Full Sail LTD Lager 04

      Apparently this is Full Sail's 4th batch of their Limited Lager Series.  Full Sail's Session Lager is maybe the best lager I've had and I have had a number, a great number. And, with my serious beer commitments it's unusual for me to drink a lot of any one beer.  Anyway, I've just doomed this beer so let's get to it. The bottle cap says " Lorax Trees Decimated ", cool.  LTD pours out a light gold with a lush caramel and citrus hop nose.  Very crisp straight caramel, with citrus herb flavors.  I like this, it's a well crafted lager with nice flavor.  However, I really think they over thought this. It's inferior to their Session Lager by a fair margin.  Now I could knock these back all day.  But why would I when I can buy a superior Lager, from the same brewery, cheaper.  It does not make sense.  It does not make sense.

Sam Adam's Winter Lager

      Blah, blah, blah Sam Adam's, blah.  Well another Sam's seasonal coming off their very good Octoberfest entry.  Winter Lager pours light brown with a spice, mocha and caramel nose.  This very creamy lager has some decent caramels and a lot of spice.  The spices are complex, with orange, clove and cinnamon at least.  However, the spice flavor is a bit too strong, and builds on the finish.  If you keep pounding it, it's fine but when you stop the spice is way too strong.  Well, if you keep at it you get used to it, and it's pleasant enough.  It's alright.  Meh.

Tusker Lager

      Another beer in my International beers series,  Tusker is a Kenyan Lager in a Stylish retro bottle.  It's like you found a beer in a time capsule.  Tusker pours out a clear gold and has a strong sweet caramel nose.  The first sip strikes me as pretty fizzy.  There's basic caramels here and some uninspiring hop.  The body seems kind of weak as well.  It does go down very easy and I can see how nice this would be cold on a hot day.  But,  I'm not that impressed.  The more I get into it I start to find a bit more flavor and enjoyment.  Still, this is a nice little lager if you like them weak, but I don't, so keep it.  Go get some Full Sail Session Lager instead.

Landshark Lager

      Landshark Lager is a Mexican style lager like Sol or corona.  But should we ditch these traditional favorites for this newcomer?  We shall see.  Landshark is light gold with a mild hop and moldy caramel nose.  Well that's a bad sign.  The taste is better than I thought it would be, with nice caramels and some perky hop.  There's a touch off that moldy taste on the finish.  Next we shall try it with the lime.  It's decent with lime, which eliminates the funky nose.  Still there is no way I would pick this over a Sol or Corona.  Not impressed.

The Raven

      I just went to Otakon so I thought I,d look at one of the beers I found up there in Baltimore.  The Raven is a  Special Lager made by the Baltimore-Washington Beer Works.  To me associating Washington and Baltimore is like associating gold bars and cow pies.  Actually, Baltimore is a nice city to visit.  And if you stick to the Inner Harbor you might not get robbed or murdered.  Anyway, It pours out a light amber and has some crisp fragrant hop and rich caramels on the nose.  The flavor is lush with caramel, as well as a touch of herb and citrus.  The hop is very strong throughout in a very good way.  There's a very refreshing crispness and overall balance of flavors.  This is a very good beer for any occasion,  I would try and track some down Quickly.  Next time I'm in B-more I will get some of this on tap.  That would be even better.  A nice beer.

San Miguel

San Miguel is a lager from the Philippines. It's apparently one of the worlds best selling beers. I'd say it's worth giving a try. San Miguel pours out a clear light gold. It's got that skunky hop scent in a good way. This is a very crisp beer with hop all over it. But there's also nice caramel and herb flavors. For all it's massive hop this beer is balanced and remarkably refreshing. This is a really nice hot weather beers. I bet it would go great with tropical cuisines. After a few gulps the hops kind of fade into memory and this becomes a nice drinking beer. You could really pound these. I like this beer, it's definitely fridge worthy. Give it a try.

Spring Tourney Wrap and Vinyl Revisited

I thought about some of the beers that got knocked out of the tourney early and the one I kept thinking of was Vinyl. Vinyl is an amber lager from the potheads at Magic Hat in hippie Burlington Vermont. I wanted to try it again and then rate the best of the Spring beers. Vinyl is a cloudy dark amber lager with caramel and a hint of mocha on the nose. The flavor is very good, strong caramel with a hint of mocha and great hop balance. This is a crisp classic amber lager. This could be a flagship beer for any company. They should put it in their regular line. Of course it has a stupid name and an ugly bottle. I also see no Spring connection, but they smoke so much they might have thought it was Fall. Here is my list, in order, of the best Spring beers I've tried this year.

1 Spring Buck

2 Vinyl

3 Rising Moon

4 Anchor Bock

5 Aprihop

There it is. I know you can find some contradictions here, but after all this drinking is that so shocking. I wanted to add a couple more, but you have to limit yourself to make real decisions.

Magic Hat

Mother Earth Dark Cloud

Straying from the Outer Banks, but staying in North Carolina, we have Dark Cloud Munich-Style Dunkel Lager. Dark Cloud is made by Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, North Carolina. That name leads me to believe they may be hippies. I have to say this is a cool looking bottle, really a work of art. Dark Cloud is also an awesome name. Anyway, who the frick cares, is the beer any good? Well, it's a nice medium dark brown, and it smells lovely. It has toffee and chocolate notes, you know, like a skor bar. There's also underlying hop hints. This is one of those lighter bodied dark beers, but it brings the flavor. There are strong mocha flavors here as well as some hop bite. This is really well balanced. The malts are really shown to their full effect here. Dark Cloud is good to the last drop. I'd say there's good things brewing in North Carolina. See, there did you catch that, that's called lame, lazy, hack writing. Well anyway, I look forward to trying some other stuff from this hippie brewer. I wonder if these heads are friends with the pot addled hippies at Magic Hat.

http://www.motherearthbrewing.com/

Weeping Radish Corolla Gold

As a tonic for the fake Carolina beer I just suffered through, Carolina Blonde, we have a real North Carolina beer. Weeping Radish is the original Outer Banks micro-brewery, making German style beers and foods. Corolla Gold, named after the Northernmost town on the banks, is a classic German style lager. Corolla Gold pours out a slightly cloudy pale straw. It is really lively on the nose, with caramel sweetness and an apple bitterness, very nice. Let's put this to the lips, shall we. And yes, that at least begins to heal the wounds left by that Carolina Blonde. This a really smooth, flavorful lager with a mild hop note riding over top of the nice caramel apple and star fruit flavors. This is just a very solid, lovingly craft brewed beer. I have to say it's much dryer than I expected, and also has nice medium body. just a real nice classic lager. Feel free to get some and gleefully consume it.

#1Sam Adam's Noble Pils vs #8 Otter Creek Spring Ale

The last two match-ups both involve the North-East region. The first is the #1 seed Sam Adam's Noble Pils, a lager Brewed with five different hops. You all know where it's from, but the competition is a bit more obscure. The #8 seed from Middlebury, Vermont is Otter Creek Spring Ale, A German kolsch style ale. The palate cleanser will be, tacos. The pils is a fairly clear gold, while the kolsch is a slightly cloudy pale gold. The Noble Pils has all kind of bold hop nose you can really distinguish a few different hops. The Spring Ale has quite the yeasty nose with a bit of citrus. Tasting the Noble Pils brings a cavalcade of hops, up front, in the middle, on the finish and everywhere else. Shell, Meat, cheese, lettuce, etc, chomp. The Spring Ale is smooth and crisp, light on the hop with a honey, floral flavor. Tacos nice and crunchy.

Let's go head to head with these two contenders.

I really thought the Noble pils was a bit too much. That much hop needs more to balance it out, but it does kind of grow on you. There are at least a bunch of different hop flavors, rather than one overwhelming hop wall, like other hop monsters. The Spring Ale is a really easy drinking beer with nice flavors. It's good, but one sip is just like any other. The Sam Adam's may escape with this one, but just barely. The Pils is just not balanced , but it has just enough intrigue to take it past this kolsch. I can't see how this pils is gonna get very far, it did not deserve this high a seed. This Spring Ale is worth a look if you like kolsch style beers. Noble Pils moves on to the second round to face the surprise #6 seed Garde Dog.

#1 Aprihop vs #8 Vinyl

In our first look at a #1 seed, it's Aprihop versus Vinyl, in the battle of the weird names. The #1 seed is Aprihop, an I.P.A. brewed with apricots from the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware. The #8 seed is Vinyl, a spring Lager from Magic Hat in Burlington Vermont. By the way, I don't read the small print on bottles till after I do tasting notes, so I don't get their ideas of what the flavors are into my head. That said, I read the bottle and there is bizarre rambling about "mysterious melange" and "chaotic Chemistry", but no explanation as to why you name a beer vinyl. They smoke a lot of pot in Burlington. The palate cleanser is 6 hour slow roasted shredded pork. Alright time to actually get to the beer.

They both pour out a dark amber, but the Vinyl is pretty cloudy, while the Aprihop is clearer. The Vinyl has a nice hop bitterness, and sweet caramelized pear on the nose. You can smell the apricot in this Aprihop, but it's not too strong. There's also loads of bitter hop and grapefruit that all balances out nicely. Let'stake a sip, but first some pork. Wow, this does not taste at all like vinyl, it's a very traditional amber lager. There's light malty caramel and really nice balanced hop bitterness. Chomps down some pork. The Aprihop has a significant apricot flavor up front which intensifies before you get this rush of bitter hop. There's also a slight burnt flavor that's kind of pleasant. The Aprihop is amazing with this pork.

Now to get serious with the head to head match-up. First, a bit of pork cooked it's own juices with just a dry spice rub. The Aprihop is really concentrated and delicious, it also serves up a nice 7% abv. Damn, I wasn't supposed to eat another piece of pork, but I couldn't help it. Start again. The Vinyl has great balance it's a near perfect amber lager. I was afraid of this. I gave the Magic Hat an eight seed, because of it's stupid, inexplicable name and the hit or miss nature of their beers. But this is a real hit, it should have gotten a higher seed. However, they did give their beer a weird name, and how is this a spring beer, it tastes more like an Octoberfest. More pork. The aprihop is a bit of a novelty beer, but it goes great with pork. The Vinyl is ahead late in this game. Oh my, the glasses are at the same level, it's going into overtime. Still no winner and the glasses are almost empty. There it it goes the last sip of Aprihop. The winner on a questionable call is Aprihop. There's some controversy here,I really think Vinyl got jobbed. Aprihop moves on to the second round, but of all the losers Vinyl is by far the best, go get some now.

Sam Adam's Black Lager

On to the last of our beers form the Sam Adam's Brewmaster's Collection The ominous Black Lager. Although, since we are talking about corporate America I'm sure it's non-threatening, like say, Will Smith. This pours out a deep dark espresso brown and has a nice smoky mocha, caramel nose. This beer has giant malts, much bigger than an Asian beer, and goes down smooth. There is an up front cocoa that gets sort of overwhelmed by strong coffee flavors that dominate a lingering finish.If you don't like coffee I'd stay away from this one. It's got a nice mouth feel, but it's week on the body. Looking at this stuff you expect a way fuller, richer beer. However, this beer really speaks to me, in fact, it's very well spoken. This is the best of the bunch from the Brewmaster's Collection and a good beer, but this is still not a great beer. Overall, this collection is worth a try, but won't be on my goto list. Next time, we're gonna review a white beer, and see if it's true that you can never go back.

Stella Artois

An entry from our waffle eating cousins across the pond. This pours out a clear gold with a head as white as an Irish girls ass. The nose is almost non-existent, but there is a hint of lemon. Surprisingly full body for such a light looking beer. The flavors are pleasant with some citrus and chamomile. The aftertaste is quite pleasant if somewhat brief. This beer would go well with food as it clashes with nothing. Like the Belgians when the German army rolls through on their way to France. And that's my problem with this beer. It's inoffensiveness offends me. I suppose that this is the Bud of Belgium, which of course means it's way better than Bud, but much worse than other Belgian beers. A proper Belgian monk could piss out a better beer than this. Go ahead and drink this fairly decent beer if you want, but you will offend me and support German aggression.