Rafa's Solo Beer Review - Dogfish Head Aprihop

Dogfish Head Aprihop

General:

Style: An American style IPA with Apricots.

Glass: Tulip Pint.

Price: $10.99 per 4-pack.

ABV: 7.0

IBU: 50

Color: Pale with hints of copper/amber.

Aroma:
Malty__ Balanced__ Hoppy_✓ Other__

This beer's "apricot essence" are most present in its aroma. The apricot smell accentuates the hop aroma and really brings out the malt character of the beer. At 7% ABV, I was surprised not to notice any harsh alcohol fumes pervading through the aroma. The aroma overall lends more towards a citrusy aroma - but from the apricots, not the hops - and is well balanced with the smooth, cool, malty aroma from the pilsner malt.

Flavor:
Malty__ Balanced_✓ Hoppy__ Other__

The flavor conveys a very light bodied malt presence highly complimented with the sweetness of the apricots. The apricots finally kick in when tasting this beer, and are excellently paired with the malt flavor. There is virtually zero alcohol taste in this beer - a great attribute of an above average ABV beer.

Overall Thoughts:

A great beer overall, but I wonder why it's categorized as an IPA, because it lends itself more towards the smoother, more balanced side of the spectrum. Perhaps, instead, simply a pale ale with apricots? The ABV worried me, since a light bodied beer might have trouble masking a higher alcohol presence, but the craftmanship was great and masked the aroma and taste excellently. Overall a great beer.

Craftmanship:
Dull__ Average & 'Meh'__ Average & Delicious__ Exciting_✓

8/10 for craftmanship, only because this beer could easily be ruined with its complexity due to the inclusion of apricots. It is a well-balanced brew that explodes any assumptions that fruit beers need to be sour or Belgian-like. Even with the higher ABV, this makes for a great session beer - maybe just a shorter session. Terrific work guys!

Overall Rating:

8/10

Yard House at Merrick Park

Yard House @ Merrick Park - Coral Gables, FL 

Report Card
Beer Selection: 4
Beer-centrism: 4
Service: 5
Server Knowledge: 4
Price: $$


Rafa

We popped our blogging cherry! 4/22/2011

Yard House was a great first joint to check out. The wait on a Friday night was about 20 minutes after a call-ahead reservation, but we got beers and sat outside on the couches while we waited. The waitress who ordered our drinks was new on the job but was already very knowledgeable in beer and its culture and history. Our main waiter, David, was fun, talkative, and knew a fair amount about beer. Overall, it's a pretty classy place - but casual and relaxed at the same time; the atmosphere was busy but didn't feel crowded. With 110 beers on tap, the selection was very large. However, it lacked, I think, some great staple beers. I think it's philosophy was to have beers from all walks of life, because they had only one (sometimes two) beers from each brewery. They would benefit from incorporating a wider beer portfolio from those breweries they already include. I started the night off with a Stone IPA - a great IPA that I'll be sure to have again. Smooth, balanced, citrusy, and pale - a serious east coast IPA. It's a little high in alcohol to be considered a typical session beer that you might want for dinner, but it was definitely a great choice. It really embodied everything great about an east coast IPA (probably my favorite style) and was well worth the ramped-up ABV. With my burger, I had a Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale, a pretty good hoppy pale ale that complimented the burger very well. It went great with Mike's sweet potato fries, too! I loved that the place is one that can play all roles: casual, formal, dinner, just drinks, etc. A very versatile joint that must be seen. A bit pricey, but worth it, Yard House is a definite win in my book. Check it out. Cheers!


Tom
Yard House was a great spot for our first review to take place. Even though we called ahead 20 minutes, the wait was still another 20 minutes once we got there. During our wait we were escorted to the outside area to wait on their outdoor couches. Our waitress greeted us and took our first drink order - I went with the Rogue Shakespreare Stout, which was excellent. Even before our beers arrived, we were called inside to be seated. Then we switched waiters to possibly one of the coolest I’ve had, David, who was talkative, very funny, knowledgeable about beer and knowledgeable in general. With over 110 beers on tap, I wasn’t sure what to try next, but David offered me the Stoudt’s Double IPA, which was amazing and had a huge kick to it. As for food, I ordered the Avocado Swiss Burger - one of my favorite burgers ever - and it was great. Overall (besides the price) I would consider our first night out at the Yard House a win, and would recommend everyone to go there if you have the money. Cheers!

Skinny Mike

Cheers!

Great place for our first official review. Working down the street, I occasionally come for lunch with my boss (I actually had my first legal beer here) and it never fails to disappoint. I was rather bummed out when we had to wait after having called ahead, but it did allow us a chance to take a look at the list of 110 beers that they have on tap. The cute waitress was semi-knowledgeable, considering she was relatively new and didn't look like a beer drinker herself, and was actually able to pick out my disdain for sweet flowery beers (she could apparently read minds apart from serving drinks). She suggested a Cigar City Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale which was a great choice as a starting point for the night, it was full bodied with a balanced nutty flavor to it. After being seated by (yet another cutie) the hostess we were blessed with possibly the memorable waiter I have ever had (it didn't hurt that we found out we had a few mutual friends) but David was awesome. He was pretty knowledgeable but did admit that he lacked the ability to know what beer to pair with one's entree selection. I did end up with a Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale to accompany my Hawaiian burger which was cooked and seasoned perfectly to create what I believe to be the best burger (that i have had yet) in Miami. The Kona went perfectly with the savory sweetness of the hamburger as well as the sweet potato fries that accompanied said burger. What better way to spend your time with friends than over a couple pints of beer and excellent food?  Cheers!

Incoming awesomeness.

Be sure to check back after the weekend for our first official post/review!