Hurrah for autumn. It means different things for different people: back to school, end of vacations or harvest time. For the beer geek the last item is the most important. Fresh hopped beers are a relatively new phenomenon in Victoria. Driftwoods Sartori first appeared in 2009 and Phillips Green Reaper in 2012. Now is not uncommon for a brewery to have a fresh hopped beer or cask this time of year. For the first time, there is even a Fresh Hopped Beer Festival in Victoria. Thanks Joe. Now back to the beer. These kids at Category 12 are doing everything right: experimental brewery only beers, soon to be barrel aging and now a fresh hopped beer. This one is in collaboration with Red Truck brewing. So how does it taste.

Accelerated Transmission = 7/10 

The trouble with some wet hopped beers is that they tend to have a grass like aroma or flavour. Especially if they are dry hopped. This transmission does not have this. The aroma is glorious with wet hop citrus, pine, lime, a tad of biscuit and only a trace of freshly cut grass. Bucking the trend of fresh hopped IPA, this brew has a medium to full mouthfeel and not overly bitter. Each juicy gulp follows the aroma with straightforward fresh hops and clean biscuit malts. It does linger very long. Unlike other fresh hopped beers, you can drink this one right away. Well done.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value +1
Appearance +1

Glassware: IPA glass or nonic

Food Pairings: Definitely something with aged cheddar or woodsy. Try this with a gently grilled cheese sandwich with aged cheddar or Maclaren's Imperial sharp.

Cellar: nope must be fresh

Just a real quick review to keep my backlog from getting too long. Not much to say about this beer anyways, it is a pale ale in a tall can.

ShortWave = 4/10

The nose started promisingly with a pronounced whiff of pine, cedar and bitter oranges. Sadly once this pleasant aroma dissipated there was a noticeable aroma of diacetyl. This was confirmed by the slick mouthfeel that was best described as medium to full. Building on the citrus, pine thing was the usual honey and biscuit malts. The Shortwave is a oddly sweet beer despite the initial hop bitter aroma. Overall, the best thing in a can for under 2 bucks. I think the description is aggressively popular.

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.2%
Value 0
Appearance 0

Glassware: Right from the can is fine.

Food Pairings: Would go with anything, honest.

Cellar: Nope

One of the purposes of a blog is to educate. I must think of something because this beer review is going to be very short. Let's talk about hops. This is the first time I have seen the Newport hop used. It might be used but no brewery has mentioned it. Newport is a hop developed by the USDA as a mildew resistant substitute for Galena. If I remember correctly Vancouver Island Brewery uses Galena. Newport is a mix of Brewers Gold, Hallertauer M, Late Grape, Belgium 31 and Fuggles. Rogue uses this hop quite a bit; its in XS Imperial I2PA, Santa's Reserve, Dad's little helper black IPA and more. Which makes sense because all these beer are bitter as @#$#. This bitterness is due to a very high alpha acid content present in Newport. So how did the beer that some people are referring to as 'Diet Tug' or 'Tug Lite' taste?

New Growth = 6/10

Spicy and pine flavours are the order of the day. That's it. It reminded me of nasturtium. There is a little cracker and white bread malts. This brew is quite bitter and peppery. I found it a little bitter for a pale ale, but it is suitable for our PNW desires.

Taste +_3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0  5%ABV
Value +1 (worth the price)
Appearance +1 (nice label art)

Glassware: Whatever you got. Just as long as it is clean, right Brian?

Food Pairings: This is quite difficult to pair as it is very piney and bitter. Might be nice to counter with mango sweetness and fatty shrimp. Go for the uber-bitter-party with an arugula salad with blue cheese.

Cellar: Might be interesting because Newport has a good beta hop content, but malt complexity is lacking.

Ordinary, nice people often go unnoticed. The same can be said for beer. Geeks always pay attention to the imperial, barrel aged stout with fair trade, organic ingredients. Certainly a wax dipped bottle, signed by the brewer, must be better than any simple pale ale. I'm not going to disagree. However, this does not mean we should overlook common beers on the shelf. Take the Chico Nico for example. This beer will never score 5 stars on Untappd nor 98 on Rate Beer. However, I shared this beer with a non beer geek friend. He said that this was one of the most unique and tasty beers he has drank in a while. This is where the Chico stands out. It is approachable to every palate and delivers a divergent flavour surprise.  

Chico Nico = 7/10

The nose is abundant with tropical citrus notes. Mangos, tangerines, grapefruits, they are all there. Biscuity  and bready malts play host to a blended tropical hop bitterness. The slight astringency is a little soapy but doesn't distract from the sweet tangerine and blood orange linger. Very nice

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.2%ABV
Value +1
Appearance +1 Growler fills always get bonus points.

Glassware: Any glass will do. May I suggest a nonic as this is the most efficient way to delivery this delicious beer to the face.

Food Pairings: This beer would pair well with almost any middle of the road meal. Nice accompanying cheeses would be a cheddar or gouda.    

Cellar: Why wait?

Some days you just want to be alone. The desire to unplug from the metrics of the daily grind can, at times,  seem hopeless. How many IBU's is this IPA? How is your hockey pool doing? How full is your PVR? Numbers, metrics, grades.. Sometimes all one desires is a simple, uncomplicated experience. This is why I picked up the Strath 100 from Lighthouse. I hoped for a simple beer. After all, it was intended for the masses of 20-somethings that consume volumes of whatever is on special. Certainly this would be a linear beer that I could review and ignore. DAMMIT.
This is a tasty beer of furtive duality. At first sip, or gulp, it seems like any other 5% pale ale. Slightly citrus and floral with a calm bready/sweet malt backbone. For most people, this is where the story ends. However, it is easy to overlook a first for Victorian and possibly North American beer drinkers. This beer uses a new breed of hop called Vic Secret. Think of this hop as a toned down Galaxy. The citrus flavours are not the ones we are used to tasting. Sensations of pineapple and tropical fruit can be noted. A stealthy infiltration of unusual hop flavours into the Victoria collective palate. One might think of this a covert, Australian plot to get Victorian beer drinkers hooked on southern tier hop flavours. I'm OK with that.

Strath 100 by Lighthouse = 6 /10

I kinda gave away the flavours in the preamble. 100's nose is calmly fruity of all things tropical (pineapple, mango). The unassuming medium to full mouthfeel can easily be overlooked. Yes, this beer contains the required citrus and bready flavours of a PNW pale ale. Tropical are the citrus in question. Hops dominate with pineapple, tropical fruit salad and earthy resins. A great mix for the ashy and bready malts. It all fades clean away. Well done.

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value +1
Appearance +1

Glassware:Whatever you have will do

Food Pairings: Anything will work with this beer. I'm thinking BBQ (veggie) burger action on the patio. Might even work with a quality grilled cheddar cheese sandwich.

Cellar: Nope

Why am I doing this? Does beer blogging really matter? My reasons for these introspective questions are not entirely clear. Perhaps it was the poor sleep last night. Being dozy makes me sensitive. Not crying at long distance phone commercials sensitive, but more ponderous about myself. Does this belt make my gut look big?

Why do people blog? People blog for personal gratification. I do enjoy the creative avenues that arise from writing about no set topic. Beer blogging combines my love of craft beer and writing. My bill paying writing is focused on Pharmacist education. I need to get creative after writing lines like this: "The mechanism of action was not given, but another study demonstrated reduced levels of interleukin 4 (IL-4) at similar spirulina doses." To answer your next question, yes, it made me just as sleepy writing it as it made you reading it.

People blog to express opinions. This I do. Beer reviews are all about opinions. Are there people with greater knowledge about beer in Victoria? Sure there are; I have met them. For the most part they agree with my opinions. Often they disagree. Luckily, no one has said that I am full of crap. I'm sure that this day will come. I try and keep my opinions unbiased and provide good rationale. People have told me that they have not bought a beer based on my review, so I must be cautious. Then again, most beer drinkers will drink everything that is released. If a beer sucks, it will not get a repeat purchase.

Bloggers do it to share information about Victoria's craft beer scene. This is what www.beerontherock.com is all about. Almost every brewery in town is social media savvy. Often I am the last to learn about a beer release or tasting event. The long lineup for growler fills at Hoyne Brewing today is proof that beer lovers know what is happening.

Bloggers do it for money and fame. Ya right. Google cancelled my Adsense account right before I was going to get a cheque. I rarely get free beer these days. Fame is not an issue; no one knows who I am. My reader list is rather low. At beer events I rarely mention my blog. Most of the comments on my blog are from spambots attempting to sell me erectile dysfunction pills. I also don't get out much; hence the lack of need for these pills.

So why do I do it? Because no one else is doing it. Victoria has a vibrant craft beer scene and no one is blogging about it. At one point there were four blogs about Victoria's craft beers; now there is only one. I don't know if my writing will actually make an impact on out city's brewers. I doubt my blog will sway the macro drinking masses to try a local beer. Sometimes you have to do things without thanks, reward or personal gain. You do it because it needs to get done. Kinda like cleaning the cat litter box. Not once has my cat every expressed gratitude for the weekly maintenance of her crapper.

If for no other reason, I blog because it gives me an inflated sense of purpose. It also gives me an excuse to drink beer and shoot my mouth off. This are a few of my favourite things to do.

Oh right, beer reviews. The Hoyne Wolf Vine is a fresh hopped pale ale. Cascades and Centennials were picked on Wednesday and brewed on Thursday.

Hoyne Wolf Vine = 7/10

The nose is more India than pale. Big, juicy citrus aromas leap from the glass. Each sip is tingly, spicy, slightly tacky and bright. The malts are withdrawn but still provide a bready backdrop for the heavy citrus hops. Citrus tastes dominate with a mixed of fresh grapefruit rind, blood oranges and candied orange peel. I know these 'C' hops are meant to be floral, but I'm not getting it. That growler does not seem big enough. Well done.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.3%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (growlers are great)

This interview almost never happened. I was to met Dean McLeod, Head Brewer at Lighthouse, after work. I arrived first and sat on one side of Swans Pub. Dean arrived later and sat on the other. After twenty minutes my phone chirps. It's Dean:"Ian where are you? I'm thirtsty." Swans in not a very big pub, nor was it particularly busy. The amateur should be easy to pick out at this point.

After an apology, from me, we sit down to talk about this new brew: Tasman Ale. The idea for this beer came from fond memories of sampling low alcohol beers available in Australia during the 70's and 80's. Most of them were awful. Dean begins, "I wanted to create a light bodied, sessionable, easy drinking, dry, thirsty quenching beer that has flavour." He looks me in the eye and continues: "This is never going to be a beer bloggers will rave about. It is not the intention of it. It is a beer for home, standing around the BBQ with a bunch of mates."

I change the subject and ask Dean about his affinity for southern hemisphere hops. This is a pale ale made exclusively with southern hops that we might not have tasted before: Topaz, Summer Saaz, Motueka and Rakau.  "I really in particular like New Zeleand hops because they are all spray free," he explains, "so most of the organic hops in the world come from New Zealand because it is very short leap to go from spray free to organic." North American brewers were first exposed to these hop varieties during the great hop shortage about five years ago because it was all they could get. Dean adds, "then they found out that they were actually really tasty."

So what did this beer blogger think about the Tasman Ale? I liked it. The use of southern hemisphere hops is very apparent; this is not your usual pale ale. The slight citrus hops are there, along with new flavours of tropical fruit and lime. This is balanced nicely with a soft bready and toasted maltiness. The sip ends clean with only the slightest lingering of sweet bread and mineral hop bitterness. No, this will not be a beer bloggers will rave about.  However, if my hand plunges into an ice cold cooler of beer at a BBQ and finds a Tasman Ale, I will be very happy.

Lighthouse Tasman Ale = 6/10

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (nice label art)

They told me that soon this day would come; my house is again quiet. The wife is away for the weekend, the kid is at a sleepover, even the cat won't talk to me. Just me and a bottle of beer. Maybe I won't clean the fish tanks and play Battlefield 3 instead.

Rayon Vert (Green Flash) = 7/10
Ratebeer 3.7 98th percentile
Beer Advocate 88%

This brew smells like all citrus goodness: oranges, mild lemons and pomelos. Don't forget about the glorious wafting of bready Belgian yeasts. Each sip is spicy, tart yet slightly sweet. It is hard to tell where all the flavours are coming from. Is the lemony citrus from the hops or the yeast? How about the sourdough bread is that the Brett funk? Only the malts or again with the magic Belgian yeasts? Oranges; I don't care where you originate as long as you keep returning. A dry, citrus finish only invites you in for another sip. Very nice.


Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content +1 7%
Value +1
Appearance 0

Other Misc Belgian Style Ales
Spring Rite (Driftwood)
La Chouffe
Delirium Tremens

This is a style of beer that polarizes people. You either drink it all the time or never touch the stuff. I fall into the later group, which is a fault I'll admit to. To me most pale ales are ..well... pale. Perhaps this is a fault of many beer geeks. When I stand in front of a beer cooler deciding how to spend my limited imbibing funds, the pale ale never enters my mind. Go for the imperial stout, or grab a saison; these are the thoughts I get. However there is a time and a place for a beer that is not a palate challenge. Sometime you need a casual refreshing brew; this is where the Down Easy comes into the picture. This beer does not shock and awe, but it is enjoyable.

Down Easy Pale Ale (Hoyne) = 5/10

The nose is pretty standard: faint floral, toast and mild citrus. It's light, creamy mouthfeel carries ample light caramel and bready/biscuity malts. These are accompanied by a balanced accompaniment of  citrus, herbal and mild flowery hops. The balance was nice; maybe a little hop unfocused. Down Easy's ending was a tad sticky with a quick ending floral bitterness. It would have been nice to have a good hop snap at the end. It is what it is; an easily enjoyable beer.


Taste +2
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5.2%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (nice label art with some description of taste of beer)

Other pale ale reviews
Drifter Pale Ale (Widmer)
Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Northumberland Pale Ale

Must make progress, must make progress. Need more homebrew...

Classic Pale Ale (Whistler) = 4/10

Most beer pricks, like myself, can describe the taste of a pale ale before the bottle is opened. Faint (but acceptable) nose of vegetal, floral and spicy hops with just enough caramel and bready malts to make you care. Yup, I called it. The mild, spicy and floral hops hit the tongue first with the caramel and bready malts taking up the rear. All this with a clean finish. This pale ale is OK, but not exciting. Props for nice bottles and inviting label.

Taste +3
Aftertaste 0
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value 0
Appearance +1 (very elegant bottle and label)

This is the second release from Driftwood using local malts. It is meant to be an Abbey style pale ale conditioned with Brettanomyces. This should impose an immediate sour tartness but will also allow this beer to improve with age. I plan to buy a few more and cellar them for a few months to see how the taste changes.

Spring Rite (Driftwood) = 7/10

The nose is very funky. If you want to experience the effects of brett, this is the beer to do it. Lots of floral/citrus hops (centennial?) and the brett imparts a spiciness mixed with barnyard and wool blanket. While the aroma wording may not be appealing, your nasal passages will be enticed for an imbibe. At the start of the sip there is a wallop of puckering sweet and tart phenols. The taste can be compared to a good kefir or buttermilk. Once the shock is over, the malts and hops settle in. Both are very dry with straw, sourdough bread and light lemon citrus flavours. Alcohol warmth in the ending drys the palate to leave a long tongue coating of tart sweetness. This is good; I hope the tart shock fades with age. Mrs Beer Prick really liked it.

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content +1 7%
Value +1 (It is tasty now but give it 6 months)
Appearance +1 nice local artist design.

Orval
Damnation
New Belgium Trippel

This was most likely sampled on my trip to Toronto last summer. Despite all larger population and good breweries, it is actually hard to find good beer there. If you visit the LCBO, they have better selections of foreign beers that local ones. I think I had this at C'est What; a great gastro-beer spot with massive local selection.


Northumberland Ale (Church-Key) =5/10
Ratebeer 2.61 22nd percentile
Beer Advocate not listed

At first I was worried, vegetal and grass is never a good sign for a beer nose. Luckily things improved with each sip. It was light and effervescent with grassy/herbals hops, honey and a good dose of citrus. The pale fruitiness from the malts was nicely balanced. This was not an exciting beer, but a solid English pale ale. Easy drinking and mildly flavourful.

Taste +3
Aftertaste 0
Alcohol Content 0
Value +1 (great English Pale Ale)
Appearance +1 (nice local makes things look better)

Bass Pale Ale
Salt Spring Island Pale Ale
Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Readers of my blog know that I am a sucker for packaging. I can say 'readers of my blog' with confidence now; other people besides my Mom read it. A tall black can with demonic numbering and a satanic title: I hope the beer inside is worth the potential damage to my immortal soul.

Devil's Pale Ale = 6/10
Ratebeer 3.24 77nd percentile
Beer Advocate B

Slick packaging aside: the nose is not a good indication of thing to come. It is absent; maybe a bit of caramel if I had to give one. This dark brown fluid grips your tongue with an astringent hop bite. The resinous and citrus fade to allow the caramel and nut-toffee malts time to do their thing. The tongue coating lasts forever with toffee and light citrus. Perhaps I am a spoiled PNW hop head but I was hoping for more aroma. It was a decent English style pale ale.

Taste +2
Aftertaste +2
Alcohol Content +1 6%
Value 0
Appearance +1

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a Love of Dogs
Salt Spring Island Pale Ale
Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Just culling the extras in my beer fridge. Didn't even take a photo; but you know what a pale ale looks like.

Russell Pale Ale = 3/10

Ratebeer 2.28 0 percentile
Beer Advocate C+

The nose was all pale ale: grassy, honey. Even the flavours were standard/boring with sweet grass and honey. Hops were a bit floral and vague with no fruit. At least the aftertaste was not bad; just a bit of clean flowery hops.

Taste +2
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0%
Value 0
Appearance 0 (boring can)

Blue Buck
Drifter Pale Ale
Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Ratebeer 3.46 92nd percentile
Beer Advocate B+

Taste +4

This is a go-to beer for a lot of people; I can understand why. The aroma says it all: glorious and hoppy with floral and citrus. This is well balanced with bready malts and a slight vegetable. The hops impart citrus, floral, banana and a cool menthol flavours.

Aftertaste +1

It was a wet finish with lingering bread malts and menthol. There was a slight herbal mouth coating.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value +1

This is unlike all other pale ales; it is the king. The flavour is above average but not overly challenging for the routine beer drinker.

Ingame Enhancement +1

I have this beer often and is always enjoyable. It goes will with everything.

Overall 7/10

A truly great pale ale. The bready malts are slightly shadowed by the sharp citrus and menthol hops

Phillips Blue Buck
Salt Spring Island Pale Ale
Deschutes Hop Trip

Things are not good in the basement. My trusty notebook where I keep my beer tasting notes is almost full. I also have a backlog of almost 40 beers not reviewed. There is an upcoming trip to Toronto which means more research and more notes. I plan to visit Bar Volo, Duggan's Brewery and the big LCBO at Summerhill. Sigh.. But I will do one plug for a cool product, 33 Beers Journal. It is a very handy journal to keep tract of all your beer tasting notes. My only complaint is the 'notes' section is too small. Now that I think about I should order a few more.

Hop Trip Deschutes

Ratebeer 3.63 96th percentile
Beer Advocate A-

Taste +3

There is no mistaking this nose for anything other than a fresh hop monster. The sweet hops are a mix of citrus and cotton candy. This aroma explodes from a tan/ruby body with a wafer thin head. The low carbonation does not distract your senses from enjoying the pale malts. The hops..the hops. They are fresh with sweet citrus, cotton candy and various light fruits. Oddly the mouthfeel is slightly watery. A little light roast flavour appeared as the beverage warmed up.

Aftertaste +1

The finish was clean and slightly sweet. The pale malts fades quickly to leave a mash of citrus hops.

Alcohol Content 0 5.5%

This is only slightly about session strength, but well above in flavour.

Value +1

This was a good beer, but not a good as Driftwood's Satori.

Ingame Enhancement +1

Again with the lag. This is still a Seattle hotel room beer. I actually leave for Seattle again in about a week. It is sad, or good, when most of the beers from the previous trip have not yet been written up.

Overall 6/10

This is a must from any fresh hop lover. The flavour was not monstrous, but clean, sweet and heavy on the citrus hops. Your malt profile was very restrained.

Driftwood Satori
Phillips Grow Hop
Sergeant's IPA

This is a speed review because I have too many backlogged beer notes. Get it while it is still on tap at Clive's Classic Lounge. They also have the Fruli Strawberry beer on tap.

Ratebeer 3.09 59th percentile
Beer Advocate B

Taste +3

The nose was faintly vinous with plums, esters and light spice. This amber ale was medium-full bodied with good carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. It was quite fruity with cherries, plums, grasses and a subdued spicy hop ending.

Aftertaste 0

The ending was quick and dry.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

No surprises here.

Value +1

I'm not sure how it would taste in a bottle, but on tap it was nice, flavourful and refreshing.

Ingame Enhancement 0

Nope none tonight.

Overall 4/10

De Koninck was a pretty good amber Belgian. It was fruity, creamy with a subdued spicy hop ending.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a Love of Dogs
Coopers Sparkling Ale
Drifter Pale Ale

Hoppe Imperial Extra Pale Ale
Southern Tier Brewing

Ratebeer 3.66 94th percentile
Beer Advocate A-

Taste +5

Yum! The nose is all floral, earthy hops. With a taste that is creamy sweet, floral and slightly medicinal, I think I am in love! I should also mention the herbal, lemon grass from the malts. The whole package had a creamy, chewy bubblegum like texture.

Aftertaste +2

Usually a pale ale is gone in under 10 seconds. This one makes friends and stays for a long spell.

Alcohol Content +1 8%

Value +1

This is a wonderful, bold and hoppy pale ale.

Ingame Enhancement +1

Still in the basement. It is always nice to find a new beer you really love.

Overall 10/10

The is a great, imperial pale ale. Super sweet hops over a sweet lemon grass bed is a beautiful thing.

Unearthly Imperial IPA
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a love of dogs
Saltspring Island Pale Ale

Saltspring Island Pale Ale

Lately the Left4Beer fridge has been filled with exotic beers from all over the world. It is nice to have strong ales from Belgium, big IPA's from Oregon and hefes from Germany. Maybe we should be trying beers from closer to home. So I picked up a simple (or so I thought) pale ale from Saltspring Island.

Ratebeer 2.53/5 18th percentile
Beer Advocate B

Taste +3

The first thing I noticed was the aromatic floral hops (East Kent Goldings). A good hit of carbonation cleanses the palate to let the malts and hops have fun. It was a nutty/pecan malt that did overwhelm the hops a bit much. Overall it was good.

Aftertaste +1

It was a quick and dry ending. There was just the bare residue of roasted nut malt and floral hops.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value +1

This was a great deal at under $5 for a bomber.

Ingame Enhancement +1

Bias again. You can drink this beer by the glassful and it does not dull the reflexes.

Overall 6/10

I do not care what the Ratebeer reviews say, I thought this was a good beer. It was slightly aromatic, malty and not overpowering in the hop department.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a Love of Dogs
Drifter Pale Ale
Phillips Blue Buck

Whistler Classic Pale Ale

Ratebeer 2.74 24th percentile
Beer Advocate B

Taste +2

The nose is very faint of water and pale barley soup. Overall it was a crisp slight pale malt taste with cleansing hops. Very crisp.

Aftertaste 0

It just ended clean after the floral hop snap.

Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value 0

It is what it is, an easy drinking beer that anyone will enjoy.

Ingame Enhancement +1

Dead Rain map in L4D2 shows a great use of environmental tricks to make the map more changing. It is harder to fight through zombies when it is pouring rain with lightning.

Overall 3/10

This is a better than average pale ale, suitable to bring to a BBQ. Everyone will like it but not be overwhelmed.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Drifter Pale Ale