Beer Review: New Belgium - Rampant

New Belgium Brewing

Rampant
Imperial IPA
8.5% ABV

Appearance: Pours a clear golden yellow with a stark white bubbly head of foam.

Smell: A very distinctive aroma of cantaloupe and honeydew melon with light peach notes and a bit of pine.

Taste: Follows the nose with melon, peach, pear, and apple as well as some honey and nectar sweetness. Pine and a thin crackery malt round out the taste. There's a touch of stinging alcohol in the finish that's accompanied with an almost rosewater-like flavor.

Mouthfeel: Fairly light bodied with low to medium carbonation.

Overall, this was a unique imperial IPA but not my favorite interpretation of the style. I found it to be a little light, overall. Hard to believe it's 8.5%. The distinctive melon flavors were interesting but melon being such a watery fruit, the beer ends up tasting sort of thin and watery. Not altogether unpleasant but I like my beers more robust and flavorful and this just didn't cut it for me. An easy enough beer to drink but not a very good execution of the style. Nothing about this says "imperial IPA" to me.

 

3 out of 5

Beer Review: Great Lakes - Rye of the Tiger

Great Lakes Brewing Co.
Rye of the Tiger
Rye IPA
7.5% ABV 

Appearance: Pours a clear, bright copper with three fingers of frothy beige foam.

Smell: Sweet crystal malt, spicy rye, earthy hops, a bit of grapefruit and fleeting hints of pear and apple skin.

Taste: Sharp, bready rye, biscuit and caramel malts, pine, and some grapefruit and pear.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a dry, crisp finish.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable rye beer. It's not terribly unique or complex but there was just something about it that I loved. A simple yet extremely well-made IPA that is crisp and clean, bitter yet smooth and, in true Great Lakes fashion, wonderfully balanced. A ridiculously drinkable and refreshing beer. I love constantly finding and trying new beer (obviously) so on the rare occasion that I do buy a six pack (as opposed to 22 oz. bombers) I tend to only drink one or two. The rest I give away or sadly end up dumping out after they've been in the fridge too long. There is so much great beer being made and new releases coming out every week that I don't often revisit beers I've already tried. However, this is one of those brews that I could easily sit and drink 3 or 4 of on a warm Summer day and be perfectly content. Word of warning, though: this goes down like a session beer but don't be fooled, it is 7.5%.

4 out of 5

Beer Review: Three Floyds - Zombie Dust

Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Zombie Dust
American Pale Ale
6.4% ABV

Appearance: Pours a semi-hazy glowing golden orange with three fingers of rocky cream colored foam.

Smell: Big juicy tropical fruit comes wafting out of the bottle. A pungent medley of pineapple, guava, mango, tangerine, and orange marmalade. There's also a touch of honey, a hint of peppery spice, some light floral notes and faint strawberry. I could smell this perfectly fine standing a good two feet from the glass. Easily one of the top 3 best smelling beers I've ever had.

Taste: Pulpy grapefruit, tangerine, sticky pine sap, and raw honey with a lightly toasted, nutty finish. Incredibly smooth with a nice hop bite.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied and well carbonated with a slick mouthfeel from the abundant hop oils. Crisp and tingly on the tongue with a semi-dry finish.

Overall, its easy to see why this wicked pale ale is always in such high demand. Currently at #7 in Beeradvocate's Top 250 Beers, this is truly a marvel. A big, bold, flavorful pale ale gushing with pungent fruity hops. It manages to be complex yet extremely smooth and well-balanced. This may technically be labeled an American pale ale, but for me it is the quintessential IPA. It also has one of the best names and label art of any craft beer out there. A beauty to behold.

5 out of 5

Beer Review: Pipeworks - Citra Ninja

Pipeworks Brewing Co.
Citra Ninja
Imperial IPA
9.5% ABV
Batch #109

Appearance: Pours a deep, hazy sunset orange with over two fingers of white, rocky foam.

Smell: A somewhat subdued and soft aroma of tropical fruit. Grapefruit, pineapple, and candied orange peel. The nose seemed to gain potency as the beer warmed a bit. This was not quite as pleasantly pungent as the last batch I had back in December but it's still quite good.

Taste: Mellow pine bitterness, soft grapefruit, tangerine, and blood orange with just a touch of lemon; sweet, caramel malt backbone and a slightly nutty finish. Alcohol remained hidden until the beer warmed up significantly.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. It seemed to get progressively thinner and a bit watery as the tasting went along. Still an incredibly smooth and easy drinker for 9.5%.

Overall, this is an excellent double IPA from Pipeworks that deserves all the praise it has received but I did find this most recent batch just a tad disappointing. The aroma was much more subtle than the two bottles I had in December, which blew me away with a huge blast of pungent tropical fruit. However, I did find the flavor to be smoother and more balanced this time around so I suppose that makes up for it. In any case this is a must try if you're lucky enough to find a bottle (not an easy task). I really want to give this a perfect score based on a combination of this most recent batch and the December release but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. I have one more bottle in my fridge so depending on how that one strikes me, I may be back to revise my consensus. For now, though, I'll settle on a...

Beer Review: 18th Street - Seven

18th Street Brewery
Seven 
Black Double IPA
8.5% ABV

Appearance: Pours a rich, opaque black with auburn highlights and a nice two fingers of dense tan foam.

Smell: I know this is an IPA but the appearance still fooled me into thinking it was going to smell like a stout or porter. Instead I got a huge blast of juicy tropical fruit on the nose. Big notes of pineapple and apple skin as well as some faint roasted coffee and vanilla. Really nice.

Taste: Quite different from the aroma. Toasted nutty malt, coffee grounds, baking chocolate, and some light grapefruit and orange rind. Has a nice, clean bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied and satisfyingly crisp. Goes down pretty smooth.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this black IPA from 18th Street. It has a really nice night and day thing going on with the dark, roasty flavor and the bright, citrusy aroma. The two work wonderfully together. This is a good gateway beer if, like me, you love IPAs but you want to start getting into porters and stouts. A
really solid followup to their first bottled beer, Sinister.
I look forward to seeing what they'll churn out in the future.

4 out of 5

New Release: Great Lakes - Rye of the Tiger

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Rye of the Tiger
Rye IPA
7.5% ABV

Official description:

Like tigers creeping through tall grass, hopheads will stalk this majestic golden brew, rising to the challenge of its bold flavor attack. Full bodied and loaded with hops, our Rye of the Tiger IPA is brewed with rye malt, adding a spice complexity to every sip. Its an ale meant to inspire feats of strength and skill, a worthy contender in the bout against the flavorless. If you can step into the ring with this hopped-up cat, you've earned your stripes.

Another seasonal IPA offering from the always reliable Great Lakes Brewing Co., Rye of the Tiger is brewed with Columbus, Warrior, and Simcoe hops which produces a "strong citrus and pine presence with a clean, dry finish".

Hitting store shelves this week!

Beer Review: Ommegang - Iron Throne

Brewery Ommegang

Iron Throne
Belgian Blonde Ale
6.5% ABV

Appearance: Pours a hazy pale golden yellow with a towering four fingers of dense, bubbly white foam.

Smell: Very faint aroma of a crackery Belgian yeast along with a little bit of soft lemon. As the beer warms the smell becomes stronger with notes of banana and clove.

Taste: Much more intense than the aroma. Tart lemon, sweet, bready malt, Belgian yeast, strong peppery citrus from the grains of paradise, ripe banana, and some light floral notes.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied, crisp, tingly on the tongue. Pretty refreshing.

Overall, I enjoyed this. I got suckered in by the Game of Thrones marketing but this was actually a pretty nice little beer. Complex, flavorful and satisfying. I wish the aroma would've been a little stronger but the taste makes up for it. It reminded me of a hefeweizen/witbier/Belgian pale hybrid. A perfect beer for spring and summer. The only real negative for me was that the flavor and carbonation sort of died off as the beer warmed, leaving it thin and watery. Other than that, it's a solid Belgian blonde. Looking forward to seeing more beers in this series.

4 out of 4