Beer Review Thread - Beyond Tiki

F freddiefreelance Member San Diego, Ca. Joined: Feb 15, 2003 Posts: 3006	F freddiefreelance Posted posted on Sun, Jun 13, 2004 5:15 PM Here's some of my tasting notes from the San Diego Real Ale Festival SPA from Pizza Port Carlsbad, this was a fill in for some beer that didn't arrive, so no style note, I'm assuming it was an American IPA: Pale, creamy light head, low carbonation (you can assume low carbonation for all of the rest), Hoppy, Hoppy, Hoppy from the front to the back, I think mostly with bittering hops, but light on the tongue & not "sticky" like some strongly hopped beers. McGarvey's Scottish Ale from Oggi's Mission Valley, Scottish Export: Lots of grain as you take it into your mouth, you can feel the graininess (not pieces of grain, it just feels grainy), it gets more well balanced in the middle as the hops come on & hoppy in the finish. Still it's refreshing for a Wee Heavy. White Knuckle from Marin Brewing Co., Double IPA: Well, it's down hill for my poor tastebuds now, lots of over-strength beers from here on out. Light hops nose burst like a hop bomb on your tongue, hops in the middle, hops in back & dare the rest to keep up! Massively grapefriuty throughout, alcohol trys to keep pace, can't think of anything to say about malt or balance. Straight from the Teats from Sports City Brewery Cafe, Sweet Stout: This beer won the gold in the World Beer Festival & deserves a medal. Light & complex for a milk stout, dark red brown in the glass, very small creamy head, very drinkable. Coffee, biscuit, licorice. Hops enough to give it an edge at the back. One of the three best I tasted. Hop Juice from Left Coast Brewing Co., Double IPA: Big Hop Nose. Floral up front shifting to grapefruit in the back, HOP Juice for sure. Old Porter from Four Peaks Brewing Co., Baltic Porter: Probably my favorite. Black with a ruby at it's heart, it looks like crude oil. Roasty malt up front moves smootly into licorice/anise into hops at the end. Masterful. Oaked Bastard from Stone Brewing Co., this was a last minute replacement for the missing Ruination Double IPA, so no style note: Ooh, wow! A woody nose, on your tongue it's tanic, oaky, mediciney, incredibley massive, alcohol keeps up. SFH (So F'n Hoppy!) from Santa Barbara Brewing Co., Double IPA: Big head, hazy orange color. Hops up front, malt & alcohol try to hold on. Bitter right to the back. Ax-Pickin' Stout from San Diego Brewing Co., Oatmeal Stout: Mellow stout taste, roasty with a sour tang. OVL Stout from Russian River Brewing Co., Dry Irish Stout: Roasy Toasty nose, classic dry stout. Ummm, after this I was dragged into a tasting session with one of the brewmasters with 3 large insulated bags full of Barleywines, Old Ales & Belgian ales & it kinda gets fuzzy. I remember one of the Belgians was dry hopped in the bottle & I had hops stuck in my mouth for the next 2 beers, and that the last beer was called Dark Lord and that it was wonderful but so dark & thick my glass was stained red afterwards & had to soaked over night to get it clean.

Here's some of my tasting notes from the San
Diego Real Ale Festival

SPA from Pizza Port Carlsbad, this was a fill in for some beer that didn't arrive, so no style note, I'm assuming it was an American IPA: Pale, creamy light head, low carbonation (you can assume low carbonation for all of the rest), Hoppy, Hoppy, Hoppy from the front to the back, I think mostly with bittering hops, but light on the tongue & not "sticky" like some strongly hopped beers.
McGarvey's Scottish Ale from Oggi's Mission Valley, Scottish Export: Lots of grain as you take it into your mouth, you can feel the graininess (not pieces of grain, it just feels grainy), it gets more well balanced in the middle as the hops come on & hoppy in the finish. Still it's refreshing for a Wee Heavy.
White Knuckle from Marin Brewing Co., Double IPA: Well, it's down hill for my poor tastebuds now, lots of over-strength beers from here on out. Light hops nose burst like a hop bomb on your tongue, hops in the middle, hops in back & dare the rest to keep up! Massively grapefriuty throughout, alcohol trys to keep pace, can't think of anything to say about malt or balance.
Straight from the Teats from Sports City Brewery Cafe, Sweet Stout: This beer won the gold in the World Beer Festival & deserves a medal. Light & complex for a milk stout, dark red brown in the glass, very small creamy head, very drinkable. Coffee, biscuit, licorice. Hops enough to give it an edge at the back. One of the three best I tasted.
Hop Juice from Left Coast Brewing Co., Double IPA: Big Hop Nose. Floral up front shifting to grapefruit in the back, HOP Juice for sure.
Old Porter from Four Peaks Brewing Co., Baltic Porter: Probably my favorite. Black with a ruby at it's heart, it looks like crude oil. Roasty malt up front moves smootly into licorice/anise into hops at the end. Masterful.
Oaked Bastard from Stone Brewing Co., this was a last minute replacement for the missing Ruination Double IPA, so no style note: Ooh, wow! A woody nose, on your tongue it's tanic, oaky, mediciney, incredibley massive, alcohol keeps up.
SFH (So F'n Hoppy!) from Santa Barbara Brewing Co., Double IPA: Big head, hazy orange color. Hops up front, malt & alcohol try to hold on. Bitter right to the back.
Ax-Pickin' Stout from San Diego Brewing Co., Oatmeal Stout: Mellow stout taste, roasty with a sour tang.
OVL Stout from Russian River Brewing Co., Dry Irish Stout: Roasy Toasty nose, classic dry stout.

Ummm, after this I was dragged into a tasting session with one of the brewmasters with 3 large insulated bags full of Barleywines, Old Ales & Belgian ales & it kinda gets fuzzy. I remember one of the Belgians was dry hopped in the bottle & I had hops stuck in my mouth for the next 2 beers, and that the last beer was called Dark Lord and that it was wonderful but so dark & thick my glass was stained red afterwards & had to soaked over night to get it clean.

Post #96203 by freddiefreelance on Sun, Jun 13, 2004 5:15 PM