1001 Beers

Beer No: 96
Page No: 627
Category: Dark

I've been slacking on my beer reviews, so I'll be trying to play catch up over the next few days (all of them being back-dated appropriately).  For World Cup Day 18, I finally had to abandon my World Cup Beer challenge.  I could find no beer from the Netherlands, Slovakia, Brazil, or Chile that was in my book in any local stores.  I did, however, find a Heineken Dark Lager from the Netherlands and drank that in place of an official beer from the book.  I was actually pleasantly surprised with the beer and the play of the Netherlands.  Though the score shows 2-1, the Netherlands easily dominated the game with the sole Slovakia goal coming on penalty kick on the last play of the game.  As the score implies for Brazil, they didn't have much trouble with Chile, winning 3-0.

Up next tomorrow: Paraguay vs. Japan and Spain vs. Portugal.  Following that, 2 days off, then 2 days of quarterfinals before 2 more days off and then finally 2 days of semi-finals.

Looking at today's beer, from Russia, Baltika 6 is one of many in the Baltika family and the only porter in the family.  Baltika started as a small brewery back in 1990, was acquired by Carlsberg, and now dominates the Russian beer scene with over 40% market share.  Head brewer, Irina Tlekhuray explains that the porter comes from an old English recipe and the porter indicates the skill of a good brewer.  By all accounts, Irina knows what she's doing as Baltika 6 is a strong porter and a nice-drinking import from Russia.

Oddly enough, a google search of Irina Tlekhuray returns just 6 results, and nothing on Google Images.  Very odd for a head brewer of a brewery that commands 40% market share in Russia to really have nothing said about her online.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Baltika 6 Porter by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 9/20

Rating: 2.9 / 5.0

Had from bottle. Pours dark black, somewhat clear with tan head. Aroma is nice - a bit sweet, some roasted malts, toffee, raisins. Taste is similar, not too complex, hints of alcohol go with the malty flavors. Bits of caramel and alcohol linger through the short finish. A good porter, but nothing special.

Beer No: 50/1001
Page No: 694
Category: Dark

Wow, 5% done with all 1001 Beers...I can't believe I'm at 50 already and I easily have another 50 beers sitting in boxes around my room and in the fridge just waiting to be tasted, reviewed, and rated.  For #50, I picked a good one - the Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter.  According to 1001 Beers, it was first brewed in 2005 after Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide.  It features artwork from Ralph Steadman who did much of Hunter's illustrations, and also won the gold medal in the World Beer Cup in 2008.  So this is no slouch of a beer.

I usually don't drink porters or stouts on a daily basis as they're usually just too heavy for a mid-day drink, but this Imperial Stout was right up my alley.  Heavy on the hops (as the Imperial would imply) and the coffee, this complex beer is balanced nicely and made a nice addition to my chicken sandwich dinner.  That being said, come June, I'll have tons of stouts and porters lined up to discuss here.  June 12th I'll be hosting a Stout/Porter party at my place and I have a lot of nice beers lined up to taste that day.  I'll be starting with a blind tasting of barrel aged stouts/porters and then move into a blind tasting of smoked stouts and porters.  After that, if people are still up for blind tastings, I'll break out some other stouts and porters that aren't barrel aged or smoked and we'll go from there.  As of now, the stout/porter list stands at:

Barrel Aged:
BrewDog Paradox (whiskey)
North Coast Old Rasputin XII (bourbon)
Haand Bryggeriet Norwegian Porter (aquavit)
Deschutes Abyss 2009 (bourbon)
The Bruery Black Tuesday (bourbon)

Smoked:
Alaskan Smoked Porter (2005)
Alaskan Smoked Porter (2009)
Stone Smoked Porter

More:
Brew Dog Rip Tide
Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout
Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
Alesmith Speedway Stout (2005)
Alesmith Speedway Stout (2009)
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast
Mikkeller Black
Nogne O Imperial Stout
Requiem Espresso Stout
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Stout
Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Three Floyds Dark Lord (2009)
Victory Storm King (2002)
Victory Storm King (2010)

Not a bad line up if I say so myself...

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog Brewery

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.8 / 5.0

Had from 12 oz. bottle from Total Wine. Pours brown with huge tan head, good lacing, and slight head retention. Aroma is heavy on coffee and hops. Slight aroma of chocolate and caramel. Taste is full of hops and coffee. Hints of malts, sugar, chocolate, and citrus. Very well done imperial porter with heavy hop flavor that balances the coffee nicely.