Irish Setter Red

Beer Name: Irish Setter Red
Brewery: Thirsty Dog Brewing Company
ABV: 5.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Thirsty Dog has lots of beers with dog breed names. I don't really know what red ales are supposed to taste like, but hopefully this is better than Killian's.

Irish Setter Red is a reddish amber beer that poured without much head or lacing. The whole thing seems like it's a fairly thin beer, which can be ok. The aroma is malty along with a sweet breadlike scent. There's also a sourish smell. Nothing in the hop department at all, which predicts a flavor without any bitterness.

The flavor of the beer is a combination of sweet caramel malt flavors along with some graininess and sour fruits. It starts off sweet, and has a sour-sweet finish. It ends fairly cleanly, without much of an aftertaste. This beer is very lightly carbonated, and is pretty smooth.

Final thought - Maybe it's the beer, or maybe it's the style, but this just isn't for me. There's nothing really wrong with it, but I just need more as far as the hops go. I'll stick with their Raspberry Ale, or that ridiculously strong stout I tried at the package store. This is better than Kilian's Irish Red though, so it's got that going for it.

-Jon

Raspberry Ale

Beer Name: Raspberry Ale
Brewery: Thirsty Dog Brewing Company
ABV: 3.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This brewery is not new, but it's new to being distributed in this area. Or at least that's what the guy conducting the beer tasting said. I haven't seen it before, so I'll take his word for it.

Thirsty Dog's Raspberry Ale is a light golden colored beer. Since it's a fruit beer, it had a little bit of head when it poured, but it was gone almost immediately. The aroma is, as you would probably expect, raspberries mostly. It also has some light malt aromas, and nothing in the hops department. Everything is pointing to a sweet tasting beer.

The beer's flavor is dominated by raspberries. It tastes like actual raspberries though, and not like raspberry candy, so it's not sickeningly sweet. There's also some light malt flavors, but they're much fainter than the raspberry. The beer has a light carbonation, and just a little too much of a sweet aftertaste. It finishes with a nice raspberry flavor, but then it hangs around on the front of the tongue slightly too long. I can live with it though.

Final thought - For a raspberry beer, this is fantastic. It tastes more like real raspberries than artificial fruit flavors like a lot of fruit beers do. It's also low in alcohol. If this stuff is around this summer and is a reasonable price, I am going to be spending a lot of time with these and the hammock.

-Jon

B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher

Beer Name: B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout
Brewery: Hoppin' Frog Brewery
ABV: 9.4%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Ok, first off, the bottle had a frog drinking on it. Second, the name was B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher. Finally, it was an oatmeal stout. There was no way I was going to be able to pass this beer up.

B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher is a solid black beer that poured with a very thin layer of head that was pretty much gone before the first sip. It looks like a glass of dark velvet, and will hopefully be super smooth. Not much lacing here. The aroma is deep roasted chocolate with a mixture of alcohol in there. I suppose that at 9.4%, this beer is going to pack a punch.

This beer has lots of nice flavors going on, with coffee and chocolate as the dominant ones. Both of them have a little bitterness, and there's also some sweet fruity flavors that balance it out. Also there's a touch of alcohol in there as well, although it's probably going to be too much for some people. I'm not really getting much in the way of oatmeal though. The beer has a very light carbonation, which I think works well for it. Anything too much more would probably contrast unfavorably with the other flavors.

Final thought - If you only kind of like stouts, pass on this one. This beer is strictly for the stout fans, as it is a heavy beer that hits you like a brick. Maybe two bricks. Not like a ton of bricks though, as I believe that may leave you in a state of being not-alive. If you are a stout person though, you'll probably enjoy this one. I'd give it a few minutes to mellow out. It lets a lot more flavor come through.

-Jon