Duck-Rabbit Barley Wine

My husband, parents, and I went out for lunch over the weekend, so I just had to try to Duck-Rabbit Barley Wine, since it was on tap:

Vittles:

English Barleywine

11% abv

Appearance: 9/10

It looks darker in the picture than it really was, since the bar we were in was very dim.  This barleywine appeared to be a dark burnt orange, almost a nutty brown color, and it had a thin head by the time it got to our table.  My husband took a sip while I was getting my camera open on my phone, but you can see the nice lacing on the glass.  I even saw some legs after I took a sip, which is nice to see in this style.

Aroma: 23/25

It starts off with a complex roasted malt nose with caramel notes.  Very bready on first sniff, which I love.  The hop character balances very nicely with the maltiness; neither one seems to dominate.  Dark fruit aromas, especially raisins and figs, become more apparent as you swirl the glass.  There's a touch of something muskier, maybe vanilla, on the tail end, too.

Taste: 37/40
This is what I look for in an English barleywine.  The flavors complement the bouquet pretty squarely, with the bready/biscuity tastes dominating up front, blending into a fruity, floral, citrusy, not quite resiny hoppiness, which gets overtaken by the dark and dried fruit flavors on the back end.  The aftertaste is a combination of roasted malt sweetness and dark fruit flavors -- very appealing.

Mouthfeel: 9/10
It's a smooth, velvety, and full-bodied beverage, which adds quite a bit to the impression this brew leaves on me.  I also liked the moderate alcohol-warmth that followed each sip.  Luscious is an apt descriptor here.

Style: 5/5
For an English barleywine, this brew is pretty much spot on.  The flavors are balanced very nicely, and the hoppiness isn't over the top.

Drinkability: 9/10
For hopefully obvious reasons, I'd never drink more than one barleywine in a sitting, nor would I drink it quickly.  This is absolutely a beer that's meant to be sipped and enjoyed slowly.  I did appreciate how the flavors altered and a little more complexity developed in the fruitiness as the barleywine warmed to room temperature, which made this all the more delicious of a drink.

Overall: 92/100
I love barleywines, and this one is no exception.  I've never had any Duck-Rabbit beers before, but if this beer is an indication of the kind of quality I could expect from the rest of this brewer's offerings, I'd gladly take a shot at the rest of his beers.

Looking forward to sampling the next one from my ever so modest beer cellar!  Cheers!

Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Rogue Dead Guy Ale is a beer that I've never actually had before, despite many of my friends ordering it when we go to bars.  It was one of the mix-a-six beers that my parents got me for my birthday:

Vittles:

6.5% abv

40 IBUs

Maibock

~16 SRM

Appearance: 9/10

I like the coppery/amber color, and the inch and a half head had decent retention.  It's clear and bright, with moderate visible carbonation.

Aroma: 22/25
The aroma is very enjoyable -- it's bready with caramel notes and a mild nuttiness, but it also has a spicy character in the nose that seems almost peppery.  There also seems to be a very slight, delicate floral quality in the background.

Taste: 36/40
The taste is very similar to the aroma, but the hops have more presence.  The malty, bready flavors are underscored by caramel sweetness, which nicely complements the spicy, peppery, floral characteristics and the moderate bitterness.  It's a very well-balanced beer, and the flavors have a good level of complexity.  It's got a good, clean finish, which I like.

Mouthfeel: 9/10
It's medium-full bodied, smooth, crisp, and ever so slightly dry.  I don't often give high marks in the mouthfeel category, but this beer deserves it.

Style: 4/5
For a Maibock, this beer is a touch on the dark side, and its 40 IBUs come in high of the expected range (23-35).  In terms of aroma, taste profile, and mouthfeel, this is a pretty good representation of a maibock.

Drinkability: 8/10
This is the kind of beer I could have any time.  It's very enjoyable, and while the abv is too high to be sessionable, having a couple on a warm spring afternoon just seems like it would hit the spot nicely.

Overall: 88/100
This is a good, solid beer.  It's got a decent level of complexity in both the nose and the palate without being overly distracting or overbearing, as some beers can be.  I'm really glad my folks picked this up for me.

Many, many more beers are sitting in my keezer, just waiting for me to try them.  Can't wait!  Cheers!

Kirin Ichiban

My parents are awesome.  They came to visit this weekend for my birthday and for Mother's Day, and they brought me the best present(s) -- a mixed sixer of beers I've never had before.  I was in the mood for something light and mild, so I started with a Kirin Ichiban:

Vittles: 

5% abv

Appearance: 8/10

The light golden body, topped with about an inch or so of white foam, does look pretty refreshing.  Once it was poured, there seemed to be very little effervescence in the glass.

Aroma: 19/25

The aroma is mellow and mild.  It smells faintly of malt, a smooth graininess, but I don't smell much aside from that.

Taste: 25/40

The taste, like the aroma, is mellow and mild.  I went into tasting this beer expecting flavors similar to Budweiser and was pleasantly surprised -- where Bud has a sharp acrid character, Kirin Ichiban is very smooth and gentle.  The taste is, as you would expect from this style, very faint, but it's enjoyable for the style, and if given the choice, I would choose Kirin Ichiban over BMC.  There was, however, a slight flavor that detracted a little.  It had a stale grain flavor that was very mild, not overly noticeable, but worth mentioning.

Mouthfeel: 8/10

I was a little surprised -- I was expecting it to be very watery and thin, but it was actually a light-medium bodied beverage, which added a bit to my enjoyment of the beer.

Style: 4/5

While Kirin Ichiban tastes like an adjunct lager, it is apparently 100% malt.  And that comes through in the flavor and the mouthfeel.  However, I think I would consider it a premium American lager (despite coming from Japan --  hell, the BJCP lists Red Stripe as a premium American lager, and that's from Jamaica, so what the hell, right?)

Drinkability: 7/10

It's so easy to drink beers like this if you're not looking for bold flavor or a hop punch, which I wasn't when I grabbed this one.  It's a very good representation of its style, and it's a smooth beverage that doesn't interfere too much with your palate, so you can pair it with almost anything.  It's also very mild and refreshing, so it's a good beer for a hot, sunny day when you're looking for something with a touch of flavor, but isn't overbearing.

Overall: 71/100

I'm not generally a fan of this sort of lager, but I did enjoy this beer.  I wasn't looking for a thick, heavy, or boldly flavored beer, which is one of the reasons it hit the spot last night.  Like I said above, it's a good example of its style, not a great beer, but better than other similar beers I've tried in the past.

I can't believe how many beers I have on hand now, thanks to my very supportive parents and husband.  Can't wait to wade through all of them!!  Cheers!

Saranac Black Forest

The last Saranac beer I tried was their Black Forest, which is a Bavarian-style black beer:

Vittles:

5.3% abv

Appearance: 8/10

It's definitely a black beer, all right.  Well, not quite...  It is very dark, and when the light shines through it, ruby tones come out.  The off-white head was fairly thin, and it fell quickly, leaving little to no lacing on the sides.

Aroma: 20/25

It smells a bit of caramel and chocolate, with a very mild hint of bitter coffee on the back end.  Roasted characters come through nicely with caramelized malt notes.  I like the way the hop character balances with the malt profile.

Taste: 29/40

Chocolate and coffee flavors make up the bulk of the grain taste, as you could imagine.  The hops are mild and add a slight earthiness and a moderate spiciness that are nicely matched with the maltiness.  The flavors overall are very mellow.  I think I was expecting a bolder in general.

Mouthfeel: 8/10

The medium body adds nicely to this beer.  I didn't notice much in the way of carbonation, though, which made the beer feel flat.

Style: 3/5

The two points where this beer really diverged from the style were with head retention and carbonation.  Other than that, it's a pretty typical black beer.

Drinkability: 8/10

It's smooth and mellow, which means it's easy to drink either by itself or with a meal.  I could easily have 2-3 of these without getting that bitter residue building up on the back of my tongue.

Overall: 76/100

There are a few aspects of this beer that remind me of Guinness, like the mild flavor and the chocolate/coffee notes of the roasted malt.  However, this beer comes through with a medium body, whereas Guinness has always tasted thin and watery to me.  I do realize that I'm comparing two different styles here, but readers who enjoy Guinness but find it on the watery side and would prefer a beer with more body may want to try Black Forest.

Welp, back to hunting the distributors for more good deals...  Cheers!

Saranac IPA

Since the weather is getting warmer, I'm swinging back toward hoppier preferences.  Even though it's not an impressive beer, Saranac's IPA hit the spot last night:

Vittles:

5.8% abv

Appearance: 9/10

Just look at the foamy head on that bad boy!  Nearly an inch and a half of off-white lather sitting on top of a clear, bright, golden/golden-straw body with plenty of effervescence really makes me want to indulge.  As the head fell, it left a beautiful lacing pattern on the glass.

Aroma: 21/25

The Cascade hops are very apparent, with their spicy, floral, citrusy scents.  I could also smell a subtle maltiness in the background that seemed to balance out the hop nose very well.

Taste: 29/40

The same spicy, floral, citrusy flavors of the Cascade hops come through very nicely.  You get to taste all the hoppy goodness without the thick resiny feel that some IPAs impart.  The taste was moderately bitter, not over the top, and the aftertaste was a more sedate flavor with a moderate linger.

Mouthfeel: 8/10

With a medium body, a fair sting on the tongue from the ample carbonation, and a clean finish, the mouthfeel does add a bit to the beer overall.

Style: 4/5

Taste-wise, this does fall short of what I expect from an American IPA.  I mean, it has the right flavors, thanks to the Cascade hops, but just isn't very bitter, and it lacks that smack you get from bolder AIPAs.  It's almost more apologetic about being an IPA, whereas I expect to be punched in the tongue when I crack open an AIPA.  Aside from the lack of hop assertiveness, it does fit the category decently well.

Drinkability: 7/10

It hit the spot for me because it was the kind of beer I was in the mood to drink.  It's the kind of beer that I'd want to have with a meal, not sit and sip while relaxing.

Overall: 78/100

If you're looking for an IPA that's easier on the hops, this might do the trick.  If you're looking for a hop-bomb, look elsewhere.  I'd say this might be a good beer to use as an introduction for a friend who isn't familiar with craft beers or IPAs, since it isn't overbearing on the hop characteristics.

One left to try!  Cheers!

Saranac Pale Ale

It's been a while since I've had a pale ale, so I thought I'd try Saranac's Pale Ale next:

Vittles:

5.5% abv

Appearance: 8/10

The crystal-clear amber color, topped by about a half-inch of off-white foam, does look pretty pleasing.  However, the head did not last very long and left only minimal lacing as it fell.  Low levels of carbonation were also apparent.

Aroma: 18/25

The aroma isn't overly strong.  I smell a decent amount of breadiness, along with a funky grain kind of smell. It also smells a little stale, like old bread, and there are more subdued fruity notes, too.

Taste: 32/40

The taste matches the aroma fairly well, but the bitterness is more prominent.  The flavors are nice and smooth, and they seem to balance nicely.  Both the stale grain and the fruitiness are present, but the fruit notes are fainter in the flavor than they were in the aroma.

Mouthfeel: 8/10

It's medium bodied, with low effervescence and a clean finish.  I like how crisp this beer is, since that makes it more refreshing and more enjoyable for me, especially since I was sipping this while enjoying the warm, sunny spring weather.

Style: 3/5

Saranac's website lists this as an "English-style pale ale," and while it largely fits into the standard English Pale Ale category, there are a few points where it deviates, such as the color, abv, and mouthfeel, all of which surpass the high side of the style guidelines.

Drinkability: 8/10

It's smooth and refreshing, and it doesn't leave your mouth coated with a lingering bitter aftertaste.  I think this would have been a great beer to session if only the abv were lower.  The American craft sector has relatively few truly sessionable brews; this one has the characteristics I'd want in a session beer, but at 5.5%, I wouldn't be able to drink them the way I could a 3.5% beer, for example.

Overall: 77/100

Surprise, surprise -- another average beer.  I remember when I first started drinking beer, back in my college days (think Red Dog), I thought it was so flavorless and bland.  Then I discovered craft beer, which was amazingly flavorful by comparison, and for a while there, I thought every craft beer I tried was nectar from the gods.  But my frame of reference hadn't shifted yet.  Now that I've sampled a very wide variety of craft beers and know how good they can taste, I'm really not shocked to see that the majority of what I try falls in the "average" range, with a few coming in well above, and a few falling well below.  It's amazing how many things the bell curve describes.

I think there are two more Saranac beers left to try.  Cheers!

Saranac Adirondack Lager

I found another pretty decent deal at the distributor this past week: $15 for a Trail Mix case of Saranac.  It's probably been 4-5 years since I've had anything Saranac, and I didn't remember too well what I had had of theirs before.  The first beer I grabbed was the Adirondack Lager:

Vittles:
5.5% abv

Appearance: 8/10
It's crystal clear with a nice golden-amber color and about a half-inch of foamy, off-white head.  I could see a little effervescence, too, which made it more appealing.  While the head lacked any real retention, it did leave mild lacing as it fell.

Aroma: 18/25
I smelled a good malt backbone with notes of cracker, biscuit, and a very slight sweetness.  The aroma is mainly from the malt, with very little of the hop characteristics coming through.  I could only pick up on trace scents from the Cascade hops, but couldn't smell the Hallertau at all.

Taste: 30/40
It's not an overly flavorful lager, but it is crisp, clean, and refreshing.  The biscuit and cracker notes are more prominent on the tongue than the hops flavors, which are thankfully somewhat more present in flavor than they were in aroma.  I noticed the spicy and floral hops notes the clearest, with a slight earthiness in the background.  It's about average for a German lager.

Mouthfeel: 7/10
It's medium-bodied, crisp, and clean on the finish.  The mouthfeel doesn't really add anything to the beer, but it doesn't detract, either.

Style: 3/5
The category I think this beer fits best is German Pils, but there are a few points of divergence, such as the use of Cascade hops and the lack of Pilsner malt.  It also lacks the head retention that should be found in this style.

Drinkability: 8/10
This is an easy beer to drink, especially since it leaves very little aftertaste and doesn't sit heavy on your palate or in your stomach.  It's one of the more refreshing beers I've had recently, and I certainly enjoyed it yesterday while soaking up some sun.  It's a good summer beer.

Overall: 74/100
I prefer this beer to most, if not all, of the macro lagers.  It's not overpowering in flavor, so if you're looking for a punch in the mouth, you won't find it here.  All in all, not a bad beer, but not a great beer, either.  Just a good average lager.

I'm looking forward to trying the other Saranac beers.  Cheers!