#336 Brasserie A Vapeur - Cochonnette

There is a fruity aroma to this beer with hint of spice. The color is a muddy brown without any light getting through. The head pours thick, even over flowed the bottle when opening, but has poor retention.

The taste is a little sweet with a slight hint of sour fruit. There is a fair amount of spice in this beer, more flavors than the normal Belgian clove spice. The mouthfeel is medium full with a ton of carbonation. The finish is spice with a hint of sweet.

This is a really tasty Belgian beer, tons of spice but not so much the beer is hard to drink. Just a good flavorful Belgian beer.

#335 Kiuchi - Commemorative Ale

This beer has a fruity aroma, like melon, there is also some spice characteristics to the aroma. The color is brown with a haze keeping light from passing through. The head pours very thick with large bubbles that fizz away in a short time.

The tastes is fruity and sweet, sort like a juice box. There is also some spices, but nothing distinct enough to identify. A little malt flavor is present, but it is smlight compaired to the other tastes. The mouthfeel is medium and full of carbonation. The finish is sweet and fruity.

This is a pretty tasty beer, lots of unique flavors all mixing well. The carbonation is almost over the top, might make this a hard beer to drink very many.

#334 Sam Adams - Summer Ale

This beer has a noticeable spice aroma with hint of lemon. The color is a light yellow and very clear. The head pours medium with some retention keeping the beer covered in foam.

The taste is a little fruit with a nice balance of spice, but an odd spice. The fruit flavor taste more like rotten fruit than fresh lemons. There is some wheat flavor, but it is hidden behind the fruit and spice. The mouthfeel is light and effervescent. The beer finishes with a musty fruit flavor.

I am not a fan of this beer, the spice is strange and the fruit tastes moldy. It's easy to drink if not much attention is paid to the taste.

#333 Boulevard - Zon

There is a distinct lemon aroma for this beer, mixed with a bit of yeast. The color is a pale yellow like lemon aid, with a ton of haze and a few bubbles. The head pours medium and has very little retention.

The flavor is spicy like with Belgian clove, coriander, and some some lemon. There is a bit of residual sweetness, with some wheat flavor. The mouthfeel is effervescent with bubbles. The finish is light and spicy.

This is a delicious beer, great spice flavor and an all around easy drinking beer.

#332 Hite

This is a beer imported from South Korea. Seems to be pretty common in Korea, but that is about all the info I can find without knowing Korean. The company that makes this beer also sells bottled water, so it is assumed the water is very constant.

There is almost no aroma to this beer. The color is a very light straw, almost colorless it's so clear. The head pours very thick, but has poor retention.

The taste lights, with a bit of sweet malt flavor. There is a slight bitterness that is from hops, but is is only slight. This is a really light beer, tastes almost like water. The mouthfeel is thin with plenty of carbonation. The finish is clean, with just a hint of malt.

This is a really easy drinking light tasting beer. Not what I am normally looking for in a beer, but on a hot day this would be a fine choice of beer.

#330 O'Fallon - Whiskey Barrel Smoked Porter (Pappy Van Winkle)

This batch of O'Fallon Whiskey Barrel is made using Pappy Van Winkle 23 yr old Family Reserve barrels. First off this should be more correctly called Bourbon barrel not Whiskey barrel, since the barrels were used for Kentucky Bourbon, but I wasn't consulted in the naming. It is a lucky coincidence that such a rare barrel was used for this beer. O'Fallon brewery was originally disappointed in the old dusty looking bourbon barrels they picked up. After some research and checking the serial number O'Fallon discovered they had a special release barrel that looked old because it had aged so long. It is unclear if O'Fallon will be able to get such special barrels in the future.

There is a strong bourbon aroma with oak and hints of vanilla, the backbone of smoked porter is slightly present in the aroma. The color is black without any light getting getting through. The head pours thick but has almost no retention, quickly there is not foam.

This beer has a complex flavor, the Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is the most pronounced flavor with flavors of oak wood and vanilla found in the bourbon. The smoke flavor from the base beer blends well with the bourbon flavors, there is also some hint of roasted malt from the porter mixed together. The mouthfeel is pretty thin with almost no carbonation. The finish is dry with a lingering bourbon flavor.

This is a really tasty beer, a great mix of bourbon taste with the base beer. In the previous batch I found the smoke flavor to over power O'Fallon's Whiskey Barrel, not the case in this beer. I hope the future batches keep coming out this tasty.

#329 Kiuchi - Hitachino Nest Red Rice

This is an Ale brewed with red rice cultured in ancient Japan.

This beer has an earth grainy taste, like fresh malt, there is also an unfamiliar sharp aroma. The color is a pale orange with some haze. The head pours thick with moderate retention.

There is a fruity flavor to this beer, like fresh peach or apple. There is a tangy flavor similar to a sour beer, but far less, more like a hint of white wine. There is no clear hop flavor or malt characteristic. The mouthfeel is a medium with high carbonation. The finish is light and fruity.

This is a really tasty beer, I am doing a poor job describing the flavors since they are not normal beer tastes. The fruit flavor is really like and enjoyable.