Midnight Special

Beer Name: Midnight Special
Brewery: The People's Pint
ABV: 8.4%
Serving method: An unknown amount in a snifter
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Yup, the beer was served to me in a snifter. I felt super classy. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like doing the necessary calculations to determine the volume of said snifter, so that particular value must remain a mystery.

Midnight Special is a very dark beer, practically black, that did not have much head on it, but the small amount that was there left a pretty heavy lacing pattern behind while sticking around for much of the glass. The beer has a very hoppy aroma, but doesn't have the malt that I was expecting from both the description and the style.

Wow, this beer packs a bitter punch. The hops from the aroma were not lying about the hoppiness of the beer. There is a little bit of malt in the background, but mostly you're looking at a big hoppy blast with every sip. The finish is a little bit dry, along with the bitterness. Despite all of that bitterness and dryness, the beer is still pretty smooth. It has a little bit of carbonation, so the whole thing is fairly easy drinking.

Final thought - This beer was a little too intense for me. It packed quite the hoppy punch, but it didn't have the malty balance that seemed to be called for. I think I'll stick to their Pied pIPA for my daily hop requirements in the future. This is not a beer for the faint hearted hop haters out there.

-Jon

Husky Imperial Stout

Beer Name: Husky Imperial Stout
Brewery: Big Time Brewery & Alehouse
ABV: 9% (maybe)
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

It was very difficult to find any information about this beer or brewery other than the fact that it is out of Washington and has a website that is in desperate need of updating.

I chose the Husky Imperial Stout to go with my giant plate of barbecued food because I generally love stouts and also because it had a cool name. The beer arrived with a very thin layer of head that lasted for quite a while and left a good lacing pattern that only faded because I took quite a long time to finish this beer. There are big aromas of creamy coffee and chocolate with some roasted notes.

This beer feels so thick and rich that it's like drinking a beer milkshake. Every single sip was a giant taste explosion. There is a whole lot of flavor going on here, mostly some bitter coffee with a little bit of roasted chocolate. The beer has a very creamy mouthfeel, although the flavors really dominate your tastebuds. There is a light carbonation here, so the beer is fairly easy to drink other than it's giant ABV.

Final thought - This was a very tasty beer, but after a whole day of drinking beers and a plate of 4 kinds of barbecued meat I sadly could not finish it. I know, it's very sad. But don't take my inability to finish as a condemnation of the beer, which was actually very good. Just don't wait until the end of a long day to try it.

-Jon

Alpine

Beer Name: Alpine Black IPA
Brewery: Otter Creek Brewing
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

After an afternoon spent drinking, the plan was to head over to Red Bones to cap the evening off with some more beer and some delicious barbecued meats. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), there was a very long wait, so we had to get another beer at another beer establishment.

That beer ended up being the Black IPA (which is apparently called "Alpine") from Otter Creek. I was starting to lose my concentration at this point, so this might not be a completely accurate review. Comes with the territory though, and you didn't pay anything to read it, so suck it up and deal.

The Alpine Black IPA is a, probably pretty obviously, dark beer that poured with about a finger of head. The retention for the head was pretty good, and it left a good lacing pattern behind. There is a nice aroma of hops here, but there's also a whole lot of roasted maltiness going on as well.

The Black IPA (or American black ale) style is supposed to be a mix of the hoppiness of an IPA and the maltiness of a black ale, and Alpine delivers. There are piney and citrusy hop flavors up front, and the deep roasted malt flavors follow those up. The finish is slightly bitter, but nothing too harsh on the tongue.

Final thought - I am not sure where the name Alpine comes from, because the bottles are not labeled with it anymore. Other than that little issue, this is a good beer, and I'd definitely have some more.

-Jon

The Buk

Beer Name: The Buk Pale Ale
Brewery: Wormtown Brewing Co.
ABV: 5.5%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This beer marks the 100th beer review of the year, meaning I actually accomplished something I set out to do without giving up in the middle like I usually do after I get bored. Hooray! Go me!!

The Buk is a special beer from Wormtown that only seems to be available on draft in the more eastern portions of Massachusetts. Whatever, elitist jerks. It's a fairly light beer, sort of a golden amber color, more on the golden side. It has a fairly hoppy aroma, but also some wheat- or bread- or grain-like scents in there. It arrived with a good sized head that slowly faded, leaving some lacing behind.

I didn't know what exactly to expect from this beer, since "pale ale" encompasses a wide variety of flavors. Luckily, this one is technically an American pale ale, which is the type I prefer as they tend to be hoppier than their British counterparts. There's a nice balance of the hop bitterness with the grainy malts here, and the whole thing works well. The beer has a good amount of carbonation, which works well with the flavor and gives it a nice drinkable quality.

Final thought - I would drink this beer again. You know, assuming I can find it. It's possible that, after drinking the Hoptical Illusion, my palate was set up to enjoy this beer with its more balanced flavor. I think that I was going to enjoy it no matter what though.

-Jon

Hoptical Illusion

Beer Name: Hoptical Illusion
Brewery: Blue Point Brewing Company
ABV: 6.8%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a Weizen glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

If you're wondering, the answer is yes: I ordered this beer strictly because of the name.

Hoptical Illusion is a coppery orange beer that started off with a nice head that mostly faded away in the first few minutes. A thin layer remained, and it left a moderate lacing pattern on the glass. There is a strong hoppy aroma, mostly citrusy. There is also some maltiness, but it's only faint.

Lots of hoppiness and bitterness in this beer. The hops have a nice citrus quality to them, but there isn't enough malt in the background to give it a nice balance. It's also incredibly dry. And what I'm saying here is that after each sip, I feel like I need to drink something else to get my saliva flowing again. This beer is pretty highly carbonated, which, when combined with the bitterness and dryness, makes it a little bit rough in the drinkability department.

Final thought - This is alright, but wouldn't be one of my top choices for IPAs if there were others available. It's a bit too dry for me.

-Jon

Applehead

Beer Name: Applehead
Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Is this the spiritual successor to the widely loved Pumpkinhead? Only a bottle or two can answer that question.

Applehead is a sort of coppery beer. I guess the best description of its appearance would be that it looks like apple juice. You can try to force some head during the pour, but, much like its pumpkin cousin, this beer just does not produce any kind of head. And, it follows from that, it also doesn't produce any lacing. That's just how it goes with this type of beer. There is a strong spice aroma, sort of like an apple pie.

Hmm. I taste lots of spices, but I am not tasting much apple. If I really concentrate, I think I can convince myself that I'm tasting in the background. But it's definitely overpowered by the flavors of the spice. The beer is very lightly carbonated, and it's super smooth. If you enjoy the flavor, you could easily drink a bunch of these in a sitting.

Final thought - Needs more apple. It has a lot of apple pie spice flavor, but it's missing the actual apple. Not a bad beer, but not something I'd be looking forward to year after year.

-Jon

Fumata Nera

Beer Name: Fumata Nera
Brewery: High and Mighty Beer Company
ABV: Unknown
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I should probably be concerned that this beer is not even featured on High & Mighty's website. Does that mean that they aren't proud of it? Or that they don't want people to know about it because it didn't come out deliciously? Good thing I had already finished drinking it before I decided to read up on it.

Fumata Nera is Italian for "black smoke," which makes sense as this is a smoked rye beer. It's a very dark beer, but the degree of darkness is hard to specify because the restaurant is a pretty dark one. The beer arrived with very little head, but there was a think layer that stuck around for about half of the glass, and it left a good lacing pattern behind. There was a very strong aroma of smoked malts.

As expected, this beer's flavor was very much in the roasted department. I believe this is the kind of beer that Kate says tastes like meat. Lots of smokey malt flavor, and maybe a little bit of hops bitterness in there as well. This was a nicely drinkable beer that went along nicely with some food, but would have been enjoyable without it as well.

Final thought - Whether or not the brewery is proud of it, I would drink this beer again. I will throw in the caveat that it seems like a beer that is going to be more enjoyable on draft than from a bottle though.

-Jon

Leviathan IPA

Beer Name: Leviathan IPA
Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
ABV: 10%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Something on 10/15/11

After trying this beer at the Harpoon brewery, I was eager to get some of this particular Leviathan (it's a whole series of giant ABV beers) for home use. This turned out to be surprisingly difficult, as the only bottles I was able to find were all supposed to be consumed by April. 2011. As in, over half a year ago. I finally found some that had a date that was close enough, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The Leviathan IPA is a slightly cloudy beer with a golden orange color. It pours with a thin layer of surprisingly thick head. It fades fairly soon, but it leaves a nice lacing pattern behind. There is a strong hop aroma here, mostly piney hops.

Strong hop flavor here, but also a lot of malty flavors. It's slightly bitter, but it finishes with a combination of bitterness and sweetness with a light aftertaste. The piney hop aroma was an accurate precursor to the piney flavors present here. The beer is pretty smooth, with a light carbonation and a slightly creamy feeling to it.

Final thought - While obviously not as good as it was when it was fresh straight from the fermenter, this is still a delightful beer. But be careful, as it also will kick you right in the head with it's alcohol content. Ten percent is a pretty strong level for a beer that is pretty easy drinking (for an IPA). Watch yourself.

-Jon

Encore

Beer Name: Encore
Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Company
ABV: 6.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 2/29/12

Encore is another addition to Magic Hat's IPA On Tour series of beers. I believe this is the last one, although maybe they'll add some more to the rotation.

Encore is a cloudy beer with a pale orange color. It pours with about a finger and a half of head (and yes, "finger" is the measurement unit for a beer's foamy hat) that lasts for quite a while before slowly fading and leaving a heavy lacing pattern behind. The aroma is strongly citrusy hops, with a little bit of a florally hop smell in there as well.

This beer has a nice hop flavor without being overly bitter. That's a little surprising since there really isn't much of a malt presence here that often balances out the hops. I could see that being an issue, but since Encore doesn't really pack a hop wallop, everything works out nicely. I doubt that this beer would convince the hop-haters out there to change their tune, but I don't find it to be an overwhelming hop-bomb like many beers out there. The beer has a nice light carbonation, and it finishes with only a slight aftertaste.

Final thought - This might be my favorite of the touring IPAs, although hI.P.A. is certainly a close second. However, if you ask me while hI.P.A. is out, that ordering might be switched around. I guess they are both quite good. I like Encore's hoppiness without the dry finish that a lot of IPAs have. It also works well both with food or on its own, which is a great quality.

-Jon

Chocolate Stout

Beer Name: Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
ABV: 5.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 2/15/12

I learned about this beer from the Friend of Harpoon newsletter, and then located it on my first try. That is probably the smoothest new beer experience I've had in a while. Too bad I can't find the same success as I look for Harpoon's latest 100 Barrel Series beer.

The Chocolate Stout is a very dark beer that looks solid black at first, but seems to be more of a very dark brown. It has a very thin head that fades almost immediately. The aroma is very chocolately, much more so than standard stouts. It's a combination of sweet chocolate, like a milk chocolate, along with a bitter chocolate smell, sort of like the stuff for baking.

With so much chocolate in the aroma, the flavor has a lot to live up to. Luckily there is a good amount of chocolate flavor in here. It's mostly a dark chocolate, with a bittersweetness to it. It also has a nice finish and aftertaste. The beer has little bit more carbonation than I was expecting, but it starts to mellow out after a few minutes. Unfortunately, the beer's flavor is better while it's cold, so letting it mellow out means letting it warm up, where the flavor does not improve.

Final thought - This is a bit sharp for a stout, and I bet it would be fantastic if they figured out some way to smooth it out. It has a very nice flavor, but I just want it to be smoother for each sip. Perhaps I'm just being picky.

-Jon

Grateful Harvest

Beer Name: Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale
Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
ABV: 5.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 2/15/12

It has cranberries. I would be willing to bet anything that it is going to be better than that simply awful Cranberry Lambic beer.

Grateful Harvest is an amber colored beer that pours with a very light head that does not last very long. There is a faint aroma of cranberries here, but if you're expecting something like the blueberry aromas in all those blueberry beers or the pumpkins in the pumpkin ones, it's not there. There is also a sweet aroma here, so this beer seems like it's going to be a malty one.

Well, there is a tartness that seems like it's coming from the cranberries, but there isn't really much of a cranberry flavor. It ends up just seeming like a sweet & sour beer, and it doesn't really work for me. There is a nice amount of maltiness, so there's that if you're into malty beers. Lightly carbonated, the beer has a nice mouthfeel, which is one of the only things it has going for it.

Final thought - It was nice to give it a try, but I doubt I'll ever have it again.

-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