Brasserie Les Trois Fourquets – Lupulus
I thoroughly enjoyed this hopped up Belgian brew. The nose on this thing was spicy, grassy, herbal, with some lemon and a hint of banana. It is big and bold across the palate hitting you with waves of grass, herbs, spice, and a mild fruityness. The finish is dry and bready with a nice lingering hop presence. This is a great take on a Belgian Tripel; adding a bit of character and extra kick to this already robust style.
Smuttynose RHYE IPA
This thick skinned IPA is not your typical IPA; it’s been Rye’d! This bottle poured with a strong hop aroma from the heavy amount of dry hopping that features Simcoe and Amarillo hops. This medium to light bodied IPA boasts loads of Rye in the malt bill and it is apparent in the flavor lending subtle hints of Rye peppery-ness throughout the brew. This is a solid and distinct easy drinking Rye IPA.
Green Flash Palate Wrecker
I haven’t had one of these bad boys in about a year until the other day. It is a monster filled with oodles of hop flavor. This thing gets it’s outstanding “I’m sucking on a hop cone” flavor from mashing and sparging with hopped wort and a serious regiment of hopping during the boil. This brew has a pungent resinous pine flavor through out. There is not an over the top bitterness to this beer; with the amount of hop flavor it is kind of surprising. One thing that I found odd is that this beer had no nose to it. Like seriously no smell. I had two other folks give it a whiff and nothing. I don’t recall this being the case last time I tried the beer but the bottle I tried was quite a few months old at least if I am not mistaken. Either way it was delicious, bold, and enjoyable. One tip for drinking this beer: DO NOT DRINK THIS FIRST! If you are going to drink some different beers and are looking to actually taste the hops in them then leave this beer for last cause it truly does wreck your palate.
Clown Shoes Galactica
Clown Shoes Galactica IIPA is a hop forward West Coast style IIPA that is heavily dry hopped with Galaxy hops. This big 8% abv hoppy beer hits you with notes of tropical fruit, citrus and pine from the second you smell to the instant you taste it. All those hops are backed up by a solid, crisp and non-intrusive malt backbone. Clown Shoes beers are contract brewed by Mercury Brewing Co. in Ipswich, Massachusetts where they also brew Ipswich and Brash beers.
SweetWater Happy Ending – A big black hopped up stout
This is possibly(in my opinion) the best beer that SweetWater makes regularly. While I enjoy most of their beers very few leave me satisfied in such a manor as this beast. I pulled this beer out of the cellar the other day cause I needed a beer that would tell my taste buds to wake the fuck up. This beer kicks ass from every direction. It’s got a wonderful aromatic blend of roast, chocolate, pine, citrus, and spicy hops. This thing has gotten nice and smooth over the past 8 months and it still has some hops intact in the flavor and aroma. This brew has lots of toast, roast, toffee, and coffee all complimented by a west coast style hop profile. You won’t see this on the shelves again till January so you’ll just have to drool over the thought of drinking one till then.
SweetWater Brewing – The Price is Wrong – Imperial Belgian Pale Ale
It’s been a while since I have been really impressed by a SweetWater Dank Tank but this beer brought me back on-board with the series. Going to add this one to my Dank Tank favorites list(it’s imaginary and located in my head not on this site). Other semi-recent favorites have been Fresh Sticky Nuggs and Goulash. This beer is worthy of it’s Dank Tank title cause it is a big, bold, and tasty beer. It is a Belgian Strong Ale with an American twist; a boat load of tasty hops. The Belgian yeast imparts some fruity and citrus notes that are complemented and enhanced by the dry hopping with Simcoe and Amarillo hops. This beer is big at 9% but it goes down smoother and easier then a lot of weaker beers. If you see one of these beers sitting on your local retails shelf please pick it up and pour it in your face. Help control the bad beer population. Have your Macro-Beers spayed or neutered. Goodbye, everybody!
Founders Rübæus
This raspberry ale is outrageously tasty and refreshing. It’s a fruit beer that will have a non-fruit beer drinker questioning the delight of their taste buds. It is freakn’ PURPLE. Don’t worry though, this thing is not sweet. It is tart and full or fruity flavor but not sweet which is why I like it. I’ve been enjoying these beers in the summer heat and they have been goin’ down just right but I think they will be a great treat for the fall. I can definitely see enjoying one of these in the sun on a mountain somewhere in the crisp fall air. These should be kicking around for a few more weeks so snatch some up.
August was busy month and most of my beer drinking went un-documented or was on draft but I did manage to scrounge up these beers for the list.
