FULTON BREWING COMPANY - The Libertine This is an imperial red ale. Aroma is all about the malts; caramel with some nuttiness, a little fruitiness and a hint of alcohol. Taste is very sweet and malty; caramel, fruits and toffee. Nicely balanced, no notice of the alcohol in the flavor. More malty than I was expecting and just a little too sweet for my taste.
AVERY BREWING COMPANY - Out Of Bounds Stout Nice to see Avery with distribution in MN again. Decent regular stout. Aroma of coffee and chocolate. Flavor is the same, roasted malts, coffee and a nice chocolate finish. Pleasant, but nothing remarkable. A little on the thin side, but still a decent enough offering.
GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO. - The Illinois Imperial IPA Excellent 9% ABV imperial IPA. Big hop flavor with a nice citrus aroma balanced with a nice malt foundation. Nicely balanced, the high ABV is not noticed at all. Slightly bitter.
ODELL BREWING COMPANY - Fernet Aged Porter Nice 9.8% ABV porter aged in fernet barrels for this chilly Minnesota night. Nice complex aroma; chocolate, caramel and mint stand out the most. The aging in the fernet barrels gives it some interesting characteristics. Tastes the same, but the mint throws it off a little for me, it just seems Decent effort from Odell, I enjoyed it for the most part, but something just seems a little off on it for me. With some tinkering it seems like it could be even better. I usually love every beer Odell offers, but this one just doesnt quite cut it for me. Still, glad I gave it a try.
AUGUST SCHELL BREWING COMPANY - Arminus Hoppy Pale Lager Interesting beer, not real sure what its trying to be, but its pretty dang good. Nice fruity and floral hop aroma with a nice malt balance. Tastes thw samem Smooth and very drinkable. Nice to see Schells experimenting a little bit. This is a solid beer I would drink anytime.
THIRD STREET BREWHOUSE - Lost Trout Brown Ale Has a sweet malty aroma with hints of toffee and just a hint of fruit. Taste is mostly roasted malts, coffee, toffee and has a nice nuttiness. Nice. Nothing special though, no need to buy again.
NEW GLARUS BREWING COMPANY - Raspberry Tart Another solid effort from New Glarus. Definitely one of my top beers in the "fruit" category. Aroma is of fresh raspberries. Flavor is just raspberry sweet and sour goodness. Has a nice malt background which gives it more of a beer feel. Probably one of the more carbonated beers I have seen. Just a great overall beer, and at 4% ABV, I could drink quite a few of these at any time. I had heard such good things about rlthis beer, and it didn't dissapoint, i'm glad i bought a few extra bottles!
