Day #335 – New Belgium Lips of Faith Fresh Hop

Here’s another one I picked up while at World of Beer. That place has a fairly nice selection to say the least.

New Belgium Lips of Faith – Fresh Hop

This is a new beer in the Lips of Faith series. It is called Fresh Hop because they brewed it with hops that had been picked off the vine less than 24 hours before. This is an India Pale Ale at 7%.

On tap at World of Beer Arlington. This beer pours a clear light yellow to orange color with a white type head. Frothy for sure.

Aroma is very hoppy. Sticky sweet and resiny. Lovely sap and pine cones. This is exactly what I think about when I think “IPA”.

Flavor is sharp hops, bitter and sweet with a strong sense of resin and hops. Well done.

Cheers!

Day #333 – Saint Arnold Sailing Santa

Saint Arnold came out with this new beer this season, bottled in a 22 oz bomber. I believe Saint Arnold gained the capability to do 22 oz bombers when they moved into their new location recently. I also want to say this is the first bomber I’ve seen from them. I could be wrong though.

Saint Arnold Sailing Santa

This beer is described as a perfect blend of their Elissa IPA and Christmas Ale.

Bottle from Central Market. This beer pours a clear copper color with a fair foamy white head.

The aroma is hoppy but only slightly so. It also has some malty, woody notes that smells like wet wood.

The flavor is semi-sweet and lightly hopped, but this ends up being a watered down version of a nice IPA.

Cheers!

Day #323 – New Belgium Belgo IPA

New Belgium Belgo IPA

Got a new beer from New Belgium today. It was originally done as a one time release but was moved to the Explore Series this year. This will make it a year round release. It is an India Pale Ale at 7% ABV.

This beer pours a clear golden orange color with a light white bubbly head.

The aroma is very strange. Lots of hops for sure but also a bit of peppery spice and more spicy Belgian yeast notes.

The flavor is very dry, hoppy and spicy with a light fruity flavor. The dry and bitter notes fill the flavor all the way through the finish. Dry and spicy.

Cheers!

Day #322 – Summit Silver Anniversary Ale

Summit Silver Anniversary Ale

Summit Brewing from St. Paul, MN is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. They came out with this beer in celebration of it. It is an IPA at 6.5%.

This beer pours a very clear light orange to a golden color. There is quite a large head response here that creates a foamy white head.

The aroma is hops! I could smell the hops from the moment I cracked the cap. Very nice. Lots of piney hops and resin, wet for sure.

The flavor is nice and hoppy at the beginning, with a flavor that reminds me of homebrewing during the boil. It finishes quite dry however, with a sharp bitterness from the hops. A nice IPA.

Cheers!

Day #290 – Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Needed a good hoppy beer for today to take the edge off the pumpkin beers I’ve had recently.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Torpedo is brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company based out of Chico, California. I’ve reviewed several things from them before. This is an IPA from them at 7.2%.

This beer pours a clear golden orange color with a slight amber tint. Also has a white type head.

Aroma is very hoppy and spicy. Nice floral type notes with grapefruit spice and pine needles. Also has a leafy type finish.

Flavor is lots of hops and spice, with a light bitter flavor and finish. There are lots of pine notes and a slight sweetness. This is well balanced and is very flavorful. I would certainly get this again!

Cheers!

Day #265 – Widmer Brothers Rotator IPA Series – X-114 IPA

I’ve really fell behind on writing these up. My life has changed quite a bit since I began this in January and my free time to type up the reviews has diminished greatly. I’m still drinking the beers on the correct days it’s just become more difficult to put it online. Oh well, quickly approaching the last 100 days.

Wider began this series earlier this year, called the Rotator IPA series. They will be releasing a series of IPA’s that vary by the season. This is the first one I have had the chance to try. It’s an India Pale Ale at 6.2%.

I’m at a new bar/restaurant in Arlington that opened up earlier this month. It’s called the Mellow Mushroom and it’s a national chain. Check out the drippy bar top!

This beer pours a clear mix of golden, orange and reddish hues. Very attractive to look at for sure. Light amount of white head.

The aroma is very intense and very hoppy. It has a big pine nose with grapefruit, sap and sticky resin notes. Very hoppy smell.

The flavor is just as intense as the aroma. Very hoppy flavor, with sticky pine needles, grapefruit tartness and a very bitter flavor through the finish.

Now this is an IPA that I could drink several of in a night. In fact, I think I’ll have another.

Cheers!

Day #246 – Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale

I witnessed something pretty scary today. While driving, I was on the on-ramp for the highway near my house (which is notoriously slow traffic at all hours of the day). Today was just the same, very slow traffic for merging. I noticed the car in front of my slow and pull off to the side, and just in front of it I see a man rolling off the highway and down the grassy slope off the shoulder. I pull off too and notice it was a man on a motorcycle that stopped too quickly and laid down his bike. I end up getting out to help and call 911. The man is seriously shaken up but alert with lots of cuts and scrapes. I stayed till the firetruck arrived, but it was seriously scary stuff to see that! Ugh, I need a beer to calm my nerves.

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale

I am surprised to see I have never tried this beer before! It’s been around for awhile and I know I’ve passed it up several times. It is an India Pale Ale at 7.3%, and they have made several offshoot versions of this, by using different yeast and treatments. This one is the standard that started it all!

This beer pours a clear golden honey color with a bit of carbonation that forms a decent white head atop the liquid.

“Ooo” was the first thing I said as I smelled it. It has a wonderfully hoppy aroma that is sappy sweet with nice fruit tones. Smells very nice.

Flavor is hoppy sweet, with dry notes, sap and earthy spice. It finishes with a lovely floral characteristic that wasn’t apparent in the aroma. This is good stuff!

Cheers indeed! Here’s to living another day!

Day #234 – Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey

As I mentioned last night, I have a feeling my reviews are going to get shorter as my free-time shrinks as well. I hit another road block today as I was invited to beta test a new Star Wars game that I have been following since literally October of 2008. Whatever remaining free time I once had will now be sucked into this game. Oh well, such is life.

Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey

Left Hand is based out of Longmont, Colorado. I’m certain I’ve reviewed a few things from them so I’ll press on past the boring details. This beer is classified as an India Pale Ale and has an ABV of 7%. I bet you are wondering how the name “400 Pound Monkey” came about? Well so was I, so I had to do a bit of research on the topic. Apparently back in 2007 there was an article submitted to the Brewers Association detailing what makes a quality American IPA. One of the quotes from that article was “Any monkey can put 400 pounds of hops in the kettle. Not everyone can make a great-tasting, well-balanced beer that you can have four or five of.” That’s where this name was born. We’ll see if they live up to that quote.

This beer pours a hazy rusty orange with LOTS of sediment floating in it. I didn’t think this was bottle conditioned and therefore did not take care when pouring it. Judging by the amount of stuff floating in it, I’m guessing this is unfiltered. Perfectly OK for an IPA it’s just always disconcerting when you see a beer with this kind of appearance. Tall white foamy head as well.

The aroma is a little dusty, strong hops and malts with a fairly grainy sense about it as well. There is a touch of lemon on the nose with more and more dry grains.

The flavor is hoppy sweet, with a dry bitter resiny flavor afterwards. The aftertaste is not that great to be honest. It’s a bit sweet, a bit bitter, and a whole lot old. This may be an old bottle now that I think about it. Let’s go see if there is an indicator on the bottle. Hmm, bottled on April 7th, 2011. That would put this beer at 4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old. In IPA terms, that’s an eternity. Hop flavor and aroma disappear within a very quick timeframe. It sucks that this is an old bottle because it probably tastes completely different when it’s fresh. The sad part is, there is no way of telling who to blame for this. Do we blame the retailer for sitting on cases and putting old beer on the shelves? Do we blame the distributor for not expediting the more perishable of beers to the retailers? Do we blame the brewer for making a crappy beer? Do we blame the consumer for sitting on the beer? (K that’s a no because I bought it last week.) No way of knowing, but all that considered, I still have a subpar beer in my hand, and that’s all I have to go on. Unimpressed.

Cheers.

Day #225 – SKA Modus Hoperandi IPA

I had a pretty unique and fun opportunity tonight and I thought I’d share. Tonight I had the chance to go on a bicycle pub crawl. There is a group of people in Fort Worth called the Night Riders that take different rides around town on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. The Wednesday ride is pretty strenuous and usually a lot longer distance. Sundays however are short, leisurely and an all around good time. We ride for a bit, then stop off at a pub for a beer. Needless to say it would be difficult to type a blog post while in the midst of this, so I’m running a bit behind today. This was the beer I enjoyed at one of the biking stops.

SKA Modus Hoperandi IPA

I’ve very recently had a beer from SKA, as of last week actually so I won’t review the brewery stats. This beer however is an India Pale Ale at 6.8%.

This beer pours a clear dark reddish to orange color. It has a nice white head that dissipates eventually.

The aroma is VERY hoppy. Lots of notes of pine needles, tree sap, resin, sweet hops and grapefruit touches. Definitely smells hoppy.

The flavor follows suit as the bitterness from the hops fill the palate and creep out to the edge of the tongue. These hops can certainly be tasted and felt in the flavor. This was just what I needed for the bike ride tonight. Try this beer, but it is not for the weak and hops, I mean heart.

Cheers!

Day #207 – Redhook Long Hammer IPA

Got an IPA for today. I’ve only had it once and it was long long ago. I remember not liking it at all, but that was also before I developed a taste for IPAs. I’m looking forward to trying this guy again.

Redhook Long Hammer IPA

Redhook is based out of Woodinville, WA. The brewery is owned by the Craft Brewers Alliance which is a conglomerate of a few craft breweries. Kona, Redhook and Widmer are a part of this group. Redhook very recently redesigned their bottles to reflect their earlier roots. I think they look pretty cool. This beer is classified as an India Pale Ale and has 6.5% ABV.

This glass is actually a Redhook glass, even though there isn’t a logo. The logo is etched in the glass near the base. It is really heavy and is one of my favorite glasses.

This beer pours a very clear golden color with a very large foamy white head. Head response was immediate and lasted awhile.

The aroma is very nice. Lots of sweet, fruity hops. I can smell grapefruit notes, citrus and some tropical notes. Great hoppy smell.

Flavor is also hoppy with more of a bitter tone that fruity. Dry finish with a lingering tingle. Some sweetness and grain but mainly spicy hops. Good! Man I don’t know what I was thinking back then.

Cheers!