Wow! The words used by my brother, my brother-in-law, and myself as we sampled this fantastic beer from Stone Brewing. (http://www.stonebrewing.com/) If you are hophead and are looking for something to slap you in face, then this is a must try beer. Here is a commercial description from Stone:
“And as Stone Ruination IPA turns 10, we thought we’d make ourselves a nice little birthday present to celebrate. But what kind of selfish jerks would we be if we didn’t share?! Behold, the Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA. (Clever name, eh? That’s why us folks in the Marketing Dept. get the big bucks!) It’s an amped-up version of Stone Ruination IPA, with a bit more malt to bring the abv up from 7.7% to 10.8%, and a very heavy dose of hops. “Classic” Ruination uses 2.5 pounds of hops per barrel–which is more than double the amount we use in any other of our core beers–but for Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA, we went double again, using an impressive 5 pounds of hops per barrel, including about a pound each of Citra and Centennial in the dry hop. (Hell. Yes.)

Suggested Pairings, provided by “Dr.” Bill Sysak 
Appetizers: Kimchee, ceviche, bacon-wrapped jalapeños (or habaneros)
Entrées: Salt and pepper shrimp, jambalaya, roasted pork chops with apple sauce, pineapple curry 
Desserts: Apple pie with caramel sauce, toffee bars, spiced carrot cake 
Cheeses: Aged Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Roquefort, Mimolette 
Cigars: Ashton Classic Majesty, Litto Gomez Diez, Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Invictos Corojo Robusto”

Nice orange/copper pour with a medium sized white head. The aroma definitely has the smell of hash, mixed with pine and citrus with a bit sweet malt. Nice amount of bitterness, resin, citrus, and HUGE hop flavor. This is one of those beers that you will never forget when you tried and I was glad to share it with my brother and brother-in-law.

I’m not sure if there is any more of this stuff on the shelves, I know it won’t be available in Iowa since we won’t have Stone until October 1st, but for those with Stone on their shelves, if you see this one, it is a definite must try beer!

REVIEW

STYLE: Imperial India Pale Ale (Double IPA)

ABV: 10.8%

PURCHASED AT: Got it from a buddy.

Pour: Copper orange pour with a medium sized white head.

Aroma: Weed, pine, citrus hops.

Taste: Perfectly balanced! Huge amount of hops, resin, citrus, and pine flavor balanced by the malt.

Overall: A

My Recommendation: Buy it if it’s fresh. This is definitely one to try.

With the ever popular culture of craft beer continuing its fantastic uprising, there comes the Beer pros, snobs, critics, that love to throw bigger craft breweries under the bus. Reading blogs, forums, and magazines has become a chore for me lately. Reading about these “critics” bitching about Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada and the amount of barrels they produce instead of giving them credit and praising them for helping create the landscape of the craft beer revolution has become quite tiresome. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada may make a shitload of beer and have huge distribution, but they make a shitload of great beer and we deserve to drink it and now I’m cussing in my post and my wife is going to give me the red ass. Damn!
Okay…enough of ranting..Let’s review some brew.
Sierra Nevada is widely available just about everywhere now. In fact, Torpedo has landed in my tiny grocery store in Mount Vernon, IA to my pleasant surprise. A brewery I will always gravitate towards for an everyday brew, a weekend drink, or especially, their limited releases they are a constant in my fridge. Here’s the commercial description:
“Torpedo is an assertive American IPA deep reddish-gold in color, with a smooth and bready malt presence and over-the-top hop aromas. The beer has a solid bitterness and a massive hop flavor, yet remains easy drinking with a pleasant dry finish.”

This is a wonderfully balanced IPA. Piney hop flavor with sweetness of the malts to mellow it out works perfect. This is now available in 4 pack tall boy cans! Too dangerous for an Iowa Hawkeye tailgate? Maybe….but the Baron plans to give it a shot anyway.

REVIEW

STYLE: India Pale Ale (IPA)

ABV: 7.2%

PURCHASED AT: Gary’s; Mount Vernon, IA

Pour: Dark amber pour with a huge, fluffy, white head.

Aroma: Floral, pine, citrus, especially grapefruit.

Taste: Perfectly balanced! Huge amount of hops, resin, citrus, and pine flavor balanced by the sweet bready malts.

Overall: A-

My Recommendation: Buy it. Buy it now. Keep buying it and keep drinking it. An awesome beer, hop heads and IPA fans will love it!

As mad as I am at this particular brewery for getting Eastern Iowa’s hopes up that they might be hitting our shelves and then bailing on us……they make some great brew. Stone’s Levitation ale (www.stonebrew.com) is an amber ale that combines roasty malts and hoppy flavor to make a fantastic beer. Here’s the description from the brewery:
“This deep amber ale has rich & roasty malt flavors, a big hoppy character, citrus overtones (courtesy of the hops and our special brewers yeast) and modest alcohol.”

Stone has a very impressive lineup of beers and they aren’t afraid to play around with their ingredients; but for this one, they just made an excellent amber ale. Nothing crazy added to it; just a damn fine beer. If available in Iowa, it would be mainstay in my fridge. The good news is that we can still drive over to East Dubuque, IL and hit up Family Beer and Liquor and bring home a six pack or two. Who knows, with craft beer absolutely crazy right now, Stone might see a market here a start supplying us with their great beer. I sure hope so.

REVIEW

STYLE: Amber Ale

ABV: 4.4%

PURCHASED AT: Family Beer and Liquor; East Dubuque, IL

Pour: Amber color pour with an off-white head.

Aroma: Roasted malt, nuts, and nice hoppy citrus.

Taste: Much the same as the aroma, maybe some toffee?

Overall: B

My Recommendation: Like I said above, you can still go to Illinois or Wisconsin to pick it up. Their products are worth the drive alone.

All right; gonna try something a bit new on the website just so stuff doesn’t get stale. Trying to think of things that I could add to the blog to go along with my passion of beer and here we have it. Now, the recipes that appear and the pictures that appear on here are all taken by me at the time of consumption.

The first pairing I tried out tonight was slow cooked baby back ribs and a Racer 5 IPA. I chose an IPA because I thought it would bring out the little spice that was in the ribs, and it did! Also, a hot day is perfect for an IPA. For my ribs, I’m not a fall of the bone kind of guy and I don’t liked them slopped in sauce either. I like to pick mine up by the bone and chew it off; still tender mind you, but not a mess. I found a recipe in the folder my wife and I keep recipes in, which is just ridiculously big, for Apple-Glazed BBQ Baby Back Ribs. The apple glaze kind of threw me off, but I’m an amateur at cooking ribs so I thought I would give it a shot. Nothing to lose.

Glad I tried it! The glaze was simple. You start by making a simple dry rub, and then a wet marinade. You rub the ribs with the dry rub, cook for 2 1/2 hours, dump the marinade on them, cook for another hour, remove, slather with sauce and then cook 15 minutes. Simple, but you have to have patience so they come out tender. A wonderful meal that I will definitely make again and the beer worked really well with the smokiness and spice of the ribs. Want the recipe? Send $5 to… kidding… here ya go! http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-glazed-barbecued-baby-back-ribs  you try it please let me know how it turns out.

SIDE NOTE: I also a side dish of sliced baby mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Great stuff!

One of the most in-demand breweries in America today is Dogfish Head. Their beers are so sought after that if you get your hands on some you could make some pretty good money put hacking them off on ebay. Luckily, a trip to Chicago for me usually results in bringing a few of their beers back to the great state of Iowa. I always make sure to get my hands on some of their 60 minute because it is a fantastic IPA.

I’ll be honest, some of the Dogfish beers I’ve had, didn’t really do it for me, but I will say, no matter which ones you try, it will be a unique beer drinking experience for you. They go above and beyond most brewers out there with trying new recipes, ingredients, and flavor combinations. Luckily, they also make a great IPA. Here’s the description from the brewery:

“Our flagship beer. A session India Pale Ale brewed with Warrior, Amarillo & ’Mystery Hop X.’ A powerful East Coast I.P.A. with a lot of citrusy hop character. THE session beer for beer geeks like us! 6% abv 60 ibu Tasting Notes: Citrus, cedar, pine & candied-orange flavors, floral. Food Pairing recommendations: Spicy foods, pesto, grilled salmon, soy-based dishes, pizza. Glassware recommendation: Pint Wine comparable: Busty Chardonnay In case you care… the average 12 oz. serving has 209 calories.”

At only 6% this makes for an all-night drinking experience. This beer alone puts Dogfish brewery (www.dogfish.com) in my Top 5 wishlist (which will be coming out soon) of breweries to get to the Eastern Iowa marketplace. Fantastic hop flavor, slight bitterness, a bit of cedar taste, and a smooth malt finish. Fantastic! Once again, the nearest place to get it is Chicago, if you know of someone making a trip there, have them stop at a Binny’s a set you up with some Dogfish products.

REVIEW

STYLE: India Pale Ale

ABV: 6%

PURCHASED AT: Binny’s Beverage Depot; Schaumburg, IL

Pour: Hazy orange pour with a thick white head.

Aroma: Citrus, pine, and floral smell.

Taste: Citrus and pine, with some orange peel in there as well. Wonderful!

Overall: A-

My Recommendation: Buy as much Dogfish product as possible; try them all. If you don’t like them, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a trade partner.

Man, I love stouts. The more the merrier for me, and even on a hot day I have no problem pulling a stout beer out of the fridge, pouring that bad boy, letting it sit for about 5 minutes, and taking it outside and enjoying it on the deck. Some stout lately seem to be more on the porter side of things lately, which is fine, but when I want a stout, I want a thick, creamy, easy drinking brew with hints of chocolate, coffee, and bit of smokiness.  So, what does Hinterland give me?

A relatively new brewery to Eastern Iowa shelves is Hinterland Brewery. Located in Green Bay, WI this newcomer can found in just about every liquor store now in Eastern Iowa. Year round offerings from this brewery include their pale ale, amber ale, IPA, and the beer I’m going to review today; their Luna Stout.

From the brewery: ( http://www.hinterlandbeer.com/)
” Luna Coffee Stout pours pitch black with hues deep mahogany. The two finger, fluffy, tan head recedes slowly leaving a nice, full lace for a very impressive look. With a solid, yet not overpowering aroma of coffee, you can still smell a hint of chocolate. The bold, rich taste of creamy coffee doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the flavors leaving a hint of chocolate to finish. On a cold winter night, you couldn’t ask for a better cold beer to warm you up.”

This was a pretty in your face coffee stout. Coffee dominates the senses as you can smell it right when you crack open the bottle. (Side note: Had this on nitro tap at The Old Fashioned in Madison, WI. Great stuff!) The pour is pitch black with the aroma of the coffee blasting through. Flavor is the same; dominate coffee with a hint of bitter dark chocolate. Let’s check my list for the perfect stout:

Thickness: Check
Creaminess: I would say right in the middle. Not as creamy as I like, but right between a porter and a stout.
Chocolate/Coffee/Smoke: Double Check on the coffee
Easy drinking: Check

All in all, a really great brew that satisfies what most stout fans are looking for. Not a fan of coffee? Then this probably not the brew for you, luckily I’m addicted to coffee so this is right up my alley.

REVIEW

STYLE: Coffee Stout

ABV: 4.8%

Purchased at: Hy-Vee

Pour: Black pour, thick tan head.
Aroma: Coffee dominates.
Taste: Luna coffee is the star of this brew.
Overall: B

My recommendations: If you like coffee, this is your stout. Also, this beer comes in 16 oz four packs. So, not your typical sized bottles; lots of beer in one bottle.

I will start off this review and say that nothing that Leinenkugels makes has impressed me except for their Big Eddy series. Not that their stuff is not drinkable I just find it to either be watered down or artificial in taste. Since I just came back from the great north, I thought I would review a Wisconsin product, Leinenkugels’ Honey Weiss. (www.leinie.com)
Brewer’s description: “Honey Weiss has a taste that’s light, crisp and slightly sweet.” 

Man, I’m just not getting this one. People must buy it because it is an easy beer to drink. I get no honey flavor, it can hardly be described  as a Weiss beer, minimal American wheat flavor. Watered-down brew to me. I think this could be a brew they could back and tweak the recipe on and make it much better than it currently is; I think they should do that with many of their products.

On a positive note, if you are looking for a light, refreshing, easy drinking brew, this would be one for you to go with. An inexpensive beer, that is widely available, however, I will be looking elsewhere.

REVIEW

STYLE: Wheat Ale

ABV: 4.92%

Purchased at: Anywhere

Pour: Light gold pour, small white head.
Aroma: Mild wheat aroma, a little citrus.
Taste: Little wheat and citrus.
Overall: D

My recommendations: There are too many great craft brews that have surpassed Leinenkugels wheat beer or even fruit beer. I would avoid this beer and ask your beer monger, or me, what to go for.