Redhook Pislner

Redhook Pilsner

This is our fourth Redhook Beer reviewed.  Check out our review on Redhook ESB for more information on the brewery.  Check out their website for where you can locate their brew in your area.  Redhook Ale Brewery

Check out what Redhook had to say about this brew.  “Czech out Redhook’s newest brew.  Redhook Pilsner is crisp, golden lager that is modeled after those historic beers originally made in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia.  Redhook Pilsner’s maltiness is offset by a medium dose of Saaz hops and finishes with a clean, bright, thirst-quenching quality. A great “session” lager for when you’ve got a long day ahead of drinking.”

General Information

Style:    Pilsner

ABV:    5.3%

IBUs:    25.0

Color:    Light yellow with a white foam head

Mike’s Review 

This beer was poured out of a 12 oz brown glass bottle into a pint glass.  The beer is a light yellow color with a white foam head.  It has a mild bitterness to the aroma with fruity and grassy undertones.  It has a very bland flavor with a mild sweet malty.  You get a hint of corn in the beginning of your taste with a mild hoppy bitter finish.  This beer is very similar to a beer I drank a lot of while studying abroad called Ožujsko, which is the leading beer brand in Croatia.  This is an OK beer.

Matt’s Review

What can I say a pilsner is a pilsner.  It is to compete with the big guys to convert the macrobrew drinkers to the microbrews.  As it states on their website, if you are planning a long day of drinking this beer is great.  It has a good taste to it for a pilsner though. The beer was served chilled in a pint glass.  The beer has a great golden color to it. Overall it is a decent pilsner beer to compete with the big guys.

Kona Longboard Island Lager

Kona Longboard Lager

For more information regarding the Kona Brewing Company check out our review on their Pipeline Porter and Wailua Wheat Ale.  To locate their beer in your area check out their website: Kona Brewing Company

Check out what Kona had to say about this beer.  “Longboard Island Lager is a smooth refreshing lager fermented and aged for five weeks at cold temperatures to yield its exceptionally smooth flavor. A delicate, slightly spicy hop aroma complements the malty body of this beer.”\

General Information

Style:     Lager

ABV%:    4.6%

IBUs:    18.0

Color:  Light lime green color with a white foam head

Awards:    Check out their website in order to see the 26 awards this beer has won since 2002.

 Mike’s Review

This was a 12 oz. brown glass bottle poured into a pint glass.  The beer has an odd light lime green color to it that reminds me of watered down Mountain Dew with a white foam head that dissipated quickly.  The aroma is very malty with mild fruity undertones.  The taste is similar to the aroma with a grainy malty taste with decent bitterness for a lager.  It develops into a pleasant light lemon flavor late in the taste that lingers for some time afterwards.  This is a pretty good beer to have while sitting around and watching some TV or relax with friends, very drinkable.

Matt’s Review

Kona Brewing has had some interesting brews thus far; I couldn't wait for their Longboard Lager. The color of a beer is a real light gold with a great layer of foam. The aroma is pretty grainy. It has a very sweet taste to it with a late bitter aftertaste. This is a decent lager; I am surprised there isn't a twist to this lager like most of Kona's beer.

Rohrbach's Blueberry Ale

Rohrbach’s Blueberry Ale

"As a beer lover who had recently returned to Rochester after an assignment in the village of Rohrbach, Germany, John Urlaub started the Rohrbach Brewing Company.  The goal was to serve the Rochester area quality handcrafted beers with incredible flavor.  Rohrbach’s first location was at the German House in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood. It opened in 1992 and thrived for ten years. Our Brewpub on Buffalo Road was opened in 1995 and is still going strong.  Rohrbach’s newest facility and tasting room opened on Railroad Street in Rochester’s historic public market district. Over the years, Rohrbach’s has become one of Rochester’s signature brewers with many award-winning varieties to choose from year-round.  For more information on Rohrbach's other brews check out their website."  Rohrbach's Brewing Company

Check out what Rohrbach's had to say about their Blueberry Ale.  "A fruit beer that uses blueberry flavoring, this beer is subtle in fruit flavor — not overwhelming like most on the market. Since the base style is a blonde ale, our Blueberry is crisp and clean with a noticeable hop presence. Extremely refreshing on hot summer days. 4.5% ABV." 

General Information

Style:    Blonde Ale

ABV:    4.5%

IBUs:    14

Color:    Light yellow color with a white foam head

Mike’s Review

This beer comes from the local brewery Rohrbach’s.  It came in a 64 oz growler poured into a pint glass.  Upon opening the growler you get a rush of sweet blueberry aroma.  The beer is a light yellow color as it is a blonde ale style beer.  As above, the aroma is a sweet blueberry tint with slight hoppy undertones.  The taste is surprising based on the aroma but great.  The blueberry flavor isn’t overwhelming; it’s very clean with the underlying slight bitterness from the hops.  This is an excellent combination of sweet and bitter that blends well together.  As someone who is not a fan of blueberries this is a very drinkable beer without overpowering blueberry flavor.  If you’re in the area do yourself a favor and stop in to pick up a growler of this beer.

Matt’s Review

Always nice to review a local brew. Rohrbach's Blueberry Ale has a strong aroma of blueberries with a golden color and a thin layer of white foam on the top. You can taste the blueberry all the way through the first sip through the aftertaste. If you enjoy blueberries this beers is a must. To be honest I am not a fan of having blueberries unless they are in a muffin and I can now say in a beer.

Widmer Brother's Drifter Pale Ale

Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale

Check out our review on the Widmer Brother’s Falconer’s IPA for information regarding the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company.  For further information on locating their beer in your area check out their website:  Widmer Brothers Brewing Co

Check out what the Widmer Brother’s Brewing Company had to say about their Drifter Pale Ale.  “Kurt and Rob Widmer have never been known to "follow the leader"; their take on a pale ale is no different. With its unique citrus character, smooth drinkability, and distinctive combo of hops and malts, Drifter Pale Ale is truly an original.”

General Information

Style:    Pale Ale

ABV:    5.7%

IBUs:    28.0

Color:    Amber color with a white foam head

Mike’s Review

This beer was poured from a 12 oz brown glass bottle into a pint glass with white foam head and is dark amber in color.  It has the aroma of citrusy tropical fruits with undertones of caramel malts and hops.  The taste is a similar to the aroma with a citrusy tropical fruit flavor at the beginning of the taste developing into a mild hoppy bitterness.  This is an excellent blend of flavors with a great hop profile.  This is one of the better Pale Ales I’ve had to date.  This is definitely a must try and I cannot wait to have another one.

Matt’s Review

Really enjoyed the last Widmer Brother IPA I had and could not wait for their pale ale. The beer has a golden red to it and the head is a solid layer of foam. The aroma is a very pine-like smell. The beer is not as hoppy as I would hope but has a crisp finish to it. If you have a favorite pale ale I would stick with that one but if you cross this one take a chance with it.

Kona Wailua Wheat Ale

Kona Wailua Wheat Ale

The Kona Brewing Company still runs its flagship brewhouse out of Kailua-Kona in Hawaii which produced more than 10,000 barrels of beer in 2008.  After their partnership with the Craft Brewers Alliance Inc in October of 2010 the company began producing it’s bottled beer and mainland draft in the breweries in Portland, Oregon and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Check out our review of the Pipeline Porter for more information regarding the brewery.  For information on locating Kona beer if your area check out their website: Kona Brewing Company

See what Kona has to say about their Wailua. “Swimming in a fresh water pool at the base of a cascading waterfall is what we all imagine we would find in paradise. On Maui, follow the old Hana Highway and you will find such a place – Wailua Falls. This plunging cascade of clear water is the inspiration for our Limited Release Wailua Wheat Ale. This golden, sun colored ale has a bright, citrus flavor that comes from the tropical passion fruit we brew into each batch. Sit back, relax and enjoy paradise anytime.”

General Information

Style:    Wheat Ale

ABV:    5.4%

IBUs:    15.0

Color: Light yellow with very little white foam

Awards:   2011 GOLD MEDAL: FRUIT BEER CATEGORY, US Open Beer Championships

2009 GOLD MEDAL: WHEAT BEER CATEGORY, Portland Spring Beer & Wine Festival, Oregon

2004 BEST OF THE NORTHWEST/PACIFIC: FRUIT BEER CATEGORY, United States Beer Tasting Championships

2002 BEST OF THE NORTHWEST/PACIFIC: FRUIT BEER CATEGORY, United States Beer Tasting Championships

Mike’s Review

This beer came in a 12 oz brown glass bottle poured into a pint glass and is a very light yellow color. There was almost no head to this head and what was there dissipated quickly.  The aroma is a very clean and crisp fruity aroma with a strong fruity twist.  This beer has a clean and very complex flavor.  The taste starts out with a very light hoppy bitterness and progresses into a fruity sweetness in the middle of the taste finally progressing to a bitter fruit flavor at the end of your taste that lingers.  This is a different tasting beer in a good way that if you’re looking for something new then this is a must try.  This is a pretty good beer that I wouldn’t mind having again at all.

Matt’s Review

From the pour the aroma is like a traditional wheat ale with just a little bit of fruit. There is no head at all and the color of the beer is a very light gold. The first sip was very interesting. You can taste the wheat ale portion of it, but then you instantly get a rush of the passion fruit. If you want to try something new this is a different twist on ale.

Redhook Long Hammer IPA

Redhook Long Hammer IPA

As some of our previous reviews were also a brew from the Redhook Ale Brewery we will not repeat the information on the brewery.  See our review of Redhook ESB for information regarding the brewery and for further information on locating Redhook brew in your area, see the brew locator located on the Redhook Ale Brewery website.

Redhook Long Hammer IPA has “generous addition of hops both during and at the end of the fermentation process (dry-hopping) gives our India Pale Ale its characteristic bitterness and piney citrus aroma and flavor.  The medium body, crisp finish, and moderate alcohol and IBU levels makes this one of America’s most drinkable and best-selling IPAs.”  Long Hammer is an India Pale Ale style beer with an ABV of 6.5% and a IBU rating of 44.0.  The beer has a golden color with a small white foam head.

General Information:

Style: India Pale Ale

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: 44.0

Color: Golden color with white foam head.

Mike’s Review

Immediately after pouring this beer you can definitively identify it as an IPA from its strong hoppy/piney aroma.  The beer is a light golden color which is different from the majority of IPAs I’ve had in the past.  Like most IPAs, Long Hammer has a hoppy bitter taste that lasts through the entirety of its taste with a piney flavor, but the hoppy flavor is kind of mild for an IPA.  I don’t taste the citrusy tint Redhook suggests it has.  This is a clean IPA without overpowering bitterness or hop flavor.  This beer isn’t as bitter or hoppy as your usual IPA, it’s an IPA for people who don’t enjoy the bitterness of a traditional IPA.  This is an decent beer for those of you that are IPA lovers as it will leave you wanting a little more out of it, but for those of you who aren't in favor of the bitterness of an IPA try it out; this beer would be a great way to work yourself into the greatness that is an IPA.  Good beer, definitely a must try.

Matt’s Review

On a cloudy day I can always use a good IPA and boy did I find one! When first opening up the bottle, you could smell the aroma of a citrus flavor. Served chill in a pint glass the IPA had great carbonation. The beer has a golden color with a small layer of white foam for the head. Taking the first sip was a pleasant surprise. It was definitely a crisp beer with a great taste of bitterness. If you like IPAs this is one you have to try, I really enjoyed this beer can’t wait to have another!  

Kona Pipeline Porter

Kona Brewing Aloha Series Pipeline Porter

The Kona Brewing Company is located out in Kaliua-Kona, Hawaii and was started by brother and son Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa in the spring of 1994.  They are currently the top selling craft beer in the state of Hawaii and the majority of their beers are distributed in 28 states in the U.S. and in Japan.  Kona’a Kaliua-Kona pub opened in 1998 and used a mahogany log that had washed up on shore as their Koa wood bar.  One of the most important philosophies at Kona Brewing Company is their recognition that future of the earth depends on how individuals and companies treat it.  They hired a Sustainability coordinator for this exact purpose.  They provide all of their spent grains to local cattle ranchers the remaining is used to make the pubs’ pizza dough and bread.  To find our more information regarding the effects of Kona Brewing Company to preserve our planet and to locate their beer in your area check out their website: Kona Brewing Company

Check out what the Kona Brewing Company had to say about their Pipeline porter.  “Pipeline Porter is smooth and dark with a distinctive roasty aroma and earthy complexity from its diverse blends of premium malted barley. This celebration of malt unites with freshly roasted 100% Kona coffee grown at Cornwell Estate on Hawaii’s Big Island, lending a unique roasted aroma and flavor. A delicate blend of hops rounds out this palate-pleasing brew”

General Information

Style:     Porter, available in the Fall/Winter

ABV:    5.3%

IBUs:    23.0

Color:    Dark brown with a light brown foam head

Awards:    2010 BRONZE MEDAL: HYBRID/ OTHER CATEGORY, Australian International Beer Awards

2007 BRONZE MEDAL: COFFEE BEER CATEGORY, Great American Beer Festival, Colorado

2007 SILVER MEDAL: “OTHER BEER” CATEGORY, Australian International Beer Awards

Mike’s Review

This beer is the traditional dark brown color of a porter with a brown foam head.  The aroma is a rich roasted coffee/hazelnut at first pour that became a slightly earthy aroma.  The taste is the norm for a porter with the roasted coffee/chocolate flavor all the way through your taste with a slight bitterness; it has a slight sweetness and smoky flavor.  This porter doesn’t have all that much flavor to it, the coffee flavor lingers for some time.  This is an OK porter; try it out to form your own opinion, but I’m not overly impressed by this one.

Matt’s Review

Mele Kalikimaka! There is a pretty strong aroma when you first pour the beer of coffee with a roasty/smokey hint. It is a dark beer with a brown foam head. The beer doesn’t have much flavor to it, in my opinion it is pretty bland. There is a light sweetness but mostly a roasty coffee flavor.  The coffee taste is here and there but really all that strong. This isn’t a beer I would suggest to most.

Redhook Copperhook

Redhook Copperhook

This is the second Redhook Ale Brewery brew we are reviewing .  We figured since we wrote talked about all four of their prominent brews we’d review them all.  As before see our review of the Redhook ESB for information regarding the Redhook Ale Brewery and check out their website to find their brew in your area: Redhook Ale Brewery

This beer is a Copper Ale style beer with an ABV of 5.8%, just like the ESB, with an IBU rating of 25.0.  The beer was first brewed by Redhook in 2001.  Redhook describes this beer as, “Who needs precious metals, when you’ve got Copper?!  This copper colored ale is a real crowd-pleaser.   Copperhook strikes the perfect balance of smooth, rich, malty flavor you’d expect from a craft beer with a lighter body and hop profile that makes it a perfect “session” beer when you’ve got a long day ahead of knocking back a few with your buddies.”

General information

Style:    Copper Ale

ABV:    5.8%

IBUs:    25.0

Color:    Dark golden/orange color with a white foam head

Mike’s Review

This beer came in a 12 oz. brown glass bottle just like the other one.  The beer is a dark golden/orange color with a white foam head that doesn’t stick around very long.  It has a very citrusy aroma to it smelling similar to an orange or a Blue Moon.  Just as the aroma is very citrusy the beer has a citrusy orange flavor to it that is very pleasant.  This beer has a sweet taste to it unlike the last one we have reviewed (ESB).  It has virtually no hop flavor/bitterness to it.  This is a great beer to sit around and watch some TV or sports with.  Decent beer if you like a sweet beer rather than a bitter beer. 

Matt’s Review

This is a golden copper color with a thin layer of foam. It doesn’t have a strong aroma whats so ever. It goes down the throat smooth and that is about it. A beer I would suggest if you were kicking it with your friends and want to try a new craft beer because you’re the DD. Then HEY, this is a good choice for you. Decent beer at best.

Widmer Brothers Falconer’s IPA

Widmer Brothers Falconer’s IPA

Widmer Brewing Company opened on April 2, 1984 in Portland, Oregon founded by brothers Kurt and Robert H. Widmer.  It is safe to say though that their business in beer started earlier than this.  Kurt and Robert were having trouble finding beer in the U.S. they could enjoy and when home brewing became legalized in Oregon in 1979 the brothers began brewing beer that could enjoy with their friends.  In 1984 the brothers quit their jobs and made brewing beer their full time jobs opening Widmer Brewing Company on April 2, 1984.  The first beer they made and commercialized was their famous Weizenbier, which would later become the first America-style unfiltered wheat ale.  In 1986 they became the first U.S. brewery to offer a full four-season beer lineup after the release of Festbier in the winter of 1985.  As the quickly outgrew their brewery in Portland the brothers moved to their current location in North Portland and renamed the brewery the Widmer Brothers Brewing Co..  They began offering their beer in glass bottles in 1996 after becoming t he nation’s largest draft-only brewery.  One of the most interesting things the brothers did was a collaborative project with the Oregon Brew Crew; this was a project that start an annual competition where they would select different home brew recipes that would be produced by their brewery giving everyone a chance to see their recipe produced on a large scale.  For information on where you can located Widmer Brothers brew in your area check out their website: Widmer Brothers Brewing Co

Check out what the Widmer Brothers had to say about this brew.  “Glen Falconer was passionate about friends, familly, and great IPAs. So in tribute, we've created an IPA worth of this master brewer. Made with Falconer's Flight hops from Hopunion, LLC, a blend named for Glen himself. The result is a bright, moderately bitter IPA with stonefruit aromas and a strong malt backbone. We think Glen would have approved. Proceeds from the sale of Falconer's Flight hops go to the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, providing scholarships to professional and aspiring brewers. In addition, Widmer Brothers Brewing is making a donation to grant two additional scholarships. Learn more at www.glenfalconerfoundation.org. Prost! To true hop heads.”

General Information

Style:     India Pale Ale, available September-October yearly

ABV:    7.0%

IBUs:    65.0

Color:    Light golden color which progresses to a red color as you look further up the pint glass with a white foam head

Mike’s Review

This beer came in a traditional 12 oz brown glass bottle with a clean label depicting the beers name very clearly but also the other 3 IPAs in the Rotator IPA Series.  The beer is a light golden/reddish color with a white foam head.  The beer has the traditional hoppy aroma of an IPA but also has a spicy herbal aroma to it suggesting the possible use of Millenium hops.  On first taste I’m pleasantly surprised; they have the bitterness of the traditional IPA but a complex combination of flavors.  It doesn’t have the spicy flavor the aroma suggests but rather a light citrusy/sweet taste with a piney, almost honey-ish flavor to the aftertaste.  If you’re a fan of IPAs then this is a must have.  Excellent beer all the way through; I can’t wait to have another one.

Matt’s Review

There is nothing like cracking a great IPA and boy does this one look great! This IPA’s aroma is different than most (in a good way). Widmer may have used a different combination of hops then most traditional IPAs. The beer has a light golden/red color to it with about a quarter of an inch ring of foam around the pint glass. This is a beer that gives you a great first impression on the first taste; you can really taste the fresh hops in every sip. This is a great beer to have at anytime.

Redhook ESB

Redhook ESB

Redhook Ale Brewery is a craft brewery founded in 1981 in Seattle, Washington by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker.  They found their first home in an old transmission shop in the center of Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.  They currently produce several different styles of beer including this one (Redhook ESB 5.8% ABV), Long Hammer IPA (6.5% ABV), Pilsner (5.3% ABV), Copper Hook (5.8% ABV) and their seasonal.  Their brews can be found in 48 states as of March, 2008 and can be purchased as 6-packs, cases, or a sampler 12-pack which includes 3 12 oz. bottles of the 4 beers listed above.  Redhook’s original beer quickly got the nickname “Banana Beer” as the local beer drinkers commented that it had a taste similar to banana’s.  Redhook quickly outgrew the transmission shop in Ballard and currently have breweries in Woodinbille, WA and Portsmouth, NH.  Redhook is currently owned by the Craft Brewers Alliance (CBA) after the merger of the Redhook Ale Brewery and Widmer Brothers on July 1, 2008, who would later acquire Kona Brewing on October 1, 2010.  Anheuser-Busch InBev currently owns 32.2% of the business with the Widmer brothers owning 18%.  For more information on locating Redhook’s craft brews in your area visit their website: Redhook Ale Brewery.

Redhook ESB is “Brewed in the style of a traditional British ESB (Extra Special Bitter), we’ve been making ESB continuously since 1987, and it’s now the benchmark for the Amber beer category.  Despite having “bitter” in its name, Redhook ESB is really not that bitter at all.  This brew is all about the balance of caramel malt sweetness completed by spicy, citrusy hops”¹.  Redhook ESB is an amber ale at 5.8% alcohol by volume (ABV) and an IBU rating of 28.  As above the beer was first brewed in 1987 winning the 2008 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal and 2009 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal.

General Information:
Style: Amber Ale
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 28.0
Color: Golden/Orange color with white foam head.

Mike’s Review

The beer comes in a 12 oz. brown glass bottle with a pry top cap, their label is very simplistic but clean which is nice.  The beer was poured and enjoyed slightly below room temperature.  The beer had good carbonation upon opening the bottle and poured into a goblet glass as pictured.  The beer has a Golden/Orange color to it with white foam head.  The head retention wasn’t great but then again it was only slightly below room temperature.  It has a light hoppy citrusy aroma to it.  As Redhook states ESB is not a bitter beer, less bitter then expected from its aroma.  It has a very slight roasty flavor at first which comes from the caramel malts and doesn’t have a very sweet flavor suggesting they use a low percentage of caramel malts, most likely for the color over the sweetness they can provide.  The roasty flavor quickly turns into a light citrusy flavor that sticks around for about 4-5 seconds strongly.  It has a dry finish to it leaving you wanting more.  Overall a decent beer although I must say I expected more.

Matt’s Review

Redhook ESB is a fine smooth amber ale. I enjoy my beer at a chill temperature poured into a pint glass. The color of the beer is a golden orange with a citrus aroma.  When I poured the beer it had little to no foam. On the bottle there is a quote printed, “Is, in fact, extra special. But doesn’t let it go to his head.” In my opinion, there is nothing special about this beer. It is a smooth beer, but it doesn’t make me want to run to the store to grab another one. 
 

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