Union Jack

Beer Name: Union Jack
Brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Something happened 3/20/12, probably bottled

I would have to guess that this is the standard version of Double Jack, which I enjoyed immensely. So there's that going for it.

Union Jack is a light amber beer with a hint of orange to it. It poured with just over a finger of thick fluffy head, which faded away very slowly and left a heavy, heavy, lacing pattern behind. The aroma is very interesting, with sweet citrus hops as the main event and piney hops and malt in the background. Further into the pint, the pine aromas come through a bit stronger as the citrus fades.

The flavor of this beer follows pretty closely to the aroma, with the bitterness from the hops starting off each sip and some malt balance in the finish. The carbonation is pretty light, and the finish is a little dry.  There's an aftertaste of bitterness, but a little sweetness clings to the tongue as well.

Final thought - This is a very nice beer, enjoyable from start to finish. It's pretty much everything you could ask for in an IPA. It's just not quite as good as Double Jack. But it is more affordable, so that's good news.

-Jon

Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale

Beer Name: Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 9.8%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Obviously there is a story behind the name of this beer, but you can go look it up for yourself. It's not overly interesting, but it's yet another example of having a bit too much government in our everyday lives.

Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale is a slightly orangey amber beer. It poured with a bit of head, but it faded away immediately, and despite its attempts to leave some lacing behind, it was unsuccessful. The aroma is hoppy, like grapefruits, and also surprisingly malty. The label makes claims of being quite bitter, but the IBUs are a manageable 66.6. Well, manageable for me. Your mileage may vary.

Depending on how cold you drink this one, the bitterness is going to vary. When it was fresh out of the fridge, it had a very sharp bite to it. However, as it warmed up, the flavor mellowed out. The hops are very present, with enough malt to avoid being overwhelmed by them. It's mildly carbonated, with a medium-to-big body. It finishes with a little bit of bitterness, but the aftertaste is actually pretty sweet.

Final thought - Like many of the beers from Lagunitas, this one packs a nice amount of hops into each sip. Unlike the others, this one isn't quite as sweet. So if you're looking for an enjoyable hoppy beer that isn't too sweet, this is the one for you. Plus it's pretty good, so you might as well give it a try.

-Jon

Imperial Russian Stout

Beer Name: Imperial Russian Stout
Brewery: Stone Brewing Co.
ABV: 10.5%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: I'm not exactly sure, but it was released this year on April 16th

Happy 200th Post everyone! 

Spoiler alert - I already know that I like this beer quite a bit, so this review is probably going to be a bit anticlimactic. Especially now that I told you the ending. But I warned you that there was a spoiler ahead, so it's pretty much 100% your fault if you decided to read it anyway. Way to ruin the post for yourself.

Since there's not a whole lot of drama here, I'll tell you a story about beer. Beers that have a location in their title, such as imperial Russian stouts or India pale ales, originally were not allowed by the government to have words that suggested a place of origin as part of their name. Apparently the government felt that this would confuse consumers. Once the style became widespread enough (as India pale ale did way back in the first half of the 1900s), this was no longer an issue, but for Russian stouts, this was not the case until 2005. Before that, the government suggested calling them Russian-style, which is even worse since imperial Russian stouts were originally brewed in England and shipped off to Russia. Luckily, it all finally got worked out, mostly due to a whole lot of work by the folks at Stone, and now we can all drink imperial Russian stouts brewed anywhere in the United States. Thanks guys! And for both of my readers, hopefully you learned something today.

Stone's Imperial Russian Stout is a solidly dark beer. So dark, in fact, that there aren't even any highlights around the edges. Now that's dark. It seemed like it was going to have a thin layer of head as I poured it, but I couldn't get anything to last. Perhaps it was my lack of appropriate glassware. Whatever it was, there was just the faintest amount of head that faded away pretty quickly but in no way will be impacting my enjoyment of this beer. The aroma here is fantastic, with some coffee, dark and sweet chocolate, roasted malts and some lightly noticeable alcohol. Every sip should be proceeded by a deep inhalation to make sure you are appreciating the beer properly.

This beer definitely has some big roasted flavors, with some bitter coffee and chocolate as the main players. The alcohol isn't quite as strong as the aroma suggested, which I actually prefer as I don't want my beers tasting like my booze. The beer has a little bit of a creamy mouthfeel, and there is a decent amount of carbonation for a stout. It's a nice combination for easy drinkability. This beer also hits that sweet spot of being very flavorful straight from the fridge and also after warming up. You can't go wrong!

Final thought - You should pick up at least one of these every year. It's great. Mark your calendars for mid-April so that you won't miss it. As a matter of fact, I'm going to make a spreadsheet right now so that I don't miss it next year. I feel like I might have stated my intentions to create a spreadsheet in the past, but I probably kept drinking beers that night and forgot. Regardless, you need to go hit the packie and grab yourself a bottle of this. Then maybe invite me over and we'll quaff together.

-Jon

Hop Stoopid

Beer Name: Hop Stoopid
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 8%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This beer has an interesting name, and that's good enough for me. Before I'd even poured it, Kate had decided she was going to spite taste it. She rated it as "it's not as bad as some others," so you can add that to my final thought if you'd like a wider range of opinions.

Hop Stoopid is a hazy beer with a golden orange color to it. I tried to get a nice head on it as I poured, but I didn't have any luck there. No real head or lacing to speak of for this one, which is slightly disappointing. I have come to expect some fluffy white tops on my Lagunitas IPAs, so I'm curious as to what happened this time. There's a pretty hoppy aroma to this one, with some grapefruit and a lot of pine. The hop aroma lasts for a while, and it keeps any malt from coming through.

This beer packs a bitter punch at first, but it's not overpoweringly bitter. Right at the beginning of each sip, it seems like it's going to be ridiculously bitter, but this fades away and ends with a bitter and malty finish. It's actually a lot maltier than the aroma suggested, and nicely drinkable. The flavor just seems to be missing something.

Final thought - I'd rather drink their everyday IPA, or Maximus. This beer was fine, but there wasn't anything about it that would put it above Lagunitas' other hoppy offerings. It's a good choice if you're looking for an IPA that isn't too citrusy.

-Jon

Speedway Stout

Beer Name: Speedway Stout
Brewery: AleSmith Brewing Company
ABV: 12%
Serving method: 750 mL bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I feel pretty badly about drinking this beer out of a tumbler instead of its proper serving container, but I don't really have much of a choice. If you're thinking about getting me a gift for any reason, proper beer glassware is right at the top of the list. Also, I did not drink this entire bottle. That would have probably knocked me right on my butt, so I shared with Kate. She thinks it tastes like dessert if you're wondering.

Speedway Stout is an extremely dark beer, with some light ruby highlights around the edges. There's a bit of head, but it faded away pretty quickly. I think I could have poured it a little bit differently if I had wanted to foam this bad boy up, but I wasn't being as careful as I should have been at the time. It still left some lacing behind. There is a great aroma of chocolate here, but there isn't as much coffee as I was expecting after the bottle made a point of talking about using coffee beans. The aroma also has some roasted notes to it. It's very nice.

Each sip of this beer comes through packing a huge amount of flavor. The chocolate from the aroma is immediately noticeable, but it's not alone. There's some roasted malt, a bit of coffee, a faintly alcoholic taste, and something sweet like vanilla. The beer has a very thick, creamy feel to it, making it a definite beer for sipping slowly. At 12%, there's no reason to rush. Besides, the flavor is so nice as it warms, you don't want to finish too quickly. You'll miss out on lots of nice things. A light carbonation and sweet lingering finish round this one out.

Final thought - This beer is very tasty, but it's also a bit pricey. If you're looking for a good beer to celebrate . . . well, really anything. Birthdays, anniversaries, Flag Day, Cinco de Ocho, the Hobo Oscars, etc., they can all benefit from a little Speedway Stout. Good luck finding a bottle though, as apparently they are tough to come by.

-Jon

Hoptimum

Beer Name: Hoptimum
Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
ABV: 10.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I couldn't find a date on this bottle, but I'm not too concerned. Sierra Nevada is reputable for bottle conditioning every single one of their beers, so this thing is probably going to be good to go for a long time. I asked the guy at Brewtopia for a beer that was so hoppy that when I drank it, Kate would be able to taste the hops.  This is what he recommended.

Hoptimum is an orangey beer with a copper color to it as well. It poured with a small amount of head, but I feel that I could probably modulate that based on how I poured the beer. Most of the head faded away after a couple minutes, but there was a ring that stayed throughout most of the pint and left some heavy spots of lacing. The aroma is very appropriate for the name Hoptimum, as the beer blasts the nostrils with hops. In a good way. There are some citrus notes, but it seems mostly to be floral and pine hops.

The aroma was a very good indicator of flavor, as this beer has a big hit of hops.  More like huge.  It's bitter hops from start to finish, with floral and pine flavors dominating and a little citrus in the back.  There's some malt in the background, but it's pretty hidden and mostly just shows up in the lingering aftertaste. This beer seems to warm up rather quickly, but that just allows to malt more of a chance to make its presence known. There's a pretty good carbonation to this beer, with a big mouthfeel.  For such a high ABV, the alcohol doesn't really come into the flavor.

Final thought - One of these beers is very nice. I think that drinking a couple of them in a single sitting might be a huge mistake though. It really sneaks up on you. This is a beer for dedicated hop lovers only. If you only like hops, you might not like this at all. And if you don't enjoy the delicious flavor contributions of humulus lupulus, get as far from this beer as you can. It is not for you.

-Jon

Double Stout

Beer Name: Double Stout Black Ale
Brewery: Green Flash Brewing Company
ABV: 8.8%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I don't know why the bottle says black ale when this is a stout.  I think that black ale is a different classification.  This is very confusing to me.  Obviously I need to stop thinking about this and start drinking this beer.

Double Stout is a very dark beer, not quite black but pretty close.  It poured with almost a finger of head that was pretty dense but faded away quickly.  It did leave a bit of lacing behind though.  There is a little bit of thickness to the beer when it pours, making it seem like it's going to have a sort of creamy feel to it.  This beer has a very nice aroma, with a bunch of chocolate and coffee.  The aroma only improves as the beer warms in the glass, so it's worth it to let it hang out a bit.  It's also an 8.8% beer, so there isn't any rush.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

This beer has a little bit of variety to it.  At first, while it's fairly cold, there's a lot of coffee flavors and a hearty dose of bitterness, mostly coffee, not hops.  As it warms up, more of the roasted flavors start to show up, with some chocolate in there as well.  There is still a light bitterness, but it's much less pronounced.  There's a lightly noticeable carbonation here, and the beer finishes slightly bitter with an aftertaste that is malty.

Final thought - With a delightful aroma and a nice flavor, this is a very good beer.  I recently drank a different style from Green Flash that wasn't treated too well (there's a point where the draft lines are just too cold), so I couldn't get a good read on what they were all about.  This beer shows that they've got their act together, so I'll have to track down their other stuff and give it all a try.

-Jon

Walker's Reserve Porter

Beer Name: Walker's Reserve Porter
Brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
ABV: 5.8%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 4/21/11

I really need to start looking more carefully at bottles before I buy them. Although if this beer has been treated properly, that ancient bottling date is not going to make that much of a difference. Someday I aspire to have a dedicated area for storing beers in the cellar, or possibly even a large refrigerator for dedicated long-term storage. That would be pretty sweet.

Walker's Reserve Porter is a very dark beer, but not that dark for a porter. It's dark brown with some reddish and ruby highlights around the edges, and it seems a little thin. It poured with about 2 fingers of head, and then left a good lacing pattern behind. There wasn't much of an aroma at first, but as the beer warmed up, some muted hop aromas came through along with expected roasted malt notes, mostly dark chocolate. It's a fairly pleasant smell.

There's a good mix of hops and malt in the flavor of this beer, and a little more hoppiness than a standard porter, I think. It adds a little bitterness to the end of each sip and keeps my tongue on its toes. The hops are not citrusy and not piney, but they're noticeable, and the maltiness has a nice taste of chocolate. The beer has some carbonation, and it finishes slight bitter with a malty aftertaste. The mouthfeel is a little thin, but the flavor tries to make up for that.

Final thought - This was a pretty good beer. I was a little nervous after finding that old date on the neck of the bottle, but it turned out that I was worrying for nothing. Another enjoyable beer from California, e.g. the state we'll someday randomly pack up all our stuff and move to.

-Jon

Wilco Tango Foxtrot

Beer Name: Wilco Tango Foxtrot
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 7.85%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I can never find a date on Lagunitas bottles, but this is a seasonal beer that comes out in February, so I would assume it's made sometime before that. It's listed as "American strong ale," which is something of a cop-out category for anything above 7% ABV that people can't classify into a more specific category. Also, 7.85% is oddly specific for a beer's ABV.

Wilco Tango Foxtrot bills itself as "A Malty, Robust, Jobless Recovery Ale." This does not give a large amount of information, although I am expecting malt. The beer is a dark coppery brown color, and it poured with just a bit of head. This faded away pretty quickly, but it still left a nice lacing pattern even though it's a little light. For a beer that boasts about its maltiness, there seems to be more than a hint of hoppiness in the aroma. There is some noticeable malty sweetness, but there's also a bunch of citrusy hops. From the description, I thought this might be a Kate beer, but I'm starting to doubt that.

Well, this is right on the border of possibly being drinkable for Kate. There is a nice hoppiness to each sip, but there's also a nice malty breadiness to it. It's actually kind of hard to pin down everything that's happening here. It seems like citrus hops at the beginning, with some other hop flavors mixed with the malts afterwards. At the end, there is a crisp bitterness that lingers just enough to make me want another sip. This is a very smooth beer from start to finish.

Final thought - Another winning beer from the fine folks at Lagunitas. This one reminds me of A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' but with a little more sweetness. Kate said we should move to San Diego at dinner tonight, but I think I could also handle moving to northern California and being near this place.

-Jon

A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale

Beer Name: A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Kate and I were excited to find out that Whole Foods Market has a craft beer section. Well, she wasn't that excited, but I was really excited and that was probably enough for both of us. The excitement was dampened a little when we arrived and we found that the selection was smaller than I was hoping for it to be. More beer choices is generally a better thing.

I did end up with a couple new brews to try, one of which was Lagunitas' somewhat ridiculously titled A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale. This is a golden orange beer that poured into my glass with a big fluffy head. This faded away slowly, leaving a nice lacing pattern behind. The aroma here is a big blast of hops, with a major emphasis on the citrus hops. There's also a very noticeable sweet graininess as well.

The sweetness and hops are both present in the taste. Most prevalent to me is a sweet grapefruit flavor along with some other citrusy flavors, mostly lemony. It also has a bready sweetness to it that keeps the bitterness from the hops in check. Actually, this beer is not very bitter at all, unlike most hoppy beers. It finishes with a nice bit of hops and malt, and the aftertaste of hops hangs on for quite a while.

Final thought - This beer is great! It has a bunch of flavor, but it's not quite as bitter as their IPA or Maximus. There's a lot of sweetness here as well, and everything is very enjoyable.

-Jon

Black Marlin Porter

Beer Name: Black Marlin Porter
Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

We learned a valuable lesson about Red Bones, which is that if you want to get a seat at Red Bones on a Saturday, go for lunch. A 10-15 minute wait is much more tolerable than an hour or more, especially when you're super-hungry.

There were a lot of beers that I considered, and I finally ended up picking this porter from Ballast Point because it seemed like a good choice to match up with the giant pile of barbecued meat I would soon be enjoying. Black Marlin is a very dark beer, bordering on solid black. It arrived with only a very thin head, but I think that is probably a result of the rookie manning the taps. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the giant row of unmarked taps. There was still a nice lacing pattern at the end of the glass though. The aroma of the beer is a nice roasty coffee with some chocolate.

All the aromas in this beer come though in the flavor, with the chocolate a little more noticeable now than in the aroma. The roasted flavors are done very nicely, so they don't overpower the tastebuds. There's a nice light carbonation, and it's very drinkable. I think the flavors developed nicely as the beer warmed up a little, so I'd recommend letting it sit for a few minutes.

Final thought - This beer was good when I was drinking it alone, and it was equally good when I was drinking it with my meal. Ballast Point definitely has their brewing act together, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for more of their beers in the future.

-Jon

Double Jack

Beer Name: Double Jack Double IPA
Brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
ABV: 9.5%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle poured into a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I knew I was doing it wrong, but I was too lazy to do anything about it before. Generally when I say "pint glass," I am talking about the standard tumbler that everyone is used to seeing. However, I should have been making the distinction since it could have been a nonic or becker glass, so in the future I'll be sure to clarify.

Double Jack is a golden orange beer that pours perfectly clear with a good fluffy head almost two fingers high. It faded away fairly slowly and left a very heavy lacing pattern. There's a nice aroma of citrusy hops, but there's also enough sweet malt to predict a balanced flavor later.

Wow. This is a great tasting IPA. There's a bunch of citrus flavors with the bitterness from the hops at first. Then the malt kicks in to keep things from getting too hoppy. It finishes with a light bitter flavor, but the aftertaste is nice and sweet. My only mild complaint is that there could be just a little more carbonation to slow my consumption down a little. Other than that, it's very smooth and easy drinking.

Final thought - This beer is absolutely fantastic. That's all that needs to be said. Go find it, buy it, and drink it.

-Jon

Sculpin India Pale Ale

Beer Name: Sculpin India Pale Ale
Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
ABV: 7%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to remember saying something about trying a wider variety of beers this year and not just drink stouts and IPAs all the time. Well that's dumb. I like stouts. I like IPAs. So that's what I'll be drinking, and variety be damned. You know what? Out of spite, I think I'll brew a stout myself this weekend. You might be wondering who I'm spiting, and that's a valid question to which I have no answer.

Sculpin is, possible, a nice coppery ale. I say possible because I drank it at The Hangar, and the lighting in there is horrendous for beer color judgment. It arrived with a fluffy head around a finger in height or so. This head faded very slowly and left a heavy lacing pattern behind. The aroma here is a fantastic citrus hop, with just enough malt in the background to suggest that this beer is going to be amazing.

There were several beers on the menu that I wanted to try, but I have a fridge full of beer at home that needs drinking so I had to pick just one. I ended up panicking when the waitress asked for our drink orders and picking the Sculpin because it had a weird name. Well, I must have pleased the beer gods, because it was a good choice. The flavor has a great citrusy punch to it, and there is a big malt backbone to add a sweetness to the bitterness from the hops. There was only a light carbonation, but that's good because the beer itself was a great accompaniment to the hot wings we were eating. What a delicious brew.

Final thought - I enjoyed this beer immensely, and it also received Kate's highest IPA rating of all time. Granted that rating was "I don't really like it, but if I had to drink an IPA, this is the kind I would drink," but that's really high by her standards. Seriously, this is on par with me recommending a Belgian white*. Clearly you need to go out and try this beer.

-Jon

* Ok, in the interest of honesty, I should probably admit the following: I was at the restaurant Judie's once, and my mother asked me for a beer recommendation. Based on her previous beer drinking, I suggested Allagash White, which of course she loved. Obviously I need to open up a beer store and sell craft beers to people. If I can get my mother to drink craft beers, I can get anyone to.

Red Rocket Ale

Beer Name: Red Rocket Ale
Brewery: Bear Republic Brewing Co.
ABV: 6.8%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on:

Bear Republic refers to this beer as a "bastardized Scottish style red ale" on the bottle, but as an amber ale on their website. Eh, whatever. They can call it whatever they'd like as far as I'm concerned, since it's their beer.

Red Rocket Ale is a dark amber beer. It poured with about a finger of head that faded slowly, leaving a moderate lacing pattern behind. The aroma of this beer is fantastic. There is a nice roasted sweetness coming from the malts, like a toasty caramel or toffee. It also has some hop aromas, probably just a few aromatic hops tossed in there for a little balance. I would wear this beer as a cologne, it smells so good. Well, probably not because that would be silly, but you get the idea.

The flavor here is good, but not quite as good as the aroma. This is a fairly strong flavored beer, with a whole lot of malt flavors dominating. There are some hops in there as well, but they only come through as a lightly bitter finish. The beer lingers slightly with a caramel aftertaste in the middle of my tongue.

Final thought - I enjoyed this beer, although you have to prepare yourself for an assault on your tongue. It makes a good sipping beer.

-Jon

Santa's Little Helper

Beer Name: Santa's Little Helper Imperial Stout
Brewery: Port Brewing Company
ABV: 10%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 9/1/11

As usual, as soon as I say one thing, something completely different happens to make me look foolish. I end 2011 by saying I probably won't be trying as many new beers this year, and then I start off 2012 with a record-setting month. This puts me on an absurd pace for 176 new beers this year, which I am fairly certain neither my wallet nor my liver could handle. I think I'll have to slow things down for February.

Santa's Little Helper is a very dark beer, practically solid black. It poured with about a finger and a half of thick, fluffy, caramel-colored head that lasted for quite a while before finally fading away, leaving a heavy lacing behind. This beer has a very strong aroma of roasted coffee and some toasty malts. There's also a noticeable alcohol aroma, presumably due to the potentially ass-kicking 10% ABV.

Well, in spite of the alcohol present in the aroma, it's not as strong in the flavor as I was expecting. Instead, there's just a faint alcohol taste with a bunch of roasted coffee flavors, some dark chocolate, and some very roasted malts. The carbonation here is very light, and the beer has a big mouthfeel, making it very thick and smooth feeling with each sip. The finish has a bitter punch, but the aftertaste doesn't linger very long.

Final thought - This is a tasty brew, but it is strong. It's very smooth, and it can be easy-drinking if you want it to be, but I wouldn't recommend it because you will end up feeling it quickly. Sit back, sip this baby slowly, and relax.

-Jon

Maximus

Beer Name: Maximus IPA
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 8.2%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Lagunitas has a standard IPA, and then they have this beast with an ABV 2% higher. This is the one you want if you're up for some hoppiness, but you are pressed for time.

Maximus is a orangey-amber beer. My first bottle poured with a nice fluffy head that lasted for a little while before fading away with a good lacing pattern. My second bottle did not have any head at all, which makes me think I might have banged the second bottle and loosened the cap, as that definitely seems like something I'd do. There is a good aroma of fruity hops, and some sweetness mixed in as well.

There is a lovely mix of hops and malt here. The fruity hop flavors are very noticeable, but there's a whole lot of malt to keep it from overwhelming the taste buds. There are some citrus flavors, and it seems like an almost tropical taste. There is a nice bitter finish, and a slight aftertaste that sort of clings to your tongue. It's nicely flavored though, so it's not a problem. Light carbonation helps to accent the hop flavors.

Final thought - I prefer their original IPA to this one, but if you want a bigger beer, you can't really go wrong with Maximus. It's like their normal IPA, but with more of everything: alcohol, hops, bitterness, malt... what a delicious beer.

-Jon

Racer 5

Beer Name: Racer 5 IPA
Brewery: Bear Republic Brewing Company
ABV: 7%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

People have been recommending this beer to me for a long time, and, as usual, that has caused me to avoid it. Don't tell me what to do!!

Racer 5 is a golden colored beer, slightly darker than what is generally characterized as dark. It poured with a big fat head, nice and thick, and it faded slowly, leaving a very heavy lacing pattern behind. There's a nice hop aroma here, mixed with some sweetness. It smells mostly piney, and there's some maltiness in there as well.

The taste is as advertised by the aroma. It's nice and hoppy, with some sweetness to keep things balanced. Piney flavors are upfront, with the sweetness following. Each sip ends with a little bit of bitterness in the form of citrusy hop flavors, and it finishes slightly dry. The finish is mostly clean, with a little bit of a bitter flavor that hangs on briefly. The bottle suggested a serving temperature of 45º - 50º, so I let it warm up for a few minutes before I drank it. That seemed to let the malts come through a bit more, so keep that it mind if you're interested in a more malty experience.

Final thought - Despite the major build-up, which usually results in my being disappointed with the beers, this one lives up to its reputation. Anyone that's a fan of IPAs needs to add this one to their "To Drink" list if they haven't had it already. I can't be the only one that walks around with a list of beers to try on my phone, right?

-Jon

Lagunitas IPA

Beer Name: Lagunitas IPA
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 6.2%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in an octagonal glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I don't know what kind of glasses they use at Magpie, but they definitely have some tasty beverages to put in them. And for me, that's good enough!

This particular IPA from Lagunitas is a nice golden color with some orangey highlights. It's a little bit cloudy, and it came with a nice amount of head. The aroma is strongly hoppy, mostly in the citrus department. There's also a little bit of piney hop aroma, but it's faint.

As expected, this packs a hoppy punch. I am getting only the citrus flavor, which is just fine with me. There's also a malty flavor in the background, but it's only very faint and just enough to keep the hops from overwhelming the tastebuds. This beer is pretty smooth, even with a medium amount of carbonation. The finish is bitter, but not too bitter for an IPA, and it's not as dry as a lot of others. I think you could probably drink a couple of these without suffering from a hop overload.

Final thought - Fantastic IPA. I tend to prefer the citrus hops with at least enough maltiness to notice, and this one works perfectly. California tends to be the king of the American IPAs, and this is no exception.

-Jon

Sword Swallower

Beer Name: Coney Island Sword Swallower
Brewery: Schmaltz Brewing Company
ABV: 6.8%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on:

This beer was a gift from Bill, as he drank the first one of these in his mixpack and did not care for it. Also, the label was on upside down. That makes me laugh. Finally, I was not aware that Coney Island was in California. Oh wait, it's not! This brewery is tricky.

Sword Swallower is a golden color, with some hints orange in there. This one is a little more like brass, if brass is the color I'm thinking it is. It poured with almost no head, but there was a thin layer that lasted for most of the glass and left some erratic lacing behind. It has a citrus hop aroma, but there is also another aroma in there that makes the beer seem "bigger" than most pales. I would assume that this is a result of this being a lager instead of an ale.

For some reason, I went in thinking that this was going to be an IPA even though the bottle clearly said "Steel Hop Lager." Perhaps my reading abilities need to be tested. Although it does finish a bit like an IPA, so maybe they were shooting for an India Pale Lager. It has a good carbonation and is very smooth. The flavor is floral hops with a lagery taste in there as well. The finish is bitter, but the aftertaste hangs out a little too long.

Final thought - This beer was ok, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to drink again. There's nothing bad about it though, so maybe you will like it.

-Jon

Hell or High Watermelon

Beer Name: Hell or High Watermelon
Brewery: 21st Amendment Brewery
ABV: 4.9%
Serving method: 12-oz can
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I think that watermelon beers have been hit or miss in the past, as most fruit beers tend to be. This is a seasonal beer, specifically for the beer season of summer, which apparently runs from April to September. If only the actual summer was as long...

Hell or High Watermelon is another canned beer, so, much like its brother Brew Free! or Die, I don't have a whole lot of information for you about its appearance. I would be willing to bet that it's a very pale colored beer based on it being a wheat beer. The aroma is grains and watermelon, so the watermelon flavor should be pretty noticeable.

Well, it definitely is. Not upfront, but this beer finishes with a very strong watermelon flavor. This tastes like a normal summery beer with a nice watermelon surprise. It's sweet without being overdone, and it doesn't taste fake like some fruit beers do. There's a pretty high carbonation here, but it seems to work well with the watermelon.

Final thought - This beer is a good summer beer. It's light and crisp, and it's not too strong. Price might be an issue though, as I think it was a bit steep. Give it a try sometime, and invite me over for it.

-Jon