Beer reviews

Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking

/ Adam Barhan / Leave a comment


Southern Tier Imperial Pumpking, originally uploaded by adambarhan.

Appearance: Pours an almost clear honey color with a modest, but frothy head that leaves a reasonable splashing of lace

Smell: Pumpkin pie spice, vanilla sugar.

Taste: Opens with a rich pumpkin and spice flavor, which becomes increasingly spicey by mid-palate; after the swallow, the cornbread flavor builds, sweet and buttery; the finish has some alcohol on it

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation; some warmth coming in at the end.

Drinkability: A big, flavorful pumpkin brew; a bit sweet but good.

Chatoe Rouge Pumpkin Patch Ale

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Chatoe Rouge Pumpkin Patch Ale, originally uploaded by adambarhan.

A: Pours a dark burnt orange with a small soapy white head. Good retention for the style, no lace.

S: Pumpkin spice. Some flesh, lots of cinnamon, nutmeg.

T: Spice dominated. The overall pumpkin flavour is light. Cinnamon and clove heavy taste. Clove especially on the back end.

M: Medium-bodied, soft crisp carbonation. Light aftertaste. Thin at points.

O: A solid pumpkin beer.

MOA Brewing Breakfast Ale

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MOA Brewing Breakfast Ale, originally uploaded by adambarhan.

Appearance: A Hazy light-golden yellow with a strong fizz and a thin layer of white foam. Both of the MOA beers I tried seemed over carbed.

Smell: Sweet, floral, fruity aroma with a hint of tartness. Cherry flavor is there, candy like.

Taste: Slight malt backbone with a sweet, aspartame-like flavor. Cherry flavor present. Unfortunately, there’s quite a bit of artificial-ness here, not a good thing here.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body with a huge carbonation.

Overall: Interesting beer with some qualities I don’t like. As with most flavored beers, not a winner.

21st Amendment Sneak Attack Saison

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Its been a while so I guess its time to get back on the hog, I have quite a queue of beers to go. Onward…

A -A bright hazy straw yellow with a 1/2 inch of fizzy white head.

S – Smells of subdued spices and some cardamom, light bittering hops, and some wheat.

T – Not a traditional saison but pretty damn good. Needs more wild characteristics and maybe some brett flavor.

M – Light and bubbly, went down quicker than a Saison should.

Will definitely pick this one up again.

Russian River Blind Pig

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Russian River Blind Pig, originally uploaded by adambarhan.

Appearance: Pours a hazy light amber color and a fluffy white head that leaves great lacing

Smell: Nice citrusy grapefruit aroma

Taste: Grapefruit flavors dominate the taste buds with a subtle amount of caramel malt in the background; the finish is long and resinous

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

Drinkability: Very smooth and surprisingly flavorful for a 6% beer; exceedingly drinkable fruity IPA

North Coast Le Merle

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North Coast Le Merle, originally uploaded by adambarhan.

A: The pour is a cloudy golden orange color with an huge white head that eventually dies down and leaves some nice lacing.

S: The nose is driven by the cracker and bread malt aromas along with a strong yeast presence. Some light citrus zest along with some pepper and banana. Not all that much that says saison.

T: The flavor is similarly boring. The intense carbonation mutes what flavor is there. Again, this beer is mostly wheat bread and yeast (almost doughy) with a light citrus component.

M: Over-carbonated to say the least. The body is medium, but the intense carbonation is just a bit too much.

D: This is a rather mediocre beer. North Coast gets a lot of notoriety because of Old Rasputin and Old Stock, but I’ve found most of their other beers to be mediocre.