#25 Point - Special Lager

Steven's Point Brewery has 150 years of tradition they are proud of and want to show in the flash into to their site. They have have 8 different uninspired beer styles, Cascade Pale Ale, Amber, Light, Belgium White. They also make a gourmet soda which sounds better to me than their beer.

This beer has a slight hops smell at first but once the foam has passed there isn't much smell left. The smell of the beer after the foam had gone is a faint beer smell, much like smelling an empty beer glass after its warmed up. This beer has a clear yellow color that is so commonly associated with beer. The foam is lots of big bubble when first poured and almost no bubbles after a few seconds.

I can taste some malt and a little hops, but this beer does not finish clean. This Special Lager has a bad chalky aftertaste. There is a clean start to the beer but it has an unpleasing taste over all. I have to force the beer down.

This beer is a lot like the Huber Premium Beer from a few days ago. It's such a simple beer that I think a bad taste has been left behind. It reminds me of drinking really cheap beer like Natural Light of Pabst Blue Ribbon. I'm sure Point has been brewing this beer for a long time but I think there are better ways to make beer. Just like the Huber they are both from Wisconsin and have a long documented history they are proud of. I think they both need to spend more time making beer to be proud of.

#24 Schlafly - APA Dry Hopped

Another trip to the Schlafly Bottle works for a beer. This one is a Dry Hopper APA. Dry Hopped mean hops are added to the beer after brewing to sit with the beer for a few days to a few months. It makes for a very strong hop taste. An APA or American Pale Ale, is an IPA (Indian Pale Ale) with more hops, and little malt flavor.

HOPS, that is what this beer is about. I smell a light floral aroma of hops, but only a light smell nothing too strong. The color is a nice golden, that seem to be filtered. This beer has very little foam, but the little foam is sticky and stays there while I drink the beer.

The taste is full of hops spice and fruit. There is a good fruit taste maybe a pineapple or an apple. There is also a spicy flavor that can only be described as a hop spice flavor. This beer isn't grassy as a hoppy beer might. This beer has a sticky thick mouth feel like a hoppy beer.

This is a dry hopped APA , that means A LOT of hops are used in this beer and I really enjoyed it. I was looking for a hoppy beer tonight instead of the lackluster #15. This APA came through 110% in the hop category. It might be too much for some people but I enjoyed it.

#23 Schlafly - #15

#15, what kind of name is #15 from a company that almost every beer is named for the style. I guess this beer doesn't fit any style but was deemed good enough to keep. It is unclear if this is a seasonal or not. It is in the section of year round beers but is labeled October 30th, but it's not near October 30th.

I'm not getting much of a smell on this beer. Maybe a light hop smell and little wheat. This is an unfiltered amber color, with almost no foam. There is a bubble or two floating up from the bottom, but not much carbonation.

This beer has a very interesting taste. There is some hop floral and spicyness but nothing really strong. There is a bit of mouth drying bitterness but it too is not very pronounced. There is a nice smooth wheat taste and mouth feel.

This is a nice subtle beer. It got some flavor but nothing too strong. It's good and enjoyable but nothing too great. I can see enjoying every sip of this beer on a hot day.

#22 Huber Premium Beer

Huber Brewery's claim to fame is being the oldest Brewery in the midwest, pouring its first beer before Abe Lincoln decided to run for congress. It has changed hands over the years, producing a near-beer during prohibition. There is an impressive company time line on the website. The name premium beer comes from a time when beer production had poor sanitation and low consistency so many beers were bad tasting by modern standards.

This looks like a beer that would be called something as plain as Premium Beer. Its got a clear gold color with lots of foam head. At a glance it looks like a Budweiser with more head. This beer is very foamy which it nice and fun. The smell has a little more floral hop aroma than a standard "beer".

The taste has some malt sweetness that isn't found in a standard "beer". There is no hop taste and almost no bitterness in this beer. The taste is pretty much just a light sweetness. I think this beer is too sweet, and I really would like some hops.

I sure some people in Monroe Wisconsin drink this beer and swear it's the greatest because it's from Monroe and from the oldest brewery in the midwest. I think its a fine everyday drinker for someone looking for a sweet beer short on taste, but I'm not looking forward to drinking another.

#21 Sierra Nevada - Porter

I've seen Sierra Nevada bottles in the beer section of the store long before I knew what craft beer was. They now are the 2nd largest craft brewery after Sam Adams. Sierra Nevada's first employee and later Vice President Steven Harrison recently passed away.

I smell very little aroma from this beer. I might I poured too much head it starts smelling soapy, but in the bottle before I poured I could smell some smoked malt. After the foam has gone down I get more smoked malt, dark malt sweetness, and a little hops. I can smell a hop aroma that is more than just the "Beer" smell that I got on the Sam Adams. Like the Sam Adam's porter this is very dark opaque beer. With a lot of foam and good head retention.

The taste is sweet and roasty. Lots of good dark roast malt aromas, only hints of coffee with a slight hop floral taste. The roasted isn't a smoky malt taste but a good slight roast bread like taste. There is a slight bitterness with this porter that I think is from the malts and not the hops. I think the beer is a little thin on the mouth feel. It doesn't have the rich full mouth feel of some porters.

This is an enjoyable beer, with lots of taste. I would like a little more body to the mouth feel, but that isn't taking away from the beer.

#20 Samuel Adams - Honey Porter

This is a good Sam Adam's beer. Its a traditional style done nice and simple, which is Sam Adam's strong point. They don't stray from the style guides making complex beers, they make a beer taste like the beer should.

This beer has a sweet dark malt smell with touch of hops, but its a good beer hops smell. A good dark color that cannot been seen through and a nice head of foam. I know some people start to think differently about a beer this dark. Thinking it has more calories, or is better than light beer because of the color alone. The only assumption I can make on this beer by color alone is the present of dark malt grains.

When I drink this beer I taste lots of dark malt sweetness, even notes of caramel. With the after taste I get a hint of honey but the heavy dark malt flavor is the most pronounced. Not too much hops present in the taste except to add some bitterness. The beer feels smooth and silky when in my mouth, it reminds me of a Guinness but with less foam. There is a slight roasted taste with coffee notes, but it is very subtle.

This is a good enjoyable beer. A nice taste and good mouth feel. This reminds me of the Warfteiner Dunkel a good solid beer.

#19 - Blue Moon (Coors) Pumpkin Ale

This is a seasonal blue moon variation. I'm squeezing this beer in at 11:50 just barely getting in a beer for the day. I'll get in the last few pictures tomorrow.

Pumpkin spice and some hops smell come through the nose, but neither aromas are strong. The over all smell is too light, but this is common for a large scale commercial beer. The beer has a good orange color that reminds me of pumpkin. This beer's wheat base is clear in the amount of foam from the pour and the nice smooth mouth feel when drinking.

The taste carries the "too little" theme from the smell. There is very little pumpkin or spice flavor. The most pronounced taste is the hop bitterness. The kind of bitterness that drys the mouth and leaves a taste at the back of the tongue. This is a really appreciated taste in a hoppy IPA, but it's kind of strange is a Pumpkin ale.

I'm not really happy with this beer it doesn't live up to its name. There is very little pumpkin, and mostly bitterness. This is a beer that would turn people away from good beer. I might think that this beer has been skunked because I really like blue moon.

#18 Warsteiner - Dunkel

Imported from Germany this is a traditional dark beer, it even says on the label "Brewed Naturally According to the German Purity Law!". I question what they mean by brewed naturally, I don't think this is a lambic beer with wild yeasts, but I don't think Warsteiner used any fancy light yeasts. The German Purity Law from April 23rd1516 states that beer can only contain water, hops and barley. It was later changed to mention yeast once it was discovered, but the old brewerys maintained yeast by adding current beer to the next batch.

This beer has a good dark malt smell, it has a earthy note but I don't mean for that to take away from the beer. The color is a dark brown, but filtered so it can still be seem through. There is very little foams and the head goes away right after the pour. The beer is as dark as the bottle is came in.

The beer has a crisp malt taste but no malt sweetness. The dark malts only has a little coffee flavor unlike a stout. There is some hops bitterness and a little hops flavor, but no hop grassyness. The mouth feel is full with some thickness and maybe some hops notes in the tingling tongue taste. This is a good tasty beer, nice and traditional. Not too much complexity but still really tasty.

#17 Kentucky Ale - Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

I got this beer on a trip to Frankfort Kentucky to visit my Sister in Law and Brother in Law. I got this beer at the bar Serafin, which had a huge bourbon selection but only a few beers. Kentucky Ale's other beer there light ale beer was also on tap at Serafin. This beer is aged or maybe fermented in used bourbon barrels. Bourbon barrels by law can only be used once so there are popular commonly reused for beer and scotch.

This beer smell clearly of bourbon, with very little beer smell. The color is a nice clear brown that looks like bourbon. There is a nice foam on the beer after it's poured but it don't stay for very long and almost no bubbles float up. The bourbon trend contiunes on to the taste. This beer clearly tastes like bourbon. There is almost no beer taste in the beer, there is a hint of malt, but really bourbon is all I can taste in this beer.

If it looks like bourbon, smells like bourbon and tastes like bourbon and its not bourbon then it's this Kentucky Ale. As mentioned before I've had beers that have been stored in used bourbon barrels, but they were not ales. Normally big beers are stored in bourbon barrels, dark beers that already have strong notes, not simple ales. I think the Ale is a poor choice, this beer is way too light for the bourbon barrel. I did drink plenty of them I was very intreged by this beer, but I can't say I really liked it.

#16 Spanish Peaks - Honey Raspberry Ale

Continuing with my fruit beer theme I have another Raspberry beer. This is a beer I have seen sold a few times but never purchased. I recognize the brewery because of the Labrador on the bottle. This is a beer sold year round which is odd for a fruit beer like this. I will look for more Spanish Peaks beers.

Fruit, maybe Raspberry, and some sweet malt smell is present. I really like the purple tint of this beer, it's filter clear, but the color is really pretty. There is only a little light carbonation, but that could be caused by the fruit in the beer. The more I stare at this beer the more I wonder is there could be wrong with the beer because of the little carbonation.

The taste is truly an ale. Lots of malt sweetness, a lot like red ales, I think the beer might be a red ale with raspberry added. The raspberry is well balanced, not too heavy but still a nice hint of raspberry. I don't taste any honey, I but I taste sweet which could be added honey or the reason for the honey name. There is even a little hop bitterness in this beer, not much hop taste but the bitterness is present. This beer is a lot like my homebrewed Red Ale with raspberry added, I wonder if it was fermented at a higher temp to keep the fruity notes.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this beer, even though the carbonation is so low. Its a good enjoyable beer. Maybe too sweet, but still enjoyable.

#15 Miller - Chill

I am excited to try this beer. It continues with my fruit in beer theme from early in the week but with a new beer from Miller. I guess this is trying to compete with Carona and lime. On the label this is called a Chelada Style which is described as a cocktail using beer and not hard liquor.

If I was smelling this beer blind I would think the heavy citrus smell was the result of large quantitys hops. But knowing what this beer is I think the smell is lime, but I've still not had a sip. The color is a very pale yellow, that started with a lot of head when poured but it quickly drops to only a few bubbles from the bottom and only a little foam on the edges.

My first thought when drinking this beer is "Wow, thats a lot of lime". It tastes like lime juice with beer added. I can't distinguish any known beer flavors, no malt, no hops, no bitterness, no sweetness, just Lime. The lime leaves a clean taste in my mouth.

I know this is beer because its says so on the bottle and its made by Miller, but with my eye closed I might think I am drinking a thin margarita. So if you want a Margarita that is a little thin this is your beer. I guess this is Chelada style, if thats what you want.

#14 Piraat Ale

Arrrr! Today be international talk like a pirate day. In honor I picked up a pirate beer, Piraat Ale as it's called. Its a Belgium beer brewed by Br. Van Steenberge, this beer is very true t' its Belgium heritage.

With a smell like sweet malt and lemons I already feel like I be on a pirate ship fightin' off th' scurvy. With more smellin' th' beer starts to get a more chemical smell' that beer smell'. Th' beer is very effervescent with bubbles boiling up like the sea on a rough day. The drink has a standard unfiltered yellow color with a good white head.

First thing noticed with a sip be the bubbles contiun' on the tongue tingling down the throat making the beer seem lighter. The malt sweetness from th' smell is present in the taste along with another flavor that I can't find a way to describe. Th' hops be lendn' some bitterness to th' beer but only wee flavor. The taste seem to pass quickly encouragin' me to keep raisin' the glass for a drink and to return the taste to me tongue. The 10.5% alcohol does not leave a strong grog taste that is sometimes present in high proof beers, but could be th' reason for the chemical smell.

Even with the trouble describin' the beer it is still very tasty and enjoyable. Any pirate worth his sea legs would happily drink away the night with a beer this fine beer.

#13 Schlafly - Pumpkin Ale

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin , and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion" - Henry David Thoreau. This is a quote on the front of the beer bottle. It doesn't have a very sharing tone, but if I have to share my good pumpkin beer with the crowd on the velvet pillow then I agree that the pumpkin is the way to go.

Pumpkin Pie spice is all I can think of when I smell this beer. A good spice smell with cloves and thoughts of Thanksgiving dinner. With its great orange color that leaves a slight hint of orange in the foam this beer screams pumpkin from sight and smell.

In taste the pumpkin becomes more muted and not overpowering. I can distinguish some pumpkin flavor in the beer but its not over powering, its a nice soft tip of the tongue taste. The spice flavor is very present but well balanced and complementing to the pumpkin. I'm not sure if any hops are using in the beer but I can taste some malt sweetness. This is a good all around beer that is fun treat. The taste might get annoying after too many but that won't be a problem since its a seasonal beer around for only a few months.

#12 Schlafly - Raspberry Hefeweizen

This is a summer seasonal beer from Schlafly. I've been holding on to this beer for over a month just to write this entry about it. When Schlafly first made this beer they had a problem of having too much whole Raspberry in the brewing. Causing the transfer lines at the brewery to clog and leaving a lot of sediment in the bottles.

This beer pours with so much head that I have to be careful not to overflow the glass. The smell starts off fruity but I'm not sure if it Raspberry. The beer has a pinkish color with a bright white foam. The good foam comes for the wheat in the beer, and the color is of course from the raspberry.

The beer has a strange taste, its fruity thats for sure but I don't know what plant it came from. Its got some citrus but again its not like a raspberry. As I drink more the taste moves from fruit to something unnatural. If they used whole raspberrys again I think some fruit went bad somewhere along the way. This beer does have the nice smooth wheat taste, but the raspberry just isn't right.

This is a beer that first encouraged me to start blog. I really liked it the first time I had it last year, but when drinking this batch and really thinking about the taste I started to notice how much I didn't like this beer. This beer does not really taste like anything fruit I want to eat, and really I have trouble finishing the glass after too much thought.

#11 Homebrew - Red Ale

This is my first homebrewed beer. I made it from a "Red Ale" beer kit bought at Worm's Way a local homebrew and gardening store. This beer fermented for 6 days and has been in the bottle for 3 weeks by the time of this tasting. I started drinking it after 1 week in the bottle. I haven't noticed much change in taste over the last few weeks even though the beer is bottle conditioning. I didn't use a Secondary fermenter which is required used to clarify beer in homebrewing.

Sweet caramel notes and light hops are present in the smell. Being a homebrew it's not filtered so the beer is a cloudy red color. There is only a very light carbonation and not the best head retention but the beer is carbonated so the bottling worked.

The sweet caramel smell stays in the taste along with a sweet fruit taste. The fruit taste has likely been caused by too high of fermentation temperature, well above 75 degrees when it should have fermented closer to 65 degrees. There is also some bitterness to the beer that I hope is caused by the bittering hops, but fear it could be some contamination. The local Homebrew club where took the beer did not mention noticing a yeast contamination so I could just be too worried about my own beer. There is some hop flavor to the beer but it is not strong and is overpowered by the sweetness.

Compared to the Killian's Irish Red a very days ago the bitterness and little hops is well appreciated alongside the malt sweetness. I am very happy with this beer and would love to make the same beer again.

#10 Hacker-Pschorr Munich

Hacker-Pschorr is a traditional German brewery that has a history that can be traced back to 1417. I had trouble finding much info about the Brewery that wasn't in German. This one of the six Breweries that are allowed at the German Oktoberfest.

This beer smells like a German beer, with a light-malt sweetness and a slight hops smell. I feel that the beer might smells to sweet but I think that is normal with German beers. It has a clear yellow color with a good steady flow of bubbles.

The sweetness from the nose continues to the tongue with the taste. There is a little citrus taste resulting in taste like a sweet lemon. The taste stays in my mouth after the beer is gone. I would like some more complexity and hops to
the beer but I this simple sweetness is normal for the style. German wine is also very sweet.

#9 Alandale - American IPA

I got this beer at the Kirkwood Green Tree Festival. The Festival had a wine garden with 3 wines and 5 or 6 of Alandale's beer. Alandale is a Kirkwood (St. Louis suburb) Missouri brewpub. They have a large beer selection that is always changing and along with a nice restaurant. I've always enjoyed their food and beer selection even if the place is a little to crowded.

The IPA was server in a 8oz plastic cup which might had affected the tasting. With only a slight hop smell from an IPA I start by blaming the plastic cup. The color was a great gold but with too little head. When drinking the beer the carbonation seemed to show up on the tongue in an unpleasing tingling, almost burning feeling. The IPA initially tasted like hops, but the flavor didn't stay and all I noticed was the bad mouth feel. There was a very bad taste left on the tongue from this beer. I know an IPA can get a thick sticky feel but this beer was too sticky.

I am shocked by how much I did not like this beer. It was not a good IPA (one of my favorites), and it had a really bad after taste and mouth feel. I can't necessarily attribute the bad taste to bacteria or skunking so I guess it could be the jockey box (a cooler with a keg inside) that caused the bad taste. I think I will make a second trip to Alandale's for a second sample of the IPA and another beer for the blog. I will post the results of my second tasting.

#8 Killian's Irish Red

The name Killian's is misleading, there is no Killian's brewery. This is the only beer to bear the name of George Killian. Originally the beer was brewed by a French brewery Pelforth, part of the Heineken group. In 1981 Coors brewery took over the name and reformulated it, Wikipedia calls it a Vienna lager but I think it fits the Irish Red Ale style well.

It's a dumb statement but this beer smells like beer, and I know that is what Kilian's (Coors) wants is to smell like. They worked hard at making this beer smell like what beer should smell like. A good rich malt with light crisp hops. The more I smell is the more the hops smell goes away and the sweet malt comes through much like a Irish Red should.

The color is a nice clear red with a good flow of small bubble from the bottom forming a little head at the top. The beer is clear enough to see through a departure from the unfiltered craft beer I've been drinking. The taste is a good sweet malt flavor with very little hops. I would suspect the hops were added at the end of the brewing to only add aroma and not much taste. The taste is so sweet and caramel tasting with no hops and no bitterness. I normally like this beer but as I pay close attention to it I think it is too sweet.

This is a fine beer to drink on a hot day when you want a beer, something cool and refreshing. But when your looking for something with body and hops and lots of big flavor this is a poor choice.

#7 Arcadia Ales - Hopmouth Double IPA

I got this beer from my favorite liquor store The Wine Merchant in St. Louis. A lot of small breweries don't distribute in St. Louis because Anheuser Busch is head quartered here and has a large market share, so a store like Wine Merchant that works hard at getting different beers in is really appreciated.

When I first open the beer I got a whiff of hops. Smelling some fruit, maybe even fruit yet to ripen, hops and more hops is the aroma of this beer. This beer doesn't have much carbonation, there are only a few large bubbles coming up from the bottom but the foam if staying on the edge of the glass after ever sip.

This is a labeled as a "Big Beer Series" and it is truly a big beer. The hops are strong and over powering there is no malt flavor in the beer. The name Hopmouth is appropriate because the hops leave the mouth dry with a lot of feeling in the back of the mouth. This is not a beer for the casual beer drinker or someone who doesn't like hops. I enjoy this beer like but it's something that can't be over indulged. I think the taste of hops is going the be in my mouth for a while.

Arcadia's web site says they only brew small batches and used fresh hops in making this beer. I will have to try more beer from them.

#6 Schlafly - IPA (India Pale Ale)

For this beer I walked to the Schlafly bottleworks for my beer so there is no picture. Schlafly is a St. Louis craft brewery that runs two brewpubs and sells in most local stores. I really like this company and recently read the president Tom Schlafly's book. I plan to make many trips to the bottleworks for The Year of Beer because it is within walking distance and I can get many season styles on tap only.

The IPA was served in a small 10oz glass instead of the normal 12oz because of its high proof. This is a great beer, a beer that reminds me why I want to drink 365 different beers. The smell wasn't too strong at first but I blame the small opening on the brandy sniffer and the cold temperature. Once it warmed up a little fruit and tropical smell was present, maybe even some pineapple. The color was a dark opaque gold. With only slight head, with low head retention.

The flavor was huge. Lots of hops, lots of fruit, lots of green tasting goodness with only a slight hint of sweetness from the malt. There was a bitter taste that stuck to the back of the mouth but it was mellow enough to not be overpowering or take away for the beer. The thick almost sticky constancy of this IPA along with the overflow of flavor from the hops is what makes a good beer something to look forward to and not something to drink just to get drunk. Not to say I could drink this beer all night, but with the higher proof getting drunk might happen quicker than expected.

#5 Troegs - Pale Ale

This is my last Troegs from my trip and I was starting to get disappointed in Troeg after the too Yeasty Dreamweaver yesterday. But this beer has changed my feelings about the Brewery this is a fine beer. Maybe too hoppy for a pale ale, but still a good beer.

The smell is not too strong but there is a hint of hops, and just a grassy fruity green smell that is hops. This pale ale has a rich gold color with a bit too little head. A good crisp taste that is full of hops. Most people would think this beer is too hoppy, especially for a craft brewery's pale ale, a style normally reserved for the non-craft beer (Budweiser) drinkers at the bar. But I enjoy a good bit of hops, the bitterness is acceptable in this beer because the hop flavor is so present, and dryness in the mouth isn't as bad as the Hop Back.

I'll have to choose a beer from a different brewery tomorrow, it has been an easy start blogging about beers from the same brewery.

#4 Troegs - Dreamweaver Unfilered Wheat

Troeg’s Dreamweaver unfiltered wheat.

I first notice a very yeasty smell. There is a light citrus smell but the yeast is almost overpowering. It smells like bread yeast, which isn’t a smell I like in a beer. To cut the beer a little break I noticed when I poured this beer there was some gunk in the bottom of the bottle that I didn’t notice in the other Dreamweavers I had drank before. Also this is an unfiltered beer so the gunk and yeast might be there by design.

Once getting past the smell there is a good citrus almost lemon taste. This beer doesn’t have much bitterness, and what bitterness is there is well balanced with the citrus flavor. The wheat makes this beer very smooth and maybe even a creamy consistency. The carbonation isn’t over flowing, but the bubbles continue to bubble up from the bottom for the glass. I can see grabbing another one of these from the fridge, but I think I might throw out the last sip to avoid that gunk.

The label on the bottle is a little dark and almost Halloween-esk for a beer that is made year round. I don’t know if this is what Troeg was going for but I don’t think a dark scary bottle is going to help sell any beer.
When buying this beer directly from Troeg’s brewery to bring on the flight home I was forced by Pennsylvania law to buy a full case of 24 beers, I couldn't buy any lfewer. I think this is one of the many stupid liquor laws

#3 Troegs - Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale

My second of the four Troeg's beer's that I picked up in Harrisburg. I bought a sampler pack with 4 different beers. These are Troeg's year round beers so they are nothing crazy but still unique beers.

The color is a beautiful filtered brown. It's clear enough to see through the brown liquid which shows the beer has been filtered or spent some time in a secondary fermenter to clarify it. Only a light carbonation nothing like the Hop Back from yesterday. When I first smelled the beer I could only smell beer. With more smelling a bit of coffee becomes apparent. Which is a good thing for a beer. The taste is dry and a little bitter but much better than the Hop Back. There is a slight dark malt sweetness to the beer but it's well balanced with the Hops. This is a good drinkable beer. It is a little heavy feeling in the mouth so I wouldn't recommend the beer for a night of binge drinking but it's an easy drinking beer.

I really like the label on this one, it is a fun rugged looking label with a shoe print. I like shoe prints.

There was more head to the beer before the picture was taken, but I had a sip before I took the picture.

#2 Troegs - Hop back Amber Ale

Troegs Brewery Harrisburg PA. I picked up this beer in Harrisburg on a work trip specifically for this blog. Troegs is an independent craft brewery started by two brothers. They have a great story about learning about brewing beer and deciding if they should open a brewpub or just a brewery, and if it should be in Denver a town full of Brew Pubs or back in there home state of Pennsylvania.

The beer is a beautiful amber color with a steady flow of bubbles from the bottom. The in the first smell the hops are pronounced, with a green grassy smell. I love the smell of this beer I could smell it all day. It's an Amber Ale and not an IPA so the hops is less pronounced in the taste than the smell. The taste is full of hops but I think too much bitterness and not enough complexity. A remaining bitterness at the back of the throat is felt. The bitter throat makes this a hard beer to drink too many of. If I was going back to the fridge for another beer I think I would skip this one and select something less bitter.

#1 Delirium Nocturnum

This is a great beer. I have had this beer before and enjoyed it, but I think I like the Delirium Tremens more. This is a nice carbonated beer with a dark color with a fruity, but a bit bitter flavor. The aroma from the carbonation is full of fruit and flavor. And doesn't seem much like a beer in the purest sense. The color and flavor is common to Belgium beers like this. This is a high proof beer that comes in a large 750 ml bottle. I can't really see drinking this beer very often but its a great beer for a special treat. I think people who don't like beer but like fruiter drinks would enjoy this beer.

A beer for a special treat, like today my 26th Birthday and my 1st beer in my year of beer.

2 More Days

Two more days until I start my Year of Beer. I am very excited.

I've registered www.yearofbeerblog.com to point to the blogger URL. I like having proper domains makes giving out URLs easy.

I've been collecting different beers for the last month in preparation. My Mom got me 24 different beers from a Louisville liquor store with a good selection. I've got about 35 beers collected. Its 10% of the total year, I think its a good start.

I am also working on some beer related images.