(draft) During lunch in Cincinnatti today I looked over the sparse beer selection and chose to try Abita Amber since I'd never had it before. I chose poorly. Water with beer-flavoring added. The tap water taste overpowered the beer taste. Very unsatisfactory.
Ounces Consumed: 16
382 beers listed
posted by dave in category piss
(draft) A cloudy beer with a slightly pinkish tint. If it had any actual flavor I'd decribe it here, but alas, there was none. A waste of time.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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) Cloudy dark brown. Medium head. Delicious smoke aroma. Flavor was pretty good. Much more subdued than other Schlenkerla offerings. Maybe a little bacony, but this was surprisingly good. Yummy, in fact.
Ounces Consumed: 206(draft) I was not expecting to like this. I don't know why. A nice clear dark amber color. The aroma of a smoky campfire. The smoke flavor is fairly apparent, and it's just smoke - no bacon or grapes or anything else to taint the flavor. I liked this a lot.
Ounces Consumed: 372(bottle) Well, the smoke was indeed very powerful. It was also quite a different type of smoky flavor than the Cone Smoker, Rogue Smoke Ale, or any other Rauchbier I've tried. I got a definite grapey taste from the smoke. I don't know if I would call it a good taste, but it certainly did the job of concealing the alcohol behind it.
Ounces Consumed: 17(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: 205My favorite session beer. Perfectly balanced sweetness, bitterness, and maltiness. Just the slightest kick of bitterness at the finish that makes me want another drink right away.
Ounces Consumed: 2162Just about as good as it gets. Dark and smoky. Not too bitter and not too sweet. This beer can be aged for years too, though I doubt that I'd ever have the discipline to do it. Absolutely yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 589(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(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 posted by dave in category decent
(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(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(bottle) Beautiful dark amber color. Fantastic malty and spicy aroma. Fizzy mouthfeel. Flavor of wheat and yeast and apple peels. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 50(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 mals and oak and molasses. Syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor is mostly malt, with the slightest hints of dark fruits. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 20The citrusy smell and taste were just too much for me. It tasted like beer and orange juice mixed. Blech.
Ounces Consumed: 3I 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) One of my favorites. I seemed to enjoy this more and more each time I had it. Probably the best Scotch Ale I've had. The flavor is hard to describe. I think that this one of those beers that you have to drink to understand just how good it is.
Ounces Consumed: 100 posted by dave in category decent
(draft) Roasty, malty, hoppy, weirdness. I'd like this more without the bitter finish.
Ounces Consumed: 46(draft) I had high hopes for this one. Blueberry flavor in a beer would definitely be something new and unusual for me. This actually ended up being my least favorite beer of the weekend. It tasted to me like an IPA. If there was any berry component to the flavor it was too subtle for me to detect it behind all the damn hops.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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(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: 50(draft) Cloudy light brown. No head. Aroma of roasted malt. Fucking good. Another winner from Avery.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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: 30Recommended to me because of my recent infatuation with belgian ales, this definitely did not disappoint. A nice reddish color and a decent head with a fair amount of lacing. For me, as with all belgians, the overwhelming flavor is that of apples. I can drink this in complete comfort. It's just yummy. Not quite as complex as a tripel I had a few weeks ago, but with a better overall flavor.
Ounces Consumed: 432(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(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) Lacing doesn't even begin to describe the foam that clung to my glass. A very nice stout - reminded me a lot of Murphy's. There was just a hint of chocolate, but nothing overpowering or pretentious at all. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 60(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 sip got gradually better, as other flavors became detectable. The end of the glass was halfway decent.
Ounces Consumed: 10 posted by dave in category decent
(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) Light copper. Good head, good lacing. Whoa. A strong malt and hop aroma, quite dry. Thin mouthfeel but still quite coating. Malt and hops predominate everything. Surprisingly bad.
Ounces Consumed: 16(bottle) I was quite impressed by this. An aroma that I can only describe as chocolately-grapey. A flavor that stayed with me from the time my lips touched it to the time I swallowed - in other words, consistently good. Quite yummy. I wish I'd had another one.
Ounces Consumed: 374(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(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 posted by dave in category decent
(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) 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 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) Oh, Bell's Kalamazoo Stout, where have you been all my life? This is as close to the perfect stout as I've ever had. All of the flavor of an imperial, but without the high ABV and without the alcohol burn. My new favorite non-chocolate stout in the entire world. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 530 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Bright and fizzy. This would probably be good if it was a hot enough day. Like a million degrees or something.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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) Smells like old socks. Looks like a lager. Tastes fantastic. Reminds me of the winter ales from the established Belgian breweries. Apples and other, unidentifiable, fruits predominate. A very surprising beer from one of my favorite breweries. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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 posted by dave in category good
(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 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) This seems to be a favorite, but I just don't get it. The smell of old socks was just too much for me. I couldn't finish the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 8 posted by dave in category swill
I didn't like this even a little bit. Bitter with strange, undefinable undertones. I barely finished the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) This might have been sweet and syupy or it might have been all the blueberries floating up and down. I couldn't finish the glass. Those things hitting my lips were just too strange.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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) A very cloudy yellow beer. Strong banana aroma. Came with a citrus wedge that I seem to have removed before it ruined the flavor. Quite yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 24(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) 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: 20 posted by dave in category piss
(draft) No head. No aroma, No flavor. A very dry and fizzy mouthfeel. Probably good for an upset stomach but little else.
Ounces Consumed: 5A 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: 555(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 posted by dave in category barleywine, decent
This 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) This beer that I didn't care for a year ago has either been changed or (more likely) my own tastes have changed. I found this to be a very good porter, even with the slight bitterness to the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 288(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) 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) A very dark red. Bourbon aroma is very faint - almost not noticeable. The flavor is that of a very mild stout with only the slightest hint of bourbon showing up in the finish. Not too bad. Quite good actually.
Ounces Consumed: 478
(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) Almost identical to Fat Tire ale. Malty and a little chocolately. In other words, very drinkable. More of a session beer than anything else. I recommend this highly.
Ounces Consumed: 70(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.
posted by dave in category piss
I'd heard some good things about this, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. This was water with a couple of drops of beer flavoring added. I only drank about an inch from the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) I think there was something wrong with this beer. It actually tasted skunked. I hope it didn't taste this way on purpose.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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: 4(draft) Almost with a decent tan head. Aroma of malts, and not much else. Same for the flavor. No bitterness. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 80 posted by dave in category barleywine, swill
(bottle) Clear medium-dark amber. No head, some fizz. Aroma of malt and dried hops. Flavor of burnt malt and stale hops. Quite fucking disgusting. I only took a few sips before giving up. LIfe's too short to waste drinking beer like this.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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) Black. Large brown head with great lacing. A nice chocolately flavor behind the bourbon, which shows up mainly in the lingering finish. Pretty damn yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 156 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Way too bitter for my tastes, but I suppose some people like the bitterness.
Ounces Consumed: 10Watery, but drinkable. The most (and perhaps only) enjoyable beer I've had at Brownings.
Ounces Consumed: 64(draft) Lord, why hast thou foresaken me? I thought this was crap. I only drank about two sips and then I threw the rest away.
Ounces Consumed: 2(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(bottle, 2002 vintage) Like a regular, somewhat mild, Belgian strained through dirty sweat socks. This is what I was expecting from a lambic festival! A little sour, a little drying, a lot tasty.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Funky and Musty. Very dry finish. Hard to pin down exactly what this tasted like. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) I've rated this a little higher than most brown ales because there was something special about it. I don't know what, though. There was a slightly spicy aroma and flavor. Whatever it was, it was damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 24(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(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: 20(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 posted by dave in category good
(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) 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) Smelled better than it tasted, but it smelled fantastic. Nice and malty with some spice aroma that I couldn't identify. Taste was very similar to the Great Lakes Christmas Ale - if you like that, you'll like this.
UPDAYE 111805: Not similar at all to the Great Lakes brew. Still delicious though. Sweet and complex, I got a little bit of cola flavor that I hadn't noticed before. Too strong for more than one in a night, and that sucks.
Ounces Consumed: 80I thought this beer smelled and looked fantastic. I'm not really sure what I was expecting tastewise - I suppose a combination of a Belgian and a Brown. What I got was a strange-tasting beer that I can't really say I liked all that much. It just tasted like something was wrong with it, but I couldn't point to any one thing.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Took a long time to pour, but worth the wait. Very smooth. Nice chocolate aroma and flavor that reminded me of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. This is a very good beer. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 200(draft) Another winner from this small brewpub. Quite malty and nutty, but enough hops to keep it nicely balanced.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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: 138(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(mixture) I mixed 1/2 Bells Cherry Ale with 1/2 BBC Dark Star Porter, and ended up with something greater than the sum of its parts. The too bitter porter balanced very nicely with the too sweet/sour Bells, and it was just excellent. I, apparently, am a frickin' genius.
Ounces Consumed: 60(mixture) I mixed 1/2 NABC Tunnel Vision with 1/2 Rogue Smoke Ale. For whatever reason, I figured that the honey sweetness of the Tunnel Vision and the smoky bitterness of the Rogue Smoke would play off each other quite well. I was right. I would drink the stuff if it was available commercially.
Ounces Consumed: 20(mixture) I mixed Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and Spezial Rauchbier on a 1:1 ratio. Amazing head, courtesy of the Weihenstephaner. Aroma of bananas and cloves, slightly subdued. Flavor of a German wheat beer. The smoke shows up in the finish. Yummy. I'm a freakin' genius.
Ounces Consumed: 20(mixture) I mixed Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and Delirium Tremens in the 16.9:11.2 ratio dictated to me by the bottle sizes. Mixing what are perhaps the ultimate representations of German wheat and Belgian strong ales, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to accomplish. One thing that I definitely wasn't expecting was to create a beer that would make me believe in God. Well, so much for expectations. Way beyond yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 28(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(bottle) Fizzy, hazy orange. Citrus undertones that I didn't care for at all. MIght be okay on a hot Summer day. My least favorite from this otherwise wonderful brewery.
Ounces Consumed: 12Cloudy yellow with a head that lasted throughout the glass. A great belgian beer. Well carbonated and fairly thick-tasting. This was as close to drinking hard cider as I think I could stand. I liked this beer a lot, but at a whopping 10% alcohol I know that one will always be my limit. One of my all-time favorites.
Ounces Consumed: 284(bottle) Highly recommended by several people, but I'm not really sure why. I've never had cherry wine, but I'm convinced that I now know what it would taste like. Very sweet, very winey. No bitterness to balance the sweetness at all. Not very good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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(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: 66(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) Very dark, very fruity aroma. Taste reminded me of cherry wine. The second half of my glass - once the head had dissipated - was much better than the first half.
Ounces Consumed: 72(draft) Dark brownish red with a very dense head that lasted forever. A very nice completion to the Delirium triad. Not as much spice as I was perhaps expecting, but very drinkable. More similar to Delirium Nocturnum than to Tremens. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) My desert island beer. I only wish I could drink more than a couple without going into a coma. The ultimate Belgian as far as I'm concerned. If you don't like this beer, then I don't like you.
Ounces Consumed: 1008(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) 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(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 posted by dave in category decent
(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) 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.
Ounces Consumed: 17 posted by dave in category good
(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(can) It wasn't the battery acid that I remember from the occasional sips I took as a kid. As lagers go, it's probably better than most American ones. That's not saying much though. Hoppy, with a little bit of a citrus tang that didn't make me want to vomit. Not after just one at least. I didn't risk another.
Ounces Consumed: 36I 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: 10The 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) 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 posted by dave in category yummy
(draft) A mild aroma and flavor. There was a hint of spice at the finish. Quite interesting. I liked it. A Winter Ale that's almost low enough in alcohol to be a session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 44(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 posted by dave in category good
(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(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) Smelled and tasted like an Alt, even though it's supposed to be an English Stong Ale. The only non-Altish characteristic was that the aftertaste was quite bitter - too bitter for my tastes.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Take a light american wheat and spray lemon pledge in it. Not the worst thing I've ever tasted, but far from the best.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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) 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(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(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: 40(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) 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 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) This beer was simply hard to drink. Part of the problem was that it really clashed with the beer I'd just finished, but most of the problem was that it tasted like cranberry juice. It did get better towards the end of the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 10They may call it an "Abbey Tripel" but to me this is a Belgian Ale, and it had all of the appleness that I've come to expect from Belgians, but this beer had a lot of other characteristics that I cannot even begin to describe. It was one of the most complex beers I've ever had. Yummy.
Update 080605: Yes, I am now aware that an Abbey Tripel is a type of Belgian Ale.
Ounces Consumed: 70Another winner from this excellent brewery. Very complex but well balanced. Starts out sweet, with a complicated blend of spices that I won't try to describe, followed by a surprising bit of cinnamon heat at the end. Nothing overpowering. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 120(bottle) One of the best porters I can remember having. Understated notes of coffee and chocolate. Roasty and yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 256(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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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: 1464(draft) Not at all what I was expecting. This seems more like a Christmas ale than anythng else. I got a lot of fruit that I'll call raspberry. A yummy beer. The high ABV is very well hidden - a little too well perhaps.
Ounces Consumed: 293(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(bottle) I kind of expected that this mead/lambic blend would be disgusting. I was right. Probably the nastiest thing that's touched my tongue in years.
Ounces Consumed: 7(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(draft) I told the drunk next to me (he had asked) that I predicted that this would be my favorite beer of the night. I was wrong. The smoke was reminiscent of bacon, or perhaps beef jerky. Probably the only smoked beer that I've ever had that I didn't like.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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: 12The web page says cinnamon and nutmeg. I got none of that. What I got was ambrosia. The most unusual beer I've ever had, and it took me a while to pin down what I was experiencing. Copper colored, good lacing, and an actual flower aroma. The flavor was incredibly indescribable, but I'll try anyway. Take a beautiful woman, have her bathe in lilacs and Mr. Bubble. Now perform oral sex on her. That's how good this beer was.
Ounces Consumed: 100(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 posted by dave in category piss
Rotten molasses is how I will describe it, though I don't really know what rotten molasses tastes like.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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(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 posted by dave in category decent
(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) 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(draft) Orange. Some faint apple flavor, but even more apricots. A little too sweet and citrusy for my tastes.
Ounces Consumed: 10Had an applely taste that I didn't find disgusting but I didn't like it enough to have a full pint. I'm surprised to see this classified as an ESB.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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 posted by dave in category good
(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(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) Nowhere on the tap did it have the word lager. That's false advertising as far as I'm concerned, but so is the lack of the phrase watery baby bunny piss. This just might give a Stella a run for its money as the weakest non-American lager in the world.
Ounces Consumed: 6(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: 25Cloudy dark red. An intense fruit aroma, with a mixture of dark cherries and apples and citrus. Easily one of the best beers I've ever had. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 508(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(draft) An absolutely terrible, bland, watery excuse for a beer. Tastes exactly how it looks - weak and boring.
Ounces Consumed: 1(draft) A fairly standard tasting tripel. Perhaps a little more citrus than I'd prefer, but very drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Looks like a lager, so scary. Smells like unpeeled apples. OMG tastes fantastic! I may just cream. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 16(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(bottle) Almost completely black. Huge heaping head. Heavenly smoked malt aroma. From under the massive layer of foam, some chocolate notes rose and made themselves known. The mouthfeel is a lot thinner than I was expecting. Flavor is intensely sweet. Some smoke in the finish. After the first few sips, I became numb to the sweetness, and the overall balance of the beer became evident. Quite yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 50(draft) Clear dark copper in color. Good head and lacing. Strong spice and malt aroma and flavor. Mouthfeel seemed a little watery at first, but it seemed to thicken as the glass emptied. Flavor is nutmeg and cinnamon and a touch of citrus. A lingering slightly hoppy finish. A yummy beer.
Ounces Consumed: 92(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: 10This beer is quite simply excellent. Brewed and sold only in the Northwest, it's exemplifying a level of quality and taste that all microbreweries should strive to meet instead of just churning out random recipies with unusual labels.
Ounces Consumed: 48 posted by dave in category decent
(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(bottle) Hazy gold with lots of fizz. Good-sized head. Aroma fairly standard for Belgian ales. Flavor quite yummy. The usual for this style, but with some tiny hints of spices and maybe even some caramel in there.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Dark red, and sour. The first sip pretty much tells the whol story of this beer. I recommend it to anyone wanting to try something different, and almost everyone who's tried it has liked it a lot.
Ounces Consumed: 115(draft) Clear ruby-brown in color. A nice fluffy head. Sour charries and apples in both the aroma and the flavor. Very comparable to Metreechs. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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: 16 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Quite disgusting. Has that tingly mouthfeel that I detest in lagers. I was suurprised to find in this, ostensibly an ale. This is a beer trying to appeal to the swill drinking masses and the good beer drinkers at the same time. It fails at both.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Very thin flavor and mouthfeel. Definitely drinkable, but so is water.
Ounces Consumed: 5 posted by dave in category decent
Quite 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: 4The bartender didn't know if it was a German-style or and American-style wheat, so I just had a sampler glass. It's American-style, so I didn't like it. The honey was not apparent except that the usual hop bitterness I find in this style was not there. Bland and boring.
Ounces Consumed: 4Fucking yummy and chocolately and yummy. Whoever says that there's no good beer at Laclede's Landing is an idiot. This beer was worth the trip all by itself.
Ounces Consumed: 32Despite the name, this is an oatmeal stout aged in used Jack Daniel's barrels. The bartender says that every beer in the place is "lager-style" which to me means yeast. Whatever they call it, this beer is yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 36(draft) After being lured in by the color and the overflowing foam, I ended up thinking that this beer was all show. Not much of a taste at all, just a faint aftertaste of bitterness.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Clear brown. Zero fizz. Smells like a pine tree - must be the mugwort. The flavor is very weird, and very good. I like this a lot. Tastes like it should have more alcohol than it does.
Ounces Consumed: 320This is what I've been waiting for! A Belgian that won't kill me if I have more than one in a night! Very good, it reminded me of NABC's Tunnel Vision except not quite as sweet. Could use a little more carbonation, and it lacks the appley taste I've become accustomed to from Belgians. I liked it a lot, and I'm looking forward to the next batch to see if they up the carbonation a little.
Ounces Consumed: 110For 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) Wow! The regular Bob's 15B is decent, if a tad bland. The aging has transformed this into a fantastic beer. A dark brownish-red hue, very little head, some lacing. Very strong bourbon aroma at first that subsides about halfway though the glass. The thing I like most about this beer, aside from the wonderful aroma, is the nearly instantaneous finish. There is no aftertaste to taint the next sip.
Ounces Consumed: 140This beer is occasionally decent, but usually it's way too bland or way too bitter. It's not worth my time or money to try it any more.
Ounces Consumed: 120(draft) Stupid name, I think they've given up there. The beer was black. More than black. It was anti-light. Very little foam, as is typical for NABC beers. Not much of an aroma, just a touch of smoky malt. Fairly thick and creamy mouthfeel. Flavor is a bit sharp and smoky, surprising after the tame aroma. Finish is creamy smoke. I liked it, so odds are good that they'll never make it again.
Ounces Consumed: 40The Bourbondaddy is a stout aged in a used bourbon barrel. I had this last year at about this time, and I remember liking it, but I don't remember much else about it. This time around I actually paid attention to what I was drinking. It's a little bitter at first, but after that it's very good. Nothing extremely special, it tastes the way it should - a medium stout with a little bourbon flavor added.
Ounces Consumed: 30Pretty bland unless it's the first beer of the night. I remain sad that Rich O's pulled Newcastle in favor of this one.
Ounces Consumed: 220This beer has gone through a few different incarnations, all leading up to this, what may be the ultimate smoked ale. The first couple of sips are bitter, but that fades quickly and all that's left is yumminess. I really wish that this were available more often.
Ounces Consumed: 1916(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.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) First time drinking the non-bourbonized version of this stout. I got an almost overpowering sense of chocolate - both in the aroma and the flavor. Pretty good, but would probably be too much for me to wrap an evening around. I was pleased to detect no coffee or licorice at all.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Black with a decent tan head which completely disappeared within one minute.. Strong aroma of roasted malt and a touch of chocoloate. Flavor is like the aroma. Mostly roasted malt with a touch of chocolate. And no hop bitterness! Yay! I really like this beer, so I'l probably never see it again once this batch is gone. I'd better drink up while I can.
Ounces Consumed: 90(draft) Dirty gold. Zero fizz. Has a sweet aroma, if that makes any sense. Flavor is quite sweet with some odd undescribable undertones. Pretty good, but dangerous because the alcohol is very well hidden.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) I'd never call myself a pilsner fan, so I didn't have great expectations for this beer. Having said that, this just wasn't very good. A little citrusy, and a little bit of some odd flavor that I cannot pin down. Must be the corn. Hey, at least I tried it.
Ounces Consumed: 10 posted by dave in category decent
(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: 5 posted by dave in category decent
The 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 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) I don't know why breweries try to make this kind of beer. It's really quite disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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.
Ounces Consumed: 10 posted by dave in category yummy
(draft) Dark and sweet. There was a slight bitterness to the finish that made me want to take another sip right away. The description says molasses, but I didn't get any of that. I got more of a fruity flavor that might have been plums or cherries. A very pleasant surprise was that it's not that strong (7% ABV). A very good beer that I will probably drink until it's gone.
Ounces Consumed: 230 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) No matter how hard I try, I cannot detect any aroma or flavor. All I get is a slightly drying finish.
Ounces Consumed: 8They're calling it a "Belgian Brown Ale" but I don't really know what that means so I'll call it "Newcastle with Apples in it." It was okay, and the apple undertones weren't that strong. I liked it.
Update 080605: Yes, I know what a Belgian is now. I'd like to see this beer return.
Ounces Consumed: 20What a scary beer! It tastes very good, with no bitternes at all, and just the right amount of carbonation. The scary part is that it's over 8% alcohol, and that'll sneak up on you real quick if you're not careful.
Ounces Consumed: 60(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 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Looked and smelled fantastic - good enough that I pushed past my initial dislike of the taste to give it a fair shot. Eventually the bitterness wore me out, and I ended up giving about half the pint away. I can understand the appeal of this beer, it just doesn't happen to appeal to me.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) As with all Imperial Stouts, this one took a few sips before my palate was numbed enough to appreciate it. A little more subdued than I was expeciting, absolutely drinkable. The alcohol was masked very well.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) I've gone ahead and updated this rating as this beer has become one of my favorites. Very little head, and the beer is a little flat. But the rye and honey play together quite nicely. One of the few semi-strong beers that I can get my swill-drinking friends to drink.
Ounces Consumed: 340(draft) Very well-balanced ale, probably meant to be a copy of Newcastle Brown Ale, and it is a very good copy indeed. A little more malt than the Newcastle. A very good session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 587(draft) Very smooth for so much alcohol. I really liked this, but I'd probably like it even more without the oaky undertones. Almost black with good head and lacing. There were subtle hints of vanilla and bourbon that were a very pleasant surprise.
Ounces Consumed: 70(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: 4Newcastle is one of those beers that tastes good from the first sip of the first glass to the last drop of the third glass. It's as steady as a rock. Not as flavorful as some of the beers I've been drinking recently, but it's extremely well-balanced, and with only 5% or so ABV, it makes a very good session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 5930(draft) Dark cranberry in color. Huge head. Aroma is a very faint sweetness. Tastes like watery cranberry juice. Kind of disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 14(bottle) Hazy dark brown. Minimal head. fantastic aroma of malt and raisins. Fairly intense malt flavor. Apples and raisins predominate. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 75(draft) A wonderful beer. Intensity everywhere from the aroma to
the flavor to the finish. Dark chocolate and quite a lot of roasted malt. A sweet burning finsh that made me want another sip right away.
posted by dave in category good
(draft) A very pretty beer, hazy orange with a nice creamy head. The taste was a little sour, but in a good way. It reminded me of a good lambic more than anything else.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Got kind of an odd aroma along with the expected apple. Maybe cherries. Flavor did seem to have the same bit of oddness. It was good though.
Ounces Consumed: 15(bottle) Almost black with a decent tan head that faded quickly. Aroma is mild smoke and chocolate. Flavor is mostly mild smoke flavor. I really like this because there's noting competing with the smoke. Pretty damn good. My second-favorite smoked porter.
Ounces Consumed: 72(bottle) Dark ruby-colored, firm head. Nice but shot-lived head. Strong aroma of various dark fruits. Flavor milder than the aroma indicates. A little drying and fizzy. Not bad at all.
Ounces Consumed: 25Dark copper-colored, firm head. A neutral flavor, with perhaps a touch of apple and more hops than I usually prefer. A very fizzy mouthfeel. A good beer. The aroma was a little perfumy.
Ounces Consumed: 40 posted by dave in category good
It was quite disgusting at first, but after an inch or so it started to taste pretty good. I suspect that my initial disgust was caused by the ESB still coating my mouth. At 8.5% it was too strong for me to risk getting a second opinion.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Huge head, bordering on the ridiculous. Taste, as I expected, was that of a fairly mild Belgian. A little less sweet and a little more hoppy than I'd generally prefer, but a very good beer anyway.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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) Pretty standard German hefeweizen in appearance and aroma and flavor. Just a touch of sourness at the finish that wasn't too bad. I liked this much more than I expected to.
Ounces Consumed: 85(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) Good head. The color of very pale piss. Aroma is very slight, and of hops. Probably the palest, definitely the most watery, beer I've ever had. I'm rating this as swill only because it's so inoffensive. Otherwise it would get a rating of piss.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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 posted by dave in category decent
(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: 4 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Very light and citrusy. Tasted like a Bud Light to me. Supposedly an ale but I'm not convinced.
Ounces Consumed: 4 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) An otherwise bland vehicle for a bitter hoppy aftertaste. What's the point?
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Citrusy piss. I recall having this a long time ago and somewhat enjoying it, but my last attempt caused me to swear that I'll never let this touch my lips again.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Nice and thick with very good lacing. A slightly different apple taste than I've had with other Belgians - maybe some caramel in there too? A very good beer that would probably kill me if I had more than two.
Ounces Consumed: 206(draft) I see all these descriptions about sharp and hoppy and peppery - I got none of that. What I got was a pale beer with a huge head that didn't have much of anything in the way of aroma or flavor. What there was, however, was quite good. At 7.5%, this beer is a lot stronger than it tastes or smells.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) The color of dirty piss. A decent head and good lacing. Aroma of orange peels. Thin and citrusy falvor and mouthfeel. A touch of grapefruit bitterness at the end. Quite disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Dark cola in color. decent head and lacing. Nice and smooth. More complex than the first few sips indicate. Spices and hops and nutmeg and molasses are what I think I detected. A good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 60Had this on tap at a bar with the same name in Las Vegas. By the end of the week I knew I'd found my new favorite non-smoked beer. Perfectly balanced sweetness and bitterness, and also with a little touch of something special in the base flavor. Very tough to describe though.
Ounces Consumed: 720I'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 posted by dave in category decent
(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) Very good. Cloudy brown color, little head to speak of. Taste of apples that have almost gone sour. There were a couple of other, more subtle flavors. Maybe raisins and honey. I wanted more right away.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Clear dark copper-colored. Decent head and lacing. A dry fruit aroma and flavor. The alcohol is hidden very well. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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: 10Somehow combined bland and rotten in the same glass. Tasted like fermented Mazola Corn Oil, and not in a good way. Blech.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Take a bland IPA, and wash your socks in it. Then take it to your local steel mill, and use the same beer to wash the socks of everyone who works there. This just might give you a good idea of what this beer tastes and smells like. Actually, it would taste and smell better than the beer does, but I didn't want to go overboard with my description.
Ounces Consumed: 22(bottle) Fizzy cola-colored. Decent head. Same aroma as the "6" but much more pronounced. Flavor of dried apples and plums and cola. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) Fizzy dark brown. Huge head. Aroma and flavor of dried apples and raisins. Not much to it. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) More malty than sweet, so a little unbalanced. Good head and lacing. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Stupid name. Very dark brown - almost black, with a nice tan head. Very roasty and malty. Not sure that this should be called a brown ale, but whatever you want to call it, it's still good.
Ounces Consumed: 16)(draft) No aroma. Very faint coffee flavor. Very fizzy mouthfeel. Not very good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Smelled pretty good. The flavor and mouthfeel brought creamy bananas to mind. A pretty strange beer, but decent.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Clear gold in color. Looks like a lager, so scary. The flavor is awesome. There are the typical apple undertones, but this is a lot thicker-tasting than most saisons I've had. Damn good. Yummy actually.
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) No detectable aroma, and not much flavor. I can't tell if this is an American or a German wheat. It's very bland, but still good.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) I'm convinced that this is the same beer that Hofbrauhaus is selling. Quite a good beer in a style that I don't normally care for.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Much blander than I was expecting. Just a beer, neither great nor horrible.
Ounces Consumed: 10There wasn't very much smoke, and what there was was the "grapey" kind of smoke that I don't really care for. To make matters worse, there was no bitterness, only sweetness behind the smoke, and those two flavors clashed quite a bit.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Looks like a brown ale, smells like an alt, but tastes like an IPA. Bitter flavor followed with a bitter finish. An Altbier is supposed to be balanced, dammit! A very disappointing beer from one of my favorite breweries.
Ounces Consumed: 5(bottle) Very faint peppery aroma, with a little smoke thrown in. Not much taste until the finish, then a little pepper heat. I was expecting more pepper, so I was expecting to dislike this more than I did.
Ounces Consumed: 42(draft) A fantastic beer, from the intense chocolate syrup aroma through the creamy mouthfeel to the delicious finish. Beyond yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 1576(draft) Cloudy brown. This was a mild tasting ale that went down quite good and didn't seem too high in alcohol. A German Maibock, which I never would have guessed. Tastes like a Scotch Ale to me. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 368(draft) Poured dirty orange. Aroma was musty - reminded me of a lambic. Taste also reminded me of a lambic, except this wasn't particularly sour. There was quite a bit of complication behind the obvious mustiness of the aroma and the flavor. I liked this beer.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Very dark brown. Huge heaping head. Bitter aroma and bitter flavor. Quite disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 1(draft) I just had a small sample glass of this, as I was not expecting to like it. I was right. Very watery tasting, but sort of a thick mouthfeel. Hard to believe that this comes from Rogue.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Pretty good. This reminded me of Bell's Kalamazoo Stout more than anything else. A slight slant toward the coffee side of the flavor spectrum as opposed to the chocolate side. The fairly high ABV is very well hidden.
Ounces Consumed: 70(bottle) Hard to find anything wrong with this beer. If I had to pick something it would be the high ABV which limits the amount that can be consumed. A yummy chocolately flavor with a fairly intense alcohol burn. Quite good, and I will be buying more bottles which I will try to let age.
Ounces Consumed: 82(draft) Dark amber. Decent head. Malty and hoppy aroma. Malty and hoppy flavor. Pretty fucking good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Very dark cherry revealed when held up to the light. A lot of complexity, but most of I think wasted as nothing stood out at all. I did think I got a little cherry at first but even that subsided by the second or third sip. Good, but not very memorable.
Ounces Consumed: 20 posted by dave in category decent
I tasted malt, malt, and more malt. It wasn't particularly bad, it just wasn't particularly good either.
Ounces Consumed: 20Pretty good. Quite roasty. Maybe a little bit too roasty - it was hard to find anything else.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) It was a good beer, not nearly as smoky as I'd been hoping, but the smoke flavor and aroma was still pretty apparent. It had a less wide-ranging and complex flavor than the Cone Smoker I get when I'm back home, but sometimes simpler is better. A little subdued. Quite yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 968(bottle) Came highly recommended. I was looking for something chocolately, and I guess this fit that bill. I have to say that it didn't live up to its aroma though. A sublt mix of chocolate and coffee flavor. A slight bitter finish. Quite good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Dark bronze. Very light foam. A strong aroma of whatzit and orange. The flavor was mostly whatzit, with some light orange peel thrown in. Despite the citrus, I did like this beer. I just wish I knew what the whatzit really was.
Ounces Consumed: 40It's always a crap shoot as to whether a hefeweizen is in the true German style or the crappy American style. This was American, so I didn't like it. As with most beers, however, this did get better as the glass got emptier. By the end, it was passable. This is not the beer's fault - I just don't like the style.
Ounces Consumed: 20More malty than other Scotch Ales I've tried, and that extra maltiness was needed to help mask the alcohol. A very good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) A very nice surprise. Dark clear amber. Minimal head. No detectable aroma. The yummy malty and fruity flavor came out of nowhere. There are supposed to be citrus adjuncts but I couldn't detect them at all.
Ounces Consumed: 10 posted by dave in category decent
(draft) Tried some the other night and wasn't impressed. Had a full glass tonight and still wasn't impressed, but it certainly went down easier. For all the hops and malts used, I should have detected more complexity. Just a decent beer that does a very good job of hiding its high ABV.
Ounces Consumed: 13(draft) Good, but not as good as everyone else seems to think. Nothing noteworthy at all. I'd describe some details but there really aren't any. It's just a beer.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Not my favorite in this style, but not really anything wrong with it that I can point out. Just a little subdued in every aspect. Could use something more, but I'm not sure what.
Ounces Consumed: 60(bottle) Cloudy gold. A good fizzy head. Strong German wheat aroma, and flavor, with just a hint of tangy sourness. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 17 posted by dave in category decent
(draft) Thick but fairly mild. Not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. I got a little coffee flavor and a little butterscotch. No aftertaste at all.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) One of the better IPAs, but that's not saying too much for someone like me that doesn't like the style. Just decent, nothing more. Not bitter but a little sour.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) I've never been a big fan of this brewery, and this beer did nothing to change that. A decent coffee flavored porter with the typical Sierra Nevada lagerish finish. It got better the more I drank, but it never quite reached the point of being good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) A lager by any other name is still a lager, and I still don't like it. Kind of a sickly-sweet taste that I can't really describe and I don't want to drink more of it just to get a better description.
Ounces Consumed: 5(bottle) Highly recommended to me by a coffe lover, so I was expecting coffee flavor to the beer. This instead has a good chocolate base to the flavor. A little extra bite at the end, because of the 7.2 ABV, that I could have done without. Good though.
Ounces Consumed: 12A sampling of this beer was intriguing enough for me to order a full glass. There was a slight watery taste that at first turned me off, but after a few sips I started to imagine, believe it or not, a slight peaty characteristic to the water. This has since become one of my favorite session beers. Nice and mild, and low enough in alcohol that I could drink it all night.
Ounces Consumed: 1654(draft) With a name like Smuttynose, it has to be good, right? Right. A very strong chocolate aroma and flavor. Like the NABC Haggisdaddy Stout it reminded me of, this would probably be good poured over ice cream
Ounces Consumed: 21I asked some regulars what was the wimpiest beer at Rich O's and was told it was Spaten Lager. I had one of these to field-test it for my sister and it was indeed wimpy. I wish I could think of a better descriptor.
Ounces Consumed: 23(draft) Clear light amber. Good mound of foam. Smells and tastes like hops and alcohol. Kinda gross, but some people will probably like it.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Amber in color, with a slightly sweet smoke aroma. Much lighter in smoke than other rauchbiers. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 1518(draft) If you've ever wondered what a mixture of Delirium Tremens and New Belgium Fat Tire would be like, then this is the beer for you. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Touted as being "like Blue Moon" and I suppose that's not too much of a lie. A decent Belgian wheat, but with lagerish undertones and a touch too much citrus. Kind of a blend of Belgian and American wheats.
Ounces Consumed: 12The aroma is fantastic, as is the flavor. Maybe a bit more mellow than other German-style wheats. A very good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 26 posted by dave in category swill
Hoppy and malty, with a bitter finish. Common is a very good name for this beer - there are a zillion just like it, and I don't like any of them.
Ounces Consumed: 2Pretty good. Malty with a hint of cola to balance it out. A lot like Goose Island Hex Nut Brown Ale.
Ounces Consumed: 6A typical dry stout. Nothing wrong with it at all but nothing great either. Quite roasty, and better than average I suppose.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) One of those beers that takes a long time to pour. Once in a glass, the head faded fairly quickly. I detected a strong oak smell until the head had gone, then lots of malt and alcohol with some fruit. The alcohol-bitter aftertaste reminded me strongly of bourbon. I liked this, but I'd recommend it to close out a session instead of beginning one.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) I asked for a Belgian and got this awful thing. I don't like lagers, and this was a pretty bad lager. Bland mixed with boring.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) First off, looks fantastic. Black with a firm brown head, I was almost reluctant to drink it for fear of messing up the head. Flavor is a nice chocolate, with just a hint of bitterness about halfway through. I was a little surprised, and a little disappointed, that the ABV is so high on this one. I'd love to be able to have more than one.
Ounces Consumed: 94It was pretty good beer actually, not as strong of a smoke flavor as some of the other smoked porters I've had, but enough to be recognizable, and enough to be pretty good. I'll call it "smoked porter light."
Ounces Consumed: 470(bottle) Hazy black color, decent head that faded quickly. Smells fantastic, with dark fruits and maybe even some chocolate. Flavor is fruity and creamy. There's a lingering bitter finish that I don't care for at all. A decent beer.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) had a decent flavor, but there wasn't much flavor to it. I kept getting hints of spices and such, but the hints faded as soon as I started to detect them. Good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) A decent, but not great, alt beer. Balance favored the hoppy side, especially in the aftertaste. Looked and smelled great, but the taste was a little disappointing.
Ounces Consumed: 5(bottle) Reminded me of a winter seasonal. Lots of fruit that I cannot quite define. Thick and strong, yet refreshing at the same time. I really wish I could drink more than one.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Cloudy dark urine in appearance. No head to speak of. A very citrusy aroma, but the flavor was quite similar to a German wheat except for the thinner mouthfeel. A decent beer.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Cloudy yellow/orange. A nice head that faded quickly. This is a very citrusy Belgian when it first enters the mouth, but then the pumpkin takes over and coats the mouth with sweetness, then there were some nice spices in the finish. Just yummy. It seemed like it had a high ABV, but its 10.5% still surprised me.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) Looked like coffee with cream, I guess because the keg had been jiggled. Flavor was pretty good. Lots of berries and fruits. A fairly strong alcohol bite at the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Kind of funky aroma, which was to be expected I suppose. A mild mustardy flavor, just a slight spiciness. Much much better than I'd expected. I will have more of this, definitely.
Ounces Consumed: 229(draft) Good lacing. No detectable aroma, flavor, or aftertaste. There was just a hint of bitterness that faded before swallowing was complete. Not bad, but very boring.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Cloudy brown, with a nice long-lasting head. The taste was malty and nutty, with a fairly bitter finish that became more tolerable as the glass became emptier.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Of all the beers at Rich O's, this one is perhaps the one that's been recommended to me most often. Frankly, I don't understand all the hype. It is a good beer, but not a great one. I think my main problem was the gritty feeling I got in my mouth while drinking it. It almost seemed like there was something that hadn't quite dissolved all the way. By the end of the glass it was better. Other than the gritty mouthfeel, this beer smelled and looked fantastic, and it had a really good flavor - one that wasn't nearly as sweet as I was expecting. A very drinkable beer, but any place that has this probably has something better as well.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) My first beer in this style. I didn't detect too much of anything except a trace of bitter aftertaste. The beer was very drinkable and would make a good session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) A nice dark brown color that revealed red when help up to light. I thought the taste was very good, though there seemed to be a slight gritty feel until the head had dissipated. The slightly bitter finish made me want to drink again to get back to the nice flavor. Not recommended on an empty stomach, as I wanted another pint but had to decline.
Ounces Consumed: 160(bottle) Quite an interesting beer. Very complex, with flavors I don't think I've ever encountered before. The stuff was good, though perhaps just a little too fruity for me to say I really liked it. I will have it again sometime though.
Ounces Consumed: 50(draft) Had a head that lasted forever. Quite a bit blander than other Belgians I've enjoyed - this had a more lagerish taste to it, and no apple taste at all. Despite that I did like it though.
Ounces Consumed: 30(draft) That first taste nearly overpowered me. I still can't believe that this beer comes from a brewpub catering to the flavor-impaired masses. Very chocolately, very roasty, very delicious. One of the best porters I've ever had.
Ounces Consumed: 153(draft) Not as disgusting as it sounds. It tastes like Hawaiian Punch. this might be good with the blackened mahi-mahi with pineapple sauce they have on their food menu.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Dark brown with just a hint of red. Has just a slight bit of that unmistakeable rye finish. Mostly malt behind it, without much bitterness at all. I really liked this. Its 7% ABV surprised me.
Ounces Consumed: 10I have to say that despite the long-winded name this is one of he best beers I've had in a long time. Smooth, not too strong, not too weak. What an excellent session beer! I wish I could describe it more clearly. "Drinkable" is the word that comes to mind most often. Malty and complex. Neither too sweet nor too bitter. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 290 posted by dave in category piss
I didn't like it at all, and I don't think I can properly describe the displeasure I had while drinking it, so I won't try. A sickly-sweet syrupy mess.
Ounces Consumed: 6(bottle) Cloudy brown, huge heaping head. A constant stream of bubbles kept emerging form the dark depths of the glass. Smells like foam. A fairly mild flavor of dried apples and raisins. A little musty. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Although supposedly a Belgian wheat, this had much of the aroma and flavor of a German wheat. If I had to put a label on it, I'd say that is was a blend of those two excellent styles. A very good beer from what is becoming one of my favorite breweries.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Hazy cola-colored. Massive head, mild fruity aroma. Mild fruity and fizzy flavor, with some hoppy dryness that didn't exactly thrill me. It got better as the bottle got emptier.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy light amber in color. Huge head. Fantastic aroma of apple peels and bananas and cherries. A strong Belgian wheat flavor. More sharp and tangy than most. Think Blue Moon on steroids. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Cloudy yellow, with a decent amount of foam. Aroma of wheat and malt and a touch of oak. Flavor quite similar to Belgian wheat ales. Goes down very easily, the alcohol is very well hidden. Yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 45(bottle) Very dark, almost black. A smallish head that faded almost instantly. It had a very dry aroma and flavor. More like wood than the fruit I'd been expecting. A very good beer though. It certainly didn't taste like it was 10.5% ABV.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Quite yummy actually. This surprised me until I remember that the same brewer makes La Fin Du Monde. If I had to describe this, and I guess I do, I'd call it Newcastle on steroids.Dark amber. Nice head. Sweet and malty aroma and flavor. I want more right now please.
Ounces Consumed: 35(bottle) Black, revealing amber only when strongly backlit. Huge creamy head. Aroma of oak and malty apples and cherries. Flavor is like the aroma, only better. There's something else there, maybe grapes of all things. Pretty damn yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 25 posted by dave in category swill
(draft) Hazy reddish amber. No head to speak of. Aroma of stale hops and malt. What little flavor there was, was disgusting. I had to really force myself to finish the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Had a very strong roasted malt aroma. The flavor was quite nice with roasted malt and a mild chocolate. A dry finish that made me want to take another drink right away.
Ounces Consumed: 42(draft) My first impression was that this beer was simply a relabeled Smithwick's. After a bit, however, I did begin to notice a slight hint of bitterness. More like a hint of a hint actually. Smithwick's is better.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Incredible head and lacing. Had a strong coffee aroma but the flavor was an incredible blend of both coffee and chocolate. Very creamy and very yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 406(draft) Very fizzy but sweet. A mild banana aroma and flavor. Mouthfeel was fizzy wheat. There was a slight tartness to the finish. I liked this, but I've had better.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Very fizzy. Too damn fizzy. There was too much citrus and it was a little sour tasting. In other words, it's an American wheat beer. It's sole purpose may be for those nights when I don't really feel like drinking beer.
Ounces Consumed: 53(draft) It reminds me of the Great Lakes Christmas Ale that I enjoyed so much a few months ago. There was some fruitiness that I will call raspberry and some nutmeg as well. My only real problem with this beer is that it's rather strong and I cannot safely have more than one.
Ounces Consumed: 220(draft) This was my first scotch ale, and I guess it was a little blander than I expected. I did really like it though.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) This beer is evil. Pure evil. To taste the way it does, which is actually fairly mild, but to pack that much alcohol - well like I said it's evil. As I said, a fairly mild (and fairly standard) Belgian taste. A slight alcohol finish is the only thing that hints at the wolf underneath this sheep's clothing.
Ounces Consumed: 92(bottle) Very malty and sweet. There might have been some chocolate and/or coffee flavor under all that malt, but I couldn't be sure. Mouthfeel was creamy and sticky. Finished like it had a higher ABV than it really did.
Ounces Consumed: 17(draft) One of my favorites from a style that is not a favorite. Not too bitter. A touch of citrus that wasn't too bad.
Ounces Consumed: 20 posted by dave in category piss
(bottle) Absolutely disgusting aroma and color and flavor. Probably the worst beer I've ever tried.
Ounces Consumed: 1(bottle) Readily available in bottled form, an availability that I take advantage of quite often. Fantastic aroma and flavor. Low enough ABV to drink several of them in one sitting, and that's another thing I take advantage of. Incredibly yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 1949(draft) Took a long time to drink - it's pretty filling. Very nice aroma and a good flavor. This beer has convinced me that I now like hefeweissbiers - though I like the non-dunkel version a lot more. Seemed to affect me more than its 5.3% alcohol would suggest.
Ounces Consumed: 80(bottle) Cloudy dark brown. Minimal head. Aroma of malt and cola. Flavor more of the same. A bit of a musty taste at first that grew on me. Not a lot of fruit in the flavor, just malt and cola. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Hazy light orange. Good long-lasting head. Aroma of apples and citrus and wheat. Flavor is light and fruity - a bit like a Belgian wheat. Just the slightest hint of alcohol burn at the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) No head at all, but somehow managed to have very good lacing. A hint of caramel in the flavor. A slightly lagerish finish but not too fizzy. Not bad at all.
Ounces Consumed: 10>(draft) The bartender didn't know if this was an American or German wheat, so I had a pint to find out. What it is is a very weak American wheat. Very little aroma or flavor. Since I don't like American wheats, this one was actually very tolerable.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Looks like grapefruit juice. Smells pretty good, kind of like a blend of Belgian and German wheat styles. Flavor was more of the same. Nothing wrong with this beer at all, but nothing really right about it either.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Wow. I wasn't expecting a beer this special. The label says "Belgian Ale Brewed with Juniper Berries." There's not a whole lot that I can add to that description, but I owe it more. Flat-out yummy. I want more.
Ounces Consumed: 175(draft) Clear bronze. A very interesting vanilla and smoke aroma. Despite the name, there wasn't even the tiniest hint of bourbon. A nice medium mouthfeel, with vanilla and light smoke in the flavor as well. Pretty fucking good. I don't care who makes it.
Ounces Consumed: 100(draft) Good head, good lacing. Subtle chocolate aroma and more subtle chocolate flavor. Nothing else to distinguish it at all. It did kind of grow on me though.
Ounces Consumed: 420(draft) I was expecting more from this beer for some reason, but I should have known better. This is, after all, the brewery that touts their chocolate stout as "double" chocolate even though it's clearly the weakest of any that I've ever had. But enough ranting. A decent brown ale with a touch of something that I couldn't identify - there's not enough of whatever it is.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) The aroma was almost overpowering at first, but after that it was hard to even detect. The flavor was mild and tasty. It was kind of strange to pull a cork on a bottle of beer and find something this generic inside. Good, but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 25
in a nutshell
Every beer I've written about, in one handy-dandy place.recently...
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David S. Siltz
David S. Siltz
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