Beer Review of the Week: Whitsun Ale by Arcadia Brewery

Whitsun is a good wheat beer, with a pronounced wheat body and notes of coriander. This beer reminds of Oberon, but with a much a stronger wheat flavor to it. I really enjoy this stronger base flavor, because this is wheat beer that does not need anything added, which is commonly done with Oberon. It poured out with dark golden color and gave off aroma notes of wheat and orange. One of the drawbacks I found to this ale was the lack of head and lacing, I prefer my ales to have a slight head to them because this keeps the beer colder a bit longer than those with no head, as is the case with Whitsun. Nevertheless, in the end a very tasty beer would be paired well with a nice porterhouse steak, baked potato and some sautéed beans to make a great summer or deep winter comfort food meal.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 4 out of 5
• Flavor – 4 out of 5
• Refreshness – 3 out of 5
• Smell – 3 out of 5
• Overall – 10 out of 20
• Price – $8.99
• ABV – 6.2%
• Style – Wheat Ale

Beer Review of the Week: Flying Dog Road Dog Scottish Porter

The other night my wife and I had dinner with our friends and my friend pulled out a couple of Flying Dog Breweries Road Dog Porters. I really liked this beer because of its unique flavor; I loved the bitter-sweet flavor of this porter. Road Dog has a very dark malt color, which comes from the Black malt, the hops flavor in this beer is understated with the chocolate and coffee notes that give beer a really interesting mellow beer. This would be an excellent beer to pair up with a steak or other grilled red meat.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 4 out of 5
• Flavor – 5 out of 5
• Refreshness – 3 out of 5
• Smell – 4 out of 5
• Overall – 16 out of 20
• Price – $9.99 a six-pack
• ABV – 6.0%
• Plato - 14⁰
• Style – Porter

Monday Beer Review of The Week: Tap Room 21

This week I tried Tap Room 21′s Pale Ale with one of our other reviewers, AlexisArlington which gave us mixed results about the beer. To be honest we had differing views on this beer, I thought it was middle of the road while my colleague thought it was an excellent beer. Therefore, we will dive right into it and let you be the judge of this pale ale. I poured it into a small glass to check color and aroma; I did like the color reddish amber color when it poured. However, it gave off very little aroma and almost no head which tells me two things, it has a weak flavor and will warm quickly. Now the real debate comes in the flavor profile, I thought the flavor of Tap Room 21’s Pale Ale was rather weak for the style, that the hopps and barely should have been more pronounced and that the yeast and grapefruit notes were too forward. However, Alexis really enjoyed those aspects of the beer, “if you are just getting into IPAs this is a good starting point”. This is definitely a good summer beer, but it is not a beer that either of us would sit back with and drink more than one. In the end, it comes down to the fact that each person needs to try it and decide for yourself.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 3 out of 5
• Flavor – 3 out of 5
• Refreshness – 3 out of 5
• Smell – 1 out of 5
• Overall – 10 out of 20
• Price –$7.99 per six pack
• ABV – 5.3%
• Style – Pale Ale

Monday Beer Review of The Week: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat

I have had a couple of different beers and ales by the folks over at Chicago based Goose Island Brewery. They produce a wide variety of ales from their Urban line to heavier stouts, all of the distinct and signature qualities about them that make them stand on their own. 312 Urban Wheat Ale is a very smooth ale with clean distinct wheat base with a aroma of hops and crispy fruit notes. I always enjoy the first sip of this ale as the pungent aromas give you a much fruitier flavor at the beginning, which then transforms to the smooth creamier flavors as progress through the drink. Given the smoothness of this drink, it is a great beer to enjoy by friends sitting around an outdoor dinner and can then progress into the evening. With an ABV of 4.2%, this isn’t a beer that is going to leave feeling heavy or tipsy at the end of the night, but will allow you drink a couple over the course of the night. During the summer and fall months, this would be excellent ale to enjoy with friends with a nice bonfire burning in the background.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 5 out of 5
• Flavor – 4 out of 5
• Refreshness – 4 out of 5
• Smell – 5 out of 5
• Overall – 18 out of 20
• Price – $8.99 per six-pack
• ABV – 4.2%
• Style – Wheat Ale, Summer English Ale

Weinhenstephaner Hefe Weiss Bier

Weinhenstephaner, The World’s Oldest Brewery, Est. 1040

Hefe Weiss Bier

(Yeast) (Wheat) (Ale)

This is a great beer! Upon drinking this ale (I know, it contradicts the name Bier, but it is indeed an Ale), I realized exactly why the brewery has been in operation for 970 years!!! Compared to Budweiser’s establishment of 1876…. Well, 134 years pales in comparison… no pun intended.

This brew threw my taste buds for a loop at first. When I poured it into my glass, it had a nice, fluffy head and dark color. I was truly expecting the dark brew to taste like a dark brew, i.e. porter, nut brown ale, etc. So was I ever surprised when it turned into an exceptionally smooth and light on the palette, not heavy, smoky or sweet. In fact, it was more like a summer wheat ale than a dark ale. According to one of my favorite brew reference sites, Beer Advocate, Weiss Beers are:

“A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The “Hefe” prefix means “with yeast”, hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance. Poured into a traditional Weizen glass, the Hefeweizen can be one sexy looking beer.  Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap … or an insult and something that damages the beer’s taste and head retention.”

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/89

I agree whole heartedly on the lemon (or lime) wedge: Either it’s done to cover up the wheat/yeast flavor (such as when one puts an orange slice in a Bell’s Oberon… For Shame!) OR it’s to GIVE the beer flavor, such as Corona or even (dare I? OK!) Blue Moon.

Weinhenstephaner is most definitely one of those beers that, regardless of the size of the bottle, you ALWAYS pour into a glass; and NEVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES serve it (or consume it) with a fruit garnish.

Drinkability: 10/10

Taste: 10/10 (Yes! That damn good!)

Smell: 9/10

Color: 8/10

Refreshment: 8/10

Smoothness: 10/10

Overall: 9/10

Beer Review of The Week: Left Hand Imperial Stout

The other weekend when the weather up here in Michigan was actually warm for a spell, Gino and I were sitting on the back porch after doing some furniture moving; but I digress. I had a 22oz of Left Hand Imperial Stout in my beer fridge, so we pulled that out and poured out two mugs of it and gave it a try. To be honest, I was quite surprised by the rich and pungent flavor of this brew. The barley flavor hits you first, but then is complemented with a rich coffee taste on the back-end of the flavor profile. With very little aroma your tongue feel as though something is missing from this brew, I prefer beers with an aroma, it helps you to draw out more of the subtler flavors by utilizing multiple senses. Finally the booze flavors hit and in this beer they are actually quite strong given the hearty alcohol content of the imperial stout. I would have this beer again, but I am not sure if I would buy it regular price or wait for it to be on sale.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 3 out of 5
• Flavor – 4 out of 5
• Refreshness – 2  out of 5
• Smell – 0 out of 5
• Overall – 9  out of 20
• Price – $7.99 22oz
• ABV – 10.4%
• Plato -
• Style – Imperial Stout

Beer Review of the Week: Southern Tier Imperial Chokolat Stout

Imperial Chokolat Stout is one of winter seasonal beers produced by Southern Tier Brewing Company. This is a chocolate twist on the traditional imperial stout, Chokolat starts out with a sweet chocolate taste on the front of the palette followed by the full richness of the stout base flavors. The stout’s base has a richness that gives the coffee like taste coming from the barley and roasted caramel brewing mash. Chokolat’s flavor profile gives this beer such a luscious and sweet taste that I would recommend this as a dessert beer. The sweetness would make this stout pair very well with chocolate or vanilla flavored ice cream or the light flavor of  crepe.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 4 out of 5
• Flavor – 5 out of 5
• Refreshness – 2  out of 5
• Smell – 5 out of 5
• Overall – 16  out of 20
• Price – $8.99 22oz
• ABV – 9.5%
• Plato - 195⁰
• Style – Imperial Stout

Michigan Brewing Co. Celis Grand Cru

I got this beer in a 12-bottle variety pack; this pack had a Celis Grand Cru, Celis Raspberry, and two other Celis beers. All four are labeled “Authentic Bavarian Style Ale.” Fortunately for me, there was only one of the Grand Cru. The color was VERY blonde and the appearance was very light and bubbly. In the glass it almost looked like a bubbly wine. Funny how things sort of look how they taste: This beer tasted just like a Chardonnay; very light, yet bold at the same time. It had a full, long finish and bitter aftertaste. I am not a fan.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 2 out of 5
• Flavor -3 out of 5
• Refreshness – 2 out of 5
• Smell – 3 out of 5
• Overall – 10 out of 20
• Price – Part of a 12-bottle variety pack, $19.99
• Style – Michigan Brewed, Authentic Bavarian-Style Ale

Beer Review Of The Week: Dragon’s Milk

This week’s post is one of those “better late than never” moments, hey we have all had times like that. So I was looking around my local beer monger shop and ran across Dragon’s Milk ale, which is part of New Holland’s High Gravity series of beers. This stout style of beer is not your typical stout ale, while it does have the rich dark flavor profile akin to the classic stout Guinness, Dragon’s Milk has a sweet component to it and it is this sweet and rich combination that really builds a layered and complex profile. The richness of the classic malt flavors, combined with the sweetness of vanilla and milk have built a very unique taste sensation. According to New Holland these flavors are then aged in oak barrels in the same way that whiskey is; allowing the flavors to pick up a hint of that sweet oak taste so many of us love in good whiskey. When poured into a glass, Dragon’s Milk pours with a very dark almost black rich color, but does lack the typical stout heavy head and honestly this is my only drawback about this beer, I would have liked to see a bit stronger of a head to keep the cold while I am working on it. Normally, I would recommend a food to pair a beer with however this is one I would recommend drinking on its own, I say this because the complex flavors I don’t think would pair well with most foods, however those of you that are brave might try pairing this with a slightly sweet desert, possibly a canole or crepes.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 4 out of 5
• Flavor -5 out of 5
• Refreshness – 4 out of 5
• Smell – 3 out of 5
• Overall – 16 out of 20
• Price – 12oz Single – $5.00, 22oz Growler – $14.00
• ABV – 8.5%
• Plato - 23⁰
• Style – American Stong Ale

Monday Beer Review of The Week: Franziskaner Hefe-Weisen

This weissbier (German: “white beer”, usually spelled Weißbier) is, as the name predicts, German, and according to German law, weissbeir must be top-fermented, making it an ale. As it is a Hefe-Weiss (yeast white), meaning the yeast has not been filtered out, thus resulting in a very cloudy appearance.

This particular Hefe Weisen has a rich, brown – yet slightly red – color, again, cloudy, and produced a nice, full head when poured into a room temperature glass. The ale was stored in a 50°F (10°C) wine cellar, allowing the flavors to be more well rounded. I also allowed the ale to breath for a bit in the glass prior to tasting it, which was probably quite beneficial.

Speaking of taste, talk about misconceptions: This cloudy ale appeared to be a dark, malty, rich ale; on the contrary, this weissbier had a soft, smooth, fruity taste – I detected a lot of citrus (lemon), as well as banana, clove, and wheat, with subtle hints of pepper. I enjoyed this beer with a bit of extra sharp (yes: processed orange Kraft) cheddar cheese. The milk fats helped the flavor of the beer develop and stick the palette very well. And, yes, it is THAT DAMN GOOD!

Drinkability: 10/10

Taste: 9/10

Smell: 8/10

Price: $6.50

Overall: 9/10