Hale's Ales, Seattle, WA: El Jefe, Weizen Ale

First off, you have to love this beer's name and label.  Coming out of the rich craft beer region of the Pacific Northwest, Hale's Ales in Seattle is one of my favorite breweries.  The host a great variety of beer, one of my favorites is their cream ale - and their pub restaurant has some mean corn-beef and hash.

El Jefe is a good example of an American style wheat/weizen with a strong grassy/wheat taste, semi filtered straw-like color with a bubbly head.  I enjoyed this beer on a hot day in central Washington after walking through apple, pear and cherry orchards with a belly full of Mexican tamales.

"El Jefe" Weizen Ale possesses a flavor profile that is "true Bavarian Style" -complex and mouth-filling, with the spicey and fruity influences that only genuine hefeweizen yeast can produce. This is a beer that combines old world quality and character with new world freshness--the best of both worlds. -Hale's

Brasserie d'Achouffe, Belgium: Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel

Gnome crazy Belgians rule!  I love this Indian Pale ale Belgian style beer, with a harmonious balance between bitterness (three types of hops are used to make it) and a pleasant fruitiness.  The HOUBLON CHOUFFE is an aggressive unfiltered, and bottle re-fermented Belgian IPA.  Although I really love this beer, its gnome sister beer - LA CHOUFFE (golden style), is my favorite from this brewery.  While I've found this beer bottled in both bars and grocery stores, I would love to taste it on tap. 

Knee Deep Brewing, Tanilla Porter

Knee Deep Brewing's Tanilla Porter has become one of my favorite porters if not one of my favorite beers after tasting it earlier this week.  The porter has a sweet chocolate flavor from the roasted malts and a very pleasant vanilla flavor from the use of Tahitian Vanilla beans.  Drinking this beer on draft I didn't notice much head and the beer is a medium to light body and holds 6.3% abv. Although I didn't see a physical address posted on the Brewery's website it is apparent that Knee Deep is out of the Sierra Foothills and the Master Brewer is from Reno which makes this Lake Tahoe guy very happy.  Despite the low ratings and poor reviews for this beer on Beer Advocate.com I am sticking with this one and think it is top notch.  I am going to hunt down more beer styles from this brewery asap.

Unibroue - La Fin du Monde

(My first time enjoying this beer was in 2001 while on a road trip through Canada with my buddy Ty.  I remember buying the beer from a liquor store because I liked the name and label, the complex tastes of the beer expanded my horizons for high ABV Belgian beers.  After visiting some hot springs and sipping this beer we ended up sleeping in the car.  To this day, I still find myself seeking out this fantastic beer which invokes these great memories. You'll find a wide variety of sweet exotic flavors in La Fin du Monde; tropical fruits balanced with a nice bitter aftertaste.

La Fin du Mond: French for "The end of the world" is a Belgian Style triple fermentation (also refermented in the bottle) Golden Ale.  La Fin Du Monde’s appearance is a light cloudy golden hue, and while similar to most other Belgian triple ales in appearance, its flavor is less bitter and more spicy (featuring coriander and orange peel).  

The fully-fermented beer contains (9% ABV) alcohol content and an abundance of awesomeness.

21st Amendment Bitter American

I had heard of this brewery before because of this blog, so I knew that what I was getting into was probably going to be good, but to be honest with you, I probably would have bought this craft brew just because the packaging jumped out at me. First of all, it comes in cans, which are becoming increasingly popular. Then of course, there's the picture on the cans. Who can say no to a chimp in a space suit? 21A say that the plan behind this beer was to create something lighter in alcohol that could be consumed over a longer period of time. I think they did it rather nicely with this beer. There is a lot of late hopping or possibly a dry-hop aroma in this beer that goes along with a malt bill that gives this beer tons of flavor, but not nearly as much bitterness or alcohol as some of the other products I've reviewed on this blog. It's actually a refreshing change to what seems like an ABV arms race of sorts that has been developing over the past couple of years. Thank you, Bitter American. Delicious.
-Taster Be

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

Okay, so I'm delving into the archives of photos a bit, but this brew from Rogue was definitely memorable.  I got it because I heard from a respectable source that it was a great example of an American stout. Boy was I glad for the recommendation. Shakespeare himself could have hyped this beer and I still would have been impressed. It pours dark black with a nice light brown head. Initially, I thought there would be more hop aroma because of the "American" label, but this is definitely more for the roasted malt lovers out there. Very silky smooth mouthfeel with dark chocolate and roast coffee overtones. The yeast strain is mild enough to really let the malt and hops shine in this one. Finishing the last sip made me say "parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight 'til it be morrow." Delicious.
-Taster Be

Grand Ivey Brewing Co., "Wit and Nerdy"

Wit beers have become increasingly popular the last few years and with good reason, they’re refreshing and flavorful yet can be complex enough to satisfy beer geeks, especially on a hot summer day.  Much of the credit for this beer's popularity is due to Master brewer, Pierre e Celis, a farmer from the city of Hoegaarden, brought this ancient style back into modern brewing in the mid-1960's.

I was fortunate enough to learn how to brew this beer earlier this year with the head brewer of Grand Ivey who told me about the importance of Pierre's work.  We happen to brew this batch of Wit on Friday April 9th, 2011 - We later learned that Pierre past away the following day on Saturday April 10th.  So this one's for Pierre, Cheers! 

Congratulations to Grand Ivey for producing such an incredible wit style brew.  I loved the light white-wheat color and its refreshing flavors,  The beer had a medium, bright white head that laced perfectly and all of the spices came through just as we hoped.  I am sure there is room for improvement in brewing this beer but I am proud of it and I think Pierre would be too!

Delicious!

-K