Recents
Maredsous - Abbaye
Marriedsauce. A good belgian blonde, more tart than usual. Exactly what you expect, but slightly less sweet and a little closer to lemon-already-squeezed-into-it tasting. B+
Firestone - Walker's Reserve Porter
First porter I've been Meh'd by in a while. It was just ... boring. B-
Lagunitas - The Hairy Eyeball
9% eh? Well allllllright. It's red-coppery as you can see, and it doesn't have any particular strong flavor of any sort... it's kind of a wierd beer in that respect. They jacked it up to 9%, but didn't really make a statement of any kind. It's not very hoppy or malty, there's no additional trickery, just a deceptively smooth fuck-em-up red ale. B
Short's Brew - Hangin' hank
This is less hoppy than most of its peers, but still has a respectable bite to it. The malt is different than most others - it tastes like rye to me. It's a little spicey in that way, like something other than just barley or wheat was used, maybe. I dig it. It's hard to do much unique with an IPA these days, seems like... everything's been done, and done well by
somebody. So kudos for making an IPA that's identifiable and yet tasty. B+
Berkshire Brewing Company - Shabadoo Black & Tan
So I took the one on the left completely innocently, this is where I was sitting when I had the beer Sunday. And as I was lining it up on the little camera screen, I sorta realized that most of the people in this thread would probably prefer that I, uh, ... re-focus and take a second shot as well. Enjoy. Anyway, the beer. It's a style I always forget about, but drinking this one made me remember the appeal... some dark porter malt roast, with a good hoppy / clear / bright pale ale presence. Also this particular brewery is in a good spot right now, consistantly out-punting its price range. I think this bottle was like $5. B+
Weyerbacher - Verboten Belgian Pale
Had one of these last night, and I was pleasantly surprised. Weyerbacher can be REALLY hit or miss, but this was great. It was smooth and pleasant, nicely belgian in all the right ways, but still a teeny bit hoppier than usual. Good on 'em. B+
Victory - Headwaters Pale Ale
So if you find yourself liking the big new american IPA's, but wishing they were like 60% as hoppy, this is your beer. All the big malt presence, and a wonderful rush of late green hops, but in a more reasonable volume than in most of the big IPA's out now. This is a wonderful beer for what it is - sixpackable, hell even case-able, capable of being guzzled by the gallon lakeside in July. A-
1809 - Berliner Weisse
Some professor brewed this in germany, using an old recipe from 1809. Had it with BBQ. Found it to be very interesting and unique, like a regular weisse but much more tart! It's FULL of yeast, like there was a quarter-sized glop of it in the bottom of the glass. And it mentions that they use lactic acid producing bacteria somehow... ? But you can taste it, it's like lemon juice. I liked it well enough but I do prefer a lot of others over it and probably won't buy it again. B
