Beer Brief #22 - Unchained Series Batch 10 Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Brewery - Summit Brewing Company, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Beer - Unchained Series Batch 10 - Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Style - Belgian Abbey Ale (Dubbel)

ABV - 8%

IBU - 33

Color - Reddish copper with a light tan head

Aroma - Brown sugar, crackers, earthy, hint of black pepper

Flavor - Caramel, figs, raisins, and a balancing bitterness

Verdict - I'm really enjoying this one! It ranks towards the top of my favorite brews from the Unchained Series. This is a well-done abbey ale.

Beer (Not So) Brief #21 - Samuel Adams IPA Hop-ology

This Beer Brief will be a little different than all past incarnations. I picked up the Samuel Adams IPA Hop-ology 12-pack not too long ago, and I decided it would be fun to do a single post breaking down each of these unique IPAs. I will be skipping Latitude 48 (as I have analyzed that beer before), so that leaves 5 brews for what I'm calling the "Beer (Not So) Brief". Now, on with the beer!

Brewery (for all 5 beers) - Boston Beer Company, Boston, Massachusetts

Beer - Whitewater IPA
Style - Wheat IPA brewed with orange peel and coriander
ABV - 5.8%
IBU - 60
Color - Lightest of the 5, pale yellow body with an off-white head
Aroma - Honey, citrus, herbal spice, hint of bread dough
Flavor - Caramel, herbal and earthy hops, aggressive bitter finish

Beer - Grumpy Monk
Style - Belgian IPA
ABV - 5.7%
IBU - 55
Color - Between yellow and copper with an off-white head
Aroma - Cloves, peppery spice
Flavor - Honey, stone fruit, spice, earthy bitterness

Beer - Tasman Red
Style - Red IPA brewed with Tasmanian hops
ABV - 6.5%
IBU - 60
Color - Red with a light tan head
Aroma - Caramel, slight citrus, bread
Flavor - Brown sugar, butterscotch, toffee, cherry, background grapefruit, and spicy bitter finish

Beer - Dark Depths
Style - Baltic IPA (Baltic porter crossed with an IPA)
ABV - 7.6%
IBU - 55
Color - Darkest of the 5, ruby brown body with a light tan head
Aroma - Sweet bread, black licorice, herbal notes
Flavor - Chocolate, bit of roastiness, toffee, bitter but clean finish

Beer - Third Voyage
Style - Double IPA brewed with Cascade hops from multiple growing regions worldwide
ABV - 8%
IBU - 80
Color - Copper with an off-white head
Aroma - Honey, pine, citrus, maybe even some parsley
Flavor - Caramel, honey, grapefruit, strong bitterness to balance out the sweet malt

Verdict - These 5 beers are all tasty and I highly recommend trying them all. After drinking all of them, I'd be hard pressed to choose a favorite. However, here's my ranking based upon my tastebuds at this moment:

1 - Grumpy Monk
2 - Third Voyage
3 - Whitewater IPA
4 - Dark Depths
5 - Tasman Red

July 28th Coborn's Tasting

That's right. After a bit of a hiatus, I will be pouring tasty beer samples at the Hastings Coborn's Liquor this Saturday, July 28th. There are some brews that are new to the store, and we'd like to share them with you.

• Grand Teton Bitch Creek ESB
• Grand Teton Sweetgrass APA
• Mad River Steelhead Double IPA
• Mad River Steelhead Extra Pale Ale
• Pyramid Apricot Wheat
• Summit Summer Ale

Be sure to stop by the store between 3pm - 6pm, so I can give you a fun little beer tasting experience. Hope to see you there!

Beer Brief #20 - Tart Lychee

Brewery - New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colorado

Beer - Tart Lychee (Lips of Faith Series)

Style - American Wild Ale brewed with lychee fruit and cinnamon sticks

ABV - 8.5%

IBU - 20

Color - Golden and cloudy with a eggshell white head

Aroma - Green apples, cinnamon, honey

Flavor - Very light sweet fruit, prominent lemon tartness, funky earthy twang, cinnamon, touch of bitterness at the finish with a definite alcohol warmth and dryness

Verdict - This is a tasty brew with a nice tart fruitiness complemented very well by cinnamon spice. It has an easy drinking light body and crisp, dry finish. Very appropriate for a warm weather thirst quencher, but be careful of the ABV. It might just sneak up on you...

New Minnesota Beers

We have so much going on in the Minnesota craft beer scene right now. Seems like new breweries are popping up all the time, which is great for people like me who enjoy tasty new brews. What about some of the breweries that aren't so new? I thought it might be cool to list some of the new recipes to come out from some of our more established brewers, along with a couple that are still upcoming.

New and currently available:

• Brau Brothers Hopsession - A new super hoppy session beer (4.2%) from our favorite Lucan brewery.
• Lift Bridge Hop Dish - A new IPA that is a variation on last year's very tasty Hop Prop.
• Schell's Radler - A German-style grapefruit beer? Yep!
• Summit Saga and Summer Ale - Saga is a floral IPA and Summer Ale is a light crisp Kolsch-style brew.

Upcoming:

• Schell's Emerald Rye - A hoppy, bitter lager made with rye in the mash.
• Summit Unchained Batch 10 - A Belgian style abbey ale from brewer Nate Siats.

So there you go. I'm sure that many of you are just as excited as me about all the new breweries in Minnesota. However, let's not forget the breweries that have been around awhile longer, and are still coming up with new brews!