(draft) Was described as an ESB by the bartender. Instead a fairly decent brown ale, with the lack of flavor characteristic (to me at least) of Abita beers. Was good enough to drink, but not good enough to have another.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Was described as an ESB by the bartender. Instead a fairly decent brown ale, with the lack of flavor characteristic (to me at least) of Abita beers. Was good enough to drink, but not good enough to have another.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Very cloudy dark brown. Huge heaping head that lasted forever. Aroma of dark fruits and malts. Flavor a little tamer than I was expecting, mostly dominated by the alcohol burn at the finish. Too much alcohol for the flavor provided. I won't bother with this one again, I don't think. Maybe if I can get it on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) A decent head that faded very quickly. Aroma was mainly chocolate, with perhaps some cola as well. Flavor was a mix of coffee, chocolate, and cola, with maybe a touch of juniper. A decent and safe beer from one of my favorite breweries.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Yes, Virginia, there is indeed such a thing as too much malt. This beer just needed something to balance it out. I don't know what it needed. It had nothing but malt. Seven different kinds according to the web page.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Cloudy dark brown. Minimal head, minimal aroma. Flavor this year reminds me of dark fruits and coffee. Tastes like it has more alcohol than it really does. I doubt I'll bother to have any more of this.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Roasty, malty, hoppy, weirdness. I'd like this more without the bitter finish.
Ounces Consumed: 46(draft) A fairly mild porter that smelled and tasted of baker’s chocolate. No bitterness or coffee taste that I could detect, and I think that's a good thing.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Given to me by a homebrewing friend. No description or name given, it was all up to me. Pours a nice amber/honey color with lots of foam. The aroma is very sweet - almost too sweet - and that sweetness is quite evident in the taste as well. A good brown ale, but perhaps a little too cloying for me to ever spend an evening drinking it. Much better, of course, than anything I've ever made.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Looked like grapefruit juice except for a huge white head. Citrusy aroma. Slight citrus flavor, but not so much that it became disgusting. Fizzy and other than that, a fairly mild flavor. Too many ingrediants in this beer, none stand out. It's a mish-mash.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) Black with brown foam. Strong coffee aroma. Flavor not as intense as the aroma led me to expect. Not very good at all, but I dislike coffee flavor in beer so I didn't expect to like this. I gave this beer a decent rating (instead of swill) because they seem to have at least tried.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Dark ruby-colored. Decent head. No aroma at all. The first sip was really digusting. It tasted like cherry cough syrup. The next several sips got gradually better, as other flavors became detectable. The end of the glass was halfway decent.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) A nicely balanced ale that's probably getting a bit of an undeserved backlash for being so prevalent. With that said, it is a little boring. I'd drink this to drink, not for the flavor, which is decent but average.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) This beer, while not a wheat beer, tasted exactly like I'd always expected what beers to taste like. It had no characteristics whatsoever. No sweetness. No bitterness. Just a slightly filling texture. All in all it was the best thing I drank tonight.
Ounces Consumed: 20(can) Very creamy and smooth. This beer had a lot of stuff floating in it, and by the time I got to the last inch or so of the glass it was grossing me out so I stopped drinking it.
Ounces Consumed: 14(bottle) Nobody else has said it, so I will. This beer had a greenish tint to it. There, I've said it. Aside from the odd coloring, this was a pretty decent beer. The bar had it listed as a smoked beer, so I was a little disappointed to find an ESB instead, but it was quite decent. Actually reminded me more of a Alt than an ESB.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Very I'd never have guessed that this was an IPA. The aroma was mostly of malt and dirt, but good. Flavor was a little peaty and a little smoky. I liked it a lot more than I expected to.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) This was decent, but there was just something strange about it. Some fruity characteristic that I couldn't identify. There was also a bitterness that came out of nowhere at the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Very intense aroma as soon as the cap was removed. No head to speak of. After the first few sips that were nothing but alcohol burn, the rest of this went down quite nicely. Too much coffee and too little chocolate for it to ever be a real favorite. I got some cola from this too, especially in the aroma.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Just a decent fairly generic brown ale. More sweet than most I suppose, and not malty-sweet but sugar-sweet. If that makes any sense.
Ounces Consumed: 60(draft) Cloudy brown, with a nice long-lasting head. Aroma of stale hops and malts. The taste was malty and nutty, with a fairly bitter finish that became more tolerable as the glass became emptier. Nothing to write home about, but drinkable.
(draft) A light brown ale (think Newcastle) with a wedge of watermelon in it. Once I removed the offending fruit I couldn't detect anything noteworthy. Maybe a bit of a hoppy finish.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Stupid name. Clear dark brown in color. Aroma and flavor of roasted malts and light hops, with a lingering bitter hop finish. Too damn hoppy for a brown ale. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Clear amber in color. Light hoppy aroma and flavor. Just a slightly bitter finish. Pretty tame. I don't like the style, but this was endurable.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Fizzy (?!?!?) dark brown, almost black. Light chocolate aroma. Mouthfeel is watery and creamy. The fizziness is very weird in a porter. Flavor of watery chocolate and a touch of roasted malt. Good flavor, but not very much of it, so this gets only a decent rating.
Ounces Consumed: 5This was my first taste of a barleywine, and I suppose it was okay. Just imagine regular wine without any grapey taste, and add a hint of hops. That's what this tasted like. It was okay, but I cannot imagine having more than one in an evening.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) First of all, I can't decide if this is a stupid name for a beer, or a clever one. I had a small sample first, and like it enough to have another pour. Kind of a slightly hazy amber color, with a smallish head that lasted long enough. Flavor was pretty much a blend of American and German wheats, as was the aroma. A little too fizzy and hoppy for me to like it a lot, but still not bad at all.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) A small sample didn't kill me, so I had more. Hazy light copper. Decent white head. Aroma mild for this style, with a faint off undertone that reminded me of a dunkel more than anything else. Fairly full mouthfeel, and mild flavor, but again with that weird undertone that I didn't care for that much. Decent, but a struggle to drink.
(bottle) No foam at all. I mean none. I've seen tap water with a bigger head. Other than that, poured a slightly hazy orange. Taste was, as expected, fairly flat and generic. Yeasty and bland in flavor, this beer did grow on me as time went by. I'd love to try this in draft form someday. Maybe there'll be some fizz then.
(draft) Clear dark orange in color, this beer didn't seem to have much of an aroma. So I was surprised to find such a funky and citrusy flavor. To be fair, this beer may have clashed greatly with the chocolately porter I'd had earlier, but I don't think I'd have liked it all that much anyway. I only drank a few sips, then I gave the rest away.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Looks like a hazy pale lager. An odd aroma of what I guess is Belgian yeast. Flavor a bit like a saison, but weaker. It looked so much like a lager that I think I imagined lagerish components to the flavor and the finish that weren't really there. Decent, but that's it.
Ounces Consumed: 20Watery, but drinkable. The most (and perhaps only) enjoyable beer I've had at Brownings.
Ounces Consumed: 64(bottle) Don't know what vintage this was. Incredibly sour taste. Like sucking on lemon rinds. Not musty or funky at all. Drinkable, but not noteworthy.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) A nice beer. Not nearly as sweet as other tripels I've have. I got a subtle undertone that reminded me of smoke. There was very little head, though this may have been caused by the filthy glass. I liked it a lot, but there are a zillion better Belgians out there.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft 2002 vintage) A nice reddish-brown. Had a fruit component that wasn't the apples I'm used to from Belgians. I'm going to call the flavor a mix of cherries and beets. Not too bad, but not worth a second glass.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Black with cream-colored head and incredible lacing. Flavor slanted a bit more towards coffee than chocolate. A decent beer.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Dark clear copper. Good head. Smelled like a barleywine, and pretty much tasted like one too. That weird flavor of beets or prunes or whatever it is - I don't like it. This beer did grow on me a little as the glass got more empty, but I still can't really say that I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Clear dark amber. Good long-lasting head. No detectable aroma. The mouthfeel is a little watery, and the flavor is mostly roasted malts. A decent beer, but kind of a waste of time. The alcohol was hidden very well, a little too well, I think.
Ounces Consumed: 12(mixture) I mixed Rogue Chocolate Stout and NABC Cone Smoker in a 1:1 ratio. I'd been expecting these two very different flavors to elevate each other to new heights. But that's not what happened. They pretty much cancelled each other out. Good thing I didn't waste too much beer with this experiment.
Ounces Consumed: 6(bottle) Pouring this into a glass resulted in about a 5/1 head/beer ratio. I actually lost patience waiting for the head to dissipate and ended up disrupting it with my finger. Once I got to the actual beer I really enjoyed it. A little lighter in both flavor and ABV than other Belgians I've enjoyed, so more suitable as a session beer. Black flecks that settled to the bottom of my glass turned me off a little.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Fizzy, which was quite a strange sensation coming from a stout. More coffee than chocolate flavored, so not my favorite even once the fizz had faded.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) A nice cloudy copper color that was quite intriguing. Nothing particularly special about the taste - actually this beer seemed a little too well-balanced. All of the flavors seemed to cancel each other out.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) The hop aroma was very evident and I was surprised to find such a tame flavor behind it. This is a beer I could drink all night, but I wouldn't want to because it's pretty boring.
Ounces Consumed: 40(bottle) Cloudy brown with minimal head. Very strong flavor, bordering on the ridiculous. Almost sour, almost overpowering cherry flavor. I didn't finish the bottle. Probably not worth having again unless I can try it on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Had a strange flavor that I've never been able to accurately describe in this type of beer. Very thick, almost syrupy mouthfeel. The alcohol was quite evident.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) The color of hazy cola, with a large beige head that faded quickly. Aroma was malty and maybe a little skunked. Flavor was pretty much the same as the aroma. I don't think this beer was actually skunked, it just had that strange taste that I associate with bocks and barleywines. Not the worst beer I've ever had.
Ounces Consumed: 17(bottle) Hazy amber in color. Strong cloves and banana aroma. Medium-thin mouthfeel. A decent flavor but there's a splash of orangey citrus that I could do without.
UPDATE 090907: Had about half of a bottle. Didn't like it even a little bit. Way too citrusy, and there was none of the aroma I first wrote about. This bottle might have been a little skunked.
Ounces Consumed: 24I was expecting something different, and perhaps even better, from this beer. What I got was, to me anyway, a bland, somewhat dirty tasting belgian. I certainly don't understand the hype.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Looks nice, with good lacing. A fairly intense coffee/licorice flavor that didn't appeal to me very much. The high alcohol is fairly apparent. The second half of the glass tasted better to my numbed taste buds than the first half had.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) You know, I wasn?t really expecting to like this. Most ryes are just too strange for me. But this one was actually pretty decent. There was nothing notable about it though, so I probably won?t bother to have it again.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) A fairly standard lager. Not as fizzy as some, but not as flavorful either. Nothing special.
Ounces Consumed: 2(bottle) Dirty brown with an awful lot of yeast cloudiness. Aroma was faint, as was the flavor. Caramel seemed to prediminate. Not too bad. Might be better in draft form.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Clear orange/yellow. Big white head. No detectable aroma, and not much of a flavor either. A pretty weak Saison. Barely decent.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) I know I've had this before, but it was a long time ago. I'm not sure if "roasty" is a word, but it should be because it would be the perfect word to describe this beer. Not bad, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Looks like a lager, and smells like a lager. Flavor is decent. A little stale, and a little musty. I'm thinking that the bottle may have gone bad. I only drank a little, and threw the rest away.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) I guess this place has gone out of business. Hmmm, I wonder how long this beer has been sitting in the keg. The first thing I noticed was that it was quite thin. Like water. It took me a long time to figure out how to describe the flavor. That's because there was nothing. It was all roasted malt. I think I'd have liked this better if it wasn't so old-tasting.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) No aroma to speak of. the taste and the mouthfeel reminded me of a dopplebock more than anything else. Not worth a full glass.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Almost overpowering aroma. Flavor was good, but much more subdued than the aroma had hinted. The head disappeared almost immediately. Zero fizz.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) A nice spicy aroma that led to a fairly tame-tasting beer. There was a slight mustiness to it that didn't exactly thrill me. By the second half of the glass the head had dissipated so both the spice and the must had gone. What was left was good but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Almost black. Good head, good lacing. A very faint coffe and hop aroma. There was a slight bitterness to the flavor and the finish. Not worth my time. Just barely decent.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Probably my favorite lager, which still isn't saying much. Any place serving this will probably have something better to offer.
Ounces Consumed: 48(bottle) Recommended to me because I asked for something with a lighter taste. A cloudy yellow color that looked to me like a cross between a wheat and a lager - neither of which I care for. The taste was actually pretty decent though. The bartender was telling me about all of these different flavor components but I didn't really get any of them. Just a fairly plain, safe beer.
Ounces Consumed: 44(draft) Not a thing wrong with this beer. Not a thing noteworthy about it either. A little nutty, a little malty, a little tasty. Not my favorite style, but one of my favorites in this style.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Color of pale straw. Decent head and lacing. Light aroma of wheat and blueberry. Thin mouthfeel. Flavor of tap water and blueberry. Decent, but not good. No bitterness, but not much of anything at all. A more strongly flavored version would probably be very good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Hazy dark amber. Decent head that faded quickly. Slightly sour aroma. Slightly sour finish. Not much else to it. A decent beer, but not really worth my time. I tried to give half the glass away, but nobody wanted it.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Came highly recommended for some reason. Looked like a standard unfiltered German wheat. Smelled like a standard unfiltered American wheat. Flavor was like they took a good German wheat and poured grapefruit juice into it. I managed to force down six ounces before I gave up on this beer. Not worth my time.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Clear amber in color. No head to speak of. Very strong aroma of coconuts, of all things. Mouthfeel was fairly thin. Coconut predominates the flavor, just like it does the aroma. Smells like suntan lotion,a nd tastes like what I imagine suntan lotion tastes like. After an inch or so was gone, this started to taste a little better. What was strange was that I got absolutely zero indication of this beer's alleged bourbon influence.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) A fairly standard tasting tripel. Perhaps a little more citrus than I'd prefer, but very drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Not much to say about this beer. Nothing stood out at all. A little thinner than I was expecting. No coffee, no chocolate, no licorice. Just a bit of a milky feel to it. I guess that's why they call it Milk Stout.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Cloudy gold, huge heaping head. A mild yeast and citrus aroma. Flavor was acidic with oranges and hops. Not bad, not good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) I've never been a big fan of bock beers. I'm still not. I spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with a way to describe this beer. I detected coffee, chocolate, malt, and hops, all in miniscule amounts. There were no citrus components to the taste and for that I was grateful.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) I asked them to leave the orange wedge out, but I needn't have bothered. This beer was overflowing with citrus aroma and flavor. I should have known better than to even try it. Anyway, it was decent, which is better than anything else I've had from this place.
Ounces Consumed: 16Quite boring and generic. No hint at all of the strangeness that I usually associate with this style. I see no point to even making this beer.
Ounces Consumed: 4For a beer with the word "bitter" in the name it wasn't bad at all. A lot darker and more complex than I expected.
Update 060805: I've had a couple new incarnations of this since my original entry. I've vowed that this will never touch my lips again. The bitterness I've experience with my last few attempts is just unbearable.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) Pretty bland unless it's the first beer of the night. I remain sad that Rich O's pulled Newcastle in favor of this one. A mild malt and coffee flavor. Nothing wrong with this beer, but nothing particularly right either.
Ounces Consumed: 281(draft) Just had a small sample of this, as IPA is probably my least favorite style. This didn't taste too bad until I swallowed it, then the hoppiness made itself known. A pretty heavy beer, one that I probably won't bother having again. A little flowery in the flavor.
Ounces Consumed: 8(draft) I didn't expect to like this beer, and I guess I was right. It wasn't too bad though. Besides the expected bitter finish, the main thing that I noticed was the almost buttery mouthfeel. Not a great description, but I only had the one sample glass.
Ounces Consumed: 5The only word I can think of to describe it is "cloying." There didn't seem to be much of a distinct flavor, but what there was lingered for quite a while.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Cloudy brown. No foam (duh). Aroma of sugar and unidentifiable spices. Flavor is decent - reminds me of pumpkins. There's a slight citrus tang at the finish that I could certainly have lived without.
Ounces Consumed: 10(cask) I guess I was expecting something bitter. You know, because of the name of the beer. This wasn't bitter at all. The aroma was malty and a little flowery. My first impression of the flavor was that it was watery. That watery impression did fade by the time I finished the glass. This beer is very easy to drink. Not my favorite though.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Dark gold. There's an unidentifiable (by me at least) aroma and flavor, both reminiscent of evergreen shrubbery. The finish is drying and long-lasting. It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid and I'd chew on Sassafras leaves. The finish is the most notable characteristic. A decent beer.
Ounces Consumed: 23(draft) Hazy brown in color. Minimal head that lasted. Strong aroma of hops and alcohol. Flavor more of the same. I can see how most people would really like this beer, but it's not a style that I care for. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Pale amber, fizzy, good head. All standard for Belgians of this type. Aroma seemed a tad stale to me. Flavor was average but subdued. The finish was very reminiscent of rubbing alcohol. Bitter and drying. I was disappointed with this beer, and I didn't drink very much of it.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear amber in color. No head at all. Zero. Smells a little bit like laundry detergent, of all things. Mounthfeel is meduim syrupy. The flavor is a little weird to me - as with all barleywines. There is a noticeable alcohol burn at the finish. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Recommended by the bartender. I didn't really give this beer a fair tasting. It was very roasty, and tasted a little burnt to me. Past experience tells me that if I'd finished the glass I'd probably have liked it better by then. I'll attempt to have this again someday.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Black with nice brown foam. Aroma of roasted malts and not much else. Flavor of roasted malts and not much else. Quite a bit of malt bitterness at the finish. Everyone around me was raving about how great this beer was, but I didn't share their enthusiasm. Decent, but no better than that.
Ounces Consumed: 2(bottle) Not as bad as I remember from the sips I took as a kid. Pretty bland, with just a touch of citrus.
Ounces Consumed: 42(draft) (draft) This stuff smelled and tasted like apple cider with a perfumy finish. It wasn't really bad, but I can't imagine ever drinking more than one in a night.
Ounces Consumed: 30(bottle) Does weird necessarily equal good? If so, then this is a
very good beer. Very sour in both aroma and flavor. Supposedly oak-aged and stuff but I couldn't detect anything beyond the sourness. Fairly decent, but I cannot imagine ever having more than a single small glass.
(draft) Citrusy aroma. Light apple flavor, with maybe a little apricot? No finish at all. Decent, but the apricot turned me off a little.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Dark Lager, almost black. A light coffee flavor. Fairly thick mouthfeel with some lagery fizz at the end. Not too bad, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) I've rated this right down the middle in every category. Nothing at all stands out. I don't like the style, so I don't like the beer.
Ounces Consumed: 4I'm sure it had some flavor and some characteristics, but I just couldn't detect anything after the stronger beer I'd just had. I'll be sure to give this a fair sampling when it returns to Rich O's.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) The color of piss. No foam whatsoever. Flavor and aroma of malt and hops. Very mild and understated. Not worth my time.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear dark copper in color. Decent head. Aroma of nothing much. Ditto for flavor. Barely decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) The color of weird cloudy brass. Huge heaping head. Aroma of stale hops and apples and cheap perfume. Flavor of stale and cheap perfume. Long bitter finish. Just barely decent, once my taste buds had been sufficiently numbed.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Very dark ruby-colored. No aroma. Nice head. A pretty thick mouthfeel, with coffee and licorice fairly well-balanced. Decent, but not worth my time.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Probably the blandest selection that Rich O's Saturnalia has to offer. A bit of a chocolate smell and taste that's followed up by a very watery finish. Decent but not memorable at all.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Fizzy dark brown. Huge head. Aroma and flavor of dried apples and raisins. Not much to it. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Smelled pretty good. The flavor and mouthfeel brought creamy bananas to mind. A pretty strange beer, but decent.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Looks and tastes like weak tea, but with the slightest hint of creamy caramel. Not too bad. If a beer like this is too much for you then you probably shouldn't be drinking beer.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Aroma and flavor of slightly sweetened iced tea. Nothing notable about this beer.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Much blander than I was expecting. Just a beer, neither great nor horrible.
Ounces Consumed: 10