Brewery Website: http://weyerbacher.com
Type of Beer: Winter Warmer
Alcohol Content:5.60%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Poured a deep rich mahogany color with good clarity. There was about two fingers of off-white head that fizzled pretty quickly down to a thin frosting of foam leaving behind only some faint lacing.
Smell: The smell is about sweet and fruity. Big molasses scent up front with a smell of caramelized sugar and candied fruits. Some dark fruit aromas come through smelling of plums and raisins. Very malty, sweet smelling beer.
Initial Taste: Just like the smell the flavor is big on the sweetness and dark fruits. Toasted malts, plums, cherries, brown sugar and a hint of chocolate cut across the tongue setting you up for what is to surely be a sweet beer. But the hops make an appearance with an earthy presence that give the beer needed bitterness and depth. The finish is somewhat dry and subtly sweet.
Thoughts: It’s no secret that Weyerbacher makes award winning beers and their Winter Ale is one of them. Taking home the Silver Medal at the World Beer Championships this beer is no slouch. This winter ale has everything needed to keep you warm through those blustery winter months with a molasses-like brown sugary sweetness, dark fruity esters of cherries and plums and just enough hops to keep the sweet flavors from becoming too cloying. And while there is no mistaking this is big malty beer there is enough complexity here to attract even the hardest hop-headed beer drinker. Is it worth venturing out into the snow and ice? Maybe not… but if you happen to find it at your local store I recommend giving it a try. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.abita.com
Type of Beer: Marzen / Octoberfest
Alcohol Content: 5.40%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Pours a crystal clear golden amber with about two fingers of off-white, fluffy head. Head retention only stuck around a little while before relaxing into a thin film. Sadly there wasn’t much lacing to speak of.
Smell: Soft and bready. The usual Oktoberfest suspects are there – bread/cereal grains, malt and yeast but they are not easily picked up on. While this smells sweet and grainy, everything seems a bit too subdued.
Initial Taste: The taste followed the smell pretty closely at the beginning with a nice sweetness from the caramel malts and cereal grains. Thankfully the hops came through with a needed bitterness to help cut the cloying malts. Again the flavors were there but everything had a washed out flavor as if it had been watered down. Finish was a little dry and bitter.
Thoughts: The Abita Brewery, located in Abita Springs Louisiana, brews its beer with water from artesian wells in Abita Springs making it rather unique as no other brewery has claim to such water. Whether or not this really makes a difference in the beer is up to you. Personally I’ve always liked Abita and their fall seasonal is no let down. While it won’t do much for the hop heads or big flavor lovers among us, there is enough character to keep this beer at the top of their sales charts. I think their biggest sell with this particular beer is the fact that it’s extremely sessionable and easy for new craft beer lovers to drink. Would I buy this again? I doubt it. This is not a slight to the beer, there is just too many other great American style Oktoberfests out there that DO meet my hop and flavor requirements. But don’t just take my word for it. Go out and try this for yourself and let us know what you think. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.lefthandbrewing.com
Type of Beer: Cream Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.6%
Beer Review -
Appearance: The color is a soft amber with some red hues. The clarity is great as is the creamy two finger head that slowly relaxed to a thin film.
Smell: The smell is pretty clean and simple. Toasted grains and mild hops subtly hit the nose with a nice sweetness that reminded me of breakfast cereal.
Initial Taste: The taste is not too far off from the smell. The toasted grains give it a wheat-like yet sweet initial flavor. There is a subtle spiciness that helps add some complexity. What hops there are in this beer are heavily subdued and make themselves noticed only in the finish to help create a crisp aftertaste.
Thoughts: I haven’t always been a huge fan of cream ales as they seem to sometimes be too cloyingly sweet but the Anderson Valley Brewing Company has a done a good job making their cream ale stand out from the others. This velvety ale has just enough flavor to let you know that a craftsman was involved in creating this brew but is sufficiently muted to enjoy as a session beer. So while this may not be my go-t0 beer to beat the summer heat it’s not a bad beer in it’s own right. So if you’re looking for a good summer session beer this one is certainly worth a try.
Brewery Website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/
Type of Beer: Bock
Alcohol Content: 5.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Poured a very murky brown with chestnut highlights. Much darker than what I was expecting. The two-finger, billowy, off-white head stuck around quite a while before finally fizzling down to a thin ring of lace that sat on top of the beer. This is one really good looking beer.
Smell: The smell was sweet as expected but surprising complex. Notes of toasted malts, dark fruit, molasses and brown sugar come through first then give way to a nice citrus hop resin with a touch of smokiness. This is one of the best smelling bocks I’ve come across to date. Fantastic.
Initial Taste: Since the smell of this bock was so unique and complex one would assume those qualities would carry into the taste. And one would be correct, to a point. The sweet flavors we noticed in the smell are very prevalent in the initial taste; caramel, dark fruits (plums, figs and raisins), chocolate and burnt sugar. The mouthfeel was smooth and a bit slick but the high carbonation made it feel a little too thin. Sadly that nice hoppy citrus resin we found in the smell never really made it’s way into flavor. The finish does have a slight citric yet smokey bitterness but it’s not really a match for the sweet ingredients.
Thoughts: This was quite an interesting review as site and smell aspects of this review were some of the best I’ve done, yet the flavor didn’t match up. Anchor is no slouch when it comes to making some incredibly flavorful beer, however I think more of a balance could be struck with this Bock style beer. Like their Christmas Ale (2011) they have really amped up the sweet and smokey flavors but unlike their Christmas Ale the citrus bitterness was only their in spirit and not really strong enough to make a difference in the balance. I”ll admit I’m not a big fan of big malty beers like bocks but I think there are other beers in this style that have found a way to balance the scales slightly better. That being said it really isn’t a bad beer. It’s got some terrific sweet characteristics that will please the strongest of sweet toothed beer drinkers. So if you fall into that category then I highly recommend. BUT this bock is only available between Jan and May so you’d better hurry! Cheers
Brewery Website: http://redhook.com/
Type of Beer: Nut Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.8%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This nut brown ale poured a bright copper color with perfect clarity. Head was about one finger and dissipated to a thin film rather quickly leaving behind only a trace of lacing.
Smell: The first thing that comes through when smelling this beer is a sweet yet fresh graininess that is somewhat expected with a well made brown ale. That bright, sweet smell of grains and subtle grasses gives way to a nice hint of hops. There is also a bit of chocolate and caramel malt that come through at the end making this a complex and delicious smelling brew.
Initial Taste: A toffee sweetness hits the tongue first carrying with it a nice mix of grains and subtle chocolate malts. There is no doubt that this is first and foremost a malty beer with big sweet flavors of chocolate, toasted sugar, caramel and vanilla but there is just enough of an earthly hop bitterness to cut through the sweets and help balance things out. Mouthfeel is a little on the thin side due to some high carbonation. The finish is a bit dry with a lingering sweetness.
Thoughts: Mudslinger Spring Ale is a re-branding of their nut brown ale. I’m not sure why they rebranded it, I can only assume it’s to match their catchy seasonal naming convention (ie: Rope Swing, Late Harvest, etc). Either way it’s a great name for this sweet nutty ale. Being a nut brown the predominate flavors are going to be sweet and this doesn’t disappoint. This heavily malted beer has lots of chocolate, nutty, caramel and vanilla flavors to satisfy even the most discerning sweet tooth. Yet all is not lost for the hope heads among us. Certainly this is a sweet beer but Red Hook has added just enough hops to give this sweet ale an earthy, grassy bitterness that not only does a great job at balancing the beer but really tastes like springtime. The only downside I found was the thin mouthfeel. The carbonation was quite high so it gave a thin and somewhat watery feel. Your millage may vary so make sure you check this beer out for yourself. Overall I’m happy with the beer and could easily drink a few on a nice spring day. Cheers!
