Beer Review: Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale

Tomorrow, on 3-1-2 Day, Goose Island will be releasing 312 Urban Pale Ale nationally. I had the privilege of tasting it a few days early. I'll give my thoughts below, but first a little snippet from their press release.

312 Urban Pale Ale was inspired by the success and the brewing experience from Green Line Pale Ale -- a Chicago-only, draft-only beer that supports Goose Island’s environmental and sustainable initiative. 312 Urban Pale Ale is Goose Island’s first year-round, national offering within the popular Pale Ale craft beer segment.

As with its exceedingly accessible and award-winning 312 Urban Wheat Ale, 312 Urban Pale Ale was brewed for those looking to enjoy another great Goose Island beer with their active lifestyle.

The new 312 Urban Pale Ale is brewed with Amarillo, Mt. Hood and Nugget hops, and has a touch of sweetness from the caramel malt which makes this beer highly sessionable. 312 Urban Pale Ale also has a bright hop aroma and a crisp bitterness that treads lightly, yet noticeably, in international bittering units.

So, what did I think? 312 Urban Pale Ale wasn't bad at all. The beer poured a wonderfully clear golden color with about a fingers worth of head. Aromatically, things were kind of subtle. Grapefruit (surprise!) and orange came through, but while there was a noticeable hop presence I was having trouble nailing down any other specifics. There was a particular note I kept picking up that reminded me of something in a jar of salsa. There was the softest hint of onion and a little bit of an acidic tomato thing going on. Weird, I know, but I double checked with my beer sniffing Q&A team and they agreed those aromas were present for them as well. For what it's worth, I'm not pointing these out as flaws, just relaying my experience. It wasn't off putting in any way. It just was. If there was anything that disappointed me aromatically, it was the fact that the malt played next to no role in the aroma profile.

My initial reaction upon taking a sip was "Boy, I'm glad this Pale Ale is just that and not a mini-IPA". Everything seemed to be in balance. There was a bit of what I call "hop spice" up front. It's that spicy tongue tingling thing that hops sometimes do. The finish, on the other hand, was really smooth. 312 Urban Ale is the type of beer you can drink all night and never suffer palate fatigue and for that I give it high marks. As for specific flavors, orange stood out most prominently but there were other hard to distinguish fruit characteristics going on. Malt played a small role on the finish with a little caramel creeping through. The salsa thing I referred to above in the aromatics showed up a bit in the taste as well with just a little mild onion flavor peeking through. I didn't necessarily like that feature of the beer, but it wasn't ruining it for me either.

Overall, I'm intrigued enough to want to buy Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale and give it a second try sometime down the line, especially if I see it available on draft. With summer around the bend I can see this being a beer that goes down really easy the warmer the weather becomes. If you get your hands on one in the near future, stop back and let me know if your experience was similar to mine.

*Disclaimer. I asked Goose Island if they would send a bottle of their new beer 312 Urban Pale Ale for reviewing purposes.

Maryland Beer Reviews: Baltimore Washington Beer Works Tell Tale Heart IPA

Back with another video review. This time I'm talking Baltimore Washington Beer Works Tell Tale Heart IPA. Still working out my camera presence and all that, but this'll do for now. 

One thing I noticed was that as this beer warmed up was the astringency I experienced early on became less and less to the point that it became a very balanced beer and the cattiness become less prominent while the citrus balanced out and the malt began to pop it's head out more. 

This is something I've noticed with a lot of beers I drink. What I think about a beer initially can be totally different by the time I'm down at the bottom of the pint. I'm aware of how temperature can affect taste and I did let it warm up prior to filming, but still, this beer didn't really fully open up to me until the the second half of the drink. This made me realize that I don't think a quick sniff and taste is a fair way to review a beer, and so I'll be changing up my review format a bit to accommodate for my beerpoloar disorder from here on out. 

Beer: Baltimore Washington Beer Works Tell Tale Heart

Style: IPA

ABV: 7.3%

IBU: 50

Maryland Beer Reviews: Full Tilt Brewing Berger Cookie Chocolate Stout

I've been looking for ways to spruce up the blog and video reviews are something I've wanted to do for quite a long time. You would think that talking to a camera about beer is easy, but alas, it is quite the opposite. It took me 3 beers over two different nights to get this to be simply okay. Hopefully, I can grow into being in front of a camera and this will develop into something everyone will enjoy.

The Maryland beer I chose to review to open up 2014 was Full Tilt Brewing's Berger Cookie Chocolate Stout. Watch the video to hear my thoughts and if you have a Youtube account please subscribe to the channel.

Beer: Full Tilt Brewing Berger Cookie Chocolate Stout

Style: Sweet Stout

ABV: 6%

IBU: 36

Maryland Beer: DuClaw Funk

DuClaw is one of my favorite local breweries and I'm a wheat beer obsessed fool. Logic says that when I add those two factors together the result should be one happy Doug. So, let's crack open a Funk and see if the logic plays out here. 

Brewery Location: Rosedale, MD
Style: Blueberry Citrus Wheat Ale
Serving Type: Bottle
ABV: 5%
IBU: 16

Appearance: Funk is effervescent and surprisingly clear for a wheat beer. I didn't notice any haze at all, just a vivid gold liquid.

Aroma: Blueberry is the most noticeable smell of Funk. As soon as I cracked the bottle open a shot of sweetness wafted it's way to my nose. After I poured the beer and the aroma had a chance to show its self fully, the blueberry smell came across as more Fruit Loops than blueberry. I could pick up a little lemon, but overall the blueberry masks anything else that might be going on.

Taste: Funk is without a doubt a fruit beer. There is lot of blueberry up front. Middle of the mouth a little of the wheat notes come in but it's quickly pushed back aside as blueberry and a bit of lemon dominant the finish.

Final Verdict: Overall, Funk is a refreshing summer beer which is extremely easy to drink. The fruit flavors are prominent without being cloying, but I'm left wishing the wheat flavor had the ability to shine through a bit more. On hotter days I can see reaching for one of these to quench my thirst, but because it's mostly sweet fruity flavors this isn't a beer I envision stocking my fridge with.

BBB Beer of the Week: Goose Island Sofie (2013)

It's been awhile since I've done a Beer of the Week so I wanted to make sure I stepped back in with a beer I was going to truly enjoy. I headed down to the cellar (it's a cellar when I store a beer, a basement for everything else) to peruse my options when I came across Goose Island Sofie. I didn't previously know very much about Miss Sofie, but after an extended conversation with her I think I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level. 

Style: Saison
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 20

Appearance: The hazy straw color of Sofie seems very apt given that it's a Farmhouse Ale. Visually, you can't help but be reminded of the ingredients that came in off the farm or the people who made (and whom it was made for traditionally) this beer possible. Sofie is very effervescent with about a fingers worth of light bubbly head. I spotted quite a few yeasty floaters near the bottom of my glass, but as a homebrewer that type of stuff doesn't bother me at all.

Aroma: The aroma on this one was quite enticing. Initially you are hit with a tart presence that seems to permeate over everything but touches of lemon and a little bit of funky yeast can be found throughout. On the back end I found small hints of banana to round Sofie out.

Taste: You can definitely tell this is a Belgian style beer right away as the bubblegum yeast flavor makes it's presence known. I really enjoyed the mouth fell on this once as it was slightly tart, crisp and effervescent up front but quickly transitioned into a sweet and smooth finish.  Sofie was most unique in the way the flavors are layered. Typically, my experience with a beer's flavor profile seems to develop one feature after another. For example, you might notice the carbonation, followed by a floral hop hit, then by sweet malt, and finally ending up with a dry finish. With Sofie everything seemed to be going on at once. You might wonder if it was a muddled mess of flavors, but it was quite the opposite. I was able to pick up on the bubblegum and peppery notes in one area of my tongue, while simultaneously getting the tart, juicy, fruit flavor in another area. The layered flavor profile really made Sofie a fun beer to sip on.

Final Verdict: I would LOVE to find this beer magically appearing in my fridge once a day throughout the entire summer. This Goose Island Farmhouse Ale is super refreshing and works great as a summer time beer. If you've never had a night on the town with Sofie, be sure to hit her up. She's a good time and a girl you won't soon forget.

Just Beer Project Just IPA

The timing of the now infamous Slate article and this beer coming to my knowledge happened perfectly. Not two days before that article came out (in which they basically ripped into hop heads for being obsessed with hops) I was contacted by the Just Beer Project asking if I'd like to sample their new beer Just IPA. Of course, I said yes and began reading up on just what the Just Beer Project is. Since they went through all the trouble of putting out a mission statement, I'll quote the part I feel best describes their goal.

The Just Beer Project's mission is to deliver beer drinkers un-complicated, world-class craft brews that are delightful in their simplicity - nothing too complicated or exotic and with all natural ingredients. Our beers are sessionable, staying in the 5% ABV range, and focus on a great balance between malt and hops. 

I don't know about you, but that's something I can get behind. No, I'm not saying I wholeheartedly agree with the Slate article, but there is some merit in what they said. Many times I've found myself wishing there was more innovation in areas not concerning higher ABV and IBU counts.

So, did their initial offering Just IPA live up to the credo? Let's find out.

It's not 2000 IBU's. The hops weren't harvested from the grounds of a temple in the heart of a jungle that you've never heard of. This beer won't change your attitude. We're not trying to scare you or numb your tongue.

Style: IPA
ABV: 5.2%
IBU:  45

Appearance: Golden in color with about a fingers worth of head. It's a pretty beer and it's got a look that says "hey, it's hot out! Drink me!".

Nose: Not incredibly complex, but don't let that or their mission statement fool ya. There is a lot going on here, even if the aroma isn't super complex. They hop with Chinook, Ahtanum, Citra, and Cascade. And then they dry hop it with citra, simcoe, and cascade. Personally, I felt like the Cascade hops came across most prominently.

Taste: Just IPA does what it set out to do. It's an easy drinking IPA. You don't have to sit around developing a coronary because you're trying so hard to spot some specific taste in the background. It is what it is. Just IPA is just an ipa that goes down smooth and is palatable enough that you can go back in for more than one. The hops hit you up front, but not in an overwhelming astringent  manner. And the finish is dry but the hop impact is diminished quite a bit.

Final Verdict: This beer goes down so easy. In fact, I finished my beer long before I was done writing this post and that almost never happens. There is no doubt it's an IPA and it lives up to the Just Beer Project's stated goal of sessionablity. It's not available everywhere just yet, but if you do come across this beer be sure to find out what it's all about. Right now, Just IPA is available on draft in Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach, and Baltimore. Come June 1, the fine folks of Central New Jersey will also be able to find Just IPA.

For those of you in my neck of the woods, if this sounds like a beer you'd be into you can find it at JD's Smokehouse Bar & Grill, Plug Ugly's Publik House, Freddie's Ale House, Mother's Federal Hill Grille, and Social Pub and Pie.

BBB Beer of the Week: Sam Adams Holiday Porter

I feel like I write these beer reviews 24/7, and I feel like at least 3/4 of them are Sam Adams. I think it's safe to say, I don't need to buy the seasonal samplers anymore. ]I'm pretty well versed in their portfolio. With all that said, I've got a new beer review for you and it's one that I don't think I'd ever heard of until I found it in my sampler. Here is Sam Adams Holiday Porter. 

Appearance: Classic Porter Appearance here. Holiday Porter is a dark beer, but a little light can be seen creeping throw here and there. An decent head for a Porter invites itself to the party full of tiny little bubbles.


Nose: This beer smells very good. A mixture of chocolate, caramel, and dark fruits all mingle together. Based on smell along, I was looking very forward to the first sip.

Taste: Sam Adams Holiday Porter kind of let me down here. It smells great, but there is just something missing here. I'm used to Sam Adams being the king of the well rounded flavor profile, and while the chocolate, caramel, and dark fruit smells make their way into the taste, the final product just seems to be missing something on the back end.

Style:Porter
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 40

Final Verdict: I came by this one via the Sam Adams Winter Sampler. If they included the Holiday Porter in the 2013 mix again I wouldn't complain, but this isn't a beer I ever see myself purchasing on it's own merit in the future.

BBB Beer of the Week: Troegs Mad Elf

I'm not as well versed in winter beers as I am fall beers, but of the winter beers I've had Troegs Mad Elf definitely sticks out for me. On a cold night, this fairly high ABV beer will warm you up in no time. But we all know there is more to a beer than ABV, so let's break this one down.

Appearance: Mad Elf is such a pretty beer. One look at the cranberry red color and you're automatically intrigued and jonesing for a taste. Being that this is a winter beer with the name Mad Elf the red color just seems to fit. Again, my library of winter beers to refer to isn't huge, but as far as appearance is concerned Mad Elf takes the cake.

Nose: The aroma of Mad Elf might very well be it's best feature. It smells delicious. Right away you're hit with smells of cherry, raisins, cranberry, and a tiny bit of clove. If a beer were solely judged on appearance and aroma Troegs would be batting 1000 with this one.

Taste: The most prominent tastes that come across for me are cherry, honey, clove, and believe it or not a tiny bit of bubblegum. The Belgian yeast definitely makes it's presence felt. I've also noticed a heavy alcohol flavor on the first or second sip, but that seems to subside a bit the further along you get.

Style: Winter Ale
ABV: 11.0%
IBU: 15.

Final Verdict: In certain ways I love this beer. As I mentioned above, Mad Elf is awesome in the looks and aroma department. However, when it comes to the oh so important taste criteria I'm not totally in love with this one. The strong alcohol flavor can become a bit much on certain nights. I also wouldn't mind a bit more hop presence to counter balance some of the sweeter fruit flavors. With all that said, the 11.0% ABV has it's place and can be quite nice in helping you forget just how cold it is outside. But to answer the question should you buy it? If you come across Mad Elf in your travels, by all means pick it up. But is this something you want to go out of your way to sample? I don't think I'd advocate that especially when I take into account the semi-hefty price tag that comes along with it. I give Troegs Mad Elf  a good but not great rating.