BONE HAUS BREWING ENGLEMANN’S ELIXIR PRICKLY PEAR PALE ALE – A review.

 

By Daver

Alright, let’s get local again. Bone Haus Brewing, over in Fountain Hills, has the kind of décor a little nerd goblin like myself truly appreciates. The whole brewery is done up like a haunted mine, with coffins and skeletons and bone piles all over. Not just for Halloween, it’s year round! The beer list is worth sampling, the last time I was there. Now due to the emergency brakes getting thrown on the world for a whole year, the beer list has no doubt changed. I recalled there was a prickly pear sour some time ago, rich and tangy sweet and reddish if my memory serves. Unfortunately, I have no photos, nothing written, and a failed Google search, so maybe I imagined it. Nevertheless, I felt like a prickly pear ale was in order. I went to the nearest Total Wine and picked up this brew, Englemann’s Elixer Prickly Pear Pale Ale. Sounds like fairly easy drinking for a hot summer day, doesn’t it?

The can label has its own narrative for the origin of this brew: “Dusty has a talent for discovering opportunity wherever it may lie. When he learned of the powerful properties of the prickly pear fruit from the botantist (that’s their typo, not mine) Dr. Englemann, by sheer happenstance, he concocted a plan to fund our continuing search for my lost uncle. He learned how to turn this widespread fruit into an elixir, one he could sel to townsfolk for their clear benefit. The good doctor advised against it, but Dusty is… persuasive.” What did Dusty do? What happened next will surprise you!

And the surprise is, this is not like any pale ale that I’ve drank before. This tastes more like a lager, something mild and easy to drink. At first it feels like you’re drinking a domestic beer, light flavor, wheat-y, crisp in the beginning. What I don’t taste is hops. That's a relief, many pale ales I've found can be overly generous with the quantity of hop in their brewing. Then, you get the essence of prickly pear, only not to obnoxious extremes. Here's the thing about most prickly pear products you may encounter from Arizona tourist spots: they're heavily sweetened. But this ale is hardly sweet at all, not till it reaches the back of your tongue as you swallow. Same goes for the bouquet, you can detect prickly pear but it’s not overwhelming. It’s perfume-y, but not cloying.

It’s not a bad summertime beer. But there’s not much else I can say about it. The body’s a cloudy yellow, foamy at first pour, 5% ABV. It’s alright, Bone Haus produced another quality brew, no question. It’s also boring. It’s a safe, inoffensive beer. I don’t regret picking this up, but it doesn’t stand out.

CORONADO BREWING COMPANY BIGGER BOAT HAZY IPA - A Review

By Daver.

Look at that can, just look at it! I love sharks, JAWS is one of my favorite movies, read the book over and over, and I enjoy a lot of Coronado Brewing’s brews, so grabbing this beer was inevitable. The can describes this brew: “Hazy IPA brewed with raspberries, blueberries, vanilla and lactose.” Sounds like it’d be like a breakfast yogurt, doesn’t it? I like yogurt. I like creamy beers. 7% ABV, that’s appealing. Imagine a yogurt with 7% alcohol per volume. That’s a good morning! Here’s hoping I didn’t make a mistake out of fanboy enthusiasm by choosing this hazy IPA.


(drinks) 

Hope is stupid.

This IPA, it’s not creamy. It’s not creamy at all. It’s quite tangy, not just from hops but also the berries. The raspberries, blackberries, easy to taste like you picked them fresh from the vine. Only without any sweetness. You don’t detect any vanilla till the end. I’m not thrilled about the color of the body, it’s an unhealthy, thick, cloudy orange. That’s fitting, because it has an after taste like an orange rind. Not zest, the rind. You can smell a little citrus from this too, and the missing sweetness of the berries. Not gone, just redirected from gustatory to olfactory senses. Overall, it’s all just shy of bitter, thankfully. The foaminess is light, so pouring it won’t generally force you to pause and resume.


Funnily enough, letting it warm up a little mellows it out to an easier drinking 
beer. The rind becomes zest, and it gets much further from bitter. It feels creamier, even. The lactose and vanilla finally become more, I don’t know, visible? Upfront? Anyway, you get my meaning. Hell, it almost becomes a different beer that I’m drinking. Or the 7% ABV is kicking in. I’ll lean into the former, some beers just are better when warm.


As a rule, I prefer my beer to be cold. I pull these cans and bottles out of the fridge and pour them cold. And on a hot summer day, I desperately need my beer to be cold. I wish this beer were as good cold as it is warmed up some. Maybe that means it’s a good beer for the beach when the ice is low, or for the winter when you’re already cold everywhere else and would like something that’s not cold. Whatever you choose, as long as you drink responsibly while choosing.


OK, hope isn’t stupid.


I don’t regret picking up the shark beer. It’s not what I thought it would be, but it’s not so bad when that happens. Especially with 7% ABV!

WILD BARREL BREWING COMPANY – VICE BLACK CURRANT SOUR BERLINER WEISSE STYLE

 

A Review

By Daver!

Here’s the thing about sours for me. There’s an equal number of “hits” as there are “misses” when it comes to drinking a sour more than once. I’m always willing to try a sour, because the “hits” are amazing, refreshing and flavorful. Will this sour, from Wild Barrel Brewing Company, fill me with delicious sour ale or regret and misery? Let’s find out.  

 I had to try the Vice Black Currant Sour when I first saw it. I’ve never tasted black currant, and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen any food or beverage with black currant in its ingredients. Had never heard of Wild Barrel Brewing, they’re based out of San Marcos so I can’t say I’ve ever seen them in person. Their website shows they also have a location in Temecula, I’d say they’re doing fairly well. Check out their website, www.wildbarrelbrewing.com.

The first thing I thought on first pour of this sour was “oooh pretty!” The head is thick and resembles a strawberry sherbet. You’d almost want to dip your fingertip to get a taste. The body looks like wine, it’s a dark burgundy violet shade as rich as pie filling. Imagine making this into a pie. Imagine brewing this from a pie. Flavorwise, it’s absolutely on the “hit” side of my sour ale samplings. It’s got that tingle in the back of the tongue that you get from eating a good dill pickle, but it’s not overly sour. It’s more tangy. It’s not too sweet either; yes, there's sours that are sweeter than sour. I don’t like most beers that are like treacle on principle. 

There's a lot of flavor to this, more than just the one on the label. Blackberry, cherry, a little citrus zest, it's there as well with the black currant. It's hard not to notice, in fact. This really is like a pie without the crust, by my reckoning at least. It gets a little sweeter the longer it sits and warms up, and it also feels warmer down the throat like the harder liquors. Unlike the harder stuff, I don’t feel more than a mild buzz. It’s got an ABV of 5.6%, it wouldn’t have any stronger effect on me unless I drank it on an empty stomach. That’s no excuse to be irresponsible while drinking this sour, though.

Is it good? Hell yes, it’s a delicious sour ale going into summer, reasonably easy to drink while cold. Would I buy it regularly? Uh… no. I found this priced at about $7 a pint can, in my opinion that’s too rich for me to drink casually. Give it a shot if you have a special occasion, or want to impress a date, or if it’s on draft.

CORONADO BREWING COMPANY PINEAPPLE FARM HAZY IPA - a review

 

by Daver, I'm very sorry

If I see a beer that has lactose in the ingredients, I have to try it. The beer's a little sweeter, a little smoother, rounding off the corners for a more enjoyable experience. I'm glad that so far I'm not lactose intolerant. Y'see, it's actually lactose sugar that is included in the brew. During fermentation, most sugars convert into alcohol, but lactose does not. If it's in there, it stays in there, and if someone's lactose intolerant then this would give them a bad time, no matter how responsibly you're drinking. When you're drinking a Coronado Brewing Company brew, you should enjoy it! And their Pineapple Farm Hazy IPA is a joy to imbibe.

The can label is informative, listing Simcoe, Azacca, and Amarillo hops as well as pineapple and lactose. Its blurb reads, "One thing is clear, this hazy IPA stands out from the crowd. Brewed with a blend of New World hops and fresh pineapple for a tropical twist, Pineapple Farm is a juicy, island vacation in a can." All things considered, it's also the closest I'll get to having an actual vacation. And I do love pineapple.

Once again, I'm tasting this from my only proper pint glass in the house, ye old Yazoo Brewing Company glass.

On first pour you get a cloudy, dark yellow body with a thick foamy head. The head thins out pretty quick, till only a thin gauzy film lays on top of the brew. There's also sediment, unfiltered Nordic yeast, that floats around the lower half of the glass and eventually settles at the bottom. The bouquet is a fruity sour, you can immediately tell there's pineapple. Its tang balances well with the mild bitterness of the hops of the IPA. The flavors are rich, perfumy, and creamier than your average hazy IPA. Thank you, lactose! It hardly feels like a beer with an IBU of 55. The lactose also helps to bring out the pineapple in the body. A little like yogurt with fruit at the bottom, actually. And if you let the beer warm up to room temperature in the glass, it becomes sweeter.

I'd almost say this is a winter beverage, more enjoyable warmed up than cold in the summer time. That's up to personal preference though, it's something to enjoy year round. It's rich, it's flavorful, and the ABV is slightly above average at 6.8%. The only thing that might put off the average beer drinker is the sediment, but if you swish the beer around a bit and chug it back, you don't even notice. Thankfully for me, it's one of Coronado's regulars and not a specialty batch, so they ship it all the time. I would keep a four pack of these pints in the fridge as often as possible.

DARK SKY BREWING COMPANY CAMINO DURO VIENNA STYLE LAGER - a review

 

by Daver as it was, as it will be

Dark Sky Brewing Company is my favorite brewery, there's no debate of that. Their menu is broad, and recipes quite unconventional. Even something as basic as their Camino Duro Vienna Style Lager was pleasantly surprising in how that simplicity wound up so damned complex.

In a departure from earlier Dark Sky beers, the label for
Camino Duro only reads "Clean, malty, & crispy" Keeps things simple, and leaves more room for the can art. Very retro. But we're not here for an art critique, let's check out the beer. Once again, using the Yazoo Brewing pint glass for the tasting.

On first pour, you get a clear amber body with heavy head, thick like sea foam,

regardless whether you pour it slowly or quick. The head fades away after a couple minutes, leaving splatters of foam clinging to the glass. The malt is strong in the bouquet. It smells kind of sweet, kind of syrupy, with a tang somewhere between grapefruit and a blended scotch. The IBU is low at 18, and the flavor itself is pretty simple, just malt, barley, water, easy. It does finish crisp and clean, but it's a little too clean with a mild tingling on the back of the tongue as it finishes. The aftertaste is grainy and tangy, and it lingers in the mouth. Weirdly, the aftertaste fades faster with every drink, so by the time you finish it there's practically no aftertaste. Also, if you let it warm to room temperature in your glass, the finish is less tangy, and mellows into a comfortably crisp and clean finish. But in my opinion, the best way to drink this is cold and straight from the can. When you do, almost no tang is present, and it finishes clean and refreshing, perfectly balanced.

I have to be clear, Dark Sky has a great many beers I enjoy better than others they brew. This beer was not one of them. That's not to say it was bad, not at all. It's an easy beer to drink responsibly, at 5% ABV. It's strange, I conclude this beer was not meant to be poured, only drank. It's exactly the kind of beer you can properly enjoy out of an ice chest. I just wouldn't stock it in my ice chest.

CORONADO BREWING COMPANY SHAKA BERRY PASTRY STOUT - a review

 

by Daver, this time.

I've actually been to this brewery, Coronado Brewing Company on Coronado Island. It's next to the beach, and you can sit out on the patio with an Orange Ave Wit and hear the waves crest on the shore. Very chill place, and hopefully it'll still be there the next time I can go to California. Thankfully they have cans and bottles that I can find here as well. Take for instance this here beverage, the Shaka Berry Pastry Stout.

The label reads, "Shaka Berry blends tart boysenberries and blackberries with rich cocoa and vanilla bean for waves of flavor in this decadent pastrystout. Hang loose and enjoy the ride! #staycoastal." The ingredients list includes boysenberry, blackberry, vanilla, cocoa, and lactose. Lactose, that's a deal maker for me. Many beers I've tried solely because lactose was an ingredient, and I've never regretted it. But boysenberry, I have to confess no idea how those taste. To put it simply, the Shaka Berry Pastry Stout is a complex brew. Once more, I'll be drinking this from my Yazoo Brewing pint glass with the curved sides. I do that a lot, but just to assure, when the beer requires a certain shaped glass to fully appreciate the experience then I shall bring that glass out of the collection.

The bouquet is rich with berry essence, I sensed cherry, raspberry, and blackberry notes with a subtle undercurrent of French roast coffee. With the body, the coffee is replaced with a strong chocolate flavor. The berries are a constant, and drinking this is like eating chocolate covered cherries. If you let it warm up, you taste less chocolate and more the ABV. Smooth, tangy, but not creamy. Honestly this feels more like a porter than a stout. I'm used to stouts with some measure of creaminess, and it's not there with this one. The fruitiness, the way it burns going down? Porter. Interestingly enough, if you let it warm up some in your glass, the body feels thicker, so that's in line with a stout. There's a lot to discover with the Shaka Berry with how you drink it, even when you drink it. It's less a beverage, and more an expedition.

I get what they were trying to do, make a beer that was like drinking a fruit pie. But for the life of me, I can't imagine how you'd replicate the crust flavor in beer form. Kudos to Coronado for crafting something with such depth to the drinking experience. Personally, I wouldn't keep this for casual drinking. With so much going for it, and an ABV of 10.5%, it will knock you on your ass if you're not drinking responsibly. I would absolutely suggest it for sharing at a tasting.

BELCHING BEAVER BREWERY ¡VIVA LA BEAVER! MEXICAN CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER STOUT - a review

by Daver, I guess

Here's something you should know about San Diego, they are fond of the Mexican chocolate. You'll find it at every coffee shop, which is something else I deeply miss about San Diego. At home, I have to buy my own supply to add to my morning java. Or would, if I remembered to look for Mexican chocolate. Belching Beaver Brewery remembered, and made a variant of their Peanut Butter Milk Stout with Mexican chocolate. Behold, ¡Viva La Beaver! Mexican Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout!

The can's label reads, "Viva La Beaver is loaded with notes of creamy peanut butter, cinnamon and coffee. The decadent milk stout is the perfect dessert beer to finish off your meal, and is our highest rated beer, receiving Gold and Silver medals. Sink your teeth into this liquid chocolate treat. Cheers, Tom."

To elaborate, the awards Viva La Beaver earned included 2nd Place at the California State Fair's beer competition in 2016, and gold medals at San Diego International Beer Competition for 2016, 2018, and 2019. They were well-earned.

As with the Peanut Butter Milk Stout, I'm using my curvy Yazoo Brewing glass for tasting. When pouring, the head is this velvety smooth film that just lives on top of a pitch black body. The foam doesn't fade, it doesn't move, it just sits there, patiently, for me to lift this glass to my lips. The bouquet is much more subdued, mild notes of cocoa and condensed milk and vanilla wafting your nose. Chocolate and cinnamon dominate the flavor, with hints of peanut butter and graham cracker all throughout. It's quite like drinking a peanut butter cup, or a chocolate chip peanut butter cookie. They're not kidding when they call this a dessert beer. There's a syrup-y vanilla note at the very end, but when you drink from a glass there's this delightful warm tingle as it goes down the throat. That warmth is the 7.5% ABV announcing it has entered the building. Strangely, it's just not there when you drink it straight from the can. But the coffee notes are much more pronounced out of the can.

It's funny how the drinking method changes the experience for certain beverages. Wine afficionados will know what I'm talking about, the flavor, the aroma, the whole package can change whether you're drinking from one glass shape or another, or just straight from the bottle. It's special when you can get a different, but no less satisfying, result from the can and the pint glass. This is a beer I would happily keep stocked in my beer fridge, even though the ABV would be a powerful reason not to drink this so casually. Drink this brew responsibly, or it'll knock you on your ass. It's a little harder to find than a Bud Light, but if I see it I grab a four pack. Try it, you'll understand as well.

BELCHING BEAVER BREWERY PEANUT BUTTER MILK STOUT - a review

by Daver?!

I love the Arizona craft beer scene, but by no means am I limiting reviews to Arizona beers. California's got some terrific breweries their own selves. Belching Beaver Brewery, out of San Diego, has some terrific beers on tap at their locations in California. Fortunately for me, they also have four-packs and six-packs for sale all over the West Coast and parts of the Midwest. Happily, Arizona is in their range, so I can get to try them without making the long drive to San Diego. There's plenty of reasons to go to San Diego already, the beaches are gorgeous and the water so blue and calming, plus if it's convention season there's the comic convention, and there's this one place for street tacos called Tacos El Gordo... where was I. Right, sorry, Belching Beaver's Peanut Butter Milk Stout.

Every can has this little disclaimer on the side. "America's favorite peanut butter milk stout: Troy came up with the idea of combining peanut butter with our Beavers Milk Stout and he nailed it. Don't let the dark color fool you, this beer is delightfully easy to drink, with cascading aromas of roasted peanuts, dark chocolate and coffee. Good times to you my friend, and welcome to the Beaver family! Cheers - Tom."

Tom's right, Troy did a solid for the beer drinking population of America. This is a

delicious brew, be it in cans or on draft. Once again, using my curvy Yazoo Brewery pint glass for the tasting because, hell yeah I can. On first pour, the bouquet is a rich blend of, well, exactly what it says on the can. Notes of cocoa, milk, sugar, and peanuts entice the nose to lean closer to the contents of the pint glass. The thing to note, I smelled the individual ingredients of dark chocolate and peanut butter rather than the dark chocolate and peanut butter. Those flavors were reserved for a meet and greet to the tongue. The body was a thick, rich deep dark brown, and the head was a luxuriant latte colored foam like a fresh cheesecake. It's creamy on the tongue, but also a little grainy. The taste of peanut butter is spread over your tongue, with dark chocolate popping up all throughout like sparks. It finishes smooth and creamy.

I'll tell you, if one were inclined to drink beer for breakfast, a pint of this Milk Stout would greet me at the kitchen table. Disclaimer - do not drink beer for breakfast. This stout is a lot like grabbing a cold bottled cappuccino, only not as sweet and twice as rich. At 5.3% ABV it's easily a beer that could be casually imbibed, provided you drink responsibly of course. The flavors will not turn off most beer drinkers, and the IBU may as well be in negative numbers. Personally, while I definitely enjoyed it, it's a little too rich for casual drinking. Fact is that I'd keep this on hand for occasions more special than watching the Netflix. Give it a shot, I think you'll be glad you did.

DARK SKY BREWING CO. S.E.T.I. #1 EXPERIMENTAL HAZY IPA - a review

by Daver?

What happens when you take my favorite local craft brewary, discover they have a new hazy IPA, and that it was canned and shipped to a store a mile away? Damn right that I'll put a four pack in my beer fridge!

I'm not the most well-educated on the various strains of hops, so when the label exclaims that S.E.T.I. #1 is dryhopped with El Dorado and HBC431 hops, I have to judge whether those are good ingredients the old fashioned way. Once again, I'm tasting this with my Yazoo Brewing pint glass. It's really good as an all-purpose pint glass for getting the most out of the drink experience.

To the nose, there is a rich zesty grapefruit aroma that masks a bitter hoppiness. The body is an opaque, dark yellow. It's not a appetizing color, but you can't get freaked out by the way it looks. Don't judge a book by its cover, it's got so much you should see by the light of day, but by night it's one beer you can savor...  forgive the ersatz cult movie appropriation, some things can't be helped without stronger meds, but I digress. If poured slowly, the head is quick to dissipate, but the foam clings in a ring along the edges of the glass and leaves lacy patterns as it slides down. In fact, as you drink and the level lowers, the foam looks almost like Sanskrit, but that might be the ABV talking. At 7% ABV, a pint of S.E.T.I. #1 must be drank responsibly. But anyway, if you pour it quickly, the head is a little thicker, and it holds together much longer like a paper seal to pull off of the brew, and the foam clinging to the glass is like a shower curtain instead of lace. To the tongue, there's a highly refreshing surge of citrus essence, like pink grapefruit and blood orange notes, with a biting sweetness lying low. Unlike most other IPAs, with its 30 IBU, there's little hops bitterness at the end. No, S.E.T.I. #1 has a shockingly clean finish with a slightly sweet aftertaste.

I'll be upfront here, I think Dark Sky's experiment was a resounding success. I hope this hazy stays in their regular rotation, because it's a relaxing, refreshing summertime brew that I could drink all year round. For now, I hope it's still in production for a little longer because I've already finished my four pack for this review.

DARK SKY BREWING CO. MERCURY RETROGRADE SOUR - a review

by Daver?

One of my favorite local breweries, if not THE favorite, is this Flagstaff brewery,

Dark Sky Brewing Co. It's a couple hours' drive from me so it's an uncommon treat to enjoy one of their brews. That's a tragedy. Dark Sky's only been open since 2014, but they have an impressive array of brews on tap, regularly rotating and always interesting. 

Thankfully, they've been offering a select few of their brews in four-packs with limited distribution outside of Flagstaff. I can get a four-pack or two to enjoy while we're all sheltering inside, if I'm fast enough on the draw. Dark Sky beers tend to sell out pretty quickly south of their brewery.

But, luck and Untappd alerts were on my side, I was able to get a couple of their new brews to try. Today we have Dark Sky's Mercury Retrograde Sour, for serving I am pouring into my Yazoo Brewing pint glass. That glass is good for what ales me!

Anyway. The bouquet is cool and tangy, berry bountiful with the essence of raspberries and a tingly zestiness. Pouring slowly, you get hardly any foam at the top, at most the ring along the glass edges. Pouring too fast, and you get... also hardly any foam. Any way you pour, you get just a thin amount of pinkish red bubbles, forming a ring along the glass that sticks around longer than the foam on top of the beer. The body is a deep magenta, thick and opaque. If it sits still, you could mistake it for gelatine instead of a drink, it's so deep. The strawberry flavor is sneaky, you get notes of it as well as subtle bursts of sweetness at the beginning of your drink, especially if you let it linger on your tongue for a bit.  The strawberry really announces itself as it reaches the back of the mouth. The raspberries, on the other hand, are prevalent from start to finish, though not overwhelming. They're more the flavor vehicle, carrying the other essences along from the lips to the throat. The raspberry gives it a tingly mouthfeel, and overall you get this mildly bitter aftertaste like an orange zest, with an oddly warm sensation after swallowing. It's weird, I know, but it's quite interesting to get that much sensory stimulation.

I wouldn't say it's refreshing, it's certainly not clean or crisp like most warm weather brews. In fact, it's a little messy, but like a Jackson Pollock painting.  As sours go, it's easy to drink. At 4% ABV it's easier to drink responsibly with a pint of this, and an IBU of 3 means it won't bite back.  This brew has lots of flavor to attract a casual drinker. It would be well received cold, sitting around a campfire at night. Quite satisfying, I'm glad I picked it up, and you would be too.

HUSS BREWING CO. HOPALOOSA HAZY IPA - a review

by Daver?

I like IPAs. Not many of my friends like IPAs, but I do. First time I tried one, it was just so different than anything else I'd drank. The novelty, and the higher ABV, was endearing. When the most interesting beer you've tried before was a Michelob Amber Bach, the hoppy kick of an IPA was like a wake-up call. But after a while, it seems like every brewery producing IPAs tries to one-up each other with more and more hops. It gets to the point where every IPA tastes like I'm chewing Christmas tree bark soaked in Pine-Sol, and that's no fun regardless how strong the alcohol.

And then came the hazy IPAs, and all was well again. Cloudy as a heifeweisen, fruity as sours but minus their bitterness, and with the hoppiness muted into an easy drinking, satisfying brew. I think they're fun to drink, much more fun than regular IPAs. When one of my favorite local breweries starts producing hazies then I have to give it a go. Huss Brewing Company has its Hopaloosa Hazy IPA, on tap and in cans for home consumption during quarantine.

The can description reads, "our version of the hazy style IPA is double dry hopped with Falconer's Flight, Amarillo, and Citra hops. These hops bring aromatics of orange, tangerine, and pineapple accompanied by flavors of tangerine, grapefruit, guava, and pineapple! This delicious Hazy IPA is named for the strength, pride and majesty of the Native American Appaloosa horse." There's certainly a lot of citrus to this beer, both to the nose and tongue. For optimal tasting, I'll serve this in my Yazoo Brewery pint glass.

If poured right, you'll see a fast-fading thin foam head, resting on a cloudy yellow body. Pour it too fast, the head is much thicker and longer-lasting. The foam doesn't so much cling to the glass as it oozes with purpose down the side. The bouquet, yes, there is certainly orange notes as well as a zesty tingle reaching the nose, and also that deep woods pine aroma that can only come from a generous infusion of hops.  The thing to remember about hazies, is that the hoppy bitterness isn't so predominant on the tongue. In fact, with an IBU of 30, the bite is muzzled by a blend of, to me, tangelo and grapefruit notes. It has a crisp finish, though it's not so clean, and a little heavy at the back with an overall mouthfeel like a lager.

Hazy IPAs are just so much easier to drink than the standard India Pale Ale, and the broader flavor palette is inviting and refreshing. The ABV of 6.6% means it's not as strong as most IPAs, but has a little more kick than other summertime beers so it's essential to drink the Hopaloosa responsibly. You don't have to like IPAs to enjoy a hazy, and Huss Brewing made a highly enjoyable hazy just in time for summer. The Hopaloosa would easily be one of my go-to beers in the beverage aisle or on tap, that is if it's ever safe to go back out and have a beer on tap anyway. Give this a try if you're ever curious about the hazies.

Abita Brewing Company - Peach Lager

by Daver!

Hey all, Daver here. I finally crawled out from under my rock and picked up the keyboard to tell you all about a new harvest (to me) beer. Sorry for the long gap between entries; that's the thing about blogging for fun, on one hand I have no deadlines, on the other hand no content to keep an audience. Let's fix that.

What do we have on tap today? Well, it's a summer harvest release from my favorite Louisiana based brewery, the Abita Brewing Company Peach Lager. Yes, summer release. Another advantage of doing this for fun, the sheer randomness of the selections!

On first pour, this beer has a mostly clear and golden color typical to most other lagers. The head is thin and quickly disperses, though it leaves a white ring clinging along the glass. The locally-grown peaches come through the bouquet with the subtlety of a chainsaw. How many peaches did they pick, a million? Millions of peaches, peaches for me (to drink). It's certainly peachy-keen, both in aroma and flavor. The sweetness is muted, but the overall fruit flavor remains with the pale malt of the brew lending a dry almost effervescent crispness in the finish. It's light on the tongue, strong with flavor without being sweet, and easy to drink. With an ABV of 4.5%, it's an excellent beer to relax with on a hot day. Or even a chilly evening, since we're well into fall as I write this.

Here's the thing, would I recommend it? Yes, but with a caveat. It's good, you won't be disappointed 

by trying this, and you won't get tired of drinking it. But personally, it's not the best peach beer I've ever had. I'll tell you more about that one another time. Till then, this is Daver, closing taps and signing off. 

Unita Brewery - Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA

by Daver!

Hidee-ho, beer campers. Yeah, long time no see, right?

As some of you may have noticed, summer is here. And that means swimming pools, popsicles, vacations and campouts to keep cool. And cold beer. The colder the better, especially here in Arizona. I have here a couple of beers with a strong citrus ingredient in their brewing, to make them more refreshing in these scorching months. Today, we have the Hop Nosh Tangerine IPA from Utah's Uinta Brewing Company, a citrus variant of their mainstay IPA.

Named for the Uinta mountains, this Utah-based brewery began brewing pale ales, porters and hefeweizens out of a former mechanics garage in 1993. They've expanded since then to add brown ales, barleywines and IPAs, selling 77,000 barrels as recently as 2014 with distribution to 32 states and the District of Columbia. Uinta stresses their green attitude, being the first Utah company to be 100% wind powered, adding solar power to their operations in 2011, and promoting on their website that "GREAT beer is brewed with environmental stewardship, support for community and a whole lot of passion."

But how's the beer?

Fun fact, the bottle's label suggests that this be served in a tulip glass. Luckily, I happened to have such a glass! For wine, but that's not my usual choice of beverage. On first pour, the head is pillowy but thin, and fades out fast while the remnants cling lace-like to the glass. The body crosses from the typical IPA amber straight on to a semi-clear orange color. The bouquet is clearly, obviously infused with citrus notes, with the pungent hops and sugary malt notes hovering in the background. The citrus is, for me, an exciting change from the usual caramel sweetness you find with most IPAs.

The tangerine flavors stand out, especially on the sides of the tongue, and overpowers the malt sweetness. The hops' bite is reduced, but kicks in to give this IPA a dry, pine-y, bitter finish. Overall, the mouthfeel is somewhat dry from both the acidity of the citrus and the bitterness of the hops.
Long story short, I liked it! It's more broadly drinkable IPA because of the citrus balancing out the hops, and the tangerine essence is especially refreshing when served cold. With an ABV of 7.3% it's not a beer to take lightly either. I would recommend it, but in moderation. The same easy drinkability makes it really easy to miss that higher ABV till it's too late.

That's all for today, next time I'll cover another citrus-brewed craft beer. Till then, this is your humble beer blogger signing off.

A Day at Mesa Beerfest!: Three Local Craft Brews

Desert Eagle Brewing Co.'s beer tent. You could wait in line, or walk down the block to the brewery.

I love beerfests. You get to sample a decent range of craft brews among a huge crowd of fellow beer aficionados for the whole day. Great way to chill! Unless some drunk fifty-something trips and spills his pint of dark ale down your back as you try to record your notes, I mean come the fuck on... but anyway. Mesa Beerfest just off of Main Street had a fair range of breweries out, including Desert Eagle Brewery which makes sense because it's also on Main. I'll be going into further detail about their brews later. Instead, let's sample a few that were new to me.

4216 N Brown Ave, Scottsdale AZ 85251

Based out of Scottsdale, Bad Water Brewery was established in 2012 with a farmhouse ale as its first batch on tap. They brought their inaugural ale to the beerfest, and I was happy to give it a chance. The body was a deep amber with thin foam that clung to the sides, even for a plastic cup. The body was cloudy with yeast, typical of a saison. Its bouquet was balanced with wheat and sugary floral notes, and a light fruity note like bananas. It reminded me of some hefeweizens, really. But the taste was definitely not that of a wheat beer, there was a mild hoppy bite that deepened the body through to the finish. It was crisp but not all that clean of a finish, with a nutty quality to it like that I've tasted in brown ales. It was good, and with an ABV of 6% it was overall a quality brew. But in all honesty there was very little to set it apart from saisons that I've tasted before.

1641 S Stapley Dr, Mesa AZ 85204

Next was the 480G IPA from the Beer Research Institute. Opened in 2014, this Mesa brewery specializes in Belgian-style ales and IPAs with a love for hops that borders on obsession. I myself have a passion for the hoppier brews, and with an ABV of 7.4% this one seemed to be the right choice. At first glance this "Best Coast"-style IPA had almost zero head on a semi-clear amber body, though the head may be due to BRI's keg running low by the time I reached them. The bouquet was clearly hoppy, with floral notes with a slightly sweet malt edge that's common to IPAs. The taste is incredibly hoppy, with woodsy notes like you'd find in a taste of scotch, and you can freely pick up notes of citrus zest in the finish. Several, ranging from orange to lemon to grapefruit. It's a broad range, circulating in sensation from the bitter hops to the sweeter malt and orange to the bitter grapefruit and back to hops. It's certainly unique in that regard from other IPAs, and had I gotten to it earlier in the event it would have been better, I'm sure. As it is, I can call it satisfying.

232 S Wall St, Chandler AZ 85225

And then we have The Perch Pub and Brewery, and their Uncommon Good Session IPA. While I do enjoy IPAs, sessions are the exception. They're lighter with the hops and the ABV, and frankly at that point I'd be better off with a simple lager. The Perch is based out of Chandler, and a glance at their beer menu will leave a beer drinker begging for flights. It's huge! Not only with their own brews, but also those from other breweries, totally over 40 at any given time, though at the time I'm posting this they do not have Uncommon Good on tap. The name of the pub comes from their hosting dozens of tropical rescue birds at their establishment. On first pour this IPA had a head that looked, well, so bubbly that it was more like a batch of fish eggs than a meringue. Again, this has to be because it was from a nearly-empty keg. The body was a cloudy amber, and the bouquet was hoppy but the malt makes it overall lighter and cleaner than with standard IPAs. The same goes for the taste, it's hoppy but much more modestly and with almost no bite in the finish. It's alright, and at a 4.9% ABV it's a little stronger than most other sessions. But it doesn't stand out enough to make me change my mind about choosing this over a summer ale or a true IPA.

All told, if you're inclined to try these yourself, you can't go wrong with a visit to these particular breweries around the East Valley. These brews are good quality, though they don't stand out as something to, say, request your local pub to stock in. There's a lot of craft brews out there, and they're all worth sampling, but it takes a little something special to go beyond sampling and into regular drinking. These three don't quite reach that level.

So many brewfests to come, so many new releases, and so many great beers out there to try out. More to come, my friends!

Uncle Bear's Grill &  Tap, from Chandler, was also serving, though I didn't get to sample from them this time.

Cartel Brewery Bière de Garde Farmhouse Ale

by Daver!

I'll be honest, I thought Cartel was just a coffee house.

Cartel comes in two forms, Cartel Coffee Lab and Cartel Brewery in Tempe, AZ. I've seen the coffee houses in a couple places around the Valley, the brewery escaped notice. I'll have to rectify that with a full out visit to the brewery, but that's for another time.

Cartel began its beer brewing in 2013 after already establishing its reputation for amazing caffeinated goodness in a college town. Fact is, the brewery is a couple doors down from their University Drive coffee house, on Ash Avenue. Hey, that's where my old comic book store was! Awww man, Ash Avenue Comics closed? Now I feel old. Anyway. Per their website at www.cartelbrewery.com they have several regular brews, but they do enjoy changing things up with a seasonal batch. Their wheat beer Bière de Garde is one such off-brand creation, available at establishments with an eye for quality on tap.

Pulled this off of Google Street, I had to make sure.
Man, I liked that comic book store too.

On this occasion, Bière de Garde was served me at Angel's Trumpet Ale House in downtown Phoenix. I consider it a great sign when the beer menu is on a huge slate board, constantly changing as the kegs run empty. Angel's Trumpet keeps theirs mounted over their line of taps, the very first thing you see on walking into the establishment.

The Bière de Garde is a French farmhouse ale, the name translates to "beer for keeping." Like a saison, it's brewed in the cooler months for summertime consumption. Traditionally, this was because in the years before refrigeration the cold would keep the batch from spoiling as it ferments. Now it's not yet really even spring, but in Arizona our late winters hit 80 degrees so there's not much cause to wait one season more.

At first glance you have a golden orange color to the body with a light foamy head. It's cloudy as well, from the yeast left over from fermentation. The foam clings to the edges as the head dissipates. The wheat-y bouquet is effervescent with notes of clove, citrus, bananas, and a light natural sweetness from the fresh malts used in the brew. The remnants of yeast gives it an almost nutty quality as well. On the tongue, that citrus is clearly grapefruit-y, and you have a more floral sensation as you roll it around. There's a slight hoppy bite as well, a bitter tingle. The brew has a 7.2% ABV, higher than most wheat beers but average for a farmhouse ale. That higher alcohol content gives you a warming sensation as it goes down, though the finish is not really clean or dry, in my opinion. And the taste lingers on the tongue, till the next drink. But would you want to take another drink?

Hark! A herald angel's wings! Glory to the beer and things!
Pulled from reviewthebrew.wordpress.com.

Yep! This Bière de Garde has a significant degree of depth to its consumption. It's stimulating and refreshing, starting off light but going down strong without being overwhelming. If you see this beer written on a chalkboard at the next bar you frequent, give it a try. Or better yet, head to Tempe for a flight of whatever they've got on tap. I know I will! I have to, to toast to the memory of my old comic book store.

Oktoberfest! San Tan Brewing Company Oktoberfest German Style Lager

Hello hello! Daver here, still sampling and strangely sober.  Aw yes, now we’re talking, this here is a local brew coming from a well-covered brewery here.  Behold, the San Tan Brewing Company’s submission in the seasonal style beers, the Oktoberfest German-style Lager.

Sigh. And it's in a can. Why do you do this to me, San Tan?

Well, I can’t very well hunt down a bar that’ll be serving it on tap. OK, I probably could, but it’d be too late to post about and I’d lose the capacity for rational thought and coherent sentences. I’ll just bite the bullet and go with what we’ve got here, commercially available. Once again, served in the jam jar mug. I really ought to invest in a proper stein for these German style brews.

On first pour, you have a clear, amber body, with a thin head that fades out quickly. The bouquet is modest but vividly more interesting than in other similar brews. There is a more profound malty sweetness, perfectly balanced with the tang of the hops and the yeast. It's a more robust experience for the tongue as well, the tang is almost like an orange rind, but the malt flavor is still clear and present. The ingredients list shows six different malts used, I like this variety. It's not dry at all, though it's still somewhat crisp, like the bite of a gala apple. It's a good relax-o-beer, with an ABV of 5.5% that's not over the top in alcohol content.

So, despite the dreadful presence of an aluminum container, this was a solid hit for San Tan Brewing Company. And a beer worthy to call itself German-styled. And that is the last of the Octoberfest beers for this month. Thanks everyone, now go forth and sample them for yourselves. Responsibly, of course. Prost!

Oktoberfest! Abita Brewing Co. Octoberfest Marzen Style Lager

Greetings my fellow fall-fest fans, Daver here to once more imbibe a seasonal sample and relate the results of my research and reactions. Gods do I love October! 

I've chosen a brew from this side of the Atlantic but just barely this side of the Mississipi, the Abita Brewing Company's Octoberfest Marzen-style Lager.

A quick perusal of the blog archives will show I’m a little partial towards the Louisiana-based Abita Brewery. Haven't had a bad brew with their name on the bottle yet, let's see if the streak holds with this one. Once again, I’m serving this with the 12-oz jam jar with the handle. I have no idea what they’re actually called, but jam jar mug is as good as it gets.  Side note, the bar where I first saw these used claimed that these were pint glasses and charged me as much. LIES!!!  Will never go back to *establishment deleted* again.

On first pour, this lager has a dark, coppery, amber color, a clear body with a thin head that fades quickly. The bouquet is richer than anticipated, notes of sweet malt cutting through the expected tang of hops and yeast. A higher content of malt used in brewing is behind that, no doubt. It's a broader, full bodied experience for the palate. The tang is thinner,  more subtle, but it's ever present. The finish is still dry, but not so crisp and clean.  With an ABV at a respectable 5.4%, you'll be able to enjoy it casually this time of year.

In summation, if the German import was a basic brew done with great care to its substance, this Lousiana batch has more style to it. Yeah, I'd definitely drink this again. You should too!

Oktoberfest! Weihenstephaner Festbier Märzen

October's a special time of the year for me, friends. Halloween and the cooling temperatures, and all the costumes you could ask for till the next convention. And Oktoberfest!

Yes, I realize that Oktoberfest proper was a few weeks ago. Sue me, you’ll still see these brews on the shelves for a little while. So for the occasion, I thought I'd give a try of some brews specifically for Oktoberfest. The first is a German import, Weihenstephaner’s Festbier Marzen.  Weihenstephaner has been brewing since the year of our Lord 1040, in the town of Freising, in Bavaria, Germany.  Almost ten centuries of Old World brewing expertise, let’s see how this goes.

an import, Weihenstephaner’s Festbier

On first pour, it's got a modest head that thins out quick but lingers as a thin layer on the top and clings a little to the edges of the glass. It's recommended to drink a marzen from a mug or stein. Full disclosure, my mug is big enough for three pints so instead I've used my jam jar pint glass.  What? There’s several drinking establishments out here that use those damn glasses at the bar! Ok, they’re hipster recycle-chic bars, and I only went that one time, but they’re still completely legitimate. Moving on, the bouquet is like a stronger pilsner, the faintest of sweet malt with a tang from the hops and yeast.  The body is a clear effervescent gold. It's a simple brew if one compares it to craft brews from the New World, but wow. You can clearly taste the ingredients. The barley, the subtle hops, and the yeast just sidling in, they’re well balanced. It’s a crisp brew that avoids real bitterness, with a clean finish. It's not fancy, but damn good quality. Most American lagers, or “macrobrews,” who dreamt up that sobriquet anyway, how they have that stronger tang that turns into a rough, skunky, bouquet? This is what those brews only wish they could be. You would need an actual skunk to make this brew curdle. This goes in crisp as a winter chill, finishes smooth as a frozen pond, with a respectable ABV of 5.8%. Do you want to build a snowman? Prost!

And if that’s too long for you, here’s the short version. I liked it, it’s good, try it yourself.

Ommegang Brewery - Game of Thrones "Three Eyed Raven" Dark Saison Ale

Hi everyone, Daver here and I'm back with another of Ommegang Brewery's Game of Thrones licensed products, their "Three Eyed Raven" Dark Saison Ale. So far these licensed brews have been amazingly good, better than most other licensed products. Lookin' at you, video game adaptations.

From the label, this is described as a hybrid of a farmhouse ale, or saison, and a dark beer "a delectable blend that both deceives and thrills the senses." Interesting claim. It first went on sale in April of this year, around the premiere of Season 5 for the series. Here's a little history about the saison. Farmhouse ales were pale ales, originating from Belgium, that were brewed during the winter for summertime consumption. Brewing in the colder months was common before there were such things as a refrigeration, to prevent spoilage of the fermenting batch from the summer heat and bacterial contamination. Those early batches were low in alcohol content, intended more for refreshment than intoxication, but as brewing technologies improved the ABV increased to as high as 8%.

Now, there's different types of dark beers, such as dark lagers, porters, brown ales and doppelbocks. The darker the beer, the more earthy the flavor and the thicker the head. These generally have more of a coffee bean or nutty character, with varying hints of sweetness and cocoa or vanilla, and a somewhat dry finish. They also typically, but not always, have a higher alcohol content than the pale ales; it seems to depend on the quantity and quality of the yeast used in the fermentation process. In my humble, less-then-professional opinion, this dark saison has qualities similiar to a porter and a doppelbock. I'd judge that Ommegang used brown and dark malts in place of the traditional lighter ones in the brewing process.

It's recommended to drink a farmhouse ale from a tulip glass, so I used my souvenir tulip glass from Pat O'Brien's. The label includes serving instructions, like pouring it slowly into your glass of choice to avoid disturbing the bottom-settling yeast. On first pour it has a thick, meringue-like head, that faded slowly. The body was a semi-clear brown in color, like a fresh pot of coffee.  Mmmm, coffee sounds good right now (it's morning as I write this, a little early for a cold one). It's effervescent, there's a carbonated fizzy sensation in the middle. The bouquet has similarities to hefeweizen in my opinion, spices and possibly cloves, and even bananas. No doubt this is from the yeast. It's no wheat beer, so no citrus notes, and it's bolder than a hefeweizen at that. It's a full body at first, that almost tropical blend of banana and clove and malt on the tongue with a hint of hops for a kick. But it's also lighter than it looks, so don't be fooled. Just because it looks like a stout, doesn't mean it'll feel like a stout. It finishes clean and dry, drier and crisper than most dark brews while cold but less so as it warms. Forewarning, the yeast will become more noticeable as it warms up. Remember, higher yeast content means higher ABV. With an ABV of 7.2%, this brew will hit you like an uppercut.

In summation, I quite enjoyed this. Like the "Taking The Black" brew, it's not really a beer for casual drinking, unless you can drop the cash on a case of this. I would certainly advocate drinking this anytime, not just in the summer. Fortunately, there's still plenty of "Three Eyed Raven" available at retail stores, and with Ommegang bringing back other brews in their Game of Thrones series, it's not likely to run out anytime soon. So check it out, bring it to a viewing party for the Season 6 premiere to toast Jon Snow's return or whatever. Speaking of return, I oughta try the "Iron Throne" ale now that it's been re-released. But that's for another time. Till next time, I'm Daver, and the bar is closed.
(I really oughta work on that closing line.)

San Tan Brewing Company - Part 4: So Long, And Thanks For The Beer

Greetings fellow beer snobs, it's me again, your humble beer imbiber Daver with the final chapter in my examination of local brewery San Tan Brewing Company.  I wasn't all that sure there was anything left to say about San Tan, so I went back for one last sit-down at the bar. Glad I did! I sampled four of their specialty pilot concoctions, and a year-round brew that's only available on draft. We'll start there, with the Sunspot Golden Ale.

Sunspot Golden Ale is an American blonde ale, a clear yellow in color with a modest head at first pour that fades out fast. The bouquet is light, I can just barely pick up notes of wheat and barley, likewise with the body when it reaches your tongue. The finish is crisp and clean, but a little more robust than I would expect from a blonde ale. It's simple, well-crafted, and its light flavor and cleaner finish makes this an ideal summer brew! Why isn't this one in stores?

Now we're on to the pilot brews, available only at the tap. The Imperial IPA Heavy D is a stronger version of San Tan's Devil Ale, a deep, foreboding red ale with a thin head.  The bouquet is sweet with notes of caramel, citrus, and hints of the hops. The hops bitterness is strong, just at the utmost limit of tolerable. Harsh like Kentucky bourbon, a robust body that isn't too heavy, with a rich finish.

Next is the Moonjuice I.W.A., the acronym stands for India Wheat Ale. An American IPA, it looks like a hefeweizen brewed like an IPA. The Moonjuice is a dark yellow color at first pour, with a thick head, a light floral scent, and the taste of bananas balanced with the hops' bitterness and notes of lemon limey goodness.

The Hibiscus Pale Ale, pictured above served in a goblet, is a brew the color of a red chardonnay. In fact, chardonnay is an accurate descriptor overall, this is like beer brewed from a good table wine. The head lingers, fadining unevenly and clinging to the glass sides. Floral bouquet, rich flavor like a wine cooler that means fucking business, and oddly refreshing in the finish. Can you tell that I liked this a lot? I liked this a lot. Please, San Tan, make more of this!

And the Arizona Farmhouse, a Farmhouse ale being a brew crafted in cooler months and held in storage till summer, has a cloudy yellow color and modest head that fades fast. The cloudiness is likely from the yeast in its brewing, and you can pick up hints of the yeast in the flavor, as well as a more prevalent banana character. The bouquet also has notes of banana and faint yeast traces, but also cloves and clover. The finish is unusually fizzy, but that's normal for a highly carbonated beer like a Farmhouse ale.

Friends, if you want to try anything by San Tan Brewing Company? GO TO THE ACTUAL BREWERY. Sure, they have six packs in the store, and a few of them are actually pretty good, but San Tan is the example proving that beer is better on tap than in the can, and at that best at the source. Plus, their pilot brews are always changing, between those and their seasonals, you won't know what you'll get. Hell, by the time you read this, the batches will have changed and no telling if those I've just told you about will come back. I really enjoyed the pilot brews, the care and creativity that goes into them makes me want to go back to see what they'll have now.

In conclusion? San Tan is like a star baseball player, they won't hit them all out of the park, but when it's a home game, they hit it right into the stadium lights showering sparks all over Robert Redford.