Double Crooked Tree IPA

Smooth, and initially delivering a slight sweetness. The fragrance is a bit of citrus, and a subtle bitterness follows on the aftertaste. A tiny bit of warmth follows on the back of the throat. The ale is largely in remarkable, until you consider the ABV it's packing, while tasting so good and normal! I can't help thinking back to being a kid, and how hideous malt liquor would taste in order to give you an 8% or better ABV. What a wonderful world we live in now with so many great tasting ales that can bring a wine-level alcohol concentration. Drink up and enjoy life! MB

12oz bottle, 12% ABV
Dark Horse Brewing Company
Marshall, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's party Store

Special Reserve Black Ale

Nicely dark, burnt & sweet, but not too thick. Balanced and loaded with sweet burnt grain flavor which leads to a bitterness on the edges of the tongue. ID

12oz bottle, 7.5% ABV
Dark Horse Brewing Company
Marshall, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Cerveza Cucapa Runaway IPA

A fragrant IPA, lighter than the imperials I've been drinking, but full flavor, with a lighter body. Glad to see craft Mexican brewing! Easy drinking with no obvious flaws. though I disagree with the label calling this a "citrus bomb". I wish I tasted that! ID

22oz bottle, 7.5% ABV
Cerveceria De Baja California S.A. de C.V. Mexicali, B.C. Mexico
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Hopivore Michigan Wet-Hopped Harvest Ale

Bitter nose. Smooth carbonated mouth-feel. Tastes more like a lager than an ale. Watery thin and refreshing. Bitterness dominates, but without an unpleasant aftertaste. This is just plain good. ID

12oz bottle, no other info
New Holland Brewing Company
Holland, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

The Maharaja Imperial IPA

A nice bitter and slightly malty flavor. Smooth and creamy, this hefty ale is easy to drink. A great blend of bitterness, flavor, and buzz, as this one is packing gravity! Though the flavor is nothing unusual, the drinkability, inspire of the high alcohol content earns a MB from me.

22oz bottle, 102 IBU, 10.27% ABV
Avery Brewing Company
Boulder, CO
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Cow Catcher Red Ale

Alright, is this the red ale I grew up with or not? Coming from Mt. Pleasant circa 1996, all I knew was Mountain Town Station. Is Mt. Pleasant Brewing Company some named affiliate for bottling? This is smooth and flavorful, malt and hops in a tug-o-war that everyone wins. Some sweetness, and an acrid bitter aftertaste. This beer is almost a perfect allegory for the identity crisis I am now experiencing. Who made you?! That be all the energy I have for that, so in lieu of an answer, ID.

12oz bottle, the rest remains a mystery!
Mt. Pleasant Brewing Company
Mt. Pleasant, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's party Store

 

Cabin Fever Brown Ale

Dry with a malty sweetness. Fueled my run in cards tonight so it is all good. Nicely hoppy enough to give me a good night in the north woods, totally changing my mood, so this gets MB.

12oz bottle, 6.5% ABV
New Holland Brewing Company
Holland, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Black Hemp Black Ale

Dark slightly thick and sweet, but still kinda light. A nice floral sort of bitter flavor nicely compliments the burnt grains. Not a black IPA, just another nice version of a bitter dark beer. MB

12oz bottle, brewed with hemp seeds, rest is a mystery!
O'Fallon Brewery
O'Fallon, MO
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Double Agent IPL

From the "Hopology Collection" so I'm all ears, and taste buds. Talk to me. Oh yeah, a citrusy fruit plate! Totally light and refreshing with solid hop flavor. But nothing truly unique, ala Two-Hearted or Zombie Dust. Damn, I was so excited, don't get me wrong, this is good, but I was hoping for that killer hop flavor I would go crazy for. Sam invents the style of India Pale Lager. This meets the needs of a hophead, but doesn't exceed. ID

12oz bottle, 5% ABV
Boston Beer Company
Boston, MA; Cincinnati, OH; Breingsville, PA
purchased at Kenwood

Imperial Nut Brown

Oh, so chocolatey sweet. But thin and drinkable. The sweetness probably comes from the pure maple syrup the label says is part of the recipe. Wow this is just really sublime! MB

12oz bottle, 57 IBU, 9.0% ABV
Tommyknocker Brewery & Pub
Idaho Springs, CO
purchased at Kenwood

Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout

Sweet nose, and nicely sweet with a sort of dryness. Was an excellent accompaniment to the smoked fish, loin, olives, and Lithuanian salami I served up for a quick dinner. Just thick enough, just sweet enough, and just dry enough to make a well-rounded stout. Definitely worth a taste. ID

12oz bottle, 5.5% ABV

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

Paso Robles, CA

purchased at Kenwood

Imperial Oat Stout

A thick low carbonated stout. Slightly sweet, and just plain good!

Unfortunately that's all I typed before getting distracted, and eventually passing out. Now, several days later, the bottle has already gone off to recycling, and so I am, uncharacteristically, short on this review. I know it was good, and I love Southern Tier (which I am so happy to have visited in upstate NY last Summer) so I'm gonna go MB on this one, and I'm sure that I'm not wrong.

22oz bottle, 11% ABV (ugh, info via Beer Advocate, since the bottle was recycled and this is not mentioned on http://www.stbcbeer.com)

Southern Tier Brewing Company

Lakewood, NY

purchased at Holiday Market

Toxic Revolution Stout Ale

Smells dark and grainy. This is not a sweet stout. I can barely taste the stout flavor. You get a bit of that on the back of the tongue, but this monster is very bitter, like a black IPA. I'm always in search of bitter beers, but this came as a surprise. The overall feel is that of a lighter bitter beer, with pronounced bitterness and much more carbonation than I expect from a stout. But I've had less than half of the bottle and already feel a buzz, so that's significant! I want to rate this lower, because I feel it is mislabeled, but it is everything I usually want in a beer: darkness, bitterness, booze! This toxic "black liquid wall of death" is going straight to my head! Eh, MB.

22oz bottle, 40 IBU, 8.5% ABV

Three Floyds Brewing

Munster, IN

purchased togo at FFF Brewpub

Wilco Tango Foxtrot Ale

Billed as "a malty, robust, jobless recovery ale" and at $3.99 a bomber, I believe I would still find a way to get me some Lagunitas if I was out of work. A nice brownish ale that has malty flavor, but excellently balanced by hops. Easy drinking to forget your sorrows! Beats the pants of the mass produced "dark" beer I was drinking earlier today. Pound a few of these and you'll say, "Bring on the recovery!" These folks never seem to disappoint. Why do they have to be so far away in California? WTF? MB

22oz bottle, 59 IBU, 7.85% ABV

The Lagunitas Brewing Company

Petaluma, CA

purchased at Kenwood

Night Tripper Imperial Stout

Toasting another Hawks win in a season, now half over, without a regulation loss! This is a great taste to celebrate with! Dark, kinda thick, and semi-dry. A very smooth, creamy, chocolatey taste, and this is not claiming to be a chocolate stout. Sip this and you will have absolutely NO clue of the ABV that this is packing. Wow can't say enough about how great this just is. Sarah Stout agrees! Part of the "High Gravity Series". Is there any other gravity? MB

22oz bottle, 10.8% ABV
New Holland Brewing Company
Holland, MI
purchased at Kenwood

Off The Cuff Spicy Cocoa Stout

Thick and only lightly carbonated. Daring to try this with my last "spicy" beer still left in the fridge after more than a year. But I trust Two Brothers, and like everything else spicy, so why not? A solid stout, with just the trace of peppers on the aftertaste. This just works. Dark, thick, slightly chocolaty and just a touch of spicy. Um, um, good. Feeling adventurous? Give this complex stout a go. I say MB.

22oz bottle, 28 IBU, 7.2% ABV
Two Brothers Brewing Company
Warrenville, IL
purchased at Kenwood