(draft) Cloudy dark yellow. Large white head that faded quickly. A very nice aroma of bananas and cloves and yeast. The flavor was good, there was a dryness to it that surprised me. After the first sip, that dryness carried through to the aroma. Strange, but pretty darn good.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Clear light brown. Aroma and flavor of roasted malts and hops. Decent, but the bitter finish was overkill, I thought.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Cloudy yellow, with a huge white head. Aroma and flavor of a fairly mild tripel, but with some lagerish metallic components that didn't thrill me. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Dark ruby, almost black. Good head and good lacing. Aroma of dark fruits and malt. Flavor mostly of dark fruits. Pretty good. I wish I'd had a second bottle on-hand.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) During lunch in Cincinnati one day 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(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(bottle) Very cloudy dark brown. Huge heaping head that lasted forever. Aroma of dark fruits and malts. Flavor a little tamer than I was expecting, mostly dominated by the alcohol burn at the finish. Too much alcohol for the flavor provided. I won't bother with this one again, I don't think. Maybe if I can get it on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Cloudy amber, with good head and lacing. Nice aroma of musty apples. Fizzy mouthfeel. Subdued flavor of Belgian yeast and apple peels. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Pours a dark gold, with a huge white head. Looks like a lager. Smoky aroma and flavor, pretty good. Reminds me of Spezial. The oak smoke definitely gives this a different flavor than most smoked beers.
Ounces Consumed: 121(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.
Ounces Consumed: 1363(bottle) Golden color, minimal head. Aroma of stale hops. Flavor of a citrusy stale lager tamed just a bit by smoke. The flavor wasn't too bad, but the damn aroma was disgusting. I poured most of the bottle out.
Ounces Consumed: 3(draft) Clear amber. Nice whitish head. Smells like malt and peat to me. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor sharper than I was expecting. Smoky and malty. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 132(draft) Slightly hazy copper. Aroma of hops, smoke, and malts. Flavor like the aroma, with a butter hoppy finish that I certainly could have done without. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 17I 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: 28438The first time I had this, I wasn't very impressed. Now, four years later, I see that my palate has become sophisticated enough for me to recognize this for what it really is. A truly great smoked beer. Can best be described as a more intense Marzen.
Ounces Consumed: 924(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: 488My 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: 3040As good as it gets. Dark and smoky. Not too bitter and not too sweet. There's a bit of a "tang" to it that I can't describe any better. This beer can be aged for years too, though I doubt that I'd ever have the discipline to do it. Absolutely yummy. The best there is.
Ounces Consumed: 1410(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) Hazy light orange. Decent head that faded to a thin film. Light aroma and flavor of assorted spices. Nothing notable, but still a good combination.
Ounces Consumed: 44A 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: 196(draft) Clear brownish-amber. No head worth noting. A nice clean aroma of apple peels and, of all things, bananas. Flavor was mild and smooth. Finish had a mild but lingering alcohol bite. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Clear dark copper in color. Good head. A delicious aroma of malt and oak and molasses. Syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor is mostly malt, with the slightest hints of dark fruits. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Black with a decent head that faded quickly. Aroma of roasted malts, burnt coffee, chocolate, and hops. The mouthfeel was a little thin, and the flavor was much more tame than the aroma had led me to believe. A very bright-tasting stout, but still pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Hazy orange. Decent head that faded quickly. Aroma of malts and oak. Flavor was very strong with oak and bourbon - much more of each than I was expecting from the aroma. A substantial alcohol burn at the finish belied the 11% ABV of this beer. A good beer, but a little gimicky for my tastes. I'd like to try this on tap someday - maybe it would go down a little more smoothly.
Ounces Consumed: 25(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: 89(bottle) Clear golden in color. Decent head, good lacing. Intoxicating aroma of orange peels and apple peels, with some unidentifiable spices thrown in for kicks. Flavor is fairly mild, a little drying because of the 9% ABV. After swallowing a sip, I immediately wanted another sip. This cycle repeated until the bottle was gone. Yummy in an undescribable way.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Black in color, with a thin tan lacy head that faded quickly. Aroma of malts and light chocolate and dark fruits. Medium mouthfeel - not quite syrupy. The flavor is fairly tame, mostly malts and chocolate. I like this. Dangerous though, because the high ABV is hidden very well.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Clear reddish bronze. Nice white head. Aroma of spices and maybe pumpkin. Medium mouthfeel. Tame flavor of assorted unidentifiable spices. A good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 16The 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-carbonated mouthfeel. Flavor of tingly dark cherries, a little sour even. Finish is tingly. Better than decent, barely good.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Cloudy dark brown. Minimal head, minimal aroma. Flavor this year reminds me of dark fruits and coffee. Tastes like it has more alcohol than it really does. I doubt I'll bother to have any more of this.
Ounces Consumed: 20(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(bottle) Cloudy brown. No head, as in zero head. Weird. Aroma of malts and dark fruits. Mostly malts. Flavor more of the same. A little subdued overall. Good though. I'd love to try this in draft form.
Ounces Consumed: 20(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(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(bottle) Pours a cloudy brown, with a hint of green. Weird. No appreciable head. The aroma is malty and fruity, with a hint of tartness. Medium mouthfeel. The flavor is sharp and fruity, and the finish is sweet and smooth. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 22(draft) Cloudy light brown. No head. Aroma of roasted malt. Mild flavor that was perfectly balanced between malts and hops. Fucking good. Another winner from Avery.
Ounces Consumed: 64(draft) Clear copperish amber. Average head that dissipated quickly. Aroma almost undetectable, but of apple peels and spices. Flavor started out very weak, but as my tongue became accustomed to it, I ended up like this beer a lot. A 5.2% Belgian session beer. Pretty damn cool.
Ounces Consumed: 50(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: 84(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: 1199(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(draft) Hazy yellow, with a decent head that lasted long enough. A nice aroma and flavor, both fairly standard for a German wheat beer. Good, a little dry. Tasted stronger than it was.
Ounces Consumed: 35(draft) Had a small sample. Clear fizzy amber. A little sweet. Not as weird as I was expecting. Not worth my time, though.
Ounces Consumed: 3(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(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: 664(draft) The color of clear weak tea. Light aroma of floral hops. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor decent but mild. The slightly bitter finish went away after a few sips. A good session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 996(draft) Black with brown foam. Strong coffee aroma. Flavor not as intense as the aroma led me to expect. Not very good at all, but I dislike coffee flavor in beer so I didn't expect to like this. I gave this beer a decent rating (instead of swill) because they seem to have at least tried.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear light brown. No detectable aroma or flavor. There was a slightly bitter hoppy finish, but not enough to be completely disgusting. A waste of my time.
Ounces Consumed: 1(bottle) Black with thin tan head. Mild aroma of bourbon. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor more intense and bourbony that the aroma had hinted. As an oatmeal stout, there isn't much flavor except for the bourbon. Pretty good, though gimmicky.
Ounces Consumed: 22(bottle) Black with a nice tan head. Fairly strong aroma or roasted malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor mostly of roasted malts, with a touch each of chocolate and coffee. Very yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 192Dark copper, with huge head and good lacing. Malty flavor with caramel and toffee in there too. Mouthfeel a little thin, but a great-tasting beer.
Ounces Consumed: 676(bottle) Fizzy, with a nice aroma and a pretty good taste. Very light. More like a Belgian wheat than an American or German wheat. Pretty good. I'll look for this, but I won't go out of my way.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Color of hazy grapefruit juice. Light citrus aroma. Very light citrus flavor, with a bit of sourness, like grapefruit juice. Good, not great.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Black with thin fizzy foam that faded quickly. Aroma of yeast and dark fruits. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of, I want to say plums, but that's not quite right. Some dark fruit, certainly. Nice and smooth, definitely a little subdued for a 10% ABV beer. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 7(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 sips got gradually better, as other flavors became detectable. The end of the glass was halfway decent.
Ounces Consumed: 10(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(draft) This beer, while not a wheat beer, tasted exactly like I'd always expected what beers to taste like. It had no characteristics whatsoever. No sweetness. No bitterness. Just a slightly filling texture. All in all it was the best thing I drank tonight.
Ounces Consumed: 20(can) Nice and creamy, though that could have been because of the widget. Compared to Guinness, a little sweeter, with a a subtle chocolate flavor instead of coffee. I liked it, and would probably like it more if I can ever find it on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) 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) 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 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: 12Very 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.
UPDATE 072009: Had it on tap at Rich O's. Still creamy and smooth. Had a bit of bitterness at the end, and left my throat parched instead of refreshed. Still decent, though.
Ounces Consumed: 34(draft) Black with a nice creamy white head. Subdued aroma of malts and dark chocolate. Creamy mouthfeel. Very nice flavor, balanced between chocolate and licorice. A bit of a sharp tang at first, but a very smooth finish. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 42(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(draft) What a waste of time. Water with orange peel flavoring. I expected much better from Bell's.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Black with a nice tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and dark, maybe even burnt, chocolates. Flavor was fairly intense of malts, with some chocolate and a touch of coffee. The high alcohol content was hidden very well. Really good, possibly yummy. I'll have to have some more when I can.
Ounces Consumed: 24(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) I found this to be a basic stout with a slight chocolate flavor and a touch of rye bitterness at the finish. I liked it a lot, and I will probably go try to find it in bottles.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) 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: 56(draft) Cloudy brown, with a nice long-lasting head. Aroma of stale hops and malts. The taste was malty and nutty, with a fairly bitter finish that became more tolerable as the glass became emptier. Nothing to write home about, but drinkable.
(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. Sometimes, when I'm drinking this, I get an aroma that reminds me of root beer. Weird, but quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 170(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) 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: 541(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) A nice roasty chocolate flavor. The extra alcohol, as compared to similar stouts, seemed unnecessary to me, and annoyed me a little. A beer this good doesn't need the alcohol gimmick.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) 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: 8I didn't like this even a little bit. Bitter with strange, undefinable undertones. I barely finished the glass.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Hazy Yellow. Decent head. Whoa, unexpected aroma of what I'll call coriander. Flavor is kind of musty and weird. A decent beer, but just barely.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Very dark red, with a nice tan head. Smoky and malty aroma. Flavor very malty and smoky. Wow. Quite yummy. World-class, in fact. As good as I've ever had.
Ounces Consumed: 212(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(draft) Clear dark amber, with a decent tan head. Aroma of roasted coffee and malts. Flavor mostly of roasted malts. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 50(draft) Clear dark yellow. Huge white head. Syrupy mouthfeel. Aroma of light hops and maple. Flavor not too bad, not too good. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Hazy brown. Huge white head and good lacing. Light aroma of spices and hops and malts. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor hard to describe. Sweet with a slightly bitter finish. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Hazy light brown. Small white head. No detectable aroma. Mouthfeel surprisingly fizzy. Flavor of spices and wheat. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Black with nice brown head and incredible lacing. Fantastic aroma of malts and coffee and chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor very good, mostly with a sharp malt bite. Wow.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear dark yellow. Nice head and lacing. Sharp aroma of rye and malts. Flavor fairly tame, without the rye weirdness that I was expecting. Good, though.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear brown. Nice beige head with great lacing. Aroma and flavor of malt and molasses. Really good. Yummy, in fact.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear golden. Metallic hoppy taste. Served way too cold. I was not expecting to like this, and I didn't. A waste of time.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Hazy yellow. Strong aroma of cloves, yeast, and bananas. Maybe some vanilla in there. Flavor was like the aroma, except there seemed to be roasted malt in the thing too. Weird for a hefeweizen, but pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Clear copper color. The aroma and flavor were mild, but malty and fruity. Very smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Stupid name. Clear dark brown in color. Aroma and flavor of roasted malts and light hops, with a lingering bitter hop finish. Too damn hoppy for a brown ale. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Clear amber in color. Light hoppy aroma and flavor. Just a slightly bitter finish. Pretty tame. I don't like the style, but this was endurable.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Fizzy (?!?!?) dark brown, almost black. Light chocolate aroma. Mouthfeel is watery and creamy. The fizziness is very weird in a porter. Flavor of watery chocolate and a touch of roasted malt. Good flavor, but not very much of it, so this gets only a decent rating.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Black in color. Roasted malts dominate the aroma and flavor. A mild alcohol burn finishes. For an alleged imperial stout, this is pretty lame. For a regular stout, it's pretty good. Reminds me of Bell's Kalamazoo Stout. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 21(draft) 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: 1125(bottle) Clear light amber. Large whitish head. Not much of an aroma or flavor with this one. Everything was very subtle - too subtle. I don't think I'll bother with this again. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 48(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: 144(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: 368This 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) Black with tan head. Decent lacing. Aroma of roasted malts and bourbon. Flavor pretty good, like an imperial stout. The bourbon shows up in the finish.
Ounces Consumed: 11(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: 372(draft) First of all, I can't decide if this is a stupid name for a beer, or a clever one. I had a small sample first, and like it enough to have another pour. Kind of a slightly hazy amber color, with a smallish head that lasted long enough. Flavor was pretty much a blend of American and German wheats, as was the aroma. A little too fizzy and hoppy for me to like it a lot, but still not bad at all.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Dark amber in color. Good head and lacing. Smells like malts and dark fruits. Tastes like malts and overripe charries. Good though.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Their Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout, but aged for three years. The results are a much more intense borboun aroma and flavor. Still pretty good, but maybe a touch too intense for me. I like the regular version better.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) A small sample didn't kill me, so I had more. Hazy light copper. Decent white head. Aroma mild for this style, with a faint off undertone that reminded me of a dunkel more than anything else. Fairly full mouthfeel, and mild flavor, but again with that weird undertone that I didn't care for that much. Decent, but a struggle to drink.
(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.
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. Yummy, in fact.
Ounces Consumed: 596(draft) Black with nice tan head. Subdued aroma and flavor, of roasted malts and dark chocolate. Very smooth, and the alcohol is detectable only in the finish. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 12
(bottle) 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) Malty and a little chocolately. In other words, extremely good. A session beer that can also be used for special ocasions. I recommend this highly.
Ounces Consumed: 142(bottle) Pours black, with a minimal tan head that faded quickly. Light aroma of roasted malts and chocolate. Flavor was pretty much the same - roasted malt and chocolate. The finish was a little drying, but otherwise the 11% ABV is hidden very well. A very good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 25(draft) The first time I saw this, they were calling it "Smokey the Beer." What a stupid name. This beer tasted terrible for the first few ounces, then once my palate had been numbed enough, it tasted pretty damn good. A lot like their regular, nonsmoked porter. It's probably the same beer. Just a touch
of smoked malt, a little chocolate. I liked it.
(draft) Clear dark orange in color, this beer didn't seem to have much of an aroma. So I was surprised to find such a funky and citrusy flavor. To be fair, this beer may have clashed greatly with the chocolately porter I'd had earlier, but I don't think I'd have liked it all that much anyway. I only drank a few sips, then I gave the rest away.
Ounces Consumed: 4
(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.
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) Clear brownish amber. Little head, nice lacing. Aroma of malts and fruity spices. Flavor more fruity than expected, and a little sharp. Not as good as I was hoping, but still good.
Ounces Consumed: 33(draft) Hazy amber. Smallish tan head. Aroma malty and a little sharp. Flavor watery and citrusy. It got better as the glass got emptier. Barely decent, though.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Cloudy brown, small head. Malty aroma. Flavor of a mild brown ale, but with a lingering hoppy finish that I could have done without. Good, not great.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Hazy amber with a decent head. Citrusy and hoppy aroma. Flavor of watery grapefruit juice. Decent, I suppose.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Very dark amber/brown with a lasting white head. Nice aroma and flavor of malts and spices. Maybe some vanilla. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 7(draft) Black with a lasting creamy head. Aroma of burnt malts. Flavor of burnt malts and a touch of coffee. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Black with a thin tan head that faded quickly. Fairly neutral aroma. Thick mouthfeel, with a nice strong roasted malt flavor that coated my mouth. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Hazy gold. No detectable head. Interestingly floral aroma. Nice flavor. Whatever hops are in this, they're the kind that I like. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Hazy brown. White head that pulled a quick disappearing act. Mild aroma of roasted malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor surprisingly strong of roasted malts. A bit of a bitter hoppy finish. I disagree with this beer's classification, but not with its taste. Damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 37(bottle) Clear dark copper. A lighter aroma that I was expecting; mostly of malts and caramel. The flavor is quite dry and it finishes more like an IPA than anything else. They're calling this a barleywine, but there's none of the weirdness that I usually associated with that style. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 17(draft) Hazy Gold. Aroma and flavor of pine needles. Not the kind of hop that I like. Calling it decent goes against my instincts.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Scary lager-colored, with a nice white head. Light malty aroma, with hops and nuts also. Mouthfeel is kind of creamy, and the flavor is mild, with malts and grasses. Not bad, not good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) The color of hazy wheat, with a few visible chunks of sediment. No head whatsoever. Light aroma of wheat and I guess agave. Flavor pretty damn good, albeit indescribable. A nice beer.
Ounces Consumed: 156(draft) Dark Brown. Smallish head that faded quickly. Slight aroma. Thin mouthfeel. Fairly sharp flavor of roasted malts. Decent but disappointing. I finished the glass, but I won't bother ordering this again.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) Black, of course. Fairly sharp aroma of what I want to call cola. Small tan head. Thin watery mouthfeel. Flavor is very subdued and hard to describe. I doubt that I'll bother buying it again. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 54Color of dark hazy cola. No appreciable foam. A nice light vanilla aroma, and a very nice and smooth vanilla flavor. No undertones that I could detect. Finish was a little drying. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 320(bottle) The color of dark cola. No head whatsoever. Aroma was weird. Dark fruits reminded me of a strong Belgian. Surprising to find this aroma in an imperial stout. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor was surprisingly good. Fruity and malty. Definitely different. I have another bottle in my fridge, and I'm looking forward to opening it soon.
Ounces Consumed: 23(bottle) Dark ruby in color. No head. Aroma of dark fruits and alcohol. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor kind of oily. A little malty. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 24(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) Looks like a hazy pale lager. An odd aroma of what I guess is Belgian yeast. Flavor a bit like a saison, but weaker. It looked so much like a lager that I think I imagined lagerish components to the flavor and the finish that weren't really there. Decent, but that's it.
Ounces Consumed: 20(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: 47(draft) Almost black with a decent tan head. Aroma of malts, and not much else. Same for the flavor. No bitterness. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 80(draft) Hazy gold, with a nice white head that lasted. Aroma of hops and malts. Very light flavor of grass. Not worth my time.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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(draft) Clear gold in color. Good heaping head. No detectable aroma. Tasted like watery grass. Not very good. Not very good at all.
Ounces Consumed: 2(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: 192(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) Hazy golden in color, with a large head that shrank quickly. Fairly standard aroma and flavor for a Belgian of this style - so pretty good. There was a tiny bit of unexpected creaminess as it swirled in my mouth. The finish was a little drying, but not so much as to be obnoxious. A pretty good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Pale clear gold. Slight metallic aroma and flavor. There are certainly worse beers in the world, but there are also millions of better beers. I giving this a decent rating because I'm feeling generous.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) Slightly hazy golden. Looked like a lager. Aroma and flavor of, as the name suggests, orange lolipops. Mouthfeel was smooth and creamy. Not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. Actually decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Hazy amber, with an odd aroma of pumpkin and rubber. Flavor of pumpkin and something familiar, yet unidentified. Musty and decent.
Ounces Consumed: 6(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: 28(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: 45(bottle) Cloudy dark amber. Smallish head. Faint aroma of dark fruits and malt. Flavor fairly mild, consisting mostly of apples and plums. A little drying. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft 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(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) Clear dark brown. Minimal head. Strange aroma of malts and hops. Flavor of cola and malts. Very dry finish. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Black with a decent tan head. Weak aroma of burnt malts. Flavor burnt, but weak enough to make it barely good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear dark gold. Thin whitish head. Hoppy aroma. Tastes like aluminum. Disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 1(draft) Clear Bronzish copper. Nice balanced aroma. Flavor a little subdued. Like a mild Alt-style beer. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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(bottle) Slightly hazy orange. Nice aroma of pumpkin and spices. Flavor much more tame than the aroma led me to believe, but still very good. The expected pumpkin and spices, leaning a but more toward the former. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(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) Clear light golden. Nice white head. Subdued aroma and flavor of fried apples. Mouthfeel more creamy that I'd expected. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Black with minimal tan head. Subtle malt and chocolate aroma. Mild malt and chocolate flavor, a little bitter but with a sweet finish. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(draft) Clear amber with a nice tan head. Malty and spicy aroma. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor of spices and pumpkin. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) I don't like lagers at all, but since this is probably the most watered-down lager there is, I suppose that I can stand it when I have to. I mean, it doesn't kill me. I just wish that it would.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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: 115I 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) Black, with a dark tan head. Aroma of mostly chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor chocolately and something else, something unusual. OMG, it's coconut! I'm allergic to coconut! So I didn't drink but the one sip. That one sip was actually pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 1(draft) A murky weird orange color. Decent head and lacing. Aroma of citrus and wheat. Flavor was decent, but then a bitter finish came out of nowhere. Almost like a rye beer. Life's too short to waste on beer like this. I only had a little. Barely decent, if you're into the style.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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: 239(draft) Another winner from this small brewpub. Quite malty and nutty, but enough hops to keep it nicely balanced.
Ounces Consumed: 10I had a little of this. I remember liking it, but quite frankly I was too drunk to remember much else about it. I will provide a real review the next chance I get.
Update 050909: Black, with a small tan head that faded quickly to nothing. Fairly strong aroma and flavor of roasted chocolate and malts. A little too bitter, mostly because of the 8% ABV. Decent is all I can say at this point.
Ounces Consumed: 58(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(draft) Clear dark amber. Good long-lasting head. No detectable aroma. The mouthfeel is a little watery, and the flavor is mostly roasted malts. A decent beer, but kind of a waste of time. The alcohol was hidden very well, a little too well, I think.
Ounces Consumed: 12A 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: 259(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 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 Rogue Chocolate Stout and NABC Cone Smoker in a 1:1 ratio. I'd been expecting these two very different flavors to elevate each other to new heights. But that's not what happened. They pretty much cancelled each other out. Good thing I didn't waste too much beer with this experiment.
Ounces Consumed: 6(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: 405(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: 144(bottle) Pours very dark brown, with a nice beige head that lingers. Aroma of alcohol and malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of alcohol and lightly roasted malts. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 11(bottle) Hazy Brown. Smallish head that lasts for a while. Aroma of malts and faint overripe apples. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of cola and apples. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 19(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: 16(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 dark cherry wine. The second half of my glass - once the head had dissipated - was much better than the first half. Not as complex as the Delirium Noel, but yummy in its own way.
Ounces Consumed: 240Dark 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: 315My desert island beer. I only wish I could drink more than three or four 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: 2788(bottle) Clear golden. Good white head. Mild hop aroma. Fairly mild floral hop flavor. Good and quite drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 28(bottle) Cola color. Roaster malt and caramel aroma. Fairly thin mouthfeel. The flavor was of cola and caramel. Slightly dry finish.
Ounces Consumed: 76(bottle) Black with a firm brown head. Strong aroma of licorice and chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of about a million things, chocolate and licorice and bourbon and oak among them. Just a bit overwhelming. Good, though.
Ounces Consumed: 6(bottle) Cloudy reddish amber. Not much head. Aroma of musty yeast and alcohol and raspberries. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of alcohol and raspberries. Noticeable alcohol burn at the finish, but tolerable. A gimmicky, but decent, beer.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Golden with a large white head. Looked like a damn lager, so I wasn't expecting to like it. I was surprised. It was pretty good. Fruit and honey aroma and flavor. Nice and creamy. I liked it.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Black with a decent brown head. Aroma of roasted malts and I'm gonna say coffee. Flavor like the aroma, but with a fairly strong alcohol finish. Decent at first then, as with most high high ABV beers, my taste buds were beaten into submission and this beer became good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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(draft) Looked like a lager. Nice white head. Very unusual aroma that I never could place. Flavor was mild and maltier than I was expecting. Finish a little bitter, because of the chiles I suppose. Stronger than it tastes. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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(draft) Hazy light amber. Nice white head with good lacing. Smells like alcohol. Mouthfeel is coating. Flavor surprisingly mild, with dark and light fruits. Good, but scary because it's 12%.
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(bottle) Had this because it's all there was. Clear dark gold in color, No head to speak of. Also no aroma, certainly no honey aroma. Flavor was tame and safe, and the honey additive finally showed up in the finish, which was sweet and coating. A decent beer, but nothing I'd ever buy.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Light brown, with a white head that seems to be lasting. Very light aroma of yeasts and apple peels. Sharp and clean flavor, watery mouthfeel. Decent is all I can say, and I can barely say that.
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Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Hazy yellow with a huge whitish head. Strong aroma of malts and apples. Flavor more of the same. Typical for the style, but that doesn't mean it isn't really good.
Ounces Consumed: 64(draft) Looks like a very pale lager. Nine white head. Aroma is mild and musty. Flavor is very mild of apples. Not too bad. Not much point, though. at 6.8%, it's way too strong for the flavor it presents.
Ounces Consumed: 2(bottle) Wow. Black with a long-lasting tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and coffee. Thick mouthfeel. Flavor most of roasted malts, with a nicely balanced coffee and chocolate counterpoint. Flat-out yummy. I want more.
Ounces Consumed: 22(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) Very dark red, with trivial head and lacing. Fairly strong aroma of malts and dark fruits and raisins. Mouthfeel very thin. The flavor was undetectable at first, but it later revealed a light touch of coffee and an even lighter touch of malts. Decent is probably being a little generous.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Hazy Gold. Nice white head. Mouthfeel almost creamy. Light aroma and flavor of apples and pears. There's a weird funky finish that I could definitely do without. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 10(bottle) Fizzy orange in color, with a decent white head. Citrusy aroma. Mild citrusy and malty flavor. Not the worst beer I've ever had. Decent, but weird.
Ounces Consumed: 16(bottle) Clear dark orange. Nice head that lasted forever. Balanced aroma of pumpkin and spices. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor starts with pumpkin and finishes with spices. Just a hint of bitterness. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 22(bottle) Black with thin tan head. Aroma of cola and roasted malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor same as the aroma, with a bit of a tingle to it. Good. I'd like to try this on tap.
Ounces Consumed: 22(bottle) The color of iced tea. Pretty large head. Flavor and aroma were what I was expecting. A German wheat, which I like, crossed with a dunkel, which I normally do not like. The end-result was certainly drinkable, but not noteworthy. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 17(bottle) The color of hazy cola, with a large beige head that faded quickly. Aroma was malty and maybe a little skunked. Flavor was pretty much the same as the aroma. I don't think this beer was actually skunked, it just had that strange taste that I associate with bocks and barleywines. Not the worst beer I've ever had.
Ounces Consumed: 17(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.
UPDATE 090907: Had about half of a bottle. Didn't like it even a little bit. Way too citrusy, and there was none of the aroma I first wrote about. This bottle might have been a little skunked.
Ounces Consumed: 24(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: 36(draft) Clear light copper in color. Aroma of grass. Flavor neither piney nor floral. Kind of like a mixture. There was a slight metallic finish. Decent is all I can say about this.
Ounces Consumed: 13(bottle) Cloudy brown. Ridiculous heaping head. Tame aroma, just like all saisons. Flavor was tame as well, with just a hint of some unidentified spices. Pretty good, though. I'd like to try this in draft form.
Ounces Consumed: 25I 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(cask) Dark brown. Whitish head that lasts decently. Light aroma of malts and smoke. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor fairly light, a little sweet, but smoked malts predominate. Reminds me of Spezial.
Ounces Consumed: 18(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(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(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(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(draft) The first sip of this was just disgusting, but I vowed to drink a couple of inches to give it a fair test. At about halfway through the pint I decide I sorta liked it. By the end of the pint I wanted another one. An odd-tasting beer that just grew on me. Not sure I can describe the taste.
Ounces Consumed: 124(draft) Hazy yellow. Aroma standard for the style, bananas along with cloves and other subtle spices. The flavor was subdued and fleeting. A little more yeasty than I was expecting. Good, though.
Ounces Consumed: 58(draft) Black with thin beige head. Strong aroma of malts, dark chocolate, and licorice. Thick and chewy mouthfeel. Flavor intense and lasting, mostly of roasted malts. Very good.
Ounces Consumed: 16(bottle) A fairly standard lager. Not as fizzy as some, but not as flavorful either. Nothing special.
Ounces Consumed: 2(draft) Hazy dark brown, with no head to speak of. According to JauntyGirl, this smells like hairspray. I myself would say that it smells of roasted malt and alcohol. Fairly thin mouthfeel, with the flavor of roasted malts and overriip cherries. No alcohol burn at all. Pretty darn good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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) Clear orange/yellow. Big white head. No detectable aroma, and not much of a flavor either. A pretty weak Saison. Barely decent.
Ounces Consumed: 5(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) Slightly hazy amber. Decent whitish head. Citrusy hoppy aroma. Hoppy flavor, but the finish is smooth. It's actually not too bad.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Very dark brown. Nice beige head. Subdued aroma of burnt malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of roasted malts, almost acrid, but still fucking yummy. Maybe a touch of chocolate and licorice, too.
Ounces Consumed: 453(draft) Yellow with a slight haze. Very good head and lacing. At first, it seemed a little watery, but then subtle flavors of apple peels and sour apples became evident. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 24(draft) 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: 261(draft) Dark yellow. No head. Minimal lacing. No aroma. Flavor of dark fruits and malts. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 14(bottle) Pours black with a minimal brown head. Smells faintly of licorice. Medium mouthfeel. Nice flavor of roasted malts, licorice, and a touch of chocolate. Substantial alcohol finish. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 16(draft) Clear copper in color, with a huge white head. Aroma is mildly sharp, if that makes any sense. Creamy mouthfeel. Oh wow, this is really good. Spices mostly, but with rye undertones.
Ounces Consumed: 14(bottle) Cloudy dark brown. Aroma of musty fruit. Flavor fairly typical for the style. Extremely good, in other words.
Ounces Consumed: 20(bottle) I had a little of this. I remember liking it, but I was quite frankly too drunk to remember much more than that. I will provide a read review next change I get.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Highly recommended by all who'd had it at Rich O's. Definitely a Christmas Ale - all sorts of complex flavors. I thought the fruitiness was a little bit too much but I suppose it was needed to mask all of that alcohol.
Ounces Consumed: 66(bottle) Fizzy clear orange. Huge heaping head. Very faint citrus aroma. Flavor also quite faint, consisting of apples and oranges. Medium mouthfeel. No bitterness. Good but not great.
Ounces Consumed: 25(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) Not at all what I was expecting, as it was listed as "chestnut amber" on the beer board at Rich O's. Clear reddish amber in color. A pretty decent head that lasted throughout the glass. A faint fruity aroma - maybe cherries. Mouthfeel was medium-thick and clean. Flavor was very well-balanced. Malts and dark fruits and a tinge of hoppy bitterness. The finish was surprisingly fruity. A damn good beer.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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) Very dark ruby-colored, with a nice tan head. Aroma mostly of malts, with some sweet chocolate and caramel in there. Mouthfeel thicker than I was expecting. Flavor pretty good, but tastes more like a malty porter than a Scotch ale to me. Very good, though.
Ounces Consumed: 11(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: 10(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(bottle) Black with a thin brown head. Nice malty chocolate aroma. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor very malty, with chocolate and a hint of oak. Doesn't taste as strong as it is. Very yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 16(bottle) Black with a decent tan head. Incredible aroma of chocolate and smoke and grapes. Thin mouthfeel, a little watery. Flavor is good and chocolatey, but thin. No apparent smoke. A little disappointing, but still good.
Ounces Consumed: 252They 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: 276(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(bottle) Usually I know to steer clear of any beer calling itself a blonde, but this was listed as a Belgian Triple in the flyer, so I tried it. I liked it. There was nothing outstanding about it, but neither was there anything wrong with it. Maybe a watered-down Delirium tremens. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(bottle) Dark brown with a nice head. Aroma of dark fruits and maybe some chocolate. The flavor was surprisingly good to me. I will definitely look for this again. Probably today.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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) Very dark red - almost black. A malty aroma that almost suggested burnt malts. A little thin, but with a nice flavor. Much more malty than regular guinness, and much more drinkable. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 35(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: 1962(bottle) Deep black with huge tan head. Weird aroma of dark roasted malts. Sharp flavor of roasted malts and licorice and maybe molasses. Very good.
a href="http://www.labatt.com/" target="beer">Website
Ounces Consumed: 238(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: 400(bottle) Black with ridiculous head. Aroma of dark-roasted malts and chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor is much like the aroma. There's a gentle touch of liqorice at the finish that almost, but not quite, masks the alcohol burn. Quite yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 17(bottle) Black with a ridiculous tan head. Aroma of very roasted malts and nuts. Medium mouthfeel, with an immediate alcohol burn. Flavor a little subdued except for the burn. Malty and roasty. A touch of coffee and a touch of chocolate. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 17(bottle) Cloudy brown, with a smallish off-white head. Aroma of juniper and other woods, with a very faint smoke taint. Flavor is almost overwhelmingly of juniper and other evergreen flavors. Finish is a little dry. The first few sips weren't very good, but the this beer began to taste pretty good to me.
Ounces Consumed: 17(bottle) Clear dark amber, with a decent beige head. Enticing aroma of malts and caramel. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor mild, with malts and dark fruits. A fairly strong alcohol burn is present all the way to the finish. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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(can) Pretty metallic. Quite gross. I don't think that even people who like lagers would like this.
Ounces Consumed: 2(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.
UPDATE 12/24/07: I've been able to have this in bottles recently. The aroma is as I remembered, the flavor is very good, but maybe not quite the orgasmic experience I remembered from before. Very much a session beer. One of my favorites.
Ounces Consumed: 386(draft) Black in color. Decent white head. Roasty cola aroma. Very well-balanced between coffee and chocolate. Pretty damn good.
Ounces Consumed: 10Rotten molasses is how I will describe it, though I don't really know what rotten molasses tastes like.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) The first few sips, understandably, brought to mind a beer with ginger ale poured into it. By the end of the glass I'd decided that I did like this beer, and that I wished that it was even a little stranger than it was. Very unusual, and very drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 40(draft) Tastes like a pilsner until you swallow, that's when the funkiness takes over. I guess the funkiness was due to the sake yeasts used on the rice. My enjoyment of this beer grew with each sip, and I missed it when it was gone.
Ounces Consumed: 100(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(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(bottle) Clear medium amber in color. Small head. Aroma of pumpkin and spices. The flavor was more spicy and metallic than I was expecting. There was also some hop bitterness that I didn't care for at all. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 12(draft) Orange. Some faint apple flavor, but even more apricots. A little too sweet and citrusy for my tastes.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Color of pale straw. Decent head and lacing. Light aroma of wheat and blueberry. Thin mouthfeel. Flavor of tap water and blueberry. Decent, but not good. No bitterness, but not much of anything at all. A more strongly flavored version would probably be very good.
Ounces Consumed: 4Had 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) Hazy dark amber. Decent head that faded quickly. Slightly sour aroma. Slightly sour finish. Not much else to it. A decent beer, but not really worth my time. I tried to give half the glass away, but nobody wanted it.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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) Came highly recommended for some reason. Looked like a standard unfiltered German wheat. Smelled like a standard unfiltered American wheat. Flavor was like they took a good German wheat and poured grapefruit juice into it. I managed to force down six ounces before I gave up on this beer. Not worth my time.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Very dark red, with a light pink head that shrank but lasted. There was some discussion as to what the aroma was, and it was decided that this smells like Luden's cough drops. Flavor is cherries and cranberries. No alcohol burn at all. Quite good, but also quite strange.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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(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(can) Just incredibly gross. Smelled of rotten hops, and tasted very metallic. It tasted to me like it was skunked. Suprisingly bad. It was a struggle to finsh the 2-ounce sample glass.
Ounces Consumed: 2(bottle) Cloudy dark brown. Nice tan head. Very surprising aroma of roasted coffee and wood chips. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor drying and fizzy, mostly of roasted coffee. Not as gross as I've made it seem. A decent beer, that might be better on a really cold night.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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(draft) Black with decent white head and lacing. Light aroma of coffee and malts. Flavor like the aroma. Fairly light, bordering on bland. Finish is a little chocolatey. A decent beer.
Ounces Consumed: 34(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: 1123(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(bottle) Very dark brown with a huge beige head. Aroma of cola and roasted malts. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor of roasted malts and alcohol. Strong, but good.
Ounces Consumed: 14(draft) Looks like a lager, so scary. Smells like unpeeled apples. OMG tastes fantastic! I may just cream. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 26(draft) The color of dark cola. Nice tan head. Very noticeable aroma of chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor mostly subdued chocolate. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 21(draft) Black with a nice tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and smoke. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor same as aroma. Smooth finish. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 21(bottle) Hazy copper, with a decent head that faded quickly. The aroma is malts and dobblebock weirdness. No smoke in the aroma, which did not bode well for me. The smoke did, however, show up in the flavor, and it showed up nicely. The flavor was very well balanced, with hops and malts and smoke, plus the expected dopplebock weirdness. I liked this a lot, and I wasn't expecting to like it at all.
Ounces Consumed: 115(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: 352(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: 132(draft) Clear yellow. Head faded quickly. Aroma typical for the style, with a little mustiness. Mild flavor of apples, with a hint of alcohol burn at the finish. Does not taste like it's 9% ABV. Decent, a little bland.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Black with no head. Aroma of dark roasted malts, typical for the style. Flavor very nice, roasty and chocolatey. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 14(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: 10(bottle) Pours black, with a thin whitish head. Aroma and flavor of roasted malts and coffee. The coffee was very understated, so it didn't bother me at all. This is a very good malty stout. Extremely drinkable.
Ounces Consumed: 38(draft) This 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. Hoppy, but with a smooth underlying finsh that never quite goes away - it just fades.
Ounces Consumed: 2555(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. One of the best.
Ounces Consumed: 197(bottle) Hazy light amber. Huge creamy head that was a bit of a hassle. Flavor was fairly mild for such a strong beer. Mostly apple peels and light yeast. The high alcohol is barely detecable, so this is a pretty dangerous beer.
Ounces Consumed: 25(bottle) Ridiculous huge head. Clear dark ruby in color. Very strong aroma of malts and dark fruits, especially while the foam was still present. Flavor not quite as strong as the aroma led me to expect. Darks fruits predominated. A fairly harsh alcohol finish for the first few sips, but after that, this beer was surpringly smooth. The alcohol is hidden very well.
Ounces Consumed: 37(draft) Hazy bronze. Huge heaping head. Aroma and flavor a little faint for a tripel. I was astonished to discover that this beer has 10% ABV - it's almost undetectable. I like this, but there are a lot of better tripels out there.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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) Dark clear amber in color, with a nice whitish head. A light aroma of malts, and not much else. Flavor wasn't too bad at all. Not as hoppy as I'd been expecting. Mostly malts and just a touch of tanginess. A decent and drinkable beer.
Ounces Consumed: 2025(bottle) Clear very dark amber, with a medium-sized cream head. Aroma of chocolates and coffee. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor was surprisingly good, with hints of chocolates and roasted malts. The finish was quite dry - not because of alcohol, but because of the roasted malts. This beer is damn good, almost yummy, and I don't care who makes it.
Ounces Consumed: 186(bottle) Black with a nice tan head. Sharp aroma of malts and rich coffee. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of roasted malt and a touch of coffee. Pretty damn good. I want more.
Ounces Consumed: 38(bottle) Black with bubbly tan head. Malty aroma with licorice. Flavor much like the aroma. More malty and spicy than licoricey. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 5(bottle) Very pale color of piss. Decent head that seemed to last. Aroma undetectable, as was the flavor. Overall, not too bad, but certainly not with the effort.
Ounces Consumed: 8(bottle) Clear amber, with a whitish head that faded quickly. Surprising aroma of chocolate and molasses. Fizzy mouthfeel. Flavor of malts and spices. Clean finish. Not too bad.
Ounces Consumed: 72Clear dark orange. Kind of a weird color. No head to speak of. An aroma of malts and hops that was pretty enticing. Medium mouthfeel. The flavor was extremely good. The hops seemed to be a mixture of the piney kind (which I hate) and the flowery kind (which I love) and there was also a strong malty component to the flavor, and a tiny hint of smoke. Definitely very interesting and drinkable. I'd love to try this on tap someday. Yummy.
Update 110208: I've had it on tap, and it's still yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 1219(draft) Cloudy dark brown, with a large tan head. Aroma of dark fruits and something else - maybe caramel? The flavor was much more subdued than my earlier sips had led me to expect. The beer tasted a little flat and/or one dimensional. Not really anything wrong with it, but not worth having again.
Ounces Consumed: 15(bottle) Clear fizzy yellow. Thin head that hung in there pretty well. The aroma was of armpits and feet - it was skunked. Mouthfeel was thin. No flavor to speak of, though there was a hoppy sharpness when it first entered the mouth. No detectable finish except a coating skunkiness. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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(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: 5Quite 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 dark copper. Medium tan head. Malty aroma. Strong malty aroma, maybe a little molasses. Tastes like it's a little too flat. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 20(draft) Dark cranberry in color. Huge head. Aroma is a very faint sweetness. Tastes like watery cranberry juice. Kind of disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 14(draft) Black with minimal beige head that faded quickly. Aroma and flavor chocolatey and smoky. Both understated, but balanced nicely. Good, but could use more of everything. I was very excited about this new beer, so I guess it disappointed me a little.
Update: I had a small sample of a new batch, and it was quite sour. I didn't like it as much. Downgrading to simply decent.
Ounces Consumed: 60(draft) Extremely sour and oaky. I couldn't stand this beer. I even bought a growler and only had a few sips. Quite gross.
Ounces Consumed: 2(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: 340For 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: 80This 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: 110(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: 140(draft) I didn't like this beer when it was first introduced, but they seem to have tweaked the recipe, and now I like it a lot. Malty and chocolatey. I will have much more of this, at least until they change the recipe again.
Ounces Consumed: 608(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: 62The 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: 30(draft) Hazy light brown, with a decent head and good lacing. Not much aroma or flavor initially, but then a hint of smoke and a hint of a bitter rye finish show up. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 14(draft) Cloudy cola-colored. No head, so quite typical of NABC. Aroma of oak and smoke, kinda intriguing. Flavor was a blast of oak and fruity wine. No apparent smoke at all. Decent is all I can say about this one.
Ounces Consumed: 5(draft) Pretty bland unless it's the first beer of the night. I remain sad that Rich O's pulled Newcastle in favor of this one. A mild malt and coffee flavor. Nothing wrong with this beer, but nothing particularly right either.
Ounces Consumed: 281(draft) This beer has gone through a few different incarnations, all leading up to this, what may be the ultimate smoked ale. Dark brown, minimal head. Malty aroma with a teasing hint of smoke. The first couple of sips are sometimes bitter, but that usually fades quickly and all that's left is yumminess. I really wish that this were available more often.
Ounces Consumed: 6428(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. A little flowery in the flavor.
Ounces Consumed: 8(draft) Clear reddish-brown. No appreciable head. No appreciable aroma. Flavor of roasted malts plus weirdness. Nice smooth finish. Good. Better than I remembered from before. The ridiculous hoppy bitterness is gone. Definitely a change for the better.
Ounces Consumed: 147(draft) Clear dark copper in color. Decent head that faded quickly. Aroma of molasses and hops, and flavor more of the same. The finish was much more smooth than the flavor indicated. I liked this beer a lot. Easily one of my favorites from NABC.
(Update 03/20-08: I've downgraded this beer from yummy to good. Apparently they didn't like that I enjoyed it so much, so they fucked with the recipe.)
Ounces Consumed: 1069(draft) Black with a decent beige head. Flavor a little burnt, but good. Chocolate only showed up in the finish, which was quite smooth. Good. I hope to have more before they run out.
Ounces Consumed: 111(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) Clear amber, with a decent head that actually seemed to hold up fairly well. Aroma of light smoke and metallic hops. Mouthfeel was that of dirty dish water, and the flavor was more of the same. I don't know what the finish was like because I spit it back into the glass instead of swallowing it. I was very disappointed with this.
UPDATE 091007: I tried this beer for a third and final time this evening. I actually managed to swallow three times. I was not going to risk a fourth time. Just disgusting.
Ounces Consumed: 3(draft) Dark red, bordering on purple. Nice tan head. Slightly hoppy aroma, so scary to me, but flavor of a decent and safe red ale. Kind of hard to pin this one down to a certain style. Worth drinking, but probably not worth drinking another.
Ounces Consumed: 6(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(draft) Black with a thin brown head. Enticing chocolatey grapey smoky aroma. Thinnish mouthfeel. Wow. Roasty and creamy and smoky. Quite yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 211(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: 120(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: 102(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: 10The 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(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 that I could certainly have lived without.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Hazy dark amber. Flavor and aroma were both fairly light. Cinnamon and vanilla and nutmeg, if I had to make a guess. There was absolutely no bitterness and no citrus, so I liked this. Could have used more of whatever it had.
Ounces Consumed: 103(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.
UPDATE 011408: This year's version seems a bit more malty than that of previous years. Also, I finally detected some of the molasses that's always been advertised. I can't say that this year's version is better than before, but I also can't say that it's any worse.
Ounces Consumed: 698(draft) No matter how hard I try, I cannot detect any aroma or flavor. All I get is a slightly drying finish.
Ounces Consumed: 8(draft) Hazy light brown. Good head that faded quickly. The aroma is of malts and apples and, of course for this brewery, hops. The mouthfeel is a little thin, as is the flavor. It's got a good flavor, though, it just needs a bit more of it.
Ounces Consumed: 12They'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: 20(draft) Hazy yellow, with a nice white head. Musty aroma, fairly light. Watery mouthfeel. Flavor of tap water that's been sitting out too long. Not worth the price I paid for the free sample.
Ounces Consumed: 3What 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.
UPDATE 02/27/2009: Back after four years, the new version of Solidarity has 10% ABV instead of 8.5%. So, not quite as sneaky as it used to be. I still like it, just not as much.
Ounces Consumed: 163(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(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) Cloudy light brown. No head. Smelled like pumpkins to me, though I don't think it's supposed to. Flavor is gross, no other words seem necessary or appropriate. I only had a few sips and then decided that life is too short to drink beer like this.
Ounces Consumed: 4(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 first had this at the 2008 Fringe Fest. Apparently this version does not contain honey, and so I figured I wouldn't like it as much. Well, I figured wrong. Hazy light brown. A definite rye aroma and flavor. Something else, too. Nutmeg is my guess, though it could be way off. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 90(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) Hazy brown in color. Minimal head that lasted. Strong aroma of hops and alcohol. Flavor more of the same. I can see how most people would really like this beer, but it's not a style that I care for. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 12(growler) Very dark red. Not much head, but the growler was several days old. The flavor and the aroma reminded me of oak aging, though I don't think this beer was oak aged. I'll call it decent for now.
Ounces Consumed: 10(draft) Clear amber. Light citrus and hop aroma. Very light flavor, with a touch of hoppy bitterness that shows up in the finish. Not my cup of tea, er, beer.
Ounces Consumed: 2(bottle) Very dark, almost black. Aroma of roasted malts with some burnt notes. Flavor more smooth than the aroma indicated. Mostly malts and some hints of chocolate and coffee. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 4(draft) Clear dark yellow. Decent white head. No appreciable aroma or flavor. Nothing wrong with it, and nothing right with it. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 5Very well-balanced ale, probably meant to be a copy of Newcastle Brown Ale, and it is a very good copy indeed. A little more malty than the Newcastle, and a bit more of a bite at the end. A very good session beer.
Ounces Consumed: 4779(bottle) Hazy light golden. No appreciable head. Musty and spicy aroma. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor malty and creamy, and a little spicy. Good.
Ounces Consumed: 22(bottle) Cloudy brown. Thin head that disappeared right away. Strongly sour aroma. Wow. Extremely sour flavor. Thinnish mouthfeel. Weird, but good.
Ounces Consumed: 6(draft) Very pale yellow. No head. Extremely faint grass aroma. Faint flavor of tap water. This is some kind of joke, right?
Ounces Consumed: 1(bottle) The color of clear cola. Nice white head that faded quickly. Aroma of spices and wheat. Flavor more of the same. Pretty good.
Ounces Consumed: 12(bottle) Clear fuzzy light bronze in color. No head to speak of. Aroma of ripe apples. Flavor typical for the style, with a little extra maltiness. Quite good.
Ounces Consumed: 69(draft) Pale amber, fizzy, good head. All standard for Belgians of this type. Aroma seemed a tad stale to me. Flavor was average but subdued. The finish was very reminiscent of rubbing alcohol. Bitter and drying. I was disappointed with this beer, and I didn't drink very much of it.
Update 09 June 2011...
(bottle) Hazy Orange. A lot of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. No head. Citrusy Belgian aroma. Very nice light flavor, typical for the style. Maybe a touch more citrus than apple. Quite good.
So, two totally different experiences. Such is beer...
Ounces Consumed: 24(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. Very good, almost great.
Ounces Consumed: 177(bottle) Clear, the color of iced tea. Minimal head. Very faint aroma of hops and coffee and spices. Creamy mouthfeel. A little flat. Fairly flavorless and tame. Decent is all I can say.
Ounces Consumed: 22(draft) More than black, this beer absorbed all light from within a radius of several feet. The tan head was fairly impressive as it lasted until the glass was empty. A light aroma of roasted malts, with a touch of coffee and chocolate in there as well. Flavor was almost all roasted malts, though the beer somehow managed to stay very well-balanced. Extrremely yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 281(draft) Clear amber in color. No head at all. Zero. Smells a little bit like laundry detergent, of all things. Mounthfeel is meduim syrupy. The flavor is a little weird to me - as with all barleywines. There is a noticeable alcohol burn at the finish. Decent.
Ounces Consumed: 12(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: 20038(draft) Clear light yellow. Looked like a light lager. No head. No aroma. Flavor was, thankfully, not hoppy. There wasn't much flavor at all. A little bit of grassiness. A waste of time.
Ounces Consumed: 3(bottle) Hazy dark brown. Minimal head. fantastic aroma of malt and raisins. Fairly intense malt flavor. Apples and raisins predominate. Fucking yummy.
Ounces Consumed: 102(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.
(draft) A very pretty beer, hazy orange with a nice creamy head. The taste was a little sour, bu