REVIEW 101: LAGUNITAS IPA

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Lagunitas Brewing Company

STYLE:  IPA

ABV:  6.2%

PURCHASE:  Six-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $12.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Heady. Even a slow pour got two full inches. A standard one got two and a half. Very good retention.

APPEARANCE:  Caramel-copper tinted body. Transparent but slightly hazy, at least initially. Light bubbling. Off-white, fluffy head. Excellent lacing.

BOUQUET:  Fresh but somewhat underwhelming aroma, balanced quite evenly between floral hops, malted barley, and citrus notes. Pleasing but not particularly assertive. I suppose that could be taken as a positive in some ways.

PALATE:  Entry is soft but followed by a quick ascent of hop bitterness, which plateaus just as quickly and never gets out of control. Carbonation is moderate unless held too long. Malt factor creeps in at the back. Aftertaste remains mainly hoppy but is well complemented by notes of lightly burnt grains and grapefruity citrus. Very smooth and fluid overall.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Established in 1993, Lagunitas was one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the country during the '00s. Now, it's the craft brewery that's no longer really a craft brewery. Why, you may ask? Because Heineken bought a 50% stake on September 8, 2015. According to the Brewers Association, any stake of at least 25% not held by the craft brewery itself, or any comparable entity, renders it no longer a craft brewery.

Hey, every startup wants to expand at some point. No shame in that. But how was the beer? Well, it's not the most complex beer you will drink, but so what? There's beauty in simplicity. 




GRADE:  B+

REVIEW 100: BUD LIGHT

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Anheuser-Busch

STYLE:  Light Lager

ABV:  4.2%

PURCHASE:  Case of 24 12-oz. bottles, $20.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Fluffy two-inch head from a normal pour; a hair under an inch with a slow one. Retention is by no means remarkable but better than you'd expect.

APPEARANCE:  Very pale straw color with a standard white head. Active bubbling. Lacing is MIA. Take away the head and the bubbles, and this could pass for a urine sample.

BOUQUET:  Clean as a whistle. Although to be fair, I haven't smelled a whistle in quite some time.

PALATE:  Has the carbonation of watered-down club soda. EXTREMELY "drinkable"--no wonder so many meatheads and sorostitutes get drunk off this. Light beer can be sneaky like that. As far as taste goes, well, it works. There's not much to say. Generic grains seem to "characterize" the somewhat sweet mouthfeel. Hops are barely noticeable, and only if you have an educated palate. Seltzery and slightly yeasty aftertaste. Hardly tastes like beer, but I give it credit for being agreeable. The best part of my experience tonight was . . . the label! "Always brewed using the choicest hops, best barley, and rice." (Italics are mine.) At least A-B is honest about the adjuncts!

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  In my opinion, the best of the Big Three light beers, by a thread. What an honor.





GRADE:  D

REVIEW 99: HOPFISH IPA

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Flying Fish Brewing Company

STYLE:  IPA

ABV:  6.2%

PURCHASE:  Six-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $11.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Three full inches of suds sat atop this beer after a pour of typical speed. A slower pour didn't yield much less. Outstanding retention.

APPEARANCE:  Transparent, but slightly hazy, copper-colored body with your standard slightly off-white tinted head. Steady bubbling and excellent lacing around the glass.

BOUQUET:  This is a good representative of the English, as opposed to the American, style of IPA, in that it isn't all about the hops. From an aromatic perspective, it's very well balanced with a significant, but modest, malt quotient. Floral overtones are noticeable, and it's a tad fruity, albeit not citrusy like a lot of stateside IPAs.

PALATE:  Very easygoing. Goes down effortlessly. (Yes, I said that with tongue ever so firmly planted in cheek.) Sweet, hoppy entry. Though citrus factors weren't really discernible in the aroma, they were in the palate, albeit only briefly (mid-palate). Maltier finish than most IPAs I've had. This is also one of those IPAs where the hops don't really crescendo; they don't waver much, except perhaps in the far aftertaste, which is also characterized by what I call an "artificial sweetener quality"--and this is where this beer goes wrong, in my opinion.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Bar Rescue's Jon Taffer, in an interview just a few months ago, famously (or infamously) declared that "about 60% of craft beer basically sucks." Crockett counters that "about 60% of craft beer is basically average." Why is that? Well, when you have an explosion in a particular field--in this case, microbreweries--you're inevitably going to wind up with a few elite practitioners. But you're also going to inevitably wind up with a seemingly endless mass of run-of-the-mill entrants, those who fulfill the requirements and specifications of the trade, but not in an eye-popping or award-worthy manner. 

Flying Fish is one such microbrewery. That said, this is one of their better efforts.




GRADE:  B

REVIEW 98: RUSSIAN MESSENGER

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Round Guys Brewing Company

STYLE:  Russian Imperial Stout

ABV:  9.6%

PURCHASE:  Draft (13-oz.), $6.00

SERVING:  Tulip glass. Head from the tap totaled not quite a full inch; on the second beer, it was half that. Retention is only so-so.

APPEARANCE:  Coffee-brown body with tan head. Opaque, as you would imagine. (I can't think of any see-through stouts.) Lacing is both inconsistent and minimal.

BOUQUET:  Very, very strong aroma of coffee and bitter chocolate, with notes of molasses and--seemingly--even licorice. Hits you instantly.

PALATE:  Rich and strong. This beer starts sweet, and then soon transitions to a toasty bitterness that remains for eons. Again, coffee, molasses, and bitter chocolate are the dominant nuances. The finish seems heavier on the coffee, while the aftertaste accentuates the cacao. A touch of malt rounds things out. Though licorice seemed present in the aroma, it doesn't seem detectable palate-wise. Overall, this is a slightly heavy beer with mild carbonation--and only mild if you give it a chance to assert itself.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Russian imperial stouts aren't Russian. If you're new to craft beer, then I bet you didn't know that. No, they're actually English in origin. The first was crafted in Britain in the eighteenth century specifically for export to Russia, in an attempt to find favor with empress Catherine II, also known throughout history as "Catherine the Great." That's her pictured below. Yeah, she looks like a stout drinker.

This particular specimen, however, derives from Round Guys Brewing Company, another young American microbrew situated in the greater Philadelphia area (Lansdale, in Montgomery County). Whatever its geographical birthplace, these beers aren't for everybody. "Death syrup" is how one associate of mine described this--but he's a Coors Light drinker. 

On the other hand, if you're a stout enthusiast, as I am, this will impress you. It lacks the ideal balance of a truly world-class imperial stout, but it's not that far off. 




GRADE:  B+

REVIEW 97: DEAD GUY ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Rogue Ales

STYLE:  Maibock

ABV:  6.5%

PURCHASE:  Six-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $14.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. A solid head of roughly two and a half inches came about from a standard 20-second pour. A slow pour cut that in half and then some (roughly an inch). Very good retention.

APPEARANCE:  Rusty-caramel tinted body with a dense, foamy, off-white head. Translucent and radiant with slight bubbling. Scattered lacing.

BOUQUET:  Freshly pressed malt at the forefront, with whiffs of caramel and hops rounding out the lion's share of the overall aroma. Subtle spices are detectable. Pleasant and not overly conspicuous.

PALATE:  Medium body with moderate carbonation. Starts with an almost immediate set-in of malt richness seemingly intertwined with caramel semi-sweetness. (I should be a poet.) Hoppy overtones become more pronounced at mid-palate. Seamless transition to the finish and a slightly peppery aftertaste that features a "last stand" of caramel notes. Excellent balance of graininess, bitterness, and spice; wisely avoids the pitfall of what I call "too much complexity for its own good."

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Many many moons ago, when I was but a wee bit, fledgling beer reviewer for a private message board in a cyberspace far, far away, I encountered Dead Guy Ale, and was introduced to Rogue Ales, a brewery that is quite possibly on the short list of best in the country. I was immediately smitten. 

The reunion between Crockett and his first Rogue was undertaken minus the rookie reviewer naivete, but reaffirmed the initial findings (more or less). This is one of the greatest examples of American microbrewing prowess out there.




GRADE:  A+

REVIEW 96: PROHIBITION ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

STYLE:  Amber Ale

ABV:  6.1%

PURCHASE:  Six-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $14.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. A standard pour yielded a solid, dense inch-and-a-half head. A slower pour actually got a little more. Great retention.

APPEARANCE:  Translucent dark copper body, with a rubyish slant to it when held to light, and with a beige head that walks the line between sudsy and spongy. Consistent lacing around the glass. Slight bubbling if you look closely. An uneven body of fog remains suspended, just underneath the head, for several minutes after pouring.

BOUQUET:  A complex but well-meshed blend of expected beer notes, such as malt and hops, and dark fruit and dessert-like notes, such as fig, plum, fudge, caramel, and toffee. Simply outstanding; one of the best aromas I've ever come across in a beer not brewed in Belgium. The nose leans more toward malt than hops . . . 

PALATE:  . . . but it's the opposite with the taste. The medium to slightly heavy body features a hop presence early on, but remains in check, through the figgy and plum-like mid-palate, until the finish, where it asserts itself as the main attraction. The aftertaste is equal parts piney, toasty, and tea-leavey, while maintaining a significant hop bitterness. The dessert notes of the aroma are curiously absent here; could be psychology at play. Carbonation is subtle. On the whole, this has a taste profile that borders upon APA territory; on second thought, that shouldn't be too surprising, since amber ales are consensually part of the pale-ale category.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  This is one of those beers that immediately wowed me the first time I had it, back in 2007 in San Francisco, where it is brewed by Speakeasy Ales & Lagers. Now that I've had several more years of exposure to the craft beer world, I can more accurately rank it as a remarkable but not truly elite brew. 

Is it odd that a brewery named "Speakeasy" is not located in Chicago or New York instead?




GRADE:  A-

This picture was taken as the fog in the
upper center region of the beer was fading.

REVIEW 95: VICTORIA

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Mexico

BREWERY:  Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V.

STYLE:  Vienna Lager

ABV:  4.0%

PURCHASE:  Case of 24 12-oz. bottles, $32.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Regular pour gets a standard one-inch head; a faster pour doesn't get much more. Doesn't matter: Either way, the head is gone within a minute.

APPEARANCE:  See-through amber body with your usual off-white head--while there is a head, anyway. Steady bubbling. No lacing.

BOUQUET:  Toasty, but generic. A whiff of wheat and a touch of hops complement the more prominent notes of malted barley. Not particularly complex.

PALATE:  Very easygoing with light carbonation. Fairly "straight-through" taste consisting mainly of biscuity grain and sweet malt. Very, very little in the way of hops or anything else. Relatively dry and yeasty finish with a brief aftertaste consistent with what came before it. Complexity doesn't seem to be a hallmark of the folks from Modelo.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Eh. Mexican Budweiser? Nah. Wrong style. This is a Vienna lager. Sam is a more direct comparison.

Needless to say, this ain't Sam.




GRADE:  C-

REVIEW 94: AMSTEL LIGHT

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Netherlands

BREWERY:  Amstel Brouwerij B.V.

STYLE:  Light Lager

ABV:  3.5%

PURCHASE:  Case of 24 12-oz. bottles, $30.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. You get an inch and change of head with a pour of usual speed; a little less with a slower one. Either way, it vanishes fast.

APPEARANCE:  Your everyday straw-colored, see-through body with your everyday white head--when there is one. Steady post-pour bubbling action. Lacing, like head retention, is a joke here.

BOUQUET:  Generic grain and a slight, slight sweet touch of hops. Fairly clean otherwise.

PALATE:  Very easy to drink; that much is no surprise. A fair amount of carbonation in each sip. Very faint traces of the standard beer ingredients--banal malt and hops--in an otherwise unexciting taste profile. Slightly yeasty finish. A bit watery on the whole, and too "clean" for its own good; in other words, it's a light beer. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  European light beers are typically lower in alcohol than their American counterparts, and Amstel, at 3.5%, is no exception. But that doesn't make them any better. The taste is more or less the same: Adjunct- or grain-infused water.

That doesn't mean it tastes bad. Doesn't mean it won't go well with a bowl of chips during the game. But actual water can do that.



GRADE:  D

REVIEW 93: LINDEMANS FRAMBOISE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Belgium

BREWERY:  Brouwerij Lindemans

STYLE:  Lambic--Fruit

ABV:  2.5%

PURCHASE:  Draught (8-oz.), $9.00

SERVING:  Lindemans branded lambic flute. Small head from the tap, especially considering the narrow mouth of the glass; not even half an inch. Immediately fizzes down to nothing like the Wicked Witch of the West.

APPEARANCE:  A raspberry-cranberry color with a pinkish-white head (while it's there). Very opaque with no visible bubbling. No lacing; just the occasional sud.

BOUQUET:  Seems to hint at sour cherries at first, like a kriek, but immediately gives way to the more dominant essences of raspberry. ("Framboise" is the French term for raspberry.) The aroma seems to feature other berries, though they are not particularly discernible; cranberry seems like a good bet, blueberry and blackberry are possibilities. Very little in the way of malted grain, and no detectable hop presence. I picked up a trace of grape- or appleskin.

PALATE:  Very sweet, but with an even dose of sour. Though raspberry is clearly the dominant factor, other berries again seem evident; they may not actually be involved in the brewing process, but they seem present on the palate. Light-moderate body with carbonation that is overshadowed by the tart taste. Slightly syrupy finish, with a somewhat yeasty aftertaste that retains the raspberry character.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  I'm admittedly a novice with lambics, as I have only had maybe one or two in my entire life prior to this review. So I'm kind of winging it here.

Lambics aren't "beer-like" in the traditional sense. There are barely enough beer-like qualities--namely, yeast and very subtle malt--in them. (I considered flunking this along the same lines of Not Your Father's Root Beer--that it just doesn't taste enough like beer--but ultimately decided against it.) The question is, Why would anyone drink this? I would imagine it makes a good dessert beer. I also can see it as a substitute for a mimosa at a Sunday brunch. But I can't imagine anyone downing a few of these at a ballgame or a frat-house. They're just too sweet and tart for that.

That's not to say they don't--or more specifically, this one doesn't--have an amiable taste. It does. But it almost seems more suited to be an additive, a complementary part, an accent, more than it does a stand-alone offering.




GRADE:  C

The former Wicked Witch of the West. 

REVIEW 92: SWEETWATER 420 EXTRA PALE ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Sweetwater Brewing Company

STYLE:  APA

ABV:  5.4%

PURCHASE:  Draught (60-oz. pitcher), $12.00

SERVING:  Said pitcher, poured into chilled pint glass. Typical one-inch head from the tap to the pitcher. Standard pour from pitcher into the glass yielded just about the same. A slower pour produced about half that. Middle-of-the-road retention.

APPEARANCE:  Transparent, light copper-rust body with an off-white sudsy head. Light bubbling and quite decent lacing.

BOUQUET:  Essentially a tri-fold aroma of hops, pressed grains, and citrus. Although, a bit of caramel sneaks in there.

PALATE:  It's a pale ale, so you know what's front and center here. Moderate body with slightly cutting carbonation. Could stand to be more balanced. It's not that the hops are out of control; it's just that there's not much to counteract them, save for maybe a dash of generic citrus. Sweet finish and aftertaste, befitting the name of the brewery. So sweet, in fact, that it seemed almost artificial to me. Do they use NutriSweet in the brewing process?

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  Poor man's Sierra Nevada, if that. A tad better than average, but not awe-inspiring. 

Guess what? You know how this is called "420 Extra Pale Ale" and has the I-420* logo? Think that's what this is named after? NOPE. It's really named after the other 420. 4-20. That 4-20**.




GRADE:  C+

*I-420 was a proposed, but ultimately scrapped, auxiliary interstate in the metro Altanta area, during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

**Okay, okay--not in that context. It had nothing to do with weed. But it was first brewed on that date!