Review 153: Short's Hopstache

Review 153

4/2/13

Short’s Hopstache: 6.0% abv

Background: For a second, let’s take a look at the history of Short’s Brewing Company. In Bellaire, Michigan, a brewer by the name of Joe Short purchased an empty hardware store. In the first year, there was only 178 barrels of production. In 2008, Short’s capacity increased to 8,000 to 10,000 barrels per annum. Here ends the history of Short’s Brewing Company. Short’s says they intend to stay small and focus on the Michigan area, producing quality mom and pop style beers. This is a pretty young brewery, but you can bet they have seen more popularity in the last few years.

Nose: The nose contains substantial notes of lemon, lime, and grapefruit, obviously. It has a tart, green apple note in it with a hoppy presence and a definitively floral and earthy, although it is well balanced in this manner. It also contains a little bit of a fresh grass smell to it. This is a pretty fresh nose which opens up the welcoming arms to spring, despite the fact that Michigan refuses to acknowledge this invitation. 

Arrival: Well there’s a lot of grapefruit here. There is slight apple note, and some interesting wheat grain there. There is a mild citrus in the arrival, but otherwise this is a pretty weak arrival. There is nothing really all that special about this arrival. There are also no mustaches.

Body: Besides having grapefruit, there is a small introduction of hops, but this becomes more prevalent in the finish. Otherwise, the body is also horribly anticlimactic, lacking any sort of event to it. We were sorely disappointed in the complexity, although the balance is satisfactory.

Finish: You guessed it: hops and grapefruit. There is a hint of grain in the finish as well, as you get a sense for a dry, bitter ending. Sweet lemon is also in here as well. It is a medium length finish, and the beer comes off very refreshing. It certainly comes off as a summer beer by any standards.

Final Comments: As we said before, this beer shouldn’t take you more than three big gulps to finish, as this is no Stone IPA. There are no mustaches to be found in this entire beer, and frankly, with the standard set by microbrewery IPAs, this does not match their intensity or complexity. We look for something more out of an IPA, and this should sit in a Pale Ale shelf.

Why you’d buy it: Because everybody else is.

Why you wouldn’t: You want to drink an IPA

Score: 7.0/10

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 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