The Saturday evening Post About Beer: Red Trolley Ale

Ever since I was introduced to this delicious amber ale it has been a constant source of desire for my beer drinking palate. Unfortunately, it is expensive ($10 a six pack on sale) and so I am constrained by my frugality from acquiring it more often.

However, that did not stop me last week, when a friend from out of town and I slipped on down to the local Von's and purchased six of the little devils.

The aroma of ale is pleasant with a touch of sweet. The malt comes through in a nice, rounded and middling fashion. 

The color is true to form: Amber. Perhaps a little deeper than others.

The initial taste is hoppy, then transitioning into the malty savor I expect from an Amber Ale. The aftertaste is roasted hoppy without the bit of an IPA. Which I like.

There are some Amber's that can be enjoyed straight from the bottle (such as Fat Tire). This is not one of them. Get yourself an ale glass to enjoy this one properly.

Currently one of my favorite Ambers on the market

****

The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: Great White

It's been forever since I've done a Saturday Evening Post About Beer, and for that I owe you all a sincere apology. This installation features my most recent go-to on a warm California evening: Lost Coast Brewery's Great White.

While it is true that I cut my teeth on IPAs, I've made a left turn from there and generally headed into Belgian country. And while Great White isn't necessarily a Belgian, its flavor profile appeals to those who are inclined towards them.

The case may be made that there is little extraordinary about Great White; it fulfills all the criteria of a Whitbeir, generally mild mannered-no irrational outbursts of hoppiness, no overly roasted barley sensations. In short, what sets Great White apart is its balance and easy drinkability. And I'm not talking about Budlight drinkability. I'm talking about nicely nuanced flavor that starts off tart and then transitions into a sweet effervescence. In between tart and effervescent is a savory Whitbeir flavor that walks the line between buttery Heffe and bittery Pilsner. The arroma, as other have noted, is mild. Not weak, but mild. A sort of gentlemanly strength that is confident enough to not flex his muscles every time a woman walks by. That kind of mild. The color is nice and yellow without being see through clear.

All in all, I give this one my unreserved stamp of approval. It's not going to get a five star review, but when I'm not looking for champagne beer or feeling curious about something radical, Great White is a perfect every-day beer. And as Lost Coast expands, Great White is increasingly easy to come by!

Rating: ***1/2

The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: Spaten Optimator

So Doppelbock's are not always my favorite, but I've been hearing such good things about Spaten Optimator I figured I'd give it a try. And that try warranted a review here.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by the complexity of flavor in the Optimator: there is an initial sweetness followed by a savory body that settles on the outside of the tongue. The aftertaste has two stages. The initial stage is standard Doppelbock; a good dose of hops. The second stage is more of what I've come to expect from a Belgian ale; a lingering sweetness that brings to mind caramel.

All in all, a very enjoyable beer, and it may have made a Doppelbock fan out of me... for now.

***1/2

One side note: this is a strong beer, if you have two, do not plan on driving.

Saturday Evening Post About Beer: Golden Road's "Get up offa that brown"

Golden Road's "get up offa that brown" was an interesting Brown Ale, but I can't say as I liked it. For a Brown it was quite sharp, holding a long hop note at the end that I didn't particularly enjoy.

While I assume a desire for "nut brown" in this ale, I was disappointed by the nut flavor, which seemed to carry with it a connotation of burning. It was like when you're eating roasted sunflower seeds and get one that was too close to the roaster that completely destroys the sweet build up of flavor in your mouth. that was how the nuts came across in this Brown Ale.

Over all, not worth a second go. But feel free to disagree with me :)

*

The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: New Belgium's Blue Paddle

I confess, I'm not a Lager/Pilsner guy. "Why do you keep trying them then?" you may be asking, and the answer is that I want to like them! I want to find one that tickles some nerve in my pallet or affords some pleasure here-to-fore undiscovered on a hot summer afternoon. But alas, they continue to only meet my expectations of mediocrity.

The same holds true for New Belgium's entry into the fray. I had high hopes for this one, too! With their penchant for complex and hoppy brews I thought that this would be the Lager I would like (I confess, I didn't actually buy it for it's own sake, it was a part of a sampler pack). But alas, it fell victim to the same fate which befell Sierra Nevada's Summerfest: it just tasted like beer. which is not a bad thing. But I wanted more. I wanted brilliance. I wanted a beer that tasted great before it warmed up enough to lose some enjoyability in the hot Pasadena sun. But alas, it was not to be

The trouble with this one is that it has no aroma hops, only bittering hops. And even those fashion themselves into a delicate aftertaste: subtle, soft, and annoying. The kind of annoying that can't quite articulate itself into anything more meaningful than a tickle in the back of ones throat. This again is much the same as any number of Lager type beers on the market today, and to be honest, you might as well go and pay a buck for a PBR as spend more money for something that tastes about the same.

**
2 Stars

The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: "Bootlegger's Rustic Rye IPA"

Rye IPA's are something of an enigma to me, I've never been able to put my finger on how I feel about it. On the one hand, there's a great complexity to them, on the other hand, they ride a little dry for my liking.

Bootlegger's take on the genre is consistent to it's claim. The finish is what one would expect from a Craft Brewed IPA, and the Rye bit adds an interesting complexity. The flavor seems to start forward and work it's way back, with the aftertaste holding steady on the back of the tongue.

Final assessment, the jury is still out on Rye IPAs. This one was one of the better ones, and if you like 'em, find this one.

**

Saturday Evening Post About Beer "Avery Karma"

This Belgian Pale Ale, despite having a relatively low alcohol content for a Belgian (5.2%), has a wonderful front end sweetness. This is followed by a somewhat floral/citrus middle and the characteristic hoppy aftertaste, which lingers for just long enough. The traditional red-ish caramel color conceals what is a surprisingly bright and lively ale, perfect for a hot spring day, and the lowered alcohol content means you can have two and still stand-up :)

Belgian Pale Ales are my favorite, and this one does not disappoint. While perhaps not as complex as some of the more pricey varieties, the flavor is pleasant and the price is right.

Overall Rating: 3 and 1/2 stars ***1/2

Saturday Evening Post About Beer

Sorry for the delay on this one: I've been sick...

Enough with apologies, here's the belated Saturday Evening Post!

:Young's Double Chocolate Stout:

The first thing that stuck out about this beer was the Chocolate. If you were to drink cold Hot Chocolate and a Guinness at the same time, you'd be getting close to this stout. Yet the initial sweetness gave way almost immediately to a smooth, creamy savor that lasted just long enough to appreciate the dark chocolate flavor, but not long enough to make me resent it. Flavor location was on the outsides of the the tongue initially, and then on the back of the pallet in stage two. What aftertaste there was was pleasant and varied little from beginning to end. Overall an excellent choice when in the mood for a stout.

Overall: 4 Stars - ****

The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: "Summerfest"

Whether we like it or not, we are all driven by the need to be meaningful. We want our lives to mean something, and we are willing to look almost anywhere for that meaning. Some of us find our meaning in creating something beautiful, others find it in popularity. Or, more commonly, we find it in a combination of any number of things - from beauty, to money to power. But at the basest of levels we want life to mean something.

In the coming weeks and months I will be exploring this idea of meaning, from the paradox of an artist needing to convey meaning to be meaningful to the meaningfulness of a cold beer, this blog will be devoted to meaning. I hope to publish between two and three posts a week, with a Saturday evening post being devoted to beer. So with that in mind...

:Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager:

This cold-brewed beer espouses some of the traditional characteristics I have come to expect from a cold-brewed barley-pop: Light color, middle pallet flavor and a dry roasted aftertaste. The major drawback for this beer is its largely unoriginal flavor. This could be one of any number of Craft brewed Lagers, and as such fails to distinguish itself from even some more mass produced varieties such as Harp. It still beats having no beer, but at $14 a 12 pack, it is over-priced by my estimation. As a pairing note, a mid-quality bourbon such as Makers Mark brought out a latent sweetness in the beer, and added to the overall experience. 

Final verdict: 2 out of 5 Stars - **