Brasserie Dupont, located in the rural town of Tourpes, Belgium, has been brewing under the name Dupont since 1920 but their site has house breweries as far bas as 1844. These days Brasserie Dupont is more well known for their quintessential saison, Dupont Saison, but their entire line up of beer is off the same caliber as Saison, including this wonderful Belgian strong blond ale, Moinette.

Moinette is one of the oldest beers made by the brewery dating back to 1955, right around when this style became popular. The name comes from the historically swampy area where the brewery is located, the “moëne region.” Like all of their traditional beer, Dupont bottle conditions, or “re-ferements” Moinette for at least two months at a controlled temperature of 73º F, which results in a very well carbonated beer.

Date Reviewed. June 10, 2011

Where I Found It. Costco, San Francisco, CA for only $7.99! I’ve never seen it there since.

Serving Type. 750 ml bottle into a tulip glass.

Appearance. This beer has a hazy golden straw color with a white head. When I first poured it from the bottle the head was an enormous mound of frothy white foam. It took a while for it to dissipate. After that however, subsequent pours had average to below average head retention. There is a thin layer of foam throughout drinking this beer.

Aroma. Moinette has a strong hop bouquet with floral, earthy, and straw notes. I’m guessing styrian goldings hops in this one. The aroma also includes a good dose of cloves and spice, like un-cracked black peppercorns. There is a hint of banana. It smells inviting

Taste. This beer has a good balance of bitter and sweet. It highlights malty flavors while not being overly sweet. The sweetness that is present is like a just ripened banana.  The bitterness is present and complements the aroma by revealing itself as spice, like the sensation of a crushed peppercorn but not as intense as a szechuan peppercorn.

Mouthfeel. This is a full to medium bodied beer with quite a bit of carbonation that makes the mouthfeel not quite as fizzy as a soda. This is due to the bottle conditioning or “re-fermentation.”

Overall. Moinette is an excellent example of a Belgian strong pale ale. It has all of the best qualities of a Belgian ale with no apparent flaws. The banana and clove aromas, from the yeast, meld perfectly with the spicy, earthy, floral hops and the sweet grainy malts. Truly a wonderful beer.

The bottle I had was relatively fresh but the “refermentation” still produced a quite a bit of extra carbonation.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.5
• Smell (24%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Overall (20%): 5.0
• Total: 4.43

Information

• Style: Belgian strong blond ale
• Brewery: Brasserie Dupont [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 8.5%
• RateBeer scores: 98 overall, 99 style (as of Dec. 8, 2011)

Other Reviews

• BetterBeerBlog – Beer in Review: Moinette Belgian Ale
• Pints and Panels – Dupont Moinette Blonde reviewed!

Troublette is a flavorful yet refreshing Belgian-style witbier, or white ale, brewed by Brasserie Caracole in Falmignoul, near Dinant, Belgium. If you’re looking for an alternative to Hoegaarden, then Caracole Troublette will be a treat being much more interesting and just as refreshing with zesty notes and a balanced flavor.

Date Reviewed. October 6, 2011

Where I Found It. The Jug Shop, San Francisco.

Serving Type. 330ml bottle to glass.

Appearance. Troublette has a beautiful hazy golden yellow color with a white fizzy head. The head has very poor retention but does leave a touch of lacing.

Smell. At first, while the head was still on the beer, the aroma expressed fruity ester notes of fresh bananas and green apples. As the head died down and the beer warmed up, the green apple aroma dissipated revealing the more phenolic notes of lemon zest, coriander, and a touch of white pepper with a hint of cloves. The grain also more apparent with a slight aroma of baked bread and honey.

Taste. Troublette nicely expresses the wheat in the flavor of the beer further expressing the baked bread that is in the aroma. This beer is slightly sweet with very little bitterness. What bitterness there is expresses itself more like an herbal bitterness like white pepper.

Mouthfeel. This is a light to medium bodied beer with a wonderfully strong champagne-like effervescence on the tongue. Like many Belgian-made beers this is due to a thorough regimen of bottle conditioning.

Overall. Troublette is a refreshing, flavorful, and easy drinking examples of a Belgian-style witbier. Looks may be deceiving with this beer, despite the pale, unassuming color, it is a very flavorful beer.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.0
• Smell (24%): 4.5
• Taste (40%): 4.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Overall (20%): 4.0
• Total: 4.12

Information

• Style: Belgian-style witbier
• Brewery: Brasserie Caracole [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 5.0%
• Malt: pilsner malt, raw unmalted wheat (source)
• Hops: Styrian Goldings and Saaz
• RateBeer rating: 84 overall, 94 style

Other Reviews

• PEI Beer Guy – Caracole Troublette

During my first visit to The Great American Beer Festival in 2010 I came across the Souththeast section where I discovered The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery. The very first beer I sampled was Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout and it was so delicious that I had another 1 oz. sample and another. From that moment I knew that I had discovered one of my favorite stouts ever.

After I discovered this wonderful brew from a small brewery in Farmville, NC, I knew I had a problem: Duck-Rabbit beer is not distributed to California. Luckily, a few weeks later, I made some new friends at the 2010 Beer Bloggers Conference and I was able to enjoy an entire 12 oz. bottle, thanks to Doug Brumley, author of The Fledgling Brewer. Finally, in May 2011 I made a trip to Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, the home of Duck-Rabbit, where the Milk Stout was be plentiful. I even had the opportunity to try Left Hand Milk Stout side by side with Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout. Both are great beers but I enjoyed the Duck-Rabbit just a little bit more.

After my trip to North Carolina, I was able to bring back a few bottles of beer including the bottle that I used to write and photograph this review.

Date Reviewed. November 2, 2011

Where I Found It. Sam’s Quik Shop in Durham, NC.

Serving Type. 12 oz. bottles into a nonick pint glass.

Appearance. Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is opaque black through and through. It has a long lasting, frothy tan head with a color similar to latte foam lightly mixed with espresso.

Aroma. This beer smells like cream and chocolate with just a touch of coffee. The roasted malts come off with more of a rich dark chocolate aroma than a coffee aroma. Any espresso notes are very muted, much like an espresso con panna that is heavy on the whipped cream. The sweetness of the malt and milk sugar is apparent in the nose. It is very inviting.

Taste. Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is a sweet stout with a rich, roasted bitterness that gives it a flavor more like a dark chocolate milk than a standard chocolate milk. The roasted malt comes off ever so slightly harsh and a touch like espresso but is very nicely balanced by the sweetness of the lactose and malt. It is a sweet, rich and for the style a bit more bitter than average, which is a flavor that I really enjoy.

Mouthfeel. This milk stout is a medium bodied that despite the milk sugar comes off a bit thinner than I expected. It is neither light nor heavy but it doesn’t have a rich thick velvety texture that I might have expected. It still has a very nice mouthfeel.

Overall. Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is a fantastic beer that almost fits well within the style guidelines for a milk stout. It is a touch more bitter than average but I find this to a great way for the brewer to differentiate their milk stout from others. I always like to describe this beer as dark chocolate milk.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 5.0
• Aroma (24%): 5.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Overall (20%): 5.0
• Total: 4.75

Information

• Name: Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
• Brewery: The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery [more  info]
• Style: milk stout
• Alcohol by volume: 5.7%
• RateBeer rating: 94 overall, 89 style (as of November 2, 2011)

I find it refreshing when I find a full flavor stout with a wonderful aroma that is not strong or imperial. Firestone-Walker Brewing has done a wonderful job in doing this with creating this superb oatmeal stout with a familiar, yet complex, aroma and flavor profile.

Although Velvet Merlin is now available in bottles since 2010, and 6-packs for that matter, it started it’s life as a very limited release beer under a different name. It was previously called Velvet Merkin. Due to potential issues with labeling as well as possible marketing problems with the work merkin [wikipedia link but still NSFW], the name was changed to Merlin and a magical beer it is. Update: Additionally, Velvet Merkin is a slightly different beer, it is 100% barrel-aged whereas Velvet Merlin is partially barrel-aged.

One of the unique aspects of this beer is that it is partially aged in bourbon barrels. It’s not enough to detect a strong bourbon flavor but it does provide a little something extra that you might not find in a traditional oatmeal stout.

Date Reviewed. November 1, 2011

Where I Found It. Whole Foods Market in San Francisco, CA.

Serving Type. 12 oz. bottles into a nonick pint glass.

Appearance. Velvet Merlin has an opaque inky black color with just a tinge of glowing dark brown on the edges of the glass. The head is a tan color with large foamy bubble and a little above average head retention.

Aroma. This beer smells fantastic. It has a hint of oats that, when combined with the malt aromas, makes the beer smell a bit like an oatmeal cookie. It also has a creaminess that comes off like milk chocolate. The typical roastiness of a stout is nicely balanced by the sweet creamy bouquet. There is no discernable hops and little to no coffee aromas. If it were not for the oat smells, I would think this to be a milk stout. There is just a small hint of cola in the background.

Taste. Velvet Merlin falls half-way between a sweet stout and a dry stout. It has strong flavors of malt and dark roasted malt with out being too sweet. It is also not dry by any means. The bitterness from both the hops and the malt is quite light. The flavor is reminiscent of a chocolate milk with a dash of espresso with an oatmeal cookie on the side. The bourbon barrel aging comes off in the flavor as a hint of vanilla.

Mouthfeel. This beer has a smooth texture that is just short of velvety, despite it’s name. Even though this is a beer made with very dark roasted malt, it comes off as smooth with little to no astringency.

Overall. Velvet Merlin is a great stout that keeps you going for more and allows you to drink more without falling off your chair. It has just as much flavor as many stouts, that are higher in alcohol percentage. This is a full flavored oatmeal stout that I feel fits well into the category with the added benefit of a slightly creamy aroma pushing it close to a milk stout in aroma but not in sweetness.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.0
• Aroma (24%): 5.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Overall (20%): 4.5
• Total: 4.59

Information

• Style: oatmeal stout
• Brewery: Firestone-Walker Brewing Company [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 5.5%
• Original Gravity: 1.061
• Hops: U.S. Fuggle
• Malt: Maris Otter, 2-Row Pale, Roast Barley, English Dark Caramel, Medium Caramel, Carafa Malt, Oats (15%)
• Other ingredients: Partially aged in bourbon barrels
• RateBeer rating: 97 overal, 97 style (as of November 2, 2011)

Deschutes Brewery calls their American-style Black Ale, also known as Black IPA, a Cascadian Dark Ale, which reflects the nature of it’s origin. This beer is a great example of what happens when you innovate to combine a hoppy, bitter IPA with a roasty, chocolatey porter.

The American-style Black ale style of beer was originally created by the late Greg Noonan at the Vermont Pub and Brewery. However, it hasn’t been until recently that the style has gained popularity among craft beer drinkers with the advent of such beers as Deschutes Hop in the Dark and 21st Amendment Back in Black.

Date Reviewed. August 29, 2010

Where I Found It. Whole Foods California St., San Francisco, CA.

Appearance. Hop in the Dark has an opaque obsidian black color with faint clear dark-brown color on the edges. The head is the color of espresso crema and when first poured is thick and frothy.

Aroma. This beer exudes roasted malt aromas with a bit of earthy nuttiness. It smells bit like peanut or beer brittle candy. The hops bouquet adds a floral, citrus, and grapefruit quality much like an American IPA. The hops also have a touch of green vegetation and herbs.

Taste. Hop in the Dark has a nice dark roasted flavor from the barley malt but not overly so. It is just enough dark malts to add the obsidian color while bringing in roasty flavor. The hops come through with a nice IPA bitterness accompanied by just enough sweetness to offset the bitter. This is a hoppy beer, there is no question about it. The hops have a bit of the same qualities as the aroma with some grapefruit qualities. It is not particularly sweet and can be characterized as being more dry than sweet. Hop in the Dark is truly like an American IPA with the careful addition chocolate malts.

Mouthfeel. This is a medium bodied be but maybe on the lighter side of that spectrum. It has a smooth not-quite silky texture.

Overall. This is a surprisingly crisp, snappy, and refreshing beer. It is a perfect example of this somewhat new style of beer. Hoppy like and IPA and roasty like a porter or stout, while maintaining a body and sweetness more like an IPA. It is well crafted and enjoyable to drink.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.0
• Smell (24%): 4.5
• Taste (40%): 5.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Overall (20%): 4.5
• Total: 4.62

Information

• Style: American-style Black Ale
• Brewery: Deschutes Brewery [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 6.5%
• Bitterness: 70 IBU
• Original gravity: 1.067
• Malts and grains: pale malt, flaked oats, munich malt, dark crystal malt, chocolate malt, chocolate wheat malt, black barley, toasted oats, dark candy sugar
• Hops: Northern Brewer, Nugget, Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade, Citra
• Web page: Hop in the Dark by Deschutes

Sculpin IPA is a delicious IPA where dominated by citrusy hops yet with an expertly crafted balance of sweetness and bitterness. Sculpin IPA comes out of San Diego, CA from Ballast Point Brewing Company. Ballast Point was founded in 1996 after two home brewers, Jack White and Yuseff, built a brewery in the back of a the homebrew shop that White had opened 4 years prior.

In the years since opening, Ballast Point grew their reputation of producing well crafted and delicious beer. It was exciting to finally find their top notch beer available in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially Sculpin IPA, which won a Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup in 2010 for International Pale Ale.

Although Ballast Point produces a wonderful line of craft beer Sculpin IPA and Calico Amber are consistently beers that I seek out and clear off the shelves whenever I see them available.

Date Reviewed. June 14, 2011

Where I Found It. La Beau Nob Hill Market, San Francisco, CA

Serving Type. 22oz. bottle to nonick pint glass

Appearance. Although it started to pour crystal clear, the agitation of pouring must have loosened some sediment and it eventually poured as hazy glowing golden orange color. The head is slightly off white with good retention with a thick foamy texture. It leaves a nice thin lacing on the sides of the glass.

Aroma. Sculpin IPA has wonderful floral hop notes with a strong bouquet of citrus-like sweet oranges, ruby red grapefruit, and a touch of pine. It has a malty-sweet aroma, which is almost biscuit-like in nature. The sweet citrus hops combined with this malt aromas almost reminds me of a slightly melted gourmet creamsicle, made of orange sorbet and creamy vanilla ice cream.

Taste. This is an excellent tasting IPA with just the perfect balance of sweetness and hop bitterness. This is certainly not a dry IPA and I might go so far as to describe it as just a little sweet but not overly so. The effect of the sweetness is enhanced by the floral and citrus aromas that you experience while drinking it. The bitterness is slightly harsh but not quite as prickly as a sculpin fish. The bitterness and builds on your palette over time but is cooled by the sweet malt flavors.

Mouthfeel. It is a full-bodied beer with a smooth and a nearly velvety texture that helps contrast and cool against the ever building bitterness accumulating on your palette.. The carbonation is just the right level.

Overall. Starting with the pour and the light color, this beer is inviting you to quaff it down. As you bring it close to you mouth, the aromas from Sculpin IPA get you salvating until you taste this wonderful IPA. The sweetness and the bitterness combine into a wondeful experience. I wouldn’t consider this a dessert beer by any means but I also would not characterize it as a crisp and refreshing beer. It is a slightly-sweet very-hoppy IPA. As you can see by my rating the high point is the wonderful aromas, which Ballast Point has mastered in so many of their beers. The taste does not disappoint but the aroma is incredible.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.0
• Aroma (24%): 5.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 5.0
• Overal (20%): 4.5
• Total: 4.64 

Information

• Style: American IPA
• Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 7%
• Bitterness: 70 IBU

Other Reviews

Guest Beer Review: Sculpin IPA – By Bernardo Pena | BarleyPop – A Beer Blog Gotta love having friends that are as passionate about beer as much as I am. Mr. Bernardo Pena, close friend of 20+ years has been sending me tons of texts about all the beers he’s been trying in LA and abroad the past few years.

Sculpin IPA | Mike Loves Beer Name – Sculpin IPACountry – United StatesType – American IPA A little over a week ago I did my first video review for Ballast Point’s Big Eye IPA. And during I said that a review would be coming soon the IPA brother in the Ballast Point household, Sculpin.

The Barley Blog » Ballast Point Sculpin IPA California’s Ballast Point Brewing makes an IPA that, when I can find it, is a favorite of the household here on the East coast. My wife and I have enjoyed the piny, hoppy Big Eye IPA on several occasions through the years.

Cleveland Food and Brews-CraftBeer: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA Here is what the Brewer says: The Sculpin is a testament to our humble beginnings as Home Brew Mart. It showcases bright flavors and aromas of apricot, peach, mango & lemon. The lighter body also brings out the crispness of the hops.

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA – Voted Best IPA! | thefullpint.com We had a close race for our Best IPA poll. With so many tasty, hoppy dank IPAs to choose from, San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits Sculpin IPA came out on top as the Best IPA. While there was nothing in the rules discouraging disproportionate voting, this poll was pretty even Steven as far as online polls go.

Brouwerij Westvleteren is one of the seven breweries that are officially considered Trappist because the beer is brewed by monks and each under the control of a Trappist monastery. The sole purpose of brewing the beer is to support the monastery. The Westvleteren brewery is located in the West Flanders province of Belgium in the town of Westvleteren. It was found in 1838 inside the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus.

In recent years, this beer of Brouwerij Westvleteren, particularly Westvleteren Abt 12, has become wildly popular topping the lists of best beer in the world at RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. As could be expected, this created a huge buzz and greater demand for the beer.  The monks of Saint Sixtus responded to the new popularity of their beer only by further limiting the amount of beer that could be purchased and taken away from the brewery. They didn’t raise prices and they didn’t produce more beer. In a 2005 interview with The Independent, ”We make the beer to live but we do not live for beer.”

Westvleteren Abt 12 is the most popular of the three beers made by Brouqerij Westvleteren but during my 2009 visit to Belgium I was not able to procure a a bottle. I’ve read that the easiest way to try any of the Westvleteren beers is to visit the monastery, which I also did not have time to do during my trip. I did, however, luck out and found a bottle of Westvleteren Extra 8 at Bier Tempel in Brussels.

Although Westvleteren Abt 12 is the most popular, Extra 8 is also ranked highly and even Tim Webb, author of Good Beer Guide Belgium, thinks that Extra 8 is slightly better than Abt 12. I cannot make the comparison myself but I found this to be an excellent beer and worthy of adding to your personal list of beers that you must try.

Date Reviewed. August 6, 2010

Where I Found It. Bier Tempel, Brussels, Belgium.

Serving Type. 330ml bottle into a tulip glass.

Appearance. Westvleteren Extra 8 pours with a clear brown color. In the glass it has an opaque, dark chocolate, and mahogany brown color. The head of this beer was like that of a cola or root beer and as such it also did not have very good retention. It did, however, as you might notice in the photos, leave a thin layer of foam on the top of the beer nearly throughout the session.

Aroma. This beer has a complex aroma that is like an earthy, roasty apple pie with notes of cooked granny smith apples, dark brown sugar, molasses,  and cloves with hints of dark Belgian chocolate and espresso. It does not smell particularly boozy but what little alcohol aroma there is comes off smelling like vanilla and bourbon.

Taste. I was expecting something much more sweet and sour but I was happily surprised to taste a well balanced beer. This beer has a touch of bitterness to balance the sweet toasty dark malts, which produces a slight molasses flavor. The flavor is a bit bready or yeasty but might be due to the storage conditions of the bottle.  The chocolate and espresso aroma combined with the sweetness of the malt and bitterness of the hops produce an experience like drinking very dark chocolate. As the session continues and the beer starts to warm up I find flavors of raisins or other dried fruit mixed with herbs and spices like tarragon, kola nut, and a touch of cloves.

Mouthfeel. It is well carbonated and medium to full bodied. For some reason I was expecting this beer to have a more viscous feel to it and I was pleasantly surprised to find it much more drinkable than that.

Overall. Westvleteren Extra 8 is interesting, complex, and bittersweet but not cloying. Despite the complexity, it is surprisingly crisp and easy to drink. It was a wonderful experience drinking and reviewing this beer and the session ended much too quickly. In retrospect I should have procured two bottles instead of just one.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score. The ratings below is based on the BJCP judging system.

• Appearance (6%): 4.5
• Aroma (24%): 4.5
• Flavor (40%): 5.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Overal (20%): 5.0
• Total: 4.8

Information

• Brewery: Brouwerij Westvleteren
• Style: Dubbel or Belgian dark strong ale
• Alcohol by volume: 8%

Other Reviews

• 999 Beers – 33: Westvleteren 8
• Untamed Beer – Trappist Westvleteren 8
• Chad’z Beer Reviews – Westvleteren 8 (2010 vintage)
• Beer Philosopher – Beer Review 11/28/2007 – Westvleteren 8 (Dubbel)
• The Vice Blog – Westvleteren 8

Although pale ale is a staple of the craft beer industry and likely the style responsible for growing the industry in the US from 80 breweries to over 1700, pale ale is many times underrated and under-appreciated, even by yours truly. In my quest to find great session beers (to balance against the super high gravity beers), I decided to get some friends together to have a blind tasting of pale ale. The results of this party culminated in both this story as well as an article I wrote on Menuism.com about American Pale Ale.

I asked each person who came over to bring a six pack of pale ale. The options ended up with were Full Sail Pale Ale, Grand Teton Sweetgrass, Drakes 1500, Deschutes Mirror Pond, Deschutes Red Chair NW Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Something Something, and a control beer, Alaska Summer Ale.

After a quick meal of cajun-style meatloaf, I poured, in secret, two to three beers per person in three separate rounds. Each plastic cup had the name of a person plus A, B, and C to be used for the ratings. During each round we leisurely tasted, discussed the beer, recorded a rating between 1 and 10 for each beer, socialized, and snacked on cheese, crackers, and fruit. It was a great time and it gave us an opportunity to try several versions of the same style of beer.

The pale ales we tried were across the spectrum from hoppy and bitter, like Sweetgrass, to a more malt-forward beer like Mirror Pond or Full Sail, to hoppy yet malt-balanced beer like Red Chair NWPA. Based on the ratings, the clear favorite of the group was Full Sail Pale Ale. You might think, that based on this outcome, another malty beer might be the runner up but instead it was the balanced and somewhat hoppy Red Chair NWPA. The complete results are listed below. The maximum number of points possible was 10 times 6 people: 60.

1. Full Sail Pale Ale – 46
2. Red Chair NWPA – 43.63
3. Grand Teton Sweetgrass – 42.57
4. Drakes 1500 – 42
5. Deschutes Mirror Pond – 41.3
6. Mission St. Pale Ale – 41.18
7. Alaska Summer Ale – 38.5
8. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – 34.2

The tasting party was quite educational and increased my appreciation of this style of beer. Special thanks to Liz, Jason, Eden, Brian, Andrew, Michael, and Basma for making this party a success.

The craft beer made by Full Sail Brewing Company is of high quality, reasonable price, and easily accessible in 27 states. In fact, I’ve seen it at every Trader Joe’s that I’ve been to in California. Their pale ale is no exception to their high standards of quality. On a coast dominated by super hoppy and bitter pale ales, Full Sail has made a beer that is a refreshing departure by being more malt-forward than hops-forward.

This award winning beer, including a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008, is described by the brewery as follows:

Our Pale Ale has a fresh, hoppy aroma that comes from two (top secret) Northwest hop varieties, while two-row Pale and Crystal malt give it a mild sweetness that finishes clean and crisp. Feeling out of whack? Put on some music, crack a Pale Ale, and readjust your balance.

If I had to guess the hop varieties used in this beer, I would go with Mt. Hood and Willamette or maybe a touch of Cascade to replace either one of those.

Date Reviewed. May 10, 2011

Where I Found It. BevMo on Van Ness in San Francisco, CA

Serving Type. 12 oz. bottle to a nonick pint glass.

Appearance. Full Sail Pale Ale has a crystal clear, light amber and coppery color with a white head. The head doesn’t have much retention but it does leave a nice lacing ont the glass. The beer appears to maintain a very thin layer of white foam on the top.

Aroma. The aroma of this beer is comes primarily from the malt. It has a malty and with an earthy spiciness to it coupled with woodsy note almost like cedar. It also has some hints of a floral hop bouquet, which complements nicely the grainy aroma. Possibly more of a noble hop nature to it and maybe just a dash of vanilla to accompany the malty aromas.

Flavor. This pale ale is nicely balanced with a subtle malt sweetness that is nicely balanced by a touch of bitterness from the hops. This beer, at 37 IBUs, has more than a touch of hops but the balance and flavor of this beer is clearly more malt-forward than hop-forward. Although this beer is more malty than hoppy and has some sweetness, I would not consider it a sugary-sweet beer. It has a nice balance. The malty-cedar and spicy-earthy notes from the aroma follow through nicely in the flavor.

Mouthfeel. Full Sail Pale Ale is a medium to light bodied beer with a nice smooth texture that is just shy of being described as velvety.

Overall. When so many American pale ales are so hoppy, Full Sail provides a refreshing departure with a finely crafted malt-forward pale ale. Hops are not absent, instead they accentuate the hardiness and grain-qualities of the malt rather than introducing citrus or pine notes. This beer also does not have a harsh bitterness to it, instead it has a smooth bitterness. This beer is full of flavor but if you put it next to much hoppier and much more bitter beers, it will seem flat and with less flavor. I highly encourage you to start your session with this great beer and maybe you won’t feel a need to move on to something with more aggressive hops.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.5
• Aroma (24%): 4.5
• Flavor (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Overal (20%): 4.0
• Total: 4.35

Information

• Style: pale ale
• Brewery: Full Sail Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5.4%
• IBU: 37
• Grains: two-row pale malt, crystal malt

Southern Tier is a craft brewery out of Lakewood, New York that produces 30,000 barrels of fine craft beer each year. An excellent example of their craftsmanship is one of their special limited availability beers called Imperial Gemini Blended Unfiltered Ale. This beer is not exactly what I expected from the East Coast. It has a strong citrus hop aroma with a strong bitter bite and was made from two of their other brews: Unearthly Imperial IPA and Hoppe Imperial Extra Pale Ale. This is a beer loaded with 6 varieties of hops and four different grains. Imperial Gemini, in particular, was given to me by Josh, a friend who lives in Vermont, so a special thanks goes out to him.

Date Reviewed. July 1, 2010

Where I Found It. A friend who lives in Vermont.

Serving Type. 22 oz. bottle to a glass.

Appearance. Despite its name, Imperial Gemini Blended Unfiltered Ale, this beer has a beautiful crystal clear orange-amber color. The off-white head head has tiny bubbles and a thick frothy texture and lasts quite a long time leaving a few traces on the glass. Update (April 26, 2011): This beer is “normally”not crystal clear. Most of the sediment had “filtered” to the bottom of the bottle and I didn’t bother to stir it up before serving.

Aroma. This beer has a soft  but potent citrus hoppy bouquet combined with a biscuit, amber, or toasted malt aroma. The aroma also has a hint of wildflower or orange blossom honey. There is also a hint of caramel in the smell. It reminds me a bit of butterscotch candy and orange candy at the same time.

Flavor. Imperial Gemini balances the strong malty sweetness of a high gravity ale with an intense flavor and bitterness of hops. The bitterness is smooth with a bite of spiciness and alcohol in the finish. Despite being 10% alcohol by volume, this beer does not have a boozy flavor.

Mouthfeel. As would be expected by such a high alcohol beer, the mouthfeel is viscous. When accompanied with the tiny bubbles or natural carbonation, this beer ends up with a soft creamy texture. This beer nicely combines bitterness, sweetness, and hoppy flavors and aromas to produce a wonderfully crafted beer.

Overall. Since the balance of sweet and bitter was so masterfully achieved with this beer, it is dangerously easy to drink much of this beer even though it is a 10% abv beverage.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score. Ratings are based on the BJCP score sheet. To get the BJCP score equivalent, multiply by 10. Note: I am not a BJCP judge, I just like the scoring system.

• Appearance (6%): 4.5
• Smell (24%): 4.5
• Taste (40%): 4.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Overall (20%): 4.5
• Total: 4.3

Bottle Label

The Southern Tier website is quite nice and has all of their bottle label on their website. The label for Imperial Gemini can be found here. For posterity, the label reads as follows:

High in the winter sky, two parallel stick figures are visible & known as “the twins,” or the constellation Gemini. The astronauts of the 1960s flew as teams of two in a program named after the celestial pairing. At Southern Tier, we have our own fraternal twins, Hoppe & Unearthly. Blended together & placed in this vessel, the mission of our Gemini is to travel high & take passengers on a journey far into the heavens.

Information

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 10%
• Original Gravity: 1.092 specific gravity
• Final Gravity: 1.012 (calculated)
• Hops: Kettle: Columbus, Chinook, and Cascade. Aroma: Amarillo. Hop-back: Styrian Golding. Dry-hopped: Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus.
• Grains: 2-row pale malt, malted white wheat, cara-pils malt, red wheat,

Other Reviews

• JustBeer: Southern Tier Imperial Gemini
• Mug of Saint Arnold: Souther Tier Imperial Gemini
• The Brew-Thusiast: Pizza + IPA = GOOD!