I recently had the amazing opportunity to spend a long
weekend in Jackson Hole Wyoming over the new years. While skiing the amazingly
steep slopes that put you literally above the clouds:
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| Top of the Tram at Sunrise |
I worked up quite the
thirst, and thought what better way to quench it than with some locally brewed
suds. The place to go in the relatively small town of Jackson Wy has to be
Snake River Brewing which features an amazing brewpub with some delicious food,
as well as of course their award winning beers. To learn more about Snake River
Brewing check out their website here: http://www.snakeriverbrewing.com/brewery/
They
had 8 beers on tap at the time of my visit and offered a convenient flight of
5oz tasters. So for $12 I got 8 -5oz tasters = 4O oz of mostly tasty beer. My
overall impression was that this breweries beers are hit or miss. Some are such
as the seasonal Pandamonium, and the Snake River Lager are very very good,
while others such as the Powder 8 Porter and the OB-1 are in my opinion
actually quite bad. Many of the beers are not overly flavorful, and just seem
to lack a little something. Read on below to see Snake River Brewings
description of each of the 8 beers they had on tap, as well as some of my own
thoughts:
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| The Brews 1-8 |
1.
Hoback
Hefeweizen: Hefe is the German word for yeast and weizen is wheat, making
this beer style fairly self-explanatory. The classic banana and clove-like
flavors are derived from a specific Bavarian yeast. Because the beer is
unfiltered, these dynamic yeasty flavors come through strongly. There is merely
a hint of hop flavor added so as not to compete with the yeast notes.
A good example of a
Hefeweizen, named after the Hoback mountains in the region. Overwhelming notes
of banana.
2.
Snake
River Pale Ale: Snake River Pale is an American pale brewed with domestic
malt and plenty of Cascade hops. Golden in color, it has a citrusy hop flavor
which is followed by a crisp, firmly bitter finish. Pale ale is a great foil to
spicy ethnic foods and can also complement a salad well. 5.2% abv.
Not
overly hoppy or flavorful, but very crisp, clean and easy to drink. Comparable
to a nice crisp white wine. Does not taste like a 5+ percent beer.
3.
Snake
River Lager: Snake River Lager is our most popular beer. This is an amber
colored Vienna style lager. The rich, caramel flavor is balanced with the
use of several hop varieties for a subtle hop note. An authentic German lager
yeast strain adds to the true flavor of this beer. The malt forward
profile of Snake River Lager makes it a fine complement to pizzas and red
meat. The alcohol content is 4.8% abv.
They say this is their
most popular beer, and it’s easy to see why; I could pound this one! Again not
overly flavorful, but a nice mix of hops is apparent and it is a beer leaving
you wanting to follow each mouthful with another.
4.
Pako’s
Eye PA: Named for Pako (say “PACO”)
the dog (No wait, Pako’s not a dog!) This full flavored, fully hop-evident IPA
will have the hopheads rejoicing. 6.8% ABV and 60+ IBUs with explosive hop
aroma from a pungent Simcoe/columbus blend.
I was a little disappointed
with this one. They claim it is, “full flavored” and “hop-evident.” I have
enjoyed my fare share of IPAs and this one does not make the top of my list.
The hopiness was minimal, and the flavor wasn’t really there.
5.
Pandomanium:
PANDAMONIUM, our first ever Belgian Quad 8.2% Abv.
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| The Growler |
This is Snake River
Brewings winter seasonal beer, and damn is it good. I was fortunate enough to
get a taste of it, as apparently early January is the last time it will be
served on tap, ever… It was so good in fact, that after convincing the bar
tender to sell it, I had to purchase a half gallon growler of it! At 8.2percent
you have to be careful, it will sneak up on you, the alcohol content is hardly
noticeable in the flavor. I can’t say I’ve had a Belgian style Quad before, but
if others are as good as this, I will be looking for more in the future.
6.
OB-1
(Organic Beer Number 1) : is a USDA certified organic English style brown ale.
Snake River Brewing is proud to be the first and only brewery to be
making certified organic beer in the state of Wyoming. Made from 100% organic
malt and 100% organic hops. The only other ingredients are Teton mountain
spring water and an imported strain of English ale yeast. The alcohol
content is 4.9%
I thinks it’s cool that
Snake River Brewing, along with other brewing companies are making organic
beers, and this is SRBs first attempt at an organic beer. They definitely have
a ways to go however. Organic shouldn’t mean a sacrifice on taste which this
brew suffers from. Finishes with a very unpleasant after taste.
7.
Powder 8
Porter: Porter was first brewed in London, England in the early 1700’s. At
the time two basic beers existed: a light and a dark. The dark was more
expensive and drinkers got into the habit of mixing the two to stretch out the
premium brew. A wise brewer began making a medium dark beer to save the
barkeeps from having to mix at the taps. The beer was named after its biggest
fans: the porters handling baggage at the local train stations. This brown
porter is deep ruby in color and transluscent. The alcohol content is 5%.
By far the worst beer of
the batch, and perhaps the worst example of a porter I’ve ever had. Of the 4
people at the table, no one even wanted to finish the 5oz sampler. Unpleasant
from start to finish.
8.
Zonker
Stout: A rich, well-balanced foreign style stout with a huge amount of
roasted barley as well as chocolate, black, and caramel malts. The intense
roast character is the main attribute of this black colored
beer. The alcohol content is 6.0%
A very dark beer, even for a Stout.
The chocolate flavor comes through in spades. This beer would be great on a
cold winter day in the Tetons, a good sipper, and full of flavor.
Cheers, Matt