North Coast Pranqster

3.5/5

AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20

12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours hazy light amber color with a foamy 1 finger white head with decent retention that reduces to a slight cap that leaves minimal lacing. Aromas of dark fruits, banana, honey, spicy yeast, and some clove. Also a slight bit of alcohol noticed in the aroma. Taste of banana, spice, and honey with some clove coming in near the finish. Very sweet on the front with the spices coming in on the finish. Fairly high amount of carbonation with a medium body. Decently strong alcohol warming felt after the finish. The mouthfeel is as smooth as I have had with some other Belgian styles, but comes in a bit thin. Overall this is a solid Belgian style. I was hoping for a bit more complexity, and the aroma was fairly weak, but I would probably give another go in the future.

It wasn't as amazing as I thought it was going to be, but still fairly solid.

Left Hand Fade To Black Vol. 2

4.2/5

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

12 ounce bottle. Pours very dark brown color with a dense 2 finger dark tan head with very good retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves some nice lacing. Aromas of roasted malts, chocolate, burnt wood, and cedar. Taste of chocolate, roasted malts, smoke, and cedar. Some very slight bitterness, but not very much on the finish. Insanely creamy and smooth body, with some smokiness and roasted flavors lingering after the finish. Medium body and carbonation. Overall it is a great beer, and one of the few smoked porters I have had, and maybe the best one as well. I would love to have more of this, it has an great balance of flavors, and one of the best mouthfeels I have had. Excellent.

This definitely is the best smoked beer I have had. So smooth and very tasty. Looking forward to this years Fade to Black release.

Lagunitas Brown Shugga

4/5

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

12 ounce bottle. Pours slightly hazy orange-copper color with a dense 2 finger off white head with very good retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves some nice lacing. Aromas of caramel, citrus, molasses, pine, and cherries. Taste of citrus, caramel, molasses, and pine, with a bitterness that is not too strong that fades in on the finish. Sweet malty flavors of the molasses, caramel, and some fruits on the front. The bitter flavors last for a bit after the finish as well. Alcohol was not detected other than a warming after the finish. Medium body and carbonation. Overall a very tasty brew from Lagunitas. Very sweet tasting, but also has a well balanced amount of bitterness as well to round out the brew. I would definitely have it again.

A tasty beer that was actually an accident. The story is that Lagunitas was trying to make Olde GnarlyWine back in 1997, and after something went wrong with the batch they added a boatload of brown sugar to the batch to attemp to rescue it, and therefore Brown Shugga was created. Also pretty well explains why the brew is 9.9%. The head actually lasted all the way till I was finished as well. I am rarely disappointed by this brewery.

Buckeye Zatek 2010

4.2/5

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

22 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours very dark brown color with a dense 1.5 finger tan head with very good retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves some nice lacing. Aromas of roasted malts, chocolate, citrus, dark fruits, oats, and some licorice. Taste of roasted malts, chocolate, and oat, with a decent amount of citrus bitterness on the finish. The bitterness lingers for a short time after the finish. The flavors are very well balanced between the sweetness and bitterness, and the overall main flavors also compliment each other nicely. A very creamy medium-full bodied mouthfeel here with medium carbonation. The alcohol content is hidden very well in this with only a slight warming after the finish. Overall, I am impressed by this offering from Buckeye, it is definitely a tasty RIS. I would like to have some more of this sometime, but it will probably be the next batch.

Only my second brew from Buckeye, and it is a very well put together RIS.

Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolate Ice Cream

As you open the pint, you are greeted with swirls of chocolate and vanilla ice creams, with a fudge swirl, which is well distributed through this pint. I am a pretty big fan of this chocolate ice cream, it is definitely full of flavor and compliments the fudge very well. There is quite a bit more chocolate ice cream than there is vanilla, but I can hardly complain about that. The fudge swirl is also very rich, and in my opinion the amount of the swirl they have put into this ice cream is just enough so that it does not over power the flavors of the entire pint. The texture of both the ice cream and fudge is pretty spot on. The fudge is fairly viscous, as it should be. Overall fairly impressed with this flavor, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of chocolate ice cream because of its richness and the fudge.

8.5/10

Hair of the Dog Fred

4.1/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 16/20

12 ounce bottle into snifter, batch 77. Pours a hazy dark orange-brown color with a huge 4 finger off white head with incredible retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves nice lacing. Aromas of dark fruits, molasses, caramel; with a bit of wood, citrus, spice, and booze. Taste of dark fruits, molasses, spice, citrus, and caramel. There is a bit of a delayed hop bitterness on the palate after the finish, with strong sweetness on the front that lingers after the finish. Very smooth and full bodied mouthfeel, with medium carbonation. There is also some well pronounced alcohol warming after the finish, but the alcohol strength does not detract from the flavor at all. Overall, this is definitely a great beer, and is very unique and interesting. Too bad I will not be able to try any other HotD beers at this time unless I trade some, but I am glad I was able to experience a few of them.

Another good one from Hair of the Dog. I am interested in trying out some of the other Adam and Fred variants out there(wood aged, cherry etc). Will definitely have to trade for them in the future.

Three Floyds BlackHeart English IPA

4.3/5

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

22 ounce bottle. Pours slightly hazy amber-orange color with a 2 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a lacing cap that leaves fantastic glass lacing. Aromas of grapefruit, pine, floral, caramel, and pineapple. Taste of grapefruit, pine, pineapple, and caramel, with a delayed bitterness of citrus and grapefruit, that lingers for a while after the finish, showing a strong use of hops. Very well balanced flavors, and it definitely reminds me of the Dreadnaught DIPA from them. Medium carbonation and a medium-full body. Absolutely no notice of the alcohol content. Overall, this is outstanding, and I really hope they start to distribute back to Ohio, because everything I have had has been a great experience. Delicious.

Another winner from 3 Floyd's. Apparently it is slightly aged on oak, but I didn't detect much if any oak flavor. Regardless, I am pretty sure this is my first oak aged IPA style. Also noticed that the label is much different than what is shown on the beer rating sites, and is probably one of the coolest looking labels I have seen.