Golden Ale - New Glarus

Vitals:

Name: Golden Ale

Style: Belgian Pale Ale

IBU: 38

ABV: 7.0%

Gravity: 15 deg. Plato

Purchased at: New Glarus Brewery

Descriptions:

Appearance: Golden honey color; translucent with a lot of carbonation and 3 (!) foamy fingers of orange-tinted head. Great retention, lacing, and cap...good looking brew has me excited to try it out.

Smell: This is the only beer I've ever had that smelled straight and away like flowers. You get some slight honey aromas but flowers totally dominate the nose...smells awesome!

Taste: You get a tiny citrus taste up front (I'm not sure what citrus, specifically) followed by a huge, lingering floral taste. You can taste the spiciness of the Belgian yeast and a peppery quality most of the way through the drink. Herbal/floral hops give it a little lingering bitterness. This is not an overly complex brew, but it IS refreshingly interesting.

Mouthfeel: This is medium bodied and creamy with ample carbonation. It leaves you a bit dried out, though. Nothing really sticks out as being too great or poor about the mouthfeel here...which is ok.

Overall Grade: B+

Comments: This is VERY interesting...it's a good brew but it doesn't seem to quite fit the mold of most Belgian pale ales that I've had. It's cool as something different because it doesn't hit you over the head with yeast/bananas/spices as many Belgian beers do. Plus, as you can ONLY get it at the brewery, this is an excellent excuse to take a little drive out to the scenic New Glarus brewery and treat yourself to some delicious beer!

Cheers,

Hurls

Hatha-weizen - Ale Asylum

So, the Hatha-weizen is something I always wanted to try from Ale Asylum, since I'm a big fan of most beers that they put out. The one thing about this brew is that it's exclusively offered at the tap room at Ale Asylum's brewery (out on the East side, off Stoughton Rd.). If you love you some Ale Asylum go out there and check it out...even if you don't want to stay there you can get a nice glass growler filled with your favorite brew for about $13. The only issue I have is that the growler is clear, which is the worst possible type of glass to store brew in. At any rate, I think refills are about $8-10 bucks on the growlers, so it's definitely worth it.

Vitals:

Name: Hatha-weizen

Style: Hefeweizen

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Ale Asylum's taphouse/restaurant/brewery

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a very light gold color with billowing white head that quickly fades. Decent lacing with a very thin cap. This beer looks to be moderately carbonated and is VERY hazy (expected, given the style).

Smell: Banana all the way with some slight lemon zest and clove spiciness. You can almost make out some pale malt in the background but not quite. It's so odd to smell this beer because nearly all Ale Asylum brews are hopped to the point of it at least being noticeable on the nose, but this one is definitely not. I guess it makes sense, as most hefes are not hopped much.

Taste: Banana and malt sweetness greet you up front along with a bit of honey. The clove spiciness is very slight and leads you into the finish instead of a hop bite, which is well played. You finish out with lemon and citrus hop bitterness that is subtle but lingering. The yeast is more up front and center, as with most hefes. This is a solid but not spectacular taste...you also get some esters from the yeast.

Mouthfeel: Refreshing and crisp, though it's a bit creamier than I expected. This is a very smooth and drinkable beer for the summer. The carbonation doesn't quite come through as much as I expected it to from the look of the beer.

Overall Grade: B-

Comments: This beer is a good excuse to go to the Ale Asylum taproom, but is nothing too special. It's a solid hefe, but I'd rather have others. For my money I'll take a Hopalicious/Bedlam/Ambergeddon over this and if I want a wheat brew I'll go with Dancing Man from New Glarus or something like a Weissbier from Franziskaner. Worth a try if you want to support your local breweries and are interested in another take on a hefeweizen, but you can probably do better here.

Cheers,

Hurls

Summer Love - Victory Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Summer Love

Style: American Blonde Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.2%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a gorgeous blondish-golden yellow with a huge, fluffy 2.5 fingers of head. VERY good retention and a lot of carbonation on this one. The brew is crystal clear with great lacing and a very respectable cap...overall gorgeous beer.

Smell: Quite a bit going on here...a floral hop aroma is the big one up front. You also get a bit of graininess, honey, lemon, and/or citrus hops. It's a great smelling beer, but there is just a ton going on (not a detractor, though).

Taste: Up front you get some grassy and citrus hops with a bit of lemon. This mixes in with a bread aspect (the grains) and the honey I was smelling to help balance out the beer. You get a floral hop finish with a little tiny bit of a bite and some lingering bitterness. You almost get piney hops, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm tasting at the tail end or not. Very good taste that hangs with you a little while.

Mouthfeel: Very light and drinkable, crisp and clean with a little bit of a dry finish that fits well with the beer. The mouthfeel reveals less carbonation than I thought the beer had just from looking at it.

Overall Grade: A

Comments: What a fantastic summer seasonal! This is almost as close as you'll get to an extremely tasty summer session able brew. Go get some (if it's still available)...you may have to wait until next summer to enjoy it though. The bottom line is that you can pretty much rely on everything that Victory puts out to be extremely good. If you can't get Summer Love, try another of their beers!

Cheers,

Hurls

Tripel Nova - Ale Asylum

Vitals:

Name: Tripel Nova

Style: Belgian Tripel

IBU: ??

ABV: 10%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a very light straw color with about a half-finger of head that is bone white. Poor retention, with no cap or lacing...disappointing in regard. This beer is CRYSTAL clear - usually you get that yeasty/cloudy look in a tripel, but this is incredibly clear.

Smell: Smells great - mostly overripe banana and oranges, with a tiny bit of piney aroma. What strikes me most is the softness of the Belgian yeast notes...you don't get nearly as much spiciness or nearly the amount of Belgian funk that you normally do. Good, soft nose on this one...

Taste: VERY sweet up front and you actually get the alcohol warmth coming on in the middle of the taste (as opposed to most beers, which normally have it at the finish...in my experience at least). It actually does a reasonably good job of hiding the 10% ABV (YES, 10% ABV...wow! have one of these and go about the rest of your evening...these will lay you out!). You get the overripe banana and orange tastes as well, which pair nicely with some other esters. The taste follows the nose with the yeast/spice aspect, which is good and different...it seems almost like the normal spice is replaced with a honey-like sweetness.

Mouthfeel: This is rather thin for the style, but still retains a little bit of creaminess...not too much carbonation. This is definitely not typical, but is pretty good in all aspects.

Overall Grade: B+

Comments: Very good triple...not quite "Belgian" though. This is a lot different than most tripels I have had, but it's pretty darn good IMHO. Check it out! Another good Ale Asylum brew.

Cheers,

Hurls

Rabbid Rabbit - Three Floyds Brewing

So, in an order to try more Three Floyds beers, I checked out their website and saw what beers were available around this time of year. Rabbid Rabbit (yes, I know that's not how you spell rabid, but that's how they spell it) was one of the beers that caught my eye. I will warn you, this beer (as well as the next one I will review) is a bit pricey. I got a 22 oz. bomber from Riley's, as that's the only place I found this one, but it cost $10.99. That's basically $11 for less than 2 beers. This had better be impressive.

Vitals:

Name: Rabbid Rabbit

Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale

IBU: 25

ABV: 7.4%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a straw color with 2 fingers of bone-white head. The head dissipates quickly, leaving a nice cap but no lace. Looks to be moderately carbonated; the bright color is quite inviting...

Smell: Big yeasty smell with big banana notes as well. Also seems like some honey, clove, and coriander are in there as well. Lemon comes through somewhat, too. Farmhouse ale is an appropriate term here because it smells faintly of sweet hay.

Taste: You get a big spicy taste up front with a yeasty/bready taste following, moving to the finish, which has a moderate/high alcohol heat to it. To be honest, this tastes more like a Belgian ale to me than anything else (a la Leffe Blond or another lighter Belgian Pale). The finish is drawn out and a bit too sour for my liking, but there is a decent floral/herbal hoppiness that is hidden in there. Doesn't hide the ABV well, but not incredibly poorly.

Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation, medium body. The body is heavier than it looks; the beer almost has a powdery texture to it based on how it dries your mouth out. Coats your mouth with the sour aftertaste it brings. 

Overall Grade: C+

Comments: This is just OK from FFF's; I feel quite disappointed, as I sought this out for a few weeks. This is definitely not up to FFF's standards; definitely the worst FFF's beer I've had so far (which still is a good beer anyways). It's a solid beer, but not for $11 for 22 oz. If I'm spending that on that little amount of beer I want it to blow me away; this beer simply didn't do that. I'd go with Gumballhead instead here, or if you want a true farmhouse ale you can grab some Spotted Cow on the (relatively) cheap.

Cheers,

Hurls

In-Heat Wheat - Flying Dog Brewery

Summertime = hefeweizen time, plain and simple. As much as I love pale ales and other hoppy beers, there's no denying it's not quite as satisfying when you're drinking a heavier beer in the summer heat. As a result, there will most likely be a flux of wheat beers that I try out and review here on the site. If you're looking for a good one to check out in the meantime; check back to one of my earlier posts for Dancing Man Wheat by New Glarus. Fantastic, though I do admit that it's tough to try something that good early in the process; everything else seems unable to meet the bar, since it was set so high.

Vitals:

Name: In-Heat Wheat

Style: Hefeweizen

IBU: 12

ABV: 4.7%

Gravity: 12 deg. Plato

Purchased at: University Ave. Liquor Store

Descriptions:

Appearance: Surprisingly, this beer was not nearly as hazy as most hefes I've had. There were about 1.5 fingers of head when I made the pour (as seen in the picture above), but the beer had almost no head retention (makes sense from the low hop levels of this beer). Literally, in less than a minute all of the head you see in the picture was GONE. The beer is a nice straw colored gold and you can see tons of carbonation bubbles rising. A sign of good things to come!

Smell: The wheat and yeast in the beer comes through more than most hefes do, but by far the aroma is dominated by bananas and some kind of spice. My guess is probably either a.) cloves or b.) coriander. Either way it smells pretty good, albeit somewhat predictable. I am starting to think this will be a solid, but not totally spectacular, hefe.

Taste: Bananas up front and throughout the experience here; the yeast comes through somewhat slightly and you definitely get a nice clove taste. You can taste a subtle sweetness in the background, a honey-ish flavor I think. It's a nice touch at the end of the drink. There isn't too much about this beer that sticks out (in a good or a bad way); not too complex, which can definitely be a plus (and with wheat beers it often is). Overall a solid taste, confirming my suspicions from the smell.

Mouthfeel: The beer is definitely heavier on the mouthfeel than it looks. Not seeing a hazy appearance lulled me into thinking this would be super light, but the 12 degrees Plato is a solid gravity and definitely fits with the mouthfeel. Medium carbonation, not quite what I expected after seeing so much carbonation after the initial pour, but a respectable amount that adds a nice element. Again, nothing stands out as being incredibly different about this beer.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: So, though non-Wisconsin beers are few and far between here, this is a solid effort that you can most likely get throughout the country. It's a solid hefe that I would definitely drink again, and a good summer beer if you're laying out in the sun. Nothing stands out too much other than the cloves, but try it out and see what you think. A solid hefe on a hot summer day can never be a bad thing!

Cheers,

Hurls