Brewery: Terrapin Beer Company
Where: Athens, GA
Beer: Terrapin Golden Ale
Style: American Blonde Ale
IBU: 21
ABV: 5.3%

Here's another excellent session beer for an all-afternoon binge on a hot summer day...  Terrapin Beer Company's Golden Ale is a light-bodied ale that is just running over with flavor and refreshing crispness that goes perfect with a sunny 90° afternoon in August.  This beer pours with a rich golden color and a thick foamy head that hangs around for a long time.  There is very little hop presence in the nose but its nearly perfectly balanced with the malt, letting the sweetness of the Munich and Vienna malts show through nicely.  I'm a big fan of this beer style, even though it's not really a favorite of most hardcore home brewers and micro/craft beer aficionados that I know.  It's a simple beer without a lot of frills, but they just taste great!

Brewery: Boston Beer Company
Where: Boston, MA
Beer: Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.4%

In my humble opinion, wheat beers are some of the best thirst quenching brews for the hot summer months.  Their light body and sweet flavor with a minimal hop presence make a fantastic summertime beer choice.  The Coastal Wheat from the Samuel Adams Brewmaster's Collection is proving to be a formidable competitor in this style.  Most of the really good wheat beers that I have tasted are brewed with some sort of small spice element, whether it be coriander or a citrus addition.  A lot of them are slightly heavy on this aspect of the brew, but the Coastal Wheat has an infusion of lemon peel that creates a perfect balance within this beer.  Some may not like this comment, but this beer is going to rank somewhere near the level of the Bell's Oberon in my book.  If you are a fan of wheat beers, I suggest you try this one.  If you haven't tried Oberon, maybe you should pick up a sixer of that too and try them side by side. 

Brewery: Rogue Ales
Where: Newport, Oregon
Beer: Chatoe Rogue First Growth Wet Hop Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
IBU: 40
ABV: 6.4%

Here we have another installment from one of my favorite breweries.  The Chatoe Rogue First Growth Wet Hop Ale has been sitting on my shelf for a while now so I decided to chill it and pop the top this evening to see what's been going on in Oregon lately.  The First Growth Wet Hop Ale is an American pale ale with a fantastic hop flavor and aroma.  It has a rich golden orange appearance in the glass with a thick head.  The flavor is quite crisp and refreshing with a very nice hop presence.  The Munich malts used by Rogue in this beer give it a very nice malt presence when coupled with the two-row pale malt.  The hops used in this beer are first growth Independent and Revolution.  They come together for a great bitterness and piney flavor. 

Sometimes it sucks to live on the east coast.  There are some great beers made around here but the west coast is still the beer cultural center of the free world, in my humble opinion :)  Rogue has several beers in the Chatoe Rogue First Growth series, but this is the only one I could get my hands on...  Maybe I just need to travel more...

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Where: Chico, CA
Beer: Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: 37 IBU
ABV: 5.5%

I was in a local convenient store the other night and decided to have a look at their beer cooler.  I'm glad I did because I found a sixer of Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale, which is one of their seasonals that I haven't tried yet.  As far as breweries go, Sierra Nevada seems to be consistently one of my favorite alongside Rogue Ales and a few others.  It's just one of those where I never taste a beer that I wouldn't want to have a second glass...  Consistently excellent at every turn. 

Sierra Nevada's Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale has a rich brown color with a thick head in the glass.  It has an immediate aroma of northwestern hops and a sweetness on the tongue created by the combination of two-row pale, crystal, chocolate, and smoked malts.  The sweetness lingers, which suits me just fine!  From the website:

As the nights grow cool, the leaves on the valley oaks begin to turn and fall.  In honor of this yearly dance, we bring you Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale and invite you to enjoy the show.  We use malt within days of roasting at the peak of its flavor to give Tumbler a gracefully smooth malt character.  So pour a glass, and grab a window seat to watch as the leaves come tumbling down.

Reading that makes me wish this summer heat around here would ease up just a bit... Fall is just around the corner.  As the weather cools, I'll be working on beers more like this one and the darker varities of stouts to keep things warm inside...

Give this one a try!

Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery
Where: Brooklyn, New York
Beer: Brooklyn Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.6%

Tonight's sampling is from The Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, New York.  This is my first sampling from this brewery, and I decided to start with their Brooklyn Brown Ale.  This beer poured with the expected deep brownish bronze color and a nice foamy head.  This beer has a nice sweetness about it along with some interesting roasted flavors.  This taste comes from the British Two-row, Belgian aromatic, and American roasted malts that Brooklyn Brewery uses to make this brew.  The hop characteristcs are rather subdued as dictated by this style, but the combination of Willamette, Cascade, and American Fuggles that Brooklyn blends for this beer create a nice earthy flavor and aroma with some mild hints of the northwestern nose of cascade and willamette hops. 

As compared to others in the style, the Brooklyn Brown Ale doesn't really stand out of the crowd for me, but it is, none-the-less, a very good beer.  I recommend giving it a try!

Brewery: Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC
Where: England
Beer: Fuller's ESB
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.9%

Fuller's ESB is an excellent example of the Extra Special / Strong Bitter style of beer.  I still, as mentioned previously, don't really understand the nature of the "Bitter" reference in the style of this excellent beer.  Fuller's ESB has an excellent malt character with an ample hop background, but, in my humble opinion this beer's character comes from pale ale and crystal malts that provide a very crisp and nutty flavor with a quick and somewhat dry finish.  The light to medium body of this beer definitely suits my afternoon that has reached 97° on the thermometer outside... 

On a homebrewer's note, I love these bottles.  A short soak in warm water removes the labels quickly and completely!

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company
Where: San Francisco, CA
Beer: Anchor Steam Beer
Style: California Common / Steam Beer
IBU: N/A
ABV: 4.9%

Today's tasting sample is another from Anchor Brewing in San Francisco.  Anchor Steam is a staple of their line-up and a definite favorite of fans.  This beer is a lager that is actually fermented at higher-than-average temperatures for a lager, and the brewing method of this style dates back into the late 1800's in California when refrigeration was not so common.  Anchor Steam was first brewed in 1896, so it has a healthy track record for sure.  This beer has a nice malt backbone with a noticeable hop presence on the tongue and the nose.  The rich golden color and the foamy head accompany the excellent flavor of this drink.  This choice is an excellent summertime quaff and with the temperature here in the mid 90's this afternoon, I'm certainly enjoying this one...

Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Where: Downington, Pennsylvania
Beer: Golden Monkey Tripel
Style: Tripel
IBU: N/A
ABV: 9.5%

Today's sampling is from Victory Brewing Company.  The Golden Monkey Belgian-Style Triple is a very smooth and light colored ale with a clean and crisp flavor.  At 9.5% ABV, this beer definitely packs a punch as do all Belgian Tripels.  It's also quite sneaky, because at even cooler temperatures, you don't notice the alcohol.  The flavor and aroma of this beer are primarily products of the proprietary yeasts used to make it, but it has wonderful fruity notes in both aspects.  From the website:

Strong and sensual, this golden, Belgian-style ale glows.  The richness of German malts and Belgian yeasts are tempered by a sparkling approach and overall light body.  Abundant herbal, fruity notes make this one to savor.

I apologize for the photo of this beer.  I over exposed it as I'm testing a new camera.  I'll do better next time :)

Brewery: Unibroue
Where: Quebec, Canada
Beer: Trois Pistoles
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
IBU: 15.5
ABV: 9.0%

This is the fourth of four reviews I have written on Unibroue's big guns.  Their four big big beers have each met my taste expectations with flying colors.  The Trois Pistoles is a good example of a belgian strong dark ale.  With a very malty base and low IBU, this beer is quite sweet to the taste with notes of chocolate and roasted malts without bridging into the category of stouts and porters.  The body falls into the medium category.  At 9%, it's another beer that you should be wary of as you drink.  It will sneak up on you rather quickly.  This beer would be an excellent after dinner drink, possibly even as an accompaniment to a nice dessert... cheesecake comes to mind for me! 

I was at Gail's Hops and Grapes on Saturday and picked up another four-pack sampler from Unibroue that features four of their not-so-big beers that we'll take a look at in the near future.  For what it's worth, I also acquired a bomber of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout!  We'll get to that one when the time is right!

Cheers...

Brewery: Moylan's Brewing Company
Where: Novato, California
Beer: Kilt Lifter Scotch-Style Ale
Style: Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
IBU: 25
ABV: 8.0%

I grabbed a bomber of Moylan's Kilt Lifter at Gail's Hops and Grapes a while back and it has been sitting on my shelf waiting for me for several months now.  I tossed it in the fridge a few days ago to give it a nice chill and then popped the cap on it this evening for a taste.

I like the scotch ale style of beer.  This beer fits perfectly into my desire to drink beers that are heavy on the malts.  With a grain bill that includes American 2-row, Crystal 80 and 120, Vienna, Munich, Special B, and acidulated malts, this brew goes to work immediately on the taste buds with its rich sweetness and earthy characteristics provided by the East Kent Goldings hops.  At 8% ABV, this is another beer that will sneak up on you if you aren't careful.  Maybe the name "Kilt Lifter" is a bit appropriate! 

From the website:

The ORIGINAL KILT LIFTER SCOTCH ALE is robust and strapping, brewed with both balls, taking BIG beers to a whole new level.  Rich malt balances perfectly with delicate hops to provide a concentrated and intense flavor; an ideal companion for hearty foods or as a meal unto itself.  Sharing is encouraged, as this is one ale that lives up to it's name... (and don't be fooled by others bearing the same name!!!)

Give this one a try... you won't be disappointed...