Rockies Brew » Tastings

Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:45:51 +0000

After a nice Sunday stroll along the East Gallatin River, we stopped by Vino Per Tutti, a great little wine in Bozeman that is carrying a great, if not small, selection of craft beers. Brewed for Monk’s Cafe in Philly by Br. Van Steenberge in Belgium, Monk’s Cafe is a Flemish Sour Red Ale, or, more accurately, an Oud Bruin, which is a traditional blend of young and old beers.. This is my first dive into this particular sour style. The one notion that keeps coming up in my mind as I drink this brew is cherries. It smells and tastes like a dry homemade cherry wine like some of fruit hooch that I had in my younger days.

Appearance: The head was a thin linen white head. It has all the looks of sparkling cherry juice. Laces glass nicely with sticky little bubbles.

Aroma: Cherries with almost cheese-like funkiness.

Mouthfeel: Highly carbonated, which effectively cleanses the palette, and a bit thin on the aftertaste, actually.

Taste: Cherry wine with pear notes followed by sweaty horse blanket. Dissipates quickly from the palette. Sourness is not pronounced as I had expected.

Redneck Rating: It’s Alright

Smoked, sweet and hoppy

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:53:11 +0000

Last night, we meet for a little beer and food pairing tasting. For the food end of things, I brought my Honey-chipotle jerky. This was paired with the Stone Brewing Smoked Porter. And for dessert, Sam made homemade ice cream with from-scratch butterscotch and caramel sauces, which was pair with the John John Ale for Rogue River Brewing. I did forget my camera…absent minded. So, here is a middle review of the John John Ale.

Appearance: The thinnest of heads atop a rich honey color. Somewhat hazy as it is bottle-conditioned.

Aroma: Malty caramel and vanilla tones from the oak barrels.

Taste: Wow, great complexity. Up front there is a significant floral and pine. It is amazing that this beer is only 40 IBU. The mid-palette has honey and caramel highlights. Then, the surprise…this wonderful vanilla-oak that arises from the throat with the swallow.

Mouthfeel: Silken and smooth. Very little carbonation

Overall: This paired with the vanilla ice cream and butterscotch…hedonist, indeed. This was in my top 10 beer experiences.

Redneck Grade: Slap your momma, your sister, and your wife!

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball Ale

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:50:39 +0000

In an ode to the Beer Report, this beer is f*cking metal! It comes in a six pack which would be great if you split between 3 guys. At 8.8% ABV, it a stout mutha. Imagine my surprise when I found this little treasure in the back of gas station’s beer cooler.

Appearance: Scant white head that rather rapidly dissipates. Dark reddish-brown that is clear. Has legs like wine, or “that” girl from high school.

Aroma: Rather subtle bourbon with some floral and malt notes.

Taste: Wonderful flavors of vanilla toast, if that makes any sense. I guess, I mean that it is very malty with a unique mix of floral, vanilla, and caramel on top of a grainy maltiness.

Mouthfeel: Very full feeling, coats my entire palette.

Overall: I really enjoyed this brew, then again I have been a fan of all of Lagunitas seasonal releases.

Redneck Grade: Slap your momma!

Sidenote: I was going to do a video review except a ‘typical’ blizzard descended on Montucky…next review.

Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot Ale

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:15:19 +0000

An unique brown ale that is sweet and robust at the same time.

Appearance: One-finger head that is tinged with tan. Reddish-brown in color. Moderation carbonation.

Aroma: This may be a bit esoteric, but I was reminded of ponderosa pine – piney with hints of vanilla and floral.

Taste: The piney hoppiness attacks at first. The malts had caramel sweetness, which I find enjoyable in brown ales.

Mouthfeel: Surprising light and crisp on the palette.

Overall: I really enjoyed this brew, then again I have been a fan of all of Lagunitas seasonal releases. Overall grade: B+

Full Sail Vesuvius

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:11:43 +0000

A Belgian Golden Ale named after a volcano that buried thousands of toga wearing Romans alive. This beer buries you alive with a distinct wet straw and sour aroma and an unique lemon pepper flavor with the consistent sour.

Appearence: Hazy grassy golden with a finely bubbled one-finger head.

Aroma: The only way I can describe it is sour, wet straw. You know that straw that has been left out in the rain only to be baked under a relentless sun. Maybe a piece or two of horse manure as well. That kinda smell…sounds gross but I actually like it.

Taste: A peppery, sour, citrus wit funk. Vaguely off-putting.

Mouthfeel: Moderate with less carbonation I expected or would have liked.

Overall: Its alright…not great, not piss-pour. Worth drinking once, but maybe not twice.

Ruination IPA from Stone Brewing

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:04:26 +0000

What’s in a name? Well, Ruination IPA from Stone does everything it’s name implies. It was a wonderfully bitter and mouth-coating beer that it truly “ruined” my mouth for the rest of the night. To borrow a line from the Groucho and CHUD at the Beer Report, “Pucker up, Buttercup”

Appearance: Poured a hazy orangy-amber with a one-finger white head.

Aroma: Grapefruit and some floral

Mouthfeel: Completely mouth coating with medium body.

Taste: Extremely bitter with grapefruit and pine tastes.

I would give this brew an A, not a A+ because it does not allow me to have anything else all night, including another Ruination.

Alaskan Brewing Company Smoked Porter

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:23:28 +0000

Appearance: Fluffy tan head on top of a inky, black beverage.

Aroma: Not to be too artsy fartsy, but it smells like a distant smokehouse in a landscape of malted barley.

Taste and mouthful: The flavor is like a mixture of smoked salmon and coffee in a great way. The salmon flavor is not fishy, but rather a memory brought by the alder smoke, which is used in this beer and for smoking salmon traditionally. Very full mouthfeel with a silky texture.

Overall: I love smoked beers, and given that this beer reminds me of smoked salmon, which I am a huge fan of as well, you can imagine that I rate this one very highly. I give this one a serious 9 thumbs up.

Grand Teton Brewing Lost Continent Double IPA

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:19:10 +0000

Thank God the Montana ABV Laws have been changed…let the flood of great beers begin.

My first "legal" strong beer is the Lost Continent from the Grand Teton Brewing Company. It is a double IPA with some residual sweetness. The beer is bottle-conditioned; however, that information on the label would have been useful.

Aroma: You can smell the sweetness and citris

Appearence: Hazy, orangish-amber

Taste: Piney and citrus without being bitter on the front. Lingering bitterness on the rear of the pallette.

Overall: Enjoyable, but I was wanting something a bit bigger.

I’m back…Review of the second best beer ever!!

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:12:38 +0000

Just so there are no hurt feelings, the greatest beer ever comes from the same brewery, in my not-so-humble opinion. Drumroll…the second greatest beer ever is the Funky Virtue from the Bozeman Brewing Company. I talk to Tucker (part of the brewing staff), and here goes the creation myth of this unique brew. The brewers were working on a Belgian Strong Ale but at the end of fermentation, the beer was too sweet due to residual sugars. So toss it out, right? Wrong, the geniuses thought to stick the batch into used oak barrels that once stored port, and add an assload of cherries and Brettanomyces. Then, forget about it for two years.

The result, a Cherry Belgian Strong Sour Ale…or as I call it yummy. Not a cherry bomb, but mellow cherry up front that fades into a barnyard and wine flavor. I know, I know, I overuse the term “barnyard”, but hell it fits. This is very beefy at 10% ABV.

Good news: It amazing

Bad news: It can never be re-created as evident in Tucker’s shrugged shoulders when I asked him about it.

Bayern Brewing Maibock

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:40:13 +0000

Maibock, does anything say early summer better. Malty and hoppy all at the same time.

Appearance: An half inch white foamy head atop a orange-amber beverage.

Aroma: Citrus and honey on the nose.

Taste and mouth: Full mouth from this malt bomb followed by a near pale ale bitterness.

Overall: Not having many maibocks, this is a good beer that is worth drinking a time or two.

Brewer Information:

Bayern Brewing – Missoula, Montana