https://soundcloud.com/hooked-on-hops/episode-0-golden-road-brewing-company
Welcome to the very first episode of the Hooked on Hops podcast! On this episode, we drink beer from Golden Road Brewing Company of Los Angeles and discuss our thoughts on the purpose of beer styles, the subjectivity of taste, how consumers navigate the beer aisle, and how to pronounce pamplemousse. These are fantastic beers that I hope you will seek out and enjoy the next chance that you get. More information can be found at goldenroad.la
Expect to see more episodes trickle in periodically over the next few months!
Lagers tend to not get the same amount of respect within the craft beer community that ales do. The name alone tends to bring up connotations of industrially brewed “fizzy yellow beer,” despite there being about 20 different styles of lagers to choose from. This likely stems from the fact that most craft breweries start out focusing on ales, likely because they are cheaper to make. Lagers not only require a lower fermentation temperature, they also require a much longer aging process, tying up fermentors that could’ve turned over a couple batches of ale. While there are several craft brewers in America that are known for their lagers, they tend to focus on making traditional examples of the styles.
What I would like to see, is the sort of innovation and creativity that American brewers have used to create very uniquely American ales, but towards the different lager styles. (more…)
A year later than what was originally announced, but I was right when I suggested that the year-round sour would likely be a blended sour beer. The press release suggests that they will rotate through various sour beers by stating that “The brewery will use this expansion to bring Lips of Faith offerings like Tart Lychee and Eric’s Ale into year round production by 2015.” Tart Lychee was an amazing beer, and I’ve heard similar comments made about Eric’s Ale as well.
The benefits of using beer blends is that less of of the aged sour beer needs to be used for each batch, allowing them to then release more beer than if the beer was made up of 100% sour beer. Additionally, these beers would be less sour, and thus more approachable to drinkers who are unfamiliar with sour beers. As the label on Eric’s Ale states: “This is a sour beer for those who don’t like sour beers.”
Full press release below (more…)
Despite being released in December, Tweason’ale is finally available in Las Vegas. I found some at the Whole Foods on Las Vegas Boulevard, but I’m sure it is likely available anywhere else that sells Dogfish Head’s beers.
Tweason’ale is Dogfish Head’s first attempt at making a gluten free beer. As they put it, they wanted to “make it with gusto.” They used sorghum, as most gluten free beers do (except for Joseph James’ Foxtail, which is one of few gluten free beers that do not use sorghum) as the base of the beer. To try and some more flavor to the beer, they also added buckwheat honey, which typically has bit of a malty, earthy taste in comparison to most other honeys. And since it is Dogfish Head we are talking about here, they also added strawberries for good measure.
The result is a beer that almost has more in common, flavor-wise, to wine than it does to beer. The sorghum is barely, if at all, present. The body is very dry and crisp, similar to a lager or white wine. There isn’t any obvious strawberry flavors, however there is a hint of acidity from the berries, which also makes this beer taste more similar to white wine in that regard. The aftertaste leaves some honey sweetness to make the finish not quite as acidic as most wines tend to be.
All in all a very refreshing beer, but probably not for most beer drinkers. If you are a fan of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch or Chateau Jiahu, then you are likely to enjoy this beer as well. Definitely worth trying nonetheless, especially now that Spring seems to be in full effect.
