Brewed By: Rogue
Brewed In: Newport, OR
Type: Juniper Pale Ale aged in spruce gin barrels
Brewed With: Malts: Harrington, Crystal, Triumph, C-15 & Rogue Micro Barley Farm Dare™ malts. Hops: Syrian, Golding, Amarillo & Rogue Hopyard Willamette hops. Juniper Berries. Pacman yeast.
ABV: ~5.2%

What they say: “In their second collaboration effort, Rogue Master Brewer, John Maier, and Master Distiller, John Couchot are releasing John John Juniper Pale Ale. This ale consists of Rogue Juniper Pale Ale aged in Rogue’s Juniper Gin barrels. Gin lovers will recognize the oddity in this approach – gin is not typically aged in barrels.

To craft this unique brew, John Couchot aged the Gin in oak barrels so the barrels can soak up the flavor of the gin. The barrels are then emptied and rolled by forklift from the Rogue Distillery to the Rogue Brewery. John Maier later fills these barrels with Juniper Pale Ale so that his creation can absorb the gin flavors from the barrel.”

Website: As previously stated, Rogue’s site is a wellspring of info, beer geekery, brewing porn, and fun. No complaints.

Why this one, Show? On a recent jaunt to my outlying beer store, I noticed that Rogue has released a new collaboration beer in the John John series. Juniper beer? Gin barrels? This was too unique to pass up.

First Thoughts:
Head: Not too thick, recedes rather quickly, quite white.
Nose: Fresh cucumber, clean notes, nothing cloying or cloudy.
Color: Tending toward very light golden-brown

Presentation (5): The bottle is identical to the previous John John Dead Guy, with only a small part of the label being changed from red to teal. John Maier and John Couchot remain in their raising-a-pint stance. The snobberific info is here, with ingredients, AA, IBUs, and PLATO. It’s a departure from the traditional Rogue label, but it works for this beer series. 5

Originality (5): Let’s see. Ale is brewed with juniper berries while the brewer’s own gin is put into barrels. Then, that gin is removed, and the ale is put in the barrel to absorb all of those great gin characteristics. The beer is even brewed with some malts and hops from Rogue’s own farms. Can I award a 50 out of 5? 5

Body (10): This is a well-carbonated, crisp, clean beer. The sip doesn’t have too huge of a mouthfeel, but pops enough through the sip to make its presence known. There’s a smooth finish here and the whole thing feels refreshing. 8

Taste (10): It doesn’t taste like a gin & tonic, but the subtleties of the spirit come through. This is a pale ale, after all, and the sip starts with that crisp malt character. As the beer moves along there’s notes of the juniper and gin flavors twisting around a pronounced hop bitterness. At the swallow there’s a woody air that lingers on the tongue, holding that hoppiness for a bit after the sip is gone. This only gets better as the beer warms in the glass, causing you to notice even more complex flavors with each sip. Some might find this beer too bitter, but they’d be missing out on the uniqueness of the taste. 9

Efficiency (10): For this, we will again apply Rogue’s inexact formula of dividing the PLATO number by 2.5 to approximate an ABV of 5.2%. This is hardly a “one is all you need” beer; it’s closer to a standard macro than a wood-aged craft. You’re not even getting 2 cans of beer out of your 22oz bomber. I like the fact that this won’t deaden your taste buds after a glass or two, but that doesn’t go towards efficiency points. 5

Versatility (10): Like its predecessor, this beer won’t grab any high marks here. The price point is too high to make this something you grab a bunch of for a party. There are plenty other pale ales with stronger “ale-ness” to put in recipes. However, the crispness and cleanliness of the flavors as well as the average ABV make this a perfect beer for the summer months (one of Rogue’s suggested food pairings is pork—hello BBQ). The uniqueness of the flavors and technique make this another great beer snob beer. 7

Final Score: 39 – Really Good Beer

Brewed By: Kona Brewing Company
Brewed In: Kona, HI via Portsmouth, NH
ABV: Bottle claims 6.0% — Website claims 5.9%
Type: Pale Ale

Awards

• 2009 Bronze Medal: American Pale Ale category, U.S. Open Beer Championships, Georgia
• 2008 Honorable Mention: American Style Pale Ale category, United States Beer Tasting Championships
• 2007 Gold Medal: Pale Ale category, Portland Spring Beer & Wine Festival, Oregon
• 2007 Bronze Medal: American Style Pale Ale category, Australian International Beer Awards
• 2005 Gold Medal: Pale Ale category, Capital Food & Wine Festival, Washington

What They Say

• Website: Fire Rock Pale Ale is a crisp, refreshing “Hawaiian-style” pale ale. Its signature copper color results from the unique blend of specialty roasted malts. The pronounced citrus-floral hop aroma comes from the liberal amounts of Galena, Cascade & Mt. Hood hops added to each brew.
• Bottle: Active volcanoes on the big island of Hawaii leave visitors awestruck by their power. The glow of lava as it meets the ocean is an amazing site [sic]. Our Fire Rock Pale Ale is inspired by this place with a bright copper color and rich roasted malt taste. Aloha! Since 1994, Kona Brewing Co. has been committed to making handcrafted ales and lagers of uncompromised quality. We invite you to visit our brewery and pubs whenever you visit Hawaii. Mahalo!

Website: Mostly OK. I’m not a fan of the autoplay music on the front page but their flash apps load quickly and all the beer info is easy to find directly at the top of the page. Their “About Us” page is a bit crowded and it uses a little too much Flash but, other than that, it’s a really well done website. The site did crash my browser, but that’s likely more to do with Firefox’s suspect Flash handling than bad code… as I step ever closer to moving to Chrome and turning my browsing history over to Google, too.

Why I Picked It: I’d been hearing about Kona’s stuff for a few months and have been told it’s relatively good. On my last trip upstate, I finally came across it at, of all place, the supermarket I used to work at. Small world and all.

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Presentation (5): The label has an island sunset painted on it. It’s a rather beautiful look and thematic as the beer pours a similar color. Great job matching this particular label with the beer and it’s an enticing look. 5

Originality (5): Not particularly. Since I usually err toward an average score trending high when it’s of a type most craft brewers have, I’ll do so here, too. 3

Body (10): The beer pours a cloudy copper with very little head. I didn’t get much lacing while drinking so if you’re big in to “head performance” (I’m not) this would be annoying. Because of the slight head, I wasn’t expecting nearly the amount of carbonation I got. This is a pretty hefty pale ale, actually, with a thick body and a burly, mealy mouthfeel but with the carbonation to make it pleasant. The only reason I’m deducting a point here is because I’m not quite sure it tastes like a pale ale. 9

Taste (10): The Munich malts are the easy star here while the hops sit in the background. Again, I love this flavor, but I’m having a terrible time equating this to other pale ales. The odor is malts and honey and it has a distinctly German flavor. The aforementioned honey only slightly sweetens the malty dryness. I love the way this tastes, my only strike is that it doesn’t quite fight off the burn of 6.0% alcohol and malts are just a little too strong in the finish. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure I love this. 8

Efficiency (10): Very high. The beer is delicious and it’s right on the 5.9/6.0 sweet spot. The flavor is fantastic, highly sessionable, and wrapped together in a nice ABV. This beer could honestly crush you given a night of consumption. I desperately want a taste of this beer on draught somewhere… unfortunately I don’t see myself going to Hawaii anytime soon. A brewpub in Portsmouth, please? 10

Versatility (10): The opposite of high. This is a beer snob beer. The taste is too bold for folks who don’t enjoy craft stuff. On the positive, there’s enough flavor here that most everyone who likes craft stuff (save for folks who claim to only like beers that make their face turn inside out with hoppy bitterness) will like this. Those people are wrong. 4

The Snob Sez: Weirdly, if the name of this was “Fire Rock Copper Ale”, I think I’d like it better. Mostly the lower ratings are coming from trying to equate this beer with other pale ales and failing. However, if I was comparing it to, for example, Copper Hook, it would seem better. Strange, I know. All that said: the awards — I get it.

Final Score: 39 (of 50) Really good beer.

Brewed By: FX Matt Brewing
Brewed In: Utica, NY
ABV: 5.3%
Type: American Pale Ale

What They Say: Saranac Big Moose Ale is an American Pale Ale with a kick. The medium-bodied malt sweetness is balanced by a nice crisp bitterness from hand selected centennial and cascade hops. Look for a vibrant citrusy hop aroma that will leave you craving another swig!

Why I Picked It: This is the fifth and final new beer in Saranac’s 12 Beers Of Winter 2009. Much like last year, I couldn’t quite get it done before the beginning of spring. This is how I roll.

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Presentation (5): The bottle does, indeed, have a big moose. The moose is standing in front of some trees and looking generally disinterested in this whole “being on a beer label” thing. He also looks ready to flip a Ford Focus. 3

Originality (5): Honestly, I don’t taste much difference between this and the regular Pale Ale which I reviewed as part of the Adirondack Trail Mix which, itself, was very similar to last winter’s ESB. So, even with the fancy name, it doesn’t seem high on the originality scale… even within the brewery’s own offerings. 1

Body (10): The beer pours amber with minimal head. It features a light and crisp body with a strong, hoppy odor with a hint of citrus. Like I said in the Pale Ale review: “it’s right on the border of being refreshing until the hops descend on the palette”. The lacing was a bit underwhelming and not much in this beer was any better or worse than the aforementioned Pale Ale. 6

Taste (10): If I had to guess, this is a hopped out version of the Pale Ale recipe. The hops are really the only tweak I can detect. Their presence is bold, with just a touch of background malt. A hit of citrus comes in the finish with the oh-so-not-delicious taste of pinecone hoppiness. I rated the Pale Ale a 7, but what I liked about the refreshing flavor there is killed for me here with the hops. 5

Efficiency (10): The beer is light and crisp, but with an even lower ABV than the Pale Ale. It’s hard to rate it high efficiency. Low ABV and there’s a big heavy flavor and cloying hoppiness. I couldn’t see myself drinking more than a couple of these and, after a couple, I don’t think I’d be ready for bed. 4

Versatility (10): It’s… OK, I guess. It might be fine if you’re looking for something different but I, again, wouldn’t go out of my way for it. As mentioned, I can’t find a discernible difference from the Pale Ale, except a slightly stronger flavor of hops and a lower ABV. If I had a choice, I’d grab a sixpack of the Pale Ale or the ESB and leave this one on the shelf. 5

The Snob Sez: Meh.

Final Score: 24 (of 50) – OK beer

Adirondack Trail Mix

Brewed By: Saranac Brewery (Matt Brewing Company)
Brewed In: Utica, NY
Type: Belgian Ale
ABV: 5.5%

What They Say: Saranac Pale Ale is a classic english pale ale brewed with six specialty malts and aggressively-hopped with hand selected english kent goldings & fuggles hops. Look for a rich, fruity hop bouquet, a copper amber color , and a smooth, full-flavored taste with a crisp finish that only comes from a genuine top fermented ale.

Website: As I mentioned during the 12 Beers of Winter, Saranac’s website is very good. All the stuff on their site is easy to locate. If I had one complaint, it’s that I couldn’t find the Adirondack Trail Mix page.

Why I Picked It: Saranac’s Adirondack Trail Mix is their core beer sampler pack. If I had to rate their beers based on popularity, I’d put this particular beer third behind their IPA and their Adirondack Lager. Since I got the 12 Beers of Winter digitized, I wanted to spend six weeks getting the Trail Mix in here, too. This may not be a straight six week process this time around but it will certainly serve to get me though some vacation weeks.

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Presentation: As you might recall, Saranac’s labels are all basically the same. A label of some color combined with a logo of some color with a watercolor painting of some Adirondack scene. This is no different. I’ve been giving them an ongoing 3 because of the relative ease to recognize their product. 3

Originality: There’s not a whole lot here. Every brewery does a pale ale with their own play on the recipe. Saranac’s isn’t much different. 1

Taste: This is a much hoppier version of the ESB reviewed in 12 Beers Of Winter. Other folks have pointed out that the ESB seems like a small tweak to this recipe. I pretty much agree. The base flavor the same with a bolder hop presence. The citrus combined with strong hops just doesn’t work for me. The ESB is a much better version of this recipe. 7

Body: It pours amber with a minimal head. It’s light and crisp and right on the border of being refreshing until the hoppiness descends on the tastebud like a buzzard on a gutwagon. The whole experience is just very bland for me and nothing I’d go out of my to have again. 6

Efficiency: As mentioned, the light and crisp taste and relatively high alcohol content make for a pretty efficient beer. Unfortunately, the heavy flavor and cloying hoppiness just makes it something you can’t drink in volume or with any speed. 5

Versatility: This beer works well if you’re looking to grab a six pack of something different. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it, but wouldn’t sneer at it either. That said, the pale ale thing has been kind of played out and I’m sure you could find a better introduction to Saranac. 6

The Snob Says: A decent take on the British Pub Ale, but not quite as good as their ESB.

Final Grade: 28 (of 50) – OK Beer.