You know the guy that’s always sitting at the bar? You know, the bar you always go to after work or at least once a weekend? He never sits at a table. He always seems to find a seat at the bar no matter how many people are there. You’ve never seen him arrive, and you’ve never watched him leave. Somehow, though, he will always have a seat, and he will always draw a crowd around him. He’s always cool-headed and doesn’t do anything too exciting and doesn’t go out of his way to start a scene, nor does he go out of his way to do any grand gestures for the other bar-goers. But there he is. Every time you go to the bar, he is there. He’s a guy you’ve thought of talking to numerous times, but you always decide to go another route, just barely making eye contact, just enough to know you’re there. But he notices you, too. He knows you’re at the bar. And he wants to talk to you. What do you do? Well, you sit next to him in that one empty bar stool at the oak-lined bar that hits you in the face with a scent of bleach and thick malt. You sit down. He orders you a 60 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head, a beer you’ve had dozens of times, and you sit, and you listen.
Say what you want about Cleveland, OH (and believe me, a lot of it has been and will be said), but the Great Lakes Brewing Company is one of the best breweries in the country. Which makes it a shame that it has to reside in a city that gets such flack and also must be related to Ohio State in some way. Regardless, Great Lakes does not make a beer that is worth passing over. And undoubtedly, some of their consistent stunners are their IPAs. From their Commodore Perry to the Lake Erie Monster, Great Lakes knows how to produce a powerfully hoppy beer with wonderfully well-rounded characteristics. So whenever I’m lucky enough to find the Lake Erie Monster hanging around the shelves even after being released a few months ago, I have no problem with immediately jumping on a beer that packs a wallop at over 9% ABV, but remains incredibly drinkable no matter the temperature outside or the state the beer happens to be from. Have I mentioned yet that I hate Ohio?
Sorry for all the IPA reviews of late, but to be totally honest I am a hop head and being in New York with access to all sorts of IPAs that I can’t get out in Montana, I have been fairly concentrated on downing them over other types of beer. Although I did go to a nice Belgian beer bar the other night and have some other brews. I also hit up the Rattle-n-Hum where I had probably the worst IPA I’ve ever had: Lagunitas IP fucking A. It tasted a lot like citrus fruit punch: think IPA made by Coors or Bud. I also had an Oaked Arrogant Bastard there that was absolutely delicious. You win some, you lose some. With the Flower Power IPA from Ithaca Beer Company, you win.
The Flower Power poured a slightly hazy, orange amber with an ivory head that left some good looking lacings down the glass as it dissipated. The piney aroma was accompanied by a bit of biscuit in the nose as well as some lemon, orange, and pineapple. What a refreshingly great smell after the stench of NYC on a hot day. For how full bodied the beer is, I’m a little surprised at how mild the taste is. Not that the taste isn’t there and in your face, it just doesn’t fill the mouth and linger like I expected it to. Starting out with a touch of malt sweetness, maybe even a orange/bread taste, the Flower Power crescendos into a tropical bitter wallop, finishing with linger bitter grapefruit that dries the mouth a bit.
I’ve got to say, behind the Blast Pale Ale, the Flower Power is the second best beer I’ve had here. It is incredibly refreshing and surprisingly sessionable for a 7.5% ABV. Those out in Montana may consider trying to do a beer swap on Beer Advocate or just add it to the list for the next time you are in the north east.
For our second day of Bitter Root Week, we’ll be looking at a recent special brew from Bitter Root Brewing: the CTZ Single Hop Pale Ale. The CTZ Single Hop is brewed, as the name would suggest, using only CTZ hops. There have been a few breweries around the state doing such brews, which I think is great for consumers because it helps to educate us on the difference between hop varieties. One great example of late is the Saphir IPA from Blackfoot River, which was brewed just like their regular Single Malt IPA, but with Saphir hops in place of the usual Simcoe and Cascade. In the taproom, they were even serving 8 oz. of each side-by-side so patrons could experience the difference. I love to see brewers and breweries interested in not only making good beer, but also working to make good beer drinkers! So to both Bitter Root and Blackfoot River Breweries I endow a BarBEERians Badge of Brewing Excellence for their efforts to make us all more educated beer drinkers. Alas, I digress, now back tot he meat of the post my review of the CTZ Single Hop from Bitter Root Brewery!
I’m going to try something a little different this week guys, and I’m hoping it goes well. If you enjoy it, let me know. If you all don’t like, well let me know that too. Anyway, it is Bitter Root Brewing week here at BarBEERians, so we will be featuring reviews of their beers, current news, and even a review of their recent beer paired dinner! Kicking it off is a review of their Power of Ten Imperial IPA they brewed last fall to celebrate the increase in legal ABV for beer in Montana. One of the other activities I am involved in is coaching a middle school math team, so as far as I’m concerned the concept of the Power of Ten IPA is simply genius. It is an Imperial IPA with an ABV just under 10%, 100 IBUs, and is their 1000th brew! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Read the rest of this entry »
That time of the week again. Today Blackfoot River Brewing Company has some of their oh so popular Single Malt IPA that has been cask-conditioned pouring from the beer engine. Did I mention they even dry hopped it again while it was in the cask? Well, they did.
Dry hopping is a term describing the direct addition of hops to the beer after the boiling process. Dry hopping can occur in the fermenter, conditioning tank, or even the keg or cask. Brewers employ dry hopping in order to increase the hop flavor, and especially the aroma. This is possible because hop aromas and flavors (from essential oils) are very volatile and dissipate quickly when exposed to heat, oxygen, or the action during fermentation. Dry hopped beers usually have much more hop flavor and aroma. At Blackfoot, our Singlemalt IPA has 5 separate hop additions, two of which are dry hop additions after the boiling process.
And for those of you who have been trouble getting some of the firkin beer on firkin Thursdays there is good news on the horizon. The brewers recently ordered more casks and starting April 1st, there will be two firkins available every Thursday.
I’m pretty disappointed I missed out on last week’s firkin of Porter, but alas, that is how it goes sometimes. I’m sure it will make a return in the future. My regret arises from not getting to try any because I was stuck at work all day, and I still haven’t heard any reviews of how it was. So if you are one of the fortunate few, let me know what you thought. If it was anything like the stout, I’ll make sure I’m first in line next time. Anyway, back to the point. Today down at the Blackfoot tap room is some cask conditioned IPA. Its been there before, but you may have missed it, so heres your second chance.
So at some point (I apparently missed the memo), Deschutes Brewery changed its Red Chair IPA to its Red Chair NWPA. I believe it is the same brew simply under a new name. I saw a bottle of it the other day I picked it up, figuring it would make for a good review, especially since we are starting to see the first glimpses of spring/summer here. Later I discovered it was in fact the same beer, and our first review ever was the Red Chair IPA. I decided to go ahead and give it a re-review since it has a new name, and well I technically haven’t reviewed it before. I was pretty giddy about drinking and reviewing this beer because it has been a while since I’ve delved into some new IPA’s or at least anything outside the regulars: Blackfoot and whatever is on tap at the Red Atlas.
A while back (OK, a long time back now), Miles reviewed Victory Brewing Company’s Hop Devil IPA. I was the one who picked the beer up from the local store. I had fresh memories in my mind of an intense and flavorful IPA that was one of the better that I had ever tasted out of a pint glass, and naturally, I wanted everyone else to try it. When I came across a wonderful 22oz-er of it at the local market in Montana, I was as equally as pumped to try it as ever. But it was certainly not what I remembered. It was indeed a very nice IPA with a robust flavor profile, but it wasn’t the HOLY SHIT LET’S GET A SWIMMING POOL OF THIS AND DRINK IT FOREVVVVVVERRRR type beer I’d remembered it being. But yesterday, I sat down at a local bookstore/bar for a happy hour and some reading and the bar’s special selection was a pint of Victory’s Hop Wallop IPA. Based on my 50-50 views of Hop Devil, I was hoping that a beer called freakin’ Hop Wallop would floor me like I was expecting. Well, it certainly floored me but not in the best way possible. Read the rest of this entry »
I know, I know. I told you all this review would be coming sometime last week, and we didn’t have a Montana Monday this week, so lets just move on and celebrate Montana made brews on Wednesday this week. I first had this beer down in Bozeman during the Montana Brewers Association Oktoberfest, where it won the people’s choice award for best beer. Every time since then, when I have had the brews from Beaver Creek, I have been amazed at the quality of beer they crank out for such a small town, and the Redheaded IPA is no exception.
Ithaca Beer Company in Ithaca, New York
Bitter Root Brewing in Hamilton, Montana
Bitter Root Brewing in Hamilton, Montana
That time of the week again. Today 
Deschutes Brewery Company in Bend, Oregon
Victory Brewing Company in Downington, PA
Beaver Creek Brewery in Wilbaux, Montana
