Stayed a touch local this weekend on purchases
Black Can.. Santa Fe Brewing Black IPA
Checkered Can... Santa Fe Brewing Oktoberfest
Tall Can... La Cumbre Elevated IPA
Bottle... Left Hand Milk Stout
&
Santa Fe Brewing 25th Anniversary Saison
Three seasonal released SF cans all at once. Kind of a rare sighting. Most places have room for one seasonal, so I shopped around a bit.
Back in August, SF released a 25th Anniversary beer in a can. One of my grocery stores still has a full shelf of them (other places sold out back in September) They chose to make a Saison beer. Very yeasty and spicy in the smell and initial taste, with some pronounced bitterness. That may have been coming from the spices used or the hops. It's quite the style change up from what I'm used to. Consider it a yeasty/off spice pale ale... 3 seasonals at once is also a nice treat.
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Each one provides something different.. Black IPA is the one that plays the most with my taste buds. Oktoberfest is just a real solid OF style beer. Not a lot of them are GREAT. So to have a local place provide a solid option is a benefit for everyone local. LC elevated IPA is some of my favorite IPA. I think I end up drinking a 4 pack every two weeks.. Piney, citrusy, with a hoppy oiliness that overtakes your mouth. But leaves a dry finish and very easy to drink too many.. Left Hand Milk Stout is just a very solid stout with no extreme off flavors that a few 'better rated' stouts tend to have imho. The milk sugar adds a smoothness that makes this my go to session stout.
Black can is Santa Fe Brewing's Black IPA. It released this past Thursday, so the freshness of the hops is quite the treat.. Style wise, I just don't know if I can do it. The chocolate malt flavor is a bit mellow, and the hops just over take it entirely.. I like some stouts that are a touch too hoppy. But here the hops just over power it all. Chocolate/coffee notes vs. hops just does not blend entirely too good for my taste. If you like the style, it's way above the norm. I should know better by now
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Good news yeahitsRUST, it looks like I can buy a can glass without any issues.. Please get back to me ASAP... While I was there, I had to try their signature stout (with a twist). Aged in Cabernet and Pinot wine barrels for 11 months, their award winning stout got even better. The wood barrel flavor is a touch more subtle than the wine flavor which really brings out some deep fruit characteristics. But it's still a chewy stout at heart.
What an absolute treat. I love when breweries take a signature product, and twist or change just a few key elements to try and offer a variety. It's not as if this one will replace the normal beer from here on out. Instead we have more options. Their normal stout sits in around 7%. This one aged and rose to just above 7.5%
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Not picture, same place had a j17 (south african hop variety) session pale ale that sat in at 6.9% abv. I smelt grapefruit and citrus without much over analyzing. Just a wonderful smelling beer... Seek out any beer brewed with what most say is a rare hop breed. I believe IBU was 45-55 ish. I think this one was dry hopped with those hops so the aroma just really makes this beer what it is. It feels more like their signature IPA (100 IBU). But it's only hoppy in smell, which is a treat in and of itself.
The Whole Foods close to me orders them regularly but they sell out so damn fast.
