St Bernardus pater 6

I got my self a St Bernardus gift pack(the 6,8,(dubbels), tripel, and 12(quad) along with a chalice) after reading good reviews of each on BA, and noticing in the liquer store that the gift pack with 4 beers and a glass was less then the cost of buying the 6,8,12 individualy. Im not the biggest Belgian beer fan, but Im warming up to them, so this was an opertunity I didnt want to miss out on.


First Impressions: Dark Amber, and thick. Smells like slightly sweet.

Taste: Malty with a bit of a zing.. but not in a hoppy bitter way, not too sweet(which is a common problem I have with belgian beers), and a ghost of a bitter aftertaste.... Its there but its almost unperceptive.

overall: Great This is one tasty beer. Its balanced well, This is probably the best dubbel Ive had.... though my next beer to try is the St Bernardus 8... also a dubbel

Weihen Stephaner Korbinian

I had a taste of this at the Bad Movie night a few weeks ago, and was intrigued enough to get a bottle of my own to try. Weinstephaner is one of the best Bavarian breweries(even if I dont care for their flagship hefe weisse) as well as being the oldest brewery in the world at 968 years old.... In 32 years Id love to visit their brewery for the 1000's anniversary.

First Impressions: Dark but translucent, smells of malty licorice.

Taste: Darkly malty. A little bite of hops come through at first though. The licorice flavor comes through near the end, but its not overpowering.

Overall: Great. The first 2 doppelbocks Ive had were from victory and Sam Adams, and both I disliked for having too intense a flavor of licorice. This though is nicely balanced. The licorice still is there, but its adds to the flavor instead of overpowering it. Quite good indeed.

Longtrail Hibernator

Hibernator what a name for a cold winter night.

first impressions: pours with a nice head, dark amber colored.... bottle says it is unfiltered, but only looks slightly cloudy, slight sweet smell, but not much.

Taste: In a word.... Malty, has a slight bitter bite, but its really the dark malt flavors which define this brew. aftertaste is a hint of bitterness.

Overall: good Another solid beer from Long Trail. This reminds me a bit of an octoberfest, though according to beeradvocate its a Scottish ale

Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA

Just drove back from NJ with my friend Abi(where I was home for christmas. Was a long drive... time for a beer :)

First impressions: Big head, lots of carbonation. Nice floral hoppy smell

Taste: hoppy bite at first, but not too strong, after that gets slightly watery, not much in the way of malt balance, slight bitter aftertaste.

overall: good This is a good standard IPA, probably better then harpoon, but no wheres near as good as Stone IPA

River Horse Belgian Freeze

Nerf wars are a common occurrence around my house at Holidays as you can see.

First Impressions: Very dark, smells strong, alcoholic

Taste: strong dark malt start which turns a bit bitter at the end

overall: poor Its an interesting flavor in a weird way, but not one I would consider "good". I doubt Id have this again.

Anchor 2008 Christmas Ale

Christmas eve, I had this at my parents house, my dad and brother both liked it.

First impressions: Dark, like a porter, has an interesting aroma of spice.

Taste: interesting, sour start, a little bitter but its only slight, then a bit of spice near the end

overall: good This is an interesting beer, for a porter or stout, this doesn't really taste like one with its weird sour flavor in the beginning. Its not bad, just not something I really enjoy. I do recommend trying it though

Victory Golden Monkey

First Impressions: dark yellowish color, smells slightly sweet, but the most particular thing about this beer is the noise its bubbles make, it sounds like rice crispies. And the head lasts for quite a long time.

Taste: Belgian in a word: Strong, sweetish, but balanced, slightly bad bitter aftertaste

overall: OK Im not a big belgian tripel fan, so I don't love this beer

Flying Dog DOGtoberfest

Its a bit outa season for Octbober fests now, but Ive had this around in my fridge for about a month, I picked it up in the DC area while visiting my brother and some college friends. Flying dog has impressed me with most of their beers, so while so far I have been unable to find a good US made octoberfest, I have high hopes for this

first impressions: smells nice and malty, dark amber colored

taste: not much bite, starts out darkly malty, and turns a bit sweet at the end, no real aftertaste

overall: great This is definitely my 2nd favorite Octoberfest(right after Hacker Pshorr) The flavors go quite well together. Id say it is slightly less strong of a taste then the hacker pshorr, but it does beat out paulaner and hof brau, which says something

Julius Echter Hefeweisse

I picked this up on a whim when getting some other stuff. Id had it a few years ago before I was really into weisse's, and remember it being quite good.

first impressions: nice opaque weisse color, smells like many great bavarian weisse's, hint of banana and spice.

taste: slightest of bite at first, followed by a wheaty maltynesss. no aftertaste.

overall: good Id call this great, but It does seems slightly weaker then a franziskaner or hacker pshorr, or maybe Im not as much into weisse's as I used to be, regardless this is still and a good beer.

Sam Adams Imperial Hallertau Pilsner

This is one of Sam Adams Extreme beers, and definitly the most easy to find. Its probably their hoppiest beer, though unlike most American IPA's, this uses all Bavarian Hallertau hops(hence the name) which are used more often in milder beers(sam lager for example)

first impressions: dark amber colored, doesnt have much smell, definitely not the floral bouquet you would expect from a beer labeled "an intense hop experience"

taste: very very interesting. Its hoppy alright, but really not bitter at all at least until the aftertaste. its overwhelmingly hoppy, but not in the classic IPA style at all, and lacking most o the bitterness you associate with a hoppy beer.

overall: great. I am quite impressed, This is probably my favorite Sam Adams beer. Most of the others I find decent, but nothing Id write home about. This on the other hand is. Its definitely unique in flavor and style. It has a slight bad bitter aftertaste, but that is heavily overshadowed by the rest of the beer.

Sam Adams Triple Bock

So this post isn't so much a review as a story.

A few days ago I was reading beer advocate, and there was an interesting article about Sam Adams Triple bock, and how people either hated it or loved it(usualy hated it with very interesting and vivid stories about their trying it, which piqued my interest.

A little more research told me that it is the beer which started the Extreme Beer industry back in the 90s. There were only 3 batches of it brewed, in 94', 95', and 97' and it led to many other micro breweries experimenting and trying new techniques. Ohh yeah and its 17.5% ABV.

so little to my surprise when down last night at the davis sq liqueur store getting a gift for my brother, I found 2 bottles, hidden away in the back of their specialty section. I picked up one.

Later that evening though I was thinking... I shoulda picked up the other bottle too, as if nothing else this beer has a lot of history attached to it, so I could drink one and hang on to the other.

The next day I head back to the store about an hour after it opens, only to find that another patron over in the specialty section, with the last bottle in his hand. I was crushed as I probably missed it by a minute or two.

After leaving the store, I decided to try the ball sq store, as they have a decent selection, and their owner had mentioned a while ago that they even have sam adams utopias(the successor to the triple bock) So I get to the store, look arround a bit, was about to go ask the guy, when I spy a bottle of triple bock in the meade section, away from the beers..

so now I have 2 bottles of this minimum 11 year old beer.

Brooklyn Lager

After reading about Brooklyn Brewery in a recent Newyorker article, I decided to try out their flagship beer. The label calls this a pre prohibition style lager. So I assume this is supposed to be how bud and other beers tasted before prohibition.

first impressions: amber colored, nice floral smell

taste: hoppy for a lager, but not that bitter(except for a bit as an aftertaste) The hops are definitely balanced out nicely by the malt.


overall: great. This is not at all what you would expect from a lager, and it's delicious and bursting with flavor. Definitely one of my favorite american lagers.

Weyerbacher Slam Dunkel double dunkelweizen

I had this at the American beer fest this past June and I remember enjoying it a lot, so after last weekend trying the weyerbacher double IPA, I decided to find their double dunkelweisse and give it a shot

first impressions: dark and opaque, strong smell which I cant quite place other then to say its dark.

taste: bit of a bite at first but that turns into something else, dark and licorice flavored, but mostly just "dark" and kinda skunky late - aftertaste.

overall: poor the dark nasty taste kinda kills it for me, its just not good. This is a very interesting beer I think I the bottle I got might have gone bad, as I distinctly remember this being better.

Weihenstephaner Vitus weizenbock

first impressions: nice orangy color, smells like a standard German hefeweizen

taste: smooth, strong hefe-weisse flavor. little bit of spice flavor, but sweet.. not much hops, clean finish

overall: Great this is an amazing beer, definitely my favorite weizenbock. Its strong and tastes like it, but its also incredibly smooth

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

So this beer came from my brother's place down in Maryland. Hes not a beer drinker, but he brought this back to jersey with him after it was left at his place by a friend.

First Impressions: Amber colored, small head, smell of spices sorta like a punpkin pie.

Taste: slight bite at start then turns malty with some spice, and then finishes slightly bitter.

overall: good. I havent been a fan of spiced beer before but I think my tastes have changed after this and the harpoon winter warmer which I liked. This overall was decent, and the bitter finish was nicely paired with the spice.