Yardhouse and Beer Reviews

Until recently, beer was not considered by many to be a drink worth analyzing or pairing with good food.  Brewmasters have always played with flavors, but the public didn't really catch on to the enormous potential for beer until a few years ago.  Since discovering Yardhouse in Waikiki and Bar 35 in Chinatown, I decided to taste as many beers as I can, review them, and post about them.  Unfortunately, because of my triathlon training, I have not really been drinking too much beer.

Well, this weekend a couple of my friends are visiting from out of town and it gave me the perfect excuse to take them to Yardhouse (and Bar 35) and drink too much some delicious beer.  I think we tried so many that I will inevitably forget to include all of them.  However, there were a few distinct beers that were memorable and worth sharing.

Maui Coconut Porter - This beer pours a Coca Cola like dark, dark brown with a thick and frothy beige colored head. The aromas consist of vanilla, chocolate, lightly roasted malts, and a milk stout like sweetness. It smells like no other porter I've had. The flavors are of sweet and bitter chocolate, vanilla, slight coffee, and again a milk stout like sweetness. It has really good flavor the flavors are perfectly proportionate.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter - The aroma is not what I was expecting. Definitely dark chocolate. Strong roasted coffee/espresso. Very malty. Almost no hoppy scent. Hit with chocolate, roasted malts, and hops immediately upon opening. Great smelling porter

Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout - This Oatmeal Stout poured black with a big puffy tan head and ample lacing.  It smelled of chocolate, bread, coffee with decent complexity.  The flavors were of more chocolate, coffee, chocolate milkshake. The payoff on this beer is the mouthfeel which was nice and creamy.

Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA - I don't like IPAs.  They are too hoppy for me and leave too much of a lingering bitterness in your mouth.  This IPA had NONE of those characteristics and is the only IPA I have liked.  I liked it so much, in fact, that I ordered a pint of it.  It had a lot of flavor and the aroma was still from the hops, but it had a really clean finish that left no bitter aftertaste.

Deschutes Inversion IPA - I did NOT like this IPA.  It was bitter and hoppy, but did have a lot of flavor.  The problem was the bitter aftertaste lingered forever and I needed something to clean my palate after I took a sip.

Anderson Valley Imperial IPA - This was sort of in the middle of the Big Swell and Inversion IPAs. It wasn't as hoppy and bitter as most IPAs, but it still had enough of a bite that many IPA drinkers would enjoy.

Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale - Tastes like movie theater popcorn. Seriously. It was really delicious, though.