Panil Oak-Aged Sour Red Ale

When I first encountered this unique beverage, I did not taste it. I was at a gathering of beer makers at one of my favorite pubs. There was interesting, informative conversation all around and I was, I have to admit, a bit tipsy already when someone said, "You have to smell this if you like sour." I had never sniffed a beer that smelled of grapefruit. Wow, I sobbered up for a minute and I thought that I'll definitely have to try this someday. Unfortunately it was $30, a bit out of my price range even for a 750 ml bottle. But it must be something special, I thought to myself and proceeded to get even tipsier with my knowledgable company.

It wasn't until my trip to Williamsville that I got my hands on a bottle. It was $15 USD but I knew that I just had to bring one home. For a while, I wanted to save it for some special occasion. I guess I had built it up in my mind so much that I wanted to savour just having it around. In the end I opened it to finally try it. Often things seem lacking if there were too many expectations hanging over any experience. It doesn't matter how good the movie or rollercoaster ride or beer may be, it cannot live up to the thing that I've already built up in my head. This was not the case for this lovely, fruity, tart, delicious Flemish style sour beer. And it's really beautiful to look at, isn't it? My only disappointment was that I only had one bottle.

For a commercial discription and a list of reviews, please see:
http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/panil-barriqu%E9e-(sour)/22395/

For a translation of the Panil website, please see:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.panilbeer.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPanil%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

To place a private order, please see:
http://www.rolandandrussell.com/HOME.html

Avery's Maharaja

This is the first in a series of guest reviews by Beer Guide. They will tend to focus on double IPAs, imperialized reds, in general, "statement" beers by notable craft brewers.There will also be reviews of more obscure and relatively
new Belgian beers.



The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale

The Avery Brewing Co. from Boulder Colorado is just one of many notable breweries from that state. I had been very curious about this beer for quite some time; recently I had a chance to try some. I was not disappointed. It poured a cloudy copper colour with a respectable head. At 9.9% alcohol and 102 IBUs, it's substantial. The nose was quite floral with strong citrus notes, very inviting. Up front is malt, sweet but not overly so. This is smoothly integrated with the big citrusy hop finish. Overall it's very smooth, well balanced and goes down easy with a long finish. It has an oily mouth feel indicative of very heavily hopped beers. All in all a good addition to the ever growing style of double IPAs, as pioneered by the west coast brewers.
The Maharaja says: "Bless them all!"

Clipper City Multi-Pak

Clipper City Brewing Company is located in Baltimore, Maryland. They make a variety of beers. This multi-pak included four of their beers from the Heavy Seas series which included the Peg Leg Imperial Stout, the Small Craft Warning Uber Pils, the Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale and the Winter Storm "Category 5" Ale.

I did not know what to expect from any of these beers. I had never heard of Clipper City before but since this multi-pak included a range of beer styles I thought what the heck. Plus this was recommended and if you don't try new stuff, you never discover what's out there. So this is how it went.

The Peg Leg Imperial Stout had the taste of molasses and sweet smoke with low carbonation. It smelled of dark malt and a hint of smoke. It was very dark black/brown and opaque, no light coming through this one at all. Over all, it lacked the balance to carry the amount sweetness it presented. I would not recommend this one.

Small Craft Warning Uber Pils is golden/dark honey in colour with 7% alcohol it also is a very sweet brew. Lightly hopped with low carbonation, it had a honey flavour and a slight orange zestiness. A bit too sweet for the style, it smelled of cantalope and citrus.

The Winter Storm "Category 5" Ale was much more satisfying. This 7.5% alcohol imperial IPA was sweet but hoppy all at once. It's juicy malt, long citrus finish ends with a mouth puckering grapefruit with a bitter after-taste. There was a medium hop oily mouth feel and a hoppy citrus aroma. There was almost no head or lace and it had a slightly cloudy copper/red colour. I wish I had another one.

Saving the best for last, the Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale is a dark golden amber. At 7.25% it had a gentle, sweet floral nose. Hoppy and citrusy, tart and crisp, it is well balanced with some maltiness. Although it is not a session beer, I could definitely have more than one. Delicious, I thought this was the best one of the pak.

For more on Clipper City, go to www.clippercitybeer.com

Santa's Private Reserve

This festive drink was acquired by Bier Goddess only through the gracious hospitality of Conrad, the General Manager of the Rogue Pub in San Francisco. Bier Goddess can only guess that when Conrad heard far she had come, how limited her visit to San Francisco was and then witnessed her "bouncing off the wall" enthusiasm, he must have somehow found it in his heart to sell her his only display sample of this Christmas Box set of Santa's Private Reserve which was meant to be kept until the real stock was delivered for sale to the general public.

So it came to pass that the precious gift set went home with Bier Goddess along with 16 other beers carefully packed in the Beer Suitcase (yes, she has an especially outfitted suitcase for the sole purpose of bringing beer back from her travels...more on this later). And when it was finally opened, the bottle poured out a rich, brown, sweet-ish ale very reminisient of another Rogue brew, the St. Rogue Red Ale.

This is what the Rogue website had to say:

"Santa's Private Reserve:
Rogue's annual holiday offering, Santa's Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops--including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John "more hops" Maier!This holiday elixir is brewed with two-row Harrington, Klages and Munich malts, along with Hugh Baird 30-37, Carastan 13-17, and Crystal 70-80 malts, plus free range coastal water and John's proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast. Available in both 22-ounce bottles, 12oz Loose packs for Winter 2005, and 12oz six packs for 2006.Measurements: 13 degrees Plato, IBU 44, Apparent attenuation 73, Lovibond 26

No Chemicals, Additives, or Preservatives"

http://www.rogue.com/index.html

Thanks for a totally memorable pub visit & all the goodies you sent me home with...cheers Conrad!