Red Fox Russian Imperial Stout

Joseph James Brewing Co.
Henderson, NV
Red Fox Russian Imperial Stout

This beer pours deep dark brown and is absolutely opaque with a medium-tan and rocky head that sticks down the glass. There are hops on the nose but a rich and sticky coffee aroma comes through and finishes with a bit of almonds.

The mouthfeel is full and smoky, but there isn’t any acrid burnt flavor. Served not-too-cold, there is a nice warm, chocolate notes. There is a really nice malty coating on the tongue and the top of the mouth. The finish has a bready quality that intimates toward sourdough but is really grainy and more metallic due to the high ABV.

An interesting finale – the glass maintains a silty residue. Not sure if this beer is bottle-conditioned, but it’s always nice to see some yeast-like residue.

Lakefront Cream City Pale Ale

Lakefront Brewery Inc
Milwaukee, WI
Cream City Pale Ale

The pour seems a bit milky and cloudy, with a good rocky head and slow effervescence. The clarity is low; plenty of light gets through but there is a definite fuzziness in the center of the glass. The color is pure gold, a hint of coppery red, but really a nice hazy marigold.

The nose does, in fact, hint at a sort of creaminess but is more citrus and floral – very similar to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The flowery hops are accented by a spicy cinnamon and cardamom.

The mouthfeel is awesome, with bitter West Coast hops that really deliver a nice punch that doesn’t leave a metallic aftertaste. The swallow is smooth and slightly sweet with more orange peel than spice, though pepper and cinnamon still make an appearance. The lace is a widely-spaced webbing that peels apart like cotton candy as it sticks on the glass.

This is one of the better small brewery pale ales that I’ve tasted in a while. It is not a session beer but it is not so big that you couldn’t have more than one – or three even. Not surprisingly, this beer would pair excellently with any kind of full-flavored cheese.

Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout

Wild Goose Brewery
Frederick, MD
Oatmeal Stout

The pour is dark and fragrant, a light tan head billows but isn’t pillowy or rocky. The effervescence is steady, with large bubbles with collect and slowly dissipate without too much sticking (though the class was a bit wet). The nose is chewy fig and raisin, with a hint of burnt butter and brown sugar. The clarity is good, despite a dark near-opacity. Translucency is confirmed by some plummy redness when held to the light.

The first sip is full and meaty – with a hint of smoky bacon that gives way to a sweet maltiness that has neither too much chocolate nor bitter smoke. The dense fruit flavors come through as prune and tannin-like grape note. The finish is smooth and combines rich and tart zing that sits on the sides of the back of your tongue.

No lacing, but I do think that the glass was too wet. This beer would go well with just about any pie – if only I had some pecan or apple.

Eastside Dark Lager

Lakefront Brewery Inc.
Milwaukee, WI
Eastside Dark Lager

Milwaukee is a brewing capital, so a high bar is set. I hate to give a beer unfair expectations, but there you go.

While the beer doesn’t seem to allow light to pass through, it’s not an opaque beer; it lacks the creaminess and still shines a cola-black, with a deep plum hue that shows caramel brown around the edges.
There is no real head to speak of, but I imagine it will leave rings on the way down. There are faint notes of mocha and a powdery chocolate odor. The coffee notes on the nose are very clean and lack the heavy, often overly sweet notes that accompany some dark lagers. The smoke is mild and is coupled with a wet-twig aroma that is more rainy day than damp, rotting wood.
The first sip is very clean with a full mouthfeel. The chocolate notes are as mild on the tongue as they are on the nose and are coupled with a slightly chewy raisin middle that finishes with a really nice sharp hop kick that comes through with just a little bit of sweetness. The finish is exceptionally clean.

Bluegrass Brewing Amber Ale

Bluegrass Brewing Co
Louisville, KY
Amber Ale

BBC (which to me means Berkshire Brewing Co., outside of the world of international media) touts this as a “German-style altbier” which is always exciting. – especially since this BBC seems to love their German beers (they have a bock, kolsch, schwarzbier etc).

The pour is smooth with a clean white head that doesn’t inflate too much, but settles into a nice pub-pour film on top of the glass. A lace seems to stick, though the lack of a billowing head means I’ll have to wait and see. The clarity is low, but steady carbonation is evident. The honey color has touches of orange amber and gleams brilliantly.

The nose has a rich consistency, with a pleasant aroma of slightly burnt molasses. There is a mild wheat smell, too, that is coupled with a slight orange tang and mild hops.

The mouth is clear and clean, with the faint sweetness of the molasses coming through but ends weakly. There is a slight touch at the middle of the swallow that shows off the hops for a moment, but once the malt and hops finish a brief boxing match, a grassiness remains that thins the mouthfeel and leaves this beer seeming to have a lack of body.

This amber is a very refreshing ale but not too interesting. You could certainly drink a few of them, and maybe with a rich meal or a nice chocolate dessert, but it needs to do some pushups.

Blowing Rock Bock

Boone Brewing Co.

Boone, NC

Bock

The pour is smooth and produces a slow-to-rise head that is only a quarter-inch or so and doesn’t last too long. The clarity is good but the color is dark. A deep vermillion sparkle;, it is a real garnet brown that catches the light well but allows plenty of translucency. The carbonation is slow and seems non-existent in a real pub-pulled lager fashion.
The nose is very malty, with stringently sweet fig notes and a background of almonds and cereal. The first sip arrives with a serious punch of the rich fig flavor which has plenty of alcohol to warm the belly . The mouthfeel is more sparkling than the brew looks and the alcohol notes really cut through the top of the palate. It is a bit potent and cloys just a bit too much to truly be a session, but the figginess has enough refreshing fruit flavor to clarify the booze. A solid beer to start off a proper day at the beer hall, but you’ll likely want to switch to a pilsner after one or two of these and some bratwurst.

Nova Paka Lager

Nova Paka Brewery

Nova Paka, Czech Republic

Lager

I saw this half-liter bottle of BrouCzech in the supermarket and couldn’t resist. The supermarket is often a questionable place to get “authentic” imports since I have no idea how long this stuff sits on a distributor’s shelf before coming to the brightly-lit aisles of Gristedes’, but they haven’t let me down yet. And I suppose a distributor could hold onto a shipment for a while, but I trust a beer dealer more than one of New York’s crappier chains.

This lager pours with a rocky head that billows and sticks to the glass impressively. The nose is evident immediately. The brew is active with lively carbonation rising up all around the glass. The clarity is impeccable and the color is a beautiful honey hue with a faint hint of red. The nose is slightly sour and grassy. Faint notes of bread yeast hide a touch of nutmeg or cinnamon spiciness that I hope will come across as real Czech hops.

Ah, the first sip is splendid and the mouthfeel is full and complex. It starts as a standard lager or cooling pilsner but opens up nicely with more of the cinnamon than I would have thought, following with a slightly metallic grassiness that might be expected in a more golden lager. A fibrous biscuit quality finishes down the back of the tongue. The hops sizzle throughout the swallow in the shape of clean, carrot-like flavor.

I could enjoy this beer on a hot summer day or next to a fire in a dark beer hall. The lightness would pair well with heartier meals, but it can stand alone or with finer cuisine as well. I dub this a Crom beer. This beer has thoughts on the riddle of steel.

Dennis Walaker for President

Re-elect Mayor Dennis Walaker.

Fargo Mayor Offers Free Beer for Residents Post-Flood

“It’s hard work fighting the floods, and now people in Fargo can kick back and have a cold one if they want.

During the round-the-clock sandbagging, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said he’d buy everyone a beer when it was over.

New Orleans-based Dixie Brewing Company heard about the promise and has offered their help.

The company is now sending 24,000 beers to the city for a post-flood party, where residents will get a ticket for one free can of cold brew.”

River Horse Hop Hazard

River Horse Brewing Co.

Lambertville, NJ

Hop Hazard Pale Ale

After one of the better beers I’d reviewed in a while, I couldn’t wait to pop open this next sample from River Horse. The brewery boasts that this dry-hopped beer has a five hop wallop and I am eager to partake.
A smooth pour keeps this beer from getting too anxious, but immediately there is a strong whiff of molasses and grapefruit. The head is an off white pillow that sticks to the rim of the glass with a nice viscosity, coating the inside. The color is a shiny penny copper that gleams with a tinge of orange through the excellent clarity. The carbonation is slow, small, and steady–it rises to the top and helps the surface retain a thin layer of algae-like foam.

The nose comes across with more malt than grapefruit, and the citrus is like a lemon cleanser but without any chemical stringency. The hop notes are not as floral as many dry-hopped IPAs, but sweeter like a red or brown ale. The mouthfeel is very similar to this brew’s lager brother. There is cascade (not like the hops) of flavor that covers the tongue and palate. Bitterness certainly dominates, which is what is expected, but it is a peppery bite, not a tangy bouquet like most pales. The sides of the tongue get more of the citrus notes; it is mild and like under-ripe grapefruit. A slight water cracker crispiness persists but the swallow ends less smoothly or tartly than I would have liked.  The lacing is complete and lasting, more of a wallpapering than an actual lace.

A good beer, but it is too similar to the lager to really be a standout as an IPA. Similarity to the lager is a good thing, but I had high hopes and this beer is not a shining example of the style. Still worth a pull.

River Horse Lager

River Horse Brewing Co.

Lambertville, NJ

Lager

Technically, we can call this a local brew. River Horse brews just about an hour out of the city.

This is a lively lager–the initial pour starts sizzling as soon as beer hits glass. There is a strong nose that I can smell already; I’m looking forward to getting a proper inhalation as there seems to be a lot of spicy graininess. The head is pure white and dense, receding to stamp a fine doily lace down the bell of the glass. Clarity is not great, there is an elegantly cloudy core that is lets light through, but that is not transparent. Steady effervescence creeps up between the inner wall of the glass and the butterscotch murkiness.

The spicy odor is still evident but is sweeter than I initially thought. Tart, bitter apple skin seems to be the most aggressive aroma, but underneath there is a dry grain smell that is a bit sweet, like undercooked oatmeal with cinnamon. The sip is excellent–clean and full, coating with absolutely no cloy and a crisp hop back that snaps. The effervescence touches the tongue and leaves a maltiness that hints at the butterscotch seen in the center of the glass. The tip of the tongue and the start of the sip produce a slight granny smith tang but finishes smoothly like a proper lager.

I’ve got a few bottles of RH Hop Hazard waiting on the shelves right now and after this RH offering, I am definitely going to be chilling the next bottle soon. I guess good things really do come from Jersey.