A Pint Half Full

Purchased from:
Gift!

ABV%:
4.5%

Color:
Light amber with a frothy head

Aroma:
Mild hop aroma with a sticky-sweet caramel backbone

Taste:
Crisp and clean, light-medium bodied.  Malty, buttery, caramel sweetness up front end combined with a rounded hop bitterness.  Goes down smooth.  Finishes with a bit of residual sweetness.

Overall:
I've had a few of the offerings from Abita, including Turbodog, Purple Haze, and Restoration.  All of them are good, solid beers that are well balanced and unique (ok, Restoration wasn't that good, but the rest were good.).   One common thread that I like in all these beers how fresh and clean the water tastes in them.  I think it helps to keep the flavor of the malts and hops in tact, as well as create a nice mouthfeel that is crisp and refreshing. 

The Abita Amber is quite distinct from the other beers I've tried from Abita but maintains the signature quality of the water.  There seems to be an emphasis on the malt in the Amber and a more dulled hop flavor, probably from the types of hops used.  The sweetness kind of lingered throughout the entire drink with some stale hop bitterness hitting the sides of the palate then fading quickly.  I'm not sure I liked the prominence of the malt flavor at the expense of the hops and would have preferred a better balance.  However, this beer was very drinkable and had good flavor overall.

3/5

I've been feeling a bit sick for the past few weeks so I've had to limit my beer consumption unfortunately.  So I decided to take this time to write an entry on some of the terms I write about to describe beer in the reviews and how they relate to the ingredients within a beer so that you, the reader, may be able to start distinguishing the flavor profile of a brew.  Not only will you be able to understand what I'm trying to say in my reviews and articles but also start characterizing the beer you drink to better determine your likes/dislikes.

The tagline to this blog is to savor the mix of barley, water, hops and yeast.  These are the primary ingredients found in any beer and contribute to the color, aroma, mouthfeel, and taste.  I'm going to attempt to break each of the ingredients down and how they contribute to the beer's flavor.  Let's get on with it shall we?

Purchased from:
Gift!

ABV%:
5.2%

Type:
Pilsner

Color:
Clear golden color

Aroma:
Grassy, piney, fresh

Taste:
Tastes of pine with a bright hop flavor, bitterness clears making way to a yeasty, clean, dry finish.  Light bodied.

Overall:
This came in the Sam Adams Brewmaster Collection and this is one of the beers in the case that really intrigued me.  The Sam Adams Noble Pils is the only pilsner-style lager from Boston Beer that I've had and was excited since I like the style.  A pilsner lager should have a nice hop distinction, have a clean, dry finish with minimal malt sweetness.  Interestingly, there was a bit of yeast taste in the finish as well.  This kept it tasting light rather than heavy.

Boston Beer has brewed this one with all 5 'Noble' hops which definitely brings the hop aroma and taste to the forefront.  It may sound like the Noble Pils was super strong but actually, that's the thing about the pilsner, it is not overwhelming or in your face like an IPA; this was well balanced but definitely with a focus on hop presence.  It's too bad this is only offered as a "seasonal" from Sam Adams.  I'd pick this up any time of the year.

3.75/5

Purchased from:
Gift!

ABV%:
4.5%

Type:
Ale

Color:
Really pale yellow, a bit hazy, straw-like.

Aroma:
A bit of yeast and malt sweetness, hardly any hop smell but there are some citrus, grapefruit notes.

Taste:
Watery, with a quick bite from the hops, then all malt sweetness once the bitterness subsides.  Warming finish down the throat.

Overall:
I received this beer from cmfl3x who had dropped by to visit over the new year after visiting North Carolina.  As I've become more and more interested in local craft beer, I had asked him to pick me up something from NC.  This was the first Kolsch-style beer I've tried and I really didn't know what that means so I looked it up.  According to Wikipedia, "It is a clear beer with a bright straw-yellow hue, and it has a prominent, but not extreme, hoppiness. It is less bitter than the standard German lager beer, Pilsner."

I had never heard of Big Boss Brewery so I was pretty excited to try this one and see how I liked an American Kolsch Ale.  As I poured it into my glass, it lived up to its Wikipedia definition as it looked bright, pale yellow with some haziness.  I stuck my nose in the glass and at first whiff didn't get much except some maltiness.  Took a huge whiff and finally got some citrus from the hops in there. 

Unfortunately, this beer was quite underwhelming and I'm hoping is not an accurate representation of the Kolsch style.  I struggled to find any hop notes as I drank but only tasted malt sweetness, water, and fizziness which helped counter the sweetness.  Pretty much the whole "prominent, but not extreme, hoppiness" thing was missed in this one.  Granted, it was light, super drinkable, and refreshing, but it reminded me a bit like your typical light beer, with a better mouthfeel and the added hint of real hops.  Despite its low ABV%, it did provide a warming sensation after you drank it which was nice.  However, the flavor doesn't cut through on this one.

2/5

Purchased from:
Gift!

ABV%:
7%

Type:
Ale

Color:
Pours a reddish tinge, almost like watermelon juice.  Cloudy with a pink hue and with a light head.

Aroma:
Smells of a little spice and alcohol, similar to sake, since they are both rice-based with some tang.  Some sweetness as well.

Taste:
Smooth going down, really clean finish and overall tastes 'light'.  Definitely has its roots in the rice as it tastes a bit like sake though obviously not as strong or concentrated as sake.  There is a slight bitterness from the hops used in the brewing process and a sweetness in the finish.  Refreshing but could have more umph.

Overall:
Many brewers use ingredients other than the core of water, malt, hops and yeast during the brewing process to add an additional depth of flavor to the beer.  These items, such as fruit (cranberry, lemon), coffee, or chocolate are used sometimes to great success and other times, they end up gimmicky.  For example, the use of lemon in Sam Adams Coastal Wheat ends up detracting from the beer itself and seems to be a gimmick as it just doesn't taste good.  Other times, such as Kona Brewing's Pipeline Porter, which is brewed with coffee, the extra ingredient can add an interesting flavor but not kill the beer drinking experience.

Kiuchi Brewing Co. adds an extra ingredient their Hitachino Red Rice Ale, namely red rice.  They combine this with the traditional ingredients of malt and hops to create this beer.  To break down the different sugars from the malt and rice, the brewery must also use different yeast to break it down: ale yeast for the malt and sake yeast for the rice.

Does this mash of alternative ingredients contribute to a superior beer?  Well, yes and no.  If you know what sake smells and tastes like, this beer definitely will remind you of its purer brother.  There are hints of the rice wine in both its texture, aroma and flavor.  Because 25% of the grain make-up is rice and then hops, the bitterness from the hops is quite mild while the sweetness of the rice and malt tend to be more at the forefront of the flavor profile.  The sake part of the beer contributes to the light flavor and as such, finishes very clean leaving a slight sweetness.

This is an interesting beer and I feel that it straddles the line between becoming gimmicky and truly creating a new flavor.  I found that I wished the flavors were more 'in your face' and bolder.  But this is a nice beer that does a good job of balancing the flavors from the use of rice in the  beer.

3.25/5

Though the holidays are way past, my gracious friends and family have helped me to prolong the holidays by providing me with gifts of beer.  Lots of beer.  My friends from Boston brought me about 20 beers and my cousin ordered me a 6-pack of an assortment of beers.  Starting a beer blog has its benefits!

I'm pretty excited to try all the bottles but here's my issue.  I can't get myself to try them since I only have 1 of each!  This puts pressure on getting every last drop out of each glass I pour.  There's no going back to the next bottle to gain a deeper understanding of complexities in a beer or if it's just darn good, to go back and drink a few more.  But I'm pretty excited to try them and give you my impressions of everything as I work through them. 

List of beers after the jump.

I'm back.  Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and happy New Year.  Alot has been going on in my world of beer.  My fridge is stocked with a "plethora" of beer thanks to friends, family, and a bit of my own curiosity.  Also, I bought a book called The Naked Pint which is great reading (at least the first 20 pages - I'm a slow reader).  So not only am I expanding my palate but also my MIND.  Don't worry, I plan to share these discoveries with you on my journey of learning.


Prior to going home for Christmas, I had the privilege of watching the NY Giants destroy the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field (football for all you uninformed, and don't talk to me about the last two weeks of the season). I'm a huge Giants fan and had scored tickets from my wife's co-worker. These were club level tickets no less! Being my first time on a seating tier that was not the nose-bleed level, I was excited to have a good view of the game and perhaps indulge in some higher quality refreshments, including the beer. Read on to find what I discover.