Nice reviews brah. That habanero sculpin harsh Agreed that it isn't good compared to the regular stuff. I've yet to come across a beer that has chili pepper added that I enjoyed. The novelty of it is cool i guess, but do I want a full pint of liquid carbonated peppers? Nah.
I tried BCBS for the first time yesterday alongside 2013 & 2014 Parabola.
I love the fact that BCBS comes in 12 oz. bottles, and it is a great value at roughly .50/oz.
In terms of personal preference I thought 2014 Parabola > 2013 Parabola > BCBS.
Don't know if the Parabola recipe changed from last year to this year but the 2014 seemed better balanced and smoother than 2013.
I also tried The Lost Abbey's Agave Maria. I've never had anything like it. I wasn't sure what to expect from a tequila barrel-aged brew but I must say it was quite enjoyable.
I've been reading that the 2013 parabola was hot in comparison to the other years. Apparently from your review, letting it sit a year didn't mellow that out.
Not sure I can get with the Habanero Sculpin. I can't take spice like I used to and don't want to wake up the next morning struggling . Had some Fresh Squeezed IPA tonight to watch the Warriors game . Nice amber color. Got some orange, grapefruit, peaches and caramel notes. Hops were very subtle. Reminds me of Nugget Nectar, which is not a bad thing at all .
disappointed in this one. Tasted hops but not as much as i wanted to, maybe because it wasn't a fresh bottle. but didn't taste much other than some sweetness and the hops.
very solid but nothing that wow'd me. Tasted the expresso/coffee notes and chocolate with the bitterness. a well balanced beer.
very good IPA. has this floral and fruity aroma, and it matches with the taste. tasted grapefruit, and lots of hops.
I forgot I bought a growler of Santa Fe Nut Brown last Monday... Solid beer. A bit sweet in mouthfeel. Hints of coffee and chocolate. A touch nutty. I think I like the Sierra Blanca Nut Brown more, as it as a crisper edge and more nuttiness. BA Score is 77. On draft at least, it feels as solid as some of the more mediocre 80-85 BA scored beers. So I am disappointed to see others hating it. I dont think ive ever bought it in six pack form. I can see why. It's a decent one to try once in awhile though.
Next up. Excuse my loss of remembering things. I received a surprise Modern Times BlackHouse can from a fellow NT member... I knew nothing about it, and chose not to read anything about it until after I tried it.. The coffee notes are definitely unique. Not your traditional coffee taste or smell... It instantly reminded me of a local beer, La Cumbre's Malpais Stout. Both beers definitely have a roasted/smoked malt flavor and smell to them. This beer sits in the mid 5% range. I was surprised.. My guess was around a 90 BA score. It turns out that it sits around 88..... Very very solid rendition. It reminds me a touch of the irish dry stout that LC also did, Pogue Mahone. I'm catching some dryness with Modern Times. If local, it would definitely in my coffee dry stout rotation.
That's one heck of a haul there tee eye ehm. If you have one can you don't mind letting go of, let me know .
Picked up some Pliny today and decided to crack one open tonight. Bottled on 4/16 so it's pretty damn fresh. This is probably the best batch I've had yet. Smoooooth!
I actually feel kinda spoiled living in Cincinnati because as some of you may know there is a huge revitalization of local breweries going on. Between Mad Tree, Rhinegeist, 50 West, Christian Morlein, Mt. Carmel, Rivertown, and Hofbrauhaus there are a ton of local breweries that make some quality beer. It's been great for the community of young professionals that have flooded the city in the last 5 or so years. As for me specifically:
Favorite beer(s): Goose Island 312, Rivertown Roebling Porter, or Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. All three are different from one another and all three are delicious.
Least favorite: Upland Double Dragonfly Imperial IPA. It was like drinking soft soap. Almost threw up in my mouth on the first drink.
Triple IPA bout tonight.. just because we could.. and all were fresh.. Not sure when that would happen again
We went with a blind sampling off of the first 8 ounces of each beer. From there, we'll sample them solo
-La Cumbre Elevated IPA 7.2% 4/13/14 canned date
-La Cumbre Project Dank 7.5% 4/19/14 bottled date
- La Cumbre Father Nelson 10.6% 4/17/14 bottled date
I must admit, I got a good sample of each, but after about 4 sips, they all began tasting the same. IPAs can do that to you. Initially though.. I definitely guessed Elevated right. Among the three, it carries the least amount of fruity/dank hops in the smell. The color is also the darkest of the bunch.
Elevated definitely stands up against the others... I surprised myself though. I guessed wrong on the next guess. I thought Father Nelson was Project Dank. Lost in the shuffle of Father Nelson releasing, Dank had a new batch too. Looking online, this one carried the most amount of tropical fruit smell/taste compared to dank notes. So I was definitely expecting a "dankier" beer. I also apparently couldn't detect the differences between the ABVs, 10.6% and 7.5%.. Crazy.
For some reason, I still catch Elevated having the heaviest bitter notes on your tongue throughout the drinks (maybe the type of hops). Father Nelson is bone dry, champagne like... Dank this time around, wins in the smell category. Almost 100% tropical fruit notes.. Amazing.
I'm still constantly caught asking if its worth TWICE as much as elevated? It's tough putting a price on something you enjoy though.
EDIT:
I just want to add some notes as we drink each one individually and giving our mouths time to rest between drinks.
More random observations in the spoiler.
Elevated: I've probably reviewed this 25 times on here. I haven't revisited many of them to see how my tastes have changed. I just want to add. This beer definitely holds up to the test of time. With these latest newest tasting hoppy beers by their same company, this mainstay is truly a mainstay. I mentioned a deeper sense of bitterness throughout every sip. I get that lip puckering straight up bitterness much more out of Elevated than anything else. It's that true hop bombish type IPA in some sense. It has a bit more piney hop taste.
Neither Father Nelson or Project Dank impart any type of lip puckering hop bitterness. It could be why those have been better received by far. It seems there is more bad reviews for the true hop bomb type beers.. People just dont know what to expect in some sense.
Project Dank: As this ones warming up, I am still catching some hints of that onion/garlic dank flavor (not as much as before). The recipe has changed but its still one of the lightest tasting Danks I have tasted. Some of the earlier batches tasted almost too sweet or heavy. The crispness, dryness, and smoothness put this one a touch over Elevated.. At some point, price, and accessibility should play some part into finding a favorite
Father Nelson: It tastes like an amped up Project Dank. Amped in the alcohol sense. I can vaguely sense a deeper stronger flavor.. The hop flavors seem nearly the same. Not really any similar notes to Elevated. Elevated still carries through with the Hop bitterness, although this one is just chalked full of hop flavors (in otherways). I gotta say, to get a beer to be 10.6% abv, but taste so dry and crisp is like voodoo magic. I can't say anything similar has been accomplishted that I;ve gotten to try. It's an honor.
In closing, the structure of each beer is very similar. Maybe the yeast too. I dunno. There are these small elements of each that make them unique. Dank and Nelson, I would call almost one in the same. It depends on the Dank batch, but it definitely has the same elements. The 10.6% ABV is frickin killer. It tastes nearly identical to the 7.5% Project Dank, which is quite an achievement. The curious folk should want to seek out Project Dank. But the new big boy in town, Father Nelson is surely a great representative of their brewery... Some may possibly be able to detect the booze better than myself, so Dank may be for them.. I can't say that if you picked up any of these that you wouldn't have a good time.
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bballplaya23, hit up the beeradvocate SOUTHWEST forums. Search around a bit. It seems like there is always someone asking about Tucson or PHX, or Flagstaff area places to eat or get some brews http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/us-southwest.18/
^^^Good stuff WallyHopp. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Looking forward to trying the Father Nelson and comparing it with Elevated. Going to crack open another bottle of Pliny tonight for the Warriors game. Hoping the outcome is different from Monday's game .
On a sidenote, anyone from the Bay Area attend the Beerwalk in DT Campbell yesterday? Sucks that it was on a Weds night. Otherwise, I would've definitely hit it up.
Drakes
Firestone Walker
Lagunitas
Hangar 24
Anchor
Speakeasy
Anderson Valley
Strike
Hermitage
Santa Clara Valley
Campbell
Rock Bottom, Campbell
21st Amendment
Gordon Biersch
Almanac
Firehouse
Calicraft
Sierra Nevada
Karl Strauss
Stone
St. Florian
Santa Cruz Ale Works
Faultline
Lost Coast
Headlands Brewing Company
6 Rivers
Deschutes
Oskar Blues
Had this one back in November at a restaurant in Bushwick. I was pleasantly surprised then, but I've been overlooking it ever since. Found one bottled on 04/14 the other day, so I figured now would be a good time to revisit this beer. Pours a nice deep golden color with a somewhat soapy head that dissipates at a moderate pace. Aroma on this one is unremarkable. A little orange, some pine/resin, generic citrus notes. Taste is a little better. A little more citrus on the taste mixed with that pine/resin and a decent malt backbone. Pretty drinkable for 9%. Not as impressed as I was the first time around, but this is probably my 2nd favorite imperial IPA to come from New York. Having said that: New York reeeeeally needs some better breweries. Sixpoint, Ithaca, Blue Point, Great South Bay, Long Ireland, Ommegang, Brooklyn, and Butternuts just don't make the cut when you compare them to other breweries around the country. Captain Lawrence is probably the best out of all of them, and that's saying something. 9.0/10
Having had an underwhelming experience with the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, I figured I'd give this one a shot to contrast and compare. Not gonna bother noting the appearance. It looks like your typical imperial stout. Aroma isn't all that spectacular. Don't really get much chocolate. Just a big roasty quality with that oak in the background. Taste is similar. Straight roasted notes and oak with a minimal amount of chocolate flavor in there. I said that I thought the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti had an "off" flavor to it, and I think I've pinpointed it with this one. They both have that burning tire flavor to it, so I'm assuming that it's coming from the oak aging. It's a flavor this beer could do without. This drank easy enough, but it's not something I'd ever seek out (or buy) again. I like this a little better than the espresso one, though. 8.8/10
^that Sn stout and obsidian stout by deschutes are toe stouts I neglect too often. You've got a 94 ba beer just sitting there. My next impulse buy will be either of those
Super low key Friday. I bought a sixer for a trade (5 for me , one outbound lol).
Tastes like I remember it on draft. Maybe that can batch was bad? I want to call this one a "traditional" Ipa. It's chalked full of pine and some earthy citrus hop hints. It has a deep tongue wrenching bitterness. Not much on the aromatics. Crisp mouthfeel. Sweetness kind of there. Lives up to the 90 ba score. It's good for a change of pace but almost feels "old" or less complex. Elevated has so many more elements to it. Still a solid choice to try neosole.
It reminds me in some ways to SN Torpedo extra IPA. Just a straight earth pine earth flavor... I get that out of Santa Fe's Happy Camper IPA as well.. Some of the new bred IPAs are using different hops to create new experiences.. I guess I can appreciate the whole realm of IPAs.
Having bottle logics excursion ipa and tattered prince saison watching the ducks game. Bottle logic is consistently blowing me away. Most recently had a peach habanero wheat and a russian imperial stout on nitro. Everything is amazing.
Agreed that it isn't good compared to the regular stuff. I've yet to come across a beer that has chili pepper added that I enjoyed. The novelty of it is cool i guess, but do I want a full pint of liquid carbonated peppers? Nah.
. Nice amber color. Got some orange, grapefruit, peaches and caramel notes. Hops were very subtle. Reminds me of Nugget Nectar, which is not a bad thing at all 
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