Category: Vertical Beer Tastings


A little Founders Stout Tasting (and DIPA)

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Scores, Vertical Beer Tastings
May.19, 2010

No birthday party is ever complete without trying some fantastic special occasion beers. This time it happened to be Founder’s and it happened to be very good:

1-Founders Breakfast Stout. 8.3% abv. Pours a dark chocolate. It smells of chicory, roasted malt, burnt sugar and cereal. It tastes of very bitter dark chocolate, caramel, burnt malt and vanilla. Very light but very flavorful. It’s a good  oatmeal-ly
breakfast.

2- Founders Imperial Stout. 10.5% abv. Pours a dark chocolate with a hint of  espresso cream. It smells sweeter than the Breakfast Stout with caramel and toffee. It does not have too much burnt or  roasted flavors going on in the nose. The taste transitions nicely from caramel to burnt sugar to bitter hops to a more coffee aftertaste than bitter espresso. Pretty sweet in the nose, a  little more bitter bur balanced with the sweetness. Fantastic balance. I like this better than the oatmeal stout.

3- Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Bourbon barrel aged. 11.2% abv.  Pours a pitch  black with a touch of espresso cream. It smells like bourbon, vanilla and  then more bourbon. It tastes of  bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, toffee and malt. Pretty  bourbony. Would be great paired with pancakes or french toast. Fantastic great  Sunday brunch beer.

4- Founders Double Trouble. 9.4% abv. Pours a semi-cloudy orange. No head. It smells of sweet mangos, passionfruit and light pine. Super sweet and fruity nose. Not much grapefruit. It tastes of super bitter piney hops- not much fruit. Then a light sweet mango aftertaste.Actually, pretty fantastic and different. There have been so many fabulous double  ipa’s coming out lately and this is definitely one of them.

Not a bad way to start a new year.

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Random Beer Tasting Night

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Vertical Beer Tastings
Apr.27, 2010

What to do when you are bored on a Friday night in San Francisco? Call some friends over to crack open some bottles from the vault! Not to mention a 3 year vertical of Deschutes Abyss! Which is exactly what we did, me and 4 other guys….really ladies, where ARE you????

Anyways, it was a relatively long night of opening up some good beers until 2am….

We tried in order:

1-Rogue’s John John Ale, 6.4% abv, Maibock. This beer is aged in Dead Guy Whiskey barrels. It poured a clear orange teak with no head. It smelled sweet with honey, some light whiskey, light oak, caramel and slight mango. It tasted of caramel, toffee, whiskey, slight grapefruit, with a good hop finish. It had a slight burn to it from the whiskey but it had good carbonation. It was light but had a good flavor. I wouldn’t kick it out of bed.

2-Deschutes’ Abyss 2007, 11% abv, Imperial Stout. This poured a dark dark chocolate black with a touch of espresso cream. This had a HUGE burnt malt, smokey salted bacon, light raisin, and dates in it. It tasted of espresso with a HUGE smoky character to it and a slightly dry, light ending. My favorite of the evening.

3-Deschutes’ Abyss 2008, 11% abv, Imperial Stout. This one was WAY sweeter than the 2007 version. It smelled of sweet caramel, stewed dark fruits, malt and toffee. It tasted sweet, with sweet fig newtons, caramel, a light faint smokiness, light hoppiness into a dry espresso ending.

4-Deschutes’ Abyss 2009-11% abv, Imperial Stout. Unfortunately this one seemed a little off. It smelled SOUR!!! It had some light raisin, sweet malt and juicy grapefruit in the nose. It tasted again, SOUR, with a light spice to it, tangy grapefruit skin, candied malt and a light bitter finish. SO it seems like this puppy had a bit of a bottle infection due to the sour that we all got out of it.

5-Three Floyds Apocalypse Cow- 10% abv, Imperial IPA. This poured a super bright, clear tangerine orange. It smelled of sweet, candied malts, mild hops, light apricot and sweet Gewurztraminer. It tasted of bright hops, pine, apricot, with a good malt backbone, some light vanilla and a deep grapefruit skin bitter aftertaste. Good carbonation, good drinkability.

6-Alpine Beer Company’s Exponential Hoppiness, EH=PH2, 10.5% abv, Imperial IPA. This poured a clear light brown with a hint of straw yellow. It smelled of caramel, toffee, vanilla and creamy butterscotch. I did not get any f the hop aroma. It tasted of candied malts, toffee, vanilla then it turned to a good grass, grapefruit and piney bitterness. I prefered this one to the Apocalypse Cow, but only slightly. They were both really good, but I enjopyed the transition in flavor in the Exponential Hoppiness.

7-Alesmith’s IPA, 7.25% abv, American IPA. This poured a murky orange teak, no head. It smelled of sweet, juicy, fresh squeezed grapefruit- a fantastic nose, I kept smelling it! It tasted not as bitter as I would have expected it to with all of that grapefruit, but it had more of a light, sweet grapefruit aftertaste. It had mild carbonation. This one lacked a little for me because the nose was so fantastic but the taste did not follow suit. This was my least favorite of the evening.

8-Founders Breakfast Stout, 8.3%, Imperial Stout. This poured a dark brown, almost black with some red highlights. It had a huge nose, with roasted malt, toasted cereal, vanilla and espresso. It tasted of bitter coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, toasted malts and left your tongue bitter and dry. It was a little light in mouthfeel, it seemed more of a porter than a stout to me. Not sure if it’s worth all the hype it gets, but it’s pretty good.


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Vertical Tasting of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Vertical Beer Tastings
Feb.21, 2010

You would think that with SF Beer Week going on, we would be to our limit with tasting beer. But when 4 friends come to town and 2 of them come in by past midnight before Toronado’s Barleywine Festival, you know we had to break out something tasty.


SO we tried a vertical of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine- years 08, 09 & 10. All 9.6% abv.


Bigfoot 2010- Poured a clear orangish teak. Smelled very floral with notes of grass, lemon, citrus and not too much hop character. It tasted like bitter grapefruit, citrus, pine and leaves a large hoppy bitterness on the back of the tongue. Pretty good drinkability.


Bigfoot 09- poured the same orange brown with a shade darker than the 2010 version. It smelled hoppier than the 2010, more malt flavors, grapefruit. It smelled the best out of all three.
It tasted of hops, bitter grapefruit skin, citrus, some light toffee and malt flavors.

Bigfoot 08- the darkest color of them all- dark copper orange. It smelled of more malt characters than hops- toffee, vanilla, caramel and light citrus. It tasted more bitter than the 09 with more flavors of bitter grapefruit skin, light malt and citrus.


Overall, my favorite was the 2009 Bigfoot for it’s fantastic malt/hop balance. The 2010 is great for a fresh barleywine that is still $10 a six pack, which is amazing. It’s a good barleywine to start with if you have never had one before. It’s also a good beer to have your first vertical with, as it is not too expensive and you can definitely tell the difference in the age of each.

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SF Beer Week: Lagunitas Night at Toronado (RR leftovers too)

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Tasting Events, SF Beer Week 2010, Vertical Beer Tastings
Feb.12, 2010

February 10, 2010

Lagunitas Night

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California

Time(s): 6PM+

Admission: no charge

Dave and I went to Toronado for Lagunitas night, which just so happened to be the night after their Russian River ‘tion Night. We were very excited with the leftovers from the night before that we only tried 1 beer from Lagunitas. Especially because they had some verticals of Supplication and Temptation, so we just had to try those together.  We went at 10pm on Wednesday and managed to get a seat at the bar, which is always a plus.

We tried in order: Supplication 07 & 09, Temptation 08 & 09, Beatification, Mortification, Interlude by Allagash and Maximus IPA on cask by Lagunitas.

Supplication by RR is a brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries. 7% abv. The Supplication 07 is a two year old aged version. It poured beautiful teak color. It smelled of fresh sour cherries, oak and Brett. It tasted sour on the sides and back of my tongue with some oak dryness. There is cherry fruit upfront but it is sour but not super pucker sour. The Supplication 09 looked pretty much the same except a shade lighter. It’s nose was not as pungent at all compared to the 07. The taste is more fresh bing cherries,  more oak and less sour pucker. I got some pucker on the roof of my mouth, but it has much more fruit compared to the 07. If you are new to sours, this one would be a good one to try. It’s not as full bodied as the 07 but it tastes more fruity and oak. Dave liked the 09 better, however I appreciated the more sourness you got out of the 07.

Temptation by RR is a blonde Ale aged in French oak chardonnay barrels with Brettanomyces and it’s 7.25% abv. The Temptation 08 poured a clear deep marigold with a creamy white head. The 08 is a shade darker than the 09. The 08 had an incredible nose- chardonnay grapes, oak, fresh green grape juice. It tasted of fresh grapes, lemon peel, oak, chardonnay with a hint of honey. A very pretty beer. The 09 did not have a strong aroma compared to the 08. I had to smell it hard just to get some oak notes out of it. It tasted of citrus, pink grapefruit, honey, and a sour dry finish. It was good, but I hands down enjoyed the 08 better. It was almost like a completely different beer. Get your hands on some if you can.

Beatification by RR is a wild ale that is  100% spontaneously fermented beer using the oldest barrels that no longer have any wine flavor or oak flavor left in them. 5.5% abv. It poured a cloudy sun yellow. It smelled of sour, oak and Brett. It tasted sour! Lemon, lemon, lemon sour, Brett and super dry. It is one tart beer! Reminiscent of Isabelle Proximus, a one note incredibly sour beer.

Mortification is a quadrupel and 11% abv. It poured a nice dark chocolate with some red highlights. It smelled of sour malt, toffee, cherry, dried plums and vanilla. It tasted like roasted malt, plums, cherries with a hint of sour funk. Pretty tasty.

Interlude by Allagash is a wild ale aged in French Merlot and Sirah oak barrels. 9.5% abv. It poured a deep sienna orange brown without any head. It smelled of cherry, dark fruits, malt, toffee and some red wine. It tasted like lemons, malt, caramel, touch of vanilla, oak and a sour ending with a dry finish. It is very wine like but it seems a bit off. There’s some astringency going on with some phenol and solvent characters- not a good sign.

Last but not least, and the only Lagunitas beer we tried of the evening (only because the ones offered we could get anytime and the RR beers were a bit more interesting and rare, though we did ask for the Brown Sugga on cask but it was just kicked):

Maximus on cask by Lagunitas is an Imperial IPA and 7.5% abv. What is a cask ale? Cask ale is often referred to as ‘real ale’ is unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that still contains live yeast. It is always served from a hand pulled from a handpump and without an extraneous gas, like beer from a keg. It is served warmer than keg beer, between 54-56 degrees, which is cool but not chilled like keg beer. This lets the aromas and flavors become more prevalent. It poured a orange copper with no head. It smelled of grapefruit, grass and sweet juicy hops. It tasted like bitter grapefruit peel, hint of sweet malt, hops and very wet. It was not too bitter at all.

All in all, Toronado seems to be wining it for us for great beer, less crowds and good deals for this year’s SF Beer Week. Did I mention that every brewery they feature each night is happy hour prices? I don’t recommend going to RR night because it’s insanely crowded but leftovers are usually ridiculous as well and way more accessible. Looking forward to Saturday!



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Our own ‘private reserve’ beer tasting

Filed Under: Beer Pairings, Beer Reviews, Vertical Beer Tastings
Jan.05, 2010

My 5 friends and I gathered around our kitchen table a few Fridays ago to pop out some great beers from each one’s cellar to do some beer tastings. We tried a vertical of the Chimay Blue from 2004, 2008 and 2009 (well, not exactly a vertical). We tried a 2007 & 2009 Allagash Curieux, which is a Bourbon- Barrel aged Triple and clocks in at 11%. Also on the list were Russian River’s Damnation 23 and Three Floyds Dread Naught.
We poured the Chimays first. The 2009 was a bit cloudy, the 2008 less so and the 2004 was clearer but darker mahogany in color. The 2004 tasted of sweet caramel malts, roasted coffee, a bit earthy and went down smoothly and beautiful. The 2008, unfortunately was skunked, which happens, especially since these are all made in green bottles instead of brown. BUT we did find the perfect pairing with a 2008 skunked Chimay Blue- a Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk! Who knew? That cheese is great but so stinky it mellowed out the skunkiness of the beer. Pretty crazy how well and random that worked out. The 2009 still tasted like caramel and malt but way lighter, it didn’t seem as strong at all. We were all in agreement that we liked the 2004 the best- it was almost a different beer how it aged so nicely!
The 2007 & 2009 Allagash Curieux- both poured a bit cloudy caramel color with a hint of orange. The 2009 aroma was mild but malty, sweet, a little boozy and a hint of oak. It tasted like sweet malts, some vanilla, light hops. In contrast,  the 2007 had way more of a whopping smell and taste of bourbon. It tasted like honey, bitter hops and bourbon! All in all the 2009 was again, a lighter beer in comparison to the aged 2007. I am not sure if they used the same barrels and the bourbon is being used up in each batch or what.
Russian River’s Damnation 23 is an 11% triple. Russian River has some obsession with the number 23. It’s printed on every bottle and for some reason, every 23rd batch of Damnation is oak aged and sold in the Damnation 23 bottles. It poured a cloudy yellow and left a massive lace. It smelled like citrus, earthy, yeasty, some spicy hops mixed in with some banana and clove. It tasted a bit sweet at first with a little grainy with a spicy hop flavor, slightly bubblegum, banana, some light oak notes. The alcohol seemed to be pretty well hidden in this beer.
Three Floyds Dread Naught is a 9.5% Imperial IPA. It pours a hazy golden amber color. It smelled of sweet citrus hops, mango (some got the mango some didn’t), caramel, malty and earthy. It tasted more citrus hops than tropical and bitter. It was incredibly smooth for being 9.5% and had a light aftertaste.
All in all, it was a great night of drinking some fine beers. I look forward to our next one in January!

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Jug Shop "Prestige" Holiday Beer Tasting

Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Beer Tasting Events, Vertical Beer Tastings
Dec.15, 2009

Being a female and liking beer can definitely be intimidating- no matter what your beer knowledge. So the idea of going to a “prestige’” tasting without my husband and solo wasn’t quite the top event on my list, but once I read what we were tasting, I decided to brave the crappy rainy weather and the  ’going out to eat in a restaurant solo’ factor.

I was not disappointed.

It was at the Jug Shop and it was the 2nd in their 3rd round of Holiday Beer Tastings this month. We tried 12 beers for $40 and some expensive ones at that:
1- Scaldis Prestige de Nuits- $50 for 750ml- caramel, port flavors
2- Scaldis Noel Premium 2009- 13%, $18.99 for 750ml- raisin, pine nuts, currants, sweet malt
3- Scaldis Noel Premium 2008-13%, $18.99 for 750ml -way more pungent than the 2009, maltier and way better in my opinion
4- Fantome Hiver- 8%, $15.99/750ml- lightest of the night, a little spicy, not my favorite
5-Fantome Noel 2008- 10%, $17.99 for 750ml -hoppy yet light, leathery finnish
6- Struisse Tsjeeses, 10%, $8.49 for 330ml- banana clove, hoppy, a bit bitter and dry
7-Mikkeller To:/From:, 8%, $13.99 for  a750ml- heavy, malty, it tasted way off balanced, my least favorite of the night!
8-Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper 2009, 11% $13.99 for a 750ml- hoppy nose, citrus, pine with malt undertones
9- Norrebro Julebryg, 7%, $11.99 for a 660ml- malty nose, spiciest body of the evening, cinnamon too predominant for my taste
10- Howling Wolf Weizenbock, 8% $14.99 for 1 L- apple cider, currants, sweet malty toffee, yum!
11-Glazen Toren Winter Canaster, 9.5%, $15.99/750ml -winter scotch ale, rich malt with vanilla and cinammon
12- Samichlaus Bier- 14%, $119.99 for 3 L, dark dried fruit, sweet malt.

My personal top 3 were:

The Scaldis Prestige de Nuits by Brasserie Dubuisson.
The Scaldis Prestigede Nuits is Scaldis Noel beer aged for 6 months in burgundy barrels from the St. George Vineyard.  It was a pretty fantastic beer, although I didn’t think it was worth $50 a bottle, or $45, with the 10% off any beer that was offered to us at the tasting.  I would buy it if it was in the mid twenties price range though, as there are in my opinion really great beers for around that price on the market.  It tasted a bit wild, a hint of sourness (mmm Brett!) with port flavors that lingered on the tongue with a great balance of caramel- not too overwhelmingly sweet.

Howling Wolf Weizenbock
This beer is a bavarian weizen beer, in which they use authentic Bavarian top-fermenting ale yeast. It is modeled after a centuries-old Bavarian style and, like all of their 2009 Cellar Reserve Beers, brewed in strict compliance with the German Beer Purity Law, or Reinheitsgebot.
This beer smelled like spicy bananas and toffee malt.  It tasted like apple cider, currants, sweet caramel and malt. It was a bit on the sweeter side of things for the evening but a sweet caramel weizen beer?
I had never had anything like this style before and I truly enjoyed it!

Samichlaus Bier
This beer is brewed once a year on December 6th for St. Nicholas Day and at a whopping 14%, it is said that it is the strongest lager beer in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. This beer smells like caramelized malts, honey, eggnog, dates, and a high alcohol nose. It tastes sweet more toffee than honey, with a hint of hops, raisins, plums and a hint of molasses. It definitely goes down dangerously smooth for 14%! Now, I have had this beer before, I even served it at my own Holiday Tastings because I like it so much. But to have it served out of a 3L? That’s pretty amazing. Not to mention how much smoother it smelled and tasted.

I also had a great time. I met some great folks- Brian Yaeger of beerodyssey.com,  Rich Higgins, the brewer in the works at the soon to open spot that used to be Eldo’s in the Sunset, along with some other great beer drinking geeks like myself. All in all, not a bad night!

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