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.