alibi room

oh alibi room!
why do you have so many more beers than i can drink in a night?

i began with a cask last night
central city’s red racer dry-hopped with simcoe
and it was fantastic
could have been a little more carbonated
but otherwise a stellar ipa!

next up i decided to double my hops pleasure
with the lost coast limited release double trouble ipa
and holy hops batman, was it ever a citrusy bitter little number
delicious!

why i didn’t just have small pours of the above two, i don’t know
but there were still too many beers i wanted to try on the menu that i had to go with a frat bat!

from left to right:
conrad’s marris otter cascade hopped session ale
tofino hop cretin ipa
tariq’s wrath of khan ipa
red truck cherry lemonade cask

loved the first three, did not at all care for the cherry lemonade
at 3.8% i can see drinking the session ale on a summer patio for hours!
and the other two?  gosh darnit, i love me an ipa
colour me happy!

brewers association top 50

best breweries in america!
the top 50 named by the brewers association
very happy to see so many of my faves on the list!!

Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies

(Based on 2010 beer sales volume)

1. Boston Beer Co. Boston MA

2 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA

3 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO

4 Spoetzl Brewery* Shiner TX

5 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR

6 Independent Brewers United (IBU)* Burlington VT

7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY

8 Bell’s Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI

9 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA

10 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO

11 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE

12 Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co. Juneau AK

13 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT

14 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA

15 Abita Brewing Co. Abita Springs LA

16 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY

17 Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA

18 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR

19 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME

20 Summit Brewing Co. St. Paul MN

21 New Glarus Brewing Co. New Glarus WI

22 Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland OH

23 Anchor Brewing Co. San Francisco CA

24 Kona Brewery LLC* Kailua-Kona HI

25 Rogue Ales Newport OR

26 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA

27 Sweetwater Brewing Co. Atlanta GA

28 Flying Dog Brewery Frederick MD

29 Victory Brewing Co. Downingtown PA

30 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. San Jose CA

31 BJ’s Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc. Huntington Beach CA

32 Stevens Point Brewery Co. Stevens Point WI

33 Odell Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO

34 BridgePort Brewing Co.* Portland OR

35 Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants Louisville CO

36 Oskar Blues Brewery Longmont CO

37 Blue Point Brewing Co. Patchogue NY

38 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA

39 Big Sky Brewing Co. Missoula MT

40 North Coast Brewing Co. Inc. Fort Bragg CA

41 Mac and Jack’s Brewery Redmond WA

42 The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc. Maplewood MO

43 Bear Republic Brewing Co. Cloverdale CA

44 Karl Strauss Brewing Co. San Diego CA

45 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO

46 Utah Brewers Cooperative Salt Lake City UT

47 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants Chattanooga TN

48 Saint Arnold Brewing Co. Houston TX

49 Real Ale Brewing Co. Blanco TX

50 Ninkasi Brewing Co. Eugene OR

tasting notes

march 2, 2011
beernesday
st. augustine’s

i have been having fun making up samplers for some of my friends
they say “what should i have?” and i get to play dictator!
it works for me, and so far they say i haven’t yet steered them wrong
so it appears to be making everyone happy!

for stacy i put together:
howe sound rockfish red ale
lost coast raspberry brown ale
driftwood farmhand ale
lighthouse rip tide pale ale

she said it was so good jackie decided to have it too
and i put a second sampler together for stacy:
howe sound high tide hemp and honey ale
howe sound rockfish red ale (she insisted on having this again!)
upright brewing seven
lost coast great white
and she liked all of those as well
woot – i rock!

my sampler was:
tree brewing double hop head ipa
st a’s says: 8% loaded with five different hop varieties, this bold imperial ipa is not for the faint of heart
i say: i really like it

deschutes mirror pond pale ale
st a’s says:  5% the quintessential american pale ale, mirror pond elegantly blends the sweetness of malted barley with the bit of hops
i say:  lovely as usual!  less hoppy than the others in my sampler (duh, its a pale ale not an ipa) but it sure can hold its own

crannog ales insurrection ipa
st a’s says: 5.4%  100% organic.  pale amber malt body emphasizes, with enough sweeness to hold up the rather large volumes of fresh hops
i say:  pretty good, how good oscillates wildly depending on what i drink before it

howe sound pothole filler imperial stout
st a’s says:  9%  this beer is a strong, inky dark ale, brewed with 6 malts and blackstrap molasses.  it is a thick beer, with an intense roasted barley flavour, with notes of chocolate and licorice
i say:  i think i got the wrong beer – my sheet said it was the right one, but there’s no way the light brown beer is the pothole filler.  i wish i knew which beer i got instead though, cuz its lovely!

after my sampler i moved along to the howe sound total eclipse of the hops and the dead frog citra ipa

tasting notes

from beernesdays all the way back in january when i was on the wagon
quotes and bons mots from those who were imbibing:

amanda:
on the rogue mogul madness:  i taste the hops and only the hops, maybe in another year [i will appreciate it]
on the lost coast raspberry brown ale:  of course i love it – very berry raspberry, not so chocolate
on lagunitas brown shugga:  uggh
on storm highland cream ale:  love, love, love, so creamy, so nutty, not so dark but yum and caramel finish
on hopworks 7 grain stout:  strong, hello america! yum, espresso taste that is so good!  can taste the 7 grains, not sure what they are, but good!  like having a shot of espresso with a shot of alcohol
on moylans’ irish stout:  low hops, defs malty, roasty & rich 4 sure, not chocolately or coffee flav like most.  delish

bridget:
on the crannog backhand of god:  makes the day bearable

gwen:
on russell’s black death porter:  mediocre, wouldn’t pint it
on north coast old rasputin:  mediocre, wouldn’t pint it
on hopworks 7 grain stout:  favourite, had a pint
on central city red racer oatmeal stout:  mediocre, wouldn’t pint it
in general:  unamused by the stouts today

ipa off

at beernesday last week i decided to begin my evening with a pint of the howe sound gathering storm
it seemed appropriate since i’d had the keg at the alibi, the cask at the railway…
why not the keg at st. augustine’s?
and i would have had the cask again at winterfest, but it was acting up by the time i got around to it
darned dry hops getting in the spout!
i do like this brew and suggest that if you get a chance to try it before its all gone that you do so!

after that, i was at a loss of what to try next
then i saw that there were 8 ipas on the menu
there are 4 glasses in a taster
by this point i was still able to do good math and figured out that if i had two samplers
i could fit all the ipas into a head to head ipa off!
to be fair, i went with the first four on the menu
then the second four on the menu
saving a sip or two from the winner of round 1 to go against the winner of round 2
however, that’s where the science stopped and the subjectivity fully took over!

round one:
lost coast indica ipa
swans extra ipa
hopworks ipa
russell ip’eh

round two:
tree hop head ipa
central city red racer ipa
driftwood fat tug ipa
storm hurricane ipa

the indica is nicely balanced but still hoppy enough for me to love
next to the resinous and hoptasticness of the swans and hopworks though it faded a little away
and the poor russell was nowhere to be found
boy oh boy, i do love me the resinous hops, and lots of them
winner of round one, the hopworks!

the hop head is hoppy and yes, full-bodied
however, not the hop star that the central city is
how can anything go up against the red racer and come out ahead on hoppiness?
the fat tug came out a little sorry next to the red racer
and the further i got into it the more the melon notes came out for me
unfortunately that is not a good thing in my book
the storm is a lovely brew, but again, next to the uber-hoppiness of some of the others it tasted more like a pilsner
don’t get me wrong, i love a pilsner, but this was an ipa off
winner of round two, the red racer!

then i put the red racer and hopworks against each other
and i think my poor taste buds were completely fried by that point
i just couldn’t find a winner out of the two
i declare a tie!

now, nothing said above should in any way be considered as me saying i don’t like any of the ipas tasted
i like them all
and if i’m just drinking one of them in seclusion from the others am always very, very happy with them
i just like to put them head to head sometimes and see where they all land!
subjectivity at its best!

tasting notes

okay, so i’m just gonna admit it right from the top of the post
i got pretty darned drunk at beernesday this past week
not that i don’t usually get somewhat drunk, but this was a bit beyond the norm
people were doing beer shots from the divet of my clavicle… it was one of those kinda nights

so, my tasting notes are even worse than usual
but let me give you what little i can!

began and ended with a pint of the rogue dry hopped st. rogue red:  5.2% named the world’s best pale ale at the world beer awards.  reddish copper in colour, a roasty malty flavor, with a hoppy-spruce finish.
i love this beer!
it makes me happy – must be all them hops
i can see why its the world’s best ale
its a maltier darker ipa… divine, simply divine

my sampler was supposed to be an ode to hops in various styles
but it ended up being rather disappointing…
paddock wood 606 pale ale:  5.4%  featuring a blend of cascade, amarillo and willamette hops on top of a solid malt base.  the finish is balanced with rich, aromatic hop profile
eel river brewing organic india pale ale:  7%  brewed with the finest organic malts and hops, this ipa features a bright-minted copper color and a crisp, yet smooth hop bitterness
longwood brewpub extra special bitter:  6%  a deep copper coloured, malty ale, moderately hopped
howe sound boomer’s canadian red ale:  5%  a strong, malty red ale with aromatic cascade hop nose

i loved the paddock pale ale – great hop balance and lovely flavour.  my favourite of the sampler.. a pale ale over an esb and an ipa?  who’d a thunk it?  but why not, all my favourite hops were well represented and made themselves known.  i’d drink this beer again, and often!
the eel river?  my notes read “i hope to fuck this beer has gone off cuz its fucking awful”.  so there you have it.
the longwood esb was very malty.  definitely very light on the hops.  “not that bad, but really not the esbs i’ve fallen in love with.  just too malty for me”.  so if you’re buying, i won’t turn it down, but i’m not gonna buy it for myself!
the howe sound promised me aromatic cascade hops.  i didn’t find them.  which i found disappointing. boo hoo hoo.

katy tried the lost coast great white:  “drinkable but not so hoppy.  not my favourite.  on a hot summer day i would love it”
and the vancouver island hermann’s dark lager:  “dark and creamy and warmy”

i tried a sip of the cannery blackberry porter – and found it fruity as hell without being sweet, so i’m a fan!

as for bottles, i sampled the moylans hopsickle triple hoppy imperial ipa: 9.2%  this is a “hop” tribute, worthy of a king’s imperial court!  enjoy the blast of fresh tomahawk, cascade and centennial hops as they stimulate the taste buds in a truly imperial fashion.  pucker up!
fabulous – delicious – wonderfully hoppy!
but i wanna know, is it the tomahawk hops or just that there are three times as much hops in general that is giving it that extra boost of hops flavour over the regular three c’s?

moylans dragoons dry irish stout:  8%  dry, roasty and incredibly rich in flavour.  dragoons dry irish stout is made with a unique blend of imported hops and malted barley from the uk.  this award winning stout is brewed in the irish tradition to commemorate gen. stephen moylan, irish-born commander of the 4th continental dragoons during the american revolutionary war
appropriate drink for the night before remembrance day??
yes very dry and roasty and flavourful
delicious little stout!

ballast point big eye ipa:  7%  one of the very best big, hoppy west coast ipas.
my notes:  “oh yes, now that’s a lovely bunch of hops. xoxoxo”
apparently i liked it, i really liked it!
good thing there’s a bottle in the beer fridge!

and then pints of driftwood’s fat tug ipa and hopworks ipa
my notes simply give them three hearts
i was past note taking by that point
yay me!

lost coast indica ipa

i had been to uva on seymour street a couple of times shortly after bit opened with my foodie wine drinking friends, but must admit i hadn’t been there recently until friday night
we were on granville street after an early show at venue, just as the canucks game let out
we wanted another drink before calling it a night
but weren’t looking to get swept up in the post-hockey mayhem
uva seemed a solid choice
i recalled the tapas were tasty, and reasonably priced for such a fancy place
i loved their sunday evening tapas and champagne deals in particular…
anyway, we had yummy tapas (the risotto balls are especially good for the soul)
and i was impressed by their beer list!

the beer list is about half belgians
then lots of the usual classier imports
and there, right at the bottom, are two lost coast choices!
i recalled having the indica ipa at st. augustine’s from a keg, and liking it
so figured i’d probably like it in a bottle too
and i did!!

lovely citrus hop nose
strong hoppy taste without being overly bitter
this one’s a keeper!

however… i am troubled to learn that originally the label had an illustration of lord ganesha on it that upset the hindu community.  apparently bowing to the pressure, i have found several accounts that state lost coast removed the image of ganesha from the label back in 2009
(for example, from beergoddess:  “A cartoonesque image of Lord Ganesh is on the bottle. Ganesh or Ganapati (translated as the King of sets) is the elephant headed son of Lord Shiva and is widely worshipped by the Hindus.  Owing to stringent protests, the company has removed the image of Lord Ganesha from the beer bottle and its website and extended apology, in July of 2009.”


however, they didn’t remove it so much as change it to be a less authentic representation of the indian god.
from complaints board comes this explanation, allegedly from one of the owners of lost coast:


“I have answered this question numerous times over the past few years dating back to around 2005. Each and every answer is independently created with zero replication. I do this in order to costume tailor the responses to the situation and question. This allows me to have absolute context into the question and demonstrate consideration towards resolve.

When the brewery created the art work and attained all government approvals, our intent was solely to create mindset around the image of the country of India as that is where of course the India Pale Ale initiated from. Use of the Ganesha was never intended to mock any religion but to draw recognition factor from an icon to the Indian country.

However somewhere around five years ago there was a groundswell of concern from the Hindu community which nearly triggered a lawsuit. Even though no state or federal court would hear the case (bases mostly on the freedom of expression doctrine) we (the owner group and myself) felt that it was in everyone’s best interest that we strike a compromise, resolving to minimize the “visual” marketing elements of the graphics associated with this package in question.

This “compromise” being the goal; objectives were set in place. The first and foremost objective was the elimination of all media-driven images of the Indica art especially associated with our web site store. We discounted the image-projection and associated marketing of the Indica brand’s merchandise (shirts, posters, etc) as a means of icon distribution reduction and image transmission.

The second objective was to change some subtle elements of the artwork itself so that the image was less iconic towards that of Genesha’s image. We did this by eliminating two arms and the tattoo-mark on the forehead.

This brewery and myself felt that we acted in good-faith and responsible to the interests of the Hindu community as well as the fans and business partners associated with the Indica IPA branded product. Your concerns and comments have not fallen on deaf ears. We as a brewery have and will continue to act in good faith towards all communities’ needs and interests.

Please feel welcome to comment back. I do appreciate hearing from you.

Sincere and best wishes, 

Briar Bush
GM/Sales Director
Lost Coast Brewery
Eureka, California
Brewery Office: (707) 445 4484″

tasting notes

at st. augustine’s on beernesday, i tried the following beers:

sampler:
central city brewing red racer pumpkin ale:  5%  a lightly spiced pale ale layered with roasted pumpkin
lost coast brewery raspberry brown ale:  6.5%  lost coast’s award winning downtown brown ale, with its rich chocolate malt flavour, is enhanced with an infusion of real raspberries
upright brewing six:  6.7%  a dark rye beer with layered flavors including chocolate, caramel, pepper, wood, cherry and tropical fruit.  it starts semi-dry and smooth and finishes fully dry and tart with a bite from the hops
storm brewing scottish highland cream ale:  5%  this creamy, nutty, malty, dark ale is true to its scottish origins and is caramelized as the kettle is being filled

i wanted to try the crannog ales 10th anniversary fresh-hopped ipa, but they were out of it…

bottles:
cannery brewing wildfire ipa:  6%  intensely dark and smooth.  this balck ipa has complex hops that rage through to the finish
phillips brewing grow-hop:  5%  newly plucked chinook hops are added rather than dry hops, resulting not only in hoppy bitterness, but also strong melon flavours

the pumpkin:  i don’t love a pumpkin ale, but this one is closest to what i would be happy to drink!  crisp, spicy, squashy… its a keeper!
the raspberry:  its like fruit juice, not beer… quite carbonated and sweet.  too much berry at first, then followed by too much chocolate – its overwhelming!  it doesn’t taste like beer dammit!  so, i’m not a fan…
the six:  a little too fruity for me.  yes its dark… but there may be too many flavours going on here.  rather than tart i found it very sweet malty.  and i want to know where that hop bite is.
the cream ale:  smells like root beer, tastes like root beer.  interesting and fun, i like it, but not for a whole pint-full and definitely not for a session
so, glad i tried them all, but probably not gonna have any of them again…

the bottles though, the bottles are a whole ‘nother story!  why, oh, why are they limited releases?
it is kind of cheating though, to go with two ipas
odds are pretty good that i’m gonna like them!

wildfire ipa:  delicious, a brilliant black ipa.  to me, this is what a black ipa should taste like.  definitely a hit out of the park!  i could drink this all night long!

grow-hop:  very aromatic, delightfully hoppy without the intense bitterness.  i don’t particularly like melon, so i’m glad i wasn’t detecting the melon flavours.  all i got was delicious.  i could drink this all night long too!

gotta get me some more of both of them while they’re still available…
you know, right after i get that job to pay for more beer!

on tap at the alibi room

so much deliciousness at the alibi room!

i must admit that i did not take actual notes
i was there on a date and just didn’t think it would be appropriate to be too much of a beer geek
(don’t want to be scaring off the cute girls!)
but, we did get samplers to share
and discuss and contrast
oh yeah, and enjoy thoroughly!

thursday’s hoppy cask was the hoppelganger ipa
oh so hoppy!
oh so delicious!
paired very nicely with the mezze plate of hummus, feta and olives

we shared two “frat bats” of the czech pilsner (tastes just like a pilsner should taste!), an ipa (oh hoppy goodness!), the craig red (so malty), rogue’s dry-hopped red (perfection in a glass), howe sound’s bumbleberry (subtle enough berry), rogue’s hazelnut brown nectar (nice subtle nuttiness), lost coast’s limited edition chocolate stout (holy crap its like dessert in a glass!) and the 7 grain stout (like a shot of espresso) and didn’t feel there was a bad pick in the lot of them!

we totally fell in love with rogue’s st. rogue dry-hopped red ale and had to have a whole glass of that to end the evening (darned school nights – otherwise we mighta had two…)

might i suggest you get your (gl)ass over to the alibi while they still have the red ale in the rotation?
because it is not to be missed by any hops fan!
i mean i guess you could just buy it by the bottle… but its just so much more fun to get it from the keg!

Dry-Hopped St. Rogue Red
Style: Red Ale
Food Pairing: Pork, Beef

Tasting Notes:  Reddish copper in color, a roasty malty flavor, with a hoppy-spruce finish.
10 Ingredients:   Malts: Great Western Harrington, Klages, Munich & Hugh Baird Carastan 30-37 & 13-17, Crystal 70-80.  Hops: Chinook & Centennial.  Yeast & Water: Rogue’s Pacman Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.
Specs:  13º PLATO, 44 IBU, 73.1 AA, 27º Lovibond

st. augustine’s

tasting notes back from my july 14th visit to st. augustine’s…
odds aren’t good that all of these will still be on the menu…

quote of the evening is that we “came for the basil, stayed for the huckleberry”

in my sampler were:
fernie brewing’s what the huck huckleberry wheat
storm brewing’s basil ipa
old yale brewing co pale ale
swans brew pub arctic ale

the huckleberry wheat was cloudy, but not overly yeasty.
there were but a touch of huckleberries blended with the wheat – smooth, creamy, crisp finish.
most delightful

the basil ipa was phenomenal
not a session beer, but omg it would pair with so many foods!
amazing basil nose, in an ipa
freaking delightful
i want this all year long
i am not happy that it is a limited edition dammit!

the old yale pale ale is very much a pale ale
would be a great session beer
crisp finish
i like it!  i can see why it got voted canada’s best pale ale.

the arctic ale is a “mild-tasting, cold, canadian-style light ale”
very drinkable
seems non-descript next to the flavoury beers i put it next to, but i think there’s substance there

amanda had a fruity sampler (natch)
she went with the huckleberry and the basil
tin whistle peaches n cream okanagan fruit ale
lost coast tangerine wheat ale

she liked the basil ipa and the huckleberry wheat
which is not surprising for the huckleberry, but she liked an ipa!! an ipa!
she found the peaches and cream had a very peach nose, only a little cloudy, a bit cidery, crisp and refreshing
(and found that going from the peaches and cream to the tangerine was like going from fruit to candy… but not in a sweet way necessarily, more like fuzzy peach gummies)
the tangerine was delightful as aways and is her current favourite

shockingly, bridget had a backhand of god
but i also convinced her to try the bear republic hop rod rye
which she enjoyed
it was really quite sedimenty (with hops not yeast), nice dark caramel head
well balanced and delicious
oh, and the label is fabulous!