Victory Hop Devil

Heres a beer I started my craft beer drinking with many years ago. I used to get this with BBQ out in waltham.

First Impressions: lightish amber colored, smells floral and citrusy

Taste: Hoppy bite at start, but not as strong as some IPAs. very well balanced hops/malty middle with a bitter ending.

Overall: great Its been a while, and I wasn't sure how this would stand up to my expanded palette, but it shines through. Id have to compare this to celebration IPA... but this is definitely one of the best. Its hoppy, but extremely well balanced

Wachusett Nut Brown

First Impressions: dark amber colored, malty smell

Taste: more of a bite at first then most nut browns, followed by an earthy malty middle, which tastes darker then usual, clean finish

overall: good English Brown Ales are not one of my favorite styles, but this is decent.... definitely better then the last brown I had(longtrail I believe)

Founders Breakfast Stout

After the extreme beer fest where I had Founders Canadian Breakfast stout I decided to try the original non-aged version. Its expensive, 4 bottles for $13. I got some weird comments from the guy at the checkout counter about it.

First Impressions: Dark, no head smells of coffee

Taste: smooth start, but overwhelming coffee flavor all the way through to aftertaste, hints of chocolate

Overall: good This more then any other beer Ive had is the definition of a sipper. Its good, damn good, but this isn't a beer you take a large gulp of. It is a bit one dimensional in its overwhelming coffee flavor, and its definitely not a beer I would have more then one of in a night, but its still good.

Reissdorf Kolsh

Ive been interested in trying a Kolsh for a while now, its not a kind of beer which is found all that much outside of Cologne Germany.

First Impressions: straw colored and clear, not much smell

Taste: clean, crisp, refreshing. Not much bite at first, slightly tangy corn middle and clean ending.

Overall: good. This is the quintessential summer beer. Light, refreshing and yet has a good flavor. I'm only drinking it a few months too early

Erdinger Pikantus weizen bock

Picked this up yesterday... I think weizen bock is my favorite style of beer, so might as well try em all :)

First Impressions: Dark, real dark for a weizen bock, smells wheaty and sweetish(like it should)

Taste: Very Interesting. Strong flavor at first a bit like a doppel bock but very forceful, which fades into a very ephermeral middle, which lingers a bit in the aftertaste.

overall: great Of the 3 weizen bocks Ive tried(Pikantus, Aventius, Vitus) all are vastly different and all are great. This has the most interesting mouth feel of about any beer Ive tried. It slams you at first then turns very ephemeral... I like it

Anchor Brewery Tour

Last Monday while visiting Molly in Cali, we took a tour of the Anchor Brewery, which I highly recommend to anyone who gets the chance. Its only on week days and only by reservation.

They start off giving you a little bit of history, then show you around the brewery(including these cool copper kettles where they brew all their beer from. Afterwords there is free samples ~6oz each of 6 different beers. We tried the Summer,Steam,Liberty Ale, Porter, Bock, Barley Wine.

I enjoyed the Liberty Ale and Porter the best, while Molly liked the Steam and Barley Wine

Afterwords(1 pm on a monday) we decided to walk up and down some steep SF hills before lunch, which turned into a singing session about said hills and finding bathrooms with restaraunts around them(and vice versa)

A good time was had by all!

Ommagang Chocolate Indulgence Stout

I had this on Saturday with my friend Zach at the start of a night of barhopping(yes something I rarely do) This is the last of the Ommagang gift pack I got from my brother for Christmas

First Impressions: Dark, thick, slight chocolate smell

Taste: while cold... Sour at start then bitter chocolaty middle, ending crisper then most stouts. As the beer warms up the bitter middle flavor mellows out and becomes much chocolatier.

overall: good/great At first I wasn't much of a fan.. too much bitter not enough chocolate.. but this beer got much better after warming up a bit

Troegs Nugget Nectar

Ive heard about this on BA a lot as an amazing beer... recently Troegs started distributing to the Boston area so I had to try some... Its expensive $12 for a 6er.

First Impressions: light amber colored, smells floral

Taste: Hoppy, but not really all that bitter. Very strong hoppy bite, turns a little citrusy in the middle... with a slight bitter aftertaste.. but not much

Overall: Great. This is a great beer, no doubt it lives up to the hype. It reminds me a bit of the Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner... in that its really hoppy, but not all that bitter at the same time. First Imperial Amber Ive had... and I'm impressed

Opa Opa Red Rock Ale

Another post party free beer in the fridge

First Impressions: Dark for an amber, very dark

Taste: mellow earthy malt flavors, little bit of a zing at the end, followed by slightly bitter aftertaste

Overall: good/great I'm impressed. This was not what I was expecting and yet it was really good. Its a lot earthier then other amber's Ive had... and I like it. Its not perfect but for the style pretty damn good

Sierra Nevada ESB

Got this in Berkeley California. Sierra Nevada calls it an Early Spring Beer(seasonal) I had heard decent things about it.

First Impressions: cloudy, but not as light colored as a weisse. Smells... standard

Taste: slight bite at first, and bitter through out, with a hint of a brown ale at the end

overall: good. This is a good mix of styles , American hops and English malt. I can definitely taste the English style here. Its not my favorite, but its interesting and good

Dogfish Head Aprihop

Was at the beer store the other day.. taking way too long to pick out a new beer to try.. and this is what I came home with, "A serious IPA brewed with real apricots" as it says on the bottle

First Impressions: amber colored, smells like apricots.... slightly

Taste: sourish bite at first and sourish middle, which leaves... can you guess it a slightly sourish aftertaste in the back top of my mouth

overall: ok This is an interesting beer... and that's what Dogfish Head does... make interesting beer. My opinion though is that this isn't all that great, the sour apricot flavor doesn't go that well with the bitterness of the hops imo

Schneider Weisse

According to the bottle:
- This is the first German hefeweissen
- Its by the same brewer who makes Aventius
- Its twice the cost of the divine Hacker Pshorr weisse

Needless to say... This beer has lot to live up to.

First Impressions: Darker then any weisse Ive seen, almost looks like a dunkel weisse. Smells like a weisse should though.

Taste: starts out classic weisse, with a big wheaty flavor, turns a bit bitter then ends clean... but has this weird, slight metallic/ slightly burning(but not in a bad way) sensation in the left side/bottom of my tongue its really weird...maybe that part of my tongue is more sensitive today.. I dunno

overall: good This is one of the most unique weisse's Ive tried. Though it is the original, Id say its not as good as Hacker Pshorr, Paulaner or Franziskaner

Trois Pistoles

I picked this up after hearing that Its similar in style to Trader Joes Vintage ale(also made by Unibrou which is one of the best Belgian Brewers outside of Belgium).

First Impressions: Dark and cloudy, thin head. Smells kind of like a weisse

Taste: bit of a bite at first, more then I would have expected probably due to carbonation. But then evolves into a slightly sour malty middle, strong hints of black licorice that flow into the aftertaste

overall: good/great This is a solid dark belgian ale. It tastes great, and hides its 9% alchohol well

Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat

My father brought this beer to the cabin over the weekend where I went skiing with my parents and cousin Jenny. It rained on the drive up to the cabin.. so skiing the next day was pretty icy. The day itself was amazingly beautiful though


First Impressions: Nice opaque orange color. Smells like orange and a little spice

Taste: bit of an American weisse taste, with a fair amount of orange in there.. kinda weird and fruity tasting. Significant orange aftertaste.

Overall: ok Nothing special here, but nothing bad either. Its not a bad American weisse, though it definitely doesn't stand out either. It is incredibly drinkable though... I could see it being decent on a warm summer day(unlike the snowy 10 degree day we have now) Is is significantly better then the last Leinie I had, which I think must have been their honey weisse(it was incredibly sweet)