The Spring Beer Tourney: # 8 Saranac Red vs # 9 Dundee Red

      This brings us two off your standard reds, Saranac Irish Red and Dundee Red.  First off, they are both red.  Saranac has caramel, light mocha and citrus herb on the nose, while dundee is a bit more on the citrus.  Saranac is a classic red and is just what I thought caramel citrus herb with a hint of mocha.  It's a little too damn fizzy.  But the Dundee is so fizzy it caused to burp almost immediately, annoying.  Dundee Red has really the same flavor profile just maybe weaker, although its hard to tell through the fizz.  Once the carbonation calms down, and it took a while, neither of these is very exciting.  They are decent reds, but I would not buy either one of them.  Oh well, Dundee is the winner here, as soon as I could extract the flavor from the fizz.  Just a bit better.

The Spring Beer Tourney: # 7 Glissade vs # 10 Abita Bock

      This is NOT a play in game, it's a first round game.  In ours Bocks Plus bracket we have a first round match between #7 Sierra Nevada Glissade and #10 Abita Mardi Gras Bock.  Glissade was ok last year they were in the elite 8, but their X-mas beer sucked so they get a 7 seed.  Abita gets a 10 seed based on their stunning inconsistency.  Glissade is a pale straw with caramel, citrus herb nose. Abita is dark gold with a strong honey nose.  Glissade is nice, with caramels, herb a touch of honey.  But the aftertaste is a bit off.  Mardi Gras has honey, caramel, citrus and a hint of mocha.  This is really good,it's woefully under seeded.  Let's see if the Glissade can compete.  Sierra Nevada is a pretty good bock, the flavors are really good, but I still have an aftertaste issue.  Mardi Gras Bock has no real flaws, great flavor, a big winner.  This is a very dangerous beer in this tourney.

The Spring Beer Tourney: Selection Sunday

      It's finally time for the second annual Spring Beer Tourney.  Here, this years batch of Spring Beers are pitted head to head until one champion remains.  Last year the very good Dominion Spring Buck was the winner, and of course they stopped making it.  They do have a new Spring Bock this year that will get a high seed.  Seeding is based on last years beer and with the case of new stuff, if it looks good.  This year some attempt has been made to organize the brackets by style.  Thus we have Farm, Hops and Reds, with some farmhouse ale, some hop heavy offerings and a bunch of Irish Reds.  The other bracket is Bocks Plus, which is almost all bocks with a couple other beers similar in style thrown in.  Well here we go.

                  Farm, Hops and Reds                                        

1.      Flying Dog Garde Dog                               
2.      Sam Adam's Irish Red
3.     Sam Adam's Noble Pils
4.     Harpoon Red
5.     Red Hook Mudslinger
6.     Lagunitas Hairy Eye Ball
7.     Founder's Double Trouble
8.     Saranac Red
9.     Dundee Red
10.     Troeg's Nugget Nectar  

                Bocks Plus

1.    Anchor Bock
2.    Dominion Big Thaw Bock
3.    Gordon Biersch Maibock
4.    Magic Hat Vinyl
5.    Breckenridge Pandora's Bock
6.    Yuengling Bock 
7.    Sierra Nevada Glissade
8.    Blue Moon Spring Blonde Wheat Ale
9.    Shiner Dortmunder
10.    Abita Mardi Gras Bock

      There we go twenty beers enter one beer leaves.  The first six seeds get a by so basically # 7 vs # 10 and # 8 vs # 9 are sort of like play in games. With the lowest seed remaining facing the # 1 seed and the highest facing the # 2 seed.  So the first four matches are Founder's DT vs Troeg's Nugget Nectar,  Saranac Red vs Dundee Red,  SN Glissade vs Abita Bock  and  Blue Moon Spring vs Shiner Dortmunder.  See how I got the styles to go up against each other this year.

Spring Tourney Wrap and Vinyl Revisited

I thought about some of the beers that got knocked out of the tourney early and the one I kept thinking of was Vinyl. Vinyl is an amber lager from the potheads at Magic Hat in hippie Burlington Vermont. I wanted to try it again and then rate the best of the Spring beers. Vinyl is a cloudy dark amber lager with caramel and a hint of mocha on the nose. The flavor is very good, strong caramel with a hint of mocha and great hop balance. This is a crisp classic amber lager. This could be a flagship beer for any company. They should put it in their regular line. Of course it has a stupid name and an ugly bottle. I also see no Spring connection, but they smoke so much they might have thought it was Fall. Here is my list, in order, of the best Spring beers I've tried this year.

1 Spring Buck

2 Vinyl

3 Rising Moon

4 Anchor Bock

5 Aprihop

There it is. I know you can find some contradictions here, but after all this drinking is that so shocking. I wanted to add a couple more, but you have to limit yourself to make real decisions.

Magic Hat

The Spring Beer Championship: The Buck vs The Bock

The final contest of the Spring Beer Tournament is finally here. Many beers have been consumed to get this far and now only Dominion Spring Buck and Anchor Bock remain to be drunk. These are both good beers and both should be sought out and consumed. But, there can be only one. The palate cleanser for today will be air. The Buck is an effervescent honey, caramel,tea, heavy alcohol delight. Wow, I just took a big hit of this air and it's really good. The Bock is big and brown, and full of flavor. What it does it does well, but can't offer the good complex flavor profile of the Buck. Boy that's some refreshing air. I'm just gonna keep pushing through here. The Buck manages to take unusual ingredients and make them harmonize. This is something that a lot of unusual beers fail at. The Bock is very solid and I find the last sip to be the best. The problem is the Bock is solid, while the Buck is exceptional. I have no problem crowning Dominion Spring Buck the Spring Beer Champion of 2010. I'd love to do it again next year.

The Flavorful Four: #2 Anchor Bock vs #6 Garde Dog

The highest seed left is Anchor Bock. And Today they face the upstart Flying Dog's Garde Dog. The palate cleanser will be burgers. The Bock has great strong mocha and caramel flavors. This is a creamy, rich, medium body dark beer. Ah yes, the joy of flame caressed meat. The Dog is a nice refreshing beer with sweet caramel, and some well balanced hop bite. These beers are both showing really well today. I just love the crispy parts on the edge of the burger. Let's finish this.
The Bock really tastes great today. Well balanced, tons of flavor. The Dog is also looking good. This is a good beer for any time of year and I think it would shine with a variety of foods.The Bock is really going strong, but the Dog seems to improve a bit. This will come down to the last sip. The bock is gone, good throughout. It's up to the Dog to show me something with the last gulp.And it shows me a tinge of that off flavor it can have, disappointing. Anchor Bock weighs anchor, and sails off with the victory. Now the final match is set, and Anchor Bock will meet Spring buck for the championship.

The Flavorful Four: #3 Spring Buck vs #5 Irish Red

Well, this seems a colossal mis-match, but you never know. The palate cleanser wil be flavor blasted xtra cheddar goldfish. Yes I have little kids. Let'try some beer, shall we. The Buck has strong honey, caramel, and tea, and a buttload of alcohol. It also has champagne like bubbles, which I have somehow failed to note before. Nice, very crisp in the mouth. Goldfish are o.k. The Red has nice rounded hops and a good caramel flavor. It also is just o.k. like the goldfish. It also has a poor aftertaste,unless you just keep pounding them down. I think I'll bite the fishies tails off so they can't swim. Let's speed this up. Oh Spring Buck, so many flavors and textures. Oh Irish Red, so one-dimensional. Alas, this isn't a contest. The Buck just steps on Red's throat, and crushes it. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, Red. Spring Buck cruises into the final. I hope the match between Anchor Bock and Garde Dog is more competitive.

The Flavorful Four

Wow, we're already down to the last four beers standing. From the Mid-East we have #3 seed Dominion Spring Buck and #5 seed Sam Adam's Irish Red. The North-East brings # 2 seed Anchor Bock and #6 seed Flying Dog Garde Dog. Well Irish Red, welcome to the big time and good-bye. They are by far the least deserving beer left. I'd be stunned if they advanced. Then again, I was stunned when the toppled Glissade last round. Garde Dog is a real cinderella, but very deserving, having beaten stiff competition to get here. Both one seeds are gone, so Anchor Bock and Spring Buck are the remaining powerhouses. I think Garde Dog has a shot, but we'll see. Now, let's go right to our first match, Spring Buck versus Irish Red.

Round 2: #1 Aprihop vs #3 Spring Buck

The last of our second round matches features #1 seed Dogfish Head Aprihop and #3 seed Dominion Spring Buck. These are two heavy hitters both with flavor and alcohol, 7% and 7.8% respectively. The palate cleanser will be mini brown sugar meat loaf muffins. And we're off. Aprihop jumps to the lead with it apricotty , very hoppy, strong, crisp yummy-ness. But wait, there must be a pause to enjoy some savory meatloaf. Spring Buck comes on strong with it's bold honey -tea flavors, balanced hops and power. Meatloaf tastes better when you make it in different shapes. Let's sprint to the finish line.

Aprihop is very good, but the strong hop tends to overwhelm the sweetness of the apricot. Buck has no real weakness to me, but I could see how some may not like this flavor profile. Sip for sip the Aprihop overwhelms the Buck with it's massive hops, but I expected that. I'd rather have the delicate balance of the Buck. If you poured these beers together the results would be very good. This Spring Buck is leaving the glass quickly it's time to end this thing. Just a touch more meatloaf. And it's over, Spring buck pulls away, it's so well balanced and a pleasure to drink. But man, that Aprihop is good. A really unique IPA worthy of a try. Good to the last drop, Spring Buck moves on to the flavorful four to face upstart, Sam Adam's Irish Red.

Dogfish Head

Dominion

Round 2: #1 Noble Pils vs #6 Garde Dog

Our third match of the second round pits Sam Adam's Noble Pils against Flying Dog, Garde Dog. The winner here goes on to face Anchor Bock in the semis. The palate cleanser is jasmine rice, by itself, with a little butter or thai oil. Let's get it on. Noble Pils comes out with all hops blazing. There's a lot of hop here, but there's some nice citrus and caramel, that balances it a little. I do like that you can clearly distinguish different hop flavors. Boy that's a bitter finish though. Some excellent rice. Garde Dog has nice hop up front and a bite in the back. There's also a touch of honey sweetness and a funky malty flavor. That slight weird flavor bothers me more somehow this time. Now for the lightning round.

The thai oil is really good on the rice. A hefty draught of Noble Pils goes down nice, boy that's a bit much on the hop, but the complexity of flavor distracts you from the bite. I take a hefty pull on the Garde Dog, thats a smooth beer with some body and nice balance. There is still an odd flavor here witch could be hit or miss with some people. Neither one of these beers overwhelms the other. It's getting late in the game and low in the glass, and there is no clear winner. This will have to go down to the last sip. The great balance of Garde Dog sways me, but Noble Pils has complexity with a purpose. In the end it's which glass I wanted to reach for just a little bit more. Garde Dog WINS. I just wanted to down that last bit, whereas the last dregs of the Pils got left. The cinderella story of the tournament knocks off the #1 seed. Garde Dog goes on to face Anchor bock in the semi-final. That should be a great match-up.

Sam Adam's

Flying Dog

Round 2: #2 Glissade vs #5 Irish Red

The next match-up of the second round features another 2 seed versus a 5 seed. This time it's sierra Nevada's Glissade against Sam Adam's Irish Red. The palate cleanser will be lime Tostitos. Glissade has a nice caramelized fruit and honey flavor, but also an overbearing yeast flavor and not the best hop balance. The chips are really limy in this bag. Irish Red has nice caramel flavors with hop bitters up front and on the finish. The chips with the most tiny green dots are the best. Let's go to the video tape.

The Sam's is a decent beer it's got good balance, but kind of a poor finish. Sierra Nevada could use some more malts to balance the loud hops and yeast. I really liked this much better last time. It's amazing how the equation changes when you have different beers, different flavors. The Glissade is starting to get very low in the glass I might be warming up to it. Boy both glasses are down we have to go into overtime. Going quickly sip to sip neither dominates the other. Red has the balance, Glissade has more alcohol. Neither competitor is playing their best right now, but it just wasn't Glissade's day. They lose a nail bitter in overtime. I really can't believe I like the Red more, but there it is. The Red was just a bit better and it rightfully advances to the Flavorful Four.

Sierra Nevada

Sam Adam's

Round 2: #2 Anchor Bock vs #5 Rising Moon

The first contest of the second round pits Anchor Bock, the 2nd seed, against Blue Moon, Rising Moon, the 5th seed. Anchor is a spring bock while Rising Moon is a keifer lime leaf beer. The palate cleanser is pretzel rods. The descriptions will be far briefer in this round as you can always go back and look it up. Rising Moon is a pleasant beer to drink. The tart lime is nice but subtle enough that it marries well with the crisp hop. The best part of pretzel sticks is the salt. Beer loves salt. Anchor Bock is nice and rich with a mocha flavor and hops that sort of zing in and out.Munch, munch. Lets go sip for sip.

The Bock is a good beer with body and rich flavors. However, it's got a bit of an "off" yeast flavor and the hop is strangely intermittent. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the aftertaste either, but it's got such big yummy flavors. The Rising Moon is a nice balanced beer, that clearly would be a ten with a lot of foods, but it's beer v beer. The Anchor is starting to sway me. The Bock seems better than I remember and the Moon seems a bit duller. Rising Moon is just sooo nice and I'm sure it's gonna make another guy happy some day. No, it's not about you, it's about me. Anchor Bock, you minx, you've made me stray. Actually, as the glasses get down to the end, I find Rising Moon still has a place in my heart. Then Anchor Bock takes her top off, Rising who. Anchor Bock pushes Rising Moon aside to go on to the Flavorful Four.

Blue Moon

Anchor

4 Smuttynose hanami Ale vs #5 Blue Moon Rising Moon

Wow, we're down to the last contest of the first round. It's been an excellent tournament so far and I'm looking forward to the second round. But first we have two more competitors. In the red corner, a cherry ale fighting out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Smuttynose, Hanami Ale. In the green corner, a wheat ale with kieffer lime leaf and lime peel, fighting out of Golden, Colorado, Blue Moon, Rising Moon Spring Ale. Wait, WTF, isn't that where Coors is from, hmmmm. Anyway, the referee for this bout will be ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips. He's surely had a lot of experience dealing with many types of beers.

And the bell rings. Hanami pours out a cloudy copper to red color. While our challenger pours out a slightly cloudy dark golden amber. Hanami seems a bit week on the nose in the early stages with some yeast and faint sour cherry. Rising Moon fails to counter with it,s weak key lime pie nose. Wow, Hanami starts to deliver blows with it's cherry pie flavor, it's mild hop bitters and lingering fruit finish, which goes on for days. The ref stops the fight while he is being eaten. Rising Moon counters the onslaught with it's key lime pie flavor and a crisp hop bitterness, that really balances the sweet out nicely. This beer is crisp and creamy at the same time, interesting. Once again, huge pieces of the ref are heartily consumed. It's time for these competitors to get down and dirty, trading sip for sip.

You would think the Hanami could take down his opponent with his big flavors, but instead the flavor, balance and hop bite of Rising Moon is starting to impose it's will. This is incredible, Hanami has been a spring favorite for years. But Rising Moon could be an anytime beer and would pair great with many foods and our referee, CRUNCH. This has been a great match-up but Rising Moon's excellent balance is really starting to tell. Hanami is stumbling. Oh, a big shot of crisp refreshing beer and Hanami is down. Down goes Hanami. Wow, an amazing contest between two worthy competitors, I would gladly drink again. Looks like Rising Moon will be appearing in my belly every Spring, and moves on to the second round to face Anchor Bock.

Smuttynose

Blue Moon

New Belgium Mighty Arrow

This is the second of the non-N.C. New Belgium beers for our drinking pleasure. Mighty Arrow Pale Ale is apparently a Spring beer, although I had to go to their website to figure that out. It pours out a clear medium gold, not very pale. The nose is well, a lot of bitter hop. There's also some honey apple scents, although well disguised. I feared the hops would overwhelm, but it's better than I thought. Yes, there is a lot of hop up front and a momentary bitter rush on the finish, but you can also taste this nice bittersweet honeysuckle flavor. This is a very crisp beer with a nice medium body. It's quite refreshing. I thought this beer might be good with a variety of foods, so I raided the fridge and was proved correct. This is a solid beer, but sits on the edge of balance, a little more hop would have ruined it. Worth a try. Next up, my rant.

http://www.newbelgium.com/

#1Sam Adam's Noble Pils vs #8 Otter Creek Spring Ale

The last two match-ups both involve the North-East region. The first is the #1 seed Sam Adam's Noble Pils, a lager Brewed with five different hops. You all know where it's from, but the competition is a bit more obscure. The #8 seed from Middlebury, Vermont is Otter Creek Spring Ale, A German kolsch style ale. The palate cleanser will be, tacos. The pils is a fairly clear gold, while the kolsch is a slightly cloudy pale gold. The Noble Pils has all kind of bold hop nose you can really distinguish a few different hops. The Spring Ale has quite the yeasty nose with a bit of citrus. Tasting the Noble Pils brings a cavalcade of hops, up front, in the middle, on the finish and everywhere else. Shell, Meat, cheese, lettuce, etc, chomp. The Spring Ale is smooth and crisp, light on the hop with a honey, floral flavor. Tacos nice and crunchy.

Let's go head to head with these two contenders.

I really thought the Noble pils was a bit too much. That much hop needs more to balance it out, but it does kind of grow on you. There are at least a bunch of different hop flavors, rather than one overwhelming hop wall, like other hop monsters. The Spring Ale is a really easy drinking beer with nice flavors. It's good, but one sip is just like any other. The Sam Adam's may escape with this one, but just barely. The Pils is just not balanced , but it has just enough intrigue to take it past this kolsch. I can't see how this pils is gonna get very far, it did not deserve this high a seed. This Spring Ale is worth a look if you like kolsch style beers. Noble Pils moves on to the second round to face the surprise #6 seed Garde Dog.

#3 Spring Buck vs #6 Copper Hook

Going to the Mid-East bracket we get the #3 seed Dominion Spring Buck versus #6 seed Red Hook Copper hook. Spring Buck is a blonde ale brewed with honey, chamomile, and orange peel Made by Dominion in Dover Delaware. Before Dominion got bought out they were a stones throw from me in Ashburn, Virginia. Copper Hook is a spring ale made by red hook in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The palate cleanser will be bacon. The Spring Buck, even with a slow pour, heads up very aggressively, but calms down to a cloudy pale straw. The copper hook is nearly identical in color but has a normal head. The Spring Buck has a lot of citrus and a tinge of yeast, while the Copper hook is very light on the nose with just at trace of hop and caramel. You know, it's impossible to overrate bacon. Wow, the Dominion throws a lot of flavors at you shifting from tea, to citrus, to hop all with this mellow herb at the bottom. Bacon is really good. The Red Hook has some mellow caramel and I swear, bubble gum, that disappears when the underwhelming hop comes through on the finish. This beer lacks excitement unlike this bacon. Time for the head to head match-up.

The Spring Buck is good stuff, really interesting, and strong. The Copper Hook does seem to be getting a bit better, there's decent body to this beer. The one thing that could turn people off to Spring Buck is it has some mead tones to it as it is brewed with honey. Surprisingly, the glass of Copper Hook is much lower right now but there are two good reasons for that. It's so weak you can drink it like water and you have to pour a bunch down your throat to get any flavor at all. The Spring Buck continually gives you more flavors to contemplate. Wait, must have more bacon. This might be the biggest blow-out so far in the tournament, Spring Buck dominates buzzer to buzzer. After this massive win Spring Buck moves on to face Aprihop in a very interesting second round match-up. Red Hook really needs to step it up next year. Damn you Delaware for stealing my brewery.

#1 Aprihop vs #8 Vinyl

In our first look at a #1 seed, it's Aprihop versus Vinyl, in the battle of the weird names. The #1 seed is Aprihop, an I.P.A. brewed with apricots from the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware. The #8 seed is Vinyl, a spring Lager from Magic Hat in Burlington Vermont. By the way, I don't read the small print on bottles till after I do tasting notes, so I don't get their ideas of what the flavors are into my head. That said, I read the bottle and there is bizarre rambling about "mysterious melange" and "chaotic Chemistry", but no explanation as to why you name a beer vinyl. They smoke a lot of pot in Burlington. The palate cleanser is 6 hour slow roasted shredded pork. Alright time to actually get to the beer.

They both pour out a dark amber, but the Vinyl is pretty cloudy, while the Aprihop is clearer. The Vinyl has a nice hop bitterness, and sweet caramelized pear on the nose. You can smell the apricot in this Aprihop, but it's not too strong. There's also loads of bitter hop and grapefruit that all balances out nicely. Let'stake a sip, but first some pork. Wow, this does not taste at all like vinyl, it's a very traditional amber lager. There's light malty caramel and really nice balanced hop bitterness. Chomps down some pork. The Aprihop has a significant apricot flavor up front which intensifies before you get this rush of bitter hop. There's also a slight burnt flavor that's kind of pleasant. The Aprihop is amazing with this pork.

Now to get serious with the head to head match-up. First, a bit of pork cooked it's own juices with just a dry spice rub. The Aprihop is really concentrated and delicious, it also serves up a nice 7% abv. Damn, I wasn't supposed to eat another piece of pork, but I couldn't help it. Start again. The Vinyl has great balance it's a near perfect amber lager. I was afraid of this. I gave the Magic Hat an eight seed, because of it's stupid, inexplicable name and the hit or miss nature of their beers. But this is a real hit, it should have gotten a higher seed. However, they did give their beer a weird name, and how is this a spring beer, it tastes more like an Octoberfest. More pork. The aprihop is a bit of a novelty beer, but it goes great with pork. The Vinyl is ahead late in this game. Oh my, the glasses are at the same level, it's going into overtime. Still no winner and the glasses are almost empty. There it it goes the last sip of Aprihop. The winner on a questionable call is Aprihop. There's some controversy here,I really think Vinyl got jobbed. Aprihop moves on to the second round, but of all the losers Vinyl is by far the best, go get some now.

Sam Adam's Coastal Wheat

This is the 1st of three beers we're going to look at from the Sam Adam's Brewmaster's Collection. The collection consists of wheat, red and black beers and with start with the lightest. Coastal wheat advertises itself as a wheat ale brewed with lemon. Coastal pours out a slightly hazy gold, and the nose is a very clean strong lemon. First sip has a harsh taste, maybe a hop\ yeast problem, which smooths out quickly ( via the lemon ) leaving a pleasant lingering finish. This stuff is quite alright but I'm not sold on these contrived Spring wheat beers. It doesn't say spring to me, try again. If this is the best beer in this collection I'll be very sad. However, if it's the worse, a day of drinking may be salvaged. Since Sam Adam's is from Boston, here's how I would review this if I was from there. This beah is wicked mediocha, and Derek Jeatah's a fahkin queeah.

Dominion Spring Buck

The new spring offering from Dominion is Spring Buck. This is a blonde ale with honey, chamomile and orange peels, and a hefty 7.8% alcohol. It pours out a dense slightly cloudy cider color with alot of head. You can catch the chamomile, honey and yeast on the nose. The first sip is smooth and delicious, giving you some of the mouth feel and subtle character of mead. It has quite a strange and lingering aftertaste that I can't decide whether or not I like. I'm surprised how little one can taste the alcohol, but you can feel that delightful warmth of booze right quick. Uuummm, beer. I can definitely recommend this beer. It's really good, quite unique, and potent, but I can see how this blend of flavors might not appeal to some people. I still have a little bit of an issue with the lingering aftertaste. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.