Brewery Vivant Triomphe Belgian IPA

3.9/5

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

16 ounce can into tulip, no canning date. Pours crystal clear golden orange color with a nice 3 finger dense khaki head with incredible retention that reduces to a thick cap that lingers. Some decent lacing clings to the glass; with decent carbonation streaming up. Aromas of grapefruit, orange, caramel, pine, herbal, bread, and yeasty spices. Nice and well balanced aromas, but on the weak side. Taste of big grapefruit, caramel, pine, herbal, biscuit, orange, and yeast spices. Good amount of herbal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of citrus, bread, and yeast spices. Great balance of hop flavors, bitterness, and Belgian character; with a hop character being a little more pronounced. Medium carbonation and body; with a slightly creamy and very smooth mouthfeel. Drinks fairly easily at 6.5%; with only a slight alcohol warming after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice Belgian IPA. Has the Belgian character without going over the top; and still retaining good hop flavor. I really enjoyed this one.

Damn nice Belgian IPA canned offering from Vivant. This is definitely worth a pickup if you are in Michigan.

The Bruery 3 French Hens

4.1/5

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

750 ml bottle into tulip, bottled Dec 2010. Pours very hazy dark reddish brown color with a nice 2 finger dense dark khaki head with great retention that reduces to a cap. Some ok lacing on the glass. Aromas of big raisin, prune, grape, apple, molasses, caramel, oak, light cinnamon, and yeast spiciness. Nice and well balanced aromas. Taste of big molasses, caramel, raisin, prune, fig, oak, toasted malt, dark candi sugar, nuttiness, light cinnamon, and yeast spices. Lingering notes of molasses, caramel, dark fruits, and spiciness on the finish for a bit. A good amount of complexity and robustness in the taste. Great balance of flavors. Medium carbonation and body; with a creamy and slightly slick mouthfeel. Alcohol is very well hidden at 10%, with only a warming after the finish present. Overall this is an excellent and well balanced Belgian dark ale. Really enjoyed this one.

Another excellent Belgian style from the Bruery. Great flavor balance and complexity; with minimal alcohol presence.

Shorts Rich’s Rye IPA

3.7/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, no bottle dating. Pours slightly hazy golden straw color with a nice 2-3 finger dense off white head with fantastic retention that reduces to a thick cap. Some decent lacing on the glass. There was a slow cascade of carbonation as I poured this. Aromas of big pine, rye spiciness, biscuit, herbal, caramel, and citrus. Some nice and well balanced aromas. Taste of big rye spiciness, caramel, biscuit, herbal, grapefruit, pine, and earthiness. Strong bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of rye spiciness, biscuit, caramel, and citrus for a bit. Good balance of flavors. Medium carbonation and body; with a fairly creamy and slightly thick mouthfeel. Alcohol is well hidden with only a slight warming after the finish. Overall this is a nice and very enjoyable rye offering. Apparently this bottle was a bit old, but it held up nicely!

Despite being an older bottle, this held up well for a rye IPA. Very rye forward with a good sized mouthfeel because of all the rye.

Breckenridge Avalanche Amber

3.2/5

AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, no bottling info. Pours slightly hazy golden orange color with a fairly dense 2 finger off white head with good retention that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas of caramel, bready grain, light citrus, and spiciness. Fairly nice aromas with good strength. Taste of caramel, bready grains, herbal spiciness, pine, and a bit of citrus. Decent bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of bready grains, herbal spiciness, and light caramel. The breadiness and grain flavors are a bit odd. Decent amount of flavor, but it does come off as a bit watery. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; with some prickly carbonation. Very smooth to drink at 4.4%, with no alcohol presence. Overall this is an ok amber ale. A little too bready, and not as much hop character as I would like. Easy to drink though.

Pretty mediocre for an amber ale. It needed more hop flavor and less bready grain character.

Bells Kalamzoo Stout

4.2/5

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

12 ounce bottle into signature pint glass, bottled 9/14/2011. Pours pitch black color, with a nice 2 finger fairly dense tan head with great retention that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Some decent lacing clinging to the glass. Aromas of big milk chocolate, caramel, coffee, roasted malt, light herbal hops, and a hint of licorice. Nice well balanced aromas with good strength. Taste of big milk chocolate, coffee, caramel, roasted malt, pine, herbal hops, and a bit of spiciness. Good amount of bitterness on the finish with lingering notes of milk chocolate, caramel, pine, and herbal spiciness for a bit. Very robust flavors for 6%, with great balance. Medium carbonation and body; with a nice creamy mouthfeel. Hardly any alcohol presence except for a slight warming after the finish. Overall this is an excellent and highly robust stout. Very drinkable with great flavor balance.

An extremely robust standard gravity stout that is a year round offering. Definitely recommended.

Brooklyn Black Ops

4.2/5

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

750 ml bottle into signature tulip glass, bottled 10/21/2010. Pours pitch black, with a nice 2 finger fairly dense tan head with good retention that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Spotty lacing on the glass; with a good amount of carbonation streaming up. Aromas of big bourbon, caramel, toffee, vanilla, chocolate, roasted malt, light dark fruitiness, and a bit of alcohol. Nice and well balanced aromas. Taste of big caramel, bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, molasses, oak, roasted malt, light coffee, and a bit of spiciness. Lingering notes of chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, caramel, and oak on the finish for a bit. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied; with a fairly creamy and slick mouthfeel. A bit of prickly carbonation from the bottle conditioning. Alcohol is well hidden at 11.3% with only a warming after the finish. Overall this is an excellent, balanced, and smooth barrel aged imperial stout. A bit different due to the champagne yeast bottle conditioning. Probably not worth $22 for another bottle, but it was nice to try once.

A great and well balanced bourbon barrel aged imperial stout. Probably not worth another buy in my opinion though at that price.

Ayinger Weizen-Bock

4.1/5

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

500 ml bottle into weizen glass, no bottle dating. Pours very hazy golden orange color with a good 2 finger fairly dense white head with good retention that reduces to a thin ring of lace. No lacing on the glass; and a good amount of carbonation streaming up. Aromas of big banana, caramel, clove, pepper, toffee, vanilla, bread, and spicy yeast. Nice and well balanced aromas. Taste of big caramel, banana, clove, citrus, biscuit, pepper, and yeast spices. Lingering notes of bread, caramel, citrus, banana, and spiciness on the finish for a bit. Nice balance of flavors with no cloying sweetness. Medium carbonation and body; with a fairly creamy mouthfeel. Very drinkable for 7%; with hardly any alcohol noticed other than a bit of warming after the finish. Overall this is a highly enjoyable and balanced weizenbock. Very smooth and drinkable; with good flavor balance and complexity.

An excellent and very enjoyable weizenbock offering. This did not have a bottle date, but they released it in 2009; so this might be that old. It would probably be better fresh. Well priced at under 3 dollars as well.