Bulleted Weekend Recap Rundown Thingy

A busy weekend of many beers and no time to blog means a bunch of cut-rate Monday night reviews. More thorough reviews may follow in subsequent posts.

• Lakefront Oktoberfest. I brought a sixer of bottles to a birthday party Friday night and went through three, I think. This was the first Lakefront beer I've had in a really long time, and it was somewhere between mediocre and average. It's caramel sweet, malty, and toasty--not unlike a roasted marshmallow--with an apple note.
• Founders Centennial IPA. I drank this one straight from the bottle, which I feel negates whatever I have to say about a beer. That said, my general impression was positive but underwhelming. There was nothing to really set it apart from dozens of other IPAs, and at 7.2% ABV, I wouldn't have expected it to taste as boozy as it did.
• Three Floyds Gorch Fock. This was from the tap at Brixie's. On the surface, it's a pretty typical light lager, but the flavor was dense and accented with a bit of honey sweetness that I didn't expect. For such a light beer (4.5% AVB), I was able to enjoy this much more slowly than I expected--a big plus, being the good D.D. that I am. If you have a chance, try some while it's still hot out.
• Stone Levitation Ale. I'd had Levitation once before, but I had no idea it was an amber until Zuch told me, at which point I still didn't believe him. This is by far the hoppiest amber I've ever tried. Word to the unindoctrinated: Stone loves the hops. It's also one of the slowest drinking sub-5% AVB beers I can think of, mainly because the hops are so intense. Despite my pathological aversion to waste, I had to leave some of this behind because my semi-starved 3am stomach couldn't quite handle it.
• Goose Island Green Line Pale. I tried this again on tap, this time at the actual Goose Island pub across from Wrigley Field, so it was almost certainly fresh. It still tasted like corn. I still didn't like it. Fuck it. It's out.

Grumpy Bulldog threefer: Great Lakes Lake Eerie Monster, Stone Ruination, and Goose Island Green Line

This weekend my friend Pat is moving one vertical mile and about a thousand planar miles to Denver. So on Saturday night, Pat's brother Randy and I sent him off by getting good and wasted in downtown Naperville. Well, at least they got good and wasted; it was past midnight by the time I joined them, and Pat and Randy had about a seven-beer head start.

Owing to my visceral distaste for Naperville, I'd never experienced the downtown bar scene, which reminded me a lot of my visits to U of Iowa in college. I'm too old for most of the bars there, but we drank at the Grumpy Bulldog, a hole-in-the-wall with a great beer selection and "Dames" posted on the door of the women's bathroom.

I like my IPAs regaluhr-like just fine. The imperial style doesn't seem necessary to me, but I can't be a True Beer Snob, I'm told, until I've tried them all. I'll say this: Lake Eerie Monster smells fantastic. Besides the hops, it has a strong aroma of passion fruit or mango or some other "exotic" fruit that reminds me of a Naked smoothie drink. By comparison, the taste was dreadful, which is to say, mediocre compared to mediocre things. Way too sweet, way too boozy. It was hard to get past that to see it's inner-beauty, which I think it may possess; I just didn't get it.

Grade: H, for huuuuuge disappointment. I never thought I would dislike a Great Lakes beer, but after a few swigs, I just wanted it to end so I could get onto my next. Finishing it was a chore, even passing some off on Pat and Randy.

Stone Ruination is what I should have ordered for my first pint; fortunately Randy was kind enough to let me sample his. "Earthy" is the magic word here. It has a wet garden aroma--dirt, flowers, evergreens, birdbath (sure, why not)--and the flavor is all earthy hops, i.e. the kind that taste like good weed. (Don't even try to act like you don't know what I'm talking about.) I got almost no sweetness except maybe subtle grapefruit note. That said, I did only have the one swig after drinking Eerie Monster, so my palate may not have been all that sharp.

Grade: I, for incomplete, or alternately, for I-need-to-try-a-full-one. This is on the grocery list for my next trip to Famous.

Green Line was also a disappointment, but it was also my mistake to have pale ales back-to-back--something I rarely do and strongly advise against. The Green Line was pretty balanced and easy to drink, but the only thing I found unique about it was a buttery caramel corn-like flavor that I thought clashed with the hoppiness. Maybe this was tongue or brain playing tricks on me, or maybe my palate was hopped out at that point. But after a few sips, this corny note became so distracting that I really can't remember anything else about it.

Grade: C, for confusing. I'm not sure if the beer was the problem, or if I was the problem. Either way, I'm in no rush to try this again, though I probably should because I don't think I'm being very objective. Zuch had a much more favorable opinion of it.

Pale Ales

An underrated style, a well brewed pale ale brings the hoppy flavor in a smooth drinking beer palatable for the vast majority of beer drinkers.  They can also be enjoyed multiple times during a quality session and do not leave your tongue paralyzed to the flavor of other beers you may enjoy later that day or night.  Here a few of my favorites in that style, plus a special mention to one I anxiously await trying in my next trip north of the border.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 5.6% ABV

Space Mountain of Craft Beers

To be the man, you have to beat the man.  First brewed all the way back in 1980, SNPA is still the man.  The trademark SNPA hop style first came to the forefront in what remains their flagship beer.  The hops are balanced nicely and create a smooth drinking style for a beer that is often an oasis at places that otherwise carry BMC products.  Likewise, SNPA still holds its own at some of the best beer bars in this country and deserves to be celebrated for launching a style that promotes the flavor in beers (not just the "drinkability" of light adjunct lagers).

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale, 5.0% ABV

A Reliable L Line

One of GI's new brews for 2010, the Green Line Pale Ale is an excellent interpretation of this style and refreshingly drinkable.  After first sampling this at the Schoolyard Tavern in Chicago, I was floored by the balance in this beer and how smooth it drank (and the third one went down as easily as the first).  The hops present a stern, yet welcoming kick at the start and fade nicely as you enjoy each sip.  While my beloved Marquette Warrios proceeded to lose another heartbreaking early round game in the NCAA Tournament, the night was far from a loss after discovering this Goose Island brew (as of now, tap only).  Goose Island can do little wrong for me right now and the discovery of this tremendous brew played a big part in their current White Sox like winning streak in my beer sampling.

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale, 5.0% ABV

This beer does not remain full in my glass for long

My introduction to the fine brewery out of Bend, OR, the bomber of Mirror Pond left my Lakefront pint glass quick class quicker than Brett Favre changes his mind about retirement.  The west coast hops from this plentiful hop region blended in nicely and formed a tremendous texture that hastily disappeared into my large mouth.  One bomber could have easily been three or four and I'd have been wondering what just happened to me as I wobbled back to my room.  If Deschutes decides to start distributing to Illinois I will not complain and in the mean time will make sure that beers like Mirror Pond will come back home on my voyages to Minnesota.

Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale, 6.0% ABV

Crown Jewel of Three Floyd's Awesome Craziness

In the midst of a brewery that is as adventurous as any currently going, Alpha King is the rock solid foundation that allows Three Floyds to take so many risks with their other brews.  A touch hoppier then the other pale ales mention here, Alpha King remains very drinkable and worth all of the praise it has garnered in the beer world.  Though Alpha King may not create the waves of excitement as say Dark Lord, Behemoth, Apocolypse Cow and 3F's other big beers, it deserves the same recognition for its excellence and its consistent quality gives Three Floyds the freedom it needs to be a preeminent big beer brewer.

One beer that I expect to hold in this high regard once I sample it is New Glarus's new pale ale, Moon Man.  Another smooth drinker that is very sessionable, my friends from the lands of brats and beer gave it rave reviews and I anxiously await trying it myself.