Hops And Grain "The One They Call Zoe" Pale Lager

Days off for myself are usually distilled into a balance of work and play. I like to spend my mornings toiling with laundry, working on illustrations, and chipping away at whatever projects I might have had to put on the back burners. One crutch modern people have with doing most tasks though is that of electricity. 

While it is true humans have lived eons without the ease of electric living, currently we have built our domiciles on the assumption that it will always be available for us to consume. This hubris leads us into situations that once power is denied us, our ability to complete chores becomes quite limited. As inconvenient as this is, it does also allow an opportunity to sit back and reflect.

With a cold front moving across North Texas, I pulled a beer from the chill chest and walked out onto my apartment’s small patio. The beer du jour is a can of Austin’s Hops And Grain pale lager “The One They Call Zoe.”

Dispensing the ale from its aluminum vessel into my pint glass, a quite beautiful beer is exposed.  As the tangerine hued ale pours against the sides of the pint glass a plume of carbonation fervently builds. A perfect head forms, never appearing too weak or thin, and never builds too aggressively, building to at most a finger’s thickness, and during consumption never dissipating to anything less than half a finger.   It is a head with presence and fortitude, one that laces the sides of my glass with aggression.

As pretty a beer it is, its aroma is an enticing perfume for the craft beer drinker with a hop forward nose. Pine and grapefruit mingle atop a yeasty, bread-like foundation.

The first sip of Zoe, as best described by my wife, is like drinking a grapefruit soda. While offering a sweet body, a mildly bitter citrus and pine brightness and bitterness bring wonderful balance and ease of drinkability.

The brewer’s skill has created a “Goldilocks” ale, threading a needle of flavor. Sweet malts sing, but it’s not too sweet. Hops are unmistakable, but bitterness is restrained.  

The beer’s packaging describes itself as affable,  and given its insanely well balance flavor profile, and wet mouthfeel, it is undoubtedly so. This is a beer that can be enjoyed in quantity, on its own, or paired with just about any beer worthy meal.

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!

 

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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