For my second beer, I picked Flying Dog's Horn Dog. I got turned on to this brewery due to RDH's endorsement of their pale ale, and due to my own impulse buy of their Imperial Porter. I loved the imperial porter, and the pale ale was solid, although I don't get my rocks off on pale ales. The Horn Dog is a Barleywine. I bought it because I was on a hop kick last time I was at BotW. IPAs are often a good way to get my fix, but American-style barelywines suit me better. I like their mix of malt and hops. I paid $2.95 for a 12 oz bottle. It packs a surprising 10.5% ABV.



The beer pours a nice dark brown with minimal head. The lack of head, though, makes me suspicious that this is an English barley wine, not an American.



When I took a whiff of this beer, I was instantly saddened. This was not an American hop bomb. This was a sweet English version. It smells of cherries, plums, and caramel on top of the malt. On the plus side, this is one of the better English-style barley wines I've tasted. The cherry flavor is good without falling into the cough syrup trap. It's still a little too sweet, though. The maltiness is nice, but all in all, I just don't think English-style barley wines are my kind of beer. Having tried a few here, they're often too sweet and taste too much of alcohol. This one does a better job, though. I'm going to give this beer and a half . I like the Weyerbacher Insanity a little better, but I like this better than North Coast's Old Stock or Brooklyn's Monster. I should get more selective in my barley wine buying. Perhaps only get those that list their IBUs? Ah well. In summary, if you love English barley wines, buy this beer. If you're not sold on them, this is another one, and don't bother.

All,

I was poking around at Epicurious, and I stumbled upon a beer guide they had. I opened it up largely expecting to laugh at it, as most beer guides are too mass-market-friendly, missing out out great beer. This one, though, is surprising in how much it doesn't suck. I have no idea what Widmer's Hefeweizen is doing there, but they listed Allagash's Belgian White, the DFH World Wide Stout, and Great Divide's Oak Aged Yeti. I've tried most of the beer on there that I want to try, but I would like to get my hands on some of the Shiner Dunkelweizen. I don't think I can get it north of the Mason-Dixon line, though. Check it out for yourselves:

http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/b...icanbeer/index

For tonight's review, I got a bottle of Ayinger's Jahrhundert-Bier. In case you couldn't tell from the spelling, this is a German brewery. I found out about them because a bar in Albany managed to have their maerzen on tap, and it was spectacular. I got a couple more from them on my last trip. I paid $3.49 for a half liter. It's not really clear what kind of beer this is, though, other than "lager." Pouring, though, it's clear by the very pale yellow color, ample head, and empty smell that this is another boring pilsner. Damn. I guess it doesn't taste bad, but there's just so little to pilsner beer that I can't be too happy about my choice here. No way in hell would I pay for this beer again. I award it and a half .

OK, I decided not to end on a crappy beer for the night. I went back to the fridge and came out with Allagash's Dubbel ale. I paid $8.59 for a four pack of this 7% ABV beer.



The beer pours a nice reddish brown without too much head. It does end up lacing my glass some, but it's not as heady as their white.



The beer smells slightly fruity, but not as spicy or earthy as I was expecting. The taste is sweet, with a little cherry and plum, and the malt is nice. The spice isn't really there, and it appears to be un-hopped. Some of the flavors are reminiscent of the White. I'd say that comparatively, they turned the malt up a notch but turned down the spice and fruit. I'm going to award this beer and a half . It's a good beer, but if I'm going to buy an Allagash beer, I'll get their White.

I think 5 Wookie posts in a row is enough for now. I obviously haven't posted in a bit, but I have a good reason. This past weekend I was in Philadelphia with my girlfriend to visit some friends of hers from college and in my spare time, I dragged her along to some beer stores to find things otherwise not available in the state of New York. After spending quite a bit on beer, I vowed not to buy any more beer for home in February, since I've stockpiled quite a bit. The one I'm reviewing tonight is one I've looked for at my local shops, but alas they didn't have this particular one. So I give to you: Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws. Since my USB cable is still MIA, here's some stock footage of the beer in question:



This is a Wookie-style (AKA American) Barleywine, clocking in at 70 IBUs according to the HotD webite (though it's somewhat out of date). I'll be reviewing the 2004 vintage. It weighs in at a very robust 11.5% ABV. It poured a nice copper color with some thin off-white head. The aroma was full of caramel, dark fruits, alcohol, and a bit of hops. The taste was pretty sweet up front, with the dark fruits and some toffee prevailing at first, followed by alcohol, and finishing with subtle hops. The mouthfeel was rather smooth and there wasn't all that much carbonation. I definitely think the age on this bottle has mellowed the hops quite a bit, which is fine by me, though if you're a hophead you'll probably want a more recent version. Despite the alcohol being pretty evident here, I enjoyed this barleywine quite a bit, more than the Old Horizontal anyway, which likely means I should change my rating on that. for Doggie Claws. In the future I'd like to acquire a 2005 and 2006 Doggie Claws so I can do a vertical along with my one other 2004.

Speaking of Hair of the Dog, I realized that I completely forgot to post my review of my favorite beer from them: Adam. More stock footage:



According to the HotD website, this beer is a recreation of a historic beer style known as Adambier, originally made in Dortmund, Germany. Adam is 10% ABV and has 50 IBUs. Pours almost pitch black into the snifter with some thick tan head. Lacing all over the place. Quite a few things going on with the aroma: coffee, chocolate, raisins, and something I can’t put my tastebuds on...maybe pepper or some spice I’m not familiar with. Initially I’m hit with big roasted malt flavor, mostly coffee, and alcohol. Swirling it around, I tease out a little of the raisiny flavor that the aroma suggested. Adam finished mostly of bitter chocolate. Texture was very nice, somewhat slick and had moderate carbonation. I enjoyed this with some pumpkin pie...really good. If I didn't know any better, I'd probably classify this as an imperial stout. I'm always sure to have one of these in the fridge. 4.25

How did Adam taste different from a traditional imperial stout?

I don't have any pictures of the individual beers as they were being poured but since I already posted the spread Thursday night I figured I had to give a review, albeit short

All the beers I had have been posted previously and pictured, my pours looked nearly identical. With this being my first en devour into real quality I found I am definitely not used to drinking such strong ABV beer, not that I am complaining.

*Disclosure: The following is from a quality beer n00b, maybe as I start developing tastes, I can be more in depth ala Wook.

I started out Thursday night with the Double Bastard. I used a large wine glass since I don't have a goblet.

Poured very dark with a moderate head, don't recall the smell of the beer since I didn't write this right away.

The beer had a very bitter aftertaste to me but was overall pretty good. I think I read this was a double IPA, maybe something my n00b taste doesn't agree with, give it time.

After that, I decided to hit up the Weihenstephaner, total opposite. Poured very light with a large head, not bitter at all. I liked this much better than the SDB, more of a beer my taste agrees with.

Friday I busted open the Chimay before the Sabres game. This poured dark with a moderate head like the DB the previous night but it smelled much sweeter with a hint of bitterness, reminded me of a dark coffee. I absolutely loved this beer I could have drank another bottle easily.

I picked up some Magic Hat (dont remember the exact beer) from the local grocery store and sipped on a few of those through out the first two periods.

Since it was Friday and I didnt have anything going on Saturday and the Sabres were in the midst of losing to Columbus, I opened the Yeti. I was pretty tipsy by now so I don't recall the specifics but this beer was similar to the Chimay according to my tastes, again a hit to my taste buds.

After that I was pretty much done for the night and hit the sack shortly after. Definitely caught up to me and I had a bit of a headache upon waking up Saturday, interesting, that hasn't happened for awhile

So I spent Saturday doing some work with my father at his summer house and had a buddy coming by to watch the Sabres game that night. I decided to go grab some more beer for us and grabbed a 6 pack of Dog Fish Head 90 Minute IPA and a sixer of Old Rasputin since Wookie said it was similar to the Yeti but a little cheaper.

Buddy came over and we cracked a couple DHF90s and Old Rasputin. IIRC the beers were pretty similar in both color and taste, both were very good and I would definitely buy again.

To cap the night we finished the Ommegang. Wookie was right, it was very similar to the Chimay and thought it was a hit.

Thats about all for my amaturish review. All in all the only beer I was disappointed in was the Stone Double Bastard, but again that beer was totally different than what I am used to and evidently all the other beers I purchased.

According to my tastes:

I would rate them:

1. Chimay
2 Ommegang half
3. Old Rasputin
4. DFH 90
5. Yeti
6. Stone DB half

Any of the more experienced drinkers have any thoughts? Next time I hope to take more time and actually jot something down but it was spur of the moment and that stuff hit me relatively quick I must say.

Any recommendations going forward?

Thanks for the help guys, glad I found this thread, but my wallet isn't!

Honestly, I'm not sure I could make the distinction, based on how blurry the boundaries are these days between some styles. I imagine the difference lies in the brewing. That being said, smell and taste-wise, I caught a bit of pepper or something that I normally don't find in imperial stouts. I wish my taste buds were more finely tuned. In any case, drink Adam to find out for yourself! You'll be glad you did.

mosuavea,

I'm glad you enjoyed your selection. A beer like the Double Bastard takes some getting used to. It's not a beer I'd give to a novice drinker who wants to try good stuff. I'd encourage you to come back to it in a couple months after you've tried some more pale ales, IPAs, and ESBs (red ales). I think the most surprising thing in your review is that you said the DFH 90 and the Old Rasputin were similar beers. DFH 90 is an imperial IPA, reddish brown in color, and tastes strongly of hops and malt. The Old Rasputin from North Coast is an imperial stout, jet black and tastes of coffee, caramel, etc. Now, if you actually had Great Divide's Old Ruffian, that'd make more sense. That's a barley wine, and has many of the same flavors and colors of the DFH 90. I'm trying to think what other mix up might make sense here, but I think that's the most likely. If it was the Old Ruffian from the same guys who put out the Yeti, then I'm glad you liked it. It's probably my favorite barely wine that I've had, and it's just behind the DFH 90 and the oaked bastard as my favorite way to get my hop fix.

How many hearts for the Weihenstephaner?

All,

I have another review tonight, another organic beer. Tonight's is the Butte Creek Organic Porter from out in Chico CA. I paid $1.99 for a 12 oz bottle. I'm not sure of the ABV, but there's no way this beer was above 5%. I'm going to spoil the punch line and say that I'm not going to bother with the pics because I didn't really care fore this beer.

The beer poured strikingly light for a porter. Had I not seen the label, I would have thought it was a dark brown ale. It even smells more like a brown ale. It smells slightly of raisins, of all things, along with a darker malt. The taste, though, is more in line with a traditional porter than my nose would lead me to believe. The coffee flavor is there, and the expected mix of malt of hops is there, too. However, this beer just tastes a little watered down. The flavors are pretty good, but it's not nearly as rich or potent as many in this category. It's much better than the Yuengling, at least. I'm going to give this beer and a half . I could see going down to just 2, but I think that's a little harsh. Regardless, I won't be buying this beer again.

I'm also reevaluating my take on organic beer. At first I thought it was just a gimmick. Now I'm starting to think that it's actually indicative of sucky beer that couldn't sell at all, so they might as well try and pass it off to dirty hippies who'll eat and drink all kinds of crap if it's better for the environment.

Maxx, All,

I also went ahead and tried out the Schneider Aventinus tonight. Compared to the Moonglow, I find it a little less sweet, and a little less fruity. However, it's spice is a little stonger, and toning the sweetness down a hair is not all bad. It definitely got better once I got the whole thing in my glass. I only fit about the first 3/4 in my glass at first, but then after I drank it down a bit, I swirled up the yeast in the bottom and poured it all in. This helped a good deal. If you drink this, use a bigger glass than I did, and swirl the yeast in from the start. I was going to say that I couldn't really can't decide which I like better, but once I got to the bottom, I think the Aventinus wins. Still, though, Victory gets some props for doing a good job imitating a German beer style, something which is seldom done very well (observe American hefeweizens). Since I don't deal with quarter hearts, I'm going to give this beer , but it's on the higher end of beers with a 4 rating, and the Victory is on the lower end. People who like Dunkelweizens absolutely must track down one of these two beers. These are basically Dunkels turned up a couple notches, both in alcohol content and flavor.

Wookie,

Are these beers using grain that's been grown without fertilizer, or hops without pesticide, etc? Otherwise, the whole concept of an "organic" beer is so asinine I have to roll me eyes when I pass that Stone Mill stuff that's recently come on the shelves everywhere.

Maxx,

"Honestly, I'm not sure I could make the distinction, based on how blurry the boundaries are these days between some styles. I imagine the difference lies in the brewing."

Depending on how much you care, you could probably dig around and find some clone recipes and take a look at the differences. Then, you could go to your local homebrew shop, buy some equipment, and brew them up yourself. Highly recommended (even though I started a small electrical fire this week and had to throw out 6g of wort and almost three hours of work).

Wookie,

The Aventinus isn't technically a dunkelweizen but a weizenbock. A Wheat beer with a high ABV.

The Aventinus is absolutely wonderful, but even better is Avery's Thirteen (brewed to celebrate their 13th Anniversary) You just have to try that one!

Skjonne,

Yeah, I know it's not a Dunkelweizen, but the flavors are related. I found that I wasn't all that impressed with the Dunkels, preferring the Hefes. However, the Aventinus is just plain good. Also, Avery put out a good beer? I reviewed a lot of their beers in the days of the old Alcohol forum, and found them wrought with mediocrity (or worse). If you say this one is gold, though, I'll look it up. Beers of the World has a huge selection of Avery beer, so I bet I can get it.

RDH,

It's not entirely clear from the packaging. However, both organic beers carry the USDA organic seal, which as best as I can discern from Wikipedia, requires that 95%+ of the ingredients that went into it were grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. There's a chance, though, that it means that the beers just don't contain preservatives or something, which would be pretty dumb and the farming practices for the grain are nothing special. I think it's the former, but I can't be 100%. Maybe if I bought a 6 pack, it'd have said more explicitly on there. However, I won't be buying a sixer of either any time soon .

O rly? Avery is one of my favorite breweries. Granted, I don't have access to that many US breweries, but I've still sampled 1,700 different beers.

I have two Avery's in my Top 10 (The Beast Grand Cru Ale and The Czar Imperial Stout) and another 5 in my Top 200 (Thirteen, Elli's Brown Ale, India Pale Ale, The Reverend and New World Porter)

Apparently we have very different tastes on Avery, so don't trust me on the Thirteen then

Of those, I found the Grand Cru to be pretty good. I didn't care for the Czar. You can do much, much better. I found Brooklyn Brown > Ellie Brown. The Maharaja IPA was solid, but it wasn't in the same ballpark as the DFH 90. Is the Reverend the Quadrupel? I don't think I liked that one at all.

Hey Skjonne, I have a bottle of the Czar in my fridge now (2006). I've heard from others that it's generally pretty hot to start and that laying it down for a while is a good idea. What are your thoughts, since you seem to like this one a lot?

Also, I noticed you're from Denmark. I hear there's all sorts of awesome stuff going on in the microbrew scene over there. Have you had much Mikkeller or Olfabrikken?

We have a cool little beer joint in Nashville called The Flying Saucer it has lots and lots of different kinds of beers. Its a must go for anyone that is coming to Nashville. I am a VIP member there and if you drink one of each beer that they have then you get a plate on the wall with your name on it. Pretty sweet place if you ask me.

X

Skjonne,

I'm an American living in Europe (Ireland to be exact) for the last 3 years. How are you getting microbrews from the US?

The only microbrews I can get at an off-license or supermarket is Sam Adams Lager. Oh, and some swill called Route 66 that's obviously marketed to unknowing Europeans.

I can special order Sierra Nevada Pale and a couple of the Anchor beers, but that's it!

BTW, anybody traveling to Ireland and expecting good beer will be hugely disappointed. I think they drink more Budweiser here than the US, if that's possible.

The good news for me is that I am visiting the US in March and will be heading straight for my Mother's basement, where I have a stash of high ABV beers aging (Bells Expedition Stout, Bells Batch 6000, Bells Old Coast Ale, St Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, and a couple of other Belgians).

Wookie, Maxx, Spy

Yes The Reverend is a Quadrupel. India Pale Ale is not the same as The Maharaja. I’m not that big a hop head as some, so I actually prefer the former of the two. Just to illustrate how big a fan of Avery I am, I checked my ratings. I’ve tried 16 different Avery’s and the lowest grade (on a scale from 1 to 5) is Hog Heaven which I gave 3.35 – well above average!

Maxx, As a matter of fact, The Czar I sampled four months ago was the 2005 edition. The appr. 1 year of cellaring could obviously mean a lot

Yes the microbrew scene in Denmark is out of its mind at the moment. 6-7 years ago there were 10-15 breweries in the country (population 5.3M) of which 3 were owned by Carlsberg and 4 by the other big Danish brewery (Royal Unibrew). I don’t know how many breweries there are today (probably a new one opening as we speak), but we’re approaching 100 with the speed of lightning! Ølfabrikken (Øl=beer in Danish, Fabrikken=The Factory) is my preferred brewery of them all. I’m even a shareholder there. They do an exorbitant amount of experimenting. They have existed for just under two years and have sent 64 different beers on the market! I’ve unfortunately only been able to try 48 of them

Mikkeller is another great brewery. Well, it’s not a brewery per se. It’s two guys with normal day-time jobs experimenting with beers in their spare-time. They actually brew at other breweries.

I can get my hands on a decent amount of US brews thanks to importers who want a piece of the exploding beer business in Denmark. In Copenhagen (the capital, population ~1.2M) there’s somewhere between 5 and 10 beer shops where you can buy lots and lots of good stuff from around the world. Regarding US breweries, I can relatively easily get my hands on Anchor, Avery, Boston, Brooklyn, Great Divide, North Coast, Rogue and Sierra Nevada with Hair of the Dog being the newest addition in our shops. Of the 1,700 different beers I've tried 99 is from the US.

Carlsberg. Probably the best beer in the world holla…………

Beer is good! Denmark is good!

Guys,

I'm at work so I don't feel like posting a whole review... maybe later. But I don't think there's a finer American Amber Ale than Anderson Valley's Boont Amber Ale. It is now officially my standard buy. It's a solid 3.75 's.

Tonight's beer review is Middle Ages Kilt Tilter. This is a Scotch ale that weighs in at a hefty 9% ABV. I paid $5.39 for a 22 oz.



The beer pours a nice dark brown color that's clear, not cloudy. The head is minimal, which is typical for this style of beer.



The beer smells sweet, and slightly fruity. I think it's cherries that I smell. Tasting it, the beer is pretty sweet, and the malt is rich. The complexity is very nice. There's a cool smoky flavor in the finish. This beer isn't quite as bold as some, but the depth of flavor is exceptional. Cherry, raisin, grain, smoke: a great assortment. This beer might not be as bold as some, but it's got a great mix of flavors that are hard to get from other styles of beer. I'm going to award it an impressive and a half . I raise my glass to Middle Ages for this one.

Tonight I decided to try another Bell's stout. As if you guys didn't notice, I'm a big fan of dark beer. After being bowled over by Kalamazoo stout, my spirits were high. I give you their sweet stout: Bell's Special Double Cream Stout



Poured a nice brown/black with a thin layer of bubble tan head. At first the aroma seemed somewhat muted, but that was probably because it was too cold. As it warmed up, the beer revealed it's lovely sweet coffee and milky aroma, with chocolate creeping in there at times. Unfortunately, the taste didn't quite follow through. I had to really swirl it around for a while before I could get a real definitive taste. Beforehand, it didn't really have much of a taste, maybe a faint milkiness at best. After doing so, there was a bit of coffee and malty sweetness. I let it warm up some more, but it didn't do much good. What it did do however, was accentuate the finish, which also ended up being very good. It was way more pronounced, yielding a delicious sweet coffee flavor without too much bitterness. Sorry hopheads, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any hops in this brew. Based on the aroma I had high hopes for this one, but the taste just didn't deliver. Perhaps I should've waited longer for it to warm up. On the bright side, the finish was almost certainly the best aspect of this beer, suitable for all tastes (unless you're really averse to coffee). I just hope I got a subpar batch. So I'll be optimistic and give this beer 3.25

Spy,

As an American residing in Eire, maybe you can help me with this one:

Recently I tried Rogue's Kell's Irish Style Lager

A very smooth pale beer with notes of fruit, yeast (!) og a bit of hops. If it wasn't called 'Lager' I've would have guessed it was top-fermented

But to my question: WTF is 'Irish Style Lager'????? I've been to Ireland twice and I have yet to meet a local Lager. Stouts and red ales are what the irish brew. How can an American brewery claim to brew a style that doesn't exist (anymore?)??

I would say

Good beer, not great like the chimay.

I could definitely be wrong in what I am recalling from DFH and Old Rasputin. I definitely had the Old Rasputin that had the coffee and caramel taste as well as a black color, so it wasn't that I had the wrong beer, it could be that I just don't remember exactly what I was having since I did the review 4 days later

Guess that just means I will have to pick up more and go a little more in depth in my observations.

Its tough not reviewing a beer immediately after drinking it since you forget the exacts, especially if its your first encounter.

Skjonne,

From Rogues website, Kell's is a Czech Pils (at least they say that's the yeast they use, the grain looks in line too) for an Irish pub in the US named Kell's. So its more like (Kell's Irish) Lager than (Kell's) Irish Lager. I guess.