Smutty Nose IPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Smutty Nose IPA

• Brewery: Smutty Nose (New Hampshire)
  

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 5%

• IBU:28

• Pour Color: Gold and very clear!

      This was a nice perfect two finger head pour beer. The head looked really nice. The scent off the glass was malty and hoppy at the same time. The color of the beer was gold murky and had the white floaties that some other IPAs sport. The cloudiness or white floaties usually indicate dry hopping. Having had a stone IPA with the same problem I don't judge on that. On taste you get a nice slightly sweet malt body as a background. Being an IPA you can imagine what comes straight out and hits ya. The hops are citrus and piney, Delicious and bold, these flavors meld well and make for a decent IPA.
      This is my first smutty nose, and much like most breweries, I started with a IPA. This one didn't disappoint either. A nice crisp hop flavor backed by stand up malts that have character their own. This one also is nice enough to tell you that there may be a slight sediment in the bottle. Most just leave you to figure it out on your own. Delicious and well bittered, try a smutty nose for yourself.

Rating: ****

Summerfest 2012

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: SummerFest 2012

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada (California)
  

• Style: Pilsner

• ABV: 5%

• IBU:28

• Pour Color: Gold and very clear!

      The Face poured this one and it had a nice head. Lasted a good while for being a pilsner too. The color was a perfect golden color. The smell off the glass was a hop heavy brew. Not much of the malts came through on the sent. On taste though it was the opposite. A whole lot of malt and not really that strong of hops. You get a light pine and citrus tone but not much. A crisp and refreshing beer for summer cause it's fairly light. Worth a try for sure if your a pilsner drinker.
      This was a fairly average ale. I could easily compare it to Heineken actually. A fairly hoppy pilsner that really has a overall ballenced taste. This has a little more character with a heightened sweetness and hop character. It really seems to be looking for the same market as a Heineken though. This is a nice crisp ale that non-craft drinkers would love I think. 

Rating: ***1/2

Dead Reckoning

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Dead Reckoning

• Brewery: Troegs Brewing co. (Pennsylvania)
  

• Style: Porter

• ABV: 6.2%

• IBU: 53

• Pour Color: It poured black with no regard for the living!

      As the Face poured I watched a dark brew flow. Black through and through, and letting in little light, looked like a good porter. You got the roasted scent of the malts off the top of the glass and a strong hop presence. On taste you get a slightly more hoppy taste then most porters. Nearly a black ipa, this one has a nice earthy, spicy, piney notes. On top of that you get a nice roasted barley flavor to back the hopped up beer. Really a fun journey that the follicles loved. 
      This one said fall/winter seasonal. If it was a lighter beer the Face would have skipped it. Then again if it wasn't Troegs the Face might have skipped it. Luckily he didn't pass it by though. Full bodied and delicious, even after the best by date, it was great. I'd personally wait till next season, but make sure to try this one. It's another great example of what Troegs does!

Rating: ****

Spring Bock

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Spring Bock

• Brewery: Otter Creek (Vermont)
  

• Style: Bock

• ABV: 6.2%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A golden slightly murky color.

      The bottle is opened and you get a nice sweet malty yeasty scent off the spring bock. The head started fluffy but faded fast. The color was a golden orange that had a cloudy quality. The hop flavor in this one is a nice earthy back ground. The malt is a nice sweet barley flavor. Really a nice lager flavor. The one downside, much like the copper ale, is that it has a slight alkaline taste that again is a weird off flavor. Nice and light this one was a decent spring offering. 
      This is the last that is in their spring sampler, and I found the sampler wide ranging. The Copper Ale wasn't to good. The Bock is average. Yet the Stovepipe Porter and the Black IPA were great. When it comes to Otter Creek Brewing I'm gonna keep it dark from here on out. Otherwise the follicles pick up on a metal taste that isn't appealing.

Rating: ***

McGovern's Oatmeal Stout

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: McGovern's Oatmeal Stout

• Brewery: Belfast Bay Brewing
  

• Style: Oatmeal Stout

• ABV: 5.1%

• IBU:20

• Pour Color: Black and no light travels through

      This one said the coffee lovers beer on the package! Challenge excepted me and the Face decided. Seeing the head rise up on this one a chocolate brown I knew we found a good one. The scent off the glass is coffee and a sweet almost fig scent. On first taste you get a sweet caramel flavor. As you drink more though you get that nice coffee bitter that you would expect. This beer also has a nice body. Full but not thick as bread. The yeast comes through cleanly and helps bring out more of that coffee. Overall lived up to most my expectations, as a said coffee lover!
      This was a great stout from Maine. Bitter and full body it's a strong contrast from Sea Dog brewing. To sea dogs defense though, fruit beers have to be something special to rate, and that's all I've had from them. If you get a McGovern's and not at least appreciate it then you must not appreciate beer. 

Rating: ****1/2

Discord

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Discord

• Brewery: Pyramid (Washington)
  

• Style: Black IPA

• ABV: 6.5%

• IBU: 69

• Pour Color: A very dark red letting through a little light

      On pour this one was quite dark, but didn't look to thick. The scent off the glass was a roasted hoppy scent. The head was nice and thick but disappeared quicker then I like. Bitter is the name of the game on this one. Slightly earthy, slightly citrus, and slightly grassy hops hit you fast and hard! The malts give a nice roasted coffee flavor to back those hops up. Good amount of textures and a good amount of body to this one. The hops are the star of this black IPA for sure though.
      Pyramid is turning out to be really good. The Outburst was great and now this Discord is gonna be sorely missed after the spring season. That's right PEOPLE AND MUSTACHES! This is a must try before it's gone. So go get one!

Rating: ****1/2

Common Man

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Common Man

• Brewery: Three Heads Brewing (New York)
  

• Style: Lager/California Common

• ABV: 5.5%

• IBU: 36

• Pour Color: Golden and light easily past through

      On the pour this one was a perfect gold and see through. Light traveled through it with ease. It had a nice pale malt scent to this one off the top. The head fluffed up quickly. It fought it out with me for about a 1/4 of the first glass. The taste out of this one is bitterer then you would expect with a IBU of 36. A nice full wheat flavor or almost biscuit comes right at the sip. Unlike most lagers though this one has a nice lasting flavor. Echos of the full flavor go on forever in this one. 
      When I think lager I always have flashes of bud. That is not what this beer is at all. It's got a crisp bright flavor that isn't overly sweet and nasty. The common man name doesn't do this one justice cause it is a super beer in disguise. Giving the craft drinker just as good a journey as someone whose new to the craft beer world.

Rating: *****