Beer Review: Lagunitas Lucky 13

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 8.65 percent

Appearance: Lucky 13 looked very much like a lucky beer (no pun intended) to have a vivid red color as this one did. It also had some orange-like highlights on the outer portions of the body. Overall, the body had a certain glisten to it. There was a foamy beige head of about two and a half inches that had amazing retention and web-like lacing. It eventually settled and remained at a quarter-inch layer of foam fueled by a ton of slowly rising carbonation bubbles.

Smell: I caught just a dash of caramel malt and that was the extent of what I got. Whatever else was present was heavily disguised by the intense hop aroma.

Taste: The taste profile sort of went in the same direction of the aroma. There was (once again) that dash of sweet caramel up front before a solid roasty profile. The hop bitterness seemed to dilute anything else that wanted to join in on the flavor party. This tasted more like an IPA than anything. This is supposed to be an imperial amber/red ale.

Overall Rating: 

I've become a big fan of the brews that come from this brewery. I was a bit disappointed with this. Just too many hops. Just intensely bitter. Not floral or citrusy. It's a beautiful-looking beer, though. Color glistened and the head was nice and foamy.

Beer Review: Church Brew Works Pious Monk Dunkel

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.30 percent

Appearance: This dunkel was a dark toffee brown with lighter caramel highlights. The head was an off-white beige that seemed under control and remained as a half finger length layer of foam for the majority of the drink. This allowed for some average lacing inside the glass. I also noticed some bubbly texture in the sectors of the brew just below the beige head.

Smell: I noticed tons of sweet caramel and toffee in the aroma. Behind that were some more layers which included nuts and just a little bit of brown sugar.

Taste: As a dunkel should be, this was more malt forward than anything. As I noticed in the aroma, there was a great bit of caramel and toffee. There was also a tasty dark bread character that complimented the malt quite well. The nut flavor just added a kiss of butter-like taste as well. There's a light hop bitterness to finish everything off near the end. The bubbles put an explanation point on everything else by providing some fizzy texture.

Overall Rating: 

This is one of my favorite brews out of Pittsburgh as well as my favorite Munich Dunkel Lager. Nice and toasty, but still sweet and bready. Easy on hop bitterness. Goes well with pretzels. It sometimes even reminds me of some form of a liquid pretzel. My favorite beer from Church by far!

Beer Review: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: Five percent

Appearance: Summer Solstice doesn't immediately look like a summer beer, but that isn't a bad thing at all. Still, it pours a pretty copper chroma. and features hues that are both orange and red. A very flashy and colorful body. The head is mostly white, but still has a slight presence of beige in it and left some decent lacing clinging to the glass. I looked close and noticed dozens of bubbles within the dark body of the brew. The bubbles that made up the head were pretty defining. Unlike other bubbles I've seen in other beers prior. Pretty unique.

Smell: Lightly toasty, but mainly sweet. The malt smells very sweet and smooth, but there's just an interesting roasty profile to it. Also, I picked up some caramel scents. It was as if it was almost as if it's sugary and spicy, too.

Taste: This was very sweet, malty and full of caramel up front. The head added a tasty touch of cream on the front as well. The finish was very, very smooth and featured a sweet and nutty presence. Kind of like a nut roll. The spiciness of the beer provided a small kiss before everything went down. The sweet malt and nut flavor only intensifies as the beer is able to warm.Once again, very unique. This brew looks a bit on the heavier and thicker side, but plays light and refreshing! The plethora of carbonation in this just added to the crisp and refreshing aspects of this.

Overall Rating: 

I remember my first encounter with this beer. I was in a bar and ordered a pint glass of it. When it got there I was confused. My stomach sank as I didn't expect this to be on the darker side. I've grown to love this beer and how it's dark sweetness miraculously plays light and makes this a great summer selection. I've discovered that some batches of this tend to play differently. I feel like I've tasted it about three different ways, but when I've had a good one I can definitely taste it. This will forever be a beer I seek every year.

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: 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.

Beer Review: East End Snow Melt

Serving Type: Draft/Growler

ABV: Seven percent

Appearance: East End Snow Melt pours a deep shade of brown, but has plenty of red highlights elsewhere throughout the body. The glass I poured was crowned with an almost two inch head. It was a light beige color, faded away just a tad and left a ton of sticky lacing. The head was strong enough that an above-average layer stayed atop the brew for the majority of the drink. If you have any hair on your upper-lip be prepared to wipe some foam off!

Smell: Some might feel warmer just by getting a sniff of this brew. It's very roasty in the aroma. There was a few other dark flavors that seemed to come off as toffee and chocolate. I also picked up a slight pine scent from the hops in this.

Taste: I got a great amount of roasted malt on my tongue. Everything else in this beer complimented that initial flavor. The dark flavors were an excellent pairing with the malt. The chocolate and toffee seemed to be there. I also picked up some hints of sweet caramel. There was a somewhat strong finish in the bitter department from the hops, but not enough to make me shy away from it. The seven percent ABV was noticeable on the tongue. It nipped at me a bit and was enough to provide a warming sensation on the way down. After all, this is called Snow Melt.

Overall Rating: 

If you really enjoy winter beers this is a great local brew to get your hands on during the colder months. The Spring Equinox is coming up next week. so, I thought now was a fitting time to review this one. I was happy that this beer didn't taste like it was saturated with spices. Such is the case in most winter brews. The ABV was a bit more noticeable than I usually like, but that's just my palette. Something like that would keep me from having multiple of these in the same evening. On the other hand, this brewery has a hefeweizen that I can have many of in a single night.

Beer Review: Lancaster Winter Warmer Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 8.9 percent

Appearance: Lancaster's Winter Warmer pours a dark color, but not as dark as you'd expect it to be. If you look close, it's almost a really deep shade of purple.I never thought I'd actually write purple as a beer's color on this blog. I finally have. If your parents ever gave you Dimetapp medicine as a kid you know the same color I'm talking about. It had a beige and off-white head that doesn't leave much lacing. The carbonation appeared differently than in most brews. There were mini streams of bubbles that trickled upwards in lines.

Smell: The aroma of this beer was pretty complex. There was some sweet caramel ahead of some dark fruits I picked up. I couldn't really classify them until I tasted it. Given the higher ABV I assumed the booziness of this would translate heavily into the smell. Luckily it was masked. I didn't pick up any of it.

Taste: Once again, the first thing I noticed was the sweet caramel. This time I was able to decipher the dark fruits as being raisins and figs. This hit the back of the tongue. A touch of alcohol mixed with the dark fruits on the finish for a nice warming sensation. The alcohol presence wasn't overbearing at all. This is how it should be.

Overall Rating: 

This was a really above-average winter beer. I believe this is classified as an Old Ale due to the presence of darker fruits and lack of your expected spice content. The only qualm on my part was the odd color. This is most likely because of the few times I've had an Old Ale. I still would very much like to have another bottle of this beer.

Beer Review: Bell's Amber Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.8 percent

Appearance: Bell's Amber Ale pours exactly what the label says it's going to be! Still, it's an attractive shade of amber. Only qualm I have about the appearance is that it does appear a bit murky. It kind of resembled mud. The head was frothy and a clear white. The retention of the head wasn't the best in the world, but you'll find a decent amount of lacing.

Smell: There was plenty of action in this beer's aroma. I got plenty of malts, which consisted mainly of caramel. I also picked up bitter scents of hops and pine. I couldn't believe it, but I could have sworn I picked up the slightest hint of lemon/citrus.

Taste: Expect a rush of sweet malts on the front of your tongue. As for the back, I got an awesome bitter sensation which must have been from both the pine and the hops. I didn't notice much carbonation in the brew's appearance due to the murkiness, but it definitely translated to a textured mouth feel.

Overall Rating: 

I hold a good number of Bell's beers in high regard. I'd usually give beers with an appearance such as this one a rating of three mugs, but since Bell's pretty much always puts a quality product out there I'll give the brewery the benefit of the doubt. The aroma and taste of this brew were both pretty amazing. The pine worked well with the hop content for a crisp finish.