Monthly Archives: April 2015

Green Flash

Posted on by

I had the pleasure of hitting up Green Flash and tried a couple of new beers, as well as a couple of my old favorites.

shareBearPic370 shareBearPic380

I started with the Jibe Session IPA (4.0% ABV), which I kind of feel is a West Coast IPA light. It’s hoppy, light, fresh, smooth, floral, with just an edge of bitterness. It’s really easy to drink, and is a pale golden color (but not as light as a lager). It would be easy to knock back three of these while sitting on a beach, if it weren’t illegal pretty much everywhere in Southern California. Green Flash’s tasting notes on this one: woodsy, oroblanco, pine, eucalyptus. I had to ask what oroblanco was – apparently, a seedless sweet citrus hybrid fruit similar to grapefruit.

Next, I had the Soul Style IPA (6.5 %ABV), which sounded familiar for a reason. I had it for the first time in New Hampshire several months ago. I described it already in the previous post, but I’ll just add that in comparison, it was a bit less well-rounded than the Jibe Session, and not as notable as their West Coast IPA. The session is pictured left, below, while the Soul Style is on the right:

shareBearPic388 shareBearPic402

The Trippel was warm, fruity, and 9.7% ABV, though you would never know by the taste. This is probably a dangerous beer. Its smoothness and unassuming flavor belies its strength. I thought I tasted some plum, but the tasting notes report ripe banana, cane sugar, and pepper.

Hop Head Red (8.1% ABV) is one I particularly like. Tasting notes advertise luscious caramel malt and resinous hop. The caramel is obvious, and goes well with the hoppiness (though the pairing is somewhat unexpected). This is sort of an IPA/red ale combo. This beer is on the bitter and heavy side.  Beer Advocate considers it “very good,” and classifies it as an amber/red ale, though it probably has a lot more flavor and punch than 90% of the ambers/reds out there.  Interestingly, Beer Advocate notes, “In 2011 the recipe was altered to bump the IBU’s from 55 to 70; ABV also increased from 6.4% to 7.0%. In 2014 the ABV increased to 8.1%.” I used to order several of these when out at bars, but it’s getting to be a heavier beer (see below, beer on the right).

The West Coast IPA (8.1 ABV) is one of my all-time favorites. Green Flash declares it is extravagantly hopped (no doubt about that). It is also described as “pine, citrus, floral.” The beer really hits you in the face, in a good way. It’s vaguely nutty. It’s a beautiful beer that pairs well with happy times.  Similarly, Beer Advocate indicates this beer was 7.2% ABV before 2014, but has an 8.1%ABV beer after 2014 (beer on the right, below).

shareBearPic400 shareBearPic396

 

 

Monkey Paw Beers

Posted on by

At the Bellows again last night. Tried a couple of beers by Monkey Paw.

The Lab Monkey IPA was well-balanced and hoppy. Fruity, but not particularly citrusy or floral. It was sort of a deep golden, almost orange-golden color. It’s 6.5% ABV. Decent IPA (on the left, in the pictures above and below). We had some pretty good flat breads, but the Lab Monkey paired particularly well with the Whiskey Burger done medium rare.

The Lup’d Up was a 4.5% ABV saison brewed with rhubarb. This was ok. I am not really familiar with rhubarb, and we decided to give it a go. This beer was sort of a Belgian white style, and kind of had the body of a wheat beer. The color was an opaque sunshine yellow. It was bitter and tart and a bit lacking in substance (on the right, in the pictures above and below).

shareBearPic356

 

 

Night Time and Red Seal

Posted on by

Another good beer I’ve had the pleasure of drinking recently is the Night Time by Lagunitas. It is an American Black Ale and is smoky, deep, bitter, and rich. It has a little bit of a spicy bite. I had it recently, but it would be a wonderful holiday beer with the warm spices. It’s a little reminiscent of chocolate and coffee, and is nutty. It’s 7.9% ABV, and 74 IBU’s. The beer cutely warns the drinker to “fear the dark” (pictured above).

On Saturday, I met a friend in San Clemente. The weather was amazing (I guess not surprising for SoCal this time of year). We had a beer at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar outside on the balcony, overlooking the ocean. I had a Red Seal Pale Ale by North Coast Brewing. It’s on the hoppy and flavorful side for a pale ale, and the color is sort of an amber. It starts to taste a bit sweeter and nuttier as it gets warner. It is 5.4% ABV and 42 IBU’s. Overall, nice beer (see below).

shareBearPic350

New Sculpins To Swig

Posted on by

Sculpin IPA is already delicious, crisp, powerful, and one of the greatest beers ever…but wait! There’s more! I finally tried Sculpin Grapefruit IPA. Drank it by the pool at a bachelorette party and it did not disappoint. In fact, I think I like it even better than the regular Sculpin IPA. It has the fresh, crisp, hoppiness of Sculpin but also comes with a lovely and well-balanced grapefruit flavor (pictured above), making it even fresher and more palatable on a hot day. I sat by the pool in the backyard of a mansion in Temecula’s wine country drinking this beer of the gods and texted a picture to my friend. She asked me if I’d died and gone to heaven. Seriously, very plausible at that moment.

shareBearPic483-001shareBearPic296

I also recently tried the Habanero Sculpin IPA. I’ve tried several spicy beers by now and I usually treat them like novelties; they are good as a one-time experience. After that, you get kind of tired of the way your throat burns and itches (even if you are a huge fan of spicy food like I am). As amazing as Ballast Point is, Habanero Sculpin fell into this category. Habanero Sculpin IPA definitely tasted like Sculpin IPA, but the masterful creation that is Sculpin IPA was somewhat muddled by the smoky, itchy habanero that grew more potent as the beer warmed in my hands (I wasn’t drinking slowly by any means, but by the time I got toward the bottom, quite spicy/itchy/weird). Sometimes you just gotta leave a good thing alone.

There is a Chinese idiom about not adding legs to the painting of a snake – meaning, if you’ve a got a good thing going, don’t add elements that don’t make sense or ruin what you have. Maybe not applicable to the Grapefruit, but probably a relevant idiom when it comes to the Habanero.

shareBearPic322