Brewer : Yazoo Brewing Company (Tennessee)
Style : Altbier
ABV : 5.5%

From time to time I'll get a phone call from a friend who says "Dude, I'm at a bar in (random state) and I'm drinking this beer that you got to try." My first response is always "Rock on" and my second would be "Why don't you bring me back some?" They'll pause and then say "OK, how do I do that?" Then I'll walk them threw the process of packing it in their suitcase and blah blah blah. This beer came about from one of those stories. My friend Hayes was in Tennessee, doing God knows what, and decided that I need to try this beer. I'm always down to try something completely random, that's one of the most fun parts about being a beer geek. OK, on with the review


The appearance is light and transparent with a brownish color and thin off white foam head. The aroma is somewhat nutty and malty but nothing too big sticks out. Has good carbonation but not really any head retention. The flavors and aromas were pretty mild and nothing got me too excited about this one, but I'm not complaining. It was a random adventure that I'd take any day, or weekend, of the year. 


Grade C

Weyerbacher Fourteen

Brewer : Weyerbacher Brewing Co. (Pennsylvania)
Style : Barley Wine
ABV : 11.8%


I've know for a while now about what beers I like to reach for first. Usually my first instinct is to grab a Imperial Stout or Porter, or if I'm lucky enough, a good Pumpkin Ale. But I'm also slowly starting to find out what I'm not too partial towards. One would be Barley Wines, quickly followed by Scotch Ales. Now I'll drink just about anything, don't get me wrong, but the thing about Barley Wines is that they tend to be just a little too heavy for my palate. I enjoy a big beer just as much as the next beer geek,  but there's just something about  Barley Wines I can't seem to stomach. Who knows? Perhaps I just haven't had the right one yet, or the one that's blown me  away. With that  being said, here's today's review on the Weyerbacher Fourteen.


Picked up this 12oz bottle on my most recent trip to Orlando. Found it sitting right next to the Fifteen so I went for both. Poured into my Delirium snifter glass it has a brown color with reddish tints. The head was thin and quite bubbly, and it left a good amount of lacing around the rim. The aromas were quite fruity, very similar to a Belgian, but with a spicy kick to it. With the ABV being at 11.8% it felt a little heavy on the mouth/palate, but didn’t kill the flavors. Had an almost sticky taste to it, and even a little chewy. I wasn’t blown away, but it was still a decent find.

Grade B

 

Beer For Boobs

Greetings fellow beer readers. Before I begin today's review I'd like to take a brief moment and mention the fact that Pizza Fusion, off of Sunrise and Federal, will be hosting a charity event tomorrow night. The event is Beer For Boobs. Every dollar spent on draft beer will go to the Shaun Foley Foundation to help fight breast cancer. I hear that there will be some good beer on draft, such as Magic Hat #9, Left Hand Milk Stout,Dogfish 60 minute, and Shipyard Export Ale.
So if your in the area between 6 - 9pm stop in and have a pint of some good craft beer and help fight breast cancer. 

Now for today's review...........................

Brewer : Brasserie de la Senne / de Zenne Brouwerij
Style : Sour/Wild Ale
ABV : 8.5%


This one was brought in by my good friend Phil (The Ferm) from www.dosbeerigos.com
to a recent tasting. I was told that this was pretty rare and it was a sour. Since I'm down for both sours and rare beers I was pretty excited to try it. Like a lot of the sours that I had that day this one held a lot of good fruit qualities and tartness. The thing that I'm finding out the  most about sours are that even if the carbonation is high or low it still delivers a good punch of flavor. Whereas if you get a big Imperial stout, such as the double barrel aged Marshal Zukhov stout from Cigar City,  the carbonation is really low and the flavors might not jump out at you right away, I know it didn't for me. This beer warmed me up to  the pit of my stomach, literally. I sipped  it and felt a burning sensation to the pit of my stomach. Nothing super intense, but just enough to say "Wake Up you wimp!!".
Really enjoyed this beer, simply put. 


Grade A

Mikkeller 10

Brewer : Mikkeller (Denmark)
Style : IPA
ABV : 6.9%

So this Mikkeller obsession just wont seem to quite, and I'm sure  that you the reader must be getting bored of listening to me write on and on about how much I  love this brewery,  or  lack there of I should. He, Mikkel Borg Bjergs, is a gypsy brewer, which means he travels around to other full scale breweries and they allow  him to brew his beers there. So he has no real brewery of his own, but all his beer are amazing to say the least. That being said this beer that I'll be reviewing today sort of let me down a little. 
Mikkeller 10 is an IPA made with 10 different type of hops, which are:
warrior, simcoe, centennial, cascade, chinook, amarillo, nelson sauvin, nugget, tomahawk, east kent golding.
Now that would normally excite me, but the beer itself was a little hard to swallow. Poured into my glass there was an explosion of hoppy aromas. There seemed to be a lot of foam, but that could have been from me pouring a little like a jack ass. There also seemed to be a lot of lacing around the rim. The flavors however seemed to be all over the place. I had somewhat of a difficult time pinning the flavors down. It seemed like a big ball of hops with a little bit of citrus notes. 
I enjoyed the beer, as I do most Mikkeller beers, but this one just sort of confused me a little. 


Grade C+

Mondays....meh

Mondays totally blow, I know I know, but there is some good news. Monday night football, and of course there's Coffee District's Beer Meet Up, which I'm never a part of, sadly,  for two reasons: 
1. I don't get out of work on time for it
2. I don't drink beer on the week days (Actually no drinks Sunday-Thursday)

I have my own reasons, and everyone does, for hating Mondays. Mine is the fact that I have to go downtown to take a Biology Lab. Now the class itself isn't too bad, but I hate science and I'm terrible at it. Adderall would most certainly help. Maybe it's a bad case of ADD, or just the fact that  I can't grasp the concept of Prophase, Anaphase, molecules, and enzymes. Who knows?

Anyways, I do a majority of my beer tasting on Saturdays while watching football, but I didn't get to any real beer drinking this Saturday because Friday was a late night of Delray fun, and I didn't get too much sleep. I awoke just fine Saturday and even strolled around Total Wine and picked up a few bottles, but all I could muster was a bottle of La Roja.

So here's what I got:

Brewer : Jolly Pumpkin (Michigan)
Style : Sour/Wild Ale
ABV : 7.2%

I got this one in a recent local trade with Ed Roberts , who you may or may not know, is the sexiest man in craft beer. The rumors are true. Believe the hype ladies and gentlemen. 
I've acquired a new found love for sours recently so this was a treat. I was a little hesitant at first because when I bought Bam Noir by Jolly Pumpkin I hated it. But now, knowing what to expect, I dove in with great expectations. 
The flavor and taste are pretty intense with a good amount of fruity funk to it. The color is almost a dark red with a light off white foamy head. This is an amazing beer. I shared it with my buddy Pat who took a sip and turned to me with a smile on his face. "Sour ah?" was his response. He seemed to really enjoy it, as did I. The only thing that would have made it better was if the Florida Gators had been playing, but I guess that will have to be next week when they play Georgia. 

Grade A

Tales of a 27th Birthday

So in wake of last night's birthday celebration for myself and my brother today's entry will be less of a blog per say and more of a recap of last night's events, and how things got a little out of hand.

I got out of work at 6pm, which is a little early for a Friday but I wasn't complaining in the slightest, for I knew good things were awaiting me in Delray. I got back to my place and quickly went for the beer fridge to grab a Cottonwood Pumpkin beer. 

It was quite tasty but my palate has matured since I've taken my first sip of Dogfish Punkin many moons ago, so I wasn't blown away by this one. It had subtle hints of pumpkin and spice,  but nothing really blew me away.
So after waiting for about an hour for my girlfriend Kim to get ready we jumped on 95 and headed to Delray for our 8:30 meet up with my brother Andy and my sister Natalie. We were delayed in route however when we hit Sample and the two right lanes were blocked by god knows what. I quickly decided to avert the delay that lay in our path and get off 95. Long story short we got to Tryst with a little bit of time to spare. 
Dinner was lovely, we munched on finger foods pretty much, shrimp,fish tacos etc and had a few drinks. I got a glass of Dogfish Punkin and after polishing that off fairly quickly turned my attention towards the Humidor IPA from Cigar City. It's been well over a year since I've first tried this beer and it's still has good as I remembered. Lucky for me this time I had friends and family there to help finish the bottle. 

 I dipped  out of Tryst around 10pm to hurry down to Coffee District to  meet up with Phil (The Ferm) and Kelly (CervezaChica) for some post dinner drinks. Phil quickly pulled me aside and handed me a bottle of Dogfish Wrath of Pecant as a gift. Anyone who knows me well enough should know that a bottle a beer as a gift is a sure fire way of getting the job done right, so thanks Phil and Kelly for the gift, I can't wait to try it. 
So after establishing and setting up camp at Coffee District my party began to arrive. I decided to go right for the goods and pull out a bottle of Mikkeller Chipotle Porter.

This beer was less of a porter and more of BBQ in a bottle. The aroma was smoky and spicy, as was the taste. The pour was super dark with a thin brown bubbly head to it. Needless to say I was hooked on the thing, but quickly spread the love around and  poured some for everyone.
Next in line was The Greater Pumpkin by Heavy Seas.

 This one I've been looking forward to trying for quite some time. I've had a lot of pumpkin beers this year but never one that was aged in bourbon barrels. In one small word: Awesome. Hopefully more breweries will catch on to this bourbon barrel/pumpkin thing. 
The aroma was super sweet and pumpkiny. I got a little bit of bourbon in the aroma was well, but nothing too overpowering. Good amount of cinnamon and spice to keep intrigued throughout the entire glass. 
I many other great beers that night, 09 Double Bastard and Buried The Hatchet, but what I really loved the most, or the highlight of the night I should say, goes to Brian and Andy singing some sort of duet. I don't know the name of the song, and it's probably best that I don't, but it was one of the funnies things I've seen in a long while. 

 We capped off the night with a few drinks at Falcon House, actually I had already begun to drink water because my friends was on the verge of puking up dinner, which they did eventually. 
Needless to say it was a great night. One for the books. Good friends. Good Beer. Good Times. 

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

So it's my 27th Birthday today.. woohoo!!!!!. I'm currently listening to the new podcast over at www.unitedwedrink.com so why aren't you? The guest they have on doesn't seem to know jack about  beer though,  someone needs to unplugged his mic ASAP (I'm just being a little facetious of course). 
It was a lot of fun hanging out with Mike and Phil and hopefully we can get together again real soon for another episode. So anyways...My birthday is here and I plan on having some dinner at Tryst in Delray tonight with some family and friends, then heading over to Coffee District to share some beers with Phil (The Ferm) and Kelly (CervezaChica).

So if  your in the Delray area tonight I'd love to meet up with you for  a drink at Coffee District. I'll probably be there around 9:30pm.


OK, on with the beer reviews. Today's beer is especially special because of it's rarity in the beer trading market. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with a bunch of beer lovers from the South Florida community and share some beers from our cellars. This beer was brought in by a gentlemen named Chris, darkguardian on ratebeer.com if your interested, and I had heard of it but didn't know how rare it really was till after the fact. Needless to say it was amazing. We only poured little samples to go around, but from what I was able to taste it totally blew me away. 


Brewer : Port Brewing/Lost Abbey (California)
Style : Sour/Wild Ale
ABV : 7%

It's extremely tart and fruity. Good amount of lemon and zest seem really prevalent in the aroma and flavor as well. You take one sit and your cheeks really pucker a great deal. The color is almost yellow, with holds some  goldish tints to it. I remember taking the first sip and having it burn a little on the way down, deep down to the pit of my stomach. That burn was "the sickness and the cure"(dogfish slang). I was pretty much hooked on. It was great, but what made  it even better was the fact that  I got to share the experience with some good beer friends and that's what it's all about people. 

Friday is just around the corner

Before I get into a review here I'd  like to give a big thanks to my friends Phil (The Ferm) and Mike from www.unitedwedrink.com for having me on the podcast last night. We shared some laughs and had a good discussion about blogging and of course the beer community here in South Florida. Both Phil and Mike have their own sites, which you can check out here
www.dosbeerigos.com 
www.mikelovesbeer.com 

The podcast will be available on Friday morning, so please check it out and let them know your thoughts, whether they be good or bad. 


Smuttynose Robust Porter

Brewer : Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire)
Style : Porter
ABV : 5.7%


I passed on this beer for quite some time now, don't really know why exactly, because I actually really love porters. I'm just gonna blame  it on laziness. It should be available at most Total Wines and a few select Crown's in the  Ft. Lauderdale area. 


12oz bottle. Clean pour into my Cigar City snifter. Thin, beige bubbly head, but quickly fades and disappears. The aroma isn’t super strong, but I got hints of dark chocolate and coffee. The taste is just like the aroma, chocolate, coffee, and barley. Good amount of carbonation. Very tasty.

Smuttynose has a lot of great beers that are available down here, and are relatively cheap, by craft beer standards. They are usually one of the breweries that  I'll recommend to someone who is just getting into craft beer. 


Grade - B

Mikkeller Black Hole Barrel Aged Edition (Bourbon)

Brewer : Mikkeller (Denmark)
Style : Imperial Stout
ABV : 13.1%


Mikkeller....not again. Oh yes it is guys!!! It's not going anywhere, so get use to it. I have to give a shot out to my beautiful, loving, caring girlfriend Kim who brought this one back from NY for me. How great a present is that. Maybe I should have her rate a few beers. That might be interesting. 


This one, from the first whiff, has a big nose of bourbon and coffee. The other aromas, such as honey and chocolate (dark chocolate) are in there as well, but the bourbon and coffee definitely take center stage on this one. Now with that being said, I expected the first sip to be almost harsh on the palate, with the aroma being somewhat overpowered by bourbon, but much to my surprise it was incredibly smooth and easy to drink. I’m not gonna get super technical about every detail, I’m just gonna say it’s a great beer. The carbonation isn't  super  intense, but that's what I've come to expect from good imperial stouts. A gentleman's drink, that's for sure.


Grade A

Mikkeller Green Gold

Brewer : Mikkeller (Denmark)
Style : IPA
ABV : 7%


I should  have posted this rating last week but somehow it just  slipped. With Mikkeller so high on my list of beers to try I was excited to try this one. A lot of their IPA's are awesome so I was expecting a chalk full of flavor and hops, which is what I got.


12oz bottle poured into a Delirium snifter. The color is a mix between copper and gold. Has a nice thick, bubbly, fluffy head with amazing retention. Has a good amount of citrus hops in the aroma, along with grapefruit and tangerine. A lot more fruity notes then I was expecting. The flavors are a mix of bitter, sweet and tart. Lingers pretty long on the tongue and palate for some time. A really enjoyable beer.


Grade A

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Brewer : Matt Brewing Company (New York)
Style : Pumpkin Ale
ABV : 5.4%


Today is a little hectic but I just wanted to give a quick review on this Pumpkin Beer from Saranac. If you know me  well  enough then you know I jump at the chance to get my hands on as many different pumpkin beers as I can. This one was picked up at Total Wine is actually quite good. Anyways I'm running out of time.


I don’t see why this one is rated so low on www.ratebeer.com.  I suppose there's just a lot of pumpkin beer haters out there and that's a shame. It’s got a lot of the good elements I look for in a pumpkin beer. The aroma is spicy and full of pumpkin character, with hints of cinnamon. The taste/mouth feel isn’t super heavy, which makes it for a good enjoyable beer that doesn’t loose any excitement. The carbonation and head retention hold their own, while flavors don’t seem to fade whatsoever. Perfect for  the cooler nights that await us. 


Grade B

Unibroue 17

Brewer : Unibroue (Canada)
Style : Belgian Strong Ale
ABV : 10%


If it wasn't for websites like beeradvocate.com or ratebeer.com I probably would have never gotten so involved in craft beer, or had  the opportunity to taste such great beer. I was a ratebeer guy for a long time, and I still am a devote user of the site, but I just find the trading aspect of beeradvocate much more user friendly, that's how I was able to land this bad boy. It's sort of a crazy how things on the site work, from an outsider perspective anyway. You list a beer that you want, and then make contact with someone who has access to it. Work out the fine details and before you know it your  pouring that delicious sought after beer into your glass. But I seem to be getting off track here. Anyway my point being that beeradvocate.com has helped me land many great beers in my short time on the site, and this is just one of those examples. 


Big thanks to SFLPunk for hooking me up with this one, and to DosBeerigos as well for getting us in contact in the first place. Poured into my Delirium snifter glass it had a dark red color with a good amount of foam, somewhat thick and bubbly. The aroma was almost a little too sweet for my liking, sugar, dried fruits, and yeasty. Flavors were somewhat wild and tart, with hints of apple and raisins. The carbonation was pretty intense, as was the head retention. I'm glad that I had friends to share this bottle with, because it was my last  drink of the night and more then one glass probably would have pushed me over  the edge. Had a good amount of funk to it as well. Not a bad beer from our neighbors up in Canada.


Grade B

Southern Star Pine Belt Pale

Brewer : Southern Star Brewing Co. (Texas)
Style : American Pale Ale
ABV : 6.3%


Got as an extra in my most recent trade. Another beer that may,  or may not, change people’s mind about beer’s in cans. I was excited to try it, because I didn’t know what to expect. The color was brown with light gold tints to it and thin bubbly head. The retention, however, wasn’t too great, as it quickly disappeared. The carbonation was pretty good, but  I  honestly didn't pay too much attention to it. The aromas of earthy, resiny hops didn’t really blow my away, just because of the fact that it didn’t come right out and hit me in the face like a lot of the beers I've had lately. The flavors were a little bit on the bland side, but still somewhat of an enjoyable, drinkable beer. Overall I liked it, but didn't love it. This  could probably pass as an OK session beer.


Grade C

Mikkeller Single Hop Tomahawk IPA

Brewer : Mikkeller (Denmark)
Style : IPA
ABV : 6.9%


I never get tired of tasting Mikkeller beers. They just never disappoint. I've been trying to get my hands on a lot of the "Single Hop" series beers, which are all IPA's. I was really happy to be able  to find a good majority of these beers in central Florida and maybe one or two down here in South Florida. Hopefully in the next few months when I travel to North Carolina and California I'll be able to find a few more. 


Dark brown pour with orange tints to it. Leaves a thin oily lacing around the rim. Has a thin bubbly beige head, somewhat thin but the retention is pretty stellar. You get hit with a large amount of hops up front and then as it warms up a bit you get more of a citrus/grapefruit presence. Has a nice bitter bite to it as well. The carbonation is stellar as well. Overall a great IPA.


Grade A

Smuttynose Baltic Porter

Brewer : Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire)
Style : Baltic Porter
ABV : 8.7%


I'm always excited to try a beer that isn't available in South Florida. Smuttynose is available in a lot of stores down here, but some of their beers, especially the "Big Beer" series beers, are a little harder to come by. So I was thrilled when I received this as an extra in a trade a few months  back. I'm a big fan of darker beers, porters, stouts, etc, so this was especially exciting for me. 


 Bottle from the 2009 vintage. This has to be one of the blackest, thickest porters I’ve seen in a long time. From the first pour, the color is jet black and pretty thick, syrup like thick. The aromas were full of chocolate with roasted hop character to it. The head was somewhat thin and sparse, but a pretty brown color. The head retention wasn’t too impressive, and the carbonation wasn’t too strong, but for a porter I won’t complain. Many of the flavors held roasted qualities and it was a great beer to share with friends. I remember the taste being a sticky on my mouth and maybe even a little chewy. This bottle being from 2009 I'm sure that many of the flavors have matured over time.

Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout

Brewer : Souther Star Brewing Co. (Texas)
Style : Stout
ABV : 8.25%


"A can?" That was the response I got from my brothers girlfriend when I pulled this one out of my cooler. Contrary to popular belief, most of which are by non craft beer drinkers, good beer can come from a can and this one is a shining example. My first big "wow" beer that came from a can was Oskar Blues Ten Fidy. That just  knocked me out of my chair. This one is a very close second in my opinion. Here's my remarks, verbatim....




Got in a recent trade, but I didn’t know what to expect. I had read that this was a great beer and that a lot of people said it was good, but I just sort of went for it on a whim and I’m really glad that I did. After trying Ten Fidy I’m not scared of Stouts, or any beer for that matter, out of a can. The aroma is full of chocolate and roasted malts. The color is jet black with a thin brown, bubbly head to it. The taste is super smooth with chocolate, malt, and roasted nut flavors, and just a little bit of coffee bitterness on the back end. All the flavors seem to work in harmony really well. The ABV is masked amongst the flavors very well. Carbonation is on point and the head retention is outstanding. 


Grade A

Bison Organic Gingerbread Ale

Brewer : Bison Brewing Company (California)
Style : Spice/Herb/Vegetable
ABV : 6.8%


It's not Christmas yet, hell Halloween hasn't even happened yet, but the summer season is starting to fade and I can walk outside in the morning and not be drenched in sweat in 5 minutes. So that must mean that Fall is just around the corner. And what 3 holidays do I look forward to the most? Halloween for the utter madness and the fact that women walk around in sexy outfits. Thanksgiving for the gross display of gluttony and football. And Christmas for the gifts. Now Halloween has it's pumpkin beers, and Thanksgiving has it's harvest beers, but what about Christmas. Well in my opinion that title would go to Gingerbread beers. OK, so there are a  good amount of "Christmas" beers, but not with the entire focus being primarily on the gingerbread flavor. I think that this beer is a great example of what a gingerbread beer should taste like. 


This one has a great aroma to it. Ginger, herbs, cinnamon, and spice, it pretty much contains every nuance that makes people think of Christmas. The color is dark brown, almost like a porter,  but  isn't super thick. The carbonation is alive and well. All of the flavors are blended very well amongst each other, I wouldn't say that there is any one flavor that dominates the group. The ABV, at 6.8% is just about right to keep you warm on a winters night, even though we don't  too many of those in Florida. 


Grade B

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Wild Ale

Brewer : Lagunitas Brewing Company (California)
Style : Belgian Ale
ABV : 8.8%



First off I'd like to  thank Dosbeerigos and MikeLovesBeer over at Unitedwedrink.com for  the shot out and plug on today's episode. If you haven't checked these guys out head over to www.unitedwedrink.com  and listen to their web episodes. It will get you  caught up  on everything in the craft beer community that pertains to South Florida. Cheers guys.

With the world "wild" in the name you’d expect the aroma/taste to be a little exotic. Well I wouldn’t say that it’s exotic but it is a great beer non the less. It’s almost like a DIPA, with it’s hoppy,malty, grapefruit aroma and bitter,piney taste, but it’s most impressive quality has to be it’s appearance. The pour was dark orange with brownish tints and a very bubbly head. Not too thick , not too thin. The carbonation is pretty spot on, as is the head retention. Pretty intense and flavorful.

Grade B

Hoppin Frog Masters Abbey Belgian Style Double IPA

Brewer : Hoppin Frog Brewery (Ohio)
Style : Imperial/Double IPA
ABV : 8.5%


Another brewery that’s high on my list, Hoppin Frog seems to deliver every time. This is another that was from the fine Charleston Beer Exchange establishment. Poured into my Dogfish snifter glass I got spicy notes, along with a hoppy/tangerine mix as well. The color was on the lighter side, but still had nice goldish tints and a very thick foam head to go with it. I expected the mouth feel to be more on the heavy side, with this being a DIPA, but I was super surprised to find that it was light and very easy to drink. So much so that I started to hand it around to everyone in the room to try. Everyone, even the non beer drinkers, really seemed to enjoy this beer. This could be used as a good started beer for non craft beer drinkers.

Grade B

Mikkeller Yeast Series: Hefeweizen

Brewer : Mikkeller (Denmark)
Style : IPA
ABV : 8%


The Mikkeller kid is at it again. Scored another very tasty brew from Mikkeller via the  great people up at the  Charleston Beer Exchange. Here's the notes I took, verbatim. 


Another Mikkeller beer and a very excited beer lover waiting anxiously to try it. This one was made possible from the great people up at the Charleston Beer Exchange. I have to get up there one day to see their fine establishment. I was sort of confused when I opened the bottle, poured it into my Dogfish snifter glass, and got a big whiff of hops. Seeing the word hefenweizen on the bottle I expected a more citrus/fruity aroma to, but being a IPA lover I wasn’t disappointed in the least. The color was a very dark gold with brown tints. The aroma, as I mentioned before, was very hoppy with citrus/grapefruit notes as well. The carbonation was excellent, as was the head retention. With a ABV at 8% it’s not too big and not too small, just at the perfect place where you could have a few and still be satisfied.

Grade A

Duck Rabbit Imperial Stout

Brewer : The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Style : Imperial Stout
ABV : 10%




This one was an extra in my first trade. I had heard a lot about this brewery and how good it was, especially this imperial stout. I didn't take great notes on this one, but it pretty much sums it up. 


Has a pitch black pour with a super thick brown bubbly foam head. The head retention is just superb, sticks around for quite some time. The aromas I got were chocolate malts, coffee, and a little bit of honey. The taste has a medium body mouth feel to it, with a bitter-ish finish to it. From the first whiff you know exactly what it’s going to taste like. Chocolate/malts up front with a bitter finish. Very drinkable for 10% ABV, ,but probably wouldn't drink more then one. It's a little piece of  heaven.



Grade B+

Hoppin Frog Double Pumpkin

Brewer : Hoppin Frog Brewery (Ohio)
Style : Pumpkin Ale
ABV : 8.4%


With the seasons starting to change it dawned upon me that the best time to drink beer is right now. Why is that? Because pumpkin beers are in full effect. I know that some people aren't too jazzed about pumpkin beers, but they hold a special place in my heart, because it was probably the Dogfish Punkin Ale that got me interested in craft beer to begin with. So this season I'm on a mission to drink as many different pumpkin beers as I can get my hands on. I'm not sure  what the number is right now,  but once pumpkin beer season is over I'll tally up a number. But here's a good one that I shared with some friends this Saturday while watching some college football. It was a long day so here's the notes I took on this beer, verbatim. 

I might be biased towards pumpkin beers and Hoppin Frog, but this has to be one of the better pumpkin beers that I’ve tried this year. The pour is a dark brown with virtually no foam whatsoever. I was able to smell all the spices,pumpkin,nutmeg aromas from a few feet away. The flavors were pretty intense, but not super over powering. You could sip this beer comfortably and not get bored with it. My only negative comment about this beer is that I wish there was better carbonation.

 

Grade A

Taking a break from beer, only for a second though. Woodchuck Fall Cider

Brewer : Green Mountain Cidery (Vermont)
Style : Cider
ABV : 5%


Let's be real for a second here. We all need a break from beer at one point or another. If we just pounded/tasted beer all day long our palates would be shot straight to hell and we, as beer drinkers, would get burnt out pretty quickly. So why not add a little variety to our drinking experiences. I mean variety is the spice of life, is it not? With that being said I'm gonna take this opportunity to rate a cider that I picked  up at Total Wine last weekend. Don't worry though,  I'll be right back to beer in a day or two. 


This has to be one of the tastier ciders that I’ve tried. The aroma isn’t just apple, or fruity, but spicy, with hints of maple, and nutmeg, almost like a pumpkin beer. For those who haven't tried a cider,  or think that they only come in just one flavor,  you are sorely wrong my friend. You can pick up ciders that come in many different flavors. The two main flavors that  ciders come in would have to be  apple  and pear. Most ciders range in the ABV level of 4-6%, which makes for a very easy drink, although there  are some that top 10%,  but I can't say that I've had one of those monsters yet. 


So there  you have it. Simply put, if you need a break from  beer grab a water  or a cider to change it up a bit.