Tag Archives: Buckeye Brewing

Beer Review: Wheat Cloud – Buckeye Brewing

Posted on by
Reply

image

Beer Name: Wheat Cloud

Brewery: Buckeye Brewing Company (Cleveland)
Beer style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.0%
Size: 22oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 82
Rate Beer Score: 78

According to EVERYTHING, this is the beginning of the end-times. We just had the hottest month ever, like in-the-history-of-all-weather-ever; I haven’t had to mow my lawn in two whole months. Evidently there is no corn and therefore there will be no meat ever again. And to top it off, the unseasonably warm winter winter we enjoyed was the perfect climate for arthropod reproduction and as a result we are facing near-plague levels of insects. So if all this isn’t a reason for you to kick back with a refreshing beer while watching plants spontaneously combust out the window of your air-conditioned home, you may never-ever have a good reason.

On this 99-degree Columbus day, I went out into my garage and found a bottle of Wheat Cloud from Buckeye Brewing. In the past, I have reviewed a couple of beers from Buckeye with mixed results. I loved Zatek 2011 and was somewhat less enthralled by Hippie IPA. In addition to this, hefeweizens are somewhat hit-or-miss with me, so I had no idea of what to expect from Wheat Cloud.

Wheat Cloud looked near perfect for a hefeweizen in the glass, a hazy-light straw-like color with loads of fluffy white head that settled quickly; however, the beer retained a thin layer until I was finished with the bomber. Upon smelling, I picked up an earthy-bready wheat smell as well as citrus (lemon/orange) and just a hint of phenol. Unfortunately, I did not get the banana smell that is often present in my favorite hefes.

Wheat Cloud tasted of sweet-wheat on the first swish around the mouth. That flavor was followed by a rush of citrus with hints of clove and bubblegum. The beer left the mouth with a lingering clove-laced, lemon juice flavor. This beer has a light seltzer-water-like mouthfeel that, in combination with the aftertaste, makes this beer very refreshing. This beer is perfect for an end-of-the-world hot day in Ohio.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 5-pack. Even with hefeweizens not being one of my favorite beer styles, I could see myself drinking another bomber at least and still enjoying it.

Overall: I give it a 5-pack. Not in my top five hefes, but this beer is much better than its BA and Rate Beer scores might lead you to believe.

Would be best consumed: On a patio with a nice salad with strawberries or maybe some perfectly ripe peaches.

Beer Review: Hippie IPA – Buckeye Brewing

Posted on by
Reply

20120614-194818.jpg

Beer Name: Hippie IPA

Brewery: Buckeye Brewing Co. (Cleveland)
Beer style: IPA
ABV: 6.8% (from BA)
IBU: Unknown
Size: 22-oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 84
Untappd Score: 3 caps

It has been a while since I have written a normal beer review, with the video reviews and tap takeovers and such. Let’s see if I still remember how to do it.

Another beer I picked up at The Anderson’s, Hippie IPA is the second beer I have had (and reviewed) from Buckeye Brewing Co. I liked their Zatek Stout, very much; also I figured you can’t go wrong with a bottle that sports a logo that plays on the only non-rectangular state flag. (Who says you can’t learn anything on beer blogs?)

The Hippie pours like an IPA should, with a hazy straw color and a fluffy white head (this did have a lot of head when poured, but that doesn’t bother me much). It smells of hops, but not as much or as varied as some of my favorite IPAs. There is a citrus smell, grapefruit or orange, with maybe a just slight smell of flowers. The first thing you taste is the smooth malt flavor, but that sweetness gets wiped away quickly by the bitterness of the hops which almost have a soapy taste. This beer finishes bitter as an IPA should, but it is missing some of the complex flavor profiles I usually go for in IPAs.

Overall this is a drinkable and inexpensive IPA. not one of my favorite IPAs by a long shot. But as different as IPAs are and as different as drinkers are, this could be right up your alley, so give it a try.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 3-pack. A nice IPA, but after drinking this bomber I think I would get tired of the soapy hop taste this beer finishes with.
Overall: I give it a 3-pack. It is what it is: a drinkable IPA that is reasonably bitter with a nice malt sweetness. It just missed a bit for me on the hop profile.
Would be best consumed: This would be best consumed on a porch during a late spring evening when the air is thick with the smell of fresh-cut grass.

 

Beer Review: Buckeye Brewing – Zatek 2011-A

Posted on by
4

image

Beer Name: Zatek 

Brewery: Buckeye Brewing (Cleveland)
Beer style: Foreign Extra Stout
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 22 oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 86
Untappd Score: 4 caps

Ahhh, stouts. Not the beer most sane people would turn to after a long day in the sun doing yard work, but then again I have never been accused of being sane. I love stouts, the bigger the better, no matter the weather. When I was younger, but still over 21 of course, I would simply find myself craving a beer and just about anything would do. I’m sure it was the alcohol I wanted, and as long as the liquid sharing its container wasn’t appalling, it would do. Now that I am older [read: more mature], I find that when I am truly craving a beer, it is one of three beer tastes that I am truly craving: hops, banana notes, and dark roasted malts.  Regardless of the season, sometimes I just have to have a big, bold stout.

I was talking about how I needed to find some new Ohio beers to fill out my collection, and BubOhioBeer was nice enough, last time that I talked to him, to tell me that The Anderson’s off Sawmill in Columbus has a small section devoted to beers brewed in “The Heart of It All.”  We were in the area on Friday after visiting the zoo, so I stopped in. While there, I spotted the odd-looking beer pictured above. I went to their website for some intel, but their “Our Beers” section has not yet been created, so I have no idea what that thing on the bottle is supposed to be. I assume it’s a silver Eskimo or a fever dream of a glam Care Bear or something, but the label totally worked because I picked it up and took it to the register.

The beer pours dark-dark black, with a perfect stout head that never completely goes away - like a brown spiral galaxy slowly spinning in a moonless sky. The beer smells of toffee and caramel with maybe a hint of dark roast coffee. The sweetness on the nose is not as prevalent when tasting it, and although it starts off malty-sweet, that sweetness is quickly drowned out by a very heavy coffee taste. This coffee taste is very pleasant, especially if you enjoy European coffees or espressos. This beer almost has that straight shot-of-espresso bitterness at the end that sucks your mouth in; it works very well in this beer because the bitter makes you want to go back in for the upfront sweetness again, and the cycle repeats until the bomber is gone and you have a bit of a buzz.

Overall I am very impressed with this beer and this brewery. I would absolutely drink this again if I found it again, and greatly look forward to trying more of their beers in the future.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 2-pack. This beer is all the stout you are going to want without some palate cleanser in between.
Overall: I give it a 5-pack, one of the better stouts I have had. Between this and Siberian Night by Thirsty Dog, northeast Ohio makes some serious stouts.
Would be best consumed: Most sane people would prefer this on a cold, snowy Ohio evening, maybe with a raspberry clafouti.