The beers of Iwakuni: NoDa Brewing Hop, Drop 'n Roll IPA

This is one of the beers Hilgar sent me. It is the Hop,Drop'n Roll by NoDa brewing out of Charlotte North Carolina. According to the website "NoDa Brewing Company is a homegrown Charlotte brew house located in (and named after) the city’s most bohemian and artistic neighborhood—NoDa, named after North Davidson Street. Our approach is to handcraft small-batch beers with a dedication to quality and variety. Our size and attitude allow us to brew unique and artistic recipes as well as our renditions of classic varieties such as Stouts, Witbiers, and Winter Warmers. We are actually the only brewery in town with deep roots in the homebrewing scene. After winning numerous homebrew competitions, by popular demand, we took our beer to the general public. From our taproom to our kegs to our cans we hope you taste and enjoy the commitment, detail and love we put into every last drop of our NoDa beers". It was started by Chad Henderson, Suzie Ford, and Todd Ford who all left their professional careers to turn their passion for homebrewing into a business.
The Hop,Drop'n Roll IPA was their first product and won the gold medal for American styled IPA at the 2014 world beer cup. It uses "American citrus hops" (do they mean Cascade? I'm not positive but I would assume so) before, during and after the boil with Citra and Amarillo hops added late in the boil for added complexity. The bulk of the malt is an American and English blend with Vienna and wheat malt added for character.

I received this beer in a golden green 16oz. can with what appears to be the front of a Chrysler New Yorker. I could very well be wrong about that, but unfortunately the bulk of my knowledge of classic American cars is Chrysler centered and that's what my mind jumped to, If I'm wrong let me know.
The description on the can reads "Our West Coast style IPA hits you with a ton of juicy hop flavor that shines out from a substantial and complex malt backbone. We use Citra, Amarillo, Centennial, Warrior and Chinook in 10 separate additions to provide the intense hop blast found within this can!" I guess we know what they meant by "American citrus hops"(and no cascade either). It is 7.2% abv and I cant wait to try it.

Nose from the can is citrusy and floral with a hint of pineyness. It's got that condensed hop oil scent as well, very nice. It has a frothy white head and golden brownish orange color. Nose from the glass is much more citrusy and the floral aspect is intense. There is only a moderate amount of life in the glass, just enough to maintain the head at paper thin levels, which is just fine in an IPA. On first sip, It is old orange (as in a Valencia or other deeply flavored oranges that are tree ripened significantly longer than regular oranges) grapefruit and pine, each giving way to the other in that order. It is a smooth, slightly acidic, medium body with moderately dry finish. This is certainly easy to drink, and does not come with the "enzymatic flesh eating disorder" I've been getting in some other IPA's.

I'm currently listening to Howlin' wolf. I wish blues like his was easier to find nowadays. It exists, I've heard it, but shows can be difficult to get to for most people (namely me, here in Japan) and I only know of one radio program that plays it back home and it's only on Sunday nights. I just ordered one of Howlin' wolf's LP's (along with some Leadbelly!) and I'll give y'all a run down when it gets here. So, let me explain this "enzymatic flesh eating disorder". I've run into a couple of IPA's that have proteases in them (those are enzymes that break down proteins) which in high enough numbers can start to break down proteins in you're mouth and cause a "meaty" aftertaste and a raw mouthfeel (as your mouth is quite literally being digested). From my research online, I find a common culprit is bromelain, which you've probably run into if you have ever eaten fresh pineapple and suffered the consequences (I actually did recently). I haven't tasted any of the "soy sauce" off flavors that people claim such enzymes will give beer, but I've certainly gotten the other effects. Although it should be noted that I am not an expert in the field of beer brewing or biological chemistry, just in the handling of explosive aviation munitions, so I could be completely wrong about the enzymes.

This one

Final thoughts. I've been moving away from IPA's as of late. It's not that they are not good or that there is nothing interesting about them. It's just that Stout's and Porters and the various Belgian variety's have a world of possibilities that are being explored right now. It's like only playing pool when you could also be playing 9 ball, snooker, or carom. That being said, Hop Drop'n Roll is a hell of a game of pool. If you're a little sick of IPA's like I am, give it a try. I think you will find that even when you've played 10 games of pool in a row and you're just about sick of it, there is always that one game that is so good it makes you forget you played all of those others. This beer is that game. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

The beers of Iwakuni: Het Anker Golden Carolus Christmas

Since It's Christmas eve here in Japan and I have duty tomorrow (which means no alcohol) I'm doing this review now. The beer is Golden Carolus Christmas and it's one of my personal favorites (mostly because it's been marked half off at the PX). A little information about the brewery. Het Anker started off as a hospital that also had a small brewing operation in the 15th century. The hospital was a centerpiece of the town of Mechelen and in 1471 Charles the Bold declared that all of the beer that was brewed for the hospital was free of taxes and excises. in 1872 the Van Breedam family bought the brewery and modernized it with all new equipment and a then state of the art steam broiler. In 1990  Charles Leclef (of the Van Breedam family) inherited the brewery, modernized it again, and started a return to the special brews of Het Anker's heyday during the reign of the Dukes of Burgundy. They produce a variety of bottle conditioned strong Belgian beers in their Golden Carolus line and a few others which I'm not positive are available outside of Belgium.

Golden Carolus Christmas is given the following introduction of the Brewery's website: "For more than 35 years we had to miss the Christmas beer but in 2002 the tradition was restored with Golden Carolus Christmas. It’s a strong, dark ruby red beer with character and contains an alcohol percentage of 10.5 % alc.vol. Brewed in August, the beer rests a few months to reach an optimal balance. Three kinds of hops and 6 different kinds of herbs and spices define the rich taste of this Christmas beer. Top-class!". The website says that the bottles have a shelf life of three years, while the kegs are only eight months. The bottle I have tonight technically passed it's prime on the 10th of last month, but it should be fine, one month is not a great deal of time for something with a three year shelf life. The scene on the label features Santa Clause being drawn by the Carolus horses over the snow laden city of Machelen (featuring the cathedral of St. Rumbold). It is a 750ml wine bottle with a caged pop cork you commonly find of strong Belgian beers. It has a discription on the back, but it's not in English so I don't exactly know what it says. From what I can understand, it says to serve between 48 and 53 °F and is 10.5% ABV. I happen to have a Golden Carolus Goblet, so I will be using that. This beer usually has a nice head, so let's see it.

The cork erupts from the bottle and a heavy fruity aroma fills the area. Nose from the bottle, is licorice with fruitiness and just a little boozy. It is a deep and dark red color with a thick beige head. It is difficult to see, but it has quite a bit of life in the glass, maintaining the head quite well. Nose from the glass is similar to the bottle, but just a little spacey and with a hint of sour. On first sip, it has strong licorice flavor with spiciness and a fruity and slightly boozy finish. It is a full bodied beer, with low acidity but a strong warming feeling, just a little heady as well. I typically don't have water with my reviews, but I might this time as this is a very strong beer in a big bottle. I'm not trying to black out tonight, I have important things to do in the morning.

I've been talking to people, so I don't have a rant this blog. Enjoy the holidays with people instead of being alone in a room.

Final thoughts. I love this beer, it is my favorite Christmas beer. I would highly suggest it to anybody, and in fact I have in the past. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval. Merry Christmas, Noel, Prost, and Kampai Y'all!

The beers of Iwakuni: Echigo Stout

After a long work related absence, I'm back. Tonight I'm reviewing a beer that's been sitting in my fridge for a couple months and I need to get rid of it. It's the Echigo Stout, which means I don't have to write a big long thing about the brewery because I've already done that. I actually got this one in Hawaii at a Japanese market, so it's labeled for the United States. In other news. While I was not allowed to drink on my trip, I was able to get a hold of some good blog fodder, so get ready for that. Speaking of blog fodder, let me say thank you to Chris Hilgar for the porch bomb, you will be seeing many of the beers from it in the near future.

The Echigo Stout has one of those odd very long neck bottles, crimpcap, and gold on black label art featuring a taico drummer. The label claims it is a "Premium Import", Japanese brewers must love the word "Premium", they put it on everything. In the upper left hand corner there is the brewery seal sporting the words "Land Brauerei Echigo-Brau" or "Country Brewery Echigo Beer". It is 11.15 fluid ounces and 7% ABV. I'll be using one of six Delirium Tremens tulip glasses I got at the base thrift shop for something like $3. I don't know who had six of these glasses to donate or why they would, but I have them now. Finally, after all this time, let's pop this sucker open and see that head.

There isn't any

Nose from the bottle is like molasses with some caramel, maybe with a slight fruitiness. This beer basically has no head, what few bubbles are coming up are from the agitator in the bottom of the glass. Nose from the glass is just like soy sauce (or maybe Worcestershire sauce), a savory saltiness with some fruity character. On first sip, it is a little malty, definitely roasted, salty and otherwise tastes like Worcestershire sauce with alcohol. As far as mouthfeel goes, it is lower medium body with low acidity but a warming sensation akin to much stronger and higher gravity stouts. I would actually call this the much more conservative brother of the Holy City Bowen's Island Oyster Stout.

Given the season, I'm listening to Christmas music, however the only Christmas LP's I have are "Christmas with Chet Atkins" (which I got in a lot box) and "Happy Skalidays" by the Reel Big Fish.
So I've had this lifelong obsession with making things. I guess it started with building things with Lego's as a kid and continued in different constantly evolving ways. Eternally suppressed and constantly thwarted by my fathers crazed obsession with people "not making a mess in his (insert place name here)" at the threat of him having a near aneurysm and later by the Marine Corps by just the nature of living in a barracks. I find that I have much more interest in building something than I have in actually using it. I built a 3d printer, did a test print, troubleshot it a little bit, and then never touched it again. I honestly don't have any use for a 3d printer here in Japan and deep down I think I really just wanted to build it, and now that I have it's usefulness has expired. I think I want to build a couple of guitar pedals next, start out with a kit and then kick off the training wheels from there, presuming it holds my interest. When I get back to America I'm almost certainly going to get back into building guns and ammunition. I actually want to get into 3 gun when I get back. Not really for the sake of shooting 3 gun, but just because the Idea of building task specific devices from the ground up really gets my blood going. I bought a desktop CNC mill specifically to make receivers and other small aluminum parts just for the sake that I can build a receiver in whatever specific way I want and if it doesn't work out like I thought, I can just destroy it and build another one. Sure I can't sell the receivers I make (they constitute a firearm made for personal use and their ownership cannot be transferred), but money was never the point.
Final thoughts. It's ok. If you see it for a good price go ahead and pick it up, but it's nothing spectacular. If you want something with a similar profile, get the Holy City Oyster Stout, it's all this beer is and more.