Revisiting the past

So, most of my early forays into craft beer are due to my dad. He drinks interesting and odd beers, and he has usually been okay with me sipping them. One of the first of these I remember was at the grand opening of Victoria Gastro Pub, so it was years ago, maybe even before I went to college.

He had ordered this hilariously named beer, Arrogant Bastard. It sounded ridiculous and I had to try some. It went down like tile cleaner though, bitter and horrid. Ever since then I've always shied away from Stone's Arrogant Bastard. But I realized that it's been years, and I owed it another try. If just for the name, I had to try Arrogant Bastard again.

And much to my surprise, it was pretty damn delicious. The beer has a pretty prodigious head, which sticks around for a while. The bitterness is still a pretty major aftertaste, lingering for quite a while. But as the beer warms, the bitterness becomes less pronounced, and overall the taste isn't super bitter. Definitely hoppy, with some grapefruit and chocolate. This wasn't my favorite beer ever, but it was challenging, and interesting, and I feel like I conquered a pretty major part of my past.

I also had the good fortune to try Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot, an imperial brown ale. The name is absolutely fitting, as this beer comes on strong and stays powerful but delicious. It's nutty, with some caramel and chocolate, and a nice malt sweetness, but an undertone of hops that keeps this from being a sweet beer. A seriously tasty brown ale, this is a more powerful version of a typically tame beer. Definitely recommend a try for anyone who likes brown ales.

More Rogue Beer!

So, Rogue is a brewing company I've been interested in trying for a while. I've heard good things about them going all the way back to college, and they have a great rep in online beer review sites. Also, they have nifty names like "Daddy's Helper", "Dead Guy", and "Shakespeare Stout".

With this in mind, I gave their Hazelnut Brown Ale a try. It poured a nice even brown, out of a formidable bomber. It smelled like most brown ales I've had before, but with more clear notes of nutty flavor. The first sip was a wash of hazelnut, with a strong undertone of earthy flavors.

There was an odd sour flavor that I'm working on processing. It made me think of slightly sour fruits, but more pure. Maybe an acidic flavor? I'm not 100% sure, but it was tasty, and emerged more as the beer had a chance to warm and breathe.

Overall a very tasty beer. Not that extreme, but a very good iteration of a nut brown ale. I can't really see it working well with anything other than bread or crackers, but luckily it's very good by itself.

Recommended if you're a fan of nut brown ales, but nothing that made me sit back and go "wow".

I have a couple bottles of wine waiting to be tried and reviewed, but it'll have to wait til next time. Til then, Cheers!

-The Unabashed Ungourmet

update: a lot of other reviewers noted some chocolate tastes; I'm thinking the sour flavor may have been bitter chocolate. It confused me because I wasn't expecting chocolate in my brown ale :-P

More DuClaw goodness

So, as any of you residents know, Baltimore has just been a hellhole this past week. Overcast, with a constant frigid drizzle. It's just been a gross place to live.

To improve on this condition, I decided to have a beer at DuClaw, brighten my spirits a bit.

I started out with a pint of their seasonal Scotch Ale, Twisted Kilt. Now, Sam Adams Scotch Ale is far and away one of the better beers I've had, so I had pretty high expectations. Overall though, I found the taste of alcohol tended to override the other tastes. There were hints of a smoky flavor, and maybe some sort of woody or nutty flavor as well, but they weren't terribly well defined. There was also a sweetness to the beer that was somewhat unsettling. It wasn't a bad beer, but it definitely didn't live up to expectations.

I also tried their nut brown ale, Consecration. That was actually quite tasty, with a powerful flavor of chestnut, or something similar. Nicely enough, it was still refreshing without being heavy, but was richly flavored.

I should side note, I had a sampler of their Oktoberfest seasonal, Mad Bishop. Now, those tiny samplers are hardly enough to really judge a beer, but my impression was favorable. Like many other Oktoberfest beers, there was a rich taste of spices, along with a fairly crisp taste. I've always felt that a good Oktoberfest should remind me of a fall day, and this one certainly seemed to pass the test. I'm going to try it again next weekend, so more on it then, for sure.