Review: Crooked River ESB

Full, fairly hoppy English Ale. Good with a meal, it won't overpower the flavor of the food or fill you up.

Review: Barrelhouse Microbrewery Festival 2001

Barrelhouse Microbrewery Festival 2001

So this year we attended the Microbrew festival with new staff reviewer Beth. We tasted a combined total of 28 beers. You will notice her reviews are probably more in depth due to her background in wine tasting. She also favors lighter (not light) beers than I, so there is a better variety of beers than last year.

Main Street Brewing Pale Ale - This was so incredibly hoppy it almost seemed like we had a bad batch.

Sam Adams Oktoberfest - Strong solid flavor, malty but not overbearingly so

Great Lakes Moondog Ale - Somewhat bitter tasting but still smooth

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout - Pretty standard oatmeal stout, good but not outstanding

Breckenridge Christmas Ale - Good Smooth Ale

Breckenridge Avalanche - Crisp Not too strong clean taste

Paulaner Oktoberfest - Not Bad !! Good balance.

Weihenstephauer Hefeweiss- A Fruity, possibly Banana taste, if that kind of thing works for you

Paulaner Hefeweisen - Good Wheat Beer

Spaten Dopplebock - Sweeter than I expected, outstanding flavor

Spaten Wheat - Less pronounced wheat taste, kind of a lemon/citrus taste

Abita Turbodog - Great brown Ale, one of my favorites

Bluegrass Brewing Nut Brown Ale - One of the better tasting nut brown ales

Bluegrass Brewing Darkstar Porter - Very Dry tasting like a red wine, kind of a tanniny taste

Pyramid IPA - Good, maybe a little on the hoppy side even for an IPA

Pyramid Apricot Ale - Very sweet and fruity

Pyramid Hefewisen - Not as wheaty as others

Allagash Brewing Double Ale - "Belgian Style Ale" Really good stuff

Stoney Creek Original Vanilla Porter - OK so this is a repeat. This is the one my sister got me started on and we both love the stuff.

Brooklyn Brewing Brooklyner Weiss - Distinct wheaty / fruity flavor

Left Hand Brewing Black Jack Porter - It's really good with surprisingly little aftertaste

Stone Brewing Co. IPA - Nice smooth not overly hoppy IPA

Stone Brewing Co. Smoked Porter - A really good Coffee / chocolate tasting porter

Dinkel Acker Pilsner - Too Hoppy for my taste

Weihenstephauer Original - very tart

Flying Dog Ale Doggie Style Classic Porter - has a nice Hoppy / caramel balance

Barrelhouse Brewing Powderhorn Porter - seemed too watery or my taste buds were numb by this point. ***Upon further research, I found this to be really tasty, full flavored (and very heavy).***

Barrelhouse Brewing Hocking Hills Hefeweisen - Has the cloudy look of a good Hefeweisen with all sorts of fruity tastes going on in there.

Barrelhouse Brewing Oktoberfest - Good lager with a nice hoppy flavor and a nice finish.

Review: Samuel Smith's "the Celebrated" Oatmeal Stout

I have been hit or miss with the Oatmeal stouts. This was OK I guess, I didn't find much to "celebrate" about. I will try another bottle. I suspect I might have gotten a bad one.

Review: Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

Hearty Stout with a different type of taste. Not as heavy as a typical stout. It is a different type of taste for a stout. "Contractors to Her Majesty's Forces." Gold and Silver Medal winner from the International Brewers Exhibition.

Review: Arrogant Bastard Ale

This is a good hopped-up ale. Personally I think it is over hyped, not the do-all end-all ale, just an aggressively hoppy ale. I must be a real bastard for not liking this more.

Review: Arcadia Scotch Ale

"If it's not Scottish it's CRAP"
This is a really outstanding Ale. Great malt taste with molasses and chocolate hints and very thick and heavy like a motor oil, but much better tasting!!!!!