the unequivocal notion

10 tix to the Mountain Brewers’ Fest in Idaho Falls on June 6th.

Still thinkin’ about going? Brewtopian Beer Market from Boise is considering chartering a bus to take over on the morning of the 6th and coming home later that evening. If you’re interested, you can sign up here (Facebook link). If you’re driving over like we are you can still get some tix at the Downtown Boise Ram, 20 bucks if you get ‘em early, 25 at the gate (not to mention a longer line). You can also buy them online and pick them up at the festival gate.

It really is a good time — this will be our 4th year, its become something that we really look forward to each summer.

Speaking of beer festivals, make sure you clear your calendar for August 8-9th for the first Boise BeerFest at Ann Morrison Park which has definite awesomeness potential. I mean, it’s hard to go wrong when you have Dogfish Head, Stone Brewing and Hair of the Dog pouring beers.  Also, don’t forget that New Belgium’s Tour de Fat will be rolling into Ann Morrison on the 22nd of Aug, this will be our first year but from what I’ve heard it’s a blast.

The beer? It’s Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, a perfect beer for this 90 degree + spring day, went perfect with me almost catching my house on fire. Oh, and it is pretty damn good too.

Yep, good beer does come in a can.

I’ve seen these sittin’ in the beer cooler for quite a while now and just never got the urge to pick up a six-pack — man, was I missin’ out.

The color is fantastic for a pale ale, it is a nice deep brownish-amber color that is very nice to observe. It poured from the can with a decent one inch head that quickly dissipated, it doesn’t however have very good lacing as it is quaffed. This is the kind of Pale Ale I dig, strong citrus upfront, then a lot of burnt caramel malt characters and finishing with a piney, bitter bite. It has excellent mouthfeel and the bitterness hangs around in your mouth for a while after a swig.

Really a great beer, if you’re going to a BBQ or shindig where you know there will be pint glasses available, this would be a great beer to take along. The new kids might look down on you for a bit thinking you brought a sixer of Bud Light cans or something — just smile, pour, let ‘em sip and politely accept their apologies.

Beer Advocate.

Ah, come on… you knew this was coming.

Neither one of these brews are great swill per se, but that’s not to say that they aren’t good beers.

Dos Equis Special Lager is my favorite Mexican brew, I’ve drank many of these loftily staring at the Caribbean Sea, my back burning in the Mexican sun. Only down there, no bottles, while I haven’t seen them in the can here, down there it was cans only in the local shops. We’d rub a lime wedge all over the top and imbibe the day away while lounging, swimming, reading and chatting. I will say that I buy this beer pretty regularly, when we have Mexican food for dinner this is my choice brew, it is also a great all around summer beer. Nothing complex about it, just a refreshing beer with plenty of memories.

Some would argue that Negro Modelo is a pretty decent beer, and I wouldn’t disagree. I will say if you’re going to make a chelada, this is the beer to go with, it works great. This being my wife’s favorite Mexican beer, we also have this one in stock pretty regularly. While it does have more complexities (better nose, malts) to it than the Dos Equis, it still isn’t much to write home about beer-wise. Good drinker, good taste and again, a lot of good memories — and sometimes memories are what make beers like these all the special you need.

Dos Equis Special Lager — Beer Advocate.

Negro Modelo — Beer Advocate.

Fitting for this murky Treasure Valley Monday.

Pours with a minimal head, but has nice lacing as it is quaffed down, it as a kind of murky amber-ish color, has a very spicy nose to it. Piney, malty, hoppy and somewhat bitter, as its name and family would imply. The hops and alcohol kind of settle down as the beer warms up and really creates a nice meld of flavors.

The taste comes off high alcohol, but at only 5.3% ABV it isn’t too strong — quite drinkable. If you’re into hops you’ll enjoy the residual mouthfeel of this brew, it has a nice bitterness that clings to your palate after you’ve taken a drink.

All-in-all a really decent beer, one that I could easily get behind while enjoying a good hamburger.

Beer Advocate.

Now this is how you finish out Bock week.

Wow.

This outstanding version of a double bock pours with an excellent head and has good lacing as you swill it down. Color is a pretty dark amber, but it looks a lot lighter than it really is. I didn’t get much from the aroma, just some minor tobacco notes. When you first drink it you get slammed into a wall of bitter chocolate at 100mph, this bock is maltelicious. It has a really thick mouthfeel, it coats the inside of your mouth with its delicious hoppy resins.

You’d think at 9.5% ABV this beer would be overbearing, and you’d be wrong. It is very drinkable, a very sweet, caramel and vanilla concoction that begs for a repeat swilling. This would be the perfect beer to have after a decedent dinner, like having a fine port to close out the evening.

A very impressive beer. I’m glad I saved this one for the last day of the week. I really, really enjoyed it.

You can pick up this one and the others in the Samuel Adam’s Imperial Series at the Boise Co-op.

Beer Advocate.

Another great bock for a beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

Pours with a large fluffy cloud-like head that unfortunately disappears pretty quickly, the color is a deep, dare I say beautiful mahogany. Smell is very malty and caramely. Taste is very smokey and tobacco-ish with some pleasantly sweet caramel notes on the backside — this is a very malty brew, but very nice also. When this beer warmed up it was very nice to drink, had an extremely pleasant mouthfeel, one where you just kinda swish it around in your mouth a while before you swallow it.

Really a great, albeit very rich beer. It would be a perfect beer to have on tap on a slightly breezy spring afternoon.

Get it while you can at the Co-op, as a seasonal it is only available from February to April — I’d wager a guess that what is in stock is all that is left.

Beer Advocate.

I’ve had this beer sitting in my fridge for about 3 weeks now, and ironically it was one of the beers on tap when we visited Idaho Fry Company on Saturday.

I had some of Mendocino Brewing Company’s Bock last year a few times and enjoyed it — probably isn’t the best bock you’ve had but it’s a good one.

Pours with a very large white fluffy head that sticks around for a few minutes and has moderate to little lacing as you imbibe it down. I do think that it has a very pretty caramely color, I’m not sure the picture does it adequate justice. Speaking of caramel, that’s the dominate flavor when you first take a drink. It’s fairly malty for how light it appears, has a nice amount of hops with citrus undertones that stick around on your palate for sometime after you take a drink.

I don’t know if it’s because I had it with a great hamburger last time, but this beer just screams “hamburger!” But it is just sweet enough that it would perfectly complement any sort of salty item you could possibly throw on your grill. It also fit the weather today perfectly, with a slight chill and plenty of a breeze outside the 7% ABV warms you right up.

You can find this beer at A New Vintage Wine shop in Meridian and also at the Co-op in Downtown Boise. Market Limone in Nampa had it last year but I haven’t seen it there this year. If you spot it I recommend picking up a six-pack before it warms up outside again.

Beer Advocate.

I gotta say; I had this some time ago and didn’t quite dig it, but I need something with “summer” in the title to finish out the week.

To me it tasted like a watered down wheat brew with some Crystal Light-ish lemonade in the background. There just isn’t much to this beer, some yeast, some subdued malts, a little bit sweet and lemon. There is a lot of carbonation that provided for an interesting mouthfeel, the beer poured with a good two inch head that stuck around for a few minutes, but that was it’s only redeeming quality — for me at least.

I can see why some people dig this one in the summertime; and I guess there isn’t anything wrong with that, but it’s just not the beer for me. I’d rather have a good hefeweizen with a real lemon in it.

Beer Advocate.

Not a horrible beer, but let’s just say this came from the only six-pack I’ll be buying of it.

Mild bit of hops, a  lot of citrus lingering on the tongue after each swallow. One thing that did turn me off was that it has a very soapy aftertaste that seems to linger on a bit. There just isn’t a lot to this beer when it comes to character, it’s an ok summer drinker, but not one that I would go out of my way looking for.

Again, not a bad beer, just isn’t the type of beer that I am into.

Beer Advocate.

This is a summertime brew I look forward to each year.

There isn’t a lot to say about this beer, it is a typical pilsner, yet done Sierra Nevada style; fruity hops, great buttery mouthfeel with just a hint of pine and ever so slightly sweet. It’s light and airy with a lot of carbonation, pours with a snow white head that quickly dissipates and it had almost no lacing.

It’s not one of those crazy good beers, just a top notch summer brew for a hot summer day from one of the bigger micro breweries. This is one of those beers I’ll probably buy about 3 six packs of over the course of the summer, it’s “that” beer you pick up to take to a bbq, or to just sweetly imbibe on the patio with a book.

Beer Advocate.

Another rockin’ beer.

This beer doesn’t play around — it gets right to the hoppy point. While you can’t see from the picture it is actually a very beautiful looking beer, not much of a head (however, excellent lacing) but a very subdued and yet brilliant amber. First taste was just hops which almost turned me off, however the second taste provided some bright floral notes with an almost kale-ish greens-ish bitter taste and some old banana peel in the background.

The more the beer warmed up, the more complex and tasty it got. This was a pretty impressive beer. Really one of the more impressive beers where the more I drank it the more I liked it. It moved quite far on the ole likability scale from first drink to last.

Make no mistake though, if you aren’t into a lot of hops you may not like this brew, and at 9.03%ABV it doesn’t exactly beat around the bush. As the label says; “…of hops, malt, hops, hops, yeast, hopes, water and hops.”

All-in-all another great beer from Lagunitas Brewing Company, another one of my favorite California breweries.

A friend picked this one up for me at the Boise Co-op, it is a limited release so if you want to check it out you best get your little bottom down there el pronto.

Beer Advocate.

This is a rockin’ beer.

Yeasty, with fruity pear and apple aromas with ever a modest touch of caramel malts, excellent head and lacing. With 9%ABV you get barely a whimper of alcohol — this beer is extremely drinkable, almost too drinkable for its ABV content.

At about 9 bucks if I remember right, this beer is at the mid range of pricing for 750ML bottles of brew but it is extremely worth it, it is a great value — I’m glad I have another bottle of it for storing. This and other Unibroue brews are must buys if you see them around. I grabbed this one from the Cost Plus in Nampa — which is now the only place in Nampa with a decent selection of big bottles of brew.

Beer Advocate.

I gotta admit, when I first tasted this one I almost dumped it into my yard — and I just don’t do that with beer — but I figured I’d give it a second and then a third chance before passing judgment.

I just didn’t get much from this beer at all, slightly funking smelling with a really soapy taste — at first there was just something really off putting about this beer that I couldn’t really nail down that really turned me off.

Alas, I didn’t dump it, I took it to an Easter BBQ.

I did revisit Rollick on Sunday and it was slightly better, in the heat of the day as I stood over the grill it was somewhat enjoyable, if not just drinkable.

A big problem that I had with Rollick was that it lacks any “amber” flavor that I would expect from any type of brew that puts “amber” into its name. It lacks character, any sort of depth and any meaningful flavor — but as you can see, it does lace nicely, so there is that. I won’t be buying this beer again, nor would I take it if there were other options available, but I would drink it if it was the last beer left in the proverbial party cooler.

Beer Advocate.