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

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS)

4.9/5

AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 20/20

Review 200! 2011 12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours deep opaque black color with a 2 finger dark tan head with incredible retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Some good looking glass lacing. Aromas of vanilla, bourbon, chocolate, espresso, roasted malt, and wood with a little bit of alcohol. Quite possibly the most amazing smelling beer I have ever had. Taste of dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, bourbon, roasted malts, and wood. There is some slight bitterness on the finish that lingers with huge chocolate and vanilla flavors, even though it is 70 IBU the strength and body of the beer covers up most of that bitterness. Medium carbonation and huge full body. Insanely smooth drink for 11.2% and there is no alcohol noticed other than a warming after the finish. It goes down perfectly and is probably the smoothest drinking high gravity beer I have ever had. Overall, I will agree with the hype. This is incredible

Definitely one of the best beers on the planet. I am glad I was able to find a fresh 4 pack this year thanks to a drive through I frequent that has an outstanding beer selection, and also is fairly unknown by the general population in the area for their selection. I would also like to thank Jacob Sanford from the Alechemy blog for sending me a bottle of 2010, which I will try in the future and do a vertical. From what I have heard the coffee flavor diminishes, but overall the beer is still incredible.

Tröegs Nugget Nectar

4.3/5

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

12 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours slightly hazy orange-amber color with a fairly dense 2 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some good lacing on the glass. Aromas of strong grapefruit, with orange, pine, caramel, and spices. Taste of strong sweet grapefruit and orange with light caramel up front, that leads to a very strong citrus and pine bitterness on the finish that lasts. No alcohol was noticed at all in the taste or finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body. Very smooth drinking as well, and very tasty. Overall I highly enjoyed this one, very drinkable and delicious.

A great beer as I had hoped it would be. Also still widely available this time of year. I saw it freshly stocked in a grocery store recently.

Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake

The new ice cream flavors of the year have been released as of this month, and I finally decided to dig into the Ben and Jerry's side. It is red velvet cake batter ice cream with red velvet cake pieces and a cream cheese frosting swirl. I have never actually had red velvet cake before, so I cant really comment on how that is supposed to taste, but the ice cream flavor is fairly strong, and has a nice creamy feel to it, and good texture. The cake pieces are quite chewy and have great flavor as well. There is a fair amount of cream cheese flavor in it, even though I can't really distinguish the ice cream from the frosting. The cream cheese flavor is very noticeable, and adds a great flavor contrast to the pint. There is definitely a good amount of cream cheese, I was expecting more, but I guess it makes sense because the cake needs to take center stage. They put enough frosting to give a cream cheese aftertaste to it. There is a good amount of cake pieces in the pint as well, and they are well distributed throughout, and about the size of a standard pencil eraser tip. Overall this is a solid and enjoyable flavor. Nothing incredible, but still really good.

9/10

Great Divide Denver Pale Ale

3.7/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20

12 ounce bottle. Pours crystal clear light orange amber color with a 2 finger off white head with very good retention that reduces to a lacing cap that lasts for the entire glass. Some ok glass lacing. Aromas of citrus, floral, spices, and caramel. Aromas are a bit weak, but still pretty good. Taste of caramel, spices, bread, and some citrus. There is a fairly large amount of bitterness that comes at the finish, and it linger for a while with spiciness and citrus flavors. No alcohol noticed at all. Medium body and fairly high carbonation, the carbonation seems to detract some of the flavor, but is not too bad. Some good balance of the hops and malts. Very refreshing beer with a nice bitter bite. Overall a very solid pale ale.

Solid stuff, but definitely some better pale ales out there that I have had.

Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

4.3/5

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

12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours slightly cloudy red-orange color with a dense 1 finger off white head with good retention that reduces to a lacing cap that remains for the duration of the glass. Aromas of dried fruit, molasses, spices, bread, caramel, oak, and some alcohol. Some very interesting aromas here, very unique. Taste of plenty of caramel, dark fruits, molasses, with some spices, oak flavor, and a very small amount of booze. There is a malty finish of caramel and molasses that slowly transitions to a slight citrus bitterness the lingers for a bit after the finish. Some very light alcohol warming after the finish, but overall the alcohol is very well hidden. Medium-full body and medium carbonation, with a creamy and smooth mouthfeel. I actually really enjoyed this one, surprisingly delicious, with lots of complexity and well balanced flavors.

Another winner from Founders. I am really glad I found this one. Seeing as the release is in May, this one was sitting in the store for a while, they sold it to me for $1.79 as well(was not priced), which is probably way cheaper than what it goes for.