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

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!

When I reviewed Rising Sun Pale Ale from Baird Brewing Company, I also purchased a few more of their offerings including Red Rose Amber. This is a delicious amber ale with an inviting aroma and malty yet hop-spicy flavor. I actually enjoyed this amber ale more than their Pale Ale.The brewery describes this beer as follows:

The Red Rose is a most original Amber Ale – the result of high fermentation (with ale yeast) at an unusually low (lager-like) temperature. This robust, rich brew, with fruity, malty flavors, is nonetheless crisp, refreshing, and dry. As a rose – extravagantly layered, expansively fragrant, and just a bit prickly.

Date Reviewed. October 1, 2009.

Where I Found It. City Beer Store, San Francisco, CA.

Serving Type. 12 0z. bottle into a glass.

Appearance. Rose Red Amber Ale has a foamy head with a color like that of buttermilk pancakes batter. The head has some lasting power but does not leave a trace on the glass. The color of this beer has a brown-orange oak hue and is very clear. Even more clear if you don’t pour the sediment into your glass.

Smell. The hop bouquet is floral with a tinge of grapefruit citrus and maybe a little spicy. The floral and citrus sweetness is enhanced by a sweet malty, biscuit, amber aroma. There also seems to be a very subtle hint of white grapes, which makes me wonder if they used Nelson Sauvin hops. The smell is very inviting.

Taste. Red Rose Amber Ale is almost exactly what you would expect from the aroma and a little more. The flavor has sweet roasted malt and biscuit flavor juxtaposed by a spicy hop bitterness. This beer is actually a bit more bitter than I expected and I like it. The malt sweetness and floral qualities seem to give a hint of grape again in the taste but just a hint.

Mouthfeel. This is a medium to light bodied beer with a dry finish but the dryness does not mean flavorless because this beer is packed with flavor. It might be a bit too dry for my preference. The carbonation in this beer is very strong  but gives a foamy feeling in the mouth.

Drinkability. Red Rose Amber Ale is crisp, malty, and bitter with a great nose making it very drinkable. The hop bitterness can intense but fades nicely just as you’re ready for the next bottle.

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

• Appearance (20%): 4.0
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 3.5
• Drinkability (10%): 4.5
• Overall: 4.0

Information

• Style: amber ale
• Brewery: Baird Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5.4%
• Beer Advocate rating: 4.03 (as of May 16, 2010)

Other Reviews

• Beer Advocate - Red Rose Amber Ale
• Rate Beer – Baird Red Rose Amber Ale

Monk’s Blood is a special release beer in a can from 21st Amendment that was available during the winter of 2009-2010 and it may no longer be available. This must have been one of the most unique beers that I ever had from a can. It is a bold complex beer with many layers of flavors and aromas. It was truly a delightful winter season beer and I hope it comes back to cans again soon.I also really enjoyed the packaging of this beer. The 4 pack recycled-paper box with a strange story about a Monk written all around it added some interest. I felt the name , the colors, and everything about the packaging was interesting, mysterious, and fun.

21st Amendment writes the following about Monk’s Blood:

21st Amendment founders Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan traveled the Belgium to develop the recipe for this special beer, visiting small, traditional breweries in the hop fields of west Flanders, not far from the famous Trappist abbey of Westvletren. Monk’s Blood is designed to pair beautifully with rish winter stews, creamy cheeses, unctuous desserts or just by itself, in a Belgian tulip glass, with a good book by the fire.

Date Reviewed. December 19, 2009

Where I Found It. City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA.

Serving Type. 12 oz can to a tulip glass.

Appearance. While pouring Monk’s Blood it has a very clear mahogany amber color. In the glass, the beer is nearly opaque black but when you hold it up to the light it has a slight glow of a deep dark sanguine and mahogany hue. The head is light tan, khaki colored with very little retention. When there is less in the glass the beer is a dark mahogany color and clear.

Smell. The aroma of this beer is dried fruit, like figs or prunes with a hint of sourness. There is also a candy scent with a hint of red licorice (Red Vines not Twizzlers) so maybe that means a bit of cherry. It has a dark rich roasted malt smell and is not bitter smelling like molasses. Finally, there is a little vanilla and a little wood.

Taste. Monk’s Blood has a flavor of dark roasted malt sweetness balanced by a sourness in the background that is noticeable but complimentary. It has a little candy sweet with a hint of molasses. There some taste of a herbal spice quality like anise or tarragon. I detected some chocolate flavors but it was very dark chocolate. Monk’s Blood tastes dark, malty, and red. Sorry, red is not a taste per se but that word kept coming to mind while tasting it.

Mouthfeel. This beer is full bodied with a slight syrupy texture. It has moderate levels of carbonation and is not harsh but not super smooth.

Drinkability. For a strong dark ale Monk’s Blood is surprisingly refreshing. I think this is a very well balanced and very well crafted beer. Just a hint of sour to balance the sweetness and a touch of bitterness from the hops and dark malts. The spice quality is not in your face either and is subtle but apparent. All aspects of this beer nicely balance together.

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

• Appearance (20%): 4.5
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Drinkability (10%): 4.5
• Overall: 4.35

Information

• Style: Belgian dark strong ale
• Brewery: 21st Amendment
• Alcohol by volume: 8.3%
• Bitterness: 34 IBU
• Hops: Magnum, Centennial
• Malt: Belgian pilsner, two-row pale, caramunich, caravienne, aromatic, special b, flaked oats, flaked wheat
• Other ingredients: Belgian candi sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean, dried black mission figs, aged on oak
• Beer Advocate rating: 3.79 (as of May 14, 2010)

Other Reviews

• Links coming soon

Brasserie d’Achouffe is a brewery located in the Ardennes region of Belgium and produces N’Ice Chouffe as thier winter seasonal beer brewed with thyme and curaçao. This brewery was founded in 1982 and produces wonderful Belgian beers including La Chouffe, a Belgian blonde ale, and Houblon Chouffe, an excellent Belgian IPA. This brewery also has a very distictive gnome-theme for their brewery and beers.

The brewery describes N’Ice Chouffe as follows:

The N’ICE CHOUFFE is a strong dark beer that will warm you up during the winter months. It is spiced (with thyme and curaçao) and a light hop taste, a well-balanced beer. The N’ICE CHOUFFE is unfiltered, and re-fermented in the bottle as well as in the keg.

Date Reviewed. January 8, 2010.

Where I Found It. Draeger’s in San Mateo, CA.

Serving Type. 750ml bottle to a tulip glass.

Appearance. N’Ice Chouffe has a dark reddish brown or oak color and is quite cloudy. The  head is a creamy a-little-darker-than-buttermilk color and has tiny bubbles but does not last long. However, the effervescence causes some foamy bubble to always be on the top of the beer.

Smell. When I opened the bottle, my first thought was champagne like a champagne-yeast smell. It has notes of wine grape dry fruitiness coupled with a sweet candy sugar and malt aroma. It has a slightly herbal aroma, I want to say thyme but it’s not terribly strong. It contains a little banana and not much cloves with a hint of sourness. At 10% abv it smells a little boozy.

Taste. N’Ice Chouffe has a slight sourness contrasted by the sweetness of the malt. It is more sweet than bitter meaning not too much bitterness from the hops. It has a bit of a taste of cola nut, dried fruit (like dates or prunes), a subtle fresh herbal flavor like thyme or oregano, and a hint citrus in the foam like orange peel. It has a spicy cloves taste too.

Mouthfeel. This is a full bodied beer with plenty of natural effervescence. The tiny bubbles from the natural carbonation give a slightly creamy or smooth texture. It is quite nice.

Drinkability. At 10% alcohol by volume this is a sipping beer but a sipping beer that you can enjoy throughout the night.

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

• Appearance (20%): 3.5
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Drinkability (10%): 4.0
• Overall: 4.15

Information

• Style: Belgian dark strong ale
• Brewery: Brasserie d’Achouffe
• Alcohol by volume: 10%
• Other ingredients: thyme and curaçao
• Beer Advocate rating: 4.07 (as of May 10, 2010)

Other Reviews

• The Beer Critic – N’Ice Chouffe
• Beer Crusade – N’ice Chouffe, Achouffe Brewery, Achouffe, Belgium
• Mike Loves Beer – N’Ice Chouffe 2007
• Hoosier Beer Geek – KOTBR #65 – (Delayed) Jingle Bells
• Beer Advocate – N’Ice Chouffe
• Rate Beer – N’Ice Chouffe

Full Sail Brewing Company, of Hood River, Oregon, produces 4 seasonal selections each year, three of which are branded as LTD, which stands for both limited edition and also “Live The Dream.” LTD 3 is the summer offering and is a pilsner-style beer perfect for warm summer weather and BBQs. It is also an award winner with a silver medal in 2009 at the World Beer Championships.

Full Sail describes this summer brew as follows:

Well looky here, a crisp new pilsner-style lager all ready to rock your tastebuds’ little world. The latest addition to our LTD series is pale-golden in color, featuring a spicy floral hop aroma, malty medium body, and a smooth, thirst quenching finish.

Another great thing, for homebrewers, about their LTD series is that they list the ingredients on the bottom of the box so you can make an attempt at recreating this beer at home.

Date Reviewed. August 9, 2009.

Where I Found It. Trader Joe’s in San Mateo, CA

Serving Type. 12 oz bottle into a glass.

Appearance. Full Sail LTD 3 has a smooth white head that lasted long enough to take a few pictures. This beer is crystal clear with a rich burnished golden yellow color.

Smell. After opening and pouring out the beer you can immediately smell the floral and spicy bouquet of the Sterling hops. The malt aroma is biscuity, sweet, and like fresh sweet grains. There is a slight coppery smell that I always get when drinking Pilsners. Ever so slightly citrusy.

Taste. LTD 3 is gently sweet and well-balanced by a smooth bitter hops taste. This is a crisp beer and the bitterness does not linger. It has a bit of grainy sweetness with a hint of a buttery flavor. All-in-all this is a nicely flavored pilsener.

Mouthfeel. This is a medium-light bodied beer with a good amount of carbonation. Palate cleansing.

Drinkability. Thirst quenching, crisp, and smooth and very easy to drink.

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

• Appearance (20%): 4.0
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Drinkability (10%): 5.0
• Overall: 4.15

Information

• Style: pilsener
• Brewery: Full Sail Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5.6%
• Original Gravity: 1.056
• Hops: Sterling
• Malt: 2-row pale malt
• Beer Advocate rating: 3.64 (as of May 9, 2010)

Other Reviews

• Beervana – Hard Reviews: Full Sail LTD 03 and Ninkasi Radiant
• The Full Pint – Review – Full Sail LTD 03 Lager
• Draft Magazine – Tasting Notes: Full Sail LTD Series No. 3
• Beer Advocate – LTD Series – Bottling 03
• Rate Beer – Full Sail Limited Edition Lager (LTD 03)

Deschutes Brewery is the number 6 craft brewery, by sales volume, in America (as of 20008 and 2009) and they continue to produce excellent products such as Hop Henge Experimental IPA. Hop Henge is part of Deschutes Bond Street Series, which features hop-forward beer that are inspired by the original Deschutes Brewery & Public House on Bond Street in downtown Bend, OR.

This beer almost seems like a hybrid between and American amber ale and an American double IPA. It is very hoppy with a smooth biscuity sweetness to it. Deschutes describes Hops Henge as follows:

First brewed in 2006, Deschutes Brewery’s Hop Henge Experimental IPA reappears this year with more extreme hop flavors than ever before. The new formulation is the epitome of the brewery’s experimental style and commitment to innovation, while gratifying their unquenchable thirst for beautifully balanced hoppy beers. The newest incarnation of Hop Henge uses several new hop processes and techniques to create a truly unique and unexpected beer.

Where I Found It. BevMo in Sacramento, CA.

Review Date. July 11, 2009

Serving Type. 22 0z. bottle

Appearance. Hop Henge has a crystal clear but bold red-amber color and you can see the bubbles rising to the top. It has a tan head that started off with loosely coupled bubbles but after that subsided the head was tighter, creamy, and long lasting. After drinking half the beer, there is still have about 3mm of head.

Smell. The aroma of this beer is slightly bready aroma with much stronger notes of biscuity malt coupled with a roasted quality. The hop bouquet is earthy, spicy, and a little floral with pine and maybe some cedar. Since this is made with Cascade and Centennial hops, I was expecting a little more citrus and more in-your-face hops smell. However, my bottle was about 3 months old.

Taste. Hop Henge has both spicy and smooth bitterness from the hops. Although this beer has 95 IBUs, it does not seem overly bitter. It has a nice noticeable bite but is not overwhelming. The biscuit aroma follows through in the flavor with malty sweetness that you taste up front followed by that wonderful hop flavor. The sweetness of the malt buffers the 95 IBUs of bitterness. This is an 8.75% abv beer and sometimes you can taste the alcohol astringency and sometimes you cannot.

Mouthfeel. The beer is nicely carbonated with small bubbles giving is a more creamy nature. It is a full-medium bodied beer with a hop spiciness. The spiciness is not burning like a chili pepper but the spiciness is more that of black pepper or ginger, with out the flavor of those of course.

Drinkability. It’s summertime and I’ve been craving a lot of IPA beer discovering it to be more refreshing in hot weather than I previously expected. This beer is a little sweeter than some of those other quenching IPAs that I had. That and the high alcohol content makes this not a session beer. It is so delicious however that you do want your entire 22 oz. bottle to yourself.

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

• Appearance (20%): 4.5
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.0
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Drinkability (10%): 3.5
• Overall: 4.05

Information

• Style: Double IPA
• Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
• Alcohol by volume: 8.75%
• Bitterness: 95 IBU
• Hops: Centennial, Cascade
• Malts: crystal, pale and carastan
• Beer Advocate rating: 4.1 (as of May 6, 2010)

Other Reviews

• The Brew Site – Hop Henge (2010)
• Drink Hacker – Review: Deschutes Brewery Hop Henge Experimental IPA
• The Full Pint – Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental IPA
• It’s Pub Night – Hop Henge and Pliny the Younger
• Beer and Whiskey Brothers – Deschutes Hop Henge: What time is it?
• Hopzine – Hop Henge Experimental IPA
• Beer Advocate – Hop Henge Experimental IPA
• Rate Beer – Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental IPA

Rubicon Brewing Company is a small brewery in midtown Sacramento, CA. It seems that the only beer that the distribute in bottles in their Rubicon IPA and a good choice at that. This IPA was a Gold Medal Winner in 1989 and 1990 at the Great American Beer Festival.Rubicon describes their IPA as follows:

Generous portions of Cascade and Chinook hops are added throughout the brewing process to create Rubicon’s Flagship Ale. Golden in color with an assertive hop bitterness. This beer won gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival. A true American Classic.

Where I Found It. BevMo in Sacramento, CA.

Date Reviewed. July 24, 2009.

Serving Type. 22oz bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance. Rubicon IPA has an off-white foamy head that leaves a bit of foam on the glass. Some clumps of foam remain on top of the beer as you consume it. It has an oak, orange, amber color which is slightly cloudy.

Smell. The hop bouquet of this beer is citrus, floral, and a hint of spiciness. The aroma is roasted malty sweet with a hint of vanilla and caramel.

Taste. Rubicon IPA has a wonderful taste of roasted malty sweetness with a hint of caramel. The malt flavor is complemented by a spicy and citrus hop bitterness that gives it an almost grapefruit flavor. The hop flavor starts out smooth and finishes with a bite. The hopiness only lingers for a bit on the tongue.

Mouthfeel. This is a medium to full bodied beer that has a smooth creamy texture and nicely carbonated.

Drinkability. Rubicon IPA is well hopped beer but not loaded with so many hops that you can only have one. After a 22 oz. bottle I could likely enjoy another 22 ounces of this beer. The balance of this beer makes it a nice and drinkable IPA.

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

• Appearance (20%): 3.5
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.5
• Drinkability (10%): 4.5
• Overall: 4.2

Information

• Style: IPA
• Brewery: Rubicon Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 6.5%
• Hops: Cascade and Chinook
• Beer Advocate rating:

Other Reviews

• United Nations of Beer – Rubicon Brewing IPA
• Draft Mag – IPA by Rubicon Brewing
• The Full Pint – Review – Rubicon IPA
• Beer Advocate – IPA
• Rate Beer – Rubicon IPA