150. Duck Rabbit Hoppy Bunny ABA

Duck-Rabbit's mantra is that they only focus on dark beers.  When I think of Duck-Rabbit, I think of porters, stouts, beers that are more malt forward than hop forward.  When I noticed that they had something called the Hoppy Bunny ABA, it looked like an excuse to foray into more hoppy beers, which I'm totally okay with.

I had this to go with dinner, and it was poured into a pilsner glass.  It poured a deep brown with two fingers of soapy, khaki colored head.  It had moderate retention, leaving some decent streaks of lacing on the glass. I detected aromas of roasted malt, pine, a touch a citrus.  There's an earthiness to the aroma as well.  

There's a slightly sour/bitter bite that first hits you as you take a sip, probably stemming from the hops.  I found it to be less piney, more citrusy in that aspect.  You can taste some of the roasted malt and I detected a hint of chocolate.  Oddly enough, I was reminded of a Scharzbier I had a while back and it reminded me of that, with a little more hop pop.  Still, I found the beer to be tasty and easy to drink.  The mouth feel ranged from light to moderate, with moderate carbonation that gave the beer a spicy feel to it.  A very good beer, I'd be glad to have again.

Grade: B

Price Paid: $1.89 (12 oz bottle)

149. Terrapin Wake N' Bake

The weekend is upon us and it's time for me to play catch-up!  I have about half a dozen new beers to review, starting from the longest to the most recent.  We start with Terrapin's Wake N' Bake.  I like to think of it as Terrapin's turbo-charged Moo-Hoo stout.  I know it's not the same thing, but I like to take creative license in a lot of things, and I'm doing it here.

The beer poured a near black into a pilsner glass, with a finger and a half of sticky, mocha colored head.  Plenty of lacing along the sides of the glass, with long retention. This is one attractive looking beer.  It even pours with a viscosity that suggests a medium to full bodied brew.  Aromas of coffee dominate the beer, with a hint of oat and dark malts.  The coffee doesn't take on a sour, stale component, nor does it taste overpowering like an espresso.  I'm thinking more cold-press coffee.

The taste is as expected, getting hit with coffee, coffee, and more coffee.  The creaminess that comes from the oats and the light sweetness that comes through at the end makes me think milk stout.  I'm not sure where the sweetness is coming from, whether lactose is added or not, but it does a great job of easing the bitter finish of the coffee.  The mouthfeel is as expected, medium to full bodied and creamy.  Light to medium carbonation, which is perfect for this style of beer, in my opinion.  Ladies and gents, this one is a winner.  The best part is that I know where to go to find some more (it sold out quick in most stores, but there's a couple of places still hiding them..!).  To me, this is just as good as Founder's Breakfast Stout, and that's saying something.  Agree or disagree, let me know!

Grade: A

Price Paid: $3.50 (12 oz bottle)

Haul for 6/20

The wife had me go to the store to pick up some vinegar.  I figured it would be a great time to grab a mixed six pack from Lowes Foods.  Here's what I snagged:

• Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy - Okay, I saw the commercials and it piqued my curiosity.  I told myself I'd grab one if I found it at a Lowes Foods.  I'm a man of my word.  Price paid: $1.66
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - I've had a lot of the hoppier offerings from Sierra Nevada, I thought I'd tone it down a bit and get a Pale ale this time around.  Still really looking forward to it.  Price paid: $1.66
• 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon - The weird flavor profile got to me with this.  I don't know if it'll be good or bad, but I figured I'd give it a try.  Price paid: $1.66
• Flying Dog Underdog Atlantic Lager - I don't think I've tried anything from Flying Dog before.  My focus for this trip was to avoid a whole bunch of IPAs.  So this one seemed a little more tame and what I was looking for.  Price paid: $1.66
• Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple What - Another different flavor combination that caught my eye.  This wouldn't be the last one to fall in that category.  Price paid: $1.66
• Blue Moon Agave Nectar Ale - And here's the last one I snagged, a seasonal offering from Blue Moon.  A lot of wheat beers in this pack.  In hindsight, I should have gotten only 2 wheat beers.  Oh well.  Price paid: $1.66

Beers Grades By Style

Altbier
C
Yazoo Gerst Amber Ale

American Adjunct Lager
C+
Red Stripe Jamaican Lager

C-
Budweiser

D+
Modelo Especial
Presidente Pilsner

American Amber Ale
B-
Terrapin Side Project #19 Mosaic Red Rye Ale

C
New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
North Coast Red Seal Ale

C-
Natty Greenes Buckshot Amber Ale
Red Brick Laughing Skull Amber
Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

D+
Scuttlebutt Amber Ale

D
Terrapin Oak Aged Big Hoppy Monster

American Amber Lager
A
Red Oak Amber Lager

American Barleywine

B-
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Ale
Uinta Cockeyed Cooper Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine 2011

American Blonde Ale
C-
Kona Brewing Big Wave Golden Ale

American Brown Ale
B
Yazoo Dos Perros Ale

C
Red Brick 17th Anniversary

American Imperial IPA
A+
Lagunitas Sucks Brown Shugga Substitute Ale

A-
Great Lakes Alchemy Hour Double IPA

B+
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

B
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

B-
Southern Tier 2XIPA

C
Epic Hopulent IPA
Olde Hickory Death By Hops

C-
Lonerider Trick ShotImpy India Wit

American Imperial Stout
A
Founders Breakfast Stout

A-
Green Man The Dweller

B+
Tool Goliat Imperial Coffee Stout

American IPA
A
Foothills Brewing Hoppyum CASK

B+
Foothills Jade IPA

B
Bison Organic IPA
Green Man Stormtrooper White IPA
Highland Devil's Britches IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
Sweetwater IPA
Terrapin So Fresh And So Green Green
Yazoo Hop Project IPA

B-
Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA

C+
Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale

C-
Catawba Valley Firewater IPA
Foothills Brewing Hoppyum IPA

D+
Blowing Rock IPA Ale

American Pale Ale
B+
Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale
Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale

B-
Mill Street Tankhouse Ale
Mother Earth Second Wind Pale Ale

C+
Natty Greene's Southern Pale Ale

C
Blackstone American Pale Ale
Firestone Walker Pale 31 Cask

C-
Lonerider Peacemaker Pale Ale Nitro

American Pale Wheat Ale
B
Bell's Oberon Ale

American Porter
A-
Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #44 - El Triunfo Coffee Porter

B+
Foothills Bourbon Barrel Aged People's Porter
Lonerider Deadeye Jack Porter

B
Blackstone St. Charles Porter
Carolina Brewing Company Winter Porter
Magic Hat Humdinger Series: Burn Pile

B-
NoDa Imperial Coco Loco

C
Asheville Brewing Ninja Porter
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Green Man Porter
Sweetwater Exodus Porter

C-
Port City Porter

D+
Highland Oatmeal Porter

American Stout

A-

Bell's Java Stout

B+

Twisted Pine Big Shot Espresso Stout

B

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

D-

Olde Hickory The Bean

American Strong Ale

B-

Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot Ale

Belgian IPA

B+

Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #43 - White IPA

B

Stone Cali Belgique IPA

C-

Terrapin Monk's Revenge

Belgian Pale Ale

B

Fullsteam Chombers One

Belgian Strong Dark Ale

B+

Allagash Black 

Bock

C+

Samuel Adams Winter Lager

Czech Pilsner

B-
Foothills Torch Pilsner

D+

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Dopplebock

C

Epic Double Skull Dopplebock

Dortmunder

B-

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold 2012

Dubbel
B+
Ommegang Abbey Ale

C-
Allagash Dubbel Ale

English Brown Ale
D+
Carolina Brewing Nut Brown Ale

English IPA
B
Mystery Brewing Hornigold

English Pale Ale
C+
Cisco Brewing Whale's Tale English Pale Ale

English Strong Ale
C
Morland Hen's Tooth Ale

Extra Special Bitter
B-
Lonerider True Britt ESB

C+
Green Man ESB

Fruit Beer
C
Sea Dog Bluepaw Blueberry Wheat Ale

C-
Dark Horse Raspberry Ale
Unibroue Ephemere

D+
Big Boss The Countess

German Pilsner
B-
Stoudt's Pils
Sweetwater Road Trip

Hard Cider
A
Crispin Bird on a Wire Hard Cider

B+
Ace Fermented Apple Cider
Crispin Bare Naked Organic Cider
Woodchuck Amber Hard Cider

B
Fox Barrel English Perry Cider
Fox Barrel Pacific Pear Cider
JK Scrumpy Farmhouse Organic Hard Cider
Luk Hard Apple Cider

Woodchuck 802 Dark & Dry Hard Cider
Woodchuck Granny Smith Hard Cider

C+

Crispin Honey Crisp Artisinal Reserve
Fox Barrel Orange Peel and Coriander Cidery Reserve Unfiltered Pear Cider
Woodchuck Fall Seasonal Hard Cider

C

Woodchuck Private Reserve Barrel Select Hard Cider

Woodchuck Private Reserve Pumpkin Hard Cider

D

Doc's Draft Apple Cider

Hefeweisen

B

Mother Earth Sunny Haze Hefeweisen Ale

Irish Red Ale

A-

Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale

B-

Aviator Hot Rod Red

Kolsch

C+

Blackstone Chaser Pale Ale

C-

Carolina Brewing Summer Ale

Light Lager

D
Bud Light Lime

D-
Bud Light

Miller Lite

Maibock

C
Carolina Brewing Spring Bock

Gordon Biersch Maibock

D+
Abita Andygator

Marzen

B

Flying Fish Oktoberfish

Triumph Brewing Oktoberfest

Milk Stout

A-

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

B

Sam Adams Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout

C

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

Munich Dunkel Lager

C-

Negra Modelo

Munich Helles Lager

C

Red Oak Hummin' Bird

Oatmeal Stout

A-

Mystery Brewing Six Impossible Things

B

Railhouse Mastiff Oatmeal Stout

C

Aviator Bourbon Barrel Aged Black Mamba Stout

D+

Ballast Point Sextant Nitro Oatmeal Stout

Oktoberfest

B-

Harpoon Oktoberfest 

C+

Sweetwater Dank Tank Danktoberfest

C

Yazoo Fall Lager

D+

Atwater Bloktoberfest

Pumpkin Ale

B

Chatoe Rogue First Growth Pumpkin Patch Ale

B-

Southern Tier Pumking
Uinta Punk'n

C-

St Ambroise Citrouille

Rauchbier

A-

Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen

Russian Imperial Stout

A

Hoppin' Frog BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout

B+

Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout

Rye

B

Big Boss Sack Time

C-

Old Hickory Bee Student Ale

Saison

A-

Green Flash St. Feuillien Friendship Brew

B

Ommegang Hennepin Farmhouse Saison

B-

Lonerider The Preacher Saison

C

Mystery Brewing Annabel

C-

Big Boss Saucey Pants
Weyerbacher Seventeen Anniversary Ale

Schwarzbier

B

Duck-Rabbit Schwarzbier

Krombacher Dark

Scottish Ale

C+

Mystery Brewing Ballantrae

C-

Bell's Christmas Ale

Spiced Beer

C-

Bison Organic Gingerbread Ale

Bison Organic Honey Basil 

Tripel

C-
Carolina Brewing 17th Anniversary Tripel

Wheatwine

C-

Weyerbacher Fourteen Ale

Winter Warmer

B-

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale
Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale

C

Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale

Wit

B+

Ommegang Witte

B-

Blue Moon Belgian White Ale

C+

Mother Earth Weeping Willow Wit
Triangle Brewing Company Belgian Style White Ale

C

Big Boss Blanco Diablo Wit Ale

148. Mill Street Tankhouse Ale

Different airport, different beer.  In this case, I didn't want to have to get one, but I kinda screwed myself.  When I landed in Toronto, I thought my carry-on (I couldn't bring my bag with me because the compartments were tiny) would be in an area inside the terminal that wasn't baggage claim.  I was supposed to pick it up off of the baggage lot when I got off the plane, but didn't know (and all the other people that went off with me skipped it too).  I thought they knew what they were doing.  By the time I got back, my bag was sent to baggage claim.  To get there, I had to go through customs, get the bag, then go back to Departures, and check back in through security.  When it was all said and done, I missed my flight.  I was lucky enough to find another flight, but in the meantime, after all that stress and frustration, I needed another beer..and dinner too.

Within the airport here in Toronto, they have a Mill Street Brewery restaurant (http://www.millstreetbrewery.com) and I figured I'd try a local Canadian beer for a change.  Ended up ordering some fish and chips to go with it and then went with the Farmhouse Ale.  It was presented in an extra fat standard pint, with a finger of light creamy head.  It had solid retention, leaving sheets of lacing along the sides of the glass.  I picked up aromas of citrus, caramel, malt and other grains.  

The beer itself had a light hop taste, followed by some spice and malt.  Moderate to high carbonation makes this beer pretty lively and pretty good.  It's a pretty good beer, but not groundbreaking.  Too bad you can't find this stuff in my part of the states.  Maybe I'll get back to Canada soon so I can try more of their selection.  

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $9.00 (20 oz draught) (More high priced airport love)

147. Gordon Biersch Maibock

I'm leaving on a jetplane, I don't know when I'll get back again.. Okay, so maybe I know when I'm getting back, but considering the circumstances, I don't know anymore.  I had the opportunity to go to a conference for work, and the conference is in Canada.  Winnipeg if you want to be specific.  Anyway, I got to the airport and figured I'd have a beer before the flight.  Why not, right?  At RDU, they have a Gordon Biersch Brewery restaurant.  I was really only interested in the beer, but I had a really light lunch, so I figured I'd get some soup too.

I've had Gordon Biersch before, it was a twelve pack variety pack before I had an appreciation for beer.  Had a hard time drinking them at the time.  I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem now.  I ended up going for the seasonal, which happened to be the Maibock.  It was presented in a good looking pilsner glass, with a finger of fluffy egg-white head, the body a cross being amber and siena.  Based on the comments from the waitress, it was going to be something like an amber.  I like those!  I picked up aromas of malt.

I could pick up caramel malts and a heavy metallic taste.  I like the heavy metallic taste, but even this was too much. Didn't leave a great taste in my mouth.  Still, the moderate to high carbonation gave it a nice spicy finish and I felt the need to drink more, I was just wishing it was something else.  It was a light bodied brew, easy to drink, but I had to drink it pretty quickly and I felt like it had an impact on me, albeit a very slight one.  I feel like if they could tone down that metallic bite, this one could be a winner.  Until then, however, there are a lot of other amber ales I would have to recommend.  

Grade: C

Price Paid: $8.29 (20 oz pilsner) (Yeah..you know you're paying a premium at an airport..)

146. Aviator Bourbon Barrel Aged Black Mamba Stout

With this blog post, I'll be caught up again.  Ended up enjoying this one last night with my dinner, which consisted of breakfast.  Bacon, eggs, pancakes.  Oatmeal stout?  Yes please.  This is actually the first beer I've had from Aviator, which is based out of Fuquay, about 15 minutes south of Raleigh.  I take it back, I've had other beers from Aviator before, but just don't have it documented and I frankly can't remember what they tasted like. 

This beer poured a really dark brown into a stemless brandy glass.  I was able to pull about two fingers of khaki colored head out of it.  The beer has some very complex aromas since it's the bourbon barrel variant and not the regular style.  There's aromas of oak, bourbon, chocolate, smoke, dark fruit.  I'm interested to see how this one plays out.

Unfortunately, the taste didn't live up to the billing.  All the aromas can be tasted, but the balance isn't there.  There was too much oak..charred oak to be more precise.  It gave it an ashy taste that was not appealing.  It overpowered the chocolate and coffee flavors.  The bourbon could be tasted too.  For an oatmeal stout, I didn't find the creaminess that I expected.  The beer was sweet, but with the ash taste, that wasn't a good thing.  It's a medium bodied brew with average carbonation, that probably could have been dialed down a bit.  This one had potential, but fell short.  I'd like to see if they can refine this into something better, but for now, it doesn't get high marks from me.  

Grade: C

Price Paid: $10.49 (22 oz bottle)

145. Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

What was on the menu for tonight?  Leftover Chinese food from the previous night!  And what would be another good beer that would pair with Chinese?  I had no idea, but I figured an IPA would do the trick.  Lucky for me, I had Hoptimum chilling in my fridge.  

The beer poured a burnt siena color into a pilsner glass with two fingers of fluffy egg-white head.  Great retention with big splotches of lacing on the glass.  Really good looking beer.  There's some malt in the aroma, but it's predominantly pine, pine, more pine, and maybe a little bit of citrus, followed by pine.  When I look at Hoptimum, I think Torpedo IPA on steroids.  

Torpedo IPA on steroids is not a bad thing at all.  The taste is as expected, starts out with that sweet malt, followed by that explosive pine taste.  There might be some citrus in there, but I thought it was lost with the piney resin taste.  The bitterness is strong in this one (100 IBU), but it never felt all that overwhelming.  Maybe I'm just getting more used to IPAs.  It did have a slightly boozy aftertaste, which isn't too surprising since it comes in at 10.4% ABV.  It's a full bodied brew, and it's very, very good.  If you see this around and you're a bit of a hop head, don't pass this one up.  Agree or disagree?  Let me know!

Grade: B+

Price Paid: $2.59 (12 oz bottle)

144. Bison Organic Honey Basil

After enjoying Sullivan's for restaurant week, I was slated to go another restaurant the following day.  Didn't happen.  Ended up staying home and ordering some Chinese food (Crispy honey chicken).  I had the honey basil in the fridge and I figured it would pair well with my food.  

The beer poured a dark amber color with a finger and a half of white head into a pilsner glass.  Light retention, no lacing.  Not attractive so far.  I detected aromas of malt, biscuit, and basil.  The basil is really faint with this one.  

The taste was comparable to the aroma, but came off a little sweeter, probably because of the honey.  The basil was easier to taste, but I'm not quite sure if I liked it.  I like basil, but in my beer?  I know there are breweries that are being even more experimental with flavors, so I don't want to write it off.  It does provide this refreshing feel to it, similar to mint or cucumber in water.  The beer was light bodied with average carbonation.  I do think that this could be better balanced.  I had it before in the past, and now that I've had it again, I'm not all that interested in having it again.  Too many other beers to drink.  Agree or disagree?  Let me know!

Grade: C-

Price Paid: $2.40 (12 oz bottle)

143. New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale

Could you believe that I've never had Fat Tire from New Belgium until now?  Better believe it..!  New Belgium (http://www.newbelgium.com) might be out of Colorado, but they're one of the bigger craft breweries out there.  The Raleigh area was celebrating Triangle Restaurant Week.  It's one of those deals where some of the better restaurants in town offer a 3 course prix fixe menu for $20 or $30.  I went with some buddies to Sullivan's, which was participating in the promotion.  Why not have a beer to go with my meal?  The beer list was actually quite disappointing, and this was the one of the best of the bunch.  For those of you wondering, I had some cheesesteak egg rolls, a caesar salad, filet mignon with horseradish mashed potatoes and zucchini, and a key lime pie (yeah..restaurant week rules).  

I was provided with a bottle and a nifty looking pilsner glass.  I poured most of the contents in there and was pleased to see the amount of retention in the head and the amount of lacing in the glass.  I didn't expect to get such a nice "look".  My friend's Yuengling shared similar characteristics.  With the lighting, it was hard to get the right color, but since it's called an amber ale, I figured the color was amber.  The head color was egg-white, for those of you that were wondering.  Aromas of malt, bread, and light citrus.

The beer is what you expect from an amber, malt, caramel, the light citrus.  It was a little sweeter than I'd like.  As expected, the beer was light bodied with moderate carbonation.  This is a decent brew, but not a standout.  Still, it beats a Miller or Coors or Bud.  With its wide availability, this is a great gateway beer to the craft world.

Grade: C

Price Paid: $6.00 (12 oz bottle) (Yeah, what a ripoff..)

142. Lonerider True Britt ESB

Lonerider's True Britt is one of their seasonal releases that I hadn't seen before.  Looks like Lonerider is ramping up with their different beer offerings and their intention to bottle more than just their year rounders.  Not complaining one bit, I always want to see local NC breweries able to step out and do more.  I ended up enjoying this beer with dinner.

The beer poured a nice amber color into a pilsner glass.  I try to pour aggressively to get a nice head, was able to get two and a half fingers of off white head to show.  Not a lot of retention, not a lot of lacing.  The aromas were simplistic, some caramel, malts, bread, and a little bit of hops..after all it is an ESB, right?

The beer reminded me of an amber to start, then the bitter finish reminded me that this was an ESB.  For what it is, it's pretty simplistic.  The beer is very sessionable, light bodied with moderate carbonation.  It's not going to wow you with complex flavors and some people may be disappointed with that.  If that's how the style is supposed to be, I can't knock it.  Comparing this to Green Man's ESB, which I only had a little while before this one, I liked this one better.  Agree with me?  Disagree?  Let me know.

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $1.89 (12 oz bottle)

141. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Ale

Ok, so I had brought this beer with me when I went on my trip to Charlotte.  Finally got around to drinking it a few days ago after it had been sitting in my fridge for the last few weeks.  I thought it would go well with dinner (can't remember what that was though..)

The beer was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  Nice orange caramel color with two fingers of fluffy head.  Solid retention, nice sheets of lacing that sticks to the side of the glass.  I could detect caramel, candy, pine, brandy, and dark cherry in the aroma.  Very complex, it was a little on the intimidating side.

Big and bold tastes will smack you from the get go.  Caramel and toffee from the malt, along with the dark cherry and some more piney hops.  Quite boozy, you can taste the alcohol in there.  The hops will leave a slightly bitter finish to go with the sweetness in your mouth.  This is a full bodied brew with average carbonation.    Overall, I thought the beer was quite good.  I haven't had a lot of beers of the American Barleywine style and I must say that I'm still getting used to it, much like I had to get used to IPAs.  While it was still good, I have a feeling that I could appreciate it better with a few more samples of American Barleywine on my palate.  After having this, I really wished I could have gotten my hands on the bourbon barrel variant.  Someone out there get a chance to try the BBL variant?  Is it worth ti?  Let me know!

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $2.90 (12 oz bottle)

140. Green Man ESB

I made the mistake of buying two of these when I typically only buy one of anything.  Hopefully this beer is pretty good and I won't be paying the price for crap beer.  That said, I had a good experience with my last Green Man offering, so I'm expecting good things.  Ended up having this beer to go with dinner (steak).  

This is my first ESB (at least according to this blog).  The beer was poured into a pilsner glass.  It had a light copper color with a finger and a half of egg white head.  Not a lot on the nose, some biscuit and sweet malts.  

I found the beer to be bitter without being overly hoppy.  I taste some funk, much like a saison on the front end.  There's also some grassy notes and to go with the caramel malts.  It finishes slightly sweet the but bitterness is still quite there.  The beer was light bodied with average carbonation.  Comparing an ESB to other beers, it's not all that bad.  Compared to other ESBs, I have no idea.  But still, comparing this beer to other beers I've had, it's not bad.  

Grade: C+

Price Paid: $1.90 (12 oz bottle)

Haul for 5/29

I was going through the list of new releases for the week and came across a few beers that caught my fancy. Before I knew it, I was headed off to Tasty Beverage after work and seeing what I could find.  I ended up finding the two beers that I wanted, then grabbed two more before getting home.  Never was that good at keeping my purchases to a minimum.  Anyway, here's the haul:

• Olde Hickory Irish Walker Barleywine - Like the imperial stout I bought a week before, it had the wax seal on the bottle top, so I figured this one might be special.  I know, probably a horrible way to try and judge a beer, but it got my attention enough to give it a shot.  Price paid: $7.99
• Olde Hickory Bee Student - This was one of the beers I was targeting.  Looks to be a new release and it was cheap enough that I felt it worthy to give a shot.  Gotta support my NC breweries!  Price paid: $3.99
• Dogfish Head Positive Contact - I first saw this beer at Bottle Revolution and was enamored with the ingredients that was involved with the creation of this beer.  I had too much already and didn't want to pick it up then.  On my last visit to Bottle Revolution, I couldn't find it and was bummed that I missed out.  Fortunately, I saw this here at Tasty Beverage and didn't hesitate to grab this time.  Price paid: $12.99
• Thirsty Dog Barrel Aged Siberian Night - This was the other beer that I was on the prowl for.  Wandered around the store for a bit, didn't see it.  I was expecting the beer to be a 22oz bomber for all to see.  While checking out, I noticed the beer was up front the whole time, in 12 oz bottles.  Grabbed one to go and paid the steep price as well.  It better be good.  Price paid: $7.00

139. Southern Tier 2XIPA

Alright, so this was the one beer that I happened to have while visiting Winston-Salem.  Ended up going to a restaurant called Milner's (which was very good, by the way) and they had a special to get draught beers for $3.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Most of the selections were pretty standard, didn't see anything that jumped out except for this one and a Fat Tire seasonal.  Decided to go with the IPA to go with my appetizer of scallops and my main of shrimp 'n grits.  

The beer was presented in your standard pint with about half a finger of egg white head.  The retention was solid and sheets of lacing stuck to the side of the glass.  It's a nice dark golden color.  Aromas of malt and piney hops.  I thought I detected some citrus hops as well, but the nose is predominantly woodsy.  

The malt sweetness starts off pretty strong, but mellows out as the hops kick in.  With any Imperial IPA, there's a fine line to get that balance of sweet and bitter without getting your palate wrecked.  The sweetness would come right back towards the end, the bitter taste not as prevalent at the end.  You can't really taste the alcohol.  At 8.2% ABV, I thought I might get some heat, but couldn't really tell.  I thought the beer was medium to full bodied, you don't need to drink this one too fast.  It's a good beer, a little off-balance, but one I would have again.  I heard the regular IPA isn't all that great, but one of these days, I'll give it a try too.

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $3.00 (16 oz draught pint)