Nighttime ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: NightTime Ale

• Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company (California)

• Style: Black IPA

• ABV: 8.6%

• IBU: 73.4

• Pour Color: Black as night!

      NightTime Ale poured black as night. Light had no business even trying to pass thru this one. The head even had a dark shade to it showing how much dark malt was in it. The lacing lasted most of the glass as it fought valiantly against my follicles. The scent of the hops had a nice pine citrus mix. The bouquet was rounded out with roasted caramel scent. First sip was a explosion of flavors. The hops and the malts were way over the top but only got better as the face swallowed. The malts come thru as a slightly sweet flavor but the roasted malt bitterness really just added to the hops. Citrus and pine tried to over whelm but the malts held there own. Great great beer!
      Lagunitas.... Ohhh how do I love thee... Let me count the ways! Very few beer companies knock it out of the park nearly every beer you have. That's what Lagunitas does. There hop heavy beers are amazing and the back bone of there business. It's beers like night time that make you realize that Lagunitas knows it's niche but can also cross over into dark stuff. Yeah it's still hop heavy but it also makes you think of chocolate and coffee more then most straight up malty beers. Kudos again to one of the breweries that makes me love drinking beers!

Rating: *****

Hopportunity Knocks

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hopportunity Knocks

• Brewery: Caldera Brewing Company

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 6.8%

• IBU: 100

• Pour Color: red and light travels thru.

      The pour brought about a redish colored pour. The head was a good size and laced the glass most of the way down. The scent off the top was kind of unsettling. Smelled like sweet resinous smell but the malt blend had a funk to it. The flavor had a hop presence like a IPA should. Those hops came through as a artificial alcoholic flavor more then a real bitter kick. The malts were over bearing and seemed to have a slight smoked flavor that was way out of place. Really a weird IPA. 
      This beer may be one of the worst IPAs I've ever had. It's a IPA cause of the 100 IBUs yeah.... they chose to bury the IBUS with a absurd blend of malts that didn't just try and balance the beer but tried to take it over. On top of that the scent off the top was just about stomach turning before I took a swig. The date on the can said canned 4/15/15 so I would expect 120 day window would still be good for freshness. Really really disappointed by this beer and wouldn't get it again ever. 

Rating: 

Hoppy Boy

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hoppy Boy

• Brewery: Twisted Pine Brewing (Colorado)

• Style: American Pale Ale

• ABV: 5.7%

• IBU: 50

• Pour Color: Dark golden color.

      A sweet malt and hoppy scent off the top. A nice golden color a little darker then most pales. The head was a good size and stuck around for a good few splashes into the follicles. The flavor of this one is much sweeter then most pales I've had. Almost a sweet orange flavor to it. Very ballenced for being a pale.
      It says balance is the key but this one is on the hoppy side. I disagree with that statement. This one was really sweet and seemed to hide the hoppy bitter I expected and wanted. I could see this being a gateway beer for someone but it's not a really hoppy beer. I even would say the malts were the star of this beer making for easy drinking. It just didn't strike me as a pale ale though. Good but not anything I'd go out of my way to find.  

Rating: **1/2

Even Keel

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Even Keel

• Brewery: Ballest Point (California)

• Style: Session IPA

• ABV: 3.8%

• IBU: 40

• Pour Color: Dark golden color maybe even a bronze that allowed light thru.

      The face poured this one and the smell hit me quick. A nice citrus grassy scent off the top. The head was two fingers high to begin with and disappeared rapidly. The color in the glass was a bronze shade that allowed light thru. I imagine some kind of caramel malt is used to get that shade in a session ipa. It also had a nice little bit of hop haze to it. The flavor gives you a slight sweet taste of malts that coincides with a bitter almost tangerine, orange, grapefruit flavor. This beer is able to pack a punch that most session ales can't. A good beer to have a few when you can't get smashed. 
      I went to a tap take over from Ballest Point at the basin pub in my area of New York. They had alot of big beers but I had to drive home and I live a half hour away at the very least. This was the beer that got me through. Full of flavor and a real low ABV. Up till that night i didn't give many sessions a chance cause they were just so laid back. This one actually packs the flavor IPA drinkers are looking for. 

Rating: ****1/2

Not Your Fathers Rootbeer

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Not Your Fathers Rootbeer

• Brewery: Small Town Brewery (Illinois)

• Style: Spiced Beer

• ABV: 5.9%

• IBU: ?

• Pour Color: A very dark brown that keeps most light at bay.

      As the face poured it I didn't see much characters of a beer. The head disappeared instantly. The color was dark brown and let little light pass thru it. The scent off the top wasn't beer either it was a mix of spice, vanilla, and a little alcohol scent. The flavor was almost exactly like the rootbeer barrel candies. Slightly sweeter and with a deeper vanilla tone. The body of the beer was really thin and over carbonated compared to most beers. This isn't a beer drinkers beer this is a soda pop with alcohol in it.
      The question you have to ask yourself is do you want soda or do you want beer. This doesn't drink like a beer. It doesn't have the body and it's way more carbonated then most beers. But it delivers on what it sells on the label. A nice clean tasting rootbeer that has a little more vanilla then most other rootbeers. As long as you know what your getting into this isn't a bad beer by any means. If you really want to call it a beer. Really torn on the rating of this one cause I love it for what it is but it's not beer to me. Really really good though.

Rating: ****

Total Domination

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Total Domination

• Brewery: Ninkasi Brewing Company (Oregon)

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 6.7%

• IBU: 65

• Pour Color: A nearly see thru dark golden color. 

      The scent as it poured was a piney slightly sweet scent. The golden darker color had a good haze to it showing it was hoppy and unfiltered. The head on the top of the beer was fluffy and faded down quick. It did leave lacing down about half the glass before totally dissipating. The flavor was a little off to me. The bitterness of the hops came across as more of a peel bitter. It also had a slightly sweet and sour backing that was weird. As you swallow this on though you get a strong alcohol taste for a few seconds and it echos for awhile. Very strange beer that I probably wouldn't go out of my way to find. 
      This really wasn't my favorite beer. The bottle didn't have a best by date or born on date. So the sour flavor I got off it could have been it sitting to long. That sour flavor really was off. This experience alone would make me personally shy away from taking a swim in Ninkasi beer from now on. Luckily this isn't my only experience with ninkasi and I know they have other beers that are good. Maybe soon I'll get a fresh IPA from them and it'll change my mind but for now Total Domination isn't a accurate description of what was in this bottle.    

Rating: **1/2

Captain Banana

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Captain Banana

• Brewery: Three Heads Brewing (New York)

• Style: Unfiltered Wheat

• ABV: 6%

• IBU: 18

• Pour Color: A very hazy gold to dark yellow color. Little light gets thru. 

      A decent head as we started to eye each other up. The color was a nice full bodied gold. You can tell this beer was not filtered in the slightest. I hit the foam full force and bested it. A nice wheat flavor to this beer. Almost a slight sour dough flavor to. The banana that they advertise on the side of the bottle gives it a slight sweetness and evens it out nicely. The banana comes through as a slightly under ripened banana. A really nice wheat beer through and through. 

      Captain banana is another great logo and story from three heads. Luckily it's also another good beer. You can tell right from the get go that if you don't like unfiltered beer this isn't down your alley and the wheat flavor is gonna be heavy. The balance that the banana brings to the mix is what makes it a easy sipping beer. Great beer to take a swim in and make my return to beer reviews! Glad i got to try it with some cookie dough at hometown throwdown at lovin cup recently!!!!

Rating: ****

Electric Ray

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Electric Ray

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and Ballest Point

• Style: IPL

• ABV: 8.5

• IBU: 80

• Pour Color: A bronze color in the glass with light coming right thru!

       This one looked great in the glass. A golden slightly hazed bronze that really showed light thru. The scent off the glass was a strong piney and citrusy hops. The yeast smell I've come to expect from sierra beers in this pack also said hello. The head was actually quite fluffy and hung around for a good few sips. The taste was a nice balance of a slightly sweet malt bed with a fully floral hop presence. The flavor is that of a nice full bodied IPL that would be 5% not a big 8.5%.... The 70 IBU can get a IPA lover wondering if this is just a IPA.... Really a amazing beer to be had and maybe the best of this pack!
        Electric ray was the first beer that reminded me of the brewery it came from in collaboration not just produced by. Invasion from Ballest Point has a great hop character that really has it's own floral arrangement. This one had a lot more then just the ballenced approach of a pale. It also had very little back bone of malt at the end. One of the best parts of the invasion from Ballest Point. All and all though i have had few IPLs that live up to the India Pale name that they claim. This one does that and more!

Rating: *****

Double Latte

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Double Latte

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and Ninkasi Brewing Company

• Style: Milk Stout

• ABV: 7.6%

• IBU: 60

• Pour Color:Dark black color with no light getting thru.

       A big head came up on this beer and lasted most of the glass. A very formidable foe! A nice chocolate and coffee flavor comes through. A real dark color to this beer and even the head had a nice brown color. The body of the beer is richer but not as thick as I expected from a milk stout. Nice roasted flavor to the whole brew. The sweet character of the milk also comes through. A good milk stout and dark beer from a pack that really seems hop forward so far.
       First dark beer outta this pack and I was all sorts of excited. Every burly hair was waiting for the first sip. The head even when bested was leaving lacing down the whole glass. The mouth feel is the one thing that seemed wrong with this one. Yes it was thicker then most I feel it could have went heavier on that lactose sugar. Slightly creamy feel but just not enough for me. The coffee and roasted malts definitely came through clearly in this one. Really great beer but there and back is still number one in this pack!

Rating: ****1/2

Yonder Bock

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Yonder Bock

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and Cigar City

• Style: Tropical Maibock

• ABV: 7.7%

• IBU: 45

• Pour Color: A nice red to orange color

       Really nice red to orange color to this one that light went thru easily. A nice head at the start. I bested it in two or three sips. A nice hoppy almost papaya scent off the top. Slight scent of the yeast too. Really nice bouquet off this one. Really easy drinking for almost being a 8% beer. The yeast is a nice mellow bread flavor. Malts are a mellow caramel flavor that adds a nice sweet. The first hop flavor is in the mouth and goes through a fruit punch of flavors. Pineapple, mango, and apple really come thru most for me. The hops also come thru as a slightly bitter flavor in the swallow. Almost a lime flavor at the end. Sweet and flavor full each sip of this one. Much much more flavorful then most Maibocks I've tried. A really great beer in this box.
      Beer Camp got a little tropical flair in this one. Honestly one of my favorite Maibock. Much more hop forward then most Maibocks I've had and I think that's why i like it. It's also got such a wide variety of flavors that you can't just point out one as your favorite. Really an amazing beer to take a swim in for a glass or two!  

Rating: ****

Chico King

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Chico King

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and 3 Floyds

• Style: Pale Ale

• ABV: 6.5%

• IBU: 45

• Pour Color: A golden nearly red pour slightly hazy

      The head of this one held on for quite a few sips. A redish color to the pour that let light straight thru even with a slight hop haze. This is the first beer camp that left rings all the way down the glass as I sipped. The scent off the top is mostly flowery scented hops. A slight scent of the mix of yeast and hops is noticeable if you really try. The follicles frolicked in the resinous flowery hop flavor. A real mellow sweetness also come thru after swallowing. All and all a nice pale ale with a little more hop zip then usual.
      This beer really has a lot to live up to to beat a classic sierra pale. Most find the original pale as a gateway to craft beer and is really easy drinking. This is not that kind of pale. The hops are very prevalent and to a normal pale drinker would be over the top. As a hop head this isn't really a problem for this mustache. Yet this beer has little to no balance. It leaves me wishing that it just had a little more malt backing to even it out. Really really good almost IPA that would impress most beer drinkers. 

Rating: ***1/2

There and Back

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: There and Back

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and New Glarus

• Style: English Style Bitter

• ABV: 5.6%

• IBU: 40

• Pour Color: A very slightly hazed bronze color

      This one had a head that fought for just three sips. The color was a nice bonze that was fully see thru. A mellow scent of hops off the top. It almost has a pear scent. Tasting it you get a real range of flavors. Lemon and lime are mixed to make a nice bitter flavor. A slight sweetness of pears and a real mellow spice makes it easily palatable. The part that really gets me is the lingering on the pallet of those bitter parts. This really is a treat to taste and one of the best beers i've tasted from the pack.
      I have heard legend of New Glarus but never have had the pleasure. I'm really glad that Sierra decided to have a tour stop with New Glarus. An amazing beer that really makes me wonder what else is out there in ESBs. Honkers is the only bitter I've had consistently but after this one I may have a new style to explore more often. Really great beer!

Rating: *****

Torpedo Pilsner

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name:Torpedo Pilsner

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and FireStone Walker

• Style: Pilsner

• ABV: 5.2%

• IBU: 45

• Pour Color: Light golden color

      Upon pouring the face and I found it to be very heady and nice and golden. Easily seen thru. The head on this lasted for about half the glass before finally giving up to my follicles. The scent off the top was hoppy and yeasty. Nice tropical/piney scent off the top. The lager yeast was a small contribution to the bouquet. A sweet bready scent. The flavor is that of a strong dose of hops. Sweet meets up with piney tropical hops and really works well as a hoppy pilsner. If your looking for a Canadian pilsner then this one will just be to much for you. Really really good and delivers what it says it will!
      This pilsner is quite delicious. The hand in hand with firestone walker and sierra nevada suggests it will have a good hop flavor and ballance as both sierra and firestone know how to use hops. This pilsner delivers what you would expect and is nice and crisp. The flavors of the hops just make for a more refreshing taste then most pilsner. Having a lower ABV could have hurt it for the time i've let it age but that is not the case. A great beer that anyone would be lucky to find even now when it's not at it's optimal freshness. 

Rating: ****1/2

CANfusion

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: CANfusion

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada and Oscar Blues

• Style: Rye Bock

• ABV: 6.8%

• IBU: 45

• Pour Color: A bronze color with a slightly more red hue.

      The rye bock was slightly over carbonated and exploded out of the can. A bronze slightly red hue to the pour. The head came up and met up with me as soon as the glass was lifted. The head disappeared quick once it tangled with me. The aroma was mostly malts. Slightly sweet lager scent with a slight presence. The hops come thru as a slight citrus scent. Not really much for the rye in the aroma. The flavor is quite sweet. It has a good flavor from the rye but not as spicy as I hoped. The hops are citrus and nice but not enough to balance out the flavor of this sweet bock beer. Wouldn't be one of my every day go tos.
      First review in awhile and the big number 200! Seems fitting that it just happens to be a oskar blues/ Sierra Nevada collaboration. Sorry I waited so long to open this beer camp. Most won't be able to find it now but me and the face found it while travling from NY to FL. Wish this one would have been a better one. Much sweeter then most bocks I've enjoyed and not as rye as I hoped. Really a good offering but not as great as I would hope from two of my favorite breweries. Hope one of my other ones in the box surprises me for a different reason. 

Rating: ***

Hop Ottin' IPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hop Ottin' IPA

• Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company (California)

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 7%

• IBU: 78

• Pour Color: A slightly hazy bronze that light makes it thru.

      The head came up fluffy and capped the bronze glass of beer well. It laced the glass as I sipped but didn't last very long. The scent off the top is mostly hops with a slight yeast and malt scent. The pine and citrus mix are a nice bouquet with the rose scent they get. Many beers claim scents they don't have, Anderson Valley nails the mix of scents off the glass. While sipping a strong lemon citrus is the first up front flavor. It also has a nice sweetness that balances a quite bitter beer. The echos of flavor come in that sweet flavor almost taking over up front and ballencing that bitter even more. It's not quite a peel bitterness that echos time and again on the back of the pallet. Very good and very refreshing for a mustache bath!
      Anderson Valley just makes good beer. Everything I've had is a experience unto itself and most of the time a great one. I may be bias against this IPA cause i've had Heelch O Hops but this beer is still good. A IPA that I would most likely grab before most on a shelf. I would be down right giddy to see it at a local grocery store near me.

Rating: ****