The beer bar was definitely raised this week as none of the following beers scored less than a 4 out of 5. And we don't give out 4s lightly.
Les Trois Mousquetaries (LTM) Dixieme - Shared by one of the many generous patrons of Mongers, this imperial black kriek had a beautiful, tart, dark fruit aroma with a less tart, infinitely delicious flavor that was a combination of chocolate and a touch of fruit. According to the kind patron that shared it, when he had a bottle a few months ago, there was more fruit flavor present. Either way, delicious and 10%, really?!? No way does it taste like it.
Founders Brewing Porter - Seeing this in the cooler I was shocked to see that at least according to Untappd I'd never had it before. Rectifying that I found a beer with a beautiful chocolate colored head and an even better chocolately flavor. Nice job, Michigan.
Founders Brewing Azacca IPA - Although I'd had this beer before I was determined for a re-test after hearing from a couple people that it didn't hit high notes for them. For me, it was as good as I remember and Azacca hops are definitely my hops.
Logsdon ZuurPruim - This beer is a mouthful of delicious sour fruit flavor and a fantastic, soft mouthfeel likely coming from the four months it spent on Yummy Beaut plums in Cabernet Sauvignon
Three Magnets 2nd Anniversary Ale - The aroma of this wine barrel-aged sour red ale makes us happy and the flavor - tart but not sour, fruity but not sweet - even happier.
Three Magnets Chef's Choice No. 1 Rye Porter - Undoubtedly a most bizarre set of ingredients to combine - a rye porter with vanilla and black garlic - it turned out to be incredible and reminiscent of a complex chocolate porter.
Firestone Walker Firestone 20 (XX) Anniversary Ale - Big thanks go out to Chris for sharing this Strong Ale from FW's vintage barrel program (and the pic)! Clocking in at 13.5% one might think a few ounces would be plenty. One would be wrong. Perhaps a few bottles and then we'd reach the "plenty" level.
Thanks for your patience. We're well aware that the list got a little out of hand this week but there was no way to exclude any of these amazing beers. Should the Logsdon or Three Magnets beers intrigue you, head on over to Beer Belly where you might be lucky enough to still find them on tap (and if you go 3-6pm you'd be super lucky as HH prices are $3). While the supply of Founder's is dwindling, Tuesday afternoon both were available in the McMenamin's 23rd Ave Bottle Shop coolers. The Firestone Walker and the LTM? Well, those are going to take some harder searching but if you find them, you'll be a good beer buddy and share with us, right?
I recently mentioned four events on the horizon that featured a critical mass of fresh hop beers, possibly the only way to have any chance at trying a good percentage of the dizzying number available right now. While I didn't make it up to Concordia Ale House for their Hop-a-Palooza the week prior, this past weekend I hit up back-to-back fresh hop events starting with Roscoe's Fresh Hop Summit on Friday, followed by the Fresh Hop Beer Fest at Oaks Park on Saturday.
Between taster trays and tasting tickets I personally ordered about 20 beers. But since I went to both events with friends I had quite a few more tastes out of others' glasses. Reviewing the lists from those events it seems like the Pale Ale is the most used base beer this year. Being someone that prefers an IPA over a Pale Ale most days of the year one could guess that I wouldn't be blown away by most of them. One would be correct. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy trying them, it just means that overall most of them were just OK. There were however three of them that rose to the top.
In no particular order, they were Gigantic Brewing Sodbusted Simcoe, The Commons Fresh Hop Myrtle and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Citra Fresh Hop Seizoen. All three come from breweries that generally impress me and these beers reaffirm that.
Gigantic's Sodbusted is a 6.8% ABV IPA with surprise, surprise Simcoe hops. It has an amazing aroma and being an IPA base from a brewery that excels at them, it's really a no-brainer that this one hit it out of the park for me.
Myrtle (pictured above) is a Farmhouse Ale and one of The Commons' spring seasonals. Not an obvious choice in my mind to be a base beer to brew with fresh hops, the citrus and sourness from the Lactobacillus strains work very well with the Meridian hops.
Logsdon Ales also chose a less-than-obvious beer for their fresh hop offering, Seizoen. While Citra hops were the primary ones used, eight other varieties supported the conversion of their flagship beer into an even better version of itself.
Since I know you've been drinking at least a few fresh hop beers, too, which ones have made your taste buds sing?
