Sammamish Pale Ale

So… a bit of a change today.  Actually… I think this may be our first real free beer moment that was brought on because of the blog… seriously… I really think it is.  

Today was a wondrous day… a day that will live in infamy as one of the best beer tasting days ever.  It begins like most other days… a few meetings, a few budget reviews, and ends amazingly well with two top notch brews that you can’t find at the local AM/PM…

Our new friend and colleague Sterling Blackheart…

Sidebar: Po and I think this is a pretty damn cool name.  Sounds very medieval… or definitely a good name for a brew master.  Sir Blackheart… nice ring to it.

Anyhow, Sterling stops by my office about noon with a bag and 4 unmarked, dark brown bottles.  The only distinguishing facts about them are two have the numbers 10, written in ink, on their shiny metallic caps and two have dark black caps.  I knew what they were… these were the product of Sterling’s handiwork and our good friend and colleague Marksto happens to know Sterling’s abilities quite well and thought we should all get together and share… we share our blog space and Sterling shares his sweet beer nectar.

So… the beer goes in the beer fridge and we all head off to get some work done.  Skip forward to 4:00pm and our very important meeting… Sterling, Marksto, and their partner in crime MiMead show up and it is time to begin.  Later, we had 4 others join as well, but I am leaving their names out to protect the innocent. 

So… this is the review of the first of two… unnamed bottle #10 or Sammamish Pale Ale.

I will have to say… this being my first true home-brew, I didn’t know what to expect… really.  So… I dusted off my Estonian beer mug, we popped the cap, and poured the copper colored ale into the mug.  Great color… not a real pour, so only a small head.  First smells were key and you could really smell the malt and hops… good smells… not too strong.  First taste was smooth as silk and it only got better.  This was a fine, fine pale ale and all of those that came buy to taste it agreed 100%.  Sterling had done something very right.  Great mixture of hops, malt, and smooth goodness. 

So… long story long… we quickly shared in this great libation, many grunts, smiles, and words of pleasure (all in my little office and all about the beer, I promise) and we were done… with that beer, at least.  Next post on beer number two.

Facts about Sterling’s Sammamish Pale Ale:

• 6.3 ABV
• Admiral and Yakima Goldings hops
• Super secret malt
• Super secret yeast
• 3rd Batch
• 31 IBU
• Created from the mind of Sterling Blackheart, after several English brews, he wanted to go American…
• Sterling has 4 primaries and this is a favorite.  Designed for his wife and doesn’t usually like this type, but this one is just too good…
• Tasting note at time: Smooth, perfect aftertaste, low on the bitterness scale.

JBB6 Rating: For the Win