Title: Cheese & Beer Author: Janet Fletcher She teaches cheese appreciation classes around the country. She has also written 25 books on food, wine, and beer. Janet is also the San Francisco Chronicle’s weekly cheese columnist. This woman is a gold star authority on the issue at hand. Review Those …
Ted Sobel stands behind the bar. All of his ales are served from six hand pumps; there are no kegs and no CO2 hoses. Rather, Ted’s ales are conditioned in firkins—which look like kegs, but sound cooler and hold 40 liters, or 72 imperial pints, of cask ale. Hand pumps, …
With the much anticipated HBO series returning to our screens in just mere weeks, the world is once again getting excited to dragons, death, sex scenes and the occasional, what are we kidding, highly frequent, nudity. Ommegang did what any kind-hearted brewery would do and decided to come up with …
Oxbow Brewing Co. Farmhouse Pale Ale Newcastle, Maine 6% 92 points. A perfect beer after a round of golf or frisbee. Oxbow’s spin on this style is easy drinking and flavorful. Bright hoppiness, slight clove, some banana, and cotton candy combine to attract both beer geek and neophyte.
Brouwerij De Ranke XX Bitter IPA. Belgian 6.0% 93 points. Sun in a glass, smile on your face. Bitter lemon meets spicy butterscotch. An IPA drinker’s Belgian ale with enough complexity to satisfy the “Belgianista.”
Stillwater Ales Sensory Series V.2 Black Saison Ale Baltimore, Maryland. 5% 90 points. A sheep in wolf’s clothing, the opaque hue surprises the taste buds with delicate chocolate and rye bread. Has the lightness of a much paler ale with a tongue-drying finish. An easy drinking dark session brew.
Stillwater Ales Debauched Farmhouse Ale. Baltimore, Maryland 6.7% 93 points. Debauched: Indulging in or characterized by sensual pleasures to a degree perceived to be morally harmful. Who would have thought this could be applied to beer? Decadent in complexity, with lemon, candy sweetness, smoke, and some funk.
The Alchemist Heady Topper Double IPA 98 points. It’s not often that you are instructed to drink beer from a can—I mean this literally: this can is adorned with a request to not pour the nectar into a glass if possible, and to simply enjoy it from the metal vessel itself. …
Boulevard Brewing Co. Smokestack Series Saison-Brett 2014 96 points. Ambrosial and earthy: mushroom aromas dance with lemon, crab apple, and hard apricot. On the palate, this is crisp and perfectly tart, with a finish that speaks again of mushrooms, damp forest, a bit of barnyard, and a lovely sense of yeastiness, …
Brooklyn Brewery Wild Streak Ale. Brooklyn, NY 10% 91 points. A breath of springtime makes you want to get outside and a little crazy. This Belgian-inspired ale taps into its wild streak with all kinds of ingredients and techniques providing the drinker with everything from oatmeal to orange, cardamom to caramel.
Fuller, Smith, and Turner ESB Extra Special Bitter. London England 5.5% 90 Points. One of my favorite Throwback Thursday quaffs. Someone must have used a scale to measure the perfect mix of bitterness and nutty malt. This seems to be an ancestor to American craft brew.
Mikkeller American Style/Prairie IPA Copenhagen, Denmark 7.5% 93 Pts. Think big and bold. Like the wild west. Dungarees and flannel shirts. Grapefruit, pine, and malt balls with a hint of funk. This Danish brewer’s take on an American IPA is spot on with a Belgian-y twist.