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: ****

Racer 5 IPA

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Racer 5 IPA

• Brewery: Bear Republic (California)

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 7%

• IBU: 75

• Pour Color: A golden slightly amber color with a haze. Light travels thru easily!

      I've got my follicles all in this one. The head was fairly high and lasted as a lacing for most the glass. The color was a very hazy gold. The haze and scent off the top screamed dry hop! A nice bouquet of citrus and alchol off the top. A fairly sweet back ground for a IPA. The hops come through as a mix of citrus and pine. Noticeable alcohol taste in mouth too. A nice original tasting IPA.
      An IPA that tastes different then most I have tasted before are hard to find. Racer 5 really is one of those kind of IPAs. The really sweet backing is usually found in a slightly overly bitter pale ale. Dale's uses it nicely. Deviant Dale's does too. This one isn't on par with those for me but this mustache enjoyed this beer. The alcoholic bite is just a little to much for every day of the week..

Rating: ****

Milk Stout Nitro

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Milk Stout Nitro

• Brewery: Left Hand Brewing

• Style: Milk Stout

• ABV: 6%

• IBU: 25

• Pour Color: A dark nearly black pour that lets little if any light thru

      This one had a eventful pouring as it has nitrous in it. The head came up nice and fluffy. A very creamy feel to it and it lasted for most the glass. The scent off the top was a nice roasted chocolate malt verity. The nitrous and milk give this beer a great feel in the mouth. The flavors are rather watered down though. A roasted/sweet flavor is really the most dominant tastes. You also get tones of coffee and chocolate. A nice milk stout that really has the body you want just not as strong of a flavor profile.
      Pouring a nitros beer is always so much more fun then a normal beer. The cloudiness that seems to settle out but really just builds the head up. It also adds the right carbonation to a milk stout in my opinion. Creamy, fresh, and light this beer really is good. I just wish they went further with the flavors cause it's slightly boring for my taste buds. I'd probably buy this again if I was hanging with a Stout drinker though.

Rating: ****

Lunch

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Lunch

• Brewery: Maine Beer Company (Maine)

• Style: IPA

• ABV: 7%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A extremely hop hazed golden/amber color

      You open this bottle and find out quick you in a hop haze! The scent comming out the bottle gave a preview of the glass. It was strong pine, citrus, and passion fruit. A bouquet that made the face's wife look at me and say "I can smell it from here!" The color of the pour is gold and quite hazy showing the hop residue in this IPA. The head was fluffy and big and didn't just go away. I was afraid it was going to be over whelmed. The flavor is where it just gets real so much better! You got a buffet of hop goodness just dancing on the follicles! Passion fruit, orange, pine, and a slight grassy flavor. All and all it's the most flavor packed IPA I've ever had. This beer is incredible!
      As far as a IPA goes this is it. As far as a great beer with complexity and verity in flavor this is it! Recently i've had Heady Topper and Ghandi-Bot also top rated beers but still I compare them to my favorite beer. Dale's is my favorite beer period. Deviant Dale's used to be my special occasion must have beer. There is no question that this is now my must have for,or just after, any celebration that's really special!

Rating: *****

Ghandi-Bot

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Ghandi-Bot

• Brewery: New England Brewing Company (Connecticut)

• Style: Double India Pale Ale

• ABV: 8.8%

• IBU: 85

• Pour Color: A mix between gold and amber but see thru

      This one poured with a nice fluffy head. It fought well but was bested quickly by my follicles. It had a lacing on the top and sides for the rest of the glass. The amber color was slightly hazy but mostly see thru. The scent off the top of the glass was a spicy, floral, grassy verity of hops with a sweet malt backing. The taste was mostly those same hops. The floral seems to take center stage and the alcohol being 8.8% is really pretty easy drinking to me. The malts lend a slight sweet backing but no real flavor to compete with the hops. All and all a really really good DIPA!
      This is one of the ones I've heard stories about and it really didn't disappoint. A hop heads dream in a Double IPA and the ABV is pretty palatable.  The flowery taste though is super fresh and smells super good out the can and in a glass. I would find it real hard to decide between this and Deviant Dales if I saw em on a shelf and that's saying a lot for a DIPA in my book! Then again I've been looking for this one for months. Deviant Dales I been drinking all that time. Availability will always effect what you drink and Gandhi-Bot is sometimes hard to find!

Rating: *****

Stranger

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Stranger

• Brewery: Left Hand Brewing Company (Colorado)

• Style: American Pale Ale

• ABV: 5%

• IBU: 36

• Pour Color: An amber golden color that lets light thru

      A gold colored amber that can be seen thru easy in the glass. The head wasn't much and didn't hang around to long. The scent off the top is citrus and piney. Not really much of a malt character to the bouquet. The hops give you a mix of granny smith apple, lime, and lemon. You also get a nice spiciness. Alot of stuff going on and a pretty good pale ale.
      I enjoyed what this beer had to offer. A mustache swim in something this complex is always fun. Unfortunately I think they go a little too light on all of these flavors. A pale, to me, should drink this easy and leave such mellow notes on the finish. This being my first Left Hand product I was excited but really didn't find it to be that special.

Rating: ***

Sun Block

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Sun Block

• Brewery: Captain Lawrence Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Unfiltered Wheat

• ABV: 4.5

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A hazy yellow pour with a fluffy light head.

      Poured into a typical pint glass and it was hazy and yellow. Light made it through but you couldn't see through this beer. The top had a yeasty sour dough scent that mixed with a slight hops presence. The feel in the mouth wasn't that much different then most summer beers. It has a little more heartiness because of the unfiltered quality. The taste was a bitter sour dough. As you swallow you get a nice wheat character. It's really a drinkable pale wheat beer for summer.
       Another summer beer but this one says unfiltered. So i made sure every bit of that yeast bed came back up. When a company points out an unfiltered beer it's the only thing to do. I also think this was important because it adds to the variety of flavors and textures in the bottle. Those flavors and textures really help add to the uniqueness of this beer. I like this beer a lot and would probably grab six packs again and again in the summer.

Rating: ****