Howard Brewing Action Man Lager

Lager beers are often over looked when it come to craft beer. It is even a dirty word in some cases due to all the giant macro-brewing corporations, which might produce a not so great product in some people’s opinion. But I think if you can brew a great awesome lager beer then you are truly a great beer brewer. What I mean is when you brew are porter or stout you can hide mistakes behind the bold flavor of the porter of stout where as lager all the not so great flavors or mistakes come right to the front. There are no big flavors to hide behind. Howard Brewing Company in Lenoir North Carolina brews this Vienna Style Lager called Action Man Lager, 5.5% ABV. This is another beer selected and delivered by Brew Publik (www.brewpublik.com). They use traditional German hops here. Action Man Lager pours a light copper color with a three and a half finger beige head that slow to dissipate. I found some light coming through the glass with a good amount of carbonation to it. The aroma on Action Man Lager is a little sweet with malts and a little biscuit scent. It is a nice aroma that isn’t overwhelming. The taste is first a little sweet up front followed by a less sweet malted flavor with a breaded and biscuit taste. The malts are just a little too much on the taste for me. There isn’t really any flavor of toasted malts on Action Man Lager that you would normally get on a Vienna Lager. The mouth feel is light to somewhat medium with a nice malted and semi-sweet finish. The aftertaste is less sweet that the finish but the malts are a bit more present then fade away. Overall this isn’t a bad beer but I would say it is great so I’s say this is a C-. It has a few good qualities to it, like a nice malted flavor and it wasn’t overly sweet. But I just found it to be a little bit of a boring beer. Would I try this again? I might sometime, but not too soon. But if you’d like you go head and try Howard Brewing’s Action Man Lager. It’s not terrible; it’s jut not the best. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Fullsteam Brewery Fearrington Winter Coffee Pecan Porter

One of my favorite styles of beer is coffee beer, whether is a Stout or Porter. They are quite popular among craft beer drinkers. This here is Fullsteam Brewery Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter, 6.0% ABV. Fullsteam is here in Durham, NC. Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter using Southern pecans and Fearrington Village Coffee beans. Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter pours a deep dark black color with a two-finger brown/beige head that slowly fades into a ring round the glass leaving nice thick lacing behind. I found no light through the glass with a little amount of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is fresh with roasted coffee beans and hints of chocolate. The taste is like a nice cup of good coffee and you don’t get much of the pecans. The coffee flavor hinds those pecans. There is a nice light chocolate flavor there that turns a little spicy as this porter warms a bit. But it isn’t an overwhelming spice. The bitterness is low and it allows for the sweetness of the beer to come through a bit. But this porter isn’t overly sweet. It has a nice balance of sweetness with the coffee roasted flavors. The mouthfeel is medium. I thought this was a little thin tasting for a coffee porter. Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter has a nice chocolaty coffee finish that fades into a semi-sweet nutty and roasted aftertaste. I think that Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter is a good beer. So I give it a B+. The pecan flavors aren’t really present until the finish. But Fullsteam Fearrington Coffee Pecan Porter is still good. I enjoyed this and I might have this again, and I recommend that you go out and try it too. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!     

Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month April (Finley)

It’s yet another month and that means it time for another Foothills Brewery IPA of the Month. This is April (Finley), 6.6% ABV and 74 IBUs. Foothills Brewery uses five different hops. This is more of a warm-weather IPA according to Foothills. April pours a golden color with a three and a half finger white head that stick around for a while before fading in to nice whiffs of lacing in the glass. I found decent amounts of light coming through the glass with nice carbonation bubbles. The aroma is of tropical fruits like pineapple, mango, melon, and some papaya. There also is an aroma of slight orange and some grapefruit with a grassy pine note. The taste is much like it own aroma, there is nice sweet tropical pineapple, mango, melon and some papaya with grapefruit and oranges. I also found some grassy piney hop note as well that gave it the slight bit of bitterness in the middle of the mouth. This IPA of the Month isn’t overly hoppy nor is it too bitter. This is like a good tropical fruit salad. The mouth feel is light with a nice tropical and slight bitter finish. The after taste is of tropical fruits and juices a very pleasant after taste. Once again Foothills brewing has brewed another great IPA of the Month. April (Finley) is an A+. It’s one great tropical IPA and certainly goes great with warm-weather. I would definitely have this IPA of the Month again. I like how it doesn’t over power your taste buds with hop flavors or bitterness and there is more of a tropical fruit flavor that makes this beer more drinkable throughout the pint. I also can say enough good thinks about Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month series it is one great IPA series. If you have not tried this Foothills IPA of the Month then go and do so. It’s great!! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!