Adventures in Oklahoma City

Hello loyal readers. I've missed you. As many of you know Oklahoma has opened her rousing bosom to me and my friend/roommate/business partner/beer adventurer/level 3 lawful neutral dark wizard, William.  We were warmly welcomed but alas- beer is not as accessible here as it was in beautiful Tejas. Restrictive laws keep beer higher than 3.2% on the warm shelf at liquor stores. And any high alcohol beer is banned at gas stations. It becomes much harder to stop for a Sierra Nevada after a hard days work.

The good news is that there are more than enough beers at the liquor store for us to try. We’re going to start with some great local brews from RoughTail Brewing in Midwest City. That’s just a few miles south of Oklahoma City and close enough for a brewery tour(more to come).

Of the three brews sitting on the store shelf, we chose the American Strong Ale and the Stout. We left the IPA for next time and the stout had  a higher IBU than the IPA, so naturally we went with that. RoughTail Brewing comes in canned 16oz four packs for about 9 bucks. I'm impressed by the can designs. We start with the 12th Round Ale - a strong American style ale.

It pours very dark brown - almost black with a hint of red and a thin off white head. The smell is slightly buttery and rich with some caramel sweetness and a slight toffee note on the edges. There are also some apples and fruit notes in the smell as well as floral and herbal hops. The hops smell fresh and jump out of the glass into my nose. 

There is much of the same in the flavor. There are layers of caramel, piney biting hops, and soft alcohol. There is a sharp biting hoppiness with grassy and herbal tones.Overall this is a very drinkable ale and I'll probably be trying it again. 

Polar Night Stout pours a solid black with a creamy light brown head. Smell is of rich bitter chocolate and burnt marshmallow. 10 out of 10 for smell for Craig. Very hoppy bright leafy hops which come through strongly in the taste. The powerful hops lead well into dark berries with a chocolaty finish.

This brewery obviously likes hops and it comes across in their beer. They do it well creating distinctly American styles. The stout tastes more like a hoppy black ale to me (Black IPA or whatever you want to call it) which is a good thing.  This could be an everyday drinking beer.

Craig gives both beers a ‘great’ rating

Running blindly into the Oklahoma City brewery scene, it's lucky to land so softly on these two great beers. Prominent hoppiness pairs well with the high alcohol and the light but present maltiness.  Top rated of the two is Polar Night.  

William gives both a 'great' rating. 

Our rating scale is as follows:

terrible poor neutral good great