202. Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale

I've heard a lot of good thing about the beers out of Samuel Smith's Old Brewery.  They actually have a pretty impressive list of varieties (http://www.samuelsmithsbrewery.co.uk) to offer.  This happened to go with a dinner of fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and hushpuppies (Wager a guess as to where I went..?)  

The beer was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  It has a light color copper with about two fingers of fluffy off white head that leaves a spiderweb trail of lacing on the glass.  Aromas of faint grassy hops, smoke, caramel, toffee, toast, and spices that I can't discern.  Smells nice.

The taste first gives me the impression of a nut brown ale, but with a little more character.  I can taste burnt toast, caramel, some fruity esters, clove.  By the end of the drink, I feel like I'm drinking a roasted ESB.  My palate just seems to be all over the place with this one.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing.  Still, I found the beer to be quite enjoyable, and with a medium body and moderate carbonation, it goes down pretty easy.  With this good experience, I look forward to having more from Samuel Smith!

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $2.49 (550 ml bottle)

201. Lonerider Trick Shot Impy India Wit

While I was still at the Lonerider tap room, waiting for dinner time, I decided to give a go with this collaboration brew from Lonerider and Trophy Brewing.  Trophy Brewing (http://www.trophybrewing.com) is one of the newer breweries to show up in the Raleigh scene.  Trickshot is labeled as an imperial india wit, which I guess translates to an Imperial White IPA.  

Again, I ordered a half pint of this particular brew.  It came with a half finger of off-white head.  Decent retention.  A sheet of lacing surrounds the interior of the glass.  Nice.  It has a hazy golden color to it with some orange highlights.  Aromas of wheat, lemon, pine, and tangerine stand out, along with a biscuit malt base.  Not bad.

Tastes of citrus and pine dominate and clash with the taste of the wheat and the biscuit malts.  It's not very synergetic, unfortunately.  The malt sweetness doesn't play nice with the wheat, and the very bitter aftertaste doesn't do the wheat any favors either.  It is a full bodied brew, with moderate carbonation.  This wasn't my favorite, but I did end up drinking it down.  Just a lot of conflict within the beer, I think some adjustments to the ingredients might do this one good.  I also think it would be better as a White IPA instead of an Imperial White IPA.  The malt base is a little much.  Agree or disagree?  Just let me know!

Grade: C-

Price Paid: $2.50 (8 oz draught)

200. Lonerider Peacemaker Nitro Pale Ale

"Don't let the badge fool you - Peacemaker is popular with lawmen and outlaws alike.  This well-rounded West Cost-style pale ale uses several hop varieties and a special blend of American and European malts for a unique and bountiful hop aroma with a balanced bitterness." 5.7% ABV

I was getting with my friends and college buddies to enjoy a dinner together and watch some football.  The gang was supposed to meet late for dinner, and I had some time to burn, so me and my buddy went to the tap house within the Lonerider brewery to have a beer or two before dinner.  I think I've had the Peacemaker Pale Ale before in the past, but they were offering the nitro version and I wasn't going to pass it up.  

I ordered the half glass, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of an 8 or 10 oz pour.  The beer poured a murky golden yellow color with a finger of off-white head.  Since it's a nitro, that means the head goes on for near forever and it doesn't really go away.  I detected odd aromas of yeast, malt, with a little bit of hop presence.  

It doesn't taste much like your prototypical American Pale Ales.  Maybe it's closer to a European version, I don't know.  The malt flavors come in heavy, the hops are quite mild by comparison.  I tried a sample of both the nitro and the regular version to compare the tastes to each other.  The nitro is medium to full bodied with low carbonation.  Very creamy mouthfeel, but when paired with the APA taste profile, it doesn't hit its mark.  I prefer the non-nitro version better.

If you find it in nitro form, give it a try if you'd like, but it's just not really my thing.  Agree or disagree?  Just let me know!

Grade: C-

Price Paid: $2.50 (8 oz draught)

199. Stoudts Pils

Another dinner, another opportunity to crack open a beer to compliment my food.  The beer was poured into a pilsner glass.  3 plus fingers of white frothy head paired with a hazy golden color.  Nice looking beer.  Solid retention with the head, it leaves a lot of sticky goodness on the interior.  Aromas are muted and simplistic.  Floral hops paired with some grassy notes and crackers.

The taste isn't what I'm expecting.  Has a sourdough bread type of taste blended with some peppery notes from the carbonation, some faint citrus (lemon) notes, and butter.  The buttery taste gives it a slick mouthfeel, to go with a moderate body and moderate carbonation.

I have to admit, the taste was something I had to get used to.  Wasn't expecting the sourdough bread to come through as it did.  Still, I found the beer to be easy to drink.  I don't know how representative this beer is of the style, but it was a solid brew and I'd drink it again.  Agree or disagree?  Just let me know!

Grade: B-
Price Paid: $2.50 (12 oz bottle)

198. Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA

I decided to go with Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA to go with dinner.  It was bought a while ago, so some of the flavors may be different. It was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  It has a orange tinged copper color combined with two fingers of off white head.  The head has a soapy consistency to it.  Retention is average, splotches of lacing left on the interior.  Aromas of rye is predominant..now that I'm getting a feel for what rye smells like, it's not too difficult to find.  Pine notes are more predominant than citrus notes.  Other aromas of caramel and spice are also picked up.  

There's some bitterness up front from the hops, then the peppery taste of the rye comes next, the sweeter malt coming last before the rush of hops to provide the slightly bitter finish.  It's not as hop forward as expected.  The beer has a slick, oily mouthfeel.  Carbonation is average, maybe it would be more potent if I was consuming earlier in the year.  Body is also average, appropriate for the style.  

It's a pretty good beer, but I don't find the rye to be a game-changer in the IPA world.  It adds a different dimension, but I've yet to come across a rye beer that stands out.  Give this one a try if you like IPAs, but I think there are better ones out there.

Grade: B-

Price Paid: $1.90 (12 oz bottle)

197. Green Man The Dweller

While I was at Bottle Revolution for my last haul of the year, I figured I'd have a beer while I shopped.  Bottle Revolution offers somewhere in the neighborhood of ten taps and one of them had Green Man's The Dweller.  I've seen it bottled but it was a little pricey, or at least I thought it was back before I didn't think paying $15 for a bomber was a big deal.  I'd probably pick up a bottle now, but since the opportunity came to have it on draught and for a pretty good price, it was an easy decision.

The beer was poured into a plastic cup.  It pours a very dark brown, almost black color.  There was a finger of mocha colored head. It had great retention, I had to take a lap around the store and still had some head remaining.  I eventually got impatient and started drinking it anyway.  I detected aromas of roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate, and medium roast coffee.  I thought I would pick up some dark fruits, but I didn't sense any.

The taste was consistent with the aroma with tastes of bittersweet chocolate, chocolate cake, cocoa, burnt coffee and even tobacco.  It starts sweet but it finishes bitter.  Medium bodied but very creamy with a low carbonation.  Very easy to drink.  The alcohol hides itself with little effort.  

This is a very good stout.  It doesn't feel like an imperial stout, but I think it's very good as a tweener.  I'd gladly drink this again.  How does it fare with some of the other stouts I've had?  It's right up there with some of the best.  Agree or disagree?  Just let me know.

Grade: A-

Price Paid: $5.00 (10 oz draught)

196. Big Boss Sack Time

After a long day, I wanted a beer, and this was one of the four that was sitting in the refrigerator rotation.  Big Boss' Sack Time is a rye beer, touting seven varieties of malt in this bad boy.  So how did it turn out?  Keep reading and see..

The beer was poured into a stemless brandy glass.  It has a nice, deep ruby red color.  About one finger of light khaki colored head.  Light to medium retention, leaving a thin sheet of lacing right at the beer's surface.  Aromas of brown sugar, caramel, toast, and rye are detected, as expected.  

This is certainly a malt forward beer, hop heads probably won't appreciate.  Tastes of toast, rye, brown sugar and malt come right through.  The rye brings the pepper and spice in the finish.  It's light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.  I actually would find this beer to be quite sessionable and enjoyable to have.  A little light hop would be nice, but maybe it wouldn't be indicative of the style.  Just a personal preference.

Grade: B

Price Paid: $1.69 (12 oz bottle)