Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Are you ready to rumble? This ale sure is! Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.'s "Hoptimum" is a monster beer made with only whole cone hops-- some of which are experimental, and as yet, unnamed.

 Definitely a Heavyweight contender with a 10.4% ABV 

Ready to smack you in the mouth with an uppercut of 100 IBUs

It is released in limited quantities and is just hitting the market.

Review:
Are you a Hophead? If you said no, or you don't know what that is, than this is not the beer for you. Just move on. Seriously. Go find something else to do.

For the rest of you, well, you will probably like this beer. The aroma is of grapefruit/citrus peels with a slight earthy nose. The earthiness probably is a result of the chinook hops used in the Torpedo and the citrus is certainly from the Citra and Simcoe, but there is another wild card hop in there for dry hopping. The golden orange color has a slight rustiness, but remains  crystal clear and truly beautiful. The head is minimal (not uncommon for a beer of this strength) but long lasting and leaves a nice lace. Taste wise, it is certainly dominated by the hop character. It is citrusy at all levels but I can still taste the Chinook (think SN celebration) which I really enjoy. There is certainly a warming feel as you sip the beer, but for something of this strength, it is very smooth... (and dare I use the "b" word? aaaahh!)...balanced. No, not balanced to where the malt flavors equal the hop flavors-- just balanced enough to say "That's a nice beer!" instead of, "that's a pretty astringent hop tea!"


(Side Note: For the home brewers out there-- check out the malt bill. That is how it is done! American 2-row Pale malts for the base alcohol, Scottish Golden Promise for alcohol and a slight sweetness, Munich for the malty character--balancing the citrus hops-- and wheat to add a touch of mouthfeel/smoothness and adding to the head retention and lacing.)

Overall Impression:
If you read this far, you are a hophead...
You will like this beer.

Grade: A

(bottle purchased at Whole Foods.)

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Mahalo to my Ohana for the new gear!

 Love you guys!

New addition to rating system!

Aloha readers!
In an effort to bring extra excitement and entertainment value to the millions of followers of this blog, the grades received by each beer, location, or event will include a pictographic representation of my feelings. 

This will be my little helper. Different versions of him will represent my feelings on the beer. The image will be alongside the letter grade that the beer receives.

Aloha nui!

Malama ka pi'a!

MacTarnahan's Hum Bug'r Ale

MacTarnahan's HumBug'r Ale is a beer with a "dark malt body and rich roasted flavor [that] will unravel your ribbons and leave you wanting more."

 A light 5.3% ABV and 27 IBU's

Review:
This is MacTarnahan's winter offering and, well, as their website says, this beer dark and malty with a rich roasted flavor. Right from the beginning you get hit with the roasty aroma that dominates all other notes. However, due to the slightly low carbonation level this aroma is not in any way overpowering. The slight malty sweet smell somehow sneaks by and makes itself apparent. The mouthfeel is creamy and roasty. If the beer is swished in the mouth, it leaves a long lasting creamy/chalky coating. There is a slightly tart note, not unlike the Anchor's Porter. Also, there seems to be some sort of cardamom flavor... no other spicy notes are present.

(Side note: Mac's website says that there are oats in the beer. That must be what gave the beer the nice creamy mouthfeel.)

Overall Impression: Well, this beer is good, but not exciting. Roasty, creamy, and a little bit like soda. I don't know. Just not really awesome. Not enough going on for a winter beer, in my opinion.

Grade: C

(This beer purchased at Tamura's.)

Maui Brewing Co. - Bikini Blonde Lager

Maui Brewing Co.'s Bikini Blonde Lager might actually be "what the Sailors really come to shore for..."

 4.5% ABV  and a very light 18 IBU's

Review:
This beautiful golden potion is powerfully aromatic, with the delightful smells of Pilsner and Pale Malt leading the charge through the straits of your nostrils, and into your beer-centered mind. The taste starts sweet, then has a touch of earth, then the hops come out and play. Finally you are left with a delightful sweet/hoppy/husky flavor that reminds you of every ingredient that went into this beer. I have to say that if you have never chewed fresh pale malts, just take a sip of this and you will know what "fresh" really tastes like. The healthy hop level seems a bit higher than the 18 IBUs claimed, but it does not overwhelm-- it just makes this beer lively. It has a clean taste that incorporates the lingering spicy hop on the edge of your tongue and a chalky fullness that sits in the middle. This may be the most complex lager of normal strength made domestically.

(Side Note: This beer is classified as a Munich Helles Lager. This style was invented as the German brewers' slightly more malty answer to the Czech Pilsner. Also, "Helles" means bright.)

Overall Impression: This beer is quickly becoming my favorite lager. You can pick it up at Tamuras for the best price I've seen anywhere.
If you are in the islands and you want a nice beer to take to the beach, this is your beer. Just remember to bring plastic cups to keep the 5-0 away. --And don't give me crap about plastic cups --this beer comes in a can. To me it is always acceptable to drink canned beer from a plastic cup.

Grade: A-

(Can purchased at Tamura's)

Asahi "Kuronama" Black

Asahi Breweries' "Kuronama Black," or just "Black" is a beer shrouded in mystique and mystery. According to the bottle it is "Asahi's original brew, rich and smooth taste."

 5.0% ABV

Review:
This is a very sought after beer in the American beer market. Beer nerds go from store to store looking for it and when it is located, they generally don't balk at the high price it demands. It consistently scores well on sites like Beer Advocate and Rate Beer and even Michael Jackson spoke fondly of it. BUT... what is it? This may seem like a silly question, but the label on the bottle says that it is "Kuronama Ale," and "IMPORTED, 11.2 FL. OZ. ALE" Most beer related sites label it as a European Dark Lager, or just a Lager. This is not simply a question of semantics, however. Ales and lagers have pretty different characteristics and are brewed very differently. (There are some German style beers brewed with ale yeast but bottled with lager yeast, but this beer did not have the sediment that I would have expected from this type of conditioning.) Is it possible that since 1995 the Japanese brewery has been putting out labels with a typo right in the middle of the design? I'd say it's possible, but unlikely.
My tasting finds that it has a yeasty nose and a slight yeasty/bready flavor characteristic closer to an ale. The roasty notes are similar to black patent or a de-bittered black roast. (common to European Dark Lagers). The color is black with beautiful highlights-- but  that tells nothing about the brewing process. I found the mouthfeel to be closer to a soda (lager characteristic).  When served cold, the flavor was roasty and a bit nutty. As the beer warmed, it transformed into something like a chocolaty, fruity, Dr. Pepper (the fruitiness could be a ale yeast characteristic or some darkly roasted crystal/caramel malts).

Overall Impression: I still can't tell you for sure how, exactly, this beer should be labeled... As a whole, I would say it is much closer to a Schwarzbier, but still, something in the back of my mind says, "no." Hmmm... could this beer be a darker Japanese version of a Steam Beer (California Common)? In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter how it is categorized. The question is, "Is it good?" The answer is Yes!

(Side note: If you don't want to spend 15 bucks on a six pack, see if you can find it in a store that will sell you singles. This is a very session-able beer, and I would feel silly spending that much money on something that didn't even last a night.)

Grade: B+

This beer was purchased at Whole Foods

Rogue Brewing Co. - John John Ale

Rogue Brewing Co.'s "John John Juniper Ale" is a Pale Ale that was brewed with juniper berries and then aged in gin-soaked spruce barrels.

13 degrees Plato = Approx 5% ABV  and 34 IBU's

Review:
Poured into a pint glass the color looks like a golden orange juice. The small amount of head does its cameo and departs quickly. The aroma is definitely dominated by the aroma of Juniper but there is also an interesting 'sour' / 'wet oak' note in there. The flavor is certainly sour with a ciric acid taste similar to to unsweetened Emergen-C or kumquats without the sweet peel. As I sip the beer and the pint warms, the resinous flavor of the spruce barrels gets stronger and stronger. By the end of the glass I was sure that I had been drinking Retsina wine.

(Side Note: If you are a fan of wood aged beers, you should try this. Not only is it the only beer I've seen that was aged in spruce, but if you Google spruce barrels you'll come up with nothing. These barrels must have been made specially for, or by, Rogue.
If you are also a fan of sour beers, you HAVE TO TRY THIS! )

Overall Impression: As I smelled and tasted my first sips of this beer I was delighted. This was a totally new and complex beer I was imbibing. After 3 sips I was going to give it an A. Unfortunately, with a bit of warmth this beer became one dimensional and lost the characteristics that I initially loved. I think that this beer should be in 12 oz bottles or shared between 4 friends in small glasses.

Grade: B.   (B+ if you love sours or Retsina wine)

This beer was purchased at Tamura's

Big Aloha Brewery, at Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, & Crab

Alright, for those of you in the know, this isn't a newsflash: there are only two places on Oahu that actually brew on premise. Currently, there is only Big Aloha Brewing, and Gordon Biersch. Is it just me, or is that just plain sad?

There are many reasons to visit your local brewery. Sustainability: there is little or no packaging wasted on your beer and it wasn't shipped from a place thousands of miles away on massively polluting, gas guzzling boats. Also, if the beer is on cask-- a relatively unknown concept on the island-- there is a lower carbon footprint.  Taste: the beer is optimally fresh and your hops are hoppy, your grains are grainy-- again because there is no long sea voyage under unknown storage conditions. Economy: you are helping employ residents of our state in areas from shipping, to construction, to hospitality, to tourism (beer tourism is BIG), to the actual brewing.

But what about the Big Aloha's Beer?

Well, it seems that they have about five house brews on tap at any given time. Now and then the brewer, David Campbell may sneak in a seasonal beer of his design. At the time that I visited, there were only the five normal beers on tap. The James Cook IPA, which is an English style IPA, (Cook was an Englishman) was nicely balanced and just hoppy enough to keep me entertained. The Ehu Ale was a real surprise for me. Malty and complex, this is a beer that I wouldn't have chosen based upon the description, but it exceeded all expectations. I would go so far as to say that this may be the best beer in the house!


(Side note: Their Friday Luau plate is GREAT!)

Highlights: Ehu Ale, James Cook IPA

Missing: American IPA, or for this holiday season, a winter warmer.

Selection: 7/10 (Only judging how many styles they cover. I think they need 1-2 more on tap.)
Location: 7/10 (free valet, but you should tip)
Price: 7.5/10
Friendliness: 8/10
Beer Knowledge: 10/10 (based on the quality of the beer, Campbell is no dummy)
Over all grade: B