Beer Ratings: Most Recent

Deschutes Brewery Bend, Oregon

Can, 50 cl. Pours a hazy reddish golden with a frothy white head. Aroma is sulphurous. Taste is floral, juicy, exotic fruits, citrus. Low-medium carbonation. Good balance between malty sweetness and bitterness. Nice IPA.

14th Star Brewing Company Saint Albans, Vermont

Can from Bottles in Providence, RI. Hazy gold with a medium-fine off-white head, moderate retention. Aroma is bright tropical fruit - passionfruit, some orange, mango, and lychee. Bit of berries in there - black and raspberry. Some light grain and sweetness, some mildly astringent grass, touch of pine and earth underneath. Body is medium-weight, starchy-oily, medium carbonation, medium-big burn, somewhat velvety. Flavor is bitter and somewhat spicy grasses, some tree with a bit of earthy pine, bit of passionfruit and orange as an undertone here (it's much more subdued than in the aroma). Medium-big bitterness, sappy. There's a light astringency, but its associated with the grassy/herbal parts of the hop flavor rather than the bitterness, I think. Not a lot of caramel or malt sweetness, just enough to be lightly in balance with the hops, but def. a minor role - this beer can afford some hop diminishment and not lose much balance.

Schlossbrauerei Grünbach (Arcobräu) Grünbach, Bavaria

500ml bottle. Hazy, amber colour with average, frothy, diminishing, white head. Wheaty, yeasty fruity and slightly leafy aroma, hints of baked banana, pear, some clove, citrusy hoppy overtones with a touch of lime, lime peel. Taste is minimally bready, wheaty malty, yeasty fruity and slightly yeasty spicy, some citrusy tartness, hints of banana, dried banana, some clove, lime, lime peel, old lemon peel. Minimally watery passages, prickly carbonation. Has some nice, dirty aspects concerning taste and aroma, but some deficiencies in secondary issues (appearance and mouthfeel).

Noble Ale Works Anaheim, California

Nice grassy, slightly skunky aroma. Slightly hazy pale yellow body with a white head. Lots of citrus hop bitterness and taste with a light honeyed sweetness. Thin body (to be expected). Lingering bitterness in the aftertaste with sweet malt component.

Blackberry Farm Walland, Tennessee

12 ounce can. Pours a clear orange hue with a medium white head. A light peppery fruity nose, funky. Light citrus, bigger dry dusty malts, toast, some melons, paper. Solid. Peppery finish.

Perennial Artisan Ales St. Louis, Missouri

Beer bubbled over when I opened the can; carbonation is heavy. Aroma of sour malt and fruit. Taste is salty fruit with bready malt. Tea notes hit in the finish. Decent.

Benford Brewing Lancaster, South Carolina

12oz can at home. Clear yellow gold with a thin white head. Light citrus, grain, mild funk. Some corn on the finish, but some grassiness and pepper also. Medium carb, light body. Excellent for style. Great story too.

Brickstone Restaurant & Brewery Bourbonnais, Illinois

Aroma raspberries, whipped cream and malts. The flavor is raspberries, a real hint of milkshake, malts and a tart/slightly spicy hop finish.

Pinthouse Pizza Austin, Texas

Tap at Craft Pride, Austin, Texas, 11th December 19. Pours a black beast of a beer. Aroma is bourbon, liquor,,dark chocolate. Taste is rich, boozy, liquor, liquid dark chocolate, bitter and bourbon vanilla in the finish. Very good stout.

House of Funk North Vancouver, British Columbia

375 ml bottle. Pours amber with full head. Pretty much a Brett beer; malty with farmyard and horse blanket notes but not much else that can be distinguished. Certainly cannot get advertised pine resin/hops. OK

Perennial Artisan Ales St. Louis, Missouri

375 ml bottle from the brewery. Pours a clear rose wine color with a few yeast floaters settling at the bottom and a small pink-tinted head that settles into a few spots of film. Notes of wheat, cherries, grape skins, oak, vanilla, mellow spice, earth, some dusty funk, minerals, and florals. Mild acidity, as well. Light-bodied, with modest carbonation and a tart, wheaty mouthfeel that finishes dry. Way less fruity than the other variants, with a much bigger wheat character. Just so different than the others.

Last Stand Brewing Company Austin, Texas

Tap at Craft Pride, Austin, Texas, 11th December 19. Pours a hazy yellow. Aroma is peach and citrus, taste is smooth, citrus and dry, juicy and a medium bitter finish. Very good.

Cornish Orchards Cider Liskeard, Cornwall

500ml bottle. Pours a slightly hazy urine colour with bits of ginger that sink to the bottom and a thin, fizzy, short lived, white head that fully dissipates. Sweet aroma of ginger, sugar and lemon. Sweet flavour of slightly spicy ginger and lemon in a sweet, sugary finish. Light body with a thin, watery texture and lively carbonation. More of a ginger ale soda.

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse Huntington Beach, California

On tap at the Tukwilla BJ's. Pours gold with head and lace. Aroma of bright malts, sweetness and a heavenly Belgian yeast. Moderate carbonation and significant mouthfeel. Flavors of amber malts, lovely sweet sugars, very subtle clove and banana, significantly less pronounced than many versions from years past. Overall really tasty, worthy of a trip to a BJ's and at 20 years old in production, perhaps the best they've ever produced. Granted, the rest of their beers may not shine brightly, but for this one gem I'll happily take a growler to go, with the new glass!

Against the Grain Brewery Louisville, Kentucky

From a 16 oz can into a stem glass. Pours gold with significant little floaties making me wonder the date, and keep wondering because I can't read the smudge info on the bottom. Aroma of light grains, malt, citrus. Significant carbonation and mouthfeel. Flavors of grains, rich malts, slight grapefruit juice, other sweet tropical juice notes, subtle rusty pipe bitterness. Overall rich, flavorful, tasty except the slight rustic bitterness.