Grumpy Monk

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Grumpy Monk

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Style: Belgian IPA

• ABV:5.7%

• IBU:55

• Pour Color: Clear golden color to this one. Light travels through easy

      So the Face got one of the hopology samplers Sam Adams put out. As a hop loving freak you know I was excited. Drowning in piles of hops don't scare me! So the Belgian style was the first I pulled out. The head was fluffy and the color was a golden.  It had a very mellow flavor of the orange peel and clove that you would expect. Really mellow though. The hops also had a slight citrus and pine but also was extremely mellow. This one really didn't strike me as special. This would be a good introduction to Belgian IPA but that's really all.
      This one struck me as neither great Belgian or great IPA and even these two styles mixed this wasn't the best. I've had Belgian IPAs that have blown me away. With this one they didn't go hard enough Belgian so it seems kind of watered down. The hops weren't really that pronounced either. It's a good IPA to get people into it that don't like them.  It really seems IPA, in name only, cause the hops really are on the light side!

Rating: **1/2

Dark Depths

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Dark Depths

• Brewery: Sam Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Style: Black IPA (Baltic IPA)

• ABV: 7.6%

• IBU: 55

• Pour Color: A clear red color when held up to the light!

      The pour came out much lighter then most dark IPAs. A head came up quick and sat at the top for awhile. It was easily two fingers high. Smelling the top of this one you get a sweet roasted caramel and almost a grapefruit hop scent. On the sip you get a mix of coffee and caramel malts. The hops come through slightly while in mouth but disappear quickly once swallowed. This is really a dark beer before a IPA and really only hits a pale ale bitterness to me.
      This one to me really seemed to mislead the drinker. If I was trying to get one of my Guinness drinking buddies into a hoppy beer I would go with this one. Much more a dark beer then a IPA really. The hops just are in a sea of malt flavor and aren't enough to get a avid IPA drinker excited. This one I would swim in again but it's not the first one I'm reaching for!

Rating: **1/2

Third Voyage

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Third Voyage

• Brewery: Sam Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Style: Imperial IPA

• ABV: 8%

• IBU: 80

• Pour Color: A nice clear amber color.

      This was a nice fluffy headed beer as it poured. Higher then two fingers the head grew quickly. The scent off the top was that of a nice roasted malt and a nice grassy hop. The color came out a nice see through amber. Tasting it, gives you a nice range of flavor. The malts are a sweet caramel flavored. It also got a nice wheat taste. The hops though are the star of this one. Three different cascade hops give it a strange range most wouldn't expect. You get spicy, fruity, and grassy notes from the hops that all mix for bitter echos after you swallow. A really really good double IPA. 
      This one I was looking forward too. I love cascade hops more then most! That is the hop that really gets me curling. This one chooses to use cascade from 3 different places on earth and really uses them well. I found this beer to be ballenced and fairly smooth for a imperial ale. This perhaps is my new favorite from Sam Adams!

Rating: ****1/2

Five Crown Imperial Stout

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Five Crown Imperial Stout

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

• Brewer: Joe Formanek

• Style: Munich Dunkle Lager

• ABV: 8.9%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: Dark ruby red tone to it, light passes through easily.

     Poured super thick and super dark.The head appeared for a second and then disappeared quickly. The scent off the top was quite strong. It had a mix of chocolate and caramel to the bouquet. On taste the malts are the star. Giving it a chocolate caramel flavor that is strong. A slight roasted coffee flavor is in this one too. The alcohol is known too with a very dry finish. Hits almost like a bourbon aged brew. The hops come through with a slight bitter earthy tone but not much. Another good home brew. 
      Sam Adams found a decent stout to put on the big stage. Joe knows how to make a nice full flavor stout that can kick the crap out of you. That's the main problem with this beer for me. The high alcohol content leads to a high alcohol flavor i just don't like. Plus this thick beer just gets stuck in the follicles. How unpleasant is it to get showered in a mustache's stash of thick porter? Not at all really.

Rating:***1/2

A Dark Night In Munich

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: A Dark Night In Munich

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing Company (Massachusetts)

•  Brewer: Corey Martin

• Style: Munich Dunkle Lager

• ABV: 5.9%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: Dark ruby red tone to it, light passes through easily.

     The Face popped this one open and it poured perfect. A nice high head that stuck around only a short while. The red color of this one really makes for a gorgeous look in a pint glass. The scent off the top was a caramel malt scent, not much hops. A yeasty bready scent off the top to. The taste out the glass was another malt explosion. A nice mix of caramel and chocolate makes up most of this one. The yeast spice is a nice element too. Also a nice earthy blend of hops balances this one away from being to sweet. Really a delicious blend, of flavor, with a slight over carbonation to me. I'd bathe in it again just about anytime though! 
      Being the Face is also a home brewer it's no wonder this would show up in front of me. Corey Martin did a great job for a beer that any mustache should love. The head disappeared quick and the sweetness of this one doesn't leave me sticky. On top of that it's at a 5.9% ABV. I dare you to find another Dunkle lager like that. This one was a no brainer. Delicious and created by a home brewer, what more could you want? 

 
Rating:****

Noble Pils

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Noble Pils

• Brewery: Samuel Adams Brewing (Massachusetts)

• Style: Pilsner

• ABV: 4.9%

• IBU: 34

• Pour Color: A bright golden color that is easily seen through

      On pour this one got a fluffy head that hung around for a good while. The nice golden color is perfectly clear. The scent, is a slight sweet malty scent, and a nice hop tone to it. The hops in this one come straight at ya on taste. The curl got a little tighter as this one hit me with pine and earthy tones. The malt is in the back slightly sweetening this one up. Really a great pilsner any one should try.
      Sam Adams puts a lot of stock in the "noble hops". These are grown where it's the best hop growing condition. There pils though is helped by this pickyness.  The hops in question some times don't make a great IPA, but a hoppy pils like this is perfect with em. I look forward to spring cause I've grown accustom to sam's noble pils. Now that it's a year round beer the Face gets it all the time!

Rating: *****