February 28, 2006 - #183 of 365

Brewer: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Beer: Poleeko Gold Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
abv: 5.5%

Bottle from the store.

Pours amber-gold with a dense, two-finger head. Citrusy and piney aroma with some underlying caramel-ish malt. Flavor begins acridly bitter and sharp. After it mellows, it's an inoffensive, fairly well-balanced APA. But, like a James Joyce novel, it's hard to get past the beginning.

Rating: 3 out of 5

February 27, 2006 - #182 of 365

Brewer: Tommyknocker Brewery
Beer: Jack Whacker Wheat Ale
Style: American Wheat
abv: 5.4%

Bottle from the store.

Pours gold with a two-finger head and aggressive effervescence. Surprisingly fruity aroma dominated by lemon. Wheat and a light nuttiness play roles, too, along with sweet, honey-like hops. As it warms, the wheat becomes the main aroma. Tastes bad, like lemon dish detergent. Very dry finish that turns to stale wheat a few seconds after the swallow. Very spritzy.

Rating: 2.3 out of 5

February 26, 2006 - #181 of 365

Brewer: Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu (Aubel, Belgium)
Beer: Val-Dieu Blond
Style: Belgian Ale
abv: 6%

Bottle from the store. I don't think I've ever had a blonde Belgian that wasn't a Duvel copy or a Tripel.

Pours gold with a huge white head. Musty, yeasty, and spicy aroma with bits of citrus and grass. A good deal of wheat, as well. Grassy, sweet flavor with a slightly sour and metallic finish. The sourness actually keeps this one from being too boring. Medium-thin mouthfeel. Not bad.

Rating: 3.4 out of 5

February 25, 2006 - #180 of 365

Brewer: River Horse Brewing Company (New Jersey, USA)
Beer: Lager
Style: Pale Lager
abv:

Bottle from the store.

Pours hazy straw with a one-finger white head. Weak aroma of grains and old hops. Not too good a flavor.

Rating: 2.4 out of 5

February 24, 2006 - #179 of 365

Brewer: Thirsty Dog Brewing Company (Ohio, USA)
Beer: Old Leghumper
Style: Porter
abv: 5.7%

Bottle from the store. Actually brewed in several places; this one, in Maryland under the aegis of Frederick Brewing Company. Frederick makes pretty much every single damned non-Clipper City beer that comes out of Maryland.

Pours very dark, nearly black, with a small off-white head. Sweet cocoa and coffee aroma, with some metal. Very slight hop presence. Weak flavor begins chocolatey and ends with a bitter roastiness. "Weak" is not a bad thing here, as so many Porters come out closer to Stouts. Fairly thin mouthfeel with a good deal of carbonation. Quite quaffable.

Rating: 3.4 out of 5

February 23, 2006 - #178 of 365

Brewer: Tommyknocker Brewery (Colorado, USA)
Beer: Imperial Nut Brown Ale
Style: American Strong Ale
abv: 9.8%

Bottle from the store. I've had these guys' regular Maple Nut Brown Ale and it tasted like sugar water.

Pours dark red with a small head. Weak sweet maple aroma, with nuts and a little toffee. This seems familiar. Very sweet flavor, with all of the above plus some roastiness. Alcohol is present throughout the taste, but never takes over. Decent chocolate and caramel finish reminds me of Stone 8th Anniversary. But to mention that beer in this review is an insult to Stone. Tommyknocker's offering is easy-drinking for the abv, but lacks complexity and doesn't offer anything interesting.

Rating: 3 out of 5

February 22, 2006 - #177 of 365

Brewer: Humboldt Brewing
Beer: Nectar Ales IPA Nectar
Style: India Pale Ale
abv: 6.7%

Oddly-shaped bottle from the store.

Pours amber with a mid-sized white head. Incredibly citrusy and floral nose, almost like a Lemonhead wrapped in honeysuckle. Other hop aromas are there, too--pine and grass--but none are as present as the citrus. There's a hint of toast. Swirling brings our some caramel. Toast and caramel flavor gives way to a nicely bitter, resinous finish. Some of the honey sweetness of the aroma is present. About as close to perfect balance as a brewer can get. This one's excellent.

Rating: 4 out of 5

February 21, 2006 - #176 of 365

Brewer: Great Divide Brewing Company (Colorado, USA)
Beer: Old Ruffian
Style: Barley Wine
abv: 10.27%

Bottle from the store. That's some specific alcohol measurement.

Pours garnet with a one-finger white head that leaves good lacing. Strong aroma of sweet malt, fruity esters, and American hops. Strong but somehow mellow, that is. Maybe it's the lupulin. There are some woody notes in there, as well. Flavor begins good, fairly sweetish, but the overly-present hops mix with the similarly strong alcohol at the end. The results aren't impressive, nor are they especially bad. Overall, your average American Barley Wine, with a slightly thicker than usual mouthfeel.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

February 20, 2006 - #175 of 365

Brewer: D.L. Geary's Brewing Company (Maine, USA)
Beer: Geary's Hampshire Special Ale
Style: English Strong Ale
abv: 7%

Bottle from the store.

Pours dark amber topped by a single layer of bubbles. Sparse but lovely effervescence. All malts in the aroma--sweet caramel and roasty biscuits. Some earthy hop character and a little smokiness. Very toasty initial flavor that settles into a very English toffee, biscuit, and East Kent Golding hop taste. The end brings with it a slight American hop character--a bit of pine that fits surprisingly well with the already present earthiness. Not much alcohol in the taste, but there is some warming that makes this one great for the season.

Rating: 3.7 out of 5

February 19, 2006 - #174 of 365

Brewer: Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire, USA)
Beer: S'muttonator
Style: Doppel Bock
abv: 9.6%

Bottle from the store. The winter offering in Smuttynose's "BIG BEER Series."

Pours deep red with a two-finger, large-bubbled head. Big, sweet aroma of toffee, nuts, and smoke, with some very perceptible roastiness. A little whiff of alcohol, but less than I've found in some less hefty Doppel Bocks. The flavor starts out just like the aroma, but heavier on the toffee, then turns fairly alcoholic before a dry and nutty ending with a hint of grassy hops. The alcohol lingers a bit, too. Overcarbonation gives the sweetness an unpleasant edge, but overall a good beer. Maybe too much alcohol; it's more like an Eisbock, really.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

February 18, 2006 - #173 of 365

Brewer: Clay Pipe Brewing Company (Maryland, USA)
Beer: Pursuit of Happiness
Style: American Strong Ale
abv: 8.25%

Bottle from the store.

Pours copper with almost no head. Very grassy aroma, with some backing malts and a hint of citrus. Earthy and grassy hop flavor dominates the slightly biscuity malts. A good mix of American and European hops.

Rating: 3.8

February 17, 2006 - #172 of 365

Brewer: Atlantic Brewing Company (Maine, USA)
Beer: Coal Porter
Style: Porter
abv: 5.8%

Botte from the store.

Pours black with a bit of ruby visible at the edges. Two-finger head with a layer of large bubbles on the top; it doesn't stick around. Beautiful roasted aroma with nary a hint of hops. Light in flavor like a Porter should be and unlike most American interpretations. Mostly coffee, with light chocolate and a smoky aftertaste. The hops are a little bit more apparent in the flavor, but still almost not worth mentioning. Pretty good. I got a kick out of it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

February 16, 2006 - #171 of 365

Brewer: Brouwerij van Honsebrouk (Ingelmunster, Belgium)
Beer: Kasteel Donker
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
abv: 11%

Bottle from the store. The cork says 01-2004, so I'm assuming this is from January 04, but you never know with the metric system.

Opens with a pop and glugs out of the bottle uninterestingly, leaving a dark russet beer with almost no head, which is odd for a Belgian. Very sweet, fruity aroma of fig, plum, and dates with a fairly hefty alcohol backing. Light yeasty and candi-sugary notes. The flavor falls short of the great aroma with overpowering sweetness up front and some alcohol on the dry finish. The middle is fruity and slightly phenolic. The alcohol is forgivable, with this one weighing in at 11%, but you'd think with all the sweetness they could hide it a little bit better.

Decent thick mouthfeel. Somewhat over-carbonated; it hurts the tongue after a while.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

February 15, 2006 - #170 of 365

Brewer: Reaper Ale (California, USA)
Beer: Deathly Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
abv: 6.2%

Bottle from the store. Good pun.

The bottle spewed like Etna and now my jacket cuff smells like hops. Once it got in the glass, the beer was lightly hazy amberish-orange and had a two-finger white head. It smells good, thankfully, with more breadiness and grassiness than I'm used to from an American Pale Ale. There is an American hoppiness to it which comes out more as it sits. The flavor is a mix of that slightly stale hop taste I've found in lesser Pale Ales and some decent malts, mostly bready and slightly sweet. The finish is bitter, of course, but lacks the fresh hop taste that it needs.

Mouthfeel is kind of thin.

Rating: 3.1 out of 5

February 14, 2006 - #169 of 365

Brewer: Left Hand Brewing Company (Colorado, USA)
Beer: Imperial Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
abv: 9.5%

Bottle from the store. I figured I'd drink a Left Hand on Valentine's Day because I'll probably be seeing too much of my right hand. If you don't like that one just choose from any of the hundreds of other jokes that exist there.

Pours very deep brown-red (you can only tell it's not completely opaque when you hold it up to a light) with a mid-sized off-white head. Chocolate and toffee are the foremost aromas. These are accompanied by hints of coffee, licorice, and hops. The hops are very subtle for an American Imperial. The flavor is dry dark chocolate with a thick coffee and milk chocolate finish. Alcohol is perceptible throughout, but it accentuates the chocolate. Hardly any hops to speak of.

The mouthfeel is thick, with carbonation that's slightly prickling but not overpowering.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5

February 13, 2006 - #168 of 365

Brewer: Russian River Brewing Company (California, USA)
Beer: Damnation
Style: Belgian Golden Strong Ale
abv: 7%

Background: Bottle (from batch 007) from the store. As the name would suggest, it's a copy of Duvel.

Appearance: Pours slightly hazy gold with a gigantic head that leaves about three and a half coats of lacing.

Aroma: Amazing spicy and yeasty aroma, with banana, cloves, bread, and citrus.

Flavor: Even better than Duvel, though the middle is a little hot. It has all the spices of the aroma, along with some horseblanket, wheat, and extra cloves. The finish is dry and hopped perfectly (lightly).

Notes: Very damned good.

Rating: 4.2 out of 5

February 12, 2006 - #167 of 365

Brewer: Brouwerij van Steenberge (Ertvelde, Belgium)
Beer: Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale
Style: Abbey Dubbel
abv: 7.5%

Background: Bottle from the store. Also known as Corsendonk Pater.

Appearance: Pours deep mahogany with a huge beige head that leaves splotchy lacing.

Aroma: Dominated by yeast, with some dark fruit and barnyardy must. Toffee, grass, and spices round it out.

Flavor: Smoky flavor. Also a lot of sweetness. Musty, slightly bitter finish.

Notes: Creamy mouthfeel. Good, but lacks the complexity of better Dubbels.

Rating: 3.4 out of 5

February 11, 2006 - #166 of 365

Brewer: Breckenridge Brewery (Colorado, USA)
Beer: 471 Small Batch IPA
Style: Double India Pale Ale
abv: 9.2%

Background: Bottle from the store.

Appearance: Pours orange-amber with a one and a half-finger white head with some big bubbles.

Aroma: Very grapefruity hop aroma, with decent sweet malts and some hints of honey. Smells very balanced.

Flavor: Big European hop flavor--earthy and somewhat sweet. Not as hardcore as most Double IPAs, but well-balanced and somewhat distinct.

Notes: Thin mouthfeel.

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

February 10, 2006 - #165 of 365

Brewer: Allagash Brewing Company (Maine, USA)
Beer: Interlude
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
abv: 9.5%

Background: Bottle from the store. Interlude is a Saison that has undergone a second fermentation with Brettanomyces yeast (which, you will remember, imparts sour flavors). It was then aged in French oak barrels which once held Merlot and Sirah wines.

Appearance: Pours amber-gold with a huge white head and a lot of effervescence. Decent lacing.

Aroma: First impressions are very tart and vinous, much like Russian River's Temptation. The second whiff has more Saison notes--barnyardy, with light banana esters. The third combines the two beautifully; fruity red wine pushing around some funky banana, with a very small hint of sweet toffee and diacetyl lurking in the background. Swirling brings out that Allagash yeast aroma.

Flavor: The wine and beer notes blend just as well in the flavor. It starts slightly funky, with backing pear, banana, and light cloves. The wine comes in near the middle, with light berry, grape, and oak flavors. The finish is dry, with some oak and a tiny hint of alcohol.

Notes: Oily mouthfeel with just the right amount of carbonation. Excellent. Only gets better as it warms.

Rating: 4.3 out of 5

BEER YEAR comeback in the works

When I stopped the BEER YEAR after completing about half of it, something inside me died. Ever since, I have smelled its rotting corpse, each day all the viler and more pungent. (The aroma was strong dead beast, with some oak notes and an iodine-like quality.) That dreadful smell comes from the remains of my sense of daily purpose, once held aloft by a small contribution to the beer world in the form of patronage and tasting notes.

So I've decided to start it back up, picking up from where I left off and continuing all the way to beer #365. This will probably start next week, and probably with a bang.

See you then.