#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.

#208 BBC - Professor Gesser's Mind-Numbing Ale [IPA]

I'm not sure what making this beer mind-numbing since I can't find the proof listed on the bottle on on BBC's website. With the strong malt taste and knowing that many IPA's are high proof it is a reasonable assumption that this beer is higher proof. The label sure is interesting and would draw me to the beer even if I wasn't drawn to any unique beer.

This beer has a malty brown sugar aroma with only a hint of hops, smells closer to candy than an IPA. The color is a reddish amber and clear. The head is very thick, pouring the beer in the center of the glass causes foam to overtake the glass. The head is sticky with good retention stick to the side of mostly empty glass.

This beer is very malt heavy, with a strong biscuit bready taste. The beer is on the dry side, a surprise after the brown sugar aroma. There is some hops to this IPA giving the beer a fruity grassy taste, with a mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium full and smooth. The finish is fruity with only a little bitterness.

This beer is too malty for an IPA, but I guess it is the closest match for the style. Often I complain that the beer does not have enough malt to back up the hops, but this beer is the other way around. This is a unique tasting beer.