Osakr Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils Review

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery | Beer: Mama's Little Yella Pils
Style: Czech Pilsener | ABV: 5.3% | IBUs: ~35
Serving Method: 12 oz. can poured into Pilsener glass

Mama's Litte Yella Pils is a Czech-style Pilsener and Oskar Blues position it as "the perfect antidote for the watered-down, cornfed versions of pilsner clogging America’s shelves." I'm shocked they got the name approved (especially here in Texas), though their tagline "take two and call us in the morning" didn't make the cut.

As for ingredients, the backbone is built from pale malt and "German specialty malts," while bitterness is provided by Saaz and "21st century Bavarian" hops varieties. An American all-malt Pils in a can? How long has it been since that happened?

Speaking to RealBeer about Mama's, brewery founder Dale Katechis noted "There are very few all-malt pilsners made in the US anymore—and the concept of ‘America-made pilsner’ has taken a beating over the past few generations. Especially when it comes to pilsners in cans." He went on to add: "You can’t hide flaws in a pilsner. With this beer our brewers get to showcase their expertise at making an unforgiving, classic style of beer.”

It's sad to say, but Mama's Little Yella Pils is the last regular release from Oskar Blues I have left to review. Each of the previous four beers have received a grade in the "A" range, making Oskar Blues one of the top breweries on PintLog. So, going in there's a lot of expectations placed on this little yellow can.

Appearance: A clear, pale golden-straw body. On top, a bubbly white head that fades quickly and leaves very patchy lacing.

Aroma: Lemony and grassy Saaz hops over relatively rich grainy malt. Hints of white grape.

Taste: Up front, a crisp, lemony bitterness takes charge. Underneath, the backbone is close to the traditional Pilsener body, but with a bit more rich sweetness than usual. The aftertaste is short-lived.

Mouthfeel: A medium-light body with moderate carbonation. Dries a bit in the finish.

Drinkability: As you'd expect from this style, this is highly drinkable.

Verdict: In Mama's Little Yella Pils, Oskar Blues have created a straightforward, tasty, and very drinkable Pilsener - in fact it's one of the best Pilseners I've tried yet. If you're looking for a highly refreshing Pilsener sold in a can, this is certainly the beer for you.

Grade: A

Note: While this review is being published in September, the tasting notes contained within were taken when the beer was fresh this past April.

Oskar Blues Gordon Review

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery | Beer: Gordon
Style: American Double India Pale Ale | ABV: 8.7% | IBUs: 85
Serving Method: 12 oz. can poured into tulip glass

With one of the highest average scores of any brewery here on PintLog, Oskar Blues has been a very welcome addition here in the Houston market. With Ten Fidy, their Russian Imperial Stout, garnering a perfect A+ a few weeks ago, I figured it was time to look to the hoppier part of the style spectrum and give their beer named simply Gordon a look.

Initially brewed as Oskar Blues' Winter seasonal, Gordon is now brewed throughout the year as one of the company's five canned offerings. While I have listed it as a Double IPA, Oskar Blues describe it as a hybrid "somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA," so keep that in mind. Gordon is named after the late Gordon Knight, a Colorado craft-brew pioneer that passed away in 2002 fighting a wild fire.

Oskar Blues describe Gordon as "an assertive yet exceptionally smooth version of strong beer" featuring "a gooey, resiny aroma and a luscious mouthfeel." The malt backbone is built with six varieties, including Chocolate. Three hops varieties are used during brewing, and then a "mutha lode" of Amarillo hops are used for dry-hopping. It certainly sounds like another winner, so let's go ahead and pop the top.

Appearance: A rich, dark red-orange body with a two-finger tall, off-white head. Brilliant lacing.

Aroma: Tons of Cascadey hops over a solid, sweet caramel malt base. This is absolutely excellent.

Taste: An excellent wave of citrusy hops up front with plenty of sweet caramel malt underneath. This is one of the most balanced Double IPAs I've had the pleasure to try. The alcohol is hidden excellently.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied with adequate carbonation.

Drinkability: Above average for the style, but you're still going to have to pace yourself with the 8.7% alcohol.

Verdict: Balanced with a big caramel backbone, Gordon has a unique flavor profile for a Double IPA. While it's certainly somewhat less hop-centric and more drinkable than most Double IPAs, don't be fooled into thinking it's somehow weak. With another beer receiving a review in the "A" range, Oskar Blues is now poised to really dominate the PintLog ratings.

Grade: A-

Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Review

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery | Beer: Ten Fidy
Style: Russian Imperial Stout | ABV: 10.0% | IBUs: 98
Serving Method: 12 oz. can poured into tulip glass

Believe it or not, after over sixty reviews here on PintLog, I've yet to review one of my absolute favorite styles: the Russian Imperial Stout. Well, that changes today.

The Russian Imperial Stout style dates back to late 1700s, when British brewers started to brew up an incredibly hoppy and potent version of Stout for export to Russia. Fortified to live up to both the journey to Russia and the tastes of it's resident, these were some big beers. They were said to be quite popular with the Russian Imperial court, hence the name. Recently, there's been a big resurgence of the style in the American craft brew scene. Much like Double IPAs, they work well as an no-compromises showcase for a brewer's talents and are one of the beer community's absolute favorite styles.

So, what Russian Imperial Stout to start with? While there are plenty on the market here in Houston, I was extremely excited this past Winter to find cans of Oskar Blues' legendary Ten Fidy on the shelves. With tons of buzz in the beer community and constant mentions on top beer lists, I've been waiting to try this beer for a long time now. Ten Fidy is a full-blown Russian Imperial Stout with ten percent alcohol by volume and almost 100 IBUs. Here's how Oskar Blues describe Ten Fidy:

It's the beer equivalent of decadently rich milkshake made with malted-milk balls and Heaven’s best chocolate ice cream.

How can you not like that? Let's pop a can open and see what lies inside.

Appearance: My God, it looks like motor oil as it pours out of the can. Blacker than black and thick as molasses, this is without a doubt the darkest beer I've ever seen. It's like a black hole, absorbing all light it comes in contact with. In the glass, it pours a very minimalistic deep-caramel head with half-decent lacing and retention.

Aroma: If you melted a bar of dark chocolate and mixed it with a few drops of pure hop oil and a shot of ethanol, this is what it would smell like. Powerful is somewhat of an understatement.

Taste: Pounds of dark-roasted, bittersweet chocolate malt condensed down into an aluminum-wrapped twelve ounce serving. But don't be fooled into thinking this is just a one-dimensional beer. Somehow, the maniacal brewers have found space in the can for a big wall of hops. How can a beer as big as this seem somewhat balanced? Madness. As you'd expect for a beer in the double digit ABV realm, the booze likes to raise its voice. As it warms, it kicks your ass more and more.

Mouthfeel: I've compared other beers to milkshakes before, but they all seem like water compared to this. This is simply massive and smooth as all hell. The booze makes itself known in your throat.

Drinkability: You'd have to be some sort of God/lumberjack hybrid to be able to throw this back with ease.

Verdict: Ten Fidy is an experience, to say the least, and the best Russian Imperial I've tried yet. A massive body with a brilliant malt profile and a nice flourish of hops. If you like Russian Imperial Stouts whatsoever and can find this in your area, buy it. If you can't find it in your area, move.

Grade: A+

Note: While this review is being published in June, the tasting notes contained within were taken when the beer was fresh last Winter.

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale Review

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery | Beer: Dale's Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale | ABV: 6.5%
Serving Method: 12 oz. can poured into pint glass

The first thing you notice about Dale's Pale Ale is its very plain looking red-white-and-blue can that looks more like a 70's macro than a cutting-edge craft-brew. I'm not about to start judging beer on it's packaging any time soon. In fact, a lot of the time I've found a plain label can be a statement of confidence in the product itself. And after enjoying another Oskar Blues offering, Old Chub, so much, I have some pretty high hopes for Dale's and the other OB beers showing up in shops here in Houston (and my fridge): Ten Fidy and Gordon.

Dale's Pale Ale is Oskar Blues' flagship beer, and, according to them, America's first hand-canned craft beer. Its racked up a number of mentions and awards from many mainstream publications including The New York Times, Details, & Men's Journal. A heaping post-boil addition of Centennial hops pushes this beer into an area that the brewer calls "somewhere between an American Pale Ale and an India Pale Ale." The can chimes in describing the brew as "a huge, voluminously hopped mutha of a Pale Ale." Well, one thing I'm going to be expecting inside this can is a decent amount of hops.

Appearance: A hazy, yet bubbly, carrot-orange body with a one-finger, white head that leaves good lacing.

Aroma: The can didn't lie, this is one heavily-hopped beer. The hops slap you in the face well before you even start pouring the beer into the glass. Grapefruit dominates in the hop department, with orange-peel and pine bringing in the rear. As for malt, there isn't much shining through. This really seems more like an IPA than a Pale Ale.

Taste: Very bitter, citrusy hops off the bat. Grapefruit is still very much the focus, with the pine and orange-peel only slightly more prominent than before. The malt isn't completely choked out by the hops, and has a clean, caramel character. I would have liked to see just a little more of a balance between the hops and malt here, but these hops are good enough to make up for it. The aftertaste is decidedly bitter and, at times, a little soapy.

Mouthfeel: Sticky and medium-bodied with moderate carbonation. The pleasantly bitter aftertaste lingers a long time.

Drinkability: Due to the bitter character and moderately-high 6.5% ABV, only committed hopheads are going to be chugging this all night long. However, this is certainly an easily drinkable beer for anyone who isn't allergic to hops.

Verdict: Dale's is certainly no slouch, but it's lacking just a little bit of malt to be perfectly balanced. To me, and apparently Oskar Blues themselves, Dale's clocks in somewhere between an IPA and an APA. One thing I can say for sure though, this is the hoppiest canned brew I've ever encountered, and that has to count for something.

Grade: A-

Oskar Blues Old Chub Review

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery | Beer: Old Chub
Style: Strong Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy | ABV: 8.0%
Serving Method: 12 oz. can poured into pint glass

After reviewing Doggie Style a couple of posts ago, I figured it would be appropriate to review another beer with a sexually suggestive name. After searching my fridge, I decided that Oskar Blues' Old Chub certainly fit the bill. Like all Oskar Blues brews, Old Chub is sold in a traditional twelve-ounce aluminum can. I don't see why more craft-brewers don't utilize the humble can. With today's cans, there are no undesired effects on the beer itself and they offer the advantage of blocking all light (light is what skunks beer). On a couple of practical notes, cans can be brought into public areas where bottles are outlawed and fit much better in your fridge. Thus allowing you to keep more beer chilled without pissing off your wife (any further, at least).

Old Chub is a Scottish Ale, a style characterized by long boil times (leading to caramelization), a sparing use hops (they don't grow well in Scotland), and generous amounts of malt. There are four different grades of Scottish Ale, based on alcohol content: Light (under 3.5% ABV), Heavy (3.5 to 4% ABV), Export (4.0 to 5.5% ABV) & Wee Heavy (anything above Export). At a stout eight percent alcohol by volume, this beer safely clocks in as a Wee Heavy. It sounds just like something from a Mike Meyers movie. Appropriate considering that underneath the canned on date on the bottom of the can, the phrase "Head! Pants! Now!" appears. Major bonus points.

Oskar Blues describes this beer as being "brewed with hearty amounts of seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts, and a smidge of US and UK hops. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany, home of the world's greatest smoked beers." I have to say, I'm quite intrigued.

Appearance: Dark mahogany-brown with brilliant ruby highlights. On top, a finger-high, toffee-colored head that disappears quickly that leaves moderate lacing that looks great while it lasts.

Aroma: Right off the bat, Old Chub is all about malt. Complex, sweet, and smokey with rich booze on the edges. Appetizing, to say the least.

Taste: Peaty, smokey, and nutty malt with lots of alcohol is what this beer is all about. There are also juicy and sweet fruit notes that poke through every so often. Hops are all but silent, while the aftertaste is of dry and boozy caramelized sugar. I have to say, Old Chub reminds me more of a good Single Malt Scotch than anything I've come across in the beer world yet.

Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy, yet slick with a very dry aftertaste. Alcohol makes its presence known in the mouth with a pleasant warmth. Carbonation is moderate, as it should be.

Drinkability: Like Scotch, this definitely something worth savoring. If you're putting down a six-pack of this in an evening, you're a better man than I.

Verdict: Old Chub is a complex beer that really showcases the Scottish style of brewing while demanding your full attention. If you've never tried a Scottish Ale and are looking for somewhere to start, you could do a lot worse than choosing this. Please don't be thrown off by the can, this is world class beer.

Grade: A