Devils Backbone Gold Leaf Lager Golden Lager

I like a good German-style lager; they are some of the best lagers around. They are brewed so well with such great attention to detail, with such pride and history. Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Lexington, Virginia brews Gold Leaf Lager, 4.5% ABV. Gold Leaf Lager is a golden larger or Helles Lager. Gold Leaf Lager pours a bright gold color with a three and a quarter finger pillow of white head that slowly fades into some decent lacing that quickly fizzes away. The aroma is bready with a slight metallic bright note. Gold Leaf Lager has a crisp taste of some nice bread but that’s all I got. The mouth feel is light yet refreshing and easy drinking. The after taste is a bit dull, and by this point the flavor has faded out or become super thin. As you get closer to the bottom of the glass Gold Leaf Lager become less of itself or less flavorful. This is a D+ beer, it starts of kind of good then quickly become okay then just become too bland as the flavor just gives up and leaves you. Gold Leaf Lager isn’t the worst I’ve ever had but it’s not good. Devils Backbone does make decent beers so I don’t know how they brewed this one. Makes me think they don’t know how really brew a Helles Lager properly. You need to make Gold Leaf Lager have flavors that can really stand up and be flavorful through out the drink of a can. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly   

Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series Counter Clockweisse

Here is another Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series beer, Counter Clockweisse, 3.0% ABV.  Counter Clockweisse is a Berliner-style Weiss Bier. Traditional German-style sour wheat al is used in Counter Clockweisse and is unfiltered and spontaneously fermented. Counter Clockweisse pours a bright yellow color with a fizzy two finger white head that quickly dissolves back into the yellowness of the beer. The aroma is filled with lots of tartness, acidic lemony-tart lactic notes. The aroma has much the same qualities as a true German Berliner Weiss Bier. Taste has some similar qualities to Counter Clockweisse’s aroma; it’s tart upfront with a bit on acidic lemon, sour wheat in the middle with a fainter lemon note towards the back. The mouthfeel is light easy and refreshing. Counter Clockweisse finishes tart yet easy with a tart lemon wheat after taste that slowly fades into the next sip. This is a good beer, B grade but I think that after three maybe four Counter Clockweisse becomes too much, the tartness of it all becomes too much. But that doesn’t make it a terrible beer, no it just something you can have a whole lot of. I would go back to it and do recommend Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series Counter Clockweisse. It’s good, it’s refreshing, and something you need to try! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly    

Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series Plum Sour Stout

Wild beers are beers brewed with yeast that ferments spontaneously, and the yeast is not one created in lab but from Mother Nature. These types of beers have different sub-styles with in the style and have a sizeable popularity. With wild beers you get a vastly different flavor profile than from a non-wild beer. Destihl Brewing in Bloomington, Illinois brews a Wild Sour Serious (in cans) and this is Plum Sour Stout, 5.6% ABV with 37 IBUs. This is a sour stout with plums added. Plum Sour Stout pours a pitch-black color with slight brown edges with a beige three finger creamy head that slowly fades into some decent lacing. If you hold the beer up to the light it’s a dark purple color. The aroma is a little tart with a plum flavor, and some faint chocolaty roast. Taste is not what I expected, but I was a little surprised to find nice plum fruit flavors, chocolaty roasted notes with a little chocolate-covered cherry.  I found the plum flavor to be similar to a tart Ocean Spray juice. The mouth feel is on the lighter side of medium and really opens up as it washes over your taste buds. Plum Sour Stout finish a bit sour/tart with nice dark fruit flavor and has nice tart after taste that lingers a bit before fading away. This beer pleasantly surprised me on just how tasty it is. I give this A+. Plum Sour Stout is drinkable for a dark stout. I highly recommend Destihl Brewery Wild Sour Series Plum Sour Stout. I think it’s a great beer for anyone who doesn’t like dark beers and/or stouts. Well balanced tasty and goes not easier than most stouts. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale

I like coffee and I like beer, so naturally, I would like coffee beer, and yes that would be correct cause I do. Most coffee beers are dark beers like stouts, porters, or brown ales. But this beer from Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. in Saratoga Springs New York brews Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale, 6.8% ABV. Death Wish Nightmare uses Death Wish coffee. If you haven’t had Death Wish Coffee then you are really missing out, and Death Wish Coffee is from Round Lake, New York nearby. It is good strong coffee, the strong kind of stuff you grandpa would say it’ll be hair on chest boy! This is an IPA brewed with whole Death Wish coffee beans. Death Wish Nightmare pours a light copper color with a five-finger fluffy slightly off-white head that stays for days. The aroma is like your smelling strong rich coffee being brewed on the other side of the kitchen. There is a slight earthy note there are well with a bit of an ash-like scent. Taste is roasted coffee upfront with a little ashy flavor in the middle with a bitter citrus pine on the back. The mouthfeel is medium with a nice ashy coffee finish that has a good bitter IPA and bitter coffee aftertaste. This is one balanced beer between the malts of the IPA and the coffee flavors. I say that Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. Death Wish Nightmare India Pale Ale is an A. I have never had a Coffee IPA before, and most coffee beer that I’ve had have been dark stout or porter. This was really good. I recommend that you try this beer and Death Wish Coffee! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!      

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Punkin Ale

I am not a fan of two things pumpkin ale and Dogfish Head beers, but I gave Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Punkin Ale, 7.0% a fair shake. I’ve had tree different Dogfish beers and I haven’t liked any of them so far.  Punkin Ale is a brown brewed with real pumpkins, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg. Punkin Ale pours a medium brown color with a one finger quickly fizzing head that leaves nothing behind. The aroma is strong with cinnamon and nutmeg and together it makes a strong sweet candy like aroma. This beer smells alright. Taste is overwhelming with a large amount of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice with touches of light pumpkin. The flavor really takes over and just sticks to every part of your mouth. The mouth feel is full and sweet with a sweet harsh finish and a sweet after taste of nutmeg and some cinnamon that sticks around killing any other flavor that comes in contact with your taste buds. I have never like pumpkin beers and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Punkin Ale is an F. I don’t like any pumpkin in liquid form. It is not something I enjoy. The flavor is just too much and takes over your mouth and sticks around way too long. Well I am still not a fan of Dogfish Head, and I know that they are quite popular in the craft beer world, but not with this craft beer drinker. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!