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

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

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: Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Ale

Nut brown ales: somewhere between a pale ale, amber ale, and porter, this style of brew is nice and malty and perfect for chilly-to-cold weather. Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Ale is no different: Distinguished hazelnut malty ale with tastes of chocolate and caramel, this is a great late fall ale.

Light brown in color, which is the first thing one will notice when Fireside is poured into a beer mug, this ale has lots of autumn flavors, especially hazelnut and chestnuts… “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire….” (Thanks Frank!) Highly recommended drinking for anyone who likes the maltiness of a porter and the clarity of an amber; unlike English Nut Brown Ales (Sammy Smith makes the ultimate!) this ale is lighter with more caramel flavors. Perfect for drinking while raking the leaves

Drinkability: 8 out of 10
Flavor: 7 out of 10
Refreshness: 7 out of 10!!!
Smell: 7 out of 10
Price: $6.99 for a 6-pack, right on par for this type of ale; 8 out of 10
Overall: 7 out of 10. Leine’s is great, but doesn’t hold a light to Sammy Smith, but what can one say to a twist-top 12-oz compared to an English pint? There really isn’t a comparison. This is a great American ale that doesn’t try to compete against the English, but rather to re-invent the Nut Brown Ale for the good ol’ US of A.

Monday Beer Review Of The Week: Fuller’s London Porter

This week I am digging into my backlog of beer reviews for a posting, I am pulling out a very memorable beer. Fuller’s London Porter is reminiscent in flavor to that of its well-known style cousin Guinness. Fuller’s has a much deeper and rich flavor of coffee with a dark hopps bitter after taste. Akin to Guinness when Fuller’s is poured is offers a very dark almost black color, whose denser and heavier brew gives a very sweet aroma while poured. This ale is an excellent example of a porter style beer, the depth dark flavor, distinct foamy head make this beer one to remember. Honestly this isn’t a beer I would drink on a daily basis, it is simply too heavy for that and not intended to be, it is meant to be a beer that you sit around a pub or your mancave with “The Boys” watching a game.

Rating:
• Drinkability - 4 out of 5
• Flavor - 5 out of 5
• Refreshness - 3 out of 5
• Overall – 12 out of 15