Samuel Smith Old Brewery Pure Brewed Organic Lager

When it comes to craft beer the word Lager is looked on as a bad or dirty word. That can be so done to BMC (Bud Miller Coors) for brewing such bad or weak tasting beers. But I don’t think that lager is such a foul word. I have had some great lagers and this Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Organic Lager, 5.0% ABV, is what a BMC/lager beer should taste like. Samuel Smith an English brewery has some of the best beers in the world. This lager is no different. Samuel Smith Lager pours a bright golden color with a pure white foamy head that says for a nice while and makes very nice lacing. There are tons of light streaming through the glass with tons of little carbonation bubbles. This is a beautiful look lager beer. The aroma on this English lager is bready from the malted barley used. I also found a cracker-like scent among the bready aroma. The taste is not far off from the nice aroma; I found it bready upfront and a little teeny sweetness toward the end. The flavors on this lager are crisp, sharp, light, and refreshing. The mouthfeel is light and refreshing and has a clean crisp bready like finish. The after taste is a tad bit sweeter than the start but fades out rather quick. I think this is Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Organic Lager is how a BMC should taste. Forget adding SO much water to the darn lager. This Samuel Smith beer is getting A+ from me. This is an excellently brewed lager and a great example of how lager is supposed to be. I have yet to have a bad Samuel Smith beer! All of the beers that they brew are just as excellent as the last. This Organic Lager is something I would have over and over again, and it’s good that it is 5.0% ABV. I highly recommend trying this lager, so go and see how great this beer is! Cheers Please enjoy responsibly!

Southern Tier Double Uncommon 2X Steam

Most beer styles in the United States originate from other countries, but the California Common or Steam Beer is truly 100% unique American style. This style is usually brewed with a special strain of lager yeast that works better in warmer temperatures. This method can be traced back to the 1800’s in California when refrigeration was a luxury. The brewers back then had to improvise; to cool the beer down, so shallow fermenters were used. So in a way the lager yeast was trained to ferment quicker at warmer temperatures. Today's examples are light amber to tawny in color, medium bodied with a malty character. This style is mildly fruity with assertive hop bitterness. Well lets see how Southern Tier’s Double Uncommon X2 Steam, 8.0% ABV, stacks up. This Southern Tier pours an orange/deep but darker gold color with almost no head, it was gone before you knew it. There was some carbonation bubble to it and a little light shined through the glass. But when held to the light the beer had a shinny copper color to it. The aroma on X2 Steam is a big fruitiness with a light bitter aroma. The fruity scent is orange, a little like candy. I also found a little yeast like aroma there as well but it was faint at best. The taste on this Southern Tier is at first orange with a hint of sweetness, then comes the slight hoppy bitterness that is just a quick hit on your taste buds. The mouth feel is light almost medium and does clean up well in your mouth on the finish. The after taste is slightly less of a hoppy orange with a hint of bitterness at the end, but not overwhelming or IPA like. This style of beer is not so common, you don’t really see lot breweries make this style, and only a few do. But over all this Southern Tier Double Uncommon X2 Steam gets a C+. This isn’t a bad beer or anything, just not as good as I though it was going to be. Could have been more balanced between the flavors and not as strong on one of them. I did like this and would have this again. I would recommend this to some that likes lagers and to get them more into liking hops.  This is a good beer, and an average beer. I suggest you go out and try this beer for yourself and see how you like it. Cheers¡ Please enjoy responsibly!

Southern Tier Blackwater Series Plum Noir

During the summer time the store shelves are filled with light, fruity, hoppy, wheat and less malty beers. But one day I was in the grocery store and found a beer that you wouldn’t expect to find. This Southern Tier, Blackwater Series, Plum Noir, 8.0% ABV. This is an imperial porter brewed with Italian plums. Southern Tier also uses 2-row malt, caramel malt, barley flakes, chocolate malt, puréed plums, Chinook & Willamette hops. Plum Noir pours a very dark color, nearly black. But as I held it to the light I found a little brown hue to it. There is a one finger tan head that stays a while and make somewhat nice lacing. I found no light coming through the glass with no carbonation bubbles. The aroma is a coffee-like bitterness with a very faint chocolate aroma. The entire aroma on this porter is mostly the coffee like bitterness. The taste on Plum Noir is a mild coffee bitterness followed by a little mild chocolate sweetness. You don’t get a lot of the plums on the taste, but you do get a very little but faint plum earthiness in the back of your mouth. Plum Noir has a toasted grain with hints of caramel in there as well. The mouthfeel is medium with a little mild roasted finish that leads into an aftertaste of bitterness with chocolate. Southern Tier’s Plum Noir could be better, so it is receiving a B-. The sweetness could be a little more, but just a pinch. The plums aren’t really there but what I did taste was good. I like this porter. It sounds really interesting, but doesn’t taste as such, but still a good effort. I wouldn’t have this again but not right away. It is a good beer and something a little different for this time of year and all the summer beers. So go and try this one and see what you think of it. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!    

A Hoppy Home Brew

Well this beer doesn’t come from any brewery foreign or domestic, it isn’t collaboration between two or three breweries. This here is a home brew that was given to be by my friend Nick. He brewed this himself at home. This is a hoppy home brew that taste like it is somewhere between 6.00% and 7.50% ABV, and is very hoppy. I am calling this Hoppy Home.  This home brew pours a deep copper almost brown color with a one-finger head that dissipated quickly. I found light coming through the glass, but I did see some carbonation bubbles in the glass. The aroma on this hoppy home brew is big with sticky hops and a small, faint grassy like note. I did find a light malty aroma there as well. The taste on this Hoppy Home is big bitter hops on the front and then there is a nice somewhat sweet malted taste that is still a little bitter. I did find a very faint grassy pine needle taste there as well but just barely. The mouth feel is medium and really does stick to your tongue. The beer finishes nice with lots of hops. The after taste is a big hoppy bitter ness that makes your tongue tingle and after a glass of this your tongue becomes a bit numb. I liked this home brew had some balance between the big hops and the malts. I am giving this a B. I would not have more than two of this. I think that you would start to loose your taste buds after a third one. But it is good just to have too. Nick did a good job on this. I didn’t find this hoppy home brew undrinkable at all. This one is a good hoppy beer! Thank you Nick! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Saranac Rye IPA

Today in the world of beer brewers are becoming more and more creative with their many different beers. Brewers are combining styles; using new hops or new hop combinations, and many other things to brew great beers. This here is Saranac Rye IPA, 5.95% ABV, this is not such a new thing. IPA’s have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, and as for using rye has been used for a few years now, more common in an IPA style beer. This Saranac pours somewhat darker gold color with a very thin quarter finger head that fades kind of quick. There was a decent amount of light coming through the glass around a great amount of carbonation bubbles. The aroma of this Rye IPA is grassy and spicy with hints of citrus fruit, like a grapefruit or a mild orange scent. The taste of this Saranac Rye IPA is a big spicy hoppy note from the rye up front and then you get a grassy, citrusy taste of grapefruit and orange that is almost orange juice like. There is a slight pine needle flavor there as well but it faint along side the citrusy flavors.  The mouth feel is medium and coats your tongue. The finish on this Saranac rye IPA is spicy hoppy and sharp, this really works your taste buds. The after taste is hoppy with spicy hop bitterness that sticks around for a while after. Over all this is not bad, so I am giving this a B, as far rye IPA’s go this is good, but not as good as say a Sierra Nevada’s Ruthless Rye. Saranac Rye IPA has a good balance between the rye and the hops, but I do think that is slightly over spiced but none to bad. This is an interesting IPA style and so is this beer. Cheers!

Out of all six of these Saranac beers from the twelve beers of summer,  here is how I would rank them.

6. Rye IPA

5. Pale Ale

4. White IPA

3. Wild Hop Pilsner

2. Kölsch

1. Session

I would also give this twelve pack, as a whole, B+ rating. This is a very interesting beer pack and so are the beers themselves. The Saranac brewery really does a good job of show casing different way of using hops. I do recommend this twelve pack. So go pick this up and try all these twelve beers of summer for Saranac. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!