1554 Black Ale

1554 is another beer from the folks at New Belgium. So far I've loved their Fat Tire, liked Mighty Arrow, was so-so on 2 Degrees Below and was not too fond of Ranger IPA. In fact I refuse to call Ranger a beer, it's so f-ed up. Anyway they have run the gamut, with me so we'll use this stuff to tip the scales one way or the other. They sure are lucky I like the black. 1554 pours out a darkish brown, really no where near black. The nose has a light mocha and strong caramel, sort of a stronger Fat Tire. The flavors are the big caramels and mocha, with the hop bitter tingling around the edges. This is a stronger Fat Tire with more mocha and a bit more body. But , this is a good thing. This is a very nice dark beer with great flavors. I wish they wouldn't call it a black beer, cause it isn't,but it's super yum yum. Again scour their website to find out where to get this beer. This tips me towards liking this brewery, they have two really good beers, that's better than some.

Fat Tire

Fat Tire Amber Ale is the flagship beer of the New Belgium Brewery from Fort Collins, Colorado. Their beers are slowly spreading around the country, and here is the reason why. Fat Tire pours out a classic amber color. The nose is heavy on the caramel, light on the hops with a really sweet mocha note. The taste? Flavor, flavor, flavor. Big caramels, molasses, and mocha.Excellent crisp hop balance up front which kind off disappears when the big flavors hit, but it's there on the finish. This is easily one of the best beers from one of the big micro-breweries I've had. This goes with any occasion or season, with food or just drinking. It's a bit light on the body, but if you plan to pound a 12 pack, and I do, that can be an advantage. Count the days until this beer makes it to your neck of the woods. Check the web site for availability. As you may be able to tell from the picture, we're back at the beach for a few days, so it's New Belgium and NC beers.

A Trio of IPA's

I decided to postpone my rant so I could drink a trio of IPA's. I thought it might help me clear my head and crystallize my thoughts. It did exactly that, which will become clear when I get a ranting. The three beers in question here are two from North Carolina and one from New Belgium in Colorado. From the beautiful state of North Carolina we have, Highland, Kashmir IPA, and Mother Earth, Sisters of the Moon IPA. From New Belgium, we have their Ranger IPA. I'm gonna handle these one at a time and compare at the end.
First of is Mother Earth's entry, I really liked their other beer I tried, Dark Cloud. This creation is a cloudy dark gold to light amber. It has real mellow hop tones to the nose as well as citrus and caramel. It is very bitter up front, but has some nice lemon and honey flavors. The finish has a real bitter hop complexion, that really lingers. This is petty hoppy, but that's what you get in an IPA. I thought it was good enough to keep throwing it down. Nice, refreshing, a solid IPA, but a bit too much bitterness, especially on the finish.
Next up is Highland's Kashmir, which pours out a cloudy dark gold. As much as I liked Mother Earth's Dark, I hated Highland's Oatmeal Porter. This has a nice mild hop, apple, citrus nose. Wow, this has nice caramel apple flavors with a crisp hop bite on the finish.This has yummy well-rounded malts and a nice body. This is an outstanding beer, and the leader in the clubhouse by 15 strokes. I can't believe this brewery can so drastically over-hop a porter and then go mild with the hops on an IPA. It's the opposite brewery. Oh by the way their label is again a pack of slanderous lies. It says this beer has " aggressive hop Character ". This is the least aggressive IPA I've had, but it's perfectly balanced and delicious.
Finally, we have Ranger IPA from New Belgium. This is a quite clear medium gold. The nose has a really strong, brisk hop. So strong it has that herbal evergreen scent, like a Christmas tree. But how does it taste? Well, just like it smells, except even stronger. It's like biting a Christmas, tree and chewing spearmint gum at the same time. You even get that strong tingling of the tongue you get with mint. Their are no beer like flavors here. I have to say it's a very unique beverage, and I kind of liked it at first. But, this tastes nothing like an IPA, or in fact any beer. They have made an interesting spearmint malt beverage. I never expected hops could be taken to this extreme, that it changed into a completely different flavor profile.
O.K, I didn't expect that, but let's sum things up. Highland's IPA was by far the best. This beer is beautifully balanced, and a joy to drink. The mother Earth IPA was also decent, but not nearly as good as the Highland. Finally, removed from the competition, is New Belgium's Ranger. I was trying to compare IPA's and they seemed to have mislabeled their spearmint malt beverage as an IPA. Congrat's to Highland, I'm going out now to buy more.

Mother Earth
Highland
New Belgium

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/

New Belgium 2 Degrees Below

Here we have the first up of our non North Carolina beers, 2 Degrees Below. This is a winter ale from New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins Colorado. 2 Degrees pours out a nice classic amber color. It really hits you on the nose, with toffee, tootsie roll, and spice. One of the more intriguing smelling beers I have experienced. Let's have a taste, shall we. Oh my, It's a bitter blast of hop up front, way more than I expected. There's an awful lot on the finish too. Luckily, there are also some nice flavors in here. There's a nice sweetness and a slightly burnt toffee flavor. After a couple sips the jarring bitterness up front tends to fade, which makes it smoother and easier to drink. This is a nice beer, but a little disappointing. I got so much on the nose, but the hops tended to overwhelm the other flavors. I sense a rant in my future, but not yet, not yet. This is obviously quality stuff ,but they missed the mark a bit here. they need to change the hop ratios or bring some more malt up to meet them. I hope to see more from these guys next time. Oh yeah, we just found those shells on the beach today, never seen so many perfect shells.

http://www.newbelgium.com/