Piercing Pils

Not bad for a "normal" pilsner beer, that I drink more rarely. Solid light grain flavor. Small amount of sweetness, probably from the pear juice added. Like I said, good for the style, but I'd rather have an ale. ID

12oz bottle, 6% ABV
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Inc
Milton, DE
purchased at Kenwood

Rise American Stout

Oooh, a hoppy stout! Nice brown head. A little dry and bitter. No noticeable sweetness. But definitely some hop flavor, which is unusual in a stout. That is probably what qualifies it as an "American" stout. This makes me interested in making a stout like this of my own, but I will try a crazy dry Citra hopped variety, since I don't think that would taste bad. Anyway, this is pretty darn good, and I'm glad I found this! MB

22oz bottle, 7.5% ABV

Revolution Beer LLC

Chicago, IL

purchased at Kenwood

Decadent Imperial IPA

A strange herbal sweetness is my first taste. As it warmed, that mellowed into simple alcohol sweetness, which is quite pronounced, but not bad. As an IPA, this needs more hop bitterness and I wish flavor, but maybe that just isn't the style for a proper IPA. Definitely a cool looking bottle, and a big booze ale, but the hipster skeleton needs to drop that hop branch into the brew kettle! Making a wheat beer tonight that I plan to flavor with raspberry and possibly pomegranate. Once I get a baseline on that brew, I'm gonna try hoppin' it up like crazy! But I digress. This is a good beer, is improving my mood and probably getting me drunk, but needs more hops all around. ID

22oz bottle, 10% ABV

Ska Brewing Company

Durango, CO

purchased at Grape & Grain

Sea Monster Imperial Stout

A slight sweetness, and nice roasty grain flavor, with ample bitterness. A tiny bit of sourness on the sip, and a bit of alcohol flavor lingering after the swallow. Not bad, I think, as I'm looking for my own stout recipe. I could drink 5 gal of this. Just put a DFH 60 minute clone in the fermenter, so the stout is coming very soon, if not next. ID

22oz bottle, 10% ABV
Ballast Point Brewing Company
San Diego, CA
purchased at Kenwood

Indica IPA

Bitter but grainy. Ha it's colder, but not so far off of this beer that I just brewed! A bit buttery, something I'm looking to eliminate myself, but still a good drinking beer for a hophead. This is my last bottle of the six and I'm only rating it now. Clean at the sip, but the buttery grainy taste is not what I'm craving. ID

12oz bottle, 6.5% ABV
Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe
Eureka, CA
purchased at Grape &; Grain

Most Premium Russian Imperial Stout

A nice brown head on this one. A bit of sweet alcohol flavor, but not bad, and otherwise nicely balanced. It is just a little sweeter than I'd like, but it's got big booze, so we're all good! ID/MB I'm kinda undecided. It is just plain good.

22oz bottle, 10% ABV

Gigantic Brewing Company

Portland, OR

purchased at Kenwood

Mean Old Tom Stout aged on Vanilla Beans

I've been looking at different flavors of stout lately. This is a nice stout. The vanilla is subtle, and makes the stout seem lighter and thinner. Not bad, but not quite the flavor I've been searching for. ID

16.9oz bottle, 6.5% ABV
Maine Beer Company
Freeport, ME
purchased at Kenwood

Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale

Not quite as dark as the flash makes it look in the picture, this is a brown-colored ale that is immediately sweet with a very pleasant toffee flavor that finishes bitter and satisfying, but the toffee flavor lasts past the swallow, "sticking" in your mouth. This is really neatly done. I'm not usually liking a sweet beer, but it is a unique candy sweetness, and the bitterness perfectly makes this drinkable, and just a well-rounded beer! MB for creativity, and just completely pulling off a tasty, one of a kind beer!

11.2oz bottle, 5% ABV
Well's & Young's Brewing Company Ltd
Bedford, UK
purchased at Grape & Grain Company

Mendocino Oatmeal Stout

A bit sweet with a dry finish. Nice mouthfeel progressing from nice and dark to a lighter, thinner finish. All around nice drinking stout with nothing out of the ordinary. ID

12oz bottle, 6% ABV
Mendocino Brewing Company
Saratoga Springs, NY
purchased at Kenwood

North-Wind Imperial Stout

A slightly sweet, perfectly tasty stout. When I think stout, it is not Guinness I'm after, but rather this flavor right here! You get all the benefits of a sweet taste up front, disappearing into perfect bitterness, for a smooth refreshing finish in a heavyweight monster. I had planned to drink a bunch of stouts now, in order to come up with an ideal model for my own recipe as I return to home brewing after like 10 years. I'm pretty sure I just found my model: perfect flavor, feel, and booze. MB MB!

12oz bottle, 45 IBU, 9.1% ABV
Two Brothers Brewing Company
Warrenville, IL
purchased at Kenwood

Permanent Funeral Pale Ale

Yummy! You know FFF can do a pale ale right! Lots of hop aroma & flavor in this one. Bit of Zombie Dust flavor, which I now believe to be Citra hops. I have 8oz of those on the way to brew a kick ass pale of my own that I hope can capture this flavor. Definitely enjoying the citrus and foresty tones in this over the top hop concoction! MB

22oz bottle, no deets as usual (100 IBU, 10.5% ABV according to www.beeradvocate.com)
Three Floyds Brewing LLC
Munster, IN
purchased at Kenwood

Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale

Generally, I'm not a fan of farmhouse ales, and there seems to be a lot of them around these days, so somebody likes them. This one has a sweetness to it, but not a bad one. It's actually quite delicious! Wow, I'm amazed! This is just damn good! Sweet, but bitter enough that it just works. MB for making a farmhouse that I could live in!

11.16oz bottle, no deets
Minhas Craft Brewery
Monroe, WI
purchased on fire sale at Kenwood

Local-Hero IPA

Slight citrusy hop nose, and good hop flavor. Another easy swilling brew. God I can't wait to start brewing again myself. Just ordered a wort chiller and a bunch of citrusy hops! This is a good local brew. just watched a movie loosely staged around this brewery last night. No faults, but it will be cheaper per batch once I'm making my own. ID

22oz bottle, 6.5% ABV
Revolution Beer LLC
Chicago, IL
purchased at Kenwood

Long Hammer IPA

Small but nice hop aroma. The taste is crystal clear and all refreshing bitterness. Not a complicated beer. Just a straight up easy drinking bitter. ID

12oz bottle, 6.2% ABV
RedHook Ale Brewery
Woodinville, WA, Portsmouth, NH, Portland, OR
purchased at Kenwood

2x Steam Beer

Smooth and creamy. A bit of a common beer sort of aftertaste. Perfectly bitter and refreshing with some grain flavor complimenting the bitterness. A perfect beer to get ordinary folks initiated into craft beer. And perfect to celebrate my own return to brewing! Let's do this! MB for simply good, higher octane beer flavored beer.

12oz bottle, 8% ABV
Southern Tier Brewing Company
Lakewood, NY
purchased at Jimmie Garant's Party Store

Bottom Up Wit

I had a long story on this one, but my fucking Blogger app fucked up and erased my whole post, so I am in no mood to repeat. Good beer, better for summer, MB, even though I turned down the offer to hang with family at their brewpub tonight.

12oz can, 5% ABV
Revolution Beer, LLC
Chicago, IL
gift purchased ???

Dark Truth Stout

Burnt, bitter, and the tiniest bit sweet. This is what a stout should be. Easy to drink because of the bitterness, so I'd say I could drink a lot of this, but the ABV on this would put me under the table before long. I like stouts lots of different ways, but this runs closer to the black IPA style, but still a true stout, and just damn good! MB

12oz bottle, 9.7% ABV
Boulevard Brewing Company
Kansas City, MO
purchased at Kenwood

Immort Ale

I always enjoy finding a new variety of DFH! They always put out unique flavors and usually pack a nice ABV. The smell is a bit too sweet for me, as is the taste. Very sweet. Smooth in the mouth, and anchored with a good bitterness, but oh, it is just too sweet. The label mentions maple, vanilla, and oak, so that, and the big booze is where all that sweetness is coming from. You gotta be in the mood for this one. But with the holidays just passed, and more snow coming down, it is the right time to be drinking this. But I gotta sip it slow. I'm thinking this will go nice with a bourbon chaser. And it does! Look at me, using good booze to chase a high octane beer! Ha, ha! Perfect together, to make that sweetness less than overwhelming. ID

12oz bottle, 11% ABV
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Inc
Milton, DE
purchased at Kenwood

MO (Madeline & Oliver) Pale Ale

Nice citrus hoppy aroma, and kinda thin, a bit watery, but the bitterness and some of that hop flavor is on the taste as well. Nicely refreshing after some work in the garage. Just what I needed. Clean refreshing bitterness with just a hint of hop flavor. If this were dry hopped a bit more it would be my idea of a perfect pale. ID

16.9oz bottle, 6% ABV
Maine Beer Company
Freeport, ME
purchased at Kenwood

Nut Brown Ale

A lovely dark look. Drinking it cold, even with 10 minutes sitting on the bar after chilling in the snow all day. Roasty, but appropriate bitterness with this exquisite sweetness only on the edges of the taste. This is a nice freakin' brown! MB

12oz bottle, 6% ABV
Arcadia Brewing Company
Battle Creek, MI
purchased at Jimmie Garant's Party Store

4 elf Winter Warmer Ale

Keeping this one cool in the snow, as you can see. Looking for some winter warming! Dark and spiced like gingerbread. Had a number of these already this season, but this is smooth, easy drinking, with the flavor well done. Roasty, strong but not obnoxious spice profile. Drinking it very cold, but all flavors come through well. Nice brew to keep the holidays alive. Still celebrating! MB

12oz bottle, 8.75% ABV
Dark Horse Brewing Company
Marshall, MI
purchased at Jimmie Garant's Party Store

Juicy Tree Experimental IPA

Not sure why this looks flat. Cooling beer outside in the snow, but it doesn't seem that cold, and previous bottles didn't seem flat. The label says spruce tips, cranberries, and juniper berries were added, and you can definitely taste a refreshing tree flavor blending well with the hop bitterness. This is weird enough that you'll probably either love or hate it, but I like it. I like different flavors, and this is well done. It isn't perfect, but I'm going MB because I want to support experimentation like this. Cheers!

12oz bottle, no deets (7.5% ABV, 65 IBU from www.shortsbrewing.com)
Short's Brewing Company
Elk Rapids, MI
purchased at Jimmy Garant's Party Store

Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

Generally I'm not a fan of this style, but it offers good booze, so why not? Oh, this is good! Only the tiniest hint of that farmhouse sweetness, plus more than ample bitterness and so light to drink. If this is farmhouse, give me a pitchfork, I'm in! MB

12oz bottle, 8.5% ABV
Boulevard Brewing Company
Kansas City, MO
purchased at Kenwood

Old Man Winter Ale

No I have not been teetotalling these past few weeks. Just haven't been rating. Saving bottles from each sixer till I was in the working mood. This is dark brown in color with mellow grain flavor but some nice hopped up bitterness. Nice to find a winter ale that's not all decorated up for Christmas. Just heavy and bitter enough to warm you up from any bitter cold you may encounter. ID

12oz bottle, 7% ABV
Southern Tier Brewing Company
Lakewood, NY
purchased at Kenwood