Tramp Stamp by Clown Shoes

Howdy strangers.

Life continues on for Pope Crisco de Llamas. Personal tragedy has kept me from turning attention to the blog, for I had to trade the time spent in contemplation of consumables to my mother’s failing health. I don’t know if I will go into more detail here, for the specifics can be found as drunken ramblings on twitter (follow @theIntoxico). The good news is that now I have time to give Intoxico.net the attention it and you deserve. 

With the wife getting ready for a new school year guiding young Catholics in writing and literature, I have this Tuesday afternoon free, and a thirst only quenched by popping a top off of a craft beer or two.

Brewed under contract by the Mercury Brewing Company out of Massachusetts, today’s brew du jour is Clown Shoes’ Tramp Stamp, a Belgian style India Pale Ale boasting Chambly yeast, Amarillo and Centennial hops, and a bit of sweet orange peel. 

Decanting the 24 ounce bomber into my 4 ounce tulip glass, a burnt orange body appears, capped by a nice, just every so slightly off-white head.  Tiny, delicate bubbles of carbon dioxide swim in a semi cloudy body of beer, a cloudiness that gets murkier the more the bottle is emptied, and the yeast bed formed on the bottom of the bottle is agitated.  While already visually enticing, the icing on the proverbial cake is a wonderful, tacky lacing. 

The nose on the beer is more IPA than Belgian. While there is a definite fruitiness on the back end, front and center is a nice, sap-like, pine essence. 

 

This pine essence, paired with an aggressive bitterness, is most apparent on the palate on the first wash of suds over my taste buds. Initially, from this, I was expecting more IPA than Belgian, which isn’t in itself a bad thing, for I love a great hoppy beer, and my track record enjoying the esters of Belgian and Belgian style beers has historically been hit and miss. 

Luckily for me, my taste buds, and those of anyone blessed with a bottle of this beer, the hoppiness was not so extreme as I finished the first snifter of ale. As my mouth acclimates to the tacky brew and hops, the beer’s Belgian aspects really develop to a wonderfully complex play between the citrus and pine aspects of the rhizomes and a nice apple and pear like fruitiness of the yeast.  

Overall, this beer is just excellent. It’s complex, hoppy, and about as solid as a lead weight. The only way to improve this beer is to make it more sessionable, because despite my level of intoxication, my only desire is to have another. 

Prost!

 

Real Ale Brewing Company Brewer's Cut #2 Black Quadrupel

 

Hello Malt Mavens and Hop Heads. Life has been somewhat slow and repetitive in my corner of the world. My mother’s cancer is in remission, the daily grind that the Pope endures to put craft beer on the table continues without drama, and Spring in North Texas is showing its mild, albeit fleeting, head.

To welcome Spring, and clear out an ever growing reserve of craft beer, I will be focusing on beers of the Lone Star State from some of my favorite breweries since my move almost two years ago. I am also hoping to get back into regular publishing of reviews, shooting for one or two a week as opposed to the one post a month or less that has defined my recent attention to my beer duties.

To saddle up this focus on Texas craft beer, I have chosen the Real Ale Brewing Company’s second release under their “Brewer’s Cut” series, a Belgian style “Black Quadrupel“ brewed with Belgian black malt.

Pouring the chocolate hued ale, careful to not exceed the capacity of the sole chalice in my barware collection, I get a small amount of head and active carbonation from my pour. 

The aroma from the freshly decanted beer brings bold, but unsurprising notes. Chocolate and coffee play on the edge of roasted malts, as the Belgian yeast adds a slight fruitiness to the party. 

Now, to be honest, I was really looking forward to reviewing this beer since enjoying it last November on tap at the Dallas Winter Warmer, a local beer festival. I’m not one that usually identifies as a fan of beers brewed with Belgian yeast strains,  but this offering twirled my moustache from first sip. 

The roastiness of the malt, bringing a nice chocolate base, combined with the dark currant and fruit notes from the yeast strain, make an ale that offers the best flavor profiles from dark beer and red wine. Allowing the ale to warm up brings out more of the fruitiness, making it quite tasty at any range of temperatures.

My brother, who is bonkers for Belgian and Belgian style brews, often professes he would consume nothing but this brew if it were more than just a one shot from the Blanco, TX brewery. I cannot doubt nor blame my brother for his fanaticism for it is a beer that is making me take another, more open look at Belgian inspired intoxicants.

Happy Drinking!

 

Deep Ellum Brewing Co. IPA and Farmhouse Whit

The celebration of a birthday or anniversary is twofold. It both recognizes and celebrates the past and at its best prepares the honorees for the coming year.

My own birthday, which occurred in the middle of this month, was such an event. Lots of food, beer, and a cigar or two was enjoyed, and when all was consumed, the icing on the cake was a much coveted Nikon D40, a nice, middle ground digital SLR camera that I have been wanting since the first few blog posts of Intoxico, a project that is working toward its third year in the making.  Finally I have a tool to replace the cell phone and point and click camera I have been working with, to offer a better aesthetic experience for my readers. My family gave me the gift of a better face to show the public, and for that I am very grateful.

This year my own birthday corresponded with the one year anniversary of Deep Ellum Brewing Company, an obviously new comer to the burgeoning Dallas-Fort Worth brewing scene. Joining the fray, this brewery has arguably brought a new pedigree of ales to North Texas.  As an offering of support for this brewery on its first steps into a wide ocean of craft beer in the state, this and the next post will explore four of their most widely available selections.

Deep Ellum IPA

Being the he most anticipated offering from this brewery to be sampled this weekend, their India Pale Ale decants into my pint glass as a very slightly cloudy, burnt orange liquid. The controlled pour shows good carbonation without worry of escaping the pint glass, and tiny CO2 bubbles climb through the pumpkin colored beverage to a somewhat thin, white head. 

The ale has a nice thick mouth feel that delivers one of the most well balanced, superb examples of this style I have enjoyed in quite a while. While the hop forwardness of the beer is not in question, it attacks the palate with a warm, orange zest profile without obliterating taste buds with bitterness. This beer is tame enough on the front end to really allow the nuance of the Pacific Northwest hops to be explored.  Only on the back end, carried on the back of a dry finish, does a shot of clean bitterness and malt sweetness peak.

In this IPA Deep Ellum Brewing Company has produced a wonderful beer, and probably easily rests in my top 5 contenders for the style.

Farmhouse Wit

The Deep Ellum Farmhouse Wit stared me down a few weeks ago and dared me to buy it as I was collecting beer for the weekend convergence on my mother’s house.  My brother, the Belgian drinker of my crew, obviously would enjoy the opportunity to imbibe the saison, while I opened the window to be disappointed with a style of beer that usually fails to excite my palate. Subject to his frequent generosity, I took a bullet for the team and picked up this apparent farmhouse whit whose label indicated a bit of rye in the mix. 

Despite trying to maintain a slow and controlled pour, the beer’s kinetic potential was released, and resulted in a good 5 inches of head. Even as the head would dissipate, the cloudy, creamy, orange-yellow beer is a host to a copious amount of carbonation that races to the heavenly froth atop the beverage.

Aided by the pillow like head of the beer, the beverage has an enjoyable, wet, creamy mouth feel that leaves a nice, not too sweet, and refreshingly moist coating in the drinker’s mouth.  This provides an excellent vehicle to deliver a lemon profile accented by coriander, generic spice, and funky yeast flavors consistent with the style of the beer. 

In addition to being both complex and well balanced by malt and hops, the brew maintains a somewhat mild presentation on the tongue, making it drinkable even to this detractor of the style.    

 

I hope I have whetted your appetite for these beers, as well as the continuation of these reviews to come shortly.

Until the next keg is tapped, and the next pint poured, happy drinking!

Salvation Belgian Style Golden Ale by Avery Brewing

Well boys and girls, it’s a game night for the Dallas Stars, and your host is without a simple, throw-back beer. What is a fan of beer and the National Hockey League supposed to do? Well, obviously it would require that I negotiate listening to the game du jour against the Winnipeg Jets and enjoy a fine craft beer.

The beer I have decided to enjoy Salvation, a Belgian style golden ale by Avery Brewing Co located in Boulder, Colorado. Pouring the bomber into a glass chalice, this beverage pours out a nice, cloudy, golden orange hue. While a nice, white head forms atop the ale, it doesn’t last terribly long, and dissipates to a whisper of a dimes width.

Essences of light malts, citrus hops, and a mélange of fruit flavors carry on the aroma.

The first sip of this beer offers a malt body with a nice bitter backend that offers a nice medium bodied flavor profile. The opening profile of sweet apricot and banana notes are balanced by a light orange and nutmeg zest that keeps the beverage interesting as it’s consumed.

Being the first beer that I’ve enjoyed from this brewery, I am impressed, and looking forward to indulging in another bottle or two in the near future. I could only wish for a little bit more aggression in the carbonation and a bit more boldness in flavor.

Prost!

Belgo by New Belgium Brewery

Hope everyone is enjoying their lives today,

Despite being back in the hunt for employment again, my day was fairly productive and enjoyable. Starting the day off with a hearty breakfast, half a pot of coffee, and a cigar or two, I got back to the task of submitting resumes for employment, and even found a moment or two to work on Intoxico, making a banner, a graphic for a linkshare project, and a new background. 

I feel that as long as I keep busy and make effective use of this downtime to develop the site, and myself, good things will happen.

To celebrate my fruitful afternoon, I am unwinding with New Belgium's Belgo, a “Belgian Style IPA.”

Decanting the beverage, it pours out a hyper clear orange with just oodles and oodles of active carbonation. Tiny bubbles scurry to the top of the beverage and converge atop a decent, creamy, orange hued head that sits about a silver dollar's width atop the drink. The lacing is impressive, and just shy of awe inspiring

The aroma wafting from the freshly poured beverage suggests balance between both the Belgian style, with fruity, clove and banana malt essence, and the India Pale Ale style with as a nice, crisp lemon hop nose.

The first sip of this medium bodied ale carries the maltiness of a prototypical Belgian style beer, knocking taste buds over with the same clove and banana profile that was on the nose. Where a normal Belgian's malt forwardness tends to be cloyingly sweet, this beer quickly develops a bitterness that cuts through the fruitiness, adding both a floral and citrus back-end to the beverage.

In summation, while there are characteristics of this beer that speak to the quality of the ingredients and skill that created this beverage, I feel the execution has created a beer that suffers from dissonance that I find hard to enjoy, as opposed to the harmony I assume they were trying to bring with the two diverging styles.

Prost!