NoDa Brewing Company Imperial COCO LOCO Porter

Recently one of the local Charlotte, NC breweries started to bottle of their GABF (Great American Bees Festival) silver medal winner, a robust porter Coco Loco. But this is an Imperial version of that coming in at 9.7% ABV, and is their first every beer in a bottle.  Imperial just means that everything is ramped up. This, Coco Loco use hand roasted organic coconut, and cacao nibs. This imperial Coco Loco comes only in a 1 pint .6 ounce (22 ounce or bomber) bottle. Coco Loco pours a dark black color with a tan two finger thick head, looks very inviting. The aroma is a big roasted sweetness with underlying hints of the cacao. You do get booziness on the nose as well. The taste on the imperial Coco Loco is big roasted notes up front with some sweetness from the coconut and cacao, but just a little sweetness. You defiantly taste the 9.7% ABV, but just for a moment then you gets quick hit or the coconut layered with roasted flavors. The mouth feel is medium to almost full bodied, but not heavy or thick. Coco Loco finished sweet and roasted leading into an aftertaste of slight cacao and roasted coconut coffee. The aftertaste does linger for a bit on your tongue, but is very nice and pleasant. So I am giving this A, you could kind of taste the ABV on this one, but nothing over the top, but was just a tiny bit to much for me. Still a very enjoyable beer though. This is a well-crafted imperial porter. Coco Loco is a  great beer for their first ever bottling, even in imperial from. I would have this again! I do recommend that you try and get this. I know it only Charlotte local. It is truly wonderful and tasty stuff. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!    

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

One of my top favorite breweries is here again, it’s Samuel Smith and this is their celebrated Oatmeal Stout, 5.0% ABV. I’ve loved every beer I’ve had from Samuel Smith. This style of beer doesn’t really use actual oatmeal in the brewing process, but oats are used in the mash.  They give smoothness and a touch of sweetness to the beer. This Samuel Smith pours an opaque black color with a big three finger tan rocky head. The head stay for a while that leads in to very wonderful lacing. This beer looks so great just sitting there. I did find a little amount of light coming through the pint glass with a small pack of carbonation bubbles. The aroma on Oatmeal Stout is sweet with the scent of oats and bittersweet chocolate. There is a nice roasted aroma too. The aroma reminds me of fresh and sweet homemade oatmeal. The taste is nice and you first get the lightly sweet oats hitting your tongue, followed by a light chocolate that has a bit of a roasted noted around it. The taste on this makes every sip you want another. The mouth feel is medium and a bit on the rich side. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout finishes nicely with oats and a hint of sweetness that makes for a nice semi dry and sweet aftertaste. I have to find a Samuel Smiths beer is bad, their beer are never lower that a C+, and there is only one, their cider. But this, their Oatmeal Stout is getting A+ from me. I would have this over and over again. This is a very tasty beer, and does not go overboard with the oats or other ingredients; it’s all balanced well in to a great beer. I highly recommend this beer! Please go out and try this and see just how great Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout really is, you might just love it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

New Belgium Dig Pale Ale

Well for quit some time now I have been seeing New Belgium’s spring seasonal, Dig Pale Ale, 5.6% ABV. But have not tried it till now. This pale ale has been around for around two or three year but I am not totally sure on that. New Belgium uses Sorachi Ace, Nelson Sauvin, and Cascade hops in Dig. So New Belgium claims you should get incredible lemon aroma, burst of passion fruit, mango, peach, and notes of grapefruity citrus. But that is what they claim and put on the side of the label. Dig pours a light brown to a medium/ semi dark amber color with a two and quarter finger of white head that stays nicely and fades into good lacing. I could not see much light coming through and I could barely see carbonation bubbles. The aroma of this pale ale is hoppy with a light lemon aroma but nothing along the lines of incredible, but it was good nonetheless. I did find a faint mango there but it was there then gone in a flash. The taste on Dig is nice amount of citrusy grapefruit up front with a nice sweetness in the middle but just enough to cut bit of the bitter grapefruit, then towards the end there is a nice hop bitterness that linger just a bit. I don’t get any peach or mango. The mouth feel is medium and the aftertaste is hoppy with grapefruit and there I didn’t get a very faint passion fruit. The hoppy aftertaste on dig does stay for a little while. Overall this beer is good but not a solid good, but close. I will give this a B. Nothing wrong with this beer. I just didn’t get everything the side of the label claimed, but what I did get was good. Would I have this again? Yes but there is some pale ale I would choose over this that is just slightly beer (21^st Amendment’s Bitter American is one). I don’t dislike this one; it just didn’t blow my taste buds or me away and wow my socks off.  So yeah I would recommend this to a craft beer drink or a somewhat of a new craft beer drinker. So go and try this one and see if you like it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Samuel Adams Alpine Spring

Well it’s officially springtime, at least in some places it feel more like than other, that maybe buried in snow and whatnot. But this is a spring seasonal from Samuel Adam, Alpine Spring 550% ABV. Sam Adams calls this an unfiltered larger, and yes I think it looks like what they say it is. Alpine Spring pours a hazy golden yellow color with a bright one finger tight white head that is quit bubbly. I found little light coming through the glass with a nice stream of bubbly carbonation. The aroma is a bit on the citrus side with nice lemon scents with a nice hit of crisp malt. Alpines taste is a nice little lemon and crisp malts like you get in the aroma, the taste is like a lighter wit or a lighter wiezen style beer. There is also a very tiny amount of hops to this but very low on bitterness. The mouth feel is light to medium with a nice zesty feel and some tingle of bubbles on your tongue. Alpine Spring finishes crisp and very refreshing, leaving a little sweetness and lemon behind for a nice aftertaste. I enjoyed this, so I am giving this A. This beer is a great effort from Sam Adams, and I would love to have this over and over again.  Yes I would recommend that every beer drinker go and try this one. It really captures springtime, and Alpine Spring is like a beautiful spring day in a bottle. So please let me know how you like this one down below in the comment section! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly

Weeping Radish OBX Beer

Welcome, yes I know it has been a while since the last beer review. That is because I have been busy with home repairs and a vacation, but now I am back with yet another beer to review. This is a North Carolina beer, from Weeping Radish (Farmbrew, LLC) in Jarvisburg on the North Carolina outer banks way up near the Virginia state boarder. This is OBX 6.0% ABV, a Kölsch Style. This is a German warm-fermented style of beer that originated in Cologne Germany. OBX pours a gold straw like color with a one and a half finger tight white head that dissipates rather quickly, leaving a thin ring of white on the sides. This beer is not bad on lacing either. There are some nice amounts of light coming through the glass with a nice stream of carbonation bubbles racing from the bottom of the glass. The aroma is of grains and a semi-sweetness that smells a bit sticky. I also found a hint of a biscuit like scent. But the all aromas are on the lighter yet crisp side. The taste is light with a very light sweet grain taste that is refreshing and crisp. There is a very light yet faint hop character among the other taste of this OBX, but nothing extreme. I did find this to have a good carbonation bubbly feel to it that adds to the nice crisp refreshment. OBX has a nice clean, crisp, and refreshing finish, that leads into a nice mildly sweet and a light bubbly hop aftertaste. This OBX Kölsch didn’t really blow my taste buds away, but it did go over well with them.  This is a nice choice for a warmer day, and would be okay for the springtime season. So I am giving this a C+, just a hair above average by me. I wouldn’t pass this over if it were the only craft Kölsch I could have, and yes I would have OBX again, but that is hard, because it is only sold local, at the brewpub and on their website. I do recommend this to larger, pilsner, and lighter beer lovers. Don’t worry I do have more reviews coming very soon! Cheers Please enjoy responsibly!