Brewery: Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Where: Comstock, Michigan
Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
IBU: Off the Scale
ABV: 10%

Today's sampling is going to include a personal tirade about the state of craft/micro beers in America, but first, let's talk about this beer...

Bell's Hop Slam Ale is an American Double / Imperial IPA style of beer, which means two things.  First, its stuff full of hops for bitterness and aroma, and second, it's got a lot of alcohol.  At 10% ABV, you can consider a 12-ounce bottle to have a full 1.2 ounces of alcohol.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider a shot of whiskey is 1.5 ounces, and that most whiskey is 80 proof, drinking a 10% ABV beer is like having just over two shots of your favorite liquor as far as alcohol content is concerned.  It's not a beer to be consumed in large quantities. 

This beer poured with the standard golden color and foamy head of a good IPA.  The hop aroma is immediately present, without a doubt.  This beer is also quite bitter, but it does have a fairly decent malt presence.  As this beer warms up, the maltiness comes forward with a little more power, but the bitterness hangs on to the very end.  As far as I'm concerned, you won't find a beer any hoppier than this one.  Your hardcore beer enthusiasts will start to discuss a beer called "Pliny the Elder" in comparison, but it is a rather different beer than this one.  It does not have as much of a malt backbone as the Hop Slam does, but it may be just a bit more drinkable in the long run...

Now, for my personal rant...

I am finding myself in a minority when it comes to the current state of affairs with American beers.  Being in a taste minority in the world of beer really sucks sometimes.  I'm jealous because a lot of the great craft brewers in the US are spending their time and efforts developing beers much like Bell's Hop Slam.  These beers are all higher gravity (more alcohol) and high hops (more bitterness).  For a person with my personal tastes in beer, this is a travesty.  I'm a bigger fan of the maltier (sweeter) beers where there is a nice balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness.  I even like the sweeter beers where the hop presence is relatively minimal.  I don't dislike the hop bombs with a ton of alcohol, but I'd usually choose a different beer when choices are available to me.  Even thought I'm not personally happy with the current trends in the craft beer market in the US, I am VERY pleased that these beers are available and becoming more popular and easy to find on the store shelves.  What this means to fans of craft beers is that our favorite brewers and beers are gaining a market share in a world that is still dominated by the yellow fizzy beers of the Bud/Miller/Coors manufacturing titans.  It wasn't that long ago that a trip to any grocery or convenient store in North Carolina would yield exactly zero options for anything other than cheap yellow fizzy beer.  It's getting a lot easier to find beers I love locally...

Until next time...

Brewery: LoneRider Brewing Company
Where: Raleigh, NC
Style: Hefeweizen
IBU:
ABV: 5.8%

Today's sampling is another North Carolina beer from LoneRider Brewing Company out in Raleigh. Shotgun Betty is LoneRider's Hefeweizen, and since today is such a pretty day outside, I started thinking about spring and summer coming just around the corner and decided to pour a beer that goes along with that theme.

Shotgun Betty poured with the naturally rich golden hue and a nice foamy head.  The head didn't hang around very long, but this beer had the nice banana/clove aroma from the Hefeweizen yeast strains used to make this style of beer.  The flavor has a distinct crispness and wheat taste which makes this beer a pretty decent sample of the style.  I can't say that Shotgun Betty is the best of the Hefeweizens I have tried, but its definitely a real player in that style and worth a try.  It could just be a fluke with my bottle, but the carbonation level on this one was a little inadequate.  I'm sure that's not the norm for this beer since bottle-conditioned beers can vary a little in carbonation levels. 

North Carolina is, by far, not known nationally for it's great beers, but we have come a long way in the last few years!

Brewery: Brouwerij Huyghe
Where: Melle, Belgium
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 8.5%

I made a quick stop by Gails Hops and Grapes this afternoon to pick up a few new beers. I have been avoiding this particular beer for a while because of the price, but I have had it before and it's really good, so I splurged and bought a 4-pack to bring home.  As far as being a GREAT example of the style, I don't really believe that Delirium Tremens stacks up well enough to command $18.99 for a 4-pack of 12-oz bottles. 

This beer pours with the typical light golden color and a very foamy head.  These beers are typically highly carbonated, and Delirium Tremens is no exception.  This beer has the typical aroma created by the Belgian yeasts and it fits all the standard characteristics of the style quite well.  This beer is also crisp and has a dry finish, and it also masks the 8.5% alcohol by volume very well, even at cooler temperatures.  This is a beer to be careful with because it will sneak up on you in a hurry!  

My overall impression of Delirium Tremens is that it IS a very good beer.  I highly recommend giving it a whirl.  If possible, when you decide to try this one, do a side-by-side comparison with a couple other beers in this style.  Unibroue's Don de Dieu and Duvel's Belgian Golden Ale would be some that I suggest comparing to this beer. 

Until next time...

Brewery: Stoudt's Brewing Co.
Where: Adamstown, Pennsylvania
Style: Extra Special Bitter
IBU: 32 IBU
ABV: 5.0%

Today's sampling is a first-time tasting of a Stoudt's Brewing Company beer for me. I picked up a bottle of Stoudt's Scarlet Lady Ale, which is an English style known as ESB or Extra Special Bitter.  One of these days I need to look into the style to see if I can figure out where that name came from, but Extra Special Bitters are typically not bitter at all. 

This beer poured with a rich bronze color and capped off with a nice head to match.  The beer has a sweet and earthy aroma which comes from the Maris Otter and Caramel malts that went into the recipe coupled with the Willamette hopes used to finish for aroma.  The beer tastes fine, but it finishes a little on the dry side for me for some reason.  It doesn't quite carry the pleasant aftertaste that I get from some other beers in this style, but it's still worth a try if you like the ESB style.  This particular bottle may be better served at 50° or so instead of the 37° where my refrigerator is set, but that's the case with a lot of beers.  You will never know what you might be missing in a beer until you try it a little warmer than you might normally drink.  On a scale of 1-10 in this style, I'd give the Scarlet Lady a 6...

Brewery: Brouwerij van Hoegaarden
Where: Hoegaarden, Belgium
Style: Witbier
IBU: N/A
ABV: 4.9%

You won't often find a brewery that has been in business since 1445 A.D., but when you do, it's always a good idea to try what they have to offer.  Even though Hoegaarden is now owned and operated by Anheuser-Busch/InBev, it seems that the beer production and techniques for this brewery have remained mostly true to the original ideas. 

This beer poured with the typical pale golden color of the style with a nice foamy head that subsided rather quickly, but the carbonation level was high as dictated by this style.  The beer has a light body with a crisp flavor and a fruity aroma.  I can't really get a sense of the spices included in this brew, but they are slightly present in the flavor but don't create any significant impact.  This is also a rather good beer to use in an introductory context for someone who is not used to drinking home brews or craft beers.  It's on the sweet side with minimal or no hop presence in the flavor. 

Brewery: Stone Brewing Company
Where: Escondido, California
Style: American Strong Ale
IBU: LOTS
ABV: 11.2%

It's been snowing all day. It's been cold. The temperature hasn't gotten above 27°F.  I figured it was time for another real beer after a day of not doing a whole lot other than being lazy.  I have been interested in trying Stone's Double Bastard Ale for quite some time, and I think today is the day!

I was quite impressed with Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale.  This Double Bastard is exactly that.  It's about twice of everything that made the original Arrogant Bastard so great.  This beer is a pure explosion of malt complexity that follows up with a nuclear reaction of hops.  I'm not gonna review the beer any further than this.  I will post what is printed on the back of this bottle for your enjoyment!  From the bottle:

Warning:  Double Bastard Ale is not to be wasted on the tentative or weak.  Only the Worthy are invited, and then only at your own risk.  If you have even a modicum of hesitation, DO NOT buy this bottle.  Instead, leave it for a Worthy soul who has already matriculated to the sublime ecstasy of what those in the know refer to as "Liquid Arrogance."

The rest of the bottle comments are absolutely fantastic.  I'm not going to post them here.  Go get a 22oz bottle and read it for yourself!  You won't be disappointed!

This beer goes into my top 5 of all time. 

Brewery: Boulder Brewing Company
Where: Boulder Colorado
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.9%

Here we are today on the complete opposite end of the beer spectrum from an Imperial Stout.  Today's sample is a blonde ale (technically an American Pale Wheat Ale) from Boulder Brewing called "Sweaty Betty Blonde."  As you know, I'm also a fan of blonde ales, especially for summertime enjoyment.  This beer poured with a beautiful pale golden color and a short foamy head that subsided rather quickly.  Since this is a wheat beer, it definitely had that wheat characteristic in the flavor with a minimal hop presence to keep this drink just on the sweeter side of balance.  I couldn't find any detail on this beer from the brewer because their website refused to load for me at the time of this writing.  At any rate, I'm rather impressed with this beer.  It's got quite a crisp and light flavor that would be fantastic in quantities on a hot summer day.  From the bottle:

Irresistible.  Flirtatious.  Aromatic.  Soft.  Supple.  Unavoidable .  Smooth.  Exuberant.  Glistening.  Wild.  Firm.  Rare.  Succulent.  Luscious.  Ripe.  Natural.  Glowing.  Curvaceous.  Magical.  Wheat... and the 5th release of our Looking Glass Series of beers.

Betty's golden appearance reflects her smooth, light and friendly character.  Add subtle wheat flavors, a natural unfiltered glow, and you've got a perfectly balanced blonde wheat beer with a wild side. 

Sweaty Betty Blonde, the only wheat bold enough to take a trip through the Looking Glass.  Don't let her be the one that gets away.

Cute :)  My note of 5.9% alcohol came from a reference at beeradvocate.com.  If this beer has that level of alcohol then it's one to enjoy in slight moderation.  At any rate, this one is a keeper...

Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Where: Downington, Pennsylvania
Style: Imperial Stout
IBU: N/A (My guess is 80)
ABV: 9.1%

Now we're talkin'... Imperial Stout. A beer not for the faint at heart but for one who truly admires complexity in a beer.  It's also not a good beer for anyone who includes light beers as part of their diet.  Where Bud Select 55, or whatever it's called, has only 55 calories per bottle, A good imperial stout might ring in at 450 calories per pint.  It's a meal in a glass! 

Anyway... Victory's Storm King is an excellent example of a good imperial stout.  This beer pours black like used motor oil from the bowels of a '68 VW Beetle.  The extra thick and creamy tan-colored head on this pour immediately releases a hop and roasted malt aroma that sets your salivary glands in motion before you even pick up the glass.  The Victory website is rather cheap on information about this beer.  It simply states that the brew was concocted of Imported 2-row malts and American whole-flower hops.  C'mon guys... why can't you be like some of your fellow brewers and give it up a little more than that?  I guess Johnny Budweiser would be impressed with the fact that you listed your ingredients this way, but a home brewer likes to have a little bit of inside info! 

The flavor of this beer hits you quite prominently with the roasted malts as dictated by this style.  I won't bore you with the detail of roasted barley, black malts, and chocolate malt possibilities in this brew, but I'm sure its a nice mix of those along with some crystal malts as well.  This beer is very well crafted and deserving of anyone's tasting regimen for imperial stouts.

Just a short FYI on my imperial stouts in the future.  I do have a bottle of the Olde Hickory Brewery's imperial stout from late 2009 that I have been sitting on letting it age nicely.  In fact, I might be one of a very few people who have a bottle of this on hand.  It will be coming around the tasting queue before too terribly long.  I also have a bottle of Stone's 2010 spring limited release of their Russian Imperial Stout.  Stay tuned...

Brewery: Stone Brewing Company
Where: Escondido, California
Style: American Amber / Red Ale
IBU: 45 IBU
ABV: 4.4%

Here's a little jewel that I have been hoarding away for a while, so I decided to pop the top on this bottle of Stone's Levitation Ale this evening. I'm a pretty big fan of amber ales so hopefully this one won't let me down. Stone Brewing is not known for letting me down so I'll probably be easy on it even if I don't like it, which will be a fat chance.

This beer poured with the standard amber hue with a rich foamy head that stuck around for the entire glass.  The malt complexity of this beer was nice and the hop presence was significant at 45 IBU.  At 4.4% alcohol, most of my friends would scoff at this beer as unfavorable, but I was rather impressed with it.  This beer would make an excellent cool weather drink... one that you can handle for the duration of the day.

As far as amber ales are concerned, this one will probably be in my top 5.

Brewery: Mother Earth Brewing
Where: Kinston, North Carolina
Style: Witbier
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.0%

I'm usually a fan of this style of beer in the warm summer months, but today I'm sampling Mother Earth Brewing's Weeping Willow Wit. Weeping Willow is an example of a Belgian Witbier (white beer). For those who may not be familiar with this style, here's beeradvocate.com's style description:

A Belgian Style ale that's very pale and cloudy in appearance due to it being unfiltered and the high level of wheat, and sometimes oats, that's used in the mash. Always spiced, generally with coriander, orange peel and other oddball spices or herbs in the back ground. The crispness and slight twang comes from the wheat and the lively level of carbonation. This is one style that many brewers in the US have taken a liking to and have done a very good job of staying to style. Sometimes served with a lemon, but if you truly want to enjoy the untainted subtleties of this style you'll ask for yours without one. Often referred to as "white beers" (witbieren) due to the cloudiness / yeast in suspension.

This beer fits the style very well, but the presence of spices is rather weak. My bottle appears to be 'defective' because the carbonation level is very low and the head retention was quite poor. The flavor, however, is good. This style of beer is a great choice for people who aren't used to drinking homebrew and microbrews because it has a flavor that stays on the sweeter malty side of the range rather than showing strong hop bitterness and aromas. My rating on this beer compared to others I have tried in the style is mid to lower range on the scale. It's not a bad beer at all but I did not find it to be exceptional in any way.