I'll take a Tall Skinny Mocha Java Stout, with some La Cumbre on top

Two things on tap for today - a review of Santa Fe Brewing's newest addition to their line of cans - the Imperial Java Stout, then a debrief on our trip to La Cumbre Brewing from Saturday.

Appearance - Thick black body with a foamy, mocha colored head. Head is pretty sticky too, as it coats the glass substantially. 4.0/5.0

Smell - Coffee coffee coffee. The aroma is like sticking your nose right into a bin of coffee beans. Not just any coffee beans, but the uber-dark ones that will literally put hair on your chest. Any other smell is overpowered by the coffee. You get a hit of that coffee each time that you taste it too. 3.5/5.0

Taste - Like the aroma, coffee dominates the flavor, but it starts to smooth out a bit. The first time I had this beer, I was taken aback by the coffee flavor and almost had trouble finishing it. 2nd go around was much better with the toasted malt coming out. Very little sweetness, as the coffee's bitterness takes priority. It's like having a strong cup of Starbucks bold coffee...no cream...no sugar. 3.5/5.0

Feel - 1st taste is strong until your mouth adjusts to the beer. After that, you start to get some more of the flavor notes. 3.0/5.0

Drinkability - Jury is out. 1st time, probably wouldn't have bought it again. 2nd time, enjoying it. I'm guessing the 3rd time, I'll want to get a six pack or two for the fridge. 3.0/5.0

As for La Cumbre Brewing - I had a great time there! Myself, plus Mrs. Beer Fridge and a number of guys from the Active 20-30 Club headed over there after we did some charity work at the Children's Hospital. As you know, studies have proven nothing makes you more thirsty than doing charity work. Between the 5 or 6 of us, we were able to try all five of their "standard" drafts. I personally loved the Malpais Stout (as I hoped I would) and surprising, the South Peak Pilsner (I'm not normally a fan of pilsners). Good comments were made about the Pyramid Rock Pale Ale, plus the holiday seasonal they had on tap. So, outside the 7 beers that La Cumbre made, they had 4 other local beers (1 Marble, 2 Chama River and 1 Turtle Mountain if memory serves me correctly).

Outside the beer, the vibe of the place was amazing. Jeff did a fantastic job with the tour of the brewery itself - it made my homebrewer buddy Lou almost have a moment. The environment reminded me of a neighborhood pub that you see on TV where 4-5 of your closest friends get together, have a few beers and talk crap to each other. Bombers from all over the place and tin "plates" adorn the walls, with old barrel-like tables scattered around. There's a pool table upstairs too - so bonus!

I would highly recommend checking out La Cumbre and seeing what all of the fuss is about. The passion for the craft is evident in the brewery, but it doesn't overshadow the chillness of the atmosphere.

La Cumbre! Open for bidness!

Haazha! A new brewery is opening its doors this weekend - La Cumbre Brewing Company. Headed up by Jeff Erway, former brewer of Chama River Brewing, this new business venture is located at 3313 Girard (basically Candeleria and Girard).

Given Jeff's great history at Chama River, where he won 2 Silver medals at the World Beer Cup and 2 Bronze medals at the Great American Beer Festival, I can only imagine the brews coming out of La Cumbre will be pretty tasty. Looking at their menu, I'm very excited for the Malpais Stout and the Pyramid Rock Pale Ale. The Elevated IPA looks like it's going to be a hoppy concoction that will be interesting to try out.

The grand opening is Friday, December 17th, but they are doing a soft opening on Saturday, December 11th. Thanks to the power of Social Networking Competitions (i.e. Facebook contests), I called the date they'd actually open and won a free mug club membership. So, I'll be there Saturday around 2ish if anyone wants to grab a pint!

I didn't care for 14...13 was WAY better.

And I'm not talking about puberty, where the acne attack kicked in...yikes. I'm referring to Stone's 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA. This English-style IPA is the result of Stone going across the pond and finding all sorts of historical English ingredients and creating a beer out of it. I will admit that I'm not a big fan of English style beers - they just rub me a bit the wrong way. It could just be the way they they add a "u" to a lot of words, I dunno.

Appearance - Lighter than your average IPA with cloudiness that is remenscent of a hefeweizen. Frothy and sticky white head. Definitely gets points for uniqueness. 4.5/5.0

Smell - Sour citrus with a focus on grapefruit. 3.0/5.0

Taste - Sweet malt with a prominent hoppy bitterness at the end. Earthy, piney hops. Lighter bodied with a solid flavor. The use of the British hops (mostly Kent) isn't my cup of tea. 4.0/5.0

Feel - Good mouth coverage, aftertaste is primarily in the back of your mouth and very tart. 3.5/5.0

Drinkability - Not sure if I'd get this one again, given my preference for American style IPAs. Good flavor and not bad after a long day, though. 3.0/5.0

Tan, Refreshed and Properly "Hydrated" from the Caribbean!

Yikes, that's two long gaps in beer posts! Part of it was due to a nice week long cruise to the Caribbean. I wasn't sure what to expect beer-wise in the land of pirates and rum. When we did the Alaskan cruise, I got to enjoy a bunch of Alaskan beers plus stuff from Canada and Washington state. A very different type of beer in the land of beaches and sun!

Princess Cruises seems to favor the Europeans, so Spaten Premium and Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse were the "fancy" beers on the boat. Boddingtons and Guiness were featured during the pub lunches, but other than that - lots of Coors Light, big cans of Fosters and the like.

The best deal of the trip was on St. Martin/St. Maarten, where we found Carib Lager for a buck a can. Now, it wasn't some fantastical beer brewed in bourbon barrels or ancient Mayan gold, but for a buck - it got the job done and was really tasty when sitting on a beach or strolling the overly-shoppy boardwalk area. I tried a Presidente while I was there, but it was a "lot" more expensive (I think $2.50 a bottle).

Is it 10-10-10 already?

The first Vertical Epic I tried was last year's 09-09-09, which was a Belgian style Porter. Definitely one of my favorite beers, as it took a style I love (porter) and added some nice custom tweaks to it. This year's edition is a Belgian Tripel with some wine grapes incorporated into the brew - specifically Musct, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc.

Appearance - Appropriately golden, with a frothy almond head. The light bubbles make the beer look really inviting - my mouth is watering! Nice and clear too. 4.0/5.0

Smell - Flowery sweetness and sugar. Lemon, banana and honey too. 3.0/5.0

Taste - The belgian taste is dominant - all of the spice, coriander and lemon are really potent and easy to pick up on. I don't mind the sweetness and it masks the alcohol extremely well (and at 9.5% ABV, this one will sock it to ya). The use of wine grapes is different - it adds some tartness to it that you don't normally see in a tripel. The taste changed a bit as the beer warmed. - 3.5/5.0

Feel - A clean beer - there is a little aftertaste, but it's very mild. Flavor is predominately on the tongue. 3.5/5.0

Drinkability - I gotta say, I enjoyed the beer, but I didn't really think it was so amazing that I would buy this by the case. I could get a bottle of New Belgium Tripel for about 1/2 the price. 2.5/5.0

The Joker likes beer too

So, in the Carney freak show that is the Shmaltz line of carnival themed beers, this one reminds me the most of Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker. Not the Heath Ledger one, but more like Jack Nicholas.

Appearance - Golden yellow color, with a lighter head. The frothiness of the head sticks to the glass, leaving a visible residue as the head dissipates. - 3.5/5.0

Smell - Really sweet malt aroma. I get scents of honey, maybe some lemon. 3.5/5.0

Taste - Definitely a lager. The malt is really enjoyable, but not as sweet as the smell would elude to. The initial crispness is really enjoyable too. 4.0/5.0

Feel - Smooth and flavorful, with a nice malty aftertaste. Very refreshing. 4.5/5.0

Drinkability - I think this is a great beer for just chilling out. I happen to be clearing out e-mails and this just hit the spot. - 4.5/5.0

Pumpkin Porter hits the spot!

Mi Mo and Juan Mas (my awesome in-laws) were in Scottsdale last week and managed to fanagle a growler of Four Peak's Pumpkin Porter for me. From what they said, Four Peaks isn't allowing growler fills of Pumpkin Porter until the day after Thanksgiving. So, thanks to my in-laws' silver tongues, I got to enjoy this amazing beer!

I didn't do a full blown review because we were in the middle of dinner, but here are the highlights:

-An excellent porter in itself, the pumpkin flavor was just enough to add some distinction, but not enough to really be a pumpkin-ey beer.

-The carbonation was just right - enough to add some crisp, but not enough to induce too much beer belching.

-Aroma was dominated by coffee and roasted malt, with a hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove

The best thing about this beer is that it was a porter that had a little hint of something else. Similar to Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter, this one took a style I loved and added some flash to it. If you are in the Phoenix area, I'd highly recommend getting a pint of this goodness!