Month: March 2016

Scoresheet Saturday: Yalobusha Copperhead Amber Ale

Richard Bryant Leave a comment

Yalobusha Brewing in Water Valley, Mississippi is among the breweries of the recent Mississippi craft beer explosion. They came on the scene a couple of years ago along with several other up and coming breweries in the Magnolia State, and have been a welcome addition along with all the others.

One of my favorite Mississippi brews is Yalobusha’s Coperhead. Described by the brewery as a “unique copper colored ale with nutty toasted malt” and “amber ale.” When constructing a BJCP score sheet for it, I found it could be more fairly evaluated using the Red IPA style. The beer comes in at 65 IBU and 5.6% ABV. This is more in line with the Red IPA style than the American Amber Ale style, so I decided to use the guidelines for Red IPA.

Judge: Richard Bryant
Beer Name: Yalobusha Copperhead Amber Ale
Category: 21B Specialty IPA – Red IPA
Special Ingredients: None

Aroma: 9/12

Grainy sweet malt, light toasted bread with moderate piney hops. Low level of caramel aroma. Very low esters.

Appearance: 3/3

Copperhead Amber AleDeep copper color and clear with a large cream colored foamy head that last for the whole glass.

Flavor: 17/20

Balanced well toward the hop flavors and bitterness. Hop flavor is moderately high with a very piney note. Clean fermentation with a low caramel malt sweetness that is barely perceptible and a very low dark toast flavor. Finishes clean and dry with a lingering bitterness,

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium body with a moderately high carbonation. Slightly creamy due to the head and very slightly astringent.

Overall Impression: 7/10

Highly hopped and clean Red IPA. Somewhat dry. The hoppy balance tends to overpower the caramel and toast flavors that are relegated to the background. Overall a pleasant beer drinking experience especially for lovers of hoppier ambers. This beer sits on the fence between American Amber Ale and Red IPA coming in at 65 IBU and5.6% ABV it fits with Red IPA, but the drinking experience sits in the middle.

TOTAL: 39/50

Comments: This beer is one of those beers that are much more enjoyable to drink and enjoy than to try to evaluate. I really love to drink this beer after a day of work while cooking dinner or going through some other task. This score sheet goes to show how difficult it is to evaluate a beer you have already decided you like especially using the BJCP guidelines which were designed for homebrew competitions. Of course this beer is not a home brew, and has no reason to comply with the guidelines. In any case Copperhead is a very nice drinkable ale. Try it! You’ll like it!

Scoresheet Saturday: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tropical IPA

Ron Unz Leave a comment

In this post, I dabble with the newest Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beer. This year, Sierra Nevada is releasing a Tropical IPA with an ABV of 6.7%. This IPA features Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops. Lets dive in and see how this beer compares to the BJCP style guideline as an American IPA.

25536879035_4da909400b_bJudge: Ron Unz
BJCP ID: F0711
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tropical IPA
Category: 21A – American IPA
Special Ingredients: None
Bottle Inspection: Ok.
Comments: None

Aroma: 10/12

Moderate-high hop aroma with notes of orange, tangerine, pine, resin, with low levels of spice. Moderate-low malt sweetness with no distinct notes. No esters. No diacetyl.

Appearance: 3/3

Gold in color. Low haze, but ok for style. Off-white heat with small tight bubbles. Great head retention.

Flavor: 10/20

25418346022_f0be7054c8_bModerate toasty malt flavor with low levels of malt sweetness. Moderate-high dank, pine, resin, and spice hop flavors. Very high bitterness. Low levels of citrus in the finish. No esters or diacetyl. Balance is very hop forward. The finish is dry. The dryness and bitterness produces a very astringent character that lingers for a long time that is harsh, unpleasant, and . The hop flavor comes across as soapy. More citrus and fruity hop character comes through as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium body. Medium carbonation. Moderate-high astringency that lingers for a long time and is unpleasant. No alcohol heat.

Overall Impression: 5/10

The initial toasty malt profile was exceptional but was quickly over run by hop bitterness. Beer was also fermented well. After two or three sips my palate was destroyed and the malt character was barely perceived. The biterness was astringent and unpleasant. Try experimenting with different hop varieties, back off on the bittering hops, or shift more of the bittering hops to later in the boil. Also, if using tap water, blend with some RO water as some ions and brewing salts can boost perceived bitterness/harshness. More citrus notes do come through as the beer warms, which is nice.

TOTAL: 31/50

Comments: I stopped drinking this beer 10 minutes ago and I can still taste the bitterness. If you like tongue shredding IPAs, this one will do the trick. Just don’t plan on drinking anything else the rest of the evening. The hop aroma is great and I really enjoyed the initial toasty malt character, but that flavor quickly got smashed by the hop bitterness and astringency. Sierra Nevada uses Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops, all of which have pretty prominent citrus/fruit character. For some reason I don’t get much citrus except in the finish and after the beer warms. Other reviews of this beer say the beer has an intense citrus and fruit character with a subdued bitterness. Maybe my palate is jacked today… well, it is now after finishing that beer.

Scoresheet Saturday: New Belgium Citradelic

Ron Unz Leave a comment

So, I thought it would it would be fun to add a weekly blog post called Scoresheet Saturday. The goal of these posts is to force us to spend more time studying for the BJCP proficiency exam by regularly writing score sheets and evaluating beers. My goal is to publish one or more score sheets every Saturday. I am hoping my other SFF cohorts join me on occasion in writing score sheets. These posts will also give us an opportunity to receive feedback from each other and other experienced judges. All three of us have scored high enough on the tasting exam to attempt taking the written proficiency exam. However, since we have taken our tasting exams, the BJCP has switched to the 2015 guidelines, so things have changed a bit in terms of judging. To be consistent with what we would experience during an exam or a judging session, we’ll keep to a 20 minute evaluation and writing period. I hope these posts will help you and us prepare for future BJCP exams.

25239356240_47577a21d2_bJudge: Ron Unz
BJCP ID: F0711
Rank: Certified
Beer Name: New Belgium Citradelic
Category: 21A – American IPA
Special Ingredients: None
Bottle Inspection: Ok.
Comments: None

Aroma: 8/12

Moderate hop aroma. Mostly notes of orange and a hint of lemon and tangerine. Moderate-low caramel malt sweetness with hints of toast. Very lower pear-like fruity esters. No diacetyl.

Appearance: 3/3

Deep gold in color. Slight off-white heat with tiny tight bubbles. Very clear. Good head retention.

25239356930_3bc25ac835_bFlavor: 14/20

Moderate orange, lemon, and tangerine hop flavor that gives the beer a boost of brightness. Moderate bitterness. Medium-low malt sweetness with low caramel and toasted bread notes. Very low fruity esters. Balance is slightly leaning toward the hops. Bitterness and tangerine fruitiness followings into the finish. Bitterness sticks around long into the finish, but is not unpleasant. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Medium body. Medium carbonation. No warmth. No creaminess. Low astringency.

Overall Impression: 7/10

Very tasty beer with solid citrus/american hop flavor. Very easy to drink IPA. The hop flavors and aroma are within style, but borderline on the upper end of the APA category. If the malt bill was a little smaller, I would consider this more of an APA. I would recommend increasing the hops near the end of boil and/or in the dry hop. Overall a very good beer.

TOTAL: 37/50

Comments: I really did enjoy this beer. I personally feel that this beer almost borders the line between styles. I’d consider the hop profile to be on the very low end of the spectrum for an IPA. I took a look at New Belgium’s website after writing my score sheet and saw they are using citra hopes (not a surprise based on the name) and tangerine peels. The tangerine notes add a bit of brightness I really enjoy. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a solid hoppy beer.