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