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: 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: Troegs Java Head Stout

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 7.5 percent

Appearance: It seems as if the stouts that put themselves ahead of others in the pack seem to be those that have a very dark, black color. Java Head Stout fits the bill in this department. The only presence of carbonation that's visible to the naked eye is what's in the foamy, tan head atop the brew. It's tan and is very reminiscent of what foams up when you pour a glass of cola. It was somewhat weak retention, but there was a nice thin layer of foam throughout the drink. I've seen confusion in reports of this being both a regular stout and an oatmeal stout. it is in fact an oatmeal if you check on the Troegs website. More evidence is in the beady lacing the tan head will leave inside your glass.

Smell: Overall, the theme of this beer is darkness. I caught a ton of dark and roasted coffee beans. Behind that was plenty of dark chocolate to counter the coffee's bitterness with something sweet. These two aromas are very powerful, but not overbearing to the point where it's unnecessary.

Taste: This beer kind of tasted like an intense mocha from an upscale coffee shop. The two dominant aspects of the beer's aroma were also the two dominant features in the taste. I'm a guy that doesn't like putting all kinds of junk in his coffee in the mornings. I like it black and the taste of this beer reminded me of that. The coffee was dark, roasty and robust. the sweetness of the chocolate complimented the bolder flavor very well. There was also a decent backbone of roasted malt on the front of the tongue. The flavors seem to mesh well as the beer warms, making it that much smoother despite the boldness.

Overall Rating: 

This is an excellent beer. If I had to say it was missing anything it would be an obvious presence of oats since this is an oatmeal stout. The only thing that shows is the beady lacing as I mentioned, but I didn't pick up any in the aroma or the taste. That might be attributed to the dominance of the coffee and dark chocolate that's in this brew. Still, those two flavors make this an awesome drink. This could go with a nice breakfast in some cases!