Beer: Jubelale
Brewer: Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR, USA
Type: Winter aleBottle: 12 fl. oz. bottle
ABV: 6.7%IBUs: 60
Served in: Pint glass
Place of Purchase: Unknown - gift from our friend Louis!Price: Also unknown! Thanks, Louis!!!
Happy 2010! It's our first beer review of the new year! It's definitely a late start for us (thanks to lingering illness - seriously, sick from December 25th to just a few days ago.) Your two Beeraucrats, (that's us - Mugsy and Jugsy), are finally able to actually SMELL and TASTE beer! We are now more than ready to bring you another year of loving beer!
It's mid-January and certainly still mid-Winter, so we will continue with our seasonal brew reviews!
On January 1st, our friends Louis and his wife Lindsey were kind enough to drive all the way from Idaho to Los Angeles just to bring us a couple of bottles of beer! OK, so maybe their trip was really to show off their new baby boy, Soren, to friends and family in Southern CA. Any way you slice it, the proud parents were kind enough to bring us a couple of bottles of Deschutes Jubelale to review!
Each year, Deschutes Brewery's Winter offering features a unique label with artwork by different local artists - this time by central Oregon artist, Tracy Leagjeld. We're thinking about starting our collection now.
Thank you, again, to Louis, Lindsey and Soren! And thank you to our Beeraucracy readers! We wish you a happy, healthy and beer-filled 2010!
In every proper review, your trusted husband & wife team of Beeraucrats will examine the Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouth-Feel, Drinkability and Overall Rating of the Beer and arrive at a Total Score from 1 to 10.
Deschutes Jubelale
APPEARANCE:
Mugsy: Dark brown yet not opaque. Becomes deep bronze when held to light. Average sized, lightly tan colored head that dissipates very quickly. Not much noticeable carbonation. No lacing is left on the glass as glass is emptied.
Jugsy: Reddish brown in color with strong copper hues. Carbonation is barely visible. Medium head dissipates very quickly. Particulate matter in bottom of glass. Leaves little to no lacing on the glass.
AROMA:
Mugsy: Strong, sweet malt aroma - almost a "chocolate milk" type of smell. Very slight hints of toffee. Hops are almost imperceptible but do come through in the end, especially after swirling glass.
Jugsy: Chocolate covered cherries and vanilla rum comprise the initial sweet scent. Strong aroma of chocolate malt along with a wheat and berry bread smell. The faintest hint of piny hops can also be detected.
TASTE:
Mugsy: Bitter roasted malt comes on first. Then a sweeter malt immediately follows. Hops are definitely there, however, more as an aftertaste. Very slight bitter dark chocolate aftertaste and slight coffee aftertaste.
Jugsy: Heavy roasted malt flavor dominates. Predominantly chocolate flavor with a hint of coffee. The fresh and bitter taste of piny hops reveals itself more in the aftertaste than the initial sip. If I really concentrate, I can sense a hint of fruity yeast, as well. The flavors are not as complex as the aroma would have you believe.
MOUTH-FEEL:
Mugsy: Creamy; almost like drinking a glass of watered-down chocolate milk. Slight sting from the bitterness of the malt and/or hops. Not even close to being watery, this one is on the heavy side. In fact, almost chewy - but not quite. Very slight coating left on the tongue. Goes down quite nicely.
Jugsy: Initial impression was creamy, but the more I drank, the more watery it seemed to become. The Jubelale is very mild on carbonation, perhaps too much so, as it gives the beer a thin feel. However, it does leave a malty/hoppy coating on the tongue.
DRINKABILITY:
Mugsy: At 6.7% ABV, this might not necessarily be everyone's best candidate for a session beer. However, I could easily throw back several and enjoy every drop. The heaviness may become a problem for me though when considering drinking more than one or two.
Jugsy: While the Jubelale might feel like a lighter Winter ale, its 6.7% ABV certainly packs a punch. Going on flavor alone, one could certainly drink a fair number of these, but the higher alcohol content would limit me to only one or two.
OVERALL:
Mugsy: Nice, complex beer. Quite a bit going on here as far as taste. Also, the creamy mouthfeel is quite nice. Just a little on the heavy side for me and maybe the tiniest bit too sugary, but hey, that's never stopped me before. Would pair very well with rich Winter foods or with desserts. Even with the heavy-handedness I would absolutely drink again, but only one or two. Or three.... Maybe four.
Jugsy: I wish I could have actually tasted all the complex aromas I smelled in this brew! I was looking forward to tasting this beer, not only because Louis went through so much trouble to get it into our hands, but also because its smell promised to deliver so much flavor! Overall, this is a fine seasonal ale - maybe not my favorite - but I will definitely seek out next year's batch!
SCORE:
Mugsy 7.0
Jugsy 6.6
Brew Free! Or Die
Provocative name! We'll take the "Brew Free!" please!
Mugsy and Jugsy typically search for the best airfare when choosing airlines, but we may just need to forgo that tradition the next time we fly and go with Virgin Airlines instead.
"Why?" you ask? We love to support our fellow Beer-lovers and Virgin America is doing something pretty special. For the first time ever, craft beer is making its way to the blue skies! Hooray!!!
According to RealBeer.com:
21st Amendment Brewery is set to launch their Brew Free! Or Die IPA in cans aboard Virgin America Airlines. Starting now Virgin America will serve complimentary Brew Free! or Die IPA in First Class and Main Cabin Select and the beer will be available for purchase in the Main Cabin for $7.
21st Amendment Brewery says their "Brew Free! or Die IPA is brewed with some serious west coast attitude. This aromatic golden IPA starts with a sucker punch of six different hops to the nose, quickly balanced by a solid malt back bone. The Brewery’s top selling beer, this IPA starts big and finishes clean leaving you wanting more."
Mmmmmmm... we haven't even tried it yet and we want more already!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2010 promises to be another great year for beer!
Here at Beeraucracy, your two Beeraucrats, Mugsy and Jugsy, promise to bring you many more fun and insightful reviews throughout the year, all from the husband and wife perspective!
At the moment, Jugsy and I are still under the weather (can you believe it?!), and still unable to do a proper review.
That being said, this seems like the perfect time to bring you Beeraucracy's Best of 2009!
We have gone back through all the reviews of 2009; studied and scrutinized - read and re-read, and come up with...
(drum roll, please!)
MUGSY & JUGSY'S BEERS OF THE YEAR -- 2009!!
Ladies first! Let's start with Jugsy's 2009 favorite....
Jugsy: At a mind-boggling 100+ IBUs, my pick for 2009 beer of the year (you might call it my own personal pursuit of "hoppiness") is the Stone Ruination IPA!
Click HERE for the full review 
And now Mugsy's favorite for 2009....
Mugsy: January 1st just happens to be the day that I proposed to Jugsy. So, what better way to celebrate an anniversary than with the Sierra Nevada 2009 Anniversary Ale?!
Click HERE for the full review 
Sometimes it can be difficult to get a husband & wife to agree on anything! However, Mugsy & Jugsy sure do agree that the Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron was one of their mutual favorites of 2009!
Click HERE for the full review
Happy 2010! We wish you happiness, health and lots of beer throughout the year!
Mugsy and Jugsy are under the weather (and therefore cannot properly smell or taste beer!) Reviews will resume as soon as we feel better!
Just a quick note in the midst of the Christmas hustle & bustle to share the news that Stone Brewing is considering opening up a brewery in Europe! (Mugsy and Jugsy still haven't made the trek to the San Diego brewery! Although, in all fairness, we're waiting for Santa to bring us our new digital camcorder.)
Wouldn't it be funny if we made it to Stone Brewery in Europe first? Stranger things have happened!
Stay tuned for our next Winter Brew review tomorrow....
Beer: Santa's Private Reserve Ale
Brewed by: Rogue Ales, Newport, OR, USA
Bottle: 1 pint 6 fluid oz.
Type: Red Ale
ABV: 6.0%
IBU's: 44
Served in: Pint glass
Place of purchase: Beverages & More (BevMo)
Price: $5.49
"Going Rogue" is more than Sarah Palin's new autobiography - Mugsy and Jugsy are going "Rogue" for the holidays! As our two beeraucrats continue their sojourn into Winter beer reviews, it seems that a little nip of Santa's Private Reserve is just the thing to take the chill off, as everyone waits patiently for "The Man with the Bag."
In every proper review, your trusted husband & wife team of Beeraucrats will examine the Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouth-Feel, Drinkability and Overall Rating of the Beer and arrive at a Total Score from 1 to 10.
Santa's Private Reserve Ale
APPEARANCE:
Mugsy: Medium to dark brown in color which turns into a beautiful copper shade when held to light. Also, when held to light, beer appears extremely murky and cloudy. However, carbonation can be seen through the swampiness if you look hard enough. Thin head which quickly dissipates into a VERY thin head. Very little lacing left on the glass.
Jugsy: Brownish-red and opaque. Looks a little bit like swamp water! Frothy head disappears in seconds (couldn't even capture it on film)!
AROMA:
Mugsy: Sweet, roasted malts are the first scent to strike the nose. Slight aroma of caramel follows, along with just a touch of sweet yeast. The overall aroma comes off as extremely sweet. This is like a candy shop in a glass.
Jugsy: Smells Earthy, like warm honey-wheat bread. Slight caramel and toffee aromas, along with the roasted malts, seem to marry quite nicely with the piny hops scent. There's also more than a hint of sourdough. The aromas are present yet in delicate form, making them different to parse.
TASTE:
Mugsy: Wow. The taste is not at all what I expected after smelling it. Extremely bitter roasted (almost burnt) malts are the first thing to hit the tongue. This tastes almost like rye. Very toasty. The hops are there too, but overpowered by the malt. Aftertaste is that of dark, semi-sweet (emphasis on the "semi") chocolate. There is also kind of woodsy or bark flavor that comes in as an aftertaste.
Jugsy: Call me crazy but is there peppermint candy in this? Because it tastes like someone swirled a candy cane in my beer! Having said that, the taste is predominately roasted malts with a strong hops presence. (Chinook an Centennial according to the bottle.) I can still taste the warm honey and wheat bread in the body of this ale.
MOUTH-FEEL:
Mugsy: While this ale tastes like it would be chewy, the mouth-feel is surprisingly light and almost a little watery. Goes back extremely easily. It does leave a strong coating on the tongue, as if you've been chewing on sawdust.
Jugsy: This is a light-tasting, smooth beer with a lot of flavor (some subtle, some not-so-subtle). Not a lot of carbonation present. Leaves a very hoppy, almost piny or woodsy coating on the tongue.
DRINKABILITY:
Mugsy: No problem to have several of these, especially at 6.0% ABV. However, the bark-like aspect of the aftertaste might be a little off-putting, especially if seeking refreshment or just a session night with the guys and gals.
Jugsy: Very drinkable and enjoyable ale. Not only is it flavorful and not too heavy, but at 6% ABV, most of our friends could certainly handle drinking this all night.
OVERALL:
Mugsy: Quite interesting. After getting so much sweetness from the aroma of this beer, I was completely surprised by the bitter taste. Now, don't get me wrong - I like bitter beer just as much as a sweeter brew, sometimes more so. And that wood-like aftertaste is so unique. It's quite obvious that the folks at Rogue really do care about what they brew. This beer is fairly complex and certainly not your run-of-the-mill ale or Winter ale, for that matter. However, it all comes down to the question, "would I drink this again?" And the answer is "Yes, but as a novelty." The complexity and uniqueness of flavors are a hit with me, but it's not quite balanced, with the hops being far overshadowed by the bitter malt. And the bark-like aftertaste while without a doubt different, left me kind of wanting to wash it back with something else. Would pair with bold foods like heavy barbecues or rich, dark stews.
Jugsy: I admit that I wasn't expecting much out of this beer. Maybe it was the packaging -- of Rogue's beer in general, as well as the Santa's Private Reserve. It was too cutesy for my liking and I questioned the potential quality of the brew itself. Boy was I wrong! I truly enjoyed the successful balance of flavors in this ale. The folks at Rogue got it right. Although they recommend pairing it with beef or pork, I am thoroughly enjoying on my own! Perhaps it would pair well with our X-Mas Tofurkey? What do you say, Mugsy?
SCORE:
Mugsy: 6.85
Jugsy: 7.50
And, if you collect beer coasters, then you're a tegestologist?
