The Drunken Polack

Reviewing today will consist of a couple of Mikkeller brews.  Lately I don’t know what it is but I’ve been gravitating towards this brewer.  It doesn’t hurt that they produce good beer and they produce a shit load of different beers. First up is a American Pale Wheat Ale named Drink’in the Sun 11.  What I didn’t know when I picked up this beer was the low abv it is.  It rings in at 2.40%.  Quite sessionable.  This is defintely the lowest beer I’ve ever reviewed.

This one pours a hazy straw color.  When I popped the cap on this one it was lively.  Poured out of the bottle.  A bright white two finger head is poured.  Great retention and lacing.  A nice looking beer.

The aroma is a mixture of lemon zest, slight bit of citrus, and a grainy biscuit like malt backbone.  Nothing is huge in this beer but everything is nice when it comes to the smell.

The taste on this beer is actually quite enjoyable but you can tell it’s low in alcohol.  It’s just not huge on taste.  Wheat hits the tongue first followed but the lemon and citrus.  Not big but something I would visit again. Especially for a long day of drinking.

Mouthfeel is a little bit watery.  But is highly carbonated and is kind of rough on the palette.

In the end I enjoyed this beer.  Not huge on taste but at 2.4% it’s understood.  Took me by surprise but in a good way.

Found: Aleyeah, Decatur, Georgia
ABV%: 2.40%
Price: Around 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.mikkeller.dk/
What the company says: Didn’t see it on their site
Other beers to try from this brewery: Mikkeller Black Hole, Mikkeller Santas Little Helper
Other beers to try within the same style: Bell’s Oberon Ale,  Three Floyd’s Gumball Head
Rating: B

Sometimes when I hear a beer has a certain spice or chili in it I walk away kind of disappointed by the lack of it.  Mikkeller definitely didn’t do that with this beer.  The number one ingredient in this beer is Chipotle and I’m glad it is, especially since it has it in it’s name.  Oh this beer is also nicknamed Texas Ranger but it’s not not he bottle.

Texas Ranger pours pitch black.  Small tan head is poured.  Good retention and no lacing.  The smell on this beer isn’t huge on chipotle.  Instead it’s mixed in there nicely with some sweet chocolate and slight roasted malt.

In the taste is where the Chipotle takes over and I loved it.  It’s hot.  It added up more and more as you are drinking it.  I didn’t want to put my glass down.  The other ingredients sometimes peek through the chili.  Smokiness, chocolate, roasted malt.  But the chili is the key here.  I can see this being to much for some people but for me it was great.

The mouthfeel is bordering between light and medium.  Low carbonation.  Burning adds up more and more as you drink this one.  Burns the mouth and the throat as it goes down.

I’m a firm believer if the your beer is named after a certain spice or chili that it should be noticeable in the beer.  Mikkeller did that and did it nicely here.  It’s hot and it burns but not enough to scare people away.

Found: State Line Liquor, Elkton, Maryland
ABV%: 6.60%
Price: Around 12 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.mikkeller.dk/
What the company says: Brewed with Chipotle Chilli Peppers at De Proef, Belgium.
Other beers to try from this brewery: Mikkeller Sour Bitch, Mikkeller Big Worst
Other beers to try within the same style: Stone Smoked Porter, Deschutes Black Butte
Rating: A-

What’s up folks?  What we have here is probably the hottest IPA on the planet right now and no it’s not from the West Coast.  Which I know to some, including me is a surprise.  No this beer is from The Alchemist, which resides out of Vermont.  If you read a lot of beer news you’ll know that their brewery was pretty much destroyed and flooded when the hurricane hit the East Coast earlier this year.  At the moment they are only canning one beer and it’s this one.  Pretty damn good beer to start with if you asked me.  But from what their site says you should see more beers out there soon from this brewery.  Can’t wait.  Bring it on.  If there as good as this beer, well watch out Beer World.

Heady Topper pours a hazy orange color.  Barely any head at all is poured.  Minimal lacing.  While this beer doesn’t look that exciting the nose on this beer is.  You want a barrage of hops?  Look no further and I really mean it here.  Full on wall of pine with a mixture of grapefruit, mango, citrus which is hard to explain.  Just straight up hoppy while someone being a tad bit balanced with the smallest amount of grainy malt.

See that picture on the can of the hops exploding out of the guys head as he drinks this beer.  Yeah that’s basically how I felt.  Possibly out of every beer I’ve ever had in my life, this might be the one that they somehow pulled out every bit of juice you can probably get from a hop, I think you get what I mean.  It’s just pure hop juice.  But not in a bad bitter way.  Yes it has a bit of bitterness to it, but it’s wrangled in.  In the taste more of the grapefruit comes through.  Pine comes in next with the other fruits following.  Just pure lovely hop juice.  But with all this talk of hops, it’s hard to believe me that this beer still remains kind of balanced somehow and totally 100% fantastic and drinkable.  Small bit of a malt backbone is present.  Just enough.  A small amount of alcohol is there too.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied.  Slightly carbonated.  Medium amount of bitterness.  Not over the top.

When I first took a sip of this beer I told my fiance I thought it was OK.  But as I drank it and drank it I fell in love.  They say to drink it out of the can instead of pouring it.  I tried it both ways and we both agreed that it’s a tad bit smoother in the can but both ways are still fantastic.  One of the best IPAs on the planet lives up to the hype and I’m glad it does.  If someone lives in Vermont I’ll pay you for a few packs of this stuff.  Please contact me =)

Found: Beer Trade
ABV%: 8.00%
Price: N/A
Website: http://www.alchemistbeer.com/
What the company says: Is our double I.P.A.! Loaded with hops, this one will put hair on your chest. ABV 8% IBU 120
Other beers to try from this brewery: I’ve never had a beer released by them other than the Stone Collaboration
Other beers to try within the same style: Russian River Pliny the Elder, Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA
Rating: A++

The Alchemist/ Ninkasi/ Stone More Brown than Black IPA – Stone knows how to make hoppy beers.  Stone knows how to make some of the best Black IPAs on the planet.  So if Stone released this beer by themselves I would just mark it up to their hoppy greatness.  But when you combine in The Alchemist, who makes one of the best IPAs out there (from what I hear, haven’t got to try it yet) and another good brewery, Ninkasi.  You have one of Stones best collaborative beers period and there’s been a bunch.  I just wonder who brought what to the table on this one.  It’s basically what the name of the beer is, a nice hopped, more brown than black American Double IPA.

This one pours a dark, murky brown color.  Small amount of tan head is poured and whatever is there pretty much disappears.  The aroma is evident as soon as the bottle is opened.  I just stuck my nose in the bottle and marveled at it’s hoppy as hell smell.  Total West Coast IPA here.  Grapefruit is the biggest aroma here with citrus and a small amount of roasted malt.  But this is a hop monster.  Lovely.

Taste matches the aroma here.  Huge amount of hops.  This is not a balanced beer but that’s OK.  It’s so flavorful it doesn’t matter.  Huge grapefruit and citrus.  Malt backbone of roasted malt and caramel.  Awesome awesome stuff here.  I could enjoy a ton of this stuff.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and chewy.  Coats the mouth slightly.

I just fell in love with this beer.  My fiance loved it too.  I need to snag some more of this before it’s all gone good.  Maybe you guys should release this again.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
ABV%: 7.40%
Price: Around 3.50 a bottle
Website: http://www.alchemistbeer.com/, http://www.stonebrew.com/, http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/
What the company says: You can read all about it here http://www.stonebrew.com/collab/default.asp#mbtb
Other beers to try from this brewery: I’ve only really had beers from Stone.  So let’s go with Stone Ruination and Stone Smoked Porter
Other beers to try within the same style: New Glarus Black Top, Southern Tier Iniquity
Rating: A

Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale -  My lovely fiance got me this beer for Christmas.  She made the review twice so far.  I guess that’s what happens when I share all my beer with her =)  Lagunitas took a break from Brown Shugga this year and came out with this as their seasonal.  It’s a IPA coming in at 7.85%.  It’s highly rated on both Beer Advocate and Ratebeer.  So I was excited to open this beer up.  It really didn’t disappoint and they should make this one again.

This IPA pours a clear golden, slightly orange color.  Basically no head is poured and very little lacing.  Small amount of carbonation.  The aroma is really nice on this one.  It’s full of tropical fruit.  Mango and grapefruit.  Mixed in there is a sweetness from the malt and some honey.

The taste is light and delicate with being full of hops and sweetness.  Tropical fruits again with sweetness from the malt and honey like taste.  It’s teetering from being a nice huge hoppy beer but is pulled back a bit from the sweetness.  But it’s tasty and a joy to drink.

Mouthfeel was actually a tad bit disappointing.  It was very light.  But crisp.  Nice bitter after taste.

Lagunitas is a great brewery.  Yes they make great stuff but they also price their beers in such a way that you don’t feel bad for picking up a few of these babies.  A really great IPA.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
ABV%: 7.85%
Price: Was a gift from my lovely Fiance.  If I had to guess, maybe less than 2 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.lagunitas.com/
What the company says: Nothing on the site about this one
Other beers to try from this brewery: Lagunitas Brown Shugga, Lagunitas Imperial Red
Other beers to try within the same style: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Russian River Pliny the Elder
Rating: A-

What we have here is Sierra Nevada’s new Winter seasonal brew.  It’s a Rye Beer but they call it a Rye IPA.  I’ve been excited to try this beer ever since I heard about it.  They’ve made some really decent IPAs in the past the Rye is one of my favorite things you can put in a beer.  But I have to ask one question?  Since when did SN decide to have some badass artwork on their labels.  I’d like a poster of this please.

Ruthless pours a orangish amber color with a nice two finger white head.  Not much lacing.  The smell is pretty damn nice but not huge.  Of course there is the rye.  I love rye if I didn’t say that already.  It’s very noticeable in this brew.  Coming in second is the aroma of citrus.  Then lingering is a bit of pepper.  Not a lot.  Sits in the background.  It’s the rye doing it’s thing again.  Inviting smell.

The taste pretty much matches the aroma here.  Rye hits up front first, then melds with citrus.  I did pick up some piney hops in the taste.  Something I didn’t pick up really in the aroma.  Ending with the pepper spicy taste.  Everything is balanced here.  Not a hop monster,  not a rye monster.  A highly drinkable and really good Rye Beer.  What I did notice is that this beer is a bit better when colder than when it’s cooled down a bit.  Something I usually don’t agree with but I do here.

Mouthfeel is nice.  Medium bodied.  Good carbonation throughout.  Smooth.

This beer is replacing Glissade on their roster.  Which is something I agree with 100%.  I didn’t think Glissade was very good.  This tops it in every way.  Not the best Rye Beer I’ve ever had but it’s something I would buy over and over again.  Highly drinkable. I don’t usually buy six packs of stuff but I would with this.  Especially for 8 dollars.

Found: Local Supermarket
ABV%: 6.60%
Price: Around 8 dollars a six pack
Website: http://www.sierranevada.com/
What the company says: Nothing about this beer on their site yet
Other beers to try from this brewery: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Other beers to try within the same style: Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, Founders Red Rye PA
Rating: B+ (Almost an A-)

Caldera Mogli – First up is a beer that I got as an extra in a trade.  It ends up being one of the best extras I’ve ever received in a trade hands down.  It’s a Oak Barrel aged Imperial Porter.  I didn’t even know Caldera bottled stuff since I see so many cans from them.  This one rings in at 8.50% and to me is almost a perfect beer.  It’s not extreme like some Barrel Aged stuff is but it’s a balance of ingredients and barrel.  A nice presence of oak, vanilla, chocolate,small bit of coffee and roasted malt.  Everything meshes together fantastic.  A easy drinking brew with great taste.  I would love another bottle of this stuff and I didn’t know Caldera made such a great beer.
Rating: A

To Øl/Mikkeller Overall IIPA – This is the first brew To Øl has ever released and it happens to be a collaboration between them and Mikkeller.  It’s an Imperial IPA.   It has glowing, hazy, cloudy orange.  This beer is huge on taste and aroma.  As soon as you pour this beer a grapefruit and citrus aroma blasts the nostrils.  I had this beer a good 5 feet away from me and I could smell it.  Overpowering taste of grapefruit.  Citrus and pine follow but damn grapefruit dominates in a way that I’ve never quite got from any other IPA.  I enjoyed it a lot.
Rating: A-

Stone/Bruery/Elysian La Citrueille Celeste De Citracado – Three really good breweries come together to make a beer.  Has to be good right?  A style of beer that I love mixed in?  Has to be fantastic!  Look at all those ingredients!  Has to be a very complex and unique beer!  Yeah I think you get where I’m getting here.  Not exciting at all.  Not fantastic at all.  All I picked up in this beer some pumpkin,  more spice.  A run of the mill and not a very good Pumpkin style kind of ale.  I was hoping for something just a bit more in complexity.  Just a major disappointment.  Especially since The Bruery is probably my favorite brewery.  You can see their unique choice of ingredients in there but they don’t really come out.
Rating: C+

Happy New Year folks!  Another great year of beer has come and gone.  Sorry for the lack of updates.  It’s just me being my lazy self.  The reviews are stacking up so expect a flurry of them coming soon and often. These two beers here I picked up over Christmas break when I stopped by State Line Liquor, one of my favorite spots to buy.  It just happened to that both of these brews are IPAs.  One regular and one Imperial. First up is the Imperial from Mikkeller called I Beat yoU.  Which is a play on words.  IBU.  Get it?

This one pours a murky, hazy, amber color.  No head really but lacing throughout the glass.  At first whiff you’re greeted with a huge nose.  Tons of hops.  Citrus and Pine.  It overpowers anything else in the brew other than the small caramel malt backbone I picked up.  But this is 95% hops and it’s potent.

Just like with the smell, the taste is huge.  Packed with flavor and just really really good.  Juiciness and caramel malt meld into bitter hops.  Piney and citrus once again.  Mixed in there is a good bit of alcohol but never really gets in the way of this great tasting DIPA.

Mouthfeel is a winner for me.  Big, chewy, and heavy.  Matches the taste and smell perfectly.

Easily one of the better IPAs I’ve had in a while and something I’d easily revisit down the line.

Found: State Line Liquor, Elkton, Maryland
ABV%: 9.75%
Price: Around 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.mikkeller.dk/
What the company says: Hope you can understand Danish En Imperial India Pale Ale brygget på: vand, malt (maris otter, munich og cara-munich), flækket havre, humle (herkules, warrior, centennial, amarillo, simcoe og columbus) og alegær.
Other beers to try from this brewery: Mikkeller Black Hole, Mikkeller Santas Little Helper
Other beers to try within the same style: Bells Hopslam, Stone Ruination
Rating: A

And now on to an IPA that is pretty much the complete opposite as the one above in many ways.  The brewery this is from is pretty much new to me.  I’ve never heard of To Øl before until I picked up some beers in Maryland.  It ends up these guys have a cool story behind them.  The two brewers from this brewery were students of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø who a lot of you will know better as Mikkeller.  They decided one day to brew beer together.  The teacher, Mikkel, decided to go ahead and start his own brewery.  Then one day the other two gents decided to make their own brewery.  So here we are.  These guys have only been brewing commercially for a few years now but seem to be doing very well.  I’ve had their first beer which was a collaborative beer with Mikkeller (review coming soon) and this one here.  Which is a American IPA.

First Frontier pours a glowy light orange color.  A good two finger head and great lacing throughout the glass as you drink.

The aroma on this beer was hard to find at first.  Just a good amount of pale malt.  I was kind of disappointed but as it warmed up a bit more and more came out.  Caramel malt, citrus, grapefruit.  Not overwhelming, but just nice.

The taste was weak in the beginning too but as you drank, it added up more and more into a really nice IPA.  At first more malt came through than hops but by the middle of the glass I was picking up more fruits.  Grapefruit, tropical fruits, with some pine.  Still not overwhelming on the taste buds but really nice and I enjoyed it a lot.

The mouthfeel is light, dry, and carbonated nicely.

In the end I really enjoyed this brew.  Took a while for everything to show but when it did it was a nice crafted brew and I can’t wait to try everything else from these guys.

Found: State Line Liquor, Elkton, Maryland
ABV%: 7.10%
Price: Around 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.to-ol.dk/
What the company says: The thing about First Frontier is the hops. Easy… This is an IPA “the American way”, no sticky-sweet malt profile, just the real deal potent and aromatic hops. The result is a refreshingly dry, fresh and bitter IPA, heavily dryhopped with the three American hop varieties warrior, simcoe and centennial, dealing a punch of citrus, peach and grapefruit from the deepest of our hearts directly to ya face. Just added a bit of caramel malt; merely to harness and balance the alcohol. ”We all got pieces of crazy in us, some bigger pieces than other
Other beers to try from this brewery: First brew from them that I’ve tried.
Other beers to try within the same style: Alesmith IPA, Bells Two Hearted Ale
Rating: B+

First off Merry Christmas everyone.  I figured I’d get in one more small review before I head up to PA to visit my Fiances family.  No more reviews before then.  Shame I know =) The brew I’ll be talking about today is Avery Rumpkin.  What we have here is the first beer from their new line, The Barrel Aged Annual Series.  It’s an Pumpkin Ale aged in Dark Rum Barrels for 6 months.  It comes in 12oz bottles only and I believe there was just 512 cases made of this brew.  It’s a doozy that rings in at 15.9% abv.

Rumpkin is one of the best beers I’ve had all year.  Hands down.  It impressed me with it’s complex, boozy as hell taste.  Now I usually bitch about balance in beer.  I might give a bad rating if a beer that I’ve had isn’t balanced enough.  But in some rare occasions a beer tastes so damn good I don’t give a shit if it’s balanced.  This is the case here.  This brew is full of Rum character.  It’s what you’re going to get the most in the smell and taste.  It can be overpowering but in this beer it works perfectly.  Everything else in the beer is there.  Molasses. The spices, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Ginger.  They meld beautifully in the beer.  They sit in the background while the oak and Rum dance around them.  Yeah I know this review is getting deep. =)  The Pumpkins don’t come through as much as you would think and are hard to find in the flavor.  But it doesn’t matter.  Everything else just works so damn well.  This is just one of those sit down and sip beers.  A beer to enjoy throughout a whole movie or evening.

Now the flavor and aroma are fantastic like I said but I also loved the hell out of the mouthfeel.  It’s a dead beer.  Really no head.  No lacing.  But it’s thick and heavy.  Rich.  Coats the entire mouth and just sits on the tongue.  Lovely.

What we have here is my favorite Pumpkin Ale of all time and a beer in my top 10 of the year for me.  This is not a Pumpkin Ale you can drink a six pack of.  Heck one is enough.  The Rum might be to much for some people but for me, perfect.  I’ll be looking to acquire more than one bottle next year if that’s possible.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
ABV%: 10.00%
Price: I honestly don’t remember but I’m taking a guess here in saying it’s around 12 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.averybrewing.com
What the company says: We wondered what would happen if a monstrous pumpkin ale, plump full of spicy gourdiness, were aged in fine fresh rum barrels to add suggestions of delicate oak and candied molasses.  Rumpkin is what happened!  This first member of the Annual Barrel-Aged Series was brewed with roasted pumpkins from a local Boulder County farm, and spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger.
Other beers to try from this brewery: Avery The Beast, Avery The Czar
Other beers to try within the same style: Southern Tier Pumpking, Williamsburg Alewerks Pumpkin Ale
Rating: A+

Terrapin Side Project: The Dark Side – I’m almost done with these little “Catching up with reviews” posts.  I sure have been a lazy bastard when it comes to posting reviews.  The Dark Side is known as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale  but Terrapin calls this a Belgian Imperial Stout.  A lot of the Side Project series I could do without but this one was actually pretty damn nice and would like to see it again.  This release has been sitting in my chest freezer for over a while now so it has a good amount of age to it.  This brew mostly is mostly Dark Fruit heavy.  Plums, raisins, figs.  I also picked up some toffee, small amount of roasted burnt malt, and bittersweet chocolate in the aftertaste.  Nice and smooth mouthfeel.  This one comes in at 8.50% abv and I enjoyed it a lot and was surprised how well it held up age wise.
Rating: A-

21st Amendment The Allies Win the War! – This one is a collabration between 21st Amendment and Nikkasi.  Now I’ve heard three different styles mentioned in this beer.  BA claims it’s a English Strong Ale, while RB claims it’s a Herbed/Spiced/Vegetable beer.  I’ve also heard it called a straight up Red Ale.  I can defintely pick up every style here.  The brew does have a reddish tint go it.  The smell is straight up hoppy like a good red ale should be in my opinion.  Grapefruit, pine, and citrus mixed in with a bit of caramel malt.  The taste starts off that way to but quickly changes to dark fruits.  Like the brew has two parts.  It’s unique.  Not something I’ve had before and really enjoyed it.  Would easily pick up more of this stuff.
Rating: B+

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack and Ken’s Ale – I’ve had this beer a few times now and every time I’ve just loved it.  I never got around to reviewing it until now and with some age on it, it’s even better.  This beer has a lot going on.  It’s deep and complex.  A ton of flavors and aromas that just meld into such a fantastic candy like beer.  Caramel, toffee, dark fruits, chocolate, and molasses.  Everything just comes together so perfectly.  Mouthfeel is pretty damn perfect too.  When I had this beer it was more of a Black IPA.  Much hoppier.  But at this moment the hops died down and created something better.  One of my favorite beers of the year.
Rating: A

Bullfrog Brewery El Diablo Deluxe – I picked this one up on EBay awhile ago.  I knew it was an American Ale and at the time I bought it I was on a Sour kick.  Really knew nothing about this brew.  I felt like this one was close to being great.  Just missed but in the end was missing something.  First off pour this one carefully.  As you can see in the picture there is a ton of head.  On the nose it’s full of clove and other spices with a nice sourness.  Not crazy but a good amount of sourness.  In the taste, I wanted more sourness, it’s mild.  Overall the sourness mixes well with barnyard funk, citrus, and ends with the spiciness of the cloves and Belgian yeast.  Has a lot of  it’s base beer in it, El Diablo, which is  Belgian Strong Pale Ale and a little bit of sourness from the Brett.  Overall nice but just missed for me.
Rating: B+

Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11 – This series is almost over and I’m torn.  Some of the VE beers are pretty damn good, some just aren’t and most of them aren’t going to taste to well next year when were supposed to open them all on 12.12.12.  But it’s going to be a fun experiment.  Anyone want to buy me the first one for around 400 dollars on Ebay?  Yeah didn’t think so =)  This years is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale brewed with Chilies from New Mexico.  From what it looks like this beer is getting killed on BA.  I was kinda of caught in the middle on this one.  It really didn’t blow me away but I did enjoy it.  The chilies don’t make to much of an appearance here.  They do show up in the end more and more as the chilies build up.  Giving a slight burn.  The beer is more cinnamon, cloves, and some banana. But even those flavors aren’t to big.  It’s a decent drinking beer.  Nothing more and honestly don’t see it getting much better in a year.

Rating: B+

Weyerbacher Tiny – This batch of Tiny that I had was from the first, so it’s a bit over a year old.  Sweet aroma and taste of candi sugar.  Roasted malt, dark fruit, caramel, and a small bit of Belgian yeast, after all this is a Belgian type stout.  It’s funny they named this beer Tiny because it’s almost 12% abv and believe me the alcohol comes through.  I felt like all the smells and tastes in this beer were fine but somehow didn’t work.  Didn’t meld together well and kind of felt disappointed as I was drinking it.

Rating: B

Weyerbacher  Sixteen -Before I write anything about this beer I just wanted to say I love with Weyerbacher did here for an anniversary beer.  They chose a style you just don’t see, a Braggot, which of course is not a beer but a mead.  This one is full of honey.  They brewed with over 1,000 lbs of it for this beer.  Smell is honey, dark fruits, toffee, and a slight amount of citrus.  Just a very sweet smelling brew.  Taste is more of the same. But I also picked up a bit of a graininess and earthiness with some brown sugar and caramel.  Alcohol lingers slightly and is well hidden for being almost 11% abv.

Rating: B+

The Bruery Batch 300 Tripel –  I’ve had this beer a few times, 3 to be exact, and loved it every time I had it.  This one is full of citrus hop taste and aroma.  Mixed in there is some pineapple and grape.  Oak comes through nice and big.  Vanilla rounds out the experience.  This is a different kind of Tripel.  I really hope they come out with it again down the line.  Maybe in their provisions line.  I’m out of bottles and I want more.  If you’re looking for a well rounded Tripel, don’t look here.  If you want a big flavorful Tripel  with a huge hop kick and a good oak presense, this is for you.

Rating: A-

Ommegang Aphrodite – Dogfish Head and Ommegang really got me into craft brews.  Ommegang brews are some of the first beers I picked off the shelf when I started to get curious about the scene.  Ommegang Abbey Ale, Rare Vos, and Three Phils really introduced me into the world of big flavorful, great tasting, beers.  So whenever they release a new brew,  I have to try it.  This time around it’s a Fruit/Vegetable beer brewed with Raspberries.  The aroma is slightly tart from the two yeast strains used here.  Their own and brett.  Mixed in there is course the Raspberries with a lingering smell and taste of pears.  The taste goes the same route for the most part.  Good amount of tartness and sourness with the Raspberries.  Now what I don’t like about this beer is the biggest ingredient in it, the Raspberries of course and it’s not that I don’t like Raspberry.  It’s just that in this beer it almost takes like an artificial Raspberry.  It goes it this off taste that I just couldn’t get past.  Pick up any of their others beers before you pick this one up.

Rating: B-

Boulevard Brewing Seeyoulator Doppelbock – Not much to write about this now retired beer other than for me and my fiance we both agreed that this was a one trick pony.  All you can taste from this beer is the wood used to age the beer.  Nothing more, nothing less and the taste itself is even small.  It was like I was drinking an empty beer.  Now maybe I got a bad bottle.  Looking at reviews on BA people are picking up different things here but we both agreed we couldn’t at all.
Rating: C

Duclaw Oak Aged Black Jack Stout – My fiance picked this one up for my birthday.  Duclaw just recently hit distribution in VA so this was my first from these guys.  I was pleasantly surprised to say the least!  It’s not huge in taste.  It’s not as full of barrel as other barrel aged stouts.  It doesn’t overwhelm you with alcohol.  But instead it’s a great combination of Bourbon, Vanilla, Wood, Chocolate, and small bit of roastiness.  I wouldn’t say it’s a sipper but you’ll want to just sit back and enjoy this beer.  I have a feeling this beer isn’t to well known yet in my area since it’s sitting on the shelves.  But at around 12 dollars a bomber this is totally worth it.  Loved this brew and would easily pick up a few to age.

Rating: A

Olfabrikken Porter – I picked this beer up in Maryland over a year ago.  For the longest time it’s been on BA Top 100 beers (It seems it’s not anymore though) So I was excited to pick up this Baltic Porter.  Just don’t know why I’ve taken so long to enjoy it and boy did I enjoy it.  It’s a very deep and complex brew.  A ton of different smells and aromas come from this beer but somehow come together to make one of the best porters I’ve ever had.  I picked up coffee, chocolate, dark fruits, roasted malt, licorice,  and a bit of a burnt char type taste.  Put that all together and you have a big and smooth porter.  Another beer I would pick up in a heartbeat and even with over a year of age on it, it still packs a hell of a punch.

Rating: A

Mikkeller Coffee IPA – I love Mikkeller.  I love the fact they make a ton of different beer and it’s all pretty much top notch stuff.  I was super excited to pick this one up down in Atlanta on my latest trip.  So much so it was the first beer we opened when we got back to VA.  I like what Mikkeller tried to do here.  Mix the worlds of Coffee and IPA but honestly this didn’t work to well.  In the end it ended up being a kind of mediocre IPA. Citrus and caramel malt/ When this beer is cold you can smell a bit of the coffee and taste even less of it.  But as the beer cools down the coffee kind of disappears and you’re left with just an OK IPA.  One that I wouldn’t buy again but I’m glad I did.

Rating: B

North Coast Rasputin 12 – One of the first stouts I ever tried when I was getting into Craft Beer was Old Rasputin.  I was amazed by it.  Huge and complex.  Full bodied and smooth.  Just fantastic.  I had always heard about the Barrel Aged versions that were only sold at the brewery.  So when they decided to ship a version out to distributors, game over.  I had to have it.  Even though it was a small ass bottle for over 20 dollars.  I had to have it.  That was about  2 years ago.  I had been holding on to this beer ever since.  Until last week that is.  At first sip I was very disappointed in this beer.  One hit wonder.  Full of barrel and not much more.  No other ingredients came out.  But the worst part was how thin this beer was.  One of the thinnest stouts I’ve ever had.  As the beer cooled down I did enjoy it more and more.  More stuff came out.  The usual suspects.  Chocolate, Vanilla, Oak, Bourbon, and toffee.  It was good but not great and damn does that mouthfeel just disappoint me.  If they fix that problem, this is easily an A for me.

Rating: B+

Sierra Nevada Ovila Saison – Last and but not least is the Ovila Abbey Saison from SN.  Second in the line of Ovila beers with the Quad and Dubbel.  I’ve the Dubbel and wasn’t very impressed at all.  I felt the same with this beer honestly, just not as bad.  Up front this beer is fruity and masks mostly everything else.  Orange and banana.  Lurking behind that was some spices, cloves, pepper and some bready yeast.  Just a boring Saison in my opinion.  If someone came to me asking to get into this style of beer, this would be all the way on the bottom when it came to recommendations.

Rating: B