Day 98: Optimator

Name: Optimator

Brewer: Spaten

Style: Doppelbock

Alcohol Content: 7.2%


Review: I won't even pretend to keep up with this website. I'm busier than than a black lab in a buttsniffing competition. So the optimator is a dobbelbock. I'm not of a Bock guy. A little sweet for my taste. Optimator is brown and not very carbonated. Has a bit of a british hop aroma, but Bocks are all about Malt. Smooth, medium mouth feel. Initially a very sweet barley flavor that dies quickly into a smooth toastier sweet malt. It's a simple but good flavor, just not really my style. The finish gets a bit too sweet for me. I'm sure it's a decent bock, but I don't care to have one again.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? Sure. I don't care for it, but bock lovers might appreciate it.

Day 97: FYIPA

Name: FYIPA

Brewer: Mountain Sun Brewery - Boulder, CO

Style: IPA

Alcohol Content: ?%


Review: I think I know why I forgot to review Mountain Sun for so long. I got pretty fucking hammered that night. I think I may have also tried the Ten Fidy and one of the Lost Abbey brews this same evening. They also say that the higher elevation can make the effects of alcohol feel even greater. I'm trying to decipher what I wrote, but it's a mishmash of information. I also accidentally checked Beer Advocate before writing this review. All in all, my reviews were pretty dead on with the general public. The one major difference was that I enjoyed the Annapurna Amber much more than most people. As for the FYIPA, again I agreed with the general public. In short, it's fantastic. The aroma just screams with super super fresh hops. When you drink the FYIPA at the brewery, I don't think it gets any fresher. I can't remember much about the experience of this beer, or the finish. All I know, is that I deinitely enjoyed it.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES

Day 93-96: Mountain Sun Sampler

Name: Mountain Sun Sampler

Brewer: Mountain Sun Brewery - Boulder, CO

Style: Various

Alcohol Content: Various


Review:Let's try something new. Because I have a number of average beers to review, I'll consolidate it into one entry. I'm trying to publish some work right now and finding that I have a lot to say... a little too much. This will be a good exercise in precision and word choice.

Blackberry Wheat: Pink/Red wheat beer with a typical wheat beer aroma and some fruitiness. It has some tartness to it, but lacks some raspberry punch that I was expecting. Quite drinkable for a flavored wheat, but just not what I was hoping for.

3/5

Claymore Scotch Ale: Dark Brown beer with low carbonation. Some dark toffee notes appear in the aroma. It goes down smooth with a bitter toasty flavor. It's not particularly great at anything though. Just ok.

2.5/5

Isadore Java Porter: Another dark beer, but with a thick creamy head because of the nitrous tap. I need to experiment with nitrous. It adds HP to your engine and thickens the head on your beer. It probably also does your homework, calls your girlfriend, takes out the garbage, gets you high, and makes slap bracelets cool again. The Isadore has a strong coffee aroma. Something I wouldn't have really appreciated about 3 or 4 years ago, but now I rather enjoy it. I would describe the flavor as "alcoholic coffee", with a malty coffee finish. Pretty tasty

3.5/5

Quinns Golden Ale: No review. Nothing special. Light, crisp, forgetful.

2.5/5


Rating: See reviews

Recommend? Skip the Coors brewery tour and head right for Mountain Sun instead.

Day 92: Kind Ale

Name: Kind Ale

Brewer: Mountain Sun Brewery - Boulder, CO

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: ?%


Review: Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm not really sure if this is a picture of the Annapurna or the Kind Ale, so I simply used it for both reviews. The Kind Ale is the beer from Mountain Sun that really was the cat's pajamas. It had a dark amber color with medium carbonation and appeared to have a piney hop aroma. Kind of herbal. The feel was again a bit thin and watery, but it had a remarkably clean hoppy flavor. While the hops were the focus of the beer, they helped dial it back a bit with a good use of fruity malt flavor. Again, I was very impressed. I'm sure Mountain Sun's beers can vary from batch to batch, and given the excitement of being in Boulder and the freshness of the beers, my reviews may be a bit skewed. So, if you're seriously interested in corroborating my review or offering a different opinion, then please head to Boulder and try them for yourself. Props to Hemme for informing me about Mountain Sun. It was a 3 block walk away from where I was crashing for the weekend. If I left without experiencing this place I would have never forgiven myself.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? YES

Day 91: Annpurna Amber

Name: Annapurna Amber

Brewer: Mountain Sun Brewery - Boulder, CO

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 6%


Review: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. I went to Boulder, sampled a number of Mountain Sun brews and TOTALLY forgot to review them immediately. How could a commit such a reprehensible error??? I'm not sure how to count this. I tried 6 or 7 of their beers, but only really reviewed a few of them, because some were simply 'ok'. I guess if I end up short at the end of the year, I can buy an easy 4 or 5 days of beers. So, my favorite of the Mountain Sun brews was the Annapurna Amber Ale. I'm not even sure that it's their most renowned, or the highest rated per Beer Advocate (I'll check after I write this review). So obviously it's an amber colored ale with a sweet fruity malty aroma. The mouth feel was a bit thinner than I expected it to be but had a very smooth mouth feel. The flavor was simple, but very pleasant. It had a sweet full "ale" flavor with some fruitiness and a strogn hop presence to balance it out. In my opinion, an excellent ale. Definitely try this one if you can.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES

Day 90: Allagash Dubbel Ale

Name: Allagash Dubbel Ale

Brewer: Allagash Brewing Company - Portland, ME

Style: Belgian Dubbel

Alcohol Content: 7%


Review: Hi people. So I made a mid year's resolution. I will not drink another new beer until I finish reviewing all of the ones in my backlog. I seem to selfishly drink these amazing beers and fail to convey the reviews to you, my faithful two or three readers. The Allagash Dubbel: Brown colored beer with medium carbonation and a malty fruity Belgian Aroma. Good start. What follows is what appears to try and be a deep fruity caramel flavor, but ends up slightly light with an epehemeral appearance of alcohol. It finishes with the same fruitiness. Decent.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? NO. You can find plenty of great dubbels out there.

Day 89: Gonzo Imperial Porter

Name: Gonzo Imperial Porter

Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery

Style: Imperial Porter

Alcohol Content: 7.8%


Review: Apparently I really liked this beer. I almost forgot about it until just now. Black beer with low carbonation and strong alcoholic and toasty malt aroma. It's laden with crystal and chocolate malts as well as a ton of cascade hops. A good start. With a smooth feel and full body flavor, this is an excellent beer. The chocolate malt really shines through the most, and I detected some sort of fruity sweetness. It was probably derived somehow through the combination of malts, but it certainly creates a good complexity to what can typically be a more bitter combination of ingredients. Bravo

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES

Day 88: Smuttynose Robust Porter

Name: Robust Porter

Brewer: Smuttynose Brewing Co - New Hampshire

Style: Porter

Alcohol Content: 5.7%


Review: So, I'm feeling kind of drunk right now. 9 hours of work in the lab and then 4 hours of accounting class. Our midterm is on Tuesday. Geez, already. Credit this, debit that, accrue this, don't select FIFO during periods of inflation because of increased tax expenses that. In other words, I'm brain dead, and in a state of overall haziness. My beer options for tonight consisted of +8% alcohol and +16 oz beers. I selected the 26.4oz 8.5% Golden Monkey. It's Thursday, and I'm kicking ass at school/work, and it's raining for the 100000th day in a row, so I can't ride, so I deserve to celebrate. So, what's in that picture anyway? I think my woman brought food home or something and I put it on a plate. I can't tell. Where the hell did I take that photo? God I'm getting old. Oh, check this out. I started playing intramural softball for the summer. My 6'7", 200 lb labmate (aka Skelator), hit a homerun. Not to be outdown, I fired a shot into left center, rounded first, and took off for what I thought was 2nd base. With the overgrown grass I failed to see that 2nd base was actually 10 feet to my left. My cleatless shoes slipped and I effed up my leg, so now it matches my right one. I ended up settling for a triple. If ONLY that was the outcome of 9th inning, 2 out homerun that the Arkansas kid hit against UVa, in what ultimately ended up being an Arkansas win. Fuuuuuuck. Oh well, a CWS appearance is still a CWS appearance. So, you're probably wondering how the beer tasted. Before I answer that, did I mention that it is raining today? Yeah, it's been raining a lot. We're already well passed our normal precipitation for the month of June, and it's only June 18th. Ok, I'm done with my useless drunk prattle. Here's my review. I have fond memories of drinking Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale at Mellow Mushroom. I think it helped define some of the best times of my life actually. I had high hopes for the Robust Porter. Naturally, it's a low-carbonation, black beer with strong chocolate aroma and some slight coffee notes. It has a smooth thick mouth feel which give way to a rich toasty chocolate flavor with some coffee notes. I'd say that it's almost a tad bit smokey. It also leaves a toasty, slightly bitter malt flavor in the end. Pretty good. 4 stars. I went camping last weekend. We hiked a ton and feasted even more. We also smoked cigars. I don't smoke, and the cigars were strong, and I ended up losing complete use of my legs. Buzzes are weird. They can energize you, chill you out, or render you completely incapacitated. Oh, and one last thing, I recommend making this cake if you have some spare berries and a few extra minutes. The pictures are very tempting, and the final output is actually quite tasty. Give it a shot.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/05/raspberry-buttermilk-cake/

Rating: 3.75/5

Recommend? YES

Day 87: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Brewer: Sierra Nevada - Chico, CA

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.6%


Review: I'm already running short of new beers to drink. I went to my woman's birthday party and brought a new beer. These days I have to review most beers I can find, even if they are as prevalent as Sierra Nevada. In more interesting news, I wrote out an entire review of the Flying Dog Double Dog pale ale just now and completely forgot that I wrote one in January. It turned out that in my second review I upped the score from 3.5 to 4. Not to question my own measurement methods, but I just want to make people aware how much subjectivity can be involved in tasting beer. I do my best to ignore extraneous, confounding variables, but there are even days where a Dogfish 90 min or a Ten Fidy just don't hit the spot, even though they're amazing beers. As for Sierra Nevada, I don't want to spend much time talking about it, so I'll leave that to the always-clever and opinionated Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms. He also plays a bartender at some semi-upper class bar in Chicago, and is two days younger than my sister (thanks wikipedia). Here's Brendan's take on Sierra Nevada:

"…those crappy beers that are just so popular with people who think they want something off the wall, but they’re really just garbage. Blue Moon, Stella, Sierra Nevada, I’m looking in your direction. These beers are the liquid equivalent of Taco Bell. They’re gross, they’re hugely popular and technically, they’re doing something that’s “outside the bun” but it still kind of sucks. If you’re drinking this beer, look around at your friends. If they’re all drinking this shit too, you’re a bunch of dorks. If you’re the only one, they talk about you when you go pee."

For more humor, you can read Brendan's blog - Bad Sandwich Chronicles

As for the actual beer: It's a classic pale ale: medium carbonation, slightly hoppy aroma, light hoppy flavor, and a semi dry finish. That's it. The white bread of ales. Not bad, but not great.

Rating: 2.5

Recommend? NO

Day 86: Redhook ESB

Name: Redhook ESB

Brewer: Redhook Ale Brewery - Washington

Style: ESB

Alcohol Content: 5.8%


Review: You know what ESB means? I didn't really know until I looked it up right before trying this beer. It means Extra 'Special' Bitter. Maybe it's to make the beer feel better about itself, like the special olympics. Note: I think the special olympics is a great thing, but let's be honest, they'll never be able to compete against world-class athletes. I'm really curious to find out if there's a prodigy ESB out there. The Redhook cannot compete. It's an orange/red colored brew with a caramel sweet aroma and light hops aroma. Thin mouthfeel, with some sweet low-level hops, some caramel flavor and slightly bitter. Probably a decent summer brew, but nothing special. I imagine some fans of the basic domestic beers will enjoy the Redhook ESB, but I can live without it.

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? NO.

Day 85: Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Name: Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Brewer: Stone Brewing Co - San Diego, CA

Style: Imperial Stout

Alcohol Content: 10.8%


Review: "Imperial" refers to the added 'strength' of the beer. Imperial IPA, double IPA... they both are trying to tell you 'caution: really strong and really good'. Stone has a solid reputation out on the West Coast. Before I became a beer snob, I kind of snubbed this information and chalked it up to local pride. San Diego has enough great stuff to identify itself with, so I guess San Diegoans really don't have an insecurity complex or need to lie to make friends. The Stone Imperial Stout is a nice black color with a solid foamy head and medium carbonation. The aroma lets you know that this is a high-alcohol beer with chocolately toasty notes. The sooth rich mouthfeel is coupled with a notably chocolately flavor, rich lightly-toasty malt, and a residual chocolaty alcohol finish. If you can't find a Ten Fidy, the Stone Imperial Stout is your next best choice.

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES

Day 84: Westmalle Trappist Ale

Name: Westmalle Trappist Ale

Brewer: someone... - Belgium

Style: Trappist Ale

Alcohol Content: 9.5%


Review: I have not had the best experience with Trappist Ales, esp the sour ones. Westmalle is excellent however. Cloudy gold color with good head from some of the bottle fermentation. A citrusy yeasty aroma also masks some of the alcohol. The flavor is predictably citrusy and yeasty as well with a slight alcoholic bite. The alcohol content really seems to add a slight bite to the beer which I think pairs well with the rich malt. Overall very solid.

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES

Day 83: Boddingtons Pub Ale

Name: Boddingtons Pub Ale

Brewer: Boddingtons - Manchester, England

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 4.7%


Review: Judging from the photo I have no idea where I tasted this beer. It's not really worth a lengthy review. It's an amber ale with low carbonation and a mildly floral hop aroma. Smooth mouthfeel and a mildly toasty malt flavor. It was tapped on nitrous, so it piqued my intrest. Ultimately, I was not impressed.

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? NO

Day 82: Ironbound Ale

Name: Ironbound Ale

Brewer: Iron Hill Brewery - Newark, DE

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.1%


Review: First off, I must apologize. Credit for the Maudite recommendation belongs to Deb, and not Gifford (I apologize to both of you). Deb has recommended some solid beers. I never pegged her to house such great information, but I'm very impressed. So, as for the Ironbound Ale, I think I had dropped back into town from some sort of jaunt to a more exciting city and joined my old lady and her friend Anna for dinner. Iron Hill rarely impresses me with their beers, but their food is solid. So, the Ironbound Ale is your typical looking ale. Light amber color, medium carbonation, and a mildly hoppy aroma. Nothing crazy. Ironbound has a good light body with strong bitter hops, broad flavor spectrum, and some citrus notes. It's just sweet enough too to create a good balance, though the balance is not perfect. It's probably just a bit too hoppy. That's not a damming quality, but it could use a bit of refinement.

Rating: 3.75/5

Recommend? YES. In my opinion, this is Iron HIll's best offering. Chicks seem to really like the Raspberry wheat.

Day 81: Trois Pistoles

Name: Trois Pistoles

Brewer: Unibroue - Chambly Quebec

Style: Dark Beer

Alcohol Content: 9%


Review: 2 Unibroues in a row. It must be your lucky day, right? The Trois Pistoles is a del dlody brown color (surprise surprise). It hints at a deep aroma with some citrus notes. The mouth feel is thin with a little bit of tingly carbonation, but the flavor is smooth and sweet with just enough hops to balance the malt, but not overpower it. The citrus aroma I mentioned is much more apparent in the flavor. For a dark beer, it's a bit surprising that I'd compare this beer to a Belgian single with a deeper malt flavor. The finish is alcoholic with again some citrus notes. All in all pretty damn tasty.

Follow up: Beeradvocate seems to think even more highly of this beer. If they tend to sway your opinion or affect your beer purchases, then by all means, pick up some.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? YES.

Day 80: Maudite

Name: Maudite

Brewer: Unibroue - Chambly, Quebec

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Alcohol Content: 8%


Review: Shoutouts are well-deserved. I can't be sure exactly who recommended this beer to me, but I'm pretty sure it was Gifford (not Kathy Lee or Frank), THE Gifford. You might still be able to purchase your Mike Gifford All Stars T-shirt here: http://www.seibei.com/shop/
Look at that, I'm full of shout outs today. I bet Dave and Gifford are excited to get shout outs on a blog that no one reads (including them). I'm in a nostalgic mood today. I have fond memories of college, and some of the drunk things that Lugo, Gifford, others, and I used to do, as well as some of the more boring nights reading about the worst video games ever, and downloading them (http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm.htm). Drinking Maudite did nothing to help me relive any of those memories, but it did satisfy my need for a good tasty dark Belgian beer. The last couple days I had been tirelessy working on publishing my research as well as assembling my new commuter bike, so the dishes started piling up. I was left with just a glass boot in which to drink this beer. Perhaps a snifter would have been more appropriate, but I was sweaty and had grease and blood all over my hands. There's something oddly satisfying about getting dirty and sweaty. Now that you understand that state I was in, let me tell you about Maudite. I heated up some leftover pasta and prosciutto, and cracked open the Maudite. What a perfect combo. Firstly, the amber color of the beer paried well with the pasta. I took a wiff of the beer and knew I made a good selection. It was rich, with a sweet caramel spicy aroma. It was unmistakenly Belgian. It had a fairly smooth feel with medium body. I like my Belgians to have some depth in the mouthfeel. I think the bottle fermentation of the Maudite helps in that area. The mouthfeel was well-developed, as was the flavor. The flavor was sweet, dark, and slightly spicy. I'm not great with describing spiciness, but I would characterize it as a fall/winter spice character. What impressed me, was how this beer was just spicy enough to subdue some of the sweet malt, but it left a very dry finish for such a sweet beer. This made it very drinkable, and I polished it off all too quickly. On a side note, I finished my budget commuter. It's outfitted for some trail duty and basic commuting. I have some things to tweak here and there, but overall it's ready to ride. I think I built it for a shade under $500. I'm hoping it can keep my legs in tune for those days when I have no time to ride. And perhaps it'll save me a couple bucks on gas. It'll also be a good way to work off all the beers I've been drinking.






Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES. very very drinkable dark belgian/dubbel. I highly recommend it

Day 79: Hoptimus Prime

Name: Hoptimus Prime

Brewer: Legacy Brewing - Reading, PA

Style: Douple IPA

Alcohol Content: 9%


Review: What better way to kick off the summer movie season than with Hoptimus Prime. I just watched the first Transformer movie again, and anticipate a good sequel. If the plot goes sour they can just do a few closeups of Megan Fox and call it even. The Hoptimus Prime is a golden red beer that pours with a good amount of head. The aroma is sweet and hoppy, as to be expected with a strong IPA. It has a smooth mouthfeel and smooth hoppy flavor, but without much hoppy bite. There's also a small citrus caramel malt flavor that makes a short appearance. This beer is almost too smooth and too sweet for a good IPA.

BTW, some of you realize that other, more official, beer rating websites exist. The Hoptimus Prime is a good example of how those sites can influence beer ratings, thus create confounding variables. I'd like to point out that I review and rate my beers BEFORE referring to those sites to compare my ratings. The Hoptimus Prime receives roughly an average of 3.5/5 on ratebeer.com with an 89th percentile score, and a slightly-elevated A- score on beeradvocate. 99th and 100th percentile beers on ratebeer roughly correlate to an A- to A+ rating on beeradvocate.com. So, like all beer reviews, proceed with caution, and judge the beers for yourself. Besides, it's much more fun that way.

Hoptimus Prime Reviews
Rate Beer: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/legacy-hoptimus-prime/61147/69737/
Beer Advocate: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7773/31941

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? NO. Save your money for a Hop 15 or Dogfish Head 90 Min.

Day 78: Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Name: Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Brewer: Rogue Brewing Co - Oregon

Style: English Brown Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.2%


Review: Home Grown restaurant, here in Newark, does manage to choose some high quality beers. The Hazelnut Brown has a good following, but I'm not so keen on it. It's a low-carbonation brown ale with a unique weak nutty aroma. It has a smooth feel with just a small tingle. The flavor is that of a smooth brown ale, but with a very strong hazelnut flavor and a dry nutty finish. It's certainly well-brewed, but I'm not a huge fan of the hazelnut flavor. After a few sips, it became to overpowering. It paired well with my burger, but I'm not sure I would drink this one without a proper meal.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? MAYBE. It's a good beer, but it really depends if you like the hazelnut flavor.

Day 77: Orval Trappist Ale

Name: Orval Trappist Ale

Brewer: Orval - Belgium

Style: Trappist Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.9%


Review: So, take this review very lightly because I think I completely missed the point with this beer. Trappist Ales reserve that name for beers that are actually brewed by Trappist Monks. Now, imagine a sweaty trappist monk who jumped out of the shower one morning, all soaped up, and rushed downstairs to tend to his latest batch of ale. He stands, naked, delicately perched upon some open casks of ale. Sweat drips down his soapy junk sack and lands squarely in the center of the one cask of beer which will be bottled and sent to Newark, DE. One unfortunate grad student will sample this beer and curse in disgust. The Orval Trappist Ale is a highly carbonated ale which pours with incredible amounts of head. The aroma is musty and soapy. The flavor is nearly identical. Aside from a few citrus notes, this beer tastes soapy and musty. It tastes the way that rubber cement smells... just plain bad. Now some say that this could be classified as a bitter ale, and popular opinion suggests that the Orval Trappist Ale is of World Class quality( ref: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129/). If this is all true then clearly everything I knew about beer is wrong. :(

Rating: 0/5.

Recommend? I have no clue. I don't feel qualified to properly rate or recommend this beer.

Day 76: Hiver

Name: Hiver

Brewer: Fantome - Belgium

Style: Belgian Seasonal Ale

Alcohol Content: 8%


Review: Happy St Patrick's Day. I considered maybe trying to be clever and review bud light or an Irish Car Bomb, but this blog is already laden with enough humor as is, so I'll just stick to the point. Besides, the Fantome is a winter beer, which I sampled in the Spring time, and I'm finally posting it in late May. That's crazy enough to make this a somewhat ironic post. There's nothing Irish at all about the Hiver. It's another typical looking Belgian beer, but proves to be quite tasty. The color is a cloudy orange, most likely due to some yeast and bottle fermentation. From the color, I was expecting a Belgian Single flavor. The aroma also lead me to that same conclusion: spicy and citrusy. This beer came to me as a recommendation from Lugo. He's a Belgian beer fan, especially Chimay. I was a bit reluctant to have to drink a 750 mL bottle of spicy citrusy beer, but those concerns were soon quelled. I actually really enjoyed it. The flavor IS a bit spicy with a slight tartness to it and just a dash of hops. Some yeastiness also powers through. One would expect this from the cloudy appearance. Hiver does a good job of balancing the tart citrus flavor of most Belgian singles to make this a very drinkable beer. Most bad Singles leave a finish that's too tart/sour for me, and kind of kills the expereince. However, I had no problem polishing off the entire bottle of Hiver.

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES.

Day 75: Old Viscosity Ale

Name: Old Viscosity Ale

Brewer: Port Brewing Company - San Marcos, CA

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 10%


Review: I was still in my refractory period after the double beergasm I just had when I cracked open the Old Viscosity Ale. I was getting drunker by the second and perhaps a bit unable to keep my palate clean. Still, I was able to recognize the Old Viscosity Ale as an excellent beer. Here's what I can discern from my notes. It's a black, low-carbonation ale, much like motor oil (hence the name and bottle art). The aroma is straight alcohol and chocolate with a smooth mouthfeel. The alcohol flavor penetrates through the toasty choclate hoppy flavor. Overall, very very good. Again, another reason to head to San Marcos, you know, aside from the amazing weather, surfing, atmosphere, etc etc.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES

Day 74: Ten Fidy

Name: Ten Fidy

Brewer: Oskar Blues Brewery - Lyons, CO.

Style: Imperial Stout

Alcohol Content: 10%


Review: I don't know how a beer could possibly top the Hop 15, and I don't know what I did to deserve a night of amazing beers, but God was smiling down on me that day. The Ten Fidy might be the best beer I have ever tried thus far. Hands down. Ironically, the Ten Fidy is sold in cans. On the other end of the spectrum would be natty light in bottles. While the Natty should be poured directly into a toilet, be sure to pour the Ten Fidy in a glass. Don't drink it from the can or you'll miss out on part of the experience. Even though I was well on my way to being drunk, I still managed to type some coherent notes. First off, this beer is black. Manute Bol Black. Black Black. The aroma is characteristic of a stout with strong toasty coffee and chocolate notes. The mouth feel is - to quote my notes - "smooooooth". I wouldn't call this beer syrupy, rather rich and silky. The flavor is yet again of the coffee/chocolate malt style. And while most beers try to balance out the malt with some bitter hops, the Ten Fidy seems to accomplish this taste with the sheer force of alcohol. At 10%, it can certainly knock one on their ass. I'm fine with that. There's not place I'd rather beer with this beer than on my ass, chillin' on the deck, or watchin' the Cavs try and take game 4 from Orlando in the Eastern Finals. Yeah, it's only March, but I'm making a prediction that the Cavs are going to be down 3-1 to Orlando in the Eastern Finals in May. It's going to make me sad, even though I never watched NBA until Cleveland starting producing a team worth following. Ok people, once again if you find yourself out West, and you have to choose between buying the Hop 15 or the Ten Fidy I recommend buying both. If you have to make a choice however, just kill yourself because it's an impossible decision. If that's still not an option, then I'm just gonna have to give the Ten Fidy the edge as the best beer of all time (so far). It's just absolutely incredible.

Rating: 5/5

Recommend? YES.

Day 73: Hop 15

Name: Hop 15

Brewer: Port Brewing - San Marcos, CA

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 10%


Review: oh boy oh boy oh boy. The moment we have all been waiting for. Or at least the moment I have been waiting for. To paint the picture, I was two beers deep at my friend's lasagna dinner before cracking open the Hop 15. I was very very pleased. I often pursue very rich hoppy ales, so when I stumble across a very good one I get really really excited. The Hop 15 is brewed by Port Brewing Co, a sister company to The Lost Abbey (notice how they're both brewed in San Marcos CA?). Not only did these bastards set up shop in perhaps some of the prettiest landscape in the world, they also brew world-class beers. I can only hate them for not shipping their beers further East, but my hating ends there. And really, the hating only stems from jealousy. Yeah, I'm shallow like that. Anyway, the Hop 15 pours like a thick ale, with an Amber color. You can't help but notice the super strong fruity caramel malt aroma. You might even want to be cautious and waft the aroma to your nose instead of sticking your shnoz right up to the bottle. The way they taught you in High School chemestry. Or, just skip the smelling and start pounding it. The flavor is not subdued at all. It's in your face hops and malt. The balance between the two is downright perfect for me - 100% Hops + 100% Malt = 200% beer. I feel like I could fuel my car with this stuff if I was in a pinch. And the finish remains strong as well. It leaves that simple sweet hoppy flavor all over your tongue. Really, I can't describe how much I liked this beer. I seem to be fumbling for the right adjectives and metaphors today. If you're on a diet, I don't recommend this beer. I'm going to estimate the calorie count to be somewhere on the order of 350-400 calories per 12 oz bottle. Calories and flavor go hand in hand. The Hop 15 seems to pack a punch without having to resort to any esoteric brewing techniques or ingredients. That's what makes this beer great. If you happen to find yourself in LA, San Diego, or somewhere in between, then you must must must grab some pizza from pizza port and sample some of the beers. I'm not even asking you to try the Hop 15. Try any or all of their beers. You shouldn't be disappointed. Here's where you can find Pizza Port's locations

http://www.pizzaport.com/map.htm

And if you find yourself in The Pacific or Mountain time zones, then you have absolutely no excuse to not drop by the local alcohol retailer and pick up a bottle of Hop 15.

Rating: 4.75/5

Recommend? YES

Day 72: Devotion Ale

Name: Devotion Ale

Brewer: The Lost Abbey - San Marcos, CA

Style: Belgian Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.4%


Review: Oh man, TWO pictures. Yes, I posted two pictures in reference to this beer because it marked a very special moment during my trip to Boulder. Colorado State is blessed with an alcohol warehouse known as liquormart. Here you can find all of those specialty brews that are not sold east of the Mississippi. Because I did not have enough time to drink every single beer in the store I had to choose a select few. The first one that cracked open was the Devotion Ale. I was still visiting my friends, and Megan just served a delicious lasagna. I'm drooling thinking about it again. Anyway, The devotion ale has a golden orange color and lemony and slightly yeasty aroma. After pouring it into my mouth I noticed the medium and slightly-tangy mouthfeel. the flavor was smooth, citrusy, and somewhat yeasty. This makes a good golden Belgian Ale. If I had to give this beer a label other than "Belgian Ale" I'd say that it's most like a Belgian Single, much like Chimay. Singles aren't my favorite Belgian beers, but the Devotion Ale might change that.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? YES. Unless you live out west, good luck finding it.

Day 71: White Rascal

Name: White Rascal

Brewer: Avery Brewing - Boulder, CO

Style: Belgian Wheat

Alcohol Content: 5.6%


Review: I think I sampled this beer somewhere in Boulder. I had dinner with some friends of friends and they offered me this. In return I brought over a couple bottles of some tasty ass stuff, which will be reviewed very soon. The White rascal is a Belgian white, meaning there's gonna be some coriander and citrus in there. I'm not a huge fan of this style. I usually get overpowered with sweet tangy citrus. White Rascal has that medium body, tangy mouthfeel and aroma, but does a good job at balancing the sweet citrus with the spicy coriander and other ingredients. It's not so tart for a whit. It might not stand up against some of the powerhouse Belgian Whit's, but in terms of drinkability, I think this beer has a good flavor.

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? MAYBE. For a good summertime wheat/whit I recommend it. For the hardcore beer connoisseurs, look elsewhere.

Day 70: Hoppy Boy

Name: Hoppy Boy

Brewer: Twisted Pine Brewing

Style: India Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: ?


Review: Yick. Orange/red beer, medium carbonation and a weak hoppy aroma. The mouthfeel is simple and somewhat foamy when swished around in your mouth. Not much to speak of in regards to flavor. The hop and malt flavors don't really seem to be there at all. I could only discern some mild citrus and grassy notes. Lame. IPAs are supposed to have some cojones. This beer has too much tone in its cremaster. Look it up. In other words, this beer's balls never dropped.

Rating: 1.5/5

Recommend? NO. Lame

Day 69: 1554

Name: 1554

Brewer: New Belgium Brewery

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.6%


Review: It's worth noting that today is day 69. Ok, now that I've said it and put it out on the table, let's move on. 1554 - a beer that is enjoyed by a specific biking friend from the Midwest that likes to shout obscenities and point out when people are being douchebags - is of black color. Not unlike said-friend's turds, most likely. Unlike said-friend's turds, this beer packs more carbonation and a rich fruity aroma. The mouthfeel is less like a mushy turd and more like a carbonated american lager. This beer does suprisingly have some toasty chocolate notes, much like said-friend's turds, but it primarily contains a sweet flavor, reserving the toasty chocolate notes for the finish. It's sort of unexpected. Black Ales can be tasty, and worth a sample.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? YES. A medium, drinkable ale with interesting character.

Day 68: Sunshine Wheat

Name: Sunshine Wheat

Brewer: New Belgium

Style: Wheat

Alcohol Content: 4.8%


Review: Alright, for my few avid readers, you have noticed that I have not published anything in weeks, despite the manufactured "post" date. To you, I apologize. Let's fly through these next 10 or so reviews, shall we? Sunshine Wheat: clearer color than I would expect from a wheat beer, though I did have it from a bottle, so my view may have been distorted. There's an expected lemony-grain aroma and a pretty thin mouth feel. Wheat beers seem to be a bit heartier in that area.The flavor is quite good. I was a wheat beer fan when I was a beer drinking neophyte, but since then I've moved on to beefier brews. I will have to admit, the Sunshine Wheat had a crisp , yeasty, citrusy flavor with a pretty clean finish. Most wheat beers seem to leave me with too much citrus at the finish, but New Belgium dialed this one in to be fairly crisp. This will make a fine summer beer for both you and your old lady.

Rating: 3.75/5

Recommend? YES. Toss a couple in your pannier for the bike ride home.

Day 67: Sawtooth Ale

Name: Sawtooth Ale

Brewer: Left Hand Brewing Company

Style: ESB

Alcohol Content: 4.5%


Review: Bitter beers suck. I've at least not had any good ones. I don't remember when or where on my Colorado voyage I tried this beer. I think it was on to the Boulder portion of the trip. At this point I gave my conference presentation. It was uneventful. I was given a generous 7 minutes to explain my research. Essentially a 7 minute elevator pitch of what I've been working on for the past year and a half. Most of my results concerned mechanical recovery, which the first keynote speaker chose to call into question. I'm already boring you... ok, on with the review. I did not care for the sawtooth ale. There was a soft earthy hoppy aroma to this beer. It went down very smoothly and had an english flavor. the E in ESB stands for English, so they nailed that. I would not say that this was what I would consider a bitter beer. In fact, I had no idea it was an ESB until I checked their website. Regardless of type, this beer had no hop development or malt flavor. Kind of tasteless. There's no "tasteless" category in the Brewers Association definition book, so, sorry Sawtooth Ale, you get a bad rating.

Rating: 1/5

Recommend? NO

Day 66: Denver Pale Ale

Name: Denver Pale Ale

Brewer: Great Divide Brewing Co.

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: ?


Review: Conference keeps plugging along. I was looking forward to the evening's student mixer, so that I might meet someone I could relate to, and to use my 1 and only drink ticket. I had few options. The Denver Pale Ale has a foamy and bitter mouth feel. It's extremely hoppy from flavor to finish. There's some English influence to the hop selection. I can live with that, but I'd take a lot of other beers over the Denver Pale Ale.

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? NO

Day 65: Blue Paddle

Name: Blue Paddle

Brewer: New Belgium Brewery

Style: Pilsner/Lager

Alcohol Content: 4.8%


Review: Let's be clear, some of you may or may not like this beer simply based on your experience with New Belgium's characteristically yeasty/biscuity flavor. You will most likely not enjoy this beer if your moniker begins with H and ends with emme. The Blue Paddle is pale-colored, biscuity beer. It's a lower-than-normal carbonated pilsner, with a refreshing and crisp finish. Everything else about this beer says "Fat Tire". For me, that's a good thing.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? YES

Day 64: 5 Barrel Pale Ale

Name: 5 Barrel Pale Ale

Brewer: Odell's Brewery

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.3%


Review: I was back to staring at the wall, and my night was coming to a close. I decided to try another local beer. I was only mildly impressed by an otherwise stellar brewery. The 5 Barrel introduces it's reddish-orange tint to you without much of an aroma. Remember, my sinuses were a bit clogged. There was a mildly carbonated mouth feel. An amount appropriate for a pale ale. The flavor had a good malt/hop balance with some interesting orange and banana flavors mixed in. It's not a bad pale ale, and has won some awards, but I wasn't really wowed.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? NO. Try it if you like, but I think there are better pale ales out there.

Day 63: Dales Pale Ale

Name: Dales Pale Ale

Brewer: Oskar Blues

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.5%


Review: So, I was chilling at the bar at Falling Rock. Being alone in Denver was becoming lame, and some chick was sitting next to me for about 10 minutes. Being a douchebag, I minded my own business for a while and stared at the wall. Eventually I started chatting her up, and learned that she was from Cleveland Ohio. Small world. We made small talk, the usual Ohio stuff: Cedar Point, Ohio State Football, and then awkward silence. During the awkward silence I ordered the Dales Pale Ale. The Dales is a decent pale ale. Red color, medium carbonation, and not much of an aroma that I could detect. I was feeling kind of stuffy though. I'm starting to think I might be developing the allergy to alcohol that my dad has. Lucky me. The feel of this beer was thin with a bitter taste, even though the flavor wasn't that hoppy. It was more of a bitter cherry flavor. The flavor eventually dissipates and leaves a very IPA-ish bitter finish. So-so

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? Naw, there are other good Pale Ales

Day 62: Fat Tire Ale

Name: Fat Tire Amber Ale

Brewer: New Belgium Brewery - Fort Collins, CO

Style: Amber Ale

Alcohol Content: 


Review: Tuesday's snow was completely gone by late afternoon. Gotta love radiative heat transfer and those sunny Denver skies. I heard a tip that there was some amazing brewery up near market street, so I strolled up there to find Falling Rock Tap House. Mecca. Over 70 beers on TAP. And they only serve micro brews - double score! I wish I didn't have any place to be the next morning. I attempted to order an Abbey Ale or a Pizza Port brew. They were either a. Sold out or b. $29 per bottle. My next choice was the Fat Tire - New Belgium's flagship beer. The story goes that the owner of New Belgium and his wife did a bike tour of Belgium in order to try some new beers and gain some inspiration. They come up with two brews. They expected Fat Tire to be everyone's second favorite, but it quickly gained notoriety for it's unique flavor. For a Belgian ale, Fat Tire has a foamy head and strong yeasty doughy aroma. This is odd. The flavor is super mild with a strong biscuity flavor. It's not something I would expect from a Belgian ale, but I found myself really enjoying it. The mouthfeel is smooth and mild, and it finishes very cleanly. It's everything I might want in a lighter ale. I don't think Fat Tire really hits the mark on what I would describe as a Belgian Ale, but they really dialed in a drinkable beer with a quality flavor. This is a beer drinker's everyday beer - They just need to relabel this as a specialty ale.

Rating: 3/5 for missing the mark on traditional Belgian flavor, though it probably meets the Brewer's association guideline's for "Other" Belgian Style Ales.

Recommend? YES. Definitely try this beer. It's unique, drinkable, and worth a taste.

Day 61: 90 Shilling Ale

Name: 90 Shilling Ale

Brewer: Odell's Brewing Co - Fort Collins, CO

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.3%


Review: Tuesday brought snow in Denver, so I used that as another excuse to go out and drink after the conference. I was also feeling kind of bummed because the keynote speaker of the conference was voicing his opinions on a topic which basically called into question the methods used in my own study. More on that another time. More importantly, I did some more dining in downtown Denver and tried the 90 Shilling Ale - Odell's flagship beer. Overall, I was pleased, but not extremely impressed. Of course, had I gone to Colorado State instead of Delaware for grad school I could be drinking Odell's every week instead of our merely-average Iron Hill beer. The 90 shilling is an amber colored beer with a good hop/malt aroma. Overall it maintains a good balance between maltiness and hopiness with a few citrus and butterscotch notes thrown in. Again, like the Odell IPA, this beer is a bit low on the hop count. That seems to be Odell's style, and I imagine it makes for a good general appeal. I usually like a lot of hops, but i can live odell's version of ale. The finish of this beer is a bit on the sweet side, and some more hopping might help curb that. Still, this is a solid selection.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? YES. Very drinkable.

Day 60: Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale

Name: Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale

Brewer: Corsendonk Brewery - Belgium

Style: Belgian Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.7%


Review: Stop #2 for the night was the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe on Colfax Ave. Colfax makes up the edgier part of town. This is where my first 'hotel' was located, and where I would also be offered a prostitute later that night. No thanks. The Cheeky Monk is a worthy stop if you don't mind the local Vagrants. They're pretty harmless in my opinion, considering the other cities I've visited.  Being a Monday night, I had the place to myself. I chatted up the bartender and settled on ordering the Abbey Brown Ale. I was only mildly impressed with the beer. It's a smooth ale with a mildy alcoholic and slightly oaky aroma. There are some liquorish and chocolate notes to the flavor which help make this otherwise-pedestrian belgian ale shine. The finish is smooth, but watery. Overall, this beer is forgettable. 

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? NO

Day 59: Odell's IPA

Name: Odell's IPA

Brewer: Odell's Brewing Co - Fort Collins, CO

Style: India Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 7%


Review: And so begins the Colorado portion of my beer adventure. I had a nerdy conference to attend in Denver, and was super pumped to try some new beers. I mean 3-cans-of-red-bull-I-got-a-new-blowout-haircut-and-am-on-a-new-cycle-of-steroids-Statin-Island-Guido pumped. That's a lot of pumped. Sadly, my trip did not start out as planned. First, the cab driver who dropped me off at my $60/night Ramada had two bags of sand in his trunk adorned with drawings of ejaculating penises. And at the front desk of the 'hotel' were a couple of cops accosting some drugged-out dude. The cops recommended that I move to another hotel. I obliged. 

After a rough start, I settled in to my new hotel room and hit the town. Stop #1 was dinner at a restaurant on 16th whos name escapes me. What I do recall is the Odell's IPA that I drank. Oh man did that hit the spot. It's a golden-to-orange IPA with just enough head and some attractive lacing. What I love about a good IPA is the powerful aroma. The Odell had strong sweet malt and hop aroma with obvious caramel and citrus notes. The mouth feel was quite smooth for an IPA, and a little less bite than I expected. I was not let down by the flavor. It had a very well developed malt with great hop balance. It does seem a bit low on the hop side of things, but this doesn't cause any problems to me. The flavor is complex and developed and makes this a beer that I could drink all night long.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES

Day 58: La Chouffe

Name: La Chouffe

Brewer:  Brasserie d'Achouffe - Belgium

Style: Belgian Golden Ale

Alcohol Content: 8%


Review: This ends the Philly portion of our beer reviews. The last one I tried was the La Chouffe. As expected, this beer has a golden color with a spicy lemony aroma. It's brewed with coriander and other spices, and it shows. The mouthfeel is somewhat yeasty and medium-bodied with a light lemony banana flavor. That same fruity flavor lasts through the finish, but fades fast. I'm not a Golden Ale fan, but the La Chouffe was quite pleasant, with a bit of an alcoholic kick to boot! Pun intended.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? YES

Day 56: Dunkel Lager

Name: Dunkel Lager

Brewer: Sly Fox Brewery - Phoenixville, PA

Style: Lager

Alcohol Content: 5.3%


Review: I bought hockey tickets for the woman for Valentine's day only to lose them hours after they arrived to my door. Being a bit stubborn and very frustrated, I purchased two more tickets. We met up with a good friend in Philly to grab a few beers before the game. This proved to be a good decision. The first beer from our visit was the Dunkel Lager. A simple brown lager with some fruit and caramel notes in the aroma. A medium mouthfeel along with some good rich flavors and chocolatey malts. It's still not large in body. The finish is malty but also dry enough. A respectable lager.

P.S. When we got back home from Philly I found the original tickets under some papers on my desk. FAIL!

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend? YES. Put your Yuengling down and pick up a dunkel.

Day 57: Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale

Name: Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale

Brewer: Yards Brewing Company - Philadelphia, PA

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 8%


Review: Expectations were running high. I had just polished off the respectable Dunkel Lager. I'm not a lager fan, but I found it to be a solid choice. On top of that, I had gravitated to the Tavern Ale because the bottle contained the visage of one of my idols: Thomas Jefferson. I had attended TJ's University, visited his home, and understood his impact on history. Sadly, TJ can't be around to emancipate himself from the Tavern Ale. If he were here today he might pen Yards Brewering Company a written smackdown, chock full of "Thouest"s and pre-victorian "Eff You"isms. The Tavern ale, is merely a pedestrian ale marketed towards the modern-day renassaince man. The tavern ale is a dark orange ale with a mild aroma and slightly fruity malt notes. A thin to medium mouthfeel is present along with a good - albeit weak - flavor. Not what I would expect from a strong golden ale. It could use some brighter flavors and a little more strength and character to be a great ale. All in all, good, but in light of TJ's reputation it's just not up to par.

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? NO

Day 55: Troegs Pale Ale

Name: Troegs Pale Ale

Brewer: Troegs Brewery

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.4%


Review: Pale Orange beer with low carbonation and a mildly sweet and slightly hoppy aroma. The mouthfeel is somewhat thin, although the taste matches the aroma, which is good. It's a mildly hoppy beer with simple sweetness. Mild and tasty, but nothing memorable. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? MAYBE.  Only if  none of the more highly ranked beers aren't available. 

Day 54: Spring Moon

Name: Spring Moon

Brewer: Blue Moon - Golden, CO

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content:


Review: So, I'm going to go out of order by reviewing this beer right now. Let this be a little foreshadowing for some upcoming reviews. I sampled the spring moon at the Coors Brewery in Golden Colorado during my GCMAS conference trip. I think I was a couple weeks behind in my beer drinking before leaving for Colorado, and now that the trip is coming to a close, I think I'm a week ahead. You can do the math. Anyway, Spring moon is nothing special beyond the typical blue moon offerings. It's a very mild belgian-style wheat ale that will most likely please the masses, but impress very few. The aroma was very weak, and the flavor, while citrusy and slightly yeasty, just feels too watered down. I will say though, that after sampling some of Coors' beers on site, they do a very good job at ensuring quality. Their beers, whether tasted at a brewery or out of a bottle, taste identical. This kind of makes for a letdown though. I like visiting a brewery just so i can try something completely unique, or just a normal beer right out of the kettle. I think microbrews struggle with quality and consistency, so sometimes you try a beer out of the bottle and think "why the hell do they even bother to sell this stuff", and then you visit the brewery, try it fresh, and completely shift your paradigm. For this reason, I try to cut microbreweries some slack when the beer doesn't taste as amazing as I would expect. However, since Coors has really nailed the consistency of their brewing, I'm even less impressed with their offerings. Spring Moon will make a decent beer to drink if you come across it, but otherwise it's simply an average fish in a big pond.

Rating: 2.5/5

Recommend? MAYBE. If you're only a casual beer drinker, you'll probably really enjoy it. For the belgian whit faithful, don't waste your money.

Day 53: Juniper Pale Ale

Name: Juniper Pale Ale

Brewer: Rogue Brewery - Portland, OR

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: ?


Review: I believe that this ale comes as another recommendation. The juniper pale ale presents with a deep yellow or light orange color and low to medium carbonation with a thin foamy head. The aroma contains a floral bouquet with a hint of juniper berries. Upon taste, the thin mouth feel is evident. The flavor though is fairly simple. It tastes like a thin pale ale with the addition of juniper berry flavor. Juniper berries kind of taste like hibiscus flowers, or more simply, strawberry fruit roll ups. The finish is slightly hoppy with a dry finish. It's very slightly bitter.

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? MAYBE. It's good if you want a fruiter pale ale. 

Day 52: Leinenkugel Classic Amber Ale

Name: Leinenkugel Classic Amber Ale

Brewer: Leinenkugel - Chippewa Falls, WI

Style: Amber Ale

Alcohol Content:


Review: I'll make this quick. Light brown color, medium to high amount of carbonation. The flavor is weak and lager-ish. It has that typical American Lager aroma. The flavor is weak and think but too malty and tastes kind of cheap. Very Average.

Rating: 1.5/5

Recommend? NO

Day 51: Great Lakes Oktoberfest

Name: Great Lakes Oktoberfest

Brewer: Great Lakes Brewery - Cleveland, OH

Style: Oktoberfest

Alcohol Content: 5.2%


Review: A light copper color with medium carbonation and a mildly hoppy but otherwise odorless aroma. I'll warn you in advance that this beer was probably a bit past it's preferred drinking date. The mouthfeel of this beer is slightly thin with a sweet malty flavor and hope balance. There are strong woodsy notes in the flavor as well. The finish is fairly dry with some residual sweetness. Overall a decent but forgettable beer. 

Rating: 3/5

Recommend? NO

Day 50: Columbus Pale Ale

Name: Columbus Pale Ale

Brewer: Columbus Brewing Company - Columbus, OH

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: ?


Review: As the last review might suggest, I am indeed in Ohio. The Columbus Pale ale was mildly disappointing. Copper color with medium carbonation,  and a slightly hoppy herbal aroma. The mouth feel is thin-to-medium, and the flavor is a bit out of balance - too hoppy for a pale ale, but the quality of the hops is also not that great. The flavor could also be described as a bit 'watery'. The finish is dry and bitter as to be expected. All in all it needs work.

Rating: 2/5

Recommend? NO

Day 49: Burning River Ale

Name: Burning River Ale

Brewer: Great Lakes Brewery - Cleveland, Ohio

Style: Ale

Alcohol Content: 6%


Review: There's really nothing that great in Ohio, except for Cedar Point and Ohio State football. I'm also starting to like Great Lakes Brewery. The burning river ale is named after the cuyahoga river in Ohio, which at one point, was so polluted that it actually caught on fire... multiple times. Supposedly, the river oozes more than flows. I hope Great Lakes doesn't brew their beer with this water. If they do, then kudos. It's a light copper color (most likely from actual copper in the water), with a sweet herbal aroma and some caramel notes. The mouth feel is both clean and bitter, if that can accurately describe a mouth feel. There's a good penetrating malt flavor with hops that only kick in until around the finish. The finish is very hoppy and dry. Good all-around ale. 

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES

Day 48: Dirty Hoe

Name: Dirty Hoe

Brewer: Hoegaarden and Lindeman's

Style: Blend

Alcohol Content: ?


Review: Ok, so today's review is in regards to a somewhat-anomalous beer - the Dirty Hoe. I think there are two varieties of this blend: (1) One part Hoegaarden and one part Guiness or (2) two parts Hoegaarden and one part Linedeman's Framboise. I sampled the latter at Kildare's Irish Pub. Why Kildare's doesn't serve the guiness style Dirty Hoe is confusing. Of course this is also an "Irish Pub" that plays techno music during dinner and serves less-than-impressive gastro pub fare. It's only mid February and I'm already stretching the limits to find new beers to drink when I'm out at the bar. I figure I can get clever and start mixing alcohols and claim them as unique brews. I promise I won't do it too often. The Dirty Hoe could be a worthy review, but it's all too-often blended with an improper balance between the two ingredients. My most recent tasting of the Dirty Hoe revealed too much Framboise and too little Hoegaarden. It was very very sweet and kind of killed what's special about Framboise and what's special about Hoegaarden. I'm sure it's a big sell among the college kids. It's tasty, but only in small quantities. It's comparable to drinking a glass of red velvet cake with raspberry icing. That's not a bad thing perse, just not my m.o.

Rating: 1/5

Recommend? NO

Day 47: Chicory Stout

Name: Chicory Stout

Brewer: Dogfish Head Brewery - Milton, DE

Style: Stout

Alcohol Content: 5.2%


Review: Another Dogfish offering. This is a thin, dark beer. There's a strong chocolate and coffee aroma, with a flavor that resembles fresh coffee beans. A few years ago I would have thought this was disgusting, but now I find it satisfying. The finish is a bit hoppy with  still some chocolate notes. 

Rating: 3.75/5

Recommend? YES

Day 46: World Wide Stout

Name: World Wide Stout

Brewer: Dogfish Head Brewery - Milton, DE

Style: Imperial Stout

Alcohol Content: 18%


Review: Are you new to drinking beer and want to catch up to your peers? Want to get hammered fast and pack on a sexy beer gut? The World Wide Stout is an efficient vector. The Last Call app on my iphone says that in about 30-45 minutes I will be legally drunk (BAC>.08). One beer. ONE beer and I'll be drunk. I'm not a scrawny guy either. I'm about 195 lbs and pretty solid.  Brilliant! Forget secretly pounding NyQuil in the woods; teenagers today should be trying to get a hold of a World Wide Stout. This beer has 'Imperial' written all over it. The color is as black as tar, only slightly thinner... probably along the lines of 5W10. At 372 calories per bottle, it's also not diet friendly. I guess the best way to describe this beer is, delicious and extreme. Extreme maltiness balanced by extreme hoppiness, and an extreme amount of barley to distinguish it's flavor from every other imperial stout (although I've never had any other Imperial Stouts to compare to). The mouth feel is thick and smooth with a good bitter bite along with a sweet dark robust character. I've had the 120 minute IPA and the Raison D'Extra which are both pushing 20% ABV, but the World Wide Stout is the most palatable prior to aging. This beer goes down smooth, yet it takes about a year of bottle aging to make the 120 min and the Raison D'Extra not taste like gasoline. 

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommend? YES