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

Review 92: Round Barn Oak-Aged IPA

Review 92

8/24/12

Round Barn Oak-Aged IPA: 6.75% abv

Round Barn. It’s another Michigan brewery. Interestingly, though, it is also a distillery. As we focus more on liquors, and not just beers, we might look to local distilleries to provide their take on classic spirits like rum, whiskey and tequila. For now though, let’s see if Round Barn, one of the smaller Breweries on Michigan’s map, has what it takes in such a cut-throat world of Michigan Brewery excellence. Located in Southwest Michigan (Baroda), edging towards Indiana, Round Barn offers several different brews, and today we wanted to see what they could do with some oak. I can’t tell you much on Round Barn’s process, or the oak they use, but KCM will tell you everything you need to know about the beer itself. 

We were encouraged by the alcohol content, but as a precursor, don’t be encouraged by the alcohol content. But let’s start with the nose. The nose contains fruity notes, and not much else, of pineapple, lemon, pear, and a light white grape scent. Not going to waste your time explaining that this wasn’t an encouraging or complex smell. It just wasn’t. 

The taste doesn’t do much different. It can be described as watery, to say the least, but also includes pine, pear in the arrival, lemon and a slight earthy woody feel. This disappoints, but let’s not sell them short...or let’s. The finish is medium short, and no, we’re not rusty. There is just about only bitterness to it. Maybe grapefruit, maybe pine, but all brought together to show off some bitterness. In some ways it’s bad, in other ways, it’s not good. This went down in history as our shortest review ever. And for good reason. I wouldn’t personally suggest buying it, unless you’re into supporting small Michigan Breweries. 

Score: 5.0/10

Review 91: Jim Beam White Label

Review 91
8/22/12
Jim Beam White Label: 40% abv

Alright, in a new series of liquors, we will be reviewing bourbons to build up a cache of reviews, to give you an idea of what’s out there. And what is the quintessential bourbon? It’s on the top of the review, you idiots. There is no bigger name in the world of bourbon than Jim Beam. So let’s talk about what makes bourbon...well...bourbon! Jim Beam, found in Clermont, Kentucky is one of several Kentucky distilleries to produce legendary whiskey. So for all of you Michigan folks, you might not realize how close you are to a hub of real history. Bourbons don’t have to be made in Kentucky to be considered bourbons, like Scotch’s do in Scotland, but there are other strict regulations on bourbon. Several of these include being made up of 51% corn, being aged in never-before-used white oak casks, normally Hogshead or ASBs, and being TOTALLY AWESOME. Jim Beam does go back a while, but we want to focus on what it is right now, and what it should be. Jim Beam creates a range of products, many of which you might be familiar with, including their double aged, their 5 year, Red Stag’s line, and their Rye whiskey, along with their small batch whiskey’s and many others. Today’s attention goes to the one you’ve probably had the most of, if you’ve had Jim Beam: the White Label standard. The most affordable, eclectic of all the Jim Beam’s. So a practical review for the practical bourbon drinker? Is it only good in a mint julep, or on the rocks, or can it be drank straight, as a grade-A sipping drink.

On the nose, KCM found the standard, classic bourbon smell, with sweet notes of honey, caramel, corn, wheat molasses, cherry and a decent oak note. This surprised us, considering its young age of 4 years. The nose is not terribly complex, but does provide standard sweetness and burn you’d expect from this spirit.

The arrival will lend itself to oak and molasses notes, leading into stronger oak on the body, with honey, cinnamon, wheat and caramel. We were honestly not very impressed by the lack of complexity to the flavor, but it lent itself to strong flavor, nonetheless. The finish is spicy, with cinnamon and ginger to it, and some cereal notes of rye. The sweetness isn’t gone, keeping the honey, but adding some cherry as well. Unfortunately, when you get different notetakers, you also get different notes. Some of the other things we concluded about Jim Beam was that one of our reviewers thought that the spirit was called Jim BEAN, and that this same reviewer smelt some stenographer(????) on the nose. Also, the reviewer in question thought that easy listening might include Rage Against the Machine. So there you have it, some unrelated notes to Jim Beam that completely add nothing to this review! And what do we score it? Well, for the price, it isn’t at all a bad spirit, with good quality and pleasant flavors, but it certainly lacks the complexity and uniqueness that we expect out of top-tier whiskies. So it get’s to be somewhat of a middle man. 
Score: 7.5/10

Review 90: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Review 90

8/15/12

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum: 10.4% abv

Sierra Nevada. What do you know about Sierra Nevada? Well if you know anything about them, they’re pretty big. Like Sam Adams big. Not quite that big, but certainly big, all the same, they’re big. So what kind of beers they produce? A large variety of them, friends. One of those varieties is a double IPA, which is probably not as common as some of their more universal versions. Redundancy at its best. So what does Hoptimum have to offer, besides alcohol percent? Isn’t that enough? No. You need to spend your dollars well, friends. And here’s what we think of it: 

On the nose, you will find very fruity notes, with light bitterness to it. The fruity flavors include grapefruit, melon, citrus, lemon, pineapple, and light tart apple. There is caramel as well, followed by some pine and floral notes. The taste follows with consistency. There is honey and caramel on the arrival, along with apple, brown sugar and raisons. There is no doubt that there are some unique flavors in this beer, as it leads into the full flavor. 

The body provides a little more bitterness, with pine resin, grapefruit, and I seem to have written bitterness in here like five more times...this beer is bitter. I guess. Alright. So moving on. The finish is bitter...again...with some grain character, grapefruit, more bitterness, pineapple, floral notes, earthiness, and a dry aftertaste. This beer is syrupy in texture and full-bodied, but it is certainly unbalanced, and we weren’t necessary impressed. 

Score: 7.5/10

Review 89: Glenfiddich 21 Yr

Review 89

7/15/12

Glenfiddich 21: 40% abv

Well, here’s the conclusion, about a month later. You must understand, I’ve been very busy, as my car has exploded on me and I spent most of last week acquiring a new car. Glenfiddich doesn’t care about that though. What they care about is a redemption after their 18 year flop. And they’ll get that. Not to give any spoilers, but this is much better than last time. The 21 takes a completely different approach, using Caribbean rum casks instead of sherry and bourbon casks, which is good. That mixes up their lineup a little more. Not that you’ll ever buy this, because it’ll cost you too much just to finance this bottle. 

Okay, so onto the bottling itself. Obviously, at 21 years old, this is an old whiskey, but maybe not as old as you’d think. Some experts say that these spirits reach maturity at 25 years of age. What do we think about this particular one? Well let’s talk about it. You’ll not be able to tell, but there was some slight sediment in the bottle when we were drinking it. That might suggest they didn’t over filter it, but that’s just a guess. 

The nose is defined and easy, containing the standard malt flavors, malt, caramel, etc. But more importantly, there is a slight graininess of wheat, coupled with some hints of hay and oak. There are many fruity notes, including over-ripe apple, slight pear, light lemon, ripe banana, and maraschino cherries. There is hints of toffee, pine scent, and after water, even some fresh mint. We were pleasantly intrigued by the complexities of the nose, although it didn’t have the full-bodied nose that we come to love. 

Continuing on with the taste, we found a prominent syrupy texture and taste, which was unique to the Glenfiddich line. Once again, probably thanks to that rum-like background, we see ourselves visiting fruity flavors. Aforementioned flavors include cherry in the body, green apples, and lemon. The maltiness is still there, but the spicy notes come out more, including ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. There are more unique flavors, with some sweet honey smoothing out this whiskey. After water, you might even find something resembling the taste of cookie dough. Like I said, this is unique, and not in a bad way. 

The finish won’t disappoint, sticking with the common themes mentioned before, but pulling out some molasses, hay, tobacco, agave, blackberry, powdered sugar, slight briny salt, and parsley. So this particular whiskey wins points on uniqueness. Water will also pull out the rum like flavors from the whiskey, and even at 40%, it takes water alright. Not really what I’d say worth the buy, but it certainly does alright, and proves to be complex and well rounded. 

Score: 9.0/10