Prosit: Imperial Octoberfest Lager

Tasted Saturday evening after a day spent in Galena at my mothers house. Following a large dinner of gourmet organic pizzas I decided to take out a beer I purchased this afternoon from the Galena River Wine and Cheese place. This is the first bomber I've seen from this brewery.

Appearance: Rich amber color with a tint of red. Head is lofty standing at 2" and of soapy texture with a lot of large bubbles.  Carbonation bubbles cling to the edges of the glass as others rocket to the surface from the depths of the glass.
Aroma: There is a bit of a sanitizer and soapy scent (somewhat like pinesol...lemon fresh) at the front of the beer. To follow, there is a faint biscuit/caramel malt bill complemented by a subtle lager/marzen character.
Taste: At the front I get a robust worty flavor in conjunction with a bready base malt. Caramel is another prominent flavor in the foretaste of the beer leaving a rich sweetness to be balanced through the rest of the beer. The finish is lagered with while remaining very clean. I don't pick up on any fruit flavors, or anything really off. Big on the grain malt with a mild hint of husk at the finish. as the beer warms, even a burnt rice-crispy flavor emerges, with notes of chocolate.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and still relatively drinkable. I find that a lot of the sugar was attenuated to reach that alcohol, leaving some body and sweetness. Carbonation erupts on the tongue at first and then mellows out.
Overall Impression: I get where the octoberfest flavors come through, but this is certainly a grain forward beer. Fermented with a clean yeast, leaving nothing opposed in the flavor, but still preserving the wort flavors during the mash. Was there really a point to making high octane octoberfest (drinking) beer?


79/100

Über Pils: Small Craft Warning

Tasted Friday evening following a day walking the streets of Galena and enjoying a fantastic pizza from Cannova's. Picked this bottle up from the Wine and Cheese place at the South end of the down town for a $1.65.

Appearance: Golden copper colored, unexpectedly dark for a pilsner. Clarity is exceptional while there is a brief head that falls back into the beer, leaving only behind a trace of film and wet lacing on the side of the glass. Pour yielded a nice initial froth and an enticing looking texture. Minimal carbonation is present as the glass sits still.

Aroma: Very purfumy, but in a malt forward way. Huge notes of biscuit and un-mashed grain waft from the glass, even hitting the nose several inches away. Floral hops round out the nose while preserving the biscuit 2-row rich malt scent. Warmed, the beer gets an estery smell about it.
Taste: Just as the scent perceived but with an even richer presence. The foretaste is completely dominated by the un-mashed 2-row grain base (bready) and biscuit malted barley. Floral and earthy hops make up a large percentage of the second half but do nothing to inhibit the malt bill, but infact complement it perfectly! Somewhat of a vininess develops as the beer warms, definitely attributed from the yeastThe finishing taste and thus, aftertaste is a mild grain and husk flavor in the back of the throat. A known presence of alcohol warms the chest.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a slight oiliness on the lips. Carbonation is light and finely bubbled, just enough to let you know it's presence along the sides of the tongue. Finish is dry.
Overall Impression: A beer with a very interesting character. I find it maintains a lot of flavors from a young beer, while still providing a palatable refreshing taste. The Richness of the biscuit malt and the floral hops are well balanced. As the beer warmed, more esters emerged and a strange funk at initial whiff. Overall it is a rich brew with a high drinkability.


88/100

Gold Ale

Thanks to Joshua Schipp for getting a craft pack of this for the house. Tasted Saturday afternoon awaiting Jen to move in. Reviewed while digesting a large Indian lunch in between runs to round out another 97 mile week.

Appearance: Gold colored with a prominent haze to the beer, which may confer chill haze. Head resides as a thin film coating with some larger specked bubbles throughout. Carbonation is persistent and in high concentration as it rises to the surface. Flocculated particles visible.

Aroma: Pungent and yeasty. Malt bill is slightly sweetened with a honey and biscuit malt character. Pilsner hops are smelled, but difficult to decipher over the...skunky scent.
Taste: Starts with a biscuity malt sweetness that isn't realized until the carbonation sets in midway through. Definitely skunky or maintaining an element of stale hops. A bit floral with an earthy undertone. On the way through the finish, I can draw out somewhat of a resined, though lightly fruited character of apricots and pears. End is dry and even a bit woodsy.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied, with a carbonated spike at the end, across the middle top of the tongue. Goes down a bit watery while leaving a dry resinous texture in the mouth.
Overall Impression: I really don't think this is their best work. Either storage was insufficient, or something was up with the brewing process. Otherwise it was pretty well balanced, and drinkable. Attempt it and let me know.


75/100

Pale Ale

Thank you Joshua Schipp for getting a 12 pack of this the other day from the Rock Island Hy-vee. I First tasted the Hop3 IPA last year from which I got a six pack from the Hy-vee on John Deere Road. I've noticed most of their beer's tend to be more malt forward, but that certainly isn't a bad thing!

Appearance: Glowing copper colored with an underlying haze about it. Carbonation is consistent and prominently supporting a thick cream white head with dense accumulations in parts while leaving behind an entire lacing.

Aroma: Rich caramel works as a backbone for other estery dark fruity characters along with somewhat of a musty earth-like grain bill.

Taste: Caramel malt and peat barley are immensely presented in the foretaste of the beer. Just as the front half maintains a lot of the grainy, yet delicate malt complexities, the back 9 reveals again that estery character. Dark fruit, plums and other present flavors help mould a very malt heavy pale ale. The hops aren't really a dominant flavor here either. As it warms, some more of the hops become apparent, with undertones of light earthy citrus, but even still comparatively, it's negligible. Alcohol creates a warmth about the beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied. The carbonation is a bit on the higher side, but it really makes for an incredibly smooth and creamy texture going down the throat. Here, more of the hops are present in the form of drying bitterness.
Overall Impression: Interestingly the hops seem to be missing more or less from the beer. I know that English Styles tend more towards their malt bill, but I still think it was a little off balance.


83/100

Black Canon Black IPA

Tasted Monday night at RIBCo. Unfortunately nothing new was on tap for their half price pint night, but nevertheless they had several new bottles. I've had Heavy Seas Loose Cannon before and I thought it was fantastic, so I wanted to see what their other beer was like.

Appearance: Black with brown around the edges. No head except for a thin foam ring around the edge of the glass. Could be clear but dark color and poor room lighting made visibility difficult.
Aroma: Fruity and tropical with a grapefruit zestiness. At the forefront there is a mild roastiness, though the sweetness predominantly falls to a caramel base malt responded to by a complex hoppy flavor.
Taste: Bitter, but lacking the color-flavor component one would expect from a beer of this stature. Not much of a roasted malt character or even chocolate for that matter. I think this beer is just to play with the senses but is really just a basic IPA. Fantastically fruity from the tropical and zesty hop additions. Some ethanol at the end that parallels the alpha acids. as well as some leafy and grassy flavors in the aftertaste. Gradually some roasty flavors emerge as the beer warms. Subtle hints of citrus fruit.
Mouthfeel: Higher carbonation. Dry feel at the finish. Light to medium bodied and not especially sticky or chalky from the malt.
Overall Impression: Not as much roastiness as both I or Neil expected. I did however like the beer for being a good drinkable IPA that still maintains its complexity aside for the play on color variation..


89/100

Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA

In addition to the 3 six packs I bought over the weekend. This was my second of this kind. A tasting following a 10 miler. The first time I tried this was back in the beginning of the summer.

Appearance: Normal yellow gold coloring with visible bubbled carbonation. Not much of a head.

Aroma: Fruity/diacetyl aroma with flowery notes. Hints of raisin/grassy hopping followed by biscuity bitter notes.

Taste: Caramel/honey maltiness yet very concrete and defined. Raisins or dark fruit as well as pumpernickel and rye. Complexity in malt character is clean and subtle, not overpowering. Aftertaste reminds me of orange/grapefruit zest with minor tones of mahogany and oak (but extremely mellow). Citrus/fruity character like that of Rogue's Dead Guy, but far more crisp and florally hopped.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is smooth and helps pull the flavors through to the aftertastes. Tackiness may be only drawback.
Overall Impression: Quite an amazing IPA. I like how well balanced this one is and how the fruit bitterness displays an entirely different flavor than that of the malt sweetness. Yet in combination the complexity is astounding. I had tred it before, several months ago, but knew it was well worth another (actually six more) try. Stellar Beer!

93/100