Recents
Abita - Mixed 12 Pack (Amber Ale already reviewed)
Jockamo IPA - It's ok, but not really much to get into. It doesn't have a strong body, nor a strong enough hop buildup to be an american IPA. In this 12 pack it's better than average, but .. meh. C+
Turbodog - Whew! Thank fucking god. This is still really good, and in this 12 pack it's head and shoulders above everything else, almost like it comes from a different brewery. Finally, some flavor! This is what Newcastle should taste like (instead of flat pepsi). A dark ale with enough balls to be engaging, but not so much that you can't pound 4 or 5. A-
Red Ale - ZZzzzzzzzzzzz D-
Purple Haze - This has not aged well. It's kinda watery, light on malt body, and heavyish on raspberry "flavoring." D
Restoration Pale Ale - The darkhorse of the box, for sure. I expected Turbodog to be good, and the rest put me to sleep, but this was a nice little beer! Great balance, actual body, crisp but contained little hop bite, excellent hot weather sippin' beer. A-
I feel like Abita mostly makes beers that are only good for pounding out in 97 degree heat in full sunlight, where you're racing to get the beer down before it's piss warm.
The Bruery - Black Orchard
I love this brewery, generally. So far I've really dug what I've had, but this was also really boring. The label teased me with lots of interesting ingredients, and what I got was a plain dark wheat beer. They tried, I guess, but they low-balled the special stuff. B-
Duchy Originals - Organic English Ale
Had this again with saturday bbq. I've had one before, but I think I forgot to review it. Apologies if I'm doublin' up. This is clean, really really refreshing, and (if I may be blunt) much too good to be english beer. No wierd stink to the hops, no flat boring yeast, nothing like that. It's almost german lager-worthy: something I would love to have 2 or 3 of outdoors somewhere in nice weather. Goes great with pulled pork, that much is for goddam sure. B+
Allagash - Fluxus 2009
The wife picked this up for me. Made with sweet potatoes and black pepper. ...also $18 a bottle. What you get for all that trouble is a normal, plain belgian with slightly darker roasted malt. So a belgian amber, then. No other flavors here whatsoever -- no sweet potato, no black pepper, nothing but a regular belgian amber with MAYBE a little bit of bitterness from something (the pepper corns?) and of course hints of semen. -shrug- Given the price and the braggin' on the label, I have to give this a C+, not because it's bad, but because it swings HARD and struggles to get to first.
Nøgne - Imperial DunkelWit
From Norway, with interesting label art, and they talk a good game on the back so I had to dig in. The crazy little grocery / bbq place carries 4 or 5 from them now, so I'll eventually get through all of them. 10% content, and it's stealthy because this beer is SWEET. Not frat-boy "sweeet" but like sugary sweet. It wasn't over the top but it was close. I could taste everything in it, which was a good surprise after the Bruery and Allagash experiences up there, but it still isn't a knockout. B.
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