll be on the lookout for future versions for cellaring.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Crux Fermentation Project Off Leash Northwest Session Ale

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Crux Fermentation Project Off Leash Northwest Session Ale.

From the Crux Fermentation Project website: “Debuted at an event that crowned our hometown, “Dog Town USA,” this light-hearted ale bounds with regional Citra, Centennial and Crystal hops for those citrusy notes beloved by Northwest hop hounds. We’ve nudged the malt bill in the other direction, for a sessionable ale that’s easy to love.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a white head and tons of lacing.

Aroma: Citrus and pine hops, biscuit and caramel malts.

Taste: Follows the nose, citrus hops up front, pale and caramel malts and a nice pine hop finish.

Overall: Crisp and clean, Crux Fermentation Project Off Leash Northwest Session Ale is enjoyable.  This 4.5% ABV offering is extremely sessionable and delicious.  Well done session ale!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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GoodLife Brewing Company Descender IPA

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

Tonight’s featured beer is GoodLife Brewing Company Descender IPA.

From the GoodLife Brewing Company website: “The descent from the top of the mountain to the bottom should be exhilarating. Whether it's a gradual descent or a screaming race that gets you to the bottom, this beer is created to help you enjoy the experience.

Life is loaded with peaks and valleys, where we associate the valleys with the reward post ascending the peak. Like the flow of the stream slows in the valley, put the cell phone away, sit back and relax with this IPA, and enjoy the journey.

This beer is a hop lover’s dream that has balance you will appreciate. We created it for you so you can take time out from the rigors of life and descend to a valley full of hops – sounds good, no, great!”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a hazy caramel color with a large slightly off-white head and tons of lacing.

Aroma: Pine, citrus and tropical hop aromas with a bready malts in the nose as well.

Taste: Juicy citrus (orange mainly), pine and tropical hop bitterness balanced nicely with biscuit and sweet malts.

Overall: Crisp and clean, GoodLife Brewing Company Descender IPA is an excellent Pacific Northwest IPA. At 7% ABV I found this offering smooth, delicious and absolutely worth picking up.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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Grand Teton Brewing Company Howling Wolf Weisse Bier

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

Tonight’s featured beer is Grand Teton Brewing Company Howling Wolf Weisse Bier.

From the Grand Teton Brewing Company website: “Howling Wolf Weisse Bier is an unfiltered Bavarian-style Hefeweizen. Brewed with a hearty amount of wheat, this Weissbier pours a light clouded golden color with a generous head. Gently hopped to balance the malt sweetness, Howling Wolf’s flavors and aromas are subtle with a hint of fruit and spice. At 5% alcohol by volume, this light-bodied ale is a refreshing session beer for any time of year.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a golden honey color with a white head and light lacing.

Aroma: Banana, clove, wheat, light grains and citrus.

Taste: Banana, wheat, bready malts, coriander, citrus and light clove.

Overall: Light and refreshing, Grand Teton Brewing Company Howling Wolf Weisse Bier is tasty.  This 5% ABV offering is easy drinking and a fine example for the style.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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