The Spring Beer Tourey: # 4 Harpoon Red vs # 5 RH Mudslinger

      The # 4 seed is Harpoon Celtic Ale, just a classic red.  The # 5 seed is Red Hook Mudslinger.  I get why there would be a lot of mud in Spring, but this is the only brown ale this spring, odd.  Harpoon is orange with nice caramel and a little citrus on the nose.  Mud is light brown with caramel, mocha and floral notes.  Celtic is a standard red with toasted caramel and citrus herb bite.  It's not bad, but not exciting.  Mud is kind of odd, it's a weak brown ale red ale cross, I think.  Caramel, mocha and herb.  I'll keep on and see were it goes.  The Harpoon is decent, but the mud seems a little more interesting.  Neither of these beers inspire me.  I guess Mudslinger is a bit better, but they can both go away as far as I'm concerned.  The Mud moves on.

Winter Hook

      Of course, this is a Red Hook product.  Winter Hook pours out a very orange amber and has a strong herbal hop, caramel and citrus nose.  Heavy on the herbal, citrus hop, but there are nice caramels as well.  This would have done well in the Summer Beer category.  It's a crisp amber ale, not warm and wintery at all.  I can't slam this beer cause I like it, it's just not a Winter Beer.  And as I get to the bottom of the glass I don't like it that much.  Meeeh.

Summer Beers:Beach House vs Rope Swing

Aaawwwww, look at that both these beers have cutesy summer themed names. Isn't that precious. Anyway we have two summer pilsners here, Old Dominion Beach House and Red Hook Rope Swing. Beach House pours a slightly cloudy straw with herbal hop, caramel sweetness and a bit of yeast. Rope Swing is a clear straw with fresh sweet caramel and a tinge of hop on the nose. Now the taste test. Wow, The House has really strong hop, that would put an IPA to shame. This has that huge herbal, pine tree flavor that has ruined other beers for me. No other flavors here, just bitter herb that ruins your mouth forever. Hateful. O.K. The Swing has some hop crispness, but you can also taste some honey, caramel and citrus The hop is more forceful on the finish. Seems balanced and refreshing. Actually, the more I drink The Swing, The House just got poured down the sink, the less I like it. Perhaps The House ruined it for me, but I'm getting an unpleasant aftertaste. The last sips of The Swing and I guess it's decent, but I would never buy it again, there's so much better out there. Well these summer beers have been huge disappointments. Did I mention summer beers generally suck. If you see Beach House shun it like a plague victim. Rope Swing you can merely pass by. Both these beers are out.

#3 Spring Buck vs #6 Copper Hook

Going to the Mid-East bracket we get the #3 seed Dominion Spring Buck versus #6 seed Red Hook Copper hook. Spring Buck is a blonde ale brewed with honey, chamomile, and orange peel Made by Dominion in Dover Delaware. Before Dominion got bought out they were a stones throw from me in Ashburn, Virginia. Copper Hook is a spring ale made by red hook in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The palate cleanser will be bacon. The Spring Buck, even with a slow pour, heads up very aggressively, but calms down to a cloudy pale straw. The copper hook is nearly identical in color but has a normal head. The Spring Buck has a lot of citrus and a tinge of yeast, while the Copper hook is very light on the nose with just at trace of hop and caramel. You know, it's impossible to overrate bacon. Wow, the Dominion throws a lot of flavors at you shifting from tea, to citrus, to hop all with this mellow herb at the bottom. Bacon is really good. The Red Hook has some mellow caramel and I swear, bubble gum, that disappears when the underwhelming hop comes through on the finish. This beer lacks excitement unlike this bacon. Time for the head to head match-up.

The Spring Buck is good stuff, really interesting, and strong. The Copper Hook does seem to be getting a bit better, there's decent body to this beer. The one thing that could turn people off to Spring Buck is it has some mead tones to it as it is brewed with honey. Surprisingly, the glass of Copper Hook is much lower right now but there are two good reasons for that. It's so weak you can drink it like water and you have to pour a bunch down your throat to get any flavor at all. The Spring Buck continually gives you more flavors to contemplate. Wait, must have more bacon. This might be the biggest blow-out so far in the tournament, Spring Buck dominates buzzer to buzzer. After this massive win Spring Buck moves on to face Aprihop in a very interesting second round match-up. Red Hook really needs to step it up next year. Damn you Delaware for stealing my brewery.