Tsjeeses X-Mas Ale

Starts lighter than I'd expect for the style, price, and ABV. Ends way maltier than I'd expect for the... everything. Well rounded, but not worth $9.

Hair of the Dog Fred

Technically a Barleywine, the grapeyness I taste in Barleywines isn't there. It reminds me more of a really sweet, sharp, wonderful quad. My only complaint is the price.

Raison D'Extra

I knew it had a high ABV from the first sip, but wouldn't have guessed 18%. More than the ABV, the dry oakedness, caramel, raisins, and other dark fruits caught be off guard. Like staring into the ocean, it's deep and full.

Stonecutter Scotch Ale

Starts with a slightly bubblegummy fullness of a sweet quad, quickly melting away to a more bitter, roasty rum raisin. Finishing with an intense charcoal, and an ambiguous dryness.

Green Man IPA

Sweet, berry hops. Medium-light body with slightly bitter aftertaste and a hint of smoke. I really need to review more of these NZ beers.

Karmeliet Tripel

Clean! ..too clean..

Carolus

Beer pretending to be whiskey. Serious WTF moments abound.
Only complaint: Too sweet.

TRY THIS BEER!

Juju Ginger (Left Hand)

A genuine ginger-ale!

The ginger and ale are happily on first base, and making their way to the ginger's apartment building. Their friends are happy for them.

Brother Thelonious (North Coast)

Taste like a square pulse. The aftertaste is like a whole new beer.

90 Minute IPA (Dogfish Head)

Woody. Like a twig.

St Bernardus 12

Comes on strong, finishes round and sweet. A real bear - pure - no comparative flavors.

Dulle Teve Tripel

To quote the brewer's site:
"Dulle Teve means Mad Bitch, but the US goverment does not like the name, so we said TRIPEL"

Earthy to smell. Alcohol stands out, but not in an offensive way - leaves a lingering bite, but not always on the back of the palate. Becomes more acidic over time.
Fascinating.

Dortmunder Gold (Great Lakes)

Same demeanor as their ale, but sweeter and smoother.

Burning River (Great Lakes)

A brighter Brown's Brewing Co. - when followed by Chimay, makes the Chimay taste like artificial cotton candy.

312 (Goose Island)

Bitter quintessential lager.
Slightly vomitous finish.

Oberon Ale (Bell's Brewery)

No attack - clean happy build. Peak fruitier than expected. Pleasantly bitter and slightly savory finish.

3 Monts

From the smell I would have not been surprised if it was a hefeweizen, but it turned out to be a very intensely carbonated, acidic triple-like brew with plenty of mustiness.

Gila Monster Amber Lager

Comes on flat, then blooms into a standard but VERY tasty amber lager.

frugal joe's ordinary beer

If bud made a craft beer. Very drinkable, nothing exciting, but not tasting like urine.

Grimbergen Optimo Bruno

Lighter than any 10% I've had, the body is mainly to be found in the malts. And those only show up after all the dark fruits and other flavors have passed away.

Mahou Cinco Estrellas

I was expecting it to be very light and too sweet, but it isn't either. Not great beer, but I'd drink a couple.

Fat Tire

Bittered sink water from a barbecued meal, fermented in an old fat truck tire.

Couldn't finish the pint.

Jopen Hoppenbier

Brewed in Haarlem using a recipe dating to 1501. Some farmhouse sourness, hugely oaty maltiness, and fruity hops. A little dry.

Elysian Immortal IPA

I've been having more DIPAs than regular IPAs, but this is as balanced and intense as you're going to get below 8% ABV.

Tripel Karmeliet

There was a cheese in the nose, but I could only smell it in the bottle. Full body without being overwhelming. Starts with lighter citrusy fruits, then very obviously spicy with darker fruits, and finally the yeast rounds everything out. One of the most balanced, polarized, complex beers I've had yet.

Harpoon Leviathan

Hugely fruity and hoppy, and evenly "sharp" and "round". The hops remind me of DFH's 120 minute, and the intersection is the Amarillo and Simcoe hops.

Sonoma Farmhouse Ale

Just as hoppy as the nose suggests, the alcohol is too disguised, the mouthfeel too round and mellow. Not bad, but not great.

Hoppe

No complaints yet for Southern Tier. Wonderfully hoppy. Gets insidiously piney and burnt as it cools off. Perfect at dusk: refreshing in the heat of the sun, complex and warming in the cool of the night.

Sam Adams Summer Ale

The citric sourness and heavily wheaty maltiness don't really work for me. It's trying too hard.

Brown's Cherry Raspberry Ale

When you mix all your paint together, you get brown. This ale starts off "brown", but turns into something that's really malty and pleasantly fruity. One of the few fruit beers I've tasted that is recognizable without being over-the-top.

Smuttynose IPA

Overwhelmingly, or, primarily, grapefruity; followed by very round malts.

Southern Tier Unearthly

The kind of bitter-sweetness I love in double IPAs. It's like they made Lysol into a beer, but I mean that in the best possible way.

Old Brown Dog Ale

Smokey and metallic at first, more flavours emerge in the following sips. Big round malts and darker fruits. Lighter than I'd like.

Yuengling Lager

Very sharp, metallic nose. Fairly sweet, heavy malts. The metallic side will keep me away.

Sixpoint Northern Lights

On tap at L'asso in NYC. Brewed with wormwood, but I don't know the smell/taste. Classified as a saison, but it's more like some Belgian brewery tried to do a complex coffee stout.

Pilsner Urquell

Vanilla bean is to vanilla what Pilsner Urquell is to pilsner.
Sweeter than expected. Surprisingly rich character.

Pranqster

Darker fruits and some grapes. More intense than your average blonde, but somehow just as light.

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin' IPA

On tap, it's an abbey ale momentarily before becoming an IPA. In a bottle, the pine is there from the beginning.

Grimbergen Dubbel

A dubbel with a lower ABV than the blonde...? A darker, more grape-y, wheatier version of the blonde. But the regular dubbel yeast is nowhere in sight.

Grimbergen Blonde

A paler, maltier, more vanilla-y Leffe Blonde. The label even looks similar.

Saranac Rye Pilsner

Last of the "Summer Ales" pack. The others weren't worth mentioning, and neither is this one, really. They're not "bad" per se, but I think I have trouble relating to most things below 5-6%. They all seem a bit thin.

Saranac Helles Lager

A fruitier, slightly maltier pilsner. I can't say more than that, not having had any other helles. I'll have to try it next to a Weihenstephaner Original.

Saranac Pale Pale Ale

Decent, but thin. A watered down Sierra Nevada Pale Ale? With more carbonation.

Golden Fleece Maibock

Aggressively fruity from the hops, vinous from the bock. Something unnecessarily metallic in the nose. Round, chewy. Naive, but tasty.

Brown's Hefeweizen

So gold it's green. Pale, wheaty malts with a sour, fruity ending. Not nearly enough carbonation or body.

Green Flash Trippel

I don't really imagine this so much as a Trippel as an uncertain Belgian IPA. As such, it meets the qualifications: strangely abbeyish while maintaining strong hoppy characteristics. The complexity is there, I just wish the fullness was as well.

Ayinger Ur-Weisse

I think of regular hefeweizens as having very wheaty malt characteristics. This one's less like wheat bread and more sourdough. And it begs for bratwurst.

St. Feuillien Brune

Super fizzy, intensely dark fruits, especially raisins, covered in molasses and a little licorice. Slightly spicy. Weirdly quick decay.

Green Flash Imperial IPA

A dream: biting into a eucalyptus leaf and then realizing it is somehow, in fact, beer.

St. Bernardus Pater 6

I really don't taste anything to distinguish this from other abbey ales or weak dubbels out there. It's the usual: vinous, fruity, very slightly earthy. Fairly complex, but not overwhelmingly interesting.

St. Bernardus Tripel

Some strong similarities to the Watou Tripel, but less buttery and a little more astringent. Significantly drier by the end. My preference falls towards the Watou.

Watou Tripel

Some acidity and clove in the nose reminiscent of a Chardonnay, with really heavy caramel and vanilla (maybe herbal hops contributing some light fruits). Incredibly buttery, especially in the head. Light spices. The yeast carries the rest of the spice and alcohol, bringing it closer to the "regular" tripel taste.

St. Bernardus Wit

Reads, "Pierre Celis Signature Edition". I feel like I'm in Bavaria. Bubblegum, clove, dark fruits and some citrus. I would have guessed 7% but it's 5.5%. Finishes with wheaty malts and very dry.

Hercules Double IPA

Very bubbly head, reminds me of the distribution of galaxies throughout the universe. The second flavor after the attack of the alcohol strikes me as some sort of astringent kitchen cleaner, but when you pour the bottom of the bottle in it turns into a pine-y, peanut-y thing that's slightly more reasonable.

Stoudt's Double IPA

Oddly light for something that has obviously higher ABV. I guessed 8%, but it's 10%. In the 60/90 IPA vein... I only wish there was more head.

Victory HopDevil

Evenly malty and hoppy. I've recently realized: maltiness does not imply wheatiness, but wheatiness is one type of maltiness. On the first really warm day of the summer/spring (82F) I wonder if maybe the hops in IPAs were not only to preserve the beer while it traveled, but also to refresh the troops during the hot Indian summer.

Schneider Weisse Hopfen Weisse

Unusually clovey hops and banana, makes me think of sour vegetables instead of the regular sour fruit.

Nostradamus

Vinous, very slightly tart, finishes dry. There's something slightly metallic, maybe nutty in there. I vaguely taste darker fruits, but the oakiness stands out to me more.

Troeg's Pale Ale

A tarter Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but I'll have to try them next to each other to be sure.

Dale's Pale Ale

If this is a APA, I don't understand where you draw the hop-line that defines an IPA. A bit of malt in the back, some jasmine bitterness and hoppy fruit in the front.

Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale

A little thin, slightly tart and sweet, some wheaty malt. A bit of nuttiness. In the "something I'd expect to find at a party, and would be willing to split with someone" category.

Eggenberg Doppelbock

Incredibly smooth and round, very sweet and malty. A little nutmeg on the aftertaste? Totally reasonable, but unfortunately overpriced.

Spaten Dunkel

I thought it was a brown bottle, but turns out it's green and just really dark. Dark fruits, malts, doesn't keep its head well. I feel like this would go well with most German meals. Not especially exciting, but reasonable.

Sweaty Betty

La Fin du Monde's immature little sister. Weird color, heavy clove + citrus, notes of wheat.

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

Characterized as a "Belgian Pale Ale", I couldn't agree at all. Really weird sake flavors combined with a strange fruity tartness and slightly higher alcohol content. Exceptionally weird, but not necessarily bad.

Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

Full, bitter, sweet, fruity, hoppy. Meaty. Vanilla. Some malt. Lots of little things.

Allagash White

Seems very thin/light to me, though it's balanced and has some nice spiciness. I don't taste the complexity other people seem to appreciate, but maybe it's just the style.

Ruination IPA

Like the normal IPA, but more. More hoppy, more bitter, more detergent. I prefer the DFH fruity hops direction rather than this more bitter direction.

Stone IPA

Like they say, big hop flavor, big hop bitterness. Slightly detergent-ish. Very fruity. A bit more of a pale ale than other IPAs.

Weihenstephaner Korbinian

Starts as a "regular" doppelbock: vinous, sweet, slightly smoky. Finishes as a... pale ale? Very malty and wheaty. Smooth. Bavarian.

Grand Cru

Buttery aroma leads to a very clean, balanced, spicy, vinous ale. Slightly sweet? Perfectly dry.

Tripel Crown

Low carbonation, starts with a slightly lambic tartness and develops a more tripel or even quad-ish highly alcoholic character.

Troegenator

Like a less earthy three philosophers, plus some more wheat. Very fruity. Oddly light aroma.

Festina Pêche

Heavily lactic, reminiscent of Lindemans but more subdued and not so lip-puckering.

Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout

An unfortunate metallic citrusyness clouds my judgment of this otherwise fairly complex and full beer.

Labatt Blue

Like a caricature of beer. Watery, too malty, thin, a little pinesol.

Wolaver's Wit Bier

Coriander seems obvious. A jasmine tea/wit bier crossbreed.

Below Decks

Very sweet, but rounder and lighter than the other Heavy Seas brews. Not as deadly as other barleywines I've tried.

Small Craft Warning

Shares hop characteristics with the other Heavy Seas, but with a maltier aftertaste. Seems under-carbonated. More sweet than bitter. Not intensely strong in any direction, but not really weak or light. Looking closely, the label says I should have purchased it before a month ago, so I'll have to try this again.

Loose Cannon

A sort of grapefruity bitterness that is just enough to give it a friendly punch and bite, but I'm mostly enjoying the earthier body mixed with the sweet, citrusy hop base.

Imperial Cherry Amber Ale

The label says they got bored making the usual, but I don't taste the cherries. There are three or four distinct flavors here, but one of them is so plastic-y I don't care to describe the rest.

Tusker

My first and likely last Kenyan lager, I got it for free because the expiration date was last summer. It's pours very light, and makes me think of a duller, slightly maltier Heineken. But I haven't had a Heineken in a while.

Holy Sheet Abbey Ale

A lot like the doppelbock, but yeastier. Unfortunately under carbonated. Rounded fruitiness with a slightly bitter aftertaste. When you throw the yeast in, the earthier notes are more prominent and it becomes incredibly dry.

I'd like to try this blind against a Rochefort 6 some time.

Hang Ten Dopplebock

Lightly carbonated, sweet, subtle hops. It's like if you took the 120 minute IPA and cut it in half.

Oxford Class Amber Ale

A nice clean organic, but it's thin and lacks depth. The bottom is better than the top.

Petrus Oud Bruin

What initially seems thick and alcoholic to the nose reveals itself to be slightly thinner and very sweet. Berry flavors are initially the strongest, but the sour acidity reveals itself over the course of the beer.

Biere De Mars

An unexpected change from the top to bottom: starts out a little malty, sweet, light... and ends a bit thicker but with huge barn flavors.

Aventinus Eisbock

I thought this was just a smaller version of the regular Aventinus. Nope. This is 12% and filled with clove, esters, and a berry-sweet medicinal flavor. Stranger than I expected, but not unfortunately strange.

Wachusett Blueberry

As far as comparisons go: massively more reasonable than the Blue Point Blueberry, but still way too light and empty to merit regular imbibing.

Aventinus

From Schneider & Sohn, medium carbonation, small head, balanced alcohol, slightly sweet, fruity. Lighter than I expected. Halfway between a strong hefe and a strong dark Belgian.

Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René

Third non-beer in a night (Framboise Lambic, 120 Minute, now this). The sourness and acidity is overwhelming. The aftertaste is super malty and seemingly unrelated to the rest. Champagne-beer. Begs to complement a meal.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Thick and sweet. I taste Japanese candy and rubbing alcohol. I'm reminded of the only barleywine I've had, but it's really difficult to say much about this because there aren't any legitimate comparisons to make.

Weihenstephaner Vitus

Light, dry, bubbly. Compared to their hefeweissbier, much more clovey, slightly spicier. The higher ABV takes some effort to notice. I prefer the hefe.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

I remember having this a half a year ago and thinking it was interesting. I realize now it's a lot more interesting than I knew at the time. I can see, in this beer, why some people just can't get enough hops. If the dubbel-tripel-quadrupel direction is one way to get very vinous, fruity, complex beers, the 60-90-120 minute IPAs are another direction.

Wiesen Edel-Weisse

I wish all hefeweizens had this complexity. The 6.3% ABV seems low. Not too clovey, slightly fruity, very pleasantly spicy with balanced doughy malts.

2/19/09: Not so much of the doughyness this time.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

I'll have to have this next to a Leffe Blonde one day. Supposedly the best of its kind, I taste a slightly more pronounced malt, and much more clove. If the "Vitus" weizenbock is fruitier and higher abv, I'm very curious.

Rolling Rock Extra Pale Ale

Whenever I think I have the dimensions of beer flavor pinned down, a new beer surprises me. Dimethyl sulfide causes the aroma of stale urine in this beer. It's actually fairly interesting to taste and contemplate: "What does that, oat-y, toasted smell remind me of?" until you realize.

Wolaver's Organic Sampler

The IPA is wonderfully fruity for the style, the Pale Ale more bitter than I prefer, and the Brown Ale is well balanced. Everything is clean without being processed. No complaints, just preferences.

Saranac Nut Brown Lager

A heavy bite for the bitterness, rather than a bitter-beer-face-bitterness. Kind of like a really intimidating mask that covers up a mostly empty face.

Achel Extra

Kind of like the Rochefort 8 minus the complexity, and a little more blatantly alcoholic and fizzy. I think. I'd have to have them next to each other. Man it looks nice.

Red Stripe

I'd drink this if I was doing backbreaking manual labor in the sun. Or with Jamaican food. Not too watered down or artificial, but not very interesting or rewarding.

Witches' Brew

Exactly what I would hope from something called a "Blonde Tripel". The 9% gives you a bite, but doesn't mask the sweet fruitiness and other flavors. Surprisingly dry finish. From Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.