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Monday, January 30, 2017

Fullsteam Brewery Carver Sweet Potato Lager


Now you probably know that you can pretty much brew beer with all types of things along with hops, malt, water and barley. Some things make of a good tasty beer was other make for not so tasty beer. I mean everything should be brewed into a beer. Here is Fullsteam Brewery Carver Sweet Potato Lager, 5.3% ABV. This beer comes out of Durham North Carolina and is brewed with 200 pounds of North Carolina Sweet Potatoes. Carver pours a deep orange color with a one finger thin white head the fizzes away rather quickly with no traces of itself left behind. Carver has a bit of a strange aroma; there is a real faint lager scent with a funny semi-sweetness there. Not really getting any sweet potato on the nose. Taste is first cloyingly sweet for a moment, then the lager flavor come into the mix with a slight semi-crispness that quickly gives way to a yam like sweet flavor. There is a little sour note to it as well. The mouth feel is medium with a yam like finish and an after taste of fake and faint sweet lager. I am now no that I don’t like yam, sweet potato, squash, or pumpkin beer, and this Fullsteam Carver Sweet Potato Lager gets a D-. This is one of those thing in which I do not think should be brewed in to a beer. I really sweet potatoes but I don’t need them in a beer, certainly not this one for sure. Don’t try this one! Fullsteam makes plenty of good beers, which makes me wonder why this one isn’t great. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Friday, January 27, 2017

Abita Brewing Company Cold Brewed Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout


I like coffee, I like beer, I like those things together. It is a good and somewhat popular style. This Abita Brewing Company Cold Brewed Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout, 6.0% ABV is three dark beer styles in one, Coffee, Milk, and Stout. Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout is brewed with Pale, caramel, chocolate, and roasted malts along with Willamette, natural milk sugars and oats, as well as PJ’s coffee Espresso Dolce Beans. Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout pours and black color with a big foamy tan/beige three finger head that stick like glue, but eventually gives way and leave behind cream lacing. The aroma is like a freshly roasted dark coffee. Smell really nice. Taste is fresh roasted dark coffee, some faint chocolate and very faint sweetness. I think the heavy coffee flavors hind the faint sweetness from the natural milk sugars and oats. Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout finishes like a cup of coffee with out the coffee bitterness but more of a stout bitterness that is pleasant. The after taste lingers a bit with dark roasted beans with bit of faint chocolate. This is a good beer but I would have like to have a little more on the sweetness, just a half notch more. So I give Abita Brewing Company Cold Brew Macchiato Espresso Milk Stout an A. It is like a fresh cup of Macchiato coffee. Good stuff to have. Abita’s select series never disappoints and are always a good beer, everyone I’ve had so far has bee real good. You should try this one and the rest of Abita’s select series beers. Can’t go wrong with Abita Beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

21st Amendment Brewery Marooned on Hog Island Oyster Stout



Stouts come in many sub-styles with their flavor and taste, like imperial stouts, Belgian stouts, English, American, dry, oyster, and fruit stouts. They are all dark beer and have some similar qualities. 21st Amendment Brewing in San Francisco brews Marooned on Hog Island, 7.9% ABV and brewed with Hog Island Oyster shells. Oyster Stouts are a drier type of stout but aren’t the dry type of beer. Marooned on Hog Island pours a black/deep brown color with a three-finger beige head that leaves behind nice decent lacing. The aroma roasted with cocoa, bits of chocolate, and the faintest/tiniest saline note.  Taste is similar to the aroma with a semi sweetness that comes in and then goes in an instant. There not many saline flavors to it. But it does shine through at the end as this beer warms. I also found the roasted note to be a bit fainter than you on the aroma. The mouthfeel of this beer is full. Marooned on Hog Island does finish with a  saline-like note that fades and then the after taste of roasted cocoa/chocolate that does not stay. Marooned on Hog Island is a good beer, but I would like to have more from the added oyster shells. I give this Stout a B-. Not too bad, but not really what I was hoping it to be. It is off by just a little. 21st Amendment is a great brewery. They make a great summer beer, Hell or High Watermelon, and they’re no longer in production  Beer Bitter American was fabulous, so I know they can brew great beer Marooned on Hog Island was close, but not close enough. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Co. Henry's Hard: Orange Soda



I am not much a novelty alcoholic beverage type of person; I like some of them like the hard root beers. There is small number of hard sodas out on the market. Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Co. in Wisconsin, which is a subsidiary of Coors makes Henry’s Hard: Orange Soda, 4.2% ABV.  Henry’s Hard: Orange Soda pours a bright neon orange color with no head and not a think left behind. The aroma is overly orange and sweet like an orange creamsicle. Taste is pretty much the same, there is a big carbonation flavor with plenty of sugar sweetness; mind you this is made with real cane sugar; creamsicle and very fake orange flavoring. The mouth feel is full of sugary sweetness Henry’s Hard: Orange Soda finishes sweet and bubbly and has an overly sweet creamsicle after taste. This Henry’s Hard: Orange Soda is an F. I didn’t like this one at all, too sweet and fake for my taste buds. I don’t recommend this at all. It’s no good and nothing could make it better. Do not have Henry’s Hard: Orange Soda. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Shiner Birthday Beer Cold-Brew Coffee Ale



America isn’t that old of a country. But it’s older than you think. The Shiner/Spoetzl Brewer in Shiner Texas has been around for 108 years now, and for every year they brew a new and different birthday beer to celebrate their birthday, and for their 108th birthday they have brewed Shiner Cold-Brew Coffee Ale, 5.0% ABV. The coffee in this coffee ale comes from Austin’s Chameleon Cold-Brew. Shiner Cold-Brew Coffee Ale pours a dark brown color with a quickly fading tiny beige-like head that leave not traces behind. The aroma is faint with slight coffee and roasted notes. The flavor is slight with a malted roasted not with light darkish coffee. For dark ale like this it’s easy drinking. The mouth feel is on the higher side of medium with a nice smoothness to it. Shiner Cold-Brew Coffee Ale finish with a light coffee note that linger for a few moment then fades as the after taste of a faint roasted note come it with a light coffee flavor. But that doesn’t stay for long. This is good for cold-brew coffee ale, but I’d like more of a stronger coffee presence to the beer. But it is surprisingly drinkable for dark ale, and usually they aren’t. That’s a plus. Shiner Cold-Brew Coffee Ale get a B. This had great flavors and is quite smooth and drinkable. I would have this again and maybe again. Yeah it’s that easy to drink. Go and see for yourself! Cheers Please enjoy responsibly!