Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin

Let's take a break from the world of stouts and try something very appropriate for the first day of Fall.  Pumpkin beers are about as Autumn as you can get.  Many people, as far as I can tell, look forward to the pumpkin beers as much as they do the colorful leaves and crisp, comfortable evenings.  The problem is, I've never really been one of those people.  While I'll have a pumpkin beer here or there, I've never been one to seek them out.  They've never particularly stuck with me.  I tend to partake of my pumpkins in pie form.  So, I'll say right now that I don't have too much of a frame of reference for this particular beer.

You'll remember the review I did of Shipyard's Smashed Blueberry awhile back.  Smashed Pumpkin is another in Shipyard Brewing's Pugsley's Signature Series, their line of big beers.  Did I like their take on pumpkins as much as I liked their take on blueberries?  Let's find out, shall we?

The beer pours a "light coppery orange" according to the bottle.  You know they wanted to say that it poured a light pumpkiny color.  A tall, pale orange-ish head sits atop the beer, just begging to be smelled.  To me, so much of this time of year is connected with smells.  Smashed Pumpkin is no exception.  Getting my nose right into the glass, while carefully avoiding actually inhaling foam, I immediately smell spices...nutmeg for sure and perhaps cinnamon?  The rest of the smell is, well, I don't know how to describe it, but all I can guess is that it is the pumpkin.  I think pumpkin is so intrinsically linked with nutmeg and cinnamon that I can't quite recall what it smells like on it's own.

The taste is where I start to be a little out of my element.  Don't get me wrong, the taste is great.  The pumpkin and nutmeg stand front and center.  A nice hoppy crispness is present, but graciously takes a secondary role.  The 9% alcohol doesn't hit you over the head.  This really is a very tasty beer.  Where I have a problem is...I don't know if this is better or worse than some of the other good pumpkin beers out there.  I have absolutely had worse.  There are beers out there that just taste like the spices or they're sickly sweet.  Smashed Pumpkin is quite nicely balanced.  Not too sweet, not too spicy, seemingly just right.  But, I just can't say it's the best out there.

Let's see if I can wrap this all up.  Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin really is a tasty pumpkin ale.  Is it the best out there?  I have no idea.  Is it the best I've had in my very limited pumpkin beer career?  I'd say it certainly is.  If you're a fan of this style of beer, I think it's certainly worth a try if you can find it.  If you're much more of a pumpkin beer connoisseur than I am, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.  How does it compare to others you've had?  Are there others I absolutely have to try?  I'm giving Smashed Pumpkin an A-.  While I'm not normally a pumpkin beer guy, I will certainly get this one again!

Founders Breakfast Stout

OK kids, have a seat and I'm going to tell you a story...

Once upon a time, there was a brewery by the name of Founders Brewing Company.  They created a magical elixir and dubbed it Breakfast Stout.  Many other breweries made beers that they thought were better.  They were wrong.  And beer lovers lived happily ever after.

Yeah, that was a crappy story.  I'm not much of the fairy tale type.  What I am, though, is a fan of big beers.  I've said it before.  I don't want to drink a 30-rack of swill and get drunk.  I want to sit around and enjoy a couple high quality brews.  I want something that makes my taste buds somehow grow vocal chords and say "wow".  Breakfast Stout is one of these beers.

My first experience with Breakfast Stout (and Founders themselves) was several years back at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston.  While their other beers were all excellent, Breakfast Stout was in a league of its own.  It was something more than any stout I had ever tasted.  Everything about it was amped up.  How, you ask?  Well, let's dissect it.

First, the bottle.  How can you resist a bottle with a chubby kid eating breakfast from a Founders bowl?  Sure, this has nothing to do with the beer inside, but they really do have some amazing artwork on their labels.  The label itself does give you a hint as to what you're in for.  The description of the beer...DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COFFEE OATMEAL STOUT.  Did I need all caps?  Yes, I think I did.  Read it again.

I wish you could smell this beer through the internet.  It smells of smooth, rich coffee (they use Sumatra and Kona coffee...good stuff).  It smells of rich, dark chocolate.  It smells of roasted malts.  Hops?  Not a chance with those other smells.  As you can see, it also pours with a beautiful chocolatey head.

The taste?  Oh, the taste.  Wow.  In the words of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."  That coffee smell...it's front and center in the taste as well.  It's not bitter coffee, it's smooth, rich coffee.  The chocolate?  Yeah, it's here too...intense, semi-sweet chocolate.  It's no secret how well chocolate and coffee play together.  Here, that fact is taken to the extreme.  The label mentions 60 IBUs and 8.3% ABV.  The 60 IBUs is middle of the road in terms of hoppiness in a strong stout like this.  They don't have the oomph to overcome the other flavors (I can certainly taste them though), but I guarantee I would notice if they weren't there.  They balance out the richness of the beer.  As for the 8.3%, you don't taste the alcohol, and remember, this is something you just have one or two of in a night.

Wait, what about the oatmeal?!  OK, when I created this blog, I said I wasn't going to use snobby-sounding words like mouth-feel.   Welllll...it's time to mention mouth-feel.  Oats do amazing things to beer.  Due to their protein and lipid content (I actually had to look this up), they increase the viscosity and smoothness of the beer.  This leads to an enhanced mouth-feel (how the beer feels in your mouth).  Breakfast Stout feels like it coats your mouth.  It's a wonderful thing indeed.

So, do I really need to sum things up?  Founders Breakfast Stout really is the stout I judge all others by.  Are there better stouts out there?  I've had a couple I put evenly on par with this, but they are few and far between.  Oh, and did I mention that they also make a couple special versions of this?  Kentucky Breakfast Stout (aged for a year in bourbon barrels) and Canadian Breakfast Stout (aged in bourbon barrels that have been recently aging maple syrup).  If you find a bottle of Breakfast Stout, promise me you will buy it and give it a taste.  You shall not be disappointed!  This amazing beer gets a definite A+ in my book!  Cheers!!!

Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout by Southern Tier

Each time I peer into my fridge, searching for the next beer to review, it's an exciting hunt.  Sometimes I grab one I've tasted before.  Sometimes I pick one that I've been wanting to try, that I bought specifically to review.  Other times, like tonight, I happen upon a beer I completely forgot I had bought.  Tonight's beer, to be enjoyed by yours truly for Stout Week, was brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company.  I'm not sure where I thought Southern Tier was from, but I certainly didn't think it was Lakewood, NY.  The Southern in the name threw me...but that's neither here nor there.  Anyway, if you've never had any of their beers, I highly recommend you check them out.  Southern Tier makes some seriously tasty beers of all kinds.  Not remembering when I bought this, I can't guarantee it's still in the stores, but if it isn't, peruse their other beers.

Tonight I have a stout for you coffee lovers out there, Southern Tier's Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout.  I don't know about you, but just the name makes my mouth water.  Imperial Stout AND coffee?  Excellent.  While many stouts have coffee flavors to them, which come from the types of malts used, there are ones such as this that are brewed with actual coffee beans.  The experience is completely different.

Jah*va pours with a beautiful frothy tan head, which lingers nicely.  One whiff tells you this is a coffee stout, and one sip confirms it.  This is a huge beer.  Alcohol tips the scales at 10.6% (though you don't taste it that much...it just hits you after awhile).  The flavors are intense (but wonderful).  And it is a seriously viscous elixir. 

It seems silly to describe the flavor more, but here it is...coffee coffee coffee...with a bit of dark chocolate thrown in for good measure.  There are hops in their, but they're completely overshadowed.  They no doubt take the edge off of some of the richness, but not by a lot.  But really...coffee.  I'm a huge fan of coffee and dark chocolate and beer, so a coffee stout is always a good thing in my book.  Obviously, if you're not a fan of coffee, this isn't for you...not that you would probably even give it a second glance in the store.

My final words are this:  If you like coffee, stouts, and beers which combine the two, this is definitely worth checking out.  Southern Tier's Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout gets an A in my book.  Cheers!!!

Moo Thunder Stout by Butternuts Beer & Ale

Tonight's installment of Stout Week is brought to you by Butternuts Beer & Ale.  You'll remember that several weeks ago I reviewed their PorkSlap Pale Ale.  I wasn't overly impressed.  But, a friend pointed out that their stout was much better.  Enter...Moo Thunder!  Seriously, look at the picture below.  These people know how to market their beer.  I must say though, marketing can only get you so far.  The stout will have to beat out their pale ale if I'm going to try other styles.

As with all of their beers, Moo Thunder comes in a graphically fantastic can.  While they still make up a severe minority of the beers  at Julio's Liquors, their aluminum presence is growing.  I hope to some day be able to do a side-by-side comparison of the same beer in a can and a bottle and decide for myself, once and for all, whether cans affect the taste.

This stout pours a deep, dark brown, letting only the slightest amount of light through.  Getting your nose right down to the fluffy tan head rewards you with roasted malt melded with chocolate.  This is quite promising based on smell alone.

The taste?  In a word...yum.  Like the smell, the taste is deep, roasty and chocolatey.  While many stouts have both a chocolate and coffee flavor, I only taste dark chocolate here.  It's very rich, but not too rich.  Their website says they use lactose sugar in making this beer, to add to the body and mouth feel.  I have no idea if that's really the case.  All it leaves me wondering is if someone who is lactose intolerant could drink this?  Yes, these are the places my brain goes. 

I must quote part of their description on their website.  I'm really starting to like these people!  "Unlike a true bovine it has a malty, roasty aroma and a dry finish but no tail or teats, and leaves no unsightly cow pies laying around the yard for you to step in." 

What I can tell you with all certainty is that Moo Thunder is an excellent chocolatey stout.  Butternuts has redeemed themselves in my eyes.  Moo Thunder is a keeper, gets an A- from me and will no doubt make it into my rotation again.  Cheers!

6288 Stout from Tuckerman Brewing Company

In case you haven't figured out by now with this blog, I like big flavors.  I like beers that make themselves known.  Sure, sometimes on a hot day, when you need something really refreshing, a less assertive beer can be the way to go.  Most of the time, though, I go for something more akin to a meal in a bottle (or can...or tap).  Logically then, stouts are up near or at the top of my various beer lists.  Stouts are as much of a meal in a bottle as you can get.  They also often have some of the deepest flavors.  IPAs and the like can be much more assertive, but the flavors that show up in a stout are, in my mind, more complex and interesting.


To start off my self proclaimed Stout Week (might last longer...no clue how many stouts I have in the fridge), I opened an old favorite, 6288 Stout from Tuckerman Brewing Company.  I happened to stumble across a 4-pack of 6288 at McKinnon's Meat Market in Salem, NH.  They have a surprisingly good beer selection, especially for a supermarket.    I wasn't even looking for this, as recently I had been wondering if they were even still producing 6288.  I felt like I hadn't seen it in years.  Then there it was, right there at toe level!  As soon as I got my basket low enough, it just jumped right in...really...you should have seen it!

For those not familiar with the White Mountains of New England, Tuckerman Brewing is named after Tuckerman Ravine, and 6288 Stout is named after the height of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the northeast.  Further, part of the proceeds from 6288 Stout actually go to support the Mt. Washington Observatory.  Drink a beer and support science.  How can you lose?!  As a side note, if you're ever in Conway, NH, check to see if the brewery is open and go for a visit.  It's not a big place, but the people are great, the samples are always tasty, and did I mention it's a brewery tour?  Why wouldn't you want to go?

According to their website, 6288 Stout is brewed with 5 types of malt, along with American and French hops, and is bottle conditioned for 3 months.  You're probably asking yourself "Self, are those all good things to have when it comes to beer?"  While it obviously demands some serious skill from the brewers, the answer is definitely yes, yes and yes in this case.

6288 Stout pours jet black with a good size tan head.  That head disappears fast though.  Not really a problem in my book, just an observation.  While many stouts have huge coffee or chocolate smells, this beer smells of malty goodness.  It's a wonderful roasty, grainy smell.  Maybe you'll pick up a bit of coffee or chocolate due to that roastiness, but I just smell wonderful beer.  The use of the 5 malts probably lends itself to that nice even roasted smell, but it definitely leads to the richness of flavor.  This is a deep, dark beer.  Those roasted malts are the main flavor.  The hops are a bit noticeable, but they mainly help balance out the richness.  Nowhere that I can find do they say what the alcohol content is, but this is not a hard hitting beer.  It seems to have a good, average alcohol level.  I think what really helps this beer though, is the bottle conditioning.

Bottle conditioning involves letting the beer continue to ferment through one of various different processes inside the bottle.  What does this do?  Well, when it comes to flavor, the beer tends to get somewhat smoother and the various flavors meld together better.  From what I've read, the yeast, as it ferments more sugars, basically counteracts and disrupts some bad chemical reactions that happen in beer once its bottled.  A nice side effect of that is that bottle conditioned beers also last much longer.  If you see that a beer is bottle conditioned, there's a good chance you can age it rather well.  You never really know what you'll get, but some beers just get better and better with age.

Really, when it comes down to it, 6288 is a very solid stout.  You won't be disappointed in the least, if you're a fan of stouts, and I bet you even go back for a second...or third...or fourth.  This excellent example of what a stout should be, gets an A- in my book.  Go grab a 4-pack while it's still available.  You'll thank me.

Stout Week!

My beer situation is getting out of hand.  Solidly half of my refrigerator is beer now.  Wait, did you think I meant that first sentence was a problem?  Of course it's not!  But, it is making it tough to decide what to taste and review next.  So, I've decided to group some things together.  By nature of the fact that I just cracked open a stout with dinner, I'm now going to review a few stouts in a row.  It's a tough life, but someone has to do it.  On tap tonight...hmmm...not the best phrase in this blog.  Out of the bottle tonight is Tuckerman Brewing Company's 6288 Stout, an old favorite of mine.

Shipyard Smashed Blueberry

Happy International Beer Day everyone!  Yes, apparently August 5th is International Beer Day.  I figured it made sense for me to post a review of a very special, unique beer to mark the beginning of this momentous 24 hour occasion.  Cheers!

After hearing several mentions of this beer, I finally decided to pick up a bottle of Smashed Blueberry from Shipyard Brewing (Portland, ME).  Like many of my recent beer purchases, I found this in the Beer Cave at The Drinkery Shop in Londonderry, NH for $9 for a 22oz. bottle.  The bottle looked promising enough, all blue, like a blueberry.  Read the description on the bottle before buying?  Of course not, why would I do that?  This is just a blueberry beer...what's not to understand?

Prepare to have your definition of "just a blueberry beer" blown straight out of the water.  I decided to read the description on the bottle as I was putting it into the fridge.  "Hybrid between a Porter and a Scotch Ale?"  "Notes of coffee and chocolate?"  "Aroma of blueberries."  The last one makes sense, but the first two...what the?  I'm sure you've all had blueberry beer before, the crisp, fruity ale that may even have some blueberries happily dancing up and down in the glass.  While often rather tasty, that kind of beer, this is not.  This is a 9% a.b.v. monster of a beer!

As you can see from the picture, this is an extremely dark, porter-like beer with a tasty looking tan head.  The head fairly rapidly drops down to just a very thin layer, but that layer seems to stick around forever (or at least as long as it's taking to drink the beer).  Does this smell like a sickly sweet, blueberry bomb of a beer?  Not at all.  What you do smell is a hint of blueberry mixed in with the nice malty aroma of a good dark beer.  I actually question whether I'd identify this as a blueberry beer just by smell if I hadn't seen the bottle.  Editor's note: I do have allergies though, so possibly ignore anything I'm saying.

OK, let's get to the meat of this thing...beer of this thing...whatever.  This is an immensely flavorful beer!  When you first taste it, it tastes like a good quality porter...dark and flavorful with bits of coffee and chocolate passing over your now happy taste buds.  The Scotch Ale part of Shipyard's description is less obvious.  Scotch Ales are a type of strong pale ale...slightly hopped, somewhat higher a.b.v and full bodied.  A lot of that gets lots in the porter, which is itself a flavorful, lightly hopped dark ale, but there is a nice balanced hoppiness to this beer and the 9% a.b.v. doesn't hurt matters either.  The alcohol isn't overpowering, but believe me, you will start to feel it as you work your way through the bottle.

As I made my way through this beer, I marveled at the full, balanced, rich flavors.  I was thoroughly enjoying myself.  One thing kept going through my head though...where are the blueberries?  This isn't like a typical blueberry beer where the first sip slaps you in the face with blueberry flavor.  But, shouldn't it be here somewhere?  Then something interesting happened.  I stopped drinking to start typing this and then it hit.  I didn't have a giant aftertaste of beer in my mouth, I had a pleasant, slight aftertaste of blueberries!  Where did it come from?  Really, it is quite interesting.  Like a lot of flavors in beer (and wine and food in general), I think the blueberries are adding to the richness of this beer.  They are just taking a back seat to the other stronger flavors here.  In the end though, they make themselves known, if only subtly. 

I must say, I'm really impressed with Shipyard Smashed Blueberry.  It's not at all what I expected, and I'm happy about that.  I didn't want "just" another blueberry beer, and I certainly didn't get it!  For those who don't like fruit beers, this will change your mind (at least for this one beer).  The blueberries in here complement the beer, they don't overpower it.  You absolutely won't be disappointed.  Shipyard Smashed Blueberry definitely gets an A in my book!

Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing

Let me apologize right up front to those of you on the East coast, because you can't get this beer unless you travel to the left coast, or find someone nice enough to do that for you and bring one back in their luggage (how I acquired one).  Even though it's limited where you can get this, I still had to review it, because Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Elder has really become the Godfather of American double IPAs.

First things first, what is an American double IPA?  Well, as is often the case, we Americans just couldn't leave well enough alone.  IPAs (India Pale Ales) were originally brewed as a beer that could survive the long sailing time from Europe to India (or further).  They rely on the fact that hops are a natural preservative.   Add more hops to your beer and it will stay drinkable longer.  Also, hops add so much of the flavor to beer and in an IPA, they are front and center.  Like any ingredient, the exact variety of hops can lend various different flavors to a beer...spicy bitterness, fruits, pine, etc.  I won't claim to be able to pick out some of the specific flavors, but if you can't pick out the wonderful, hoppy bitterness, you need to get your taste buds checked.  What a double IPA comes down to is just a hopped up IPA.  They generally have higher alcohol content and they definitely have a LOT more of that  excellent hop bite.  There are also triple IPAs, which, as you can guess, are even more intense.

Just a note here...I am a hop-head.  I love that hoppy bitterness...the stronger the better!  I love it when my beer bites back and leaves my taste buds begging for mercy.  Sure, a few intensely hopped beers and your taste buds are useless for the rest of the night, but I don't drink to get drunk.  I drink beer for the flavor.

On to this particular version...Pliny the Elder.  Pliny is 8% a.b.v. and 100 IBUs (International Bitterness Units).  More IBUs = more bitter beer.  Some say that an IBU of 100 is about the limit of what you can taste, but I don't subscribe to that school of thought.  This beer is certainly up there on the IBU scale though.  The bottle label has some great advice for these types of beers. "Respect your Elder: keep cold, drink fresh, do not age!  Pliny the Elder is a historical figure, don't make the beer inside this bottle one!  Not a barley wine, do not age!  Age your cheese, not your Pliny!  Respect hops, consume fresh!  Does not improve with age!  Hoppy beers are not meant to be aged!  Keep away from heat!  If you must, sit on eggs, not on Pliny!  Do not save for a rainy day!  Pliny is for savoring, not saving!  Consume Pliny fresh, or not at all!"  But wait, I thought you said IPAs were meant for long travels?  Yes, but they don't taste the same at the end.  That wonderful bitterness dissipates over time, removing the reason for drinking them!  Barley wines, stouts and various other ales can often age beautifully, smoothing out and subtly changing the flavor, but not an IPA.  It would just be a waste of beer and time.

As you can see in the picture, this beer pours a beautiful golden hue with a frothy white head.  The head doesn't linger forever, but there are some nice remnants hanging around for quite awhile.  The smell is, in a word, intense!  The beer has a very strong grapefruit smell.  Don't worry, that's not a bad thing...just one of those flavors that hops can add.  Simcoe hops have that strong grapefruit smell and taste, but I can't say for sure what they used here.  The grapefruit comes through in the taste here as well.  Make no mistake, if you're not a fan of strong, hoppy beers, this isn't for you.  If you are, though, this is one of the best examples of a double IPA out there anywhere.  One of the great things about this beer is that, at least for me, I don't feel like I completely destroyed my taste buds.  While drinking it, it was as intense as I like, and it is just an amazingly full flavor, but it fades nicely away.  It's balanced (as balanced as a double IPA can be) and drinkable, which isn't often the case with this style.  Beer Advocate has it rated as the #3 beer in the world...yes, the world.  While I don't agree with that, it's best example of a double IPA I've ever had. 

This beer easily gets an A+ from me.  There's nothing bad to say about it, except for the lack of it anywhere where I can buy beer.  If you end up in CA or some of the neighboring states out there, and you see Pliny the Elder either on tap or in the bottle, drink up!  You won't be disappointed!

Quercus Vitis Humulus from Otter Creek

Let me start by pointing out how many times I had to check the label of the Otter Creek Brewing's Quercus Vitis Humulus bottle to make sure I spelled it correctly.  I'm still not positive it's right.  Oh well, on to the beer.

This beer will henceforth be known as QVH for simplicity's sake.  The abbreviation though is where the simplicity ends.  QVH is a part of their Imperial Series and with good reason.  This is a big beer.  This is a beer that makes you sit up and take notice...and immediately become a bit confused trying to figure out what you're tasting.

The description on the label calls this a "French-Oak-Aged Ale brewed with French Grape Juice, Fermented with Champagne Yeast."  Yeah, this is a unique one.  I originally tried this at the brewery in Middlebury, VT.  I obviously liked it, because I came home with two bottles of this (plus several other excellent Otter Creek beers) and sometime recently procured yet another bottle.  It still confuses me a bit though, and that is part of why I love beer.  Subtle temperature changes or different food I've eaten or who knows what else have made it taste a bit different each time.  I think I uncovered a bit more tonight though.

QVH pours a nice golden color with a moderate, slightly off-white head that disappeared after a few minutes.  The smell is that of a powerful, big beer...barley-wine-esque.  As a matter of fact, it began life as a barley-wine.  For the uninitiated, barley-wines are a style of heavy hitting ale.  They tend to have high alcohol contents and a richer, more viscous feel and taste to them.  This fits the alcohol bill at 12% a.b.v.  It also has that familiar viscous feel to it, but in a way I'm not completely used to with these types of beers.  I can only guess that there is some difference introduced by the fact that they brew a barley-wine, then add grape juice, then ferment it again with champagne yeast.  I won't begin to guess at exactly what is going on in there, but Otter Creek got something right here for sure.

Sure, it's a big beer, it's high a.b.v., it's viscous.  So what.  How does it taste?  This beer isn't very bitter at all to my taste buds, but it sure is rich.  I was sitting with a friend, enjoying this brew, and think I figured out what the underlying current is in this beer...it's that grape juice.  It's there, but in a much more concentrated form than you're normally used to.  It adds sweetness and texture at the same time, with  some subtle grape flavors for good measure.  But, don't think that it tastes like grapes.  This is first and foremost a beer, albeit a beer with kind of a flashy personality.

I'm going to give this beer a B+.  I've had better barley-wines, but the grape juice gives it something the others don't have.  This is a very solid beer from Otter Creek.  For something a bit more mainstream and more easily found, definitely try their Copper Ale, Alpine Black IPA and Stovepipe Porter.

PorkSlap Pale Ale: Farmhouse Ale

For awhile now, there has been a slowly growing trend among some small brewers...cans.  Yes, I know you can get the big macro-brews in cans, so what's the big deal?  Well, that's just it.  Cans had always been for the big boys.  Bottles signified higher-class beer.  Crappy beer comes in cans, right?  Right?  Not anymore!

There are quite a few beers out there now in cans.  Today I'm introducing you to PorkSlap Pale Ale from Butternuts Beer & Ale.  I admit it, I'm a sucker for marketing.  Look at the can and say the name.  I saw it at The Drinkery in Londonderry, NH and just had to get it.  Various friends had mentioned it in the past as well, so it was time for me to give it a try.

PorkSlap pours a gorgeous amber color.  The soft white head disappeared almost as quickly as it showed up.  And then I smelled it.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad smell...it smelled just fine.  I just couldn't identify what it smelled like.  So I tasted it.  Nope, still couldn't identify the smell or taste.  I admit it, I had to look this one up.  Ginger!  OK, it all makes sense now.  This actually isn't the first pale ale with ginger I've had.  It lends a nice, refreshing crispness to the beer, as well as an unexpected taste.   As for the hops, this is pretty standard for a pale ale.  The hops are there, but they're not overpowering. 

So, what do I think of this beer?  It's interesting.  It seems like it would be great on a hot summer day.  I won't lie.  It's not very high up on my list of pale ales.  That being said though, the novelty of the can with the pigs and the ginger in the beer make this one worth trying.  Who knows, you might absolutely love it!  As for me, I'm giving it a B-.

Founders Porter: Dark, Rich & Sexy

Yes, my fellow beer lovers, I'm reviewing another porter tonight.  Why?  Well, it's twofold.  One, I was in the mood to drink another porter.  Two, in my last post I had mentioned that I had only tasted a couple porters better than Firestone's porter.  Not to totally ruin the surprise, but this is one of them.

Founders Porter is, not surprisingly, brewed by Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids Michigan.  If you're not already familiar with them, I suggest you get acquainted.  My favorite brewer, Founders, doesn't make a bad beer, as far as I am aware.  They have a knack for taking a good beer and pushing it just a bit further.  As this blog goes along, you will no doubt see more reviews of their beers.  I picked up this little bottle of joy at Julio's Liquors in Westborough, MA. As far as I know, it's not distributed currently in NH, where I live, so I have to travel a short distance to MA for their beers.  It's worth the gas money, trust me.

So, the beer itself.  Right on the bottle, it says Dark, Rich & Sexy.  There you have it, the review is done.

Oh, you want more information?  Fine.  Let's start with the visuals.  When they say dark, they really mean black.  Light seems unable to pass through this beer.  In my book, that's a good thing.  There is a towering dark tan head that slowly shrunk down to a manageable size and now seems content to just stick around through the whole drinking adventure.   

What does it smell like?  Well, in the previous review I said that porter smelled like a porter should.  This one...even more so.  You can smell a bit of chocolate, but the main smells are those wonderful roasted malts.  I would enjoy a candle that smelled like this...or maybe cologne.

The taste is downright incredible.  You taste the chocolate.  You get a mouthful of rich, roasted malt.  You get a healthy, balancing bite of hops.  Make no mistake, this is a "big" beer.  With the 6.5% a.b.v. and the huge flavor, you're not going to be downing bottle after bottle after bottle of this (OK, maybe a couple).  This is absolutely a beer to be enjoyed slowly while sitting around with friends, contemplating the troubles of the world...or perhaps discussing the best way for Wile E. Coyote to finally catch that pesky roadrunner.  If you can convince yourself to slowly savor this, pay attention to how it changes as it slowly warms up.  When it starts cold, it's a very crisp porter, but as it warms, it really smooths out and ups the flavors a notch.  This, kids, is why some beers are best served at cellar temperature (50-55ish) and not tooth shatteringly cold.  Don't be afraid of beer that is merely cool, not cold.

However you look at it, Founders Porter is possibly the best porter out there today.  At least it's the best I've had.  Don't worry though, I won't give up trying more in search of something even better.  Founders Porter gets a solid A in my book.  Find it, try it and enjoy it.  Cheers!

Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter: Inaugural Beer Review

OK, it's time to really get the party started here.  For weeks, I've been contemplating what exact form this blog would take.  Well, you know what?  It's going to take whatever form it so pleases on any given day.  It may end up sort of random, but hey, I need to play to my strengths.  As I stated in my first actual post, this is supposed to be sort of an everyman's (everywoman's too, obviously) blog.  I love beer...I adore it.  I think it is one of the most incredible and varied drinks in the world.  I'm drawn to a huge range of styles.  I go to beer fests centered around weird beers.  I talk beer with my friends.  I'm a certified beer geek.  In reality though, I don't always quite fit the beer geek mold that produces a lot of the people at, for example, the beer fests.  I don't have one of those ultra-refined palates that can pick out these ultra subtle flavors in a drink.  In fact, I wonder if a lot of the people out there are just making it up.  But, that's neither here nor there.  I don't like using the terms nose and mouth-feel.  My goal is to describe the beers in a way that anyone can understand.  I want you to be able to give it a very quick read and walk away thinking either yes, I want to try it or no, that one's not for me.

Here we go...

Tonight I cracked open a 22oz. FireStone Walker's Reserve Porter that I purchased at The Drinkery in Londonderry, NH.  If you're not readily familiar with porters, they were first brewed in England in the early to mid 1700's.  At their most basic, they're a more robust version of a brown ale and not as big and strong as a stout.  Porters are, in fact, the precursors to stouts.  Stouts were first called stout porters due to being a stronger variant of a normal, run of the mill porter.  They eventually dropped the porter part and just called them stouts.  I won't describe them much more than I have, because, in my experience, porters can be chocolatey, smokey, hoppy, coffee-ey and more.

So, how does Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter fit into the world of porters?  Quite well, I would say.  It's a nice deep brown color with maybe some tinges of red at the edges of the glass.  Sitting on top is a huge, fluffy, tan head that sticks around for a surprisingly long time.  The smell is just as I think a porter should smell.  Yes, to some of you that makes no sense.  If you like porters though, it should make some sense.  This has a nice, balanced roasty smell with a bit of coffee and chocolate.  How about the taste?  Well, read my description of the smell and change it to taste.  This really is an incredibly drinkable porter.  It's only 5.8% a.b.v., so it's not going to knock your socks off.  It has a nice balanced maltiness/roastiness/coffeeness (hey, it's my blog...I can make up words if I want to).

The last part of the taste I have yet to mention is the hoppiness.  For you beer beginners, hops are a flower that is used in the brewing of beer.  Depending on the variety, it can contribute any number of different flavors and/or bitterness/bite.  For full disclosure, I will state that I am a hop-head.  I like very strong, very bitter beers.  I'll always try to describe the hops somewhat objectively though.  This porter, like the rest of the tastes, has a very balanced hoppiness.  There is enough there to give you a little bitterness to fight back against the sweetness of the malts, but it's not intrusive in the least.

Well, in case you can't tell, my overall view on FireStone Walker's Reserve Porter is quite positive.  When it comes to porters, you certainly won't go wrong with this one.  With this being my first FireStone beer, I will definitely go off in search of others.  They seem to know what they're doing.

Do I need to give it a grade?  I know some people want to see cold, hard numbers and figures.  Fine.  I've give this a solid A-.  I've only had a couple porters that I enjoyed more than this one.

Till next time...cheers!

In the beginning...

Soon this will become a place to start collecting my never-ending beer adventures, beer ramblings, and deep thoughts on the human condition...involving beer. 

I want this to be an accessible beer geek blog.  I won't be going into such crazy detail about every little characteristic of a beer.  Frankly, if I did, I'd just be making it up.  I don't have that refined of a palate, and I would venture to guess that the majority of you don't either.  What I do know, though, is good beer.  I can describe it to you in ways you'll understand, and you won't walk away with any doubt in your head of whether you should try it.

So, welcome, sit back, crack open a beer of your choice and let's get to it.  Well, let's get to it when I actually start writing about beer.  It may take a day or it may take a week, but rest assured, eventually there will be real, actual blog posts up here...