Lefty's IPA

Beer Name: Lefty's India Pale Ale
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6.6%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Lately this first paragraph gives a quick story or some tidbit about the beer of the day. Not this time though.

Lefty's IPA is a golden beer with a thick head that lasted for quite a while. It left a very heavy lacing on the glass. The beer has the same sweet malt scent that I have begun to associate with all of Lefty's brews. Strangely, there is not any significant hop aroma. From my experience, IPAs are supposed to smell hoppy.

And maybe that lack of hop aroma isn't as strange as I thought. This does not taste like an IPA at all. Not even a little bit. It's got a little bit of sweetness, and then sort of a weird beer flavor that I don't know how to describe other than "medicinal." Finally, it finishes with a mildly bitterness. There is also an aftertaste that is partly sweet and partly bitter. It has very little carbonation.

Final thought - Pass. If I'm drinking an IPA, I expect some hops. I don't expect medicine flavor.

-Jon

Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Beer Name: Lefty's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 7.2%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown for sure, but sometime around 12/6

I have been looking for this beer ever since Mmmm, beers! launched and I found out that Lefty's was right up the street from Kathryn. Well, that search has finally concluded. Also, the confusion about the date up there is because Lefty's mentioned something on that particular date about Chocolate Oatmeal Stout on their Facebook page. I am not sure how exact it is though.

As a stout, this is another dark beer, but it's a deep brown with hints of red as opposed to the almost blackness of the last milk stout. Like the other dark beers I've gotten from Lefty's, there wasn't very much head or lacing. The smell was sweet roasted coffee at first, and then a strong chocolate smell after a minute or 2.

The Chocolate Oatmeal Stout doesn't taste as heavy as most other stouts. It's very smooth, with roasted chocolate as the main flavor. The beer also has a little bit of a burnt coffee taste. That sounds like it would be bad, but in beer that's not a problem. It's very malty, and there's a little bit of hop flavor to balance things out at the end. There's just a little bit of carbonation, and a slightly sweet aftertaste.

Final thought - After the way my brain hyped this beer up, there was pretty much no way it could possibly live up to my expectations. With that in mind, I still enjoyed it. I think it could possibly have had a little more chocolate, but that's just me. I'd be willing to drink it again, given the opportunity.

-Jon

Pale Ale

Beer Name: Lefty's Pale Ale
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz pint poured from a 22-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Last time I tried this beer, it had been sitting open in Kathryn's fridge for a couple weeks (or months possibly), so it wasn't too spectacular. Or even drinkable. Seriously, I did my best to drink it, and managed like 3 sips. So obviously this isn't the type of beer that you can open, then not finish, and then let sit for an extended period of time. Having committed such a grievous beer atrocity, I felt that I owe it to Lefty to give his beer a real try.

This pale ale is lovely golden color with a thick head. The foam sticks around for an extended period of time, and it leaves a heavy lacing on the glass. The aroma is mostly hops (Cascade hops, if my nose is correct), and there is a slight hint of sweetness.

The taste come in two parts. There is a sweet flavor at the beginning, and then the hops finish with their standard bitter taste. The sweetness is similar to the sweet flavors I was getting from Lefty's Coffee Porter and English-Style Porter. I think that has to come from the malt being used. The beer is lightly carbonated, and finishes with a very mild bitterness.

Final thought - I want to like this beer, mostly because it's available within 10 minutes of Kathryn's house, but it's too sweet for me. Not too sweet for a beer, but too sweet for a pale ale. Just give me a bunch of hops and we'll be fine. Don't get crazy.

-Jon

English-Style Porter

Beer Name: Lefty's English-Style Porter
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz pint poured from a 22-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Apparently Lefty does not like putting dates on his bottles. Since I bought it straight from the brewery, I am fairly confident that it is pretty fresh.

This is another "style" beer, as opposed to those beers which are not any style I suppose. Like maybe the beer is a mystery and you have to figure out what style it is just by drinking it. The next step after that would be bottles that are completely unmarked. Maybe it's beer, maybe it's soda, maybe it's a bottle of water that we put a Bud Light cap on to see if we could fool Dave.

The English-Style Porter is a dark amber color with a bunch of head that slowly fades away while leaving a bit of lacing behind. It smells roasty and sweet, and also a little bit fruity. That last part is weird, because I didn't know that porters had anything in them that would give off the smell of fruit. Usually I associate them with a very strong roasted aroma and flavor.

This beer is sweet. Not too sweet for me, but it's very sweet. It has a little bit of fruit flavor, then a sweet flavor and a slightly sweet aftertaste. This is another very smooth beer with only a little carbonation.

Final thought - This is a nice beer to drink after dinner while just sitting and relaxing. It's not my favorite Lefty's beer though, so I think it will probably be forced to live in the shadows of the Irish-Style Stout, the Coffee Porter, and, presumably, the Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. At least Lefty's is less than 10 miles from Kathryn's, so I can get nice fresh beer easily, regardless of which one I choose.

-Jon

Coffee Porter

Beer Name: Lefty's Coffee Porter
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz pint poured from a 22-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I find it strange that I like coffee in everything except actual coffee. Coffee Coolatta? Good. Coffee ice cream? Good. Coffee beer? Good. Actual coffee? No thanks.

Lefty's Coffee Porter was my second choice since they did not have any Chocolate Oatmeal Stout (that has to be good; just look at the name!). That stout is elusive! I also got another bottle of the Irish-Style Stout and a bottle of English-Style Porter. Hopefully they will not start a war inside the fridge.

The Coffee Porter is a dark reddish brown color. There is practically no head, and it's all gone within a few seconds. I am curious if that has something to do with the coffee that is used. Maybe there is something in caffeine that represses the carbonation. Also, if you're wondering, the coffee used is Sumatra coffee. I have no idea if that is a company or a type of bean or a style of roasting the beans, but that's what it is. Obviously the main aroma is coffee, but there is a slight secondary aroma of sweet malt.

Coffee is the also the most noticeable flavor, which you probably expected. It's not overwhelming though, and there is a nice sweetness to the beer as well. This beer is not bitter at all, and it finishes with hardly any aftertaste. It's very smooth, and there's very little carbonation.

Final thought - If you like coffee beers, this is a good one. It's not on the same par as my two favorites (which haven't been discussed yet, so they must remain mysterious), but it's definitely a close 3rd. If you ever find yourself in Bernardston for some reason, you should stop by Lefty's and pick up a bottle.

-Jon

Irish-Style Stout

Beer Name: Lefty's Irish-Style Stout
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6.8%
Serving method: 16-oz pint poured from a 22-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I briefly documented this beer during my recap of The Beer-hemoth 5, but it wasn't as comprehensive as it deserved. Let us do justice to this fine brew now.

I mentioned that I don't really care for the word "style" in the name of the beer. Look, I realize that if a beer is brewed in Franklin County, Massachusetts, it's obviously not from Ireland. Perhaps they should have consulted me before naming this one. Maybe they'll hire me if they win that small business grant they are in the running for. Man, that would be sweet!

After pouring my pint, the beer was a very deep brown and had a very small amount of head that quickly disappeared. Not very much in the lacing department here, although that did not negatively impact my enjoyment of the beer. Sadly, I can't tell what the smell is. However, for once it's not because I can't identify it, but because my nose has completely closed itself as an unnecessary reaction to Kathryn's cats. I think I am picking up a faint coffee aroma, but I can't be sure. I will have to buy another bottle and give it a proper sniffing. Wow, that sounds dirty.

The Irish-Style Stout had a good stout flavor. You get a little coffee flavor, then some sweetness like chocolate or something. At the finish, there is a mild bitterness and a lingering aftertaste. The beer has very light carbonation, and is very smooth.

Final thought - Lefty's Irish-Style Stout is a great beer for you dark-beer drinkers out there. It has pretty much everything you'd expect in a stout beer. I bet my next bottle will be ever better once my scent receptors are back online. Stupid cats.

-Jon

PS - In the Department of Awesome Things, I typed "lefty's irish style stout" into Google, and my Beer-hemoth 5 was one of the first few things that popped up! I took a screenshot of it in case people don't believe me. I also learned how to take screenshots on my Mac. Wow, today was a good day.