Hayes Bomberpalooza, Part 2

Continuing with the beers from the Hayes Bomberpalooza party....


Beer #4:  G'Knight Imperial Red (8.7% ABV) from Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado

This beer was a big switch from the previous IPA served (Hop Stoopid).  At this point, all beers were beginning to taste the same...like beer.  But then some water was distributed and snacks (cocktail weenies) were passed around and all was well with the world of taste buds in my mouth.

I really didn't get much feedback from the group on this one, but I did overhear one girl say "if I were at a bar and they didn't have a wheat beer, I may be able to drink this."  I should probably say that the same girl who said this was drinking Hoegaarden for most of the evening.  There's nothing wrong with Hoegaarden, I just feel like that helps put her funny quote into perspective for any possible readers who were not present.

Although I am not a big fan of reds, I thought this was a smooth and easy drinking red.  It was creamy but
not slimy.  I'd drink it again for sure.  Rating: 3 of 5.



Beer #5:  Ponderosa IPA (ABV not published) from Prescott Brewing Company in Prescott, Arizona

Ahhhh, finally a local brew.  This beer seemed to get overwhelmingly good reports from all tasters.  That may have something to do with the fact that it was the 5th beverage with at least 7% ABV being served, but maybe not.

The hop factor was quite tame compared to the previous beers and many people commented on how drinkable this beer is.  One taster was happy to discover an Arizona beer he could finally really get behind.

Not being an IPA fan, I'll give this a 3 of 5, but that is likely much lower than what others thought.  I prefer strong unfiltered belgian-styles or white (wit) beer.



Beer #6:  Alesmith IPA (7.25% ABV) from Alesmith Brewing Company in San Diego, California

I love that my dad tried all these crazy beers.

Ok, so I have to admit....by this point, everything is tasting like beer.  The cocktail weenies (P.S. -- they were turkey weenies) and pinwheels helped put some new flavors in my mouth, but there's been a lot of beer passed around in the last hour or so. 

I do remember tasting this beer and thinking that it was mostly unremarkable.  There was really nothing IPA or special about this beer.  It was cold and it certainly wasn't a BAD beer by any means, but it wasn't special.  Again, you could say that at this point we've had so many different flavors that my poor assaulted taste buds have crawled to the back of my throat to hibernate, but who knows if that's true or not.  I suspect it is not because I do remember hearing other people talk about how this beer was overrated (they were reading BeerAdvocate.com or Ratebeer.com off and on) and indistinguishable.

Anyway, once I got my hands (and camera lens) on the bottle, I realized that there actually was something special about this beer. It was unlike any beer I've ever seen before.  I flipped the bottle around to look for the stats of the beer.  HOLY CRAP.  They wrote a damn novel on the back of the bottle.  Most of what they wrote is about how awesome this beer is.  I read it aloud to those who were within earshot and I heard a few groans and audible eyerolls -- yes, audible eyerolling does exist.  Oh yeah, and the best part of the back of the bottle...

Hey Alesmith --- if you're going to put this on your beer, you should make sure it knocks my damn socks off.

Still more to come...

Hayes Bomberpalooza, Part 1

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law hosted a backyard barbeque this past weekend.  Somewhere in the planning stage, my brother-in-law, Pat, decided that this would be a good opportunity to turn it into a beer sampling event.  Good call. Between all the guests, we ended up with somewhere around 16 high-octane beers for sampling with NO duplicates.  Impressive. 

The crowd was very well mixed and drew lots of varying opinions of the brews sampled.  Included in the crowd: a handful of entry level beer nerds like myself (please know I mean that as a compliment since we were all eager to try new beers but also all enjoyed mocking the BeerAdvocate geek posts we referenced during the tasting), a few beer moderates, some Bud Lighters, and some adventurous Midwestern grandparents (my parents).  Please note that the pictures of the beers do not accurately represent the way the beer looks when poured as Pat had a fast and heavy hand (this happens when you're the host - I get it) and was not pouring the beers delicately (to word it nicely).

Because there were so many beers and I was given a strict deadline of Monday morning at 9am to have the blog updated (apparently some people need things to do at work other than work...) , I'll have to break this blog into separate posts.  However, it will be chronological and will mirror the order of the beers consumed.  The comments included for each beer are random and not my own.  I do not know who said what (except in some rare cases) as I was mainly attempting to capture all the various babble as everyone tasted each beer.  Plus, I'll keep this anonymous.


Alright, enough preface.  Here goes..

Beer #1:   Columbus Hops - Single Hop Series (7% ABV) from the Hermitage Brewing Company in San Jose, California

Beer #1

This beer was not labeled or marketed as an IPA but it was definitely an IPA style beer.  It was not bad and it was cheap (ringing up at no more than $3.99) and purchased at BevMo.

"Strong hop start but dies off with virtually no after taste.  It's like no other beer I've had before..."

"Eh....not bad"

"Floral and very flowery taste"

This wasn't a bad beer, but I didn't really consider it a good beer either.  It was just a beer.  It was a tough way to start the beer tasting though.  Overall, it was not a crowd pleaser.







Beer #2:  Citra Hops - Single Hop Series (7% ABV) from the Hermitage Brewing Company in San Jose, California

Beer #2

For some reason, we all read the orange label Citra and expected to be greeted with a CITRUS flavor.  I'm not sure why - it was really an interesting social experiment in marketing.  Needless to say, after the first taste, we were all disappointed and left confused.

"Smells like a brewery..."

"Earthy"

The Husband enjoyed this beer.  I was shocked.  I really couldn't get past the smell of this beer enough to decide if I liked the taste.  I found the smell offensive, disgusting and indescribable.  As such, I didn't like the beer and dumped it over the fence into the park (hope that's OK Pat).


Quick side note - if you are a blog reader - this brewery will be familiar to you.  This is not the first beer we've sampled from Hermitage (also somehow affiliated with Tied House but the relationship is confusing, at best).   I once purchased three of these "Single HOP Series" beers at once.  We sampled one and the review is here.  The previous beer we had was absolutely terrible.  So much so that I e-mailed both the brewery and the store where I purchased the beer to let them know that there was something VERY wrong with the beer.  The brewery promised to send me a gift card but that was 3 months ago and I have yet to receive anything from them other than empty promises.  Go figure.


Beer #3:  Hop Stoopid Ale (8% ABV) from Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California

Beer #3

We switched gears to a more well-known and definitely better brewery.  This beer was quite the change up from our first two beers as I heard many other people remark also.

A majority of the crowd thought this was the best one yet, which isn't really saying much considering the first two beer choices were pretty strange and mediocre.

"Remarkably un-bitter for having 102 IBUs"

I think that I overheard someone remark that this beer had a light basil aroma, but I can't be sure.

Also ringing in at $3.99, this beer was a much better bang for your buck.  I didn't catch anyone dumping this beer out over the fence and into the park.







More to come soon...

What does YOUR dog drink?

This may come as a surprise, but we don't drink a new and exciting beer every single night.  Mainly because we are not millionaires with an endless supply of beer funds.  Maybe someday.  But then I'd probably have to go get a "real" job again instead of part-time environmental consulting, spin instructing and mothering.  Until we magically become independently wealthy and our beer slush fund is overflowing, we will drink LOTS of good beers, sometimes just average beers and plenty of ice cold watery domestics in the pool.

Tonight, we had my mom's homemade lasagna and wine.  I opened a beer (8th Street Ale -- 4.5% ABV -- from Four Peaks in Tempe, Arizona) and enjoyed about half.  But then while I was prepping all the food, I forgot about it.  Then we opened a bottle of wine.  Good wine.  While cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I rediscovered my warm beer.  Rather than try to choke it down (and ruin the good wine) or pour it out, I decided to give it to our puppy dog, Gus.

Yes, he is drinking beer out of an old butter container.   You got a problem with that?

Other than a few sneezes (from the carbonation), he did not give me any feedback but he did empty his bowl.  If I had to guess, I'd say he'd give this beer 3.5 paws up.

Happy Belated 100th Birthday Arizona

It's a rare event when I select a beer with a specific meal in mind, but this beer was somehow one of those.  My folks are in town and because they are possibly one of the five people that read this blog on a regular basis, I thought I'd let them in on the beer blog action. 

It all started when I took my bike in for a tune up and then realized that Whole Foods was right next door to the bike shop.  

DANGER DANGER DANGER.

I am by no means a Whole Foods frequent shopper (I do not own a pair of Crocs, which I am pretty sure is a pre-requisite for being a Whole Foods groupie) but I do love their beer selection and fresh lunch menu options.  So after dropping off my bike I found myself roaming the aisles of Whole Foods.  Low and behold, I ended up picking up a few bombers.  Today I was attracted to beers from the "Official Craft Brewery of the Arizona Centennial."  A bit cheesy?  Absolutely.  But I knew it would a) pair well with all the meat I had prepped to throw on the grill and b) provide a talking point at dinner amongst the grandparents.

Centennial Copper Ale (5.0% ABV) from Sonoran Brewing Company in Scottsdale, Arizona

I pour up a small glass for all the adults and we cheers to our health, jobs, good food, family and green beans.  I didn't get too much feedback but everyone finished their beer.  The "copper" aspect of this beer seemed to present itself only in color and not so much in flavor, although, what does copper taste like anyway?  It was nothing above average which was mostly disappointing because it was dubbed Arizona's official CENTENNIAL beer.  In theory, a beer that only comes along once every 100 years should be out-freaking-standing.  But hey, I'm not ragging on this beer just saying that it was somewhat a let down.

I give this beer a solid 3.5 out of 5.  If it were marketed as a regular beer, it would get higher marks.

Side note:  Apparently I am not alone in my theory. After looking for a bit to see what other beer drinkers think, I came across this review on beeradvocate.com:

"Both beers are refreshing and highly drinkable, yet they're also unexciting, and here's where I draw issue. A Centennial only comes around every 100 years -- why not push the envelope? With outrageous immigration laws, a bat-shit sheriff, public support for a state gun and more, Arizona is known for a lack of restraint or common sense in almost everything we do but beer. Here's hoping the brewers in our next century of statehood get with the crazy."