The Year in Beer

Well, I’ve reached the second full year of the Year in Beer, this one as a solo artist. Ryan didn’t want to play this year, so it led to a reduced effort that still introduced 52 new beer reviews. Anyhoo, following is my Top 12 list for 2011.

1.  Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale, Rogue Ales, Newport, Ore.: I’ve often found Rogue Beers to be somewhat overrated, but not this one. I think I like it even better than Dead Guy. I said of it in February: “The aroma is mostly hops, from spicy Amarillo and Cascade, but the color is a deep reddish amber that doesn’t really match the smell. The taste starts off like a crisp pale ale, but finishes with a good deal of malt from a mix that includes Munich and Chocolate. This is just a really good beer.”

2.  Schlafly Winter ESB, The Saint Louis Brewery, St. Louis, Mo.: I haven’t liked every Schlafly beer I’ve come across, but it seems like they make at least one really good one per season. I like their Pilsner in spring (though you can get it year-round), the Summer Lager, their Pumpkin Ale in fall, and this one. I said: “Schlafly puts a twist on this malty ale, with rye flakes followed by dry-hopping with Willamette hops. The beer pours a bright amber with a little bit of foam. It has pronounced spicy malt and biscuit flavor and a crisp finish like a pilsner.”

3. Dog Days, Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, Ill.: Talk about a great beer for summer. Dog Days is probably my favorite beer from this Illinois brewer to date. You don’t see too many Dortmunder-style lagers out there. I said of it in June: “It was very malt-forward, with a sweet caramel aroma immediately noticeable. It poured a golden yellow with a thick, frothy white head that took some time to subside. The taste was malty and sweet at first, but finished crisp with a burst of noble hops.”

4. Boulevard Irish Ale, Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, Mo.: I tried this one in the aftermath of St. Patrick’s Day in late March. It’s a seasonal style for this Missouri brewer, but I’d drink it year-round if I could. Here’s how I described it: “Brewed as a tribute to Irish red ales, this one blends six malts for a reddish amber brew with a warm toasty character. Boulevard balances that with five varieties of hops. The aroma is slightly floral from the mix of hops, but the taste is nutty from the roasted malts and very smooth. I liked it a lot.”

5. Good JuJu, Left Hand Brewing Company, Longmont, Colo.: I’ve had mixed experiences with spiced beers, but liked this. This one is made with ginger, so I joked that you could pass it off as ginger ale. I also said: “The ginger flavor is strong up front, but there is citrus on the back end from the Centennial, Goldings and Sterling hops. I likened it to a Kolsch with spice more than a spicy pale ale. It’s that light. Good JuJu indeed, but also good beer.”

6. Wilco Tango Foxtrot, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Petaluma, Calif.: Lagunitas is a fine brewer of craft beer and this strong ale is no exception. I likened it to a boozier version of The Censored Rich Copper Ale and added “It poured a rich reddish brown from the 22 oz. bomber and the aroma was very malty, like caramel and toffee. The taste followed through with a smooth caramel sweetness and slight grapefruit finish from the well-balanced hops.”

7. Samuel Adams Black & Brew, Boston Beer Co., Boston, Mass.: The folks at Samuel Adams must be feeling the pressure from all these up and coming craft brewers, since they’ve released several new beers in the past year either as part of their seasonal collections or Brewmaster series. Anyway, this was the best of the five new brews in 2011. I said of this coffee stout “It’s definitely a winter beer and it’s a good one… They use Sumatran coffee to give it the light coffee aroma. It has a nice coffee taste on the front end and finishes with a warm malty taste.”

8. Exodus Porter, SweetWater Brewing Company, Atlanta, Ga.: I got this beer for free in a bar. Think about what I just wrote and consider I’m not a hot blonde woman. It was from a fellow beer geek tending bar and it was a great beer. I added “It was malty and smooth and poured a deep black with a frothy tan head. It tasted of light chocolate and was balanced by a bit of hops at the end.”

9. Bar Fly IPA, Barley Island Brewing Company, Noblesville, Ind.: The only really hoppy beer on this list is from a small but impressive Indiana brewery. I quote: “This is a solid American India Pale Ale (IPA). It poured a deep golden-orange color with a light head that laced the glass. BarFly had a fruity aroma with a hint of citrus and a rich hop flavor similar to Sierra Nevada Estate. This is a very good beer.”

10. Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning, Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore, Md.: Heavy Seas calls this an uber-Pils, probably because it weighs in with a heady 7 percent alcohol by volume. But it was all malty sweetness, as I noted: “I thought this came across more like a golden bock lager than a pilsner. It poured an orange-gold rather than the paler yellow associated with pils. It was also much more malt-forward in taste, with a sweetness almost like a Marzen rather than a crispness like Pilsner.”

11. Red Nectar, Nectar Ales, Paso Robles, Calif.: The one and only beer I tried from Nectar Ales was enjoyable. I said of this easy-drinking ale “It pours a rich amber color and has a nice oaky aroma. The taste is malty with some caramel, but it finishes with a bit of hop bite, thanks to the West Coast Chinook, Mt. Hood and Cascade hops.”

12. Abbey Triple, Sprecher Brewing, Glendale, Wis.: I added several Wisconsin beers to the Year in Beer in 2011 and this was one of the more interesting. It was a heavy 8.4 percent alcohol by volume, but enjoyable. “The aroma was like a spicy banana bread and very boozy. The taste had clove, sour apple and banana, like a heavy hefeweizen. This is good, but definitely a sipper.”

    — Posted by Mike Freimann