Well it’s Tuesday after the holiday weekend and I have started my first day of my last year in college. While perusing my favorite social news website Digg during a boring class, I came across a story where Mt. Shasta Brewing Company in Weed, CA (yes it’s a real town, named after a logger baron and once CA senator) had the phrase “Legal Weed” on their bottle caps of Weed Ale. Federal authorities didn’t like this too much so they demanded that they take the phrase off the caps. After many months of fighting them and having the Mayor of Weed, the city attorney, and the county supervisor back them up, they won the case as the Feds backed off quietly.

“They acted like Big Brother. They said I was guilty of a thought crime,” Dillmann said of his six-month battle with the authorities. “But it’s over. Weed fought the law, and Weed won!”

Here is the link to the original story from LAtimes.com

Well hello there! Sorry about the lack of a review last week, I was in Capitola with my family and I was traveling by bike and train, so my laptop didn’t make it with me. While I was there I grabbed a local Santa Cruz IPA, but had the craziest thing happen with it. The beer was probably carbonated at least 3x more than a bottle of champagne, seriously. When I poured it, it went straight to foam, and even after letting it settle it burnt my tongue because of all the carbonation. But this week I bring you a beer that it carbonated correctly: Bison IPA from Bison Brewing located in Berkeley, CA. Of course with anything that comes out of Berkeley, it is certified organic. So on to the review!

The beer pours with little head, but what’s there is very creamy. As it goes down the glass a decent amount of lacing occurs. As most IPAs it pours a rich copper color that is mostly transparent. It smells more malty than hoppy, but the hops have a very distinguishable grapefruit flavor. The malt smells like toasted caramel. At first taste you have the bitter hops flavor for a split second then the sweet caramel malt overcomes the bitter flavors and finishes with a great bittersweet aftertaste. This is a great drinking IPA, but for purists this seems to be lacking some major hop flavor and aroma. The beer drinks like a high 5% to low 6% ABV beer, but is actually a 6.8% so it will creep up on you quickly. The other thing about this beer is that is makes me more thirsty after drinking it because of the caramel flavor, might be a good thing, or a bad thing. My overall rating is a solid B at 86%. 

Well that’s it for today kids, next week I will bring out the beer I had in Capitola to replace the over carbonated beer I had. Be safe this Labor Day weekend! Drinking and driving is bad!

TGIB! (Thank God It’s Beerday) So, today I bring you a beer off of the shelf of my local natural foods store called Jamaica Brand Sunset IPA from Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, CA which is in Humboldt County. The label was colorful which caught my eye in the store, also the fact that they call it a "West Indies Pale Ale" caught my attention too. So on to the beer!

This beer pours a cloudy, unfiltered, burnt orange color which has tiny particles of yeast suspended in it. Since I am a home brewer, having a company put out a beer that is unfiltered that normally isn’t is great so I don’t feel like I am doing anything wrong with my own brewing. At first smell there are citrus notes which lead to a washed out musty smell. There are also hints of pine throughout. When it first hits the tongue, the bitterness of the hops comes through in a powerful way but then is subdued by the sweet malt flavors. The hop flavor is not as strong as other IPAs, but the bitterness is there. The malt is a caramel flavor which just glances your tongue. The carbonation, I believe is perfect. The bubbles aren’t as apparent until you swallow it. As it goes down you are introduced to the alcohol flavor. Not strong, but apparent enough to let you know its got some kick to it (7.0% ABV). It’s a good all around IPA. The musty smell threw me off a bit, but it is a good smooth IPA. My grade is a B+ at 88%.

Thanks it for this week! Next week I will be in Capitola, CA right near Santa Cruz, CA so I will try to make it to a couple of breweries around there and put up my reviews. Till next time! Have a great weekend!

Well its that time of the week again…..Today I review Drake’s IPA from Drake’s Brewing Company from San Leandro, CA which is just south of Oakland, CA. When I saw this on the shelf at my local co-op the label caught my eye. They forgo traditional paper labels and went with a plastic jacket that surrounds the bottle from the top of the neck to the base. The plastic is clear but since it doesn’t sit flush with the bottle it gives it a silver shine to it. This beer was a gold medal winner in 2002 at the Great American Beer Festival for American Style IPA. Well enough about that…on to the beer.

This beer pours a dark burnt orange color and leaves a generous amount of head. The head is composed of big bubbles but still has a creamy texture that sticks to the side of the glass. It has a very earthy smell with a strong pine aroma that fades to a sweet grapefruit aroma. At first taste the mouth feel is wonderful with the perfect amount of carbonation. It’s a dark tasting IPA which is different but in a good way. This IPA is modeled after an English IPA which calls for more malt and hops than an American style IPA. But, they brewed it using mostly American hops which give a great blend of both styles. The sweet malt flavor helps mask the bitterness of the extra hops which leads to a nice finish of fruity flavors. Like most IPAs this is a strong one at 7% ABV. I’m in love with this beer even though their packaging is a little gaudy representing the fact they won a gold medal 6 years ago. All that aside….this is one tasty IPA which may have made it to my top 5. I give this beer an A at 94%.  

Well here is my second review for today. Now I have got myself a pale ale from Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Company. I was recommended this by a bartender in Boothbay Harbor. I love the name of this place and on the label they have "Blessed be the mother who gives birth to a brewer.." My mom thought that was a cool banner to have. (Of course, because she did give birth to brewer) From what I can tell this is a brew pub with three locations in Maine.

It pours a light golden color, which is clear and the head is nice and creamy which leaves little lace going down the glass.The smell is a bit musty with the usual pale malt aromas. At first I had to check to see if the beer was still good. The musty smell threw me off for a minute. After checking the freshness date, I knew it was still good. So at first taste you are hit with a bit of carbonation but then the light hop character makes a quick appearance then subsides to the  sweet pale malt. It’s a nice malt taste with butter notes which culminates in a fruit finish. After a couple of these you are left with a weird aftertaste, not bad, but weird.  This beer is a nice pale ale which weighs in at 4.5% ABV. I give it a B+ at 87%.