Tag: Colorado

Beer Review: New Belgium Fat Tire

In the continuing run up to New Belgium’s appearance in Ohio I’m doing a review of their flagship beer, Fat Tire. Like Accumulation and Ranger  New Belgium sent this to me to review and help introduce our readers to their beers. Also like Ranger I previously reviewed this beer while on vacation in North Carolina, where New Belgium will soon be opening a new, second, brewery to compliment their original location in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Named in honor of our co-founder’s bike trip through Europe, Fat Tire Amber Ale marks a turning point in the young electrical engineer’s home brewing. Belgian beers use a far broader palette of ingredients (fruits, spices, esoteric yeast strains) than German or English styles. Together with co-founder Kim Jordan, they traveled around sampling their homebrews to the public. Fat Tire won fans with its sense of balance: toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness. Fat Tire: Pairs well with people.

Continue reading “Beer Review: New Belgium Fat Tire”

Beer Review: New Belgium Ranger IPA

If you haven’t heard then I’m happy to tell you that New Belgium Brewing Company will be coming to Ohio on December 16th, just over a month away. In perpetration for there roll out they kindly hooked me up with some samples. We took a taste of Accumulation last week when the first snows fell and today I’m trying their Ranger IPA. I first reviewed New Belgium’s Ranger IPA last year after bringing a bottle back from North Carolina.

Bring out the hops! This clear amber beauty bursts at the starting gate with an abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. Brewed with pale and dark caramel malts that harmonize the hop flavor from start to finish, Ranger is a sessionable splendor for all you hopinistas. Thank your Beer Ranger!

Continue reading “Beer Review: New Belgium Ranger IPA”

Beer Review: Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

In the beginning of my adventure into stouts I had one of Great Divide’s Oak Aged Yeti bottles and didn’t think too highly of it. With all the other imperial stouts coming out recently I decided to pick up the Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti and give it my thoughts. First off here is Great Divide’s sales pitch:

CHOCOLATE OAK AGED YETI IMPERIAL STOUT is another revered incarnation of our legendary imperial stout. We toned down the hops a bit to allow cocoa nibs to contribute some pleasing bitterness, while vanilla notes from the oak combine with the cocoa to create an aroma and flavor akin to a gourmet chocolate bar. A dash of cayenne keeps things lively, adding just a bit of heat to the finish. Another great Yeti? Hell yes.

Continue reading “Beer Review: Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti”

Beer Review: Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti

So far my excursion into dark beers has been less than stunning especially this week with cans of Guinness Draught and Murphy’s. I expect this beer to radically change all that, at the very least in terms of getting me drunk since this is more than double the ABV of either of those two.

Continue reading “Beer Review: Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti”

Beer Review: Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale

This is the last of the beers that Oskar Blues provided for us to review but keep looking forward to the Ten FIDY review in the next few weeks. So far I’ve really enjoyed everything they’ve made. I had G’Knight (imperial red) a few months back and it’s still my favorite, then Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale is next up, followed by Mama’s Little Yella Pils,  and lastly Oskar Blues’ scotch ale Old Chub. I’m happy to be drinking this red, white, and blue can of Dale’s Pale Ale after having done my civic duty and voted. As always, on to the beer!

Continue reading “Beer Review: Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale”

Beer Review: Oskar Blues Old Chub

Continuing the hookup from Oskar Blues I’m trying their Scotch ale, Old Chub, tonight and tomorrow night will bring my review of Dale’s Pale Ale. This is a strong scotch ale, aka a wee heavy, and like all scotch ales feature lots of malt and almost no hops. This is historically due to the fact that hops don’t grow in Scotland and were expensive to import. Enough of that, onto the beer.

Continue reading “Beer Review: Oskar Blues Old Chub”

Beer Review: Oskar Blues Mamas Little Yella Pils

Here comes the second of the four beers that OB hooked us up with. This is a pilsner, something I don’t think has every been reviewed on this blog before. They’ve gotten a bad rap in the past 15 or so years by us craft beer geeks. Some big brewers decided to brew the living crap out of this beer and to do so in the most cost effective way possible. That has turned out great for their bottom line, but less great for our taste buds. But that’s their fault (and our fault for buying it) it’s not the fault of the style of beer. This is a great, complex, and classic style of beer. One that I’m happy to give some more attention to here.

Continue reading “Beer Review: Oskar Blues Mamas Little Yella Pils”

Beer Review: Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale

Oskar Blues knows how to make an entrance! 50+ events over 2 weeks plus hooking us up with some samples! Oskar Blues was kind enough to hook Josh up and he was kind enough to share, so look forward to reviews of Dales Pale Ale, Mama’s Little Yellow Pils, and Old Chub Scotch Ale. I also previously reviewed G’Knight Imperial Red, which I scored last time I was in Nashville, and I loved it! As far as I know all Oskar Blues beer are available in Cinci now except for Ten FIDY, their stout, which should be here in one or two weeks. Tonight I’m checking out Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale, which I had a few months ago but decided not to give it a full review because it wasn’t available around here. Now that that’s changed let’s get drinking!

Continue reading “Beer Review: Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale”

Beer Review: Stone Enjoy By 11.09.12

This beer (the second of 2 in the series so far) is a very cool idea that hasn’t gotten much attention lately. Most people drink beer whenever they feel like it, some people keep beer for years letting it age, very few people strive to drink beer as fast as possible to experience an ultra fresh brew. That is Stone’s aim with this beer, and it’s predecessor the Enjoy By 9.21.12. They bottled and shipped this beer as fast as they could and once November 9th has come and gone they are taking back all the bottles and tossing them. This ensures that if this beer is consumed, it’s consumed fresh. The concept doesn’t matter much for many kinds of beers, especially my favorite Belgian ales, but when it comes to IPAs and super hoppy double IPAs the fresher the better. Hops lose their aroma and flavor with every day that goes by so Stone aims to make sure you get all the flavor. Now, don’t worry and think that the next IPA you buy is crap because it’s a few weeks old. A strawberry you buy at Kroger is still tasty, just not as rockin’ as one plucked off the vine.

Continue reading “Beer Review: Stone Enjoy By 11.09.12”

Beer Review: Lips of Faith Super IPA

Whenever I find myself in Indiana I always see what New Belgium beers are available, luckily I again found myself in this situation over the weekend. I had heard about the Super IPA being released but little more than that. When I got to Crown Liquor in downtown Indy I started asking what was new and they busted open a box of this for me. Sadly though if you want this you gotta head across the state line to Indiana, I encourage you all to go do that now!

Continue reading “Beer Review: Lips of Faith Super IPA”