Summerfest

Beer: Summerfest

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style: Pilsner

Tasting notes: (1005) A good lager but other 4's are better. Downgraded from 4 glasses. (1005) Ditto. Great w/ food, easy drinking, and quenching. Good by itself. (0905) A summer treat. Light and refreshing. (0807) Good pilsner. Downgraded from 5 glasses. SNPA is better. (0807) #5 in the 6. Maybe lagers are growing on me. Wonderful w/ summer sausage and crackers. Upgraded from 4 glasses. Perhaps it gets a bump because it is best in style. (0806) 1st in a 6 pack. Ditto as before. This could become a summer tradition. Upgrraded rating from 3 glasses. Category changed from Pale Lager. (????) A summer delight

Comment: Summerfest is Sierra Nevada's summer seasonal.

Rating: 3 glasses

Update on Titan IPA

Beer: Titan IPA

Brewer: Great Divide

Style: IPA

Tasting notes: (0905) Balanced, pleasant, and well-crafted. Somehow misses my mark. Downgraded from 5. Previous review.

Top 100: 29 December 2005 but neither 10 March 2007 nor 03 May 2009 .

Rating: 4 glasses, a downgrade from 5.

Grupo Modelo Negra Modelo

Beer: Negra Modelo

Brewer: Grupo Modelo

Style: Munich Lager Dunkel

Tasting notes: (0905) A freebie @ a party. Pleasant and a tiche sweet

Rating: 2 glasses.

Yuengling Traditional Lager

Beer: Traditional Lager

Brewer: Yuengling

Style: Red Lager

Tasting notes: (0905) Another freebie @ a party. Nice. May rate 3 stars. (0606) Freebies at a party and purchased w dinner. Not bad.

Rating: 2 glasses.

Allagash White

Beer: White

Brewer: Allagash

Style: Witbier

Tasting notes: (0905) A bottle @ Acacia. Nice, fruity, light, and spiced. No bitterness. A tiche heavy for a wit. Upgraded to 4 glasses. (0606) 3/4 of a 4-pack tasted off with a bitter finish. I want to buy another single. Downgraded from 4 glasses. (0604) Only a taste. Light, refreshing - a wonderful summer ale. Lisa likened it to lemonade. My initial impression was that it is better than Hoegaarden.

Rating: 4 glasses.

Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrub

Beer: Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrub

Brewer: Paulaner

Style: Hefeweizen

Tasting notes: (1005) A minikeg. A good example of the style. Upgraded from 3 glasses. (0905) Two minikegs. Pleasant and good w/ paella. May rate 4 glasses. Upgraded from 2 glasses. (0702) On tap in Denver. Well crafted but seems to have a hole in the flavor. Did not scratch my itch.

Rating: 4 glasses.

Ommegang Three Philosophers

Beer: Three Philosophers

Brewer: Ommegang

Style: Quadruple

Tasting notes: (0905) Ditto. Goes well w/ a wide variety of food or by itself. (0802) A bottle from gift pack. Interesting and complex. A little apple and other fruits, a little sweet something. a touch of bitter hops and tart lambic at end, with a touch of alcohol. Thought about 6 glasses. When well w/ Country Captain, apples, Clementines, and cheese. Another winner from Ommegang.

Comments: This beer is 98/2% blend of quadruple and Kriek. (I may be off slightly on the percentages.

Rating: 5 glasses.

American Pale Wheat Ale

Amerian Pale Wheat Ale features wheat in the malt and the flavor tends to be wheaty and yeasty. These are good beers in the summertime. They are light and refreshing. The style is an American twist on Hefeweizen. Unlike most American versions, this beer tends to have less flavor than the original. German Hefeweizen feature banana and clove flavors.

North Coast Blue Star Wheat Beer

Beer: Blue Star Wheat Beer

Brewer: North Coast

Style: American Pale Wheat Ale

Tasting notes: (0905) A bottle @ Acacia. Clean and refreshing.

Rating: 3 glasses.

Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille

Beer: Oude Geuze Vieille

Brewer: Oud Beersel

Style: Gueuze

Tasting notes: (0905) An interesting verison of gueuze. Less tart and more sour and bitter than others. Sour rotten oranges, sugarless grapefruit, and a grapefruit sour/bitterness at finish when cold. The sour and bitter diminish as the beer warms and after the yeast is added.

Comments: The bitter flavor may be hops. My understanding is that gueuze uses aged hops to eliminate hop bitterness. However, the Oud Beersel website describes the beer as "traditional oude geuze with fruity nose and hoppy flavour."

Here is how the brewer describes the taste of the beer:

"The taste of the Oude Gueuze of Oud Beersel combines from way back a pleasant bitterness with a sour yet smooth character. The first mouthful refreshes the tongue and opens the way to the wondrous world of the spontaneous fermentation with its complex subtleties."

Rating: 3 glasses. May rate 4.

Trappistes Rochefort 6

Beer: 6

Brewer: Trappistes Rochefort

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Tasting notes: (0905) A pleasant dark ale w/ a tiche of hop bite.

Rating: 4 glasses

Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout

Beer: Yeti Imperial Stout

Brewer: Great Divide

Style: Imperial Stout

Tasting notes: (0905) Another fresh bottle. Big and masive with hops lurking in the background. Tasted a little hot and not as chocolately as I remembered. Might be better w/ some age. Previous review.

Comment: The brewer has changed the look of the label.

Top 100: 29 December 2005, 10 March 2007, 25 November 2008, and 12 May 2009.

Rating: 6 glasses, a downgrade from the previous rating of 7.

Hanssens Oude Kriek

Beer: Oude Kriek

Brewer: Hanssens

Style: Fruit Lambic (Kriek)

Tasting notes: (1012) Vineous tartness. (1005) Ditto. (0905) Fantastic tartness, lemon, cider, w/ a hint of tart cherries.

Comments: Here is what the brewer says about its Oude Kriek and Oude Geuze.
Oude Kriek: This is the result of blending black cherries lambic of different ages followed by a second fermentation in the bottle. Storage is similar like geuze. All bottles are champagne corked and can be reserved, in normal conditions, for more than thirty years. It is obvious that an amazing taste evolution takes place
Oude Geuze: This is the result of blending different lambics of different ages. The second fermentation takes place inside the bottles and therefore they are stored for minimum six months in constant temperature kept cellars.

Rating: 7 glasses. I liked it so much that I purchased two more bottles w/in the week.

Update on Expedition Stout

Beer: Expedition Stout

Brewer: Bells

Style: Imperial Stout

Tasting notes: (0905) Massive stout. A soy flavor -> reduction from 5 glasses. Previous review.

Comment: My, how the mighty have fallen. This beer once had 7 glasses and was one of my 2 or 3 favorite beers.

Top 100: 29 December 2005 and 10 March 2007. (Not on 30 January 2009.)

Rating: 4 glasses

Titan IPA

Beer: Titan IPA

Brewer: Great Divide

Style: IPA

Tasting notes: (0905) A nice IPA, with a nice mixture of hops and a sweetness to balance. May rate 4 stars.

Comments: Great Divide brews good beer. It has just returned to VA after a few years of being unavailable.

Top 100: 29 December 2005 but neither 10 March 2007 nor 03 May 2009 .

Rating: 5 glasses

Ten FIDY

Beer: Ten FIDY

Brewer: Oskar Blues

Style: Imperial Stout

Tasting notes: (May 09) A can in my cellar for 1 year. Massive. Big chocolate malt w/ hops to balance. (May 08) A little milk chocolate and hops. Sort of light. Dark bitter chocolate and hops come forward as beer warms. A hint of cherry lurks in the background. Flavorful and surprising easy to drink when cold. A sour bitter hoppiness makes it a slow sipper when warm.

Top 100: 03 May 2009 but neither 29 December 2005 nor 10 March 2007.

Rating: 5 glasses

Old Leghumper

Beer: Old Leghumper

Brewer: Thirsty Dog

Style: Porter

Tasting notes: (3) A bottle @ ML's. A pleasant porter - a little sweet and a little smoke. (2) A bottle. Wonderful coffee/chocolate nose. When cold the beer had a cream stout taste but was a little thin. Overall, a pleasant stout with a sweet twist but a little thin and it lacks bite. (1) On tap at 821. A wonderful season beer. Sweet up front like a cream stout. A funny sour/bitter taste at end when beer is cold. As the beer warms the flavor improves and a nice chocolate bite at end predominates.

Rating: 3 glasses

Ommegang Biere de Mars

Beer: Biere de Mars

Brewer: Ommegang

Style: Biere de garde

Tasting notes: Melons and strawberries w/ a funky kick. This brewer uses Brett in the beer, I believe in the secondary fermentation. The result is a nice tart kick in the finish over a warm, malty base. The flavors are balanced and just strong enough. The beer would be a good introduction to the world of Brett.

Rating: 6 glasses

Torpedo Updated Again

Beer: Torpedo Extra IPA

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style: IPA

Tasting notes: (2) A good choice in a restaurant. (1) Nice hop bite. Click here for previous review.

Rating: 3 glasses