Yazoo Brewing Co. Pale Ale and Hefeweizen

It’s been a minute since my last post, I would like to claim more family drama, but no, it has been a much less honorable diversion from my readers.

For some people, er, geeks, World of Warcraft is a monkey that refuses to be shaken. But, for myself, while WoW had its charm for a moment, my gamer addiction comes in the form of a number of versions of Sid Meier’s Civilization. Turn based war and diplomacy has diverted me long enough, so today I shut the game down, and got to work on a number of domestic chores that required my attention on this day off.

With a load of dishes and laundry started, glass and bits of trash swept up, and my desk organized to a more manageable chaos, I think it time to have lunch, drink a beer or two, and finish some graphic design work I am doing for a friend.  

Continuing with the Yazoo brews picked up in Nashville in 2012, I start with the brewery’s hefe called, appropriately, albeit uninspiring, Yazoo Hefeweizen Ale.

The beer, which won a gold medal in 2004’s Great American Beer Fest, pours out a nice tangerine color. Despite a semi aggressive decanting, the ale failed to develop much of a head and absolutely no lacing, despite oodles of active carbonation.

A nose of banana and clove matches the initial wave of flavor that hits the palate. These flavors are paired with a nice tart citrus aspect, however a buttery essence muddles all the parts of the beverage. This detraction on the palate paired with a lackluster mouthfeel make the beer decent, but far from an ale that I would recommend to the casual drinker. 

When it comes to craft breweries, as beer drinkers, where do we begin to gauge the craft worthiness of a brewery? For every beer enthusiast, a different answer exists. For me, the best yard stick is the everyday Pale Ale. No super fancy grain or hop bill, just a mid range, balanced ale is where, in my opinion, a brew master shows their stuff, and after a nice lunch, I am ready to be engaged in my beer drinking experience.  

Just slightly darker than the previously reviewed hefe, I pour myself a Yazoo Pale Ale. Exhibiting a moderate, but long lasting head, active carbonation, and visually tasty lacing, I am primed for the first taste.  

Still thirsting for the first drops, the nose is bready, and equal amounts malty with brown sugar notes, and floral hops. Giving into desire, and taking a large volume of the beverage, I am reminded, of all things, orange Tootsie Pops that I loved as a child. A slight orange citrus flavor dominates the experience, and is augmented by a molasses, maltose body. A “chewy” mouth feel, which is a good thing, helps make the consumption of this beer enjoyable.

Reflecting on this varietal from Yazoo Brewing Company, and on the four or five beers I have sampled, I see a small, regional brewery that is making some very drinkable ale, although not terribly remarkable beer. I don’t see finished work, but a good beginning.

Prost!

Even Still More Fun with Adobe Illustrator

Recently I have been working with a Wacom Bamboo tablet to give my illustrations a bit more natural feel, and I like the results.

Ultimately I would like to start producing images for stickers or other merchandise to generate some seed money for the blog, so if you have any suggestions, please send them my way!

This last image in this selection is the first of a planned series of woodland creatures self medicating, and would eventually like to make a run of prints to put on Etsy, but I am not so sure it is yet a viable plan. 

Yazoo Brewing Co. Sly Rye Porter and Hop Project (Batch 67) Review

Hello fine beer boys and girls,

After a long week transitioning from an eight hour night shift to a ten hour day shift, enjoying the company of a police officer as he preached the virtues of moderate use of my gas pedal, and a host of other persistent headaches and obligations, my weekend is here. On the television in the background, the Dallas Stars just put a puck past the Anaheim Ducks goal tender, and I have popped the first of a couple bottles of beer from the Yazoo Brewing Company that I picked up on a trip to Nashville in 2012.

Starting with the Sly Rye Porter, an American porter brewed with rye malt (I really wish they would be more transparent with their names) the beer pours a nice, dark hue that is just brown enough to make it slightly discernible from diesel fuel. A somewhat thin, perhaps a quarter’s thickness, head forms with a somewhat aggressive pour, and resembles the coffee that I enjoy each morning with a healthy amount of cream.

Welcoming the drinker, a nose of chocolate, roasted malts is apparent, adding nice java bitterness amidst hints of honey and cotton candy. This aroma does not deceive the palate’s experience, as the flavor of the ale rides on the same sweet, dark roasted coffee and chocolate body, however the addition of the rye adds a little bit of spice that cuts what could otherwise be overpowering sugariness.  

The beer is a good, solid, and quite drinkable porter. It lives up to my expectation of what a porter should be, and adds a little something else. It might not make me say wow, but it is a beer I would drink again if it were a local option.

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Well, the Stars are up 2-0 over the Ducks as the second period is about to begin, and I am about to go up another beer for the evening, with Hop Project, also from the Nash-Vegas Yazoo Brewing Co.

The Hop Project line is a series of American IPAs that claim a never repeating recipe for each batch. The information on the bottle can be used to identify the batch number, and in conjunction with the blog found on the company’s website, a drinker can get information on the hop additions of the batch that they are enjoying. The bottle I have tonight is from batch 67, which includes (per the aforementioned blog) Motueka hops from New Zealand.

Decanting the brew, the beverage pours a nice umber color, with a cloud like head. Tilting the pint glass back, a wonderful lacing is exhibited. Visually, it is a feast for the eyes.

Placing my nose above the rim of my glass I am greeted with the very pronounced smell of floral hops so strong that I feel like I am deep in the pine forests of East Texas. Amidst the aroma of perfumed vegetation, there is an underlying candy sweetness similar to that I nose noticed when enjoying the porter earlier this evening.

On the palate, the pine hop essence continues its trip from nose to gullet with a sharp, aggressive assault on the tongue, without being overly bitter, but still floral in nature. Matching the bold hop notes, a syrupy sweetness backs up the first wave of rhizome flavors. These flavor combination, along with the thick, sticky mouthfeel of the ale, give me the impression of drinking a strongly brewed herbal sweet tea.

Having experienced the Hop Project, I can’t determine how I really feel about the ale. It is somewhat pleasant, and unique for the style, but a far cry from something I could say that I like well enough to recommend.

Well, I am about ready to stop tasting beer  and start drinking beer as Anaheim has put the biscuit past Lehtonen, and made it a single goal game.

 Happy drinking!

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Hop Juice DIPA by Two Brothers Brewing Co.

I will not play hooky from work to drink beer. I will not play hooky and…. I will drink beer. I will take a mental health day from my job

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The New Year is upon us, and this is beer numero dos from relieving my fridge of those ales and lagers acquired in aught twelve. The day has been, well, it has been here, and I am looking forward so much to my three day weekend, and not looking forward to my daily toil, that I have decided to call in and have some much needed Pope time.

Tonight I am popping the cap off a bottle of Hop Juice DIPA from Two Brothers Brewing Co. This bottle came all the way from Warrenville, Il, via Chicago, on a trip my brother took earlier this year.

A nice, burnt orange hue, the ale pours easily with just enough carbonation to form an excellent two finger head without much care. As the beer warms in the glass the head dissipated to a nickels thickness, but never losing a cloud like fluffiness that makes it a pretty sight to behold.

Aromas of floral, ripe grapefruit mingle with hints of bread and a slight malt sweetness.

It’s bottle boasting 100.1 IBUs, I was expecting a bitterness to knock my head off, but perhaps with age, or perhaps a more hop tempered tongue, the bitterness is just enough to make me happy, and not tearing my tongue apart or removing the enamel on my incisors.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a good deal of bitterness in this DIPA, but it finds a good place in front of a well rounded malt body that adds a nice brown sugar quality to the backend.

Also noted on the bottle is a respectable 9.9% ABV, but there is very little alcohol hotness to match.

This double India pale ale combines hop forwardness with a balanced malt body so well that this beer ranks among one of the best beers I’ve had enjoyed to date.  I cannot image a craft beer enthusiast who would find fault with this ale.  

Jailhouse Brewing Company’s Reprieve

Hello readers.

Today Pope, despite the whirlwind of drama that has consumed the past two weeks or so, has had just a wonderful day, filled with intoxicants, good company of my older brother, and a healthy amount of smoked beef brisket, also known as Texas Crack.

Well before I consumed the day away, the morning’s trip to Spec’s, a chain of wonderfully stocked liquor stores, provided an overwhelming abundance of options to dispense with the cash Santa so wonderfully brought to me this holiday. After dropping a fair sum on a total of 14 different varieties of ale and beer and a bottle of rye whiskey I was happy, but my wife, she was a wee bit perturbed.

I don’t need to go into specifics, but needless to say, I had some explaining to do as to why I needed this beer, when I had a fridge of beer that was off limits to my better half. To make a long story short, a promise was made to clear out the older brews, before the new guys found real estate in the ice box.

Tonight’s selection, Jailhouse Brewing Company’s saison Reprieve, is the first in a series of long overdue reviews. Picked up over the spring when visiting Atlanta, this French style ale will be the first sacrifice to Operation: Appease the Missus.

Pouring the contents of the bomber into my glass the beer initially pours out a pale hue that is remarkably clear and full of life in an effervescent deluge of carbonation.  The beer stays quite carbonated, however, perhaps picking up sediment, becomes slightly dull in appearance.  A respectable head forms, but as the beer sits and warms up during my review process, it dies to about a dime’s thickness.

The nose of this 6% abv bottle of fermentables is cider like. Carried with a fruity body, a nice mixture of floral and yeast like aromas mingle above the brew.  These aromas bridge anticipation to experience as the front end of the beer is full of tart, green apple flavors. Offering a slight banana-yeast backend, the ale leaves the palate cleanly, never exuding too much or too little sweetness or bitterness, finding a Goldilocks position on the palate. Never being too much of anything, and just the right amount of this and that, the beer is deep enough to be interesting, but light enough to be consumed in the warmth of late spring or early summer.

This is a decent example of the style, and if you have the opportunity, I suggest giving Jailhouse Brewing’s Reprieve a sip or two. A highly suggested try.