Southern Belles: Oklahoma City, OK

It is my experience, and forgive me if I am mistaken, but Oklahoma strikes me as the last hold-out when it comes to the fine art of microbrewing.

Not totally, mind.  As I am about to illustrate there is good beer to be found.  But it takes quite a bit of looking.   According to both google and Beeradvocate, there are two brewpubs in the whole state of Oklahoma.  This point was emphasized when I saw the 'craft beer' section of one of the local stores that included two fruit beers from Shocktop and Sam Adams Boston Lager.

But it is there, and one place to find it is Bells Isle Brewing.

They have a respectable selection of beers, and many of them are different enough to be interesting.  Food is fairly typical bar fare.  It's nice but nothing that really stands out about it apart from it's location in a city where locally brewed beer is still a kind of oddity.

Belles Blonde: This has a light wheat lemongrass aroma.  The flavor is dry and moderately bitter with herbal lemony hops.  For a style that can often flirt uncomfortably close with tasteless and watery, this is a nice representation of what the style can be.

Wild Mary's Hefenviesn: No aroma really stands out.  Lemony hops clash with tropical fruit from the yeast in a way that's a little jarring at first.  I got used to it as I finished my taster, but it still wasn't anything I was terribly exited about.

Raspberry Wheat: Raspberry is the operative word here; lots and lots of sweet fruit dominate the flavor profile.  The flavor has a slight floral quality to it that adds a bit of character for a refreshing sweet lighter beer.

Flannigans Amber: Again, no real aroma.  The flavor has roasted flavors with a hint if sweet fruity malt and herbal hoppy finish.  Standard amber character here.

Irish Stout: No aroma.  It has a full bodied character with intense roasted coffee woody flavors that dominate and kind of spread through the palate.  It's one of the more complex beers that's tough to nail down.

Power Plant Porter: The flavor has the typical roasted grain flavors with a hint of dark fruit sweetness that kind of clash with the sharp roasted barley flavor.  Not bad, but not something I personally like in a porter.

IPA: There is a very light citrus aroma here.  Lots of heavy herbal pine hops with a hint of citrus.  Not very well balanced, though, the bitterness hits the back of the throat pretty hard.