Beer - #144 - Rogue - Imperial India Pale Ale (I²PA)

omg omg omg - A Rogue - Imperial India Pale Ale (I²PA), which even without opening it looks like a work of art, ceramic covered glass with stopper. Brewed by Rogue Ales In the style: of a  Imperial/Double IPA Newport, Oregon USA.

And double up I've yet to be disappointed by a Rogue beer.

Above and beyond an India Pale Ale--I2PA is radically hopped with an intense aroma and hop bitterness. Unfiltered and aged for 9 months before it leaves the brewery--not for the faint of heart. I2PA is brewed with two-row Pipkin Pale malts, Saaz, Cascade and Northwest Golding hops.

a big 750ml bottle of a 9.5% ABV beer, which is 5.8 Standard drinks - in one bottle. 74 IBU's which is fair to middling.  BarleyWine and Standard IPA tops out at 70 on a good day. I should share it. I won't but I should.

A PDF of an IBU guide you can find here .

Magnificently hoppy on opening, pinegrassy, light orangey golden brown in colour, decent head, and carbonation. The aroma isn't carried though and it settles down to noticeable but not strong. It's full of body, has a citrus content, long mouth of hops and finishes nicely.  The pine/grass taste is pretty evident though and leads this charge.

The alcohol strength is well hidden, but that's not hard when the dominant taste is the bitter hops and not a lot else. Disappointing that there isn't a softer back-note or feel with this. Not that I want a sweet and sour beer, but it would add a dimension that could be nice.

I was hoping that as it warmed in the glass that it would change the impression, but the hops just get hoppier, but they're, in my opinion, just a tad on the harsh side. The malt warm does begin to get a hold, but they get a bit slammed, and the alcohol astringent gets a toe hold too.

Would I share it? Heck yes, there is enough in this to carry a conversation on it's merits. The pdubyah-o-meter says this would be 8 from 10, because I want to like it more than I do. I love the bottle and delivery, I hate the way that suddenly you've had nearly 6 drinks worth of beer: -), I love the hoppy aroma, it's just nice,  but I would have liked some lacing in the glass.

Party in a bottle? No. It's not as likeable as it could be, there could be a softer edge somewhere, this is pretty much a one dimension beer. Am I disappointed, yes, and no. It's a fine beer, I drank a lot of it too quickly, and I'm going to wish I had another, mostly to try and figure out if I was right or wrong about it.

Related articles

• India Pale Ale (dangerousmanbrewing.wordpress.com)


• India Pale Ale (part I) (beerscribesully.com)

Beer - #143 - Renaissance - Enlightenment - White As Wheat IPA

Renaissance - Enlightenment - White As Wheat IPA. A most unlikely beer Brewed by Renaissance Brewing In the style of a  Wheat Ale in Blenheim, New Zealand.



Unfiltered beers are prized by artisan brewer worldwide who relish a pint that’s cloudy and hazy with nothing striped away. We do too, so at Renaissance, our White IPA is packed with unmalted wheat and doses on NZ grown American hops. Aromas of dried tangerine and fresh citrus. A luscious body with a lingering evergreen finish. Think of it as a beer made, and served the way way nature intended, "cloudy as."

500ml 74% ABV (2.8 Standard drink units), of which I'm expecting something nice.

Cloudy, golden yellow, fruity citrus not to astringent. All of that.

It's cloudy, smells musty, seems to pour flat, and I got nothing by way of head. It's also darker brown than I'd expected.

It tastes ok though :-), syrupy, malty sweet, and just a touch of alcohol on the back. It's not half bad. There is however a bunch of grassy notes in this too. Bit of a melange of things. And that's not half good.

A confusing set to deliver, not as quiet and settled as a traditional wheat beer, and not an IPA either. Soft of a half/half and in doing so not quite making a whole one.

So, the pdubyah-o-meter says 5. and that's just because I want to enjoy this more. As a beer for the evening this has left me a bit empty and I might struggle to finish it, but I will, and mumble under my breath about each moutfull. It might be that  I just don't get the Wheat/IPA thing, but there is possibly a good reason that  this isn't a thing. Perhaps I should have thought it through some more.

Not for the faint of heart, and this might just ring your bell, but this is not for me

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Things I wish I'd written #1

I was on the Spotify and I came over all a bit of this and that. And well there are a few things that you need to know and a few things you need to carry with you in life, some of that might be the poetry and some of that might be the song lyrics.

Song Lyrics.....

I dont mean things like the David Bowie - Word on a Wing - which is a song that I'd be happy to be stuck with forever, the Station To Station album being the only one that I would take to the desert island with me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTIAiMeyd7Q

In this age of grand illusion you walked into my life out of my dreams
I don't need another change, still you forced away into my scheme of things
You say we're growing, growing heart and soul
In this age of grand illusion you walked into my life out of my dreams

But I think these came to mind tonight as lyrics that rang my bell, the refrain that when I hear it makes me smile in that way that reminds me of being 15, of a different time, a different time, a different place..... . Some from not that long ago, some that I go back to.

The newest one first, then in no particular order:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JUgPmbvYj4

And I'd give the world if it were mine
To let these memories slip my mind
And wake up next to you one more time

http://www.lyricsmania.com/santa_fe_lyrics_eilen_jewell.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4YdmSclJA8

At the top I'm stopping by
Your place of work and acting like
I haven't dreamed of you and I
And marriage in an orange grove
You are the only thing in any room you're ever in

http://www.lyricsmania.com/starlings_lyrics_elbow.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvHBx5fBcR0

You see i went on the roller coaster last night when i was feeling bad
Down by the sea in santa cruz and i was feeling sad
But we went down, and around, and it knocked me out of my head.
Well, i went on the coaster and my heart was heavy as lead
But we went down, and around, and it knocked me out of my head.
I say whoa-oh-oh, for it knocked me out of my head. let's go...

http://www.lyricstime.com/jonathan-richman-roller-coaster-by-the-sea-lyrics.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kk9WZ2zLw

A friend of mine grows his very own brambles
They twist all around him 'til he can't move
Beautiful, quivering, chivalrous shambles
What is my friend trying to prove?

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858709571/#wlDBsgjksCTiWS4h.99

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qums4Soo2Is

He's not into miracles
Sees life all too cynical
The cat has got his tongue
Now she bangs on his drum
He says pull the other one
Bells ring, look what you have done
Emotions leaking out
Her paint's all over town

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/squeeze/annie+get+your+gun_20129200.html

I'm sure you have your own, and I'm sure I have few more refrains that will come back to me now that I'm thinking about it, stand by ....

Beer - #142 - Hallertau - Porter Noir

Tonight then a Hallertau  Porter Noir,  A beer enjoyed by my friends and highly recommended by others.

The Porter Noir is a beer from way out of left field. A 6.6% Porter was aged for four months in Pinot Noir Wine Barrels acquired from local winery Kumeu River. The barrels were only gently hot water rinsed before use to retain the wine charter and also the native yeasts in the wood. The four month maturation in the barrel develops the palette with gentile woody tannins and fruits of the forest from the previous resident. Combined with the remnants of chocolate and soft acidity from the native yeasts creates amazing mouth feel with a long drying finish. The secondary fermentation in the bottle was carried out with the native yeasts from the barrel, namely brettanomyces. This is the same yeast used to bottle condition the famous Belgian Trappist beer Orval. The brettanomyces character dominates the aroma. Layers of complexity, red currents, earthy gumboots, a stroll through the barnyard?? All very interesting stuff. The beer has been conditioned in 750 ml Champaign bottles for 6 months prior to release and with correct cellaring will continue to improve for up to 3 years. The Porter Noir is a strictly limited release and is only available from Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant.

Or Liquorland Forest Hill...  750mls bottle of a 6.6% ABV beer (thats about 4 standard drinks)

Overly excitable, it's frothing everywhere, pours with a monster head, it's a bit out of control. Initially I though a sour aroma, but it settles into a nice chocolate...

On the taste there is a bunch of sour,  chocolate, and pinot wine, shut up!,   The Aroma settles into a fantastic fruit thing, into something that you can't actually put your finger too. Oddly odd.

Am I enjoying this though? It's a bit of a treasure hunt, a mixed bag of things, a nose of fruit, a taste of bittererd chocolate, and some  sourness that really isn't all that. For me then too much of a weird fruity bottom note, not a lot of the porter-ness that you might think you're getting, the chocolate aroma seems to have disappeared and I'm left with something I don't understand, a little bitter and a the dregs of a poor bottle of wine.

Eventually the pdubyah-o-meter really doesn't like this at 6 from it's arbitrary scale of things, and despite wanting to like this either I wasn't on my game or this was the emperors new clothes.

I review this as I taste it, I'm happy to go back and have another crack, but with this I'd need persuasion. I've tried hard to like it as being "different" or "forward" but it's really a bit average and oversold. I'm about at the point where the reputation that this arrives with is by stealth and bluster, and the delivery is a huge gap. A voice against he crowd, I'm happy with that, I didn't like 1,2,3, or 4, and this does nothing to improve my humour.

 

Beer - #141 - Golden Eagle - Big Yank American IPA

Oh yes I did.  Golden Eagle Big Yank American IPA, on a Thursday!, Brewed by Golden Eagle Brewery Styled as a American Strong Ale in Christchurch, New Zealand.

7.5% ABV in a 500ml glass, making it 3 standard drinks.

During 1944/45 the B17 Bomber - Big Yank - completed 50 combat missions, attacking targets throughout Germany.  

In true American IPA style, this beer packs a nose and mouthful of hops with a malt backbone and bitterness to match!

Not even much on the Golden Eagle website about this, but I'm looking forward to this, as I've not yet had a bad experience with the Golden Eagle.

Lovely hoppy aroma straight up, Fantastic dark brown colour, decent carbonation, and a good attempt at a head. A fair wallop of bitterness in this, the right amount, and backed with a decent malty back.  Nice citrus in this too, and decent length.

What this also does is hide that it's a strong beer.

I'd hunt this out if it was on tap, this hits my spot nicely. The pdubyah-o-meter says 8.5 things on it's scale of things. There's not a lot not to like about this to be honest. If you're up for an IPA, like the bitterness at a level that decent and carries itself well then this is the go.