Review 136: Stone Ruination IPA

Review 136

1/24/13

Stone Ruination: 7.7% abv

Background: Stone Brewing Company was founded in 1996. They are found in Escondido, California and as of 2010 they are 14^th largest craft brewery in the U.S. What is Stone’s house style? Bitter. They are the classic west-coast style brewery, which means they high hop content. Stone Ruination IPA is known for its high bitterness content, which we think is not a benchmark to strive for, but we’ll see if it pays off for this brew. Otherwise, there isn’t a lot to say about this. This is a mainstay beer, so you can find it at any time. Let’s get into it.

Nose: Pineapple, grapefruit, earthy, floral, citrus, pear, lemon, clementine, , crisp, fresh, more characteristic of a P.A, vanilla, kiwi, green grape

Arrival: Pretty much nothing, water, bland, tonic water, air

Body: Grapefruit, lemon, pear

Finish: Pine, juniper, boozey, gin, lingers, hops, dry, earthy

Final Comments: So it might appear to you that there is a lack of tasting notes on this one. That is because there is a lack of taste. I can try to be nice about this, but it’ll be pretty hard to say anything redeeming. This lacks flavor and content, and I understand the chase for bitterness that the IPA-drinkers have, but Stone has proven in the past that you can accomplish this without losing all sense of flavor. This shouldn’t be bottled and shouldn’t be produced. Sorry, but there is nothing about this that we like. The nose was good, but that wasn’t even a good thing because it only got your hopes up before disappointing you like a bad sequel.  

Why you’d buy it: You like hurting yourself

Why you wouldn’t: You don’t fall into the Darwinism category

Score: 3.5/10

Review 135: Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Review 135

1/21/13

Buffalo Trace Bourbon: 45% abv

Background: Buffalo Trace is the standard offering presented by the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. This distillery has been known by several different names, most notably the George T. Stagg distillery, which is another bourbon to look out for. The distillery will tell you it was located at an ancient buffalo crossing, which is cool…I guess. Buffalo Trace distillery makes quite a number of spirits, not limited to bourbon or even rye, but including vodka. These include Ancient Age, Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Thomas H. Handy, Weller, Sazerac, and Rain vodka. Today, we focus on Buffalo Trace bourbon though. This particular bourbon, their namesake, uses their mash bill #1. It is one of two mash bills, and it can be considered their more “bourbon-esque” bill. With how many different whiskies they make, it may seem impossible for them to ONLY have two bills for all of them, but don’t forget how many dimensions there are to making a whiskey. The yeast can be a huge part of the flavor content. Let’s actually take a look at the taste profile now.

Nose: Oak, honey, sweet fruits, fudge, caramel, molasses, vanilla, cocoa powder, slightly floral, cabernet, sugar, brandy

            A/W: Harsher nose, harsh hot grain notes, a little more spice

Arrival: Honey, molasses, starts cool, dry spice, wheat, vanilla, caramel

            A/W: Maple, spicy

Body: Medium mouthfeel, wheat, custard, rum-like, molasses, dry

            A/W: Maple, cinnamon, ginger

Finish: Coca, touch of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cream, custard, vanilla, wheat, yeast, dry, medium long

A/W: Ginger, cinnamon, mint, more balanced, much more enjoyable

Final Comments: You might call this a dessert bourbon, with its sweet smooth character. It is 45% and we love how the complexity just keeps on coming after a little bit of water. Initially, its mellow nature made it seem like water was an unnecessary addition, but just a little bit can help bring out even more. The docile nature of this bourbon doesn’t take away from the uniqueness, or complexity, and we appreciate that. This isn’t the most spicy bourbon you’ll have come across, but that isn’t a bad thing. This is a good one by any standards, and when you find out how much it costs, it might make you drool.

Why you’d buy it: You want a nice, sweet bourbon with good complexity and a gentle presence.

Why you wouldn’t: You want your bourbon to put hair on your chest.

Score: 9.5/10

Review 134: Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza

Review 134

1/18/13

Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza: 8% abv

Background: Jolly Pumpkin is a brewery which as several locations in Michigan, including Traverse City, Ann Arbor, and Dexter. Jolly Pumpkin is known for their “sour” beers, which might sound odd to you if you’re new to the beer world. Otherwise, you’re familiar with this. We have reviewed a few sour beers with little favorability, so this golden ale should be an interesting test for us.

Nose: Complex, lemon, honey, apple, fruit, tart, cantaloupe, wheat, blackberry tart, vanilla bean, parsley, greens, pink grapefruit, slight rosemary, strawberry, light green grapes.

Arrival: Tart, sour, tangy, sour apple, apple (honey crisp), bitterness, buttery, lime

Body: Grapefruit, sour, honey, lemon, crisp, vanilla, golden wheat, peach, pear

Finish: Caramel, grape skin (green), golden wheat, bitter, grapefruit, blackberries (un-ripened), pear, peach, lemon-lime, medium-short finish

Final Comments: We found this beer to have an inviting, complex nose that was well balanced, tart, bitter, and sour. It could be described as unique and inviting. This is a moderately complex beer, but it really shines in its uniqueness. This is a great introduction into beers for non-beer drinkers, and this is probably our most favored sour beer we’ve tried thus far.

Why you’d buy it: You are interested in tart, fruity flavors, or just want to try something out of the ordinary

Why you wouldn’t: You tried one to many of those warhead candies when you were younger and now you have post-sour-trauma.

Score: 9.0/10

Review 133: Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Review 133

1/14/13

Rogue Dead Guy Ale: 6.5% abv

Background: Rogue is a brewery in Oregon. The bottle will tell you “It Glows!”. They’re talking about the bottle with this one, so don’t think you’re drinking something radioactive. Yes, we did in fact check to see if the beer glowed in the dark, and no, we aren’t the most gullible people in the world. This is obviously an ale, with a sort of orange-ish color.

Nose: Malt, orange citrus, wheat, honey, pineapple, hops, dry old wood

Arrival: Barley, wheat, light fruit, crisp fruit, citrus

Body: Barley, wheat, smidge of honey, crisp fruit

Finish: Barley, wheat, dry light hops, pine, slight lemon, citrus

Final Comments: You might be able to tell by the list of these notes that there is not a whole lot to this beer. That is absolutely true. That does not make this a terrible beer. It is actually a pleasant beer to drink, and has a refreshing summer taste to it. Therefore, it could be that drink you sit on your back porch and sip on when you want a beer like an Oberon, but perhaps less hoppy and pretty dominantly grainy. This won’t appease the IPA lovers out there and it certainly won’t keep you in your seat thinking, but you could very well enjoy this as a pool-side brew.

Why you’d buy it: You’ve graduated from drinking Bud Lite

Why you wouldn’t: You enjoy beer that makes you think

Score: 7.5/10

Review 132: Knob Creek Small Batch

Review 132

1/13/13

Knob Creek Small Batch: 50% abv

Background: Knob Creek Small Batch bourbon is part of Jim Beam’s Small Batch series (there is a connection there somewhere). It is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky. This particular bourbon is a nine year old bourbon, so it is quite a bit older than some of your standard bourbons, which sit at four years. It is also the oldest of the Small Batch series, outpacing Booker’s, Basil Hayden, and Baker’s. If you go on Knob Creek’s website, you’ll find out there is an obnoxiously hard to read story on there about why Knob Creek is what it is, but we’ll omit that. There is also a Knob Creek Single Barrel and a Knob Creek Rye now being produced.

Nose: Burns, strong, alcohol type nose, very hot, oak, vanilla, wheat, spice, light rye, some honey, sweetness

            A/W: Much more sweetness, sugar, sweet caramel

Arrival: Hot, spicy, cinnamon, dry, grainy, spicy, plenty of oak character

            A/W: Almonds, sugar

Body: Still hot and spicy, lots of grain

            A/W: Almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread, oak, maple

Finish: Again, hot and spicy, dry, wheat, nutmeg, Big Red cinnamon flavor, peppermint, nut oils

            A/W: Barley, sugar, gingerbread

Final Comments: This is obviously a hot and spicy bourbon, with tons of intensity to it. We have plenty of experience drinking spirits above 50%, and Booker’s is a great example of how that can be done right. If you look at Knob Creek, it is a little different. The heat here is overdone, and doesn’t balance well with the flavor content. Not to mention the fact that the water is necessary to make this one speak out a little. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could be a little better.

Why you’d buy it: You want an intense, slightly older than average bourbon with some nutty qualities to it, but aren’t particularly concerned about getting the most complex spirit.

Why you wouldn’t: Maker’s 46 exists

Score: 8.25/10

Review 131: Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Review 131

1/11/13

Dogfish Head Immort Ale: 11% abv

Background: This is an unique ale from Dogfish Head, those craft brewers from out of state that do a great job of making some awesome brews. This particular ale is brewed with maple from Red Brook Farm in Massachusetts, peat-smoked barley, juniper berries, vanilla, and English and Belgian yeasts. Obviously, this is a long list of “customizations” that Dogfish Head has applied to this particular beer, so we absolutely couldn’t pass it up. Plus, we love us some peated whisky, and there is simply not enough use of peat-smoked barley in alcoholic beverages. We wanted to see how this guy fared.

Nose: Brown sugar, malt, sweet melon, tart apple, slight anise, vanilla, soy beans, juniper berries, yeast, soft berry notes (blueberry/raspberry), pear (Reminiscent of Dragonmead Final Absolution)

Arrival: Creamy, yeast, molasses, caramel, cocoa, sweetness, Rock N’ Rye soda, sweet berries, big arrival

Body: Sweet, light tartness, yeast, almonds, slightly nutty, apple, anise, Rock N’ Rye, tangy citrus, maple

Finish: Vanilla, creamy, grain, barley, slight meatiness, subtle peat, more smokey, yeast, cocoa, medium w/lasting after taste, spicy smoke, fruit, mixed berries, grapefruit (light), slight woodiness

Final Comments: This is a greatly complex beer, and hits a ton of points of interest. Every single element of it screams for you to take a closer look, and we’re sure you could spend several nights trying to figure this one out. The nose is inviting, and the yeasty trippel-style ale character in the initial impression certainly doesn’t hurt the beers presentation. The beer is a high alcohol content beer, and you’ll want to sip this one, but it is relatively easy to drink.  

Why you’d buy it: You want to drink an engaging ale, you want to encourage good craft brewing, and it is pretty damn amazing.

Why you wouldn’t: You are still stuck on how drunk you can get on Miller High Life, or you’re still drunk on Miller High Life

Score: 9.5/10

Review 130: Basil Hayden's 8 Yr Bourbon

Review 130

1/10/13

Basil Hayden’s: 40% abv

Background: Basil Hayden’s is one of the four bourbons in the Jim Beam Small Batch family, and sits at 8 years old. This one is known as the lightest of the four bourbons, as is indicated by the proof of the whiskey, being at a modest 80 proof (40%). The Basil Hayden’s bourbon is named from Basil Hayden, Sr. who was a Maryland Catholic who led 25 Catholic families into Kentucky. Turns out, Hayden was also a distiller (who would have thunk?) who used a large amount of rye in his batches. His grandson Raymond Hayden founded a distillery known as Old Grand-Dad, which we still see bottling bourbon today. Here’s the deal: this bourbon is made by Jim Beam. All this history just tells you where it came from. Let’s see what it turns out to be like. 

Nose: Oak, corn, subtle rye, wheat, honey, cinnamon sugar, mint, allspice

A/W: More Floral

Arrival: Light honey, oak, caramel, vanilla, sweet, thin

A/W: Same

Body: Sweet, light, honey, mint, ginger, corn, caramel

A/W: Big oak, sweet, lightly floral

Finish: Herbal, mint, cherry sweetness, wheat, hot cinnamon, rye, oak, vanilla, dry, medium length

A/W: Same

Final Comments: Basil Hayden’s is clearly not the most complex bourbon on the market, and you pay quite a penny for it. It starts to beg the question, then, if it is worth the money. The positive part is that it has a good balance of flavors, it is a sweet bourbon, and it is certainly a quality whiskey. The bad news is that it is expensive and it isn’t an engaging whiskey. 

Why you’d buy it: It’s a smooth alternative to regular bourbon and you like having a nice social status.

Why you wouldn’t: You want to pay less for more, and Buffalo Trace exists.

Score: 7.5/10

Review 129: Woodford Reserve Doubled Oaked

Review 129

1/7/13

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked: 45.2% abv

Background: Woodford Reserve is a distillery we’ve discussed before, so there isn’t much sense in rehashing information. The idea behind this particular bottling is that a batch of bourbon is put into a fresh oak cask (remember, no bourbon can be aged in refill casks), and ages for a number of year (since this is deemed “straight” bourbon, we known it is at least 4 years), and then is thrown into a second bourbon cask which is toasted, for extra maturing. This exposes the bourbon to all new American oak with which to interact. We’re foreshadowing...

Nose: Cherry, wood intensity, oak, hot, alcohol (pure alcohol, rubbing alcohol, light nail polish), burnt sugar, molasses, honey, wheat, subtle leather, cinnamon, grain (corn, rye), grapes, rum sweetness. 

A/W: More Floral, balanced

Body: Spice, oak, cherry, ginger, cinnamon, cumin

A/W: Caramel, more dominance from cherry

Finish: Oak, cherry, wheat, cinnamon, gingerbread, spice, caramel, molasses, pepper, ginger, rye, cumin

A/W: Lingering cherry, hot

Final Comments: Woodford Reserve presents a more premium offering to their original Distiller’s Select, which we were particular to. The end result isn’t what you’d necessarily expect though. There is a lack of brilliance to this, and a horrible lack of balance which screams the oak is over-dominant. The trick with bourbon is that the fresh casks are such powerful flavor-enhancers, that adding a second one certainly changes the impact of the oak on the overall balance of the whiskey. This isn’t a bad whiskey, but we think they took a large step backwards. We also enjoy making the occasional crack at marketers. Woodford comments “How do you make the best bourbon in the world better?” (I’m paraphrasing), and we would respond “Not like that”

Score: 7.75/10

Review 128: John Henry West Indies Pale Ale

Review 128

1/6/13

John Henry West Indies Pale Ale: 9.4% abv

Here’s a look at a unique pale ale made by a brewery in Minnesota. To be honest, we can’t tell you a whole lot about them, but we can tell you they’re out there. We can also give you a guess on whether or not you should buy a bottle. I don’t believe to any degree that one should ever stop looking for a new, better craft brew or spirit or wine to try. The adventure on its own is an extremely rewarding experience. 

So why did we pick this one? There is a simple reason: this particular pale ale was aged in dark rum oak spirals. They also have a beer aged with bourbon, and one with brandy. There is debate about whether oak spirals or oak casks impart better flavor, but we don’t think that those anorak discussions are worth spending time on when exploring. There is not a large amount of experimentation done with rum-aged beers, and especially dark rum as far as we can tell. Bourbon tends to dominate in these parts. Innis and Gunn does it with great success, so can this company pull it off too? 

Let’s start with the nose and find out. The aroma is dark, but maybe not overly-potent. There is a unique mixture of flavors, but it starts with light roasted malt, oak, molasses, caramel, gentle hops, light coffee and chocolate in dark flavors. There is another aspect in fruit smells, including pear, black berries, strawberry, and pineapple. The nose is a very satisfactory start to the beer. From here, the taste becomes a little different. 

The arrival is empty in mouth-feel, but has some contributing flavors of spice, sweetness, slight tartiness and some citrus. One can experience aggressive molasses which can only be assumed to be from the dark rum, toffee, and orange peel. This isn’t a complex arrival, but does introduce the beer adequately. Now that the red carpet has been rolled forth, the taste comes out. The body is sugary, with the same molasses character as the arrival. There is the addition of caramel, orange-like citrus, toffee, and some raisons. The body does a good job of building off of the arrival without overdoing it. 

The finish is going to have the same effect though. Molasses. You might notice a common note here, and we’ll comment on that soon. The finish contains grainy notes including barley, wheat, and yeast, but is complemented by vanilla, toffee, raisons, hops, and even a distinct soda water taste. The finish is medium short, so it doesn’t stick around too much. 

The end of this tune is that there is a definite presence of dark rum, which is both good and bad. We think that it over-dominates the taste profile, and does not leave room for complexity. This shouldn’t be a surprise, but we’d like to see a little less rum balance. This company could learn from the whisky industry and mix this rum-casked beer with some 2nd or 3rd fill cask beer, or some fresh beer to balance the flavors. This is a decent beer, and we’d like to see more experimentation with these non-traditional aging spirits. 

Score: 7.75/10