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.
Sculpin IPA is a delicious IPA where dominated by citrusy hops yet with an expertly crafted balance of sweetness and bitterness. Sculpin 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.
On Friday, January 21 I was sipping a beer at City Beer Store, in San Francisco, when I read on Twitter, from @AllOverBeer, that Telegraph Brewing was doing a beer tasting of a huge selection of their beer. I also learned that Brian Thompson, Founder and CEO of Telelgraph, would be there to answer questions. Since I’ve been wanting to try their beer for a while, this was the perfect opportunity and setting to try them out.
On a recent trip to City Beer Store in San Francisco I was browsing the beer fridge, after having tried De Ranke’s Père Noel, trying to figure out what other winter season beer to try. As soon as I spotted 2 Turtle Doves by The Bruery, I grabbed a 750ml to try. I first heard about 2 Turtle Doves (or sometimes Two Turtle Doves) on twitter from @aircoleman who recommended it with this tweet: “2 Turtle Doves” is a Belgian-style Dark Ale brewed with cocoa nibs and toasted pecans. A very nice 12% winter beer!”
2 Turtle Doves is crafted by a brewery in Orange County, CA called The Bruery, who specialize mostly in Belgian-style ales found either in 750ml bottles or on tap. This beer is the second winter seasonal beer they have produced in their series of the “Twelve Beers of Christmas” with the first being “Partridge in a Pear Tree.”
This is truly a wonderful winter beer which I initially described on Twitter as “like chocolate syrup muddled with a sweet stout with a little cola, gourmet coffee, and spices.” These flavors are not on accident. The bottle caption describes 2 Turtle Doves as follows:
Belgian-Style Dark Ale Brewed with Cocoa Nibs & Toasted Pecans
The second verse of our “Twelves Beers of Christmas” saga begins with caramel and toasty, nutty malt with a luscious layer of chocolate. Happy Holidays!
Date Reviewed. December 11, 2009
Where I Found It. City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA
Serving Type. Served from a 750ml bottle into a tulip glass.
Appearance. 2 Turtle Doves has a dark black or very dark brown color with a pleasant mocha colored head. Head didn’t last to long in the tulip glass.
Smell. The aroma of this beer is heavily like dark chocolate syrup. It also has hints of cola, rum, with a dash of holiday spices like cloves or nutmeg. The spicy quality plus the cola undertones give it a smell like an artisan root beer or sassafras. The aroma also has hints of gourmet coffee. Finally, as the beer warms it reveals a bouquet of caramel, nutty pecans, and toasty malt.
Taste. I originally described 2 Turtle Doves on Twitter as follows, “it’s like chocolate syrup muddled with a sweet stout with a little cola, gourmet coffee, and spices.” The dark roasted malt flavor comes through like an iced coffee made with gourmet coffee and artisan dark chocolate bittersweet syrup. The sweetness and the alcohol come through like a 18-year aged rum while not being boozy. The hints of cola flavor complement all of the other flavors. Also picy cloves. Finally, the malt has a nice roasty and caramel flavor. 2 Turtles Does is a delectable dessert in a bottle.
Mouthfeel. This beer is full boded, thick, and smooth but there may be a few tannins, that come through, giving it a hint of chalkiness.
Drinkability. 2 Turtle Doves is pure liquid dessert, a treat, and delicious. Although it is 12% alcohol by volume, it drinks smoothly and easily.
Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.
AleSmith is an awarding winning brewery out of San Diego, CA where all of the employees are homebrewers. In fact, according to their website, the owner and the head brewer were both past presidents of their homebrew club.
AleSmith touts that, “every AleSmith ale is an all-natural, unpasteurized, handcrafted artisan product brewed using only premium domestic and imported malts and hops, precisely conditioned water and our quality yeast strains.” This quality craftsmanship is readily apparent when you try the AleSmith IPA, an IPA that has won numerous awards including Silver at the World Beer Championships and Bronze at the Great American Beer Festival. The brewery describes AleSmith IPA beer as follows:
Deep golden to light amber color, and a nice off-white head, with good retention when properly served. Starts off with pleasantly strong hop flavors, balanced by a firm malt backdrop, then fades to a dry finish with a lingering hoppiness.
Where I Found It. BevMo in La Quinta, CA.
Serving Type. 22 oz. bottle into a glass.
Date Reviewed. June 26, 2009.
Appearance. AleSmith IPA has a golden honey color with an orange hue. It is very clear as long as you don’t pout the yeast into your glass. This IPA has a foamy and frothy head that lingers for a very long time. It just doesn’t seem to go away; half-way done with the beer and there is still a thin layer of head on top.
Smell. This beer smells like hoppy goodness. The sweet maltiness combined with the fruity hops made me think of fresh plums while I was taking the photos. There is a hint of vanilla or caramel and the hops are clean and fresh. This IPA has a slight hint of cedar (instead of pine) and a slight hint of spice but also fruity like fresh pineapple. There was a slight bready yeast smell when I first opened the bottle but could not pick it up after that.
Taste. I tried AleSmith IPA closer to 50ºF on a hot evening in the desert and although it does not sound like ideal conditions, it was fantastic. This beer has a nice malt flavor with a hint of caramel and vanilla sweetness. The maltiness is topped by a generous dose of hops. The hop flavor is like white pepper spice, grapefruit citrus, and for the first few sips I tasted fresh plum.
Mouthfeel. This is a big IPA and has a smooth silky nature to help glide the strong flavors through your palate. It is a full bodied beer that is almost creamy in texture and well carbonated.
Drinkability. This is a smoother IPA that has a nice balance between smooth bitterness and spicy bitterness with a bite.
Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.
The following caption appears on the back of a 22 oz. bottle of AleSmith IPA:
I prefer AleSmith it’s pretty awesome. That’s what our People’s Choice Award says to us. Each year at the San Diego Real Ale Festival , everyone is asked to vote for their favorite beer. In 2001, they chose AleSmith IPA over all the others. If you like your beer hoppy, you’re gonna love this one.
AleSmith IPA is brewed using only premium-quality malts, along with pounds and pounds of the freshest hops and our championship yeast strain. Even the water we use is precisely conditioned to make sure everything is just right for the best possible product. The results is a hoppy, malty hand-forged American-style IPA with a tantalizing aroma and a flavor that’ll have your taste buds in ecstasy!
The brewer’s yeast at the bottom of the bottle is living proof that this is a top-quality bottle-conditioned beer. Conditioning in the bottle gives the beer a lush, velvety texture that you just can’t get with force-carbonating. The bubbles are smaller, giving your taste buds a lot more surface are to grab onto, and the difference shows from the first sip to the last.
To serve, chill to approximately 45-50º and pour gently into an AleSmith pint glass, leaving the yeast in the bottle. To learn more about AleSmith Brewing Company and our many other premium products, please visit our website.
Hop-15 Ale is a big double IPA brewed by Port Brewing in the town of San Marcos, CA in the San Diego area. This 10% alcohol by volume beer is brewed using 15 different varieties of hops that are added every 15 minutes. It was originally brewer for the 15th Anniversary of Port Brewing but is now available year round.
Hop-15 Ale has received numerous awards. The brewer’s website lists them off as follows:
It has won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival. It also was named Alpha King in 2004 and received a first place award at the Bistro Double IPA beer festival in Hayward, CA. Hop 15 remains won of the stickiest most resinous beers we have ever tasted and for that, we are thankful it is on tap at our brewery each and every day.
Where I Found It. BevMo in La Quinta, CA.
Date Reviewed. June 10, 2009
Serving Type. 22 0z. bottle to a glass.
Appearance. Hop-15 has a hazy appearance with an orange, clover-honey color. The head is an off-white tan color and the head does not last very long. The head does, however, last as a very very thin layer of loose bubbles on the top of the beer.
Smell. The hop bouquet of this beer is leafy green hops with a touch of pine and a hint of citrus and maybe just a bit of pineapple. The hop bouquet is not quite as intense as other IPAs and Double IPAs that I have tried recently. The aroma has a subtle roasty malt sweetness.
Taste. Hop-15 Ale starts with a smooth hop bitterness that is followed up by a bite of bitterness on the finish. The hops flavor is primarily spicy with a touch of pine. The citrus does not come out in the taste but I taste a little pineapple with the sweetness from the malt. It has a nice roasty and malted barley sweetness that smooths out the bitter hops that are jam packed into this beer. Although there is a lot of alcohol in this beer, this beer is not harsh and lacks astringency.
Mouthfeel. This is a medium to full bodied beer with plenty of carbonation that you can feel. The mouthfeel is about right.
Drinkability. Although Hop-15 is not a session beer due to the 10% alcohol by volume, it is a big giant tasty beer. After trying trying this beer, anything other than an IPA might taste flavorless. It is surprisingly smooth for being loaded with hops, which is likely due to the sweetness of the malt.
Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.
The following caption appears on the side of the bottle:
Out beer oozes all the hop goodness you would expect to find in a double IPA. In your nose, you will experience a citric hop quality which is balanced by a slight malt sweetness. The essence of a great double IPA is hops and as such the beer finishes with a pronounced spicy hop bite. Thankfully, for all of us hop-heads, we have decided to brew this beer more than once a year. Look for Hop 15 to make an appearance from time to time when space permits us to brew this one, one of our favorite ales.
Over the summer while I was visiting Southern California I searched for a brewery in the area and found Hangar 24 Brewery in Redlands, California. I arranged for a visit and tried all of the beers on tap at the time. More on the brewery tour in a future post.
Hangar 24′s flagship and most popular beer is Orange Wheat, a wonderful summertime, or any time, American style wheat beer made with oranges. The oranges in this beer are organic and are sourced from local growers from the Inland Orange Conservancy. The oranges are pureed whole and added to the beer giving it a strong orange natural flavor.
Where I Found It. I tried this beer at Hangar 24 Brewery in Redlands, California on June 6, 2009.
Serving Type. I tried Orange Wheat from the tap into a plastic cup.
Appearance. This beer has a pale yellow pastel color and has a cloudy appearance, as you would expect a wheat beer to be. The head was frothy and lasted a good amount of time, especially for a fruit beer. With the style of beer in mind, it has a refreshing appearance like grapefruit juice.
Smell. The aroma and bouquet of Orange Wheat is primarily related to the oranges in the beer. It has a strong smell of fresh squeezed orange juice, orange rind, and orange rind. It has an inviting tangy smell accompanied by a hint of grainy and bready aroma.
Taste. Orange Wheat is exactly how I think that an orange beer should taste. It has the perfect blend of fresh natural oranges and beer and does not taste nor like orange candy like some other of the orange beers on the market. Just like the smell it has flavors or orange juice and slightly tart and acidic making it clean and crisp. The malt reveals itself as a slight grainy sweetness of wheat and barley while finishing more dry than sweet. There is little to no discernible bitterness in this beer.
Mouthfeel. This beer is light bodied with a refreshing amount of carbonation. Orange Wheat has a slight and pleasant orange aftertaste.
Drinkability. This beer is thirst quenching and very easy to drink. It has an ideal blend of orange and beer and tastes fresh both with regard to the beer and the oranges. It is crisp, light, and easy to consume several in one sitting. Although it might be best suited for a warm summer day, it is also great for any time of day in any California season.
Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.
Ballast Point Brewing Company is one of the several excellent breweries that are located in the San Diego area, who take their name from an area of San Diego. The Calico Amber Ale is an award winning American Amber Ale, including a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2001. The brewery states that this beer was inspired by the beers of England know as bitters and closely related to an ESB but brewed with American ingredients. Ballast Point describes this beer as follows:
The blend of crystal malts give it flavors including toffee and caramel. A blend of American Cascade and Centennial hops provide a counterpoint to the malt. Finally our proprietary yeast provides a fruity background and a Madeira like richness that rounds out this gold medal winning ale.
Immediately upon opening and pouring this beer you will indeed experience the richness of Calico Amber’s aroma.
Where I Found It. BevMo in La Quinta, CA.
Serving Type. 22 oz. bottle.
Appearance. The head of Calico Amber Ale is cappuccino colored and very frothy. The head stayed at an inch or more for an average amount of time but appears to keep a few millimeters of head indefinitely. This beer is crystal clear with a very appealing color. It has a deep red amber color but is not opaque. In fact, it is about as transparent as you can get and still have such a bold dark-red color.
Smell. The hop bouquet is faint can be described as a little spicy and a little coppery. The malt aroma is almost unmatched by any beer that I’ve had so far. It has a strong fresh roasted barley malt smell to it. It smells as if I had just opened the bin of crystal malt at the homebrew shop. It has a bit of brown sugar sweetness too but not like a barleywine. It also smells like boiling wort just before adding the hops.
Taste. Although the taste of Calico Amber Ale beer is very good, the taste is slightly overshadowed by the appearance and the aroma. Don’t get me wrong the flavor is excellent but it is just not as awesome as the appearance and smell. The flavor is sweet roasted barley malts and almost like the flavor of boiling or unfermented wort. The hops give the beer a hint of copper flavor as well as a bit of spice. There is also the flavor of honey present. This beer is clearly more malty than hoppy but the hops are there to give some balance.
Mouthfeel. This is a medium bodied beer with just the right amount of carbonation. It leaves no hop bitterness on the tongue but does leave a nice sweetness of the malts in the aftertaste .
Drinkability. This is a wonderful beer with a complexity of malt flavors that make it easy to enjoy. The sweetness of the malt makes it smooth.
Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.
Caption from the BottleThe following caption is found on the side of the bottle:
Calico Amber Ale won the distinction of being judged “one of the best beers in the world” by winning the 2002 World Beer Cup Gold Medal in the American Amber Ale category. At the 2001 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, Calico Amber Ale won the Gold Medal as the “Best Amber Ale in America”. Full-bodied and aromatic, this California style amber ale is a careful blend of four hops which provides a delicate spice flavor and perfectly balanced finish.
Get the Point!
After my tour of the Firestone-Walker brewery, I had the opportunity to try a few of their beers. The first that I tried was Lil Opal. Lil Opal is a a Belgian style Farmhouse Ale and is Firestone-Walker’s summer seasonal offering this year. One reason behind the name “Lil Opal” is that it is a small beer created from the second runnings of a wheat wine, called Big Opal. The wonderful beer was fermented with Belgian Saison yeast and then racked into neutral Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc oak barrels.
Back in April I arranged for a tour and visited the Firestone-Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA. During the tour of their facilities I took several photos and learned a few interesting facts about Firestone-Walker.
First off, the brewery was founded in 1996 by two brothers-in-law, Adam Firestone and David Walker, who also happen to be members of the Firestone family, known for making rubber and tires. The original location of the brewery (according to the ol label pictures below) was in Santa Maria, CA. In 2001, Firestone-Walker moved to their current facility in Paso Robles where the San Luis Obispo Brewery used to be.
Firestone-Walker distributes their beer only to locations that are within a 24 hour, or so, drive to make sure the beer stays cold and fresh. Their beer can currently be found in California, Nevada, and Oregon. They recently added Washington and Arizona to the list. Last year in 2008, they produced 60,000 barrels of beer and for 2009 they are planning for 75,000 barrels, that’s 1.86 M and 2.325 M gallons respectively. A barrel is 31 gallons and standard size kegs are considered half-barrels with 15.5 gallons of beer.
Firestone-Walker Brewery has created several award winning beers, including a Gold Medal at the 2008 GABF (Great American Beer Festival) for Union Jack IPA in the American Style IPA category. In 2007, Firestone-Walker was awarded with the Mid-sized Brewery of the Year at the GABF.
Beer 47 in a Tumblr
