Choklat

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Choklat

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Imperial Stout

• ABV: 10%

• IBU: ?

• Pour Color: Just black and no light gets thru!

      The head of this beer wasn't very high and didn't really last that long. It's a black hole of a stout poured into a glass. Absolutely no light makes it out of the glass. A sweet alcoholic scent comes off the top. The flavor is bitter, sweet chocolate and a nice compliment of roasted malts. Not really much hops to mention. The alcohol though has a strong bite and really isn't hidden. The high ABV is right up front but still a great dessert beer!
      The only problem this beer has is that alcohol flavor and scent. As you drink this one it nearly has legs like wine. It has a strong alcohol scent too. Then you sip it and find it too has a alcoholic kick. All and all this one tries to mix in with that ABV instead of hiding it like some others. This can easily alienate those who buy it thinking it's liquid Hershey's. Myself though found it to be delicious.

Rating: ****

EuroTrash Pilz

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: EuroTrash Pilz

• Brewery: Southern Tier Beer (New York)
  

• Style: Pilsner

• ABV: 5.2%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: Easily see thru straw color.

      The pour had a nice fluffy head to it. That would end quickly and a laced top would be seen for most the rest of the glass. A nice golden color that was easy to see through and actually quite bubbly. The scent off the top is a mostly malts. Wheat smell mostly and a little hint of hops. The taste is the same way. Very strong wheat and yeast flavor. The back ground isn't really bittered much by the hops. It's a sweet, slightly floral mix, toward the end of the taste. The wheat flavor lingers long after a sip. An average pilsner really.
      This is one of the few southern tier beers that just is boring to me. The hop really doesn't excite and the malts are just to sweet. It's really one of those yellow fizzy beers that other mass makers make. Yeah it's got a kick of a little more flavor but it's not really unique. If your a pilsner guy I can't see you being disappointed in this one. If you'er not a pilsner guy this isn't going to switch you to this style. Good beer but not great. 

Rating: **

2XIPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: 2XIPA

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)
  

• Style: Double IPA

• ABV: 8.2%

• IBU:?

• Pour Color: This beer has a nice golden color light travels thru easy.

      This poured with a fluffy head that no Face could pass up. The bath in it was quick though and it left a nice film in the middle of the glass. A nice strong citrus scent off the top of this one also. The taste was a nice hop malt blend. The sweet malts ballenced the bitter well to this one. The citrus was there too and  The high alcohol still lends to the flavor too. Really good double IPA that's hard to pass up.
      This is a mustache kicker! You got bitter and sweet covered in the flavor and you got high alcohol almost hidden by the blend. Few times do you find the double just as smooth as the normal IPA. This one is more balanced to me then the normal IPA that really goes for the hop heavy. Still a great hop presence and one of the smoothest beers over 8% I've taken a bath in!

Rating: *****

2XMas Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: 2XMas Ale

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Spice Beer

• ABV: 8.0%

• IBU: 

• Pour Color: A nice seasonal shade of Christmas red.

      Wow! This one poured out and didn't have much of a head. The color was a nice  almost burgundy. Easily seen through and it let light pass easy. Not to carbonated looking either. I started by pouring this in a pint glass. Didn't seem right so I switched it up to one of my goblets. The scent off the top is intense. Orange, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger all of which come right up and bite you in the nose. The taste is the same thing a huge amount going on! You sip and orange hits you with a ginger and cinnamon bite. The spice combination of flavors. It really reminds me of a eggnog mix of spices. The malts make it quite sweet and not really bitter. Although the alcohol in this one isn't hiding at all. This is really a fairly tasty fun seasonal that I would have again and again each year!
      This is one of the most strange beers I've had as a seasonal. Extremely spicy and different. As far as the holidays go I feel this encapsulates it. You want the classic feel and flavor of the holiday of course. You also finding yourself wanting to get sloshed when the relatives are round. This has you covered in both cases with the 8% ABV! Wow strange but actual I enjoyed the swim in it a lot!

Rating: *****

Old Man Winter Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Old Man Winter Ale

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Old Ale

• ABV: 7.0%

• IBU: 

• Pour Color: Dark red to brown color when poured

      Old man winter pours kind of dark and ominous. Really a dark red to brown. The head popped up quick but was bested easily by my locks. It would be a thin film at the top of the beer for the rest of the glass. The scent off the top is dark sweet malts and citrus to grassy hop smells. Amazing how you get a pretty even amount of malt and hop as you smell. The taste also has that balance. The sweet malts cover the alcohol flavor fairly well. A caramel and spice mix to this malt backing. The hops come off more earthy in the taste. Gives it a slight bit of bitter. All and all a good seasonal offering. 
      Haven't had a lot of old ales myself, this may even be a first. Drinking this one reminds me of a strong scotch ale. Sweet like that but they go strong on the hops. This I consider a easily drinkable beer that tastes good. It's not as good as harvest ale from last season though. Still real easy to see why some people love this beer!

Rating: ***1/2

Hop Sun

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Hop Sun

• Brewery: Southern Tier Beer (New York)
  

• Style: Wheat

• ABV: 5.1%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A bright golden color, Easily seen through!

      As the Face pours this one, it has a nice see through body. The head was only around for a second. Hung out at the top around the outside the rest of the glass though. You get a nice hop aroma in this one. It mixes well with that wheat beer scent. Most IPA's don't achieve this kind of a scent. A nice blend of citrus and pine. Almost the level of some pale ales. The malts have there own big flavor too. A great bread flavor of the malts. A explosions of flavor in this delicious beer. 
      The Face used to bathe me in Sam Adams Summer Ale all summer. With the little kick of lemons and hops it was a good summer time beer that any one could appreciate. That's a distanced memory though! So far it's been Hop Sun every night! Light crisp but slightly hop crazy makes me and the Face huge fans. Go try some, no really?

Rating: *****

Southern Tier Raspberry Wheat

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Raspberry Wheat

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Wheat 

• ABV: 4.9%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A golden slightly murky beer.

      It was easy to see through this one although its was slightly murky. Almost had a white ale look to it. The scent off the top was full of fruit, malt, and hop. The wheat comes through off the glass and the raspberry has a fresh scent. The hops give a slight grassy scent. On taste it is a nice mix of flavors too. The raspberry isn't very sweet at all. The wheat mixes well with the flavor of the raspberry. The hops bitter it slightly giving you a beer with a fruit flavor. Not just another fruit beer.
      This is the kind of fruit beer I find myself enjoying the most. Not just a fruit flavor like anyone can get but a beer taste too. Malts and hops mixing together with that fruit to taste good. This one isn't in the class of a Aprihop but it was pretty good. 

Rating: ***1/2

Southern Tier IPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: IPA

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing (New York)
  

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 7.3%

• IBU: 65 maybe?

• Pour Color: A copper color on the pour. Not quite gold and light traveled through.

      The Face opened it and poured it. The head was ready to contend right away. Being freshly waxed I was up to the challenge. Golden and fluffy headed I dove in smelling sweet malts and pine hops. As it soaked me I could taste grapefruit, pine, and grass. Bitter but with a real strong slightly sweet malt taste. Well ballenced and actually quite good. I would have this one again anytime. 
      A hop head would enjoy this one a lot. A nice blend of a lot of flavors in those hops. The sweet malts help yank it out of total bitterness. Which I actually could have went for. Although not everything I want in my IPA, it's still a great IPA.

Rating: ****

2X Stout

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: 2x Stout

• Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Milk Stout

• ABV: 7.5%

• IBU:50

• Pour Color:  This beer is a black abyss in a glass

      As the Face poured this one it was just black in the glass. The head was fairly fluffy and held on for a few sips. You can smell the lactose in this one off the top of the glass. That is accompanied by a nice sweet chocolate and roasted smell smell. A very strange range of flavors as you taste. Roasted malts back a really sweet chocolate stout. The milk is a strong presence and adds to the beers body. The hops kick in during the taste and almost add a sour flavor. This one is a nice well rounded beer with a little extra kick.
      I enjoyed this one a lot. A mix of good flavors and an actual milk tone to what calls itself a milk stout. The creaminess is what makes this one. The hops were a kick that you really don't expect but gives it it's own character. Balanced and unique, what more could you want?

  

Rating: ****