Sources report that Anchor Brewing Company’s 2009 edition of Our Christmas Ale has landed in Sioux City stores.
A sighting was reported at the HyVee Wine and Spirits’ Hamilton Blvd. location.
As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.
-Tim Hynds
It’s winter warmer week in Siouxland.
New at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD is Summit Brewing Company’s Winter Ale.
New at the South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits is Great Divide Brewing Company’s Oak Aged Yeti imperial stout and from Brouwerji St. Bernardus comes their St. Bernardus Christmas Ale.
As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retallers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.
-Tim Hynds
Warrior IPA enters the Siouxland marketplace with a fresh hop beer brewed with 100% Colorado-grown hops. My only fault with the beer is that I think the hop profile gets a little too jiggy in the finish.
Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colo., Warrior pours a deep golden orange with a tall, light tan head that left lots of lacing in the glass.
Its aroma is of citrus and floral hops with an almost equal amount of caramel malt notes.
Warrior’s initial flavor is a short blast of sweet caramel malt at the tip of the tongue. The malt flavors are then overrun by strong floral and piney hop flavors at mid-tongue. However, as much as the hops overtake the malt, apparent malt flavors remain to provide a pleasant backbone for the bitterness.
Hop flavors start to get a little jiggy, turning slightly vegetal at the sides of the tongue. Those rather strong flavors increase and continue into the back of the throat.
Finish is medium in length and keys on floral and astringent hop flavors, supported by caramel malt sweetness. At the very end of Warrior’s finish, the hop flavors turn slightly soapy.
Warrior is listed at 6.6% alcohol by volume and 60 IBUs. Thankfully, the beer’s caramel malt flavors are able to support its hop profile. Because without the level of malt it has, Warrior’s finish would be akin to an astringent hop bomb.
I consider the beer to be full flavored and medium bodied.
Warrior IPA was purchased at the HyVee Wine and Spirits in South Sioux City, Nebr.
-Tim Hynds
News today to make both malt fans and hopheads happy:
New at the South Sioux City HyVee Wine and Spirits is Left Hand Brewing Co’s. Warrior IPA. Brewed with fresh hops, it is available in 22 oz bombers.
The 2009 vintage of Goose Island Beer Co’s Bourbon County Brand Stout is now in stock at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD. Available in 4-packs (but also being sold at Miller’s as singles), the beer is sporting a new style label.
As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.
-Tim Hynds
It’s Oktoberfest time!
New today at the South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits is Avery’s The Kaiser, an imperial Oktoberfest.
As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.
-Tim Hynds
Mojo Risin’ Double IPA is an amped up version of the Boulder Beer Company’s Mojo IPA. Big, but well structured, Mojo Risin’ is a very nice, floral balanced dipa.
Mojo Risin’ pours a golden yellow with a tall, off-white head and aromas of bready malt and orange citrus.
The ale’s initial flavor is bready malt with toffee notes. Those flavors turn very sweet and more toffee-like at mid-tongue.
A big wallup of floral and citrus hop flavors hit at mid-tongue, to balance the beer’s sweetness.
Toasty malt flavors intensify at the back of the throat, where the hop flavors turn slightly bitter and piney. The alcohol in the 10% ABV brew shows at the back of the throat, but doesn’t annoy.
Mojo Risin’ has a long, dry finish that is dominated by powerful floral hop flavors that compliment some slightly sweet toasty malt notes.
Double dry hopped with Amarillo hops, Mojo Risin’ is a recommended double IPA. It was purchased at the South Sioux City, Nebr. HyVee Wine and Spirits.
-Tim Hynds
Brewery Ommegang’s Rare Vos joins the expanding list of Ommegang beers available in Siouxland.
A couple of cases arrived yesterday at Charlie’s Wine and Spirits in Sioux City along with some with the brewery’s Ommegang Abbey Ale.
Both are being distributed by Iowa’s Alcoholic Beverages Division, so it should start showing up all over town. As such, look for Hennepin and Three Philosophers to arrive in Sioux City soon.
Ommegang Abbey Ale was also added to the shelves in South Sioux City’s HyVee Wine and Spirits as part of their recent expansion.
As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.
-Tim Hynds
The South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits has moved into its new location and has seriously expanded its craft beer selection.
The liquor store has moved into a former Walgreen’s located immediately adjacent to the existing HyVee Food Store on Cornhusker Drive. I estimate the square footage as being over four times that of its former location, two doors down from the food store in the same shopping strip.
New additions to the store’s craft beer selection are too numerous to mention, but include Tommyknocker and Ommegang beers. They have also added many more varieties from from the store’s already best in Siouxland selection of Colorado craft beers.
This store has the best selection of craft beers of any HyVee liquor store I’ve ever been in. Imports and crafts fill a long cooler on a south wall. Macros are kept in a walk-in cooler on the store’s rear wall. All beers, except for some floor displays of macro products, are kept in coolers.
Although they have beefed up the store’s stock of quality imports, they still do not rival the import selection of Omaha’s Beertopia or Iowa City’s John’s Grocery.
However, among Siouxland stores, the new store has cemented its title as the go-to place to purchase domestic – and especially Colorado – craft beers.
-Tim Hynds
The Maharaja Imperial IPA from Boulder’s Avery Brewing Co. packs a well-balanced, tasty, big hop wallop.
The Maharaja pours a cloudy orangish-tan with a tall, off-white head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. Its aroma is of sweet grapefruit (think ruby red) and citrus.
The imperial IPA’s initial flavor is a blast of sweet, bready malt with distinct caramel undertones.
Those flavors immediately segue into a jolt of citrus flavors as the ale moves from mid-tongue to the back of the throat. Sweet grapefruit flavors dominate with strong notes of both orange and lemon zest.
The hop bitterness in this beer is big, but multi-layered. Those flavors flirt with, but never go astringent. The beer’s malt shows as a seemingly muted caramel sweetness that allows the flavors from its four varieties of hops to shine.
The Maharaja’s finish is long, with pine and citrus hop flavors dominating.
At 10.27% alcohol by volume and 102 IBUs, The Maharaja is not subtle. It is a big. It is challenging, but it is rewarding. It is also recommended.
The Maharaja Imperial IPA was purchased at the HyVee Wine and Spirits in South Sioux City, Nebraska. According to the label, the bottle I purchased was filled in Feb. 2009.
-Tim Hynds
Hercules Double IPA from the Great Divide Brewing Co., in Denver, delivers on its promise of big hop flavors, but unfortunately lacks the malt to balance out those hops.
Hercules pours a clear, golden orange color with a creamy, tall tan head. Its aroma is very nice with loads of citrus – mostly orange zest and grapefruit.
The IPA’s initial flavor is of barely sweet, bready malt that immediately turns very dry with big hop flavors at mid-tongue. Considering the beer’s nose, I was expecting some big citrus hop flavors, but instead perceived very resinous hop flavors.
Those hop flavors turned spicy – and somewhat herbal – at the back of the throat. Those spice flavors tended toward a bitter anise.
Alcohol in this 9.1% ABV beer shows somewhat at the back of the throat, but doesn’t play a big role in the beer’s overall flavor.
Hercules Double IPA has a fairly long, very dry finish with some nuttiness. However, anise and astringent hop flavors dominate.
In my opinion, Hercules Double IPA seems a little rough around the edges. This is an OK beer that could be a great beer had there been more malt flavors to balance out its hops. Hercules is listed as 85 international bitterness units, but because of balance the IPA drinks like a much more bitter beer.
Hercules Double IPA is full bodied and full flavored. It was purchased at the South Sioux City, Nebr., HyVee Wine and Spirits.
-Tim Hynds