High hopes and less than astounding results...

What a week this past week has been! Full of ups and downs, and honestly one that I am looking forward to putting behind me completely. That said, beer night was not something that I was going to give up this week. I have started reading a very interesting book called, “Tasting Beer” that has me excited to continue my beer explorations and  increase my knowledge, and hopefully eventually enter the world of home brewing. I HIGHLY recommend checking out “Tasting Beer” by Randy Mosher. It so far has given me an amusing recap of the history of beer, and helped alleviate my guilt for not having all the proper beer lingo down. I look forward to finishing it and checking out Mosher’s other book, “Radical Brewing”.

So, down to brass tacks, this week we have two more American Craft beers, both of which were out of our comfort zone flavor-wise as we generally prefer less bitter beers of a Belgian style. But what’s life going to give you if you don’t try something new?

From Clown Shoes Brewery’s Brown Angel Double Brown Ale 7.0% alc./vol. According to the description, “This is NOT your old school brown, but rather a sexy American interpretation.” Brewed in Ipswich(what a fun word!), MA.

http://www.clownshoesbeer.com/brownangel/

Color: dark brown

Taste: rich and full of a roasted malt flavor

Musings: I thought that this brown ale was rather tasty, though my counterpart did not like it. It was darker than I anticipated, and had a very strong roasted malt flavor that was almost overpowering. If you don’t like bitter beers, this is not going to be for you. The last beer that we had from Clown Shoes was their Clementine beer, and it was astoundingly good. We had high hopes for Brown Angel, and we were left feeling not terribly impressed. I do have to say that we both had a bad week, so our mood may have affected our tastes. By no means was this a bad beer, I think I just prefer something less bitter and with more flavor notes.

Grand Teton Brewing Company, Victor, Idaho gives us Persephone Pilsner 8.75 alc./vol. The brewery recommends drinking this beer fresh rather than storing for an extended amount of time. Persephone was released February 1, 2011, and our beer came with a tag explaining the beer, and stating that it was brewed on January 12, 2011.

http://www.grandtetonbrewing.com/PIMP.html

Color: Golden

Taste: A cross between a pilsner and an APA. Very strong hop flavor up front that slowly ebbed to a pilsner taste            

Musings: I thought that this was an interesting beer. It was neither a pilsner as we know it, nor was it a true pale ale. It’s hoppiness really takes center stage but it is then rounded out with a cleaner pilsner flavor. I thought that this was a good beer, my beer companion was not terribly impressed.  I think that this one had a good balance to it. I can’t say it was my favorite lager, but I would order it again.