Talking 4 New Beers In Our Market

There are a lot of new beers hitting the area right now with the change of season, so I thought I'd take a few minutes and post a bit about 4 of them that I've recently had, from 4 different breweries. You'll notice I'm not rating them as I'm sort of against ratings. Who am I to say what something should rate? Check 'em all out for yourself and don't trust me, Ratebeer or anywhere else. If you like or dislike something, damn the "experts." Taste is subjective. But that's a whole other blog post.... so just read about the 4 new brews and then go check them out for yourself!

Tommyknocker Oaked Butt Head Bock 

From the brewery: Oaked Butt Head combines Tommyknocker's award winning Butt Head Bock with finely toasted oak. The vanilla and spice character of the oak melds with the malty caramel flavors of our doppelbock.

In my opinion: This brewery seems to have a lot more malt forward beers than hop forward and they do well with this. This one has tons of flavor from the caramel malt and the oak comes out just fine with just hints of vanilla. Rich, woody, creamy with a nice mouthfeel. I love this style and this is a quality beer overall if you're a fan of doppelbocks. Hop snobs look away.

Green Flash Ristretto Cosmic Black Lager

From the brewery: Hard to find anything on this one really, but I found a press release with this bit... "Drawing on the flavors from some of our favorite beer styles the Green Flash Geniuses have created an out of the world black lager using chocolate and roasted malts. They then added a dose of concentrated, cold pressed espresso – a brew so bold it has earned the name “Ristretto”."

In my opinion: Wow, this stuff is delicious. I love coffee and the nose of this one alone put me in heaven. Taste like an expresso almost with flavors of rich dark chocolate, bitter roasted malts and in the finish there's a bit of light smoke. A lot of these coffee style beers are porters or stouts and making this one more of a black lager really put the coffee at the front I think. Good mouthfeel but not as thick as the stouts. At 8.2% it's sneaky too. Fantastic beer and maybe my favorite thing I've had from Green Flash and that's saying a lot as I love this brewery.

 O'Fallon Zeke's Pale Ale

From the brewery: Zeke’s Pale Ale is brewed with two-row, Bonlander and Honey malt. Galaxy hops are added at the very end of the boil in a technique called burst-hopping that allows the beer to gain the hop flavor and aroma with just the right balance of bitterness. The result is a dry, crisp, light-bodied ale with a fresh hop aroma and just a hint of honey.

In my opinion: A dry, crisp, light-bodied pale ale that's real easy to drink. The Galaxy hops give it a citrusy, fruity flavor and aroma. It's actually quite a bit hoppier than I expected... think pineapple or grapefruit.This isn't a big hop bomb by any means, but a very nice brew I'll take to the pool or break out for some lawn mowing perhaps. Not high in alcohol and very sessionable. Nice.

Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale

From the brewery: We are from the city that invented the skyscraper. We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.
5.4% ABV - 30 IBU 
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

We constructed our Urban Pale Ale on a balanced malt backbone, so the citrus hop aroma and crisp flavor can stand tall.

Recipe Information

Style: Urban Pale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Marigold
Hops: Amarillo, Mt. Hood, Nugget
Malts: 2 Row, Crystal 60 - See more at: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/312_urban_pale_ale/377.php#sthash.ViGSA4GR.dpuf

In my opinion: Similar to the Zeke's Pale Ale but not quite as big of a hop flavor, this is another mellow, crisp, easy-drinker beer with a very sessionable ABV of 5.4%. Nice flavor that doesn't beat-up your taste buds, has some hints of spice. In a word: pleasant. In 3 words: I'll have another.

Find 'em and drink up!