Furthermore Proper

Happy Holidays folks!  I just finished wrapping gifts, and I must say, the duct tape I used was extremely effective.  It ain't pretty, but the gifts are 100% covered with wrapping paper, so...Mission accomplished!  Here's an example of one of my wrapping jobs;

Ran out of one type of paper, so used a new roll - an exercise in duality!

Tonight I'm going to be drinking Furthermore Proper, brewed by Furthermore Beer in Spring Green, WI.  This is a "proper" English Ale, intended to be light-bodied, sweet, and easy-drinking.  At 4.5%, it's certainly a session beer.

The beer is a pale, orange-copper color with great clarity.  The foam is massive, even after a soft pour....with a beige'ish color, retention is really good.  The head literally never goes away!  The aroma consists of a lightly buttered biscuit, nutty, fresh baked bread essence, with a hint of fruity esters in the background.  A touch of citrus also in the background.

The flavor starts off with a layer of crisp toasted, bready malt.  Caramel notes, some nutty character.  Orange rinds, and an earthy herbal characteristic come next.  The finish leaves a hint of hop bitterness in the way of the citrus and a touch of tea leaves.

Overall Rating:  The flavor doesn't quite live up to the aroma.....the beer is sort of drab and boring, and there is definitely some adjunct-like flavor that comes through and brings the perception of quality down.  Not a beer I will drink again.  C

Brooklyn Brewery - Pennant Ale '55

I'd like to comment first on the phenomenal football games we've seen this past weekend.  Steve and I both went to Iowa State, and for us, the ISU vs. Iowa game is always the biggest rivalry of the year.  On Saturday these two teams fought an absolute war, and ISU came out on top after THREE overtimes!  It was epic.  Iowa Hawks suck.  I'm also a die-hard Northwestern fan, my cousin is a senior starting at Tight End (they call him a super back - watch for him, #9).  They beat Boston College in Week 1, and just whooped some ass against Eastern Illinois last weekend.  So overall, my teams are doing pretty well.  Let's keep this momentum going!

Tonight I'm going to drink a bottle of Pennant Ale '55 from Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, NY.  Back in July, Steve raved about their Local 2 Belgian Dark Strong, and in April he enjoyed the Local 1.  Since we're approaching the end of the summer, I figured it's a good time to try this summer baseball themed brew.  This is a year-round English-style pale Ale from Brooklyn, and it commemorates the 1955 World Champion Dodgers baseball team.  It's a session, at 5% alcohol, and recommended to be paired with 'Robust Fish" and crabcakes.  What the hell is a robust fish?

This bottle is sporting a baseball-themed label, and states that this beer is best by Sept. 2011.  The beer is ever-so-slightly hazy, pure copper color with a creamy off-white layer of head the has no interest in receding.  The aroma is malty, buttery, with a decent amount of sweet fruity esters in there - mainly fresh plums.  Just a brilliant aroma, I keep coming back for more.  The flavor begins some mild fruits - apricots, apples, plums?  Some combination of those fruits comes to mind.  Then we move to more of a buttery toasted malt back that balances things nicely.  Buttery is a theme that I keep coming back to, both in the nose and the flavor.  The finish is clean and crisp, super refreshing.

Overall Rating:  My only regret is not trying this beer earlier in the summer.....if I had, this would have been a staple in my fridge!  Smooth, wonderful flavors, super refreshing - great beer.  Definitely recommend you pick this up while there's still some summer (and baseball) left.  A-

Summit - Extra Pale Ale

After a two day hiatus from Summit Brewing Week we are back to wrap things up with Summit's most well known beer, their Extra Pale Ale.  This beauty won 1st place at the World Beer Cup in 2010 for best English Pale Ale.  That's quite an amazing achievement for a Minnesotan brewery to take home gold in an English style brew.  Especially when you are going up against the best breweries in the world!  Summits's EPA also took home silver at the Great American Beer Festival in 2010 as well.  Last year was a pretty good year for this brew!

Dunz reviewed this EPA back in April and found it to be a delicious brew for this scorching weather we have been having recently.  I'm certainly happy I have a few of these from the Autumn sampler pack at my disposal today.  Dunz and I brewed our first beer of 2011 this afternoon and holy crap was it hot out.  A nice, crisp pale ale was definitely in order after we finished up.

Summit's English iteration of the pale ale style has a gorgeous presentation.  Crystal clear, amber orange with a soft white foam.  The aromas here are very floral with a sturdy malt backbone.  Some herbal citrus fruit tags along with a bready malt base.  The taste is a smooth light caramelized malt with balanced by a snappy hop bitterness.  That citrus flows through to the taste but stays mellow enough to retain an English-style profile.  A moderate level of carbonation helps to solidify the crisp and clean mouthfeel.

Overall - You cant go wrong with Summit's EPA.  Its a clean, flavorful and refreshing easy drinker that is included in every sampler pack Summit produces.  You can find this on tap at just about every bar within the Minneapolis - St. Paul area.  This is what I buy at the bar when my only other choices are that light stuff people claim to call beer.


That wraps it up for Summit Brewing Week.  I'm definitely looking forward to the release of Summit's 25th Anniversary IPA next week.  Keep your eyes peeled for our imminent review of what is surely to be a delicious treat!

Hook Norton - Hooky Gold

Tonights review is of another beer brewed by our beer loving bloaks over in England.  I decided I wanted to grab a few more English style beers to see if I could get a better taste for the nuances with the way the produce beer.  I felt my last review of Wychwood's Wychcraft accentuated the fact that I have a severe lack of diversification within my beer fridge.  So heres my attempt to branch out.

Hook Norton Brewery is located in Hook Norton, England.  It was started in 1849 which was apparently a busy year for England: The young Queen Victoria ruled - the 35th monarch since William the Conqueror - the country had endured Magna Carta, the Wars of the Roses, The Reformation, Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians, the Restoration of the Monarchy and was well into the Industrial Revolution.  There are your fun 1849 English facts for the day.  It also just so happened to be the year John Harris opened the doors to Hook Norton Brewery.  Today, over 150 years later, it is still only one of 32 independent family owned breweries in England.  While their website isnt all that helpful to gather more information on Hooky Gold, I think I was able to get a pretty good idea of what this beer is like on my own.

The appearance of this brew is slightly cloudy and straw colored.  The aroma is full of sweet malt and fruit.  Some subtle citrus and biscuit follows through as it warms.  A very bready and fruity flavor comes though in my first taste.  Nothing is overpowering here which is what I experience with Wychcraft.  All flavors come together nicely and play off of each other without any single flavor dominating the overall beer.  The finish is slightly bitter yet smooth.  A hint of buttery flavor is apparent as this beer warms.

Overall 4.8/6.0 - This was a very pleasant brew.  Lots of flavor and easy to drink.  It would be very refreshing on a hot summer day.  I liked this much better than Wychcraft because of its full flavor profile and crisp finish.  Id recommend this one if you are looking for a break from the bold brews typical of American breweries.


Side note... I just looked up bloak in Google to make sure I spelled it correctly and the first link is the urban dictionary definition.  Good lord thats horrible.  Look it up if you want... you wont be able to think about anything else for a long time.

Wychwood - Wychcraft

Alright, so last night I dropped the ball on posting a review.  Its sad actually since we have over 10 already written at this point and all I had to do was remember to post.  A poker party until midnight and a few beers caused me to completely forget my posting responsibilities.  So to that I say, my bad.  Hopefully everybody who reads this was out getting a few beers in them anyway.

Today's beer comes to us courtesy of those funny sounding English people from "across the pond".  Wychwood Brewery, located in Oxfordshire, England, was established in 1983.  At the time it was known as Clinch's Brewery until 1990 when it was officially renamed to Wychwood after the ancient medieval Wychwood forests that border the town of Witney, the specific town where the brewery is located.  I must say, their website, linked above, is one of the best brewery websites that I have ever visited.  Its amazingly complex and well thought out. The art is dark and curious.  It almost reminds me of the book Where the Wild Things Are with its color palette and art style.  I love it.

The beer I will be enjoying from this artistically intriguing brewery is their Wychcraft Golden Pale ale.  The label depicts four sinister looking demon/angel creatures amongst a backdrop of what looks to be hops and other foliage.  The label boasts "The four elements combined to make a truly magical brew".  Sounds like Steve Jobs is one of their marketing people... A second, more realistic slogan is displayed across a banner "Thrice Hopped & Golden".  Now that I can get behind.  The head brewer, Jeremy Moss provides us with some tasting notes on the back label - "A pale golden potion with delicate red hues.  Wychcraft has a heady burst of fresh citrus aroma derived from three infusions of Styrian golding hops.  A sprig of gentle warming malty flavor finishes with a dry biscuit note and a counterpoise of bitterness".

The initial color of this brew out of the bottle is almost cloudy.  I'm wondering if this is a bit of chill haze since it quickly becomes clearer as it warms.  The head is minimal and off white.  Aromas off of this pale ale are fruity and citrusy in nature with some malty sweetness included to back everything up.  Traditionally English beers are less hop aggressive when compared to their American counterparts so I anticipate this to be a more balanced example of a pale ale.  The malt sweetness accentuates this difference immediately.  The flavor is a bit underwhelming.  The subtle fruitiness is there along with a bit of citrus in the finish.  The malt sweetness that was in the nose is hardly present in the flavor.  What I get in the flavor tastes like a watered down version of what I smell.  The 4.5% ABV is nowhere to be found and the slight bitterness extracted from the hops helps finish this brew off dry.

Overall 3.8/6.0 - While I need to recognize that English beers are generally less bold than American ones I found Wychcraft to lack in overall flavor and character.  I wanted more malty sweetness from this brew and never got it.  The citrus and fruity flavors apparent in the nose carried through nicely to the flavor.  But the overall beer itself could use a somewhat larger malt backbone to carry those flavors through to the end.  Maybe thats just my American beer bias talking.  See if you can find a bottle and give it a taste yourself.  Its an easy drinker, one that would go good with a light chicken meal or mildly spicy appetizer.