Kelpie Seaweed Ale

      Well, I have found a number of unique beers lately, but this might take the cake.  It is in fact made with seaweed.  Kelpie pours out a very dark brown with mocha, caramel and a salty tang on the nose.  There's nice big solid mocha flavors, with a rich sweet caramel .  I don't get much seaweed here, but this is a really nice dark beer.  I forgot to mention it does have a bit of nice crisp hop.  Serve this less than ice cold it got better as it warmed up.  I could also start to taste the sea, but in a pleasant way.  This is surprisingly good, I will get this again.  Recommended.  Almost time for the madness that is the Spring Beer Tourney.

He'Brew Rejewvenator

      I loved He'Brew Jewbelation 14 soooo much I decided to try some of their other products.  Rejewvenator is a half Dopplebock,  half  Dubbel brewed with concord grape juice. OK.  Well it's worth a try,  especially the 8.2% ABV.  It pours out a slightly purple dark amber and has herb, grape and caramel on the nose.  Boy the flavors are all over the place.  Of course there's grape and herb, as well as raisin, white spice and yeast.  It's a bit strange,  I'm not sure about this mix of flavors.  As I soldier on I find this pleasant enough,  but this isn't something I would go seek out again.

Abita Abbey Ale

      Abita has been a disappointing brand for me,  but this Abbey Ale looked good.  They also caught my eye with 8% ABV.  Abbey pours out a nice dark amber with a strong caramel, spice and yeast nose.  The flavor is bursting with caramel, coriander, and sort of raisin berry.  The caramels are what shine, even mitigating that coriander flavor I'm not to fond of.  This is a winner, good big flavors, body and booze, what's not to like.  Abita could win me back with nice beers like this.  I say go drink Abbey Ale and be merry.  

Bateman's Combined Harvest

      This is an unusual entry from across the pond.  Combined Harvest is brewed with Wheat, rye, barley and oats.  This should be unique at least.  It pours out a slightly medium gold with caramels and grain on the nose.  The flavor is very sweet with nice caramels and a very distinctive lightly roasted grain flavor.  Kind of hard to describe, but a really pleasing flavor.  It's quite pleasant to drink and has some body to it.  It is a low alcohol beer so it does have one glaring weakness.  This is really worth looking into it's so unique.  I could see this becoming some peoples favorite beer.. Not me,  it's too weak.  Still,  try it.

Lagunitas Gnarleywine

      Lagunitas seems to be one of the only Breweries that make massively hopped beers that are also perfectly balanced.  It's amazing how few others can pull this off.  They are turning in to one of my favorite breweries.  Gnarleywine pours out a red orange thicker than oil.  The nose has strong herb, raisin, caramel, citrus and spice. Wow, that's some strong stuff.  It has gigantic hop flavors,  really huge herbal citrus.  But wait,  there's also tons of other yummy flavors.  That classic mix of dried fruit flavors, big caramels, spice, and your herb and citrus.  Very tasty and the body on this is titanic.  Add in the nice 10.6%ABV,  and you've managed to balance out that cascade of hop,  a whopping 75 IBU's.  Full Sail managed to completely ruin Bump in the Night which much less hop.  Once again Lagunitas has made another really good beer, well worth trying and cellaring.  Well played.

Diamond Knot Brown Ale

      Diamond Knot is another Washington State Brewery,  and I hope they are as good as The Pike or Scuttlebutt.  Knot Brown pours out a cloudy light brown with a nice caramel,  mocha and light citrus nose.  The flavor is terrible with very sour citrus, burnt mocha and a weak body.  I have to stop here this tastes like it has spoiled and I hope that's the case,  cause this is painfully bad.  I will try another one later and if it's this bad Diamond Knot will be cursed to eternal damnation.

The Pike Naughty Nellie

      The Pike, out of Seattle, has only failed me once,  and that was a good try.  This is their Golden Artisan Ale, which sounds nice.  Nellie pours out a very cloudy straw,  and has citrus, caramel and a touch of herb on the nose.  Boy,  there's way more hop pop than I expected.  Very crisp,  with nice sweet caramels.  A hoppy flavorful ale, kind of basic,  but that's OK if it's well crafted.  I do think there is a bit too much herb on the back end that messes up the aftertaste a bit.  Not one of their best,  but worth giving a try.

He'Brew Jewbelation

      I've never had He'Brew but I have had one of their Coney Island Brand.  This is their 14th anniversary beer in a nice big bottle with a startling 14% ABV.  You had me at 14%.  It was only 5 bucks too.  Jewbelation pours out like oil, black and heavy.  The nose is multifold, strong mocha, prune, other dried fruits like cherry cranberry,  and a hint of herb.  The flavor is equally complex.  Among the flavors are strong mocha, prune, massive burnt caramel, smoke and other fruits, it's just amazing.  This is so thick and rich a massive beer.  Oh yeah there's some hop in there as well.  This is a great beer, it's like an extra dark super barleywine.  This giant beer isn't for everyone,  like big pussies, but it's one of the best I've ever had.  Search it out if it's well worth it.  But don't look for it in the Total Wine in Sterling, cause I went back and bought the rest.  This would be a great beer to cellar.  Awesome.

Full Sail Sanctuary

      After the total debacle that was Full Sail Bump in the Night,  I wanted to try another Full Sail beer to get the suck out of my mouth.  Please restore some of my faith in your brewery.  Oh yeah this a Belgian Style Dubbel.   It pours out copper with a weak honey, caramel and a bit o citrus nose.  There's a surprising hop presence, it's quite crisp but a bit fizzy.  Lots of honey and caramel flavors with a decent medium body and a pleasant bit of alcohol.  It's not bad although it took a little while to warm up to then I really started to like it.  A nice beer that restores a little of my faith.  But it will take more than that Full Sail.

Sierra Nevada Porter

      I hope I can cleanse the suck out of my mouth from the Full Sail Bump in the Night.  This should be pretty safe, a nice porter from Sierra Nevada.  I'm sorry I'm gonna have to skip this.  I started drinking it and I can still taste that awful Bump,  F U Bump in the night.  I swear I'll do this beer another time.  This is a first.

Full Sail Bump in the Night

      I love Full Sail they have made great beer after great beer.  This is a Cascadian Dark Ale, whatever that means.  It pours out a light brown with a strong citrus herb nose,  way too strong,  on the nose.  I think there's a touch of mocha in there somewhere.  My first impression is terrible, what the hell is Full Sail doing.  I'll keep trying.  It stays equally bad as I try and choke this trash down.  Finally I have to pour most of the bottle down the sink.  I was really looking forward to another good beer from Full Sail,  and this is a massive disappointment.  One of the worst beers ever.

Mission Street Brown Ale

      Since I can find no website for this I assume it's another Trader Joe's label.  Mission pours out light brown with lots of caramel, light mocha and a touch of herb.  It has some nice citrus herb up front, but boy there is no flavor.  The body is shockingly weak,  this is mildly flavored water.  I was going to continue,  but this is so lame and awful.  A big loser.  Oh,  I see Beer Advocate gave it a B,  that is so insane and absurd.  No credibility.

Southern Tier Krampus

      Because this is called Krampus it must be a Christmas Beer,  but it just showed up in my store a little while ago.  Strange.  I had to try this cause Krampus is an excellent name for a beer.  Last time I had Southern Tier I was saying I hated them, and I used the words, terrible,  wretched and putrid. I hope this is better.  It pours out a medium gold with a massive herbal hop nose.  Oh no.  The first sip is awful.  Just a massive sledgehammer of painful herb.  I will keep trying to see if I can find other flavors.  It gets somewhat better when you get used to it, especially when the 9% ABV kicks in.  However,  this still sucks giant balls.  Southern Tier should drown themselves in barrels of this swill they call beer.  I hate them more.  Die.

Trader Joe's Hoffbrau Bock

      A Trader Joe's product, which usually means it 's pretty good.  Hoffbrau pours out a clear gold with a caramel, citrus and herb nose.  It brings some caramels with a lot of citrus herb.  It's also very fizzy with a nice sweetness.  Really over carbonated in an annoying way.  This is a solid bock,  not exciting,  but a nice beer.  Worth a try,  but there's a lot better bocks out there.  Probably find that out in the Spring Tourney.

Blue Dawg Wild Blue

      Blue Dawg, got that name sucks,  brings us a Blueberry Lager.  It pours out insanely purple with a strong Blueberry soda nose.  Yeah.  And it is in fact just an alcoholic blueberry soda.  It has no beer like qualities.  Now I think it's a very nice beverage.  One you should give a try, especially if your a wuss that loves fruity girl drinks.  I don't know where this hides its 8% ABV, you can't taste it.  This would be great stuff to get girls drunk with.  I prefer every other blueberry beer I've tried to this, cause they were beers.  Still, an interesting beverage.

Lagunitas Pils

      Lagunitas brings us a Czech style Pilsner, Pils.  I like Lagunitas, they are the only ones who seem to make staggeringly hopped beers that achieve perfect balance.  Pils has sweet caramel on the nose and pours out a clear medium gold.  Wow, Pils is nice and crisp with very nice caramels, and great mild herb and citrus hop flavor.  Also notable is the 6.2 % ABV,  which gives it a nice presence in the mouth.  This is a really nice beer that I think would drub any actual Czech Beers.  Which would be a good idea,  American VS Czech.  Maybe I'll do that after the Spring Tourney.

Cow Fight Final: The Beat Down in the Barnyard: Bag VS Hand

      Long Trail's Bag destroyed The Thunder while Left Hand crushed The Caster.  Now the final powerful struggle between these two courageous killer cow competitors commences.  Bag has a big body nice complex flavors, although there's a touch of an off flavor on the finish, maybe.  The Hand brings those big mocha flavors and a nice touch of sweetness.  That's a weaker body on this warrior though.  Maybe Hand can get a finesse win.  The Bag steps up again with that great mouth feel and honey alcohol vibe.  Bags flavors even stand up to the big mocha of The Hand.  Hands purity of flavor has the edge, but it needs more heft and as always more alcohol.  While the straight flavors of The Hand shine,  The Bag brings a lovely complexity with its caramel, honey citrus and herb flavors.  While both of these cows are fierce fighters The Bag throws a vicious blow to the tenderloin sending The Hand to the canvas.  The Bag steps on the throat of his fallen foe, ending it.
      While both of these beers are good the Double Bag is the one I would hands down recommend first.  It's interesting flavors, superior body and of course it's 8% ABV,  make it a winner.  This is one you need to try,  I will get more soon.  Although with the Spring Beer Tourney coming up I don't know when I'll find the time.

Cow Fight 2: Milk Stout Mayhem: Lancaster VS Left Hand

      Lancaster produced a very nice Winter Beer,  while the last time we saw Left Hand they were over hopping some Pale Ale.  Here we have two milk stouts we will call The Caster and The Hand, in a one on one, bone crushing cow conflagration.  First up in this titanic struggle for cow dominance is The Caster.  Caster brings a sweet and sour flavor with nice light mocha.  A pleasant flavor to be sure, but the body has the stature of Verne Troyer.  The Hand has a bit of that lactose sweetness, but lacks the sour note of The Caster.  What it does have is more traditional big stout flavors of mocha and coffee.  Also, The Hand has some weight behind him unlike his opponent.  The Caster has a unique flavor and it's a pleasant enough fellow.  However, in a fight, The Hand has much bigger flavors and a bigger body.  The better to crush the Caster in it's steely grasp.  The Hand wins easily by submission.

Cow Fight: Moo Thunder VS Double Bag

      Everyone Knows that cows are vicious animals always looking for a good scrap.  Just work with me here.  Due to the violent and unpredictable nature of cows, I thought I would take some cow themed beers and have them fight to the finish.  First up is Butternuts Moo Thunder, truly a fear some name, versus Long Trail Double Bag.  A fearsome name for a different reason.  What guy doesn't fear ending up with a double bagger.  Thunder is a farmhouse stout and Bag is a strong ale.  Let's begin with, Thunder versus, The Bag.
      The Bag struts out citrus herb hop through to the finish, and caramel, jam, honey and a hint of yeast.  The flavors are nice, but what sets apart The Bag is it's big full body.  That almost syrupy thickness that feels so nice in the mouth.  Next up is Thunder with a heap of vanilla, some mocha and a bit of that earthy farmhouse flavor.  Very nice, but Thunder has the body of Stephen Hawking.  Very weak for a stout.  The Bags substantial flavors and powerful body sweep away the stout flavors with but a sip.  Another pull on Thunder brings its flavors to the fore.  The Bag is strong, it stomps on the puny  Moo Beer.  Bag Crush.
      The Thunder on it's own might have been pretty good, the flavors are nice.  It just was like water next to Double Bag.  The bag has everything, flavor, crisp hop, body, balance and most importantly, lots of alcohol.  The Bag reigns triumphant.

Heavy Seas Siren Noire

      Oh,  Heavy Seas you produce such good beers,HERE and then utterly undrinkable garbage, HERE and HERE.  So to get back to just mediocre they need a winner.  Of course,  Imperial Chocolate Stout, sounds like a winner to me.  Noire, of course, pours out black as night with a staggering amount of chocolate on the nose.  There's nice hop bite all around strong chocolate and mocha flavors. This has a heavy body with a buttery quality to it.  The chocolate flavors have amazing depth and quality. I could see how some would complain that it's not that beer like, being more alcoholic chocolate.  I would disagree, I think there's enough hop here to bring it into the realm of beer.  I loved Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but this is way better.  This is great, the chocolate lover will adore this.  One of my favorites,  although this is not an easy drinking beer, more a dessert.

Scuttlebutt Amber Ale

      Scuttlebutt just appeared in stores around here and I really liked their Winter Beer.  This would be their Amber Ale.  Amber is the perfect all-purpose beer.  Good in any weather.  Flavorful, But not to strong for those pussies who don't like big beers. Not too big, not to little,  just right.  Scuttlebutt pours out a cloudy amber with massive sweet caramel, slight herb and citrus nose.  This is a nice crisp amber with gobs of caramel.  It also has a nice hop bite with a little citrus herb tone.  Nice balance, classic flavors,  a winner.  Perhaps, not as good as Duck Rabbit's or Full Sail,  but worth a look.  A classic done well.