Longtrail Double IPA

Im a big fan of LongTrail... I haven't had any of their Brewmaster series though...

First Impressions: opaque orange colored... looks a bit like a weisse, smells of orange

Taste: extremely hoppy but not bitter start. Middle is more malty... with some alcoholic tastes... ends a bit bitter.

Overall: good reminds me a lot of dogfish head 90 minute ipa... decent beer, but not great.

Smithwicks Irish Ale

First Impressions: Big head. amber colored.

Taste: Decently hoppy start and balanced well with malt in the middle. not much in the way of aftertaste

Overall: good I'm Impressed, I thought this being a mass produced beer wouldnt be that great. But its impressively well balanced. It doesn't have a ton of different flavors, but what it does... it does well

Troegs Dream weaver Wheat

Troegs makes some good stuff, and I love hefeweissens so I decided to give it a try. First time having it was after a hike... should be a nice refreshing beer.

First Impressions: Nice orange color, smells nicely like a wheat beer.

Taste: slightly sour for a wheat beer, still a bit bready but has a bitter end.

overall: ok/good This is good for an American wheat beer, but its definitely not a German Hefeweisse.

Anchor Small Beer

Ive tried most of the other Anchor beers while at a brewery tour and liked most of them, so I was excited when I came across a bottle of their Small Beer.

First Impressions: lighter then I had expected, nice light amber colored, smells faintly sweet

Taste: hoppy yet lighter ... not in a normal way, almost like a light ipa if something were to exist. has a bit of anchor steam flavor at first, but none of the malt sweetness in balance. ends with a bitter aftertaste.

Overall: ok/good Its not amazing, but looking at the bottle now it says its from the leftover mash from their oldfoghorn barleywine. That explains why it tastes so light, Its still interesting if not the most tasty of brews

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel

Ive never been a big fan of the standard Weihenstephaner weisse, which is their flagship beer... but I enjoyed all the other beer's Ive had from them, so I figured Id give their dunkel weisse a try

First Impressions: dark and cloudy, nice beige head, smells like a regular weisse

Taste: very carbonated start, but smooth and bready. darker near the end, but no real aftertaste

Overall: good/great I like this a lot better then the regular Weihenstephaner weisse, which I find too sweet. Its not as dark as I would expect a dunkelweisse though. It is definitely a well balance beer

Sam Adams Imperial White

I tried this at the Extreme Beer Fest back in February and remember enjoying it


First Impressions: A lot darker then most white ales. Smells great a little orange, a little spice

Taste: Strong and boozy, a bit sweet syrapy flavor at at first then, carbonation followed by more sweet syrapy flavor. Im not tasting anything but that.


overall: poor/ok I remember this being a lot better. As it is the alcohol flavor total overwhelms the rest of the beer, its a shame. It has characteristics similar to a quad(in its sweet boozy flavor), but no where near as much depth

Brooklyn Pennant Ale

Another beer from the Brooklyn mix pack

First Impressions: Light amber colored, small head, not much smell

Taste: Hoppier then expected at first. The middle is balanced with some malt flavor coming through... end if anything is clean, though one could even call it a bit watery.

Overall: ok/good Its good, has strong flavors at first, though the watery end is a bit of a disappointment. I'd rate it similar to a Sam Adams lager

Haverhill Leatherlips IPA

I had another Haverhill beer a while ago and thought it was interesting, so I brought a pack of the IPA to game last week... In retrospect I probably shoulda brought a beer that more people would like

First Impressions: light amber color, not much head, smells hoppy... if I had to guess Id say cascades

Taste: Mostly just hoppy, not much malt to balance it out, but also not as strongly hoppy as say stone ipa. Aftertaste is bitter and not in a good way.

Overall: good Id rate this higher then Harpoon IPA, in that its not watery, and is plenty hoppy, but its definitely not at the next level of Stone, Hop Devil, Celebration Ale

Bens Brown

My friend Ben brewed this beer, its supposed to be a strong brown ale

First Impressions: Dark, almost opaque, smells a bit malty

Taste: Strong hoppyness at first, followed by strong dark malty flavor and finishing with a bitter aftertaste


overall: ok This isn't a horrible beer, but it isn't one of Ben's better ones either. It has strong hops and strong malt flavors but they don't mix well in the case of this beer. It tastes unbalanced

Longtrail Double Bag

Brought a 6er of double bag to my friends Easter dinner on Sunday

First Impressions: light amber colored(lighter then I remembered) malty smell

Taste: hard to put into words, has a nice mix of hops an malt well balanced

overall: good/great This is a damn solid beer, I dont have much more to say about it other then I like it

Heineken lager

Heineken is my Boss's favorite beer

First Impressions: very light colored, smells a little sweet

Taste: small bite at first, then fairly bland, a bit of corn flavor.. similar to PBR, bit of a nasty bitter aftertaste

Overall: ok/poor Its inoffensive, and goes down easy... that's about all it has going for it.. quite nasty aftertaste

Brooklyn Brown Ale

Another beer from the Brooklyn mix pack

First Impressions: dark amber colored, smells slightly malty

Taste: bit of a bite at first for a Brown, followed by a dark malty middle with hints of chocolate, slightly bitter end.

Overall: good Ive never been a fan of brown ales, but this is different, a bit more bite, a bit more interesting flavor. I wouldn't call it amazing, but its a damn fine beer never the less.

Anchor Porter

I sampled this while on the Anchor Brewery tour, but it was so good I had to have more :)

First Impressions: dark, even for a porter, smells slightly of coffee

Taste: Delicious. hoppy bite at first then a creamy malty licoricy middle especially when you let the beer linger in your mouth some amazing flavors come out, not unlike some doppelbocks. Hops linger on your tongue afterwords.

Overall: Great I'm not a huge Porter fan... but this is amazing.... definitely my favorite beer from Anchor.

Ayinger Celebrator doppelbock

Celebrator on BA is the top doppelbock in the world.. and one of the few German beers on their t100. Ive had this bottle in my fridge for well over a month now, and was waiting on the perfect time to try it. That time is today with the successful launch of my company's website in south america(for which I have toiled a lot on recently)

First Impressions: Thick and dark smells malty and of black licorice

Taste: The three words that first come to mind are: dark, malty, velvety. Its very smooth, amazing so. Strong licorice flavor near the end

Overall: Great The ratings don't lie. Without a doubt this is the best doppelbock, and is near Aventius in quality for a strong German beer. Its incredibly strong flavored, but completely smooth at the same time. Doppelbock isn't my top style, but I still love this beer

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!