Seasonals

Karl Strauss To The 9′s Imperial IPA

Here’s the third installment in the BeerGenius Karl Strauss series, their 20th anniversary brew called To The 9′s. You can find the first and second installments here: Fullsuit Belgian-Style Brown Big Barrel Double IPA Check out the video of Karl Strauss’ To The 9′s below. The Breakdown: Originality within style (20): An Imperial IPA that [...]

Karl Strauss Fullsuit Belgian-Style Brown

BeerGenius is taking a quick break from our canned beer tasting (to resume soon!) to visit some awesome beers from Karl Strauss Brewing Company out of San Diego, California. I had the opportunity to do some blind tastings of their new winter seasonal (the old one was their Red Trolley, reviewed here), a new 22oz [...]

Goose Island 2009 Christmas Ale

I’m loving all of these holiday beers/winter seasonal beers from breweries around the world – they’re all drastically different, yet of the same genre. Because of this, it’s also quite difficult to rate them from a style standpoint – the craft of each brewer’s interpretation is just that – an interpretation of what a winter [...]

Karl Strauss Celebrates 2009 To The Nines

So, Karl Strauss, a new favorite of mine from San Diego, has a new winter seasonal making its way across the west coast. Here’s the press release: San Diego, CA – December 9, 2009- To celebrate the memorable year that was 2009, Karl Strauss Brewing Company is releasing its first ever bottled holiday ale, To the 9’s.  This [...]

Sam Adams 2009 Utopias

I had the pleasure of reviewing Sam Adams 2009 Utopias. Check it out: The Breakdown: Originality within style (20): Come on – who else makes a beer like this? Not only is it COMPLETELY original, it’s marvelous. Nose (19): Can burn with a regular snifter, but is much less offensive out of the Riedel glass. [...]

Karl Strauss – Red Trolley Ale

Meet Karl Strauss and their Red Trolley Ale. I stumbled across these guys while at the BevMo Holiday Beer Festival in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and pretty much fell in love with their beer. Producing about 40,000 barrels/year at the moment, Karl Strauss is all over the west coast. The Brewery’s namesake, Karl [...]

Goose Island’s 2009 Bourbon County Stout

First of all, this guy is about as dark as beers can get. And before I get called out, yes, it is in a Goose Island Matilda Glass. The goblet is an appropriate style for this particular beer, so there’s no need to complain . For the record, Goose Island recommends this beer be served [...]

Followup: Session with Orval and Boulevard Brewmasters

I had the pleasure of attending a session last week with famed Brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock of Orval, guest of Steven Pauwels of Boulevard. The session was part of Barley’s Brewhaus’ “Beer School” series of lectures, and a followup to the brewing duo and their primary purpose of coming together: to brew great beer. As mentioned [...]

Holiday Beer Festival presented by BevMo!

I’m excited to be in San Francisco on November 15th for the BevMo! Holiday Beer Festival. Featured are over 100+ winter brews from approximately 75 breweries from around the world. How much better can it get? You can still purchase tickets at this link, but I would do it quickly. The event is held in [...]

Odell Isolation Ale

It’s that time of the year – winter seasonal brews are beginning to emerge from breweries. Some of them take the spicy route, with additions of clove, nutmeg, special hops, and such; others prefer to take a boozy route, with various styles of barley wines or malty double IPAs. Not so for Odell out of [...]