Old Rusty's Red Rye Ale (Harpoon Brewery)

I finally was able to find a bottle of this stuff. Not only do I love beers brewed with rye but this one also has my name (well, nickname) in the name! When it comes to your name there are three things you can never pass up:

1 ~ If a pub bears your name you must go in for at LEAST one pint (read McCarthy's Bar for more on that)

2 ~ If you're ever at a racetrack and a horse/dog bears your name you MUST bet on it regardless of the odds

3 ~ If you ever see a beer that has your name on the label you must buy and drink that beer

Old Rusty (a.k.a. Russ Heisner) was Harpoon's first employee. He was the brewer responsible for Harpoon's first beer, Harpoon Ale. I'm not sure what Russ does now for a day job, its not brewing, but the good fellows at Harpoon invited him back as a guest brewer on the 23rd installment of their 100 Barrel Series.

The Old Rusty Red Rye pours a deep, clean amber color with hints of reddish orange. Carbonation looks spot on as the head is nice and foamy and thick. As the head slowly fades it leaves a nice lacing behing and a half finger of foam thats bubbly and looks like the underside of a pancake thats yet to be flipped.

Smells of sweet fruit and apples abound. Reminds me of a weizenbock at first. Malty sweetness and some yeasty qualities round out the smells.

Taste is definitely unique. Its sweet at first with a dry spiciness in the finish that I'll attribute to the rye. The juicy apple smells that were apparent at first are a lot less noticeable in the taste. That being said, there is some sweetness that is very well proportioned. Their is no major hop presence with this beer but thats not a surprise based on the IBUs. Overall, its a nicely balanced rye ale that is extremely drinkable. I'm a fan. Cheers Old Rusty!

BEER FACTS

Name: Old Rusty's Red Rye Ale (100 Barrel Series #23)

Style: Rye Beer/Red Ale

Brewery: Harpoon Brewery

Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: German Halletauer

ABV: 6.5%

IBUs: 38

Gearhead Ale (Black Bear Brewery)

Gearhead Ale is a bit of a mystery brew. I can't find any of the specs online and there aren't a lot of other reviews of it. 

According to the Black Bear Brewery site:

Gearhead is a smooth flavorful red ale. Malty and hoppy enough, yet still mild and crisp.

Sounds simple enough.

Pours a hazy, reddish brown color with a thick fluffy head. The head slowly dissipates and settles in to a bubbly half inch of foam. 

Smells a bit grainy, peppery and maybe a bit buttery. There is some faint sweetness but no real hop character is noticeable.

Tastes a bit thin and watery with a definite peppery flavor. There is also some slight malty characteristics and some hop bitterness but not a whole lot. The graininess that I smelled is also apparent in taste also a rather sharp, slightly metallic aftertaste is present. Gearhead doesn't pack a lot of flavor. 

I don't know how long this bottle had been in the shop so it may or may not be old. I can't seem to find a date on it. Regardless, I'd love to get up to Orono for a hockey game and to check out the Bearbrew Pub and drink some of their beers on tap.

BEER FACTS

Name: Gearhead Ale

Style: American Amber/Red Ale

Brewery: Black Bear Brewery

Location: Orono, Maine, USA

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Malts:?

Hops: ?

ABV: ?

IBUs: ?

Brewed in Maine

Ruedrich's Red Seal Ale (North Coast Brewing Co.)

The Ruedrich that lends its name to the Red Seal Ale is for Marc Ruedrich, the founder and brewmaster at North Coast. The Red Seal Ale is another great example of how well North Coast has branded its beers. Great name and great label and great brewery.

Pours a deep amber color with an orangish-reddish hue. Reminds me a bit of one of those gummy peaches in color. A great looking head adorns this beer as well, its a bout 3/4 of an inch of pure white foam with nice bubbles coming up from the depths below.

Smell is very floral. Wow, that is a great smelling beer. Very crisp citrusy hops and a bit of that pine cone scent as well. Smells a bit like honey or caramel as well. This is definitely a beer that will draw you in quick as your face gets close to the glass.

Taste is very refreshing! This beer has that nice crisp and fresh tastes of hops but not that mouth puckering intensity of an india pale ale. The main tastes I get are floral hops and some powdered sugar sweetness. Nothing too intense. The malt backs it well and makes this a very balanced beer. This is a simple yet very delicious ale. 

BEER FACTS

Name: Ruedrich's Red Seal Ale

Style: Amber/Red Ale

Brewery: North Coast Brewing Company

Location: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: 5.5%

IBUs: 42

Origin Pomegranate Ale (Schmaltz Brewing Co.)

Pomegranate appears to be everywhere these days, its uber-trendy. Its not all that much of a surprise that its found its way into several beers recently. However, Origin from Schmaltz is not like those other pomegranate ales that are following the anti-oxidant trend. In fact, this beer was first brewed 10 years ago.

The label reads:

Creation, 1996, C.E.: On the floor of a San Francisco Mission District loft, intimate friends squeeze luscious pomegranates by hand to brew the first 100 cases of the original HE’BREW Beer.

Evolution, 2006, C.E.: The culmination of the first decade of Shmaltz Brewing and a core offering for our second, ORIGIN renews this sacred covenant, sacrificing over 10,000 pomegranates for each precious hand-crafted batch.

So there is some history behind this beer and quite a bit of history and lore behind the lowly pomegranate. Check out the Schmaltz site for more. Who knew that the grenade got its name from the pomegranate due to its shape? Not me...

Pours a hazy, cloudy peachy color. Slight hints of ruby redness mix with the amber. The head is nice and rich. Its a good looking beer. Unfiltered and wholesome.

Smell is slight malt sweetness, some sour and some grassiness. If you read the specs on this one, its pretty amazing how many different types of both malt and hops are used to make this beer. They obviously lend a hand in the complexity of this unique creation.

Taste is interesting. Not sure why, but I was thinking it would be sweet. After taking my first sip, I wracked my brain to remember what pomegranate tastes like and remembered that its not a sweet fruit. Its rather tart and dry and that is the aftertaste I get from this beer. There is a lot going into the boil when this beer is being brewed. Its not a bad thing but to tell you the truth, I can't pick out all the different hops nor can I sort out all the different malts. An amber ale, even if its 8%, doesn't need to be quite so complicated. Nonetheless, its a decent beer. I like the tartness the pomegranate adds to it, it reminds me of a sour ale a bit.

Origin is worth a shot, even if its just to say you drank a strong ale brewed with hand squeezed pomegranate juice!

L'Chaim!

Beer Facts:

Name: Origin Pomegranate Ale

Style: Fruit Ale (Strong)

Brewery: Schmaltz Brewing Company

Location: San Francisco, California, USA

Container: 22 oz. bottle

Malts: 2-row, Caramel 30-40, Dark Crystal, Munich, Dark Munich, Wheat

Hops: Warrior, Centennial, Cascade, Willamette, Crystal, Mt. Hood

ABV: 8%

IBUs: ?

Nugget Nectar (Tröegs Craft Brewery)

I am back after my brief hiatus from posts. I have to admit I was getting a little chubby after reviewing beers like a fiend. Its not like a take a sip and spit it out. I drink every beer I open and enjoy almost every one. But now I am back and what better beer to start back up with then one of the best little hoppy beers on the east coast! Say hello to Nugget Nectar! Its an "Imperial Amber" ale that is released in February each year. Check out the label! That about says it all...

The Nugget Nectar pours a beautiful deep apricot color with a short fluffy head that hugs the glass firmly. Faint islands of foam are left once the head begins to settle down. As for the smell of this stuff..well its almost too good to put into words. Its very sweet, citrusy and bursting with fresh hop goodness. Its like ruby red grapefruit juice mixed with some strong Pacific Northwest hops. I love it. Someone make this into a perfume and give it to my wife.

Taste is sweet, strong with a nice hop bite finish. There is definitely a citrusy tartness but its balanced so well with this malt that its a very balanced beer, even at 7.5%. There is a dryness to this beer but its at the very end after the initial juiciness. Everything about this beer is excellent, in my humble opinion. Its definitely one of my favorites.

Love the brewery. Love the label. Love the look. Love the smell. Love the taste. 

From the Tröegs site:

"Squeeze those hops for all they’re worth and prepare to pucker up: Tröegs’ newest brew, Nugget Nectar Ale, will take hopheads to nirvana with a heady collection of Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk hops. Starting with the same base ingredients of our flagship HopBack Amber Ale, Nugget Nectar intensifies the malt and hop flavors to create an explosive hop experience."

Beer Facts:

Name: Nugget Nectar (Imperial Amber)

Style: Amber Ale

Brewery: Tröegs Craft Brewery

Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Pilsner, Vienna, Munich

Hops: Nugget, Warrior, Tomahawk, Simcoe, Palisade

ABV: 7.5%

IBU’s: 93ish

Odd Notion Spring '08 (Magic Hat)

An ode to the first day of spring! With one of the most colorful labels I've ever seen, Magic Hat's Odd Notion spring release is certainly a sign that better weather is on its way.

Available only in the Pandora's Box mixed 12 pack, this beer is the second of the Odd Notion releases. The first being their Odd Notion Winter '07 release, which was a dark American wheat ale that was quite good.

After checking around online, it appears that what has come out of the bottle is in fact an Irish Red Ale. It definitely looks like it. Smells very sweet and malty with a bit of hoppiness (sort of like a chocolate rabbit) and roasted coffee notes. The color of this one is very close to red, its a deep dark amber color.

The first taste is very refreshing. Its got a nice sweetness followed by some hop presence. I would say this would be a good "session" beer. You have to love that term, it refers to a beer that is relatively low in alcohol that can be consumed throughout a long period of time (or session). This is definitely an easy drinking red ale, its got that nice malty sweetness to it with no other overly distinguishing features. Not a bad beer, its nothing fancy but I always admire Magic Hat for releasing a new style of beer. Slainte!

BEER FACTS

Name: Odd Notion Spring'08

Style: Red Ale/Amber Ale

Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Company

Location: Burlington, Vermont, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Chocolate, Crystal, Caramel, Roasted Barley

Hops: Amarillo

ABV: 4.6%

IBUs: 20

Lobster Ale (Belfast Bay)

Yeah, I know. I had to do it though. I had to eventually try this beer. Lobster Ale must sell pretty well to all those tourists that flock to Maine each summer, but I promised myself I would put aside my preconceived notions about certain beers and give them a try. I like to call it my New Beers Resolution. 

Lobster Ale is a red ale, which is fitting. Red ales are called "red" because of the color the malts give the beer. This one, by Belfast Bay Brewing Co., is contract brewed at the Shipyard Brewery. Its not the only beer in Maine with a lobster motif on the bottle but it is the only one with the word "lobster" in its name.

It pours a dark amber color with a bit of redness to it, especially when its held up the light. The head is slight and dissipates pretty quickly. The smell is nothing that amazing, malty with some caramel. It smells very sweet and syrupy, kind of like Killian's. 

Taste is interesting. Its got a lot of carbonation and only a slight taste of malt and hops. Its the kind of beer that certain people love since it has an appealing label and nothing all that amazing in the bottle. No intense maltiness, no super hoppiness or anything that would really set it aside from other beers. Nope, its just a decent, average amber ale wrapped in nifty packaging. Try their other beer, the McGovern's Oatmeal Stout. 

BEER FACTS

Name: Lobster Ale

Style: Red Ale/Amber Ale

Brewery: Belfast Bay Brewing Company

Location: Brewed at Shipyard Brewery for Belfast Bay Brewing Co.

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: ?

Hops: ?

ABV: 5%

IBUs: ?

Brewed in Maine

Roxy Rolles (Magic Hat)

If I could buy an air freshener for my truck that smelled like simcoe hops I would do it.  I've gone so far as to legitimately think that putting out different hop smelling air fresheners would be a nice little business. Am I nuts? Maybe. Well, Roxy Rolles makes me think of this idea every time I drink it. 

It pours a dark ruby color that is very pleasant to look at. Its a beautiful color for a beer. However, by far the best part about Roxy Rolles is its smell. It smells like super fresh, sticky simcoe hops. I am a total sucker for any beer that is dry-hopped and this one is no different.  It tastes like an amber ale with a nice hop presence that doesn't add a lot of bitterness (its only 35 IBUs) but just a great smell to go along with an easy drinking beer. 

Roxy Rolles is Magic Hat's winter "SeasonAle" and its "ode to the open road". This year represents its second anniversary. Hooray, that means it might just stick around for winters to come. This beer is very, very drinkable. By that I mean its not overpowering in anyway, unless you hate the smell of fresh hops that is. Its not overly bitter or sweet or strong. Its an all-around "hoppy amber ale" that can start or end an evening for you. I look forward to winter ending but not seeing this one go. Maybe I'll stock up a bit before it gets pulled off the shelves! 

BEER FACTS

Name: Roxy Rolles

Style: Amber Ale

Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Company

Location: Burlinton, Vermont, USA

Container: 12 oz. bottle

Malts: Pale, Crystal and Dark Crystal 

Hops: Brewer's Gold, Simcoe and dry-hopped with Simcoe

ABV: 5.8%

IBUs: 35

The Magic Hat "SeasonAles" are:

Roxy Rolles (Amber) - Winter

hI.P.A. (IPA) - Spring

Hocus Pocus (Wheat Ale) - Summer

Jinx (Smoked Strong Ale) - Autumn