Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale

Winter is upon us and we’re starting to see new seasonal beer hitting the shelves, like Christmas ales, winter warmers, and winter stouts/porters. This is Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale, 6.0% ABV. This ale is only released around Thanksgiving and is available until around new years, in either for packs or 550ml single bottles. The picture you see in the middle of this Samuel Smith bottle changes each and every year. Winter Welcome Ale pours a brilliant copper color with a two-finger white almost beige head that dissipates kind of quickly.  Found that there is a good amount of light coming though with not a lot of carbonation to this, but there is a tiny amount. The aroma on this Samuel Smith’s is malted caramel sweet and has a little bit of a breaded scent with a slight boozy scent like a whiskey almost. The taste is semi-sweet caramel malt with a nice boozy and breaded taste. The mouth feel is full and rich and really coats your mouth. This does finish nice with a little alcohol warming feeling on the way down. The after taste is a sweet caramel malted taste that slowly lingers in your mouth then fades nicely. Like the rest of Samuel smith beers I am giving this A+ for how well crafted this beer is. Just a nice well balanced winter beer. Samuel Smith’s always brews great beer. They’re work is awesome all around.  I really highly recommend that you try this now, as well as the rest of the beers in their line up. Very tasty very well done. A great way to spend the winter with a great winter ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Starr Hill Starr Pils

If you want to show that you a great world class brewer, then you should brew a lager. It is a style that takes much longer in the brewing process and you can’t hide the imperfections in the beer. This is true for this Pilsner, which is a type lager. This is Starr Hill Starr Pils, 4.20% ABV from Charlottesville, VA. This is a German style pilsner. This Starr Hill pours a light golden orange color with a half a finger of bubbly white head that fades quickly into a nice little white ring. I found a good amount of light coming though all the little carbonation bubbles. The aroma is bready with a slight sweet malted character. This really smells like a good pilsner beer. The taste is a nice citrus orange surrounded by a breaded malt note that keeps the beer from being overly sweet. The mouth feel is medium, and you do get a tiny bit of the carbonation on your tongue. The finish is clean and crisp without lingering. The after taste is semi sweet with a very faint hop note but is also crisp and refreshing. I liked this on and I am giving this an A. Just a really good refreshing pilsner beer. Something I can drink plenty of and still enjoy it after many. So yeah I am really recommending this pilsner. GET THIS NOW! So head on down to Mike’s 4700 Park Rd., Charlotte NC 28209. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Full Sail Brewery Pale Ale

Yet another Full Sail beer before us, and this is their Pale Ale, 5.4% ABV.  Now if I had to describe what a pale ale is in the simplest way, it’s like an IPA but not as strong in hop character. This Full Sail pours a light orange to light copper color with a nice one and a half finger of white vanilla-like head. It sticks around for a while and fades into pretty lacing. I found some carbonation streaming to the top, with some light coming through the glass. The aroma on this pale ale is of nice floral hops with a little light citrus note, but nothing as strong as an IPA. Smells somewhat similar to an IPA. The taste of this Pale ale has nice floral hop with a slight bitterness and I did taste a little pale malt there in the middle. I did get a tiny bit of a ripe grapefruit, but it was a faint taste at best. The mouthfeel is medium but does somewhat cover your mouth with a nice hop flavor. This does finish nicely and cleans up well on your pallet. The after taste is nice somewhat crisp and refreshing. This is a really nice pale ale. This receives a B+. Better than the average pale ale. I would recommend that you pick this up and try Full Sail Brewery Pale Ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

Full Sail Brewery IPA

On today’s shelves, you find many different IPA, (India Pale Ale) styles. But if there becomes more and more different style then a regular IPA might be somewhat forgotten. But not here, we have Full Sail Brewery IPA, 6.0% ABV from Hood River Oregon. This is just a simple IPA, and it’s sometimes good to go back to an original. This IPA pours a light orange color with a pillowy white head that looks like vanilla ice cream. The head does stay for a little while, and some light coming through the glass. I didn’t find a whole lot of carbonation on this, but I did see nice lacing though out. The aroma on this Full Sail IPA is a big soapy lemon and citrus fruit with a hint of a grassy note. This really smells like a good typical IPA. The taste on Full Sail IPA is lemony slightly citrusy and has a faint bitter hop dryness. The mouthfeel is medium with a good amount of crispness. This IPA kind of coats your tongue a little. The finish is good crisp with a nice bitter lemon flavor that stays in your mouth. The after taste really stays around in your mouth with a nice bitter hop. This is receiving a B+ from me. A great IPA, but could have some other citrus fruits, but still good with a lemon flavor. I DO recommend this IPA, any hoppy beer lover or IPA lover would like this, even a non-IPA/Hop drinker would like this. Give this a try please! I highly Full Sail Brewery IPA. recommend Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Imperial Cerveza

Have you ever thought about the places that your beer comes from? When you dink beer from a certain place in the world you get a sense of that places taste in beers. Here we have Imperial 4.6% ABV from beautiful Costa Rica. This is a Pilsner beer.  This pilsner pours a clear yellow golden color with a light white head that dissipates quickly.  There are tons of carbonation bubbles quickly racing from the bottom to the top. There is lots of light coming though the glass on this beer.  There is also very little to no lacing.  Looks a lot like most pilsners. Aroma of this pilsner is very plain with a little soft metallic scent, grainy malts. I also found a little faint apple juice aroma. There isn’t anything really noteworthy on the aroma. The taste on Imperial is a not so sweet grainy apple with a faint touch of malt. The mouth feel is light with a little bit of carbonation and has a bit of a thin feel there too. But this beer does clean up nice on your pallet with a bit of a crisp and refreshing taste. The aftertaste is not as good as the start. Imperial leaves a grainy feeling in your mouth for a short time, followed by a faint apple. This beer did not impress me at all, but was not bad, so I am giving this a C-. This beer is just plain across the board, and almost bordering on boring at times. After I finished a regular bottle of this it didn’t leave me think about it at all. I will say that this is better than some pilsners, especially the American pilsners. Imperial didn’t give me any sort of sense of the beer dinking culture in Costa Rica. But this beer isn’t bad. So please come on down to Mike’s Discount Beverages 4700 Park Rd., Charlotte NC 28209 for all your fine wine and beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Emelisse Barley Wine Ale

There are so many different styles of beer out there these days, and it keeps growing everyday. This is Emelisse Barley Wine Ale, 10.0% ABV. Barley wine is more of a strong winter style of beer, usually with higher alcohol content to it. This style originated in England. This is there American style barley wine ale. Emelisse is a Dutch brewery. This Barley Wine pours a murky brown copper color with almost now head. I couldn’t see anything through the glass on this at all. No carbonation found here, There is very tiny, thin lacing on the glass. The aroma on this Emelisse is big alcohol scent with dark fruits, like dark plums and very dark grapes. There also is a faint caramel scent that is a little sweet but the alcohol does cut that sweetness down a little. The taste on this barley wine is boozy with dark fruits and a little bitterness. The mouth feel is big and full. This really coats your mouth but doesn’t stick there to long, but just long enough to make it a little enjoyable.  It then does clean up somewhat nicely. The finish is with a slight alcoholic bun that does warm your inside a bit, making for a bitter dark fruity alcoholic bitter after taste. I give this Emelisse a C. I am not a big fan of barley wines, they have there moments. But this does get slight better has you continue to sip this. Could be better, less alcoholic taste/flavors on this could help. But I would have this again in the future. So, remember please to head over to Mike’s Discount Beverages, 4700 Park Rd., Charlotte NC 28209 for all your fine wine and beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!