Brewery Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Appearance: Black and viscous. Immediately reminds me of Kevin’s infamous ‘motor oil’ comparison. No light is getting through this baby. Nutty brown head that sticks around.

Aroma: You can immediately tell this is a strong stout with a little more punch. Rich, chocolaty chords with a sweet, caramel-like finish. This will seem familiar to BCS fans out there.

Taste: My first impression is of a dark chocolate, that has a complex richness to its initial bite. Fades into a caramel/coffee and then has a lingering bitterness like double shot of expresso. Later tastes get more waves of malt and coffee/chocolate (roasted bean). Flavor is good but not overly showy or complex, seems subdued and mature. Oh yeah, the alcohol content and the maltyness really come back in the end FYI. An overall solid fall beer.

Alcohol: 10%

Drink one or all?: 1 or 2.

Cost: $10/6 pack

Overall: 16/20. Not as much character as my lover Goose Island BCS, but good.

Brewery Hometown: Belgium

Appearance: Unfiltered rich dark red. “Looks like fizzy pomegranate juice” says Jenny. Head is strong with strong pink hue. Don’t leave this out around kids next to JuicyJuice.

Aroma: Strong. Fruity. Sweet. Jenny thinks it smells like raspberry seeds. Musty and fermented. Opening the bottle (its corked like champagne) lets a burst of aroma out.

Taste: First…its fruity (duh its a fruit beer). The raspberry taste is surprisingly tart and refreshing. Very little to NO taste of hops/beer, yet it doesn’t have the dryness of say wine. Its very concentrated, not watered down or overtones like in other fruit beers. Its a raspberry smack in the face, so if you feel like some fruity beer bdsm, this could be your thing. Fruit dominates you. “Literally does not taste alcoholic…starts having a bitter after taste after a while” says Jenny. I think its the overdose of sweet fruity-ness that leaves behind a slight dryness.

Alcohol: 4.0%

Drink one or all?: How dedicated are you? Most likely just 1, too sweet for all night. A great one to recommend to non-beer drinking GF’s.

Cost: $12/750 mL bottle

Overall: Andy (14/20 - too sweet and sticky), Jenny (17/20 - good in small quantities)

Incoming nerd out……All I can think of from this is how hunters in WOW can tame epic exotic pets, so its like a hunter going into Molten Core and taming Magmadar ( Look on the pic to the right, hes so much more bad ass as a dog beast then the dog on the bottle) as a pet and runnning around with that while playing wii. I mean the picture even looks like someone having a epic animal on a chain as its pet. I mean really, how can we go wrong here. Let’s hope the beer can be as epic and earn a 1337 rating. Nerd out over. (lets hope Jim reads this still and catches that one)

Brewery Hometown: Isle of Skye, Scotland

Appearance: Kinda looks alot like the 3 Floyds King Pale Ale. Same dark orange, murky color. Has a lot of head that lingered around for a quite a while. And left a good amount of lacing around.

Aroma: Had a strong smell. I poured and smelled it right away. A fresh citrus smell. Kinda outdoor woody smell with some malt in there.

Taste: Slighly bitter to start then sweet. Kinda taste like should be a citrus taste but just taste acidic in the middle. Kinda a creamy taste/feel with carbonation tossed it there. Kinda explains why the head looks how it did with all the foam. Enough carbonation to notice its there and make it not taste flat but nothing too crazy. There’s a smokiness taste throughout it all. Leaves a kinda woody sweet/sour tastes. Its actually quite drinkable in the end. Kinda different but not bad.

Alcohol: 7%

Drink one or all?: Ehh probably wont have it again but wasn’t bad.

Cost: 4.49 plus tax for 500 ml bottle

Overall: 14/20 Failed on being epic, but haven’t really had Scottish ales before. Its decent, just nothing amazing.

Brewery Hometown: Hammond, Indiana

Appearance:Cloudy, murky dark copper color. You can’t see through this baby. Had a decent amount of head that kinda looks like a mountain and took a while to fade leave a gracious amount of lacing. Alot darker and merky then expected.

Aroma:Not very strong but has a citrus smell and very hoppy. Didn’t expect this from a pale ale.  Seems like the look and the smell was off on this beer from what i thought it would be

Taste: Look off- check

Smell off-

Taste off- 

A very hoppy kick at the start but doesn’t end bitter at all. Kinda fades away and comes back with an after taste that leaves you wanting more. The middle is kinda a smooth citrus taste not strong but you know its there. Its light and smooth by not watery.  Leaves a nice dry feeling of wanting more.

Alcohol:6 %

Drink one or all?:Drink all in one session easily.

Cost: 10$/6 pack (I think)

Overall:17/20 Probably one of my favorite Pale ales now. I can drink it all night long. Would give it a higher rating but I cant just give all good  beer a almost perfect rating.

Brewery Hometown: Idaho Springs, CO

Appearance: A clear amber brown, strong off-white head with good lacing. The head builds strongly with a modest pour and as you will see below, gives off a strong, great scent.

Aroma: Sweet with big overtones of maple and nuts. Scent is crisp and clear, the maple does not come across to sweet or fake, wonderful! The chocolate malts mix in nicely as well.

Taste: Nutty! I have to admit my first thought even before taking a sip was to compare it to Goose Island’s Nut Brown Ale. After a first sip, the dark nut taste is a little pale in comparison but is supported by a wonderful sweet, maple kick initially, followed by a dry coffee/chocolate aftertaste that lingers nicely. I thought that the flavor was a little thin, watery, but every once in a while another taste chord such as the sweet balance of the maple would linger in. At the end of the bottle, the sweetness was a little too much.

Alcohol: ??? Guessing 5%

Drink one or all?: 1. Too sweet for multiples.

Cost: $9/6 pack

Overall: 14/20

Brewery Hometown: Delaware
Appearance: Golden orangish caramel color. What you expect a pumpkin to look like if it was beer. Clear with a decent white head that develops.

Aroma: Sweet smelling with cinnamon and nutmeg. Kinda like pumpkin pie, if it taste how it seems you’ll be in luck.

Taste: And we have a winner. DING DING DING. It taste like Sweet old pumpkin pie with a lil spice. If you want to put pumpkin pie into a bottle of beer this would be it. Not watery at all. Nice, thick and creamy.

Alcohol: 7%

Drink one or all?: all of the 4 pack

Cost: I think 9 bucks/4 pack

Overall: 19/20- Its pumpkin pie in beer. Probably the best pumpkin/Oktoberfest beer I’ve had. Too bad it only comes once a year.

Brewery Hometown: Somewhere in Wisconsin

Appearance: It’s a caramel brown with a reddish tint. when
you pour it the head hardly stands, not to say that’s a
bad thing but it just doesn’t show off or anything.

Aroma: Malty caramel is pretty much all you can smell…
alcohol is apparent after you stick your nose in and take
a deep breathe. spices seem to lace the caramel but i don’t
really know what spices just yet. slightly iron smelling
but not huge.
Taste: And there’s that metallic smell… brutal. once you
get past the intense sip of iron, alcohol and bubbles and
let it sit you get something else. This being the Malty
Caramel that doesn’t taste like caramel at all, unless
it’s burnt. its also kind of thin and doesn’t have as much
substance as i normally like. i’m about half way through and
the nasty taste has subsided and now is like someone spiked
my miller lite with iron.

Alcohol: 5.2%

Drink one or all?: 1… if any…

Cost: $8(6-pack)

Overall: 9/20. it gets points for trying and including alcohol
in the attempt. i did get a pretty solid pre-game off the
first 5 but would not buy again. They also get points because
i dont’ have a beer to call my own so their one step above me.
just don’t get it, promise?

Brewery Hometown:  St.Louis

Appearance: It puts on a good show in the glass at first. throwing down a darker nutty brown appearance that i would say has some red tones. the head starts out strong but doesn’t stay much more than just a lacing around the glass.

Aroma: Real beer?! it smells malty and alcoholic! but the alcohol isn’t bad, its a sweet scent the smell is like a more subtle Pere Jacques.

Taste: Its complicated… the malty scent is rolled right into that alcohol scent in the flavor with a bitter after taste. I was not expecting it to taste like a red beer but i would definitely say its red, if that was intentional or not i don’t know. very easy to take down but no real characteristics to it other than red and malty. the carbination is less than i would have expected from Bud but i think thats a good thing for a thicker beer like this. which it is indeed a real full-bodied beer (just not as full bodied as we sometimes like). Also as the beer goes by and stays with you it turns a little sweeter and a little more enjoyable.

Alcohol: 5.1%

Drink one or all?: depends how many you bought!

Cost: $6 for a sixer

Overall: 16/20 straight up economical. if you want something solid to get you started for the evening and your cash flow is limited this is a very good option. to be honest its growing on me as for what it is.

Brewery Hometown: England

Appearance: Sharp, clear, orange. Standard head with good lacing, off white. Bottle is fun and big. 550ml of waaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrm.

Aroma: Lightly spicy, caramel, malts. Complex melody of spices delivers all-around hardy presence but with a pleasant sweet tail. I am really enjoying it.

Taste: Woah! Strong. The alcohol content isn’t remarkably high but this has a strong initial kick, slightly bitter. Further sips show a sweeter side, but it can tend to be slightly watery (may be your thing if you like strict English ales). Definitely warming, that % is kicking in well :D

Alcohol: 6.0%

Drink one or all?: Came in a 550ml bottle…drank it all of course

Cost: ~$3.50

Overall: 16/20 A-ok, not spectacular