Maibock

Label: Maibock
Type: Strong Maibock 
ABV[%]: 6.75
Packaging: 750 ml Bottle
Brewery: Lighthouse Brewing, Victoria BCCA

Smell: Pilsener, malty
Head: thin, no lacing
Color: copper clean
Carbonation: medium
Kick: Migeri kick... SUH
Rating: 9/10

Notes:

Well, the name isn't very creative, but can't say that for the brew itself.

Light bubbles, not sweet, with a very clean finish. Wow. Delicious malts with a bitterness ... Not like grapefruit bitter but more mild at first... but then you get that other kind of bitter in the aftertaste. Cool. I'm biased towards Bocks so I'm obviously loving this stuff. Carbonation is just perfect.

It's almost not like a beer but a malty+hoppy beverage without much sweetness. So this would be perfect if the day was hotter (not like the evening when I'm normally "reviewing" beer.

This is a seasonal so I guess you won't find it on the shelf for long. And by the taste I'd also guess that it wasn't brewed yesterday. Snap it up.

Tall Poppy

Label: Tall Poppy
Type: Ale
ABV[%]: 7.0
Packaging: 500 ml Bottle
Brewery: 8 Wired Brewery, NZ

Smell: hops, citrus, Carmelo Anthony watermelon?
Head: thin, little lacing
Color: copper
Carbonation: medium high

Kick: Sweet home Alabama
Rating: 8/10

Their Big Smoke blew me away so I looked forward to trying out another brew from this New Zealand brewery. The label claims it to be an American style IPA plus Amber Ale. Could it be? The suspense is mind-numbing.

It's quite caramelish (more than I'd like)... So more leaning towards Amber Ale, but with a serious citrus hop blast. It starts quite sweet and the hop blast leaves a pleasant linger. You don't get too much of the alcohol-taste, but you can tell it's not like making love in a canoe (Monty Python joke there). Clean.

Normally I'd think it has a tad too much carbonation, but they work by revealing the hoppiness after your first swig. Clever (or just lucky with his batch).

It doesn't beat the Big Smoke but, hey, very little probably would.

Now, to watch the Final Four that I PVR'd.

I'm calling it "Will-I-Gad-Damn"

I'm calling it "Will-I-Gad-Damn"

Label: Little Willy
Type: Porter
ABV[%]: ? Guess 5.5
Packaging: 750 ml Bottle
Brewery: Manjy mash, WA

Smell: toasted oats, hint of red grapes, molasses, maybe touch of cilantro?
Head: thin, no lacing
Color: black/ brown opaque
Carbonation: medium
Kick: King Kong Balls
Rating: 8.5/10

Notes:
Just finished coaching an hour of U11 boys basketball and it is time to wind down.

What I've got here is a medium gravity porter than has the basics for a good, pub quality brew. The first thing I thought of when sipping this was how much it tastes like Backhand of God. Certainly not as refined and polished as that beer, but it has a good base. It has a bit if a sour taste up front, maybe from the grapes, and finishes quite bubbly. Maybe tad less carbonation would bring out the flavors a bit better. There is a bit of sweetness and some vanilla in the finish, but it doesn't leave a silky aftertaste.

It's got a bit if a dank taste, but that's likely from the gaminess of the beer.

I'm going to guess an ABV of about 5.5 ish.

Later Turbanator.

http://twitter.com/Psbasran/status/289600187175931904/photo/1

Mad Bruin Sour Ale

Label: Mad Bruin
Type: Sour Ale
ABV[%]: 7.0
Packaging: 750 ml Bottle
Brewery: Driftwood Brewery, Victoria BC

Smell: Red wine grapes/berries, vinegar
Head: thick and bubbly but settles very thin, no lacing
Color: brown bear brown
Carbonation: medium
Kick: Graawwllll, Rooaaaar...
Rating: 8.5/10

Notes:
I tried this stuff about a month ago but was too tired after my soccer game to write it up. I liked it then, but didn't have the energy to take notes.

The nose is interesting, almost industrial-like with a vinegary smell, but with a fruity/earthy punch. It hits your tongue all over the place: certainly sour, bit of saltiness and bitter, sweet and leaves a crispy aftertaste. It doesn't lack middle ground (that's an inside joke).

Again, like many good craft beers, you can't taste the rather high abv value except at the end of a swig, and even then it's pretty tame. Should age well.

I haven't got ahold of many sour beers but this has really perked my interest.

Port too?

I prepared some lasagna tonight, but something very gamey would go nicely with this: thinking a bison or venison burger.

Put the lotion in the basket.

@Psbasran: Lasagna is in the oven. Fireplace on. Cold outside. Time for @driftwoodbeer : Mad Bruin Sour Ale #craftbeer 7% ABV http://t.co/lkXbIZJA

Terrible

Label: Terrible
Type: Strong Dark Ale
ABV[%]: 10.5
Packaging: 750 ml Bottle
Brewery: Unibroue, Chambly QC

Smell: yeasty, sweet, molasses
Head: thick pour but settles with little lacing
Color: blackish opaque
Carbonation: medium
Kick: Gangam style
Rating: 6/10

Notes:
Unibroue makes some serious ass kicking beer. This is no exception. This is a mind numbing lager with the abv stealth of a drunk chameleon in a bar full of Venus flytraps. It is really, really sweet. It leaves a sweetish sour aftertaste, full of cherries/berries. Almost like a dessert.

Very yeasty. It is too sweet for my liking so I'm not giving it a high rating: and I can do this because this is MY blog intended to track MY tastes.

But I'm buying another bottle to keep cuz it is very memorable... Not terrible memorable but memorable memorable.

Pumpkineater Imperial Ale

Label: Type: Pumpkineater Imperial Ale
ABV[%]: 8.0
Packaging: 1 Litre Pot-Stopper

Brewery: Howe Sound Brewery, Squamish BC

Smell: Cinnamon, Nutmeg
Head: Pours bubbly but settles to a thin rich head
Color: Copper
Carbonation: medium
Kick: Deceptive. Sleuth
Rating: 8.5/10

Notes:
Wow, nice gravity on this beer. Looks almost syrupy. Despite this being a Pumpkin beer, the pumpkins weren't the first thing I tasted. Instead, the spices tended to dominate. The pumpkin taste sorta oozes gently into your mouth, in a very good way, and it is a pretty clean finish... smoo0ve. And the head that settles after you poor is a beauty: thin but rich giving a really great nose.

Perhaps my tolerance was high when I tasted this, but it didn't really feel like a 8 ABV beer (I'm Canadian ). So this didn't hit me as hard as I thought it would.

I'm not a big pumpkin beer fan. Reminiscent of Cannery's Apricot Ale (i.e., not a fruit drink, but beer). And this really hits the spot.

I'm glad I found this stuff while I could. It is tough to find now.

Sasquatch Stout

Label: Sasquatch Stout
Type: Stout, you dummy (ala Sanford and Sons)
ABV[%]: 5.0
Packaging: 650 ml bottle
Brewery: Old Yale Brewing Co. Chiliwack BC

Smell: molasses, burnt oates, sweetness
Head: non existent
Color: super dark brown
Carbonation: mild
Kick: above the belt
Rating: 7/10

Notes:
Boys this is one opaque beer. On my first swig, I tasted Smokiness. And it left quite a linger of a burnt flavor on my tongue. The carbonation brings out the sweetness in this beer, even though it isn't very carbonated. It doesn't taste like a heavy stout. But it does linger in your mouth for quite some time. To me, this tastes pretty mild And given how dark the beer looks, I was expecting a little more. Now the label says that this is a full body beer, but I'm not so sure about that. Because there's next to no head nor any lacing on the beer, there aren't very many flavors that come through the nose. There is clearly some chocolate and some coffee in there ... probably a little more coffee than chocolate.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the Stout. But it isn't the "kick you in the pants "kind of stout but I thought it might be, given the mysteriousness of the Sasquatch shadow that is on the label. In fact, it tastes more like the little horse emblem on the label than a Sasquatch. I wouldn't go so far as to call the session beer, but you could put quite a few of these babies down without much trouble.

The city of Chilliwack itself seems like a city that is supposed to be there but not necessarily required, being nestled between farmlands of Abbotsford, and the mountain ranges of Hope BC. Unfortunately, my memories of Chilliwack are not all that great. I remember my mother frequently requesting me to drive her from Abbotsford to Chilliwack so she can go to the apparently only Zellers in the lower mainland. This, coupled with that unfortunate band from the 80s, doesn't leave favorable impressions of Chilliwack. But having this beer might change that.

Rock out wid your sock out.