A Pint Half Full

I've been on a dark beer kick as of late in search of new flavors.  More specifically, beers with dark fruit flavors - figs, cherries, mixed with chocolate and coffee.  Dark beers I've tried seem to have less hop bitterness and more emphasis on malt and spice complexity.  Harder to find in your typical beer store but really cool when you find it.  The two beers I describe in this post are a bit of opposites - the first is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and the other is an Imperial Stout.  Granted they are two different styles but one has a really nice balance while the other just breaks you down into a trembling mess.

The Lost Abbey Ten Commandments - Flavor profile of dark cherries, dark chocolate with a smooth and slick mouthfeel.  Great balance between that sweetness and hop flavor.  Just blends together so well.  The beer tastes like a dessert.  A bit of alcoholic warmth coats the throat as you drink it but I thought the alcohol taste was hardly noticeable and masked by other flavors.  This one makes me want to try more of this style of beers.


Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - Looking forward to it since it's a Dogfish Head Stout but what a disaster!  Waaaay too strong alcohol wise and tastes like licorice or paint thinner.  I tried to choke it down but just was not feeling it.  Strong strong dark cherries and really high alcohol content.  As it warmed, the alcohol came to the forefront and dominated any flavor profile.  Sorry DFH.  Go try Old Rasputin Imperial Stout for what this style should taste like.

Summer is well underway, along with barbecues, pool parties, beach parties, and all the "summer" edition brews that accompany these occasions.  Typically light in alcohol content, crisp, and refreshing, summer styles are made for long summer days and nights, hanging out with friends.   Seems like the first summer beers come out mid-May and circulate until around August timeframe.  Believe it or not, beyond the normal mass produced fodder you'll find from A-B, Miller, and Coors, smaller breweries like Bell's or Magic Hat release some stuff especially for the summer too.  This year, I sampled a few summer beers from some other breweries and I can say that though they are better balanced and cleaner tasting, they are not all that great either!  But I'm going to rank the ones I did try so here are the 5 beers I've tried so far:

5.  Blue Moon Honey Moon Summer Ale - Syrupy like when you mix honey with water.  That's all I could taste and could not get over in this beer.  Yuck.

4.  Samuel Adams Summer Ale - They equated summer beer with citrus.  Way too much lemon zest that made this almost sour and too tangy for me.  The tang hangs around and left this film in my mouth that's not good for the summer obviously.  Still sticking to the Boston Lager.

3.  Sierra Nevada Summerfest - Clear, clean taste but minimal flavor.  Notes of grassy, piney hops if you really look for it.  Very effervescent which helps the refreshment factor but overall a little bland!  A little yeasty in the aftertaste.  Harmless fun.

2.  Bell's Oberon - Nice light medium body and hints of orange sweetness.  Some peppery notes.  Thirst quenching.  Not bad and fits into the summer style well.

1.  Magic Hat Wacko - Best of the bunch.  Seriously, it's berry colored.  The taste had hint of cherries which I loved rather than the typical citrus hints.  Nice malt backbone and would be pleasant on any summer day.

Try picking some of these up and let me know what you think.