Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Ok, live one here.

I’m sipping a Sierra Nevada Summerfest from a bottle, their seasonal lager.

This is a really good lager. The nose is sour, with a bare hint of bitter melon. The body is crisp and clean, but with excellent character. The finish has just the right amount of sourness, lingering long enough to savor its complexity, but no longer.

I also get a tiny bit of natural rubber in the nose. That sounds horrid, but isn’t. I guess it is hard to explain that some scents, when alone are really unpleasant, but in a full bouquet are at home. I also don’t know if most people know what bitter melon is or smells like, but rest assured that it is excellent in Okinawan soup.

So I guess that is all I’ve got on this beer. The best way to describe it is to tell people to imagine a really good lager, then go from there.

Repeat drinkability is directly proportional to ambiant air temperature, which is to say the hotter the better on this beer.

WDTB? Hard to say on seasonals, this one is new to me.

WSDTB? Oh man, I’m imagining a beautiful sunny day, vegetarian hot dogs on the grill, frisbees flying through lazy summer air thick with the droning of June bugs, and I already want another Summerfest, even though it is rainy, the middle of the night and I don’t even know what a June bug looks like. So, under circumstances as I have described above, or any reasonable collection thereof, this is the beer for you.

Rating: 8.7/10

Cherry Chocolate Jubilee!

I just received an excellent comment from John Duffell, who has a candy blog. Excellent. He refers us to visit his blog on cake-flavored beer.

Once, for a party at Carleton we bought two kegs and the liquor store threw in about 7 cases of Cherry Chocolate Jubilee flavored malt liquor (read beer). We took it, even though it turned out to be awful. Really awful. I, as the thrifty sort, did my best to use it as "I'm drunk, so it doesn't matter how it tastes, this will maintain the buzz" beer. Times have changed, I would not recommend such actions now, but I believe that such things are excusable in college. Anyhow this is a pic of the aftermath. I broke that chair, and to elude detection we threw it in a bush. Did I mention that I was drunk and my thought process was impaired?

So I have had cake flavored beer, and would heartily recommend the avoidance of such to other people. That being said I am still deeply intrigued by someone trying to do a cherry chocolate cake flavored beer, more power to them, the more the merrier, people should always experiment with new beer flavors. However history tends to be against them on this one.

A related side issue on this is the designation of this beer as marketed toward women. What do the women drinkers out there feel? Is the general feeling that women prefer sweeter, "gimmick" beers justified? I do not believe that women are pre-disposed to like flavored beer. However such beers do tend to be a little more accessible to people who have not developed a full beer palette, and as women are taught culturally that beer is a "men's drink", (a notion I thoroughly reject, incidentally) I do understand the marketing. I just don't agree with it.

Saint Rogue Red

1/12/05 At Rogue brewpub.

Its my mom'€™s birthday today, so here I am at Rogue.

I've got a Saint Rogue Red. There is not much nose to speak of, slightly malty and a little floral, with a hint of hops. It is deep red in color.

The start is pleasantly crisp for a red and the body is just full enough to balance a nice hop finish. Like most Rogue beers the beauty is in the balance. At first this is a fairly unexceptional beer, but its quality grows on you.

This is a pleasant, drinkable red, well balanced, but still complex enough to be interesting. A good standard for repeat drinking.

WDTB? Regulars at Rogue.

WSDTB? This beer is perfectly suited for people who really know and like beer and need a known, tasty standby.

Rating: 8.9/10