The Hartford Better Beer Company Reviews

malrubius	2.6 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Bottle from TRader Joes. Amber with head and lace. Full-on toasted caramel aroma. Caramel apple peach fruity sweetness with some herbal bitterness in long finish. Medium body slightly sticky. Whoever decided this was an IPA hasn’t had an IPA in about 250 years. A decent amber ale, a joke of an IPA. Tuesday, July 21, 2015
BeersGoodnStuf	4 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Wednesday, December 17, 2014
crazyvin	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator A clear copper body with a white head. A nice aroma of caramel malts and grapefruit hops. Some floral notes were present. Flavor was initially sweet from the malts. Hops were mildly bitter from the hops. It really was not bad but it seemed to have nothing that made it stand out. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Saturday, November 29, 2014
Jow	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Sunshine Kristall Weizen Made the trip to obscure shop in middle of CT to grab this brew, oh the places style ticking will bring you. Pours hazy golden with nose of stale baseball card gum and wheat. Tastes of wheat, perfume, light lemon, some plantains, and more bubblegum. Fine palate. Touch of cardboard on aftertaste. Friday, November 14, 2014
crazyvin	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter A blackish brown body with a tan head that had great retention and nice lace only downside was it seemed a bit thin looking which did carry through to the mouth feel. Aroma was if roasted malts and some coffee malts. Subtle chocolate and a bit of ash. Flavor seemed to be mostly roasted malts. A good flavor but not much else going on. There were enough chocolate and smoke flavors to keep it from being one dimensional. Smooth finish. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Travlr	2.9 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Draft at Willimantic. Clear brown color. Nice nutella aroma. Tastr is nutty caramel. Light body. Saturday, October 25, 2014
BeerandBlues2	3.1 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Tap at Willimantic. Pours clear black with a medium, frothy beige head, medium retention with good lacing. Aroma is roast and chocolate malt, dates and earthy hops. Flavor is dark malt and fruits, light hops and medium bitterness with a dry finish. Medium body and carbonation. Saturday, October 25, 2014
crazyvin	3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Sunshine Kristall Weizen A mostly clear golden body with a slight hint of orange. A slight haziness to it. It had a white head that had some retention but mild lace. Aroma had mild hints of banana and sweet wheat notes. Flavor had a little more banana than the aroma let on. Some wheat notes that were mostly sweet. A mild yeasty flavor. A smooth body and moderate mouth feel. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone Thursday, September 18, 2014
jtclockwork	3.1 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Sunshine Kristall Weizen Draft at Willimantic. Pours cloudy gold with white head. Nose/taste of lemon candy, bubblegum, wheat, banana and touch of grain. Lighter medium body. Sunday, May 18, 2014
BiddleBrau	2.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Bottle orange hue with thinner head and some lace. Minimal nose. Malt and hops well balanced but mild generally. Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Travlr	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Bottle courtesy of Adam, Prince of Somalia, thank you your tribal highness. Clear deep golden amber color, white edge head. Aroma of bright fruit, perfume. Taste has both pine and biscuit. Decent enough. Sunday, May 4, 2014
Ajcanon711	2.3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator This is brewed by Shipyard for Hartford. Not too into this IPA. Lacks body and intensity that I personally look for in an IPA. Aroma was particularly underwhelming. ---AJ's Approval Thursday, February 13, 2014
SilentJo	2.7 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Bottle poured by husband while I was in the bathroom, had a slight foamy head/lacing and there wasn’t a very noticeable aroma. The taste is pleasant enough though, smooth to start and a nice hoppy finish. Saturday, August 31, 2013
penguinfinity	2.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Blind buy. Bottle. Smells like a regular beer, looks like an amber ale. No surprises here. It’s a wholly average amber ale. A little bitter, but manageable. Saturday, August 31, 2013
rondphoto	2.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Clear, dark amber with a 1"beige head that slowly drops to a full head cover, streaks of lace. Taste is caramel malt going in; it loses quite a bit in the palate by becoming oily and adding a cloying woody, toasty quality that suffers in a shy, hardly bitter finish. This could stand a big upgrade. I hoped it would be a nice indy choice, but it needs work. Sunday, July 28, 2013
Dogbrick	2.9 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Sample at Willimantic Brewing Co. This brew pours a clear brownish-amber color with a medium light beige head that recedes gradually. Short strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of malt, caramel and hops. Light body with flavors of toasted malt, caramel and mild hops. The finish is sweet with a short malty aftertaste. Barely average overall. Sunday, June 30, 2013
BeerandBlues2	2.9 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Tap at Willimantic. Pours clear amber with a medium, frothy white head, medium retention with excellent lacing. Aroma is spicy hops and cookie malt with pear esters. Flavor is malt and hop balanced with a dry finish. Medium body and carbonation. Sunday, June 23, 2013
Travlr	2.5 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Guest tsp at Willimantic. Clear deep amber color. Aroma of caramel. Taste is similar. Plain. Sunday, June 23, 2013
adeishaqra	3.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Love this beer. Nice hoppyness with a sweet after taste that stays on the palate. Looks great. Not much in the aroma. Very refreshing. Saturday, June 8, 2013
5000	2.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Bottle: Amberish in color, a little fiery, moderate frothy off-white head, so-so lacing. Soft malty nose, slightly toasty. Very very faint caramel malt aroma. Soft malty start, little body, little hop, and little enjoyment. Not a big hefty amber, but it doesnt need to be. This one was almost on the thin side. Nothing off, but its very boring. Simple semi sweet malty finish without much sweetness or hop aspect. Snooze... Wednesday, April 24, 2013
SanfordBrewer	2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Translucent mahogany with a frothy tan head. Poured very foamy. Medium body with harsh carbonation Aroma: licorice, kahlua, chocolate malt, and grassy astringency. Taste: chocolate malt, grassy astringency, light notes of caramel and fruity esters. Friday, February 8, 2013
AirForceHops	3.4 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter 12 oz.. bottle thanks to Waterbury. Real dark brown color, black toward the middle. Thick ½ inch foam that laced real well. Nose is light cocoa powder and roasted malt. Taste is mostly chocolate malt with hints of coffee and citrus hops. Medium in body with a creamy texture. Nicely balanced. Saturday, November 10, 2012
Ernesto987	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator On tap, malty and not very bitter kinda of lame, a safe beer, for lamenpeople Saturday, November 3, 2012
Beerenberger	3.5 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Aroma is roasted malts, chocolate, with hints of fruit. Pours a deep brown with ruby highlights and a large non-lasting beige head. Taste is roasty, chocolatety, toasty and slightly bitter in the finish. Toasted bread aftertaste. Medium-light bodied with moderate carbonation. Overall, while thinner in body than I usually like porters to be, it more than makes up for it in richness of taste taste. A very drinkable porter. Would buy and drink again. Thursday, October 18, 2012
Drake	3.5 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator 12 ounce bottle from Whole Foods Market, Darien. I guess they don’t realize that with a name like Hoppinator, this should be a hoppy doppelbock. Pours clear dark amber color with a medium sized frothy tan head. Decent head retention. Aroma of floral hops, caramel malts and nutty notes. The taste is toffee malts and floral hops. Decently balanced, medium bodied. Solid beer. Saturday, September 22, 2012
Drake	3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale 12 ounce bottle from Whole Foods Market Darien. Pours a clear amber color with a medium sized frothy tan head. Decent head retention. Aroma of grainy caramel malts and floral hops. The taste is caramel malts, tart fruits and a faintly hoppy finish. Medium bodied. Decent. Saturday, September 22, 2012
Travlr	3.3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Sunshine Kristall Weizen Draft. Hazy golden yellow color, medium white head. Aroma of citrus bubblegum. Taste is flowery citrus. Not bad. Saturday, August 25, 2012
Leighton	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Bottle in NYC. Pours ruby-brown with a soft, grey foam head. Nose gives off some far candies, bread and sugary, milky chocolate. Medium sweet flavour with milk chocolate, some caramel, a bit of dry cocoa. Light to medium bodied with average, massaging carbonation. Sweet finish with very light roast, some lightly burnt toast, more dark sugar, subtle caramel and mellow chocolate. It’s fine. Friday, August 17, 2012
jkwood04	3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Sunshine Kristall Weizen 12oz bottle in a weizen glass. Pours light golden with a lacy, white head. Aroma of light wheat and pale malts plus some light hops. Flavor the same. Average texture. A decent beer for the summer. Monday, August 13, 2012
Reynolds314	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Thin and brown pour. Lactose and nuttyness in this very dry porter. Light notes of chocolate and some sugar sweetness in there. Extra points for the longest commercial description ever. Sunday, August 5, 2012
Ernesto987	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter from stafford springs what what. actually not that bad, good malts, a little thin and papery but thats jsut being very critical. Easy drinker. Saturday, August 4, 2012
joebudzjoe	3.5 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Bottle from All the Best Spirits in Riverside, CT. This is a watery porter, but there’s a lot of good flavor in this beer. This beer has a sweet bagel aroma with a flavor of chocolate, oats, cigarettes and cherry. There’s a slight grit to this beer that I like too. Not bad. Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Jow	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale My personal CT beer week continues. Pours light copper with small head, malt and caramel aromas. Taste is bright crisp of malt, apple, caramel, earth, and tin. Monday, November 7, 2011
Jow	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Beer 3 of my CT experience. Pours dark copper with sweet aromas. Light hopping, lots of toffee and caramel flavors, light floral, fruit, and grassy notes as well. Well carbonated with decent finish. Sunday, November 6, 2011
Cletus	2.6 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Pours copper/gold with a thin tan head. Smells perfumy with some peppery spicy notes. Tastes floral and caramelly with a grassy finish. Wednesday, July 6, 2011
jkwood04	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale 12oz bottle in a shaker. Pours brownish-amber with a cream-colored head. Aroma of caramel and bread malts, some floral hops with hints of citrus, and a little doughy yeast. Flavor about the same. A standard beer that is much better than this brewer’s IPA. Sunday, May 22, 2011
jkwood04	2.9 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator 12oz bottle in a shaker. Pours amber with a cream-colored head. Aroma of some floral/resiny hops and bread malts. This is not that good of an IPA. Average texture. Not really worth drinking. Sunday, May 22, 2011
glennmastrange	2.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch IPA Hoppinator Bottle. Moderate malt notes of light bread and cereal, light herbs for the hops, soap, cheese and musty for the yeast, with hints of toffee and wet cardboard. Head is average size, frothy, slightly off-white with good lacing and is mostly lasting. Color is sparkling, crystal clear copper. Flavor starts lightly sweet and moderately acidic, then finishes lightly acidic and moderately bitter. Palate is on the lighter side of medium, watery with a lively carbonation and a clinging tart aftertaste. This beer looks good, but overall it’s not very IPA-ish, and some of the bad aromas keep it form even being an easy drinking beer. Friday, March 18, 2011
ApisAles	1.4 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Light amber pour with a white head. aroma was a bit metallic, a bit malt, just not very enticing. Flavor was thin, metallic, slightly malty. A little bitter. Just not a good beer. Friday, September 10, 2010
Elwood	3.1 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Serving: Draft at Willimantic brewpub. It pours a very dark brown with a small, off-white head. The nose is light but roasty with a touch of molasses. The flavor mirrors the nose in terms of lightness but picks up a bit of raisin and brown sugar in addition to the molasses. Light to medium body with low to medium carbonation leading to a short to medium, sweet finish. On the lighter side for a porter, this brew is highly sessionable, but not very interesting. Sunday, June 27, 2010
jkwood04	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter 12oz bottle in an English pint. Pours very dark brown with a thick, beige head. Aroma of dark fruits and slight notes of roasted malts and chocolate. Flavor of fruits sort of overwhelms the mouth, but a slight hoppiness and chocolate flavor come in later. Sort of smoky too. Average body. A decent porter, but the fruit flavor is too much. Sunday, June 13, 2010
SanfordBrewer	3.2 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale lucent copper, thin white head, highly effervescent. aroma: sweet malt, creamy sweet hops. taste: T1= metallic, slightly pretzely malt. T2= high co2, slight funk, diacetyl. T3= crisp, note of bitter sesame. Saturday, May 8, 2010
rocbyter	2.6 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Moderate malt aroma with a light amount of pine hops. Clear dark orange color with a small white head. Tart bitter beginning that gets milder in the finish. Sunday, May 2, 2010
LilBeerDoctor	3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale On tap at Willimantic Brewing. Pours a clear brown/amber with a small white head. Aroma of sweet malt with lots of diacetyl. Flavor is more of the same with diacetyl and lots of sweetness. Definitely a flawed beer. Meh. 6/4/5/3/12 (3.0/5) Wednesday, May 20, 2009
fredandboboflo	2.8 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Tap at Willimantic Brewing. Aroma of syrupy-sweet malt, some leafy/earthy hops. Flavor has toasted malt with sweet fruits, as well as some odd candied earthiness...or something. Pretty thin. Not a favorite. Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Alphadelic	2.3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Arch Amber Ale Flat orange with a thin foam. Dull, fuddy cereals. Very meek. Strange oily booze flavours, candied fruits and those light coloured raisins (are they sultanas or something) that you find in cakes, which it also tastes a little like. Good finish. Very strange petrolly little beer. Not totally pleasant. Sunday, May 10, 2009
daknole	3 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Good lord that is a long description! Nearly black with a light tan head. Pleny of roast in this one with a hint of chocolate. Flavor is very roasty and over carbonated. Carbonation steals away some of the flavor. Not bad, but not amazing. Sunday, April 19, 2009
Gregis	3.4 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Pours a deep brown with ruby highlights and an insanely huge, pillowy beige head that leaves behind creamy lace once it retreats. The nose is a roasty blend of milk chocolate and a light cherry-like fruitiness. Light-bodied and creamy yet quite thin with a lightly drying, flinty finish and a touch of lingering astringency in the aftertaste. Roasted and lightly fruity with an ashy chocolaty flavor. This is a decent sessionable porter. Not too shabby. Saturday, February 7, 2009
rocbyter	3.9 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Sweet malt initially. Hops and must old wood late in the aroma. Opaque brown color with a large tan head. Tangy sweet beginnin fading in the finish. Friday, December 26, 2008
jimhilt	4.1 Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter Explodes out of bottle and leaves a five+ finger light tan head that fades slowly, leaving a good lace. Totally black color. Good carbonation and medium-heavy bodied. Roasted coffee nose. Flavor is sweet roasted coffee/chocolate, well balanced, decent porter. $1.50 for a 12oz bottle from Manchester Wine and Liquors Manchester, CT Tuesday, September 2, 2008