Black Forest Porter

 

In its own way, Black Forest Porter represents what I think is a very positive aspect of craft brewing. Craft breweries approach traditional beer styles with a lot of creativity and innovation. Medicine Hat decided to combine two of their beers to create something new: a porter with flavors of chocolate and cherry. In my days as a home brewer, I often thought of doing something similar in the hopes of making a beer that had the characteristics of a black forest cake.

When I saw this beer on the shelves I had a picture in my head of what this beer might taste like. I pictured the flavors of chocolate and roasted coffee present in my favorite porters. I thought about flavors of black cherry, such a natural compliment for those flavors of chocolate. Since I had a passing familiarity with Medicine Hat Brewing, I thought I ought to give this beer a chance. Black Forest Porter is thick, and black as pitch. The head is packed, cream colored, and lasting.

As expected, Black Forest has gentle maltiness up front combined with aromas of not over-sweet chocolate cake. Chocolate cake is supported by a thin layer of black cherry, giving this porter its obligatory aroma of black forest cake. Hints of earthiness in the center carry the aromas through to a finish where I note aromas of roasted coffee. A little bit of leafy hop in the finish before it fades into the background.

Taking a sip, Black Forest Porter is smooth, full bodied, and offers an up front milk chocolate sweetness. Chocolate sweetness is followed by a too brief shot of black cherry before moving into a roasted center. The roasted flavor is more roasted grain than the roasted coffee I was expecting. The finish is short, dry, and fades quickly into the background.

I'm giving Black Forest Porter 6.5 out of 10. It smells good, and it tastes alright as porters go. My main issue with this porter is it doesn't have enough of either the porter character I was looking for, or the black forest cake I was hoping for, either. To my tongue, it tastes as though they wanted to make a "safe" version of what should have been an innovative take on a style of beer.

Wishful Drinking Wheat Ale

  When I open a beer to take my tasting notes, it's important to know exactly what style of beer I have in front of me. It's not enough to know I'm looking at a wheat beer, for example. I need to know if I'm looking at a German style hefeweizen, or am I looking at an American wheat beer? It's important for me to know the difference because the two different beers will have different flavor and aroma profiles and it's helpful for me to know by which set of standards I should be judging a beer.

Traditional European wheat beer is brewed with at least 50% malted wheat and is fermented with a type of yeast that give the beer specific flavor profiles. Most wheat beers of this type will have aromas of banana and clove, sometimes with underlying hints of bubblegum. The combination of wheat and the right strain of yeast can give hefeweizen a gentle, doughy character as well. Hopefully, this combines to give a beer that is light, fruity, and refreshing.

Wishful Drinking pours into my glass hazy, and an amber color reminiscent of ripe hay. Streams of pinpoint CO2 support a cloudy, off white head, with good retention.

Taking a sniff, the aromas of bubblegum and clove make their presence known first. Aromas of yeast and raw dough come in second, lending their support. Somewhere in that yeast and bread dough center, I’m picking up just a little bit of fruit ester. Closer examination shows me banana and just a drop of what might be lemon. Just the faintest trace of leafy hops brings up the rear before fading quickly into the distance.

As I take my first taste, I notice up front flavors of clove and some fruit tartness. Fruit tartness tastes more like navel oranges combined with a banana chaser. Wishful Drinking tastes of wheat in the form of fresh baked bread. Unfortunately, fruit tartness tends to dominate its flavors. Brief flavors of hops come out in the finish before fading away into nothing.

As hefeweizens go, this entry rates 5.5 out of 10. Wishful Drinking has most of the flavors and aromas you would expect from this style of beer. Unfortunately, they don’t come together in a harmonious fashion. The aromas strike the right notes, but not in a way that entices me to drink deep. And the flavors are just a little too dominated by flavors of fruit, when the yeast and wheat should be the stars of the show, in my opinion.

New England Style Pale Ale

  Well, it’s official. The new England style IPA is an official beer style, just ask the Beer Advocate website and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP for short). Like it or not, the innovative nature of the craft beer industry has a history of creating new styles of beer in need of definition. What sets this style of beer apart from the “regular” IPA? For one thing, the NEIPA is unfiltered, and sold hazy. Haziness comes from a combination of dry hopping, the use of high protein grains, and a whole list of other factors.

According to the BJCP, one factor to define the NEIPA is an aggressive hop presence. That hop presence will have a more pronounced juiciness to it, than the American IPA. The intensity of hop flavors may depend on the beer’s malt presence, creating a beer with a low, moderate, or high hop profile. New England Style Pale Ale is very clear, and a rich amber in color. The beer fills my glass slightly darker than the color of ripe hay. The head is rocky, bone white, and fairly lasting.

NESPA’s aroma is very hop forward. The hop aroma is kind of citrusy, with a mix of grapefruit pith for good measure. Bready, biscuit malts lend their support, giving the citrus notes from the hops something to play off of. Beneath all this, comes a flinty, mineral quality which only helps to lend more support to the aromas of malt and hops. Citrus and bready notes combine with minerals to move into a finish that is a greener sort of hop profile. More leafy, maybe just a hint of fresh cut grass.

On the tongue, NESPA is medium bodied and assertively carbonated. CO2 helps carry the beer’s hop profile across the tongue for all your palate to enjoy. Bready malts give the flavor backbone by giving me a combination of soda crackers and toasted white bread. As malt flavors build towards the center, hops give me some flavors of citrus and lemon. All of this combines and moves towards a crisp bitterness that is assertive, bordering on aggressive. The bitter finish occupies that special place where it approaches aggressive but stops shy of being too much.

NESPA is easily worth an 8.25 out of 10. It has a lot of flavor and character, making your palate dance without bludgeoning it into submission. It’s definitely a hop lover’s dream, while having enough malt backbone to give the beer’s flavor and aroma structure and backbone. This would be a fine beer to pair with fish and chips, cream based soup, or pasta with a cream based sauce.

Murphy's Irish Stout

 I am so happy my local liquor store carries Murphy’s Stout. The source of my joy stems from the fact that for the longest time, Guinness was the only authentically Irish stout you could find in Edmonton. As a budding beer geek, I’ve been curious to try some authentic Irish stouts that weren’t Guinness. I’ve been wanting to taste more of the “real” stuff so I have something authentic to compare against when trying north American interpretations of the style. 

As it turns out Heineken International is largely responsible for making Murphy’s available outside of Ireland. Previous to Heineken’s purchase in the 1980s, Murphy’s was pretty much local to the Irish market. Since Heineken’s purchase, Murphy’s Irish Stout has been made available in more countries around the world. And although Murphy’s hasn’t put a dent in Guinness’s market share yet, at least it’s available for people to try if they want to try an Irish stout that isn’t Guinness. Murphy’s Stout pours into my glass pitch black, supporting a packed, coffee and cream colored head. As I type this, that head is in no hurry to go anywhere.

Holding the glass up to my nose, I notice a combination of chocolate and a soft, mineral profile. Chocolate and mineral aromas lead into a center where I smell what I can only describe at first as being something grainy. It’s somewhere between bread and a more generic aroma of ripe grain. All of this moves quickly and easily into hints of roasted coffee in the finish.

Taking a sip, I’m confronted with a thick, luscious mouthfeel. The first flavor I notice is a gentle, mineral sort of flavor. It’s a mineral quality that somehow reminds me of the sea. This is followed by flavors of coffee and a supporting hint of chocolate. Just enough to slightly sweeten the overall flavor profile. All of these flavors combine nicely to lead into a finish that has flavors of roasted grains, reinforcing the preceding flavors of coffee.

I think Murphy’s Stout easily deserves an 8.25 out of 10. Murphy’s Stout is rich, smooth, and lush in its mouthfeel, which is something I look for especially in an Irish stout. The flavors are gentle, yet defined. The flavor profile has enough character to easily set it apart from lesser Irish stouts. Have this on a cold winter night, or with a plate of oysters on the half shell.

Lone Bison IPA

  One of the challenges of reviewing beer is finding styles that aren’t an American style IPA. Admittedly, it’s kind of a fun challenge to saddle myself with. I’m more of a fan of the English version of most beers, but the American IPA can be kind of fun sometimes. Specifically, I like the variety with which an American IPA’s hop profile can express itself. On the one hand, the hop profile can be citrusy, with flavors of pine needle. On the other hand, they can be ripe, juicy, and tropical in nature.

American IPAs sometimes lend themselves to a sort of innovation well suited to the innovative nature of craft brewing. And even without the use of strange, innovative ingredients the American IPA can be a solid and delicious beer for any craft beer lover to enjoy. Lone Bison IPA is an example of an IPA meant to be a standard, solid example of the style. It doesn’t use a dozen different malts and hops the way other brands have done. The brewery didn’t spend an hour and a half adding batch after batch of hops to the boil.

Rather, Lone Bison IPA seems to be billed as simply being an IPA. And as long as a brand is a good beer, simply being an IPA can be a good thing for any beer to be. Lone Bison fills my glass slightly hazy, and a burnished copper color. The head is packed, slightly rocky, and cream colored.

Taking a sniff, Lone Bison’s aroma is pleasantly hop forward. From the hops I get aromas of grapefruit pith and hints of pine needle. The bready aroma of pale malts lend support, giving a platform for the rest of this IPA’s aromas. Right about then I pick up just a little bit of caramel, providing hints of sweetness before leading into the beer’s finish. As expected, citrus and pine needle return to finish the set, showing pleasant subtlety instead of the usual bold assertiveness.

Lone Bison IPA is medium bodied, enjoying a gentle carbonation. Lone Bison’s enjoys up front flavors of caramel mixed with freshly risen bread dough and hints of mineral. These flavors combine and build towards a rounded center, before moving on to an assertively hoppy finish. The finish is exactly as hoppy and bitter as it needs to be, given the style. Again I get citrus and grapefruit pith. Then there’s just a bit of peppercorn bitterness before it all fades into the next sip.

Overall, Lone Bison IPA is worth 7.5 out of 10. It’s tasty, balanced, and bitter. The bitter finish is assertive without overpowering. All the other flavors compliment each other nicely, giving a beer that is an overall decent example of the style. 

Kirin Ichiban

 

          Visit the Kirin Ichiban website and the first two words to greet you are “Explore Enjoyment.” Scroll down and you learn about the brewery’s devotion to quality through what they call a “First press process.” What this means, according to the website, is when Kirin Ichiban makes its beer, it takes the first run from the wort, instead of taking multiple runs as other breweries do. Kirin attests that this leads to a crisper, more pure and delicious beer. Keep reading and the website tells you that by only using the first press, Kirin is able to make a beer without the strong, heavy taste you’d get in other beers that don’t just use the first press.

Kirin Ichiban’s website then goes on to tell you of their history dating back to the 1880s. You learn how their brewmasters learn their trade from the best German brewing schools. The website also tells how Kirin Ichiban goes to the Czech republic to buy massive amounts of Saaz hops for their beer. Taken at face value, it’s promising to see that Kirin Ichiban is so devoted to the quality of their beer. Kirin Ichiban is a crystal clear, pale amber the lager. Pinpoint CO2 rises through the glass, supporting a cloudy bone white head. The head has decent retention, leaving nice lace as it recedes.

          Malt dominates the nose in the form of white bread and unsalted crackers. Bready malts lead to a center that has an interesting smooth, almost neutral aroma. The first descriptor that popped into my mind was “Papery,” but somehow that doesn’t seem right. Rather, that strange, neutral aroma smells like rice. If you can imagine dried, white rice sitting in the bag waiting for you to cook it. That sort of smell. Rice aroma dominates from here on, before fading into an abrupt finish.

          On the tongue, Kirin Ichiban is smooth and dry; almost too dry, really. That dryness takes over and dominates the flavor and mouthfeel in a way that almost immediately detracts from my enjoyment of the beer. This is too bad, because at first Kirin Ichiban is smooth, and almost rounded in nature. There’s a hint of sweetness up front, as well. But then that dryness comes in, coating the tongue, and dominating the rest of the drinking experience.

          I’ll give Kirin Ichiban 5.75 out of 10. This Asian lager has the potential to be a decent, maybe even enjoyable lager. Unfortunately the two things I didn’t like about the beer are such noticeable flaws, it prevents me from really enjoying what I’m drinking. I certainly didn’t care for the aromas of rice and the dryness on the tongue made it hard for me to feel refreshed after each sip.

Black Bridge Milk Stout

Check out the website for Black Bridge Brewing and you’ll see an ominous, black and white picture of an old steel bridge spanning the river outside of Swift Current. This bridge is well known to locals and is the subject of many stories and legends ranging from hauntings to afternoons spent fishing. Inspired by the iconic status of this local landmark, the owners of Black Bridge Brewing have worked to make their brewery as much a household name as the bridge for which their brewery is named.

After spending a year putting together a business plan and acquiring finances, Clayton and Kari Stenson acquired the property they needed to open a brewery. With a 20HL brewhouse and six fermenters, Black Bridge Brewing is now in a position to produce a solid lineup of core beers as well as some seasonals and one-offs. And today, after taking time to build their brand, Black Bridge beers are finally available in Alberta, ready for me to review. Black Bridge Milk Stout fills my glass with a solid, inky blackness. Jet black beer supports a dense head the color of coffee and cream.

Taking a sniff, this milk stout has an up front sweetness. It’s a rich, smooth, lush sort of sweetness that reminds me of a milk chocolate bar. Milk sweetness is supported by a rich, deep maltiness. That rich malt character comes through as fresh baked rye bread, caramel, and maybe just a hint of what smells like anise. All of this leads into a finish where I can smell just a little bit of roasted grain. Not a lot, just enough to slightly contrast the otherwise sweet aromas.

On the tongue, Milk Stout is smooth and lush but the mouthfeel moves very quickly into a gentle, but pleasant dryness. The flavor seems at first to quickly bypass the lactose sweetness you might expect from a milk stout. That being said, there is some sweetness behind that initial turn into dryness, just not the huge presence I expected. Lactose sweetness leads into flavors of licorice before moving quickly into roasted grain dryness.

I’m giving Black Bridge Milk Stout 7.25 out of 10. It’s a decent enough milk stout. The aromas, flavors, and mouthfeel hit most of the notes you might want from this style of beer. My only real complaint is the mouthfeel is lush, but not quite as lush as it could be given, the style. Likewise, the flavor could stand a little more sweetness, given that it is supposed to be a milk stout. That being said, you may want to check this out and decide for yourself.

Tete de Morte Triple Red

 

          If I’m being honest, I’ve been staying away from fruit beers for a while because as a critic, I don’t really know how to approach them. When I approach other styles of beer, they tend to have style guidelines that help define that beer. Those style guidelines give you an idea of what to look for when drinking a stout, or an IPA, or whatever. For the most part, that doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to fruit beer.

I mean, a barleywine will always be a barleywine. A fruit beer can start off as an ale, or a lager, it can be a stout with cherries added, or it can be an IPA literally flavored with grapefruit. You don’t really have the same basis of comparison when drinking fruit beer. When reviewing a fruit beer, you sort of have to review the beer on its own terms in a way you might not have to with other styles. So when I opened my bottle of Tete de Mort and realized I had a fruit beer in front of me, I decided to just raise my glass and dive in to the review. Tete de Mort Triple Red is deep, lush, ruby red in color. Pinpoint streams of CO2 support a rocky, pink head with excellent staying power.

          The aroma is nothing, if not big and fruity. In fact, it’s very dominantly big, fruity, and sweet. I get aromas of cherry, strawberry, and hints of raspberry. All of this is held together by a notable sweetness. It’s not just a sugary sort of sweetness. Rather, it’s a tooth aching cotton candy sort of sweetness. This triple almost smells as though it was fermented on ripe fruit and filtered through the cotton candy on its way to the bottling line.

          Tete de Mort’s flavors are more complex than the aroma led me to expect. In this case, I don’t know if that’s such a good thing. Again, I’m given super sweet flavors of cherry, strawberry, and raspberry. Ripe sweet fruit is supported by more cotton candy sweetness. And this is where the complexity comes in. The flavor has a foundation of earthiness and leather, supported by a gentle spiciness. Normally, I’d find that enjoyable. In this case however, those flavors are somewhat unpleasant. It’s like sucking on a strawberry flavored piece of candy and a piece of leather all in one go.

          Overall, Tete de Mort Triple Red is a 5.75 out of 10. Its aroma is sickly sweet with no complexity and nothing to cut the aroma’s overall sweetness. What flavors come in on the flavor, don’t compliment the beer’s fruit flavors. Rather, earthiness and leather detract from it. If you’re looking for fruit based beer, tripels, or something sour I’d recommend giving this a miss.

Rodenbach Grand Cru

 

          I often wonder what beer tasted like before the “modern age” of beer making. When I say “modern age,” I’m referring to today’s brewing. First of all, modern roasting technology allows us to roast malted barley in an oven, rather than over an open fire as was once done. Modern roasting technology also allows more control in the roasting process, giving brewers the chance to produce a wider variety of more lightly roasted malts.

Secondly, we learned about microorganisms like yeast. Before learning about the existence of yeast and its role in fermentation, we didn’t really understand how fermenting worked. It was just something that sort of happened, resulting in beer of greater and lesser quality. So, I’ve often wondered what beer would taste like if we went back to the days when we made beer without our modern scientific amenities. I imagine some beers would naturally taste like the Flanders red ale. Not having access to yeast cultures, beer would be fermented by whatever landed in the beer.

Combine that with the build up of lactobacillus in the oak barrels used to store and age the beer, it would have been a challenge making truly drinkable beer. Thankfully, we’ve learned how to use old fashioned methods to make some of the world’s truly great beers and beer styles, like the Flanders red ale. Rodenbach Grand Cru is clear and a deep red color, with leathery highlights. Head is dense, packed, cream colored, and lasting.

          On the nose, Rodenbach is tart and fruity up front, smelling pleasantly of sour, ripe cherries. I can practically picture the juiciness of those cherries as they fall from the tree straight into my beer. Oak and vanilla lend support while softening the beer’s overall sourness. This may be my imagination but I could swear I find hints of leather hiding behind the aromas of oak. Unbaked bread lends itself to the flavors, helping the oak in its bid to soften those flavors of ripe fruit tartness.

          On the tongue, Rodenbach is smooth and medium bodied. CO2 provides a spritzy carbonation that dances across the tongue. Soft flavors of unbaked bread give a platform for up front tartness which combines deftly with flavors of ripe fruit. Flavors give me ripe cherry as well as red grape minus the tannins. The finish has a lot going on each in its own subtle fashion. Chiefly there’s an earthy quality. Earthiness blends nicely with fruit as well as leather tinted flavors of oak. All of which combines to provide a very gentle flavor profile.

          Rodenbach Grand Cru easily deserves 8.25 out of 10. Like previous Flanders Reds, this one has some great character and great balance. Tartness and flavors of ripe fruit dominate without overpowering. Oak aging and a general bready quality help prevent this beer from being too strong in its tartness. Rather, it’s a delicious, refreshing, and greatly accessible example of the style.

Lindemans Oude Gueuze

 

          Last we

ek I picked up a few sour beers, in an attempt to educate my palate when it comes to the world’s different kinds of sour ales. Today I’m reviewing a style of beer known as a gueuze. At its heart, a gueuze is a type of blended beer from the Senne valley in Belgium. The whole thing starts with a spontaneously fermented beer called a Lambic. After being aged for 1-3 years, some lambic ales are bottled and sold. Others are blended together for sale as a gueuze.

The young lambic still contains fermentable sugar, helping provide natural carbonation. The older lambic provides drier, champagne-like character as well as more refined flavors. The younger lambic also retains a more assertive sourness. When the beer is blended, the decision needs to be made whether to use more of the younger lambic, or more of the older. This will determine in part, whether the finished product will skew more towards the sour, or more towards refined age. Lindeman’s Oude Gueuze is crystal clear and a golden amber in color. Head is light, and bone white in color.

          My first impression of Oude Gueuze’s nose is that it’s got a gentle earthiness. The immediate second perception is that of an assertive and enticing sourness. All of this is supported by a subtle barnyard quality. That barnyard quality presents itself in the form of aromas of horse blanket combined with a grapefruit scented citrus quality. What makes this beer’s aroma so enticing is how those earthiness and barnyard aromas are secondary to the beer’s overall tartness. They help give the nose character and complexity.

          Taking a sip, Lindemans Oude Gueuze is crisp, dry, and spritzy. Lemon tartness leads the charge. Oude Gueuze’s tartness is supported by a subtle flavor of malt in the form of soda cracker. At this point I’m also picking up a bone dry woodiness. Not the more intense flavors of oak, more of a general, neutrally woody character. All of this combines to provide an interesting overall flavor profile. Lemon tartness up front, with other flavors providing balance.

          Lindeman’s Oude Gueuze 2018 is a delicious, engaging example of a blended lambic. It’s tart, dry, and balanced with a subtle barnyard character common to so many of the best Belgian styles of beer. My only caveat for the average beer drinker is that the tartness is slightly more assertive than some people may enjoy. That being said, this beer’s other qualities provide great balance to that initial tartness.

Duchesse de Bourgogne

 

          With the popularity of sour ale these days, I thought it would be prudent to make my first foray into the world of sour beer. In doing so, I picked a Flanders Red Ale, a style of beer that’s been on my radar for a while, but I’ve just never pulled the trigger on. As the name suggests, Flanders Red Ale comes from the west Flanders region of Belgium. This beer is traditionally aged in wood barrels for up to two years. It is these barrels that provide the organisms necessary to give the beer its sourness.

It’s a combination of barrel aging and blending of younger and older batches that helps provide the style’s complex flavors. Flanders Red Ale is also fermented partly with lactobacillus, contributing to the beer’s overall tartness. The combination of brewing organisms and barrel aging makes the Flanders Red Ale a historic beer style. What this means is that this is a style of beer that is fermented in a fashion similar to the days before we discovered the existence of yeast and its role in fermentation. Duchesse de Bourgogne is crystal clear, and a deep, almost sullen, ruby colored ale. The head is dense, a very light tan color, and incredibly lasting.

          Aromas of wood are what I notice first. Beyond that, the nose is robust, complex, also smooth and enticing. In addition to aromas of wood I’m picking up notable fruit esters. In particular, I can smell ripe cherries and other ripe, pitted fruit. Interestingly, I can also smell notes of vanilla. Subtle as it is, vanilla coupled with aromas of wood keep the fruit aromas from dominating or overpowering. And yet, the fruit esters have enough tartness to prevent the nose from being overly sweet.

          Taking a sip, Duchesse de Bourgogne is smooth and enjoys up front flavors of tart ripe fruit. Fruit flavors taste like a combination of ripe, dark red cherries combined with supporting flavors of lemonade. This is all supported and by flavors of wood and vanilla, helping to smooth out the beer’s overall tartness. At this point, I taste something akin to red grapes, adding to the complexity and depth of this Flanders Red Ale. Flavors of multiple ripe fruit combined with vanilla and oak give Duchesse de Bourgogne an impressive, vinous quality.

          Duchesse de Bourgogne is easily an 8.5 out of 10. It boasts a gentle tartness, flavors of ripe fruit, and an overall vinous quality making it a wonderfully complex drinking experience. The barrel aging process impart flavors of wood and vanilla that give the beer an overall sense of structure. Barrel aging also prevents the fruit flavors from dominating the beer. What helps make this beer so impressive to me is that with all of Duchesse de Bourgogne’s vinous complexity, it’s remarkably accessible. Which is to say that if you’ve never had a Flanders Red Ale before, this would be an excellent example to cut your teeth on.

Spitfire Amber Ale

 

          When I pick up beer from the UK, I usually expect it to be something with an extensive history behind it. Many of England’s best breweries are so old they were making beer before the place I live even existed as a city. To that end, I was interested to learn that Spitfire Amber ale is such a recent addition to the Shepherd Neame lineup. First brewed in 1889, Spitfire Amber Ale was made in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, fought in the skies above Kent.

Originally, Spitfire Amber was brewed as a one off, meaning it would be brewed once and sold until supplies ran out. However, public reaction to the beer was so good that Shepherd Neame elected to add the beer to its regular rotation. Response to Spitfire was so good the beer earned a Royal Warrant. This means the brewery can publicly advertise That they supply their product to the royal family, earning the company an extra level of prestige. Spitfire pours into my glass crystal clear and the color of copper with hints of burnt orange. The head is packed, off white and decently lasting.

          On the nose, the first thing I notice is an up front mineral quality. Minerals lead quickly into notes of caramel and ripe fruit mixed with undertones of soda crackers. The finish gives me English hops in the form of fresh cut grass as well as peppercorns. Spitfire’s aroma is very much what I would expect from an English bitter. It’s all malt, fruit esters, and bitter hops in the finish. All with the subtlety and restraint I like so much in British beer.

          As I take that first sip, Spitfire offers me a smooth, medium bodied ale with sweet malt flavors up front. Sweet malts taste like caramel and soda crackers. Fruit esters come out in the center tasting like ripe orchard fruits. Somehow those fruits taste somewhere between peaches and granny smith apples. These qualities combine seamlessly, leading into a crisp, assertively bitter finish. Spitfire’s bitterness is enjoyable in that it’s assertive without being too aggressive or overpowering.

          I think Spitfire deserves a score of 8.5 out of 10. It’s as smooth, balanced, and tasty a bitter as I’ve had in a long time. Every element of this beer’s flavor and aroma provide very decent character and overall balance.

Deschutes Jubelale

 

          When I went to the liquor store, I didn’t realize I was purchasing a beer with so much history for the brewery that makes it. According to the Deschutes website, Jubelale is the first beer the brewery bottled. Apparently, it was initially bottled by hand at the pub in Bend, Oregon. In the years since, Jubelale has become a tradition for fans of the beer, having become a way to welcome the coming winter with its release every October. The name Jubelale reminds me somehow of Christmastime.

To that end, maybe I’m missing the mark by reviewing this beer more than a week after Christmas has come and gone. Given that the beer is typically released in October however, makes me think I’m okay to review this beer in January. I feel I can take this position because beers like Jubelale are usually marketed as winter beers, rather than specifically being marketed as Christmas beer. So, as long as we have plenty of winter left I’m going to take today’s review and just leave it here for your consideration. Jubelale is crystal clear and a deep, sullen ruby colored ale. Thin streams of CO2 support a rocky, cream colored head with good retention and lots of lace.

          My first impression of Jubelale’s aroma is that it’s deeply malty with hints of dark, dried fruit. Malt and dark fruit lead into a center where I find a roasted coffee somewhere between coffee and cocoa powder. Yeah, definitely leans more towards the cocoa. There’s also an overall spiciness to the aroma, lending structure and complexity to the aromas of malt and dark fruit. Finally, I pick up a hint of sweetness taking the edge off an aroma that would otherwise be overly intense.

          On the tongue, Jubelale is smooth, full bodied, and robust with a notable roasted quality. Malt flavors take the form of dark, dried fruit. Very reminiscent of dates up front with hints of coffee and roasted grains lending support. As with the nose, there’s a residual sweetness that helps take the edge off of Jubelale’s more intense roasted quality. The finish is short and dry.

          Give Jubelale 7.75 out of 10. It’s a big, bold, malty beer and yet it’s balanced and drinkable. In other beers the maltiness and roasted flavors would make Jubelale something that could only be sipped at. Instead, the sweet notes in the center and the beer’s overall smoothness make Jubelale totally quaffable. Christmas or no Christmas, I could picture myself enjoying this beer on a cold winter night.

Hobgoblin Ruby Ale

 

          So apparently, this is the second English beer in less than a month that has been rebranded. I used to drink Hobgoblin fairly often and loved their advertising. I especially loved the poster where the Hobgoblin was sitting at a bench in his little workshop. He sat there, looking up from his desk asking “What’s the matter lager boy, afraid you’ll taste something?” It always made me smile because as a craft beer fan, that was always the question in my head for people who clung to their lager drinking habits.

According to an October 2019 article Marston’s decided it was time to rebrand three of Wychwood’s beers, including their flagship Hobgoblin. Marston’s who owns Wychwood brewing along with other recognizable English brands wanted to give Hobgoblin Ruby Ale a more contemporary look. They wanted the more contemporary look while keeping the hobgoblin character who has graced labels since the late 1980s. To be fair, the new label is cleaner, crisper, and definitely modern.

Is it a better label? Personally, I don’t think so. The new label lacks the warmth provided by the original, more colorful label. Well, that’s my opinion anyway and I’m not here to judge the beer’s packaging, I’m here to judge the beer itself. Hobgoblin Ruby Ale is a deep, reddish colored ale. It’s crystal clear with a dense, cream colored head.

          Hobgoblin’s aroma is malty, with pleasant fruit esters leading the charge. Those fruit esters smell like ripe red fruit; cherries and other sorts of berries. Hints of fresh rising bread dough and caramel come through, lending depth to the initial aroma. My overall impression of Hobgoblin’s aroma is that of a fruit tart fresh from the oven. The only difference being the beer’s malt adds a decent amount of balance to the beer’s fruit esters.

          As I take a sip, I find the flavors follow the nose nicely. Hobgoblin Ruby Ale is medium bodied and smooth with mild carbonation. I taste those fruit notes first, ripe cherry and a melange of general berry flavors. Flavors of caramel and fresh baked bread give depth and support to those initial flavors of fruit. Carbonation carries these flavors into a dry, slightly bitter finish.

          I’ll give Hobgoblin Ruby Ale 7.5 out of 10. It’s smooth, malty, and full of flavor. Fruit esters help give the beer added character and drinkability. The bitter finish comes in just hard enough to remind you what style of beer you’re drinking without overpowering your palate. If you’re in the mood for a traditional English bitter, this is well worth a visit.