Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat

I always like a good fruity wheat beer and I like some more that others. Here we have Lost Coast Tangerine wheat 5.0% ABV. I’ve never had any other Lost Coast beers before. So this is my first. Tangerine Wheat pours a deep golden straw orange color with a one finger bright white head that fades very quickly and leaves no lacing. There is a small amount of light peeking through the glass and some small amount of carbonation. The aroma is a huge citrus bomb of big tangerines and a little bitter orange. I could smell this beer from a ways away. The taste on Tangerine Wheat is a big tangerine and small bitter orange and no wheat flavor to be found, which is a bit of a let down. The mouth feel is light, crisp, and yet refreshing. The finish is clean and with citrus fruit. The aftertaste is a big tangerine. Overall this beer is good but a let down as well. This is getting a C from me, just because it was all fruit, tangerine, and bitter orange, and nothing else. I was hoping for a nice wheat flavor there, but no, just too much tangerine. I am not saying this beer was bad, nasty, gross, or anything. It just was not what I was hoping for. Would I have this again? Maybe but I will not run out and get this right away. I would cautiously recommend this beer. I didn’t not hate this one, I just found it a little bit boring. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!  

Ayinger Ur-Weisse

This is one of my favorites breweries in Germany, Ayinger, and this are Ur-Weisse, a dunkelweizen, 5.8% ABV. I’ve had many of their other beers and found them to be most enjoyable. This one, Ur-Weisse pours a deep, dark, and a bit cloudy amber color with a big three finger semi-white bubbly head. The head is very slow to fade away and leaves wonderful lacing. I saw small amounts of light coming through the glass and tiny amounts of carbonation as well. This is a gorgeous looking German brew. The aroma on this is like a rich sweet malted banana coming from the yeast mixed with the wheat. The taste is first a bit sweet and malty followed by a right banana flavor. The mouthfeel is light to a slight medium feel but it overall smooth. Ayinger Ur-Weisse finishes nicely with a hit of wheat and carbonation. The aftertaste does linger just a bit in your mouth with a nice banana note and sweet malt. This beer is something that you can drink a lot of, it’s sessionable and refreshing. This is a great year-round wheat beer. I’m going to give this A+, a real winner in my book, and a new favorite. Ayinger did not disappoint me with this beer at all. I highly recommend this beer to anyone and everyone. Ur-Weisse is really good, refreshing, and easy to drink. So go out and pick up a few and see for yourself how great this beer really is. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

New Belgium Ranger IPA

I am a fan of the New Belgium brewery, but I picked up a bottle of their Ranger IPA, 6.5% ABV and was bit disappointed. I usually like IPAs. Ranger uses Simcoe, Cascade and Chinook hops to make a 70 IBU (international bittering units) IPA. Ranger pours medium amber color with a one and a half finger white head that slowly dissipates and leaves very nice lacing. I found a nice amount, but not a lot of light coming though the glass with a medium amount of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is a huge pine needle and a nice sour grapefruit and an off smelling orange. Ranger smells a good for an IPA. The taste on Range is a big piney sour grapefruit, just a huge sticky bitter bomb. The mouth feel is light with a bitter finish. The aftertaste really sticks around with huge amounts of a bitter grapefruit. There are not a lot of other citrus fruit flavors to this at all. I’m giving this D. It’s just not as great as I was expecting at all. This has too much hop bitterness with out any good mix of citrus fruit.  I was disappointed in this because I like New Belgium’s beers but this was not something I enjoy. I know people out there like/love Ranger IPA, and that is cool, but I am just not one of them. So don’t expect me to say I do recommend this because I don’t.  I’m not saying that the New Belgium brewery doesn’t know how to make good beer; I like their other beers. They are good beers. This one didn’t make me want more, but I didn’t drink twelve ounces. So I like IPA’s, just not this one. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Anchor Porter

This brewing company, Anchor is the oldest craft beer brewery in the United States, famous for its Anchor Stream beer. It’s started in 1972, by Fritz Maytag, yes that Maytag. The same name you find on the washers and driers, but he is the son of the famous namesake. This is Anchor porter 5.6% ABV, which was introduced in 1974. Anchor use 100% malted barley, generous amounts of fresh, whole hops; entirely natural carbonation. Anchor porter pours a deep and dark brown almost black color with a thick two-finger dark tan head that slowly dissipates and leaves nice amounts of lacing. I saw no light coming though the glass and was too dark to see any carbonation in there. The aroma on this porter is a big roasted almost a dark coffee like scent and slight chocolate. The taste is nice slight chocolate roasted flavor with a very faint coffee like bitterness behind that. The mouth feel has a medium feel to it, not how I was thinking it was going to be from how dark the beer looked. The finish is nice and lingers a bit with a roasted coffee that is semi-sweet. Anchor porter is a prime example of a great American porter. This is the true king of American Porters This is definitely an A+ beer.  This beer isn’t overly complex with flavors. It has the right amount of everything it needs to be a great porter. I highly recommend this to anyone, a must try. You’ll like it; it’s a good beer! Cheers Please enjoy responsibly!

"Old Crafty Hen" Vintage Ale

Here we have vintage ale called “Old Crafty Hen” 6.5% ABV from the Morland brewery in Suffolk England. This beer is a blend of two beers, Old Speckled Hen and rare 5x. Old Crafty Hen is a 2009 Monde Selection Bruxelles Gold Quality Award winner. Old Craft Hen pours a nice sunset amber color with a one and a half semi-white head that dissipates quickly and leaves some thin lacing behind. There are tiny amounts of light coming though the glass and some nice carbonation bubbles as well. The aroma is a bit sweet with a little bit of caramel malts and a hint of bread. This beer does smell nice. The taste on Old Crafty Hen starts out a bit sweet with a very tiny hop like bitterness following that but overall a nice caramel sweetness. The mouth-feel is nice semi light to medium, a bit crisp, and refreshing. This been finishes nicely with a nice bready Caramel taste with a slight hint of raisin. The aftertaste of sweet bread and caramel doesn’t stay around long, but is most pleasant on your taste buds. Old Crafty Hen isn’t heavy on you stomach at all. So this is getting a B+ from me, a very solid beer not big and complex like I was thinking it was going to be, but just very good. I would recommend this to any one who drinks beer. This is a great beer. I would put this a one of my favorites. So please give this a try and see how great it is! Cheers! Please enjoy Responsibly!