Ballast Point Seamonster Stout

One of the myriad of top notch San Diego craft brewer, Ballast Point has built a reputation for this little Imperial Stout. High carbonation for a stout, with roasted chocolate malts, coffee, and a bitter creamyness. This is also a fairly sweet sout - sort of like a chocolate sunday with bitter coffee beans crumbled on top. Enjoyable, but for me, a bit unbalanced between sweetness and bitterness. I would prefer either a rich heavy roasted dark style or a sweeter style buoyed by some oak aging.

Very Good to Very Good+

$8/650ml Bottle at City Beer

Jordan Russian River Chardonnay 2006

This bottle of chardonnay was one of those niggling itches of a wine: one that I had seen sitting around at the wine store back in Vancouver for a long time, always with a touch of curiosity about its contents - not least because a wine critic I greatly respect - Hugh Johnson - seems to think Jordan is up to something good. I think Jordan is essentially a widely available 'high-end' winery favoured very much by restaurants. In any case, the bottle is about $65 in Canada and only $35 down here, so I figured this was my opportunity.

Definitely all California on the nose, with predominant citrus and spice characteristics. Does not smell oaky, though, which is a good thing. Tart on the palate - somewhat steely - and clearly California, but in a restrained spicy citrus style. Very fresh and pleasant, but in the end lacking complexity for the price point. Also, something seems unbalanced about the flavour profile, which had a tinge of metalic weirdness to it. Final analysis: distinctly mediocre at this price point.

Very Good

$35 at K&L

Neyers Lakeville Road Syrah 2007

Damn. I have to admit that Neyers is pretty much the ideal when it comes to adapting old world varietals to the new world climate. This syrah is an absolutely incredible adaptation of a full bodied Hermitage, with serious depth and weight. So delicious.

On the nose this was big and grapey, but not in cheap way - notes of black fruit, licorice and earth turn into quite a massive palate with lots of extract and bramble. Intense dark fruit predominates, but with a cigar box savory quality. This is the ideal big bodied new world syrah with old world style and 'roughness'. Neyers is clearly special and I am looking forward to hopefully visiting them in a few weeks.

Excellent

$28 at K&L

Mikkeller Big Worse Barley WIne

It seems as though the Scandanavians are becoming a mini-powerhouse in the world of craft brewing. Mikkeller, which I believe is Danish, has built a pretty solid reputation for themselves here in the US with an embrace of the extreme beer style that has provided the reputation of such vaunted brewers as Dogfish Head, Hair of the Dog, etc.

This particular barley wine is made on the more traditional malty-side, with quite an intense malty thickness to the palate. Luckily this is coupled with a nice crisp dry finish that rounds out the structure to a relatively balanced equilibrium. With orange peel and general fruit cake notes in the palate, despite being 12% ABV this is smooth, balanced and drinks very well, albeit you'll want to keep this at a sipping pace. Not the best barley wine I've had, but a very good example, and tasty enough to prompt me to indulge in future brews by Mikkeller.

Very Good to Very Good+

$12 for 375ml bottle at City Beer

Alfero Family Estate 'A' Syrah 2006

A small production santa cruz mountains syrah, this reminds me of a crozes-hermitage in many ways. A spicy, pepper nose with rich dark fruit, chocolate and licorice as typical for syrah - very forward. The palate was unexpected for California in its restraint and high acidity. An explosion of earth and blackberry that is both mouthfilling and smooth. Not at all a 'sappy' syrah and texturally very bright. Distinctly California, but born of food friendliness and versatility rather than power. Not complex, but a good everyday dinner wine.

Very Good

$21 at Vintage Berkeley

Lost Abbey Serpents Stout

I don't blog about beer too often, mostly due to the fact I used to consume a lot more wine than beer. Being in the US, however, has provided me with access to an incredible array of microbrews and so I've been tasting through quite a bit of fantastic stuff. This often happens at some great beer joints in town, which I have blogged about before. A few choice selections made it home, however, with high hopes.

Lost Abbey is a pretty fantastic California brewery that specializes in Belgian ales. Their sister brewery, Port brewing, focuses on american styles. This particular beer, however, is billed as a Belgian style stout. I love Belgians and I love stout - so I had to pick this up. This is their first release of the beer as a winter seasonal.

Sitting at a heavy 11% abv, this is rich and malty, with a sweetness more in the Belgian style than in a traditional sweet stout like Guiness. The roasted malts give this a hint of bitterness and make it fairly robust. The carbonation is taken up a notch - likely due to the Belgian influence - and this adds a good crispness and layers the flavours well. In the end this is very solid, and one of the better stouts out there, even if I was expecting something a little more interesting.

Very Good to Very Good+

$11/650ml at City Beer

Broken Spur Petite Sirah 2006

Bounty Hunter's (sweet Napa store) proprietary brand. I had this 2 years ago on my first trip to Napa as the first PS I had ever tasted. This vintage was somehow far less convincing. The almost cheap fruit aroma did not get me excited, and while this improved with air and with Eisch, in the end this was all jammy, plump and somewhat gummy sweet. I prefer PS to have a tannic backbone to support the opulence. This is just flabby. Nonetheless, if you like soft wines this had a lot of chocolate, blueberry and plum on the palate, and it does add weight with air. So, the final verdict is: decent, but overpriced.

Good+

$28 at Bounty Hunter