Flying Dog Brewery Flying Dog Pale Ale

Pale Ale is becoming one style that I like more and more I have it. It fits in beer styles around IPA. There are American and British Pale Ales. American Pale Ales tend to cleaner and hoppier, while British Pale Ales tend to be maltier, buttery, aromatic, and balanced. This Flying Dog Pale Ale, 5.5% is and American Pale Ale. Flying Dog Brewery is in Frederick, Maryland. This is yet another beer from Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com). Flying Dog Pale Ale pours a deep orange color with a three to four finger off white bubbly head that stick around for a while and leaves behind nice whips of lacing. I found decent amounts of lights coming through with nice carbonation bubbles swimming toward the foamy head. The aroma is nice an earthy with pine notes and hints of a grassy scent and a hint of a bitter citrus fruit. The taste on Flying Dog Pale Ale is a balance of earthy pine and hoppy grassy grapefruit notes with nice aromatic malted notes. I found the taste to be what a good American Pale Ale should Flying Dog Pale Ale isn’t in your face with bitterness or hops. The mouth feel is light to medium with a nice slight bitter grapefruit finish. The after taste is of bitter citrus and grapefruit with a hint of bitterness. I liked this beer, but it didn’t really blow me away nor did wow me. I give Flying Dog Pale Ale a C+. It was very balanced for a Pale Ale. But it did have much more than that going for it. All the flavors mingle well with each other. I found there to be nothing at all wrong with this beer. I would have this again and I would recommend trying Flying Dog Pale Ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Avery Brewing Co. Ellie's Brown Ale

Brown Ales are unrated as a style of beer in my opinion. I believe that they don’t get as much credit as they should. I love brown ale a lot. They can be sweet, malty, nutty and drinkable. Here we have Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder Colorado, Ellie’s Brown Ale, 5.5% ABV. This beer is named after Avery Brewing’s beloved chocolate lab. Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, hops, and yeast are used. This is another beer delivered by Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com). Ellie’s Brown Ale pours a deep russet color with a four-finger pillowy off white head that slowly dissipates into a fine lacing. I found very little light coming through the glass with some carbonation bubbles. The aroma is sweet with some malt and chocolate with a hint of nutty aroma. The taste on Ellie’s Brown Ale is a bit sweet brown sugar at first, and then you get a bit of the chocolate with some nutty flavors and a hint of vanilla. Ellie’s Brown Ale taste is just as brown ale should be. This brown ale has a smooth sweeter finish and nice chocolate and brown sugar after taste that lingers just enough for full enjoyment. The mouthfeel is somewhat light to barely medium. I like brown ales a lot and Ellie’s Brown Ale is no different. I give this an A. It is just what brown ale is supposed to be. It is easy to drink with a great tasting flavor. Ellie’s Brown Ale is something that you could drink a few and really enjoy it. The flavor is not so bold that one is all you could enjoy. It is sessionable brown ale. I recommend that you go and try Avery Brewing Co. Ellie’s Brown Ale. It is good! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

Starr Hill Reviver Red IPA

I’ve said before that they are many different beers styles out there, but each style of beer has a few sub-styles. Like IPA has black IPA, Red IPA, American IPA, Euro IPA, Belgian IPA, East Coast/West Coast USA IPA, Double/Imperial IPA, Brown IPA, fruit IPA and single hop IPA. Here is on example Starr Hill Reviver Red IPA, 6.2%. Reviver pours a medium reddish color with a one finger white head that fades quickly into decent lacing on the glass. I found very little to no light coming through with some carbonation bubbles but you’d have held the beer to the light to really see them. The aroma is nice with sweet fruity malts. I found there to be nice tropical fruits like mango and pineapple. I also found nice citrus grapefruit, orange and a bit of lemon with a nice sweet grassy pine scent with a touch of faint dark fruit. The taste on Reviver is not unlike it aroma. There is nice flavorful mango, touches of pineapple with citrus grapefruit and orange that mingles with a bit of a grassy piney lemon with a hint of an earthy, malty sweet, hop bitterness that isn’t overly bitter or hoppy. The mouth feel on Reviver is medium with a nice smooth bitter fruit finish. The after taste is like a hop covered in tropical and citrus fruit that leaves a lingering malty sweet bitterness on the back of your tongue. This is a surprisingly good beer; I wasn’t expecting it to be as good. I was thinking it was good to be good but not like I this. I give Starr Hill Reviver Red IPA and A+. This beer has a great balance between the hop flavor, the fruitiness and the malt flavors. It doesn’t have an intense bitterness to it, and the malt backbone does a nice job of controlling that. I do recommend trying Starr Hill Reviver Red IPA. So do it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Catawba Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Jelly Time

I love brown ales but I also like interesting beers as well. So some told be about a peanut raspberry beer I was intrigued. So I looked up what is and who brewed it and I found it was Catawaba Brewing Company Peanut Butter Jelly Time, 5.7% ABV. Catawba Brewing Company is Asheville, N.C. and Morganton, N.C. This is a light brown ale and is brewed with five different grains and then aged for weeks on raspberries and roasted peanuts. Peanut Butter Jelly Time pours a murky light brown color with a two finger slightly off white head. I found no light coming through and very little carbonation. The aroma on Peanut Butter Jelly Time is exactly like its name. It smells just like a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. You get the roasted peanuts with a peanut butter scent and a raspberry/raspberry jelly aroma. The taste is Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich! There is nice taste of peanuts/peanut butter and raspberries/ raspberry jelly. I also found there to be a bread crust taste that is from the grains and the roasted peanuts. The mouth feel is medium with a rich PPB&J finish and the after taste is just the same as the finish with a little bit of lingering peanut butter. This is truth in advertising. It is just like the name on the can Peanut Butter Jelly Time. Catawba Brewing Co. really hit the nail on the head with this ale. I give this an A+. I like this beer lot but I don’t think I could drink more than one. The flavor would get a bit intense as you get to the second Peanut Butter Jelly Time. That doesn’t take away a thing from this beer in my opinion. This is a truly good interest and yet tasty beer. So please go out and try Catawba Brewing Co. Peanut Butter Jelly Time I recommend that you do! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month March (Murphy)

It’s now March and it’s time once again for my favorite Foothills. It is Foothills IPA of the Month March (Murphy), 7.0 ABV and 75 IBU. March (Murphy) uses a mix of hops starting with German Tradition and finishing with Citra and Lemondrop hops. March pours a golden copper color with a three finger head that slow to fade. There is plenty of light coming through the glass with a nice stream of carbonation bubbles racing to the top. The aroma is citrusy with nice grapefruit. The taste is much like the aroma with nice citrus fruit such as grapefruit and I did fin a faint bitter orange too. I also found some lemon flavors there, and yes I did get the usual grassy, slightly piney and earth notes that you would usually find in an IPA. The mouth feel is medium and has a nice citrusy finish with a nice crisp bitterness. The after taste is both lemony and nice grapefruit with a little crisp bitterness. This Foothills IPA of the Month March taste like what they’ve put into it. I give this A+. Foothills’ brewing has once again made a fantastic IPA that is perfectly balanced and not all in your face bitter. I really like this IPA of the Month March because you can really taste all the flavors and ingredients, hops and such. I thought this beer was a well balance of bitterness, hops, and fruit flavors. I highly recommend that you try Foothills IPA of the Month March (Murphy) and/or any of their IPA of the Month series beers. They are fantastic. So go and try them! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!