Dogfish Head Positive Contact:
Greetings friends, strangers, and curiosity seekers and  as you can probably tell, today’s beer deals with the brewery that has won my heart: Dogfish Head.  Ah Dogfish, I could write limericks about you and your beers (probably both clean and dirty) and one of these day’s I’ll try your soap, but till then, I treasure your hat and wear it everywhere and really enjoy your beers too.  So today we deal with a beer that is part of their Music Series of beers (among others, Pearl Jam’s Faithful Ale is also apart of this series): Positive Contact.  The beer is named after a “key” song from the first album of Deltron 3030; the beer is a collaboration with Dogfish and Dan the Automator of Deltron 3030 and this beer is really one that will push anyone’s beer boundaries.  The brew is a combo of a Belgium ale, Fuji cider, farro (a type of wheat), a touch of cayenne and fresh cilantro and the kitchen sink.  The beer pours a nice hazy golden color with an aggressive white head that takes over almost immediately and takes FOREVER to dissipate to a manageable amount and a nice subtle nose of most blonde Belgium beers thought the notes of the apples are there.  The beer/cider’s taste is initially a nice mellow Belgium blonde, with a good balance of malts and hops while the mid-tongue does have a good apple flavor with a bit of wheat beer mixed in.  The back end has a touch of heat thanks to the cayenne and the aftertaste is a clean mellow ale flavor that is very inoffensive.  While most would shy away from this based on the cider blend, don’t fret, it’s not sweet or even that noticeable.  Really this is a different beer but it has enough familiar notes to keep it grounded for most novice drinkers but still complex enough to be appreciated by the pros.  Like a broken record, this is a great beer from Dogfish Head and in anticipation of my next run on their beers (soon, I promise), this reminds me that even in their most experimental stages, they still are the best thing out there.  

Shiner Oktoberfest:
Howdy all and a welcome back to the great State of Texas and (in my opinion) it’s official beer: Shiner.  Now I’ve done my due diligence in this little column about getting Shiner products to the forefront so all of you know what your drinking (we all drink Shiner, right??).  Today we keep with our Oktoberfest theme and look at Shiner’s take on the popular style.  The beer pours a very clear amber color with a nice think head that’s about a finger in thickness and a nose of malts and green apples with a touch of sweetness.  The beers taste starts off bitter and more reminiscent of an ESB than a Marzen style beer but moves to the mid tongue as a dry taste that sticks around through the rest of the sip and leaves an after taste of under ripe fruit and a touch of hops.  Not really what I was expecting and really, it’s not my style of Marzen and since I seem prefer the sweeter style Marzen, this isn’t that spectacular to me.  It’s a good beer but not my cup of tea and now on to the next one. 

Boulevard Brewings Bob's '47 Oktoberfest:
Greetings and salutations to all of you and welcome back.  Today we continue our little jaunt in the Oktoberfest world and this little pleasure cruise moves us up to the great little brewery of Boulevard and their take on the Oktoberfest Marzen: Bob’s 47 Oktoberfest.  The beer is named after their Master Brewer Bob Werkowitch who graduated the U.S. Brewer’s Academy in 1947.  Now I am quite fond of their Smokestack series that Boulevard puts out and their normal beers aren’t bad either, but I think we might of found their first big hiccup.  The beer pours a nice dark amber with a thin yet thick, off-white head and a bit more carbonation than most Marzen style beers.  The issues I have with this beer is with the nose of it, with the bulk of the nose being a slightly sour bread smell (not sourdough, unfortunately) with slight notes of caramel and hops and really, it’s not a smell that I particularly want in my beer or in my face as I try to enjoy my beer.  The taste is much like most Marzens of the past few days though the sweet raisin taste is gone and replaced my a more under ripe green grape taste and leaves a rather odd hop/grape aftertaste.  Not something I’d want to try again but I was excited going into it but, alas, it didn’t pan out.  Everyone is allowed a mulligan and Boulevard Brewing just got theirs. 

Samuel Adams Octoberfest:
‘Ello all and a hearty “how you doin?” to our readers in the Northeast which just happens to be where today’s beer hails from as well (amazing how that works).  Samuel Adams’ beers are no strangers to this little blog and today we look at their Octoberfest which- other than spelling the name incorrectly- is the quintessential Marzen beer for the masses and mass consumption alike.  The beer pours a really nice dark amber with a thick slightly off white head that sticks around during the whole consumption process and a nice blended nose of spices, malts and that sweet raisin smell that seems to characterize most Marzen beers.   The beers taste is a bit more complex than previous Marzens with an initial taste of biscuit and maple that move into a mid tongue of camarel and quickly bloom into an all spice tasting finish.  So another good Marzen, that makes two in a row now and really I would find it hard to pick between this and Paulaner’s Marzen but since I’m a fan of America and all that, I’d probably choose Sam and his brew, except for on Friday, that’s Paulaner’s can be the day I would enjoy Paulaner. 

Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen:
Greetings dear readers and welcome back to our little trek through the Land of Chocolate and their little festival called Oktoberfest.  I figured it was high time to get to the class of the bunch, the one that sets the bar for all others to reach and even comes with it’s own Oktoberfest glass stein.  That beer is Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen which is a well crafted Marzen beer that is available year-round but is best enjoyed in the season it is named after.  The beer pours a nice dark amber color with good carbonation that results in a dark beige colored head that leaves nice lacing on the inside of the stein along with amble carbonation to keep some foam on top of the beer during consumption.  The beer’s nose is one of roasted malts and sweet raisins which translates nicely to the taste of the beer and it’s uniform palate advancement.  The beers after taste is actually heavier than one would expect with a mix of hops and malts; this is unexpected  since the beer itself is very light in it’s mouth feel.  It’s easy to see how one could drink a whole liter of this (which is the size of this stein) and while a lowly 12 oz bottle looks rather sad in this mug, around 4 of the normal bottles should fill this bad boy up if you were so inclined (or just purchase the seasonal set of the mug and large can of the Oktoberfest-Marzen).  I think this is a beer best enjoyed by everybody at least once, I know that next year this will find it’s way into the beer fridge with a full on six-pack to be enjoyed as the weather turns cooler. 

Big Texan Brewery Whiskey Barrel Stout:
Howdy y’all and welcome to a slightly off the beaten path review today- which means we’re heading away from the Oktoberfest for a minute and we head up to the lovely Texas Panhandle. Now there isn’t much up there save for Amarillo and Route 66 and the world famous (literally!) Big Texan Steak House.  At said steak house you can  get the 72-oz steak meal for free if you finish it in, a side salad, loaded bake potato, dinner roll and shrimp cocktail in 1 hour.  I won’t bore y’all with records or more details but pictures of the contestants is worth the web search alone.  So what does this have to do with beer?  Well the Big Texan started their own in-house brewery and started cranking out about 10 different year round brews with 1 to 2 seasonal brews and all are available for take home in growlers to a tray full of samples.  Today’s beer, their Whisky Barrel Stout is one of their signature beers that is not only good by itself, but can be “soup’d up” with another beer or a shot of whiskey for a very enjoyable experience.  The beer pours a midnight black with very little carbonation or head and a strong nose of roasted malts and a noticeable bourbon backbone.  The beer begins with a nice subtle coffee flavor that moves to a coffee bourbon mix (which by itself is a great drink) with a nice back end taste of chocolates and straight alcohol.  The beer’s aftertaste is very subtle much like a Guinness and is very enjoyable and though it comes in at an impressive 9.2% ABV it’s hardly noticeable.  This beer alone is worth the drive to Amarillo and I’m not even counting the steaks or atmosphere. 
 

Widmer Brothers Okto Festival Ale:
Howdy y’all and welcome back.  As always it’s a pleasure to have all of you here and back for another review.  Today we stick with our Oktoberfest theme, this time heading to the West Coast and Widmer Brother’s Okto Festival Ale.  Now, Widmer hasn’t really impressed in this year’s reviews so far but can this ale make an impression?  Well read on dear readers, read on.  The brew pours a nice fossilized amber color well with a bright white head that sticks around after settling down to about a quarter inch with little lacing on the inside of the glass and a nose that is predominately malt with a hint of caramel.  The beer’s taste is heavy with malts from start to finish; they vary in tastes with a roasted malt on the front end to a caramelized malt on the mid tongue and a heavy biscuit flavor on the back end.  I really didn’t find any reason to get excited about this beer mainly because I’m not a huge malt fan and maybe that is why, but the beer really lacked any real notice of a bite or character.  It’s a smooth beer for a warm day but nothing too different about it in a crowded field of Oktoberfest brews. 

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale:
Hello friends and neighbors and welcome to a first here in the little beer world I’ve created and that is this: a request.  Actually it was requests from several people that said they saw this beer and thought about me which begs the questions: Do I remind them of a dog?  A Fish? A dogfish? We’ll probably never know but in the meantime lets get to the reason why we are here: Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale.  This beer is celebrated and highly sought after by those in the know as well as anyone drawn to it’s neon color packaging.  The beer has it’s origin in Delaware’s annual Punkin Chunkin contest (where the beer deputed there in 1994) and the legend was born.  The beer pours a light amber color that is very effervescent with cascading columns of bubbles in the beer, a decent head that foams up during pour but settles to a thin beige covering on the beer while the nose is very similar to pumpkin pie (pre-baking).  The beer’s taste starts of with the flavor of pumpkin and a brown ale mix and moves to a mid tongue of allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon (basically what makes a pumpkin pie awesome) while the back end is a nice blend of pumpkin and brown sugar.   Yes it’s another great beer from Dogfish, something that is expected at this point, isn’t it?  If you were lucky enough to grab a bottle (or 4-pack) of this or can still find some, enjoy, it’s worth every drop. 

Magic Hat Hex:
Greetings all and welcome to the one and only place for my opinion on beers.  That’s right, I haven’t sold out; like Consumer Reports I don’t run ads or have sponsor supporting me and my expenses, what you get is the truth and I believe, unlike Col. Nathan R. Jessup, that you can handle the truth.  So what beer get’s the cold harsh light of my review today?  Magic Hat’s Hex, their own version of an Oktoberfest beer with a fall brew twist on it.  The beer pours a clear amber color with an aggressively forming (and retreating) off white head that leaves some nice lacing on the glass and a nose of malts, wood smoke and caramel.  The initial taste of the beer is of a normal amber lager but it develops a subtle oak flavor on the mid tongue before allowing the hops to bloom on the back end and in the aftertaste.  A good beer and the twist on the Oktoberfest style is a nice change but really does that style need changing?  I don’t think so but then again Magic Hat hasn’t really impressed me so far this year and while this is an improvement, I don’t think it’ll make the list of favorites once this run on festival beers is done. 

Oh and I am taking applications for sponsorship in case anyone is interested.  Gotta make that iPhone money some how. 

Summit Oktoberfest:
Hello cats and kittens and welcome to an Oktoberfest beer review for all of you who are interested and for those who aren’t that’s too bad.  Summit Brewing is a brewery we have yet to visit this year and really, what better way to start with them then their seasonal Oktoberfest brew?  This brew is brewed in the traditional Oktoberfest of a Marzen style beer and is a nice entry level beer from the uninitiated in the style and at 6.6% ABV, a good dinner beer.  The beer pours a nice light amber color with a thin head that is nice and evenly distributed on the beer and leaves minor lacing on the inside of the glass.  The nose is a mixture of malts, toffee and grains none of which overpower each other.  The initial taste is a nice clean malt and toffee that roll nicely into a mid tongue flavor of subtle hops that continue on to the back end of the beer and leaves an aftertaste that is clean and mellow malt.  A good Oktoberfest but not the best, like I said earlier, a good entry level beer into the line up of Oktoberfest beers but for the experienced beer lover this might just be missing that “something” that would make it special.  

St. Pauli Girl Special Dark:
Greetings all and welcome to “Another German Beer, Another Day” and today we look at a Munich Dunkel Lager from St. Pauli Girl.  St. Pauli is one of those breweries that is better known for it’s model and labeling than the contents of it’s bottles of beer.  The models started in 1977, all have been blonde save for two in 1989 and 1990, they are usually Playboy Playmates or models of European origin and they have to take an oath of something or another.  So what does all this mean? Basically they are repeating the same marketing strategy that most male oriented products have: throw a pretty girl on it and guys won’t care.  I guess this works because there isn’t much to enjoy about this dark lager.  The beer was drunk from the bottle so no comment on the foam or lacing, color is an amber (not surprising) and a nose that smelled of light malts and hops though it was hard to tell from the neck of the bottle.  The beers taste is very flat on the flavor side with the front end being a light malt with a hop back end and really nothing but a blend in-between.  Yeah, so not really worth it in my opinion, if you want a dark beer, there are countless other option but really everyone is different so who am I to judge?  

Scotch De Silly:
Hello all and I hope this finds all you well, happy, and enjoying this Oktoberfest season.  As we stroll through the time frame of Oktoberfest we won’t always do a German beer, we actually look at beers from other areas of the world too like Belgium.  Now we all know that Belgian beers are a wide variety of brews that span most of the spectrum of brewing and today we can check-off Scotch Ales from that list.  Scotch De Silly by Brasserie de Silly is the third Scotch Ale to grace this review’s annals and the reputation of this style of beer only builds towards greatness in my mind.  The beer itself pours a dark caramel color with a beige foam head that isn’t very thick or long for this world leaving little lacing on the glass and a nose of malts with caramel and herbal notes.  The beer itself is smooth on the front end with a slight hop bite that moves to a heavier caramel flavor on the mid-tongue that blooms through to the back end of the tongue where it’s cut by a herbal notes. The aftertaste is a ripe fruit flavor that is dry and pleasant with a heavy mouth feel that coats the tongue and the roof of the mouth.  At 7.5% ABV this is a bit heavy for a beer to have at meal time but it is great for after dinner- I wouldn’t drink it before eating either due to the mouth feel and heavy nature of it.  Definitely worth trying if your curious about Scotch Ales or want something different, I wasn’t disappointed and I bet you won’t be either. 

Coney Island Freaktoberfest:
Greetings all, and welcome to another beer for our salute to Oktoberfest and the beers than salute that great German festival.  In effort to not get into a rut too quickly let us look at an off-beat lager from the folks at Coney Island Brewery (home of “The World’s Tallest Midget Brewer”) and their Freaktoberfest beer.  The beer, a red lager is brewed for the months of September and October and is strikingly different than any other Oktoberfest brew I’ve done so far this year (yes, yes I know it’s just been one so far, but it’s better than none).  The brew pours a strikingly soda can red with a light pink head that is about a finger and a half in thickness, great lacing on the inside of the glass, and a nose that is very malty with a subtle bread undertone.  The beers taste is very uniform and, honestly, uninspiring with malts and hops mixing together for a run on your palate that leaves a slight skunk in the aftertaste.  Honestly, the beer looks better than it tastes…well that’s being a bit harsh; this is a good beer but it doesn’t do anything for me or to set it apart from any other lager out there aside from it’s color and the fact that it (supposedly) has 6.66% ABV which sounds more like a gimmick than a reality.  Great for a novelty beer but nothing beyond that that I can see at this point.
 

Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA:
Hello all and, unlike today’s beer, I’m happy to share and NOT ruin anything about your day/palate/sense of self-worth or anything in-between.  Now we have already looked at some of Stone breweries beers this year but never their Ruination IPA (any beer that promises to ruin your palate should be approached with caution) but their anniversary line is known to be all sorts of awesome so let’s throw caution to the wind shall we?  Stone Ruination 10th Anniversary IPA is a souped-up version of the normal Ruination by upping the ABV from 7.7% to 10.8% and doubles the hops per barrel from 2.5 pounds per barrel to 5 pounds.  So are all these upgrades worth it?  Well the beer pours a very beautiful golden color with a nice thick foamy head that’s about two fingers in thickness and leaves a nice lacing on the glass’ interior and a nose of grapefruit, floral notes and a bit of pine.  The taste profile is of course heavy with hops though the mid tongue is a nice ripe yellow grapefruit flavor with floral notes and a back-end that is has the hop edge softened by malts but the hops are still there at their skunky best in the aftertaste.  So to answer our earlier question of is this worth it?  Yes, very much.  A great IPA and it’s a shame that this particular version isn’t widely available anymore (the current 16th anniversary is now out) but it does show up from time to time, especially if you’re not looking for it.  

Lighthouse Dark Chocolate Porter:
Greetings and welcome one and all and welcome back to another beer review and this time, it’s a road edition!  I know it may seem odd but hey it works, okay?  Today’s brew hails from up North, like really up North,  like Canada, Victoria BC.  Lighthouse Dark Chocolate Porter was released this year and was apparently something that was called for by large masses of Canucks: Dark Chocolate Porter.  Now the good people at Lighthouse use “beyond fair trade” cocoa nibs in their brew so you can feel ethical while drinking and enjoying it.  The beer pours well with a dark brown color similar to Guinness with a nice beige head  that is slightly foamy with a touch of creaminess around the edges of the glass leaving a nice (but brief) lacing and a subtle nose that is similar to the cans of powdered dark cocoa from the store.  The beers taste is initially a weak cocoa flavor on the front end and moves to a nice (and surprising) mix of cocoa and chipotle- minus the heat- on the mid tongue before settling to a clean porter taste on the back-end.  A very light beer for what it is at only 5.5% ABV so it is very consumable year around as well as making a good addition to a chocolate porter shake or float.  Yeah I said it, a beer shake or float- try it sometime.  I dare ya. 

Rahr and Son's Oktoberfest:
Guten Tag every one and welcome to the unofficial beginning of Oktoberfest- it actually begins on the 22nd- here in the beer blog world (or at least mine) and today we start local.  One thing to note as begin our adventures through the Oktoberfest beer world is that they are usually modeled after Marzen or Vienna style beers and really they are hard to mess up (though it is possible) and are just the right amount of weight and consistency to make an enjoyable beer.  Today’s brew is brewed right here in the Worth at Rahr and Sons: Rahr’s Oktoberfest, a Marzen style beer.  The beer came in a nice collectable beer stein from a tap so I can tell you it had a nice beige head that wasn’t very long for this world and a nose of roasted malts and sweet caramel notes while the color appears to be a nice light amber.  The beer is very uniform in it’s taste with a triple combo of the roasted malts, sweet caramel and hops all of which work very well together to give you a beer that sits lightly on the palate.  Coming in at 7.5% ABV, this beer is one of those that will sneak up on you and drink a liter or two of it and will definitely be plenty for you to have a good time (I hope).  A great beer from our boys at Rahr and Sons and one that you should hunt down and enjoy while it’s available. 
 

Unibroure Grande Reserve 17:
Hello friends, and welcome to a “fancy” beer review, so I’ll wait for y’all to polish those shoes and straightened the bow ties and ladies, dust off those cocktail dresses, we all need to look our best.  Okay, now that we look like a bunch of sophisticated people, lets dive into what is probably the nicest beer I’ve reviewed so far this year: Unibroure Grande Reserve 17.  So just  how fancy is this brew?  I had to use a wine opener to open it. Yep I broke out the cork screw and had to open this the bad boy with a little elbow grease and you know what, it is a damn good beer.  Brewed only twice a year this Canadian beer is one that will push the limits of any novice beer fan -in a good way- and enjoyed by connoisseur of the brew craft.  The beer pours a dark amber color with a off white head that is very creamy smooth and a nose of overly ripe fruit, roasted malts and hints of oak.  The taste is smooth but strong with an up front taste that is initially creamy that quickly moves to a spiced oak flavor with banana undertones in the mid-tongue.  The back end is spicy and rich with back end of oak and cinnamon.  The mouth feel on this beer is mild carbonation with a bit of coating on the tongue that you’d normally find with a good red wine and with an ABV of 10%, it would make a nice change of pace from a red wine during a meal.  In fact this is beer would probably age very well for a year or two before using and should mellow even more to make a great date night beverage to pair with a good roasted chicken or seared steak with caper sauce.  Damn I’m getting hungry…

Anchor Brekle's Brown Ale:
Greetings, ah greetings and welcome one and all to the final installment of our review of the Anchor Brewing line-up.  Today we look at the 140th anniversary ale, Berkle’s Brown, a beer brewed in the tradition of Anchors German founders.  The brew pours a medium dark brown that reminds one of a bock beer, a nice off beige head that’s about two fingers in thickness that leaves some very nice lacing on the glass and a nose of roasted malts with a touch of caramel sweetness.  The beer’s taste is a show case in just how many different ways one can taste roasted malts; I personally noticed roasted, burnt, and caramelized malts and I’m sure there are few other adjectives you can use while the single hoped nature of the beer shows up in the utter lack of presence of hops in the beer.  The back-end and after taste are both of a burnt sugar flavor that seems to linger a bit to long to be enjoyable in my opinion.  A good beer but probably my least favorite in the whole line. 

Anchor Bock Beer:
Well hello all and welcome back to our ongoing review of the Anchor Brewery line-up and today we look at the beer that is brewed for my zodiac sign: Capricorn.  No, no that’s not the name of the beer, today’s beer is called Anchor Bock Beer, a simple name for a very complex beer.  Now to us beer drinkers here in Texas we know a bock beer to be a Shiner Bock and what a beer that is, but this beer is above and beyond the taste profile of our beloved Shiner and that is a good thing (trust me).  The beer pours a dark earthen brown with a robust head that is a mellow dark tan color and very smooth while the nose is complex with strong notes of molasses, malts and chocolate with a touch of hop.  The taste is equally complex with a heavy roasted malt up front with that move from that to a soft grassy alcohol taste on the mid tongue.  The back-end taste is a heavy and powerful coffee flavor that that moves to a mellow roasted coffee and smoke flavor as an aftertaste.  This beer is a great bock that is a step up the taste ladder from one of my all time favorites well with that being said, this would be a beer that I would have with a nice barbecue dish since the aftertaste would enhance the flavors in a smoked brisket.  Every drinker of Shiner Bock should try this when they have a chance, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale:
In the world of beer, there are few styles that are more polarizing than India Pale Ales(IPA) and Barleywines and while I’ve shown that the prejudice against IPAs is just plan silly, lets move on to the other style, Barleywine.  The name alone is alienating with many seeing as possibly a sweet beer (Anchor’s website says “Barleywine Style Ale is to beer much as port is to wine”) or a bitter concoction brewed by a bunch of half mad brew masters in-between cauldron cleanings.  Today’s beer, Anchor Barleywine Ale was actually the first barleywine I ever tried many moons ago and I really didn’t like it…actually I hated it and swore them off till now in this review.  Feel special people.  Also to note: this beer was introduced by Anchor in 1975 as the first modern American Barleywine and it apparently sparked interest in the style again and is responsible for us seeing this style floating around specialty grocery stores.  So what’s it like?  Glad you asked because I was going to tell you anyway.  The pour is a deep amber color that seems to act like a blend when it settled with a dark amber top and a medium transparent amber at the bottom, not much head on the beer to speak of other than a thin brown foam that dissipates quickly and leaves no lacing.  The nose is very complex with overall notes that range from sweet to sour with specific notices of caramel and roasted malts which directly translate to the palate.  The only difference between this brew’s taste and it’s nose is a more established sour note that reminds one of Flemish sour ales but it doesn’t linger that long.  This is a really good beer, it’s complexity and heaviness would make it more an after dinner beer because it’s flavoring would annihilate any food flavors you had on your plate and with 8-10% ABV, it might just put you into a post meal nap. 
 

Anchor Humming Ale:
Hello friends, neighbors and, to any newcomers out there, a special hello (welcome baskets are given out first come-first serve after the review).  As we continue our look at the Anchor line we must ask ourselves a question: Does beer sing?  Ok singing is a little too narrow of a category, how about: Does beer hum?  Well according to ancient tradition beers “hum“ especially when they are good.  Humming has been used from Robin Hood to Herman Melville in terms of describing “strong and effervescent ale with a lot of character.”  Well, Anchor’s Humming Ale, a seasonal ale, certainly fills in that definition nicely though it has a great brewer and base to build on. The beer itself is Anchor’s Liberty Ale used with a New Zealand hops that give this beer a more distinctive hop character than the Liberty Ale.  The beer pours very a hazy golden color with a very large crisp white head almost three fingers in thickness and a nose of floral notes and hops.  As mentioned before, the beer’s taste is very similar to those of the Liberty Ale but this beer carries a heavier mouth feel as well as a more sour/skunk then I remember the Liberty having.  The aftertaste is a mellow sour flavor that really reminds one of pale ale more than IPA but we must remember that West Coast IPAs are what the rest of us call pale ales so, semantics aside, this is a good hop driven ale.  Again, worth a spot in your sixer.  Oh and beers hiss, they don’t hum. 

Anchor Porter:
Greetings friends and curiosity seekers.  Today we continue our venture with Anchor brewing and their impressive line up of beer.  I see porters and stouts as very diverse beers with more uses than just filling a pint glass; uses in beer breads, batter to fry things (fish, chicken, steak), shakes, floats are just a few ways to use these beers as well as infusing them with fruits and spices.  Anchor’s Porter beer is one of those beers that deserves to be tried in a variety of places but I’d recommend the first stop being a chilled glass in front of you.  The beer pours very well with a nearly pitch black coloration, a thick head that is caramel in color and about two fingers in thickness and a nose of chocolates and coffee (pretty normal for a good porter).  The taste is two stage with the first stage being heavy in a silk-coffee flavor with a very mellow booze taste similar to adding a shot of whiskey to your morning cup of java (I know I’ve been tempted on some Monday mornings to do that).  The after taste is heavy with roasted malts and coats the back of the tongue, very similar to the same mouth feel that Guinness has in it’s aftertaste.  This is a very good beer, very good.  All this beer is missing is a shot of whiskey or a blender containing chocolate ice cream.  This is a must try for anyone who loves dark beers and, much like Southern Stars Buried Hatchet Stout, this needs to be sampled by as many as possible so that it’s awesomeness can be spread to the uninitiated. 

Anchor Summer Beer:
Ah, hello friends and welcome back to our run through the (currently) available Anchor beer. Today we jump back to what has been the theme of these past few weeks: summer beers and Anchor goes super creative with their naming of this one in Anchor Summer Beer.  So aside from the underwhelming name what does this beer offer us that any other summer beer doesn’t?  Not much really, but the bottle script does highlight the head on this beer which is a change from the usual “we use this kind of yeast” or “we only use these hops”.  The beer is actually an all-malt beer with half of the used malts coming from malted wheat which causes this beer to have head on in that would make a gin fizz jealous.  The beer pours a hazy golden color with a head that is very dense, slightly rocky, leaves a ton of lacing and sticks around from first sip to last gulp.  The nose of the beer is hard to really detect through the spackle like head but I noticed wheat and honey notes every once and a while.  The tasting notes are pretty uniform with strong notes of wheat (duh), malts, and a hint of honey does rear up every once and a while.  The aftertaste is mellow with a touch of sour but mainly it’s on par with most of your higher end wheat beers.  Another good beer from Anchor but in a crowded field of summer brews that are wheat based, it does little to separate it from the uninitiated. 

Anchor Liberty Ale:
Hello all and welcome to the second review of Anchor brewing and their beers.  Lets stop a moment and contemplate why Anchor is in the position it is in today’s craft beer market.  Probably the first thing to note is the change in what we call breweries like Anchor; it used to be known as micro breweries and, in the past 30-40 years, that was a precious few that you could probably count on one hand, maybe two.  Anchor and Samuel Adams breweries lead the way in bringing craft brews back to the marketplace.  So since this is a pioneering brewery, why are they so unpopular with the masses?  It’s hard to say.  The best reasoning I’ve heard is that they don’t market themselves much, don’t have commercials with George Thorogood playing in the background and they look like bottles our grandparents would drink from.  Well, it’s shame that such beers like Anchor Steam Beer and today’s brew, Anchor Liberty Ale go over looked at the beer store.  Liberty Ale pours a nice hazy golden color that gives up a medium density head that starts very thick but settles to a nice half inch and is very thick and a nose of lemons and subtle hop notes.  The beer initially tastes of a variety of strong citrus alternating between sour grapefruit and lemons while the mid and back tongue that is like a mellow American pale ale but not too sour.  The aftertaste is very clean and minor with little lingering skunk and is very light on the palate.   While classified as an IPA, this should be called a West Coast IPA or American Pale Ale for it’s mellow hop character.  That being said, another great beer from the gang at Anchor and another to add to the permanent rotation next year; if guests are coming over I’m buying a few of these for them to try.  I’ll do my best to get Anchor’s name out there so all know about it and it’s well crafted brews. 

Anchor Steam Beer:
Ah, good evening fellow readers/beer drinkers/fans of a good time and let’s jump right to it.  It’s been a while since we’ve done a run on a single brewery here at the beer institute for higher drinking so let’s start one today and we are going to go with a classic.   A long, long time ago (1869) in a galaxy far away (San Francisco) there was a brewery founded in San Francisco by German immigrants that made beers based on German traditions at a brewery named Anchor that lasted through troubles times on and off till the late 50’s and early 60’s when America fell for lighter beers and lost their taste for craft brews and Anchor fell on hard times.  Flash forward to 1965 and an life saving investment puts Anchor back on the map and back to brewing their patented Steam beer that was first crafted pre-prohibition.  So today we look at that beer, a steam beer that is not only historical, but pretty tasty too.  The beer pours a light amber color with a nice head around two fingers in depth that dissipates down to a quarter inch rather quickly but is very thick and creamy and leaves nice lacing on the glass.  The nose is strong on the caramel malts and hops with a bit of biscuit underneath it all.  The initial sip is very hoppy and bitter but moves to a subtle sweet caramel notes on the mid-tongue while the back-end and aftertaste is very hop filled, similar to a good pale ale.  A very good beer, one that is to be drunk by everyone at least once.  This brewery, along with Samuel Adams, led the way in the revival of craft breweries and while Sam gets a ton of attention, Anchor does as well. 
 

BridgePort Summer Squeeze:
Ah, hello friends and welcome back to another beer review on a day where we are finally starting to see noticeable shifts in the weather.  For instance, here in the Lone Star State we are finally shifting from 110 degree days to a chilly 90-95 degrees.  Now don’t worry about me, I’ve already wrapped my pipes, brought the pups inside and gotten the heavy coats out of the closet.  While I await the forth coming chill in the air, let’s take a look at BridgePort Brewing’s Summer Squeeze, a summer pilsner that was brewed with lemongrass and contains yuzu fruit juice.  The beer pours a clear golden, though darker than previous lager or pilsners with a decent but small head that dissipates rather quickly, several ascending spires of carbonation and a nose that is strong of lemons and hops.  The beer’s initial taste is strong on the lemon side with not much notice of the hops till mid mouth which is also where the carbonation comes out as well.  The backend taste is very hoppy with a strong skunk that almost makes you cringe while the aftertaste is sour, hoppy and thick.  Not a good beer, I hate to say it but the idea of yuzu fruit was part of my reason for acquisition on this beer but since I have no clue how this fruit really taste, I don’t know if I tasted it during this beer consumption.  Not worth the purchase in my opinion but then again I’m just one man reviewing a world of beer one beer at a time. 

Buffalo Bill's Strawberry Blonde Ale:
Holler people. Holler. So we are winding down the summer beer brews and I’m getting anxious to dive into some fall brews and brewery lines but first business and today’s business involves strawberries. Strawberries have found their way into this beer log with Abita’s Strawberry Harvest Lager, Covington Strawberry Ale, Dogfish Head Tweson’ale as well as a cider or two and now we come to Buffalo Bill’s Brewery take on that funky fruit and I will say it hit’s it out of the park in my opinion. The beer pours a slightly hazy golden color with a about a ¼ inch head that leaves little lacing on the glass and a nose of spicy ginger, strawberries and alcohol.  The beer is unique in it’s flavor with ginger dominating (the label say’s it “with ginger”) the taste that dominates the beer’s flavor with a strawberry taste that seems almost aromatic throughout the beer.  The finish is very light and the strawberry flavor is present but doesn’t linger.  This is a great beer and dare I say it, best strawberry beer I’ve had this year?  Yes, I dare.  Sorry Abita, you’ve been dethroned and I can say this beer will find a permanent spot in the rotation next year and this is definitely worth multiple spots in your six pack, maybe even a sixer by itself. 
 

Boulevard Zon:
Greetings one and all and welcome to yet another wheat beer review.  I think after these are done, I’m taking a step back from wheat beers.  They used to be my favorite type of beer but in this beer challenge I’ve found them to be really run of the mill type brews with little variety in their taste and look.  Today’s beer, Boulevard Brewing’s Zon is another example of your typical witbier and while it’s a good beer, it’s nothing special.  The beer pours a very hazy blonde color with a very thin bright white head and a nose of citrus and banana.  The taste is very similar to the nose throughout though it does have a strong wheat flavor that moves the citrus and banana flavors to a more secondary role.  The aftertaste is strong in wheat and malt though I could detect some hops in there though they were sneaky little devils and weren’t that noticeable at first.  This beer reminds me a lot of Paulaner’s Hefeweizen brew so it’s not a bad beer, just another wheat. 
 

Fort Collins Major Tom American Wheat:
“Ground control to Major Tom, take your protein pills and put your helmet on“.  How’s that for an intro?  I’d like to thank David Bowie for giving us a character that spans not only several songs, but possibly artists  with Elton John and “Rocket Man”.  So we have beer’s named after Rolling Stone songs so why not a David Bowie song? Well Fort Collins Brewery stepped up to the plate and not only gave us a brew, but redeemed a fruit’s use in beer brewing process.  Major Tom’s Pomegranate wheat is not technically a summer brew but if this combo isn’t I don’t know what is right anymore. The beer pours a light golden color with a nice wheat haze, a head that is about a finger in thickness, and nose of subtle pomegranate with a mild sweetness undertone.  While all that is fine and dandy we are here for the taste and that is the surprising part. With being let down by a previous pomegranate beer I wasn’t expecting much out of this beer as far as taste goes, but this beer not only redeemed the extraterrestrial fruits use in beer, it impressed me.  The taste is very uniform which is apparently common with most beers that have heavy fruit components in them.  The taste is a like drinking a cream of pomegranate malt-o-meal with an alcohol backer and it leaves a very pleasant and subtle aftertaste.  So a great beer from the land where breweries are born (Colorado) and a great summer beer to boot.  The sad part of this is that it isn’t available here in Texas (boo! hiss!) but hopefully, with time it will be- hey, Dogfish has made it down here so that’s reasons enough to believe in miracles. 

Goose Island Honker's Ale:
Greetings once and future kings and queens and welcome to a review of beer, that elixir from the spirits themselves.  The beer in the spotlight today is Goose Island’s Honker’s Ale which is English Bitter Brown beer and is art fully grafted on an island full of geese (which can’t smell all that good).  The beer pours a nice light amber color with a nice thin white head that leaves a good lacing inside the glass and a nose of roasted malts a touch of hops that add some bitterness to it.  The initial taste is very hop filled up front with the taste moving to a more caramel and roasted flavor on the mid-tongue and a nice, dry hop finish.  This a nice beer, very drinkable at 4.2% ABV and for being a amber beer, it isn’t heavy at all.  Again with Goose Island, it’s a shame that it has such a limited distribution range which, with luck, will hopefully increase in time, but for now it’s enjoyed as a rare treat in the rotation. 

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat:
Greetin’s and salutations y’all.  Welcome to a day of beer that tastes like a cereal of our youth: Corn puffs!  No just kidding, it’s Fruity Pebbles and, to be honest, I got this reference from a cohort in this challenge and I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right.  The beer Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat, a beer that is really a departure from your normal wheat beers in it’s flavor and nose.  The beer pours a nice hazy golden color with a thin white head that dissipates about half way through consumption and a nose of, well, Fruity Pebbles.  The beer’s initial taste is a bitter wheat taste akin to plain cream of wheat before moving to a mid-tongue flavor of F.P. which mellows a bit to a combo of with the wheat on the back-end and a after-taste that is very mellow and non-intrusive.  This is a wheat beer for the non-wheat beer lovers because it’s taste is probably the furthest thing from a traditional wheat beer that I’ve ever had and, it’s not bad.  Worth a single in the six pack if you’re curious or really into liquid Fruity Pebbles though, for me, it’s off the list to try and I probably won’t purposely buy it in the future but I’ll definitely recommended it. 
 

Kelly's Irish Raspberry Hard Cider:
Hello friends, welcome back to the world of beer and it’s satellite, cider moon.  Now be honest, home many of you thought blue moon would have been better?  Yeah, me too.  Alas today we have a cider to review so get your groans and moans out now.  Done?  Good, lets move ahead shall we?  Kelly’s Irish Hard Cider is brewed in that land best known for cider, Florida and per their label, is the drink of the Celts- by that logic, the Celts now live in Florida I guess.  Anyway, Kelly’s puts out at least two ciders: Traditional and Raspberry and today we look at their Raspberry offering.  The cider pours the color of tinted water showing hints of red, a white effervescent head forms and dissipates almost as fast as it forms and a slight nose of sweet raspberry’s that reminds me more of Boo Berry cereal than an adult beverage.   The cider is like most other ciders with a uniform flavor that is of a sweet berry flavor with tons of carbonation.  No real dryness to it like an English cider and the over abundance of sweetness make this a hallmark American cider which really doesn’t float my boat.  I guess okay for those who like sweeter drinks but for me, I’ll do without in the near future.  

Deschutes Brewery Twilight Summer Ale:
Hello twihards, I’m sure your little internet search for reasons why Bella cheated on Edward or whatever their names are, has led you here to a beer review.  You should RUN! The Mormon church and it’s disco ball vampires probably don’t want you to read this because, well, it’s about beer.  So with that out of the way, today’s beer is Deschutes Brewery’s Twilight Summer Ale a pale ale from Oregon.  The brew pours a amber gold color with a fingers width of white fluffy cloud…I mean head and has a nose of citrus and hops.  The beer taste starts with a strong grapefruit taste that moves to an equal share with the hops on the mid tongue with the back end adding a third layer of skunk.  The after taste is very surprising with no real noticeable skunk and actually finishes very clean and mellow.  The beer reminds me a lot of a nice IPA with it’s heavy hop flavor but everything I can find on it has it listed as a pale ale; whichever it is, it’s good.  I’m really looking forward to sampling more from Deschutes in the forth coming months and this beer is definitely worth a spot in your six-pack, maybe more if you’re a hop lover. 
 

Tin Roof Watermelon Wheat:
Hello one and all and welcome back to the great state of Louisiana.  Today lets scoot west down I-12 and to the capital, Baton Rouge and their local (and growing) brewery, Tin Roof.  Now this being the third Tin Roof beer in this little shindig of beer reviews and honestly, they haven’t really impressed me with a non-memorable amber ale and a unremarkable pale ale.  Now comes their summer release: Watermelon Wheat and with this being the second watermelon brew this year, we actually have something to compare and contrast with.  The beer was poured from the tap (the only way it’s available) and comes out a nice hazy gold color, a crisp white head that is almost two fingers in thickness and some nice lacing.  There is a nose of sweetness and wheat but nothing else is that noticeable which makes one wonder just how much watermelon there really is in this beer since it isn’t even noticeable in the nose.  Come to think of it, does watermelon really have that strong of scent in the fruit form?  Anyway, the taste is very uniform with an overall taste like a mellow Blue Moon though not as strong and heavy on the tongue and there is a nice ethereal watermelon about the beer and it is a nice complement to the wheat taste.  This beer taste more like a wheat beer than 21st Amendments beer did but both are equally good and worth it for summer beer.  Hopefully, one of these days, one- dare I say both - (Dare! Dare!) make it to a wider *ahem* Texas release because these are great summer beers and who knows summers better than Texas?

Abita Amber:
Greetings friends and neighbors, especially to all those who fall into both categoreies.  Today we take this bus tour of beers down to our friendly neighbors to the east (at least here in Texas), Louisiana and take a look at the best thing to come out of that state since crawfish, Abita Beer.  I won’t gush over the awesomeness of Abita here (I have older reviews that do that) but know that they are probably my second favorite brewery behind the fish looking dogs up in Delaware.  This being the case, it seems strange that I haven’t gotten around to their main beer yet, the beer that put them on the map and is most widely available: Abita Amber.  Brewed as a Munich style lager, this beer is one of those beers that, when you can get it fresh (usually on tap) it’s one of the best beers out there.  My beer poured a nice dark amber with a touch of clarity, a decent thick but stable off-white head that sticks around through most of the pint and a nose of caramel, roasted malts and fruit.  The initial taste was heavy on the malts and caramel but moved to a light roasted nut flavor that seemed, at times, to have a touch of apple crispness to it.  The backend and after taste were very malt heavy though a touch of hops was noticeable in the aftertaste.  As I said before, this beer can be amazing but, sadly, I’ve had this beer come in on the mediocre side of things more often than not.   If you run across this at a bar or restaurant on tap, ask for a sample before you try it to make sure it hasn’t gone all malaise on the flavor and you end up being disappointed.  I got lucky with this bottle being a nice beer but in the 5+ years I’ve been drinking Abita, I can count on one hand the number of good Amber bottles that I’ve had.  I think if you follow my suggestions, you’ll be rewarded with a great beer but even if it’s off it’s usual great taste, this beer is still better than anything the usual suspects can put out there. 

Big Sky Summer Honey Seasonal Ale:
Hello all and welcome to the one stop beer review…place? Source?  Man, that does not roll off the tongue at all and I need a better slogan.   Well while I think about the next step in the marketing plan, let’s talk shop, shall we?  First, I’d like to welcome Big Sky Brewing Company to the fold and their summer brew: Summer Honey Seasonal Ale.  This beer is unlike yesterday’s brew, this not heavy on the honey flavoring but tends to lean towards spice and malts.  The brew pours a nice golden color that is reminiscent of a wheat beer, a nice half a fingers worth of head and a nose of honey and wheat.  The initial sip is very mellow with a mix of wheat and malts and this moves to a mid-tongue of spice and wheat.  The back-end of the tongue is same as the after taste which is surprisingly heavy on the hops and leaves a rather noticeable skunk.  It’s odd that there is no honey flavor that I could detect in this beer but that might not be a bad thing.  Where as Blue Moon’s Honey Wheat is for those who would want a savory mellow beer, this would be it.  I find this interesting enough to look forward to more from Big Sky.  This is worthy of a spot in the six-pack and if you like it, go for more. 

Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat:
Howdy partners and welcome to another day of summer- which here in Texas last till the winter solstice.  Today we venture back to beer made most famous by The Marcels’ cover way back in 1961: Blue Moon.  While Blue Moon as a brewery is a great into beer to those looking to expand into the world of Belgium style beers, it’s really not that special.  Yeah the orange slice is nice and the color and nose are swell (I guess) but really, it’s not as unique as other Belgians that are on the market, but luckily, Blue Moon has realized that it can make a niche in seasonal releases and they have done that very well as with today’s beer, Summer Honey Wheat.  The beer pours well with a nice semi-transparent gold color and a thin, but respectable, head along with a subtle nose of wheat, honey and floral notes.  The beer itself is a nice example of two stages of taste development: 1) the front-end and mid-tongue are sweet but still beer like with strong malt notes and the taste of honey stage 2) brings out a bread like taste that is common in unfiltered wheat beers and a mellow but slightly skunky back-end taste thanks to the hops.  The beer is a bit heavy for a summer beer with a meal but good as a stand alone beer since it is very filling.  Worthy of a few singles unless you have a group that can help you polish off the sixer.