The Spring Beer Tourey: # 1 Garde Dog vs # 10 Farmers Tan

      This is a bit unfair for the # 1 seed, cause if I hadn't got rid of the terrible Nectar Nugget this would be a cakewalk.  Instead, the # 10 seed is now the very good Southern Tier Farmers Tan.  Against this is one of the final four beers from last year, Flying Dog Garde Dog.  They are both a cloudy straw. The Dog has honey, citrus and farm, while Tan has herb, honey and caramel on the nose.  The Dog has strong flavors of honey,citrus a bit of yeast and farm.  It's pretty good.  Tan is strong with honey, caramel, citrus, herb and farm.  That is such a good beer.  These are really the same beer.  the flavors are quite similar, but the Tan is stronger in flavor and precious alcohol.  They are both good but Farmers Tan is better.  This is hardly fair.  Life is not fair.

Analysis:  Wow a 10 seed beats a 1 seed.  Might be a tourney of upsets.

The Spring Beer Scabs: # 7 HS Aarsh vs ST Farmers Tan

      Since the #7 and #10 seeds from the Farm, Hops and Reds Region were so F-ing bad, they have been replaced.  So we bring in two big beers to replace them.  Heavy Seas Aarsh Imperial Red Ale will take the # 7 seed. While Southern Tier's Farmer's Tan Imperial Farmhouse Ale takes over the # 10 seed.  Two imperials head to head.  Aarsh pours out a light red with big caramel, citrus and a touch of yeast on the nose.  Tan pours out a slightly cloudy straw with a strong honey,caramel, and citrus herb nose.  The Aarsh has big yummy flavors here with mocha caramel,and citrus hop throughout, that's good.  Wow Farmer's tan is very impressive as well with nice crisp citrus herb, honey, and caramel.  The Aarsh has a nice body with a pleasant 7 % ABV.  But Farmers Tan has a nicer 9 % ABV, point Farmers.  I really like these both and Aaarsh is the best red I have ever had by a long shot.  This is as close as it gets, but Farmer's Tan pulls away at the end to win this one.  I would recommend both these beers unreservedly.  Again now we have a very good 10 seed, oh well.  Better than me having to drink crappy beer.  Oh yeah, fuck those losers I threw out, those beers sucked.

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.

Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

      Southern Tier is from the distinctly not Southern town of Lakewood, New York.  Old Man Winter pours a very light brown with an herb and caramel nose.  The flavor is super duper painful hop heavy.  I struggle to find other flavors as each sip intensifies the horrific hop overload.  But, there is nothing here to balance out this hop terror.  This is terrible, wretched and putrid.  I hate you Southern Tier.

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.