January’s Visit to JAKs Brewing company

January 6, 2019 Mike

I’m not sure if it was the New Year or what, but I really did a poor job of getting my photos and notes lined up for this visit to JAKs Brewing company. The only photo I had for the visit was a picture of the awesome flight holder that we had our beer delivered in.

Here’s an abbreviated review for what I had:

Blonde Bombshell – A pretty darn good blonde. Clear and light looking, it was a clean drinking beer which left a slight aftertaste that reminded me of honey. Really pretty nice.

Pumpkin Pie Cream Ale – This was a real surprise for me, nice pumpkin spice flavor, starts with a light clove and finishes with a nutmeg flavor, neither of which were overpowering. The glass is served with a cinnamon sugar coated rim, and it really brings the pumpkin pie flavor home. Delicious beer.

Resilience IPA – JAKs took part in the Resilience IPA fundraising / brewing that Jesse mentioned when we had Gold Camps version. This version was every bit as good as that one. Classic IPA, nice and clear, bitter with citrus hop flavors. Really well done.

Kastoff Irish Red – This beer wasn’t bad, but it was missing the malty backbone I was expecting.

Imperial Black Saison – Malty, with some characteristic Saison flavors. Really nice.

Loral Saison – Slightly malty, with more of the Saison flavors than the Imperial Black Saison above.

Brown Eyed Girl Brown – Pretty Tasty. Lightly malty and clean finishing. Could use some more maltiness, but still pretty good.

[Jesse]
I had fewer beers than Mike did, so I thought that I’d simply jump on this post and add my thoughts.

Resilience IPA – I was really interested in trying this beer at a different brewery to see if there was any noticeable difference between them. At our visit to Gold Camp, they bartender mentioned that each brewery was given the recipe but was responsible for providing the ingredients. I thought this would lead to some very different beers. Nope. This one was as delicious as the one at GCBC. A very drinkable, not too “in your face”, IPA.

JAK Frost – I was in mood for a something malty and dark this evening and the perfect beer caught my eye. A Coffee Stout on Nitro! Yum! One, please! You’re out..? Bummer. OK, I’ll try the Frost.

I was not disappointed. As advertised, this is definitely a “Winter Warmer”. It had a very nice, malty start but with a slightly hoppy finish. Certainly not a beer to be enjoyed while doing yard word, but enjoying a glass in the fall or winter while chatting with friends. Perfect.

ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 52

Pumpkin Pie Cream Ale – The missus is not a beer drinker. She’s not a fan of strong malt and definitely not a fan of a strong hop flavor, so finding a beer for her to enjoy can be challenging, to say the least. This one, however, she loved. She enjoyed it enough to get a 1/2 pint after having the taster.

I’m usually very skeptical of pumpkin beers. I’ve had some on the past where the pumpkin was really overbearing, but not this time. Mike summed the flavors very well. The standout flavors were not pumpkin, but the spices associated with pumpkin pie, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. and those are balanced very well so they didn’t hit you on the head with the pumpkin spice. Also, as weird as it sounds, be sure to get the sugar on the glass rim!

ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 13

Beers we’ve reviewed at JAKs: