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Hedonist Beer Jive

November 19, 2008
7:00
THANK YOU, JESUS – ANCHOR XMAS 2008
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

An annual tradition in my house and in many other houses in the “unveiling of the Anchor Christmas ale”, or as they like to call it, OUR SPECIAL ALE. This spicy yuletide concoction changes every year, and even if it’s not the best holiday beer each year, it’s always exceptionally cockle-warming – and ain’t that what it’s all about? I don’t know, I could give a rat’s ass about Christmas, but this is one seasonal manifestation that I always look forward to. Sniffing at this year’s, the ANCHOR OUR SPECIAL ALE 2008, I immediately received big smells of spice and molasses. My wife claimed that there were apricots in there. Who knows what the secret recipe is this annum? Dark brown, with a medium head that dissipated pretty quickly. The spicing this year is really showing itself in the aftertaste, rather than up front, and overall the beer is quite smooth with a slight bite as it goes down. I’m getting some maple taste and that bready molasses I smelled at the start. I like it, once again, forever and always. Right now it’s the holiday beer to beat in 2008. 7/10.
November 18, 2008
7:00
RACER X ON ATTACK
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

I swore upon my mother’s honor after trying my first glass of BEAR REPUBLIC’s RACER X that, alas, “I’d try it again”, and that day arrived last week. RACER X is their intense, “barleywine-style” Double IPA, and it’s a friggin’ doozy. It's only available on draft, and only in Northern California, I believe (I've since been corrected in the comments section below). It’s related to the much-heralded RACER 5 only in the sense that it’s “hoppy”. Like ten times more hoppy. The bitterness is just omnipresent – you can smell the hops, you can taste the pine needles, and this time my take on the beer could be boiled down to one word: HARSH. As in “it totally harshed on my mellow”. It’s something that I started getting a little more used to as I drank it, but overall I had to admit it just wasn’t that enjoyable. I’m downgrading this one from my previous 7/10 to a more average – and below-average for craft beer – 5.5/10. Approach with caution, unlike this young lass.
November 17, 2008
7:19
UNIBROUE’S “TERRIBLE” SORTA TRANSCENDS THE NAME
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

We’re big fans of Quebec’s UNIBROUE here at HBJ. Let’s do a quick check of the score to see just HOW big of a fan we are:

LA FIN DU MONDE 10/10
MAUDITE 9/10
TRADER JOE’S VINTAGE ALE 2006 8.5/10
EAU BENITE 8/10
EPHEMERE 8/10
BLANCHE DE CHAMBLY 7.5/10
UNIBROUE 17 7/10
DON DE DIEU 6/10
TROIS PISTOLES 5.5/10

Pretty solid, with only a couple of outliers. LA FIN DU MONDE is one of the great beers of all time, and I try to have one at least once a quarter if I can. With the cloying enthusiasm of an annoying fanboy and the bat-out-of-hell persistence of a man in need of a drink, I bought a bottle of TERRIBLE recently and proceeded to drink it accordingly. TERRIBLE is dark brown “abbey ale” which the brewery says “may be drunk as an aperitif or as an after dinner digestive”. What about if you wanna gulp it down WITH your dinner? Any harm in that? Let’s find out.

At 10.5% alcohol, this is one to go slowly with. As mentioned before, very dark brown and exceptionally aromatic. I’m getting cherries in my whiffs, what about you? Tastes of prunes and chestnuts, and a distinct warming effect that’s no doubt part & parcel of that high ABV. Extremely Belgian in both form & function. Mild hops, mild malts, and a bit clingy on the tongue, which I don’t really like – that syrupy thing that sort of ruins the vibe. Can’t help but feel a little disappointed by this one, and I’m thinking that I’d rather have served it a small snifter or something, like a real fancy-pants. But since I’d never do such a thing, I’ll just move on to other parts of their lineup. Not Terrible, just 6/10.
November 14, 2008
7:00
FIRE, BRIMSTONE & LOST ABBEY’S “INFERNO ALE”
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(Thanks to the JustBeer blog for the photos)

It has been absolutely paydirt city recently with regard to the beers of LOST ABBEY. My m.o. with their stuff is “don’t look at the price tag”, just grab anything and everything you can by them, particularly if you haven’t seen it before. You can count your change later. Usually a new beer from them means a beer that won’t be seen again soon. Recently a bottle of INFERNO ALE showed up on the shelves of Ledger’s Liquors in Berkeley, CA, and naturally I pounced. A week later, it was fully consumed. Its bark is far more threatening than its bite. There may be hideous hellfire and demons from the deepest circles of Beelzebub’s garden of terror on the label – but what I drank was a delicious, earthy saison-like ale that others have pegged as a Belgian pale or strong ale. An rich, nearly glowing yellowish-orange color, it looks like a harvest moon during smog season. Beautiful, that is (everyone knows air pollution is the best thing to ever happen to the sunset). Tastes of clove and lemon, and lots of bitter yeast. Coriander, perhaps? Medium carbonation. You sure this isn’t a saison or some souped-up witbier? How do I put this – these guys just can’t seem to fail. Everything’s worth 10 bucks or more per bottle – and it’s a good thing, too, because that’s what they cost! 8/10.
November 12, 2008
7:00
RUSSIAN RIVER’S SANCTIFICATION – A WILD, WILD ALE
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

A “beer alert” was sent out across the greater San Francisco Bay Area last Thursday that RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING’s bacteria-laden SANCTIFICATION had hit the tap lines at City Beer Store in SF. A crowd gathered at the store, small at first, then swelling to dozens upon dozens of frenzied beer dorks, ready to gulp untold glasses of this 100% Brettanomyces yeast-infested “wild ale”. I myself was one of those dorks. I don’t believe I’ve ever had this beer before – a search of my own site indicates that I haven’t. SANCTIFICATION is cloudy, blondish-orange ale brewed in the hardcore Belgian style. Very, very fresh on draft – so when you get that intense yeasty/clove taste, & that sharp, tangy lemon bite, you LIKE it and want more. (Well, I sure did). That big sharp bite mellows and lingers as you get used to the beer, and each swallow stays on the tongue for quite a while. I can imagine – though I am a “food pairing skeptic” – that this would go well with a barbequed chicken. And yeah, it’s a sour one, and as unique as it gets. We like it, and hope to try it on a quarterly basis at least. 8/10.
November 11, 2008
13:43
BUCKBEAN’S PROMO TRAIN ROLLS THROUGH HBJ HEADQUARTERS
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

(Thanks to The Beerocrat for the image)

Seems like every beer blogger on the west coast got a package from Reno, Nevada’s BUCKBEAN BREWING this past month or two. This brand-new brewer is really working it, and kudos to them for doing so. That’s the way to make a splash in 2008; so when they asked me if I’d take a mailing with a couple cans (cans!) of their wares, I of course answered in the affirmative. I’ve actually never been sent a beer for review before from the brewers themselves. Well, BUCKBEAN BREWING have two beers going right now, a lager called BLACK NODDY (review coming once we try it), and the one we’re going to be discussing today, ORIGINAL ORANGE BLOSSOM ALE. This comes packaged in a “tall boy” – a 16-ounce can – and pours an unsurprising orange color. It is a very smooth ale, light and zesty and flowery, with medium hopping and a restrained but ever-present orange taste. Like if you dropped in some peel and left the pulp in the trash can. Dry finish. It’s a beer that doesn’t really do a lot to wow you, but is impressive enough. I’d drink it again someday. 6.5/10.
November 10, 2008
7:00
NEW YORK CITY'S GINGER MAN - THE RETURN
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

I may have mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my work recently brought me to New York City for a brief visit. Naturally I attempted to maximize all beer consumption possibilities, though given the constrainsts of my, uh, exceptionally busy schedule, I kinda played it minute to minute. There was this night, you may remember it, because it was the night the Tampa Bay Rays almost blew their series against Boston by going up 7-0, only to lose 8-7 in Game Five. I'd totally wanted to watch that game with a pint in my hand, but I was working at a night event on 36th & Broadway from 7-10pm. Wait a minute....36th Avenue in Manhattan....isn't THE GINGER MAN on 36th???!? And so it was that I spent a couple of hours and three glasses of beer watching the end of said game, and taking in the finest ales the east coast had to offer me.

We've written about THE GINGER MAN before. I used to take work trips to NYC all the time, and this was my default beer joint. We've subsequently discovered the wonders to be had in Brooklyn and in the West Village, but I was very glad for a repeat visit. Incredible beer selection from all the eastern seaboard heavyweights: Southern Tier, Captain Lawrence, Smuttynose, Southhampton etc etc. Great atmosphere as long as it's not too packed and as long as you can stomach a $6 minimum charge for each beer. (In the right circumstances, like this one, I most certainly can). I felt like getting started with a bang, and noticed that the bar had a "house ale" - brewed by CAPTAIN LAWRENCE! Hot damn. GINGER MAN ALE is a Belgian-style amber ale that's fairly light (5.5% abv) and therefore a great way to get the party started, in a 20-ounce pint no less. Malty, medium-bodied, and deceptively hoppy. It's brewed with ginger - oh, haw haw! I get it. Really a nice beer, much like the Imperial Red from Lagunitas that we're always raving about, just not quite on that exalted level. 7/10. Next!
Well, next one was somewhat unremarkable, though I had pretty high hopes. It was the FISHERMAN'S PUMPKIN STOUT from Gloucester, MA's CAPE ANN BREWING. This was a total roll of the dice, and initially I was pretty impressed. Black as night, with the immediate whammo of pumpkin pie, right there in your friggin' face, take it or leave it. Almost no "stout" taste as all. Quite thin-bodied. Close your eyes, and you could've been drinking a yellow-colored ale. Weird, hunh? I thought I liked it, then I didn't, and then I scored it a 6.5/10.
Last of the night was the big winner. It's not even an east coast beer, though I didn't know that when I ordered. It's from Warrenville, IL's TWO BROTHERS BREWING, and it's called HOP JUICE. Can you perhaps guess which style of ale it might be? Yeah, this double IPA was actually listed as a "pale ale" by the Ginger Man, but there is no mistaking its ultra hoppiness. But hey - these are muted in a beautiful fashion - totally well-rounded, smooth, and very juicy. Grapefruit, green apples, and heavy carbonation. Fantastic. Another one to renew my faith in the IPA. 9/10!!
November 06, 2008
22:44
IN THE CLUTCHES OF MOONLIGHT'S "BONY FINGERS"
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

You've probably heard a thing or two about a new beer establishment called the HOPMONK TAVERN if you've been north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge recently. This is a new beer garden-slash-live music venue located in the happy hippie town of Sebastopol, California, in what is probably of the 2-3 most picturesque counties in the USA, Sonoma. We get up to Sebastopol a bunch because we have some good friends there w/ a daughter who's my son's age, and every time my pal Jay kindly takes me to some beer place or another; Russian River, Sebastopol Brewing, etc.

Turns out HOPMONK took over the SEBASTOPOL BREWING location when the latter couldn't make a go of it. The new place was founded and is run by Dean Biersch, who made his name and his relative fortune having founded the GORDON-BIERSCH mini-empire of brewpubs & the (generally underrated) beers of the same name. Jay took me there a couple Sundays ago while the ladies and the kids were off doing who knows what. I'm here to tell you I'm glad he did. It's an inviting space, especially outside, where the Indian summer sun beat down through plastic covering amidst a panopoly of flora & fauna. Beer selection was "totally ace", as they say. It was a hard one, but then I saw their pours were 20-ounce pints, not those sissy 16-ouncers you get elsewhere. I thought a new MOONLIGHT BREWING beer I'd never heard of might help get me through the afternoon, particularly in that larger vessel. I thought correctly.
This new MOONLIGHT BONY FINGERS is billed as a straight-up "black lager", but those with discriminating smellers and taste buds can call it for what it is. This is a schwarzbier, a true-blue smoky, charcoal/chocolate schwarzbier in the German style. Like everything the brewing magician Brian Hunt touches, this one's not quite what you'd expect. It seemed to me to have very high carbonation, and of course a generous dose of hops. Fluffy and still thick. Much "sharper" than their famous DEATH & TAXES lager. I dug it. 7.5/10.
I wish I could end the story there but I'll leave you with one more aside. We both ordered up a big-ass pint of LAGUNITAS IMPERIAL RED, and I decided once and for all on this, my second try of the beer, that it belonged in the Hedonist Beer Jive 65. It's amazing. Look - look here, it's #57! Great day, great drinkin', good times.
November 04, 2008
17:36
THE HEDONIST BEER JIVE 65
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

Here we are with an updated list of the finest beers known to mankind, now up to 65 that you must try before you shuffle off this mortal coil. I’ve rearranged a few based on recent tastings, and added ten more to the list since we last published one of these.

1. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
2. UNIBROUE – La Fin Du Monde (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
3. MOYLAN’S – Hopsickle (Double IPA)
4. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 6 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
5. THREE FLOYDS - Alpha King (American Pale Ale)
6. LOST ABBEY – Gift Of The Magi (Biere De Garde)
7. ST. BERNARDUS – Grotten Brown (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)8. LOST ABBEY – 10 Commandments (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
9. BROWERIJ VAN STEENBERGE – Monk’s Café Sour Flemish Ale (Flanders Oud Bruin)10. AVERY BREWING – The Reverend (Quadrupel)
11. MOONLIGHT – Reality Czeck (Czech Pilsner)12. STONE BREWING – IPA (IPA)
13. MOONLIGHT – 2006 Toast Malt Liquor (American Amber/Red Lager)
14. HACKER-PSCHORR – Dunkel Weiss (Dunkel Weizen)15. LOST ABBEY - Devotion Ale (Belgian-Style Blonde Ale)
16. RUSSIAN RIVER – Damnation (Belgian-Style Strong Golden Ale)17. DARK HORSE - Tres Blueberry Stout (American Stout)
18. BROOKLYN BREWING – Extra Brune (Flanders Oud Bruin)
19. BEAR REPUBLIC - Racer 5 (IPA)20. GOUDEN CAROLUS – Ambrio (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
21. DENNISON’S – Weizen (Hefeweizen)22. AVERY BREWING – Fourteen (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)23. RUSSIAN RIVER – Blind Pig (IPA)24. NEW BELGIUM – Le Fleur Misseur (Belgian-Style Pale ale)
25. IRON HORSE – Beer Shoppe Anniversary Ale (Double IPA)26. MARIN BREWING - Tripel Dipsea (Tripel)
27. AVERY BREWING – White Rascal (Witbier) 28. MOYLAN’S – IPA (IPA)
29. LAGUNITAS – Freak Out! (IPA)
30. RUSSIAN RIVER – Rejection (Belgian Black Ale)
31. FIRESTONE WALKER – 10 (Barleywine)
32. UNIBROUE – Maudite (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
33. DOGFISH HEAD – Raison D’Extra 2005 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
34. DE PROEF – Zoetzuur Flemish Ale (Flanders Red Ale)35. DRAKE’S – Denogginizer (Double IPA)
36. DESCHUTES – 2006 Jubel Ale (Winter Warmer)
37. LOST ABBEY – Avant Garde (Biere De Garde)
38. SOUTHERN TIER - Heavy Weizen (Imperial Hefeweizen)39. ST. BERNARDUS - Prior 8 (Dubbel)
40. TELEGRAPH BREWING – California Ale (Saison)
41. NORTH COAST – Old Stock 2004 (Old Ale)
42. PORT BREWING – Hop Suey (Double IPA)
43. RUSSIAN RIVER - O.V.L. Stout (American Stout)
44. LOST ABBEY – Angel’s Share (Barleywine)45. BROOKLYN BREWING – Local 1 (Belgian-Style Golden Ale)46. BROWERIJ DE DOLLE – Oerbier (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
47. BOULDER BEER – Hazed & Infused (IPA) 48. DOGFISH HEAD – 90-Minute IPA (IPA)
49. GREEN FLASH – Saison (Saison)
50. DOGFISH HEAD – Aprihop (Fruit Beer)51. LOST ABBEY – Carnivale (Saison)52. RUSSIAN RIVER – Redemption (Belgian-Style Pale Ale)
53. SIERRA NEVADA – Celebration Ale 2007 (IPA)
54. HANDBRYGGERIET – Norwegian Wood (Smoked/Spiced Ale)
55. DE PROEF & ALLAGASH – Les Deux Brasseuers (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
56. GOOSE ISLAND – 312 Urban Wheat (American Pale Wheat Ale)57. LAGUNITAS – Imperial Red (American Strong Ale)
58. TELEGRAPH BREWING – Golden Wheat (Wheat Beer)
59. LOST ABBEY – Serpent’s Stout (Imperial Stout)
60. BRASSERIE DE ROCHEFORT – Trappistes Rochefort 10 (Quadrupel)
61. ROGUE – Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout)62. LAGUNITAS – Maximus (Double IPA)
63. DE PROEF – Kerstmutske (Christmas Ale)
64. ST. BERNARDUS – ABT 12 (Quadrupel)
65. TELEGRAPH BREWING – White Ale (Witbier)
November 03, 2008
7:00
THE LAUGHING BUDDHA HAS A LOT TO BE MIRTHFUL ABOUT
» ‎ Hedonist Beer Jive

A little over a month ago I tasted my first product from Seattle’s east-meet-west fusion brewer LAUGHING BUDDHA, a beer called MANGO WEIZEN. We thought it was excellent, and an superb example of American 21st century brewing ingenuity. Since I can’t get their stuff in Northern California, I had to trade for that one, and was on the ball enough to ask for two bottles of Laughing Buddha wares in my trade. The other night I busted out their GINGER PALE ALE and went to town. LAUGHING BUDDHA GINGER PALE ALE is much more of a “mandarin orange ale” to my taste buds, and to that end, it’s really, really good. I honestly could barely taste the ginger, save for a mild astringent character that was downplayed in favor of rich, full-bodied yeasts and a superlative “fresh” taste. It’s medium-to-high in carbonation, and has an underlying backbone of classic “US pale ale” too it, with low hopping and again, that flavorful, juicy mandarin orange taste throughout. These guys are a big two-4-two in my book. 7.5/10.

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