Nike-sponsored Rogue Brewery bolsters bohemian Oregon brewer. This peculiar white-headed ecru-bodied American wheat ale covers up sunny citrus disposition with vague honeyed malt acridity and sinewy yeast resin. Barren lemon souring dissipates as offensive rotted orange tartness gains phenol acidity.
All posts by John Fortunato
ETALLER KLOSTER DUNKEL
Dry auburn-hued German dark lager brings barley-toasted honeyed wheat and caramelized nuttiness to less salient soured chocolate finish. Minor tobacco roast knocks back slight astringency.
ETALLER CURATOR DUNKLER DOPPELBOCK
Creamy brown-sugared molasses malting and mild barleywine persistence saddle viscous raisin-prune theme. Flashy bruised orange, dried fig, and red grape illusions abound at whiskey-dabbed Grand Marnier finish, fruiting-up chewy goo.
ESTRELLA GALICIA PREMIUM PILSNER
Clear-bodied, flat-headed, softly textured, 5.4% alcohol brew with barren aroma, grungy disposition, but polite watery flow. Mildly floral-hopped barleycorn astringency wades through bubbly carbonation to auspicious dirty grain finish. Amazingly, Spain is the third largest brewer in Europe, behind Germany and England, and ahead of Belgium. Yet it’s a struggle to find Spanish beers outside the Euro zone.
ESTES PARK SAMSON STOUT
Fruited medium-bodied stout with cola-like flow softer and less assertive than expected. Lackadaisical coffee nut influence depletes weak mocha finish. Inconsequential berry nut meander lingers beneath.
ESTES PARK RENEGADE INDIA PALE ALE
Spiced red apple aromatics and bitterest pine nut initiation caress coffee-stained mocha malts. Pungent hop-embittered resilience gains strength to resin-y grain finish, but floral peach and honeyed spruce lack endurance.
(ESTES PARK) LONGS PEAK RASPBERRY WHEAT
Consumed at nearby Indian’s Peak after four-wheeling Colorado switchback trails, this fair hazy golden medium-bodied fluff lacks expedient raspberry rasp, sturdy cracked wheat spine, and proper carbolic hop bittering. Perfumed raspberry extract sweetness too washed out.
(ERIE) RAILBENDER ALE
Serviceable blue collar Scottish-styled copper body finds aromatic sweet cereal-grained malts, mossy barley-oats, and peachy red apple hints opposing mild grapefruit-lemon rind sourness bridging embittered black currant reminder to concealed 6.8% alcohol musk. Citric-splashed finish and peripheral butterscotch suggestion counter slight tea bittering.
(ERIE) PRESQUE ISLE PILSNER
Conventional clear golden medium body stays mildly hop-embittered and nearly unassuming, as corn sugared cereal oats gently carry brittle Seltzer flow forward. Phenol metallic nature hinders chaffed wheat dryness, grapefruit sourness, herbal peppering, and vegetal reminder.
(ERIE) MISERY BAY I.P.A.
Satisfyingly centrist medium-bodied IPA boasts big orange peel, grapefruit rind, and juniper bittering, securing malt-sweetened peach-tangerine-apple-cherry tang to wheat cracker base.
(ERIE) MAD ANTHONY’S ALE
Ordinary amber-hued pale ale may put off gourmet drunks with its funky vegetal dry-hopped listlessness and burnt toast malting. Besides, diacetyl astringency conceals soft nuttiness and orange souring at earthen herbal bottom.
ERIE GOLDEN FLEECE MAIBOCK
Invigorating golden amber springtime lager with subdued 8.5% alcohol content retains brisk lemon-fizzed grapefruit-orange-mango tang to counteract woody hop bitterness. At finish, cereal-grained honey wheat sweetness gains prominence over tucked-in floral latency.