I sampled Double Jack before giving this one (the base) a try, but here in IL, Dubs was the first IPA of FW to hit the shelf.  Double Jack rocked my world causing me to keep my fridge well stocked with it for at least 3 months straight.  Wanting to sample their Pale Series beer, I was naturally excited when I found Union Jack on the shelf.

It pours a clear, light bronze hue with a dense ivory head.  Honestly, it looked lighter than some APAs I’ve had – my kind of IPA.  The orange hues were most dominant, but for the most part this looked close to the IPAs that 3 Floyds and Founders brew.

The aroma was all about the hops.  Floral, citrus, dank, resinous, pungent, herbal, grassy, honey, piney, woodsy, earthy and fruity notes were all present in this beer.  While there was more focus on the fruity aspects there is something here for every hop head to enjoy.  Not as grapefruit-like as expected, but the citrus aromas are more tangerine, orange, and peach.  There is a nice light caramel touch to the malt providing some sweetness that compliments the honey’d hop characteristics well.

The flavor is phenomenal!  FW does hoppy beers well and it shows.  Union Jack is a hop lovers dream.  Seriously, a few months after I finished my first 6 pack, I had a dream I was enjoying a pint of this on a tropical island.  Even though this beer is full on hops, it is well-balanced with a sweet caramel, biscuit-like malt backbone aid to sugar coat the front of the palate.  From there it becomes an all on assault on the taste buds (in a good way).  The hopping is crisp and clean…like a good IPA should be.  It seemed the bitterness amplified the abv a little as there were times this beer seemed like an Imperial IPA.  It as packed with resinous flavors…that if for sure!  The back half of the sip reveals the pungent dank high alpha hops used for bittering.  Wow!  It is intense.  The aftertaste is that of peach, mango, some apple, and light bready caramel.

Overall, I give this beer the highest grade for many reasons.  It is a quality beer that deserves more attention.  Compared to most IPAs on the market, I’d argue that this is as good as Bell’s Hopslam and Founders Double Trouble…if not in the same vein.  It is that good!

Pliny the Elder this beer ain’t. Supplication is a seasonal ale, a Brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels, with sour cherries, and bombed with three strains of wild yeast: Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus. That should be enough of an introduction for most people who understand beer to approach this beer delicately. But excitedly, big big! Because beers like this, though they might seem formidable, are special. The nature of their ingredients means they’re much harder to master. And let me tell you, Russian River have absolutely mastered Supplication. It is an incredible beer.

It comes in a 375mL bottle that’s nice and heavy: dark brown glass, cork, and familiar blue label. Poured into a clean tulip glass with great care (don’t want to stir up sediment), the beer appears a beautiful reddish orange hue and gathers some nice carbonation. Its aroma is quite clean and fruity compared to the more musty barnyardy aromas you get in beers with these yeasts: grape, cherry, and dark fruits lurking in there, and there’s a tartness to the nose that really makes the palate water. The taste is amazing: so absolutely delicious and surprising, your palate will reel from all the complexity in this beer. Bready malt, tart fruit, hop bitterness, and wild yeast combine in such a great ratio. This beer is nuance through and through. Here in Chicago, Russian River is impossible to buy. We must either enjoy it as a gift from Westerly friends, have to travel out to the west coast ourselves, or trade for it on the beer wire. I highly recommend you get your hands on some. There’s a reason it is one of the highest rated American-brewed ales.

Kumquats – an small citrus fruit grown in the Asian region of the world with a sour taste.

Schichimi – a Japanese blend of 7 spices (red chilli pepper, black & white sesame seed, Sichuan pepper, roasted orange peel, hemp seed, ground ginger, and sometimes an edible seaweed).

The flavors in this beer are very rather big.  Essentially, I found the base flavors to be that of a Belgian Golden Strong Ale (tastes similar to Mischief). However, the  spices and fruit did seems to carry this beer.  The mouthfeel was on the lighter side as the carbonation in the beer was champagne-like.  It helped to keep the beer on the effervescent side.  My thought is that the sake yeast was added in addition to a Belgian strain as there is a definite bready, bubblegum, spicy aspect to the yeast flavor.  Moreover, the sake yeast seems to add this coconut-like aftertaste to the beer which for the most part seemd to smooth everything out.  Very tropical to say the least without the huge citrus notes (passionfruit, grapefruit, guava, mango).  The kumquat adds a little citrus pep to the front half of the taste while the schichimi spices are very noticeable on the back side of the sip.  With regards to the abv, it was practically non-evident yet providing some muscle.

There were a ton of flavors going on in this beer (American flare), but they all seemed to be enhancing a traditional style (Japanese tradition).  It was a lively drink that had some unique ingredients.

The appearance was very bubbly.  I had poured it into a pokal glass, but quickly realized it was better suited in a pilsner glass as to show off the ever-present beads of carbonation rising to form a tight white head.  The color was just like The Bruery’s Mischief – pale/straw gold.  The head was so dense that it looked like whip cream.  I attribute that to the sake yeast.  When pouring the last glass worth there was a cloudy sediment that served to provided a deeper yeast quality to the aroma and taste.

Revisiting my glass before I finished off the last sips I explored the aroma.  It too, smelled like a Belgian Golden Strong Ale.  Yeasty, fruity, bubblegum, some citrus, and a host of herbs.  While the aroma seemed rather complex, it was continuously brought back to the base beer.  An interesting beer for sure that was great for expanding my flavor profile.  It has it’s place as a one-off brew.

The bottle I have has been nestled in my fridge for a little while so the sediment was nice and compacted on the bottom.  The first pour was clear and looked very similar to maple syrup.  A deep bronze hue produced a beige dense head that fought its way out of the 10% liquid.

The aroma is fruity and resinous.  Big hints of pine, Lysol, lemon, spruce, peach, pineapple, apricot and herbs cascaded from the glass.  It is a pungent and dank hop quality.  I can only guess that some of the hops used might be Galena, Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial, Chinook, Nugget, or Warrior.  These are all pretty pungent and earthy.  For a double IPA there is a fare amount of malt backbone that comes out such as caramel and toffee.  It smelled sticky and sweet at the same time.

port definitely brewed a hop bomb, but I was not completely won over.  Yes, the hops were resinous and stuck to my palate at the finish and carried over into the aftertaste.  Yes, the underlying bitterness was huge and pungent…there was no way around it.  My problem lies in the malts.  Too dark.  Too much caramel.  I understand you need to balance out the intense hopping, but this beer parts directions from its other fine crafted IPAs.  I personally, feel that this beer would be that much more enjoyable if the malts used were lighter.  The finish is where Hop-15 comes to its peak bitterness.  Brace yourself as it is a full on assault bomb (as the label suggests).  A good beer for sure, but not exactly what I was looking or hoping for.  I’ll stick with Mongo and Firestone Walker’s Double Jack for my readily available California double IPAs.

I found it ironic yet again that I was looking at a beer which came from the same grain bill as a Barleywine.  The color was a slightly hazy gold, with light copper hues throughout.  A gorgeous fluffy head rose up to cap this little brew which laced as my beer disappeared.

Not sure exactly what to expect I plunged my nose in to get a smell.  Light, yet great notes of caramel.  Additional hints of biscuit, hay, chaff, and toffee complete the malt aromas.  The Golding hops lend a very herbal, grass, dank and minor spicy quality to the smell.  This seems to over take the weakened malt character, but not in a bad way.

The flavor is all hops mixed with some yeast.  This is definitely not a beer to age so when purchasing this beer make sure you try and find a fresher bottle.  If you do end up with an older bottle, there will be a more pronounced yeasty flavor and minor hop off flavors.  The hops are spicy on the back half of the sip, the malt bready.  Smooth and light caramel/toffee notes lay down some backbone, but this is an English Bitter style ale so the emphasis is on the hop.  It is light as the yeast did not have as much feed on.  I’d say this is a great table beer or as Anchor suggests a “sessionable” drinker.  Honestly, while this beer is good, I’d probably reach for another beer if I was at a pub with my buddies.  However, I would recommend this beer for BBQ, cookouts, and large dinners were a flavorful and refreshing ale is called for.

From the rich froathy pour this beer commands respect, yet at the same time is so inviting (especially on cold nights).  It probably has something to do with deep garnet hue topped by the dense creamy tan head.  No matter how you pour this beer looks good.  The head lasts and laces on the glass as you casually sip.  While it looks like a big stout, you will found its aroma and flavor to be different.

Wafting huge notes of chocolate, roasted grains, slightly burnt toast, deep toffee, and an herbal sweetness Anchor does not mess around.  The aroma of Norther Brewing is hidden behind the layers of malty goodness, but they do give off a similar smell to the Steam beer (since they both use the variety exclusively).  Nice smooth richness acts as the invite which is then backed by the bold roasty aromas if you let your nose linger in the glass.  Porters are known for having a pleasant coffee-like quality and this beer greets you with what smells like a morning blend.  Lighter with more caramel notes.

The tastes is right up, if not better than, any porter on the market.  I’m pretty sure I could do a blind taste test against GLBC Edmund Fitzgerald with my Dad and he would not be able to tell the difference.  Both are benchmark examples of the style.  Deep roasted malt notes provide great body and depth for this beer throughout each sip.  The flavors were robust, but the yeast profile made this smooth bready aspect that lent for a moderate mouthfeel.  Not in a heavy way though.  This beer is very drinkable and given the abv you can enjoy a few.  The finish is on the dryer side like a Dry Stout, but the body is astringent.  Rather, it has some deep caramel and toffee notes along with a herbal spicy and mildly pine hop profile.  I definitely enjoyed the finish on this beer and the aftertaste is chocolaty.

This is a MUST try in my book if you like darker ales.

I found the latin name rather humorous.  ”Agrifolia” sounds close to agriphobia.  Not sure what would happen if a tree had a fear of farming?  I digress.  Another stout-like brew for this year’s batch.  It pours a deep mahogany with similar garnet hues as the 2002 vintage.  The head seemed a little darker somewhere between a mocha and tan color.  It was dense and laced as I drank.

Despite the fact that I skipped vintages 2003 and 2004, this beer smells an awful lot like the 2002 batch.  I little less on the deep chocolate notes, they come across like the Hershey’s chocolate milk powder.  More herbal and spicy it has layers of pepper and chai.  To some degree these are all starting to smell very similar, but there are subtle differences which can be detected.

The flavor had some smokiness to it which paired nicely with the darker malts and spicy, earthy notes.  There is a more predominate floral character to this vintage.  A cleaner finish with spicy  and smokey notes could go well with meats or creamy cheese.  It has a drying effect in the aftertaste which could be from the herbs used…almost an oregano flavor.  This is more porter-like as the mouthfeel is lighter and the burnt grains do not hold up to the same flavors found in stouts.  This is still a tasty brew, but not the best vintage in my opinion.

Picking up where I left of yesterday, I found myself pouring vintage 2002.  The contents of the bottle was much darker this time around and the head much more dense than before.  Looking through the glass into some light and a clear garnet color was evident.  Familiar dark brown hues on the edge of the glass, but for the most part this did have a darker tint to it.  There also seemed to be a lot more sediment in the bottle.

The smell seemed much more full bodied as well.  Huge notes of bittersweet chocolate and minor notes of coffee stood out.  There was another spice that I was experiencing, but not until the halfway into the beer did I realize it was vanilla.  Smooth and pure.  The vanilla aroma combined with the chocolate to create a very nice astringent licorice quality.

Big stout notes carried this beer from start to finish.  Chocolate, licorice, some astringent burnt grain, vanilla and some coffee to round out the finish.  It is smooth and velvety.  I got a slight soy sauce flavor somewhere in the middle like the 1999 vintage.  Reflecting on that I realized that bottle also had a large amount of sediment at the bottom.  My guess is that the beer ends up sitting on top of all that sediment for too long and develops some off flavor.  While that sounds like a “no duh” statement, it is an observation nonetheless.  Bold, roasty, and rich this beer could also be paired with dessert.  I thoroughly enjoyed the 2002 vintage.

Pouring a deeper ruby reddish color it looked more like a Scottish style ale mixed with a Porter.  The head plumed rather fast and formed a tight knit beige barrier.

When it came to the aroma, this year’s vintage had Scottish ale all over it.  Dark malt notes that were roasty and toasty invaded my nostrils.  It took me a while to try and pinpoint what I was smelling, but eventually I come to the conclusion that it smelled like heather had been used.  Earthy, malty, and robust it had some great cinnamon and licorice aromas.  Some fruity notes of blackberries some through along with fennel.  It reminded me of El Camino (un)Real a little.

Not as hoppy as the 2000 vintage, but the spices were similar.  At least I got a good sense that the dryness came from the more tea-like herbal and spicy flavors than hops.  There was a floral component to it as well.  Honey maybe?  The malt notes were earthy and roasty reminding me of Guinness (minus the astringently).  A darker malt character in this year’s vintage as it is more recognizable.  Spices that were used in this beer have some punch or at least stand out.  I will add that it tastes a little like peppercorn.  Towards the finish there were some hints of dark fruits like dates which helped to balance out the spiciness.  Ten years out and it still tastes good.

The start of a new decade.  I wonder what they added to the brew to make this beer that much more special.  In any case, it poured very similar to the year prior with a deep brown color.  One could argue that it is a brown ale or mild porter base with the addition of spices.  Looks as thought it would fit either style.  The head billowed up slowly and created a tan fluffy head that laced.

Expecting a soy sauce-like aroma I was pleased to find it did not.  Spicy, licorice, and dark bready notes met my nose.  Additional hints of arise, cinnamon, nutmeg (ironic?) and hazelnut all created a nutty almost chewy smell.  Rich with minor chocolate undertones it seemed to me that this bottle had withstood the test of time.  It did smell as thought it was a little more aggressively hopped with an English variety.

Moving right into in big gulp my palate was picked up on the chewy malt profile and chocolate semi-sweetness.  The spices mentioned above did play a part in the flavor and did so delicately.  They were not overpowering in the slightest.  Deep molasses notes coated the middle of the palate right before a spruce-like bitterness rounded out the finish.  It was dry and had a hoppy aftertaste layered in chocolate.  I enjoyed this 11 year old bottle very much.