Dark Seas

Dark Seas is an Imperial Stout by the Mission Brewing Company of San Diego, CA.

I bought this at BevMo, it has an ABV of 10.5%.

The aroma has dark sugar(brown sugar/molasses), some prune/dark fruit, and whiffs of chocolate. The flavor has a full range from sweet dark fruit upfront to roasted and chocolate malts in the middle to a slightly sweet milk finish. The lactosse/milk taste picks up after a few gulps. A light roasted flavor lingers. The mouthfeel is creamy although the carbonation adds some bubbliness to the tongue. The body is heavy and thick.

Overall, this is a good Imperial Stout. I enjoy the full range of stout flavors.

Sasquatch Double IPA

Sasquatch Double IPA is brewed by the Six Rivers Brewing Company of McKinleyville, CA. For being a brewery located in a far corner of the state, Six Rivers has found its way to Hollywood.

I picked this up at BevMo, it has an ABV of 9%.

The aroma has whiffs of toffee malts and light fruit hops with some earthiness. The flavor has the malts up front, with subdued fruit hops in the middle followed by light spice (almost like rye), and a bitter citrus finish that's balanced with caramel malt. The mouthfeel is lightly resiny and sticky, but smooth. The body is slightly heavier than medium.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable beer with diverse flavors; strong English malts play a forward role, and the hops bring a mix of fruit, spice, earthiness and bitter. This is a nice break from the in your face fruit hop DIPAs. I'm glad to see Six Rivers is integrating more flavorful English malts to add some complexity and uniqueness to DIPA world. I strongly suggest you Try It.

Imperial Rebellion

Imperial Rebellion is an Imperial Saison/Farmhouse Ale by Iron Fist Brewing Company of Vista, CA. This is beer was brewed to celebrate the brewery's 2 year anniversary.

I got this at BevMo, it has an ABV of 9.3%.

The strong aroma is complex with citrus/lime, spicy notes, apricot or mango, almost like marmalade. The flavor follows the nose with big fruit flavor,but follows up with some tartness (but not sour), some alcohol flavor, and a caramel malt pop at the end.  The warmth from the alcohol coats the throat. There's a bit of the band-aid/rubbery taste at the beginning, but it goes away after a few sips. The mouthfeel is smooth and the creamy head leads to a nice finish. It's medium bodied with average carbonation.

Overall, this is a very interesting beer. I'm not a big fan of sours or tart beers, but this one takes a nice baby step into that world. The big hop profile and ABV takes this beer to the fringes of the saison style, but is walks the fine line of enjoyable and interesting. The beer is brewed with New Zealand hops (Motueka and Nelson Sauvin) even and kaffir lime leave. Because of its balance of uniqueness and tastiness, I'm going to say this is a Must Have It. The flavor profile might not be for everyone, but its definitely worth a try.

Son of Wrath

Son of Wrath is a Double IPA brewed by the Dust Bowl Brewing Company of Turlock, CA. The beer is named after the brewery's flagship IPA, Hops of Wrath. I can't believe its been over 2 years since I visited Dust Bowl, just a couple months after they opened. Good to see they're still brewing!

I picked this up at BevMo, it has an ABV of 9.5%.

Strong aroma with citrus and stone fruit - peaches/apricots. The flavor has the stone fruit up front, some light citrus and pine in the middle and a distinct grapefruit bitter finish. There's malt sweetness to temper the hops, but it doesn't come with flavor. The grapefruit lingers a bit. The mouthfeel is smooth for an DIPA, not much resin or stickiness. It has a medium body with a slightly lower level of carbonation.

Overall, I enjoyed this DIPA. Great punch of citrus and fruit hops, no off flavors, nice mouthfeel. As common as DIPAs are these days, well-made ones are still hard to come by. Dust Bowl has made a good one. I haven't revisited their flagship Hops of Wrath since they first opened, but this has motivated me to do so. I liked Hops of Wrath back then and I'm happy to see they're still doing a good job. I highly recommend you Try It.

Hop Rod Rye

Hop Rod Rye is a Rye IPA brewed by the Bear Republic Brewing Company of Healdsburg, CA.

While rye has been a small component in craft brews for quite a while, its recently seen its quantity in recipes increase. The spice that rye brings can add a third dominant flavor to the sweet malts and fruit/floral/pine hops.


Hop Rod was one of the earlier recipes to emerge putting rye in a more prominent flavor role. Even with that role rye only makes up 18% of the malt profile here, which shows you how far rye flavor will go.

Rye has an interesting role in the history of beer, indeed it helped lead to the famous Reinheitsgebot laws. Long story short, there was a rye shortage in Germany. Rye was a populat ingredient in bread. In order to protect bread production the Reinheitsgebot laws were passed that among other things, banned rye from being in beer. 

I highly recommend visiting the brewery in Healdsburg. The location is awesome - it backs up to a creek and is just off the town center square.

I picked this up at Bel Air, it has an ABV of 8%.

The aroma has a dark candy grape aroma with hints of the rye spice. The aroma has a balance of citrus & pine hops with dark malts and rye spice. There's pops of floral hops as well. The malt flavor is rich and thick, but is cut well by the hops. There's a biscuit and bitter citrus finish that lingers. The mouthfeel is creamy and the body is medium, leaning toward thick. The carbonation is spot on.

Overall, this a very good beer.  Its hard to categorize, because it covers various spectrums from IPA to imperial red to rye, which is what makes it great. A wide variety of flavors that compliment each other.

Unfortunately, I did get an older bottle and the massive hop aroma was gone and the hop flavor muted. Even with that, the beer is still good.  As I have written about before, picking up beers in large markets is a crap shoot. This is especially true for hoppy beers whose flavors fade quickly and you don't know how long its been sitting there.

Despite that this is still a Must Have It. 

Evil Dead Red

Evil Dead Red is an Amber Ale brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company of San Diego, CA.

The amber/red ale category is quickly diversifying leaving the label of "Amber or red" not an accurate predictor of flavor. There are Ambers that are more hop forward and others that are more malt forward. Colors vary from dark like this one to light ruby red. I'm excited to see this style develop because it offers the best of both beer flavors - malts and hops.

Strike Imperial Red

This Imperial Red is actually an Irish Red brewed by the Strike Brewing Company of San Jose. Strike is a

The aroma has some varied roasted and toasted malts reminiscent of an English ale. The flavor starts to follow the nose but then takes a turn into a metallic flavor that masks the malts. The metallic flavor does subside after a few sips which brings out the malts. The English malts with the light toffee and biscuit flavors finally come through. The mouthfeel is smooth with a medium body.

I found this at BevMo it has an ABV of 6.5%.



Overall, this beer is ok. I say that not necessarily because of flavor. Don't get me wrong, this brew is close to what an Irish Red should taste like.

What bothers me the most is this should not be called an Imperial Red. When I bought this, I didn't see the side story on the bottle that states its an Irish Red. If the beer is an Irish Red and not an Imperial Red, then don't call it an Imperial Red. When I think of Imperial Red I think of Lagunita's, Oskar Blues, Grand Teton, Epic, and other brews that have american malts and west coast hoppiness. I understand that beer styles and categories are loose and fluctuate, but there is a certain flavor profile one expects from something called an Imperial Red versus something called an Irish Red. I love a good Irish or English ale as much as a west coast amber. But if I want to buy either one, the beer should be labeled properly. Its a little bit my fault for not reading the side story, but the front label has 3 conspicuous words "Strike", "Imperial" and "Red".

That being said, this is a decent take on an Irish Red, although I believe the metallic flavor (which can be desirable) should be toned down a bit along with the carbonation. Not many California breweries are making an Irish Red, so its good to see the style being played with. I recommend you Try It.