San Tan Brewing Company - Part 2: More In The Market

Told you I'd be back with Part 2 in a little bit! Helps when you backed up most of your original notes and content. Remember kids, keep your backups local, you never know when the "cloud" will burst.

So, where were we? Of course, let's resume on a high note with San Tan Brewery's Hefeweizen. Their wheat beer is the first exception to my "can bad, glass good" rationale! It tastes good coming out of the can, with a modest ABV 5.0, and the well balanced blend between banana and citrus flavors still comes through. The problem comes from how strongly carbonated it is, which takes a bit to mellow out but overwhelms the finish at all times. When poured into a glass, you get a modest head that takes a little while to dissipate, obviously because of the carbonation, and the foam does not cling or linger on the glass. The color is a clean but opaque yellow. The bouquet is strong with bananas and some lemon orange, and you can pick up further notes of spice in the taste. I think an orange slice garnish would really enhance the experience. Normally I think if you need to garnish a brew with something like a piece of fruit that it's a poor sign for the beer (Corona and Dos Equis, you oughta be ashamed of yourselves. Go to your corner!). For this, I'd forgive it.

Then we have their Epicenter Amber Ale. Oh, sweet taste bud-shaking Epicenter. On first pour, it's a clear amber, with a thick and effervescent head that leaves a little lacework in foam clinging to the glass. The bouquet is rich, the sweet malt intermingling with nut and honey notes in perfect harmony. The taste is full nutty goodness, with notes of maple syrup and the most subtle hint of coffee, with an ABV of 5.5. I found the finish to be surprisingly dry for an amber ale, and I can't say it's a bad thing. This I would strongly urge to drink from a pint glass, out of the can and you end up with a watery taste, almost no nuttiness, and a weird metallic ting in the finish. But served in a glass, this was easily my favorite of San Tan's core brews. In fact, I'd even say it's one of the best ambers I've had.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, the seasonal for this part of the review is not available till the winter, but at the time I first wrote this, the Sex Panther Double Chocolate Porter was the seasonal available.. Very smooth and chocolate-y, with an ABV of 6.5, everything that I wished that Barrio Brewery's Mocha Stout had been. On first pour, it's a dark cloudy brown with a thick head that ringed the brew. The foam neither clings nor lingers in any fashion. The bouquet is rich with coffee and cocoa, but also raspberry notes. The raspberry carries over to the flavor, as well as nutty elements, and a strong mocha that covers the carbonation that I'm coming to recognize as a San Tan signature. It has bite, not like from hops, but like you'd get from a spoonful of powdered baking cocoa mixed into your milk because you thought it was just like Nes-Quik. But that bite fades out, and is replaced by a smooth semi-sweet finish.



Overall, their consumer market offerings offer something for everyone. The Hefeweizen and Epicenter are easy to drink for casual drinkers and beginners alike, and are all-around really good. The Devil's Ale and IPA I'm sure would please those with more refined and experienced palettes; personally, they make me crave a better IPA. The seasonals are a palette expander, an introduction to something that your average beer drinker might not seek out or have the opportunity to try otherwise. San Tan's beer is a prime exemplar of the effect the serving method has on a brew's drinkability. They're quality brews, with more than a little imagination, and I have to admit I'd ask an establishment whether they had San Tan's wheat beers or amber ales on tap. But just those beers.

And it's not over yet! My resurrected coverage of the San Tan Brewery continues, with a visit to the brewery itself where several of their specialty beers are only available on tap.

San Tan Brewing Company - Part 1: On The Market

Hello my friends, it's your humble beer blogger Daver again, and today on tap we've got a, shall we say, reprint of a review? You see, for several months I was contributing content to an Arizona web-zine, but the site has since changed its focus from local events and reviews to a blog about the editor's friends' parties. Can't say I agree with the new direction, but it's not my webspace or my problem. But that means that everything I contributed? HOSED. Now, I just can't be having with informative beer reviews being lost, so I'm importing what I've backed up, starting with the San Tan Brewing Company.

Based in Chandler, AZ, San Tan opened in 2007 and has since earned name recognition around the Valley as one of the top breweries in Arizona. This brewery has created a diverse range of craft brews to offer at their microbrewery restaurant in Chandler's historic district, at bars around Arizona, and in grocery stores and liquor stores. They're popular enough that they've been working towards expanding their distribution to neighboring states for almost a year now. San Tan offers their four most popular brews in six packs of aluminum cans, and a rotating seasonal at their respective time of year.  

Wait, aluminum cans? Oh dear... as a beer snob, I'm prejudiced against anything aluminum smaller than a keg jacketing my beer. It just doesn't taste right to me! Nobody should have to drink from the can. But in the spirit of fairness, let's see how these cans stack up. We'll start with two of their year-round offerings, and one of their seasonals.

First we've got the Devil's Ale, their pale ale offering.  On first pour, the head is thin and fades out fast. It clings to the glass unevenly, and doesn't linger for long either. It's a clear amber colour. The bouquet is surprisingly strong with the malted hops, an almost pungent sweetness if you tilt the glass back a bit to increase the surface area of the top of the brew in the glass. OK, that might be a little more complicated than you should have to go for drinking any craft brew, but it works that way. Taste-wise, oh yes. Strong with the hops, it is. But not that strong. You really have to drink this in a glass to get the full experience. Straight out of the can (dear god I hate cans) it's almost watery with the body. Poured properly, you get the effervescence of the carbonation and a bit of bite. The carbonation fades out faster than usual, and the brew mellows out as it does to the point the hops become the finish instead of the body. There's almost none of the caramel-y sweetness you'd expect from a brew with malted hops. Seriously, drinking this out of the can and out of a glass is like night and day. Night. And. DAY. At first I thought it was a let-down even with an ABV of 5.5 because of the can, but I'm glad I went a little further.


Next is the Hop Shock IPA, and boy howdy the hops are strong with this one. On first pour, it's a clear amber with a porous head. The foam doesn't cling to the sides of the glass, but rather hangs and slips slowly into oblivion. I can taste the malt, and I can smell it in the bouquet, a sweet and slightly citrus-y aroma. The but the hops are extraordinarily bitter. The body feels a little syrup-y in the finish, and notes of tangerines come through. Carbonation seems to be a thing, San Tan brews lose their fizz fairly quickly. This doesn't hurt the brew, it's just interesting. And with an ABV of 7.1 that's a lot of interest. Again, pouring this in a glass makes a vast difference over drinking it out of the can.

Now, the seasonal selection for today is the Mr. Pineapple, a Pineapple Wheat Beer. Oh man, that would probably pair well with a krabby patty. How did they come up with this? That's not to say it's bad, it's quite refreshing, as expected from a spring wheat beer. On first pour you get a head of foam that pops and sizzles, and fades out completely with no lacing or drizzling along the glass. The color is a cloudy dark yellow, like the syrup from a can of sliced pineapples. It has similar notes of banana in the taste and bouquet as you'd find in the Hefeweizen, and floral notes and some coriander, even a hint of oregano if you can believe that, that pleases the nose. And with an ABV of 5.0, the alcohol content doesn't overpower the overall quality. You can easily taste the real pineapple juice balanced out with the banana, that citrus-y tang all the way to the finish. Unlike most of the others, the San Tan carbonation was modest and subtle, fading into the background with each sip without going flat. All told, for a funny concept, it works really damn well.


Check back in a little bit for Part 2, I'll be covering an amber, a wheat beer, and their seasonal porter. Fun times, my friends.

Ommegang Brewery - Game of Thrones "Fire and Blood" Red Ale

Thought you'd heard the last of me, eh?

Hello and welcome back to what's on tap and served cold, where brews get imbibed.  I know some of you are excited for the new season of Game of Thrones in April, so excited! So scared! Not me though, I'm not really a fan, and I have books to read.  But I know for you Westerosi, three more months is a long time to wait.  So, ease your anticipation by trying another of the Ommegang Brewery's licensed brews from your favorite fantasy series. Today we've got the batch from the Season 4 premiere,  the "Fire And Blood" Red Ale.

The first thing that jumps at you is the label art, there are three different labels depicting each of Daenerys Targeryan's fire-breathing gamebreakers.  You are under no obligation to collect all three, they're just nifty. I hope there's prints of the dragon art that can be purchased. I should look that up. 

The label reads, "Born of fire, like Daenerys' dragons, this ale's deep, dark red hue evokes their every blazing breath. Sweet malt succumbs to wispy dryness, tinged with nutty spelt, spicy hops and rye, as ancho chilies portend piquant dark fruit.  Pour slowly, to not disturb yeast sediment, but with vigor to make a luxurious head and free the bouquet." Wonderful, my beer has an instruction guide. And a cork. Take care in opening this up, it's not like champagne. For one, you'll actually want to drink this.

On my first pour, there is a head thicker than dragonscale, and more unruly than a hungry Drogon with vigorous bubble popping. The body is dark red, and cloudy with yeast. It has favorable parallels to a heifeweizen, with its cloudy yeast body and a rich vibrant bouquet.  To me, it was ripe with corriander, what at first I thought was clove but really was the chilies, some floral and fruity notes. I swear I could detect the presence of banana in this batch, probably from the diversity of the malts: pilsner, Cara-60, Midnight Wheat, flaked rye and spelt. There's also a vibrant hops flavor, a mix of CTZ, Styrian Golding, and German Tettnang, that pairs well with the de-seeded Ancho to give its bite some real teeth. The hoppy chilie bite smooths out at the back of your tongue. The malt and the chilie balance out, the sweetness of one and the bitterness of the other. A full bodied, powerful brew, like Balerion of ages past.  Speaking freely, this goes straight to your head, one bottle will knock you on your ass, I'm not even kidding. What's the alcohol content for this? By the Seven, 6.8% ABV?! Drink this with friends, my friends. I bet a slice of blood orange would compliment this like crazy. This is so good. The Ommegang brewers put in overtime to make this one special!

This is encouraging for the quality of the next licensed brew, an Abbey Dubbel named "Valar Morghulis." I'll report on my findings as soon as I find a bottle. Till then, I'm your humble beer blogger, and the bar is closed.

World Brews - Barrel Trolley Nut Brown Ale

I swear, at first I thought this was a New York brew. I don't know why, I just looked in the freezer at Total Wine and saw this, thinking "I haven't had anything from New York in a while."

Nope! Not only is it out of California, it's World Brews-brewed. Their novelty products disappointed me, let's see how this goes.

On first pour, its appearance is a deep, dark, but clear brown; if you didn't hold it up to the light you'd mistake it for a stout. The head is thin and firm, but fades away quickly with little to no lacing of foam remaining on the glass.  A little foam ring lingers on the lip of the beer due to the carbonation. Its strange that a beer with such strong carbonation doesn't have a thicker head.

It smells clean, but with a little agitation of the brew you can pick up the malt sweetness and the nuttiness in the bouquet. Swirl it around a little in your glass, you'll see. The taste is strongly hazelnut with some pine nut and pecan notes. There are also maple and caramel notes from the malt, but it's easy to miss because of the strength of the nuttiness. It's moderately bodied, it's not heavy but it's not so dry and crisp overall. There is some bite to it, and it does have a dry sensation just before the finish, but the nuttiness resumes in the very end and lingers in the mouth, with the carbonation.

It's a decent brew, and proof that World Brews can make a quality product. It's good, but it's not great. I like brown ales, but personally I wouldn't go out of my way to stock up on this. If you like really really nutty brown ales, Barrel Trolley Nut Brown Ale will be satisfactory.

Odell Brewing Company - 90 Shilling Ale

Right, time to open up the Big Book O'Beer. I knew I saw this one in there! And it's already checked off... but not written up yet. Let's remedy that right now. The Big Beer Flight rises!

The name for this amber ale was chosen from taxes charged per barrel on beer in the 19th Century, where the strongest brews were taxed 90 shillings. Now the alcohol by volume for the 90 Shilling is 5.3%, which is comparable to most American brews out there, and it's not the strongest. What's that say about beer in the UK back then? But we're not here to judge what your grandparents' grandparents were drinking.

On first pour, into my typical American pint glass, it has a deep copper red appearance, cloudy like you'd see in a hefeweizen. But there isn't any citrus banana notes to my nose, but rather a caramel-y scent, with walnut and chestnut undertones, even a woodsy element. The head is thin but solid, and fades fast. And it leaves a lacy foam along the sides of the glass that stays long after you've finished your pint.

The taste is full and rich-bodied but oddly dry and refreshing at the finish, that was unexpected but welcome.  It has a nutty, oaken flavor overall with some slight cocoa undertones and a smoothness that I attribute to the taste of yeast, but also has a little harshness to the palette; it's a bitterness like you'd get from an overroasted nut, likely from the Northern Brewer and Cascade hops in the ingredients. There's a diverse mix of malt in this brew - barley malt, Vienna malt, Crystal malt, and Chocolate malt.

According to "Beers of the World" this was originally a seasonal winter brew, but as it grew in popularity it became a year-round production. I agree, this is a terrific brew to drink anytime. It's flavorful, with an interesting bouquet, a real treat to the senses for a typical beer-drinker.

Boston Brewing Company - Samuel Adams Rebel IPA, West Coast Style

With a rebel yell, I cried more, more, beer...

From the Samuel Adams website: "Unlike some West Coast style IPAs that overpower with hops, Samuel Adams Rebel IPA features citrus and grapefruit highlights. These bright flavors are balanced by subtle pine notes, allowing for an exceptionally smooth pour, without sacrificing any of the character you'd expect from a West Coast style IPA."

Grapefruit? Uh oh... my doctor warned me against grapefruit. Ah, I'm sure I'll be fine.

I'm curious about what is a "west coast style IPA," and how strongly the hops come through compared to a typical India Pale Ale. Something to try out later.

On first pour, there is a thick head that leaves lacy trails along the lip of the glass over a golden amber brew. The bouquet is surprisingly clean, with a rich orange and malty sweetness strongly coming through.  The hops is strong on the first taste, with floral and citris undertones in the flavor overall, but it rapidly smooths out to a caramel-y and brown sugar-y finish. Fans of IPAs will appreciate the mellowing of the usual hops "bite," and the average beer drinker will enjoy the sweetness and the full-bodied flavors. Give it a shot! You'll find it at grocery stores and on tap. It's a terrific introduction to India Pale Ales, unusual and harmless. Even if there's grapefruit in it, which I'll have to take at face value because I couldn't tell ;ljk;j.l,......................,

CONNECTION LOST

Barrio Brewing Company - Mocha Java Milk Stout

Hello, and welcome back to BB&B! I'm your sometimes-inebriated host, Daver, coming to you sober with my take on whatever interesting beer catches my fancy. Tonight I'm bringing to you a craft brew from a Tucson brewery and restaurant, the Barrio Brewing Company. I've been there before and sampled their brews in a very wide-ranging beer flight, but sadly this was before the blog began so I didn't take any notes...so I'll have to go back sometime for a more thorough write-up. Sigh, the sacrifices I must make.

I did have occasion to try again the Barrio Mocha Java Milk Stout, while hanging out this weekend with a friend at Old Tucson Studios. There is no bottle, Barrio's products are strictly on draft all over the city of Tucson. On first pour, it is a deep dark brown, with a tan head that isn't so much thick as it is firm. The bouquet is rich with coffee and cocoa tones, and hints of brown sugar. It's thick-bodied like you'd expect of a stout, and it's very smooth, but not that creamy like, say a Guinness. Dark chocolate tones come through the mild malted sweetness up till the finish, where it actually loses its smooth and semi-creamy texture.

Now, I have to make it clear that I liked it well enough, but neither I or my friend finished it completely satisfied. I thought it became a little powdery at the finish, easily missed while cold but the longer you drink and the warmer it gets, it became more chalky. My friend thought that it was too heavy, and that it was best served with a glass of water on the side.

It's not a bad brew, but it just didn't have enough for me to try it again. If I were you, I'd only order this in the colder months, and would not let it warm up or you might not want to finish it.  That's one down, lots to go!

Photo credits - Mocha Java Milk Stout, source: untappd.com, photographer: TheAbbabond.