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: 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