Longshot lemon Pepper Saison

This saison is the last of the Sam Adam's Longshot beers. This one should determine if this sixer is worth seeking out. It's a light gold with a white head. The nose is lemon zest, yeast and fruit. It sure doesn't taste very lemony or peppery. I guess there's some citrus, a little hop crispness and the yeast flavor. The hop comes and goes, but this odd flavor crops up that's like pepper feet. I'm not a fan of this beer. It starts out kind of refreshing, than the odd flavor kicks in and I check out. I will not be seeking this out again. Overall, it's hard to recommend this six pack. I really like the Old Ben Ale, and the barleywine wasn't bad, but the pepper feet saison is a dog. Wish I could get just the Old Ben Ale. Oh Wait, at Total Wine I can. Singles Baby.

Longshot Old Ben's Ale

This is the 2nd of the Sam Adam's longshot beers and I hope for better. Old Ben's Ale pours out a dark copper color and has a burnt sugar nose. Wow, this is a sweet beer with strong molasses and caramel. There's also hop tingling around the edges, but this ones all about the malts. Bold flavors and a strong lingering finish. It's also got a strong 8% alcohol which I fully support. For such a rich full bodied beer it's very drinkable. You could enjoy a few of these. I like this way better than the Barleywine. One more to try.

Sam Adam's Longshot Mile High Barleywine Ale

Sam Adam's has their Longshot homebrew competition every year. And this year they have packaged a six pack with three of the winning recipes. The first one I tried was mile High Barelywine ale. Now I like barleywine's because of their sweetness, complexity and ridiculous amount of alcohol, so I look forward to it. Mile High pours out a nice copper and has a dried tropical fruit nose with a hint of yeast. It tastes pretty sweet with a figgy flavor and quite a bit of hop. I don't really like this very much. It's fine and I can put it down and enjoy, but there's an off flavor here. I don't think it's over hopped, but rather the hops conflict with the fruit here leaving an unpleasant aftertaste. So far I'm not impressed.

Full Sail Amber Ale

The last of our ambers is Full Sail Amber from Oregon, our first beer from the Pacific North West. Full Sail pours out a clear amber to copper with an unusual tinge of orange. The nose is crisp with caramel and mocha and the taste reflects it. It's a slightly chocolaty caramel with crisp hop up front and a tingle throughout. Again a very flavorful amber, crisp refreshing and very balanced. I could really put these down, it's just a delight to drink. A great amber for all occasions. I really thought the Bell's would be my #2, but Full Sail is better. It just has more flavor. So of the ambers the clear #1 is Railbender followed not too far behind by Full Sail and then Bell's. A distant fourth and fifth are Red Rocket then Boont last. Boy three out of the five here are exceptional. That's pretty good. Anyway time to move on to the most recent Sam Adam's sampler.

Bell's Amber Ale

The Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo Michigan is one and one with me. Their Two Hearted Ale is very good while I found their Winter White to be bad. But since I'm trying Amber's I thought I would grab their's and see which of those earlier beers was the fluke. Bell's Amber is a cloudy amber with a bit of stuff floating around in it. It's got a strong caramel nose with crisp hop and a tinge of yeast. This has nice honey and caramel with a very balanced hop throughout. The finish is really short, but this is just a nice beer to drink. Great flavors, a nice refreshing crisp bite make this a good every day beer. So far second only to the superb Railbender. I would definitely recommend picking up a sixer.

Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale

Boont Amber just drew the short straw and has to follow Railbender. Well it better be good. It's made by the Anderson Valley Brewing people from Boonville California. That would be somewhere in the northern pot growing region of the state. Alright, it's amber and it's caramelly. These amber ales all have the same flavor profile, so I'm getting sick of writing the same stuff. Well this is a decent amber, but after that Railbender this beer is lame. Oh well, better luck next time Anderson Valley Brewing.

Erie Brewing Railbender Ale

Railbender Ale is a Scottish style amber ale from the Erie Brewing Company of Erie PA. It pours out a slightly cloudy amber and has a rich, creamy, caramel scent. The flavors are ruled by smoky caramels with nice crisp hop throughout. This beer is extremely well balanced. It's very simple, but perfectly executed. This is a great beer. I love how you can taste the 6.8 % alcohol and it only enhances the flavor. This is a near flawless amber, I could drink ten more right now. But alas, for my public I must move on. I pity the amber that follows this sweet nectar.

Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale

I'm going ale crazy for a while, checking out different amber ales from all over. This is the first and the only one that not strictly an amber. It seems awfully close though. Red Rocket, from the Bear Republic Brewery, is a red ale that pours out a lovely dark copper. The nose has sweet caramel, a hint of mocha and a looming hop menace. There's crisp hop bitter all over this beer. behind that is the caramels and that slight mocha. You know, despite the dominance of the hop here I find this a pleasant beer to drink. There is actual balance, despite being on the bitter end of the scale. If you like it hoppy you will like this beer. I would try it again.

Oskar Blues Old Chub

This is the first beer Iv'e had on here that comes in a can. Of course, this is fancy craft brewed beer in a can. Oskar Blues is another Colorado brewery of which there are many. Let's see if we like an old chub in the can. Old Chub pours out a medium brown and has a lovely caramel nose with a hint of mocha. Strange, I thought it might be a touch salty. Anyway, Old Chub is the maltiest beer I've ever had. This beer has strong caramel and mocha flavors with a smoky tone. There is some hop here that makes the mouth tingle a bit, but all is subservient to the malt. That's tasty. Gosh, I just poured so much into my mouth I almost choked on the chub. The flavors are so big it's hard to fit it all in my mouth. I really like this beer, but I have a strong tolerance for malt. It really could use some more hop bite to give it better balance. But if you like your malts strong, you'll love having an Old Chub in the can.

Orion

Orion is an Okinawan Beer. This is currently the closest thing to a Japanese beer I can find. All the other " Japanese " beers were shopped out to the mega breweries and guess what, they suck. Kirin is now made by Anheuser- Busch, and it tastes just like Bud. This was a terrible blow to fans of Japanese beer. Well, time to give it a try. Orion pours out a very light gold with a white head. It's got a fruity sweet tart scent to it. This is one of those hot weather beers. It's a light, refreshing, and sweet beer. There's some hop, but it's not that flavorful. This is a fine refreshing summer beer. However, there's a lot better out there like that San Miguel I tried the other day. I still pine for good Japanese beer. Next up I'm gonna suck down a chub and then ale attack.

Magic Hat Odd Notion #9

The last Magic Hat beer I had was the ridiculously named Vinyl, which was quite good. But I've always found Magic Hat to be very hit or miss. Let's hope this is a hit. Odd Notion is a cloudy straw color with a citrus caramel nose. The flavor is as advertised, odd. it's got some caramel, but the hop flavors are just not good. They are not too strong, just bad. There is no balance here and I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. I tried it with the burgers I'm enjoying and it's terrible with food. They must have smoked bales of pot before making this mess. Avoid this stuff, whatever it is.

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.

The Pike Kilt Lifter Ruby Ale

Another beer with a fine name and some promise. Kilt Lifter is from The Pike Brewery out of Seattle Washington. A ruby ale? Let's take a look. Kilt Lifter pours out a dark amber to copper color. The nose is a strong sweet caramel with a touch of bitter. This stuff has a lot of sweet caramel and malt up front, than the hops slowly ramp up becoming quite strong on the finish. There's nice body here and the alcohol is evident even though it's only 6.5%. The flavors are very well balanced, with maybe a bit much hop on the finish. However you only notice it the first couple sips. The sign of a good beer it seems to get better as I pound it. This is a really good beer. I would buy this again in a heartbeat. Go find it.

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

This is the last of the three porters we're exploring. This imperial, usually meaning higher alcohol, porter is from local brewery, Flying Dog. This sure sounds like a winner, porter with more delicious alcohol. But I've been let down before. Gonzo pours out black as pitch, and has sweet caramel, mocha, yeast and a background hop bitter. The flavor is mocha and coffee with lots of hop bitterness up front and on the finish. This is strong stuff. The flavors are a bit too strong, especially the hops which tend to drown the other flavors. The finish is all bitter, leaving that lingering bitter aftertaste. I'm really not feeling this stuff. It's a chore to drink. It's heavy has a lousy aftertaste and it's expensive. I'm really disappointed, and I can't see ever buying this again. I 'm not even going to bother finishing it, a first. Well that's three porters and I have clear favorites. The Kona is easily the best, with the vanilla porter second and the Gonzo terrible. Next I'm gonna try a few randos.

Breckenridge Remarkable Vanilla Porter

The next of our trio of porters is Breckenridge Remarkable Vanilla Porter. This porter pours out a medium brown and unsurprisingly has a strong vanilla and sugar nose. Wowza, there be vanilla here in spades.It has a cream soda flavor and a little hop bitter which fades in and out. The finish is vanilla extract in a big way. Now I love vanilla. To me it's superior to chocolate, but this is just too medicinal tasting. This is not your easy drinking party beer, this is a sipper. Now, I still kind of like this stuff, but it is dependent on your vanilla extract tolerance. I'll go get another one of these someday. Still, i liked the Kona Porter quite a bit more. On to the next porter from Flying Dog.

Kona Pipeline Porter

This is the first of three porters we will be exploring, because I love porters, and drinking. Kona Brewing is of course, a Hawaiian brewery. Pipeline Porter pours out a nice dark brown. The nose has crisp mocha scents, a bit more chocolate than coffee. The flavor is a nice mocha with a lingering black coffee finish. There's enough hop here to give that crispness, but otherwise it disappears. This is a really nice beer if you like your coffee black, like your men. Pipeline would also be a great dessert beer with sweet stuff. It could use some more alcohol, but what couldn't. It might be good with chocolate, don't mind if I do. Yes it is. A good start to a trio of porters.

Southern Tier " Iniquity " Black Ale

Another entry from New York's Southern Tier Brewery, " Iniquity " Black Ale. I have to say I like that name, and am very fond of black ales, so I can't wait to try it. Well, it pours out a dark brown, it's really not black or even that dark a brown. The nose is very yeasty with some mocha and medium hop tones. The flavor has mild mocha and caramel with a smoky note. A fair amount of hop bitterness pervades throughout. It's a little hoppier than most black beers, but I felt the balance was alright. There may be a bit much on the finish though. There's good body here and a rich mouth feel. It also kicks up the alcohol at 8.9%. It's a little expensive at 6 bucks a bottle, but it's a big bottle and it's chock full of alcohol. So it 's actually not to bad considering what you get. Now, if you try to sell me a low alcohol beer for 6 bucks, I'll spit in your face. Both these Southern Tier beers were good , but not great. I feel there is room for improvement.

Southern Tier Cherry Saison

Southern Tier is a brewery out of Lakewood New York. They have a rather extensive line up of beers you can check out here. The beer in question here is their Cherry Saison, an ale brewed with cherries and oak aged. This beer pours out a medium cloudy dark gold with a pinkish haze. The nose is awash in sweet and sour cherry as well as yeast and a touch of hop bitter. The flavor is sweet, with a crisp hop that balances the sweetness well. The cherry flavor is there, but subtle. Where it really comes out is on the finish. This is certainly got a lot of flavor, and strikes me as a slightly superior version of Smuttynose Hanami Ale. This has a high 8% alcohol, why I bought it, but you really can't taste it. I would enjoy sipping this beer under the cherry blossoms, but it does have a kind of funky aftertaste. It's also a tad pricey. But it comes in a giant bottle swimming with hooch, what's not to like.

Highland Black Mocha Stout

The last of our North Carolina beers, for now, is Highland's Black Mocha Stout. This stuff pours out pretty close to black. There is a strong fresh coffee and mocha nose. The flavor is strong on the mocha up front with hop bitter floating around the edges. Hop seems a bit light. The finish is strong on the straight coffee, not mocha, and it lingers. This is pretty malty, but I'd give it a medium body. I really like this beer, it's amazing they got all this coffee flavor just out of dark roasted malts. Of course a taste for coffee is a bit mandatory here. I find more to enjoy in this beer as I continue to rapidly pour it down my throat. This brewery has come up strong after the lousy oatmeal porter, they are 2 for 3. The last sip is fantastic, I shall replace my morning coffee with this beer, and so should you.

Highland

Sol

Alright, Sol is not a North Carolina beer nor is it from New Belgium, but this is one of my goto beers for the beach or the pool. So let's take a look. Sol is a classic clear gold. The nose is full of citrus tones. The taste is sweet and citrus, with a nice hop tingle in the background throughout. For a lighter style of beer I find it has a lot of flavor. It's just so refreshing, It's a perfect hot weather beer. I also enjoy these with lime, which justs ramps up the citrus and makes it seem even more refreshing. To me this is way better than Corona which is the more popular cerveza in the states. But i believe I'll have to do a head to head to be sure. Look forward to it.

SOL