Beer Tasting

I had some friends over on Friday night for a beer tasting.  I got 3 bottles for it and everyone else brought 1 or 2 big bottles (except 1 guy who brought 4, 2 commercial and 2 homebrew.)  I thought it would be a fun way for all of us to try things we either don't usually drink or can't drink alone because the bottle is too strong.  I've had a bottle in my fridge for 2+ months because of that issue.  I took some notes and tried to get pictures of all of them but missed 2.

By the end, we finished 12 bottles.  I'll go through the first six and then the last six just to split up the post a bit.

The first in the picture is Hoppin' Frog Boris The Crusher, an Imperial Oatmeal Stout.

It had a sweet, oat smell to it.  I could taste the alcohol slightly but it was still pretty smooth.  The flavor was roasty with some oatmeal flavor to it.  Nice thick body.

Next is Port Brewing Hop 15 Ale, a Double IPA.

Nice deep orange color for an IPA.  Smells like hops but not overpowering.  It was hoppy, but also pretty sweet.  It almost tasted like orange juice but only slightly.  Not a bad Double IPA but pretty mild for the style.

Next was Victory Baltic Thunder, a Baltic Porter.

I talked about this a bit in this post when we were at Victory.  Very close to a porter.  A little malty with a little bitterness to go with it.  Good beer although I've only had samples of it right now.

After that was the Rogue Chipotle Ale, a Chile Beer.

This was the first disappointment of the night for me.  One quote was "It's nice" but I didn't find much to enjoy in it.  Maybe it's better in a full beer, but as a sample there just wasn't much flavor in it.  Uneventful is how I'd describe it.

Luckily it was followed by Ommegang Zuur, a Flanders Oud Bruin.

Poured a nice dark red color and smelled of fruit.  Really pleasant smell to it.  Flavor was tart but not overwhelming.  The tartness slowly morphed into a balanced fruit flavor.  This was my favorite of the night and I was psyched when I saw someone had brought it.  I've wanted to try it for quite a while and it reached my expectations.  I love the Flanders Oud Bruin style and this was great.

Last in the first picture was Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, another Double IPA.  I didn't get a picture of this one but it was a dark yellow, not quite orange color.  It smelled of hops, similar to the Hop 15.  The taste, however, was much stronger.  It was full of grapefruit and other citrus flavors.  Again it didn't linger on the tongue and was pretty good.  I don't know if this was fresher than the Hop 15 but it was better and more hoppy.

Here's the next five bottles.  The sixth was a homebrew from my friend Pete and was just in a normal brown bottle.

Pete's homebrew was a Dark IPA.

Good color representation of the style and it had a nice roasted malt smell.  The flavor was dominated by the roasted malts, but I found some hops in the back of it.  While Pete said he thinks it more like a porter, the back end hop flavor moves it more towards a Dark IPA.  Regardless, it was good so that's all that really matters.

The first bottle in the picture is Uintas Cockeyed Cooper, a Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine.

Poured a nice amber color and smelled slightly like bourbon.  Very thick body to it probably from the aging.  This one was pretty interesting but conflicting to me.  At first it was slightly off putting.  I didn't feel the bourbon blended incredibly well with the barleywine, but as I drank more it started to get better and tasted more solid.  Some of the other guys liked it a lot though.  I definitely don't think I could have handled a whole 22oz bottle though and I'm really glad I shared this one.

Next up was Ommegang Hennepin, a Saison.

Cloudy yellow color and smelled almost like a wheat beer even though it doesn't have any wheat in it.  Almost smelled like an open field.  Very mild flavor but with lots of spices in it.  Not spices like in a pumpkin beer but more like pepper and spices like that.  Be good in a full glass as a nice relaxing beer.

Next up was the Rogue Mocha Porter, an American Porter.

This was another disappointing one.  I guess it's supposed to have chocolate notes or something, but I didn't get any of that.  Basically tasted like a watery porter to me.  Again, not bad, just uneventful.

Second to last was another Rogue, their Imperial Porter from 2008.

This was much better than the other two Rogue beers.  I got some alcohol notes in the smell and some roasted malt.  Nice and thick for a porter which may be because it's from 2008.  Nice, roasty taste and well balanced.  I had 2 samples of this one and enjoyed it more in the second glass.  Definitely would be good in a full pint.  This one did have the coolest bottle of the night though.

Finally, the last was Bear Republic Racer 5, an IPA.  Well balanced for an IPA.  It was hoppy but not overpowering.  Pretty good IPA and very drinkable.  This is something I could easily session if I ever drank a beer more than once.

I felt like the beer tasting was a great success at least from my view point.  We made it through a lot of different beers all in different styles.  I think people had fun trying some new stuff and I definitely want to do it again if people are up for it.