New Beer Sunday Great Lakes Blackout Stout

When I think about how many great breweries there are in the mid-West region there is one that comes to the top of the list every time, and that is Great Lakes brewing in Cleveland, OH. I am not saying they are the best in the mid-West, but I am saying they are one of the best in our little part of the world in my personal opinion. We unfortunately do not get Great Lakes here anymore, but they are not hard to find, and they are quite plentiful in all neighboring states, and also in the South Bend area. I picked up a four pack of fresh blackout stout on a recent trip to Michigan.

Beer: Great Lakes Blackout Stout
Brewer: Great Lakes Brewing
Beer Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.0%
Availability: Seasonal starting in February

Appearance: Pours a dark opaque black hue with pecan colored highlights around the edges and a rather small thin brown head that left minimal lacing.
Smell: The nose brings to mind roasted malt and dark chocolate. I can liken it to a cup of black coffee with a big spoonful of bitter chocolate in it.
Taste: The coffee is more subtle in the flavor profile, but the rich malt profile comes in very strong with dark fruit and a touch of black licorice on the palate.
Mouthfeel: This is nice and chewy, and the alcohol is not really noticeable at all.
Drinkability: This drinks quite easy for 9% ABV, and I could drink more than one of these in a sitting with relative ease.

Overall this is a top notch stout, and worth getting your hands on a four pack if you are near this beer at all. It has all the qualities of any great Russian Imperial Stout, but I think has one of the best drinkability factors of any RIS that I've come across.

Cheers!
Matt

New Beer Sunday

What a great weekend of beer. I started Friday off with my first full samples of this beer and then we had a wonderful morning of delicious food and beer at the Brugge on Saturday for our beer geek breakfast.

I tried a very small sample of this beer at the winter micro brewers festival, but my palate was pretty much shot by the time I tried it, and my local purveyor got several cases of this in, and at $8.99 for a sixer it is a pretty good price for a six pack of an IPA.

Beer: Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
From: Sierra Nevada Brewing Chico, CA
Beer Style: IPA
Cost: Around $8.99 for six
Availablity: Year Round

Appearance: Pours a nice clear amber color with two fingers worth of head on it.
Smell: It isn't the most intense IPA, but I do get lemon peel, grapefruit rind, and some other citrus smells lightly balanced with a touch of toasted malt.
Taste: The flavor profile is very well balanced between the citrus flavors and a nice toasted malt base. I am also getting a slight touch of caramel in the malt that is welcomed on this offering. I was hoping for more bitterness and pine on the flavor profile, but they are only slightly apparent.
Mouthfeel: Good carbonation leaves an almost prickly sensation in your mouth and it coats the mouth very well.
Drinkability: Great balance on this beer helps makes it quite easy to drink. I could easily see myself taking a sixer of these to BBQ's this summer.

This a hopped up version of their standard pale ale. It is classified as an IPA, but the IBU's are not over the top, and the malt backbone in many respects outshines the hop flavors on this beer. If you are a big hop head and expect this to be a big bitter IPA you won't get it, but is still a good beer and has its place among pale ales and IPA's. I would also suggest this as an intro IPA for people trying to get into the style.

Other IPA's worth your time: Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, Stone IPA, Three Floyd's Alpha King, Founder's Centennial IPA, Victory's Hop Devil, and DogFish Head 60 Minute IPA are all available here in Indiana.

Cheers!
Matt

New Beer Sunday

This week I've got a beer that I picked up when I was in Chicago at one of best liquor stores I've been outside of Indianapolis: Binny's. Bear Republic is available in Illinois and in Ohio (as well as about 25 other states). I've found they have a nice lineup of beer and at really good prices. I particularly enjoy their Racer 5 IPA, and Hop Rod Rye beers. All of those beers including this one are $4.99 a bomber. Not bad for a beer from California. I've seen them range in price from $3.99 to $5.49 among the internet beer purveyors. I tend to drink many more stouts in the winter than in the warmer months, but it has been nice all this week and this beer was actually quite nice on a 60 degree day. The other beer geeks have already reviewed this beer before I joined this hedonistic group of beer lovers.

Beer: Big Bear Black Stout
Brewer: Bear Republic, Healdsburg, California
Beer Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 8.1%
Price: $4.99
Availability: Plentiful

Appearance: Pours an opaque black with a minimal brown head on it. Not much lacing to speak of, but the head stayed for the entire beer.
Smell: I get plenty of chocolate, toffee, roasted malt, and even a touch of grassy hops on the nose. The smell is quite rich and makes me think I am about to drink dessert.
Taste: The flavor profile combines roasted malt and chocolate as the most dominate flavors. I also get secondary flavors including toffee, espresso, and an earthy grassy hoppiness finish the beer off.
Mouthfeel: This beer is quite full bodied and almost borders on the "chewy" realm, but overall is quite smooth and creamy.
Drinkability: This is a beer I could get used to having around for when I'm in the mood for a RIS, and at a very good price.


I quite enjoyed this stout from Bear Republic. This is another beer in the line of good stouts out there. If you are in a state that has Bear Republic it is worth your time to pick up a bottle, but you can also get many other stouts here in Indiana that stand up just fine to this one, but I wouldn't mind seeing it on our shelves along with the rest of Bear Republic's lineup.

Other Russian Imperial Stouts to try: Bell's Expedition Stout, North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin, Storm King Stout from Victory, Stone Imperial Russian Stout (will come out in April I believe), Siberian Night from Thirsty Dog Brewing

Cheers!
Matt

New Beer Sunday

This week I've got a beer from a wonderful Brewpub just across the state border in Illinois. I've been to Flossmoor Station on several occasions and it is a nice brewpub with good food and great beer. Several beer geeks went up last year and wrote up a review of a trip that will hit both Three Floyd's and Flossmoor Station. There has been a shakeup at Flossmoor the last few months and head brewer Matt is leaving Flossmoor for Oakshire Brewing in Oregon. Matt is known for his delicious IPA's and this beer is a play on that name. I wish him well, and I've enjoyed just about every beer that I've had from Flossmoor Station.

Beer: Ore-Gone IPA
Brewer: Flossmoor Station
Beer Style: IPA
Price: around 10 bucks
Availability: Limited/Brewed Once, but according to the beer boards still available at the brewpub

Appearance: This beer pours a cloudy golden color with a fingers worth of bone white head that left great lacing for the entire beer.
Smell: I could smell this beer as I poured it and I am greeted with a nose full of hops that ranged from grapefruit, orange peel, and sticky pine. The bready malt is very apparent as well and supports the hops beautifully.
Taste: A continuation of the smell with the citrus and pine flavors very bold upon first sip, but the malt comes in about halfway complimenting the hops and giving the beer a nice complexity that I think many IPA's are missing, and is much more than just hops in your face, but rather a well balanced and well crafted IPA.
Mouthfeel: My only complaint here is that the beer could have benefited from a bit more carbonation I think, but it was medium bodied and rather sticky in the mouth.
Drinkability: If you are an IPA fan this beer if for you, and I would love to be able to drink this with regularity.

Overall: This is another great beer from Flossmoor Station. This beer had some of the attributes of a West coast IPA, but was still very balanced with plenty of bitterness. I wish Matt the very best in his new endeavors in Oregon, and look forward to more great beer coming out of Flossmoor.

Other IPA's worth your time: Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, Stone IPA, Three Floyd's Alpha King, Founder's Centennial IPA, Victory's Hop Devil, and DogFish Head 60 Minute IPA are all available here in Indiana.

Cheers!
Matt

New Beer Sunday

I am going to be starting a new, and hopefully weekly, column here at Hoosier Beer Geek called: New Beer Sunday. I like tasting new beers and judging them in a style very close to BJCP guidelines. I am not BJCP certified though for the record. It personally helps me pick out the flavors, colors, mouthfeel, and an overall impression about the beer instead of just tasting a beer and saying "wow, this is good." (There is nothing wrong with that, that is how I got my start in the craft beer world). Hopefully people will get something out of the style notes as well as the commentary on other beers to try in that style and from other brewers. The first beer in the series will be Victory's V-12.

Indiana has started to get Victory within the last year, and judging by all of the new beers I keep seeing from them I hope they are here to stay, but as far as I know I haven't seen any of this offering in Indiana. I picked up this beer last time I was in Cincinnati at Jungle Jim's. I went through a Belgian style beer kick recently and this is from that kick. I would assume we are going to get this beer in Indiana at some point, but I am not sure if we actually will though.

The Belgian Quad style according to the BJCP is: "A dark, very rich, complex, very strong Belgian ale. Complex, rich, smooth and dangerous." I will also say that the BJCP classifies a Quad as Belgian Strong Dark Ale.


Appearance: This beer pours an almost hazy rustic orange color with a very thin head on it, and it left almost no lacing to speak of for the entire beer.
Smell: I first get an almost sweet floral scent coming in as I pour with strong bubble gum notes to it as well. As I get my nose into this beer the hot alcohol become very strong as well. As I let the beer warm it really came into its own with vibrant scents of pears, prunes, passion fruit, and a Belgian yeast strain that is typical of good Quads.
Taste: The first sip of this beer is almost over top in sweetness that tasted like concentrated apple juice. I really let the beer warm up and the flavors of the orchard fruit really came to life including apple, oranges, and peaches. The complex malt also brings on life of raisins, plums, cloves, nutmeg, and even cotton candy. The hot alcohol though is very apparent in the flavor profile and sometimes comes across as boozy.
Mouthfeel: More than moderate carbonation brings the flavors to life, so that is welcomed, but the alcohol is very hot on the mouthfeel.
Drinkability: A whole bomber of this beer is a tough task for just one person, and the alcohol overtook some of the great qualities this beer had.

Overall: I lean more towards balance in my beers, and the hot alcohol on almost every aspect was a big strike for me against this beer. I could smell and taste it before, during, and after ever sip of this beer. This beer can be aged, and I really think my sample was just too hot out of the bottle and could have used some age on it.

Belgian Quads that can be found in Indiana: Rochefort 10 from Brasserie de Rochefort, St. Bernardus Abt 12 from Brouwerij St. Bernardus, Three Philosophers from Ommegang, Allagash Four from Allagash, and The Reverend from Avery Brewing.

Is anyone in Indiana making a Quad? What are some of your favorite Quads?

Cheers!
Matt