Uinta Brewing | Hop Notch IPA

Uinta Brewing's Hop Notch IPA, a relatively new year-round release from an eclectic brewery based out of Utah.

What sets Uinta apart as a brewery, aside from being located in Utah, is their motto "Earth, wind, and beer." They strive to keep everything as earth friendly as possible, as well as promoting the outdoors. From their bottles which are all adorned with a compass around the neck, to their brewery being 100% solar and wind powered, and even all of their spent grain used in brewing, is donated to local farms as feed for livestock. So yeah, they really like doing things the right way. Plus the label design and branding for the company is phenomenal; created by a great Colorado design firm, Tenfold Collective. The only thing about this brewery... I can't figure out how to pronounce the name. Yoo-ween-tah?  Ween-tah? Yoo-nee-tah?

Poured into a tulip glass, Hop Notch has a really nice looking deep amber color, with about two fingers of cream colored soapy frothy head. It's leaving behind touches of sticky web-like lacing, but not a whole lot.

Hop Notch's aroma is amazing. Big piney bitterness, big citrus, grapefruit, some sweeter fruit like apricot and pineapple, and still a nice amount of grainy malt in there. There's also a slight pepper aroma on the malt.

The flavor is no different, with a nice smack of hop bitterness and citrus flavors stinging the tastebuds. The first hop assault subsides momentarily to allow some caramel and mild peppery malt  flavors to shine. The hop intensity regains its dominance in the finish with resiny bitterness lingering long after each sip.

I'm extremely impressed by Hop Notch, it is a solid IPA with an abundance of bold hop flavor, balanced perfectly by a solid malt backbone, and it maintains a very drinkable creamy mouthfeel. Plus I love that it's right on the boundary of an IPA and a double IPA, which helps it stand out quite a bit against its regular IPA brethren. If you like IPA's, this is a must try.

Personal: 9/10
Style: 9.5/10

Sam Adams | Verloren Gose

Sam Adams Verloren Gose ale, an all but dead style of beer that the Boston Beer Co. is taking a shot at putting the defibrillator on. Originating from Leipzig, Germany, Gose beer is traditionally brewed with at least 50% wheat malt, and an addition of coriander and salt. Although these additions to the beer don't comply with the German purity law of 1516, it has been accepted due to being a "regional specialty."

With all that being said, I was very intrigued by this beer, so I bought one…. two months ago. And, expecting the worst, have been scared to try it. Well, today is the day to finally give it a try.

Poured into a weizen glass, Verloren has a somewhat hazy, golden amber color. The fluffy white head piles up nicely, but recedes kind of quickly.

The nose is spot on the style of a Hefeweizen, with a strong spice kick from the coriander. Lightly tart yeast comes through the spice, which adds a little bit of complexity to this unusual beer.

The flavor is much like the nose, very German style wheat beer, but the yeast is a little funkier than normal. Flavors of lemon peel, coriander, clove, and banana come to mind. The salt addition is just barely noticeable near the finish, but it is there. It almost seems to make the beer a little oily towards the end. But at least it keeps the beer from finishing too dry!

Overall this beer is much better than I feared it to be, but it's still a bit odd. It could be a placebo effect where I'm searching for the saltiness because I know it's in there, instead of just tasting the salt blindly. However, I would recommend trying Verloren, maybe not because it's the best beer on the shelf, but because it's cheap, and I've never seen a Gose style beer before. There's a good chance this is the only Gose beer you'll see in your life, so why not give it a shot?

Personal: 6.5/10
Style: N/A

Weihenstephaner | Hefe Weissbier

A rare Friday off work this week means I get to crack open a beer while the sun is still up! And with the sun out shining, the perfect choice sitting in my fridge is Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. A Bavarian style wheat beer from the "oldest brewery in the world," brewed since 1040. At least they claim all that, who knows if it really is the oldest brewery, but it's definitely older than any brewery in the USA.

Poured into a Sam Adams pint glass, Weihenstephaner has a cloudy dark golden color with a very large frothy white head. As with most wheat beers, this is a very attractive beer. Not too much lacing, but the high carbonation keeps the big foamy head around for most of the…. how-you-say… beer drinking experience.

The aroma, like most traditional wheat beers, is dominated by banana, clove, bubblegum, and light toasted grain. The banana aroma is the strongest out of the bunch.

The taste starts off very mild with a nice blend of banana and bubblegum sweetness mixing with light malt. A light hint of spice kicks in while the toasted cracker-like malt flavor intensifies through the finish. Earthy yeast, biting carbonation and a barely noticeable grassy hop bitterness finish just a little on the dry side.

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier is a wheat beer that sets the bar extremely high for the style, and makes it a very difficult style to improve upon. With centuries, if not millennia, of brewing tradition in Bavaria, it's no surprise that the wheat beers from that area are all world class, including the likes of Hacker Pschorr, Schneider, Ayinger. Some of which are harder to find than others. Of course there are American breweries that make a great Hefeweizen, but the Germans still make the best. It's a style we haven't quite mastered like we've done to the IPA style.

With all that being said, it's summer, drink a Hefeweizen!

Personal: 9/10
Style: 9.5/10

Goose Island | India Pale Ale

After hearing great things about this brewery for years, New Jersey has finally been granted distribution from Goose Island. Lets crack open the India Pale Ale and see what all the fuss is about.

Poured into a pint glass, this ale has a bright yellow-amber color, with a nice 2 fingers of frothy white head. There is a very slight amount of haze to the beer and lots of foamy lacing stick to the glass with each sip.

The aroma is wonderfully abundant with piney and woody hops, as well as a smooth and sweet biscuit malt. The flavor is not far off of the aroma, with a balanced herbal hop spice and creamy malt flavor. Mild grassy hop bitterness creeps in toward the finish, hinting at the intended English IPA style.

The light body and slight creaminess to this IPA make it an easy sipping beer. While not an amazing IPA, it's a real treat of (what I consider) a session beer. The price is pretty good too! I'm sure I'll be picking up a six pack or two throughout the summer.

Personal: 7/10
Style: 8.5/10

Dogfish Head | Festina Pêche

Dogfish Head's Festina Pêche, a very popular, yet somewhat quirky summer seasonal offering from a brewery that likes to brew way outside the box. They call it a neo-Berliner Weisse, mainly because Festina Pêche has peaches in it. A traditional Berliner Weisse is fermented with lactobacillus yeast which imparts a sourness that on its own, would be off putting for most drinkers. So when drinking such a beer out at the pub, people will ask for a red (raspberry flavored) or green (woodruff flavored) syrup to be added to make the sourness more palatable. With Festina Pêche, Dogfish Head used peaches for the sugar in fermentation, and then infused more peach flavor and aroma into the finished product, so no syrups are needed.

Poured into a weizen glass, Festina Pêche has a cloudy, very pale golden color. The fizzy soda-like head stacks up high, but falls to a minimal ring. No lacing to speak of either.

The aroma is of light toasted wheat malt, somewhat floral, but with a nice hint of sugary canned peaches. There is a mild tart funk in the nose that doesn't necessarily sting the nostrils, but definitely makes its presence known.

WHAM! The first sip is like popping a peach flavored War-Head candy into your mouth. Intense carbonation, sweet peach flavor, and an unexpected sourness that throws your salivary glands into overdrive. The lactobacillus yeast really smacks you in the face upfront, but slowly blends into peach, green apple, and wheat malt towards the finish. Crisp, light and bubbly right to the end with a clean and dry finish.

Festina Pêche is really something else, it's not a typical German wheat beer, and it's not really like any Belgian flemish or lambic ales either. While I can't say I've had any other Berliner Weisse beers before, I am definitely a fan of the style. It's a shame that the style has fallen out of favor over the years. Anyway, I would recommend this as a great beer to drink on a hot summer day, and I have a feeling that if you're a fan of hard ciders, you might really enjoy Festina Pêche.

Personal 8/10
Style: ??

Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat NV | Duvel

Duvel, the famous Belgian ale that has been known to spawn a beer geek with a single sip. What makes this beer so special is more about the process, and not the ingredients. Instead of the usual brewing and fermenting process, Duvel ferments with their own strain of yeast, then lagers the beer for 3 weeks. After lagering, they bottle it with extra sugars and yeast which sets off a secondary bottle fermentation. Lastly, the beer is matured for six weeks in cold cellars.

Luckily this four pack of stubby 330ml bottles I picked up comes with a free Duvel tulip glass, so I am once again in posession of a fine beer drinking glass! And doesn't it look great in the picture?

Poured into the aforementioned tulip glass, Duvel has a light golden color with a huge fluffy white head. Even with the tulip glass pinching the head at the top, it rises 3-4 inches. After a long wait the head does recede, and with it, sticky chunks of lacing are left behind. This is a good looking beer.

The aroma is a complex blend of lightly toasted pilsner and pale malts, mild spice, light lemongrass hops, and a unique dry, almost granny smith apple aroma. The flavor is similar to the aroma, with a sligtly sweeter fruity flavor throughout. The juicy fruit flavor gives way to some hop bitterness and a warming alcohol finish. There is an amazing crispness to each sip that begs you to come back for more. While there is a hint at some medicinal yeast flavors, they are very subdued.

Let's face it, this really is a phenomenal beer. Often overlooked due to its regular availability and plain label, but damn near the best Belgian beer ever made. Duvel is simple, yet complex, and with it's deceivingly high alcohol content, the Brabantians picked a great name for this great beer Duvel, or "Devil."

Personal 9.5/10
Style 10/10

Unibroue | La Fin du Monde

Unibroue's La Fin du Monde, or "the end of the world," is a Belgian style Tripel. Introduced in 1994, La Fin du Monde stands as the most highly regarded beer ever brewed in Canada. It has won a slew of medals over the years in various beer events; 5 platinum, 6 gold, and 1 silver from the Beverage Testing Institute. I guess this beer is supposed to be good or something.

Poured into a pint glass (don't shoot me for not using a tulip glass, it was broken last week. Moment of silence for my dead glass….) La Fin du Monde has a cloudy golden color with a big creamy and fizzy white head. The head recedes after a couple minutes, leaving just a fizzy ring of foam with limited lacing.

The aroma is complex and full of Belgian'esque characteristics. Sweet ripe fruit, pepper & clove spiciness, floral bouquet, sugary sweetness, powdery & medicinal yeast, and moderate alcohol all blend together quite nicely.

The flavor closely follows the nose, starting with a hit of the spice right up front. The powdery yeast fills in through the middle, with a sweet and warming, yet dry, grainy finish. Loads of malt and the sugary high alcohol lend themselves to a great medium-full bodied beer that really hits the spot.

What I really love about this beer is that it's a serious, high alcohol, Belgian style beer, but it's so smooth and easy to drink! La Fin du Monde does differ from many traditional Belgian Tripels in that it is a bit more spicy, and less bitter. Personally, I think this makes it a little easier to put down, since the finish is dry enough without added hop bitterness.

Another great aspect of this beer is the cost. For a truly world class beer, it is a steal! If you already drink Victory Golden Monkey or Flying Fish Exit 4, step up to the next level and give this one a shot.

Personal: 8.5/10
Style: 9.5/10