Haul for 5/23

Alrighty then, I went to Bottle Revolution last week to get some goodies and came back with way too much.  Already blew through my budget, now I'm eating into what I call my "fun money" by spending more on beer than I ought.  So was it worth it..?  Eh..maybe so, maybe not.  Anyway, here's what I ended up getting:

• Angry Orchard Strawman Cider - Apparently Angry Orchard (owned by the same good folks from Sam Adams) has decided to come out with some limited ciders from their regular line.  And like the guy I am, I had to jump on this and get it.  The sticker price was a doozy, but I decided to suck it up and get it anyway.  Having just been to a wine festival, it shouldn't bother me to spend this much.  Looking forward to drinking this one!  Price paid: $13.99
• Angry Orchard Iceman Cider - This is the other limited cider that came out.  Both of the bottles look pretty awesome, by the way.  I've heard that this one is better, but I'll be the judge of that.  Price paid: $13.99
• Olde Hickory Imperial Stout - It's not often that I come across Olde Hickory beer that gets the special wax treatment.  I found out after the fact that this is a highly regarded beer.  I'll give myself kudos for getting it on a whim.  Price paid: $10.99
• Lonerider True Britt - This one came in a six-pack, I'm guessing it's a seasonal offering from Lonerider.  It's local, so I'm definitely buying.  Price paid: $1.89
• Duck Rabbit Hoppy Bunny ABA - The dark beer experts continue to stick with dark beer offerings, even with this ABA.  Was looking to build a six-pack and decided to stack with a lot of local offerings I haven't had (I screwed that up by buying an ESB that didn't need buying since I already had one..oh well, 5 of 6 aint bad).  Price paid: $1.89
• Big Boss Knight Night - Same ol' tune, a new release from Big Boss, I'm buying it.  The end.  Price paid: $2.29
• Terrapin Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale - I'm not sure what to expect from this one, fruit beer gives me a mixed reaction.  Interested to see how this works out.  Price paid: $2.69
• Bell's Two-Hearted Ale - It's true, I've never picked this one up before even though I've heard so many good things about it.  Finally bit the bullet and picked it up, even if I can grab a six-pack at my local grocery store.  Price paid: $1.89

138. Blackstone St. Charles Porter

Where have I been lately..?  On vacation!  I ended up taking a short vacation to Winston-Salem and after a lovely 4 day, 3 night stay, I only have one beer review (coming later) to show for it.  There was a wine festival close by and I ended up drinking a lot of wine.  If you're wondering, I'm not solely a beer drinker..I dabble with wine and with liquor.  Beer, however, will ultimately be my passion and I'll be working to understands the nuances of beer before I try to understand the nuances of the grape.

Before I left on vacation, I decided to have this porter to go with dinner.  Another Blackstone offering which I picked up way back in November.  Poured into a stemless brandy glass, I was greeted with a cola color and two fingers of beige head.  I could detect strong aromas of roasted malt and coffee, not much else going on.

While the aroma wasn't complex, the taste certainly was.  This beer had some character.  Along with the roasted malts and coffee, there was a little bit of nuttiness, detection of chocolate, and smoke.  Good tasting, not overpowering.  Light bodied with moderate carbonation.  This was a surprise, most of the good "porters"  are labeled as stouts.  It's not perfect, but it was surprisingly good and I'd be glad to have another.

Grade: B

Price Paid: $1.89 (12 oz bottle)

137. Big Boss Saucey Pants

Alright, so if I'm capable of posting this review tonight, I'll be back to being caught up (outside of the typical backlog, mind you).  Got home from watching Iron Man 3, thought it would be nice to enjoy a beer with my dinner after a pretty nice Sunday.  

I went with the pilsner glass today and generated about two fingers of light colored head after a vigorous pour.  Light retention, showing some light sheets of lacing near the surface.  The color was clear and straw colored.  I could detect aromas of  malt and bread, some yeast, some "funk", maybe a touch of banana.  

The taste was different.  I got the malt, bread, yeast, and funk.  It left an odd aftertaste that I couldn't quite discern.  It tasted great cold, but as it warmed, the characteristics changed, and not for the better.  I felt like there was a lot going on, and I almost threw out what I had left when the glass warmed, but I toughed it out and drank the rest.  There's a light hop finish at the end, but it didn't feel overly refreshing.  I had higher hopes when I first sipped, but as I continued to sip, I became more and more disappointed with this one.  I'll pass on this one next time.

Grade: C-

Price Paid: $2.00 (12 oz bottle)

136. Olde Hickory Death By Hops

Death by Hops was one of the beers that I brought with me on my road trip that I didn't get a chance to drink.  The day after I got back home, however, I made sure to address it sooner rather than later.  I must confess, the bottle had a drink by date of 4/1/13.  We're in mid-May, so I missed my mark.  Still, I was hopeful and expectant that the beer would still be pretty good, even if I missed the best-by date.  

The beer poured a nice caramel color into the glass, with about three fingers of frothy head.  Average retention left about a finger long sheet of lacing at the bottom.  I detected strong aromas of malt, honey, and caramel, followed by floral and piney hops, with a little bit of citrus peel mixed in.  

The taste started off with a strong malt base to start, then the hops quickly come in.  I though the hops were more piney than anything, and that there was a little bit of spice present.  The bitterness lingers considerably, as expected.  The mouthfeel is a little on the oily side, but still medium bodied with medium carbonation.  For a DIPA, this isn't a bad brew by any means.  That said, I am more partial to citrus like hops and the heavy malt backbone didn't play too well with me.  I suspect that maybe it would have been better if I drank this before the expiration date.  Oh well, I'll make plans to try again, but for now, I'll stick with the grade that's provided.

Grade: C

Price Paid: $6.99 (22 oz bomber)

135. Negra Modelo

So I'm still at Vida and I helped myself to a second beer.  Like I'd only get 1..?  Okay, I seriously thought about stopping at one, but I hadn't finished my meal yet and I was only headed to a hotel room after I was done here, so I was in no rush to really leave.  It was nice to people watch and to relax at the bar area.  After finishing off the Modelo Especial, I asked to try the Negra Modelo to see if this would fare any better.

The beer was poured into another pint glass.  This beer had a nice cola color to it with another half finger of head.  I could detect aromas of roasted malt, a little bit of caramel, but that was about it.  Not a lot of character or complexity to this one.  Still gives a pretty clean complexion.  Oh yeah, can't forget about the lime aroma I picked up from the lime wedge on the glass.  It helped out a bit.  

The taste was consistent with the aromas, a decent serving of roasted malts, with a little bit of a nutty background and some caramel to finish it off.  There is a very light hop bite at the end that gives the beer a little more character.  I found the beer to be light to medium bodied with average carbonation.  This was easier to drink than the Modelo Especial, and would instantly vault to the top of my list of Mexican beers that I will drink.  The list isn't very long, but this is a start..!

Grade: C-

Price Paid: $3.00 (16 oz draught pint)

134. Modelo Especial

Alright, so I mentioned that I wasn't able to drink all of the beers that I brought on my trip, but that I had found some other beers to drink as a substitute.  This was one of them.  Yeah, I know, you'll say that I was better off drinking what I brought, since this could quantify as absolute crap, but the fact of the matter was that I have never had Modelo before, and I was a little limited with my selection.  I ended up dining at Vida Cantina.  They mainly tout their tequila bar, which has several different brands of tequila.  Their draught beers are all native to Mexico, so I could only choose from so much.  

So the beer was poured into your standard pint and served with a lime slice.  I drank two thirds of the beer without the slice, then added it in to see if I could discern a notable difference.  The beer was a nice golden yellow color with a half finger of head that dissipated quickly and left no real traces of lacing.  I could detect aromas of corn, grains, other light malts, and some of the lime from the wedge that was on the glass.  Not much there otherwise.

I didn't pick up a lot of tastes with this one.  Some corn, some malt, some light hop bitterness.  Light bodied, lightly carbonated, there wasn't any real complexity that stood out.  When I added the lime, it added a twist to it, which I did like a little more, but that doesn't say much when you need outside influences to make the beer taste better.  Still, it's better than a Bud Light, but not much better.  This is one of those beers I'll only buy again when the selection is limited.

Grade: D+

Price Paid: $3.00 (16 oz draught pint)

133. Sweetwater Road Trip

I thought this beer was fitting since I found myself in Charlotte for work and wasn't near home to enjoy this brew.  After a solid three hours to get to the hotel, I was more than ready to enjoy a beer with some dinner from the comfort of my hotel room.  I had packed three beers with me while I was on my work trip, but this was the only one that I actually got around to drink.  Don't worry readers, I was able to compensate with some other beers.

Again, I was lacking in the beverage holder department and had to resort to the coffee cup.  The beer poured a hazy straw color into the cup, with about a finger or two of head.  When I last used the coffee cup to hold a beer, it was with Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA and I mentioned that the head on this thing goes on forever.  I got the same result with Sweetwater's Road Trip.  I think it's something to do with the cup.  Insane.  Anyway, I got tired of waiting and opted to suck down some of the head.  Aromas were pretty light, some malts and some grassy notes and that was all she wrote.

The malt comes out in the taste, followed by the familiar grassy notes and a little bit of wheat.  I thought I detected a little bit of spice as well.  There's a nice bitter, dry finish that makes you want to take another drink.  Not bad at all.  I thought the beer was medium bodied with moderate carbonation.  I could see this beer as a very sessionable summer beer, certainly better than some of the adjunct beers that are readily available.  While this didn't wow, it was still enjoyable.  Try one if you can!

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $1.80 (12 oz bottle)

132. Allagash Black

Looking back at my notes, I remember saying that I wasn't impressed with Allagash's Dubbel Ale and that this Allagash Black would make or break my impression of the brewery.  I cracked this one open the day after I had the Oberon Ale, as I was looking for a little something different.

The beer was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  It came out dark brown to nearly black, with light able to penetrate the edges just a bit.  It left one finger of milk chocolate colored head that had light retention and didn't leave too much lacing on the glass.  The aromas were hard to determine, the malt backbone was overpowering in the nose.  Roasted malts, burnt sugar was about all I could pull out of there.

Fortunately, the taste was much more complex.  The bottle calls this a Belgian Stout, but I wasn't getting a lot of stout like flavors.  The roasted malt was apparent, along with the light coffee taste that accentuated it.  There was that familiar taste that comes with anything out of Belgium, but it wasn't a prevalent dark fruit.  More clove and banana than dark fruit.  There's also some spiciness that plays on the tongue a little bit.  The burnt sugar and chocolate in the finish is a nice way to go out.  Light carbonation, with an average body made this one easy to drink and go down.  At 7.5% ABV, it didn't feel boozy in the slightest.  Allgash has redeemed themselves with this offering, and I will be willing to try some of their other brews as I come across them in the stores.  It's a different style, but I really like it and I highly recommend!

Grade: B+

Price Paid: $3.49 (12 oz bottle)

131. Bell's Oberon Ale

Alright, so I've been AWOL from the blog for about a good week, but that hasn't stopped me from drinking some beer in the meantime.  I'm in catch-up mode, so I've got about 6-7 beers to add to the list and then I'll be caught up.  It all starts with Bell's Oberon, which is something I had late last week to go with dinner.  Can't quite remember what I had for dinner, just thought that this type of beer would pair nicely.

Beer was poured into a pilsner glass with about two fingers of fluffy white head.  Very good retention, nice splotches of lacing left over on the glass.  Color was a hazy golden yelllow-orange.  Aromas of orange, coriander, biscuit, and wheat are detected.  It's not overly aromatic, a lot of it is subtle. 

This one is tastes different, much more complex than a Blue Moon or Shocktop.  Granted, those probably two bad examples, but you know what I'm getting at.  Tastes of wheat and orange and coriander hit, but then there comes this slightly bitter finish that's typically unlike most wheat beers.  There's still a bread like finish from the yeast and grains.  Nicely balanced.  I found the carbonation to be average, with an average, slightly creamy mouthfeel.  This is a solid summer session beer to enjoy outdoors.  I highly recommend.  Think I'm a nutcase?  Then let me know!

Grade: B

Price Paid: $2.00 (12 oz bottle)

130. Olde Hickory The Bean

My main haul of beers consist of two sizes, 12 oz bottles and 22 oz bombers.  Because I'm the only one that's drinking, I tend to favor the 12 oz selections, opting to save the 22 oz bombers for special occasions.  Unfortunately, I can easily build up a gigantic backlog of 22 oz bottles, which is what happened here, and I knew that I needed to unload some of my wares.  I decided to give the ol' Bean a shot.  I believe this is actually the first time that I've had something from Olde Hickory (http://www.oldehickorybrewery.com), even though I've bought a few of their beers already.  Here's to hoping that this one is pretty good!

Anyway, the beer poured a dark brown color with three fingers of head.  The head was interesting..it looked like soda.  It fizzed, it fizzled out, leaving no trace of lacing on the side of the pilsner glass.  Never had a beer that did that before.  I could detect aromas of roasted malt and coffee, but really couldn't detect the vanilla notes.  Not a good sign so far.

As far as the taste, I could dtect more coffee and malt, still couldn't taste much of the vanilla.  If it was there, it was very subtle.  I thought the beer was incredibly watered down, not full flavored at all.  Maybe it was meant to be a sessionable beer, but I found it to miss its mark.  That part about the soda like head?  This stuff was super carbonated, just like soda.  I found it hard to drink, and with the watered down taste, I was reminded of flavored tonic water.  Not good at all.  Could you imagine a coffee drink that was carbonated like soda?  I can't.  It's what did The Bean in.  I drank the whole thing, but this one really deserved to be poured out.  I hope the rest of Olde Hickory's offerings aren't this bad.  Sorry ol' Bean, you're going to need to try again.

Grade: D-

Price Paid: $5.00 (22 oz bomber)

129. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Alright, so I found myself at a hotel in Fayetteville, NC and I brought a beer along for the trip, just to have something to enjoy while I lounge in the hotel.  My brother was graduating from college the next day and we were traveling a bit of the way so we wouldn't have to wake up so early to travel.  

I didn't bring any glassware (I did remember to grab a bottle opener, then realized I already had another bottle opener in my tote) so the beer was poured into one of those small coffee cups that are near the coffee maker.  It poured a brown/amber color with some tremendous head.  Holy retention, Batman!  Seriously, I don't know if it was the cup, but the head on this thing lasted foooorrrreeeevvveerrr.  After five minutes, I was still drinking through some head to get to the good stuff inside.  I don't think I'll ever come across a beer with that type of lasting power.  And you can best believe that there was lacing all over the side of the cup, plus the thick layer of foam up top.  Aromas of sweet malt and sweet citrus (pommelo, pineapple) and a little bit of spice.  

The taste is incredibly well balanced.  The sweetness of the malt pairs nicely with a fruity and piney hop profile.  Bitter finish isn't too bitter, easy to keep drinking.  That said, the beer is medium to full bodied, comes off a little thick.  Slightly carbonated, but not too much.  I think I've said before that I prefer citrus hops to piney hops, so this doesn't wow me like some of the other beers I've experienced.  That said, I know a good/great IPA when I come across one, and this is a very good offering.  If you're an IPA fan and you haven't tried this one yet, be sure to put it on your to-do list.

Grade: B

Price Paid: $2.59 (12 oz bottle)

Haul for 5/2

Alright, so in my last post, I said I'd mention what I got in my haul, and here it is..!  I basically blew through my budget for the month and it was only May 2nd!  Anyway, what did I get?  Here's the haul:

• Lonerider Cowboy in Black IPA - Another of Lonerider's limited releases, I told myself that I had to get my hands on it.  Price paid: $9.99
• Deep River First Run - Deep River is a new brewery out of Clayton NC.  Right now, all they have are growlers, except for this limited 500 bottle release called their "First Run".  With a limited bottle release, of course I was going to snag one.  Price paid: $9.99
• Natty Greene's Cannonball Double IPA - One of those Natty Greene's beers that I don't see normally bottled.  Figured I'd pick one up and give it a chance.  Price paid: $2.49
• Doc's Apple Cider - You all know that I like getting ciders here and there, and this was a new one I hadn't seen before, and didn't cost $10 plus dollars for it either.  Especially helps when it's a 12 oz bottle.  Price paid: $2.59
• Sweetwater Lowryder IPA - Another Sweetwater offering that I haven't had yet, but it's mine now!  Price paid: $1.59
• Big Boss D'Icer - So here's the next monthly unique release from Big Boss.  I haven't missed one yet, don't plan on missing one now.  Price paid: $1.89
• Sierra Nevada Hoptimum - I've had a good track record with Sierra Nevada, and I'm curious to see how this one differs from Torpedo, which I found to be very, very good.  Price paid: $2.59
• Terrapin Tree Hugger - What I said about Sweetwater up above?  Apply to the Tree Hugger.  Price paid: $1.79

128. NoDa Imperial Coco Loco

I'm Coco for Locopops!  If you've never had a Locopop, I highly recommend.  That said, I found myself at Bottle Revolution to a buddy, get some dinner, and have a beer.  I definitely picked up some beer while I was there (more to come in my haul post later), but it never hurts to enjoy a beer while you're shopping, right?  The Imperial Coco Loco was on tap.  NoDa (http://www.nodabrewing.com) is based out of Charlotte, NC.  Oddly enough, this is the first time that I've had anything from NoDa.  Either they don't have a lot of bottling going on, or they sell out quickly over here.  

Anyway, onto the beer!  My drink came in a plastic cup, with about a finger of tan head.  The beer poured a near black.  Not a lot of lacing going on, but maybe it's the plastic that's responsible for that.  Still looks pretty appealing.  I detected aromas of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and coconut, along with some herbal notes.  

I taste more roasted malt and coffee.  There's a bitter finish there too.  There's also a smoky element to it, maybe from all of the roasted malt.  Full bodied, this one took time to drink and appreciate.  Tasted better as it warmed.  It feels a little off kilter, not as balanced, but still not a bad beer.  Now I'm interested in getting my mitts on some Coco Loco so I can figure out the difference between the two.

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $4.50 (10 oz draught)