1/26: Alaskan Brewery's Winter

Here is another beer with a gimmick; Alaskan Brewery's Winter - an ale brewed with spruce tips.  They claim that this is a old ale, like Rocky's Revenge - "Style: English Olde Ale. Traditionally malty with the warming sensation of alcohol."

I am not tasting the alcohol, or any warming sensation.  But I am tasting the spruce.  Ironically, it has more alcohol by volume that Rocky's Revenge has (6.4% vs. 6.0%), but it doesn't taste like liquor, instead it tastes like a pine-y ale.  Obnoxious, but not too obnoxious that I want to pour it down the drain.  I will be able to finish this one, but it is not a favorite.  I'll give it a low three.

They say that brewing with spruce tips is an Alaskan tradition that goes back to the late 1700s.  There is something to be said for using traditional local ingredients, but this strikes me as a gimmick.

-Jim from Milwaukee

1/25: Shiner Bock

We moseyed out to a Texas smokehouse barbecue this evening, so I thought I'd have a Texas beer.  They had Shiner Bock on tap, so that is what I ordered.  It came out even flatter than the picture. 

They say that everything is bigger in Texas, but apparently they overlooked "flavor."  Their website describes the beer as having, "a mellow taste free of the bitter aftertaste found in many micro, specialty and imported beers."  I think they wanted a comma between "taste" and "free," but those two words are appropriate.  It was an attractive dark amber color, that somehow came across as cold, beer-flavored water.  There would have to be no other beer alternatives for me to drink this way again, but it didn't taste bad - it just didn't taste like much.

-Jim from Milwaukee

1/24: Tyranena Brewery's Rocky's Revenge

Rocky's Revenge is a dark brown ale that I could feel warming my throat as I drank it.  Since the name Rocky's Revenge doesn't give a clue as to its variety, my senses - honed by research and 24 days of experience drinking new beers - told me this was a porter.  It was dark, caramel-y, and warming like a porter.  It actually tasted like a hard alcohol, which was not like any porter I had tasted to this point.  A quick trip to the internet led me to a site that called it Bourbon Brown Ale.  The fine print on the label said it's "an American brown ale with a portion aged in bourbon barrels."  So that explains the liquor notes I tasted. 

In Ultimate, MJ, (you remember "the King of Hop(s)"), classifies some porters, stouts and ales as "Sociable Beers" while others are classified  as "Winter Warmers."  He says of these ales "...often dark brown ales, usually malt-accented, sweet, and relatively full-bodied but only medium-to-strong in alcohol are typically regarded as winter warmers." (p.110)  This beer has a 6.0% abv which is in the range of his highlighted "Old Ales" in his "Winter Warmers" chapter.  But this beer is not seasonal. Tyranena makes only six beers year round and this and Chief BlackHawk Porter are among these year-round beers, with a scotch ale and an oatmeal stout among their six seasonal brews.

I like this beer.  It is different in a subtle and good direction.  I'm still giving it a 3, but I am looking forward to trying more from Tyranena.

Jim from Milwaukee

1/23: Samuel Adams' Winter Lager

So here is one of those beers that Bell's Winter White Ale is countering; Sam Adams' Winter Lager.  It is a reddish, roasted malt beer brewed with spices.  They say "The cinnamon, ginger, and hint of citrus from the orange peel blend with the roasty sweetness of the malts to deliver a warming, spicy flavor."  I am glad they told me what spices because I couldn't have named them.

It tastes like a medium-bodied brown ale.  It drinks like a medium-bodied brown ale.  It is good.  A three in my rating system. 

Readers, I am starting to run out of beer in the house, so I am looking for suggestions.  What should I drink next?

1/22: Bell's Winter White Ale

As I mentioned yesterday, most winter beers that I have come across tend to be dark in color.  With roasted malts that give the beer coffee and toasted caramel notes to warm a drinker on a cold winter's night.  Yesterday's winter beer was orange, today's - Bell's Winter White Ale - is a more typical amber color.  The difference is intentional.  According to their site; it was designed to be "a lighter yet abundantly flavorful alternative to the traditional heavy winter warmers." 

In other words... "if you are tired of the porters and stouts, we brew a summer wheat ale - but only in the winter time."  And because it is a Belgian-styled wheat/white beer, we call it Winter White and put a picture of a white snow-covered forest on the label.  Aren't we clever!

In general, I like wheat beers, but this one - not so much.  The overwhelming sweetness that I couldn't stand in Shakparo is hinted at here.  RateBeer.com's readers gave it an 86, DrinkHacker.com gave it a B, but noted a "grape bubblegum" flavor and I suppose others might like that.  It is ok enough to earn a 3, but just barely.

Jim from Milwaukee

1/21: Capitol Brewing's Winter Skal

While there was celebrating at the capitol in DC today, I drank my second beer from Capitol Brewing in my state capitol of Madison: Winter Skal.  (I apologize for not being able to replicate the little circle over the "a" in Skal.) 

I expected a "winter beer" to be darker, but as their website says, the beer has "a warm amber hue."  Personally, I thought it was orange.  Skal, from what I can find on the internet, is not a style of beer, only a Scandinavian toast to good fortune and good health. 

So how did they discribe this beer?  "A full bodied beer with a warm amber hue showing off its rich malt heritage. Mildly bittered featuring a hop presence that compliments and rounds out the malt overtones."  They say the used 4 types of malts in this brew, Brewers, Munich, Caramel and Honey.  I didn't taste full-bodiness or complex flavors.  I am not sure if it is an ale or a lager.  (Though my money is on "ale.")  For me the brew was kind of boring.  It had one taste, and it was a hoppy taste. 

It didn't do much for me.  It was just another beer.  (That is a "3" for those of you scoring at home.)  It wasn't bad, but it didn't make much of an impression at all... except for the fact that it was orange.

Jim from Milwaukee

1/20: Capitol Brewing's Weizen

Yesterday's sheepshead party, spilled into this morning.  So I am counting my last beer of the party as today's beer.  It was Weizen by Madison, WI's Capitol Brewing Company.

It is a seasonal beer, with the season being summer, so this beer was likely 6 months old. I found it refreshingly light and fruity after the dark lagers, but it was a bit sweeter than I like. Their website says "a unique yeast provides spicy bubblegum, banana, clove flavor notes." Maybe it was the bubblegum notes that pushed it into the "not a preferred beer" range.  Still a 3, just a less preferred version of a favorite style of mine. 

I will be having a fresher example of a Capitol beer soon when I drink a Winter Skal that I acquired in a Christmas 9 pack of winter beers.

-Jim from Milwaukee