The Beer Critic

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

Type of Beer: American Amber Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.9%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Color is a beautiful copper, rich and bright with a slightly hazy complexion. Poured with a two finger head that receded quickly leaving good lacing.

Smell: Talk about a sweet smelling beer, this puppy is bursting with malty goodness. The dark malts give a nice toasted brown sugar and chocolate sweetness and we can thank thse crystal malts for the delicious toffee smell. I also noticed there was a bit of a spicy raisin finish. One of the best smelling beers I’ve reviewed.

Initial Taste: While not as intensely sweet as you might expect from the smell, the malts certainly make themselves present. On the first sip, toasted brown sugar and caramel flavors cover the taste buds. The sticky sweetness slowly slides off the tongue making way for the hops with a touch of lemon and pine. The finish is well balanced (a little on the sweet side) and a bit dry giving this beer good drinkability.

Thoughts: After smelling this beer you almost half expect to taste a heath bar when trying this copper style beer for the first time. However, this beer does not disappoint. Lagunitas has a great reputation for delivering quality full flavored beers and Censored Ale is just that. With only 25 IBU’s the hop presence is pretty low. And even though this is probably the sweetest beer that Lagunitas has brewed they have done a good job with building the sweetness and still keeping the drinkability of a lighter beer. I highly recommend to sweet lovers and hop-heads alike.

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.flyingdogales.com

Type of Beer: English Barleywine

Alcohol Content: 10.5%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Big rocky head with great retention, color was a very dark amber. Nice clarity when held up to the light. Lacing was ok but dissipated quickly.

Smell: Sweet…really sweet. Malt dominates the scent here. Once your nose get’s used to the heavy malt sweetness you can pick up some yeast and dark fruits. Sadly the alcohol does not go unnoticed with pretty strong alcohol esters finishing off the smell.

Initial Taste: Starts off pretty smooth then quickly becomes seriously malty sweet.  The seriously vicious malt carries some fruity undertones and alcohol esters. What hops are in this beer are almost completely smothered by the strong malt sweetness, however, there is a slight hop bite that gives a faint relief from the sweetness. The finish is syrupy sweet.

Thoughts: Not being a huge fan of the barley wine beers I did not enjoy this beer as much as a fan of style would have. That being said I have great appreciation for the work and time involved in making such a beer. This particular barley wine (which is an award winner btw) is the only one of it’s kind offered by Flying Dog Brewery. They age this beer three years before it’s bottled for sale. Because this beer has such a high alcohol content you can keep this beer for a long time and it will only get better with age (like a wine). The flavor is seriously sweet and strong. Drinkability is pretty non-existent as after one of these I had a hard time recovering my battered taste buds. If you like strong ales and highly flavored barley wines then you are in luck, no doubt you will enjoy this beer.

Brewery Website: http://www.smithwicks.ie

Type of Beer: Irish Red Ale

Alcohol Content: 4.50%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Color is a beautiful amber-red. Very clear. Head was big and puffy and receded to a fine lacing.

Smell: Floral aromas from the hops along with a nice mix of malts and dark fruits. Some graininess in the finish.

Initial Taste: A malty sweetness covers the mouth and is beautifully balanced with a hop bitterness. Very slight coffee/smokiness from the roasted barley. Finish is little bitter and very clean. Very smooth beer.

Thoughts: The Smithwick’s company began over 300 years ago. They boast the title of THE Irish Red Ale. Being the  longest established brewer and the oldest working brewery in Ireland it’s easy to see why this beer is so popular. This is some of the best of the big industrial beers. Sure the recipe has changed since the big Guinness buyout but the beer remains at the top of the Irish red ales. While this beer won’t blow you away with flavor as other craft Irish reds do it does deliver as a refreshingly smooth session beer. I recommend.

PS. Mix this and Guinness to create a traditional Irish Black & Tan. 50/50 Guiness & Smithwicks.

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

Type of Beer: Märzen

Alcohol Content: 4.50%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Pouring down the center of the glass gives this beer a very nice white two finger head. Color is a very vibrant clear orange amber with medium carbonation. The head recedes fairly quickly leaving behind ok lacing.

Smell: Scents are pretty light. Some grains, some sweet malt and a little bit of caramel.

Initial Taste: Clean and crisp this beer has a very nice flavor to it. Some soft graininess up front that gives way to a nice firm (and surprising) hop character. The hops are balanced very well by the crystal malt adding caramel and toffee flavors. This beer finishes extremely smooth and somewhat sugary sweet.

Thoughts: Having been a fan of Abita for a long time I expected nothing but the best from their highest selling flagship beer – Amber. This beer is meant as a session beer and delivers exactly that. With this style of beer you expect some sweetness but what Abita does to make their unique is adding a bit more hops than one might find in a German Marzen. Easy to drink and super smooth it’s no wonder this is Abita’s most popular beer. The flavor is light enough to pair with most foods and does very well all by it’s lonesome. Highly recommend for your next beer session.