Ölbeat 060: Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 7,2 %
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Liquid explosion without gunpowder

What about the beer?
Colour is bright copper orange with small natural white head. Aroma has orange, lemon and hops. Taste bites first with citrus and hoppy bitter freshness. The biting hops and sour grapefruit continue carrying the brew. Towards the end some piny dryness and a fruity sweet notes get added to the package. Aftertaste has first bitter and fruity elements and then dryness.

What a super fresh experience. The hop and citrus flavours are unrounded and pure, which makes Torpedo stand out of the ocean of ordinary India Pale Ales. Truly an IPA worth the reputation.

Ölbeat

Powerful Californian beer cries for a powerful Californian rock song. Since the beer is a classic, let's listen to a true American rock classic:

Van Halen: Jump (YouTube)

From the 1984 album 1984, the song was written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth.

Ölbeat 059: Malmgård Imperial IPA

Brewery: Malmgård
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,9 %
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Majestic beer from Malmgård mansion

What about the beer?
Colour is bright rusty orange with small white crown. Aroma has sweet fruits (mango and pineapple) with a hoppy note. Taste bites first with sweet hoppy bitterness. Fruity alcoholic bitterness with moderate grapefruit flavour follows. Near the finish piny dryness joins the party. When a bit warmed up, pineapple and mango show up in the taste. Aftertaste is bittersweet with a bite of alcohol.

Excellent not "down-the-same-pipe" Imperial IPA. Bitterness is smooth but powerful instead of a hop hit-and-run. Grapefruit aroma and flavours are almost completely replaced with sweeter fruits. Taste of alcohol is present but not unpleasant. Tasty brew from one of my favorite Finnish breweries. 

Ölbeat

With a royal beer we'll need some majestic rock. Since the guys in Malmgård have had their own way of brewing quality stuff, this is a perfect choice:

Queen: One Vision (YouTube)

From the 1986 album A Kind of Magic, the song was written by Queen.

Ölbeat 058: Pôhjala Öö

'Brewery: Pôhjala 
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial Baltic Porter
Abv: 10,5 %
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Estonian version of the night

What about the beer?
Colour is intense black with tiny beige crown. Aroma has black coffee, sweet roasted malts and chocolate. Taste begins with sweet roasted malts and slight bitterness. Coffee joins the party right after the start. Near the finish we get a roasted hoppy bite, more coffee and dark chocolate. Aftertaste has bitter sweetness and roasted malts.

Absolutely beautiful beer. Sweet roasted malts with delicious coffee and chocolate flavours, not forgetting the smooth hoppy bitterness in start and finish. Superb Imperial/Baltic Porter as they should always be.

Ölbeat

The beer is named the night, it is black and has dark flavours. So we pick a song with a theme and the feeling beyond sunset:

Deep Purple: Black Night (YouTube)

Originally released as a single in 1970, the song was written by Deep Purple.

Ölbeat 057: Raduga Forbidden Planet

Brewery: Browar Raduga
Country: Poland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,4 %
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Look, it's Robby the Robot!

What about the beer?
Colour is dark orange with medium natural white head. Aroma has mostly sweet mango and some flowery scent. Taste bites first with dry piny bitter and goes on with herbal hoppy taste with fruity mango-orangeish side note. When the beer warms up a bit, there are more orange and strong hoppy flavours. Towards the end  we get heavy pine and moderate lemon-grapefruit added. Aftertaste is extremely dry and bitter.

The experience is a bit rough and edgy but the 115 IBU don't jump on the face. Heavy pine domination but tasty and excellent fruitiness has it's place. Do not hurry with this one, if you're into nice citrus flavours.

Ölbeat

This time Raduga has named their brew after a 1950's film - an American science fiction space film made in 1956. The film, starring Leslie Nielsen, was the first movie to have an electronic musical score, made by Bebe and Louis Barron. The music of the score is somewhat "out there", so I picked an instrumental classic from the end of 70's:

The Alan Parsons Project: Lucifer (YouTube)

From the 1979 album Eve, the song was written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.