Expedition Stout

Bell's Brewerly Expedition Stout. Ok may well be one of my favorite beers out there. Its like eating a good chocolate desert after a rich steak dinner. It is sweet, thick dark, rich and not toooo hoppy. At 10.5% ABV expect to only finish one before you have to consider whether you need a second, if your not driving and plan on staying warm in front of a fire with close friends, have another. This is a good beer. Price is fair, found em for about $3 a bottle locally. I have had several of the Bell brews and plan on writing them to express my appreciation for their contribution to the craft of beer making.

Cheers

Java Stout

Bell's Brewery, Comstock, MI. Im not usually a big one on coffee brews, I like by beer strong but simple, barley and hops. But the recommendation was heeded and I bought a bottle. Less then $2 for 12oz I lose less on a scratch-off so I figured, what the hell.

As expected it is dark. Smells like beer, can't really detect the coffee but smells good. First sip, yep, theres the coffee. Not strong but right up front. Fortunately I like coffee. Nice head, glass clinging kind. Nice brown hue to it, did I mention the beer was dark? Maybe I didn't make myself clear, yesterdays coffee left in the pot overnight dark. I like it :) Like coffee, there is a bit of a bitter nutty aftertaste that hangs on your tongue. Not unpleasant, just there. This is a stout and true to its name, not very hoppy, sweet and a little milky, which goes well with the coffee taste. Good beer. I would recommend this with ice cream, chilled or room temp on a cold night. Not a beer to quench thirst but more like an end of the evening treat.

Not a very big beer, 7.5 ABV but tasty. I would buy it again.

Until my next beer....Cheers!

Hopslam

Ok, new beer. But before that let me tell you about The Liquor Store. Yes thats the name, a mom and pop (well mom and son) operation and the young man I met was an enthusiastic beer person. He and I swapped stories over the cooler that was filled with an assortment of smaller brewery beers in the single 12 oz bottles as well as the other beers like bud and lite and you know what I mean. Anyway I took home a couple and here is my review of the first.

HOPSLAM Brewed in Comstock , MI. brewed with honey, though I don't know how much as the beer is anything but sweet. Hop slam is right, I don't know what hops they used (but I will try) but it is tangy and has A LOT of it. The beer is pale like an amber bock with a tight fizzy head. Boasting 10% ABV makes this a pretty big beer in taste and punch. Its a good beer, one I might suggest to a friend but I have had better. I would rate it around 5, maybe 6 as I have just finished the first half.

Oh and cheap too, I think I paid about 2 bucks for the bottle, better then most beers you find in a bar.

Well until next time, Cheers!

Double Dog pale ale, Flying Dog Brewery (7.5 rating)

Ok, standard ritual, face in mug, big sniff...two for this one, then a taste....wait on it, wait....now taste again and ponder....

ok, I like this one...but what is that taste I taste....earthy, but I know it, just cant think of it after my last beer...lol...just kidding but this might take the whole beer to figure out. Lots of hoppy flavor happening here, if you don't like hops, stay away from this beer. Me, I like hops, Hops is the best thing added to beer since the addition of barley malt.

Fair head on this one right out of the bottle, definatly not a barley wine even if the beer totes a 11.5 % APV. Wow, ok, another drink...this is good beer. I like head on my beer just because i do, I know its a beer and who can honestly say they dont like head...on their beer. Dirty minds, all of you.

This was the cheaper of the two beers sampled tonight, 12 oz = $2.50. Why pay less when you can drink better. 1 of these beers is like a whole six pack of Natural light and taste, well, it has taste, more then I can say for the American piss water served these days. What would this country be like if it knew what beer was supose to taste like. What most people drink is what was considered a suitable alternative for undrinkable water.

Ok, this one is making thisgs fuzzy around their edges...rating? Ill give it an 7.5. maybe earn an 8 on my next bottle full!

Monster Ale Rated (5)

This beer is made by Brooklyn Brewery in, you guessed it, Brooklyn New York. I chilled the beer to about 50 deg F, celler temp. The pour left a little to be desired with very little head however, this is another BIG beer coming it at 10.8% APV. Most beers at that strength loose their head and if you drink too much of it, so will you. Ok, face to glass, deep breathe in through the nose...snnnnnnnniffffff...not bad, yo can smell the alcohol but the smell is inviting...1st sip, let it sit in the mouth a second and....hummmm, another sip....ok, not the best beer I have had in my mouth but pretty good. Pretty damn good I should say. Seems to have an almost green taste to it, like it could age a bit longer but that may be the alcohol I am tasting...no, it has a bitter taste to it that is distinctivly green. Big beers like this can age well past a year, or so that say because the alcohol content is so high critters cant grow and spoil the beer. One day (yea right) I am going to bury some of the really heavy big beers and see what they taste like. But a whole year, that's as bad as making mead.

Ok, so what do I rate this...let me have another drink...ok, I will give this a 7 only because I am feeling the effects, so it is potent. As for taste, maybe a 4, or 5. But remember, my scale goes from a 1, which is a beer I would drink to a 10 which is a beer I would hide from my closest friend. So this one officiall gets rated a 5.

Heres to you!

Three Philosophers

I have grown to really appriciate the heavy big beers of Belgian. I have tried a number of them and so far have liked them all. This one is no exception. Unlike many of the Belgian ales I have tasted, Three Philosophers has a deep reddish color and a thick foamy head that stick to the inside of the glass.

This is also a flavored beer which I am not all too happy with, beer is beer, fruit belongs in wines and meads. This is no different in that my only real complaint is the cherry aftertaste. And your burps have that cherry coke aftertaste, light but it makes this beer fall way down the scale. I would score this a simple 6. Mostly because of its high 9.8% APV. Gravity is what they call it I think.

Anyway, I make better beer at home, but not that much better. i would buy this again, especially if I knew we would follow the beer up with something a little richer.

Final note, upon pulling the cork I noticed a high degree of CO2 pressure, and I can feel it when I drink it, a lot of belching.

Heres to your health!

Dog Fish Head - Olde School

This is the second beer from this brewery I have tasted. The folks at Dog Fish Head are not right. What they do borders on insanity. Who would ever dream of producing an 11%ABV beer and serving it in convient 12 oz bottles in a neat little six pack. Well these folks do, and its bigger brother is double the punch at somewhere above 20% APV. What are these guys thinking!

Ill tell you, in my book they have taken the top best beer that I have ever had. Rich? Hell, I have never really wanted to chew on a beer like those beer snobs do until I took my first drink. Not only does the taste almost knock you over when your swishing but it kills germs too.

But seriously, this is big beer. Big in everything. Now I will blog on the Dog Fish Head 120min beer in another post, it was delicious but its little brother (if you could dare call him little) is one fine beer. Solid flavor, bold to the point it is almost a Barley Wine. One bottle and I knew, if I had another i would be done for, water from then on. My mistake was being thirsty when I first opened it. So I wasted the first half but the remaining, I took my time and savored. it reminded me of eating a well seasoned steak, where each bite it, ummmmmm.

Find a night to stay home, buy you couple of these beers, and enjoy. Or better yet, a six pack and a close friend who appreciated good beer, and have a blast!

Heres to you!