Grand Tetons Coming Home Barleywine 2012

Grand Teton Coming Home 2012 Barley-wine. Or Holiday Ale, whatever you want to call it. Check the attached jpegs of the card that rests around the neck of the bottle. All kinds of info there. I read it, and you can, too. It talks of hops and growing and traditions and bottle-conditioning and blah, blah, blah. ABV: 10%. IBU: 75.

Deep burgundy coloring, slim white head. Looks the part, inviting.

Aroma: Caramel and toffee, under smoke and tobacco. Burnished brandy and leather notes, It's what I want in a barley-wine, a little fine and mellow with appropriate aging. Very cool.

Taste: Forward fruit, massive malt, giant hop presence. Everything's here in abundance, and it's all getting along just fine. A bombastic brew, kept in good balance. This is one that should be shared with friends and family. Me, I drink it by myself so that I can write about it and tell you.

I like the work of the bottle-conditioning and the age on it. All barley-wines really ought to have a good year on them. I appreciate them young, but they're much nicer when they're calm and mellow like this.

More chocolate coming through, more caramel and toffee, plus a ton of American hops, bringing us the bitter with the sweet. Hugely hoppy, a massacre of malt. Boom, boom, this is the goods.

Grand Teton Trout Hop Black IPA

Grand Teton Trout Hop Black IPA, Black India Pale Ale brewed and bottled by Grand Teton Brewing Company, Victor, Idaho. 8.5% ABV. An Imperial Black Ale, shall we say. IBUs 117.

Solid blackness in the glass, with a tannish brown head holding firm on top, leaving lace.

Aroma: Mild hop bitterness, muted by malt. Little grassy. Little bit of bright, piney hops. Again, held back by the dark malts.

Taste: Chocolate hits first, very rich and malty mouthfeel. Bits of molasses, even treacle, with a touch of roast. Full-bodied, well-balanced, just the right mix of malt and hop, for this weird hybrid style. Silky smooth. Despite the higher alcohol and the higher IBUs, this is remarkably easy…wait, there it is. Yep, it's creeping up. And the high bitterness is kept in check by the rich, sweet malt. I can still drink it down with ease, but wouldn't want to have more than a couple.

Once again, I find a "black IPA" that I actually like. The hops aren't overwhelming, and don't confuse the flavors. Although, I'm still stuck in the same situation, where I wish it had more hops and were less hoppy, or less hoppy, more dark malts. One of the other. This one is just fine. Good beer, and I can drink it.

Grand Tetons Bone Warmer Imperial Amber Ale

Grand Tetons Bone Warmer Imperial Amber Ale. Grand Teton Brewing, Victor, Idaho. Cellar Reserve. Alc. 8.2% ABV.

Appearance: thoroughly hazed, deep crimson hue ("amber" is not a clear indicator of color, here), slim, soon-gone head.

Aroma: big & boisterous, deep & delirious, very enticing. Tremendous malt aromas, dark fruit, spice.

Taste: Bone warmer is right. Starts big, rich, vastly malty, and only mellows just a little. Full-ish body, long lasting finish.

Only caveat: could be fuller, could be richer, just a tiny bit too thin for a real winter warmer. Maybe it really is an amber ale juiced up, and it only resembles a barleywine? It's a case of mistaken identity. Bit of a style-buster here. Boozed-up amber that crawls towards a barley-wine in many ways, but doesn't get there. In the end, it does feel like a cheat. Why make an imperial amber, why not go bigger?

Whatevs. It's nice enough. Another quality effort from Idaho.

Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness Imperial Red Ale

Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness Imperial Red Ale, Bottle Conditioned Beer. IBUs 100, 14 deg. Lovibond. OG 18.5 deg P. Alc. 8.5 % by Vol. Bottled on 8/13/13

Highly hazed, mostly murky, dark red coloring, with a slim head.

Aroma: Pine and citrus hoppiness paced equally with massive malt. Clearly, this Idaho brewery does not do things the west coast way, for all of their beers that I've tried yet so far have been well-balanced and boast hops and bitterness, but not at the expense of malt body.

Taste: Just like the APA from them that I just tried, this big, fat, hoppy wonder widens with time once again. It unfolds like flower with hoppy bitterness, and in time I find it's like an explosion than a flowering. Mmm. Yum. Full bodied, fruity malt and bright, piney hops make a wonderful marriage.

I'm getting a handle on this Grand Teton brewery. English-style all the way, bold but balanced. This one is big, loud and tasty, but not out-of-bounds. Yu-um.

Grand Teton Sweetgrass Pale Ale (APA)

Grand Teton Sweetgrass American Pale Ale. OG 15.0 deg. Plato, Alc. 6.0% by Vol. Bottle-conditioned Beer, IBUs 60, 8.4 Lov. Bottled on 9/3/13. Brewed and bottled by Grand Teton Brewing Company, Victor, Idaho. Government gobbledygook, and none other.

Slightly hazy, bronze-colored, with a lasting, snowy-white head on top.

Aroma: bright, citrus-y hops are well-matched by malt. The hop presence grows, opens, widens with time. Not too bold, not too shy, just right.

Taste: Mild on the palate, for a minute. Then comes a snap, a little hoppy bounce, landing right on a bed of sweet, smooth, tasty malt body. On the first sip, I was on the fence. Several more in, it's brighter and juicier, and I'm liking it more and more. The bottle conditioning really helps this one out, blowing the flavor up big.  I can taste the yeast, and I'm loving it.

Excellent ale, thank you, I'll have another.

Grand Teton Bitch Creek ESB (Extra Special Brown)

Got samples from the local distributors of this Idaho brewery, and glad I did. They arrived without warning when I was too busy to sample and drink with them, then didn't show up at the rescheduled appointed time. I'm sure somehow I'll remember their names, track down their numbers, etc., etc., if I really like the beers. Three of the four are brews I haven't taken notes on before, and this here's the one I have, from January of 2009, my take on Bitch Creek ESB:


01/09

Highly hazed and bronze/dark amber color...cream-toned head, long lasting...

Grassy hops and caramel malt shine through the nose. Spicy, sweet, yet dry.

Taste: Crsip,bright, lightly sweet, then dry. Nutty, caramel and toffee, with a bit of tart apple.

Medium bodied, lightly lingering finish, ...tasty stuff. I'd drink one again,for sure.

Grand Tetons Old Faithful Pale Golden

A Taste of the Tetons, Pale Golden, Old Faithful Ale, Yellowstone's Finest. Brewed and bottled by Grand Teton Brewing Co., 430 Old Jackson Hole Hwy, Victor, ID

Lightly clouded, golden appearance, slim and slender, beautiful ivory head.

Aromatics: grainy right off the bat, crisp maltiness is king. Fruity esters, apricot and orange, some sweetness. Mmm, mmm. If I stretched my nostrils further, I'd start talking about bubblegum and bananas, but I'm glad I stopped before that happened.

Taste: smooth, clean, lightly malty, just a little sweet, and, yeah, a bit strong. Malt sweetness grows and grows, and could be a little light, I'm just saying.

Bright. Fruity. Malty. Tasty. A tiny bit lesser-bodied than I'd like. Could use some more…some more something. Just a bit more complexity and flavor. That's be nice.

I didn't know this was an "American Blonde" when I had it, fooled myself into thinking it was a Belgian golden ale, without the alcoholic punch. Probably a good reason why I found it so uninspired. Didn't match it up with what I imagined it was supposed to be…if that makes sense...