Category: review

Beer of the Week 41: Primator Maibock

 

Pivovar Náchod a.s brewery’s Primátor Maibock

From the bottle:

In 2008, prominent Beers of the World magazine awarded Primator Maibock as the World’s Best Lagar. Original gravity: 16 degrees Plato; alcohol by volume: 7.5%.

Golden amber color. Subtle fruit aroma. Crisp, medium-bodied palate. A blend of rich fruity malt and tangy hops produces this complex yet perfectly balanced maibock.

From my notes:

Cool amber color with large bubbled white head. Floral hints, yeast, and malts on the nose. Nice balance of spice, citrus, some nut, and toasty flavors on the tongue. Medium body with a clean feel on the tongue, creamy almost.

I know Maibocks aren’t served in a tulip glass, shut up!

Maibock’s like other robustly flavored beers need to be paired with similiarly robustly flavored foods. Spicy food works as does BBQ and fried foods (fried chicken!), would also work with more flavorful cheeses! If you’re having this beer with dessert I recommend a good strudel or cheesecake.

Beer of the Week 40: Hell or High Watermelon

21 Amendment brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer

From their site:

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat is our summer seasonal beer available from April through September in six pack cans and on draft. We start by brewing a classic American wheat beer, which undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon. A straw-colored, refreshing beer with a kiss of watermelon aroma and flavor.

From my notes:

Opaque peach color, small bubbled head that dissipates quickly. Smells of wheat, maybe spice and fruit. First taste of the beer has a watermelon taste, like Jolly Rancher’s watermelon. light bitter finish. The feel is thin and  little odd.  The taste, overall, seems artificial. Lightly carbonated.

This beer stumped me.

Despite watermelon being one of my favorite fruits I just couldn’t get into this beer. Not an amazing wheat beer and the watermelon flavor was more of a turn off than anything.

Rating (out of five):

Beer of the Week 36 Ricardo’s Red Rocket Ale

Bear Republic’s Red Rocket Ale

From the bottle:

Red Rocket Ale is a bastardized Scottish style red ale packed with distinctive flavors and an aggressive hop character rivaled by none. This unfiltered, bottle-conditioned, amber colored ale, breaks all style molds.

From my notes:

Dark, dark auburn color. No head. hops, pine and citrus on the nose. The taste matches the nose pretty close, hops come in early and intensify through the finish. This isn’t an IPA but definitely hoppy, some subtle toasted malt flavor in there, not as much as I’d like brown sugar. I could taste the alcohol in this one.

Not a good picture but I wanted to show you how red this ale is.

I know, I know I served it in the wrong glass. I don’t have the correct type and all my pint glasses were dirty. Anyway, this is another beer that goes great with just about anything: chicken, burgers, seafood, spicy food as well. Try pairing it with stuff with a little tang. I know the brewer’s say that this is a riff on Scottish Ale but Scottish ale’s have a more robust flavor and quite a bit less hop… Decent drinking!

Rating (out of five):

Beer of the Week 35 Red Rice Ale

Kiuchi Brewery's Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

From their website:

Complex sake like flavors with malt sweet notes. Hints of strawberries in the nose and palate. An intriguing mix of sake, malt , and bitter notes in the finish.

From my notes:

Light rose-ish colored beer with a peach colored head. Not a lot on the nose, subtle some sweetness maybe some malt? Taste is just as hard to describe as the smell. Crisp and fresh with some spice and again the taste that I can’t describe, this must be the rice! Smooth with a mild hop finish.

It really does look beautiful in the glass!

Red Rice Ale is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale and that shows in the spice of the beer and the 7.00% ABV. This beer would go well with beef: burgers, meat pies, etc. Just take it easy as you don’t want to be drinking two or three of them in short order. The hops in the Pale Ale are well balanced with the subtle sweet fruit flavor and what I’m thinking is the red rice flavor that I couldn’t quite describe. A good beer but one I’m having a hard time fitting in with anything.

Rating (out of five):

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