Imperial Biscotti Break

Beer Name: Imperial Biscotti Break
Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
ABV: 11.5%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This beer was shamefully expensive, so it's probably a good thing that I had just returned a bunch of bottles and cans to help defray expenses. It had better be goddam delicious though.

Biscotti Break is a deep black beer with a caramel colored head that left a nice lacing pattern on my completely inappropriate glass. I've decided that if Kate lets me participate in our wedding registry, beer glassware is all I'm going to be looking for. There is a fantastic aroma of coffee, chocolate, a sweetness like caramel or something similar, and maybe some vanilla. It's quite nice.

There's a whole bunch of sweet flavors to this beer, with some very lightly bitter coffee to keep it from being too much. There's some dark chocolate and light chocolate, and some generally sweet malt as well. It was so flavorful that I had to slow myself down to keep from running out of beer too quickly. The beer has a nice roasted quality, but not too much as to seem burnt. It feels very thick and creamy, almost like a dessert, and there's just a hint of carbonation. The high alcohol is not really noticeable in the flavor in case you were worried.

Final thought - This beer was excellent! Sadly, it's also probably not going to be a frequent flier strictly due to the price. Otherwise I'd drink a bottle every week, and I would love each and every one of them.

-Jon

Graduation Ale

Beer Name: Graduation Ale
Brewery: Northampton Brewery
ABV: 5.6% (I think...)
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

A beer brewed with raspberries and strawberries? Sure, sign me up. From the name, I'm assuming this beer is brewed in late April or early May to coincide with college graduation.

Graduation Ale is an orange colored beer with a very thin head and almost no lacing. I find that to be par for the course for fruit beers, so I'm not going to stress about it. The raspberries and strawberries are both very noticeable in the aroma, which is very nice.

I think this is the first beer I've had that uses strawberries, and they are pleasantly surprising. The beer is very drinkable, with just enough carbonation to keep it from seeming like a juice and fruit flavors that are present but not overly sweet or sticky. There's also just a little bit of a bitterness in each sip that works as a nice balance. Very easy drinking from the first sip until the last.

Final thought - This was a good beer, and it is one I'll have to keep in mind in future trips to the Northampton Brewery. At least future trips that occur in the spring.

-Jon

Black Mamba

Beer Name: Black Mamba
Brewery: Northampton Brewery
ABV: 3.8%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This beer seemed like a nice choice to accompany my lunch, and I'm always down for a stout.

Black Mamba was a very dark beer that arrived with only a light head. This was gone in a few moments, leaving just a faint lacing pattern behind. There was a nice aroma of malty chocolate and bitter coffee. The aroma persisted for the whole glass, and it was very pleasant.

This beer felt very light with each sip, with a mouthfeel to match. It had some faint chocolate flavors, but for the most part the main taste was a bitter coffee. Not too bitter though. The beer was very lightly carbonated, and had a bitter finish without much aftertaste.

Final thought - This was a nice, enjoyable beer to drink with a nice meal. Too bad it's not listed on the brewery's website, which makes me think it's not going to be around for the long haul.

-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

Double Wide I.P.A.

Beer Name: Double Wide I.P.A.
Brewery: Boulevard Brewing Co.
ABV: 8.5%
Serving method: 750 mL bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Born sometime last year

After the adventure I had to go on to obtain this beer, it had better be delicious. I thought I grabbed a 4-pack of this over the weekend, but I had unfortunately gotten a 4-pack of Tank 7 that was deceptively put into a Double Wide marked case. I didn't like the Tank 7, although I'll admit I probably didn't give it a fair shot because I was so upset that I had gotten the wrong beer. I went back to return the 3 remaining bottles in exchange for the proper beer, but the IPA was all gone. Thankfully they let me trade them for this big guy instead. The only problem now is going to be getting the cork out of it. I am notoriously bad at dealing with corks.

Cut to 3 minutes later, and the bottle is open. Double Wide IPA is dark copper beer with some orange highlights. It pours with a bunch of head, over 2 fingers worth, which is appropriate according to whoever maintains Boulevard's website. Most of it fades away after a few minutes, leaving just enough behind to generate some lacing. The aroma here isn't as hoppy as I was expecting for a "double" IPA, but there are some earthy/florally hops to be smelled. It seems like there's a nice dose of malt in there as well.

Much like the aroma was hinting at, there is not an overwhelming hoppiness to this beer. There's a bit of bitterness at first, and then some malt to balance things out. As it finishes, there's a crisp bitter flavor that gives way to some sweetness that hangs on for just a few moments. The beer has a moderate carbonation, but it's still nicely drinkable.

Final thought - I hesitate to give a solid opinion on this beer since I should have consumed it about 3 months ago, but I'll do it anyway. The flavor of this beer isn't one of my favorites, but it's still nice and it's very easy drinking. I think I'll try to grab a more current bottle some time and see if that makes any difference.

-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

Peachy Keene Kolsch

Beer Name: Peachy Keene Kolsch
Brewery: Elm City Brewing Company
ABV: Unknown
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I suppose I have to admit something: I am a sucker for beers with silly puns or wordplay in their names. This is 100% of the reason why I have a bottle in the fridge with a label that says "Hoptimus Prime" on it. Assuming you don't hate hops, how can you pass up something like that? I know I couldn't. As such, I was also unable to resist a beer with the name Peachy Keene.

Peachy Keene Kolsch is a dark golden beer. Not dark like a brown ale or anything, but noticeably darker than the Raspberry Wheat. There wasn't really any head on this one, but that seems to be typical of particularly fruity beers. There also wasn't any lacing to speak of. The beer has an extremely peachy aroma. If you like the smell of peaches, this is the beer for you.

Peaches dominate the flavor here. It's pretty much all peach all the time, from the first sip to the last. I like peaches, so this is a good thing in my book. It's also nice that, while sweet, it's not a sickly sweetness and it's not sticky. The beer is very smooth, with very low carbonation. It's not quite as sweet as a soda, but it's close. The finish is clean, and there is not much of an aftertaste.

Final thought - I liked this beer a lot. Kate was skeptical of me ordering a Kolsch, but not everything has to be a stout, porter or IPA for me to drink it. I am a diverse beer drinker, dammit, and people need to recognize this. I am glad I got this, and give it a full recommendation. Unless you don't like peach, in which case stay far, far away.

-Jon

Raspberry Wheat #2

Beer Name: Raspberry Wheat
Brewery: Elm City Brewing Company
ABV: Unknown
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Elm City seems to cycle through their beers pretty quickly, so this one was probably brewed not too long ago. We knew going in that during Happy Hour (actually 2 hours), wings were 45 cents each, but we didn't know that the beer was discounted too! It made our late lunch/early dinner even more exciting.

The Raspberry Wheat is a slightly cloudy, bright golden beer. It arrived with a thin head that faded away quickly but left a light lacing pattern behind. The aroma is very grainy, and there isn't much raspberry in it. The wheat seems to be dominating here.

Despite not being too noticeable in the aroma, the raspberry is fully present in the flavor. It's a nice raspberry flavor too, more like a real raspberry than an artificial syrupy flavor. There's nothing overly sweet or sticky about it. The beer has a very light carbonation and is very easy drinking. It finishes with a little bit of malt and a faint sweet aftertaste.

Final thought - This is a nice light beer that was perfect with a meal outside. I don't know if it would have been enjoyable in a dark restaurant, as there just seemed to be something about it that said "drink me in the sun!" And I was happy to oblige.

-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