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

Review 96: Arcadia Ales Nut Brown Ale

Review 96

8/30/12

Arcadia Ales Nut Brown Ale: 6.0% abv

Another Stupid-College-Classes-That-Don’t-Teach-Anything sponsored review today, so feel privileged. Arcadia Ales is a pretty well known brewery in Michigan out of Battle Creek, so let’s be happy about that. That’s not to say we’re going to be easy on this one. We’ve had a tough run of brown ales, but we will see what Arcadia can offer. I don’t have a lot of background information on this beer, so maybe I’ll talk about Arcadia for a second.

They were established in 1996 and they specialized in British-style ales. Then they tell us something about being authentic and that they use special amazing magic something-or-anothers. We don’t really care about the marketing jargon. So now that Arcadia has done so well to introduce themselves, let’s introduce their beer. Although not the first one of their beers I’ve had of their personally, it is the first beer we have sat down and reviewed. 

On the nose, when we first smelled this beer, there was a sort of foul stench to it, that was characterized as upchuck....if you catch my vomit...I mean drift. That dissipates though, and leaves some pleasant notes, although it’s quite sparing with what it gives you. The kind of norms for this kind of beer: vanilla, caramel, malt, toffee and cream. I can’t say a whole lot about it...sorry. The arrival has nut....shock. Taste includes caramel, vanilla, malt, apple and fluoride. Sorry, This isn’t going to be an enthusiastic one. Again, I don’t know what to say. Take whatever you want out of this, I don’t think I need to say it. Finish...ugh. It’s medium-short, with slight tartness, nut, and citrus. 

I hope you all know that this is an extremely boring review for me to write. And I think we were too generous with the score, having written this. This wasn’t a fun one, and I don’t feel compelled to jump back to try it again. Luckily the next review is interesting. I won’t change the score because I don’t have the authority to do it, but I also wouldn’t recommend this to anybody who cares about more than being a drunken blithering idiot. 

Score: 7.0/10

Review 95: Elijah Craig 12 Year

Review 95:
8/27/12
Elijah Craig 12 yr: 47% abv

Representing Heaven Hill Distillery, Elijah Craig brings us a 12 year old statement of their bourbon. This should probably make you raise an eyebrow, methinks. With Jim Beam being 4 years old, and Jack Daniels being 4 years old, and even Jim Beam Black at 8 years old, this is quite an old Bourbon. We haven’t seen a ton of age statements, so this is unique. What does it matter? Well at the price of this whiskey (~$25), you should be surprised it’s as old as it is. Then again, this means that there is a potential that it just sucks in quality as a compromise. Well we wanted to find out. And if 12 years old seems a little young for your bourbon, they also sell an 18 year, which we might review in the future. Let’s also get this piece out of the way: 47%...yes, it is noticeable, and more distilleries need to bottle at this abv. Let’s dig into it now.

Elijah Craig will greet you with a classic nose you’d expect out of a bourbon, but don’t rush past it. This whiskey puts some heavy emphasis on the grain characters to it, like malted barley, corn, and wheat are all prominent. There is a strong oakiness to it, along with some dark caramel, honey, and molasses notes to it. We also found some spicy notes of nutmeg, and even a slight pear-like fruitiness to it. The strong nose is intoxicating, and makes the taste even more anticipated. So we stopped anticipating it, and drank it.

The arrival had oak, cinnamon, and honey to it, all though it was relatively mild. In the body, there is still oakiness to it, but also strong vanilla intrinsic to the bourbon character. The maltiness that was in the nose before is still around, but some unique notes of black pepper, oatmeal, and then the classic cinnamon resides in the body. The body did not have great depth, but covered unique flavors, and strong flavors as well. The finish to Elijah Craig is medium-long, and adds some character to the bourbon. Some things you’ve already tasted which linger: vanilla, oak, and pepper. Things you haven’t tasted before that make you happy you didn’t stop thinking about it: red apple, ginger, and brown sugar. So there you are. That’s it. This isn’t a bourbon that will keep you in your seat for weeks, thinking about it. It’s a bourbon that will be thoroughly enjoyable, with depth and moderate complexity for a very affordable price. The oak might be a little over-dominant, which makes us skeptical of the 18 year statement, but we’ll cross that bridge when we reach it. It’s worth buying, and it’s worth drinking. 
Score: 8.5/10

Review 94: Belhaven Wee Heavy Ale

Review 94

8/26/12

Belhaven Wee Heavy Ale: 6.5% abv

We have visited Belhaven before. A Scottish company which is known for their standard Belhaven Scottish Ale. It is easy for you to remember Belhaven if you’ve smelled it in the past. There’s a distinctive reason. It smells quite prominently of marijuana. That isn’t a joke, not an exaggeration, and we only know because we live all around the people that smoke it. Well, do you think it was a fluke, or maybe we had a skunked batch? No, people, no. 

Let me just start on the nose for this one. Marijuana. Like, you felt like you were getting high just smelling it marijuana. Let me explain before I continue though. What we noticed before, and noticed in this review as well is that there is a prominent, strong note of marijuana as soon as the bottle is opened, but if you give it 5 to 10 minutes, then you will start to notice that it fades away. There is no mistake about it. So is there really anything else to be smelled in this beer? Absolutely. Here’s the list, and it is a large one. 

There is maltiness to this beer, with unmistakeable raison, caramel, molasses, wheat, semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa and cream in the darker notes, with fruity notes including apple, raspberry, kiwi, and some light lemon citrus notes as well. To top it off, we have a unique brown tea smell we extracted as well. So don’t let the initial smell put you off, because there is a lot more to it. Unfortunately, that stands more for the smell than anything else. 

The arrival to the ale is noticeably nutty in character, with molasses/brown sugar, and chocolate to it. It leads into a dark and mellow body, holding the molasses character but continuing with chocolate, hazelnut, nutella, raisons, wheat and nutmeg. Finally, we get to the finish. Only to find it isn’t there. It is short with little flavor, but what little flavor we picked out was of the same sweetness of molasses we had before, with some slight nuttiness and chocolate, and even some ripe banana left over. 

Overall, we were really excited when this beer started to open up, but in the end, it provided some disappointment the more we dug into it. It certainly is unique, and it provides decent complexity, but with a lack of overall balance and an almost lacking flatness to it, we weren’t blown away. 

Score: 8.0/10

Review 93: Jim Beam Black Label Double Aged

Review 93
8/24/12
Jim Beam Black Label Double Aged: 43% abv

Well, since I’m the main “editor” of KCM’s reviews and I’ve pretty much been failing at my job due to having real jobs, I haven’t been too invested in writing up reviews. Fret not, because KCM has been doing reviews! We just haven’t gotten around to posting them. So here is one. Jim Beam Black Label is the upper class of the Jim Beam line, before you get into the Small Batch products, like Booker’s (We’ve reviewed Booker’s, so check it out!) What a good showing by Jim Beam, this one. Just off of presentation, they do a good job with this one. It starts off telling you its age, at 8 years. Young compared to our Scottish whiskies, but still a decent age. We don’t make a big deal out of price, but if you’re bargain shopping for whiskies, (I’m not talking to you college blonde drinking Mohawk vodka) this is the way to go. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that Black runs you in Michigan around $25 a bottle. For that, you get a 43% bourbon with good flavor, simple presentation, and good quality. Is that a spoiler alert? Yes. Yes it is. “M” quickly cited at the beginning of the review that he noticed a note of bourbon in the bourbon...there’s always got to be something that doesn’t help anybody.

On the nose though, you get a light nose, which opens up over time. This nose will make you work to get the scents you might be looking for, but be patient with it. It is a rewarding experience when you get around to it. Let’s see what we dug down for. Bourbon always has some sweetness in the nose, even though there is often harsh spiciness to be found as well. Indeed there is sweetness, and many layers of sweetness. Caramel, honey, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, and malt all greet the nose, but it’s at different times that you’ll start to realize it. Interestingly, there are some other notes which we found to be compelling. There is a small hint of mint that you’ll catch if you pay attention, with gingerbread, wheat and unripened banana also nestled in the aroma. There isn’t a ton of complexity to the smell, but it certainly has some compelling aspects to it. There was enough to it that we were excited to try it. When we tried this bourbon, we were pleasantly surprised.

On the arrival, you can find molasses, caramel ginger, and cinnamon. There is a nice, healthy spiciness to this bourbon, but it doesn’t overpower you. Once again, Jim Beam wants to throw some curveballs at you, so what have we found that you don’t expect to hear in a bourbon review: Blackberry, malted barley, and sugarcane. There is some slight rye to it as well. But hey, not too shabby for a cheap bourbon. We don’t have a lot to report on the finish, but it doesn’t disappoint either. It is a medium length finish, lingering slightly. There is wheat, barley, molasses, a large amount of oakiness, ginger, and vanilla involved in the finish. It isn’t complex, but it certainly is enjoyable. And on that bombshell, here’s what we roll this up to be. A less than powerful, but still wonderful expression of Beam, which wouldn’t be too bruised by going up to 46% abv. It is good, and we enjoy a healthy dram of it. We think you will too. 
Score: 8.0/10