Pints at the Station: Baltimore, Maryland

Way out on the East Coast and Baltimore this week.  I was banished to the suburbs this time, but it put me close to a nice little restaurant and brewpub that might normally be too far out to make the trip worthwhile.

The Redbrick Station is mostly a grill and bar type restaurant.  I don't know if beer is really their specialty, it was good, but it didn't seem to be the focus.  It was good, but not spectacular.  The beer was more or less what you would expect from the styles although they did have a cask conditioned beer available, so that's a pretty big mark in their favor.

I would both recommend and warn against the fish and chips here.  They are awesome.  At the same time they pile the plate high with french fries and big-old cuts of battered fish.  If you missed lunch, like I did that day, you might be tempted to eat the whole thing.  It was delicious, but it did create a gastronomical adventure later in the evening.

I guess, what i am saying, enjoy in moderation.

Now, the beer.

Honey Go Light: A light honey ale that makes the honey known in a very pleasing aroma.  The dry, sweet flavor is fairly prominent off the top followed by bread flavors and a fizzy mouthfeel.  As light ales go, this was pretty good.  Probably not something to reach for everyday, but refreshing when summer starts cranking the heat up,

Avenue Ale: There was a very light citrus aroma here.  I could detect the hops in the aroma, but not nearly as much in the flavor.  There was some slightly roasted, bread and malt flavor.  The citrus was there but overall this beer just didn't have the flavor I like in a pale.

Something Red: No aroma I could detect here.  The flavor was first dominated by malty flavors with hints of dark cherry fruit.  Pine and floral hops started very, very light and slowly climbed to give the beer a dry, bitter flavor.

Cask Conditioned Red Ale: The same beer as above served just below room temperature and naturally carbonated.  This really brought out a malty aroma that just wasn't there before.  There was a little bit of caramel sweetness with the malt and dark cherry in the flavor.  There was more sweetness here, but the hops still managed to cut through it at the end.

Daily Crisis IPA: Just a hint of citrus in the aroma.  As far as IPA's go this was a bit different.  First there is lots of light malt but almost no hops.  You have to wait a bit.  Give it a few seconds.  Keep waiting... hold... there it is.  Pine and floral hops eventually show up almost after the rest of the flavor has already passed.  I enjoyed it to a certain degree but I think those who really, really like an IPA would find this disappointing and they would probably be right to think that.

Spooners Stout: Intense coffee aroma here.  Kind of a drier Guinness clone although I did get hints of chocolate peaking out from the creamy roasted grain flavor.

Scotch Ale: This packed a hell of a hop wallop for the style. Sweet roasted malt with light cherry fruit carried most of the flavor but there was a very distinct pine bitterness.

The Bounty: Lafayette Brewing Company

Maybe it's the disturbing amount of time I've spent here over the years, but I find that Indiana is a little-known gem in the world of awesome grain-based beverages.  Every time I find myself wandering this weird little state in the middle of the country looking for beer, I find it.  And every time I figure that, this time, I'm probably getting to the bottom of the barrel.  When I come back, I realize that there is more beer underneath.

For today's post I had to venture far from the welcoming lights of Indianapolis, but not too far.

Lafayette Brewing boasts award winning beers brewed locally.  Not exactly a unique stance for a local brewery, but well deserved in any case.  The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of different styles they had available during my visit.  There's something about staring down at three sampler trays that makes you slowly push your car keys to the other side of the table and steel yourself for a long battle.

They were plentiful and, for the most part, they were excellent.  As I go through the line there were, I think two that really didn't resonate.  Really, I don't think they were bad as much as I don't think they weren't as good as their siblings.

Overall I was impressed.   There's a bunch to talk about, so let's not stand on ceremony.  Time to pull up a pint... or two...

...or twelve.

HMS Porter: Pretty standard charcoal and coffee aroma that hides something a bit unusual for a porter. The flavor is heavy on some bitter herbal hops with some bitter coffee flavors that blend surprisingly well. The flavors are propped up with some creamy sweetness that leads to a very nice and rather complex porter.

East Side Bitter:  I couldn't pick up much of an aroma here. This turned out to be a pretty simple, nice session beer. Toasty caramel sweetness with a bitter herbal back.  Nothing earth shattering but very nice.

Black Angus Oatmeal Stout: I picked up a little liquorice on the aroma here.  The flavor had lots of bitter for a stout beer. I picked up lots of smoky, woody flavors along with a pretty heavy herbal flavor.

Take Flight APA: American Pale with a heavy citrus floral aroma.  This is one of the few I didn't really dig since it was pretty heavy on the hops dancing dangerously close to triggering a hop bomb. It would be okay for an IPA but it was too much for a pale.

Electric Oatmeal Stout:  They do love their oatmeal here.  This also presented with a woody aroma, but the flavor and mouthfeel were much smoother.  This stayed on the sweeter side of the equation and mixed the woody leather flavors with some coffee and sweet chocolate.  Nice contrast to the Black Angus.

Cask Aged Hazelnut HMS Porter: I picked up a very light herbal aroma here, a different variation from it's draught brother. The flavor was also richer with a heavy dose of vanilla to mix with the coffee and chocolate with very little to none of the bitterness shown from the last.

Tippecanoe Common Ale: Light hoppy aroma here.  This the hop bill on this one was similar to the pale although not half as intense.  The citrusy, floral hops and the light malt made this one feel more like a pale.

Marley VSOP:  There was some debate on the meaning of the acronym, VSOP.  I don't think two members of the bar staff gave me the same answer.  It's a very special... something or other at any rate.  The light chocolate aroma of this dark beer was very nice, but the flavor was quite complex.  I picked up hints of coffee, chocolate, red wine flavor and the slight bit of herbs and vanilla.

Star City Lager: Now for something completely different, a light beer with a hint of hops in the aroma.  There was nothing much light in the flavor, however.   There were some sweet, bread flavors right off the top with some grassy pine hops that follow fast and hard and made for a surprisingly flavorful light beer. 

Bumpy face Agave Wheat Wine: This is where things got interesting.  The aroma had just a bit of sweet, light fruit that I could just sit and smell all day.  I picked up apple, pear in the heavy-bodied light malt and it finished with a touch of citrusy floral hops.  

Otis Brown:  Actually I lied.  I don't know if it was the heavy flavors from the bumpy face or if the last two beers in the sample were just kinda.... meh, but it tapered off here at the end.   This brown ale had no aroma I could find.  Light sweet caramel flavor with a medium body and that's all one can really say about it.  It avoided being watery which is so often the hazard with this style, I'll give it that.

Phantom Sun:  No aroma again.  This beer combined some sweet toasty flavors with a decent amount of   citrus floral hops.

I made it through.  Was sober enough for a pint of the Bumpy Face before it was time to venture into that good night.

I woke up three days later with this blog post scrawled on a hobo's chest.  He didn't seem to mind.

Under the Empyrian Skyes: Lincoln NE

Empyrean Brewery, for me, is like that next door neighbor I never really got to know.  He waves when he's nearby we exchange a few words about the weather, but I never really got to know him and I never asked about the strange lights and sounds in his garage at 3am.  It's high time I packed a six pack, knocked on his door and introduced myself.

Empyrean is a bit of a staple of the Nebraska brew scene, such as it is.  The Midwest have been slow adopters, but Empyrean has one of those leading the way.  I've run into them once or twice but I've really not had the chance to see what they've been getting up to in Lincoln.  Here's a closer look.

Besides bottles at the local beer store, the place to get some Empyrean goodness is at Lazlo's Brewery and Grille, which confused the hell out of me.  To speak true, I never intended to visit Empyrean.  I would have liked to, but I couldn't find them anywhere in Lincoln.  Found a brewery called Lazlo's that looked good, and then it turns out they are one in the same entity.  Why not call their taproom Empyrean Brewery and Grille?  Only the gods and the head brewer know for sure. 

Chaco Canyon Gold:  Light beer with a slightly honey sweet aroma and flavor. It finishes just slightly dry and has a nice flavor for a light beer.

Burning Skye Scottish: I've had this before but, just for kicks, I'm reviewing it again to see how much my perception has changed over the years.  I couldn't pick up any aroma on this beer.  The flavor was bready with a light caramel sweetness too it.  I picked up hints of mocha and dark cherry as well.  Although it's hard to tell, it tastes light and slightly watery for the style with a fizzy mouthfeel.

Luna Sea ESB:  There was just the slightest hint of pine on the aroma.  The flavor was dominated by light roasted grain and caramel sweetness but there were some pine hops that stuck their head out a little at the end for a slightly dry finish.

Third Stone Brown: I was just able to pick up some sweet caramel aroma on this beer.  The flavor was sweet with roasted grain, bread and maybe just a touch of coffee to bitter things up a tad.

Watch Man IPA:  It came with a pretty standard citrus and floral hop aroma.  The flavor was an example of an IPA done right.  There is a decent amount of back-of-the-throat bitterness but it comes with a tone of citrus, pine and floral flavors that are powerful but not overpowering. 

Dark Side Vanilla Porter:  No aroma I could detect.  The flavor is pretty much as advertised. Strong vanilla flavor that dominates the palate with some coffee and chocolate thrown in for good measure.

Collapsar Oatmeal Stout: Nitruos stout with a nice woody aroma. The beer was definitely on the sweet side, but it was hard to pin down.   I picked up some wood, coffee and chocolate flavors but it was so smooth it disappeared almost as fast as it appeared.  Before I knew it, my sample was gone.  This is one of those beers that's almost dangerously drinkable.  Nitrous often has that effect as does oatmeal, which probably explains why this goes down so easy.

Fallen Angel Sweet Stout:  I couldn't pick up any aroma on this. It was very drinkable, not as much as the Collapsar, but in the ballpark.  Flavor was pretty straight forward, though.  Mocha, coffee, roasted grains... not much else to say.

Founding Fathers: Washington D.C.

So we're in our nation's captiol this week.

Okay, I lied.  We're on the outskirts of the D.C. area on the Maryland side of the city, but from what I can tell from the news, there is abolutely nothing going on in the middle of this city worth paying attention to.  Mostly a lot of men in suits figuring out new and exiting ways to screw a lot of people over and steal a staggering amount of money.  It's probably better for everyone involved if we find a quite place to sit and weather the storm with a pint.  And I have found such a place.

Franklin's Brewery, Restruant and General Store is... well it's a little out there.  Both in scope and brewing style which is just kinda awsome.  I think the best way to describe this place is, it's like the Cracker Barrel for lunatics.  They've got a nice restruant, an attached gift shop with all sorts of eclectic wares and enough beer to keep the voices quiet for a few precious minutes.  The whole place has kind of a relaxed art house feel which is kind of cool.  That same style translates into how they brew beer which leads to some fun when it comes time to sink a few pints.

Old Miser: A winter ale with a light fruity aroma.  It's quite malty with some rich, maybe just slightly tart cherry fruit with some earthy woody notes and a slight pine bitterness.  Slightly unusual beer but excellent one. It's packs quite a bit of body but it has a very drinkable quality about it.

Highland Hugh:  No real aroma on this scotch ale.  The flavor is intently fruity with a slight rum flavor right off the top.  As the flavor continued to work through the palate I picked up some leather and some and a slightly bitter finish.

Broken Gnome:  This is a darker belgian ale with a light Bananna aroma.  The flavor contains leathery, spicy notes that kind of start out and fade into a light bed of tropical fruit that's quintessentially Belgian.  It's takes the imbiber to a weird place for a minute before returning them home a little confused but overall very pleased with the experience.

Private IPA: Typical citrusy aroma.  It's very hoppy but its one of those beers that has enough hop flavor and malt to balance the bitterness, something that I seem to be finding more and more.  Maybe it's me and the hopheads of the world are finally wearing me down. 

Hop Zen: A hoppy beer that's closer to a bitter amber ale.  Similar hop and flavor profile as the Private IPA  with a flash of caramel and toasted grains that help manage the hop bill.

Black hop down: I'm sensing a pattern in the aroma.  The dark beer qualities, black roasted grain coffee, appear in the background and serve to prop up the hops.  

Farewell to Farms: I pick up a lot of floral aroma here with a hint of caramelly sweetness.   In the flavor the sweetness and the floral hop qualities really play well together.  It's not overtly sweet but just a nice, flavorful lighter beer.

Dock of the Bay: Long Beach, CA

 Stopping in for a few pints at the Belmont Brewing Company. 

You gotta love this place if only for it's ocean side location.  It provides a nice view while sucking down beers.  

It's a little more spendy then some places, but not prohibitively so.  One can still stop in for some decent eats and a couple of beers and not be squinting at the bill hoping to the gods that total is really a phone number.

That being said, nothing all that staggeringly exiting in the beer department.  Not bad, not by any means, but nothing that really sets it apart... except for the view.

And onto said beer:

Strawberry Blonde: As anticipated, this fruit beer had a pretty heavy strawberry aroma.  The beer itself is quite sweet and the strawberry flavor is very pronounced. Basically the proverbial 'beer for people who don't like beer'.  But for what it is, not bad.

Pale ale: Pretty heavy citrus hop aroma.  It is very heavy on the hops without a lot if malt to back it up so it at first taste it's more like a lighter IPA then a pale. 

Marathon Blonde: No aroma that I could detect.  Light, sweet... light ... ... that's about it. I could detect some faint fruity flavors in there but otherwise not much complexity to speak of.

Top Sail: Nice, warm toasted aroma.  Slight roasted grain character with just a touch of bitterness in the back for a simple but rather nice amber ale.

Long Beach Crude:  No real aroma to speak of again.  Full bodied unsweetened chocolate.  With a slight herbal licorice quality.   Dry finish.  Very nice dry stout 

Just for the Helg of it IPA:  This IPA is brewed with a rather novel hop from Western Australia known as the Helga hops.  The aroma seems pretty familiar, citrusy, slightly spicy and floral.  In the flavor, the hop character is tempered nicely so there a ton of flavor without a lot of bitter.  Drinkable but pack full of citrusy floral flavor.  One of the better IPA's I have had for the sheer amount of hop flavor they managed to pack in while still making it palatable.

Left Coast Redemption: Long Beach, CA

I first came into contact with Beachwood Brewing company here in Nebraska, strangely enough.  This Southern California brew pub was one of the few to brave the Great Planes and bring a couple of pints up.

And frankly, their appearance didn't make the best of impressions suffice to say, their pale ale... meh.

I am now convinced that whatever hell-brew they schlepped up to Nebraska was something they must save for out-of-towners because, not only did I not see this rather unexciting pale on their menu, but the beers they had on tap were much better.  Nothing that will make the beer acolyte rethink everything they know about hops and barley, but very good none-the less.

The cool thing about this place is the fact that this is a place where the local beer geeks gather.  To illustrate this point, there was one moment where the bartender discretely pulled a small bottle from behind the bar and passed it to a group of guys at the other end of the bar.  They all gasped and stared in a kind of reverence one only normally runs into in a religious setting.  I asked about the bottles and the bartender said, "Goose Island is coming out with a new line of sour beers.  There was only two available and I got both of them."

Yeah... it's that kind of place.

And speaking of beer:

Melrose IPA: Loved the floral citrus aroma on this beer.  This beer packs a lot of bitterness, but it's one of those beers that's got enough citrus and hops from the hops to really make this beer enjoyable.  It's a hop bomb, no doubt about it, but in that pleasant way.

James Brown Ale:  This brown ale has a deceiving coffee mocha aroma on it.   I say deceiving because it's got some serious hops for the style.  I pick up a heavy amount of herbal earthy hop character underneath a roasted malt back.   It's different but not terribly appealing to me personally.

Utter Love Stout: Nice big roasted aroma on this milk stout.  The flavor contains big bodied, sweet  coffee mocha notes. It makes for a wonderful winter beer in a part if the country that doesn't really have any winter to speak of. 

Hops of Brixton: A familiar floral citrus aroma on this ESB.  It has an interesting blend of citrus bitter hops with a kind of fruity malt background.  It's a remarkably good balance and leads to a wonderfully bitter drinkable ale.

Oat monster:  A lot of sharp roasted aroma with maybe a hit of licorice.  The flavor is very smooth, full bodied yet fairly dry with a bit of an herbal floral finish.

Hop Ninja: Okay, this double IPA frankly scared me a little. Their IPA had a massive dose of IBU's but they managed to get away with it.  But with a double?  The urge to go completely overboard was just too great.  They would end up with hop bomb that obliterate any taste sensations I had left.  The aroma is pure cascade hops.  It was like putting my face in a hop bag.  The taster wasn't bad but it tasted like cascade hops with some sugar added.  It was pretty good but I don't think I could finish an entire pint.

Ryeco Suave:  Belgian with a spicy clove and fruity esters aroma.  The flavor is mild, smooth and wonderful.  There are some spicy qualities with the banana and tropical fruit.  Pleasant beer all around.

I've got one more dispatch from Southern California before I leave this area of the country.  Until then, cheers!

Scrap Metal City: Detroit MI

More and more I feel a weird kind of affinity for Detroit.  There is no reason whatsoever for this ruined city to have as many microbreweries; good microbreweries mind, in a city that's almost become the icon of the kind of post-industrial economy desperation.  Yet, in my semi-frequent visits I always come across another brewery.

It is my theory (my highly uninformed theory but I have yet to hear a better one) that Detroit is filled with people who know damn well that no corporation or government is going to give a damn about them.  These people find their own way to try and survive.  They build, they create and more then a few of them brew.

My selection for this visit was Copper Canyon Brewery.  And after such a grandiose introduction, honestly, I was a little disappointed with the selection, although they were out of one of their regular beers and the seasonal was in the process of being rotated out, so it kinda is what it is. 

Alt Beer: Rich and malty with a hint of dark fruit and a touch of citrus in the finish.  Nice all around drinkable beer here.

IPA: Fairly typical citrus aroma.  There was an interesting, heavy floral quality to the flavor however.  It's a nice change, but it was far too much in this beer.  It had a bitterness that was off the charts but it wasn't the normal back-of-the-throat bitterness one gets from most hops.  This one you feel everywhere and it quickly overwhelms the palate.

Brown Ale: This beer had a nice fruity and sweet aroma. The flavor was full and very malty with some chocolate, dark cherry and toasty grain characters.  Sweet, but a nice beer overall.

Golden Ale: Wheat beer with a heavy clove tropical fruit flavor.  The Belgian yeast tropical fruit clove flavor is overwhelming and my pint had this metallic off flavor that made me fairly certain that I had a pint of a bad batch, despite the waitresses insistence that she didn't think it was.

On a side note, I am proud to announce that this little tale from Detroit is the 100th post of this blog.  Given the mortality rate in the killing fields of the blogosphere, making it to 100 posts is, I feel, a bit of a mile stone.  Blogspot is littered with the corpses of blogs that were sporadically updated ten times before the author became distracted by something else shiny.

So I'm kind of proud of that.  Thought about doing a 'Best Of' post in commemoration, but honestly, couldn't be buggered.  At the sheer number of brews this site boasts, any ranking would have been completely arbitrary at best.

Instead it's business as usual.  Thank you for reading.  And now I'm off to find another beer.

Cheers!

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.

One Hit Wonder: Dayton Ohio

Lock 27 is brand new on the Dayton Ohio scene.  As of this post it will have been open only a matter of months.

As such, this microbrewery has a lot of growing ahead of it.  I will say this for the place.  The owner was out tending bar and chatting up the customers and he is a man who truly loves beer in only the way only a long-time home brewer can.

It will be interesting to see how this joint evolves in the coming years.  It is a place that celebrates both good food and good beer.  That seems like a good start to me.

On my visit they only had one origional beer on tap.  They had a decent selection of good beers from out and around, but only one of their own at the moment.  So this is going to be a little different post as I will include a couple random beers they happened to have on tap... just to round things out a bit.

Kay?

Kay.

Beer?

Lock 27, Winston ESB: No aroma to speak of.  Nice, creamy mouthfeel.  A good deal of caramel malt sweetness balance a load of lemony, grassy hops.  Very nice, drinkable beer.

Southern Tier, Pumpking: Tis the season for those wonderful, spicy pumpkin ales.  This beer from upstate New York, was quite nice, with a sweet creamy quality to the normal bill of pumpkin spice.

Great Divide, Hoss: Rye lager from Denver Colorado.  This beer had a very light fruity aroma.  There was a sweeter, light berry flavor with a hint of pepper from the rye that gentelly turned to a floral hop back.

One last thing about Lock 27.  The curry is awesome.  That is all for this week.

College Town Quicky: Colombia, Missouri

Last week I stopped by one of the breweries in the college town of Columbia Missouri.  Things...er... could have been better.  One beer, in particular, could have been better.

I was able to quickly stop by another brewpub in the town... possibly to get the taste out of my mouth.  I didn't have a lot of time to spend, so I only had a very small cross section of their beers but, from what I could find, I should have stopped at Flat Branch Brewing instead.

It was a bigger joint.  The food wasn't quite up to the same level as Broadway, but I had a shrimp po' boy and was quite happy.  I was all the happier since I didn't have a beer that made be think of licking a... you know what.  Let's just get on to the beer.

Oil Change Stout: Charcoal chocolate aroma.  Nice full bodied stout with a smooth, unsweetened chocolate and roasted grain flavor.

Honey Wheat: Very, very light grassy aroma.  The sweet honey flavor is prominent here along with some slight grassy hop notes.  Extremely flavorful for the style and, I think, what most people might expect when the phrase 'Honey Wheat Beer' is thrown around.

Green Chile: I always love a nice pepper ale.  It doesn't have to be complex, and this one clearly isn't, but a good chili beer awesome in its own rite.  Light malt backs up and restrains the chilies here making for a nice refreshing lighter beer with a hint of spice.

ESB: Started with a fruity caramel aroma.  The fruit really hit up front and slid slowly into the 'B' in ESB.  The hops in back had some pine and herbal flavors that really stood up well to the sweet fruity malts at the top.  All in all a nice, flavorful beer.

Anyway, that's all from Missouri for now.  It's Ohio for the next couple weeks.

Cheers!

Into the Underground: Columbia Missouri.

There's going to be a moment in this post that is not going to be pleasant for anyone.  I've run into a few brewpubs that just don't click with me.  It happens.

None of those brewpubs had anything as bad as the Wee Heavy.  But we will get to that.  First, a positive note:

Broadway Brewery is a basement bar located right on the main drag of Columbia.  There's kind of a relaxed, coffeehouse, art house vibe about this place.

I doubt there is a better place in town for a burger... especially if one chooses to get a little esoteric with the meat.  They do have a basic beef hamburger for the purists, but on top of that they have a buffalo burger, a pork, spinach and goat cheese burger.  Personally I rocked the lamb burger and I was extremely happy that I did.  It along with their signature potatoes was awesome.

So that's good.  The beer, on the other hand, had a bit to be desired.  The food was great... the beer, not so much.

The majority of their beers had one of two major problems with them.  They were either watery or they just had strange off-flavors.  One off-flavor I hope to never encounter again... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Honey Wheat: Light floral aroma.  This one gets a pass because light flavor is kinda in the style.  It was just lightly sweet with a nice... well... honey and wheat flavor.  Pretty much as advertised.

Boone Dog Brown: There is something very sad about a watery brown ale and this is a good example of one of those.  Or a bad example as the case may be.  It had a slight coffee aroma but the flavor had a very light roasted flavor with a hint of coffee but, otherwise, was just fizzy and watery.

2011 Barley Wine: Okay this was one of the hits but, honestly, it's hard to miss with a nice barley wine.  This had a nice chocolate cherry aroma.  It had some big cherry and port wine flavors with some herbal bitterness in the back.

Blonde on Blonde: No aroma to speak of.  It had some light grassy flavors along with pretty intense herbal bitterness, but that's it.  It was watery, then very bitter.   Too bitter for the style.

American Pale Ale: This turned out to be the one I liked best (apart from the barley wine), although there was nothing all that special about it.  It featured a nice load of citrus hops that were flavorful without being overbearing, but it was pretty much exactly like most pale ales.

Cherry Saison: This one had a sour cherry aroma.  The sour flavors hit and clashed with the fruity clove and banana esters from the Belgian yeast.  It was really weird at first, but I have to admit that the combination kinda grew on me after a while.

Cream Ale: This seemed like a combination of styles more then anything else.  It started with a nice sweet caramel aroma but along with those sweet, creamy flavors there was some very intense woody, grassy hops.  It tasted like a cream IPA... and not in a terribly pleasant way.

Black IPA: The aroma and the flavor tell the same tale.  Bitter chocolate and coffee meet and make sweet love with bitter citrus hops.  Simple, but nice.  Neither flavor is overpowering and it makes for a nice dark beer.

Wee Heavy: I've run into precious few beers that I actively dislike.  There are many I thought could be better, but very few that I have a deep-seated loathing for.  I think that, in the history of this blog, this is the worst that I've tasted. The aroma was wonderful.  It had some light fruit and wood aroma that had all the promise of a good scotch ale.  The flavor... well... it had this leathery flavor.  It had a big leathery flavor.  It was like... and I apologize, this comparison is not going to be pleasant for anyone, including me... it was like licking a cowboy.

That is not a typo, I didn't mean to write liking, it wasn't like 'friending' a country singer on Facebook.  It was like giving a tongue bath to a professional bull rider. 

There are those who might enjoy licking a cowboy, but I do not.  The very fact that this beer made me think of that rather horrific idea is as good a reason as any to avoid it.

Lightning Hopkins: This in an ale brewed with sassafras.  I liked the idea, but the resulting sweet root beer flavor clashed heavily with the hops to the point that it just seemed out of place.

Bottom line.  Broadway Brewing, get the lamb burger.  Eat the living hell out of the lamb burger.  Enjoy a pale ale or maybe a cherry saison if it tickles your fancy.

Might keep a distance from the rest.

Yes, they even put it in the Beer: Louisville Kentucky

I am, of course talking about bourbon.  Kentucky is kinda known for it.  There's more brewing going on in Kentucky then I think anyone who lives outside the state was wont to expect.  Of course the most popular brew in the area is anything that spent some time in an old bourbon barrel.  But more on that in a minute.

This week, a quick trip to Louisville brought me to Bluegrass Brewing Company where they insist that beer is food.  At least, that's the phrase they put on the shirts here.  Overall not a bad place for a pint or two.  On beers that featured hops, I think they tended to overdo it a tad, but overall not bad.

Summer Wheat: Light on aroma but it hides quite a lot of flavor in there.  It's just a little sweet with a little roasted quality in there as well.  I picked up a hint of citrus and it had a creamy, smooth feel to it.  Interesting body to a lighter beer, but the overall effect was really good.

Alt Beer: Maybe it was a shock to the system after the much sweeter wheat beer earlier, but this one struck be as increadibly bitter.  It was heavy on the medicinal hop flavor to the point I couldn't pick out much else in the flavor profile.  The bitterness faded a little as I went on, but I started picking up a skunky flavor at that point.  Not the best beer I've had recently.

Nut Brown: This beer had a lovely nutty caramel aroma.  The flavor was lighter but it managed to avoid the watery taste of some brown ales.  It's sweet, roasted with some dry, woody flavors to for blalance.

American Pale Ale: Light, spicy citrus aroma.  The citrus flavors on the palate are rather more intense.  Some floral notes follow towards the end that linger and it finishes rather dry.

Dark Star Porter: There was a pretty standard light, roasted aroma on this beer and it pretty much stayed the same in the flavor, although I picked up the same skunky flavor on this beer as it warmed as well.

Bourbon Stout: The smell is pretty much all bourbon and the flavor is dominated with that particular spirit, but it helped with some sweet roasted malty flavors.   Very drinkable for a beer with this kind of body and this kind of alcohol content.

Homewreaker IPA: The aroma is light, but this beer is the definition of a hop bomb.  Its that kind of bitterness that hides any characteristic except for the fact that, 'this is freaking bitter'.   Like punch right to the back of the throat bitter.

He's a Lumberjack and he's IPA: Flagstaff, Arizona

Sorry for the title.  I recently aquired "He's Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy," and I'm afraid the image of an elderly Michael Palin performing the lumberjack song will both haunt  and amuse me for some time.

And it is related to this week's post.... because Flagstaff is a lumber town...  And there's kind of a lumber mill theme at Beaver Street Brewery... which I will be talking about soon...

Look I'm sorry about the pun, okay?  I just couldn't help myself.

Okay?

Okay.

Beer?

This is the last stop on the oddyessy that was my trip through the Southwest, and when it comes to the brewpub, we're getting back to basics.

Well, basics, but upped a notch all the way around.

The food is your basic pub fare... except well more so.  I went with their basic 'Beaver Street Burger' and I've got to say they push the limits of the awesome you can achieve with ground beef and a bun.
There was something, I dunno, quinteccential about their beer selection as well.  I can't pinpoint it and maybe it's a product of a mind that's spent entirely too much time watching little yellow dots go by, but they have two IPA, a couple wild cards and nothing even remotely resembling Budweiser.   That's a brewpub.  Or, at least, it's the kind of brewpub a city like Flagstaff should have.

Lumberyard Amber: This seasonal selection had a nice citrusy, earthy aroma to it.  The flavor packs a lot more hops then one traditionally finds in a amber but it's not right there in front ready to give you an alpha acid punch to the palate, it's sorta sneaks up on you.  It's like biting into a chile pepper.  There's a slow build-up of floral citrus hops until that's all you taste and you become afraid that it is all you will ever taste again.

Lumberjack Red: I didn't pick up an aroma on this beer as much.  The flavor was of light, roasted, earthy flavor.  It was very drinkable, but was flirting dangerously close to 'watery' in character.

Red Rock Rasberry: Some day I'm going to put all the rasberry beers I have tasted into two catagories.  One catagory for your typlical light, sweet, fruity, dare I say... 'chick' beers and another catagory for people who Don't Like Fruit Beers!  Then I will make those two groups fight.   Anyway this beer would be fighting for the latter group in this case.  The rasberry aroma is there and in force, but the melds into some dry grassy flavors.

Balgian Tripple: This Belgian comes with all the associated belgian flavors and aromas; clove trpolical fruit, bananna and the like.  They are not overpowering, as can so often happen when these kind of esters get heavily involved, and it remains highly drinkable.  One thing that I did notice was a dry, warm alcohol flavor dancing around in there informing the drinker of the punch that is hidden within the malt.  I think a few of these would put me on the floor before I knew what happened.

R&R Oatmeal Stout: Lost of rich coffee and mocha on the aroma with just a hint of either wood or leather... I couldn't really place it at the moment. The beer is very drinkable and contains dark chocolate and earthy notes and finishes just slightly dry.

Cascading IPA: This is an American-style IPA that gets close to 'hop bomb' territory.  The citrus, floral hops are intense at first, but they mellow considerably as it moves through the palate.  By the end, the hops linger just slightly and some light roasted malt peaks through.

Lumberjack IPA: This would be Cascading's smaller, quieter brother.  It shares a lot of the same qualities without the intense hop kick-to-the-teeth.

Old Santa Fe: New Mexico

I talked a little about Santa Fe in my last post, but it really is one of of the few truly unique places in America.  So one more stop before we venture farther down this Proud Highway.  This little microbrewery is located right smack dab in the middle of downtown, the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery.  It's a cool place, tucked away into the Plaza Mercado building in the picture above. 

Honestly, I was more impressed with the food then the beer.  It wasn't bad, but no particular beer really had any terribly unique flavor.  They were all pretty standard; your standard wheat beer, standard blonde, standard brown, standard IPA... etc.   I guess what I am saying is that I'll remember the blue corn tacos (highly recommended, I might add) longer then I'll remember the Roadrunner IPA.   But, again, they weren't bad and this is a beer blog so here we go:

40K Wheat: I think this is what they give to those people who come in asking for a Budweiser.  It has that grassy, malty aroma.  It's a little sweeter, but it's a pretty basic light beer.

Atomic Blonde: I picked up some light fruit aroma here and it pretty much stayed in the flavor as well.  I picked up a hint of floral hops in the back, but very little else.

Czech your English: Similar to the blonde. A little darker and a little sweeter.  This one packs a bigger body and brings some caramel and strawberry sweetness to add to the flavor profile.

Atalaya Amber: I picked up a little citrus in the aroma.  The flavor is light, sweet and toasty with the same citrus floral hop character in the back.  It struck me as watery and a little bland.  I would have liked to see a little more  

End of the Trail Brown: Brown ales are almost terminally light and watery, in my experience.  They can be good, but there is something about the style that invites a kind of emptiness in the flavor profile.  This is a good example of that... well 'good' being a loosely used term there.  It had a nice chocolaty aroma.  The flavor was sweet at first with a little mocha character and it had a rather nice but surprising dry bitter finish.  Overall, though the flavors could have been ramped up quite a bit.

Gold Metal Stout: Light coffee aroma.  I picked up a lot of coffee, sharp roasted barley flavors and a hint of unsweetened chocolate.  It finished dry.

Oaked Swartzbier: The aroma and flavor were both very light.  I picked up the buttery oak flavor among the chocolate and caramel malty flavors that dominated this beer.  There were no detectable hops.

Roadrunner IPA: I picked up some citrus and floral qualities on the hops in the aroma, but those same characteristics were buried under an avalanche of alpha acids in the flavor.  In the great IPA battle that balances the delicate flavors of the hop with pure brutish bitterness... yeah flavor got it's ass kicked.

Pizza and Beer, Rocky Mountain High Edition: Denver, CO.

I'm sensing at pattern.

Pizza and beer are, of course, a match made in fat, happy, drunken heaven.  The two words flow together like poetry.  In fact, if I were to yell, "Who wants pizza and beer?" everyone would raise their hands with the possible exception of those who had recently had pizza or those who don't drink. (You're in the wrong bloody blog if you're in the latter category.  Seriously, how did you even get here?)

So it shouldn't be all that surprising that I am running into more and more pizzeria/ microbreweries scattered among the landscape.  For example there is Oggies, a chain I have been seeing with more and more frequency across this great land and I recently ran into Papago brewery in Arizona that doesn't specialize in pizza per se, but they have a certain mad scientist approach to the dish.


Dads and Bros. Breweria is one of those, a pizzeria and brewery shacking up together, splitting the bills and making sweet love.

"It's actually the smallest microbrewery in Colorado," said Paul as he was pouring me my taster's flight.  The first thing I liked about this place was the staff.  The good people slinging beer would stop and talk about their beer and the brewery.  The owner occasionally wandered by to glad-hand patrons, shoot the shit and ask the key question,

"So what do you think of the Basil Watermelon Wheat?"

More on that in a moment.

"It's kind of cool to operate on this scale, you know?  It allows us to kind of experiment."

The second thing I liked about this place is that they are a bit of a wild card when it comes to brewing.  They have some pretty standard brews, as you will see in a moment, but every once in a while, there's something quite a bit different.  A beer that makes you're eyes go wide and forces you to look down into your glass to see what they hell you just drank.  In a good way, mind.

Basil Watermelon Wheat: "Not our most popular beer," Paul said when I ordered a pint.  "People either really like it, like you.  Or people...don't."  In the middle of a hot summer day, I thought this was a nice beer to have.  It has a very, very light fruity aroma.  As far as the flavor goes, the name pretty much says it all.  Watermelon's flavor is so light it's amazing that it comes through at all and it's backed up with a sweet slightly minty herbal flavor.  Watermelon and basil.   I don't see myself filling the fridge with this beer, but for something refreshing and different, I'll give it a swig or two.

Fathom Amber: The aroma on this beer had a very nice sweet toffee, caramel character to it.  Unfortunately, this is one of those where the smelling the beer was better then actually drinking it.   The richness in the aroma was gone and the flavor was very light with herbal, woody flavors mixed in that clashed with the malt.  It wasn't bad, but not my favorite.

Toffee Porter: Mocha coffee aroma.  This is a coffee porter with a sweet chocolate character that makes for a much sweeter beer.  There was no bitterness that I could find, just a lot of creamy coffee mocha flavors.

Citrasmack: Okay now that we've finished with all that malt, it's time to temper that with a dose of hops.  Citrasmack had a nice spicy citrus aroma.  The flavors from the hops were a little strange.  I wouldn't say they clashed, but it was one of those times where couldn't quite decide whether I like the thing or not.  I picked up some pine and citrus throughout with a lemongrass finish.

Liquid Resume: Ah, if only every job application required one of these.  This pale ale was basically a lighter version of the Citrasmack.  I picked up more earthy flavors among the pine and citrus with just a little more spice.  I got most of the qualities from the IPA, but at a volume that was more palatable.

So it's like this.  The past week was spent in kind of a slow stagger down the rocky mountains.  I started in Denver, wandered into Santa Fe, passed out for a moment in Flagstaff and finished in Phoenix.  It all happened in the space of a week, but screw it, I'm reporting it over the course of the next month or so.

It's a lot of territory to cover, so grab a pint or two.
Cheers.

A quick AZ moment.

So here's the thing.  The last week or so I've embarked on a pretty major tour through the West.  Specifically Denver, Santa Fe and Phoenix.  During that week there's been some minor sampling of beer.  And by minor, I mean I've been enough places I think I can keep this blog regularly updated during the off-season.

Trouble is, I'm still in the middle of it.  So just a quick entry today where I say high to and old friend.  

Four Peaks Brewing was featured in post número uno of this blog.  I stopped by there a couple years ago, drank some beer, and it felt like a good time to check up with them.

Short Hop Session IPA:  This was their seasonal beer this time around.    Light citrus hop aroma here.  Built as a lighter beer for summer with a little extra kick.  Lots of hop flavor here but it remains very drinkable.

Hefeweizen:  Very pale cloudy beer.  Slight lemon tropical fruit aroma.  The combination of tropical fruit and lemon is a bit odd, but not unpleasant.  The citrus adds a refreshing touch.

Kilt Lifter: Light aroma.  Heavy malty beer with burbon oak cherry flavors.  No hops to speak of.  A malt bomb, but pretty good, though I can't see myself having more then a few of these.

Like I said, lots to get through over the next few weeks.  Until then, cheers!

Short Hop IPA

Shut Up and Fill Your Beer Hole: Rockport, Illinois

Okay, it's been a while but we're leaving the state of Wisconsin... for now.  I brought back some bottled friends with me and there will be a sampling and a discussion and all of that.

In the meantime, I made a stop on the way back in Rockport, Illinois.  Why there?  ... ... ... There's no good reason, none.  Just one of those places that I randomly end up and that's it.  Now do as the title of this blog suggests.

Shut Up and Fill Your Beer Hole is not only the new title of my autobiography, but it's kinda the motto around the Carlyle Brewing Company... or at least they put it on T-shirts that you can buy, or on drink coasters that you can steal... preferably once you've finished the beer.

Besides a lovable tagline, the brewery boasts a kind of international flair.   The beer menu is fairly extensive and, like a taproom that boasts a horde of import brews, it lists the varieties by nation of origin.  Although since the beer is brewed on site, Area of Influence, is probably a more fitting term.

That being said, there isn't much you wouldn't find at most breweries.  They cover a cross-section of German styles, muck about with some styles from the British Isles but aside from a light Mexican-style beer, that's pretty much the end of it.  So nothing too Earth-shattering from an International perspective.  The beer itself is pretty good and the IPA, although unpronounceable, is one of the best I've had.  

Like I said, their beer menu is pretty extensive, although there's no really good way to get a sip of all their beers.  They do offer samplers, but at about half the cost of a full beer for each one... yeah, no thanks.   They are generous samples, to be sure, but basic economics starts taking hold.

So I picked a few that seemed like the most interesting from the menu and it represents a little less then half of everything they had available for my visit.

Vanilla Cream Ale:  This is pretty much as advertised.  The aroma is light but the vanilla is there.  On the malty side of the spectrum with a creamy mouth-feel and... yes, vanilla.  Not a lot of complexity, but it's pretty good.

Sampler of the Dopplebock

Dopple Bock:  Lots of dark fruit, raisin and toasted aromas on this beer.  True to style, a lot of malty flavors along with some dark cherry, raisin and caramel flavors against a backdrop of charcoal and roasted barley. 

Irish Red: This had a light, caramel aroma. The pine, herbal hops hit right at the top of the palate here, blended with the toasty malt flavors. 

Humulus Lupulus: Remember the bit about the unpronounceable IPA?  You've probably guess, and yes that is the scientific name for the hop.   The aroma is heavy with citrusy hops.  In the flavor, the hop character is prominent but not overpowering.  There's hint of malt with floral notes and a hint of peppery spice in the background.  The balance with the malt and the complexity of the flavors they managed to coax from the hops is pretty fantastic.  

Scottish Ale: Lots of nice, toasted aromas.  Even more roasty, toasty flavors mixed with a dry woody flavor.  It lacks the malt and fruit characteristics of most of the Scottish Ales I've had in the past, but it's very nice just the same.

Wee pint o' scottish.

Old Milwaukee: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Okay I promised a new joint this week and here it is.  The thing about the Milwaukee Brewing Company is that it has a kind of weird untold history with me and this blog.  See, this is not actually the first time I've been here.  It's just the first time I've managed to get in, get a seat at the bar and get beer.  Every other time I've been here, this place has been packed full.  I'm talking nowhere at the bar, not tables... hell people were standing three-deep at the bar the last time I was here.

 Maybe it's because it's in the middle of the week, maybe it's because I'm here in summer for a change and the denizens of Wisconsin are enjoying the few months of the year when they can be outside without pieces of them freezing and dropping off... whatever, it was finally empty enough that I could get in and grab a pint or two.

I guess what I am saying is, if you're going to seek out this little watering hole in downtown Milwaukee, go early, go during odd times or be prepared to fight a crowd for bar space.  Be warned, this place seems to have more then it's share of regulars and I'm guessing they don't fight fair.

So I got a tasters flight during my visit here.  They have a pretty extensive beer menu and so they break up their flights between a regular beer flight and a seasonal.  I went for the former, although due to some shortages, a few seasonals made it on.

Outboard: The beweries light beer offering. It has a lemony grassy aroma,  Pretty simple, light slightly lemony but your basic light beer.

Ulao: A belgian whit beer. No aroma to speak of.  Lots of tropical friut spice and kind of a skunky flavor.  I have to say this one wasn't my favorite, the Belgian yeast seemed to put some pretty odd flavors here.

Louie's Demise: This is the flagship beer of the brewery, an amber ale  with a fruity, cherry aroma. It starts slightly sweet and fruity right off the top.  Quickly moves to woody, herbal flavors.  The beer finishes suprisingly dry for its aroma.  As far as amber ales go, this one was very nice and complex.

Polish Moon: A sweet stout with light roasted aroma.  The flavor contains rich chocolate and coffee notes off the top.  There's a slight charcoal bitter flavor that follows but overall a very nice sweet stout.

O-Gii: Something from the seasonal list and something a little different, a tea beer. No aroma to speak of, but I get a huge blast of floral  lavander and herbal notes right off the top.  Finishes appropriatly bitter, the hops compliment the herbal flavors from the tea extremely well.  This monster packs a 9.2% alcohol and it hides it dangerously well.  It's one of those beers you could sit and drink a few of before realzing that you can't stand up anymore.

Hop happy: Pretty standard IPA style.  The aroma contains malt and herbal notes.   Citrus, floral hops hit hard and fast but are somewhat tempered by a high malt bill.

Black Iron: Rather hoppy aroma for a black ale.  The flavor has lots of the coffee and chocolate flavor you would expect from a beer like this.  The brewery claims it lacks the bitter roastiness that you would find in a normal black beer due to the use of dehusked German malt but.... I can't taste it.  It starts sweet and ends with bitter roastiness just like you would expect.

And that's officially it.  I am pretty confident that I have hit all the breweries in the Milwaukee area.  If anyone goes through the archives and finds one I missed, let me know.  Otherwise, mark Milwaukee off the list, been there done that.... for now.

An Annual Visit: Milwuakee Wisconsin

Still on my Wisconsin tour, particularly the area around Milwaukee.  I've been here enough times that I think I've more or less covered all the breweries near the city.  There are more in Wisconsin scattered among the towns and hinterlands, but Milwaukee is more or less canvased, with the exception of the Milwaukee Brewing Company which I will get to next week.

In the meantime, I stopped by a few of my past favorites to see what they've been up to.  Last year about this time I visited Delafield Brewhaus.  This place is to a bar what Yankee stadium is to a baseball diamond in the park, same basic function, huge difference in capacity and scale.  I think I covered in last year to some degree, but really... wow.

They had three beers on tap that they either didn't have last year, or wasn't part of the sampler I had.   On a related note I must have had the wrong beers or they have done something different.  I remember being a little... ambivalent about some of the beers last year, but the few I had this year were actually pretty awesome.  So we'll make this a quick post and talk about them:

Einhorn Bock:  This beer has a wonderful sweet, fruity aroma.  The fruit translates in the flavor with hints of cherry and strawberry with a kind of woody, earthy flavor mixed in.  It finishes very clean leaving almost nothing on the palate when it's gone.

Delooz-n-it: A very intense banana and floral aroma here. The most striking part of the flavor was the floral, almost lavender qualities right off the top that were followed by some fruity esters and a dry herbal spicy finish.  Different in flavor and fairly awesome beer here.

Strawberry Ale:  So it's like this...I was sipping one of my beers when an older couple sat down next to me.  The woman looked at the menu a minute and asked the bartender about the strawberry ale.  He told her about it using many of the same terms that I'm about to use.  The woman got quiet, looked back at the menu and turned to her husband, "I think I'll have that.  But you don't have to get it.  It's a chick beer."

The bartender smiled and poured the pint.  With it's light pink color and strawberry fruit aroma... yeah there's a certain femininity about it.

The bartender set the pint down and said, "Might be a chick beer, but you'll be surprised at the kind of guys that order it regularly."

The aroma is just what you would imagine, all sweet strawberry  The flavor is very sweet, but what is striking is the amount of flavor they pack into this beer.  I find that a lot of these tend on the light, watery side of the spectrum, but this was actually fairly robust for the style.

But...yeah... the woman was right.  If you're a man drinking this beer with any regularity then you're probably the guy at the bar who's friends give him a hard time because all your drinks come with a little umbrella.

Anyway, see you all next week when, yes, I break some new ground for the first time in a couple weeks.  Until then, cheers!

Grumpy Again: Wisconsin

Back again in the wilds of Wisconsin.  I'm going to be in and out for a while.  Luckily if one thing can be said about the good people of Wisconsin, its that the like a beer or two.  So, yeah lots to talk about.  So long as you like talking about beer.

I visited the Grumpy troll earlier this year, but I had to kind of run through and they have a pretty impressive selection.  So it was worth going back and spending a little more time.  The change of the seasons had a few new additions to the beer menu, mostly in the form of lighter summer ales.  But their style remains very much the same.  They favor the hops here, even their dark beers have a generous sprinkle of bitterness caught in their malty web.

Belsconsin: An IPA from the brewery who, as I said before, like their hops loud and waking up the neighbors. The aroma is light with citrusy floral hops.  The flavor starts slightly malty before the hops hit with the subtlety of a freight train.  It was a little too intense for my tastes, someone tell those damn hops to keep the noise down.

Captain Fred: This brewery's version of a light lager.  The aroma is pretty much standard, light, grassy, a hint of hops but nothing all that different from the typical American Lager.  The flavor packs a little extra punch, though.  It's got just a hint of citrus on top of the typical character.  For a style that never really interests me, it's pretty good.

Sunflower:  This is a farmfouse ale with honey finish.  No aroma there, but it has a sight floral flavor off the top with some citrus buried just below.  Finishes a little bitter and dry, but a nice lighter beer overall.

Hopsburger:  This beer has kind of a strange aroma that made me think of milk.  .As far as pilsners go, this one has fallen off the hoppy end of the scale. There's a bit of grassy herberbal hops that grow and grow until its nothing but dry and bitter.

Malbock: I got a light fruity citrus aroma off of this beer.  There was some light malty flavors at the very beginning before citrus spicy hops finish off the palate.

Liberty Pole Pale: There's no aroma to speak of.  It's very bitter with floral slightly spicy notes.  It has a long lingering bitter aftertaste.  Again with a style that is typically hoppy by nature, this went a little far for my tastes.

Trailside Wheat: Very light bannana coconut aroma. Lots of tropical fruit with a very distict coconut flavor in there.  It sets it a little apart from the typical German wheat beer.