Red Hook's Long Hammer IPA

Extreme temperature changes and long hot storage conditions are a couple of reasons that can cause beer to go bad. In fact, a term often applied to spoiled beer is skunk beer. This is what the English had to deal with when trying to supply their fellow soldiers and countrymen residing in India with a decent beer back in the 1700s prior to the modern conveniences of refrigeration and pasteurization. So the story goes that the style of IPA or India Pale Ale is one that was created out of necessity. By generously increasing the amount of alcohol and hops, the beer was protected from bacteria as the hops act as a natural antibiotic and preservative. George Hodgson, the brewer credited with this solution naturally became a hero and a legend. The style was firmly established after a fateful shipwreck caused the casks on board to be distributed locally where the export ales were an immediate hit. There are many different varieties of this bitter beer found today that include American and English IPA, Double IPA, Triple IPA, Belgian IPA, and Black IPA.

 Joe: Our latest beer is Long Hammer IPA from the Red Hook Brewery located in Woodinville, Washington. Much to my absolutely no surprise whatsoever, Woodinville is located in the Seattle Metro area. I picture the Seattle metro area covering the entire state. The IPA is 6.2 APV beer with medium carbonation.  It has a light gold color. As mentioned above, IPAs are noted for their hoppy bitter taste. This IPA does not disappoint on that end. It also has a slight hint of a piney flavor that accents the bitter taste. Saying that though, the flavor was not as complex as I would have liked. It was sort of a one-note flavor. I give this beer 2.5 stars and my lowest score so far but it did make me want to try more IPAs so I give it credit for that.

Goes great with grilled burgers!

Justin: I find that I am enjoying IPAs more and more each time I try them. They are much more bitter than a regular pale ale which is the signature characteristic of this style. But within the bitterness is a vast array of flavorful tones. I found that Red Hook’s Long-Hammer IPA was fairly crisp with some nice light pine and citrus flavors. This is a great starter IPA as the bitterness is not too overwhelming. I give it 3 solid stars and look forward to trying more complex IPAs in the future.

*Disclaimer: Please be advised that although it has been awhile since the blog has been updated, the beer samplings have continued.

Founder's Dirty Bastard

For our 9^th sampling Two Guys tried a Scotch Ale. Our alert readers might immediately realize that we have already sampled a scotch ale. Our really alert readers might think “doesn't this break rules 1 and 2 of the Two Guys rules of beer sampling"? In fact, it does not. The scotch ale comes from a different brewery therefore it is a beer we have not tried. Our alert readers must now be thinking that Two Guys are going to tell everybody what a scotch ale is. Well, you are wrong, we are not going to tell----ok, ok we are going to tell you. Scotch Ale is ale that was first brewed in Scotland.(Big surprise right?) What makes a Scotch Ale different is that it is darker and sweeter than a normal ale and it tends to be a wee heavy--it makes you want to dance at weddings a lot quicker than regular beers. American brewed Scotch Ales are caramelized so they tend to have a caramel or toffee taste to them. Now onto the beer!

Joe: For this sampling we tried Dirty Bastard("Dirty Bar Tard" to my wife) from the Founders Brewing Company located in the mitten shaped state of Michigan. As noted above, it is a Scotch Ale. It is a medium carbonated beer with a 8.5% ABV which makes it a weeewhooooole lot of heavy. As with most American brewed Scotch ales, it has the sweet toffee/caramel taste as did the Claymore Scotch ale we previously sampled. A very slight hint of fruit flavor was mixed in with the caramel which helped give it a different taste from the Claymore. The sweetness was offset by a smoky taste on the back end along with the traditional hops bitterness. I am giving this beer a score of 3.5 but I am adding a half star because we sampled the beer while watching a football game.  Beer always tastes better when watched with football, the best sport in the history of ever.

Can you guess which team we were cheering for?

Justin: The sale of this beer is banned in the state of Alabama due to the profanity on its label. With a name like Dirty Bastard, I was expecting a little attitude and it definitely delivered. This is not a beer for the casual beer drinker. There was substantial alcohol warmth which is a nice way of saying ‘strong alcohol taste’. This seems to hold true with Scotch Ales. Brewed with 7 varieties of imported malts, there were a lot of different flavors that all blended together quite nicely. I enjoyed it slightly more than the Claymore Scotch Ale, however this may be due to my ‘beer horizon’ being broadened through our wonderful journey of beer exploration. Three and a half stars!

Anchor Bock Beer

"You could do it in a boat, you could
do it with a goat." - Dr. Seuss  

Two Guys realize that it’s back to school season so we thought we would provide another history lesson to our loyal readers. Our latest sample was a bock beer. Bock beer is a strong, rich, malty, low-hop style of lager. It was originally brewed as an ale by Bavarian monks in the 14th Century and used as a source of nutrition during times of fasting due to its higher nutritional content--yet another example of the greatness of beer, aka liquid bread. The origin of the beer is believed to be Einbeck, Germany and the name comes from a Bavarian dialectic pronunciation of the town that made it sound like "ein bock," meaning "a billy goat." As a visual pun, many bock beers today use an image of a goat on their labels. There are many varieties or substyles of bock beers which differ in color(though none are light) and strength including one that is partially frozen to concentrate the flavor and alcohol content by removing the ice water. That’s baaaaaa-dass! Now onto the beer!

Joe: Since at the time of this sampling it was not 157 degrees outside, we tried a non-summer beer.  It was Anchor bock from the Anchor Brewing Company located in the great earthquake state of California.  It is a dark brown beer with light carbonation.  It has a 5.5% ABV.  You would think with a name like Anchor Bock that it would have a taste reminiscent of the sea but instead it has a caramel piney taste that reminds me of the woods.  The hops bitterness is very light and it has a sweet taste once it hits the back of the teeth.  As usual with a beer such as this, it tasted better once the palate was acclimated to the flavor.  I enjoyed this beer and would like to try another beer from this brewing company.  I give it a score of 3.5.

Justin: I enjoyed this bock beer from San Francisco. Anchor Bock immediately reminded me of the only other bock beer that I have tried – Michelob Amber Bock. The flavor was strong like a kick from a goat, as expected from a dark lager. It was full of flavorful tones of roasted barley and piney hops with rich hints of chocolate and caramel malts. The carbonation was very light which made the beer taste a little syrupy at times but overall, I enjoyed this nicely balanced brew. Four stars! 

Widmer Brothers Citra Blonde Summer Brew

The perfect "beat the heat" treat.

Two Guys have been starting our blog posts recently with a little bit of history of our favorite beverage. We have advanced past the drinking beer through a funnel stage and now want to know more about the different varieties of beer that we enjoy so much. We are happy to share what we learn with our 4 loyal readers. Two Guys sampled a honey blonde ale for this review. But what exactly is a honey blonde ale? For that matter, what is an ale? Ale is a type of beer that is brewed from malted barley using warm fermentation with yeast to speed up the process. It is then mixed with hops to help preserve the beer and give it a bitter taste that offsets the sweetness from the barley malt. Honey blonde ale is where the malt is dried with coke (And no, it's not the kind of coke that a mountain of which will cause you to run down the stairs screaming "Say 'ello to my little friend.") It comes from coal and this particular drying process gives the beer a very pale color. Blonde ales are normally a little sweeter and less bitter than normal ales. Well, enough of our quick little lesson - now onto the beer.

Joe: On this sampling we tried Widmer Brothers Citra Blonde Summer Brew.  If you keep track of such things, this is our second in a row summer themed beer. In our defense it is summer and it was 137 degrees when we sampled this beer. The Citra is a pale colored 4.30 ABV beer with high carbonation.  It is a citrus beer so it has fruit flavor. In this case an orange taste. But unlike the Liney we tried in the last review, it is very light. In my humble opinion, it perfectly offsets the hops bitterness on a hot summer day but does not overwhelm the taste. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. I give it a 4.5.

 Justin: Its official, I have a new favorite summer beer! Widmer Brothers Citra Blonde Ale is full of crisp flavor and is equally refreshing. The beer smells like how summer should. The citra hops provide many mild hints of grapefruit and oranges along with a delicious spiced characteristic flavor. The mild bitterness is nicely balanced by the malt sweetness. Underneath each bottle cap is a prost - in German it means "cheers", as a salutation accompanied by beer. My favorite of the night was A Prost: To beer bread without the bread. I definitely recommend this beer and it receives my highest rating to date of 4.5 stars!

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

For the 6th sampling, Two Guys tried a Weiss bier.  This sounds suspiciously like a German word and with our amazing ninja-like research skills we were able to confirm this.  It means wheat beer. What exactly is a wheat beer?  Beer is traditionally made with malted barley and hops. The barley is what gives beer its kick (or as Two Guys like to say—gives us the power to dance at weddings).  Hops are what give beer its bitter taste.  Wheat beer uses a mixture of wheat and barley.  The wheat makes the beer lighter in color and less bitter. It is normally used as a spring or summer beer since fruit is often used as flavoring. Now onto the beer.

Joe: For this sampling we tried a beer from the Jacob Leinenkugel brewery located in the great beer state of Wisconsin. It was the Summer Shandy which, as mentioned above, is a wheat beer. As with most wheat beers, it has a golden cloudy color with high carbonation. The beer is advertised as being  flavored with lemonade. This is in no way an exaggeration. There is a strong lemon smell and taste to the beer. The hops bitterness that is in most beers is very light. This beer is perfect to drink on a hot summer night which was the exact conditions that Justin and I drank this beer. Under those conditions I give this beer 3.5 stars.

Don't be fooled, we really did drink these outside!

Justin: For our non-local readers I would like to point out that we have been experiencing a drought along with a massive heat wave this summer. Myself and Joe were able to find an evening where it was actually tolerable to sit outside(in the shade) and enjoy a sampling. Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is brewed for just such an occasion.  (I assume it would be equally enjoyable while tending to burgers on the grill or while laying on the beach of some tropical paradise.) A shandy is beer mixed with another beverage. In this case it is mixed with lemonade. The lemonade flavor was stronger than expected but I think it paired nicely with the wheat beer. I actually prefer it to the more popular lime beers. The leinies were iced down perfectly which made for a very smooth and refreshing taste. I give it 3 stars.