LowRYEder IPA is SweetWater Brewing Company's (Atlanta, Georgia) take on a Rye India Pale Ale. The SweetWater website proclaims that their beer is made with a massive 25% shot of rye malts in addition to the normal malts found in beers.
The Rye IPA pours a hazy orange color and creates a thin off-white head with low retention, though high lacing.
The beer smells mainly of citrus hops with other fruits more subtly present. There is an earthy, grassy smell to the beer as well as a slight spice, presumably from the rye.
LowRyeder is slightly thicker than medium bodied and has a medium level of carbonation. The carbonation seems to quickly fade \to a lower lever, however. At 6.2% ABV, LowRyeder has only the slightest bit of alcohol character, mainly just a slight warmth.
LowRYEder mobile! Is is still illegal if alcohol itself drives?
SweetWater's Rye IPA is bitter right up front, though it quickly mellows out thanks to sweet caramel malts. The rye flavors come in towards the end with a bit of a peppery spice. Pine and grapefruit flavors from the hops accompany the beer's bitterness, as do slight tropical fruit flavors.
I've never really understood low riders. To me, they look a bit like someone blew up a child's toy car to full size. I can't image that the vehicles are very practical. I mean, can you drive over railroad tracks, or any bumps at all really, without ripping off your bumper? Regardless, LowRYEder is much less silly of a beer than lowriders are vehicles. I do find myself wishing that SweetWater's Rye IPA had a bit more of a rye flavor, but overall everything is quite balanced. LowRYEder falls on the much sweeter side of American IPAs though, so don't go in expecting a classic IPA.
Forsaken is a limited release Amber Ale created by the Evil Genius Beer Company which is located in West Grove, Pennsylvania. The bottle explains that Forsaken is a hoppy Amber Ale which is brewed with Simcoe and Zythos hops.
The Amber Ale pours a dark amber color with around a finger of khaki head. While the head quickly disappears, a hearty white ring remains around the inside of the glass which leaves some nice lacing behind.
The beer smells mainly of floral hops. I get a scent like that of tropical fruits as well as the normal piney hops scent. There is also a bit of a caramel malt sweetness to the beer's nose.
Forsaken is light to medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. The beer's mouthfeel is somewhat disappointing. I detect only the slightest bit of alcohol warmth. The beer has an alcohol content of 6.5%.
Evil Genius's Amber Ale tastes of piney hops right up front, followed by sweeter caramel and roasted malt flavors. I didn't get any roasted scents from the beer, so these were a surprise to taste. The smell of tropical fruits was also misleading, as none can be tasted in the beer. The ale is definitely hoppier than other Ambers, but nothing really stands out as special.
I can only guess that this beer is called Forsaken because it has been abandoned by its beer friends due to being "different". Hoppy Amber Ales aren't extremely common, so it's likely that the other Amber Ales refuse to play with Forsaken. Unfortunately, the other hoppy style beers refuse to hang out with Forsaken as well, since Forsaken is much too sweet to hang out with the bitter crowd. I kind of feel bad for the beer now, I better drink it out of its misery.
Whether or not I feel sorry for Forsaken, I can't say that I particularly like the beer. I wish that the beer had a thicker mouthfeel and a flavor profile which stood out more. The beer is quite easy drinking, though its taste is only average.
Hercules, the mythological Greek half-god hero was known for his massive strength and heroic deeds. In naming their Double India Pale Ale after Hercules, Great Divide Brewing Company (Denver, Colorado) is suggesting that their beer embodies some of the traits which made this hero a legend.
Hercules pours a hazy orange color with a long-lasting two finger head which leaves a good amount of lacing on the glass. The beer's color could perhaps be likened to the sun-kissed skin of a Greek demi-god, though I think that this simile might be a bit of a stretch for Great Divide.
The Double IPA's aroma is actually much maltier than I would have expected. Hops scents are present, though subdued. A piney, resinous scent mingles with citrus against the sweet malts. The ale's aroma reminds me of being in a pine forest after a summer rain.
Great Divide's Imperial IPA is medium bodied with a light level of carbonation. With a name like Hercules, I was expecting the ale to have a massive body, not that the beer's smoothness is a bad thing. The ale's mouthfeel is a bit syrupy, though with the low level of carbonation it comes off as creamy. At 10% ABV, this beer's strength warrants the name Hercules all in itself.
Hercules Vs. The Hyrda, as recorded on ancient Greek pottery.
Just as in the aroma, I am surprised by the huge malts in the Double IPA's flavor. Sweet, almost Barleywine-like malts give the ale its main flavors as well as those of candied fruits. Almost in the background are the citrus and pine notes of the ale's hops. For an ale with such a huge alcohol content there is no harshness whatsoever, just a slight warmth on the tongue. The balance of the hops and malts is amazing in an ale like this with so much going on inside it. The ale's massive flavors seem to play out subtly, against all reasoning.
My comparison with the hero Hercules and the Double IPA Hercules has obviously fallen through. All I can imagine is that Great Divide named their beer after the legend due to the strength of the two. I have to say that I rather enjoy the idea of a bottle of Hercules going around in ancient Greece, beating up Cyclopes and rescuing fair maidens. It would be a dangerous job for a glass bottle however, so I guess I'll just leave it to Kevin Sorbo.
Hercules Double IPA shows an amazing balance between sweet and bitter that confuses the palette into thinking that the huge flavors of the beer are actually subtle. Even if you are not a fan of IPAs, I would highly recommend that you give Double IPAs a try as they tend to be much sweeter and better balanced than singles. I will warn you, however, that Hercules's 10% ABV will sneak up on you and hit you with a stick as though you were a Manticore if you aren't careful, so drink responsibly!
Matilda is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale in the series of Belgian Style Ales created by Goose Island Beer Co. which is located in Chicago, Illinois. I saw this beer in the singles cooler at a local liquor store and had to try it after my previous experience with Goose Island's Sofie.
The ale pours a light brown color with a fluffy, two-finger head which lingers for an extremely long time and leaves a thick lacing on the glass.
Matilda smells extremely interesting. There is an obvious Belgian yeast scent to the ale, though it is lighter than that found in other Belgians. There is a light peppery scent to the ale, adding to other earthy scents. The main stars of the aroma are the fruity scents such as pear, citrus, and apple.
The Belgian Style Ale is medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. The beer's texture is extremely velvety and smooth. The first word that came to my mind when drinking the beer was "soft" if that tells you anything about the beer's mouthfeel.
Matilda's flavors are as interesting and varied as its aroma. Flavors of biscuity malts and the sweet Belgian yeast set a background for the other, more interesting flavors. Fruit flavors such as pear, nectarine, apple, and white grape are amazingly noticeable. The beer has a fruity, nectar sort of flavor about it.
I'm finding more and more that, while I still don't quite enjoy the stronger Belgian Style Ales, I'm really enjoying the lighter, Saison style ales. Especially ones such as this and Sofie which feature an amazing variety of fruit flavors. Beer like this is comparable to fine wines in which you can pick out the flavors of many different things.
Matilda is an extremely complex, yet still very enjoyable, and not overwhelming beer. It's very nice to see American brewers showing a mastery of the Belgian styles as well as putting their own spin on the classic style.
Resin is an American Double India Pale Ale (also called an American Imperial IPA) created by Sixpoint Brewery which is located in Brooklyn, New York. Resin was created to celebrate the resinous character of the hops flower and to showcase the hops bitterness and range of flavors in their purest form, yet still in a way that is balanced and easy to drink.
Resin pours a hazy, light orange color with a two-finger, off-white head. The head shows great retention as well as lacing.
The Double IPA smells unsurprisingly hoppy. Citrus fruits and a floral fragrance are present, as well as the piney scent that comes from resin. The malt character of the beer can only slightly be smelled. There is a slight bit of an ethanol scent to the beer as well.
Resin is medium bodied with a medium carbonation level. The beer has an oily, almost sticky mouthfeel to it. The carbonation does an amazing job of really presenting the scent and flavors of the ale to the palate. This has to be one of the smoothest Double IPAs that I have ever tasted. There is a nice alcohol warmth to the ale, which at 9.1% ABV, is not surprising. The ease of drinking, however, is extremely surprising, and somewhat dangerous with such a high alcohol content.
Beerzilla attacking Brooklyn aided by hops-baloons.
Resin is definitely a hops-forward beer, though it is not nearly as overpowering as other high IBU (International Bitterness Units) ales. There is a very nice caramel malt background to the hops flavors on showcase. Citrus hops flavor is much more prevalent in the beer's taste than floral notes, differing from the beer's aroma as both seemed equally present in the scent. Piney resin flavor is definitely the big hitter in the beer. I suppose that's no surprise though, as it's what the beer is named after.
Hops are extremely important to beer, and have been for hundreds of years. In modern times, hops have become more of a flavoring agent, whereas in the times of nautical journeys which would sometimes last months on end, hops were a lifesaver. The hops plant has natural, anti-biotic properties which were discovered to keep bacteria from growing in sailors' beer supplies. In earlier times, beer contained a much lower alcohol content and was basically a way for humans to store water without worry of parasitic or bacterial invasion. India Pale Ales are so named due to the extremely long voyage between Great Britain and India. After colonizing India, the British found that their beer supplies, even with the alcohol in them, would spoil before reaching their soldiers stationed in India. Extra hops were then added to the beer to help keep it safe throughout the long voyage, hence the extra-hoppy India Pale Ale style of beers.
In recent years, the American craft brewing movement has begun using hops as a flavoring ingredient. New strains and combinations of the plant have lead to new, and extremely enjoyable, beers. Sixpoint Brewery created Resin in honor of the hops plant's history, and have released this interesting video explaining their thinking on the subject.
It's no secret that I, too, am a hophead. I really like that Sixpoint released this beer in honor of my favorite brewing ingredient. I find Resin to be a great example of an Imperial IPA, and a great beer overall. While the beer does have a rather high (103 IBU) bitterness rating, I would still recommend that even non-hopheads give the ale a try due to its amazing balance and presentation of hops flavors!
