Save Our Shores (S.O.S.)

Tasted this last Wednesday with everyone in the tasting room. We had been doing a tasting panel of certain beers we were considering to have on tap at the Pub in Iowa City. Beers such as Ommegang Rare Vos and Abbey, but also Bell's Cream Stout, Nut Brown and Kalamazoo. This was just a bottle I got from the beer Festival in Iowa City.

Appearance: Served/shared in small 3-4 Oz. taster glasses. Golden Straw colored with a white film lacing with a bubbly white foam ring. There is a chill haze present, but transparency is still strong. Carbonation is present.

Aroma: Yeast astringency with a touch of lemon and and very light malt bill. Aroma is almost negligible. Some presence of phenols - aka cloves. Mild scent of DMS.

Taste: I got more of the creamed corn in the flavor than in the smell. Perhaps from the way it was handled.  However, in the beginning there is a very light malt bill, some oxidation, covered by an initial tartness alongside the carbonated bite. Malt is relatively mild, but prominent throughout. Some fruitiness present. I do get a wheaty citrus to parallel a lot of the pilsner flavors. Yeast emerges as another rich contributor to the overall complexity of the beers flavor profile. Hops are rightly pleasant and floral, while a complementary dash of cereal grain huskiness runs parallel to it as well.

Mouthfeel: Actually a lot heftier body than I expected. Full and creamy, yet still refreshing. High initial carbonation while finishing with a very dry resined bitterness.
Overall Impression: Interesting complexity of a clash between two different beers. I felt a little at odds having not really purchased this bottle, but instead just traded for it, especially because it is a charitable beer. I can imagine it's a lot better when it hasn't sat out in the warm late September heat.

Purple Haze

Thanks to Mike Gilhouse for this addition to the blog! Tasted on a Monday and just our luck, the internet in the house went out making it impossible to post in our residence anymore. I will never again go with AT&T internet service.

Appearance: Quite cloudy thanks to yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. A dark gold and orange hue with virtually no head except for a patch of thin foam remaining in the middle.

Aroma: Smells sweet and tart with a hint of lemon and other citrus characters such as oranges. Slight hint of malt and breadiness but it is harder to find underneath the citrus tones.

Taste: The flavor is balanced towards a mixture of sweet and tartness predominately from the citrusy and raspberry flavors. More of the light crystal malts appear in the beginning of the taste while the fruit appears in the finish. Slight contribution of yeast in the finish and it is very difficult to identify the use of hops.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is light but mostly comes across as watery with average carbonation. Aftertaste is the fading flavors of raspberry and wheat.

Overall Impression: One of those beers that is easy to drink if you are looking for an alternative to flavored water but with a little zing from the carbonation. Mostly a beer I would recommend for those just beginning to experiment with craft brews or for those who don't like the bitterness from hops. Still the flavoring seems less artificial to me than other fruit flavor brews I've tasted and this would possibly suffice during the summer.

Golden Beer

Tasted on a relaxing Sunday afternoon with 80 degree weather and enjoying the fact that I got up early and wrote all my papers in morning so I could enjoy the rest of the day! Thanks to Jen for picking this up in Hy-vee's assorted six pack. Served in my new Stone pint glass from Ribco.

Appearance: A brilliant pale golden color with absolute clarity. Carbonation is bubbly and persistent. There isn't much of a head aside from a slight white film and a foam ring within the glass.

Aroma: Some minor pungency and yeast breadiness. Otherwise very clean. Hop profile is slightly spicy like a pilsner (Hallertau) but with undertones of citrus and grass. Some wheat malt permeates through under the lagered aged flavor.

Taste: Taste is initially sweet and bready with a mild honey flavor. However, the Pilsner malt for light color encourages a minimal malt backbone. Much of the complexity arises in mid to aftertaste consisting of a young lager staleness and crisp hop finish. Generally dry and floral. Yeast pungency parallels nicely with the Hallertau. Grassy and epitomizing the floral flavor of beer. Subtle citrus flavor resides underneath it all, but only encourages the definition of a great lager. Leaves a pungent lager flavor in the mouth with a dash of malt wheat sweetness. I'm thoroughly impressed with the simplicity of the flavors.
Mouthfeel:  High carbonation, but suited for the style. Light body, but smooth with a bite of refreshing flavor and crisp dryness to the finish.
Overall Impression: Just sipping this beer reminds me of almost every beer I had in Australia. I wish that I would have liked them then because right now I feel like sitting outside a pub and talking to random Australians about where I should go and how strange my accent it. Absolutely a perfect beer to sit back and drink on a hot day. Incredibly refreshing and crisp. A fantastic substitute for the Eco-Miller-Anhauser beers, but with more class and hand-crafted-ness I actually see myself seeking this beer out again, next time I'm craving a lager. Way to go Abita!

Jockamo IPA

Tasted following a bike ride into Moline to check out a new Mexican restaurant El Mariachi. I finally finished and bottled Vlads mead which aged for 5 month and was made of all organic honey.

Appearance: Deep amber copper color with a bright clarity and a foam white head. Quick to dissipate but leaving behind a sticky foam lacing on the side of the glass.

Aroma: Bready with a biscuit undertone and a mild malt based sweetness. To complement is a earthy peat like smell. Caramel permeates as another dominant scent.

Taste: Sweet foretaste mostly of caramel and dark bread. The mid taste is buttery but transfers into a spicy herbal flavor with some aspects of smokiness and subtle citrus which don't match up too well together. The beer finishes uneasily bitter with a grassy crispness at the end. Mild pine and grapefruit present, but that is simply from alternate hop resins, that are more masked by earthy, herbal, and grassy alpha acids. Some spices are incorporated, but I cannot tell which.
Mouthfeel: Nice light body with a very fine carbonation, but enough to bite the tongue and encourage a crisp refreshing finish. Some hot-ness at the finish along with a bitter dry resin.
Overall Impression: A very different IPA, it has somewhat of a strange smoked/peat/bacon flavor to it that may be traced to smoked malt. There is some discrepancy in flavor, but it still has some interesting elements to it.