Kasteel Rouge

WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This one is a bit of a celebration after winning the Deadwood Derby. I tried this at the Worldwide tasting a few months back, and it is now available on a regular basis.

This one pours a dark red/pink. The head is an off pink, with a thick, one inch head. The retention is decent, leaving a nice foam cap. However, there is little to no lacing.

The smell is cherry, cherry, cherry. Cherry juice, cherry flesh, cherry everything!! There is some sweetness present, but not as much as you might expect with that much fruit in the nose. This really doesn't smell like beer. I am definitely in the mood for this. Haha, I have a homemade chocolate chip cookie to pair with this.

CHERRIES!!!! The flavor is cherry after cherry. There is a pleasant balance struck here between tart qualities and the underlying sweetness. I really could see serving this in place of a sparkling wine as a celebratory drink. Great with sweets, and I could honestly see this working well with a main course as well. The alcohol is not present in the least, which is impressive at 8%. This one hits the spot.

The mouth feel is slightly viscous, and pleasantly tingly. This avoids the sweet trap that many beers of this style can fall into. 93/100. It might just be the timing, but this beer is wonderful

Rogue St. Rogue Red (Dry Hopped Edition)

Woo. The second go of the evening. This is my first American style beer from an American brewery in a while. I am honestly looking forward to a little less subtlety. Knowing Rogue, I will not be disappointed.

This pours a cloudy ruby-brown. Nice, every so slightly reddish head on this one. A moderate retention, and a bit of lacing, but nothing really to mention on that front.

The smell is leading with grapefruit notes from the hops. There is a good chunk of malt that follows. Some biscuit is going on, as well as a touch of darker caramel. I am looking forward to having a strong malt bill, particularly after the previous beer.

The taste is citric hops up front. Nice depth here, as the hops fall into the malt and start to mingle into the caramel and toffee notes. Some pine is also apparent. Delightful. If only I had a hearty cut of beef to go with this, life would be perfect. Quite the easy drinker, considering the full flavor.

The mouth feel is pleasantly full. While not the most complex beer in the world, this was full flavored and enjoyable. 88/100.

Urthel Hop-It

This is my first sampling of a modest, but high quality haul from my most recent trip to Lukas. Got to talking to one (the?) manager, and he showed off a bit, and brought out their last six pack of HopSlam and their last bottle of the new O'Fallon Whiskey Barrel (Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year) Aged Smoked Porter.

Immediately upon popping the top of this one, I'm getting grassy hops. There is something bitter in the nose that makes me think citrus seeds. Think accidentally biting down on a lemon seed from a glass of water with a lemon wedge. Biting. Very little malt coming through. I get the feeling there will only be enough malt present to cushion the presumably massive hop profile in this beer.

This is an absolutely beautiful beer. A hazy golden rod body with an ivory head that stretches about 2 fingers up. Impressive retention, and there is still a half finger of head by the end of this glass. Lacing is absolutely plastered to the walls of the glass, with impressive lacing trailing all the way to the finish.

I am honestly not a huge fan of this flavor. This is bitter, biting, citric (more lemon than the American grapefruit) and ever so slightly bready. This isn't as big as many hop-bombs, but the flavors here are all focused on the hops. I'm guessing pilsner malts, as they provide nothing but the slightest inkling of balance. No malt flavor. If these hops were my thing, I think I would be in heaven, but they aren't, so I'm not. I am impressed that there is no, and I repeat no, alcohol in the taste. For a beer that is 9.5% that is surprising. The finish on this is also incredibly dry. Perhaps I am too atuned to American DIPA's that have a bit of sweetness to them, but this dry hop bomb just isn't doing it for me.

Mouthfeel is perfect on this, slightly effervescent, and surprisingly light (relatively). Again, this is an incredibly well crafted beer, but the flavors that the brewer goes for here simply are not my favorite. This is a matter of observing art that is simply not to ones taste. 85/100, with the only major deduction being on the flavor, and that is only from personal preference. There are no defects here. I would highly recommend trying this, as if this style is your thing, this will be bliss in a bottle.