What's In My Glass: 8/20/11-8/21/11

I ended up splitting up what was to be one night’s worth of beer out over the weekend, and only felt it made sense to pool the last two nights into one post. Saturday night I cracked a bottle of Summit’sSilver Annversary Ale, an IPA. I received this one as an extra in two separate trades this past week, and was eager to try my first beer from this brewery.

 I wanted to like this beer, and I acknowledge it’s technically sound. Nice appearance, solid malt to hops ratio, and both the body and the carbonation level are good. My beef is in the hop choice, namely what I’m guessing is extensive use of Centennial hops. As a bit of background, Cascade hops are the classic American hop strain that give the iconic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale its citrusy, grapefruit flavor. Centennial hops are described basically as Cascade on steroids, and the result is an unpleasant one for me. If you’ve ever done any cooking and had to zest some fruit, you’ve probably encountered the advice to not grate too much of the skin off, lest you get some of the bitter white pith underneath. Centennial hops to me taste like someone zested a grapefruit and got way too much pith mixed in. It’s more bitter than citrusy, and that bitterness combined with the natural amount present in your average IPA just overwhelms the beer for me. That’s what I found in Summit’s brew. I know it’s right in a lot of craft beer drinkers’ wheelhouse, but it’s just a bit of a miss for me.

Next up Saturday night was a test bottle of the Kitchen Sink Saison I bottled last weekend. This wasn’t a taste test as much as a check that the beer is carbonating properly. It wasn’t even a full 12oz serving, just the little bit extra that went into the last bottle. Mission success on the carbonation front and the flavor is promising, if not exactly what I was aiming for. I once again got plenty of fruitiness from the Dupont yeast strain (I used the same yeast for my first homebrew batch last year), but didn’t get quite as much spiciness from the rye and hops as I might have hoped. The beer still tasted a bit young, but I’ll be checking in once a week or so to see how it’s coming along.

Tonight was a one beer night for me, with that one beer being a bomber of Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf.

This was one of two double IPAs from Three Floyds that I received last week and it was the one that I was more intrigued by. Similar to last night’s Summit brew, this one was well constructed from a technical standpoint. While the Silver Anniversary Ale’s hop choice killed it for me, this one’s (I don’t know the exact culprits, but I have a few suspicions) was absolutely inspired. Here was a beer, brewed as well as the best of them, which completely eschewed the stereotypical citrus notes of most American IPAs. Apricots and other tropical fruits shone through, as well as a distinct white wine flavor. Pine was also present in the background to keep things interesting. I’d  buy/trade for this beer again over others from brewers of similar skill just because the hop varietals used result  in a fairly unique beer within the IPA family.