Tales of ales from the heart of Ohio to the ends of the Earth
One can make a good argument that the sour beers of Belgium—Flanders reds, oud bruins, lambics—are the most sophisticated expressions of what can be accomplished by fermenting grains. While Flanders reds and oud bruins lack the romantic allure of spontaneous fermentation used to produce lambics, they make up for it with a more substantial malt character and a curious combination of sweet and sour.
Time for another blind taste test, this one focused on double/imperial IPAs. American craft beer lovers are crazy about hops, and the double IPA style is an ode to the glory of the humulus lupulus plant like no other. Although DIPAs are released throughout the year, they seem to peak in mid to late winter... Continue Reading →
The 2nd annual King of Ohio contest is now in the books. For those not familiar with this contest it started two years ago when a group of Ohio beer bloggers teamed up to sponsor a contest designed to pick the best Ohio-brewed IPA. The eventual winner, Hoof Hearted’s Musk of the Minotaur, was an unknown... Continue Reading →
Given the hot weather we’ve been experiencing it may not feel like fall is upon us, but once football season kicks off it can’t be long until the leaves start changing color. If the deluge of pumpkin beers invading the shelves has you cursing fall beers as an egregious affront to the Rineheitsgebot don’t despair,... Continue Reading →
It’s time for another Pat’s Pints blind taste test, and what better style for surviving the cold days of winter than an Imperial Stout. This style originated in 18th century England and was given the moniker Russian Imperial Stout because it was brewed with an unusually high amount of malts, alcohol, and hops to weather... Continue Reading →
My Monday post on the final round of the King of Ohio IPA challenge generated quite a bit of activity in the various social media platforms. Brewmaster Trevor Williams seems to be well liked by everyone who has interacted with him and I’m not surprised. He is working hard to build up Hoof Hearted, brewing... Continue Reading →
At long last we’ve reached the conclusion of the King of Ohio IPA contest. Nearly 70 beers from every corner of the Buckeye state started off with a chance to win the title. Through a series of reader’s polls (over 4400 votes were cast), blogger picks, and one blind taste test, that number was narrowed... Continue Reading →
Voting for the best IPA in Central and Southeast Ohio has ended and we have a winner, Hoof Hearted's Musk of the Minotaur. A total of 674 votes were cast and the top seven vote getters were as follows: Musk of the Minotaur (Hoof Hearted) - 189 votes Columbus Brewing Company IPA - 171... Continue Reading →
We've now entered stage two of the King of Ohio IPA contest, the readers poll. In case anyone missed my earlier post describing this contest, five different beer blogs, each representing a different part of Ohio, have banded together in a bold effort to identify the best Ohio-brewed IPA. Each blogger is tasked with choosing the top three... Continue Reading →
As announced last week on this blog I’m participating in a collaboration with five other beer bloggers to identify the best Ohio-brewed IPA, and bestow the crown King of Ohio IPAs. Each blogger is tasked with identifying three beers to represent their part of the state in a showdown that will be held on November 1... Continue Reading →
Perhaps no style embodies America’s contribution to the beer world better than an IPA. Using hops bred and developed in the Pacific Northwest, American brewers took the venerable English style and supercharged it for the 21st century. With aromas and flavors that can take your senses from the grapefruit orchards of Florida to the pine forests... Continue Reading →
As someone who takes reviewing beers seriously I always worry about the various biases that slip into my reviews. If I’m unimpressed with a beer that is rated highly on BeerAdvocate, does that mean my tastes are not sufficiently refined, or is it a case of the emperor’s new clothes? If I’m drinking a beer that... Continue Reading →
We’re back with another round of blind taste testing. This time we’re tackling a relatively new but increasingly popular style of beer, the Black IPA. As was the case with our American Robust Porter blind tasting, my friend Mark Richards organized and hosted this event in his basement on a snowy Saturday in mid-March. Over... Continue Reading →
An excerpt from the home page of the Pat’s Pints blog states “Some of it (the information here) is likely to be of no use whatsoever, but if you are the kind of person who draws up brackets and seedings for a 16-beer single elimination IPA taste test, you might just enjoy what you read.” Despite those... Continue Reading →
Here at Pat’s Pints we do our best to describe, compare, and contrast beers that fall under the same style category. In December we surveyed various holiday beers. Much of January was spent drinking and writing about Belgian Quadrupel Ales. In this post and its follow up we profile a historically important, but underappreciated style,... Continue Reading →
Having spent a month of grueling research on Belgian and Belgian-style Quadrupel Ales this final post in the quadrophilia series is my attempt to summarize what I have learned. Over the past four weeks I’ve tried 15 different quads in three rounds of blind taste testing with my friends. I’ve gone back to many of... Continue Reading →
Even though the final round of quadrophilia wrapped up last week, once I got going I couldn’t control my urge to add more raisin soaked 11% abv beers to the list. There are after all only a finite number of quads out there, so by adding a few more one can start to approach a... Continue Reading →
This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. We reveal the final results of Quadrophilia and award the title, “King of the Quads”. The video below gives you all of the information you need delivered in video form by three happy judges who have been drinking some of the best 10-11% abv beers in... Continue Reading →
After two preliminary rounds our quest to identify the best Quadrupel Ale in the world has reached the final stage. The final round will be presented in two parts: this post where we meet the finalists, and the follow up where the results are revealed. For the visual/audio learners out there I’ve captured a video... Continue Reading →
In Round 1 we compared four American brewed quads, with Three Philosophers coming out on top. In this round, we move across the pond to Belgium and the Netherlands where this style of beer originated. There are two Trappist beers (Rochefort 10 and La Trappe Quadrupel), one abbey ale brewed with the old... Continue Reading →
Pat's Pints 