Three Floyds (FFF) Zombie Dust Review - Hoppy American Pale Ale

Three Floyds is known for their aggressive beer names and cool artwork.  Zombie Dust is rated #6 on BeerAdvocate's Top 250 Beer and #1 on their Pale Ale list and for good reason.  This beer has everything going for it, and is reasonably priced at $11 a 6 pack at retail or $35 for a full case straight from the brewery in Munster, IN.

Appearance:  The bottle is extremely cool, featuring the zombie graphic as well as the other information about the beer.  It includes a bottle date, this one was 2/18/14 so the beer is about 2 weeks old, as I am reviewing it on Sunday 3/2/14.  It pours a hazy light gold, and is 75% opaque.  There is some great lacing after a vigorous pour and a solid creamy head.

Smell: you take a whiff of this beer, and you smell fruity citrus hops.  Much less of the piney smell you sometimes get.  Since I have been partaking in a lot of the Alchemist's hoppy offerings lately, this smell does leave something lacking.

Taste: Amazing pale taste.  This is the perfect pale ale for IPA lovers and pale ale lovers would consider it an IPA.  Tons of floral and citrus hops that coat your mouth, but don't linger as long as Heady Topper or some of the other DIPAs.  It is not as astringent and is easy drinking.

Overall:  Awesome beer, very drinkable, reasonably priced.  A+

Thanks to a generous trader!

#PROPERGLASSWARE

It should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of craft beer.  Something that I think is extremely important to tasting beer is the use of a glass.  Many beer drinkers go straight from the can or bottle, but this is a complete rookie mistake.  Beer is meant to be poured out of its container and into a glass, regardless of what John Kimmich says about Heady Topper.  #PROPERGLASSWARE is a bit of a meme in the beer trading/beer geek/untapped/twitter universe, that refers to drinking the beer out of the brewery's or even the specific beer's specialty glass (see above).  I don't get into quite that level, as my collection is still relatively small, though my wife and limited cabinet space disagree!

The workhorse for higher gravity beers is the tulip.  This can come as a much like a snifter or a little bit skinnier with a dip in the middle.  I have pictured both pieces below.  I generally use this kind of a glass for almost all of my beers, it is versatile and handsome.

Oktoberfest Bier Mug - This type of glass is typically oversized and perfect for mass quantities of lager or festbier.  These beers are very sessionable and designed for the biggest beer session of them all Octoberfest!

A variation of this style is "Das Boot" made popular by the movie "Beerfest," if you haven't seen it check out below!

The glass that most people will be familiar with is the pint.  This typically comes in a 16 oz format and is great for relatively sessionable beers and is referred to as a shaker pint.  This glass is usually very cheap, so feel free to grab a bunch from different breweries when you visit.

It's less popular, but equally useful brother is called the Nonic Pint Glass.  It features a notch at the top and is typically sized for a true English pint, 20 ounces.  This is ideal for a lower ABV brew, particularly a real or cask ale poured on tap.  

A goblet is perfect if you are pouring a high ABV Belgian brew like a tripel or quad.  These beers have a great yeast character, and this glass allows you to take a very deep smell of these unique beers.

Gueuze/Lambic glasses are popular for the sour styles originating out of Belgium.  The wild ale train is just getting started, and as they become more popular, the quality sours become more expensive to buy or even impossible in the case of Cantillon these days.  This glass works almost like a flute for Champagne.

Continuing with the stemware trend, I am will move to the oversized wine glass.  You can use a regular wine glass in a pinch, but they are typically sized for smaller beers.  This works similar to a tulip, but usually the stem is much more elongated.  This makes for a more elegant experience.  My favorite beers for this style glass are saisons and other farmhouse ales made with Brettanomyces yeast.  I have included photographs of the Hill Farmstead and Pretty Things versions.

This next glass is called a Teku, and is a combination of the tulip and extended wine glass.  It features a 16 oz chamber, with a perfect shape for tasting beer.  Developed in Italy, more and more breweries that cater to beer geeks are having them made.  This is certainly on my wishlist, probably will end up with the Firestone Walker version.

Another glass recently developed is the so called IPA glass.  I know this was originally designed by Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada for their hop forward beers.  I don't know why but something about this glass doesn't excite me a ton.  Looks like it would break quite easily.

Finally, tasting glasses, a great variety of which are pictured below made by Three Floyds of Indiana for their Dark Lord beers.  These are great for tastings where a 22 oz bomber of beer is shared by 4+ people.  Plus they look very cool.  Pro tip: Crate and Barrel has mini snifters if you have a last minute tasting coming up!

If I am missing your favorite style of glassware or you want to get in on the conversation, jump in the comments or shoot me an email!

#PROPERGLASWARE

Troegs Nugget Nectar is Here!!!

Tröegs Nugget Nectar is one of my absolute favorite beers.  It is not an IPA, but rather an American Amber or Imperial Amber Ale.  Either way, this beer is INCREDIBLY hoppy.  I sprang for a case last year in my excitement, and might do the same, especially after seeing CraftBeerCellar's recent tweet!  Either way, get your hands on this beer as it is spectacular right now, being fresh from brewing.

in other news, Sierra Nevada in cans (mmmmmmmmmmmmm)

Craft Beer Update

I have been trying and tasting a number of new beers lately, as usual.  This time I made sure to document each one of them and I will give you a quick writeup/opinion/comment on each one.  So without further ado...



Berkshire Brewing Company - Goodnight Irene - I had mentioned tasting this at BBC's brewery before and it tastes just as excellent bottled.  For $3.99 with a portion of profits going to charity, the value can't be beat.  BBC specializes in English style ales, but this is an attempt at a West Coast (American) hop-forward IPA.  It is well executed, like the Franklin County Land Trust Preservation Ale.  I do, unfortunately, believe that the hops have faded, ever so slightly.



Full Sail Brewing - Elevation DIPA - This brewery is not one that I am particularly familiar with, although I have heard good things about their lagers which come in stubby Red Stripe bottles.  This Imperial IPA may be past best drank by date, as it is bottled in 2011.  I didn't see that while at the store picking it up, but hops had faded significantly, so I do not feel a review would truly represent the beer.  It looked nice though!



Sierra Nevada - Bigfoot (2012) - Fresh Bigfoot is one of my favorite barleywines.  The hops are right in your face, but taste fresh and delicious.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good aged malty alcohol laden barleywine, but this beer is superb fresh from being bottled!



Pretty Things - Lovely Saint Winefrede - Pretty Things of MA's newest brew is called a Euro Dark Lager, which is certainly not one of my most commonly sampled styles.  This beer really delivers though, the dark, roasted qualities, mix with a hoppy finish, and present a complex but extremely drinkable brew.  Pretty Things never misses, and I recommend picking up a bomber if you have access! (Whatup Stephen Colbert)



Ommegang - Hennepin - I have had this excellent saison many times before, but have not mentioned here on the interwebs.  It is one of my favorite, easily accessible, American saisons, it is in the mid 7% ABV so it packs a punch, but it is definitely a great thirst quenching beer.  I detect a lot more citrusy lemony zest than in other saisons, which is the only thing holding me back from saying this is a perfect saison.



Slumbrew - Porter Square Porter - named after Somerville/Cambridge's Porter square this local porter is one of my absolute favorite new beers.  Smuttynose' Robust Porter is still the best value on the market, but Slumbrew's offering is certainly superior, if not much more expensive.  They use local chocolatier Taza's cacao nibs to impart even more chocolatey flavor with the dark malts.  Excellent desert or cold weather beer.



Sixpoint - Resin DIPA - I had been looking forward to this beer a lot after enjoying all of Sixpoint's other offerings including Autumnation and Diesel.  This left a little to be desired.  I really enjoyed the Red Bull cans that the beer came in, and as a hop-head, the ~9% ABV hop loaded beer tickled my senses.  My issues were that I had expected a west coast style IPA, which is a lot lighter, as you can see this beer is dark and the malts are definitely present.  Maybe my hopes were too high, but I was slightly disappointed with this brew.



Peak Organic - Simcoe Spring Ale - I am a sucker for beers that display the hop type, especially if that hop happens to be Nugget, Simcoe, or Citra!  This is certainly a pale ale, not an IPA, but the delicious Simcoe hops still shine through.  I believe this is fresh as it is the first I have seen or heard of this beer, so that may be a factor.  It is nothing like an IPA or DIPA, so make sure to temper your expectations, but this is a solid offering from Maine's Peak Organic.

Recent Beers

 

Port Brewing: High Tide "Fresh Hop" IPA - This beer is extremely hoppy, even though it was brewed early October.  It's been over a month, but the fresh hops are still extremely noticeable.  The color is quite light and hazy, with an aggressive head.  First whiff of the beer is pure piney hops.  The beer is bitter, as it is an IPA and the alcohol is noticeable although it is only 6.5% ABV.  A delicious beer for sure.

 

Sixpoint: Diesel -  This is a seasonal offering from Brooklyn based Sixpoint.  It comes in 16oz bomber 4 packs, and I paid $8.99.  Although they consider this beer a stout it is 62 IBU's and uses fresh hops.   This beer is nearly a Black IPA it is so hoppy, but there is a solid stout backbone to it as well.  The beer looks great, extremely dark with a foamy head.  The smell is roasted coffee and piney hops.  Very drinkable.

 

Trader Joes: 2011 Vintage Ale - This delicious Belgian Strong Dark Ale is brewed for Trader Joe's by Unibroue in Quebec, Canada, the famous makers of Belgian style ales.  This corked and caged 750ml bottle is a bargain at $4.99 while supplies last at TJ's locations.  Although the beer clocks in at 9% ABV it is approachable.  The beer is very dark and has lots of spices and dark fruits like other BSDAs.  Not the most amazing or complex beer, but a bargain at this price point.

  

Harpoon: Munich Type Dark - An excellent Munich Dunkel Lager from local brewer Harpoon.  This came in the Winter mixed 12 pack and was my favorite beer.  Don't have tasting notes, but I enjoyed it!

Sixpoint Autumnation Review

Sixpoint is an awesome brewery based in New York City.  I had tasted their stuff several years ago when I was in the city, since they were draft only at the time.  This past year they began to start selling their beer outside of the home NYC market.  I am lucky enough to live in one of the regions where they began distributing, and I have tasted all of their beers so far.  One of the things I like about the brewery is that they sell all their beer in 16oz cans in 4pks.  I like this better than a 12oz bottle 6pk by a significant margin.  I sometimes feel like 12oz is too little and 22oz is too much, and 16oz is perfect.  Cans are far superior to bottles, praying this continues to catch on. 

This beer is extremely unique.  It is a wet-hopped pumpkin beer.  I barely detected pumpkin, although there is a good amount of ginger and spices.  These all take a back seat to the glorious hops.  The beer is grassy, green, and delicious, using freshly harvested hops added directly to the boil.  The result is a "Fall IPA" beer that is incredibly "fresh" taking and drinkable.  I do think this beer is polarizing, and there will be people who either like it, or strongly dislike it, not much in between.   Available for only a short time, due to limited availability of the hops.  I am looking forward to their next release, Diesel, and apparently a Saison is in future developments.

Mixed 12 Packs: Sierra Nevada Beercamp & Sam Adams Latitude 48

This one time at beercamp... Sierra Nevada hosts an annual "beercamp" where they brew a bunch of beers and this year they are releasing a "Best of Beercamp" mixed 12 pack. This is huge news in and of itself, because I have never seen a mixed Sierra Nevada 12 pack, before. I like mixed 12s, because you get a bunch of beer, which is obviously great, but it allows you to buy only a couple of each beers at a reasonable price per bottle, great for craft beer newbies. This mixed pack includes a Double IPA, (previously known as (Ghidorah) a Weizenbock, a Black IPA and a California Common. (like Anchor Steam) I have heard that this mixed pack will be ~$20, which is higher than normal, but is definitely worth it for 3 DIPAs, and other beers which are produced in much smaller quantities than their standard lineup.


Samuel Adams has also come out with its out mixed 12 pack, based on their Latitude 48 IPA. The original Latitude 48 IPA is a solid IPA that has been around for the past 18 months, featuring 5 hop varieties all grown on the 48th Parallel, thus the name. This mixed 12 pack will include 2 of the original Latitude 48 as well as 2 "single hop" IPAs, using solely each of the different hops. They are as follows: Ahtanum, Zeus, and Simcoe, Hattertau Mittlefrueh and East Kent Goldings. The first three are from the Yakima region of the Pacific Northwest, and the final two are not typically highlighted in American IPAs. I am looking forward to Simcoe and Zeus most, but the other 3 should definitely be enlightening. This will run about $15, much more affordable than the Mikkeller "Single Hop IPAs" at $6/12 oz bottle. Check out more info @ TheBostonGlobe.

Sierra Nevada: Anniversary Ale

Cascade Hops aplenty

This Blackberry Bold 9700 camera is a lot better than the Bold 9000, but no Iphone