Steel Toe Brewing - Rainmaker

Tonight I'm drinking a bomber of Rainmaker from Steel Toe Brewing located in St. Louis Park, MN.  If you have been following us over the last month or two you have certainly noticed the high remarks I've had for these guys in our reviews.  Their Size 7 IPA is one of the best I've had.  Dissent is a fantastic dark ale that isn't quite a stout but slightly bigger than a porter.  I have yet to review Provider which is a lightly hopped, unfiltered light ale.  But I have tasted it and it's very good.  Rainmaker is the last of the four brews currently available from Steel Toe that I have yet to sink my beer-craving palate into.

Rainmaker is a double red ale brewed with caramel and dark roasted malts with a big pile of hops added in for good measure.  I wonder what category this brew falls under in our poll?  At 6.5% ABV, I'd say its right between 'maintaining my ability to walk' and 'enjoying a good imperial brew'.  I won't know until I try it!

As I fill my pint I find that the color isn't quite what I had expected.  More brown than red, but still clear and topped off with a voluptuous amount of tan foam.  The citrusy aroma reminds me of a subdued version of Size 7.  This isn't necessarily bad.  It leaves room for some toasted bread and caramel aromas to accompany the grapefruity hop aroma that initially leads things off.  The flavors are very similar to the aromas.  Citrusy hops are at the forefront once again with sweet malt and a hint of mild roast providing a solid amount of balance.  The body is just a bit thin for my liking, but I wouldn't consider it a flaw, just a preference.  Although, as it warms, the sweetness comes through a bit more and mimics some of that extra body I was looking for.  The finish is nice and smooth with some hop bitterness and just a hint of alcohol helping to dry it all out.

Overall - I'd put Rainmaker on the same level as Dissent - a well brewed beer with a lot of good things going for it.  Size 7 is still my favorite of the four available brews from Steel Toe.  It was just so good!  But Rainmaker is definitely a beer I'll go back to when I'm looking for a darker, fully hopped red ale.  I wish all four beers were on tap in my house.  That would make me a happy boy.

Grand Teton Brewing - Pursuit of Hoppiness

Grand Teton Brewing has this awesome brew that I tried for the first time about 1 year ago - I haven't seen it on the shelves for a long time, but found this 750ml bottle last week and jumped on it immediately.  There is a cool little historical expose on this brew on Grand Teton's website that gives some background and statistics.  This is part of their Cellar Reserve beers, so it is bottle-conditioned and can be aged, although Grand Teton recommends it be drank while fresh to maintain it's hop bitterness. 

The bottle shows the brew was bottled on 11/11/10.  The beer pours a nice creamy dark red/orange with half an inch of light head.  The aroma is awesome - caramel malts are present, along with pine and some earthy citrus hop fumes.  Also some floral notes present in there. 

The beer tastes a little different than I remember.  Very bitter hop profile that bring the aromas to the taste buds, pine and some grapefruit seem prevalent.  There is also some sweet maltiness that comes through in the middle, followed quickly by some alcohol solvency.  It finishes fairly clean, but the alcohol is too big of a player.  Each drink I take, the alcohol shows up and takes over more than I would prefer.  The body is thick and kind of chewy, warming, and well carbonated.

Overall Rating (3.1 out of 6.0)  This beer wasn't nearly as good as I remember it being last year.  The big hop profile is great, but the sweet malts and heavy alcohol presence make this a mediocre beer for me.