What you sippin on?

[Gameface]

Cigar City "Jai Alai" IPA

7.5%abv

The pics in these last three reviews have not been ones I've taken. Just full disclosure.

Okay, another story on the can: "Jai Alai, the 'merry game,' is a game native to the Basque region of Spain. Tampa was once home to this high speed game, but sadly all that remains here is this Pale Ale that we brewed in tribute to the merry game. Pair Jai Alai with Empanadas, Deviled Crabs, and other spicy dishes."

So they don't talk about flavors at all...

I bought this beer because of the can art. Was looking for a little filler and this one caught my attention.

Very surprising! A nice malty, kind of sweet, IPA. Floral hops. Less bitter than any of the last 10 IPAs I've had, but still firmly bitter. I think it might be as much about the variety as amount used. I would describe this as a somewhat fruity IPA vs the citrus stuff that is prominent right now.

I enjoyed it.

 

[Gameface]

2-Row "Accelerator" IPA

7%

The beer has a bit of syrupiness that I would normally associate with a Double IPA. At 7% I'd say it is solidly in IPA territory. It is very drinkable for an IPA. No harsh edges on this one. The aroma is more sweet than hoppy. I'd also say this one has more of a fruity and floral hop profile. Absolutely worth a try!

This is a brewery started by a local home brewer who was(is) active in the local home brewing community.

 

[Gameface]

Superfuzz

This is how this beer is supposed to look. All I did was ask them the question of if this is how it's supposed to look or not and I got the impression from them that it WAS NOT supposed to look this way. They are sending me like a free T-Shirt and some other stuff to make it up to me that I got a perfectly good beer. Weird.

Anyway, now that I'm drinking it without wondering if I got a messed up one, it's really good! A nice easy drinking pale ale. I'm gonna guess it's Cascade hops and maybe some Northern Brewer or Magnum along with some other stuff. I like the color a lot, it's what I go for on my YES. I think of it as sort of an orange marmalade color.

 

[Gameface]

I did pretty good guessing the hops, they use Cascade and Northern Brewer as their bittering hops and finish with Citra and Amarillo. Those are all hops I use regularly.

 

[Gameface]

I've got some Magic Hat beers I planned to drink today, but I think I'm gonna save them. Not feeling it today. They are a pretty highly regarded brewery. I'm really looking forward to trying "Ticket to Rye." Love rye in beer.

 

[Rubashov]

A great big cup of disillusionment and misery, standard for a Monday really.

 

[Boris]

Mold infested 90 day stale fountain water at the elementary I volunteered at ta help git ready for school start.

 

[Stoked]

Wife is pushing home renovations. Already put in new tile downstairs, put up shelves in the garage, installed some new appliances and tore out all the weeds and overgrowth in the front and back yards. Now I am painting the downstairs. Then it'll be the baseboards and trim. After that she wants to sod/seed the front and back yards, replace the handrails on the stairs, the mantle over the fireplace, the carpet, paint upstairs and replace the view of the front door from the landing with a reading/play nook for the kids.

I am going to be sipping on a lot of Johnny black during that process lol. Damn "Honey Do's"

 

[UGLI baby]

Haven't posted on jazzfanz for more than 6 months!

I've been in Switzerland for 2 and a half months, been drinking a LOT of beers here. Beer is better in America, but I drink 10x more when I'm here because drinking is such a part of the culture here. Very normal to walk through the streets drinking, drink on trains and busses, and if you have dinner with people and don't drink alcohol they ask you what's wrong. The church my wifes family goes to and we go to when we're here serves beer after service! On Fathers Day they gave all the dads in attendance a free beer lol. Very different drinking culture than in America. I can't even imagine drinking beer at church in the States. I bet I have tried at least 50 different beers since I've been here. Too bad I don't know how to review beers like Gameface. My reviews are more like thumbs up or thumbs down haha.

Anyways, I haven't taken pictures of most of the stuff I've been drinking here, but the other day I took pictures of some none Swiss beers I drank.

When my wife goes grocery shopping or runs errands in town I like to wait for her at the train station where I sit in one of those grubby chair massage things and drink beers. It is amazing.

This beer was disgusting. From Denmark I think

This beer was good. From Norway.

A pleasant, non-memorable beer.

Japanese beer. It was good.

A Hef from one of the bigger micro-breweries in Switzerland. Don't like it, but I like some of their other stuff.

This is the cheap German beer I am drinking now. Tastes like a cheap German beer.

They have some good blondes here, but other than that micro breweries in Nor-Cal blow anything here out of the water IMO.

Also, went to Croatia for our honeymoon a couple months ago, and you have to search very hard for a good beer there. 99% of places just have two beers and they are like the Budweiser and Coors of Croatia.

Another thing, Scotch is 100x more prevalent here than Bourbon, and I would just like to say that anyone reading this who prefers Scotch to Bourbon is a lunatic and probly likes eating dirt and old cigars.






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[Keefe]

^
Lowenbrau was way popular here in the States about 30 years ago.

 

[Boris]

Tijuana Mule, inspired by infested's thread. Tequila fresh lime Serrano pepper syrup an ginger beer.

 

[Gameface]

I've been digging Trooper by Roberson's

It's definitely an English beer, and is similar in style to what I make most often.

Tonight I tried Trooper Hallowed, which is a sort of Belgian style English beer. I feel like the Belgian part was pretty subdued, mostly a medium colored English ale that I assume was fermented with a Belgian yeast, but seemingly in a way to minimize the Belgian character. I liked it, it just seems like it has an identity issue.

But now I'm sippin' on the first beer I've made since I made my beer for the Beehive Brew Off. It's an American Rye Pale Ale with citra hops (and cascade and northern brewer, but the focus is on citra). It finished pretty dry but still has a nice malty component thanks to my water profile modification and the bitterness is a little more than it probably should be, but the beer is young so that will likely calm down. They rye and the citra are VERY noticable, both in flavor and aroma. The color is a half shade darker than Budweiser, if even that much.

 

[Gameface]

So besides two versions of YES and Pistol Porter that I have on tap I picked up a few beers on my way out from Kiitos Brewing's Tap Room Grand Opening.

 

[Gameface]

My first impression while pouring this beer was "Wow, this is a light color for a double IPA!" My second impression was "Humm, this isn't very clear for a commercial beer." But the hop aromatics are definitely there on this one. I can't quite place the hops, but I've had them before, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Mosaic are the featured hops in this beer. I have pretty much zero sensitivity to hop bitterness, but my guess would be that if you do this would be on the top end of bitter. I can taste hop harshness, and I get a little of the onion flavor I've heard can come from Mosaic. The malt profile is clean, but I think they under-did the malt while way overdoing the hops.

It's hard to blame a new brewery for doing a double IPA. They sell. They don't need to be good, really, they still sell more than the beers they do well. But overall I'd say Kiitos is a middle of the road brewery. I don't want to say that, but I can't point to anything they do and claim otherwise. That said, I'm perfectly okay with a middle of the road brewery. I like beer. Making decent beer isn't easy, but it isn't hard, either. I like that there are local breweries making beer that I can drink. I'm happy to support a new one that has potential to make excellent beer at some point, even if that point is not right now.

Their tap room is above average in a lot of ways. If you want to cruise local tap rooms this one needs to be on your list.

As a fun aside, I think this is the closest brewery to my childhood home that there is. It says 1.7 miles on foot, but that's because you have to cross I-15 and double back. As a bird flies it's less than a mile, if you take my address and just add up blocks up plus blocks over it is less than 1.1 miles.

 

[Gameface]

So I'm gonna talk about my own beer.

Dirty glass...

Anyway, I made two batches of British Strong Bitter, formerly known as Extra Special Bitter, which I call YES (Young's Extra Special). I made two batches which were otherwise identical except for a significant water chemistry variable. I am new to using a RO system then building my water back up to achieve the desired water profile for the style I'm making. Two of the major components that affect the way we perceive the flavor of beer are chloride and sulfate. You can add additional chloride by using Calcium Chloride (CaCl, sometimes the dihydrate version CaCl2) and you can add sulfate by using Gypsum. Chloride is said to round out the flavor, give it softer edges, accentuate the maltiness. Sulfate is said to dry the finish of the beer, accentuate the bitterness and hop flavors, give the beer some "snap."

So I made YES twice, once using a higher ratio of chloride, the other time using a higher ratio of sulfate. I had my assumptions. My assumptions were wrong. I figured, the malt lover that I am, that I would prefer the higher chloride version. I was disappointed when I took my post fermentation gravity readings from each batch and the chloride version finished lower (had greater attenuation, meaning more of the sugar had been converted to alcohol) I figured it was no longer a fair test, that if I liked the chloride version it might just be because it not only fermented more, but then gave back with some focus on the malt. Meanwhile the higher sulfate version still had more residual sweetness, so the effects of the dryer finish would be mitigated.

It's not close. It's not like I have to tilt my head sideways and squint and make up a reason to like one more than the other. The higher sulfate beer is clean and crisp and tastes like quality. The higher chloride beer has a unenjoyable aspect that it's hard to put a finger on. I've tasted it before, since switching to RO and using chloride. It is what doomed my YES entry in 2017, I'm pretty sure. Just tastes muddled, dirty even. They are the same beer yet one tastes clean and the other very muddled.

It was exceptionally eye-opening.

I intend to present both versions to my home brew club next weekend to get their feedback. I really don't expect to be surprised by their impressions, but if I am I'll have a lot to consider just as soon as it seemed I was gaining some clarity.

 

[Gameface]

Okay, last one tonight.

Pistol Porter. I like double entendres and this is intended to be one. Most obvious, it's a porter and it's got some firepower, like a pistol. Second, I'm in utah and many people are porting around their pistols. I've always had a label in mind for this one, a tall red-head in a skirt leaning against a bar counter, with one leg cocked up on the rail that causes her skirt to ride up just high enough so that her inner thigh holstered pistol is visible. Would love to actually see that image... Bronco70?

Anyway, I'm not going to be shy, I've never had a better porter. I am generally disappointed in porters. This thing is solid. I'll report back the second I drink a porter I like better.

This guy is smooth. Chocolaty, full, but clean. You can imagine a little coffee if you put your mind to it, but I don't. There is more of a full malt richness supported by velvety chocolate.

I use a lot of brown malt, base it in Marris Otter malt and just a hint of chocolate malt and caramel malt. Hops are secondary in this beer. Maybe tertiary.

This beer has taken first in the Brown British Beer category two years running, the two years I've used this recipe. The first year it was 4th in the best of show round, but 4th is not a recognized finishing position, I wouldn't have known if I wasn't there.

 

[Ron Mexico]

So besides two versions of YES and Pistol Porter that I have on tap I picked up a few beers on my way out from Kiitos Brewing's Tap Room Grand Opening.

I didn't try their IPA's but I have had everything else from them. I thought their sour beer was okay but the best beer they have to me is there Coconut Porter beer. I really liked it.

Have you tried A Fisher brewing's new English bitter? I thought it was pretty good.

I also tried epics new Gose with agave worms and crickets. It was fun but nothing special.

 

[Gameface]

I didn't try their IPA's but I have had everything else from them. I thought their sour beer was okay but the best beer they have to me is there Coconut Porter beer. I really liked it.

Have you tried A Fisher brewing's new English bitter? I thought it was pretty good.

I also tried epics new Gose with agave worms and crickets. It was fun but nothing special.

I haven't tried any Fisher beers, but the brew club has done the last several of their happy hour things there and they said it was because it was just the best venue for having a brew club happy hour around, despite limitations.

I will try them out. I can't get tot the happy hour things because they are on Wednesday eve while I'm working.

I really like Proper Brewing's English Golden Ale. I'm looking forward to trying Fisher's English Bitter.

 

[♪alt13]

Wasatch Brewery Jalapeño Cream Ale

kinda awesome. Needs a buttery head to be perfect

 

[Keefe]

Had the best beer I’ve ever had a couple weeks back. I’m not as well versed as BP and some others on here perhaps but drink a lot and always use DogFish Head’s 60 and 90 as my barometer of what great beers should be. Southern Tier is another brewery who hits a home run more often than not.

Anyway, Stillwater on Fleek was simply sublime and was prob the best beer I’ve ever had. 13% abv and just so damn perfect. Reminded me of a much better Guinness. Prob better because it was keg beer but still. Drink it if you find it.