Few craft breweries brew lager style beers and even fewer specialize in lager beer. Sudwerk, however, is one such craft brewery that specializes in German lager style beer and does it very well. They brew excellent märzen, helles, pilsner, and several other styles of beer. Continue reading
On a recent trip to Palm Springs to visit family in my home town, I had dinner at Pomme Frite, a Belgain bistro in downtown. I had first heard about this restaurant on Twitter from a posting by Draft Magazine in January, 2009. When I arrived, I discovered the beer list to be extensive and the food to be delicious.
Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company is located on the San Francisco Pennisula in Belmont, CA. This brewery distributes their beer to numerous bars and restaurants in the Bay Area. On the last Friday of every month, Devil’s Canyon hosts the famous Beer Friday at their brewery located in Belmont. Beer Friday has food, live music, and $4 pints of their brew ($7 for the first pint and you keep the glass for next time). On January 30, 2009 I attended my first Beer Friday and had a few pints including Full Boar Scotch Ale.
Full Boar is a scotch ale or wee heavy style beer with a strong malty flavor and a high alcohol content. It is an award winning beer with 4 California Golden Bear Awards: Gold in 2003, Silver in 2004, Silver in 2005, and Bronze in 2006.
The description of Full Boar from the Devil’s Canyon website:
Full Boar Scotch Ale is deeply malted and caramel apparent with overtones of chocolate and a slight hint of a mild, smoky flavor.
Where I Found It. I had this beer at the Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company headquarters in Belmont, CA on Beer Friday, which happens on the last Friday of every month.
Serving Type. When I sampled this brew, it it was served from the tap into a pint glass.
Appearance. Full Boar has a deep dark amber color but when you hold it up to the light you can see that it is very clear. After the beer was poured into my glass only a small tan-colored head remained which didn’t last long. Tan colored head.
Smell. This beer has a very dark malty aroma with a nice strong roasty sensation. The sweetness of the beer comes through as an aroma of dark chocolate and molasses.
Taste. Full Boar has a warm roasted flavor and with a hint of toasted malts. It is very malty and slightly sweet and has that pronounced molasses-like flavor that you find in many very malty beers. The well balanced bitterness of this beer gives it a flavor like a dark artisan bittersweet chocolate. Full Boar has a great Scotch ale taste where the 7.4% alcohol comes through pleasantly.
Mouthfeel. A creamy sensation from the carbonation manifests nicely as a medium-bodied beer that is full of flavor. The alcohol seems to thin it out a bit making this beer seem medium-bodied instead of full-bodied. The aftertaste has a hint of hop bitterness, dark malt, and molasses.
Drinkability. This is a pleasant and easy to drink scotch ale that gives you a nice warm feeling on a chilly evening. It’s amazing that a 7.4% abv beer is so smooth and seemingly much lighter bodied.
Rating.
For my first beer review I’ve selected a winter seasonal ale, Jubelale. Jubelale is a winter warmer style beer that is available from October to December from Deschutes Brewery out of Bend, Oregon. It comes in artistically styled packaging, which, according to Deschutes, is different every year. Even though I shouldn’t chose a beer by the label, the packaging helped influence me to try it out.
Continue reading
Beer 47 in a Tumblr
