Tag: beer6

There must be a hop variety which tastes like blood, because i’ve had another IPA, from Oskar Blues, with the same odd flavor as this one from Trouble Brewery. Not off-putting, just an odd flavor for a beer to have. Then again, the package has two cans in a boxing match and the top of the can bears a slogan: “Here Comes Trouble,” so maybe it actually is blood?

Slightly darker and fuller-bodied than many IPAs, not crazy hoppy, but enough to confirm that it is what it says it is. Reminds me of that American India Pale Ale from Saranac, with the hearty real-beer base beneath the hops. I like it. 5.9% alks in here, and that heavier beer base, so it’s not a summery IPA, but i like it in July anyway. Good price at $13.29 for the sampler 12, called A Pack Of Trouble, and a sixer was $8.29 so it’s only five bucks for the bonus six, and i really like that.

The taste is middling, lower on the IBU scale, but the body is higher quality than many. Deliberation and contemplation ensues, and i think a 6.7 is a fair rating here. Had better but had worse too, and at $1.10 per can it’s a square deal. In fact, the price is so appealing that i hope the other 3 varieties in the sampler 12 are as good. Would be hard to spend $8.29 on six of these, but $13.29 for 12 in a range of styles sounds like a great idea. If the others are good, will definitely get another Pack Of Trouble.

A pretty good one, right in the middle of the pack. Nothing stellar but nothing screwed up either. A mighty fine IPA. 6.43% alk in this one, though how they can be that specific about their gravity is an oddment. Lightly cloudy beer, more clear than cloud, and it effervesces more than usual for an IPA. Definitely like this, but at $9 for six and that’s a buck-off on sale, there are better beers out there at the price.

There’s also a slight metallic taste to this IPA, which could just be hops playing tricks on my tongue, or it could have something to do with the other Oskar ale i tried,  the “Pinner,” which tasted lightly like blood. Maybe it’s their water source, bringing in extra iron, i don’t know.

But the hops are well done, the body is midgrade, and it’s tasty. Ish. Rating here is 6.2 but would be higher without that metallic twinge.

Now that’s a tasty brew. Well-priced at $19 for a 15-pack, quite heavy when it comes to the hops, and not much beer body to talk about, but this IPA has a job to do and it’s great for what it is. They call it All Day because you can supposedly drink it all day long without crashing the boat onto the rocks. At a reasonable 4.7% alk, a few won’t trash you out when it’s time to pack up the reels and the rods and stow the Evinrude under the tarp.

Great camping beer, which is what it’s designed for. High hop flavor (42 IBU’s) means that you’d be reluctant to pound these down willy-nilly anyway, but when you get out onto the pond or finish the burgs and dogs and tater salad and are letting the fire die down, this is a fine beer to kick back with. And the low alk means you can still fight off that bear with a stick, or dodge that flying carp before it tail-slaps you across the mug.

I like the hoppiness, but can’t drink these one after the other because of the very tart hops. But when i want a pop on my tongue after a few lagers, this is a great way to spice up the flavor. Like it, will buy more at this price-point, and rate it a 6.8 for being a working dog, not a show dog. Good boy, who’s a good dog? You are! Now go fetch me a Founders, atta boy.

Label says it’s a 102-year-old recipe from the brewery’s founder, F. X. Matt, using lighter malts. The color, however, is a bit darker than most IPAs, and the aroma fresh-poured is a sweet malty beer. They say the light malt is to let the hops “shine through” although the hoppy taste is a bit understated, compared to its peers. Then again, i did just have some of the hoppiest beer known to man yesterday, so my perceptions may be skewed.

None of the label matters in the end, it’s all about the taste. And this one is quite good. As you get deeper in the glass, the hops do shine brighter, though the beer does not become lighter. Which is a good thing. I’ve tried some of the IPLs out there, and Saranac’s own APA, and they are fuller-bodied beers and i like them a great deal because of it. In this example too, the heartier beer side of the flavor is cause for a like, although not a swoon.

Carbonation seems heavier, at least in the bottle i got; had me burping before the halfway mark. Alk content 6.5% though Saranac doesn’t think we need to know that because they hide it next to warning to drivers, preggers and machinery operators. You know, after this fourth Saranac variety, i think they really do benefit from being near the Adirondacks, and presumably easy to get at a source of good mountain spring water. All of them have a really clean taste deep inside the beer, underneath everything else.

Not a masterpiece of its genre, not so much crafty as craft-ish, but a fine beer nonetheless. Very drinkable, the hops grow in importance as the beer progresses, which means the aftertaste is factoring into the complete experience, as it should in an IPA. It’s a pleasing beer all around, i’ll give this one a 6.7 because if i had the choice, i’d prefer to buy their American Pale Ale with the thicker body and the same hops.

All that being said, the pricing weighs on my ratings for all the Saranac beers. They’re good, but a competitor outdoes most of them at the same price point. For example, Yeungling’s IPL was at $4.99 per sixer when introduced, and i snapped it up regularly at that price. Then the local monopoly grocer jacked it up to $6.99 so i stopped buying it. For that price, there are simply better beers out there for $1.14 a bottle. If Saranac can get the retail down to $6 for a sixpack then i’d be a regular customer. But at 9 bucks… meh.