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