Lagunitas Brewing Company's Censored Rich Copper Ale

    
     Pours a very dark gold-orange color.  Maybe even teetering on some shade or red.  Little hazy. Good finger worth of fizzy head when poured, half of which seems to be sticking around and looks very compact and uniform.  Aroma definitely not exploding out of this one.  Getting some very sharp caramel malt and a splash of sweetness. Some herbal hops.
     This certainly lives up to the "rich" in its name.  A huge explosion of caramel malt and toast.  A strong ester presence; somewhat appley.  Not too bitter in the finish.  Some earthy hop character but definitely nothing overwhelming.  Leaves a subtle biscuit flavor in the mouth.  Decent carbonation. Body on the lighter side.  Good stuff.

Cascade Lakes Brewing Co.'s India Red Ale

     The Cascade Lakes IRA pours a slightly-hazy blood orange color.   Very solid, uniform color; nice looking beer.  Little head on this one.  Not a ton of hops in the aroma like you might expect.  Getting some very strong esters; banana and tart cherry.  Intense malt sweetness.  The hops the do shine through are woody and spicy.  

     Hits the tongue just a little sweet and quickly evolves into a very tart bitterness.  I'd say the most defining characteristic of this beer would be the esters, which is definitely not what you might expect from an India-style ale.   Finishes with some herbal hop notes and an intense cherry flavor similar to some cough syrups.  Some pleasant caramel flavors linger.  Decent carbonation; thick body.

     Can't say I'm too crazy about this one.  It's not a bad beer by any means, but I can't see myself picking it up again.

8-Bit Brewing's Cascadian Dark Ale

    
     Thought I'd go with something a little different this time around and review one of my own creations.  This has always been one of my favorite styles and one of my favorite recipes.  It's one I'm always trying to improve.  Coming in at 7.4% ABV, the CDA is a very dark black with little if any light shining through.  About a finger of creamy brown head that sticks around for the most part.  Nice lacing.  Aroma is mostly characterized by a strong woodsy character. Not a lot of pine that I like in this style.  Some herbal and mint notes shine through.  Little caramel malt, but almost none of the roast/charcoal/toast I was hoping for.  This is the first time I didn't dry hop this recipe, and though I really do like the aroma, I think I might go back to just a small addition.
     Starts out with a very dry, burnt, and roasty character.  I used quite a bit of black barley in this.  This moves into some smooth caramel before becoming dominated by hop character.  A lot of my IPA-style brews have never been quite as bitter as I would have hoped for.  I did some tweaking with the water chemistry and finally got some really sharp, noticeable bitterness out of this one.  Hops have a very strong wood character to them.  The Simcoe really shine through, but I'm not getting enough of the citrus/floral hops that I was hoping for.  Leaves a decent pine taste lingering in the mouth.  Medium body and carbonation.
       I think this is one of the best I've brewed, but as usual, there is always room for improvement.  I want more pine/roast in the aroma and definitely in the flavor.  Needs some tweaks to the grain bill and perhaps just some dry hopping.