Beer #8 - Ommegang Gnomegang

1/9/12 - Ommegang Gnomegang

This brew is a Belgian Blonde. Again, shared a portion of this beer with my roommate; it was 9.5% and between Stoic and Gnomegang, the beers caught me by surprise.

This one was nice, it was an easy drinking beer from a 9.5% beer. I like the malt flavors, the yeasts were mild but there in the finished product. The aroma was quite boring. Worth trying if you're looking for a good Belgian Blonde, and you can't find Russian Rivers Damnation.

Beer #7 - Deschutes The Stoic

1/9/2012- Deschutes The Stoic
Shared this 11% monster of a beer with my roommate Jon Gee. Neither of us have ever experience a beer with an aroma like this beer. It was wonderful, it smelled like Lavender, Rose Water, tobacco, all kinds of crazy, but it all worked so well.

The taste was like non-aromatic pipe tobacco. Lots of "smokey" flavors that probably came through the Rye Whiskey barrels that it hung out in for a portion of it's life. Also lots of fruity flavors from the Red wine barrels that held it as well. Really great beer, Looking forward to seeing what the other two I have turn out like in a few years.

Year in Beer - v6

1/7/2012 - Left Coast Voodoo American Stout
My friend Trevor Carpenter fell in love with this beer this week. My friends Paul and Manette picked me up a bottle so I could give it a try. I opened it up last night.

Initial aromas and tastes were are a little chemically. Which isn't a good thing. I am pretty sure this taste was from the hops, and both the aroma and flavor mellowed after the first sip. I do like this stout, if you can make it past that weird initial flavor, then it starts to be just a nice bitter, well hopped stout with a great chocolate malt backbone. Not the most legendary beer I've ever had but definitely worth trying. I will probably buy this when I am looking for a nice easy going, strong stout with a little hop to it. The 8.5% caught me off guard and hit me pretty quick.

Year in Beer - v5

1/6/2012 - Duvel (Ommegang) Hennepin Saison
This is a great example of the Saison style. If you're looking to get into something new, this would be a good place to start. It has the barnyard funk that Saison tends to have but is so grassy that it is off putting. I liked how smooth the back of the pallet was, and that the funk was mostly at the front end of the beer.
Again a great entry saison, tastes how it should tastes, smells as it should smell; grassy, earthy, funky, but very enjoyable despite those aroma descriptors.

Year in Beer - v4

1/4/2012 - Dogfish Head Robert Johnson's Hell Hound
Kevin found this beer down in Fullerton at Total Wine. We had it prior to Trios Poules Francias and found that, at the end of the night we wished we had another of these rather than the Trios. This was an odd realization as we both love sours.
This was a double IPA brewed with lemon. The lemon was very subtle but was strong enough that it was noticeable in the flavor of the beer. Final ABV was 10%, and the alcohol was there in the taste but not over powering the delicious malts and hops. I wish we had bought a couple of these, as this was one of the best beers I've had this year.

If anyone finds more of it, please let me know...

Year in Beer - v3

1/4/2012 - The Bruery Trios Poules Francias - 2011
The Bruery makes some very interesting and complex beers, and they tend to be creative with how they name things as well. This is their "Three French Hens", which was originally brewed as part of the twelve year project, the "twelve beers of Christmas". Each year they brew the original beer and then barrel age a portion of it as well for release the following year.
So when they were selling it the week leading up to Christmas, I sent my friend Kevin to get a few bottles for us to age and try. We finally were able to get together and taste the beer together, this week.
The beer was barrel aged in wine barrels and with Central Coast Syrah grapes. This made for a lovely sour beer. It had a very nice malt backbone but the sour was quite strong. I didn't get a lot of wine flavor as the sour was so strong. Some alcohol came through, so I am thrilled to see what it is like after a couple years of aging.

Year in Beer - v2

1/2/2012 - Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA
This lovely new Rye based IPA from one of my favorite California breweries is wonderful. As far as I have heard this will be replacing Glissade as their very early "spring" beer and as much as Aaron Carlberg will be disappointed by this, I am ecstatic.
I really enjoy Rye in beer; it adds an earthy aroma and flavor. At the end of the day just smooths out the malts and gives most beers made with it a very nice mouth feel.
In Sierra Nevada form, the beer comes forth with a brilliant fresh earth and flower aroma from the hops, and makes you excited to be having an IPA. It is a nice almost red color and and is gorgeous in the glass.
The taste was very dry due to the hops but still had that smooth mouth feel in the finish. I thought the balance between earthy malts, dryness from the hop bitterness, and smoothness made this a great new beer that I get to look forward to every year. Oh and the artwork is badass.