Beer Reviews from brew day 6-6-09

Metolius - Golden Stone Amber

As far as ambers go I can think of about five others that I would rather drink. That doesn't mean it was bad. Well, not exactly. It definetly doesn't stand out in a crowd. But then again, what amber does? Well, I guess Amber Lee Ettinger does (She's the Obama Girl from the net). Sorry, got sidetracked. In all it’s a solid beer, mild malty flavor, little bit of a biscuit note and very subtle hop finish. I don’t know much anout Metolius Brewing but I must give them credit for the fly fishing oriented naming of their products. I'd even be half tempted to take a couple with me the next time I go out to toss out a line.


Georgetown - 9 Pound Porter

Georgetown Brewing Company is a Seattle based microbrewery. They are a "draft beer only" production brewery, which means that all they do is make beer and fill kegs. You won't find any bottles in your local store... at least not yet. If your local pub doesn't carry their brews I would encourage you to be a vocal consumer and request that they get off their tails and order the 9 Pound Porter. This was one of the best porters I've tried in a long time. I mean I dug it so much that it could replace one of my favorites (Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewing) the next time I'm out. The 9 Pound has a prolific porter profile, great roasted qualities, and so much chocolate malty goodness that it was hard to put it down. All told, it's hard to find a better porter anywhere.

Widmer - Drifter

HOLY SMOKES! I'm so proud of you Widmer Brothers! You have FINALLY created a beer that could possibly match the quality of your Hefeweizen. This is a great beer and produced a very pleasant response form all that tried it at our homebrew session. A drifter by definition is: "A wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support”. The Drifter wanders around your taste buds leaving subtle hints of citrus and when it departs down the back of you throat it leaves a wonderfully sweet hoppy finish encouraging you to take in another mouthful of this delicious pale ale. I would encourage you to support this drifter and it a give it a home in your fridge.


Red Chair IPA

Red Chair is brewed by Deschutes Brewing. Need I say more? It has a nice aroma of grapefruity/citrusy hops, a bunch of caramel malt, some bready notes and just a rather nice hop meets malt aroma. Flavors are floral, citrusy, piney-hops, caramel, light-toast and bready malts. There is a lot of malt flavor in this IPA. If one were to pour this beer into a glass you would think it was an amber, but the instant it hit the tongue you know that it is and IPA. This is a solid, solid, solid IPA and without hesitation I would say it is a go to brew, and if you're into it, drink the heck out of.


Stone - IPA

Stone Brewing is a gift to all that enjoy quality beer. Wihtout doubt, Stone IPA sets the standard for all other IPA’s, and won't be knocked off any time soon. However, for you newbies out there, this beer can be dangerous. At almost 8% alcohol by volume, it can really sneak up on you. It sure snuck up on me at our last home brewing event! After a couple of stone IPA’s I started to lose track of what the hell I was doing... not good when you're brewing for competition! Stone IPA provides tons of sweet, grapefruit citrus in the nose, a nice sweet, hoppy citrus flavor and a perfectly dry finish. Stone IPA stands apart from the crowd, and alone at the top of the IPA pyramid.



Alaskan - Summer Ale

Let's be blunt: This isn't a stand-out beer. It kind of left me questioning what a Summer Ale is exactly? I mean, Alaskan Summer Ale isn't really a pale ale. And it surely isn't an IPA. It kind of has a Kolsh/Lager flavor, but even that's a stretch. I'm just not sure. Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit "Here comes Pat?" You know, the one where they can't tell if Pat's a man or woman? I can honestly say that this is Pat's beer. It lacked strong flavor, lacked finish and I think lacks identity. I suppose I will have to try it again in an attempt to gain further insight into this mysterious beer... which might just be Alaska's sly trick to get me to drink it!