Our Tastes-- Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale

The 1st of the Wild Dog series finally made it into 4 packs and it's a beaut!. A monstrous creamy head with deep dark copper color. The aroma, the belgian lattice is perfect. Basically, a double recipe of their pale ale this one is made with Millineum, Columbus and Cascade hops at 82 IBUs as well as 120L Crystal Malt (the original is made with Cascade and Northern Brewer hops). 11.5%abv keeps this aboslute two-rowed teethed pit bull chomping at you LONG after the initial bite, (damn I should write for the FD website;)

Our Tastes-- Otter Creek Pale Ale

By far the best and sadly the last of the sampler, Pale Ale (bottled on 8/13/07) pours a great creamy, frothy head. A nice clear medium brown color with a truly great pale ale aroma. Brewed with Cascade and conditioned with the same this is a smooth brew. No abv listed but OG was 1.048.

Our Tastes-- Otter Creek Copper Ale

Second beer, Copper Ale (bottled on 8/16/07). A great clear amber ale that is Otter Creek's flagship brew based on Altbiers. Made with six different malts, three hop varieties and our special house yeast this is a great session beer. Site says Og was 1.050 so if it came down to about 1.010 it would be about 5.7%abv. Nice label on this one, wish I knew what it was.

Our Tastes-- Otter Creek White Sail

On his travels to the DC area The Enabler managed to bootleg back 122 beers minus 2 dead soldiers, so let's try some of them starting with the Otter Creek sampler which comes with White Sail, Copper Ale and Pale Ale. First one up is White Sail Belgian Style White (bottled on 8/26/07. It poured up a nice aromatic head but for goodness sake swirl the bed because I didn't do it enough and now have some grub particles in the bottom of the pint glass. White Sail has a great zest to it (could be that I can see my breath). Color is a nice hazy straw. It's a true Belgian, no abv listed on the site which is good because you can drink prn.

Our Tastes-- Polygamy Porter

Up last in the Utah state beer tour is Polygamy Porter made by Wasatch Beers. This is a black liquid abyss. The head is frothy and aroma great but then there is taste. Perhaps I am used to other full-bodied or even slightly sweeter porters because the aftertaste on this beer is as though I am licking an ashtray used for only USA gold cigs. Man, maybe they over roasted the malt or something because there is no getting over the burnt malt bill. T-shirt..COOL, beer.. buy a single. 4%abv, yep, silver medal 2006 GABF?

Brew Batch #25 Baltic Porter

Now I'm no Norman Rockwell but I've been told I was a "wordsmith", so sit back and let me paint you a portrait. It started out as a sleet filled 40F day that's now turned to rain. There was also the phone call from the squeeze telling me it was snowing in B'ham and sticking in places and of course I told her not to get excited because flour and fat girls are the same way... it only gets interesting when they're covered in it. So today I chose to brew, there's no hunting to be had on this rainy now 38F day. I started my porter recipe. Now to tell you how quickly brewing has changed due to the hops shortage. I ordered this kit from NB (in November) which then had it having 4 hop additions of Northern Brewer, Perle and Hallertauer x2, I received Perle 7.7% α-acid, Perle 6.4% α-acid and Hallertauer x2. It has now changed to Summit, Perle and German Tradition x2. The hop shortage is enormous and in a future blog I will tell you about my latest trip to Alabrew (which is no longer listed as one of my favorite links on the sidebar). I need to do some investigating about what has caused this and when it will be over but damn!..Recession AND hop shortage= Armageddon? So with some quick thinking I just rolled with it and have now brewed #25 inside my Fortress of Solitude (the garage). For those of you who have visited my Ps house yet don't see the imagery, I can tell you the beer outside of the fridge is just as cold as the stuff sitting beside it and it's time for a few tasters;) So as I finish my Perdomo Criollo robusto and kick back on the imitation leather couch and watch the Discovery Channel, I think I'll just let it sit, no need for an ice bath when ambient outside is <40F. Be back in a few beers..
OG 1.066+0.00 @66F, has a long way to drop.

Our Tastes-- Harpoon Winter Warmer

Breaking the cycle I managed to grab a winter beer that I had not tasted with its appropriate sampler, so hoo-ray for Harpoon Winter Warmer. The boys at Harpoon with their 100 barrel series sure do have this recipe right. It pours a rich copper and great "winter" aroma with slight notes of nutmeg and cinnamon on the palate. I'll be honest, I haven't had this beer in so long that it has barely lasted through the post! The head was ample but quieted quickly. Brewed with caramel and pale malts and having no aromatic hop added to overpower the spices this truly is 5.5%abv pumpkin pie in your mouth.

Squatters Chasing Tail Golden Ale

Keepin' On Keepin' On with the Utah taster so to speak. I tried Squatter's Chasing Tail Golden Ale. This beer has a nice clean ale taste, medium golden color, little foam head that dissipated quickly with little hop taste or aroma, a very mild beer great for "sessions", but is you're searching for taste I would try Terrapin's Golden Ale. Chasing Tail won gold and silver at GABF in 2003, 04' and represents goldens made with English malt. A couple of neat things about CT is that for every crown, "bottle cap", returned to the brewery they will donate 5cents to No More Homeless Pets in UT and each label seems to be slightly different by having the Golden Retriever on the front saying something new. Mine said "Is that you tail wagging or are you just happy to see me?" And as you would guess a dreary 4%abv:(

Our Tastes-- Squatter's Hefeweizen

And on with the state of multiple women, Squatter's American Wheat is a dark straw beer, no swirl... not enough to keep it in stock even if I lived in UT but above all else it was a smooth baby hefe;) Little to no head even after pour but great aroma, even though there's something in my soul yearning for darkness? Made with Tettnanger (at least when it was plentiful) this beer is a must local try if you are ever in the area. Like the previous 4%abv.