Half Pints Humulus Ludicrous Imperial IPA

Lets get this out of the way.  Why did you put a thin cheap wax seal over the cap.  This just crumbles and get into the beer while you pour it.  Spend the money and use a thicker wax so I don't have to constantly pick pieces of wax out of my mouth while drinking your beer.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest I really liked this beer. It poured a nice caramel color, with a very white head that dissipates quickly.  It tastes a lot of a caramel & melon a bit of a different IPA flavor.  It packs a punch of 8% ABV with a IBU of over 100 even though I didn't register this beer to be that high.  They did a great job of hiding the bitterness with a higher than normal malt background.   I would love to give this beer another try just hold the wax.

Skookum Cascadian Brown Ale

I'll get this out of the way right off the top.  This beer is a rock star in my personal opinion.  I first had this during last years Stanley Cup Playoffs as my Flyers went on a magical run losing in game six of the finals, as they were winning I had to keep drinking this beer (superstitious fans).  This is a relatively new style developed in the past few years that is sort of a cross between an IPA and a dark ale and it's a match made in a hop lovers heaven.   This one pours a dark almost black brown with a nice thick khaki head that hangs out nicely.  It has a really nice mouth  feel with a nice juniper  sage fresh hop taste.  It has a relatively low ABV of  6.5% for this style that seem to be a little more beefy in the alcohol content.  It has remained a constant in my fridge and hop that it will continue to be a regular in Phillips rotation.

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

As a beer drinker who has held a serious dislike for all but a couple of fruit / vegetable infused beers I was quite surprised to find how much I have enjoyed pumpkin beers.  They were all the rage this fall and this was the best of the three I tried. This one comes in a nice copper brown with a nice off white head that holds it's head nicely.  It has very subtle hints of the spices used.  They have added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves & ginger during fermentation, while adding roasted  and raw pumpkin seeds and pumpkin flesh in the mash tin.  The spice and pumpkin are not overwhelming in any way they just add to the depth of flavor.  This beer is perfect for a cool evening in the fall, it is also a great food pairing beer and would go great with a turkey dinner or bowl of squash soup.  I can't wait till next fall to get a few more of these.

Moose Drool

I tried this beer a few years ago while at my favorite restaurant in Vegas and I really liked it then even though I felt it was way over priced for the amount received.  Well one of my colleagues brought me one into work a few weeks back to give a try so here you go.  This one pours a little thin on the head front which is surprising as I found it a little heavy on the carbonation.  It comes in a nice dark brown with a decent hop to mellow out the sweetness. I really like this beer a lot, I have since seen it on a few trips down to the states for golf so I'll be sure to pick some more up in the future.

While double checking some stats on this beer it reminded me of a debate about alcohol content and that American beers are weaker than Canadian beers.  They are generally both the same but have different numbers on the label that would lead you to believe one is weaker than the other.  They are just measured in different ways.  As an example this beer is a  4.2% by weight (American way) or a 5.2% by volume (Canadian way) . So as you can see this sorta blows the myth that you are not getting as much alcohol in your Bud in the states.

Howe Sound Brewing Devil's Elbow IPA

This was the first product I tried from these guys a few years ago when I stopped by the brewery on my way back from Whistler.  It's still my favorite.  It pours a little hazy caramel color with a thick white head that hangs out for a while.  One smell and your reeled in with it's great fruity west coast IPA nose.  It keeps going with a great sweet citrus flavor that comes with a wonderful balance between the hops and malt.  It has a relatively low ABV of 6% and IBU of 68.  This is a beer that keeps you wanting more it comes in a big package a whopping 1L bottle with a resealable cap so you can enjoy over a couple of days. 

Driftwood Fat Tug IPA

A new product from this upstart brewery that I was introduced to last year.  This is the second IPA I have tried from them and I liked them both but this one was the best of the two.  I first tried their Wet Hopped Satori Harvest Ale before I started this blog.  This one pours a golden straw colour that is surprisingly clear.  it has a wonderful hop aroma that doesn't transfer to the flavor as expected.  I felt that the first sip had a nice west coast IPA start but this one has a little more malt making it a refreshing change from the typical in your face IPA's.  It packs a relatively mild ABV of 7% and a IBU of 80 so it has a mild punch.  This would be a good beer to introduce a newcomer to the IPA genres of beers.  As this will be a permanent addition to there rotation It will be a regular in my fridge.

Russell A Wee Angry Scotch Ale

This product is a take off an old Scottish Ale made in the 19th century.  Scotland is an area that hops struggle to grow so they tend to use more malts to develop the rich flavor associated with this style.   This beer is a mild 6.5% ABV  with a relatively low 30 IBU  so its quite drinkable by most.  It is best enjoyed at a bit warmer temperature than your standard fridge, so let it sit for twenty minutes or so before starting it up. It pours a rich dark brown with a surprisingly white head that dissipates quickly.  It has a nice smooth nose and a rich caramel finish. I feel that this beer would show a little better on draught with a nitrogen boost to keep the carbonation finer and more like a Guinness or Kilkenny. But overall I really like this product and would be happy to try it again.

Vancouver Island Brewing Hermannator Ice Bock

I wait every year for this beer to be released in late October.  I unfortunately missed this one for a couple of years as it sells out quickly so I was happy to see it in the store a couple of weeks ago.  This one isn't for the faint of heart, a high ABV of 9.5%.  It pours a molasses dark brown almost black with a khaki head that dissipates quickly.  This beer has a distinctive sweetness from the brewing process. Ice Bocks or Eisbock's  brewed the same way all others are brewed except after they age the beer for a few months they freeze the beer and remove the ice crystals leaving a stronger & sweeter beer.  I hope you leave some for me next year.

Skagit River Brewery Skuller's IPA

Sometimes a label is a warning and this one is a huge warning. This beer is almost too bitter to drink.  At first smell and taste I was like wow this should be great.  But seconds after the first sip my tongue got twisted sideways with a bitterness I have never encountered in a beer before almost every sip had the same reaction and made for a unpleasant experience. Not my favorite and would shy away next time I have a chance.

Maredous Abbaye Brune

I love small packages that pack a big punch.  This style of beer was only brewed around Christmas time for the monks but over centuries it's has become the most popular version of the Abby Ale.  This particular beer is has a subtle sweetness and has a very effervescent mouth feel due to the bottle conditioning.  It pours a dark ruby brown with a thick head that hangs on till the end of the glass.  You get a nice warm glow after a few sips of this product . With very subtle sweetness and a high ABV of 8% this is a well balanced product that everybody should give a swirll sometime.  This one will have a home in my cooler every time I see it in the fall.

Howe Sound Total Eclipse of the Hop Imperial IPA

Howe Sound Brewing is one of my favorite local brewery's that is willing to take some risks good or bad.  While I generally like most of there products this one was just average and well below the high standards I have come to associate with the many diffrent products I have tried. 

It pours a nice thick whitish head and smells quite fruity and satisfying.  This beer comes with a ABV of 8% and a high IBU of 90 which is quite high for a IPA.  This is where this beer falls flat, it is just missing balance between the 6 different variety's of hops used and they seem to fight each other affecting the overall flavor.  Maybe I have been spoiled by the recent IPA's I tried in Oregon but this one just doesn't crank my turn.  

Kev's Brew Review is going on the road.

I am finally making a pilgrimage to the place I have always wanted to visit.  I'm going to Philly in March.  While I'm mainly going to see my beloved Flyers play I'm also looking for some great beer.  Any suggestions?  I only have three nights with two games to attend so it will be a bit rushed.  Philly is on the leading edge when it comes to the east coast craft beer scene & I want to try as many as possible.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

This year the en vogue beer seems to be the Pumpkin beer.  Everybody is brewing one so I had to give a couple a shot.  This is the first one I have tried and as a person who has a dislike for fruit beers I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this particular product.  I had my first one on the last day of my Oregon vacation after a night where I had been to 3 different brewpubs and needed a night cap.  Turns out I was beered out by the time I had back at the hotel.  So when I saw this at the local store I picked up a four pack. 

I t pours a yellowy brown color with a off white head that dissipates quickly. It has a warm spicy aroma that smells of mulling spice and malts.  It packs a wonderful taste of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg that warms you with thoughts of a cold afternoon having a cider or mulled wine except chilled.  This will be a staple in my cooler next fall.  Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Southern Tier Un Earthly Imprial IPA

Here comes the broken record again  I love what these guys do.  This beer rocks!  As they say it's there most vigorously hopped and aggressive beer yet.  It pours a rich golden amber colour with a thick golden head that lasts through out.  It smells of pine and citrus while having a sweet fruity texture while sipping.  Another beer that gets much more refined as it warms. You can tell they worked hard to get this one right as it's hopped three separate times with a combination of four different ones.   This beer isn't for someone who doesn't like hops or big flavors, it also packs a punch 11% ABV so it's a sit back and enjoy over a couple of hours type beer.  I can't wait to track down a few more of these bad boys for the long cold & wet winter ahead.

Ninkasi Brewing Co. Believer Double Red Ale

Another Product I discovered on my Oregon golf trip.  I tried a different one called the Tricerahops IPA and it was lovely but I tried it at the beginning of our trip so I can't review it now.   So as I was on the hunt for my wife's favorite hot chocolate in Point Roberts early this week I saw this bad boy sitting on the shelf along with a few others to be reviewed later.  What I remembered from my previous time tasting one of there products is they are very aggressive with the way they hop the beer and they are true to form with this one as well.  This beer pours a rich mahogany red  color with a surprisingly thin head.  For a beer with an IBU of only 60 it's quite bitter and rough around the edges.  I could go for a little more sweetness to balance out the aggressiveness of the hops.  I did enjoy this product more as it warmed up it became a little less aggressive.  Overall a good product i would try again but not so cold to start.

Fernie Brewing Company What The Huck

So here I go I simply do not like fruit flavored beers. But I kept seeing this in the store and it kept calling me over with it's impressive packaging.  I had also heard some good things from others that this was a good product.  So it finally made it into my basket.  Huckleberries are a berry grown in the rocky mountains and are known for there deep purple color and sweetness. Well the guys at Fernie Brewing Co. decided to mix them into there Belgian wheat beer and I honestly think they did a good job (open mind here).  I should have tried this over the summer when it was warmer out as this would have been quite refreshing.  It pours a muted brown with a murky purplish tinge.  Sort of an off putting colour to a beer guy but with everything mixed together it's what you get.  It has the mouth feel of a typical wheat beer sweet with very little hops present.  I will give this beer another shot next summer on a hot day.  I would recommend this beer to anybody who likes wheat beers or subtly flavored fruit beers.

Southern Tier Big Red

I simply love what these guys do.  They got inspiration from an older variety of hops from Germany that is very reliable like an old tractor hence the name Big Red.  This beer comes with a high alcohol content of  9.5% so it classifies as an imperial red ale.  It has an unmistakeably reddish hue when poured and holds a thick creamy head through out.  This is a big beer with huge flavors!  The hops is upfront with a gentile citrus nose but it doesn't kill you with bitterness on the tongue while it finishes with a sweet caramel like smoothness.  I would say that this beer would be a good introduction into the world of flavorful beers.

New Belgium Ranger IPA

I like getting surprised.  I was off playing golf yesterday at Point Roberts Golf Club just over the border.  While at the turn I stopped in for a beer for the back nine.  They are known for having a pretty good rotation of draft.  So I have the option of a Blue Moon Wheat which I've had many times and enjoy on a hot day, or a Mirror Pond Pale Ale not a bad second choice and Ranger IPA and its never going to be a choice for me when I see the IPA sign I'm sold.  The bartender starts pouring my beer into a jug and it's all foam.  It takes close to 5 minutes to get my beer into a plastic beer glass for the back nine.  Fist sip and I'm hooked.  Big citrus notes with a really great balance of fruit from the three different hops used.  Only negative was the beer was a touch flat due to the poor pouring at the bar.  I will be on the lookout for this in bottles so I can give a proper review in the future.  Let me know if you see this beer anywhere. 

Deschutes 2010 Jubale

I had been looking forward to trying this beer since I missed the release by 1 week while touring Oregon in the middle of September.  As soon as my local beer store announced it's arrival I went and picked up one.  I would have liked a couple more but with a $30 price tag (would have only cost $12 in Bend).  This beer is only bottled once every ten years so we will have to wait till 2020 for the next one. There is a funny story as to how this beer was discovered.  Every year the Deschutes brewery brews a winter beer called the Super Jubel.  Well one very cold evening a would be burglar broke into a storage facility to abscond with a keg of beer (must have been drunk).  Well they didn't bring a way of getting it  home he / she was just going to carry it.  Anyone who has ever needed to move a keg knows they are freaking heavy.  Well they didn't get very far before abandoning it outside.  The next day with the beer nearly frozen they found it and moved it back inside where they wondered what it would taste like like any good brew master they tapped it and the rest is history.

  With it's dark color and high alcohol content 10% ABV this beer is one you should sit and enjoy over a couple of hours.  It pours black and rich with a surprisingly thin golden head that dissipated quickly. With big rich coffee like textures and a sweet finish that is subtly changing as it warms up.  They age this beer in Oregon Oak Pinot Noir barrels before bottling to give it a little more dimension.  I think I was suffering a little bit of sticker shock as I consumed this beer and was maybe unduly critical while tasting. But having only paid this much once before for The Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout  12th Anniversary (the best single bottle I've ever had BTW) I was expecting a lot more of everything for the price.

LightHouse Brewing Shipwrecked Triple IPA

This is the first product I have tried from this relatively new brewery based in Victoria B.C..  This is also the first product in there new line of "Small Brewery Big Flavor Series".  Not a bad start.  This beer is a heavyweight, a ABV of 10% so it packs some punch.  A little darker than most IPA's  plus it's also a little clearer than most as well.  It pours with a slightly off yellow thin head that disappears pretty quickly.  This beer spends twice as long in the kettle has twice the malts and triple the hops to a standard IPA.  With the high ABV I would consider this a imperial IPA.  With out using the traditional cascade hops used in the northwest region this beer lacks some of the citrus notes many beers of this style generally have.  I would love to give this bad boy another shot if they still have some on my next trip to Brewery Creek.

Green Flash Brewing Le Freak

I first tried this beer a year ago after one of my first trips to Brewery Creek Liquor store on Main St. here in Vancouver and it has become a staple in my fridge ever since. Simply one of the best beers you will try.  It's something that logically shouldn't work but it just does.  A cross between an Imperial IPA and a Belgian Trippel.  Most of us know what an IPA is but a Trippel is a little less known but in layman's terms it means the strongest brew in a Belgium brew house.  The most famous versions would be from Wesmalle Belgium where it's brewed by Trappist Monks.  Many Trippel's are brewed with  ingredients other than the normal barley, yeast, hops & water to impart different flavors textures and aromas.  They also use many variety's of  complex strains of yeast that impart subtle flavors and add even more complexity to the beer.  With all of these things that set a Trippel apart you now throw in the bitterness from the large amounts of hops used to make a IPA you get a beer that defies logic with a slightly sweet mouth feel with a balanced finish with the bitterness from the hops.  So living up to it's name this beer has a whopping IBU of 101 with a ABV of 9.2% so not for the weak minded when it comes to strong flavors.

Granville Island Brockton IPA

I recently went out to a pub I used to work at for a quick bite and a pint.  I bellied up to the bar to have a chat with the bartender and ordered a pint of Granville Island IPA.  Maybe I have been spoiled by my recent trip to Oregon but I was quite disappointed with this beer.  Very little characteristics of a pacific northwest  IPA, very minimal citrus notes and the hops were not very well defined. Just a very safe beer much like all of there products (wouldn't want to offend anyone beer) something I would drink if there was nothing else to drink on tap.

Upcoming reviews
Howe Sound Total Eclipse of the Hop
Okanagan Springs Black Lager
Whistler Alpine Lager
Dechutes 2010 Jubale
Dogfish head Punkin ale

Till then

Southern Tier 2 X IPA

The brewery is based in Lakewood New York.  I picked up a 6 - pack of this from Brewery creek a couple of weeks ago.  It was so good I just bought a second one this week.  This beer has a real nice citrus aroma with the typical grapefruit finish common with IPA's.  This particular IPA is made with 4 different hops and 3 malts, it has a very high abv % of 8.3 not quite a Imperial IPA but really close.  If you like your typical Canadian style IPA like Granville Island, or Keith's this beer is not for you.

Hop in the Dark Cascade Dark Ale

 I first tried this beer while having a taster platter during dinner at the Deschutes Brew Pub in downtown Bend Oregon.  It was the last beer I tried in the tasting and the best.  FYI if your doing a beer tour the best way to try a bunch of beers is the tasting platters as you get 4-8 tasters for between $3-$7. 

Back to the beer.  As you can see from the picture this beer is very dark and has a great head that lasts through out the pint.  It came in a 22oz bottle or just over a pint.  They use three different variety's of hops along with two different malts.  If you like IPA'S you will love this beer.  While in the Bend area you will notice a very distinct smell in the air of sweet sage and juniper due to the dry high dessert climate.  Well when I got home and tried this beer I noticed the subtle hints of these flavors in the beer as well.  In the wine industry this term is called terroir  which in layman's terms is if you were to grow the same grapes in three different soil conditions but processed them the exact same way they would all have subtle different flavors.  


upcoming reviews


Southern Tier 2 x IPA
Deschutes 2010 Jubale
Howe Sound Total Eclipse of the Hop
Green Flash Le Freak


Till then

Chatoe Rogue First Growth OREgasmic Ale

Picked up while on my Oregon beer / golf trip. 

The basic concept of this beer is they grow everything or GYO (Grow Your Own) so everything is grown by the crew at Rogue.  I really enjoyed this product it had a subtle sweetness offset by the bitterness from the three different types of Hops used . It had a really nice amber color with a thick frothy head that stayed through most of the glass. Absolutely one of the better products from this well known brewery based in Newport Oregon.