Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Porters are my thing. And let me tell you, I really love this porter. I’m drinking a beer that hits on all cylinders.
Here’s how the Otter Creek website describes the Stovepipe Porter:
Stovepipe Porter is made in the traditional porter style, and is a favorite with all porter lovers. Ruby-black in color, Stovepipe Porter has a rich palate and a roasted, hoppy aroma. It is delicious on its own or with a meal, and tastes great with chocolate.
“Rich palate and roasted, hoppy aroma” — right on. Many porters go for smokiness and overshoot. I can enjoy an extremely smokey porter in small doses, but if a porter has little else to offer, forget about it.
Yes, Otter Creek’s porter is smokey — a quality that dominates the aroma — but this is no one-dimensional beer. There’s a lot of flavor, and each sip seems to hold something new.
The single bottle of Tröegs Pale Ale was sitting on a liquor store shelf when I came across it by chance just a few days ago. I’ve been wanting to try the Pale Ale after reader Adam B recommended it, so without the slightest hesitation I decided to take the little orphan home with me.
Just call me the Madonna of the beer world.
Tröegs Pale Ale is extremely drinkable. For me, drinkability is defined as being interesting and complex, being smooth enough to go down easily, and featuring a “hook” that keeps me coming back for more. For this Pale Ale, that hook is the combination of floral Cascade hops and sweet, Crystal malt.
The beer is a nice amber color with good carbonation in the bottle and glass. The carbonation isn’t very apparent in the mouthfeel, though, giving it a smooth, creamy mouthfeel. Tröegs Pale Ale has a great aroma, with floral, sweet smelling Cascade hops, and those hops contribute a mild, butter-spice hoppiness (I think I just invented a hyphenate) cut through with sweet caramel flavor from the malt.
Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
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(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5) Loading ...
Bear Republic sure can brew a tasty beer.
The brewery is a family business, run by father (Richard R Norgrove), son (Richard G Norgrove) and their wives (Sandy and Tami, respectively). Richard G Norgrove is the brewmaster. He’s a full-time hop head and part-time race car driver.
You guessed it, his car is #5.
I first discovered Bear Republic when I drank their Red Rocket Ale. So when I found a bottle of Racer 5 at the liquor store, I knew I would be in for a treat. The label reads:
Racer 5 is an aggressive style India Pale Ale. Handmade from a brewery whose motto is “Bigger is Better”. This golden, well hopped, bottle-conditioned ale demands your attention.
Racer 5 has a nice, toasted caramel color. My tulip glass held the IPA with about a finger of foam and wafting, pleasant citrus hop aromas. But there’s some malt in the aroma, too, which becomes a bridge to the taste. I was expecting the hops — sticky pine and citrus — but the sweet, caramel malt was the pleasant surprise of the night.
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
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After drinking the now retired Young’s Oatmeal Stout yesterday, tonight’s Young’s Double Chocolate Stout seemed a natural progression.
It’s impossible not to compare these two stouts. Both Young’s brews have similar bottles — though the Double Chocolate Stout is a bit more regal with its purple label. And the pour looks much the same, black and oily, with a thick head; but where the Oatmeal Stout put up a patchwork with huge bubbles, the head on the Double Chocolate Stout was whipped, creamy and smooth.
They also begin to differ with the aroma. Both seem understated, but the Chocolate Stout is sweeter and less roasted. You can also detect some mild hops that mellow the sweetness — at least, they became apparent after half the beer was gone and the aroma found room to collect in the glass.
It’s a very tasty stout, and an excellent Chocolate Stout. On your tongue, the beer is silky and smooth, with a light carbonation that begs you to hold this stout in your mouth just a touch longer before swallowing. The charred malts and a touch of hops are present, but the sweetness is the dominant character. Having so recently enjoyed last night’s roasted Oatmeal Stout, I kept expecting the taste of charcoal to bat down the creamy sweetness. But it didn’t take over the flavor. Instead, the roasted malts joined with the mid-tongue hops and simply policed the sweetness from afar — making their presence known without taking overt action.
Young’s Oatmeal Stout
By · Comments (3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...Young’s Oatmeal Stout, with its ram horn logo, appears to have been put out to pasture. The “best before” date of its last production run silently slipped past us a week ago. And that’s a shame, because this is a tremendous beer with a storied history.
Captain Ahab
In 2006, Young’s was merged into its rival, the Wells Brewing Company, forming “Wells & Young’s Brewing Company“. Young’s historic Ram Brewery site — upon which brewing had taken place since 1581, but which in recent years suffered from outdated facilities, poor location, and political pressure to be repurposed — had reached the end of its usability. The site was sold to be renovated as business space and closed as a brewery in October 2006 — and all of Young’s brewing operations were transferred to Wells.
While business reasons (read money problems) are usually the biggest driver for such changes, one must also factor in the health of the brewery’s Chairman, John Young — the great-great-grandson of Charles Young, who purchased the Ram Brewery in 1831. “Mr John” was terminally ill with cancer and — according to the obituary penned by the great beer critic Michael Jackson — brokered the deal with Wells “like Captain Ahab lashed to the mast,” determined to the end to preserve his line of pubs and hotels while keeping the Young’s brands in production.
John Young died September 17th, 2006 — just days before his brewery closed. 500 years of brewing at the Ram location ended the week of his death. Fittingly, beer from that final run was served at his funeral.
