Founders Brewing Company: Breakfast Stout

Brews like this that are the reason that I've become a huge stout fan over the last couple of years.

Founders (another one of the fine breweries from the Great Lakes State) advertises this one as a "Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout." That's at least three different subgenres of beer plus a numeric multiplier all rolled into one bottle. It sounds intense. It tastes intense. The first flavor you taste when this hits your tongue is chocolate--not the gross "is this beer or is this chocolate" taste you get in some chocolate beers, but rather a pronounced malt flavor that has a distinctly hot-chocolately accent to it. Then coffee. Then more chocolate--this time of the dry cocoa powdery variety. Then hops. Then a finish that manages to somehow combine chocolate, coffee, and hops, and somehow it all works out. A thick oatmeal-malt body serves as the backbone for these multifarious flavors, and a mild carbonation helps keep the beer from tasting syrupy. The overall taste experience is supremely satisfying.

I've never had a stout for breakfast. But, if I ever do, this is gonna be the one. Admittedly, the flavors are big and unapologetic, and if you don't like stouts generally, this will be no exception. But if you do... dear God, please help yourself to one of these!

Dark Horse Brewing Co.: Crooked Tree IPA

I have mentioned to a couple of my friends that, while there are certainly a handful of quality breweries out here on the East Coast, per capita, they just don't have nearly as many top-flight breweries as the west coast. I don't know why this is--whether the west coast has better ingredients, higher demand, or just more ingenuity. I also suspect that there are probably more than a few East Coasters who would quibble with my diagnosis. In any event, I had basically concluded that California and Oregon (and perhaps Washington) were a league apart from any other state in the union. Well, I may need to revise that and add Michigan.

Yes, Michigan. Don't ask me why. In addition to Bell's, whom I've blogged repeatedly before, I've discovered two more quality breweries: Dark Horse and Founders. I'm gonna try to chalk up a number of brews from these establishments in the coming few months. Let's start with Dark Horse's Crooked Tree IPA.

The IPA is generally an exercise in hop flavor cultivation. The trick is to make a brew that brings out delicious hoppiness as strongly as possible without feeling like you're sucking on loose leaf tea. But the truly great IPAs, in my opinion, figure out a way to compliment the hop assault with another flavor. And that's where Crooked Tree excels. This IPA has a delicious combination of almost fruity flavors that pops out at you: something sweetly citrus like a clementine. The sweetness is complimented by a pleasant-though-mild malt backbone. Then the hops rolls in--a combination of leafy and earthy flavors that is bold to be sure, but that doesn't entirely obliterate the other flavors. And to top it all off, the flavors are balanced quite nicely, so that despite this brew's flavor intensity, it remains refreshing throughout.

This is definitely one of the better brews I've had in the last few months. Do yourself a favor and grab one. Though I don't know if this one has made it out west yet.

New Holland Brewing Co.: The Poet Oatmeal Stout

Last time I tried a brew from New Holland I was very disappointed. Their amber ale just wasn't all that exciting. But everyone deserves a second chance, so I figured I'd give their stout a try.

The Poet is a respectable oatmeal stout. It's got that characteristic dark roasted taste well balanced against a substantial dose of hops. For an oatmeal stout, the malt flavors are pretty subdued. There's a faint sweetness right as the beer first hits your tastebuds, but the hops--particularly leafy-tasting hops--roll in very quickly. The hoppy bitterness and light body of the beer combine to create a very crisp and dry finish, which is somewhat unusual for a stout I think.

All in all a decent offering--not bad at all considering how light-bodied it is. But it's nothing to get too worked up about.

New Holland Brewing Co.: Red Tulip Ale

I've been dormant for a while. I'll see if I can remedy that in the coming couple of weeks. My goal will be to review not only a new brew, but a new brewery every week from here until the end of classes. (No promises regarding duplication if I post more than once per week.) I'll start off with the New Holland Brewery: specifically, their Red Tulip Ale.

I'm not quite sure where the name Red Tulip comes from. The reference to the tulip could be nothing more than an allusion to the tulip craze that seized Holland in the seventeenth century. I'm not sure about the "red" part--while this might technically be a red ale (it does have a reddish hue), the predominant taste here is toasty carmelly malts, which is more typical of a brown ale. This is a thoroughly drinkable amber ale (of which red ales are usually considered a sub-group), which--probably to New Holland's detriment--means that it is strangely evocative of Budweiser's new American Ale. Except, unfortunately, this one has even less hops than its megabrew counterpart. It makes up for that lack a little bit by bringing out the malt taste a bit stronger. However, all in all, it's a disappointingly bland beer.

This beer's chief redeeming factor is its drinkability. It may be the only carmel-malty ale that stands no chance of filling you up. But that's hardly enough to warrant craft brew pricing. Good effort, New Holland, but you'll have to try again.

Bell's Brewery: Amber Ale

Now that I'm back settled into my little apartment in Philly, it's time to get back to enjoying some of the perks of east coast life, which means a whole new slate of beers to try that we don't usually find out west. For my first pick of the new (and final) school year, I went with a new beer from a brewery that's already proved itself: Bell's Amber Ale.

Bell's does not get props for their naming scheme with this one. Apparently unable to think of a clever moniker for their self-proclaimed flagship, they settled on pure unadulterated generica. But while the name may be a bit uninteresting, the brew itself fares much better.

Whereas most amber ales are marked by pronounced malts and hops (think fat tire, boont), Bell's decided to back off on the hops and really bring out a big malty body. However, the malts tend more towards sweet than smokey, and the beer is pretty well carbonated, which means that Bell's offering in this category is still much lighter tasting than a brown. There's an almost floral bitterness running through the beer that lingers on the tongue for quite a while.

Overall, this is definitely a solid offering, though I would have preferred a bit more hops. Definitely one to check out if you are one to go for big mats, especially sweeter malts.

Bell's Best Brown Ale

Since Rojas hasn't come through yet on his promise to pick up the blogging, and because I'm just so goddamn happy to have made it through another week (only two to go!) I decided I'd blog another beer. Since pretty soon I'll be back in Cali and the easternmost beers will be out of reach, I figured I would try one more beer from a tried-and-tested brewery that we don't have access to out west. So here comes Bell's Best Brown Ale.

Brown Ales are generally pretty mild as ales go, so it can be tricky to pull of a genuinely satisfying brew. Properly executed, they're subtle-yet-complex. Poorly done, they're bland and forgettable. Bell's version falls somewhere between these poles. It has a very pleasant toasted malt flavor that is accented by a very faint spiciness that comes through in the end. It's got a decent amount of carbonation, which actually ends up working out very well; a nice balance to the maltiness.

Overall, a solid take on a staple brew. Definitely rates high on the drinkability scale. Somewhere above a Nukie but probably below a Downtown on my scale.

Bell's Brewery: Kalamazoo Stout

A while ago when I reviewed Bell's Special Double Cream Stout I said I'd get around to reviewing their Kalamazoo Stout someday. Well, here ya go...

Kalamazoo is the kind of stout that manages to pack a keg's worth of taste into a 12 oz bottle. The beer is fairly hoppy, but what it really hits you with is a ton of malts with the bold and bitter taste of roasted coffee. It is also full bodied and has a slight creaminess, though it's got a fair amount of carbonation which along with the hops gives it a lingering bitter aftertaste. All in all if you like stouts and you have a taste for coffee, then this is definitely one to keep stocked. But if you aren't a fan of big bold and bitter malty coffee flavors, then you might not find it to your liking.

But for me at least this makes Bells 2-for-2 in my book. I'm gonna have to see what other brews they've got to offer.

Bell's Brewery: Special Double Cream Stout

As Mattie indicated on Friday, 'tis the season for Winter special brews. With that theme in mind I am pretty stoked to share Bell's Special Double Cream Stout, though it looks from their website as though it might not be available out west. If that's true, it sucks, because I had hopes of hauling a case of them up to Tahoe for the yet-to-be-planned ski trip we'll be going on.

Bell's (formerly known as Kalamazoo) has been referred to as "America's stout specialists." This is actually the second stout of theirs I've had, the other one (Kalamazoo stout) was also quite good but I'll save it for a non-holiday post. Bells is a Michigan Brewery, and that's where they are biggest, but they show up in establishments that pride themselves on craft brews over much of the Eastern U.S.

Back to the beer at hand. The double cream is fairly thick, even for a stout--thicker even than Guinness. It's got a blend of something like 10 or 12 different malts, but like stouts generally, the malts have a very "roasty" flavor. The underlying flavors are coffee, chocolate, and that distinctive smokiness--classic stout flavors. But besides being exceptionally well balanced, the beer is marked by a subtle sweetness and a very creamy mouthfeel.

When I first tasted it I remarked to my buddy that it was the "hot chocolate of beers," but that comment needs some qualifying. It's not sweet like lambics are sweet. It's just has a much milder bite than most stouts, which combined with the undertones of chocolate and the silky smooth texture gives the impression of drinking hot chocolate.

Which brings me back to the Tahoe comment. This is precisely the sort of beer you'd reach for after getting back home to your cabin after a day on the ski-slopes and throwing a couple of logs on the fire. But for those of you who don't like the mountains, it'll probably hit the spot on any day where you'd much rather enjoy a lazy day inside than brave the winter elements. Now if I can just get BevMo to stock the stuff...