#1194

ANCHOR BREWING COMPANY - Our Special Ale 2015 (Anchor Christmas Ale)

#1193

DARK HORSE BREWING COMPANY - Scary Jesus Rock Star Apricot Chamomile Pale Ale

#1192

LIFT BRIDGE BREWING - Tuned American Brown      The Tuned series of beers paired a Minnesota brewer and a Minnesota band and offered a free download from them. In this case, Lift Bridge was paired with Reckless Ones.

#1191

LAGUNITAS BREWING COMPANY - Equinox

#1190

BENT PADDLE BREWING CO. - Lollygagger Pale Ale

#1189

STEEL TOE BREWING - Collison Course Double IPA        Solid imperial from Minnesota brewer Steel Toe.

#1188

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY - IPA

#1187

NEW HOLLAND BREWING COMPANY - Incorrigible Reserve     "White sour ale fermented and conditioned on oak with a melange of local berries."  Lots of fresh sweet, juicy, and tart blackberries and blueberries in the aroma and flavor. 5hw berries shine. Puckering sourness. I didn't notice much from the oak. Above average and at $5.99 a bomber for a sour, a steal. Well worth trying.

#1186

FAIR STATE BREWING COOPERATIVE - Festbier     Pretty nice Oktoberfest style beer from a Minnesota brewer. 

#1185

SUMMIT BREWING COMPANY - True Brit IPA

#1184

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Ohio City Oatmeal Stout

#1183

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Sharpshooter Session Wheat IPA

#1182

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Chillwave Double IPA

#1181

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Alberta Clipper Porter          Mmmmm, Chocolate and raspberries

#1180

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Lawn Seat Kolsch

#1179

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Holy Moses White Ale

#1178

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - Truth, Justice And The American Ale

#1177

GREAT LAKES BREWING CO. - High Striker Single

#1176

STONE BREWING CO. - Sorry Not Sorry IPA     This is part of their Collaboration Series. "An Imperial Pale Ale brewed with peaches." It has a 9.3% ABV. Are is pretty much straight up citrus hops and not much more. Taste is hoppy with fruity notes, but surprisingly I didn't get much in the way of peaches. Decent IPA, I was expecting more, I wish it was a little fruitier and the peach stood out a little more, but it is still a nice representation of the style. Overall l, another solid IPA from Stone though.

#1175

STONE BREWING CO. - 24 Carrot Golden Ale      Another from their Collaboration Series. "A carrot cake inspired Belgian Style ale brewed with carrots, cinnamon, raisens, & vanilla beans." Aroma is vry nice, it has some nice Belgian yeasts with cinnamon and coriander. Taste is on the sweet side. The spices are up front with some faint raisens and carrot in the finish. As it warms I get more and more of the carrot cake resemblence and enjoy it more and more. Nice beer overall, has lots of potential.

#1174

STONE BREWING CO. - Points Unknown IPA 2015    This is part of their Collaboration Series and is a combination of two beers. "The first was a Belgian style tripel aged four months in oak barrels that originally housed red wine, then tequila. It was then blended at a 1/4 to 3/4 ratio with a freshly brewed west coat double IPA to create this beer." Interesting concept. The IPA part is solid Stone, the barrel aging is hard to pick out. It's there, but it's so faint it's hard to notice. The Tripel gives it a little edge. Very tasty. Unique and very tasty. Keep collaborating Stone, this beer is one of a kind. Lots going on, seems a little more Tripel than IPA, but, oh so good.

 

#1173

STONE BREWING CO. - Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout 2015     This is part of their Collaboration Series. This is version 3.0 or the 2015 version. I know I had 2013 or the first version, but never remember seeing 2014/ 2.0 which is surprising,  as I usually buy any Stone beer I see. "Ale brewed with pecans, wheat & rye, with one quarter aged in bourbon barrels."  Has a strong 13% ABV. Smell is mainly chocolate and coffee with a lot of bourbon and alcohol. Flavor had a lot of roasted malts,  bourbon, coffee and chocolate. I really don't notice anything from the pecans. Definitely some alcohol heat. Pretty darn good, not quite up there with some of the top barrel aged stouts, but definitely worth trying. I would buy again in a heartbeat.

#1172

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - Estate Homegrown Ale 2014    Last of three randomly pulled from the cellar, kind of. I misread the label on this one and thought it said 2011. I like their Homegrown series as all the ingredients are grown on site. Very subtle aroma, a bit of citrus, some floral notes and slight hops. Taste is pretty much a standard IPA to me nothing special, hops seem to have faded a little making it more malt forward. Kind of glad I misread the label, guessing a 2011 would not have aged well.

#1171

GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO. - Demolition    Second of a random three beers pulled from the cellar. This is a Belgian Style Golden Ale with a 7.2% ABV with a bottled date of 05/07/2010. I actually have not had this one too long, six months maybe. Not sure if Goose Island held some back or a local distributor found some in the warehouse. I had never seen it before,  then all of a sudden 2-3 of the liquor stores I frequent had it on the shelf. Still pours with a nice head. Weird aroma,  yeasty with a little sweetness and a hint of some spicy notes. Taste is mainly bread notes with a little lemon and grass. Pretty muted though overall. Drinkable, but nothing outstanding. This might have been sitting around for a little too long. Would love to have tried a little fresher bottle.

#1170

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - 30th Anniversary-Charlie, Fred And Kens Bock   First of three pulled from the cellar. This is a helles bock style beer with a 8.3% ABV from 2010. Still had a loud pop from popping the cork and still produced a nice head when poured. Aroma is really malt forward with a hint of fruitiness and a little honey sweetness. Taste is mostly caramel malts and breadiness. There is almost no hop presence anymore, but it lingers a little. Definitely had some sweetness, but is pretty well balanced. I wasn't really sure how well this would age, as it's typically not a style most people cellar, but I think it aged really well. It was very easy and enjoyable to drink. I would definitely buy another bottle if I ever saw it again.

December 4, 2015

I decided to pick a few beers out of the cellar for the next few new ones. Rolled the dice and came up with 3, so randomly picked 3 out of the cellar as the next 3 to drink. Hope they aged well.

#1169

ODELL BREWING COMPANY - Brombeere Blackberry Gose

#1168

FULTON BEER - Hefe Wheaties       Very hyped, very mediocre.

#1167

SURLY BREWING COMPANY - Todd The Axe Man

#1166

TOPPLING GOLIATH BREWING COMPANY  - PseudoSue      Yep, the hype was right on this one, outstanding beer.

#1165

STONE BREWING CO. - Enjoy By 12-25-15 IPA      As always, the Enjoy By fresh imperial IPAS from Stone are outstanding.  Smooth and we'll balanced and the 9.4% ABV is not even noticeable. I will always pick up the newest one of these when I see it.

#1164

LAGUNITAS BREWING COMPANY - Born Yesterday Pale Ale  (2015 OneHitter Series)

#1163

GREAT DIVIDE BREWING COMPANY - Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout

Had a successful search yesterday. Now I just have to decide whether to drink or cellar. Decisons, decisions.

#1162

CASTLE DANGER BREWERY - Fresh Hop Mosaic IPA     Might be one of the best  fresh hopped IPAs I have tried this year. Nice fruity aroma and flavor. Big juicy hop flavor with a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness. Flat out, a great beer, kind of bummed I only bought 2 bottles. If you can still find it, buy it, you won't be dissapointed.

#1161

MANKATO BREWERY - Fresh Hopped IPA 2015

#1160

ALE ASYLUM - Hopalicious

#1159

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop IPA 2015   Always one of my favorite "fresh" hop beers. This is number 4 of 5 this year. Haven't missed one so far.

#1158

TWO BROTHERS ARTISAN BREWING - Heavy Handed Wet Hopped IPA - Chinook Hops

#1157

TWO BROTHERS ARTISAN BREWING - Heavy Handed Wet Hopped IPA - Centennial Hops

#1156

TWO BROTHERS ARTISAN BREWING - Heavy Handed Wet Hopped IPA - Cascade Hops

#1155

BRAU BROTHERS BREWING CO. - Hundred Yard Dash Fresh Hop Ale

#1154

NEW HOLLAND BREWING COMPANY - Hopivore Michigan Wet Hopped Harvest Ale

#1153

ANCHOR BREWING COMPANY - Anchor Winter Wheat

#1152

DARK HORSE BREWING COMPANY - Belgian Style Amber Ale

#1151

UNITA BREWING COMPANY - Jacked B Nimble Imperial Black Pumpkin Ale      Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices and aged in bourbon barrells with a 11% ABV.  Other than the name, no idea this was a pumpkin Style beer. Not notice if Pumpkin and spices in the taste or aroma. I couldn't get past the bourbon. A little alcohol burn too. Guessing this one would be better aged in the cellar for awhile over drinking it fresh.

#1150

ODELL BREWING COMPANY - Oktoberfest Marzen Style Lager

#1149

BALLAST POINT BREWING COMPANY - Pumpkin Down

#1148

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. - Oktoberfest 2015 (collaboration with Brauhaus Riegele)

#1147

BOSTON BEER COMPANY - Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch

#1146

HOFBRAUHAUS MUNCHEN - Hofbrau Oktoberfest