Beer of the Weekend #139: Eye of the Hawk
The beer of the weekend is Eye of the Hawk, brewed by the Mendocino Brewing Company of Ukiah, California.
The Mendocino Brewing Company is a pretty productive microbrewer. They brew six year-round offerings, three seasonal beers, and three brews in their “Imperial Collection.” Eye of the Hawk, Red Tail Ale, White Hawk Select IPA, and Black Hawk Stout are always available at the Beach BevMo!. So what’s my excuse for never having tried a Mendocino beer until now?
The carriers and bottle labels are ugly as hell.
Mendocino’s raptor obsession deserves some research (and I should have some info about it later in the post), and mad props to bird people. In elementary school I always loved the field trips we took to the Raptor Center at Lake McBride, where injured hawks and other birds were rehabilitated. But the artwork is cheesy as hell.
Of course, you should never judge a beer by its carrier or label, but it is often hard not to. The Mendocino hawks don’t fit well within my beer art aesthetic. In March, the stout month, I was always tempted to get Black Hawk Stout, but was turned off by the carrier art every time. What was inside the bottle may have been awesome, but I could not get past the presentation.
However, I finally mustered the courage to look past the cheesy art for the sake of brewing regionalism. Plus, Eye of the Hawk is a style I’ve never tried before.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. Nice, hazy honey color with an amber tint. Two fingers of thick, white head developed and dissipated slowly to leave a foamy cap.
Smell: Faint aromas out of the bottle, but scents of toffee, vanilla, caramel, and orange citrus emerge after the beer warms. There’s also some corn adjunct.
Taste: Sweet caramel malts with some citrus hop bitterness.
Drinkability: It’s not very potent or complex, but it’s smooth and refreshing. I will say they hide the alcohol very well.
Fun facts about Eye of the Hawk:
-Style: American strong ale. BA has this to say:
Oddly, five of the top seven most reviewed American strong ales on BA are brewed by the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California. Five beers of the same style from one brewer? Wow.
-Price: $7.99/sixer at the Beach BevMo!.
-Serving temperature: 50-55ºF.
-Alcohol content: 8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends nutty cheeses (Asiago, Colby, Parmesan) and “General (Digestive).” Whatever that means. This is from the beer’s Mendocino webpage:
-Yeah — The Eye. That, according to the webpage, is what “this excellent ale is known to its countless devotees.”
-Here’s a nice little mission statement found on the Mendocino site:
If only every brewer had the same credo.
-The Eye was introduced in 1984.
-The Eye is bottle conditioned, which means fermenting yeast are added right before bottling so the beer will develop natural carbonation and rich flavors while in the bottle. Ironically, my first pint featured neither.
-Carrier nerdiness, with some cool historical tidbits. This is on the bottom:
-Now about Mendocino’s bird obsession. I found this webpage on the brewery website: http://www.mendobrew.com/raptors/. It’s not too informative; it only gives a vague explanation why they chose the hawk imagery for their beers. There are mentions of “raising raptors,” and using the Hopland Ale House for that purpose.
-Mendocino has two breweries. One in Ukiah, and another in Sarasota Springs, New York.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
The Mendocino Brewing Company is a pretty productive microbrewer. They brew six year-round offerings, three seasonal beers, and three brews in their “Imperial Collection.” Eye of the Hawk, Red Tail Ale, White Hawk Select IPA, and Black Hawk Stout are always available at the Beach BevMo!. So what’s my excuse for never having tried a Mendocino beer until now?
The carriers and bottle labels are ugly as hell.
Mendocino’s raptor obsession deserves some research (and I should have some info about it later in the post), and mad props to bird people. In elementary school I always loved the field trips we took to the Raptor Center at Lake McBride, where injured hawks and other birds were rehabilitated. But the artwork is cheesy as hell.
Of course, you should never judge a beer by its carrier or label, but it is often hard not to. The Mendocino hawks don’t fit well within my beer art aesthetic. In March, the stout month, I was always tempted to get Black Hawk Stout, but was turned off by the carrier art every time. What was inside the bottle may have been awesome, but I could not get past the presentation.
However, I finally mustered the courage to look past the cheesy art for the sake of brewing regionalism. Plus, Eye of the Hawk is a style I’ve never tried before.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. Nice, hazy honey color with an amber tint. Two fingers of thick, white head developed and dissipated slowly to leave a foamy cap.
Smell: Faint aromas out of the bottle, but scents of toffee, vanilla, caramel, and orange citrus emerge after the beer warms. There’s also some corn adjunct.
Taste: Sweet caramel malts with some citrus hop bitterness.
Drinkability: It’s not very potent or complex, but it’s smooth and refreshing. I will say they hide the alcohol very well.
Fun facts about Eye of the Hawk:
-Style: American strong ale. BA has this to say:
Catch all style category for beers from 7.0 percent alcohol by volume and above. Some may even be as high as 25% abv. Characteristics will greatly vary; some have similarities to Barley-wines and Old Ales. Barrel aging is certainly not out of the question.
Oddly, five of the top seven most reviewed American strong ales on BA are brewed by the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California. Five beers of the same style from one brewer? Wow.
-Price: $7.99/sixer at the Beach BevMo!.
-Serving temperature: 50-55ºF.
-Alcohol content: 8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends nutty cheeses (Asiago, Colby, Parmesan) and “General (Digestive).” Whatever that means. This is from the beer’s Mendocino webpage:
Because of its rich body and deep flavor, The Eye is a welcome complement of meals. However, for all its heartiness, The Eye is also complex and subtle, making it a worthy complement to salmon, or pasta with cream sauces. As an adjunct to fine food, The Eye is a beer to be experimented with.
-Yeah — The Eye. That, according to the webpage, is what “this excellent ale is known to its countless devotees.”
-Here’s a nice little mission statement found on the Mendocino site:
Mendocino Brewing Company is renowned for brewing a range of full-bodied beers. And we agree with the major European cultures to whom beer is a way of life and that beer is food. Beers offer all the goodness of whole grains, are totally devoid of preservatives, and taste wonderful. While our brews are excellent on their own, we often recommend that they be served as an accompaniment to food — One taste sensation, heightening the other! This does not mean however, that flavors necessarily have to match. More often than not, it is opposites that attract, and this fusion creates excitement in its diversity! The more complex the flavor profile of the beer, the more interesting the possible match-ups.
If only every brewer had the same credo.
-The Eye was introduced in 1984.
-The Eye is bottle conditioned, which means fermenting yeast are added right before bottling so the beer will develop natural carbonation and rich flavors while in the bottle. Ironically, my first pint featured neither.
-Carrier nerdiness, with some cool historical tidbits. This is on the bottom:
Mendocino Brewing Company
Pioneers in the American Craft Brewing Renaissance has been renowned for Brewing Excellence for over twenty five years. Our Brewpub in Hopland was the very first in California. It is located picturesque Mendocino County, just 100 miles north of San Francisco, on Highway 101. Visit our Hopland Ale House and interesting gift shop. Savor our range of award-winning ales, lagers, stout and IPA. Our Ale House has a warm welcome awaiting you. Come on down!
-Now about Mendocino’s bird obsession. I found this webpage on the brewery website: http://www.mendobrew.com/raptors/. It’s not too informative; it only gives a vague explanation why they chose the hawk imagery for their beers. There are mentions of “raising raptors,” and using the Hopland Ale House for that purpose.
-Mendocino has two breweries. One in Ukiah, and another in Sarasota Springs, New York.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
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