Love Good Beer

Review: Hells Gate Pale Ale

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | Beer, Review | 5 Comments

I have fallen in love with Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale. This modestly priced brew retails for $10.40 in BC liquor stores, although often times I find it on sale for $8.95 – a few dollars below most BC craft beer. As a result of finding this hidden gem tucked away beside a range of under appreciated beer, I have begun a quest in search of the best “value priced” beer in BC. Over the next few weeks I will purchase, drink, and review all “value priced” Pale Ale available in BC – any beer over $10.40 will be excluded. If you have any beer recommendations please let me know.

Pale Ale is one of my favourite styles of beer, but only when brewed to style. Pale ale should be pleasantly malty with a mild sweetness that is balanced by a noticeable hop flavour and aroma. Most serious brewers offer a version of pale ale, although this style typically varies a great deal – as long as the brew is pale and ale it may be correctly, or incorrectly labeled pale ale. Choosing pale ale also helps to eliminate the large contingent of over proof lagers brewed for the sole purpose of drunken tomfoolery. I want to review beer that is brewed to taste great – with plenty of room for tomfoolery on the side. Pale ale is the perfect style of beer for this challenge.

First up for review is Hells Gate Brewing Pale Ale, coming in at a whopping $8.95 for six cans. Hells Gate Brewing is owned by the Mark Anthony Group, the owners of Mission Hill Winery and a range of spirituous beverages. Hells Gate is a new brewer in the Vancouver region, and has launched this new brand with a small teaser campaign. This means their website contains only a small description of their two new brews and an online postcard from their Brewmaster. I hate teaser campaigns.

I bought this beer thinking it was pale ale; after all it is labeled pale ale, but their website claims otherwise describing it as Canadian Style Amber Ale. Adding to the confusion, the text on the can states, we cold age our beer to lock in the flavour. I’m not sure what this means. Cold aging sounds a lot like the lagering processes, but I have no idea what lagering has to do with locking in flavour and why the Brewmaster would lager ale? But this is about beer, not my distain for Hells Gate’s confusing communication strategy.

This beer pours a light copper, not quite amber, with a small white head that dissipates quickly. Don’t look at head retention too much here; my glass may have been improperly rinsed after washing with soap. The hop aroma is almost impossible to find, but I’m sure it is there somewhere. This pale ale has a somewhat sour aroma with a hint of toasted bread. The flavour is on the sweet side and is poorly balanced – again the hop flavour is hard to find. There is a subtle toasted bread almost dough like flavour – this was a pleasant surprise. This beer finished with a lingering sour note. Overall, this beer tasted more like a cross between cream ale and light amber ale, not pale ale.

I can’t say this beer is a winner, but it is better than most overpriced macrobrewed beer. In time, I’m sure Hells Gate will work out the kinks in their system and offer great beer – its just not there yet.

Erik

Tags: Central City Brewing, Hells Gate Brewing, Mark Anthony Group, Mission Hill Winery, Pale Ale, Red Racer Pale Ale, Value Priced Beer

Review: Granville Island Brewing Merry Monks Doppelbock – Aged

Friday, January 9th, 2009 | Review | 2 Comments

This is the first review of an aged beer on this site- there will be many more to come, but sadly we will have to wait at least six months for more beer to mature. For an impatient person such as myself, this is quite a challenge. During this waiting period, we will be busy stocking up our cellars providing updates about our most recent cellar additions in our new page The Cellar.

Year Brewed: 2007
Time in Cellar: 13 Months

This Christmas I poured the first beer from my cellar, Granville Island’s Merry Monks Doppelbock. I tried this big lager while visiting Granville Island’s tasting room November 2007 – it wasn’t my favorite beer that day. The malt flavour was intense, as a doppelbock should be, but the alcohol taste was overpowering. I put a single bottle of the beer in my cellar hoping that the alcohol taste would mellow and more complex flavours would develop.

The strong alcoholic flavour is still present, although somewhat more subdued after sitting for a year. The powerful malt flavour has mellowed a bit, taking on a rich toffee taste. As expected, the mild hop flavour present in the fresh brew is almost nonexistent in the cellared beer. The beer is smooth and almost creamy, but one year was probably not enough time in the cellar. Granville Island no longer brews this seasonal beer, if you happen to have one in your cellar I recommend letting it age for a few more years.

Erik

Tags: Aged, Beer, cellar, Granville Island Brewing, Merry Monks Doppelbock

Review: Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 | Review | No Comments

It wasn’t too hard for the guy at Brewery Creek to sell me on a Palo Santo Marron, seeing as I had heard good things about Dogfish Head Brewery and I love a beer with a story.  This brown ale gets its name, which literally translates to “Holy Tree Brown”, from the fact that it is aged in Paraguayan Palo Santo wood fermentation tanks, which at 10000 gallons happen to be the largest wooden brewing vessels used since prohibition, or so they claim.  Check out this video showing how they make it.

I was surprised to see that the beer poured out jet black in colour.  It was this, coupled with the high alcohol content (12%), that got me a bit scared, not that I wouldn’t like the beer, but that it would be too strong for me to finish!  I hate wasting beer.  The beer itself smells and tastes great, very flavorful.  Rich caramel and vanilla malt flavors were present and I greatly enjoyed the taste the wood imparts on this brown ale.  What I didn’t like about this beer was the strength.  The alcohol content really comes through, that and the heaviness of this beer have me estimating that one 12 ounce bottle is potent enough to satisfy a team of hearty beer drinkers (4-6 people).

I don’t recommend this beer for the average beer drinker, but I do recommend that a serious beer drinker share this with fellow enthusiasts.  It is quite the ride through flavor town, but one bottle it is too much for one.  That being said, I can see this beer rounding out over time.  I am pretty sure that this is another one I should have aged!  One day I will learn.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: brewery creek, brown ale, dogfish head, palo santo marron, wood aged

Review: Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2008

Friday, December 26th, 2008 | Review | 1 Comment

This years 2008 Fuller’s Vintage Ale is the eleventh annual release of it’s limited edition bottle conditioned ale.  I’d seen them in stores and in Erik’s cellar before, but this is the first year that I bought one.  Being a bottle conditioned ale, yeast remains in the bottle in dwindling quantities, meaning the beer changes (gets better) over time.  Fuller’s states on the box (yeah, it comes in a cool box) that they can only legally recommend aging the beer for three years, insinuating that this delightfully crafted ale will last much longer and improve with advanced age.  I showed absolutely no patience or self control by opening mine last Tuesday.  How could I resist not opening my individually numbered bottle, one of only one hundred and forty four thousand, for any length of time?

It felt good to take a beer bottle out of a box and peel off a “limited edition 2008″ label to get at the cap.  It was also comforting to know that this level of snobbery is the exception and not the rule when it comes to beer.  Upon opening the box, I also noted that there was a pamphlet enclosed describing the previous ten vintage releases.  I thought that was pretty cool.  The beer itself had a lovely medium brown, amber color and produced minimal head.  What I noticed right away was the delightfully rich malty, fruity smell.  This is by far the best and most powerful smelling beer I have had the pleasure of sniffing.  The taste was similar to the smell, with a rich malty and fruity flavor.  What struck me about the taste was that the high alcohol content really came through.  I really enjoyed the taste at first, but after a few more sips all I could taste was the alcohol, which lessened my enjoyment of this beer.  Upon reading the enclosed pamphlet, I learned that the alcoholic taste would smooth out over time, like say a year or two of aging.

I can tell for certain that Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2008 will be much improved in 2010, which isn’t to say that it isn’t drinkable or enjoyable now.  Hopefully by then I will also have garnered the self control needed to save drinking a Vintage Ale for two years down the road.  Luckily for me, Erik bought me another one for Christmas.  I do believe I will abandon my childish ways and adopt his practice of buying each year’s Fuller’s Vintage Ale and saving it for two years before drinking.  Check out Beer Advocate’s tips on beer storage if you, like me, have also never had enough patience to save beer for any length of time.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: 2008, ale, Beer, bottle conditioned, cellar, fuller's, limited edition, vintage ale

Merry Christmas, Have a Beer

Thursday, December 25th, 2008 | Beer, Review | 2 Comments

Santa's Private Reserve

It is Christmas and surprisingly the ground is covered in snow – that means its time for a warming Christmas Ale. Christmas Ales and Winter Ales vary a great deal in style but they all tend to be malty and big, typically above 6% alcohol by volume. Some are spiced while others let the combination of malted grains, hops, yeast and water do all the work. No matter what style the Christmas Ale is, it should be warming and well suited for drinking during the holiday season.

After taking my dog for a walk in the snow this afternoon, I opened up Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve Ale with high expectations; I am a fan of Rogue Ales and have heard great things about their Christmas Ale. The first sip (more like a gulp) was a bit disappointing – the beer tasted like a pine tree. I looked at the beer, it had great colour looking similar to a Vienna Lager, and it had a thick frothy head, but still tasted foul. I couldn’t figure it out, I know that certain hops have a piney aroma and flavour, but this seemed a bit much, even for a brewery from the hop heavy Pacific North West. I continued to nurse my beer and within 15 minutes realized that I was making a terrible mistake. The problem did not lie with the brewer but with the drinker, the beer was just too cold.

The tongues taste buds are numbed by cold beer – this is a problem when it comes to a malt forward beer such as a Christmas Ale. As my beer continued to warm in my glass, the malt flavour became far more pronounced, balancing out the bitterness from the hops. In North America, most beer is consumed cold, but colder is not always better. Beer’s bitterness manages to shine through even the coldest beer, but the sweetness from the malt becomes almost nonexistent when served cold.

As it turns out, Rogue’s Christmas Ale has been my favourite beer this holiday season. When this beer reaches a cool cellar temperature, 10 – 13 degrees Celsius, its pine like bitterness is balanced nicely by its rich malt flavour. As you reach for your favourite holiday beer this Christmas, let it sit and warm up – you will be glad you did.

Erik and Chris enjoy Rogue Santa's Private Reserve this Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Erik

Tags: christmas, christmas ale, rogue, santa's private reserve, Warm Beer, winter ale

Review: Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale 2008

Sunday, December 14th, 2008 | Review | No Comments

Anchor Christmas Ale 2008

Anchor Brewing is one of my favorite breweries.  I am a big fan of their Anchor Steam Ale and, to a lesser extent, their Liberty Ale, which I find a tad overly hopped.  Those are the only two Anchor brews you can generally get up here in BC.  It was much to my delight when a friend brought over a six pack of this year’s Anchor Christmas Ale last weekend.  I had previously had a taste of this fine beer at Vancouver’s Hopscotch Festival, but I had also had many other prior tastes to obscure my judgment.  I welcomed the chance to enjoy this beer in greater depth.

I’m the kind of guy that likes to read the story of every beer I drink.  Looking into Anchor Christmas Ale, I learned that they’ve been brewing a Christmas Ale every year since 1975, never using the same recipe twice.  That is cool; I love traditions like that.  The beer itself has a very dark brown colour, which had me expecting a very heavy, full bodied beer.  I was wrong in my expectation and was pleased to taste a medium bodied, moderately spiced ale.  Unlike most Christmas Ales, this is the sort you could enjoy a few of.  You could also offer this beer to a wussy beer drinker and not fear their reaction.  As for the taste, I found it rich and malty and picked up things like chocolate and coffee.  What didn’t agree with me so much was the mix of spices.  I picked up ginger and nutmeg, both of which I am not a huge fan of.  For more in depth tasting notes, check out the BeerAdvocate reviews.

What I liked about this beer was its lack of heaviness and rich taste, but was not too fond of the mix of spices used.  I would recommend this beer to fellow beer drinkers and would buy it again for friends, but probably not for my own consumption.  That being said, I look forward to next years Anchor Christmas Ale.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: anchor brewing, Beer, christmas ale, christmas ale 2008, Review, seasonal