This is about sharing my adventures within the vast world of microbrews

Okay, while I think it’s cool for lots of breweries to release pumpkin beers for the fall, it’s no longer something that I’m super psyched about. Don’t get me wrong, beers such as Dogfishhead’s Punkin, Heavy Seas the Greater Pumpking, and let’s not forget, Southern Tier’s Pumpking are all ridiculously tasty beers that are perfect for the next few months, but fall means a whole lot more than just pumpkin beers. The other thing it means signifies a country-wide drinking binge as all beer geeks try to drink as much as possible while the beer is still fresh. The beers I’m speaking of are none other than the Fresh Hop Ales.

Fresh Hop Ales are beers that use “wet” hops, meaning that the hops have not been dried, turned into pellets, or preserved in any other manner. The fresher the hops, the more floral/citrus/fruit notes are emphasized without having to bring along the bitterness that usually accompanies beer with large quantities of hops. As a result, many breweries claim that the hops take a few days/a single day from being harvested to being used in the brewing process. However, as to my knowledge, no fresh hop beer matches the freshness used in Deschutes Hop Trip, a beer that uses hops so fresh that it has only been 6 hours from the time that they were harvested. The end product might possibly be my favorite IPA, and if not it surely is the beer I eagerly await.

Which brings me to my next topic, Hop Trip now has a brother…..behold!

Not to be outdone, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are releasing their own fresh hop ales:

Get excited people.

Last night a bunch of friends and myself went to the Deschutes brewpub to throw a party for a friend that is moving to eastern Oregon today. While we were there I noticed that there were multiple bottles of “reserve” beers for sale at the front counter. The Reserve beers from Deschutes are their extra special beers, such as Black Buttte XXIII, the Abyss, and the Stoic. Normally, only one reserve beer is available to purchase if available at all. However, this time I saw BB XIII, the Stoic, and Jubel 2010 at the same time. I basically creamed myself on the spot. If you’re wondering what Jubel 2010 is, I’ll get around to it in a little bit.

Last night was one of my favorite pub nights since Deschutes released 3 year vertical of Abyss sampler racks for New Years, and the following two beers are why.

Beer: Jubel 2010

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery

Style: American Strong Ale (more like barleywine)

ABV: 10%

Location: Bend, OR

Appearance: Dark brown, with bits of red and gold highlights. Very little head to speak of, and left virtually no lacing along the sides of the glass.

Aroma: Oak, caramel, molasses, a touch of earthiness, and what might be hops.

Taste: This beer is serious. In no particular order I get caramel/molasses sweetness, barleywine-like hop profile, some dark fruits, a little bit of chocolate, and some nice oakiness

Mouthfeel: Heavy with low carbonation, but that’s a bit of a given with how this beer came about.

Drinkability: It was amazing, but I wish it was a little bit colder outside so I could really enjoy the warming feeling it gave

A delicious beer from Deschutes once again! I ended up buying 3 bottles to take home after I was all done drinking. Okay, so the story about how Jubel 2010 came about. A long time ago a guy broke into the brewpub in Bend, OR and tried to steal a keg in the dead of winter. He then realized that kegs are really god damn heavy and that it’s tough to maneuver them around outside when it’s icy out. So, tired, cold, and defeated, he left this keg outside. The next day a Deschutes employee found the keg and was slightly confused at why it was outside all night in subzero temperatures. Turns out that the keg was filled with Jubelale, a seasonal winter warmer, but half of the water in the keg had frozen. Curious, a few people tried it and came to realize that a random guy trying to steal their shit actually left behind a world class beer that would have never been discovered otherwise. Thus, Super Jubel was born. Jubel 2010 is a remake of this original “accident” but then stuck into pinot noir barrels to age for a while.

I was unable to get my hands on a bottle of it when it was released last year, but the brewery decided to release a few more bottles of it recently and I just lucked out. Amazing!

Beer Advocate grade: A-

My grade: A

I don’t really feel like doing a full writeup of this beer, but it’s name is Solace Rose and it is amazing. Here is a description of it:

Solace Rose – IBUs: 25          ABV:10.5%

This Flanders style sour brown has time on its side. Aged for 26 months, this blend of 4 Dissident Casks each with a different micro-organisim and a small amount of soured black weiss reveals the virtue of patience.

The Dissident is a heavyweight in the world of sour beers, and requires dark voodoo magic for people outside of Deschutes distribution range to get their hands on any. So the fact that this is available on tap and has even more funkiness than the base beer is a little on the insane side. In a good way.

My grade: A

So a while ago I reviewed Conflux No. 2, which was the Deschutes version of a collaboration beer with Boulevard Brewing. Today is the day where I finally open my bottle of Collaboration No. 2, Boulevards take on the hop/wheat marriage that the two breweries brought together.

Beer: Collaboration No. 2

Brewery: Boulevard Brewing/Deschutes Brewery

Style: Belgian IPA

ABV: 7.5%

Location: Kansas City, MI and Bend, OR

Appearance: Very pale, even more pale than a tripel like La Fin du Monde. Pours 3 fingers of head that becomes very porous after a few minutes. Bubbles continually stream from the bottom of the glass. This is going to be quite the carbonated beer…good thing I don’t have to chug it!

Aroma: Cloves, foral hop notes, belgian yeast, and bananas

Taste: I get yeastiness and cloves at first, which then yields to some citrus hop flavors, hop bitterness, and some spices. Quite delicious.

Mouthfeel: This beer drinks like a really, really carbonated saison. I can’t remember the last time I had a beer that was this carbonated. It gives the beer quite a bit initially.

Drinkability: Quite nice, I would love to have this side by side with Conflux No. 2, but that means I would have to go out and get more of each kind. Oh well, some things are meant to be hoarded I guess.

A great beer from Boulevard, and one of my first brews from them. Not quite as good as Conflux No.2 in my opinion, and it costs almost twice as much as well. Nevertheless, it’s a delicious brew well worth the cost and I am eager to try the rest of Boulevard’s lineup.

Beer Advocate grade: A-

My grade: A-

Dear god I want this beer. I have no idea what kind of beer it is or when it’s coming out. All I know is that it should be good and that it would make an awesome addition to my beer label collection.