The Pilot Rock Porter by Oregon’s Caldera Brewing pours with a tremendously dark coloration and a fair amount of cream to tan-colored head that remains stubbornly on the top of the beer. There is a solid amount of coffee and mocha flavors that immediately are noticed, while a malt and sweet set of notes can be discerned shortly after. The beer is well-balanced, ensuring that a different set of flavors…
Boulevard’s Pop-Up Session IPA is a rare example of a session IPA that still remains a hop-forward flavor while dialing back the alcohol content. At 4.3%, Pop-Up is refreshing and will do admirably as an effort that one continues to come back to during bonfires, after long, grueling chores, and as an introduction for those individuals that wish to take the plunge into more hoppy beers. Pop-Up possesses a slightly-sweet…
Saranac’s Clouded Dream (from their High Peaks Collection) pours with a brownish-orange coloration and a decent amount of whitish head. Clouded Dream laces itself down a glass as the head is persistently remaining on the top of the effort. The beer has a spicy (cinnamon, hop) nose that is fairly sedate, while the initial sip refreshes while exhibiting some strong flavors before dissipating as quickly as it began. The beer…
Maui Brewing Company’s CoCoNut Porter pours with a dark-brown, almost black coloration and a thick, light-brown / tannish head. Lacing is substantial with the CoCoNut Porter and will work its way down a glass with few breaks in the foam from beginning to end. There is a toasted malt nose that does not provide imbibers with too many of the tricks that the beer has up its sleeve; an initial…
Immortality is Saranac Brewing’s imperial amber ale, and it pours with a mahogany to ruby red coloration and a small amount of white head that lays on top of the beer. The beer has a small amount of malt and hop nose initially, and one’s first experience with the beer will yield small amounts of dark fruits, a light alcohol bite, and a good amount of wheat, cereal, and malt…
Sweet As Pacific Ale, GoodLife Brewing’s newest effort, is a beer that a wide swath of imbibers can appreciate. The beer pours with a maple syrup/cider coloration and a small amount of whitish head that laces its way down a beer glass. The beer has a nose that feels equally balanced between straw, grass, and hops, while an initial sip yields tangerine and orange flavors with hints of more tart…
Prefunk, Worthy Brewing’s latest beer possesses a nose that is fairly hop-heavy with a slightly sweet upside. The beer pours with a cider brown coloration and a creamy head that is fairly tenacious as it laces itself down the glass. There is a lightness to this beer that belies the heavier hop presence (Prefunk is pegged at 50 IBU) that makes the beer go down incredibly easy. In fact, the…
Destihl Brewery (Bloomington, IL) has crafted another beer for their Wild Sour Series, a Berliner Weisse that they have dubbed Counter Clockweisse. This sour effort possesses a nose that is equal amounts tart and wheat and pours with a hazy light-brown coloration and nothing in the way of head. The delicate blend of sour and sweet makes for a refreshing experience, one that would pair perfectly with fish, chicken, and…
Upslope Brewing’s year-round Pale Ale provides imbibers with a wide array of flavors in a beer that is not too hoppy, malty, or otherwise flavor-heavy. Upslope’s Pale Ale is a perfect beer to drink as the spring warms up.
Full Tilt has just released a new Imperial IPA, Hop Harbor. The beer is able to succeed because of the bold flavor profile that it possesses. While the hop flavors come into focus at the end of each sip, there is a considerable smoothness that runs through the entirety of the beer; Full Tilt’s effort here is something that will appease those that are fans of IPAs and would like…
Full Sail has released their Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, a beer that pours with an extremely dark brown (nearing black) coloration. There is a small amount of light brown / tan head that sits on top of the bottle. The initial nose of the imperial stout blends together a nice sweetness with a more astringent bourbon flavor. As one takes their initial sip of Full Sail’s Bourbon Barrel Aged…
PsycHOPathy is an India Pale Ale created by Cincinnati’s Madtree Brewing. The beer pours with a yellow-gold coloration and a small amount of off-white head that provides lacing as one continues to sip. The initial nose of PsycHOPathy provides hints of grass and wheat with a small amount of hop twang. The beer is incredibly balanced, pushing forward a strong bitter element and enough sweetness to vary the overall constellation of…
Santa Fe Brewing’s Black IPA pours with an extremely dark brown coloration and a thick, foamy off-white head. The beer’s initial nose provides imbibers with hints of malt and grain with only a small amount of hop bitterness. This Black IPA has a creamy body that allows a strong hop element to exist at the end of each sip. By having such a wide array of flavors, Santa Fe’s Black…
Strike’s Imperial Red pours with an incredibly dark brown / reddish coloration and a small amount of light brown to tannish head. The beer possesses a full compliment of twists and turns that will ensure that individuals can complete the entirety of a 22 ounce bottle. There is a considerable amount of malt here that is able to moderate a decent amount of sweet elements. A little hopping of the…
Smuttynose’s Rhye IPA pours with a dark yellow to orange-brown coloration and a light brown to yellowish head. The lacing will creep its way down the glass as one continues. This Rhye IPA has a vibrant flavor that ties together an india pale ale hop bite with a bold, spicy rye flavor profile. There is a considerably heavier backbone to this effort than many IPAs, and I feel that this…
Worthy’s Lights Out stout pours with a dark brown to black color and a small amount of head that rapidly dissipates. Lights Out’s nose is a little sweet, a little malty, and has just a little sharpness present. The beer goes down extremely easily; there is a strong malt presence here that moderates some of the sweetness that is present in other beers in the style. There is a further dimension…
Breck IPA is Breckenridge Brewery’s latest year-round effort, and it will provide individuals with a decent hop aroma from the second that they open a bottle. The beer pours with a light orange / orange-gold coloration and a tan to off-white head that laces itself down the glass. The flavor profile of Breck IPA is well-balanced. There is a decent (66 IBU) bitterness that is immediately discerned after the initial…
The sad fact about sours is many of them are priced at a level that makes it hard to have them as a go-to beer. Even those sour beers that have been made in the United States can break the $20 mark for a 22-ounce bomber. The beer pours with a dark mahogany to reddish coloration and a light tan head that stands out on the top of the beer.…
Boulevard Brewing’s Unfiltered Wheat Beer pours with a very light yellow to gold coloration and a citrus (lemon / orange) nose mixed with a decent amount of wheat. The beer is sublimely drinkable, with a light amount of fruit flavor that can be discerned amongst the strong wheat and grain flavors. The beer holds up well to increases in temperatures and is extraordinarily complex due to the inclusion of a…
This is a complex doppelbock, and Grand Canyon Brewing has ensured that individuals are interested from the first sip to the end of each 22 ounce bomber. Shaggy Bock builds off of a lager base and utilizes a variety of malts to provide a dark and rich flavor profile. The beer comes with a widget that contains a piece of toasted oak to drastically increase the woody and smoky elements…