Very robust nose for a pilsner, with high IBUs, this Pilsner is quite floral on the nose. Fresh grass is correct in the flavor, and this a very good pilsner, even though it is a touch different than a standard pilsner.
IPA
Zounds! This IPA, while harkening back to England, is clearly a West-Coast tropical IPA. With a lovely hop body, this beer has all the hallmarks of pineapple and guava that we expect from a tropical American IPA. This is a solid IPA, even if it is not wholly unique.
Flanders Red Ale Sour cherry nose makes you think this beer will be more sour than it is, however it is only slightly tart. It has a very smooth mouthfeel, almost as if its on nitro, but this beer is robust and fun with a lot of funk, sherry, and oak.
Final Thoughts on pFriem Family Brewing
We really enjoyed the beer from pFriem and would really like to visit again. The beer was all excellent and unique. If you like good Belgian beers and live in Oregon, absolutely give pFriem a try!
Maximo was a good drinking buddyBut not as good as SUE
We had some great beers from Haymarket, Goose Island, and Cruz Blanca, but these weren’t our only brews!
Tasting Notes from Moody Tongue
Smoked Applewood Gold
Very light nose with little discernible aromas. The flavor builds with this beer and each sip adds more to the profile. Light apple flavors upfront and some delightful smoke tones in the middle and on the backend create a lovely brew.
Sliced Nectarine IPA
A fluffy headed beer leads to a fruity nectarine aroma. The chinook and fruits balance well with stone fruit being the primary flavors. This beer is extremely smooth, subtle, and easy to drink for a more traditional IPA.
Steeped Emperor’s Lemon Saison
Light and subtle lemon nose invite you to drink this beer. Lovely lemon flavors of this beer work very well with any lemon cookie, especially Girl Scout Lemonades. No bitterness, but a well balanced Lemon Saison perfect for a meal or hot summer day.
Final Thoughts on Chicago Breweries
Laura’s favorite of the Moody Tongue was the IPA while Andrew’s favorite was the Saison. We highly recommend visiting Chicago and visiting the breweries. Andrew Highly recommends Cruz Blanca and Laura recommends Haymarket, but really you cannot go wrong!
Corona’s response to Michelob Ultra with a low carb beer. Pilsner based brew with a light color and light flavor. Corn aroma but tastes of watered down Corona. If you like watered down Corona, this is the beer for you!
Sol Beer
Bright nose, much like a Vienna lager with a slight citrus note. Very much a lager with a touch of breadiness to it and no corn flavor. This beer is a very good lager that goes well with most any food.
Victoria Lager
A touch of citrus on the nose, but overall a very weak nose with a light straw color. This is a style-bending brew with a touch of pilsner sweetness balanced with lager caramel flavor is a wonderful example of this style.
Dos Equis Lager Especial
Slightly citrus nose, like the Sol and Victoria brews before. This Bohemian inspired lager is stylistically very similar to earlier beers, and it may be your favorite, but not ours.
Modelo Negra
Lovely brown color with a nose of a standard Dunkel beer. It has a nice caramel complexity to it with a touch of coffee and chocolate and a great finish. This is a good version of the style.
Final Thoughts on Mexican Beer and our Recommendation for Celebration!
For a nice Cinco de Mayo we would recommend you party with Victoria if you are looking for a lighter brew. This style is very much like Bohemian style lagers and is a good style if you like a touch of citrus and some heavy malt bill.
Wonderfully caramel nose really brings you in. This very flavorful ale has fruit tones and caramel mixed together to create a delightfully bright amber ale that we really enjoyed!
Milk Stout
The flagship for Duck Rabbit, this dark and heavy stout is a very well-balanced milk stout that does the style proud. A touch of coffee and sweetness on the nose belies the thick mouthfeel and sweetness of this stout.
Duck-Rabbator Dopplebock
A loaf of bread inspired dobblebock, has aromas of spent grain from the brewing process. This beer seems to be more dark fruit than bread, with a very deep flavor that reminded us of the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, but even better. At its 8.5% ABV, it will sneak up on you!
Baltic Porter
The nose of this beer definitely has booze and barrel. The alcohol heat does not linger around the pallet too much with more fruit tones than expected. This is surprisingly well balanced and warms not only the tongue, but the body and soul.
Rabid Duck Imperial Stout
This beer has a huge hop presence right off the bat. If we didn’t know better we would have thought we had a black IPA with hints of roasted malt, citrus, and floral tones. Flavorwise we got a lot of lemon peel and it does not taste as heavy as it is. If you like hops and stouts, this is a good beer to have, but the more standard stout flavors seem to be lacking. A truly unique take on an Imperial Stout.
Final Thoughts on The Duck Rabbit
Duck Rabbit really understand dark beers, but it was their Amber Ale that really took the show for us. This was one of our very amber ales of all time. Travis enjoyed the Baltic Porter and Amber Ale the most. All of the beers were very good and unique. We will definitely be revisiting them later this year and would highly recommend you do the same!
Abigail? Annabelle? Not sure, but she likes beer…we think.
Tasting Notes from Trophy
Trophy Wife
Delightful easy drinking session IPA helped turn Kim onto IPAs. Not piney at all, with lovely tropical fruit notes that make this beer a wonderful summer ale for all beer drinkers.
Cloud Surfer
A “modern” twist on an IPA with a citrus and pineapple nose and similar flavor profile. A heavy dose of dry hopping give this beer a lovely smooth finish without the standard IPA bitterness.
Check Your Head
This Beastie Boys inspired beer has a lovely tropical fruit nose with notes of pineapple and mango coming to the forefront. Again, the nose and tongue agree on the flavors, but this beer has a very sweet finish.
Head Cleaner
Please be kind and rewind this VHS inspired Double IPA! Very similar to the Check Your Head, but with a slight astringent aroma on the nose. However the flavor itself balances smoothly and it tastes almost identical to the Check Your Head.
Final thoughts and Beer of the Night
All four beers we tried were tropical IPAs, and each were well made. These even made Kim want to try more IPAs! We do know they have a wide variety and would recommend everyone swing by for a pint. We really enjoyed our tasting and would highly recommend visiting any of their locations for some excellent beer, pizza, and food! Kim and Andrew’s favorites were the Trophy Wife and Check Your Head while Laura preferred the Cloud Surfer and Head Cleaner.
Nice lovely lemonade aroma and flavor. This beer is a really good Kolsch-style shandy and great all-day beer for those hot beach days.
Bitter Bee
A very thick foamy beer with aroma of honey and piney goodness. The flavor also has a lovely west-coast pale ale floral and orange flavors with hints of honey. This beer has a much greater bitterness on the pallet than expected from the IBUs.
Black Radish
Roasty chocolate and coffee on the nose were excellent primers for this Schwarzbier. Unfortunately the flavors do not match the heavenly aroma. A faint background of coffee, but mostly dark fruits and bell peppers dominate on the tongue. We were rather disappointed with this beer as we mostly tasted grape.
Christmas Bier
Very clean nose with mostly malt and lager tones. Like the Schwarzbier, this Dobblebock also tasted of purple grapes much to our chagrin. We got some basic lager and breadiness on the frontend and a touch of caramel on the backend, but the grape flavors overpowered nearly everything, and not in a good way.
Final Thoughts on Weeping Radish
We were amazingly disappointed in both lagers, however we think there may have been an infection or something off in the process, as both had the same grape flavoring. Both ales were excellent and we can say for certain we would drink another of Uli’s kolsch or pale ales again. We would definitely be willing to try more lagers from Weeping Radish, however we were not fans of the cans we had. But we really want to get hold of house made Wurst!
The pineapple and coconut hit you first on the nose, making you think this will be an ale. The beer itself has a lovely breadyness that balances the fruit well, and is a very refreshing beer.
IPA
A piney and slightly dank nose, this beer smells like one would expect a West-Coast Style IPA to smell. Flavorwise, everything you expect from the style, bitter and piney, with a touch of dankness. A great example of the style.
Delicious IPA
The lemon-drop hop does not disappoint as this beer gives a lovely fresh lemon and hop spice aroma right off the top. Starting off like lemon candy, this beer finishes with lemon pith, giving that burst of lemon bitterness to help it stay so delicious. We really enjoyed this standard from Stone.
Scorpion Bowl IPA
This cocktail-inspired IPA has a lovely tropical fruit nose and it is very fruity on the nose. Juicier than we expected, with a lot of tropical fruit flavors especially pineapple. The pineapple really hangs around on the backend of the taste.
Arrogant Bastard Ale
This beer is not supposed to be enjoyed (per the label) as it is overly hopped to the extreme! Amber in color, but a slight astringent aroma, belies this beer. The pallet is not as heavy as the beer label implies, with notes of caramel and citrus that help to offset the bitterness. This is a beer everyone should try for the historical style.
Xocoveza
The cinnamon and nutmeg blend well with the pepper spice to create a delightful nose. Flavors of chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, coffee, and chili are all there and easy to pick up and are perfectly balanced. A formerly rare beer, the Xocovesa is a delight to have and should be easy to get a hold of regardless of where you live!
Final Thoughts on Stone and Beer of the Night
Our beer of the evening was the Xocovesa, but everything we had was excellent. Our preferred order:
Xocovesa
Delicious
Tropic Thunder
Scorpion Bowl
IPA
Arrogant Bastard
Stone is a very IPA heavy brewery, and is fairly ubiquitous. It is definitely a great brewery with no bad beers to be had. We would highly recommend finding some Stone beer at your local store or bar!
