We had our annual, lab camping trip in New Hampshire from the 1st of September to the 3rd. On the 2nd we hiked the Brook-Liberty trail loop to the summit of Mount Chocorua. Rather than cook for ourselves after hiking, we ended up driving into North Conway for dinner. Jenny suggested Moat Mountain, a restaurant/brewery nearby. We split some appetizers, and I had meatloaf for dinner. It came with green beans, squash and mashed potatoes, all very tasty. Rather than choosing one beer I had the six-beer sampler.
1073. Hoffman Weiss
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol:5.70%
Serving: Tap
Style: Hefe Weizen, BJCP Style Guide
Hoffman Weiss pours a cloudy, straw color. It has a nice weiss aroma: cloves, banana and bubble gum with a slight sharpness. Initial malts are neutral and grainy, and move into a citric sharpness with a good banana flavor. There's a nice crispness from the wheat. I though this was a good hefeweizen. I placed it at #3 out of 6 beers in the sampler.
1074. Golden Dog Pilsner
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: ?
Serving: Tap
Style: German Pilsener, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, golden, straw color. The aroma is mild, but there's a bit of peppery spicy, and some grassy notes. Crisp carbonation upfront moves into a mild fruitiness in the center, which when combined with a mild, peppery spice, is reminiscent of blueberries. The finish has a mild, hop bitterness. Decent, there's a bit of flavor, but not a ton. #4 out of 6.
1075. Czech Pilsner
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 4.90%
Serving: Tap
Style: Czech Pilsener, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, straw, golden color. The aroma is exceedingly mild, you really have to try for it: hints of citrus, and grassy hops. The start to this one is mild, there's some pepperiness in the center and a mild bitterness in the finish. This was too light, and didn't have much flavor. It tasted better after I accidentally dropped a chuck of melted jack cheese and onion in it. This was #5 of 6.
1076. Iron Mike Pale Ale
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 5.60%
Serving: Tap
Style: American Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear copper color. There's a very nice, hoppy aroma with notes of citrus and apricot. A caramel sweetness greets the palate, followed by a fruity maltiness and a leafy bitterness in the finish with a nice lingering taste. I thought this was a very nice APA, definitely my favorite of the sampler, #1/6.
1077. Opa's Oktoberfest
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 7.0%
Serving: Tap
Style: Märzen / Oktoberfest, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, reddish brown. The aroma is malty with notes of caramel and toffee. There's a strong malty start to the beer. It's predominantly a caramel sweetness, but there are also hints of chocolate. The finish has a mild, but nice, bitterness. There's also a rough chalkiness in the finish. I liked this one. #2/6.
1078. Bear Peak Brown
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 5.50%
Serving: Tap
Style: English Brown Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear brown color. There's a mild roastiness, and slight fruitiness in the aroma. Unfortunately the taste doesn't match up with the aroma. There's almost no flavor until the finish where there's a mild roasty flavor and slight fruitiness. Watery, bland not good at all. Easily #6/6.
1073. Hoffman Weiss
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol:5.70%
Serving: Tap
Style: Hefe Weizen, BJCP Style Guide
Hoffman Weiss pours a cloudy, straw color. It has a nice weiss aroma: cloves, banana and bubble gum with a slight sharpness. Initial malts are neutral and grainy, and move into a citric sharpness with a good banana flavor. There's a nice crispness from the wheat. I though this was a good hefeweizen. I placed it at #3 out of 6 beers in the sampler.
1074. Golden Dog Pilsner
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: ?
Serving: Tap
Style: German Pilsener, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, golden, straw color. The aroma is mild, but there's a bit of peppery spicy, and some grassy notes. Crisp carbonation upfront moves into a mild fruitiness in the center, which when combined with a mild, peppery spice, is reminiscent of blueberries. The finish has a mild, hop bitterness. Decent, there's a bit of flavor, but not a ton. #4 out of 6.
1075. Czech Pilsner
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 4.90%
Serving: Tap
Style: Czech Pilsener, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, straw, golden color. The aroma is exceedingly mild, you really have to try for it: hints of citrus, and grassy hops. The start to this one is mild, there's some pepperiness in the center and a mild bitterness in the finish. This was too light, and didn't have much flavor. It tasted better after I accidentally dropped a chuck of melted jack cheese and onion in it. This was #5 of 6.
1076. Iron Mike Pale Ale
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 5.60%
Serving: Tap
Style: American Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear copper color. There's a very nice, hoppy aroma with notes of citrus and apricot. A caramel sweetness greets the palate, followed by a fruity maltiness and a leafy bitterness in the finish with a nice lingering taste. I thought this was a very nice APA, definitely my favorite of the sampler, #1/6.
1077. Opa's Oktoberfest
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 7.0%
Serving: Tap
Style: Märzen / Oktoberfest, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear, reddish brown. The aroma is malty with notes of caramel and toffee. There's a strong malty start to the beer. It's predominantly a caramel sweetness, but there are also hints of chocolate. The finish has a mild, but nice, bitterness. There's also a rough chalkiness in the finish. I liked this one. #2/6.
1078. Bear Peak Brown
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.
Alcohol: 5.50%
Serving: Tap
Style: English Brown Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Pours a clear brown color. There's a mild roastiness, and slight fruitiness in the aroma. Unfortunately the taste doesn't match up with the aroma. There's almost no flavor until the finish where there's a mild roasty flavor and slight fruitiness. Watery, bland not good at all. Easily #6/6.
Labels: American Pale Ale, Czech Pilsener, German Pilsener, Hefe Weizen
1072. Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
Published by Unknown on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 9:30 AM.
1072. Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
Jadyn bought a bottle of Sierra Nevada's 2009 release of their Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale. I drank this one on the 30th of August.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Year: 2009
Alcohol: 6.70%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: American Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.5
Overall: 4.0
This Pale Ale pours a cloudy copper. It's topped by a frothy, off-white head that clings to the side of the glass. There's a nice toasty aroma with a bit of caramel, a slight alcoholic spice, and hops that are leafy and citric with a bit of fruitiness.
There's a mild, caramel sweetness upfront with a good, toasty backbone. The malts quickly give way to an alcoholic spice, and a spicy, leafy, hop bitterness. Medium-bodied, highly carbonated, and coarse in the finish.
I thought this beer had a great malt-hop balance with good flavors from both elements.
Jadyn bought a bottle of Sierra Nevada's 2009 release of their Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale. I drank this one on the 30th of August.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Year: 2009
Alcohol: 6.70%
Serving: Bottle, 22 oz.
Style: American Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 4.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.5
Overall: 4.0
This Pale Ale pours a cloudy copper. It's topped by a frothy, off-white head that clings to the side of the glass. There's a nice toasty aroma with a bit of caramel, a slight alcoholic spice, and hops that are leafy and citric with a bit of fruitiness.
There's a mild, caramel sweetness upfront with a good, toasty backbone. The malts quickly give way to an alcoholic spice, and a spicy, leafy, hop bitterness. Medium-bodied, highly carbonated, and coarse in the finish.
I thought this beer had a great malt-hop balance with good flavors from both elements.
Labels: American Pale Ale
1071. Nom de Plum
Jadyn and I went to the CBC for drinks on the 14th of August. We each had a "Nom de Plum", a Belgian-style ale brewed with plum juice.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company
Alcohol: 5.75%
Serving: Tap
Style: Belgian Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 3.0| Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.0 | Drinkability: 4.0
Overall: 3.5
Nom de Plum pours a hazed, reddish, copper color. It's topped by a slightly off-white, shiny head that fades to a continuous film and leaves sheets of lace. The nose is dominated by peppery coriander, with a slight underlying fruitiness lent by the plum juice. I thought the aroma was a bit one-note for my taste. This beer would definitely benefit from toning down the coriander aromatics to let the fruitiness from the plums to come through.
This beer is malty upfront, but in a neutral sort of way: grainy rather than bready, textural rather than sweet. After these initial notes the plums come forward lending a slight bit of tartness, sweetness, and fruity, plum flavor. The finish is fairly flat, without a good flavor or spiciness. This beer is light-bodied with low carbonation. The carbonation could have been punched up a bit because the beer came across as fairly thin.
Despite my complaints, I thought this was a decent summer beer. It was light and refreshing.
Jadyn and I went to the CBC for drinks on the 14th of August. We each had a "Nom de Plum", a Belgian-style ale brewed with plum juice.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Cambridge Brewing Company
Alcohol: 5.75%
Serving: Tap
Style: Belgian Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 3.0| Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.0 | Drinkability: 4.0
Overall: 3.5
Nom de Plum pours a hazed, reddish, copper color. It's topped by a slightly off-white, shiny head that fades to a continuous film and leaves sheets of lace. The nose is dominated by peppery coriander, with a slight underlying fruitiness lent by the plum juice. I thought the aroma was a bit one-note for my taste. This beer would definitely benefit from toning down the coriander aromatics to let the fruitiness from the plums to come through.
This beer is malty upfront, but in a neutral sort of way: grainy rather than bready, textural rather than sweet. After these initial notes the plums come forward lending a slight bit of tartness, sweetness, and fruity, plum flavor. The finish is fairly flat, without a good flavor or spiciness. This beer is light-bodied with low carbonation. The carbonation could have been punched up a bit because the beer came across as fairly thin.
Despite my complaints, I thought this was a decent summer beer. It was light and refreshing.
Labels: Belgian Pale Ale
We spent most of our time in California at Jadyn's Family's cabin at Tahoe. While there we had the bottled beer that I'd purchased at Russian River, as well as a growler that we'd purchased at The Brewery at Lake Tahoe.
1068. Damnation
Jadyn and I shared this bottle with her sister on August 3rd.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Company
Alcohol: 7.75%
Serving: Bottle, 750 mL, Batch 048
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 5.0 | Taste: 5.0| Mouthfeel: 4.5 | Drinkability: 5.0
Overall: 4.85
Damnation pours a mildly cloudy, golden color. It's topped by a thick, white head that retains well, but eventually fades to a thin layer. The aroma is spot on for the style. There are notes of banana, peppery spice, and yeast above a grassy, grainy undercurrent. Swirling brings out more graininess, pepper, and some alcoholic spice.
There's an initial sweetness that's mild, but builds into a fruity esters in the center: bananas, hints of juicy, tropical fruit, and citrus. The finish has a bite from the peppery spiciness and the alcohol. There are lingering hints of yeast, and a mild, hop bitterness in the aftertaste. Damnation is medium-bodied, but the crisp carbonation, along with a dry finish make this beer seem a bit lighter-bodied.
This beer was excellent. It's probably one of the best examples of the style that I've had.
1069. The Brewery at Lake Tahoe's Witbier
We picked up a growler of The Brewery's Witbier on a trip into South Lake Tahoe on August 6th.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Brewery at Lake Tahoe
Alcohol: ?
Serving: Growler
Style: Witbier, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 2.5 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 3.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5| Drinkability: 3.5
Overall: 3.1
This witbier pours a cloudy, peachy, golden-orange color. Topped by a thin, white head that fades to nothing. The aroma has notes of powdery yeast, and nice, fruity notes of peach and banana. There are also the classic aromas of orange-peel and peppery coriander.
There's a mild, grainy sweetness upfront, moving into a fruity sweetness in the center: banana, and orangey-citrus. The finish has a peppery, corriander spice. The right flavors are there, but they're very mild overall. This witbier is light-bodied with good carbonation, and a mild dryness.
This beer isn't bad, but it's fairly middle of the road. Again, everything is a bit too subdied.
1070. Pliny the Elder
I opened up this beer on August 7th.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Company
Alcohol: 8.00%
Serving: Bottle, 500 mL
Style: American Double IPA, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 5.0 | Taste: 4.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.0
Overall: 4.35
Pliny the Elder is mildly hazy and copper in color. It's topped by a creamy, off-white head that retains well and leaves fluffy lace clinging to the glass. The aroma can be summed up in two words "intensly hoppy". The hops are herbal, piney and strongly resiny. Swirling the beer brings out even more resiny hops. There are fruity notes of apricots and oranges, malty sweetness, and toastiness that comes out on swirling. It's like sticking your nose into a bag of hops.
Overall this beer is pretty balanced. It's not overly sweet like a lot of other DIPAs. The intial malt impressions are toasty and bready with only a mild sweetness. Malts move towards a sweeter, caramel flavor in the center, but still not overly sweet. Hop flavors also make themselves known towards the center. There's a citric bite with a floral, orange blossom quality. Towards the finish there's a mild peppery bite with a good slighty herbal, strongly resiny hop bitterness in the finish that lingers long into the aftertaste. Pliny the Elder is medium-bodied, and has a prickly carbonation that cuts the sweetness somewhat. There's an oiliness towards the swallow that trails off leaving a final impression of thinness.
This DIPA is very balanced. The malts are present, but aren't cloyingly sweet like other examples of the style. The hops are present, but their main contribution is a nice finishing flavor and wonderful lingering bitterness.
1068. Damnation
Jadyn and I shared this bottle with her sister on August 3rd.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Company
Alcohol: 7.75%
Serving: Bottle, 750 mL, Batch 048
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.5 | Smell: 5.0 | Taste: 5.0| Mouthfeel: 4.5 | Drinkability: 5.0
Overall: 4.85
Damnation pours a mildly cloudy, golden color. It's topped by a thick, white head that retains well, but eventually fades to a thin layer. The aroma is spot on for the style. There are notes of banana, peppery spice, and yeast above a grassy, grainy undercurrent. Swirling brings out more graininess, pepper, and some alcoholic spice.
There's an initial sweetness that's mild, but builds into a fruity esters in the center: bananas, hints of juicy, tropical fruit, and citrus. The finish has a bite from the peppery spiciness and the alcohol. There are lingering hints of yeast, and a mild, hop bitterness in the aftertaste. Damnation is medium-bodied, but the crisp carbonation, along with a dry finish make this beer seem a bit lighter-bodied.
This beer was excellent. It's probably one of the best examples of the style that I've had.
1069. The Brewery at Lake Tahoe's Witbier
We picked up a growler of The Brewery's Witbier on a trip into South Lake Tahoe on August 6th.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: The Brewery at Lake Tahoe
Alcohol: ?
Serving: Growler
Style: Witbier, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 2.5 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 3.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5| Drinkability: 3.5
Overall: 3.1
This witbier pours a cloudy, peachy, golden-orange color. Topped by a thin, white head that fades to nothing. The aroma has notes of powdery yeast, and nice, fruity notes of peach and banana. There are also the classic aromas of orange-peel and peppery coriander.
There's a mild, grainy sweetness upfront, moving into a fruity sweetness in the center: banana, and orangey-citrus. The finish has a peppery, corriander spice. The right flavors are there, but they're very mild overall. This witbier is light-bodied with good carbonation, and a mild dryness.
This beer isn't bad, but it's fairly middle of the road. Again, everything is a bit too subdied.
1070. Pliny the Elder
I opened up this beer on August 7th.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Russian River Brewing Company
Alcohol: 8.00%
Serving: Bottle, 500 mL
Style: American Double IPA, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 5.0 | Taste: 4.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.0
Overall: 4.35
Pliny the Elder is mildly hazy and copper in color. It's topped by a creamy, off-white head that retains well and leaves fluffy lace clinging to the glass. The aroma can be summed up in two words "intensly hoppy". The hops are herbal, piney and strongly resiny. Swirling the beer brings out even more resiny hops. There are fruity notes of apricots and oranges, malty sweetness, and toastiness that comes out on swirling. It's like sticking your nose into a bag of hops.
Overall this beer is pretty balanced. It's not overly sweet like a lot of other DIPAs. The intial malt impressions are toasty and bready with only a mild sweetness. Malts move towards a sweeter, caramel flavor in the center, but still not overly sweet. Hop flavors also make themselves known towards the center. There's a citric bite with a floral, orange blossom quality. Towards the finish there's a mild peppery bite with a good slighty herbal, strongly resiny hop bitterness in the finish that lingers long into the aftertaste. Pliny the Elder is medium-bodied, and has a prickly carbonation that cuts the sweetness somewhat. There's an oiliness towards the swallow that trails off leaving a final impression of thinness.
This DIPA is very balanced. The malts are present, but aren't cloyingly sweet like other examples of the style. The hops are present, but their main contribution is a nice finishing flavor and wonderful lingering bitterness.
Labels: Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Travel
