Brew Review - Oskar Blues Gordon

Time for more good Colorado beer! Tonight I ventured back to one of the local breweries, Oskar Blues from Lyons, Colorado. I had previously enjoyed their imperial stout but wanted to continue to sample more of those "gonzo beers in a can". This time I chose their Gordon beer. It's billed several ways: one as a Double IPA, another as a Strong American Ale and third as an Imperial Red. Well whatever the category, you knew up front that this was not going to be a typical beer. This beer was going to give you a mouth of flavor. Just reading the label told you this beer had 8.7% ABV and was not going to be a session beer. Since this was a strong IPA, I knew I was in for some hops tonight and I was right, well sort of.

I popped open the beer can and poured it into an English pint glass. All my other glasses were in the dishwasher tonight so this would have to suffice. It poured a nice copper red color that came with a large off-white head. Right away I was met with a strong hoppy aroma even before my nose got to the glass. Whoa! It almost reminded me of some of those Flying Dog brews that are so heavily hopped. I knew that since this beer has an IBU rating of 85 that this was going to hit me with hops all night long. But little did I know that I was in for a surprise.

I enjoyed taking several deep whiffs of this beer before tasting it. It literally fills the top of the glass with hoppy goodness. This was a type of hop smell I could really get into. The first taste I was expecting to be hit with a real bitter mouthful but was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it was. It really didn't remind me of a strong bitter beer at all. This "Big. Red. Sticky." beer had a nice balance of malt and hops. I didn't even notice any telltale alcohol bite either. Very nice! I could really become an IPA lover with beers like this. This is quite good.

I just happened to be listening to one of my favorite beer podcasts at the time of this tasting - The Good Beer Show #151 - and was amazed that they too were tasting and reviewing this wonderful Gordon beer. Salute! It's fun to be tasting to the same beer that others are reviewing, it's interesting to hear what others are experiencing. This brew I was tasting came from a 4-pack. It's a bit more pricey than other beers. I ended up paying $10.99 for this 4-pack. It's much more reasonable to buy this by the 12-pack and next time I'll do just that. Even the clerk at the store checkout was raving about Gordon, so I knew this beer was going to be a treat.

Even my old beer dog Charlie knew something smelled good. As soon as I opened this up and poured it into the glass, he came over and started smelling the air. He wouldn't leave! He wanted to know what that good smell was all about. Well sorry Charlie, only real beer drinkers get to sample this beer. He just sat and stared while I drank it so I had to take his picture. Pour beast. Maybe in your next lifetime.

The beer rating sites seem to all like this beer. Beeradvocate gave it an A- and Ratebeer put this in the 97th percentile with a 3.86/5 rating. As for me, I certainly will give this a decent score. I'm amazed how over the course of six months that I've gone from an IPA avoider to an IPA seeker. I'll give this a definite thumbs up and a 3.6 out of 5 rating. It's still not my favorite style but it's definitely growing on me. Good thing I still have 3 more of these left for later this weekend.