Review 99: New Belgium Ranger IPA

Review 99

9/28/12

New Belgium Ranger IPA: 6.5% abv

Hate to drop the bomb now, but this one…hard to believe it’s 6.5%. It’s hard to explain how it costs what it does, or how it’s considered an IPA, and it’s hard to believe that this is what we’re writing review 99 on. Let me go out of my way to say New Belgium has been the rage of the town since it made it into Michigan, so we wanted to review one and let people know what we thought. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong one. This doesn’t hit any of the right buttons. But I’ll let you see for yourself. 

The nose on this beer is the best part, producing some fruity aromas of lemon, apple, pineapple and tangerine. The bitter notes of pine and hops come through as well, complemented by some dark earthy and floral notes, but they’re counteracted by some sugary nose as well. That sounds like a wonderful start, right? Well it is, like a plane catching speed down a runway. But then there is the getting off the ground. So the arrival? Lemon rind…and water…that’s all we got. And we twisted the rag on this one. That’s it. 

The taste has that key component again: water. That isn’t a great tasting note for an IPA. So what else is there? There is some light, kind of bland pine to it, light apple and lemon fruitiness, and slight bitterness. Don’t look further…sorry. The finish is good. Wait, no it’s not. Besides water, you’ll get slight grapefruit and hops. And not the kind of grapefruit and hops you would get from a rich, powerful Stone Guardian. The kind you’d get from a New Belgium Ranger. Don’t. Just don’t. 

Score: 3.5/10

Review 98: Stone 16 Year Anniversary IPA

Review 98

9/19/12

Stone Anniversary IPA 16 Years: 10% abv

Stone. We’ve been to Stone before. There is no doubt that Stone is an intense West-sider with a big flavor and huge punch. And apparently, for their 16th anniversary (now they can drive) they are producing an IPA for us. KCM didn’t know what to expect with this IPA, so instead of expecting, we just found out what the deal was with this, and hoped for the best. This is certainly a craft beer, at a hefty 10% abv and some interesting brewing additives. Like what you ask? Well...lemon verbena and lemon oils. You thought it would be pizza, didn’t you? It’s not. It’s lemon. This isn’t a mind-blowing combination, but enough to perk our ears up. So we poured a glass and took a deeper look. And look we did. And smelled. And here’s what we smelled. (It seems as if I’m trying to get as many periods in this review as possible...I’m not.)

 Onto the nose, my friends! The nose does introduce exactly what this beer is about. There are naturally some strong citrus notes to be found, including a bitter grapefruit with sweet lemon and clementine. The sweeter notes involved include honey, pineapple, honeydew, complimented by the sharp, refreshing pine notes and earthiness in the nose. And I’m sorry ladies and gents, but M insists that the earthy notes are actually notes of the left testicle of a fully grown ox OR moose (he’s not sure which one). In tasting the beer, there is a few sensations in the arrival, including a pleasant maltiness more common to a barleywine, perhaps, with some bitter pine, caramel and apple. 

The body has more detail to it, including caramel to it, malt and wheat adding graininess to the flavor, some pine wood and green grape, and then large lemon rind and lemon flavors jumping to the top. The finish gives out a little more to us, including big earthiness, which has nothing to do with moose or ox, and strange sweetness with sugarcane, agave and orange. There is some dry wheatiness is finish and some bitter grapefruit. Overall, this beer is not the typical bitter Stone beer that we’ve grown to know, but it does have a distinct and unique flavor to it. Unfortunately, it lacks the overall complexity of the barleywine and other IPAs, but looking at the intrinsic quality of this beer makes us think that we’re okay with that. This would be a nice enjoyable IPA for many occasions. Cue the ending credits.

Score: 9.0/10

Review 97: Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

Review 97

9/3/12

Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select: 45.2% abv

Woodford Reserve is quite a distillery. This is our first WR review, so let’s talk about them for a second. Located in Kentucky, Woodford comes with one buzz word that has been quite extra buzzy lately. Lincoln Henderson is the man responsible for many things in the world of bourbon. Mr. Henderson, being in the Bourbon Hall of Fame, which apparently exists (I guess), is in the news today because he, at the age of 72, helped his son found a new Bourbon, called Angle’s Envy, from Louisville Distilling Company. But before all this buzz, he helped build up Woodford Reserve, one of the most successful distilleries in Kentucky. 

So what cool facts do we know about Woodford? None, but Wikipedia probably knows one or two. Hold on...okay. So Woodford Reserve is the oldest of the 9 bourbon distilleries in operation in Kentucky. That’s sort of interesting, right? Okay. We have more WR reviews coming up, so I will hold our other riveting facts for later. About this one? It’s good. Sorry, I blew it. I knew you were looking forward to the anticipation. How about why it’s good? 

Well, starting on the nose, we get some good sweet flavors that we love in our bourbons, and much sweeter and friendly than Jim Beam. Molasses, caramel, sugarcane, and honey all keep the sweetness going, but we won’t keep it boring! Interestingly, we get some creamy notes, butter, oak and nut, although we weren’t sure what kind. Also, an interesting thing we noted was peach. Dunno where that comes from. In any case, we enjoyed the smell and it left curiosity and excitement to the taste. On the arrival when you first taste this bourbon, you will be greeted by sweetness and saltiness, slight orange and vanilla, some raspberry and vanilla. The arrival is wonderfully full and complex, something we generally don’t experience. 

The body of the flavor contains intense oak, mild but pleasant salt, butter, molasses and caramel, with graininess to boot. The graininess includes wheat and corn, with some yeast. The whole package is finished off with some honey and cream. After water, the saltiness backs off a bit, which says if you don’t like the salt, add water. It doesn’t kill the flavor with it’s higher alcohol content. The finish is very similar to the taste, with saltiness, molasses, vanilla, wheat and cinnamon. The fruitiness in the smell comes back in the finish, with some orange cherry, and a unique note of mint and rye. And of course, in the notes, we see notes that make no sense. 

Sorry. In general, this is a fantastic statement of bourbon, and for the sweeter and saltier statements of bourbon, this will do you well, but be warned it is a powerful flavor. Highly recommended and worth the price. 

Score: 9.0/10