Beer Review: Firestone 13th Anniversary Ale
Jan0
A delicious and expensive beer!
Amount of brew in bottle: 22 fluid ounces
ABV: 12%
Type of brew: Barrel-aged ale
Price: ~$20
I don’t usually pay $20 for a bottle of beer, shit I don’t know if I have ever paid that for a six-pack. But hey I thought I would treat myself, well that was my thought about 2 months ago when I purchased it 
. This beer pours flat and is very dark. The beer is compromised of seven different barrel-aged beers. This is the first beer that I can remember that has had this many blends of beer. Overall this beer is very pleasant and easy to drink. On first sip of this beer it was fairly dry and had a little bitter aftertaste. The initial taste was sweet with hints of vanilla and some type of fruit (I would say cherry). However, I poured this beer straight out of the fridge and as it warmed up it got a little sweeter and the bitter/dry finish went away.
The biggest question for me was is the bottle worth the price tag? Although the beer is really good and the packaging is superb I don’t think it is still worth the price tag. The taste of the beer is great and I would imagine it would age awesomely but $20+ for a bottle of beer is a bit extreme for my pocket book. But hey if you pay this much you get a pretty awesome document explaining the beer.
The good: Awesome taste, great packaging
The bad: Way more expensive than it should be
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Beer Review: Old Viscosity – Port Brewing
Dec0
Tasty + Sludgy == Awesome
Amount of brew in bottle: 22 fluid ounces
ABV: 10%
Type of brew: Strong Ale
Price: ~$8
One of my friends loves this beer, so I figured I would give it a shot. Upon opening the bottle I noticed how slow the beer poured I knew this beer would be thick but good gosh. While the beer was being poured I noticed a fairly sweet aroma and on first taste the aroma was backed up by a slight taste of vanilla. It was a lot sweeter than what I expected but it makes sense since the beer is aged in oak barrels. There is no hint of hops or anything with a resemblance of bitterness in this beer. The beer packs quite a punch with 10% ABV but there is no alcohol taste to it which is pretty amazing and dangerous all at the same time.
Overall this beer is pretty dang good. If you have a chance to pickup a bottle of this beer do so.
The good: Very smooth and easy the drink
The bad: Could be a little too sludge like for some people
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Beer Review: Harviestoun – Ola Dubh
Nov0
Black as black can be!
Amount of brew in bottle: 11.2 fluid ounces
ABV: 8.0%
Type of brew: Ale
Price: $8.50
Earlier I reviewed a beer from Ireland and now I am reviewing a beer from Scotland, it is like I planned it! I have been eyeing this beer for awhile but have been reluctant to get it because of the high cost of one bottle. Finally though I got a bottle of this and am now reviewing it (no shit, right?). This beer is not what I was expecting though, I was really expecting a syrupy sludge. Instead this beer is sweet, flat and fairly light tasting. The beer gets considerably better as it warms up, this is not a beer you want to drink straight out of the fridge.
The beer does have hints of whisky which makes sense since it is aged in whisky barrels. Like all other wood-aged beers it is a lot sweeter than your normal beers. When I mentioned this beer was flat in the first paragraph I really meant it, there was absolutely no head at all when I poured it. It is like drinking a wine, water or flat soda. This is one of the darkest ales I have ever consumed though, it is pitch black. Initially I was not impressed with this beer but as it warmed up I really enjoyed it. It is not the best beer I have ever had nor do I think it is worth the price tag of it, but it isn’t horrible. I kind of think of it as a cheesy action flick that you don’t mind paying $9 to see once because it was pretty funny and entertaining but you wouldn’t buy it or even remember it in a year.
The good: A fairly tasty beer once it warms up
The bad: I think the price point is a little high
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Beer Review: Southern Tier Pumking – Mike’s Version
Oct0
It's the great pumpkin!
Amount of brew in bottle: 22 fluid ounces (if you can actually find a bottle)
ABV: 7.9%
Type of brew: Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Price: ~$5.50 or $25 for a growler!
Note: My fiancee and I wrote a review of the same beer, you can check out her version here.
October the month of ghouls, goblins, little rug-rats trying to get candy and delicious pumpkin beer. I used to not be a huge fan of pumpkin beers they either were too pumpkin like or tasted like normal beer with a pumpkin label affixed to it, lame! But Souther Tier has once again changed my perception on beers. With the Pumking beer it is by the far the best pumpkin beer I have ever tasted. To me it reminds me of drinking a pumpkin pie with extra cinnamon. It is just a damn yummy beer. Apparently other beer-drinks in Seattle agree with me considering one store we went to sold 17 cases of this stuff in a few weeks. So after the first time drinking the beer we went back to get another one and had to “settle” for paying a premium and buying a growler of the stuff so we can review it. Do you see what we go through for you guys?! As I type this review after my second glass of the beer I can fully feel the effects of the 7.9% ABV the beer is packing. The nice thing about this beer is that it is really easy to drink and isn’t overpowering like some beers I have had. The beer pours a golden orange with no head. The smell of the beer is just like it tastes, like a pumpkin pie.
We also had our neighbor try the beer with us. He initially liked it but said that it got harder and harder to drink as it warmed up. I could see this happening with this beer so try not to savior the beer over an hour or two.
The good: easy to drink pumpkin beer
The bad: A touch too much cinnamon at times and not a beer to be consumed super slowly
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Beer Review: Traquair Jacobite – Merchant du Vin
Apr0
May I have some cilantro with my beer, please?
During this past week I went to the store with my fiance to pick-up some food I was running low on review beers so I decided to grab a few. This beer was picked out by my fiance (who also digs beer but that is a whole different subject) but I get to drink it, I am not sure who gets the better half of that deal in this case! On a dorky sort of note the design and typography of the label on this beer is damn good it has style but is still very easy to read, well enough design dork shit here are some stats:
Amount of brew in bottle: 11.2 fluid ounces
ABV: 8%
Type of brew: Ale w/Coriander
Price: ~$5
This beer pours a dark molasses type of color and is decently fizzy (sort of like a cola that has been sitting out for a few hours). There is a sweet and tangy smell to the beer which is almost normal except I don’t usually describe my beers as “tangy”. One thing that stood out to me was the part of the label that said “Ale flavored with coriander” I had no fucking clue what coriander was so I did what any self-respecting person would do I google’d it. Coriander is also called cilantro which made me emit a WTF and to look sideways at this ale that I was about to consume. On first sip I drew back a face like it had just been hit with a very disgusting wet dishrag but as the beer warmed up the taste got better or I just got accustomed to the taste. I think once it got to serving temperature the tastes mellowed out and blended together. This beer reminds me of a wood-aged beer but not as sweet or mellow.
Overall this beer is pretty damn decent it is very drinkable once it warms up a bit. It has some taste to it but is not overwhelming like some of the higher alcohol beers but it is not piss-water. It does not have the bite of something crazy hoppy or anything else it is just a straight sipper type of beer.
The good: Easy to drink and it gives you bragging rights that you drank a beer with cilantro in it
The bad: If the beer is cold it tastes like shit
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Beer Review: Dogzilla Black IPA – Laughing Dog Brewery
Apr1
Run away from this monster!
This is the second the beer I have had from Laughing Dog. The first one I had was the Dogfather which was pretty good. When I first saw an ad for this beer in a local beer magazine I was really looking forward to it since I had never heard of a black IPA at that point. Since then I have always kept my eye out for this beer and when I saw at one of my local grocery stores I snatched it. Anyways enough back fill here are some pertinent stats for the beer:
Amount of brew in bottle: 22 fluid ounces
ABV: 6.9%
Type of brew: Black IPA
Price: ~$5
From the first sip I hated this beer. It tasted like someone took a sock threw it in a toaster oven for a few minutes, liquefied it and threw in some hops. On the flip side my fiance thought it was a pretty good beer. For me I think the taste was off because the malt and hops they used did not blend well together. Either that or they burnt the shit out of the malts to make the IPA black. One other interesting flavor was that the beer had an initial sweet taste and then went all down hill from there. This is not a beer I will ever buy again.
The good: cool name
The bad: horrid taste
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Beer Review: Aecht Ochlenferla Rauchbier
Apr0
Smoke it up
This is my second time drinking this beer. Each time I drink this beer it takes me a few drinks to get to its very unique taste. Some stats before we get to the meat of the review:
Amount of brew in bottle: 23 fluid ounces
ABV: 5.1%
Type of brew: marzen (a type of lager)
Price: ~$5
This beer definitely has a very strong smoke taste. It is almost like putting a tablespoon of liquid smoke (it is a cooking ingredient for the uninformed) and putting it in a lager. The beer goes great with fish and steak. It is not overpowering when paired with food but you can still notice it. When poured the beer has absolutely no head and is a very dark brown for a lager. Besides the smokey flavor there is very little to talk about for this beer. There is a medium-high amount of carbonation and there is a slight bitterness flavor but other than that there is not much to report.
The good: Fairly easy to drink, goes great with a lot of meals
The bad: The unique taste might turn off some people
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Beer Review: Belzebuth by Brasserie Grain d’ Orge
Apr0
Watch out for this monkey! - Photo by Jana
On my last trip to the beer store I saw this weird ass bottle that had a funky monkey on the main part of the label and around the neck a smaller label stating the beer was 13% ABV. Before I knew it my hand was around that bottle and it was on its way into the basket. That was two weeks ago and I have finally cracked open this monkey to see how funky it truly is. The pertinent stats for the ADD among us:
Amount of brew in bottle: 250ml
ABV: 13%
Type of brew: belgian
Price: ~$4
As with the majority of belgian style beers this beer was lightly colored and had more carbonation than other styles of beer. Probably one of the most interesting things about this beer is that even though it had a fairly high level of alcohol it didn’t have the usual taste, in fact it was hardly noticeable that this beer was anything over 7%. Which is great and horrible all at the same time, this beer could really make you feel like you have a monkey on your back (har har).
Besides the high ABV this beer was pretty much unremarkable compared to other belgians. It had very little after taste and it was overall very mellow. It had an almost wine like feel to it, this might have been from the higher alcohol but it could also have been just how they brewed the beast. This is also the first french beer I have ever had. France is not exactly a place I associate with beer but that doesn’t mean they don’t brew any worthwhile beers; apparently they do. So, next time you are in a store and you see a little bottle with a weird ass monkey on the label I would recommend you pick it up. Just make sure you don’t have to drive anywhere after you drink it!
The good: doesn’t taste like a high ABV beer, easy to drink
The bad: the taste is fairly bland
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Anker Brewery – Cuvee Van De Keizer
Mar0
King of Kings - Photo by Jana
For my latest review I am drinking Cuvvee Van De Keizer brewed by Anker Brewing. This is a belgian beer that is brewed only once a year on Charles the Fifth’s birthday and the thing that attracted my attention when I was at the store was a quote from some random person that saying: “this is the best beer in the universe.” Naturally I wanted to try this best beer in existence. This beer is a little bit more than I normally would pay costing $13 but with such high reviews I had to try it . On pouring this beer it had a thick bubbly head with a dark red color with no sediment. The smell of the beer is fairly sweet with a hint of alcohol. On sipping this beer it is sweet, smooth and a pleasure to drink. This beer hides the fact that it has a 11% ABV unlike many American micro-brews there is no taste of alcohol which is pretty nice.
While reviewing this beer I had the “pleasure” of watching Twilight for the second time with my fiance but thankfully this beer kept me good company and let me get through the joys of Twilight. Well I can’t say I drank this beer through the whole movie since the movie is almost two hours long and I finished the beer 40ish minutes into the movie, sigh. Overall this beer is great and I can see why people have rated it so highly on ratebeer.com.
The good: A delightful beer to drink
The bad: If you like hops this is not the beer for you also it is dang expensive
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Baltika – Extra 9 Lager
Mar0
The first good lager I have had
I usually don’t drink lagers but tonight I am making an exception as part of session 25 a lager was called for. So, I picked up a bottle of Baltika Extra 9 Lager. I can literally count the number of times I have had a lager on one hand. But this is the first craft lager I have ever had and I must say I am impressed. It has a great taste and it is light and easy to drink. It has a faint taste of honey and is fairly fuzzy and almost tastes like a beer with champagne hints. This might be from my lack of experience with lager . Overall this beer has opened my eyes to lagers.
The good: great taste and easy to drink
The bad: it has the stigma of being a lager
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