Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

Hefeweissbier is a classic and great example of a Hefeweizen.

Brewer's notes

Beeradvocate: Our golden-yellow wheat beer, with its fine-poured white foam, smells of cloves and impresses consumers with its refreshing banana flavour. It is full bodied and with a smooth yeast taste. To be enjoyed at any time,goes excellently with fish and seafood, with spicy cheese and especially with the traditional Bavarian veal sausage. Brewed according to our centuries-old brewing tradition on the Weihenstephan hill.

Tasting notes

260528: Another bottle or two and I am upgrading the rating. It is a great hefe.

Rating: 6 glasses

Previous ratings: 5.5, 6, 5, 6, 7

260518: I am on my third bottle of the six pack. The beer is fine but I am downgrading the rating slightly. It is a great example of the style and I want to buy it whenever I see it.

260508: Drank the first of a six pack bottled in December 2025. A great hefeweizen. Some clove and banana but nothing too strong. Nice wheaty backbone. I would love to sample a really fresh one.

(1104) A solid 5, maybe 6 glasses. 

(1104) 3 from a 4.5 mn old 6-pack. Heavier than I remembered w/ some orange zest . Downgraded from 6 glasses and thought about going lower. An old/bad batch? (0909) Cloves and a tiche of bitter/sour. Not quite as good as I remembered. Downgraded to 6 after tasing Third Coast Old Ale and remembering Aventius from previous night. Click here for previous review.

3 Floyds Alpha King

 

Alpha King is a great pale ale.

Brewer's notes: The first beer we ever brewed at 3 Floyds back in 1996, Alpha King is a bold and assertive American Pale Ale, utilizing seven different malts to create both balance and complexity. Spotlighting Centennial hops, the beer that started it all features a slight caramel sweetness and pronounced citrus hoppiness.

BeerAdvocate: A bold yet balanced American Pale Ale with slight caramel sweetness and aggressive citrus hoppiness. This is our flagship beer.

68 IBU

Tasting Notes

20260503

Another trip to Indy = another six pack. Yummy! 

Rating = 6 glasses

19 July 2024

The 5th of a six-pack I purchased on a recent trip to Indy prompted me to reiterate what a great beer Alpha King is. Hoppy enough to be an IPA but retains the balance and sweetness of a true pale ale. It may be the best pale ale I have tasted. Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale may rival it. 

Rating = 6 glasses

08 Oct. 2020

I am revising the rating.

Rating = 6 glasses.

13 Sept. 2020

Alpha King is a fantastic pale ale. It balances malty sweetness with subtle hop bite to create a flavorful, complex beer that is good enough to savor but begs to be gulped. It is more English (sweet and balanced) than American (hop-forward). It paired wonderfully with a Tex-Mex carnita burrito covered in enchilada sauce.

Rating = 5 glasses. I need to try another Zombie Dust to decide whether the best rating is 5 or 6.

Tucher Festbier

Festbier is a great example of a festbier. It is brewed to celebrate Fruhlingsfest and may be available year-round.

Brewer's Notes: I could not find this beer on the brewer's web page. The following quote is from Beeradvocate. I think BA took it from the brewer.

To many, the festbiers of Bavaria are a liquid voyage to the tents of Oktoberfest. For Tucher, nestled in its home in northern Bavaria and out of reach of the festivals that overtake Munich’s fairgrounds each fall, the focus is on Fruhlingsfest and celebrating the end of the cold winter months. As such, this festbier is brewed as a fuller-bodied helles lager with a slightly louder presence of old world hops instead of a marzen and is available to festivals year-round!

Tasting Notes
20260414: I think that my four-pack is almost a year old. I want a fresh one!

20260327: I drank the second can after drinking a can of Surly Hell. Hell is good. Festbier is better. I has more flavor and complexity. 

On my bike ride a day after writing the review, I kept thinking about the beer and how good it and Surly Hell are. I am upgrading the rating.

Rating: 6 glasses

20260326: I drank the first can in a four-pack. I drank at least two four-packs back in the fall during Oktoberfest time but must have failed to write a review then. I really liked it and followed the first four-pack with at least one more.

The beer did not disappoint. As in the brewer's description, it is a full-bodied Helles. It is quaffable. It has a tiche of sweet. It has flavor but is not big or heavy. It is just what you want in a Festbier. It may become a regular visitor to my "cellar".

Old rating: 5.5 glasses

Hardywood Christmas Morning

Brewer's Notes: Hardywood Christmas Morning lends a cheerfully heightened decadence to our Gingerbread Stout through deep conditioning on locally roasted Blanchard’s Coffee Co. coffee beans. Hints of sweet honey and oven baked gingerbread greet the comforting nuances of freshly brewed morning coffee in this imperial milk stout. Skip the leftover cookies and milk and awaken your senses with this delightful holiday tradition.

Reviews
202601: I drank the second of two cans. It was a delight. The bitterness of the coffee cuts the sweetness of the stout.

Rating = 6 glasses

202512: I drank one of two cans from a Hardywood gift pack. It is nice, even for someone like me who does not like coffee. However, I am downgrading the rating slightly.

Rating = 5.5 glasses

(202203) The coffee balances some of the sweetness in Gingerbread Stout.

Rating = 6 glasses

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

Edmund Fitzgerald is a fantastic porter. Beeradvocate classifies it as a Robust Porter.

Brewer's Notes: Robust and complex, our porter is a bittersweet tribute to the legendary freighter's fallen crew--taken too soon when the gales of November came early.

04 Jan. 2021
The more I drink the beer the more I like it. I am upgrading the rating.

Rating = (at least) 6 glasses

11 Nov. 2020
Edmund Fitzgerald is a fantastic porter. It is complex with some nice smoke and chocolate. It packs plenty of flavor into a beer while remaining "lighter" than stout and quite quaffabe. It will be a regular in my "cellar" if it remains available. 

I now have two nice dark beers to include in my rotation for a while. Smuttynose Robust Porter reappeared in stores recently following the brewer's declaration of bankruptcy. It joins Edmund Fitzgerald as a great choice for regular consumption. Smuttynose Robust Porter is bigger. Edmund Fitzgerald is more complex.  

Raters on Beeradvocate love the beer. They rated it as one of the top 100 beers back in the day.

Rating = (at least) 5 glasses.

August 2019
Edmund Fitzgerald is a malt forward American porter. Sweetness leads, followed by light chocolate. Easy drinking and nice flavor.

Rating = 4, maybe 5, glasses. I need to investigate more.

St. Bernardus Tripel

St. Bernardus is a great Belgian Tripel. It has a bit more clove and a little less peppery spice than Allagash Tripel.

It has the 6th highest rating on Beeradvocate for a tripel.

Brewer's Notes: "St. Bernardus Tripel is a traditional abbey beer that follows the classic tripel style. In the Watou region a tripel is often referred to as a ‘Bernadetje’. A fine tribute that pays homage to Bernadette, the youngest daughter of Evariste Deconinck, the man to whom the monks of Abbaye Sainte Marie du Mont des Cats sold their Belgian property in 1934.'"

Click here to read more about the brewer's description of the beer.

Tasting notes
20251226: Alex A brought a bottle for Christmas dinner. It was a great match for the menu. The beer has a bit more clove and a little less peppery spice than Allagash Tripel.

Rating = 6 glasses

20091104: Click here.

20081129: Click here.

Great Divide Yeti

Brewer's Notes
"Yeti Imperial Stout is an onslaught of the senses. It starts with big, roasty malt flavor that gives way to rich caramel and toffee notes. Yeti gets its bold hop character from an enormous quantity of American hops. It weighs in at a hefty 75 IBUs."

Beer Advocate

Tasting Notes

201225 A second can impressed me even more. It is a great example of a American Imperial Stout. It has loads of flavor. It reminds me of Bell's Expedition Stout, but is a tiche thinner and easier on the palette. It is bigger than Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. I am upgrading the rating for Yeti and thought about downgrading the rating for Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.

Rating = 6 glasses

20251213: A massive beer. I am leaving the rating along but thought about increasing it.

Jan. 24, 2021
I fear that I am moving away from massive beers. The Yeti that I drank last night was TOO big. I am downgrading the rating.

Rating = 5 glasses.

April 19, 2020
I exclaimed "What a beer" with my first sip. Yeti has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It continues to amaze and impress. It is a MASSIVE beer. Loads of burnt chocolate, a titch of coffee, and some cardboard.  

BeerAdvocate rating = Outstanding, 435th best American Imperial Stout, and 1,367th best overall.

Rating = 6 glasses.

Hardywood Bourbon Barrel GBS

Bourbon GBS is what you get when you age Gingerbread Stout in VA bourbon barrels. It is massive, sweet, and bourbony. 

Brewer's Notes
Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, described by BeerAdvocate as “freagin’ Christmas in a bottle,” is an imperial milk stout brewed with vanilla beans, cinnamon, fresh Casselmonte Farm baby ginger and Bearer Farms wildflower honey. Gingerbread Stout is then matured in Virginia bourbon barrels, where it adapts an incredibly mellow character with oak, caramel and bourbon undertones, and emerges 12 weeks later as Bourbon GBS. A festive blend of spice character laces this rich, chocolatey stout, which warms the palate and the soul.

55 IBU

Beeradvocate

Tasting Notes
20251206: Big, sweet, and bourbony. I had it with steak. It would go great with dessert.

Rating: 6 glasses

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen is an easy-drinking and flavorful Märzen. It is currently my favorite beer of the style. It combines a robust flavor with quaffability. 

Brewer's Notes: Forbidden as it was to brew in summer, a stronger beer – the Märzen – was brewed earlier in March. It would finally be served at the Oktoberfest, under the “Heaven of Bavaria”. We have returned once again to the age-old recipe and recreated that gloriously smooth, honey-coloured piece of history from times gone by. And all is brewed with due reverence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516.

BeerAdvocate

Tasting Notes
Sept. 2025: I have been tasting this festbier, Weihenstephaner Festbier, Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest (2025), and Tucher Festbier. I like this beer and Tucher Festbier the best. It is malty (but not too much), flavorful, quaffable, easy-drinking, and complex.

Rating: 6 glasses

Aug. 2025: A delightful Oktoberfest. An Uber lager.

September 2023: I have been drinking this beer for a while but failed to write a review. The more I drink it, the more I like it. It is a titch less malty and more quaffable than Great Lakes. Has more bready malts and hops than a "lager" beer.

Rating = 5.5 glasses

Girardin 1882 Black Label Gueuze

1882 Black Label Gueuze is a great example of the style. Once it was one of my favorite beers. 

BeerAdvocote

Tasting notes 

05 December 2024

The flavor again is more bitter and less tart than I want. It has too much lemon zest and too little lemon cider. The taste did grow on me as I drank the bottle. Maybe my taste buds have changed.

Rating = 6 glasses

2311: Plenty of tart but more bitterness than I remember - too much lemon rind. Left rating unchanged but thought about reduction.

1308: A recent bottle led to a downgrade from 7 glasses. It is really good but not as tart as I wanted or remembered. 

1002: A bottle purchased 4 mn ago. See previous review. Cantillon may be better??

(3) A bottle purchased about 2 years ago. Tart, complex, funky. Less lemon than I remember. Almost quaffable. Still the best. 

(2) Lemon, vinegar, and apple cider. Each sip causes salivation. 

(1) Sour and tart but doesn't take away your breath. Sort of a fizzy lemon cider.

Rating: 6 glasses.

Stone IPA

Brewer's Notes: One of the most well respected and best-selling IPAs in the country, this golden beauty explodes with citrusy flavor and hop aromas, all perfectly balanced by a subtle malt character.

The IPA That Launched Generations of Hop Fanatics
First Release: August 1997

By definition, an India pale ale is hoppier and higher in alcohol than its little brother, pale ale—and we deliver in spades. Now one of the most well-respected and best-selling IPAs in the country, this golden beauty explodes with citrusy, piney hop flavors and aromas, all perfectly balanced by a subtle malt character. This crisp, extra hoppy brew is hugely refreshing on a hot day, but will always deliver no matter when you choose to drink it.

Packaging Notes: the iconic west coast style IPA.

BeerAdvocate

Tasting Notes

July 2024: Ditto as below.

April 2020: Loads of crisp hops bitterness balanced enough for one sip to invite a gulp. A wonderful beer and a great example of the style. 

August 2023: I noticed that I have not updated my review of Stone IPA in over three years. It has become my go-to IPA and one of my favorite beers. At $17.99 for a 12-pack, it is a standard in my refrigerator. I am officially upgrading the rating from 5 glasses.

Rating = 6 glasses. 

J. W. Lee's Harvest Ale

Harvest Ale is a great example of an English barleywine

Brewer's notes: Our limited edition vintage barley wine is made but once a year. It's brewed with the first hops to be harvested, and then we add the very finest British malt. Each vintage brings different flavours, which then evolve as they age, so it's no wonder it's gained a cult following among ale enthusiasts. Pop the date in your calendar.

Beer Advocate

Tasting notes

2312: Had a 2013-bottle with gluten-free Oreo cake from Shyndiz. Emily and I shared the cake. It was not as good as anticipated - perhaps past its prime. I taste apples, toffee, and leather and then a burnt sourness.  Previous ratings were 4, 6, and then 7.

Rating = 6 glasses.

(1008) A 12-yr old bottle brewed in 1998. Sticky sweet burnt caramel, molasses, leather, apple butter, and prunes. Big, bold, complex, and smotth. Upgraded from 6 glasses. I though about the taste for days. 

(0808) A 1998 vintage. Massive taste and viscous consistency. Cream brulee, bananas foster, sugared prunes, raisins, a tiche of leather and slight alcohol burn. Upgraded from 4 glasses. 

(0612) A bottle dated 2000. Complex. Big malty taste up front, esp. when cold, fading to a sour hop bite. Good with peach flan. Sipped for 2+ hours. A better version of Third Coast Old Ale? 

Alesmith Private Stock Ale

 old ale

6 glasses

sweet but not cloying

Dupont Saison

Brewer's Notes: The Saison Dupont is a top fermentation beer with refermentation in the bottle. Since 1844, this beer has been brewed in our farm-brewery, during the winter time. Then this beer became a second refermentation in the barrel. During the next summer, this very thirst-quenching beer was served to the “saisoniers” which were working on the fields. Surely therefore, our Saison Dupont is considered as “the classic” among the Belgian season beers!

Added  note from BeerAdvocate

Coppery blond, the finest aromas and a strong bitterness transform this beer into a thirst-quenchener with no equal, just the way it was created. Our selection of yeasts is the perfect base for these typical aromas and ditto taste. A real refermentation in the bottle, which will continue for a long time in your cellar, result into this complex and particular aromatic beer.

Tasting Notes

202006

The more I drink Saison Dupont, the more I like it. It is hearty without being "big". It is refreshing with a titch of funk, easy to drink, and goes great with food or by itself. Click here for previous reviews.

Rating = 6 glasses.

The Veil Lock Lock, Bend, and No More Flowers

Lock Lock is the Veils take on a West Coast IPA. It is wonderful. A deep bitter bite mellowed with some citrus from double dry hopping. 55 IBU

Brewer's notes: 6.5% ABV, 55 IBU. Lock Lock is a DDH West Coast-inspired IPA hopped with Citra, Centennial and Simcoe. Clean, crispy and relatively dry with flavors orange fruit cups and Juicy Juice.

Rating = 6 glasses

Bend is the Veil's take on an American Pale Ale. Some sweet, some bitter, and some dry hopping. 40 IBU.

Brewer's notes: 5% ABV. Bend returns! Our American Pale Ale hopped with CTZ, Amarillo, Citra, and Cascade hops. Brewed with a clean American yeast strain, a light touch of caramel malt, and flaked oats. Very fruit-forward with resin oil and hoppy orange-blossom flavors.

Rating = 3.5 glasses

No More Flowers is the Veil's take on Kolsch. It is the best example of the style I have had. I think it too is dry hopped. The dry hopping adds some citrus and complexity to what is a sweet malt-forward beer.

Brewer's notes: 5.2% ABV. No More Flowers is our Kolsh-inspired beer. Clean and crispy from weeks of lagering with a distinct soft and delicate ester profile balanced by a light German Tettnang hop addition. Quaffable notes of spring flowers and lemon poppy seed loaf.

Rating = 5 glasses

Why my head hurt this morning

Nov. 14, 2022

I started with a Great Lakes Oktoberfest.

I also drank a Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue. Pseudo Sue is a hazy American pale ale. Nice balance of sweet and hazy hop flavor. A titch understated imo.

Rating = 4 glasses, well below its standing on Beer Advocate. My aversion to hazy continues.

Bell's Third Coast Ale

Nov. 14, 2022

Another bottle with about 6 years of age. A delightful combination of brown sugary malt, hop bitterness, and a tiche of sour from somewhere. 

Rating = 6 glasses (and thought about 6.5).

Aug 25, 2019

With second dessert I drank a Bell's Third Coast Ale, an American barleywine. The bottle was relatively fresh. Brown sugar flavor but not sweet. The aftertaste was sort of sour. I think this beer gets better with age. Ratings based on beers aged about 4 years = 6 glasses. Previous review. Today,

Rating = 5 glasses.

Triple Crossing VIII

VIII is Triple Crossing's Anniversary selection. It is an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. The bottle was a gift from Lauren Glazier on the occassion of my 70th birthday.

Brewer's notes
Eight years in, like sands through the proverbial hourglass, we’ve found ourselves in a place where our spirit barrel aging program speaks loudly, but not often.
However, as we’ve learned through this last year, it ain’t all waiting on us, and gorgeous inky black stout will, if we let it, emerge from barrels come hell or high water. The combination of our purpose-built Imperial Stout grist, a tightly controlled fermentation, whiskey soaked charred deep dark oak, and the end all variable of patience, has again gotten us to this point.
Our annual anniversary stout returns as VIII, comprised of just 4 whiskey barrels from a couple of our favorite bourbon producers, with an average age of 18 months of rest, blended together in one of our 10bbl brite tanks, and then lagered for another 6 weeks, letting the whole thing patiently round itself out.
We taste impressions of bourbon-soaked devils food brownie batter, dark French roast coffee, sweet cinnamon burnt brown sugar, with hints of leather and pipe tobacco. Even though this past year might have been the most challenging in our history, we are constantly reminded that we would not be here without the continued support you’ve all shown us over these last VII years… for however many times we’ve already said so, we thank you again. 12% ABV.

Tasting notes
05 Nov. 2022

Black ink. Motor oil. Need a spoon to pour. Almost no head but not flat. Sublime. Brewer's notes are on spot.

Rating - 6 glasses

Stone Ruination

Brewer: Stone 

Style: Double IPA 

Tasting notes

2208: Super bitter. Upgraded to 6 glasses.

2208: A nicely balanced bitter double IPA. Upgrading the rating from 4 to 5.5. Thought about 6 glasses but think Dreadnaught is a titch better.

1006: Ditto although the grapefruit was not as pronounced as I remember. 

0706: Moved to 4 in new rating. 

0602: Floral, hoppy nose. Plenty of hops taste but milder than I expected (or advertized on the bottle). Strong grapefruit aftertaste. Would be fun to share with a hop head, although my recollection is that Bear Republic Racer X would be a better choice. 

Top 100: 29 December 2005, 10 March 2007, and 14 August 2010. 

Rating: 5.5 glasses

3 Fonteinen Hommage

Brewer's Notes: A blend of lambic beers brewed at 3 Fonteinen, with an addition of 30% whole fresh raspberries from the fabled Payottenland and 5% sour cherries. This unfiltered beer will enjoy a spontaneous refermentation in the bottle. No artificial colors or flavor enhancers are added. Lambic is brewed only from 60% barley malt, 40% unmalted wheat, hops and water.

Bottled on 01 July 2020.

Tasting Notes

07 May 2022

Bottled on 01 July 2020

Dry, tart, sour, acetic, with fruit accents. The raspberry and cherries hit me as strawberry. A wonderful beer and I am not a fan of raspberry. The cherries (?) add to the sourness. I want a little less sour and a little more tart. 

Rating = 6 glasses

3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek Intens Rood

Label Notes
This specific Oude Kriek Intens Rood has macerated for almost ten months on five different lambikken from two barrels. Another four different lambikken from another two barrels were used in the blending process. The final fruit intensity was about 442 grams of sour cherries per litre of Intens Rood.

2022.04
I bought a bottle to celebrate filing my 2021 taxes. Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.

The beer is wonderful. Lots of lambic tartness with a cherry sweetness on the finish. 

Rating = 6 glasses