Coronado Brewing Company -- Islander IPA

I found Coronado Brewing Co.'s Islander IPA at Costco for $3.49 for a 22 oz bottle.  Coronado is a resort city in San Diego County across the bay from downtown San Diego.  Coronado Brewing started in 1996 shortly before the craft beer scene started to explode. You can find Coronado Brewing Co.'s beers in: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The mermaid logo traces its roots back to the local San Diego legend about mermaids singing beautiful songs to attract sailors away from the jagged rocks of Point Loma and into the calm waters of San Diego Bay.

As you can see, this light golden beer pours with a bit of head, but that goes down after a couple minutes and then leaves quite a bit of lacing on the glass.  It has a strong floral hoppy smell.  This beer has a medium body, quite a bit of bite, and leaves a long bitter aftertaste.  The bitterness overwhelms the Munich malts.  It is brewed with Cascade, Chinook, and Columbus hops, which give it that bitter bite with flavors of pine and citrus fruitiness. 

It registers at 7.0% ABV and 70 IBUs.  Since Islander IPA has a prominent presence on your pallet, like many IPAs it will pair well with spicy food, burgers, and steaks.  I personally go through phases where I switch between styles of beer that I prefer.  Hoppy beers aren't for everyone.  On the spectrum of IPAs from barely hoppy (and shouldn't be called an IPA) to extremely hoppy/bitter this is more on the hoppy/bitter side.  For anyone who likes hoppy beers or is looking for a good beer as spring starts to turn into summer Islander IPA is definitely worth a try. 

Deschutes Brewery -- Black Butte Porter

I've been bad about blogging lately...mostly because of working a lot.  I've got a bunch of beers stockpiled that I bought for reviewing, and I have a slew of old posts that I started and need the finishing touches.  I'm also planning on doing some entries on home brewing.  In short, there is more to come.

Deschutes Brewery out of Bend, Oregon makes a lot of great beers.  It was founded in 1988 and is now the fifth largest craft brewery and eleventh largest brewery in the U.S.  You can find their beers in 18 states, which are pretty much the western half of the U.S.

Black Butte is the best selling craft porter in the country.  It claims numerous awards, but most recently a silver medal at the 2013 International Brewing Awards.  Most breweries aren't willing to put a porter as a flagship beer, but Deschutes took that leap.  It is self described as having a "creamy mouthfeel, complex layers, hop edge and chocolate finish."  It clocks in at 5.2% ABV.  As you would expect, since its a porter it looks black when poured; however, if you hold it up to the light it has a reddish hue.  The bottle's description is pretty on the money.  It is definitely creamy and has a chocolate finish.  The hops are subtle, but give it a little bit of a bite.  The malts lend a lengthy and complex aftertaste that seems to get a little bit more bitter after a handful of sips.

A lot of breweries make porters, and many of them are worth trying, but this seems to be a hard style for many to nail down.  Deschutes has done a very good job in making a style of beer that I would only want to drink on occasion into something I would buy a 12 pack of.  It is not made with spices -- just several different types of dark malts that give it the complexity.  For anyone new to the craft beer scene this would be an excellent porter to start with and use as a comparison for judging others.