Terrapin Capt'n Krunkles Black IPA

For anyone particularly interested in the beer scene, black IPAs are kind of the "in" thing right now. As a style, it's not really recognized yet by the BJCP, but there's some talk of creating a classification called "Cascadian Dark Ale" for it. It's been debated as to whether there's enough difference to give it it's own style, or if it's more of a "hoppy stout" or a "dark IPA". Regardless, this type of beer is popping up more and more in the craft brewing scene. Capt'n Krunkles is one such beer, and it's in our glasses today.

The beer pours a dark black color, with just a hint of red in it. The head is a light tan, about 1/4 finger thick and fluffy. Some lacing is left, but the head had only a moderate retention.

The smell is strongly hoppy, with citrus overtones. There's a grapefruit smell to it, probably from some Cascade. Dan said he wasn't really getting that but more of a pine aroma, which I can see a little bit, but I'm really feeling more of the citrus. I'm also getting a little bit of roast in the smell, but it seems mostly hop dominated.

The taste initially is a smooth, roasted quality that gives way to a slightly grassy hop flavor and a strong bitterness in the back. There's also some spice in the back of the mouth. I feel like there may be a bit of coffee in the back, but it's covered over by the hop bitterness.

The beer actually feels a bit light in the mouth, not really watery, but it's a little on the airy side. It's got a sharp carbonation, medium-high to high. It's not overcarbonated though. There's kind of a oily coating in the mouth from it.

Overall this beer is a delicious hop-head focused offering. The dark beer flavors don't come through a ton, but the hop is very in your face. It really doesn't seem like 7.5% either, although I am feeling it a little bit. I'm definitely glad I tried it, and I wouldn't turn it down again.

- Adam

Dark Horse Brewing Tres

Well, I'd say this was a fairly successful trip to the beer store. We ended up getting a bunch of stuff that I'll have to keep myself from drinking for a very long time, and a few things for the near future. Among the more exciting finds were a bottle of Dogfish Raison D'Extra, Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, Fantome Saison, Old Numbskull, and Le Saint-Bock Enigma. We also had Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter on tap, which was absolutely fantastic. If I ever find a bottle of it I'm definitely getting it.

Up for tonight though, we have Dark Horse Brewing's Tres, a blueberry stout. This beer pours a thick, black color, and looks almost like motor oil coming out of the bottle. It has a 1 finger dark tan head, somewhat fluffy in appearance, that began dissipating quickly.

Immediately on opening the bottle, I noticed a scent of blueberry. This surprised me a bit since I really expected the blueberry to be completely buried in the stout. This aroma lingered underneath for a while, but gave way to some more traditional scents of roast and coffee.

The flavor has a significant roasted flavor, completely dominating the profile. A slight dull bitterness lingers in the mouth after swallowing for quite a while. I can taste the blueberry on the very tip of my tongue, but only just slightly. It does add something, but as I expected the flavor really just isn't strong enough to come through the bold stout flavors. Other than that, there's just a bit of dark, unsweetened chocolate that I noticed.

The mouthfeel of the beer is a little bit of a weak spot for it. The carbonation levels are fairly high and sharp, and actually gives it a light bodied feeling. It was a little bit off from what I expected given the dark and thick appearance of the beer. There's just a touch of warmth in the throat, probably more from the carbonation than the alcohol level since it's only 4.5% ABV.

Overall, it did taste excellent, with bold and robust flavors as well as a little subtlety from the blueberries. The carbonation was definitely a bit too high for my tastes, and maybe was a little distracting. It absolutely was worth having, and surprised me with how well the blueberries actually worked in such a dark beer.

- Adam

Wort Chiller!

I'm pretty excited right now. I just got my new wort chiller in from ebay. After my last brew session I decided it was an absolute necessity. I did my first full-boil in my new 7.5 gallon pot, and it took forever to cool the beer down. Over 2 hours of swapping out cold water in the sink, stirring constantly, and using every bit of ice we had in the house, and I was only able to get it down to around 80 degrees. Hopefully it turns out well, I'm using a Belgian yeast strain that works well at higher temperatures so I'm not too worried about it. In any case, the wort chiller should do some wonders for cooling the beer down quickly.

I also just finished up with reading Designing Great Beers. I have mixed feelings on this book, since there is a lot of good information in it, but it's usefulness seems very limited. Half the book is on the basic ingredients, how they are used, and a lot of formulas to allow the homebrewer to get an accurate measurement of what they're doing. The only problem with this part is that most if not all of the formulas are easily done for you by any sort of brewing software. The second section of the book is an in-depth look at particular styles. The information in this section goes through the various beers that made it to the final round of the National Homebrewer's Competition in 1993 and 1994, and tells you what malts and hops were found in the different styles, and in what percentages they were used and how they were added. The main complaint I had about this section was the range of styles they failed to cover. Considering the format, I would have expected them to cover all of the BJCP styles that are part of the competition. However, they completely ignored every Belgian style, smoked beers, and other various styles. For the styles they covered, the information is great, but you could get similar information yourself by browsing the recipe database over at homebrewtalk.

I just started reading Radical Brewing as well. So far so good, this book is written in an entertaining and informative fashion, and I'm hoping it will give me some inspiration for some crazy beers. It's been a few months since I've come up with any particularly interesting new recipes. Dan did just come up with a Honeydew Kolsch, which should be pretty delicious. Now I just need to remember to write something up the next time I drink something tasty.

- Adam