The Beer Critic

Brewery Website: http://www.dogfishhead.com

Type of Beer: American Brown Ale

Alcohol Content: 7.2%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Color is very dark brown bordering on black with ruby highlights. Nice tan two finger head that sticks around for a long time leaving behind some beautiful lacing.

Smell: A solid mix of floral hops, coffee and sweet caramel malts. Molasses, raisins and unsweetened chocolate round out the smell leaving you drooling to take the next step.

Initial Taste: The flavor is incredibly smooth and creamy. The delicious sweetness of the caramel malts come on first then followed by subtle burnt sugar and molasses. After the sweet flavors dissipate a bit the flavor turns into a nice mixture of bittersweet chocolate and bitter hops. The hops do a great job of clearing the palate and building a great balance to this big sweet malty beer. You can taste a little bit of the alcohol in the finish but it’s very smooth and not what you would expect from such a high abv beer.

Thoughts: The problem with being at the top of the craft beer food chain like Dogfish Head is that you come to expect nothing but the very best from their beers. And Indian Brown Ale is yet another jewel in their ever growing beer crown. Dogfish Head considers this beer a ‘hybrid’ mixing an IPA and an American Brown Ale. The result is a beautifully smooth sweet malty beer with a nice hoppy backbone. The flavors of the organic brown sugar and bittersweet chocolate from a American Brown Ale are balanced to near perfection with a hopping regiment of an IPA leaving a flavorful beer with high drinkability. I highly recommend this beer to anyone who likes beer. This ‘hybrid’ beer will appeal to both hop and malt lovers. Another home run from the guys at Dogfish Head.

Brewery Website: http://www.sierranevada.com

Type of Beer: American Barleywine

Alcohol Content: 9.6%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Dark copper color with thick two finger head that recedes very slowly leaving incredible lacing and nice foam peaks. Clarity is good with some sediment on the bottom.

Smell: Rich, bold smell. Hops are quite strong, floral and piney. Hop scents are rounded off a bit with some malty sweetness and dark fruits like figs and raisins. Alcohol esters are noticeable.

Initial Taste: Like the great Emeril once (or twice) said “BAM!”. The aggressive hops instantly dominate your palate – citrus, pine, leafy and earthy. After the initial wave of bittersweet hopiness the malts comes in to help smooth things out. The malts, while not as powerful as the hops, do give a welcome sweet caramel flavor that takes some of the bite off the hops.  The mouth feel is smooth and creamy with a dry and slightly alcohol warming finish.

Thoughts: Like most barleywines this is true to their nature with lots of flavor and tons of hop goodness. Bitter, oily,  sweet and earthy this Bigfoot is a beer to be sipped and enjoyed slowly. This being my first time trying this particular beer from Sierra Nevada I can’t comment on the differences from previous years. I will say that if you are a fan of hoppy barleywines you will be hard pressed to find one like Bigfoot. The recipe for this beer changes slightly every year so if like me you enjoy this make sure you grab a few. And with the high alcohol content it’s ok if you let it sit for a while….if you can. I highly recommend this to all hopheads and barleywiners out there. Cheers!

Brewery Website: http://www.brooklynbrewery.com

Type of Beer: American Amber Lager

Alcohol Content: 5.2%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Clear golden-amber color with medium carbonation giving a beautiful fluffy white head that leaves behind walls of lacing.

Smell: Smells just like what you would expect an American craft lager to smell like; clean beer essence with sweet malts and some flowery hops.

Initial Taste: The first flavor to cross the tongue is bready malts followed up very quickly with a hop bite with some grainy finish.  There  is a nice contrast between the spicy hops and sweet malts yet the balance seems to be pretty hop heavy. The aftertaste is bitter, crisp, clean and refreshing.

Thoughts: This lager is the flagship beer for the Brooklyn Brewery. This is their interpretation of a Vienna style lager. It is complex yet smooth enough to be a session beer without question. I do have to say that there were a little more hops than what I expected to find in an American style lager. This is not a bad thing…just something out of the ordinary. The positive thing about making this beer hoppy is that the bitterness helps to clear the pallet and leave you longing for more beer! Always a good thing. If you’re a fan of Brooklyn Brewery then you must check out this lager. Like the rest of their lineup, this lager does not disappoint.

Brewery Website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com

Type of Beer: California common beer

Alcohol Content: 4.9%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Pours a beautifully gold amber that is superbly clear and bright. Nice thick, rocky, two-finger head that recedes slowly leaving near perfect lacing.

Smell: Very clean aroma smelling of caramel, mild yeasts and fruits with a hint of hops. A very nice smell and distinct from other beers.

Initial Taste: The initial flavor are those bitter hops followed up with sweet caramel and a bread yeast flavor. The hops carry a very mild citrus flavor that balances the sweetness of the caramel, malts and other fruit perfectly. The combination of flavors create a nice smooth mouthfeel. You are left with a clean, dry hoppy after taste that begs you to drink more.

Thoughts: Anchor Steam Beer is a very unique beer. Anchor Brewing Company created their own style of beer called California common beer based on the old Steam Beer style that was popular during the mid 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. This style of beer mixes the best of both worlds, lagers and ales. This style of beer uses lager yeasts but is fermented at ale fermentation temperatures. This beer also uses special Northern Brewing Hops that give this beer that unique earthy aroma and flavor. So why go through all these lengths to make a beer? Simple…to make a beer that is on the most unique beer available. Not only is this Frankenstein of beers unique…its downright delicious. From the thick mountainous head to the smooth bitter yet sweet taste this beer doesn’t disspoint at any level. If you have not had the opportunity to try this classic American Micro I highly reccomend doing so. Happy drinking!

Type of Beer: American Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 6.50%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Pours a nice two finger white head with ok lacing. Color is a light gold with a cloudy complexion.

Smell: Citrus hops with notes of pine and a bread-like malt sweetness. Very appealing.

Initial Taste: Tastes like an IPA (India Pale Ale). Strong flowery hops up front with not much of that citrus like we noticed to strong in the aroma. The flavorful hops are somewhat balanced with a sweetbready malts. While you can taste the sweetness of the malts this is by far a very hoppy beer.

Thoughts: Another amazing beer from a can! The guys over at Oskar Blues have done a great job of changing the way people think of canned beer. This one is no exception. It’s a flavorful beer that is packed full of complex hop flavors. This is definitely not for the hop-shy beer crowd   but as far as Pale Ales go…this one is a winner. I highly recommend this beer to all you IPA and Pale Ale lovers out there. Don’t Fear The Can!