Oregon brewed "Rouge Farms OREgasmic Ale"

Rouge Farms OREgasmic Ale. Starting off I would just like to applaud Rouge for boldly going the distance, with OREgasmic Ale brewed with five Rouge Farms Hop varieties and Dare and Risk malt one thing can be said about this beer, Over all mouth-feel "smooth" with so much hoppy flavor added it is unimaginable to believe that the have created this smooth of a beer. One thing that I can most definitely say is it must be drank at room temp as to absorb as much of the flavor from the beer as possible, and like most Ales I prefer them to be room temp. As I am sure do most craft beer fans. From the bottle, poured a deep rusty orange with slightly golden hues to it. There was good, strong, rocky head with pretty good lacing to it. The nose was very malt forward, lots of strong caramel and very subtle hops. The hops were spicy and floral, and very muted overall. The taste was again quite full on the caramel and sweet.

Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale "By far the greatest Ale ever!"

Brother Thelonious

Belgian Style Abbey Ale

North Coast Brewing Co. is a proud  partner with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in support of Jazz education. The Brewery makes a donation to the Institute for every bottle of Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale sold.
Like a Belgian "Dark Strong Ale," this beer is rich and robust with an ABV of 9.3%. The package features a label picturing the Jazz master himself, and comes in either a 375 or 750 ml bottle with a traditional cork and wire finish, or 12 oz. 4-packs.

Vital Statistics

Style: Belgian Style Strong Dark
Color: Dark mahogany
ABV: 9.4%
Bitterness: 32 IBUs
When you buy Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale you also help to support the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz whose mission is to offer the world's most promising young musicians college level training by America's jazz masters and to present public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world.  All of these programs are offered free of charge to the students and schools.
The Artwork on the Brother Thelonious Packaging, or, Why is a skull on the Brother Thelonious label?

Artist Eduardo Smissen and the Brother Thelonious Packaging

The Artist: Eduardo Smissen in his studio working on the Brother Thelonious painting; Photo by Joelle Signorelli

The Result: Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale

North Coast Brewing Company has always supported regional creative talent in the distinctive beer imagery that goes with each of their brews. When it came to the creation of the Brother Thelonious beer, we sought out the talent of local Mendocino artist Eduardo Smissen. The resulting packaging design by Colored Horse Studios featuring his spirited painting of Thelonious Monk as a Belgian Abbey Monk highlighted one of the most successful beer launches for North Coast Brewing, and won a Gold Medal in the Creativity Category from the Beverage Testing Institute’s World Beer Championships Packaging Competition.

Why is a skull on the Brother Thelonious label?
From Eduardo: It’s a “memento mori,” a Latin phrase that may be freely translated as “Remember that you are mortal,” “Remember you will die,” or “Remember your death.” It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality. The chief thrust of “memento mori” was the theme of “carpe diem,” “seize the day,” which  entailed the advice to “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” And as the motto for North Coast Brewing is “Carpe Diem Vita Brevis”—”Life is short, seize the day”—I thought it an appropriate Style for the Brother Thelonious label.

1. The Local-From the 10 types of craft beer drinkers, this is me!

This guy drinks beer brewed in his home state, and maybe the bordering few states, exclusively. He’s a champion of the local craft scene, often espousing the local nano-brew that is climbing in popularity in a new brewpub two towns over or announcing what seasonals his favorite nearby brewery will be shipping out next. He doesn’t scoff at great beer from other places, but given the option, he’ll say “think locally, f*ck globally” every time. You can’t really be mad at him for it either; he’s a catalyst for brewing progress, keeping the smaller brew pubs alive, supporting the system at the roots, nourishing all those little guys with precious praise and dollars.

Learn to score beer like a pro with my beer scoring sheet

BEER SCORING SHEET

Poured From / Circle only one.

Tap
Can
Bottle
Growler

Name___________________________________________________Date_________________
Beer Name___________________________________________________________________
Brewery Name_______________________________________________
Beer Style___________________________________________________

Score out 24
Aroma: Notes on Hop & malt scents, alcohol plus esters and other nuances_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Score out of 6
Appearance: Notes on color, clarity, color of head texture and retention.
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Score out of 40
Flavor- Flavor of hops, malts, spices, bitterness, fruits and other flavor nuances
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Score out of 10
Mouth feel - Notes on carbonation, body, viscosity, alcohol warmth, astringency and other palate impressions.
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Score out of 20
Over all impression - Notes on stylistic accuracy, intangible qualities, general drinking experience, areas of improvement.
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Beer Scoring Key   
95-100 Perfect
90-94 Exceptional Recommendation
85-89 High Recommendation
80-84 Good Recommendation
75-79 Moderate Recommendation
0-74 No recommendation  

Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale / Stone Brewing Co.

8.7 ABV. This dark ale is one of those that if your not ready for a retarded hoppy beer; you should work your way up to this bad boy, myself though have an affinity for strong hoppy beer so this one got me just right. The title of this ale fits this beer like no other because you have to be a self-righteous bastard just to take this one on as a challenge, you can smell the hops in this beer as soon as you crack the beer open & oh Yeah it's a doozy, that is if you can handle it. Stone Brewing keeps pushing the limit of beer flavors and for that I am supremely gracious for because they go where no other brewers have gone before. Stone Brewing I salute you. On a personal 1-10 scale boys you have hit a 20. Keep up the great work.

Rouge Ales Dead "Guy Ale"

 Never have I had quiet an ale before, and never have I had any beer from Rogue Ales out of Newport, OR. but when I went out on a limb to conquer another craft brew that I have never tried I found myself very much pleased with the particular brew. It has an over all Honey like color to it, just enough bitterness from the hops which I'm going to assume are Northern Cascade Hops, this brew has become one of my absolute cant do without, and the aroma! don't even get me started. "Fucking Epic" The label on the bottle simple yet striking and also it is painted on which when brewers paint there labels on bottles I find that to be a little more special than stickers.

Samuel Adams "Cream Stout"

Samuel Adams once again you have proven your worth, with this amazing and quit delicious cream stout of yours. The Aroma of the stout was incredible it hit your nose like a ton of bricks but was oh so good. I think they saying beer drinkers get more head describes this to a tee. This beer had a light tan head to it and it was all the foamy goodness that any craft beer drinker could truly appreciate, the taste of this one was quit breath taking as it hit my pallet it set off all of my senses all at once and it was pure heaven that the beer gods had sent down to me.