Go West, Young Man

Beer #570 Hop Notch / Uinta Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, UT
Previously from this brewery: another Hop Notch, HooDoo, more HooDoo, Cockeyed Cooper, and more Cockeyed Cooper

Utah and the Western states have been on my mind recently.  Why?  Here's why:
1. Tonight's beer is a bottle of Hop Notch from Uinta, brewed in Utah.  More on this later.
2. I recently watched a travel program on the scenic Highway 12, which winds through majestic southern Utah.  The scenery was absolutely mind blowing, and I'd love to travel there some day.  Simply breathtaking.
3. I recently read an article on sbnation.com about an ultra marathon runner who attempted to break a record by climbing (also running) the summits of all 55 14,000+ peaks in Colorado.  His goal?  All 55 ascents in ten days.  TEN.  As someone who's run an ultra marathon on extremely flat ground very close to sea level, I can't even fathom the strength, will power, and ability to tolerate pain this effort must have taken, let alone when you throw in the rock climbing needed for some of the tougher peaks.  It's just insane, when you think about it.  For those who have never had the pleasure, 14,000 feet of elevation is VERY high up, with VERY little oxygen.  I've managed to summit one 14,000 foot peak, and I did that with the aid of a rental car and the highest paved road in North America. Although I did walk the last 100 feet to the summit, which greatly improved my self-esteem and relative sense of manhood.  Here's a picture from the view from Mount Evans, where to no one's surprise, you can basically see forever.

Pretty much eye level with very high clouds

With all of this Rocky Mountain-ness in mind, tonight's beer is an IPA that pours a clear amber color with a lingering white head.  There is plenty of pine and grapefruit in the aroma, and when you take a sip there is an earthy pine, with crisp lemon and grapefruit citrus.  The beer is dry, but not as bitter as the aroma might lead you to believe, although there's definitely a bitter finish that you expect from a good IPA.  This less-hops-than-expected thing is probably good, as I'm worried that my love of hoppy beers is permanently shifting my palate.

Not that scenic, but more delicious

Thing to Think About Today:
If mountains are clearly on my mind, then we'll go ahead and close out by thinking about hills.  Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, in fact.  Good bye for another day, dear friends!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGaqmvIEyaI

"I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant."

Day 563: Uinta Brewing Hop Notch IPA

Ah, the mysteriously and wildly different labels of Uinta Brewing Company. 

Anyway let me put my weird hang up about the wide variety of beer labels from Uinta aside and tell you about their Hop Notch IPA.

It pours a beautiful golden brown color with a thick, sudsy off-white head. Now that we're in the heat of Philadelphia summers, I have to remember to stop pouring my beers in the frigid air-conditioning and then taking them outside to photograph. My glasses and bottles keep getting all foggy!

The Hop Notch IPA smells strongly of piney hops and fruit sweetness. The flavor is delicious. There's a nice perfumed hop in there along with pine and orange. It also has a nice crackery dryness.  I also like it because it has a good amount of malt, which rounds it out nicely.

Why is it called "Hop Notch"? It's a play on words (top notch) that will hopefully become part of the beer lexicon. For example, "That IPA was hop notch." Now you know!

Beer stats
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.3%
IBUs: 82
Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Uinta
His and hers reviews of HooDoo kolsch
His and hers reviews of Cockeyed Cooper (barley wine)

Bloody Good Time!

Day #558 Cockeyed Cooper / Uinta Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, UT
Previously from this brewery: HooDoo kolsch, more HooDoo kolsch, and another Cockeyed Cooper

Did you win a trophy today?  I'm not saying I did, but this thing seems to be sitting in my house:

SHAZAM, YO.

Spent the afternoon with the wonderful and dedicated people of the Red Cross, and now I'm sitting here trying to get some thoughts together for a post so I can get some sleep.  Would love to watch the NBA Finals game tonight, as there's nothing more exciting than a game seven, but that would put me up waaay past my bed time.  I'm playing basketball tomorrow at 6:30am, so something tells me sleep will be more valuable than watching a game I only have a marginal rooting interest in.

Your beer tonight is a bottle of Cockeyed Cooper, a bourbon barrel aged barley wine from Uinta Brewing. Yes, this isn't a typical summer beer, but I'm making an effort to try and clean up some of the beers that have been lingering in the fridge.  This one pours a dark mahogany with a thin tan head, and the aroma is a welcome mix of bourbon and vanilla.  The taste is a heady mix of leather, spice, caramel, and oak.  Complex and delicious, this beer improved as it warmed.  Excellent beer.

Ahoy.

This beer is from Uinta's Crooked Line, a series of adventurous, out of the ordinary beers.

Thing to Think About Today:
Courtesy of winning an award today, I desperately wanted to play the clip from Revenge of the Nerds where Ogre drinks out of a giant trophy and spews beer on the audience of the Greek Games.  Yeah, except for the fact Youtube doesn't let that video show up through blogger.com.  Pain in my ass.

So instead of a tie in to trophies, I will instead give you something blood drive related.  Say for example, Sunday Bloody Sunday.  Hey... that's sort of related.  I guess.  Go with it.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6FPMjZhAc

Day 553: Uinta Crooked Series, Cockeyed Cooper

I'm clearly cleaning out the beer lurking in the back of the fridge because nothing says beautiful June day like a bourbon barrel aged barley wine.

This one is the Cockeyed Cooper bourbon barrel barley wine ale from Uinta Brewing's Crooked Line Series. For the entirety of year one of this blog, when we were only drinking one beer from each brewery, Uinta messed with me during every trip to stock up on beer. Why? Because their labels are mysteriously wildly different from each other. Southern Tier? Has a look. Stoudts? Has a look. Uinta? Different. Every. Single. Time.

Barley wine ale can vary widely in tasting notes; however, it will always have a high ABV. It's typically lively and fruity, sometimes sweet or bittersweet. They can be challenging. Aromas range from intense fruits to intense hops. Body is usually thick and flavors can range from dominant fruits to big, resiny hops.

How did Cockeyed Cooper stack up? I'll admit it isn't the best barley wine I've ever had. It is billed on the bottle's label as having tastes of bourbon with splashes of vanilla and chocolate and dried fruits plus generous amounts of hops and malts.

It poured a murky, red-tinged dark brown ale with a full tan head. It left lots of sticky lacing in the glass. It smells of red currants and vanilla. There's a very thick mouthfeel to it. The first thing I noticed is the very hoppy finish, which is indicative of American style barley wine ales. I'm learning that I prefer non-American where you get more of a balance between the hops and malts. The flavor also produced some bitter chocolate and oaky notes. As it warmed up some it also had more sweet chocolate and cherry. It was also very boozy. While all this sounds very nice and tasty, the entire time I was drinking it, I kept thinking it was missing something. Maybe it was the big hop finish throwing me off...I'm not sure.

Will this cause me to avoid trying other Uinta beers? Doubtful.

Beer stats
Style: Barley wine ale
ABV: 11.1%
IBUs: 65
Rating: Average

Previously reviewed from Uinta
We're going in the "Way Back Machine" to Gary's 110th post for a review of HooDoo kolsch.
I reviewed the same beer on day 105 with some recollections of attempting to create some DJ effects on my Dad's very expensive stereo turntable. Happy Father's Day, Dad. Thanks for not killing me!

Shortest Post Ever? Maybe.

Beer #110 HooDoo Kolsch / Uinta Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah

I hereby formally apologize for any perceived lack in quality from my blog posts this week.  It just hasn't been a good week to be on my game.  However, I vow that this will change.  In the mean time, here's today's beer.

This craptacular Thursday, it's my turn to sample the HooDoo Kolsch from Uinta Brewing.  This beer pours an effervescent cloudy yellow pour with a thin head.  The aroma is light, with notes of bread and earth.  The taste brings a light malt, with a bit of a nutty taste. Yeast, dry, grassy, earthy, but nothing that overpowers the senses.  In all, it's a pretty mellow place.  Sort of like Utah, I suppose.  Marci crossed this brewery off her list earlier this month, check it out HERE.  Definitely want to try some other beers from this brewery, but as of yet I've only seen the kolsch around these parts.  Hopefully that changes soon!

Kolsch is a great summer beer, but I think I'd rank this one behind Stoudt's Karnival Kolsch.  Definitely check that one out if you're in the market for a lighter beer that still packs a lot of flavor.

Thing to Think About Today:

Look, I've never been to Utah, although I hope to change that soon.  When I think of Utah, obviously I think of Mormons, but let's not forget that other famous Utah thing:  Johnny Utah, the lead character from that "so bad it's good" movie, Point Break.  Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze?  Sign me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_6mR82eQk 

I AM AN F-B-I AGENT!

Beer 105: HooDoo Kolsch or DJ Marci G

On my travels today a new-to-me mash-up of LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells and The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony came on.  It included some significant scratching which reminded me out of nowhere of my one meager attempt at a DJ career.  It was back in the mid- to late-80s and I made my debut scratching on my dad’s prized turntable.  Evidently one cannot just up and start scratching on any ol’ turntable and those fancy pants needles are really expensive.  It sounded like shit.  I ruined a record.  I also found out how expensive a replacement needle was.  I blame it on Run DMC or maybe Chaka Khan or was it Herbie Hancock?

***

Tonight I’m drinking a kolsch style ale from Uinta Brewing Company out of Salt Lake City, Utah.  If anyone cares, it was bottled on October 28, 2011 and is brewed with renewable wind and solar energy.  The HooDoo ale poured a golden straw color with a thin head that is leaving some serious lacing behind.

The smell is full of grain and slightly sweet smelling.  The taste is smooth -- grains, malt, very mild hop.  It’s ever so slightly sweet.  If I was the kind of woman who cut the grass on a hot summer day, I would probably be quite happy to grab one of these afterwards.  But since I’m more of a make-my-husband-do-it or hire-someone-else kind of gal, then I’ll probably just relax with one of these on a hot day and appreciate the lack of hard labor in my life.

You daily dose of knowledge revolves around funny words like Uinta and hoodoo.  A hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of a basin or badland located in dry, hot areas.  Hoodoos can reach hieghts exceeding that of a ten-story building.  Why did Uinta opt for hoodoo for the name of this kolsch?  Nowhere in the world are hoodoos more abundant than in Utah and specifically Bryce Canyon National Park.  And for your second bit of knowledge -- Uinta is the mountain range located in northeastern Utah.

Cheers!