(bottle) Dark ruby, almost black. Good head and good lacing. Aroma of dark fruits and malt. Flavor mostly of dark fruits. Pretty good. I wish I'd had a second bottle on-hand.
Ounces Consumed: 24(bottle) Dark ruby, almost black. Good head and good lacing. Aroma of dark fruits and malt. Flavor mostly of dark fruits. Pretty good. I wish I'd had a second bottle on-hand.
Ounces Consumed: 24(bottle) The first thing I noticed was the fantastic aroma. The second thing I noticed was the color. Very dark - almost like a porter. Not what I was expecting from a weizen. The entire beer, in fact, was not what I was expecting. Instead of toning down the smoke to keep a fair balance with the light-flavored wheat, they left the smoke intact. The result was a smoke beer, with no hint at all of its wheat heritage. This is not to say that I didn't like it, because I did. I just didn't like it as much as I expected to.
Ounces Consumed: 290(bottle) A nice copper color with a decent head. Starts out a little bitter but has a sweet finish and aftertaste. Works out to be very well-balanced. Another winner from Juneau.
Ounces Consumed: 24(bottle) Black with a decent head that faded quickly. Aroma of roasted malts, burnt coffee, chocolate, and hops. The mouthfeel was a little thin, and the flavor was much more tame than the aroma had led me to believe. A very bright-tasting stout, but still pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy orange. Decent head that faded quickly. Aroma of malts and oak. Flavor was very strong with oak and bourbon - much more of each than I was expecting from the aroma. A substantial alcohol burn at the finish belied the 11% ABV of this beer. A good beer, but a little gimicky for my tastes. I'd like to try this on tap someday - maybe it would go down a little more smoothly.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy brown. Minimal head. Aroma is complex and very strong, with malts and hops and nothing else. Flavor is mostly weird malts. Most quads feature dark fruit flavors, this is all malts. The two inches of sediment in the bottom of the bottle grossed me out. Overall, not bad, not great.
Ounces Consumed: 22(draft) Clear brownish-amber. No head worth noting. A nice clean aroma of apple peels and, of all things, bananas. Flavor was mild and smooth. Finish had a mild but lingering alcohol bite. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Clear dark copper in color. Good head. A delicious aroma of malt and oak and molasses. Syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor is mostly malt, with the slightest hints of dark fruits. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Black in color, with a thin tan lacy head that faded quickly. Aroma of malts and light chocolate and dark fruits. Medium mouthfeel - not quite syrupy. The flavor is fairly tame, mostly malts and chocolate. I like this. Dangerous though, because the high ABV is hidden very well.
Ounces Consumed: 12I spent the entire pint trying to decide (a) if I liked it or not, and (b) what the heck I was drinking. Apparently Anchor changes the recipe for their Christmas Ale each year, and they keep that recipe pretty secret. If I had to guess I'd say the best way to describe this year's version would be "smoky nutmeg" but I could be way off base about the nutmeg part. There was definitely some smoky something in there. At the end I decided I did like it, but more than one in a given session would probably be too much.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) Much more malty than last year's version. Also a little bit of a chocolately feel to it. Not my favorite but still quite drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Pretty damn good. Higly malty, with a touch of coffee. No chocolate or licorice at all, but still a good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Dark ruby in color, almost black. Nice head and very nice lacing. Fruity and spicy aroma. Fairly thin and highly-carbinated mouthfeel. Flavor of tingly dark cherries, a little sour even. Finish is tingly. Better than decent, barely good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Didn't get much of a head with this one. Strong roasted malt aroma. Flavor was biased a little more towards coffee than chocolate, but malty sweetness was the primary flavor. Pretty good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Cloudy light brown. No head. Aroma of roasted malt. Mild flavor that was perfectly balanced between malts and hops. Fucking good. Another winner from Avery.
Ounces Consumed: 64(draft) I was sure I was enjoying a nice spiced ale but I see in the commercial description that the flavor is all malts. Very good, though a little sneaky as the alcohol doesn't really register. Anyone attempting to sample a wide range of beers cannot pass this up.
Ounces Consumed: 84(draft) Clear copperish amber. Average head that dissipated quickly. Aroma almost undetectable, but of apple peels and spices. Flavor started out very weak, but as my tongue became accustomed to it, I ended up like this beer a lot. A 5.2% Belgian session beer. Pretty damn cool.
Ounces Consumed: 50(bottle) Dark bronze. Nice firm head. I got a lot of dark fruity sweetness. I mean a lot. The very high (14.9%) ABV wasn't apparent except that I just knew that all that sweetness was covering up something dangerous. This is pretty much the opposite of a session beer. I liked it though.
Ounces Consumed: 22At 10% alcohol I knew this would be the only one of these I'd have. I liked the taste of this a lot. I detected a definite bourbon odor, and I asked if it was aged in an old bourbon barrel but the bartenders didn't think so. There wasn't really any bourbon to the taste so I may be insane.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Very dark brown with a stupidly huge amount of foam. Aroma is malt and molasses. Flavor is more of the same. The alcohol is very well-hidden. A good beer, but not a great one. Needs more sizzle or something.
Ounces Consumed: 10(can) Nice and creamy, though that could have been because of the widget. Compared to Guinness, a little sweeter, with a a subtle chocolate flavor instead of coffee. I liked it, and would probably like it more if I can ever find it on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) No aroma whatsoever. The first couple of sips reminded me more of cranberries than cherries. About halfway thourgh the glass I decided that it wasn't too bad and ordered another pint. A little sour, a little sweet. Really quite drinkable though.
Ounces Consumed: 100(draft) Black with a nice tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and dark, maybe even burnt, chocolates. Flavor was fairly intense of malts, with some chocolate and a touch of coffee. The high alcohol content was hidden very well. Really good, possibly yummy. I'll have to have some more when I can.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Black, with a decent brown head. A sugary sweet aroma. Flavor was fairly intense, with spices and a slight hint of coffee. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Not a thing wrong with this beer. That's the first thing I thought of. No aroma to speak of, a mild chocolate flavor that was quite yummy. No bitterness at all. An excellent session porter.
Ounces Consumed: 64(draft) I found this to be a basic stout with a slight chocolate flavor and a touch of rye bitterness at the finish. I liked it a lot, and I will probably go try to find it in bottles.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) A nice roasty chocolate flavor. The extra alcohol, as compared to similar stouts, seemed unnecessary to me, and annoyed me a little. A beer this good doesn't need the alcohol gimmick.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) A nice malty brown ale. Very pretty lacing. There was a bit of a coffee overtone that I could have done without. Quite good though.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Pretty good. A slight coffee taste. A slightly bitter finish. More roasted malt flavor than I'm used to in this style, and I think that's what saved it for me.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Hazy yellow. Strong aroma of cloves, yeast, and bananas. Maybe some vanilla in there. Flavor was like the aroma, except there seemed to be roasted malt in the thing too. Weird for a hefeweizen, but pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Clear copper color. The aroma and flavor were mild, but malty and fruity. Very smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Black in color. Roasted malts dominate the aroma and flavor. A mild alcohol burn finishes. For an alleged imperial stout, this is pretty lame. For a regular stout, it's pretty good. Reminds me of Bell's Kalamazoo Stout. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 21(draft) Served in a glass that was way too cold. There were ice crystals in the beer. Once it had thawed out a little, this was a pretty good beer. Very much a German-style wheat, but with the tiniest little bite of hops in the finish. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Very nice. Chocolately and roasty and malty. If this was available near my home it would be one of my favorite beers.
Ounces Consumed: 20A commonly-available beer that I put off drinking simply because of its availability - reasoning that something so widely accepted must be bland and boring. I was quite wrong (see Newcastle for another example of my flawed logic). This is a very nice beer that went down very easily. I think I could drink it all night, and that's not something I could say about most Belgians.
Ounces Consumed: 717(bottle) Clear bronze. Good head and lacing. I got hints of several spices and unusual flavors, most notably of vanilla. Very easy to drink. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 132(draft) That nice copper color was a welcome sight to an old altbier drinker. This beer has a pretty good balance - maybe a little on the bitter side. I also think it's changed a little for the worse since the brewery split apart several months ago.
update 080605: I've had this several times in both bottled and draft form. The bottled form tastes better to me. Go figure.
Ounces Consumed: 368(draft) Dark amber in color. Good head and lacing. Smells like malts and dark fruits. Tastes like malts and overripe charries. Good though.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Their Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout, but aged for three years. The results are a much more intense borboun aroma and flavor. Still pretty good, but maybe a touch too intense for me. I like the regular version better.
Ounces Consumed: 12
(draft) Clear dark bronze. Decent head. No detectable aroma. Flavor of dried cherries. The finish was quite drying as well. A good beer, but weird.
(draft) Black with nice tan head. Subdued aroma and flavor, of roasted malts and dark chocolate. Very smooth, and the alcohol is detectable only in the finish. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Pours black, with a minimal tan head that faded quickly. Light aroma of roasted malts and chocolate. Flavor was pretty much the same - roasted malt and chocolate. The finish was a little drying, but otherwise the 11% ABV is hidden very well. A very good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) The first time I saw this, they were calling it "Smokey the Beer." What a stupid name. This beer tasted terrible for the first few ounces, then once my palate had been numbed enough, it tasted pretty damn good. A lot like their regular, nonsmoked porter. It's probably the same beer. Just a touch
of smoked malt, a little chocolate. I liked it.
(draft) Hazy yellow, with tons of foam. This beer is advertised as a spiced Belgian wheat. I didn't get any spices though. I got yeast and bananas and wheat, all more apparent in the aroma than in the flavor. It's a good and neutral example of the style to me. I liked it.
(bottle) Color of dark hazy cola. No appreciable foam. A nice light vanilla aroma, and a very nice and smooth vanilla flavor. No undertones that I could detect. Finish was a little drying. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 34(draft) Black with a large tan head. Fantastic chocolate and malt aroma. The flavor is chocolately and roasty. Very roasty. I'm not even sure that's a word, but I'm using it anyway. Pretty damn good. The 10.6% ABV is very well hidden.
Ounces Consumed: 14(draft) Almost black with a decent tan head. Aroma of malts, and not much else. Same for the flavor. No bitterness. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 80(bottle) Clear dark amber. Minimal head. Aroma of hops and malts. Flavor pretty good. Mostly malty sweetness with a touch of grass or something like that. A touch of hoppiness at the end that didn't gross me out.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Hazy golden in color, with a large head that shrank quickly. Fairly standard aroma and flavor for a Belgian of this style - so pretty good. There was a tiny bit of unexpected creaminess as it swirled in my mouth. The finish was a little drying, but not so much as to be obnoxious. A pretty good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) Funky and Musty. Very dry finish. Hard to pin down exactly what this tasted like. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Dark amber. Decent head with lots of fizz. The cork nearly took my eye out when it popped. A nice sharp and fruity aroma. Maybe some floral scent in there too. Flavor more of the same, with maybe an added touch of cola. The sediment at the bottom of the bottle grossed me out.
Ounces Consumed: 21(bottle) Cloudy dark amber. Smallish head. Faint aroma of dark fruits and malt. Flavor fairly mild, consisting mostly of apples and plums. A little drying. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Poured a lot darker than I expected. A pretty good beer. No spices or adjuncts that I could detect, so I'm not sure that I agree with the "Winter Beer" classification. Good though.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Wow! Unexpectedly good. Extremely well-balanced and very refreshing. It also tasted like it had a higher ABV than it really does.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Another winner from this small brewpub. Quite malty and nutty, but enough hops to keep it nicely balanced.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) I had a little of this. I remember liking it, but quite frankly I was too drunk to remember much else about it. I will provide a real review the next chance I get.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) A stout, not just an ale, which was news to me. I didn't get much of an aroma from this, and the blueberry flavor was more subtle that I was expecting. The blueberries showed up mostly in the finish, which had absolutely no trace of bitterness. The undertones were mostly roasted malt, and the flavor slanted a tad more towards coffee than chocolate. A very good beer, worth the wait.
Ounces Consumed: 165(draft) Absolutely nothing special about this beer except that it's an Abbey Tripel, so it's special by default. Very good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 10(mixture) I mixed Bell's Cherry Ale and Young's Double Chocolate Stout in a 1-to-1 ratio. Just a fantastic combination. A nice deep red color. Chocolate flavor that's followed by a slightly sour finish. I'd definitely buy this if it was available commercially. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle/draft) Poured an orange/red color, with the massive head I usually find in De Dolle beers. Aroma much more massive and much more complex than their other offerings. Along with the standard Belgian apple tones, I also got what I'll call cherries and apricots. Did not taste like it had 12% alcohol in it. A little sour in the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 120(bottle) Very dark, very fruity aroma. Taste reminded me of dark cherry wine. The second half of my glass - once the head had dissipated - was much better than the first half.
Ounces Consumed: 123(bottle) Cola color. Roaster malt and caramel aroma. Fairly thin mouthfeel. The flavor was of cola and caramel. Slightly dry finish.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear bronze. A thin tan head that faded quickly and left nice lacing behind. Besides the unusual (for me) pumpkin flavor, there was a strange bitterness that came and went before the finish. Once my tastebuds had become numb to the bitterness this was a pretty good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle, 1999 vintage) Less sour than other lambics, but much more of a dry finish. A subtle hint of funkiness in both the aroma and flavor. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Slightly hazy orange. Quite fizzy in both aroma and flavor. Hints of apples, expected for the style, but the fizz was the predominate characteristic. Reminiscent of champagne. Good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Not what I was expecting, but a pleasant surprise instead. The main flavor I got was caramel, but there was really an awful lot of complexity behind that. Everything was subdued, but noticeable. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 90(bottle) Cloudy brown. Ridiculous heaping head. Tame aroma, just like all saisons. Flavor was tame as well, with just a hint of some unidentified spices. Pretty good, though. I'd like to try this in draft form.
Ounces Consumed: 25The beer that got me to finally appreciate Belgian brews. Apples were strong but not overpowering.
Ounces Consumed: 60(bottle) A pretty good and mild beer that always seems to go off like a bomb a few hours after I drink it. I do like it though, so I still have one every now and then.
Ounces Consumed: 50(draft) This beer knocked me on my ass. Very dark red, nearly black, with a decent head and more lacing than I expected. The flavor was a little intense. I kept wanting to call this a Winter warmer without the Winter part. A beer to celebrate happiness or drown sorrows, not a beer to simply enjoy.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) The first sip of this was just disgusting, but I vowed to drink a couple of inches to give it a fair test. At about halfway through the pint I decide I sorta liked it. By the end of the pint I wanted another one. An odd-tasting beer that just grew on me. Not sure I can describe the taste.
Ounces Consumed: 124(draft) Hazy dark brown, with no head to speak of. According to JauntyGirl, this smells like hairspray. I myself would say that it smells of roasted malt and alcohol. Fairly thin mouthfeel, with the flavor of roasted malts and overriip cherries. No alcohol burn at all. Pretty darn good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Yellow with a slight haze. Very good head and lacing. At first, it seemed a little watery, but then subtle flavors of apple peels and sour apples became evident. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Had this a year ago and didn't see anything special about it. Had it again last night and really liked it a lot. I thought I detected roasted nutmeg but don't see that mentioned anywhere. Very much a Winter ale, and very much a good one.
Ounces Consumed: 140(draft) A great beer for starting out an evening, yet interesting enough to make an entire session out of it. Smooth and malty. Tastes like it should have a higher ABV.
Ounces Consumed: 94(draft) Dark yellow. No head. Minimal lacing. No aroma. Flavor of dark fruits and malts. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Cloudy dark brown. Aroma of musty fruit. Flavor fairly typical for the style. Extremely good, in other words.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) I had a little of this. I remember liking it, but I was quite frankly too drunk to remember much more than that. I will provide a read review next change I get.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Highly recommended by all who'd had it at Rich O's. Definitely a Christmas Ale - all sorts of complex flavors. I thought the fruitiness was a little bit too much but I suppose it was needed to mask all of that alcohol.
Ounces Consumed: 50(bottle) Fizzy clear orange. Huge heaping head. Very faint citrus aroma. Flavor also quite faint, consisting of apples and oranges. Medium mouthfeel. No bitterness. Good but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) I've never been a big fan of oak aged brews, but the oak undertones of this are subtle enough that they're hardly noticeable. Just enough chocolate and coffee flavor to almost mask the alcohol burn, but not quite. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Smells and tastes more like a German than a Belgian wheat. As a German, it's quite good. As a Belgian, it's a little musty.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Creamy and malty. Very good, and I ended up having a second one. The best lacing I've seen in a long time.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) There's nothing new that I can say about Guinness. It's one of my favorites. Beautiful head, gorgeous lacing, nice malty aroma. A touch of coffee taste that I could actually do without.
Ounces Consumed: 1851(bottle) Despite the name Hefeweizen, this is an American wheat beer. Despite that, I liked it anyway. There was none of the hop bitterness that I usually associate with this style. The thing tasted like a Belgian wheat, and it tasted good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Black in color. Decent white head. Roasty cola aroma. Very well-balanced between coffee and chocolate. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) The first few sips, understandably, brought to mind a beer with ginger ale poured into it. By the end of the glass I'd decided that I did like this beer, and that I wished that it was even a little stranger than it was. Very unusual, and very drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Tastes like a pilsner until you swallow, that's when the funkiness takes over. I guess the funkiness was due to the sake yeasts used on the rice. My enjoyment of this beer grew with each sip, and I missed it when it was gone.
Ounces Consumed: 100(draft) There aren't many hefeweizens that I can say I actually liked. This one I liked. Sweet and fruity, with none of the citrus that usually ruins this style for me. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 40(bottle) Smelled fantastic. The first sip was actually a little bit disgusting. I wasn't expecting fizzy citrus. Having said that, however, I did finish the glass, and then another one, and then the rest of the bottle, so I couldn't have hated it that much. Probably not worth having again though.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) Smelled like snot, but that might have been because I was developing a cold. Served too warm for my tastes, and I almost never say that. A very creamy and smooth chocolatey porter. It contains more alcohol than I'd have guessed. I'd like to try this again once they get the cooler fixed.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Hazy dark ruby-colored. Minimal head. Mild fruity aroma. A smooth and creamy mouthfel and flavor, with a hint of an alcohol bite at the end. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Very dark red, with a light pink head that shrank but lasted. There was some discussion as to what the aroma was, and it was decided that this smells like Luden's cough drops. Flavor is cherries and cranberries. No alcohol burn at all. Quite good, but also quite strange.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Zero carbonation. Zero fizz. This lack of head reminded me of every NABC beer ever made. It was a very nice copper color, and it had a very nice and sweet flavor. I'd love to try this in draft form someday, but I don't really expect that to happen. This would get a yummy rating except for its flatness.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) Hazy dark brown. Minimal head. Fantastic fruity aroma. Flavor is sharp, with dark fruits domating. Quite good, but not as refined or as well balanced as the quad.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy dark gold, smallish head, some lacing. A nice clean aroma. The flavor is not too bad. A little musty for some reason. Given a choice between this and the quad, you should always take the quad. Always.
Ounces Consumed: 31(bottle) Hazy copper, with a decent head that faded quickly. The aroma is malts and dobblebock weirdness. No smoke in the aroma, which did not bode well for me. The smoke did, however, show up in the flavor, and it showed up nicely. The flavor was very well balanced, with hops and malts and smoke, plus the expected dopplebock weirdness. I liked this a lot, and I wasn't expecting to like it at all.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy light amber. Huge creamy head that was a bit of a hassle. Flavor was fairly mild for such a strong beer. Mostly apple peels and light yeast. The high alcohol is barely detecable, so this is a pretty dangerous beer.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Ridiculous huge head. Clear dark ruby in color. Very strong aroma of malts and dark fruits, especially while the foam was still present. Flavor not quite as strong as the aroma led me to expect. Darks fruits predominated. A fairly harsh alcohol finish for the first few sips, but after that, this beer was surpringly smooth. The alcohol is hidden very well.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) Hazy bronze. Huge heaping head. Aroma and flavor a little faint for a tripel. I was astonished to discover that this beer has 10% ABV - it's almost undetectable. I like this, but there are a lot of better tripels out there.
Ounces Consumed: 12