Some Beers

For whatever reason, sometimes I drink a beer and don't have a chance to write anything about it.  Generally this is either because I have had many other beers before it, or will then consume many other beers after it. However, I think these beers need to still be recognized, so perhaps from time to time I will do a small writeup of the ones that didn't get the royal treatment. And then I will have a hard list of beers that need to be consumed again, only with a clearer mind.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale - If you enjoy the flavors of bourbon, then you'll probably enjoy this beer. It's a little thin in the mouth, but there's a big flavor of booze. It's 8.2%, but the bourbon tricks your brain into thinking it's even stronger. One bottle is nice, two is a good time, and three starts to get you into the danger zone. And not the one from Top Gun.

Olde 76 Strong Ale - This is, I believe, the flagship beer from Madison Brewing in VT. It's a pretty standard English-style beer, so it's malty and easy drinking. It pairs well with food, without any strong flavors to dominate the meal. I'd probably drink it again.

Wild Raspberry Ale - A fruit beer from Great Divide, this one is included in the category of "Fruit Beers I Enjoy." It's fruity enough to notice without being sticky, and that's what I'm in favor of when it comes to combining drinking and fruit. I don't know if I'd feel the same about drinking this one in the winter though, even if it is a year-round release. It feels summery to me.

Ruination - Stone does a lot of things well, and IPAs are probably at the top of that list. With a bunch of hops and a good maltiness to complement them, this beer is great. Unless you're a weenie who doesn't enjoy hops, in which case this beer will probably make you cry like a little baby. Expand your palette, weenie.

Audacious Apricot Ale - This beer should be getting its due soon, as I have a few in the fridge. It's ok, but there is a very noticeable sharpness or something to it. The apricot flavor works well, but something else is going on that I'm not a huge fan of. I'm going to experiment a little by letting it mellow for a bit with the next bottle and see if it makes any difference.

-Jon

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

Crowtown Pale Ale

Beer Name: Crowtown Pale Ale
Brewery: Madison Brewing Company
ABV: ?
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Kate and I took a trip out to Bennington to check out the Madison Brewing Company, resulting in an enjoyable meal and some new beer to drink.

Crowtown Pale Ale is an orange-brown beer, with a thick head of almost two fingers in width. It faded very slowly, leaving a bunch of lacing behind. The aroma is mainly citrus hops, and some other hops in the background.

This beer has a nice hop flavor, but it's not very bitter. The more it warms up, the more the maltiness comes through, and it becomes sweeter as the pint progresses. The finish is clean, without any noticeable aftertastes.

Final thought - This is an enjoyable beer, and a slightly above average pale ale. The logo also has a crow wearing a top hat, and that's pretty cool.

-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

Cerise

Beer Name: Founders Cerise
Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
ABV: 6.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 5/15/12

For those of you that don't speak Russian, "cerise" is French for cherry. As such, I am expecting this beer to be filled with cherry goodness.

Cerise is a deep ruby red beer, sort of the color of cranberry juice. It poured with just over a finger of fluffy pink head, which faded away pretty quickly but still left a good amount of lacing behind. There is a nice cherry aroma, but it's not overdone. There's also a grainy aroma to it, and the combination makes it seem like the beer will be nice and light.

This beer has a whole lot of cherry flavor. However, it's more of a tart cherry flavor than a sweet one, which keeps it from being like a soda or juice. That's not to say it isn't sweet, as it still has a sweetness to it. There's also enough of a malt presence to remind you that this is, in fact, a beer. The carbonation is somewhere in the low to moderate range, and I think the whole experience might improve slightly if there was just a bit more. The finish is sweet, and sticks around just a little too long.

Final thought - This beer is pretty good. As with many fruit beers, there's probably a low limit to the amount you'll be able to drink in a single session. There's just a point where things get too sweet or sticky and it's time for something else. My overall impression is that this is like a cherry #9, with just a bit more happening. And there's nothing wrong with that.

-Jon

Creme Brulee

Beer Name: Crème Brûlée Stout
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 9.6%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 5/10/12

I hope all the effort I put into throwing fancy accent marks on the name of this beer doesn't result in some kind of crazy internet formatting error where they are replaced with HTML code. That would be a terrible injustice. Plus it would mean that all of that effort was wasted, and having my effort wasted makes me very unhappy.

I've been looking for this beer for quite a while, since roughly December 2010. As it turns out, that was not a particularly good time to begin my search, as this beer is released in June. Unfortunately, June 2011 came and went with no bottles to be had, as they all sold out rather quickly. Today was a different story, and while picking up some other grownup juice, I spotted some Crème Brûlée bottles hanging out in the cooler, one of which quickly became mine.

Crème Brûlée is a very dark beer, practically solid black for most of the glass with some brownish-ruby highlights around the edges. It poured with a bit of head, although that faded away in a couple of minutes. It left a light lacing pattern behind, although it seemed like it was going to be heavier. This may be a reflection of my glassware, and as such I must be more careful to rinse these things out after they've finished their dishwasher experience. I am not exactly sure what the dessert crème brûlée smells like (since Kate usually orders it and I occasionally steal a bite from across the table), but this beer definitely smells like a dessert. There's a whole bunch of vanilla, caramel, and other sweet aromas, with something like a cream or custard as well. This should be an interesting drinking experience.

This beer is quite sweet. That's probably something to be expected going in based on the name alone, and it certainly does not disappoint in that regard. There's a creamy, custard flavor here at first, with the caramel maltiness also making an appearance. It also has just a hint of bitterness at the end of each sip to let you know that this is a beer and not some fancy French dessert. The alcohol is barely noticeable. There's a moderate amount of carbonation here, and the aftertaste is mildly sweet.

Final thought - After waiting such a long time to get my hands on a bottle of this beer, I was slightly worried that I might have built it up too much in my mind. Luckily that was not the case. This beer was delicious, and will be making an annual appearance on my list of beers to purchase. I've already added it to my newly produced Beer Availability spreadsheet, and will be eagerly anticipating its arrival next spring. Hell, if the dessert is as good as this beer, maybe I'll start ordering it instead of cheesecake. Although I do love cheesecake... Maybe someone should make a cheesecake beer! Souther Tier, get on that.

-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

Double Trouble

Beer Name: Double Trouble
Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
ABV: 9.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Editor's note - I actually wrote this a couple weeks ago, but accidentally clicked to save the draft instead of publishing it. I'm sure that everything I wrote back then remains true. Otherwise I wouldn't have written it.

I have had good luck thus far with beer from Founders, so I'm hoping that continues with this hoppy offering. And if not, I've got a variety of other things in the fridge to take the sting away. I've learned that you never want to have no more beers in the house. It's a very sad state of affairs.

Double Trouble is a golden beer, much lighter than most other IPAs that I've encountered. It poured with about a finger and a half of fluffy white head that faded away very slowly leaving a heavy lacing pattern down most of the glass. As a double IPA, the aroma is packing a good amount of hops (citrusy ones if my nose is to be believed), but there's also some grainy malt sweetness. It's a nice aroma, which is a good sign.

The flavor of this beer follows very closely from the aroma. There is a whole lot of hops going on here, but there's also a good amount of bready caramel to help balance it out. The hops are pretty bitter, with a grapefruity quality to them. Each sip has some sweetness at the beginning, and the middle and end are where the hops shine through. There is some lingering bitterness in the aftertaste, but also a bit of sweet malt. There is a low carbonation, and the finish is a bit dry.

Final thought - This was a great beer. I imagine it would pair well with food, but it is enjoyable on its own as well. I'll have to check out Founders' other IPAs, just to have something a little less strong. If they're as good as this one, things will be good.

-Jon

Mokah

Beer Name: Mokah
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 11.2%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 4/12/12

Southern Tier likes to spell the names of their Blackwater beers in silly ways. They also like to ramp up the ABVs to extreme levels. Mokah is no exception to either of these rules.

Mokah is a very dark beer, pretty much solid black except for some dark red highlights around the edge of the glass when held up to a light. It had just a little bit of head, which surprised me. Maybe it has something to do with the extreme humidity or the way I poured it. Either way, there was only a minimal amount of head, although it lasted for a while. There is a very pleasant aroma of both chocolate and coffee, and no strong alcohol aromas despite the 11.2% this beer is packing.

It's over 80 degrees right now, so this beer warmed up in a hurry. Luckily, that was not an issue as the flavor remained pleasant throughout the entire glass. Most of each sip is a nice mix of lightly roasted chocolate and coffee flavors, with just a hint of bitterness at the finish. There is only a light carbonation to the beer, and there are no overpowering flavors, making it very easy to drink. The beer has a big mouthfeel, almost creamy, with some coffee flavors in the aftertaste that linger for a bit.

Final thought - This beer is quite delicious. It's also the strongest of the Blackwater beers, so keep that in mind if you're enjoying it. The chocolate and coffee combination works nicely, so it's actually like a dessert. Great stuff.

-Jon

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

Dark Truth

Beer Name: Dark Truth Stout
Brewery: Boulevard Brewing Co.
ABV: 9.7%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 10/27/13

That is not a typo. The "best by" date on this 4-pack is more than 18 months away. Maybe I'll pick up another and cellar it until I turn 31. By then, I'll probably have forgotten about it, so it will be like a birthday present to myself.

Dark Truth is an imperial stout, and, as such, is a very dark beer. It's almost solid black, although there are very faint hints of light around the edges of the glass. It has about a finger of thin head that faded away after a bit, leaving some lacing that didn't survive the glass. The aroma has some sweet roasted malts, some deep fruitiness, and what seems like a little bit of spicy hops. It seems like there's a lot going on here.

This beer has a very big flavor. There's the roasted flavors from the malt along with some light sweet flavors that are a little bit fruity. It also has some bitterness to keep the malt from being too much. The alcohol is faintly noticeable, as you might expect for something this strong. At the end, there is a roasted aftertaste that hangs on for a bit, giving way to a sensation of sweetness.

Final thought - Under the right circumstances, this beer is delightful. That would be: while relaxing, after letting it warm up slightly, and when you have time to sit back and sip it slowly. This beer has a ton of flavors happening, and you don't want to rush through it. That, and it packs quite the punch. Drink with care.

-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

Tasman Red IPA

Beer Name: Tasman Red IPA
Brewery: Boston Beer Company
ABV: 6.75%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Tasman Red IPA is from the same series of beers as Third Voyage, at least if the bottle and label style is anything to go by. It has a crazy looking person on the bottle if you're looking for it.

Tasman Red is a very deep ruby colored beer that arrived with about a finger of head. This head was thick and fluffy, and it faded away slowly while leaving a heavy lacing pattern behind. Another plus was that this beer came in a clean glass, so I had nothing to complain about. There is a nice aroma of citrus and pine hops, and there is also some caramel malt to go with it.

This beer has a very big flavor, mostly hops but with some maltiness in there as well. I suppose it would be apt to call it a "bold" beer. The hops are probably the main flavor, but the malt has enough presence to avoid being overshadowed. The beer finishes bitter, with an aftertaste of lingering malt with a bit of hops. I had this on draft, and it seems like it would be much better this way than from the bottle. There's just something about it.

Final thought - I enjoyed this beer, and it was very good with food. It's sort of a mix between a red ale and an IPA, and there's noticeable contributions from both. I would probably be glad to drink this again if I see it out somewhere.

-Jon

Watermelon Ale

Beer Name: Thomas Hooker Watermelon Ale
Brewery: Thomas Hooker Ales & Lager
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

How have I never tried a beer from Connecticut before this one? That seems impossible.

Thomas Hooker's Watermelon Ale is a pale golden ale that arrived with a thin head. It left a good lacing pattern, but it doesn't stick for the whole glass. At first, there is a light watermelon aroma and some maltiness in the background. Then, as you drink the glass, the watermelon keeps getting stronger. It's sort of like watermelon candy after a minute or two.

The flavor of this beer is very nice. There's a good watermelon flavor, but it's not over the top and it's not a sickeningly sweet fruit flavor or syrupy. It's very light, and it works very well with the carbonation level of the beer, which is pretty high. The beer finishes with a slightly sweet flavor, but it doesn't linger overly long.

Final thought - Overall, this is a very enjoyable beer. It's probably right there with Hell or High Watermelon as far as fruit beer quality goes. The one thing I did not like, and this has nothing to do with the beer, is that it arrived in a glass that wasn't clean. Or maybe it was clean, but it wasn't rinsed properly. The point is that beer should be served in appropriately treated glasses, and there shouldn't be a patch of bubbles streaming off the side of the glass. Kate told me to send it back, but we hadn't gotten our food yet and I didn't want to be That Guy.

-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

Simcoe Spring Ale

Beer Name: Simcoe Spring Ale
Brewery: Peak Organic Brewing Company
ABV: 5.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by Sept 2012

Peak Organic was having a beer tasting over at Ryan & Casey, so I figured I'd return some bottles and check out their wares. The tasting host was a very friendly guy, and I was the only person there are this particular time, so we got to talk about beer, and he got to hear the woeful tale of Kate's and my failure to procure any Peak beer at the 2010 Vermont Brewers Festival due to a thunderstorm. It is a very sad story. Also, I got a free pint glass because I ended up buying some Peak beer. Good times.

Simcoe Spring Ale is one of Peak's seasonal beers, and, despite spring having only just started, is about to be phased out in place of their summer brew. All these calendar shenanigans are a direct result of Sam Adams sending Summer Ale out at the beginning of April, and it's starting to annoy me. It's getting to the point where I need a beer spreadsheet to keep track of what seasonals are available when. Actually, that's not a terrible idea...

I'm getting sidetracked. Simcoe Spring is a slightly hazy copper beer that poured from the bottle with a nice fluffy head nearly two fingers high. (I did not drink the beer from my newly acquired pint glass, as that was hanging out in the packie and probably should be washed before use.) The head faded away fairly slowly, and it left a heavy lacing behind. The aroma is a bit hoppier than I remember it being at the tasting, but that could be because I tried the Hop Noir first, and its intense hoppiness dulled my senses. I'm getting some piney and citrusy hop notes, which makes sense given that this beer probably uses Simcoe hops. Unfortunately, this means that the beer I picked because I thought Kate might like it too is obviously going to fail in that department.

This is a nice citrusy beer, although the hop bitterness isn't nearly as much as the aroma might led you to believe. It's still hoppy, but it's an easily manageable amount of hoppiness. Maybe even someone who avoids hoppy beers would enjoy it. There's not really any maltiness here, so the hops have the whole stage to themselves. It's a fairly carbonated beer, but it's still pretty smooth. The finish is a little bitter, and there's a mild aftertaste of pine.

Final thought - Everything about this beer seems like it would be enjoyable in the gradually warming spring weather, which makes it baffling that it is around in January, February and March. I should probably write myself a note to pick some of this up next year and store it for later, but I am lazy and I won't. I will make a point of saying that this is a nice beer, and I would be glad to drink it again.

-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

Skull Splitter

Beer Name: Skull Splitter
Brewery: Orkney Brewery
ABV: 8.5%
Serving method: 16.9-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

As if the gods of beer heard my pleas for interestingly named beers, I ended up getting a bottle of Skull Splitter today. Obviously I have some positive karma built up. Now to see if that will carry through to the quality of this beer. Also, the bottle has a pretty no-nonsense looking Viking on it, so I'm guessing this beer means business. Hopefully the fact that this is definitely not the right kind of glass won't be a major issue.

Skull Splitter is a deep coppery beer with reddish hues. There was a little bit of head when I poured it, but most of it faded away pretty quickly while leaving a ring around the edge of the top. It leaves a bit of lacing, but the lacing didn't last for the whole glass. The beer has a very sweet aroma of malts along with something I can only describe as a smooth alcohol scent. There also seem to be some of what is usually called "dark fruit," which is like a sweet fruitiness in the background.

Everything from the aroma is happening in the flavor, and it's very nice. There's almost a scotch-like flavor here, along with lots of malty sweetness and a hint of fruit. It's very smooth as well, with only a slight carbonation. The finish has a very faint bitterness to it, but other than that the malt is the star of the show. There's a sweet aftertaste, sort of a fruity brown sugar.

Final thought - This is a very good beer, but it hits you really hard. There are a lot of interesting things happening in the aroma and the flavor, and it's easy drinking enough that you can get yourself into a bad place very quickly. Enjoy with caution.

-Jon

Avalanche

Beer Name: Avalanche Ale
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 5.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I wish all breweries gave all their beers exciting names. I find that Avalanche Ale is a much more exciting name than just calling it Breckenridge Amber Ale. The only downside to giving beers cool names is when you go out to a restaurant and they don't clarify on their menu what type of beer each option is. Sometimes it's pretty obvious (if I'm ordering something called Hop Devil, I'm not expecting a stout), but if I told you a beer's name was Mojo, that doesn't really give you any possible reference point for beer type.* Still, I'd rather have the exciting names. If I end up drinking a Belgian white because of it, that's really my fault for not doing my research properly.

Avalanche Ale is a reddish amber beer that poured with a fluffy head around a finger in width. The head faded away pretty quickly, and it left a very erratic lacing pattern. There is a sweet malt aroma mixed with something fruity smelling. My instinct is to say apples, like a crisp Granny Smith apple aroma. Everything seems light and pleasant here.

This is a pretty malty beer, with really only the faintest hint of any kind of hop. There is a fruitiness to the flavor as well, but nothing dramatic. I think it could use just a little bit more carbonation, but without knowing the age of the beer I probably shouldn't make that a general statement. This particular bottle could use some more oomph though. The beer finishes with a very light bitterness, and it lingers slightly with the malt.

Final thought - While nothing spectacular, there isn't anything I dislike about this beer. It's light and crisp, it has a nice maltiness to it, and it finishes without leaving a heavy flavor behind. This would be an easy beer to make a night of, and a drastic improvement over what generally makes up a long night of drinking.

-Jon

*Mojo is an IPA, which you would have known if you were a dedicated reader.

Vanilla Porter

Beer Name: Vanilla Porter
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 4.7%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This is the 3rd of 4 beers from the Breckenridge pack, and the one I was most excited about. I shouldn't have been though, because my history with vanilla in beers hasn't been great. But I really want it to be, so I'll keep on trying vanilla flavored beers until I find a winner. Come on brewers! You're so successful with chocolate!! Don't leave vanilla out.

Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter is a very dark brown beer, but it's slightly translucent if you hold it up to a light. It poured with a good head, and it held on for a little while before leaving a light lacing pattern. There is a strong aroma of malt here, with vanilla and a bit of fruit mixed in as well. In hindsight, I should have realized that this beer needed to be given a few minutes to warm up, but I was a little too focused on Holmes on Homes to think clearly.

At first, the beer seemed a little lacking in flavors. However, it turns out that I just needed to give it time. By the end of the glass, there was a nice vanilla flavor with each sip. There was also a good amount of malt and sweetness for the whole glass, and nothing really in the hop department for bitterness. The beer finishes mostly clean, with a lightly sweet aftertaste.

Final thought - This was pretty good by the end of the glass, although I'm not about to go out and grab some more. It seems like it would be a good beer for sitting inside on a cold winter night. The vanilla curse is definitely broken.

-Jon

2X Stout

Beer Name: 2X Stout
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 1/26/12

In my continually unsuccessful quest to find an elusive beer known as KBS, I often find myself grabbing something else in an attempt to fill the void. Sometimes I just grab whatever has an interesting label on it, but this time I actually spent some time to find something that would hopefully be a winning choice. Since Southern Tier rarely, if ever, lets me down, I figure their version of a stout should be tasty. As a bonus, it turns out that this oddly named beer is a milk stout! Score!!

2X Stout is a solid black beer. With a violent pour, I could get the beer to produce a very light head, but it faded away almost immediately with very little lacing. It's slightly thinner than I was expecting for such a strong beer, but that isn't necessarily a negative. There is a pleasant aroma of malty roasted chocolate. It's combined with some bittersweet chocolate notes in the background.

The flavor of this beer is very roasted. The chocolate from the aroma is here, and there's also a little bit of coffee in there as well, although it's very faint. The beer has a light carbonation that works well with the other flavors. It's sweet at the beginning, with some bitterness at the finish. There is a mostly sweet aftertaste, but it has a stickiness that starts to get overbearing on the second bottle.

Final thought - This is a nice sipping beer, but watch out for that ABV. It doesn't taste like a 7.5% beer, so a few of them will catch up to you quickly.

-Jon

Oatmeal Stout #2

Beer Name: Oatmeal Stout
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 4.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I have been a little lax on my beer updates in the past week, but instead of blaming it on laziness, I will instead use the excuse of wanting to drink a couple before writing my thoughts. That way my opinions will be a little more focused. Or something like that.

Breckenridge's Oatmeal Stout is a very dark beer, but it's a thin sort of blackness. It poured with basically no head, although there was a very thin ring around the edge. There was a very light lacing, but it tended to slowly fade away rather than last on the glass. The aroma is roasted grains, with some coffee. It actually reminds me of the stout I just put into bottles a couple weeks ago, which might not necessarily be a good thing.

The roasted notes from the aroma are also present in the flavor, although they aren't quite as noticeable as I was expecting. Most of what I'm getting is a bitter roasted coffee, with not much complexity going on. The beer is very carbonated for a stout (which is like a moderate carbonation), and finishes slightly bitter and turns into a bready aftertaste.

Final thought - This beer is not bad, but there are just too many other great stouts out there for it to get a regular place in my fridge. I have to stick to the classics. And try new things, I suppose, since this poor blog will stagnate if I don't.

-Jon

Double IPA

Beer Name: Double IPA
Brewery: The People's Pint
ABV: 7.8%
Serving method: 12-oz draft in a snifter
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

My phone refuses to recognize the word "snifter" as being a legitimate word. This thing needs a "Yes, this is a word and stop changing it to 'sniffer' every time" button. Admittedly, that name could use some work.

The Double IPA is a seasonal beer from The People's Pint. It arrived in its snifter as a amber-orange beer with just a little bit of head on top. This faded away fairly quickly, but did its best to cling to the sides in a heavy lacing pattern. Sadly, it was not very successful, but I believe that is because the glass was not properly rinsed as I was picking up just a very faint soapy flavor. We can talk about how soapy flavors in a beer can arise from either improper rinsing or over-fermentation, but that's really a topic for another day and another blog (like Mmmm, brewing, which I am trademarking right now). Bottom line is that without a properly cleaned glass, there isn't going to be any lacing, which is what happened here. On the other hand, the aroma of this beer is a super strong citrus hop, and it's fantastic.

Had this beer's flavor lived up to the aroma, it would probably be a new favorite. Alas, this was not to be. The beer has a pretty good flavor, but not as awesome as the aroma. It's not as citrusy as the aroma had led me to expect, and it could use just a little more maltiness for balance. As it is, there is a lot of bitterness without much flavor behind it at the end of each sip. Fortunately, the aftertaste is pretty mellow, so it doesn't drive you away. The light carbonation works well for this beer.

Final thought - This beer gets an A+ for aroma, but only a borderline B- in execution. I really should give it another try in my own glassware just to see what was going on in the soap department, so I'll keep an eye out for it at Ye Olde Package Store, aka Ryan & Casey's.

-Jon

Lucky U

Beer Name: Lucky U IPA
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 6.2%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I picked up this mix-pack of beers a while back, but there wasn't room in the fridge for it so I hid it away out of the light. Now that I've finally cleared some space, it's time to hit these 4 beers from Breckenridge.

Lucky U is a hazy beer, somewhere between orange and light brown in color. It poured with slightly less than a finger of head, which faded away pretty quickly but left a bit of lacing behind. There is a nice hop aroma, but there's also a whole lot of malt (for an IPA) as well. It's very citrusy from the hops, and the malts have an appealing sweetness.

The flavor of this beer is surprisingly mild after the aroma. There are some nice hop flavors, but they are not overly strong and the bitterness is very low. There's a light maltiness to each sip as well. I was a little bit sad that it wasn't as citrusy as the aroma had led me to expect, but there was still enough hoppiness to keep my tongue happy. The beer has a good carbonation, and only a light aftertaste.

Final thought - This is a nice drinking IPA. The hop flavors are very muted for an IPA, so I could see drinking a few of these without my palette suffering from a hop overload, which sometimes happens with the more hop-forward beers. I would enjoy having this beer again.

-Jon

Cadillac Mountain Stout

Beer Name: Cadillac Mountain Stout
Brewery: Bar Harbor Brewing Company
ABV: 6.7%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Kate wants to go to Bar Harbor for a vacation. Since there is a brewery there, I'm up for it. We could do a mini Maine beer tour.

Cadillac Mountain Stout is a limited release, so it might be tough to find. This is a very black beer, all the way to the edges. It poured with a small head that faded away pretty quickly, leaving only a faint lacing behind for the first glass but a heavy amount for the rest of the bottle. Maybe it needed a little bit of moisture on the glass for the lacing to stick. There is a big roasted dark chocolate aroma here, which is pretty great.

The flavor here is very roasted, mostly chocolate although there is something else happening as well. Sort of like a grainy flavor, but with toast notes. Whatever it is, it seems to be working, as the beer is easy drinking. There is a only a low carbonation to this beer, so it's very smooth. A very light bitterness shows up for the finish, but the aftertaste is sweet and malty.

Final thought - There isn't anything that really stands out about this beer, but the whole thing is very delicious. It's like a basketball team where even though there isn't a superstar, they manage to keep winning games. This beer works well with food, but it's even better on its own where there isn't anything else to mess with its flavors.

-Jon

Lubrication

Beer Name: Lubrication
Brewery: Clown Shoes
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on:

While I was reading up on this beer, I found a link about people who thought that it looked like there was a wang on the label because the robot on the label is holding a gasoline nozzle at its waist. Which reminds me that people are stupid and I hate them. So much...

Lubrication is a very dark beer. In the glass, it's basically solid black, but as it pours, you can pick out some ruby highlights if the light is right. It had a finger of fairly thick head that faded away in a few minutes, leaving a moderate lacing pattern behind. The aroma is roasted hops, which is an odd combination. It's probably more likely roasted malts behind the hops, but the only part of the malt I'm getting is the roasted part. This could be because I am brewing beer right now, and the malts in that one are super roasted smelling. Or possibly I burnt them. The point is, there is a serious roasted aroma going on right now.

The first sip is very good, and then the rest start going downhill. At first, there is a nice balance between the hops and the malt, and it's nice. Then the hop flavor sort of disappears, and the malt takes over. Normally this wouldn't be a major issue, but the malt flavor is a little too smokey, and it really dominates everything else. And not in a good way. The beer has light-to-moderate carbonation, and it finishes with a little bitterness. In a strange twist, the hops that disappeared earlier show up very faintly in the aftertaste.

Final thought - It starts off well, but all good things come to an end I suppose. This would be a good beer at a brewers' festival, as I think a few ounces would be delightful.

-Jon