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Dogfish Head 75, India Pale Ale with Maple Syrup. Cheers! #beer #beerglass #beerstagram #beers #colecionadoresdecopos #fanaticbeer #dogfish #dogfishhead #brewview #dogfish75 #brewwithaview : @beertaps

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Flying Dog Double Dog DIPA

Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery

Type: Double IPA

ABV: 11.5% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Orange-brown, cloudy with medium carbonation. Typically big, frothy american head 4/5

Aroma: Grapefruit, Citrus, woody, cedar 8.5/10

Taste Notes: Toffee, nuts, citrus, alcohol 9/10

Palate: Slick and velvety in consistency, big malty alcoholic sweetness and a light bitter finish 3.5/5

Overall: There's a certain comfort in certainty, especially when it comes to things that are close to you. Strange as it may seem, when it comes to beer, I'm old-fashioned that way; I like to know wxactly what it is I'm drinking and I expect the beer to mostly conform to its style (ballpark - sort of like virtuoso guitar playing within the context of the song)

So when I sit down to drink an American beer, I expect a hoppy, bitter, aromatic concoction. Especially when it's from a brewery that's given me so many great beers of that ilk.

Fair to say, the Double dog shattered all my conceptions. For starters, it's a frightful 11% ABV - that's in Belgian tripel territory (and we know all about those crazy drunk Flemish loons and their seductive boozy ales). It's a double IPA - I expect to have my tongue curled by bitterness, instead I get a malty sweetness that's more like an English ale. Thankfully, the grapefruit aroma is comforting - at least something's familiar!

This is a big, bold, brash yet magnificently disguised beer. Worth experiencing, even if only for the sensory rush.

17/20

Overall Score: 

4.2/5

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Allagash Tripel ale

Brewer: Allagash Brewing Company

Type: Abbey Tripel

ABV: 9% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Golden amber, soft carbonation and a rapidly diminishing head 3/5

Aroma: Yeast, cherries, herbal 8/10

Taste Notes: citrus, yeast sourness, caramel sweetness 8/10

Palate: Medium bodied, soft on the palate, malty smoothness in the beginning and mild bitterness in the finish 4/5

Overall: I often get strange looks from people when I mention that on my next trip to the US, the first city to visit on my list is Portland, Oregon. Not a Blazers fan or anything, it's just that Portland is to craft beer what Tokyo is to sushi and Australia is to dangerous animals.

One of this craft beer mecca's most famous residents is the Allagash Brewery. So, you can imagine our delight when the last goodie bag from the US arrived with not just a beer from Allagash, but their award winning Tripel Ale.

As I've probably mentioned a gazillion times before, if I could just choose one style of beer to have for the rest of my life (and I hope such a day never arrives), I'd pick trappist ales. I'm not just a fan, I'm a devotee.

Thus, I'm more likely to be fussier about my abbey dubbels and tripels than about others. As far as tripels go, the trick is in how subtle the alcohol kick is, considering the 9% ABV. Allagash's tripel masks the alcohol bite beautifully in a bouquet of herbs, notably coriander, which may lead you to believe this is a session beer. It's not. Stop after 3 or you'll find yourself walking into things.

17/20

Overall Score: 

4/5

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Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout

Brewer: The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery

Type: Sweet Stout

ABV: 5.7% (approx.)

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Shop)

Appearance: Dark brown with an amber hue, creamy pour with a cola-coloured head, soft carbonation 3/5

Aroma: Coffee, burnt sugar, grains 7/10

Taste Notes: Cocoa, coffee, mild hops, mild sweetness 8/10

Palate: Surprisingly thin-bodied for a stout, soft on the palate but not creamy enough for a milk stout 3/5

Overall: One of two stouts we had during our last tasting, and definitely the pick of the bunch. The pour itself was slightly strange, as it didn't have that same creamy "grip" that is characteristic of milk stouts. Aromas and taste were bang-on; all that coffee-cocoa goodness with a very mild lactose-edge.

It's the body I had a slight issue with; personally would have preferred it a little "fuller" and with a bit more lactose profile. Still a very good beer, mind.

15/20

Overall Score: 

3.6/5

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Unibroue Don de Dieu

Brewer: Unibroue (Sapporo)

Type: Belgian Strong Ale

ABV: 9% (approx.)

Country of Origin: Canada

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Restaurant)

Appearance: Cloudy orange-yellow (almost a mussambi juice colour) with a foamy head. Relatively high carbonation for this style 3/5

Aroma: Esters, citrus, banana, cloves 9/10

Taste Notes: Fruity, sweet, spicy, tart 10/10

Palate: Lingering tart sweetness, subdued alcoholic warmth and almost no bitterness in the finish 4/5

Overall: For the craft beer nerd, there's no dirtier word than "macro". It conjures up images of big beer corporations and fat cats who peddle fizzy, insipid, tasteless garbage in the name of beer. No self respecting brewhead ought to have anything good to say about "macrobrewers", surely?

Then again, extreme stances can lead to inherent biases. I'd rather adopt a "Don't knock it till you've tried it" attitude (not just towards beer, but music, food, life in general). It shouldn't surprise you than that some "macros" are producing absolutely world class beers that even the most hardened of hipsters can't pooh-pooh.

Unibroue is one such brewer. Taken over by Japanese giant Sapporo in 2006, they have retained their reputation for making absolutely brilliant beers with the signature Quebecois artistic bent that pervades through the region. They're still hipster in their own way, not retailing anywhere outside North America and producing challenging brews like the Maudite, the Trois Pistoles and my favourite, the Don de Dieu.

Everything about this beer is brilliant; from the cloying fruity aroma to the heady alcoholic sweetness, to the fact that this is a rare wheat based tripel. As with all Unibroue beers, there is a latent sour spiciness, possibly from the yeast they use. I have made it my personal mission to get this beer to India somehow!

After all, "Don de Dieu" translates into "Gift from God". Even as an affirmed atheist, I'd have to agree

18/20

Overall Score: 4.4/5

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Gateway Brewing IPA

Brewer: Gateway Brewing Co.

Type: IPA

ABV: 5% (approx.)

Country of Origin: India

Tap/Bottle: Tap (Pub)

Appearance: Bright amber, translucent body with a creamy lasting head. Soft carbonation 4/5

Aroma: Hops, grapefruit, floral, mild toffee 8/10

Taste Notes: Citrus, biscuit, slight nuttiness 9/10

Palate: Soft texture, medium body, hoppy and clean with a bitter smooth finish 4/5

Overall: Quite possibly the most awaited beer for me over the last 6 months. I had my first taste of the prototype at the Gateway Brewery on a beer-soaked sunday a few months ago and couldn't stop gushing about it since. It's finally on tap at select pubs in Mumbai and Pune, and hopefully will become a national phenomenon soon. With Arbor Brewing's Raging Elephant and Doolally's upcoming IPA (which I'll review later today), it looks like the IPA is finally making its presence felt in the Indian craft brew market!

If you're as big a fan of American West coast-style IPAs as we are, you will fall head over heels for the Gateway IPA. It's that distinctive grapefruit aroma from the Cascade hop, that signature bouquet that hits the nose almost immediately, that marks this out as a truly great beer. Add to that a refreshing, crisp bitterness minus any of the fizz associated with overtly carbonated brews, and you have a "proper" IPA, one of the best I've had in a long while, at least on this side of the globe. 

I cannot possibly recommend this any more enthusiastically. Don't take my word for it. Go out and try one NOW!

17/20

Overall Score: 4.2/5

Note: Gateway's IPA along with their other beers are now available at a number of pubs in Mumbai and Pune. Check out http://www.gatewaybrewery.com/where-to-drink/ for a complete listing

[brewviews-blog]

St. Bernardus Abt 12

(Note: Stock image used. My picture was too hazy to use)

Brewer: St. Bernardus Brouwerij

Type: Abt/Quadrupel

ABV: 10.5%

Country of Origin: Belgium

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Store)

Appearance: Reddish brown, beautiful brown-flecked creamy long-lasting head and almost no carbonation 4/5

Aroma: Dry fruit, esters, alcohol, yeast 9/10

Taste Notes: Sweet, fruity, malty, licorice candy 9/10

Palate: Full bodied, creamy texture and softness with an alcoholic warmth that cocoons you 4/5

Overall: As I've waxed eloquent before, Belgian ales, and in particular, trappists, are the champagnes of the beer world. Sophisticated and backed by centuries of tradition, shrouded in mystique, they are by far my favourite style of beers, though rare to find (or afford) in this part of the world.

Imagine my astonishment then, when I discovered the venerable St. Bernardus in a little liquor store in Bangalore! Two kinda in fact, the Tripel and the Abt (which is the quadrupel). Don't get thrown by the names - I'll address this in a later post. For now, let's just say that among the royalty of beer styles, the quadrupel is the Emperor.

The great thing about this, of course, is the fact that this beer is available AND affordable (around 200 bucks a pop in retail and about 380 bucks at Bootleggers) so you really shouldn't miss a chance to sample this beautifully boozy, sweet, rich, venus de milo of a beer. It'll change the way you defined "beer", trust me

18/20

Overall Score: 4.4/5

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Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout

Brewer: Left Hand Brewing Co.

Type: Sweet Stout

ABV: 6%

Country of Origin: USA

Tap/Bottle: Bottle (Store)

Appearance: Rich dark chocolate brown, creamy, soft but slight head and the smoothie like texture thanks to the nitrogen infusion 4/5

Aroma: Bourbon (the biscuit, not the whisky), Cocoa, Vanilla, Roasted malt 8/10

Taste Notes: Sweet, chocolate, coffee 8/10

Palate: Thick, creamy texture and full body, espresso like consistency and warm, dark chocolate finish 4/5

Overall: Of all the beers Riday brought back from Japan, this was perhaps the most awaited one, thanks to Rahul Mehra's endless paeans to its awesomeness. Straight off the bat, we fell for its unassuming, unpretentious nature - we love the "Left Hand" name and logo (It's surprising how much these little details can make a difference to the beer drinking experience)

Of course, all that would have been a moot point had the beer itself been a disappointment. Thankfully, we can report that it more than lived up to its billing - pouring like a beautiful chocolate malt shake with all the creaminess from the nitro. A little bit of trivia here: You may have seen the nitro capsule in beers such as Murphy's Stout here - Left Hand doesn't use a capsule. They actually bubble their beer with nitrogen at a ridiculous 70 PSI pressure (Just as an example, Rahul mentioned that he had tried experimenting with nitrogenating a homebrewed stout and the bottle cracked at around 15 PSI. How these guys manage to do it remains a mystery. So you see, it's not just a craft. There's some serious science behind it!)

Often, all this gimmickry can be used to mask deficiencies in the beer itself. None of that nonsense with Left Hand's Milk Stout. A delicious, fulfilling stormer of a beer. A pity that we only had one bottle of this

17/20

Overall Score: 4.1/5