Wilco Tango Foxtrot - Lagunitas (USA - California - Petaluma)

Wilco Tango Foxtrot - Lagunitas (USA - California - Petaluma) 7.8%

An amazing aroma and taste to match: very hoppy (melon & cucumber), hints of peaches but also malty and roasted.  Dark and almost chocolatey tasting at times. It's not bitter at first (or maybe there is just too much going on to really notice it) but it does have a bitter finish. As far as colour, just like one of the many humourous lines to read from the label: "We're not quite in the Red, or in the Black...". It tastes like they mixed a heavily hopped beer with maybe a stout. It's really really good. Too bad it was only a limited release.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 9.0%

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 9.0%

When I spotted this beer, named after one of the more interesting figures in history (in my opinion) and brewed by the folks responsible for one of my most favourite beers ever I had to have it.

It pours black and opaque in a glass with a nice and thick tan coloured head. The aroma is boozy, and a little hoppy with plenty of dark fruit and dried red fruit as well as a certain black licorice hint to the dark chocolate that itself smells like Black Forest Cake. It's enough to set my mouth watering.

The taste is divine: dark fruit and dried red fruit at first, and really throughout, followed by wood tones, I think from a mix of a light pine hops character, smoky dark malt flavours and the alcohol which will warms your cheeks and tickle your chest; sweet and chocolatey middle but balanced by the aforementioned wood tones and hefty bitterness that arrives just before the delectable coffee finish and the lingering coffee and smoke aftertaste.

Anyone not familiar with the Grigori Rasputin's tale should do themselves a favour and give it a read before they drink this Russian Imperial Stout to add some background. Oh and it wouldn't hurt to check out the song too.

Anchor Porter (USA - California - San Francisco) 5.6%

Anchor Porter (USA - California - San Francisco) 5.6%

A black in a glass that is nearly opaque but with amber hints anywhere the light sneaks through. Quite a fluffy, creamy tan head. Roasty, black licorice and molasses, some red and dark fruit and just a little resiny hops.

An amazing but light black licorice flavour from mixing the touch of resiny hops and the full dark malt flavours. The hops are most noticeable in the finish but still not as prevalent as I expected from this American Porter. There's also molasses, a little grain and some red fruits. There is definitely some but I'm not getting a lot of chocolate or coffee tones. Of what there is there is more coffee than chocolate, which is a little different from a typical porter but the licorice flavour is really nice in my opinion and goes very well with the light coffee that does come through.

Overall a very nice American Porter with a more subtle hops touch than Victory Brewing's Storm King Imperial Stout (but sort of along the same lines) and a unique lightly licorice twist. Definitely worth trying.

Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout - Anderson Valley (USA - CA - Boonville) 5.8%

Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout - Anderson Valley (USA - California - Boonville) 5.8%

Dark brown, opaque really, in a glass. A very thick frothy head with great lacing (see below). A doughy, fresh bread, dark malt coffee flavour with oatmeal thickness, and that just in the aroma! Maybe just a touch of the raisin aroma mentioned on the label.

Coffee, oatmeal, a bit of toffee, dried cherries, a touch of smoke and some wooden hop tones. A slightly watery mouthfeel at times but intermixed with a creamy oatmeal feel; still refreshing with a sweet finish and a smoky aftertaste. A really nice stout with a cool label.

Oh Red Seal Ale, how I adore thee!

Red Seal Ale - North Coast Brewing Co (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 5.5%

An appetizing dark brass and amber colour in a glass. A full creamy head and a nice hoppy aroma with some dark hints of not quite coffee. A roasty, bitter, sweet and hoppy flavour. Initially it is the bitterness and red roasted malt that greets you, then sweetness with a hint of maple, a nutty flavour and the spicy hops character reveals itself along with some wooden tones. The wooden tones persist and soften into an aftertaste of spicy hops flavour which puts me in mind of rappinni or a similar green that is bitter, darkly green and mildly spicy.

I could drink this everyday: Red Seal Ale is intensely malty with pleasant roasty flavours, sweet with those bits of maple syrup and then bitter and spicy with a great mix of hops. It is a delicious, complicated, well-crafted and interesting beer but not strongly flavoured so I think everyone would like it unless they are die-hard lager-only drinkers (in which case who cares!?). Needless to say, a very nice beer.

On a personal note, I actually had Red Seal Ale for the first time 6 or so years ago while living Vancouver and not again until today and I remembered quite clearly liking it a whole lot then too - that doesn't happen with most beers from that pre-blogger stage of my life.

Anchor Steam Beer (USA - San Fransisco) 4.8%

Anchor Steam Beer (USA - San Fransisco) 4.8%

Very bitter but pleasantly so. The mellow malty and sweet taste and the bitterness is consistent throughout making for a balanced tasty and interesting beer. The colour is alternatively amber or a brownish red depending on the angle.

Great bottle and bottle cap.