Häagen-Dazs Spiced Peach Crumble

A very surprising find for me a couple of weeks ago. This is a Walmart Exclusive flavor. It isn't listed on the website so there is why I was surprised. It is nutmeg and cinnamon spiced peach ice cream made by cooking the peaches, with buttery crust pieces mixed in. The first thing I noticed when I dug in is the crust chunks are surprisingly large. You can see one in the picture. They vary in size throughout the pint, but are still fairly good sized, and impart some fantastic flavor. They also are quite crumbly in texture, and are just outstanding in my opinion, a great pairing for the ice cream itself. The peaches are more of small tidbit chunks, but you can still taste them, and feel the texture they impart to the ice cream. The peach ice cream also has a very strong peach flavor to it. The spices are in the background, but the support the peach flavor amazingly. The ice cream texture with some microwaving for softening is also fantastic. Very creamy. Overall, we have an outstanding new flavor from Haagen Dazs once again.

9.5/10

Stone/Green Flash/Pizza Port Highway 78 Scotch Ale

3.9/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20

12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours slightly hazy dark red color with a 1 finger foamy off white head with decent retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Aromas of dark fruits, brown sugar sugar, spices, caramel, and some light bourbon. Taste of caramel, dark fruits, molasses, toasted malt and some bourbon. Almost no bitterness noticed on the finish. Fairly dry finish, but there is some lingering tastes on the finish of caramel, roasted flavors, and light bourbon. No alcohol really noticed at all except for a light warming on the finish, plus the bourbon flavor. Very smooth for its alcohol content and has well balanced flavors as well. Has a medium-full body and medium carbonation. Overall some impressive stuff, definitely enjoyed this one.

I don't get to enjoy collaboration beers very often, but this one was very good stuff. Luckily whenever Stone does a collaboration it is basically available everywhere.

Weyerbacher Quad

3.9/5

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20

12 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours slightly cloudy red-orange color with a 1.5 finger foamy off white head with decent retention. Very minimal glass lacing. Aromas of cherries, banana, dried fruits, candi sugar, and vanilla; with a bit of spices and alcohol. Taste of banana, dark fruits, candi sugar, and some caramel; with light spices and a bit of bourbon. Very sweet flavor with no bitterness noticed at all. The finish is fairly dry, with only a small bit of lingering sweetness. Incredibly smooth finish with no alcohol noticed except for a slight warming with a light alcohol bite after the finish. I was extremely surprised at the smoothness for it’s alcohol content. Medium carbonation and creamy full body. Overall, this quad was quite impressive, though not very complex, it has a very nice flavor balance with a very smooth drinkability for its alcohol level.

This definitely was a surprisingly good Quad. I was hoping to not get a booze bomb like with the Blithering Idiot, and I did not.

BrewDog Stone Bashah

3.9/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20

11.2 ounce bottle into tulip, Batch 352, 12/19/10. Pours clear dark brown color with a dense 2 finger tan head with great retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some fairly decent glass lacing. Aromas of citrus, roasted malts, coffee and some caramel. Taste of coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, citrus, and caramel. Might also have some smoke in there as well. There is a fairly prominent citrus bitterness on the finish, but it is not overly strong, and it is balanced out well with the rest of the beer. The bitterness lingers for a bit after the finish with roasted flavors. The mouthfeel is extremely creamy and smooth, the alcohol is hardly even noticed other than a very small hint of a warming after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. Overall a very tasty beer, I am fairly impressed.

Overall some enjoyable stuff. Also technically my first BrewDog beer, even though it is a collab. I will have to find some more, most of them are available, except for the ones over 12% (Ohio sucks just a little bit, but we still get a ton of different beers.)

Dogfish Head Squall IPA

4.2/5

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 16/20

750 ml bottle into snifter, 2011 1C. Pours crystal clear orange amber color with a dense 1 finger off white head with very good retention, that reduces to a lacing cap that lasts for the rest of the glass. Aromas of strong orange and lemon, with caramel, spices, and some pine notes. Taste of caramel, orange, and lemon; with a touch of chocolate and toast. There is a decent amount of bitterness that comes in after the finish that lingers with citrus and light toasted flavors. Great balance here between the malts and hops, one does not really overpower the other. Alcohol was not noticed at all in taste or finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied. Very smooth mouthfeel as well. Overall, even though this wasn’t as bitter as I was hoping for it was still some delicious stuff. I would definitely get it again.

Overall some great stuff. I will probably get the next batch to see how it is, most people on the forums said that this batch was sweeter than usual apparently.

Smuttynose Big A IPA

4.3/5

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20

12 ounce bottle into tulip, bottle conditioned in August 2010. Pours hazy orange amber color with a dense 2 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves some good glass lacing. Aromas of strong grapefruit, orange, pine resin, caramel, spices and some floral notes. Aromas are very prominent. Taste of strong grapefruit, caramel, pine, and orange; with a sharp bitterness that comes in on the finish that lingers for a while after the finish with pine and citrus flavors. There is some great balance here with some maltiness on the front that helps balance out some of the strong bitterness present on the finish. No alcohol was noticed other than a very small warming after the finish, it is hidden very nicely. Medium carbonation and a huge full body. It has a very slick and slightly syrupy feel to it. Overall a delicious DIPA with a ton of flavor, and also has a very nice hop flavor profile. Delicious.

Another winner from Smutty. I love hops so no surprise there. Check out the commercial description: "For our hopping regime we went with Cascade and Nuggets in the boiling addition. Centennials were added every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. We added Crystals into the whirlpool. Dry hopping was done in both the fermentor after primary fermentation and the bright tank. We used a mixture of Chinook, Nuggets, and Sterlings in the fermentors and whole leaf Centennials in the bright tank." Lots of my favorite varieties in there. It was a little on the old side for it being a DIPA, but the hops were still shining. Fantastic.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Froyo

Once again it is a high carb day for me. Pretty simple mixture here, chocolate frozen yogurt with fudge brownies. The yogurt is solid stuff, some decent chocolate flavor and ok texture as well. The texture is a tad icy, but the yogurt does have some of a creamy feel to it. The brownies impart a very rich chocolate flavor to the pint, and there are tons of them in here spread throughout. The texture of the brownies is weird though, probably because they are low fat. The rich chocolate flavor of the brownies partially makes up for the texture. Overall, not too much more to say about this, it would satisfy a sweet tooth with slightly lower calories than the real thing, but not really worth it(calorie wise). Still quite enjoyable though.

7.5/10