Beer Review - Magic Hat Brewing Elder Betty

Elder Betty

Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing

Location: Burlington, VT

Beer Name: Elder Betty

Style: Wheat

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 13

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a cloudy golden orange with a rocky, rapidly dissipating white head with spotty lacing. The aroma hints of light yeasty bread and big whiffs of berries. The taste is very similar to the smell. A light base of wheat and dough that moves fast into a berry dominated experience. Light in body with a medium carbonation.

Overall a good fruit flavored wheat beer. I kind of like the label graphic, it is interesting and draws you to the beer. The coloring is a little extreme but oddly works. The aroma was a little one dimensional and faint with berries the predominant factor. I found the taste out of the ordinary and unique. Here again not much going on but the berry flavor but it added a nice slightly tart finish to the beer that was enjoyable. A light body and a lively carbonation lend to the cause. Probably not something I would drink often or many of but would be enjoyable on a hot summer afternoon.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	5/10
Aroma	4/10
Flavor	6/10
Overall	5/10
Total	26/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Deschutes Brewing Red Chair NWPA

Brewery: Deschutes Brewing

Location: Bend, OR

Beer Name: Red Chair NWPA

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.2%

IBU: 60

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a coppery orange with ruby edges. A frothy white head develops with good retention and soft lacing. The aroma faintly hints of bready malt and sweet caramel that is enveloped quickly with a hop blast of floral notes, pine, citrus, and earth. The flavor is hop forward, with hints of pine, grass, grapefruit, apricot, but balanced well with a bready, toffee sweet malt backbone. A medium body beer with ample carbonation

Overall a great take on an IPA. An ok label, not sure what red chairs have to do with beer, but to each their own. Found it sort of strange the beer wasn’t a truer red color with red in the name, but overall it was a nice looking beer. The aroma was pleasant and well rounded. The flavors melded well with each other. Nice earthy tinges that lead into a thump of citrus notes hovering nicely over a biscuity, caramel base. Very interesting, sort of blurs the lines of a IPA with its hop profile and a Pale ale with its malty characteristics. A very nice sipper.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	6/10
Aroma	7/10
Flavor	8/10
Overall	7/10
Total	34/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Lakefront Brewery IPA

Brewery: Lakefront Brewing

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Beer Name: IPA

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.9%

IBU: NA

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a hazy orange with a thick white head that retains well with supple lacing. The aroma really shines with big hits of citrus and floral characteristics with undertones of dank earth. For the flavor the solid mildly sweet but clean malt provides a nice backbone for the bitter citrus dominated hops at the end. A thick medium body beer with moderate carbonation.

Overall this was an all-star IPA. Sort of a quaint eye for the IPA on the label. A little weird to have it staring back at you. The beer looks phenomenal in all its orangey, hoppy oil viscous stature. The aroma really speaks to you, even a little ways away from it. Lots of citrus, grapefruit with just enough herbal, pine resin, and dank earth to keep it in check. The taste matches the above goodness. Well balanced with a touch of malt sweetness at the front that carries well into the hop wave. The hops are the star, but nicely balanced. Lot of big citrus, grapefruit the dominate one, with herbal qualities of pine, mint and some tobacco backing notes. Finishes slightly bitter, resiny but not overwhelming or astringent. A very well crafted, quaffable IPA.   

Aroma

Score

Label/Cap	7/10
Appearance	9/10
Aroma	9/10
Flavor	9/10
Overall	9/10
Total	43/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Great Divide 18th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA

18th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA

Brewery: Great Divide Brewing

Location: Denver CO

Beer Name: 18^th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 10.%

IBU: NA

The beer was poured from a 22oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a deep copper color with a thick, but quickly diminishing off-white head and dense lacing. The aroma hearkens of biscuity malts, toffee, oak with undertones of vanilla, pine, and tropical fruits. The flavor starts with a brief hint of sweet caramel and toffee that is quickly vanquished by a siege of oak tannins and alcohol that ends with a mild earthy grapefruit bitterness. This is a medium to full body beer with medium carbonation.

Overall I found it to be a great beer, almost all-star level. On the same note, I’m still a bit on the fence with the beer. A very nice commemorative label that is solid in it making. The aroma is very delectable, with a slight slant towards the oak. The initial flavor is dominated by oak tannins and a bit of astringent alcohol in the beginning. Sort of like walking threw a sawmill with your mouth open, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. After bit of warm up and more than a few pulls off of it, the high alcohol dulls the senses and seems to temper the oakiness of the beer and rounds out the flavor. From this point forward I really enjoyed the complexity and texture of the beer. Subtle notes of vanilla, toffee, and grapefruit were more pronounced amongst the wood. I’d advise to give this a try and to drink this as your last beer of the night, because it is a bit of a palate wrecker with all its oak tannins. Cheers to Great Divide and I'm looking forward to next years version.

Score

Label/Cap	8/10
Appearance	8/10
Aroma	8/10
Flavor	8/10
Overall	7/10
Total	39/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Boulder Brewing Flashback

Flashback

Brewery: Boulder Brewing

Location: Boulder, CO

Beer Name: Flashback

Style: India -Style Brown Ale

ABV: 6.88%

IBU: NA

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a deep copper ruby with a decent sandy head, patchy lacing. The aroma hearkens of earth/pine and citrus hops with a touch of caramel and biscuit. The flavor starts with a brief hint of sweet caramel, toasted bread and nuts that is quickly whisked away with hop bittereness with notes of grapefruit, pine resin, and other citrus fruits.  This is a medium body beer with low carbonation.

Overall I found this to be a good take on an India style brown ale. Interesting trippy/hippy Boulder Brewing label with bold coloring. Would have thought it would been a tad more dark, brown in color. Aroma is very hop forward with not a lot of malt characteristics showing through. Same goes for the taste. For a brown ale I would have expected a bit more malt complexity and backbone. That being said it was very smooth and easy to drink.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	5/10
Aroma	5/10
Flavor	5/10
Overall	5/10
Total	26/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Alaskan Brewing Alaskan IPA

Alaskan IPA

Brewery: Alaskan Brewing

Location: Juneau, AK

Beer Name: Alaskan IPA

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.2%

IBU: 55

The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a golden amber with a nice white head that subsides with thin lacing. The aroma speaks of light caramel malt with herbal, grassy hops and a dash of lemon zest.  The flavor starts slightly bready and sweet then moves quickly to earthy, piney hops with grapefruit and lemon undertones. A thin body beer with moderate carbonation round out the beer.

Overall a good IPA. I found the label humorous with the surfer riding a wave beside a glacier. A nice looking beer. Aroma seemed a little subdued for an IPA. The flavor was very rounded with a nice balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Earthy with pine resin notes dominate with some citrus showing through. Dry and crisp finish with moderate hop bitterness. Very smooth an easy to drink. Not my favorite IPA but a good one nonetheless.

Score

Label/Cap	6/10
Appearance	5/10
Aroma	5/10
Flavor	6/10
Overall	6/10
Total	28/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer

Beer Review - Big Sky Brewing Heavy Horse

Brewery: Big Sky Brewing

Location: Missoula, MT

Beer Name: Heavy Horse

Style: Scotch Ale

ABV: 6.7%

IBU: 20



Big Sky Heavy Horse Scotch Ale



The beer was poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Pours a deep brown with ruby edges. A thick creamy tan head with good retention is produced with nice lacing. The aroma is subtle with hints of caramel malts, dark fruits, earth/peat, and light floral hops. The flavor is slightly sweet, malt forward with notes of caramel, raisins, and toffee. Undertones of earthiness and a nutty, dry finish round out the beer. This is lower end medium body beer with moderate carbonation.

Overall a very smooth and easy drinking Scotch ale. An Interesting label. Big Sky has one of my favorite caps. A good looking beer that pours creamy. The aroma isn’t big, but it reflects the style well. The taste is sweet but not cloying. A soft earthy dry finish complements the sweetness. A great tasting, clean Scotch Ale that is easy to drink.

Score

Label/Cap	7/10
Appearance	7/10
Aroma	6/10
Flavor	8/10
Overall	8/10
Total	36/50

Judgment Scale
  0-9 Not worth your $
10-19 A OK Beer
20-29 A Good Beer
30-39 A Great Beer
40-44 A All-star Beer
45-50 A Hall of Fame Beer