Beer Review: Victory Summer Love

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: This one  had a body that was bright, blonde and golden. I bet that if I hadn't told you that this was a blonde ale you would never guess it, right? Nevermind that. Anyways, there was a ton of carbonation in this. Especially in what appeared to be a thick column of bubbles in the middle portions of my glass. There was a thin layer of white foam atop the brew as well. This offered some above average retention. It wanted to hang around for a good while. In turn, this left some average lacing as well.

Smell: Holy hops. Some potent hop aromas jolted my sinus cavity. They were extremely piney and citrusy. A tiny bit of sweeter malt was able to peak through. How that was I'm not entirely sure.

Taste: Unfortunately I wasn't able to notice much of anything until the hops bit me on the back of the tongue. Still, the hop bite was an interesting and tasty one. The other aspects of the flavor seemed really lackluster and light. Aside from all of that, the aftertaste of this was quite crisp and refreshing. The texture created by the carbonation came through on the entirety of each sip. This brew still had enough juice to remind me that this was summer.

Overall Rating: 

I've heard a lot of great things about this beer. Thus, this is just another example of going into a beer with very high expectations and not getting exactly what you thought it would be. I have a feeling that those of you that enjoy this beer likely enjoy a stronger hop presence than I do. I need a little more cracker taste or sweetness to compliment the hops in this one.

Beer Review: Cisco Whale's Tale Pale Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.6 percent

Appearance: This Pale Ale was a light brown in color. Some might even classify it as something closer to an orange. It appeared to have both a thickness to its body as well as a haze. With the haze I noticed, there was also a tiny amount of bubbles that were still visible. Despite the appearance of the bubbles, they failed to assist the brew's head to amount any strength or retention. In this regard, the beer looked somewhat weak. From what I could notice, it was an off-white color.

Smell: I was able to pick up a fruity and ester-like profile from this one. It smelled very sweet. For whatever reason, I was reminded of tea. Then upon looking at it, the light brown of the brew's color resembled much the same. This also seemed to have a strong malty backbone to it.

Appearance: The taste of this beer was really bold. The malt seemed to boast a dark or roasted tang to it. There was a slight hint of fruit on the tip of my tongue as well as a strong bitterness it glided towards the back. This also featured a very complex, unique and pale aftertaste. The hop character of this brew mixed quite well with the paleness that's a great aspect of this beer's flavor profile.

Overall Rating: 

I started off on a bad note with this one. It looked like there was some thickness in the body, but it also looked very weak without the presence of a strong head. The smell was fruity and intriguing and the taste was as close to a home run as you can get in a good beer. Overall, this beer just seemed like a creative idea that was well-crafted and not an experiment gone bad as we sometimes come across.

Beer Review: Brooklyn Pilsner

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.1 percent

Appearance: This pilsner had a real crisp appearance to it. It was really a classic look. Clear, yet golden body with a half-inch thick head. The head was bright white, foamy and ended up leaving a lot of thick lacing inside the glass. As most of us enjoy in brews of this style, there was a lot of carbonation rising towards the top and feeding the head of the beer.

Smell: For me, this was nice and grassy. It was even a bit grainy to my nose. There was also an intriguing floral hop aroma that I took in.

Taste: I actually got a touch of sweet malt on the front. That surprised me and tasted kind of odd once the rest of the beer's flavors hit me. Overall, this brew tasted very crisp and sweet. This is a German Pilsener. So, I expected to get a bit more hop content than I actually did. There was a bit of zing to this, but what I mostly tasted was crackers and maybe even a touch of corn.

Overall Rating: 

I'm not completely opposed to corn in my beer. I'm all for trying different styles of beer. Especially ones that are broad interpretations of a style. This seemed to be one of the latter. A quality beer. I just wanted a little more bite on my tongue. Definitely an interesting one, though.

Beer Review: Southern Tier Hop Sun

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.1 percent

Appearance: Hop Sun has the gold and shiny appearance of a regular American lager, but with a slight haze towards the upper portions of the beer. There was a huge rush of carbonation bubbles flowing upwards. The head was a thin layer of white. I guess that it would wander off after a bit and not leave much lacing. I got quite the opposite. The head actually lingered atop the body for the majority of the drink. Overall, this has a nice summery, crisp look to it.

Smell: This emanated a lot of citrus from the hop content. It was closer to a grapefruit scent on the citrus spectrum, if there is such a thing. I guess I just invented it. The label says "one type of hop and three malts." I was surprised to have the scent dominated by hop notes and not having much malt noticeable.

Taste: I spoke too soon. I was smacked in the face with a lot of sweet malt as soon as I took my first sip. The sweetness dominated up front. As the beer glided toward the back, it translated into a bitter, yet sharp finish. The hops don't interfere with much in the taste. The rush of carbonation bubbles made for a flourish of cool textures in the mouth.

Overall Rating:

The smell of this brew confused me for a bit, but I can definitely let that slide. I don't get to bring up the textures of beer much on this blog, but this is among the best in terms of texture, bubbles etc. that I've had during my stint of writing this blog. The citrus doesn't come from lemon or orange, but from the hops. It wasn't overly dominating, but complimented the rest of the beer the way I like it.

Beer Review: Straub Maibock

Serving Type: Draft/Growler

ABV: 6.9 percent

Appearance: This Maibock poured a pretty amber color with a few orange hues dabbling around here and there. The body was crowned by an ivory white head that was foamy and strong at first, but faded away after a few minutes with weak lacing. The color of the head was quite complimentary to the amber in the body of the brew. I couldn't pick up much carbonation at all that led me to believe that there wouldn't be much in the texture of this beer.

Smell: I didn't pick out much in the aroma, but I got two distinct things. There was a good bit of some roasted malt, albeit somewhere in the middle of not roasted and roasted. Let's just say medium roasted malt. The other aspect was a big hop presence. Almost into the land of IPA. It was that intense.

Taste: It kind of went the wrong way for me once I started drinking it. I really couldn't pick out anything else other than the intensity of the hops in what I can generously classify as a bitter finish. There wasn't much of anything sweet or malty to compliment the intensity. At least for my taste.

Overall Rating: 

Started on a slightly positive note with this brew, but ended on a much lower one. Could this be a bad batch, perhaps? I've heard both good and bad things about this one. I know maibocks are supposed to be a bit more hop-concentrated, but I also like ones with a touch of something sweet to take some of the harshness away.

Beer Review: Anchor Steam Beer

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.9 percent

Appearance: Anchor Steam Beer is a shiny and attractive copper. It has both pink and orange hues floating around in the body of the brew as well. I've never seen a color like this before. There are your typical amber and copper beers, but this (at least in my mind) is the measuring stick. I just want to keep staring at it. I also noticed a slight cloudiness within the body. It wasn't totally obscuring, but it seemed to be less hazy towards the bottom of the glass and got a bit more intense as I looked higher. The head is an awesome-looking cream white and was very lively. It ended up leaving a ton of thick and ample lacing. There was also a plethora of carbonation bubbles quickly approaching towards the head of the beer.

Smell: I took in a large helping of caramel aroma at first. It was strong, but intriguingly it didn't come off as sweet. There was also a hint of dark bread as well as some dark, but not-so-dark malt. There was also something fruity behind all of that. To me, it seemed close to something such as a pear. That was a nice compliment of sweetness.

Taste: This is where it all came together for me and this brew. This beer is interestingly sweet and malty up front, but tangy and bitter on the back. Everything compliments something else amazingly. The caramel and the dark bready grain bathed my tongue at the beginning of my first sip. At the midway point (which I rarely pick up in some beers) the sweetness of the pear peaked through albeit just a bit. The fruitiness in this was just enough to make this beer look kind of heavy, but play lightly. The finish and aftertaste ended up being the two most fascinating pieces in this beer's taste. There's a bitterness and a slight zest. The bitterness isn't your typical hop bitterness though. There's a slight biscuit taste from the malt that jumps in right before it goes down. Both bitter tastes stick around in the aftertaste.

Overall Rating: 

This beer is pretty much my standard. I don't think beer gets better than a glass of this does. That's just my thoughts. I sometimes lean towards Southern Tier's Pumking, but I always end up coming back to this one. I've waited to review this beer so long because I wanted it to transfer from my fingers through to the keyboard perfectly. The same goes for the photographing process. I love the color of this beer. I've never seen a color that compares to this one. The taste is also unlike any other beer out there. Just an extremely unique beer.

Beer Review: Brooklyn Lager

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: Brooklyn lager pours an amber color with a plethora of reddish hues.  There wasn't an abundance of carbonation bubbles in this brew, but there was an inch and a half of ivory colored head. There was average lacing left. The head did end up collapsing in on itself after a sip or two. There wasn't much of that creamy layer I like to have most of the way down the glass.

Smell: This beer smelled like its malt was very grainy and toasty. In general very bready. I was intrigued to pick up a little bit of each caramel and lemon.

Taste: A lot of the aromas I picked up earlier didn't translate as well as I had predicted once I tasted this beer. The graininess and bread I noticed was very dominant on the tongue. The finish was a little hoppy. The citrus and caramel weren't noticeable at all. That was a bit of a letdown for me.

Overall Rating: 

This one was a bit of a roller coaster ride. Interesting appearance, very intriguing smell, but the taste wasn't anywhere near what I was lead to believe when I caught a few of this brew's aromas. I wasn't deeply saddened, but I wasn't exactly blown away either.

Beer Review: Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 6.5 percent

Appearance: Dead Guy Ale is a light shade of amber, but gives off an effervescent orange hue.Atop this brew, there was an off-white head that was thick and frothy. This was the type of head that gets stuck on your nose and upper lip on the first sip. I love that in a beer. There was a ton of bubbles surging towards the top of the glass. I also noticed a lot of thick lacing left inside the glass as I kept drinking more of it.

Smell: I mainly was able to pick up a ton of hop bitterness in the aroma for this beer. There was also a highlight or two of citrus, but I doubt that was from orange or lemon. My guess it was a characteristic of the hop content. I'd prefer a bit more diversity in this section, but this wasn't quite on an IPA level.

Taste: I tasted plenty of honey and sweet malt on the front. There was plenty more malt than honey as we should expect in a German Maibock, but I also like some honey presence.That was followed by a tasty combination of pale wheat, a creaminess and hop notes on the finish. The aftertaste was calm, yet bitter. In my opinion, a great Maibock/Helles Bock has honey sweetness and a lot of sweet malt present. Sometimes the malt can even have a bitter bite to it.

Overall Rating:  

When it comes to German styles of beer, I want whatever I have to make me feel like I'm sitting in a beer garden somewhere smelling the fresh hop vines and eating a salty pretzel. I got pretty close when drinking Dead Guy Ale. I missed the malt presence in the aroma. I got too much hops, but the attractiveness and the wonderful taste of this brew was more than enough for me.

Beer Review: Schlafly Oatmeal Stout

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.7 percent

Appearance: This is a dark beer. It highly resembled a glass of cola. Just without the stickiness! The body is mostly black. I wasn't able to distinguish any brown or reddish hues hanging around. There was a ton of beige-colored bubbles and they rushed to the top. The interesting thing about this was the fact that the bubbles held the same color as they rose up from the bottom. The head of the brew was also a beige color and enabled some lacing inside the glass.

Smell: This beer was very dark and roasty, but a surprising creaminess was also present in my nose. The malt in this is also strong and dark in terms of smell. There was also a very prevalent aroma of oats. Not that I didn't expect it, but it's got to be in there, right?

Taste: I was hit with sweet caramel and the oats on the front. On the back was a ton of tasty, yet dark and roasted barley. The barley and hop notes contributed to an interestingly dry finish. There was also some chocolate that peeped through in the flavor as this beer warmed. Another note I took as this brew warmed was the fact that all of the flavors came together like some ice creams do when gets really soft and melts. Everything just gelled.

Overall Rating:  

This was the first time I've had an oatmeal stout that had a really dark and roasty backbone. I'm used to ones that are much lighter in the flavor department. With that said, I really enjoyed this. I think darker is the way to go with oatmeal stouts.  The dark and roasted barley worked well with the hops, too. As I mentioned earlier,  it just got better as it warmed. Just like some good baseball pitchers throw harder as the game goes on, the flavors tasted better with each sip.