Anchorage Brewing Company - Darkest Hour

I know they've only sent a handful of beers down to San Diego in their short existence, but I'm not afraid to call Anchorage Brewing Company one of my favorite breweries. Up until a few weeks ago, only five of their beers had made it to San Diego. However, of those five, there wasn't one that I didn't fall in love with. And one of them, Bitter Monk, was one of the best beers I had all year last year. So what would happen when they attempted the style that I love the most? I finally found out when their stout, Darkest Hour hit shelves this month.

Before we get into the actual review, it's important to point out that Darkest Hour (just like the other beers from Anchorage) isn't just any stout. It's a Belgian-style stout that is aged in both Pinot Noir and Rye Whiskey barrels and then aged in the bottle with wine yeast. Like everything else Anchorage has put into the market so far, the process is anything but simple. Let's see how this one turned out.

I broke in my new Lost Abbey stemware with this beer and, I've gotta say, it looked damn good in there. Darkest Hour pours a black color that's just a shade short of being jet black. A light brown head foams up initially, but disappears quickly, almost like the head of a soda. Right after the pour, I didn't smell much besides a lot of brandy-soaked raisin skins. The smell is intense, maybe even a little overpowering at first. But as it warms, the raisin notes fade and notes of molasses, a heavy, almost zinfandel-like wine aroma, some spicy oak, burnt brown sugar and leather creep into the picture. The booziness in the aroma is a bit overwhelming at first, but as this beer warms (and as the added elements in the smell enhance it), it becomes downright inviting.

The taste opens on a sweet, burnt creme brulee note, then moves towards flavors of molasses, dense, sour-tasting wine and toffee. The middle of the beer brings some dark chocolate covered raisins, whiskey and some new oak. Finally, the finish kicks in and shows some charred oak, burnt raisin, and just a hint of booze. The mouthfeel shows nothing of the 13%, but has a bit of a slickness to it, reminding you that pacing yourself with this one might be a good idea.

I thought Darkest Hour was a really interesting beer. It's a strange experiment, falling somewhere in between a great traditional barrel-aged stout (think Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout) and a sour stout (think Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura). The elements of both these styles are present, and the beer seems torn on which it wants to identify with. By not really choosing one, I think it falls a bit short of what it could be. Still, this is another fantastic beer from Anchorage. If you see anything from them on a shelf near you, do not hesitate.

Final Grade: B+

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 127

Best/Worst Beers of 2012

Welcome back! I hope all of you had a safe and happy new year. Now that we're already two days into 2013, it's time to look back with fondness (or in some cases, with not so much fondness) at the best and worst beers of 2012. It was a big year for me, as I got to finally tick of some very big wants off of my list. There were also some huge surprises in the beer world, a few of which made this list. So without further ado, here are my best and worst beers of 2012. (As I did last year, none of the Top 100 Beers are going to be included in this list. I'd rather give you some new beers to try than name beers off of a list that's easily accessible. )


Best Beers of 2012


5. Southern Tier Brewing Company - Pumking

 I was starting to think that all pumpkin beers tasted the same until Southern Tier's Pumking and I crossed paths. I had heard great things about this beer going in and it absolutely lived up to the hype. The smell alone is worth the price of admission, with massive pumpkin pie and baked yam notes practically erupting from the glass. If you love pumpkin beers, this is a must try. I'll be looking to top this one in 2013, but I'm not sure how good my chances are.


4. Maine Beer Company - Zoe

I was under the general impression that most amber ales were sort of crowd pleasing beers until I got a bottle of Maine Beer Company's Zoe during a trip to Boston earlier this year. While on paper, Zoe is a very simple beer, it's just so... freaking... good. Everything about it made me rethink what amber ales should be and it's a beer I definitely hope to cross paths with again very soon.


3. High Water Brewing - Campfire Stout

S'mores and beer? Together? Going into this year, I probably wouldn't have thought this was a great idea for a beer. However, somehow High Water Brewing made this work with their Campfire Stout. The beer smells exactly like a s'more. Chocolate? Graham Cracker? Marshmallow? They're all there. What's even better, the beer nailed the taste as well. While I still think an Imperial version of this would make me so happy I would probably explode, Campfire Stout is plenty tasty and plenty worth seeking out as is.


 2. Brasserie Cantillon - Lou Pepe (Framboise)

I stumbled upon this beer by chance at a local bar and decided I had to have it. Even though it was pricey, I'm so glad I tried it. While the Kriek Lou Pepe may get more of the glamor, I thought the Lou Pepe Framboise was a better beer. The beer smelled like rich, jammy raspberries and had a fantastic tartness throughout the taste. Even with a lot of sweet elements, the taste remained on the dry side, which I really loved. You have to be lucky to find anything from Cantillon around here and, somehow, I was able to find a good amount last year. This one was the best.


1. Anchorage Brewing Company - Bitter Monk

I don't think any brewery blew me away this year quite as much as Anchorage Brewing Company did. When I first saw that they made a Double IPA, I wasn't sure how the style could possibly work with Brettanomyces, so I stayed away. Eventually I gave in and tried a bottle of Bitter Monk and it ended up being maybe the best beer I had all year. There are so many elements at work in this beer and Anchorage has somehow pulled every single one of them off. Bitter Monk has a ton of juicy, citrusy hop flavors and then couples them with the added complexity from the Brett and the aging in Chardonnay barrels. I don't know if Anchorage has any plans to release any new beers this year, but if they do, I will be the first one in line for them.


And that wraps it up for the best beers of 2012. Now, it's time to move on to the worst beers. Last year, I struggled to come up with 5 bad beers I tried during the year. A few (Pizza Beer and anything from Kennebunkport) were easy, but I tried to only taste good beers throughout the year, so the rest of the beers on the list may have been a stretch. This year, I made sure I wasn't going to have that problem again. I actively sought out the worst beers I could find and found some pretty terrible stuff.



Worst Beers of 2012


5. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. - Bud Light Platinum

This year, Anheuser-Busch (always the innovators) introduced a new, beefier version of Bud Light- Bud Light Platinum. From the electric blue bottle to the "Bud" name on the bottle, all signs pointed towards this being a pretty crappy beer. Not surprisingly, Bud Light Platinum delivered, with every bit of the added alcohol showing up in a flavor that was a mix of Mickey's and corn flakes. If I hadn't been seeking out terrible beers, this may have been the worst out there. But I was able to do a little better.


 4. Chili Beer Co. - Original C Cave Creek Chili Beer

I spent a lot of time on "Worst Beer You've Ever Tasted" type forums this year, looking for ideas. One beer that was consistently mentioned was Chili Beer Company's Original C Cave Creek Chili Beer. While I'm glad I tried it in the name of product research, the sensation of having heartburn in my mouth while drinking this beer wasn't exactly pleasant. I'm not opposed to all chili beers, but this was an absolute abomination. If Tecate, lighter fluid, and pepper spray were to have a baby, it might taste eerily similar to Original C Cave Creek Chili Beer. Avoid at all costs (unless it's for a practical joke. Then I highly recommend this stuff). 


3. Rogue Ales - Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale

When Rogue first announced they were making this beer, I was really excited. Then I tried it and wanted to kick myself in the balls for falling for such a gimmicky beer. While the idea behind Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale isn't terrible, the end result was. The smoked and charred malt flavors completely overwhelmed everything else in the beer. I couldn't really taste any bacon or doughnut, which was a huge letdown. Rumor has it that Rogue's next collaboration is with Portland's Powell's Bookstore and is going to be brewed with pages from Moby Dick. I wish I was making this stuff up. I'm pretty much done with Rogue at this point and Bacon Maple Ale sealed that fate.


 2. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. - Wild Blue

 

I began this year on a mission to find a beer worse than the worst beer I had last year, Kennebunkport IPA. The first beer I tackled on this quest was Anheuser Busch's Wild Blue and it annihilated the IPA. Grape Crush-like in color, dog vomit-smelling and already-been-chewed blueberry scone-tasting, this behemoth went untouched for nearly the entire year as the worst beer I had ever tried. If you're a fan of high alcohol beers that taste like cough syrup mixed with trash, look no farther than Wild Blue. Just thinking about this beer again makes me cringe. And yet there was one beer that topped it...




1. Browar Staropolski - Zorg

I've had some truly terrible beers throughout the time I've been blogging. But nothing has ever come close to Zorg. I blew past about every warning sign possible when I bought Zorg (came in a 51oz. plastic bottle, looked kind of like something a cat threw up, etc.). I opened it with a group of friends and none of us could down more than a few sips of this stuff. The heavy mouthfeel coupled with the flavor profile that ranged from "pure malt syrup" to "honey soaked sewage" made this stuff the worst beer I've ever had. And it wasn't even close. I shudder to think that there might be a beer out there that's worse than Zorg, but I'm going to try to find one anyways. God help me.

Thanks you all for your support throughout the year. I'm looking forward to sharing tons of good (and bad) beer experiences in 2013. Cheers!

Anchorage Brewing Company - Bitter Monk

When most people think of Alaskan beer, they think of the beers from Juneau's Alaskan Brewing Company. While there's nothing wrong with Alaskan, I would argue that there are much better beers being made right now about 800 miles away in Anchorage. It's there that you'll find Midnight Sun and Anchorage Brewing Company. The latter is the spawn of one of Midnight Sun's former brewmasters, Gabe Fletcher. Anchorage Brewing Company may be young, but in their short existence, they've churned out some absolutely incredible beer. I was able to find their Double IPA, Bitter Monk on a recent trip to Bottlecraft.

Just like all of their other beers, Bitter Monk is barrel aged with Brettanomyces. The process to make this beer is pretty extensive. First, the beer is fermented with a Belgian yeast strain, then fermented again in French Chardonnay barrels and then fermented again in the bottle. During the aging process, it's dry hopped with my favorite hop variety, Citra. I've never really had an oak aged IPA that I liked, to the point that I've made a point not to buy them, but because of my positive experience with Anchorage in the past, I decided to give this one a try anyways.

Bitter Monk pours a hazy apricot color with a huge and fluffy white head. The color of this beer was absolutely awesome and the head left loads of lacing down the glass. I picked up a huge citrus hop aroma as soon as I poured this one, with notes of vanilla, lemon and grapefruit as I leaned in closer for a smell. Deeper down, I picked up some Nilla Wafer, just a touch of Brett and a bit of oak.

I'm a huge fan of Citra hops, so I was pretty happy that the first thing I picked up when I took my first sip of this was a huge blast of Citra-y goodness. Along with the Citra were big notes of mango, white grape and pink grapefruit. The middle sweetened up with some honey and caramel malt before a finish of peppery and earthy hops. The finish brought just a bit of oak and a bit of Chardonnay-like dryness. Off the top of my head, it's hard to come up with a beer with a more complex taste than this one has.

You can really taste everything that went into this beer and, despite everything fighting for attention in here, it all works really, really well. The aspect of this I was most worried about was the oak, as most of the oak aged IPAs I've had were completely dominated by the oak. This one used the oak brilliantly. It was an afterthought in the taste without being completely forgotten. Another fantastic beer from Anchorage. I'm very excited for whatever they come up with next.

Final Grade: A

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