Hitachino Nest XH (Matured in Sake Casks)

 Kiuchi Brewery, Ibaraki, Japan: http://www.kodawari.cc/?en_home.html

Descriptions: Strong Belgian Brown Ale matured in distilled Sake barrels.the final Maturation takes place in Shochu casks {distilled sake} for 3 months.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/7728    BA Score: 85

My thoughts: Well, I saw this at Whole Food the other day and being a huge fan of Hitachino Nest Pale Ale, I figured I give this special looking bottle a try, particularly intrigued by the idea that it was matured in sake casks. As you can see from the picture it pours in a murky dark brownish color with a small head of foam. The smell is rather complex, fruits, coffee notes, toasty, but didn't pick up the sake. First sip, wow, sharp malty bitterness and seemed stronger

than the 7% alcohol on the bottle. Picked up a lot of oak and woody notes and then I picked up something very pronounced in the back end. I am not sure what it is exactly but my guess it has to do with the sake casks, it's sour and funky that lingers in your mouth after drinking. Not exactly my type of beer, it's very complex but the sourness and the bitterness make this a difficult beer for me to consume. It's definitely not a beer for general public.

Iron Fist Brewing, Hired Hand Saison

Iron Fist Brewing Company, Vista, California: http://ironfistbrewing.com/main.html

Description:
Traditionally, this Belgian style farmhouse ale was brewed in the winter to be enjoyed in the summer. Well, us revolutionaries pay little heed to such silly traditions. We brew our Saison year round because, frankly, we don’t want to wait so long for such a delicious beer. Hired Hand perfectly blends malty and sour notes, with a refreshing dry finish. Enjoyed by laborers and leaders alike.
Alc – 6.5%

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23641/63516   BA score: 89

My take: This is one of the 7 drafts we have on tap regularly at Plan Check Kitchen + Bar (I am part investor in). Saison isn't too well known but it's just another type of pale ale and traditionally brewed seasonally. It's a very refreshing ale and my top favorite saison right next with the Bruery Saison I reviewed not too long ago. It pours in a nice orange copper color with a good size foam head. First sip and you get a nice refreshing earthy note of malt, citrus and mild bread like sweetness. It's very easy to drink with a nice clean crisp finish. Didn't score too high on BA as I thought it would but for me, this is a great beer year round, definitely glad Iron Fist feels the same way.

Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout (Limited Release)

Firestone Walker Brewing Co, California:  http://www.firestonebeer.com/

Description: A decadent Oatmeal Stout brimming with cocoa and espresso aromas. Partially aged in bourbon barrels, this beer features a rich, dark chocolate and roasted coffee flavor with a creamy mouth feel and wonderfully dry finish. The addition of U.S. grown fuggles hops contributes the perfect amount of bitterness to this exceptionally balanced beer.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/45897   BA score: 90

My take: We just got this on draft for our restaurant/bar here at Plan Check. It pours in a deep black color with a nice floating head of foam. Smells great and once it hits your mouth, you can pick up that nutty toasty notes with a flavor profile of coffee, oatmeal, and unsweetened chocolate. It's a creamy texture, little bitter but well balanced and very smooth malty finish. Pretty damn good stout to have while eating a breakfast/brunch. Which is exactly when I sampled this delicious beer. Highly recommended.

West Coast Flight Tasting

Being the craft brew lover that I am, I went to check out this new joint opened near me which had a huge selection of craft brew beer including several different flight tasting sample. Just like wine tasting, except it's beer tasting and you don't feel like a little pussy ass bitch being dragged around by your nagging girlfriend and have to spit the wine out after to look cool.

Alright, back to the beer review. Let me list the beers I had from right to left (light to dark):
-Pyramid Hefe
-Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
-Arrogant Bastard
-Dechuttes Black Butter Porter
-Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout

Pyramid Hefe, that's a fairly well known hefe and personally I am not big on hefe. This one tasted pretty flat and uninspired.

Ballast Point Big Eye IPA, I seen this beer before at some beer tasting festival but usually by the time I get to my 6th or 7th tasting, I am already half wasted and can't tell the difference. This is a very good IPA for me, it's hoppy but not overpowering and the bitterness is well balanced making this a very drinkable IPA.

Arrogant Bastard, malty hoppy goodness, lots of layers but all worked well together.

Dechuttes Black Butter Porter & Anderson Valley Otameal Stout. Well I put these two together cuz by the time I got to them, I already forgot all the rules of beer tasting, just literally drinking them in gulps. Port and stout arent really my thing though, and until I learn to appreciate them, you can read their review on beeradvoicate.com instead.

Scrimshaw Pilsner

North Coast Brewing Co, Fort Bragg, CA:  http://northcoastbrewing.com/home.htm

Description: Named for the delicate engravings popularized by 19th century seafarers, Scrimshaw is a fresh tasting Pilsner brewed in the finest European tradition using Munich malt and, Hallertauer and Tettnang hops. Scrimshaw has a subtle hop character, a crisp, clean palate, and a dry finish.  My take on this beer is that it's refreshing with lots of floral, lemon fruity notes. Extremely easy to drink, light hop and light bitterness. Definitely what a great Pilsner should taste like. Smooth all the way through.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/112/409   BA Score: 84

Kigen Kawaba Sunrise Ale

Denen Plaza Kawaba Brewery, Gunma, Japan: http://www.denenplaza.co.jp/osake/beer.html (it's in Japanese)

Description: Since I cannot read Japanese, I am not able to give you the description of this beer from its brewery.

It is not rated on the beeradvocate.com website.

My take: This is mostly likely a red/brown Ale based on the color and its malty smell/taste with a medium body. Brown Ale is not one of my favorite beers so just based on personal preference alone, I am already a little biased. I was able to get my hand on this Japanese craft brew beer from the restaurant/bar I invested in when the manager told me he got a few samples and if I like to take them home to try. It pours in a reddish/dark brown color with a small head of foam. You can smell and taste the malty center, but it falls very flat right after. I let the beer sit for a little bit which did help the flavor to linger slightly longer. I took a few more sip and I can definitely pick up a hint of coffee and biscuit notes in the back end. My impression overall is that it's malty but lacks depth. I had Firestone DBA and even though brown Ale isn't my thing, I thought it had a lot of more complexity which at least made me want to keep drinking. This one just seems to fall short and flat for my taste bud. 

The Bruery Saison Rue

The Bruery. Orange County, CA: http://www.thebruery.com/index2.html

Description: Saison Rue is an unfiltered, 100% bottle conditioned, Belgian/French-style farmhouse ale. This is a beer of subtlety and complexity, with malted rye, spicy, fruity yeast notes, biscuit-like malt backbone, and a slight citrus hop character. With age, this beer will dry out and will become more complex with rustic notes of leather and earth from the contribution of a wild yeast strain. Being a Saison, Saison Rue is ambiguous unto itself as it is a different beer when fresh and when aged. We hope you enjoy it in all of its incarnations. (ABV: 8.5%, IBU: 30, SRM: 9, Release: All Seasons, Format: 750 mL bottles)

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/42434 BA score : 91

My thoughts: The Bruery is a fairly new company but already it has set the bar as one of the best craft brew in the US. I was lucky enough to visit their tasting room and their Saison Rue is one of their many award winning beers. Saison Rue, for those who don't know, is a farmhouse ale and based on my none extensive research, in the past it was brewed by farmers as a very weak pale ale around 3% ABV, but things have obviously changed since. The beer pours in a nice golden color with a nice size white head of foam. You can definitely smell the earthy notes with a hint of that bready, biscuit like malt. It's a bit dry but it's balanced extremely well with a subtle hint of fruity sweetness. It's light and easy to drink yet there are a lot of characters you can pick up, everything balanced out nicely, from the rustic note to the citrus to the hop. Crisp and bubbly too. I can see why it won so many awards. Highly recommended if you willing to spend 10.00 on a wine size bottle beer. I shared it with a friend but after tasting it, pretty sure I can kill it myself since it's so drinkable.