22oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Pour gives a lemon/butterscotch color with a disappointing head, disappointing lace and pretty much no retention. Just not good enough for the style. The pour also lacks any body or depth of color mainly because the requisite swirling to collect the yeasties at the bottom of the bottle yields nothing! A light acid in the aroma but the failure of this beer is in the taste. It is AMAZINGLY watery and lacks any organic, hay/grass note as well. Impact =...
Notes on beers brewed by
Butte Creek Brewing Company
Spring Run Organic Pale Ale
22oz bomber. Nice pale orange pour with good clarity and appropriate carbonation. Head is high and light, and fades to give a thin layer of lace on the surface of the beer and a little lace on the glass. Nose has a very light touch with the hops - a fresh, grassy note that is repeated down the road in the taste. Not much aftertaste apart from a touch of unsweetened, metallic grapefruit. A touch thin in the mouth, but the upside of that is that the beer drinks very light and refreshing. All in...
Butte Creek Organic Revolution XI Imperial IPA
On tap, $5.75 for the 16oz our, Taco Mac, midtown, Atlanta, GA, USA. Served too cold. Cloudy, deep orange pour with a small head (partially because of the pour which was not aggressive), but still yields some good lace. The lack of clarity is not that attractive. The nose on the beer is as expected with a full blown blast of hops but it seems controlled. Similarly, in the taste we have a big hop presence but the whole thing is tempered with malt and the beer is memorable as sweet rather than a...
Butte Creek Organic Porter
12 oz single, Jax, sandy Springs, Atlanta, GA, USA. $1.69. Pour is a bit of a lacklustre, mid-brown effort with a fading head and a tiny bit of carbonation. Nose is pretty strong with a mild sherry like aroma. Very chocolately. Lots of bakers chocolate in the initial tastes and this hangs on. Average mouthfeel and the chocolate lingers in the finish. Slight alcohol bite in the end that eventually overcomes the chocolate. OK, but I wouldn't purchase again.
Butte Creek Organic Pilsner
12 oz single, Jax, Sandy Springs, Atlanta, GA, USA. Very cloudy yellow, decent head and some lacing, basically this looks pretty much like a standard Hefe rather than a Pils. Grassy hop nose with a strange hay-like smell over the top. Astringent grapefruit like bitterness, quite strong. Mild malts barely hold the whole thing together. This is a bitter beer without much subtlelty. Not a very good Pils but I'm not sure if that is the beer or the Organic element that make it different. Not...
Trainwreck Organic Barleywine Style Ale
Picked this up a week ago at Smyrna World of Beverage in Atlanta, GA, USA. 22 oz bomber. Plenty of chill haze on the pour, probably simply too cold. Mid copper-colored pour with a decent head that fades quickly. Minor spotty head left on the surface. Viscous mouthfeel and syrup characteristics. Sweet alcohol in the nose. Sweet initially with harsh, biting hops in the finish. Like most American BW's of this ABV, it feels edgy, young and harsh. Also like most, I would like to let this mature a...
Butte Creek Winter Ale
12 oz single from Jax, Sandy Springs, Atlanta, GA, USA. Dark, dark brown pour with a certain murkiness about it. Spotty head left on the surface of the brew, not much lace. Sweet and malty nose which is surprisingly reminiscent of an English Brown Ale. However, very quickly this is cut through by the typical taste of the American version of the style. Very hoppy for a traditional Brown Ale, but very typical for the American version. The hoppy, bitterness is tolerable, but toward the end of the...
Butte Creek Creekside Wheat
Another very ordinary offering from the folks at Butte Creek - I'm on the brink of giving up on this brewery after several below par beers. 12 oz bottle poured with absolutely NO life. Chill hazed mid-orange pour with no head or lacing. I get blue cheese and other cheese notes in the arom and taste. What that is all about I don't know - perhaps it's part of the "West Coast" angle on a Hefe that is mentioned on the label. Frankly a piss poor Hefe and pretty weak beer all around. I wouldn't...
Butte Creek Organic Revolution X Imperial IPA
22oz Bomber. Green's, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA, USA. Mid amber/orange body with a degree of chill haze and some persistent carbonation. Half inch head that is decent and immediately leaves some nice, if somewhat scant lacing. Sugary sweet hops in the nose. Complex or just a mess? Frankly it's difficult to tell. There are three things desperately competing for my attention. A sickly sweet malt base, some astringent sugared grapefruit hops and a high level of alcohol that is not well hidden....
Butte Creek Christmas Cranberry Ale
650 mL (22 oz) bomber. Decent looking light amber/orange pour with some chill haze, good head and some very, very nice sticky lacing. Unfortunately the lacing was the best part of this beer. There is *something* in the nose other than 'beer", but I certainly cannot distinguish it as being cranberry or even fruit. Some dry bitterness is upfront in the beer, which would be a characteristic of the cranberries, but again, it isn't really distinguishable *as* cranberry. Tastes like a dry pale ale....
Butte Creek Organic India Pale Ale
Very nice. Pale orange pour, some reserved head, and a little lacing. Very easy drinking with a pronounced sweet and mild taste that is followed in the rear by a strong, bitter hop finish. The finish was really quite surprisingly sharp and very nicely bitter. Mouthfeel and drinkability are solid, with some smooth creamy texture and a drink that leaves you craving at least one more. Some earthy qualities, a good, solid American version of an IPA - obviously less subtle than the original, but...
Mt. Shasta Ale
Golden, almost yellow color, this looks much more like a macro swill lager than I was expecting for the style. Lack of orange highlights is a little concerning for a PA or IPA. Strange head situation too! Very little head to speak of, but some good lacing. Odd combination. The beer promises much in the initial tastes and aromas, with plenty of bitter hops coming through in first few sips, but then it seems to fade very, very fast. The taste seems to evaporate in the mouth immediately to leave...