#237 Dogfish Head - 60 Minute IPA

Another Dogfish Head in the numbered minute series.

The aroma has a citrus hops characteristic commonly associated with American grown hops. The color is a dark straw with a hint of orange, and very clear, could tell this was a clear beer while it was still int he bottle. The head is thick with good retention.

There is a lot of hop flavors in this beer. There is some citrus taste like a grapefruit and plenty of bitterness. A slight buttery diacetyl taste is present leaving the roof of the mouth slick. The mouthfeel is thin. The finish is bitter with some diacetyl taste.

This might be the first Dogfish Head beer I don't like. The diacetyl is too strong and mixes poorly with the hops. I really liked the 90 minute and 120 minute IPA, but this one is not as good.

#236 Dogfish Head - Red & White

This beer is brewed with Pinot noir juice concentrate and and aged with 11% in Pinor noir barrels and 89% aged on oak staves. This is one of Dogfish Head's many limited release beers.

There is a pronounced spice aroma with coriander and orange mixed with a little wild bacteria funk smell. This beer has a ruby red color with some sediment floating in suspension. The head pours thick, but does not last long.

This beer has a unique taste, the coriander and orange from the aroma are much more subtle in the taste, just an accent. There might be some wild yeast in this beer with some earth notes and a tart taste, but the tart taste could be a wine characteristic. The mouthfeel is medium full, giving the beer a noticeable body. The finish is fruity and earthy.

This is a great beer, lots of good unique flavors. I always have trouble describing Dogfish Head beer, the flavors are often unique and not like other beers. Just a really enjoyable beer.

#235 Unibroue - Don De Dieu

Don De Dieu is named after Samuel de Champlain's boat. Samuel de Champlain is known as the founder of Quebec after landing in Tadoussac on June 3, 1608. 2008 marks the 400th anniversary and Unibroue a Canadian brewery is celebrating with this beer.

This beer has one of the strongest Belgian spice / clove yet. The color is a pale brown or orange, and very hazy, looks like unfiltered apple cider. There is a some foam on the beer when poured but it quickly fizzes away.

The taste starts sweet with fruity esters of apple, pear, and orange but no banana flavors which are common with Belgian style beers. There is a slight yeast taste to the beer, not surprising for such a cloudy bottle conditioned beer. Being a wheat beer the mouthfeel is very smooth with lots of carbonation. The finish is sweet and fruity but not overwhelming.

This is a great beer, I love all the Belgian spice flavors and aroma. I want to try to making a homebrew beer from the yeast in this beer.

#233 BBC Dark Side Porter

Malty aroma with some strong roasted notes. The color is dark with a little light passing through. The head is pours thick with mild retention.

The taste is dry with lots of dark malt. There is a tannic bitterness to this beer, poorly accenting the dryness. A roasted flavor is coming through but no coffee taste that is common with such dark roasted beers. Some bitterness is present with an ever so slight floral hop taste. The mouthfeel is thin with lots of fizzy carbonation. The finish is dry with some roast notes.

I don’t care for such a dry tannic taste. If the goal of this beer was to make a porter with a ton of dark malt then this is a success, but I am not really thrilled with the beer.

#232 Anheuser Busch - Bud Ice

I normally don’t drink cheap commercial beer but I am always looking for something unique to drink.

This beer has a sweet cloying smell. The color is a classic straw beer color and very clear. The head is light, pours a little foam and quickly fizzes away.

The taste is sweet, like honey with a hint of grain. There is a hint of bitterness, but no hop flavor. The only other flavor is a little chalky lager flavor. The mouthfeel is thin, almost no body. The finish is a little sweet with a slight bitterness.

Fizzle sweet yellow lager. If thats what you want to drink, this fits the bill.

#231 Left Hnad - Sawtooth Ale

This beer has a malty aroma, bready sweet with a hint of fruit. The color is a medium to dark brown and clear. The head is thick with big active bubbles.

Malt is the primary flavor to this beer, grainy biscuity malt flavor with caramel or molasses taste. There are some bitterness from hops, but that is the only hop flavor. The mouthfeel is thin and highly carbonated. The finish has a malt taste, but it is not too strong.

Not really crazy about this beer. It's a light malty beer like a Nut Brown Ale, but doesn't go far enough with the malt, almost like a watered down nut brown. This beer is drinkable, but I'm not going to look for any more Sawtooth to drink again.

#230 St. Louis Heritage Festival - Rye American Pale Ale

The St. Louis Heritage Festival is a local beer festival sponsored by local breweries and brew pubs Anheuser-Busch, Schlafly, O'Fallon, Square One, Alendale and a others. A full range of beer styles are brewed including the local best of show from the 2007 Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition. This Rye American Pale Ale was the winner of the homebrew competition brewed by August "Augie" Altenbaumer. Augie brewed this batch using O'Fallon's 15 barrel (465 gallons) system. Not all the beer was needed for the festival, and O'Fallon allowed homebrewers to fill 5 gallon cornelius kegs with the unused beer to avoid dumping it.

This beer has a light hop aroma with a grassy, fruity, almost orange smells. There is a slight yeast smell but that might be from the keg being from the bottom of the tank. The beer has a light brown color with some hazy, the hazy might settle out this keg has done some traveling today. The foam pours thick and sticks to the side of the glass with moderate retention keeping the beer covered in foam.

The taste is mildly hoppy with a floral and fruit flavor. The malt has a sweet caramel flavor that is well balanced against the hops. There is a definite orange taste coming from the blend of hops and malt. The rye gives the beer a thicker smooth body. This beer finishes fruity with some lingering hop flavors.

I really like this beer, it has a good flavor and balance and is easy to drink. I also like the rye usage, the fuller body really adds to the overall beer. I am excited for the 5 gallons I have to drink.

#229 Dogfish Head - 90 Minute Imperial IPA

More unique beer from Dogfish head.

This beer has an overwhelming hop aroma, it smells like glass of hop leaves with a hint of caramel malt. This beer has a very pale copper to brown color, look similar to ice tea. The head is very thick with good retention.

There is a predominate hop flavor to this beer, but it is a mix of tastes. The hops have a floral and fruity taste that blend well. The malt has a light caramel sweetness that balances against the hops. The bitterness is light and comes only in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium giving the beer some substance to go along with all the flavors.

This is a great beer with lots of flavors. It is hard to properly describe all the flavors in this beer. This is a lot like the 120 minute IPA just toned down.

#228 Jolly Pumpkin - La Roja

Another open fermentation beer and barrel aged beer from Jolly Pumpkin. This one in is a Biere de Garde style amber ale.

This beer has a fruity smell with cherry and raspberry and apple aromas. The color is a dark burgundy almost ruby, with only some light getting through. There is some head to the beer but it does not last long.

This is a tart beer with some fruity flavors of cherry and raspberry. There is some peppery spice flavor to accent the fruit. There is no real distinguishable malt or hop flavors in this tart Amber Ale. The mouthfeel is thin with the tart flavor effervescing on the tongue. The finish is tart and dry.

This is a fine tart / sour beer. There is not a lot of flavors to this beer, just fruit and tart. This would be a good introductory beer to sour beers.

#227 Arcadia Ales - Hop Rocket

This is a special release from Arcadia, I think this is their 11th anniversary beer. There does not see to be anything about the beer on the company's web site.

This beer has a pronounced hop aroma, with citrus and floral flavors. The color is a light orange or brown and clear. The head is thick and white with good retention.

There is a lot of hop flavor in this beer, it tastes green unripe fruit with lots of floral flavors mixed in. This is a hint of sweetness that adds to the fruit taste, and helps balance the hops. There is some bitterness present, less than expected for a beer with this much hops. The mouthfeel is effervescent and carbonated without much body. The finish is floral hops and a touch of sweetness.

This is a really tasty beer for someone who likes hops. Too often hoppy beer have a lot of hop taste without any subtle flavors jut hops, this beer has a good hop flavor of fruit and a floral taste. It might be hard to drink too many of these with so much hops, it might become over powering.

#226 Avery - Hog Heaven Barleywine

The bottle mentions this beer has 100 IBU and is made with 2.5 pounds of Columbus hops per barrel or 31.5 gallons. IBU or International Bittering Unit are measured by calculating the Alpha Acid's of hops and amount of hops used. It's pretty complex math, most people rely on computers to do the calculations.

This beer has a old ale raisin smell with a hint of floral hops. The color is dark brown and cloudy, with only a little light passing through. The head pours thick but dissolves quickly.

This barleywine has a mild malt flavor with a light chocolate taste. There is also a good dose of hop flavor with floral grassy notes. A strange earthly, wood or saw dust taste is also present. There is plenty of bitterness to this beer. The mouthfeel is medium full, but not as full as other barleywines. This finish is bitter and dry, with a slight mint taste.

I don't like the saw dust flavor, it might be a sign the beer needs to age more. I would like a more rich malt taste for a barleywine not this slight hint of malt. I don't like this beer.

#225 Liquor Barn Exclusive (BBC) - Sheltowee Hop-A-Lot

This beer is made by Bluegrass Brewing Company and is sold exclusively at Liquor Barn stores a chain of large liquor stores in Louisville and Lexington Kentucky. I got this beer from Brad Mock a reader of the blog and a member of my beer club. Sheltowee is a trail through Southen Kentucky found by Danial Boon, the name means "Big Turtle".

This IPA has a hoppy pineapple smell. The color is a light red with a hint of hazy, might road hazy from having the beer in the car. The head is very thick and sticky with a long retention, substantial pieces of foam remain on the side of the glass after the rest of the foam has gone away.

There is a strong upfront grassy hop flavor with some hints of citrus. There is also an aggressive bitterness drying out the mouth. There is a hint of malt sweetness with the first sip, but it is washed away by the bitter hop flavors. The mouthfeel is medium full giving some body to such a hoppy beer. The finish is dry and bitter with a citrus flavor and a light grassy almost mint taste.

This beer has too much hop bitterness and grass flavors. I would like more malt to round out the hops, and reduce the grassy taste. This tasted like the BBC pale ale with twice the hops and almost no extra malt. I frequently ask for more hops in a beer, but this is a rare occation when I would like less hops.

#224 Arcadia Ales - Imperial Stout (2006)

I got this beer from the same guy I got the Three Floyds from. This is a two year old beer, maybe closer to threes since this beer was brewed. A beer's flavor can mellow a lot over time and oxidization flavors can also grow strong.

This beer has a rich malty smell, with roasted almost smoky aroma. There is also a hint of floral hop smell to this beer. No light passing through this beer, the color is black as night. The head is a light brown, with a light covering of the beer.

Dark roasted malt is the main flavor in this beer. There is a pronounced roast coffee bean flavor with a hint of chocolate. The hops give the beer a slight floral taste, and a touch of bitterness. The mouthfeel is smooth and full. The finish is dry, to the point of leaving the mouth dry.

This is a really tasty beer. There is no oxidization flavor from a two year of beer, this style ages very well. I would guess the hop flavor has lessened over time. I'll consider aging some Arcadia Imperial Stout in the future.

#223 Avery - Salvation

Avery Salvation is a Belgian style golden strong ale. I think I first had this beer years ago at the Peoria beer festival. I liked the beer and told people that if I knew salvation tasted so good I would go to Church more. I drank a lot of beers that night and this is the only beer I can remember, mainly because of the name.

This beer has a strong floral hop smell with a hint of honey malt aroma. The color is a honey yellow with a slight hazy. The head is thick filling the glass, and slow fizzes away to a light covering of the beer.

The taste is malty and hoppy at once. There is some dry biscuit malt flavors, along with a balanced floral hop taste. Being a Belgian style there is a hint of clove spices also mixed in. There is also a slight green apple taste that blends well with the other flavors. The last noticeable taste is some alcohol warmth, common with Belgian beers and a 9% beers like this. The mouthfeel is medium and highly carbonated. The finish is dry with some fruit notes.

This is a really enjoyable beer. Lots of good flavors, well balance malt and hops, I would like a little more sweetness. Overall good beer of a near Belgian style.

#222 BBC - American Pale Ale

More beer from BBC.

This beer has a nice hoppy aroma, with fruity citrus being the predominate smell. The beer is an amber red color and clear. The head is very thick and sticky covering the sides of the glass as it slowly works its way down.

This is a very dry APA, with little to no residual sweetness. Even though the malt does not impart any sweetness there is some biscuit notes. The hops are the strongest flavor to this beer with, floral and citrus flavors and very little bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin and smooth, and the finish is lightly hoppy.

This is an enjoyable beer. I would like some more sweetness, but it isn't a big problem. This is a beer that I would happily drink any day.

#221 Jolly Pumpkin - Calabaza Blanca

Jolly Pumpkin brewery calls their beers artisan because of they use older process of aging in wood barrel, bottle conditioning, and open fermentation. This process are very traditional and can lead to different yeasts and bacteria growing in the beers causing sour beers.

The beer has a yeast and fruit aroma. The fruit smell is more sour apple or lemon or melon than a banana aroma common with a while ale. The color is yellow or gold with no sediment from the bottle conditioning. The head is low when poured in a wide shallow chalice that is common for Belgium beer, but the head is thick and active in a deep narrow pint glass.

This beer has a pronounced sour taste. The sour taste is fruity, like an apple lemonade without much sugar. There is also a strong spice taste, with coriander, allspice, and cloves. The mouthfeel is thin and hardly noticeable. The finish is fruity with a touch of sour and dry.

This is a sour beer I can enjoy. Maybe my threshold for sour beers is lowering, but this is a fine beer. I might not seek out this beer, but I would recommend it to anyone that lime sour beer.

#220 Flying Dog - Garde Dog

This is another beer mail directly from Flying Dog brewery. Garde Dog is a Biere De Garde style of beer, a light French style beer related to the Belgium Saison. This is Flying Dog's spring seasonal beer, and here is a video from Flying Dog about this beer.

This beer has a slight yeast smell, but not much overall aroma. The apprentice is yellow and clear. The head is low, just covering the edges of the beer.

There is a slight malt taste to this beer with some toasted notes. This is a dry beer, a change from other beers with pretty much no sweetness. There is no noticeable hops in the flavor, a change from other Flying Dog beers. There is some yeast taste, but not yeast sediment in the beer. The mouthfeel is thin, and the finish is dry.

I'm not very impress with this beer. Just not a huge amount of flavor, and it is really quite dry.
I guess for a light tasting spring time beer this works.

#219 BBC - Mephistopheles Metamorphosis Tripel

More beer from Bluegrass Brewing Company.

This beer has a fruity cider smell, and an alcohol aroma. The color is a light amber and clear. There is no head on this beer, only a few bubbles from pouring and nothing else.

This beer has a strong fruit taste, more apple flavor than the normal banana taste of some Belgium beers. The Belgium clove flavor is slight, not very pronounced. The mouthfeel is light and smooth. The finish is sweet with some fruit.

This is a nice Belgium with a stronger apple taste than most. I don't think the apple taste is very close to style, but that don't make the beer less enjoyable. BBC does it again.

#218 Young's - Double Chocolate Stout

This beer is a pretty widely distributed beer, available at many grocery stores and most beer stores. The chocolate flavor of this beer comes from real chocolate and the use of chocolate malt, a dark roast malt with chocolate flavors.

The beer has a sharp chocolate liquor aroma, mixed with roasted malt. The color is black with just a slight bit of light coming through. The head is light brown and just thick enough to be noticed.

There is a lot of dark malts used in this beer, the flavor is roasty and malty. There is a slight coffee, almost burnt coffee taste. There is a chocolate taste, but it is subtle, just coming across in the background. The mouthfeel is thin and smooth, reminiscent of chocolate. The finish is roasty.

This is a tasty beer with a ton of dark malt flavors. I wouldn't drink more than over of these every now and then, but it is a good beer.

#217 Schloss Eggenberg (Castle Brewing) - Urbock 23°

In previous posts I have called Schloss Eggenberg by the name Castle Brewery. Schloss Eggenberg has been brewing commercially since 1681 in Austria. Schloss Eggenberg are currently under the Castle Brewery, but I am not sure if that is the same Castle Brewery that falls under SABMiller. Sorry about the confusion.

This beer has an aged beer aroma of raisins or dark pit fruit. The color is a light brown or dark yellow. The head pours well, but does not last long. This beer has some thick bits of sediment floating around.

The taste is sweet with a brown sugar taste, and a bit of raisin flavor. There is also an aged beer, root cellar taste. With all the aged beer flavors there is a slight malted grain taste to add some complexity. The mouthfeel is thick and smooth adding to the sweet tastes from before. The finish is sweet with some alcohol burning.

This is a pretty good beer. I've been less than happy with many offerings from this brewery and this is a nice change. There is a lot of sweet taste in this beer, but it is still enjoyable.

#216 Magic Hat - #9 Not Quite Pale Ale

Magic Hat Brewery is based out of Vermont.

This beer has some apricot fruit aromas and a slight malt aroma. The color is a light brown on orange, defiantly not quite pale. The head pours thick but quickly effetenesses away. There is a nice apricot taste to this beer. The fruit flavor tastes fresh, and authentic unlike some fruit beers that taste artificial. There is a light caramel flavor from the malt and a hint of hop bitterness, enough to make it clear this is still a beer and not just fermented apricots. The mouthfeel is light to medium, just a slight full feeling giving the beer some substance. The finish is fruity. I really like this beer. There fruit taste is enjoyable and it still is recognizable as beer. All fruit beers should beer this tasty.

#215 Heavy Seas - Peg Leg Imperial Stout

Another beer from High Seas.

This beer has a strong roasted malt aroma, with some coffee and bread notes. The color is black with some red highlights peeking through. The head is light brown and pours a slight head that fizzes away quickly.

This Imperial Stout has a huge malt profile, the flavor is malty and roasty. There is a taste of fresh baked bread mixed with a hint of coffee. There is a slight floral hop flavor with only a light bitter flavor. There is a hint of alcohol to the taste to this 8% beer. The mouthfeel is full and rich giving the impression of a "Big Beer". The finish is malty and dry tasting a lot like the beer.

I really like this beer. I am normally happy with the beers from High Seas and I usually like Imperial Stouts and this beer is a perfect example of both. Lots of roasted flavor, and a hint of hops. I highly recommend this beer.

#214 Goose Island - Kilgubbin Red Ale

Goose Island is a Brewery based in Chicago, a town famous for their St. Patrick's Day celebration, to the point of dying their river green.

This beer has a malty grain aroma, smells like a bowl of dry malt. The color is red as expected and clear. The head is very thin, barely noticeable.

The taste of this beer very malty. There is a light roast, grain, almost tea flavor to this beer. This beer tastes like a tea made with fresh grain seeped in hot water. This beer is dry, with almost no sweetness. There is some bitterness from hops, but no other sign of hops. The mouthfeel is thin with some tingling carbonation feeling. The finish still tastes like grain.

This isn't a very good beer, I am not crazy about all the grain flavor. I would also like a bit of hops, but I always want more hops. I won't be seeking out this beer next St. Patrick's day.

#213 Stone - IPA

Stone Brewery has a large distribution base selling at Whole Foods and World Market 2 large national chains. I would guess that Stone Brewery is a lot of people's first introduction to craft beer.

The aroma is hop heavy, with grass and citrus aromas. The color is a slightly hazy straw. The head is thick with good retention.

This beer has a tart hop taste, it is like unripe pineapple or melon. There is some residual sweetness to the beer but no malt flavors. The mouthfeel is thin, and the finish is tart not bitter.

I am not really a fan of this beer. It is a basic IPA with an odd hop taste. Stone's website mentions the use of Magnum and Centennial hops which are high alpha acid hops in this beer, often high Alpha Acids are countered with a low alpha acid hop for taste. I know stone is found in a lot of stores and I would worry this beer might give someone a bad first impression of IPAs.

#212 Arcadia Ales - Jaw-Jacker

Another Fall seasonal beer in Spring. I got this beer from the same guy I got the Three Floyds from.

The cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg aroma's come through clear enough, but there is also a dust or dirt smell. The color is on the orange side of amber, and there is some pieces of sediment floating in the glass. The foam is very thick with good retention and large white bubbles.

The taste and the aroma match pretty closely. There is a nice spice flavor with some malt sweetness that make the beer reminiscent of pumpkin pie. Unfortunately the dirt smell is present in the taste with a dirt taste, this might just be the spices flavors being confused. The mouthfeel is medium to thin. The finish is slightly bitter, the only sign of hops in the beer.

I'm not really a fan of this dirt taste, it might be from ground spices, or from drinking an Fall seasonal in March. It's on the good side of pumpkin spice beers, but still not one of my favorites styles.

#211 Dogfish Head - Fort

Dogfish Head Fort is another example of Dogfish head making unique and extreme beers. This is the worlds strongest fruit beer at 18%, stronger than most wines. This is a limited release beer brewed every December with "over a ton" of raspberries.

There is a pronounced fruit aroma to this beer. The aroma is not clear on what fruit it is, but it is a sweet fruit. The beer has a light red color and it very clear in the start but it gets cloudy with sediment at the bottom of the bottle. . The head pours thick, but fizzes away with a little time.

This beer has a lot of interesting tastes. The taste starts sweet with a honey taste, mixed with some fruit flavors, like a raspberry honey. The flavor continues with a a grassy, leaf taste that might come from some hops, or maybe the fruit. With the finish of the beer being sweet and fruity, with a slight burning feeling. The final burning feeling is the only noticeable taste of the high alcohol in this beer. The body and mouthfeel and full and smooth lending to the honey impression of the beer.

This is a really enjoyable beer, lots of good unique flavors. The taste reminds me a little of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch which I've not written about because I had another beer that day. Be warned that the 18% beer is hard to notice and can sneak up on you. I had a lot of trouble describing this beer and had to take a lot of sips to find the right words resulting in more intoxication that I normally have when writing.

#210 Three Floyds - Alpha King

The name Alpha King refers to the Alpha Acids in hops. Alpha acids are the measurable amount of bitterness in the hops plants, higher the alpha acids are for more bitter the beer. The amount of alpha acids varies between the types of hops Cascade hops had between 5-7% alpha acid and Nugget had 11-14%.

The aroma of this beer is hoppy and fruity with some pineapple aroma. This beer has a red color and is very clear. The head is thick and sticky, but not over whelming.

This beer has a spicy hoppy taste. There is a hint of the pineapple fruit taste, but the hop spice is the most predominate hop flavor. Not surprising there is some bitterness to the beer, but it is appropriate for the hop taste. The malt gives the beer a little sweetness and a slight grain taste, but the flavor is dominated by the hops. The beer has some mild body and mouthfeel. The finish is bitter with a hop flavor.

I really like this beer. There are a lot of hops, but not so much my mouth puckers and the hops have a spicy taste that I enjoy.

#209 Dogfish Head - Chicory Stout

Dog Fish head always does a good job of making different and unique beer. Chicory has a history of being used as a coffee substitute in Europe and New Orleans. The root also has a sweetness similar to a sugar beet, but I do not know if it is fermentable.

This beer has a strong roast malt and roast coffee aroma. The color is black and opaque with just the slightest light passing through. There is no head on this beer which might be to match the style or caused by the coffee and chicory addition.

The taste is malty and roasty almost to the point of smoky. The coffee flavor is pronounced and well mixed with the malt. This stout also has some hop bitterness with a hint of floral flavor. There is an extra flavor that is not recognizable, an earthy sweet taste that must beer from the chicory. The mouthfeel is medium full and smooth. The finish is filled with the unrecognized taste, earthy and mildly bitter.

This is an interesting beer, with a unique Chicory taste. I am glad I only have one bottle of this beer, I am not really interested in drinking a second any time soon.