New Belgium Brut IPA

For a New Year's blog a champagne-like beer seemed appropriate, so I decided to take a look at New Belgium's Brut IPA. The Brut IPA puts a fun champagne-like spin on the style. It's wonderfully effervescent, super dry, light on hop bitterness and very refreshing. After some deliberation while beer shopping, I decided to purchase New Belgium's Brut IPA for this blog. As a fan of New Belgium, I was particularly excited to see their take on the style.

As I started pouring Brut IPA, I found myself enjoying the sight of a light golden, clear IPA. I am by no means tired of hazy NE-IPAs but this was a nice change of pace. The aroma is tropical, citrusy(zesty lemon, grapefruit & orange), and a touch white wine-like, with herbal tea notes. The first bubbly sip was enjoyable with grapefruit, lemon, white grape, pineapple, grass and herbal tea. The hops are a dialed back a bit as expected with the style but what is there is really nice. The finish is where things took a turn for me. While a dry finish it is what you should expect from the style, in New Belgium's Brut IPA's case it is extremely dry & astringent, to the point I felt I needed a tall glass of water once I finished it.

New Belgium's take on a Brut IPA is not all bad but one bottle goes a very long way. As I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed the hop flavor. There was a nice touch of grain in there as well, it just all fell apart in the finish. This is a beer I would love to revisit down the line to see if the recipe gets tweaked slightly. The potential for something great is there. In its current state, it would work for a toast at midnight on New Year's if options are limited. As a session beer, I advise you to look elsewhere.

As far as the style of Brut IPA goes, I am excited to see how big this style gets. Brut IPAs are growing in popularity by the day with more and more breweries attempting them. I look forward to trying and writing about many more.

Overall rating: 2.5/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Happy New Year!

El Segundo Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA

There are few beers I have looked forward to trying more than El Segundo Brewing Company's Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA. The idea of a beer designed by the Beer Swilling Texas Rattle Snake Stone Cold Steve Austin was something I just had to try. The fact that it was not distributed in New York is the only reason I had yet to get my hands on a bottle. With the holidays here I found myself looking for a unique wrestling gift for a friend, and a bottle of Broken Skull IPA seemed like the perfect gift. Since I was going to order one, I thought I might as well get a second one to try to find out if this West Coast IPA was everything I hoped it would be.

As I poured Broken Skull IPA into my glass, I was immediately greeted by its wonderfully bold hop aroma. Loads of sticky pine resin, along with zesty grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine and an herbal spiciness seemed to jump out of the glass. I could not wait to take my first "swig of beer" and when I did I was immediately rewarded by the bold flavors of citrus and pine. Grapefruit and tangerine in particular shine, along with a touch of tropical fruit. The citrus and fruit notes provide a nice contrast to the pine & grass, which I have to admit is more subdued than I expected, but it is just the right amount for this beer. The doughy malt backbone is light but that is all that is needed here. Then a really nice touch of herbal spiciness from the Chinook hops comes in just before the crisp, clean finish.

As I worked my way through the 22 oz. bomber, I found myself stunned(see what I did there?) by how easy Broken Skull IPA was to drink. At 6.7% ABV, it is not exactly an ideal session beer but that is exactly what it drinks like. If this was available in New York, it would be a staple in my refrigerator because it is a well-made brew that is accessible to a craft beer novice as well as the more experienced craft beer enthusiast. I guess what I am trying to say is, if someone offers you a chance to try Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA, give them an OH HELL YEAH!


Overall rating: 4.25/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Ommegang Game of Thrones: King In The North

I have only purchased a few beers in Ommegang's Game of Thrones series. The main reason for this is that I felt underwhelmed by the early entries in the series outside of Fire & Blood and decided that maybe they were a bit too gimmicky for my taste. The 2018 Game of Thrones Royal Reserve Collection had a few offerings that piqued my interest, but nothing that got me to walk out of the store with a bottle-- that was until I saw the final entry in the series.

King in the North is a barrel aged imperial stout and in early December that seems to be the only style I want to drink and blog about. I apologize for this but every time a season begins to change, I find myself looking for beer that I feel defines the season. Huge imperial stouts fit that bill and if they are aged in a barrel, even better.

King in the North is aged in a bourbon barrel, but immediately on the nose I noticed the barrel aging was not as bold as I normally like. Instead, there is the aroma of a really nice imperial stout. There is a lot of roast, dark chocolate, a touch of coffee, smoke, a hint of dark fruit and oak tannins. I was looking for more of a vanilla or bourbon note but unfortunately there was not much there.

When I took my first sip of King in the North, I was hit with a huge amount of roast, bittersweet dark chocolate, molasses, plum, dark cherry, smoke, and brown sugar with a boozy, earthy, fruity, peppery, woody finish. There is a lot to like here, the flavors line up nicely for what I would expect from a great Belgian-style imperial stout. I just wanted the barrel to shine a bit more. There were hints of vanilla, but the oak was the strongest note from the barrel. My other criticism is that King in the North is a touch thin. For a beer brewed for Jon Snow, I wanted it to have just little bit more body. Nevertheless, I enjoyed King in the North, it is a solid beer that is priced very reasonably and its bottle presentation is excellent. It also pairs nicely with the season 8 teaser trailer.

Overall rating: 3.5/5


Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

To discuss this blog or all things beer like my Facebook page

Look for me on Instagram & Untappd and Twitter @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!