Sunday, October 14, 2012

Downtown Brown (Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe)

The Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe is a small brewery in Eureka, California.  We discovered their Downtown Brown Ale through a random six pack at Binny's.

This brown ale has a much more bitter finish than some of the other brown ales we've reviewed, and the overall texture is not smooth.  With the other ales we believe we've been able to find some more chocolate or smoky notes in other brown ales, we don't feel like that's the case here. 

All in all though, it's not a beer that's unenjoyable - but at any place that would serve this beer, there definitely are better options.

Rating:  2.5
5% ABV


Nut Brown Ale (Goose Island)

Goose Island is, of course, a brewery that has been featured before on this blog - and will be in the future.  However, their Nut Brown Ale isn't their best offering.

The flavor is a dull chocolate flavor throughout; there isn't truly a differing note from the nose to the aftertaste.  While not unpleasant, it's a little boring compared to other, more complex brown ales.  Remember how we said that Goose Island's Harvest Ale was just one note of bitter?  Well we'd say that this Nut Brown Ale is just one note of chocolate - however it is definitely more drinkable than their Harvest Ale.

However, you could do far worse for a beer to drink with a steak or just at the end of the day.  But given the choice, we'd rather have a Messiah Nut Brown Ale or Ellie's Brown Ale.

Rating:  3.0
5.3% ABV


Messiah Nut Brown Ale (Schmaltz Brewing Company)

The Messiah Nut Brown Ale by Schmaltz - which carries the additional title of He'Brew to play on the Jewish heritage of the brewery - is one of our favorite brown ales.  They have breweries both in New York and San Francisco. 

This deeply colored brown ale starts bitter but finishes with a bold, chocolate taste.  The texture is nice and light as you would want your ales to be.  It also only leaves a slight after taste in your mouth but nothing too heavy. 

Despite the light texture, this is probably a beer best enjoyed slowly due to the bold flavors - and also probably best-paired with red meats or other very flavorful foods.  Foods with subtle tastes would probably be lost to this beer. 

ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 4.0



Saturday, October 13, 2012

White Rascal (Avery Brewing Company)

Needless to say I like Avery Brewing Company a lot (and that's not just because it's based in Boulder where I (Lily) went to college).  Though we need to try more beers from Avery, they already have a pretty darn good track record with Ellie's Brown Ale and now White Rascal.  Lily has to credit Betsy Williams (if you're reading this) for introducing this beer to me back in college--I think it was at The Sink?  And yes, Lily just talked in third person.  And yes, I just started two sentences in a row with the word and.   

White Rascal is a Belgian-style white ale (believe it or not).  It's unfiltered, so when you open a bottle, there is a small sediment of yeast at the bottom.  Many breweries with unfiltered white ales tell you not to drink this part; instead, Avery suggests pouring most of the beer into a glass, swirling the remainder, then pouring the resulting yeast foam on top of the glass.  The result is a pleasant, spicy zest to an already-great beer.

White Rascal has a hint of citrus in its taste, and a spicy finish.  The flavor is bold without the texture being too bold and it's not a beer that will make your stomach feel incredibly full after you've had two...although I can't speak for how you'd feel after 4...or 5...this is a beer that we'd be happy to have all year round.  It's a great light ale that doesn't skimp on flavor.

5.6% ABV
Rating: 4.5


Thursday, October 11, 2012

Harvest Pumpkin Ale (Blue Moon)

Though we acknowledge there are plenty of pumpkin ales that we have yet to try, Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale for now is one of the best we've tasted.  Of course Blue Moon is known best for it's Belgian White Ale with many floral hints, especially orange.

Drinking Pumpkin Harvest Ale is like drinking pumpkin pie in a bottle.  Slightly sweet with a spicy finish.  It's hard to imagine drinking this on a summer day or in large quantities at a sporting event, but it works very well for a cold fall night spent with friends or family.  Honestly, though, I'd probably get this at a football game if it was an option.  Hmm yes, this is a beer that is meant to be savored one bottle at a time.  But it's definitely worth it!  Happy 10/11/12 everyone!  Bottoms up!

ABV 5.7%
Rating: 4


Saturday, October 6, 2012

Mash Tun Beer Festival and Chicago Beer Festival!

This weekend we went to the Mash Tun Beer Festival and the Chicago Beer Festival.  The Mash Tun Beer Festival was at the corner of 35th and Racine at the Bridgeport Art Center.  The Chicago Beer Festival took place in Union Station.  Now, after some chinese food, a mini nap, popcorn, and plenty of water, we're ready to remember our experiences.



The Mash Tun Beer Festival took place in the "atrium" of the Bridgeport Art Center.  More like a loading dock if you ask me.  It featured about two dozen beers on tap, and a pig roast.  The pig ran out before we felt like finally getting in the fairly lengthy line,  but for $30 entry to the festival, it's rather difficult to complain.  Besides the generous portions of beer "tastings," we got to choose our own pint glass from a large selection - for example, Great Lakes Brewing Company had two different styles of glasses available.  Lily chose an Uinta Brewing glass, and Gene chose an Ommegang glass.



While the number of beers was fairly small, the relaxed atmosphere of the event and the high quality of the beers available was a treat.  Oskar Blues was available in cans; their porter was surprisingly good for a canned beer.  Other favorites of ours included Uinta's Detour Double IPA and Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up Wit.  Additionally, Lily enjoyed Stone's Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean.  On the contrary, Three Floyds Snow Weasel was one beer that we felt had too much of a graininess in texture...it was not our favorite.


By comparison, the Chicago Beer Festival was much larger, but slightly more formal and much more crowded.  We also got very small plastic tasting glasses.  They made sense from a liability standpoint, but meant we didn't get fifteen ounces once in awhile like at the Mash Tun.  Alas.  In terms of variety, the Chicago Beer Fest had a lot more--ciders, bourbon barrel ales, ginger beer.  However, we think that it was a lot more inconsistent in terms of the quality of beers.  There were some that we just couldn't drink. 


Among our favorites were: Wyders Pear Cider (Vermont), Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Stout, Dead Guy Ale Rogue, Diversey Pale Ale by Atlas Brewing (Chicago), Crabbie's Ginger Beer, Metropolitan Brewing Crank Shaft (Chicago), and maybe some more, but those are the ones that stand out.

Undrinkable ones were from the Capital brewery in Middleton, WI.

Nosferatu by Great Lakes was also available at both events, but we both had drank it before.



So was there a favorite of ours out of the two?  Not really.  Would have liked more food and port-o-potties that weren't in the dark at Mash Tun, but overall tasted less beers that we didn't like.  The Chicago Beer Festival was bigger and had more variety, but it was more common to taste beers we didn't like.  All in all, both events were fun and a great way to stay warm on a cold fall day.  Bottoms up!