The BrewThusiast

Sixpoint “3 Beans”

BrewThusiast — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:11:06 +0000

One thing I am really loving in the craft beer scene is all the canning going on lately. It seems like everyday I am hearing of more breweries moving toward cans. It’s about time good beer reclaimed the can! I (and a myriad of others) have made the argument for craft beer in cans for years now. One east coast brewery not only does this exclusively, but does it their way with no apologies. I have reviewed beers from them in the past, and once again I am super impressed with their newest offering in a slim 12oz energy drink type can.
Sixpoint Brewery “3 Beans” Oak Aged Baltic Porter (although you will not find a style claim on any of their cans). Made from Coffee Beans, Cacao Beans, and Romano Beans, this beer is a collaboration effort between 3 very craft NY establishments, Mast Brothers Chocolate, Stumptown Coffee and Sixpoint. For more behind the scenes information on this collaboration check out this awesome video. 3 Beans pours a luscious dark brown, with a big and fluffy tan head. The aroma is bold with robust roast coffee, chocolate, smoke and toast. It tastes just as delicious as it smells. The flavors of strong coffee, bitter dark chocolate, , vanilla and brown sugar is almost like chocolate covered espresso beans. The mouthfeel is medium to full and creamy, with a good amount of carbonation. It finishes perfectly bold and sweet with almost no detection of the 10% abv. This canned brew will have coffee and chocolate beer lovers fully satisfied! Here’s to Good Beers!

Russian River / Sierra Nevada “Brux – Domesticated Wild Ale”

BrewThusiast — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:15 +0000

This may be a little late, but Happy 2013 everyone! This year seems to have hit the ground running! Last month I busted out 4 Holiday reviews for you guys! Now I am back to once brew review a month, with some bonus ones randomly. My first review of ’13 is a very complex collab beer from two legendary breweries.
Russian River Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada’s collaboration brew “Brux – Domesticated Wild Ale” Belgian Style Strong Ale is worth looking for. It comes in a 750ml corked and caged top bottle. It pours a clear golden orange color. Then is swiftly topped by a boisterous white head that settled down almost as quick as it formed. The aroma only gives hints of the complexities to come. Their are mouth watering smells of tart apple, pear and grape along with some sweet malt, funk and peppery spice. The taste is sweet and slightly buttery at first, before revealing fruity pineapple, lemon and grapefruit flavors. Then releases peppery saison characteristics. At times it can be a little sour. There really is a lot going on in this. The mouthfeel is medium with big carbonation. The finish is dry and hot. The abv is 8.3% and it come across in the end here. This is a very interesting beer. A great collaboration, and def keep one for a few years an see how it transforms. This beer screams “Age Me!” so grab two. Here’s to Good Beers

BrewThusiast — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:00:36 +0000

I hope everyone who celebrates it, had an amazing and Merry Christmas. I’ve had fun the past three weeks doing reviews again as I did when I first started this blog! However I just wouldn’t be able to do this 12 months out of the year for the sake of time. I will go back to one review a month again starting in January 2013, but this has been awesome fun. I’ll probably do it again next December. I hope some of you tried these beers! Or if you’ve already had these beers, I hope you revisited them again to make your spirits bright during this holiday season! I have one more review for you this month. It is a Christmas beer yes, but my point with this one is that it ages very well. So if you do find a bottle of this still hanging around even though it’s past Christmas grab two! One to try one this year and save one for next year! The bottle that I had was aged for quite a while. Once again, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
I was lucky enough to find a 2004 bottle of Brasserie d’Achouffe ”N’ICE Chouffe” Belgian Strong Ale. It pours a reddish-brown, with a one finger thick khaki colored head. The aromas are sweet and strong, with candy sugar, cherries, vanilla, caramel and some spices. The taste follows the smell pretty close with a hint of wood. The mouth-feel is full and soft. The 10% abv presents itself in the spicy finish as sweet and hot. This is a great beer fresh, but aged it definitely gets softer around the edges and the flavors work in perfect harmony! Happy New Years and Here’s to Good Beers!

Port Brewing Co. “Santa’s Little Helper”

BrewThusiast — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:42:07 +0000

Putting out milk and cookies has been a tradition Santa has come to expect from our children for a number of years now. A more recent addition has been carrot sticks for his reindeer. Why does Santa and his team of magic flying deer need these goodies to fortify them? Could it be because he was out partying late on Christmas Eve with his “Little Helper”? No, not an Elf! This little helper…
Port Brewing Co.’s “Santa’s Little Helper” Imperial Stout pours black pours black as night with a two finger sudsy brown head. The scents of chocolate malt, roasted coffee and sweet caramel are soft and tempting. The taste brings on chocolate, smoke, honey, vanilla, spicy hops, coffee, alcohol and molasses. The 10% abv is present, but what do you expect from an Imperial Stout? The mouth feel is medium and creamy. The finish is hoppy, bitter, warming and long. This is a bold and complex beer! A great holiday sipping brew! Merry Christmas and Here’s to Good Beers!

Samuel Adams “Merry Mischief”

BrewThusiast — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:00:38 +0000

I hope everyone’s December has been awesome this far and filed with equally awesome beer! My favorite things about Christmas/Holiday beers are their clever names and festive label art! I don’t like to judge a beer by its cover but it does help the over all experience if the label isn’t lame. The name and label on this week’s beer is just as rad as the goodness inside!
Samuel Adams “Merry Mischief” Gingerbread Stout pours an almost opaque black color, with a two finger thick fluffy brown head. The aroma is very inviting, with the sweet smells of chocolate malt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coffee. The taste starts out with dark chocolate and Christmas spices, including ginger. Then it releases its sweet malty, molasses and roasty coffee flavors. This is a brew you want to take it easy with. The 9% abv is present but easily masked by all the tasty flavors going on. The mouthfeel is medium to thin. The finish is sweet and creamy. An instant fav of mine this year! Here’s to Good Beers!

Troegs “Mad Elf”

BrewThusiast — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:00:00 +0000

’Tis the season for Holiday and Winter brews! There are a myriad of spiced and traditional seasonal beers to choose from! This month I’ll highlight four of my favorite beers that are perfect for helping spread Holiday Cheer!
Troegs “Mad Elf” American Strong Ale is brewed with cherries, honey and chocolate malts. It pours a festive reddish brown color with a one finger thick tan head. The aroma is incredible, with the delightful smells of honey, cherries, brown sugar, candied fruits, malt and alcohol. the taste is fruity and tart cherry at first, as it warms up there are notes of chocolate and spices. Towards the end the 11% abv makes itself known at times with sweet cough syrup moments, but nothing off-putting. The mouthfeel is full and a little syrupy. The finish is sweet, boozy and spicy. Not only does this beer look festive in a glass, the taste translates well to accompany the holiday season! A little pricey at around $16 per 6-pack, but who doesn’t splurge a little on great holiday brews? Here’s to Good Beers!

2nd Annual Thanksgiving Pumpkin Ale Top Ten List

BrewThusiast — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:31:25 +0000

It’s that time of year again! Here is the Top Ten List of my favorite Pumpkin Ales I have had the pleasure of enjoying this Fall.. If a beer I had on Last Year’s List does not appear on the list this year, it is only because I did not get to revisit the brew this year or maybe I just wasn’t into it as much as last year. This is my favorite season, and there are just too many tasty pumpkin beers to be able to get to them all! I will pick up my perpetual journey to try as many great pumpkin ales as possible next year! Feel free to make suggestions for me to seek out in 2013! Happy Thanksgiving and Here’s to Good Beers!

1: Southern Tier – Pumking
2: River Horse – Hippo-Lantern
3: Fegley’s Brew Works – Devious
4: Weyerbacher – Imperial Pumpkin Ale
5: Flying Dog – The Fear
6: Samuel Adams – Fat Jack
7: New Holland – Ichabod
8: Buffalo Bill’s – Pumpkin Ale
9: 3rd Wave Brewing Co. – Chuckin Pumpkin
10: Rock Art “Extreme Series” – Pumpkin Imperial Spruce Stout

Mamma Mia’s “Pizza Beer”

BrewThusiast — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:00:03 +0000

We have all seen them in the beer isles at our favorite brew stores, specialty beers. They promise out of the ordinary and out of the box flavors or flavor combos. These are the beers that make you ask “Why?”! I say why not? Life is short, step outside your comfort zone and try one just for fun! Here is a good one…
Mamma Mia’s “Pizza Beer“, brewed at and distributed by the Sprecher Brewing Co. comes in a 16oz bottle. It pours a sunset orange, with a white one finger thick foamy head, with nice lacing. The aroma is very strong with pizza spices. (My brain immediately recognized the smell as pizza sauce.) Although the aroma is a little too strong, as it also kinda smells a little like vomit. The taste is split between pizza spices and beer. The spices really do not not marry well in this. There are flavors of oregano and garlic, There is a little heat from garlic. Then light malt and grain. The 4.7% abv is not noticalble at all. The finish is short and light. The spices fade immediately. Not that I minded.
In my opinion, this is a fun novelty brew. It might be fun to grab one of these and chill with some friends while eating pizza. It should make for some conversation and a good laugh. Maybe even put it in a wine glass as the label suggests! It is defiantly worth try. Be adventurous! Here’s to Good Beers!

Weyerbacher’s “XVII”

BrewThusiast — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 01:00:27 +0000

I hope everyone had a great summer! As promised I am back! I am scaling back a smidge though. I will be doing one or two posts a month rather than four, and the occasional special release or holiday brew review. Summer just seemed to fly by, and Fall is swiftly cooling things off here on the east coast. This is my favorite time of year for beer so be sure to check out the blog as well as all my social media outlets to see what my favorite Autumn brews are! As for this post, I celebrated the birth of my son last year a local brewery’s 16th Anniversary beer. Now I am checking out their 17th!
Weyerbacher’s “Seventeen” Anniversary Ale is a Saison brewed w/ orange peel, lemon peel, grapefruit peel and pink peppercorns. It pours a sunset golden yellow with floaties. The head is a sudsy one finger white and reduces down to a thin white line. The aroma brings yeast, banana, bubble gum, clove, pepper and citrus. The taste is spicy, peppery and wheaty at first, but then gives way to big citrus zest flavors. Kinda like when I start to peel a grapefruit and use my teeth to get the peeling started! The pink peppercorns linger throughout. The flavors of all the citrus peel and excellent saison spiciness are just perfect! The 10.5% abv is almost completely undetectable! There is not even a hint of booziness. There is a little heat but the overall spices and citrus zest mask any thought that it may be from the abv! The finish is is dry, citrusy and spicy. This is instantly one of my all time favorite saisons! I am gonna have to stock up on this one before it is gone! Cheers Everyone! Here’s to Good Beers!

Founders “Frangelic Mountain Brown” / BrewThusiast’s Summer Vacation

BrewThusiast — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:00:56 +0000

Happy Independence Day Everyone! Yes it is July already and summer is here and it is hot! This is not ideal weather for coffee lovers. Unless you get your joe iced. What about that secret third option… Coffee Beer? Can this combo really be something enjoyed in 90+ degree weather? I am here to tell you YES! I have seen the light, and that light comes from Michigan. A brand new special release as of 7/2/12. Meaning you should get out there, find it and enjoy! *** I also want to wish you all a great summer! I am taking the summer off from Brew Reviews! My Facebook, Twitter, Untappd and G+ will still be active with pics and small descriptions. I just won’t be updating this site until the Fall. Maybe I will even update the look of the site when I return! Until then I will catch you all on the Social Medias! Cheers!
Founders “Frangelic Mountain Brown” American Strong Ale is part of their “Backstage Series” and is brewed with Hazelnut Coffee. It pours a dark brown with red edges, topped off by a two finger thick dense latte colored foam. The first noticeable thing about this brew is the Aroma, it smacks you as soon as the cap is off! It has an amazing nutty, mild freshly ground and brewed coffee smell. I’d love to wake up to the smell of that anyday! It tasted pretty much like it smelled! This was the most genuine coffee flavor and aroma I have had in a beer in quite a while! It was like a chilled coffee, it was sweet and nutty, with nice roasted flavor. The mouthfeel is smooth, soft and full. It finishes slightly bitter with a sweet coffee aftertaste. This beer would be great with pancakes and bacon for breakfast or after dinner with dessert! Here’s to Good Beers!