I’ve always had the opinion that if you only review products you like, you’re not really providing reviews, but endorsements. With that in mind, anytime I purchase a product with the intention of reviewing it, I try to follow through, whether or not I actually like the product. Since we set up our Beer of the World section at work, I’ve only encountered three beers that left me unimpressed. The first was Wasatch Pumpkin Ale – it tasted as if someone took canned pumpkin flesh and put it in a blender with Bud Light. Think pumpkin pie, but without the spices that make it so delicious. Next was Hofblues – it’s not that it’s a bad beer, it’s just that it’s mediocre, and for the price of two bottles, I can get a six pack of Guinness, which offers so much more flavor. So today we come to the third – Wasatch Polygamy Porter.

The first thing you will notice about Polygamy Porter is the label design. I’ve got to hand it to Wasatch – their labels are always eye-catching and intriguing. In the end, the label is the only thing this beer has going for it. This being a porter, I was expecting a substantial head when poured; instead, all I got was the sound of carbonation. The beer pours a dark ruby shade, reminiscent of cola, with nearly no head. It smells lightly of roasted malt, and tastes about the same – very light, drinkable and bland. Kind of reminds me of late night Waffle House coffee – when the coffee in the pot has been sitting on a hot plate for hours, cooking and burning until someone finally orders it, but it’s so watered-down the burnt taste actually lends some flavor to the coffee. Now that I think about it, Polygamy Porter kind of looks like Waffle House coffee. Except I don’t think any amount of sugar or cream can rescue this brew. Sadly, even though it comes from a legitimate microbrewery, Polygamy Porter has more in common with Bud Light than with actual beer.

Two beers up this time, both from Belgian brewery St. Feuillien.

First up is their Saison, a traditional farmhouse ale, which has won several awards for St. Feuillien, including World’s Best Saison Ale in 2009 & 2010, bronze medal at the 2011 Australian Beer Awards and silver medal at the 2011 U.S. Open Beer Championship.  This is the first farmhouse ale I’ve had, so I really don’t have anything to compare it to. Saison is bottle conditioned and unfiltered, which allows it to continue fermenting in the bottle and adds to it’s flavor. When poured, the beer is a golden amber and produces a moderate head, which dissipates quickly. Saison smells light and floral, with a crisp, lightly hoppy taste that provides an earthy aftertaste. Overall, it’s a pretty good beer and would make a great session beer. As I said before, this was my first farmhouse ale, so I would like to compare it to another, but aside from that, it is something I would recommend.

Next up is St. Feuillien’s Tripel. The beer pours a light gold, with a substantial head and smells floral, with a hint of yeast. The taste is very crisp, much like St. Feuillien’s Saison, but much more complex, with notes of nutmeg and banana. One thing that surprised me is the Tripel doesn’t overwhelm me with flavors the way other tripels have; it maintains all the complexity of flavor tripels are known for, without literally punching me in the face. Like St. Feuillien’s Saison, the Tripel is bottle conditioned, leaving all the flavor and “good stuff” inside. Out of the various tripels I’ve had, this might be my new favorite.

Samichlaus has been one of our bestsellers since opening the beer wall a month ago, so I decided it was about time I tried a bottle. From Austrian brewery Schloss Eggenberg, Samichlaus (“Santa Claus” in Swiss-German) is brewed once a year on December 6 (St. Nicholas’ Day) and then matured for over 10 months before being bottled, making it one of the rarest beers in the world. While technically classified as a lager, Samichlaus is better described as a barleywine, seeing as how it comes in at 14% ABV, making it the second-strongest beer in my store (Bommen & Granaten comes in at 15.2%). Samichlaus pours a translucent amber-orange, with no head and very little lacing. Once settled, it resembles a fine whiskey in color. There was a decent bit of carbonation in the brew, as the pour sounded similar to soda when poured, and there are still carbonation bubbles rising intermittently from the bottom of my glass, even halfway through drinking the beer! The smell is rather light, sweet, malted grain, with a hint of alcohol – not nearly as boozy I was expecting for a beer that is 14% ABV. The taste is also sweet, but not as thick as other high alcohol beers I’ve tried, and again, not nearly as boozy as I was expecting. The alcohol is there, but it is masked by flavors of vanilla, toffee and caramel. I can see why this is such a popular beer at work. It’s certainly not a session beer, and maybe not even an everyday beer (for me), but sitting around a campfire with friends, when the weather is a bit chillier, Samichlaus would make a great beer to have and to share.

Next up in my reviews is Mikkeller’s I Beat yoU Imperial India Pale Ale. I’ve previously reviewed Mikkeller’s Green Gold IPA and was very impressed; after having only two bottles, Green Gold is in my top 10 beers – I would even go so far to say it is currently my favorite IPA. However, after reading Mikkeller’s official description for I Beat yoU, I was actually a wee bit intimidated. From the Mikkeller website:

I Beat yoU is a really hoppy IPA. It is brewed at BrewDog and the instruction for the Scotsmen was clear: we need shitloads of hops in this one! So be it. This is a hop bomb. Lots of bitter and aroma hops and alcohol and just a little bit of sweetness – just enough to provide response to the hops.

That being said, I Beat yoU has six different hops in it’s recipe: Herkules, Centennial, Warrior, Amarillo, Simcoe and Columbus. I guess that’s why it’s described as a “hop bomb”. It is, after all, a Imperial IPA. Anyways, onto the beer! I Beat yoU pour a deep golden color which is reminiscent of a good draft apple cider. The smell is very complex, yet not overwhelming. There are notes of citrusy fruits, floral bouquets, pine and alcohol. The taste is just as complex. The beer is is thick, almost like a watered down syrup (think Southern Comfort). The hops dominate the taste up front, with flavors of orange, grapefruit and mango. The malt comes in next, adding a sweetness that helps offset the intensity of the hops, which return in the finish with a clean, crisp bitterness. Overall, this is a very big beer, but as intense as the flavors are, they reel themselves in just short of overwhelming, allowing this to be a very enjoyable beer. While this is not a session beer, this is something I will be buying more of in the future.

It’s been a week since my last review, but in that time I’ve tried three more beers from work: ’t Hofbrouwerijke Hofblues, Dieu du Ciel Route des Épices, and Struise-Stillwater Outblack. I’m not going to spend much time on the first two, but here’s a quick overview.

Hofblues is a Belgian Sweet Stout. As with most stouts, it is nearly black in color and smells of roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. There wasn’t much “sweet” in this beer, or at least not what I was expecting, since it is classified as a “sweet stout”. Other than that, it is decent beer; very much a typical stout. It’s not bad, just not very exciting or impressive. I wouldn’t refuse Hofblues if offered at someone’s house, but considering two bottles of this cost as much as a six-pack of Guinness, I probably won’t be buying it again.

Route des Épices, from Brasserie Dieu du Ciel in Montreal, Canada, is a rye beer brewed with both black & green peppercorns. It pours reddish-copper and smells very crisp and clean, thanks to the rye, with a slight sweetness. The taste is very crisp (again, thanks to the rye) and smooth, with hints of butterscotch and a slight spiciness from the peppercorns. This is something I will probably buy again – it is a very easy-drinking brew, and while the peppercorn element might scare some away, they don’t dominate the flavor.

Last, but not least, Struise-Stillwater Outblack.  This is a collaboration between Belgian brewery Struise and American brewery Stillwater. While this is labeled a Belgian Dark Ale, RateBeer.com breaks things down even further, stating that Outblack is a marriage of a Belgian Strong Ale and a Black IPA. It pours a very dark brown, almost black, and smells very sweet, reminiscent of apple and pear, with a hint of hops. While smooth, the taste is BIG – sweet, malty, chocolatey, with the hops kicking in during the finish. Uncharacteristic of dark beers, Outblack is rather dry. There is no oily or thick mouthfeel, as found in most dark beers. This might be attractive to those who don’t normally like dark beer.

So there you have it – three more beers down.

CANNED BEER?!?!?!?!
FROM A MICROBREWERY?!?!?!
SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!!

When most people think of beer in a can, they think of cheap, American, Big Beer. Brands like Bud Light, Natural Light, Miller Light, Budweiser, and so on. But the fact is, cans have been scientifically proven to be better for beer than glass bottles. No light can get in (unless you’re Guinness and package your beer in a solid black bottle), and cans are better at being airtight than even the best bottle top. However, the reality is, bottles look more stylish. So when a microbrewery decided to can a beer, it made a bit of news in the craft beer industry. I remember reading blogs which panned the product before it even hit shelves – simply because it is canned. Of course, when that beer went on to win several awards and score a 98/100 on RateBeer.com, the critics started coming around. Thanks to our little beer project at work, I finally have a chance to sample that beer: Buried Hatchet Stout, from the Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, Texas. Leave it to the Texans to shake things up.

When poured, the beer is a very dark brown, almost black, with a decent head. The aroma smells very much like a good Cafe Americano – nutty, with lots of coffee. The taste is very smooth, nutty and slightly oily, with hints of vanilla bean and bittersweet chocolate. The coffee taste seems almost as if it will overpower the tastebuds, but then reels itself back in at the last second. As it sits in the glass, the nuttiness is replaced by oatmeal. The finish is roasted, malty and earthy. Buried Hatchet is everything a stout should be, and if you love stouts and porters, you need to try this, even if it’s in a can.