Big Boss Brewing Co. Root Beer Stout

There is trend going around in craft beer and it is taking off. That trend is hard root beer, which is beer made to taste like actual root beer with alcohol or just root beer with alcohol. Big Boss in Raleigh North Carolina has gotten in on this trend with a Limited Release Root Beer Stout, 6.75% ABV. Only 200 cases made.  Big Boss Root Beer Stout pours a black cola like color with a dark tan to a lighter brown colored head that is medium sized but fades away quickly in a rush of bubbles. The aroma is very much like a root beer. There is nice vanilla and bitter chocolate on the nose. This has great root beer smell.  The taste is more beer than soda like some of the other beer root beers out there. There is nice vanilla and hints of bitter chocolate with faint sweet roasted noted but the sweet vanilla does fade out a bit to quick. This is more beer than syrupy soda tasting. The mouth feel is medium and it finish sweet with nice faint bitter chocolate notes. The after taste is not as sweet as you get on the initial taste but more faint but still a good after taste. Big Boss did a good job with this jump into the new trend. So I give it an A-. I like the sweet vanilla that is there at first but it fades away to quickly for me. But what I did taste was good. That is the only downside to this Big Boss Root Beer Stout. I love how it is more of a beer than soda. That is a big plus, and it not overly sweet like some of the ‘hard root beers’ out there. I would recommend trying this. You should try this with a few other ‘hard root beers’ and compare them. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

The Pike Brewery Seattle's Famous Space Needle Golden IPA

It is always great to have a beer at the source. Recently I visited Seattle and the Pike Brewery. I really enjoyed their beers. They are great. When I got back I thought to try some more of their beers and review them. So my father picked up this, The Pike Seattle’s Famous Space Needle Golden IPA, 6.5% ABV with IBU of 58. Space Needle doesn’t pour a golden color it pours more like a traditional IPA, a little murky orange color with a huge tower of bright fluffy white head that never seems to fade away. The aroma is with malts and earthy notes with hints of slight grassy features. The taste is slightly bitter up front with a more malted present in the middle and becomes a little more bitter on the end. This some similar in flavor to an English IPA with it malt profile. The mouthfeel is light to a slight medium and has a nice malted but bitter finish. The aftertaste is nice juicy touches of nice malted flavors and hints of an earthy note. Overall this was good but not what I was expecting, by still a good beer. So I say that The Pike Seattle’s Famous Space Needle Golden IPA is a B. I was going into this beer thinking it was going to be more lager or pilsner tasting that malty bitter IPA. Still, I thought it was good and yes I would have this again, and you should try it too. The fact that it read Golden IPA on the label and it did not taste like a golden beer was not good in my book but the flavor that I did taste was great. I really think that The Pike does a great job with their beer; I mean they have been doing since 1989. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

DuClaw Brewing Co. Quick Start My Heart Strawberry Milk Stout

There is no milk in milk stout nor is milk brewed into milk stout. Milk Stout, which is similar to sweet stouts, uses unfermentable sugars or lactose sugar.  Brewers add the lactose sugars to the brew kettle to add some body and sweetness. I like a good milk stout. Declaw in Baltimore Maryland brews Quick Start My Heart Strawberry Milk Stout, 6.8% ABV. Quick Start My Heart pours a black color with a thick beige head that fades evenly and at steady pace. This Milk Stout has a strawberry Nesquik aroma with a light roasted note. Strawberry on this smells artificial. The taste isn’t really that sweet it more of an artificial sweetness, and there is a nice roasted chocolate flavor there but it’s just average at best. You don’t really get much sweetness till the end and it is real faint there. The mouth feel is medium here. Now the finish is a little different from the rest, it’s a little sweet then it the first sip and there is more of the artificial strawberry there.  After taste fade really quickly, but what I got was more artificial strawberry with faint sweetness. This beer was a total let down, D- of a let down.  I would not have this again ever, and I do not recommend this either. The beer wasn’t sweet enough, but it doesn’t have to overly sweet, and the strawberry flavor was like the strawberry syrup you get in the squeeze bottle. Nothing that I tasted was good or as advertised on the bottle. So don’t go for DuClaw Brewing Co. Quick Start My Heart Strawberry Milk Stout. I recommend Duck Rabbit Brewery Milk Stout and Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout (nitro and non nitro) Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Uinta Brewing Co. Dubhe Imperial Black IPA

When you hear the words Imperial and Black, you would think of a stout or porter style of beer, but there is Black IPA’s and Imperial Black IPAs. Uinta Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City brews Dubhe Imperial Black IPA, 9.2% ABV and they brew this ale with hemp seeds. The whole Uinta Brewery brews with renewable power, using wind and solar power. Dubhe pours a deep black color with a tan three finger head that slowly fades into slender lacing that doesn’t really stick around. This has an aroma of bitter earthy coffee with a subtle but faint grassy fruit scent. I didn’t really get much hemp seeds on the aroma, and that cause I have never smelled a hemp seed nor have I seen one. Taste is bitter chocolate upfront followed by a grassy roasted flavor, which is quite good. There is a little stronger earthy bitterness on the end with a little roasted note. Dubhe finishes nicely like an IPA with some roasted notes and chocolate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium. After taste lingers a bit with floral, grassy, and earthy bitterness and some roast. Overall this beer turns out great and I was expecting it to be as good as it was, not that I was expecting to it be bad. I give Dubhe Imperial Black IPA a B+. It was well balanced between the imperial black aspect and the IPA. You don’t really get a taste of the big 9.2% ABV. That is well masked by the beer and all its flavors. That’s good. If it were to taste really boozy then it’s would be so good. I recommend trying Uinta Brewing Co. Dubhe Imperial Black IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Brasserie La Baleine La Picaro

Having beer that you can’t normally get in you’re on country is great but you sometimes have to travel far to try those beer. Getting them through other people, family, or friends is even better. Now I haven’t really had too much French beer, and they aren’t really know as country for good beer. France is a huge wine making country. But yes they do produce beer. Brasserie La Baleine or The Whale Brewery, is a microbrewery in Paris France. This is La Picaro, 5.0% ABV, which is an unfiltered Witbeir, brewed with four different malts of cereal. La Picaro pours a cloudy and hazy yellowish gold color with a thin but bright white foam on top that face into a white halo leaving behind a thin white glazing in the glass as you drink it down. The aroma is much like you would expect on a wit, with a nice aroma of fresh green apples and a bit of yeast around good wheat flavors. La Picaro has again what you’d expect from a wit with subtle green apple and hints of a faint yeast note. Nothing is over the top on this beer, but good. This French wit has a nice soft finish of wheat and little yeast and the apple faded a lot at this point. The after taste is nice with a little fruity flavor that fades quickly before the next sip. La Picaro is good but just a B good. The lemon flavor isn’t there so that is holding it back some, and that is what you really want with a witbier. But the wheat flavor is a little on the weak side but not bad. I enjoyed Brasserie La Baleine La Picaro and I might have this again if I can. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Foothills Brewing Hop of the month Topaz American Pale Ale

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t’s another round of Foothills Brewing Hop of the Month. This Month April is Topaz American Pale Ale, 7.2% ABV and an IBU of 54. The Australian Topaz hop was developed in the 1980’s and boasts a worldly mélange of English, continental European and North American roots. Australian hops are quite popular with beer brewers and drinkers. Topaz American Pale Ale pours a light hazy orange color with a massive tower of bight white that so slow to disappear, but it does leave behind lots of thick lacing behind. The aroma is quite pungent with lemon aroma with hints of faint orange subtle grapefruit with a nice spice note. This pale ale has one heck of a refreshing taste of lemony goodness with just the right amount of bitter twang to it that is great on the old taste buds. I did get a little spice on the end with some nice bitter flavor. This Topaz American Pale Ale finish with a little bitter lemon citrus flavor mixed with hints of small grapefruit. The after taste is pretty much the same as the finish but with some spice on it. I never have a bad beer from Foothills Brewing, so this April Hop of the Month Topaz American Pale Ale is A+, and I highly recommend having this. It is perfectly balanced pale ale with just the right amount of fruitiness and bitter flavors, and refreshing.  This is the best one of the series so far. If you haven’t had any in this Hop of the Month series the try them, ALL OF THEM! This is a great beer as the rest are! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!