Hoppy, Floppy & Sloppy!

The Doc has managed to dig up some Beer reviews that he's done over the past year of silence. There's enough for multiple postings. Here's the first.



HUB - Secession Cascadian Dark

Amazing! Amazing, that this is what we want to call our Northwests own?! The Doc's been trying to choke down some local CDA beers. Do we really want to call these beers our own? Someone actually think this deserves it's own Style Category? To quote an old saying, "Are you high?!" Contrary to popular belief, the Doc does enjoy a hoppy beer now and then. Most of the local CDA (Black IPA) we've tried have been just Hop Bombs. So Hoppy that nothing else can be detected through bale loads of overdone hops. While I don't expect there to be a balance, I would enjoy tasting something beyond hops that coat my tongue with so much bitterness and cloyingly piney hops that I feel I need to comb my tongue when done.

HUB's beer is just a giant piny hop mess. Dark Brown in color with a thin body. The Pinesol Hop blast hits your nose like an assualt to the head with a brick. Yep, there's hops in there... but what else? Only after my palate was bombarded with hops from sip to swallow does my overworked tastebuds sense a incling of Roasted malt. Nothing else could transent the cavalcade of hop resin.

Oh... Lets not be totally negative! The hops are very fresh.... period. The astrignecy of hops and hop bitterness coats and lingers on the tongue for minutes after. What else can I detect? Not much!

As it warms, a little more roast comes through... just a little.

Maybe I could vomit it up on the floor and strip the wax off the old kitchen floor.

Rating: "A" as a floor and paint stripper. C- as a drinkable beer.



10 Barrel Sinister Black ALe

Maybe should be called Sinister Snickers?! I've heard a lot of hype over this beer, but just now got around to trying it. Wow! It's a sensory test beer for BJCP judges! This beer definitley has an identity crisis! Is it a Black IPA/CDA? NO. A Brown Ale? No. A Porter? No. For those of you ready to argue... No, it doesn't have to fit into a category, but it's NOT black and it ain't a Black IPA.

Flavors all over the board... None really work all together and some stand out rather obnoxiously. The beer has an obnoxious Chocoalte Cocoa sweetness that is never quite balanced out with any other malt of hop bitterness. It's a malty beer with an under balanced hop. I love a good malty beer and I almost like this beer... almost. The sweet Milk Chocoalte notes are just too much for me. The roastiness blazes off in a another demension verging on Black Patant burnt charcoal. Maybe that's why these guys called this beer Black? It has Black Patent in it. While in your face flavors sometimes works for me, this beer tastes way off balance and clumsy. Sweetness here; Chocolate There, Burnt Roast over there.... and then with all that malt a werid watery body.

Doc gives it a "C" rating.







Full Sail - Bump in the Night

Tastes more like a "Bump in the Road." This has an undrinkable obnoxiously hoppy bitterness! Muddy, murky, resinous.... From front to back, it's just bitter... Not spicy hops or herbal hops, just flat out bitter hops. It's murky and grating on the tongue. If I really tried I could pull out a little roastiness hidden behond the pure relenting bitterness. Can taste much else behind the bitter hops. Chocolate? De husked Dark Malts? Crystal? Don't know!! It could be dirt for all I can tell.

This is a beginner home brew brewed by someone who has no idea of how to utilize hops or knowledge of proper hopping additions in the kettle.

While hops are supposed to add a balance of bitterness to a beer, they are supposed to bring along a hop spice/herb/floral quality. When hops are just thrown into the kettle in great abundance you get nothing but pure bitterness.

Doc gives it a "D." Only an infected beer could get a worse rating.

**If you want to claim the rights to these photos send me an email and I'll post yer name.