As promised, here’s a post on a few of the beers I’ve had recently.
I’ll start with Dupont’s Foret, their organic saison. The beer is very similar to Saison Dupont, though it has a much cleaner and crisper taste and feel to it. Maybe that’s just what I wanted to taste/feel because it’s organic, but I really got that feeling from the beer. It was good, though there were no overwhelming flavors to it. The beer had a huge thick creamy white head that diminished fairly quickly. The taste was somewhat earthy and crisp. This would make a great summer brew (no surprise here as saisons are generally brewed to be consumed in the summer).
I’ll move onto this year’s Storm King Stout from Victory, one of my favorite breweries. The beer is dark with a dark tan head. Smells of roasted malts and some hops. Flavor is similar. Victory like their hops and this beer is no different. It’s a bit hoppy for an imperial stout. I bought a 6 pack and I’m planning on keeping 2 of them until next year (maybe even more than that). It’s a bitter beer, not like an IPA, but still bitter.
Sierra Nevada‘s Celebration Ale is next. It’s just a regular old IPA, though I think it’s made with different hops than their regular IPA or Pale Ale, both of which are excellent. This one, however, doesn’t leave that hoppy aftertaste and has a different flavor to it. I really can’t put my finger on what it is, but it’s different, yet still very good. This is an IPA that seems better suited for the winter (go figure, as it’s one of their winter seasonals). The best thing about this year’s Celebration Ale is that it comes with a real cap, not a twist-off, the one issue I’ve had with their bottles (twist-off’s can lead to oxidation more quickly than regular caps).
The Newport Storm beers I mentioned deserve their own post. I’ll write about them tomorrow (or later today, considering it’s well after midnight). Happy 2008 and good night!