No Nonsense Beer Reviews

Just creating this thread to jot down my thoughts on different craft beers that I try, whether local or from across the United States and beyond. I have a pretty straight-forward grading criteria (20 points total; 5 for the below ASTM criteria with some influence from O):

Appearance: Color of the body and head; lacing; unfiltered vs. filtered; and beer debris.
Smell: Aroma quality, strength, and appeal.
Taste: Quality of initial, middle, and finish flavor profiles; strength of alcohol; and how well the flavors blend.
Mouthfeel: "Weight" of the body; literal feel of the initial, middle, and finish of each sip; and how the feel of the beer matches the flavor profile.
Overall: Taking into account all of the aforementioned criteria along with how it compares to other beers of its respective style. Other "X-factors" such as can/bottle art, descriptions, dedications, and release timing are also taken into account.

If you are a beer fanatic please feel free to share your own personal tastings below!

 

Citra Ass Down
Style: Double Imperial Pale Ale
ABV: 7.60%
Brewer: Against the Grain Brewing & Smokehouse Louisville, KY
Serving Type: 650 mL bottle. Interesting art design on the bottle. Poured into a tulip glass.

A: Hazy, golden yellow body with a relatively thing white head (approx. 1/4"). Decent lacing, but nothing to write home about. Fairly prevalent debris profile throughout each pour. The appearance of this DIPA is about what you would expect of your average unfiltered DIPA. (3.75/5)

S: The smell of the Citra hops is noticeable. The aroma is certainly built around a citrus profile, notably grapefruit and lemon. Some spicy smells break through a bit which resemble coriander and peppercorn. (4.25/5)

T: The flavor profile follows the smell adequately. There is an initial citrus profile that is dampened with some faint bitterness, creating an appetizing balance. This initial profile is followed by a fresh and piney combination of flavors; hints of coriander, Citra hops, orange, lemon zest, grapefruit, and caramel malt dominate. The flavor profile is finished with a sharp, boozy bitterness that takes away from the freshness of the beer. The after-taste is significantly more pleasant as it leaves a certain fruitiness for around 20 seconds. (3.75/5)

M: Medium body with pretty good carbonation that doesn't take away from the flavor of the beer. (3.75/5)

O: Overall, it's a pretty good DIPA that definitely leans toward the bitter side of the style. Unfortunately, the bitterness took away from the freshness of the flavor profile and compared to other DIPAs, there wasn't anything "spectacular" about this beer. If it weren't for the extremely steep $15/bottle pricetag, I'd be inclined to buy this beer down the road. For what it is worth, I do recommend this beer to those who are just getting into DIPAs as it resides in one of those "is it too bitter or not?" grey areas (for the record: I do enjoy some of the more bitter DIPAs).

Score: 77.5 [Certainly worth trying]

 

I don't know how to review beers other than "It tastes good and gets me drunk"
There's a really good local beer here called Port City Porter, if you're near Virginia you should try it.

 

It all depends on how strong your palate is. I love doing whiskey/scotch/bourbon and beer tastings because, over the years, I've acquired a pretty strong palate to differentiate styles and what not. Wine, on the other hand, is foreign to me.

 

I am terrible at picking out flavours by smell or taste. I'd be the kind of guy to just nod as the expert at a tasting describes the drink :P

When college starts back up in about 2 months I might try and add to this. Every monday night, one of the college bars runs a "beer club" you usually pay 8-12 euros and get to test 2 or 3 different beers that they bring in for the night. Some very popular choices might return a few weeks later. Some things would be craft beer, others would be lesser known brands or foreign imports.

Edit: there is also at least one bar in the city near my college with a good selection of beers too. There seems to be a rise in the number of bars stocking craft beers or selections of different beers to open people up to different tastes in Ireland. A brand beer from belgium called Duvel is quite nice and strong. It is a strong beer, about 8-9% I think but tastes good and smooth. That is compared to cheaper "fortified beers" which I have tried which taste like the b*stard offspring of beer and wine with a bad taste that shows they tried to up the alcohol but didn't think about producing a good taste.

One beer I desperately want to try again is Augustiner Brau Helles, a german lager from Bayern in southern Germany. It is one of the biggest beer brands in Germany and oddly enough three or four of the five biggest brands are all produced in southern Germany. Augustiner was the first beer I ever liked and the only beer to convert me. before then I never drank beer, but it had such a nice taste I had over 100 in the summer I lived in Munich. Unfortunately it is difficult to get outside of Germany as the company doesn't do much in the export market and prefer to stick to just selling within their home country

 

I've had plenty of Duvel amongst other authentic Belgian brews. Would be cool to have a European perspective on craft beer! I have had my fair share of European brews but not nearly enough to really form an expert opinion on it.

 

Well beer in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany tastes awesome. The alcohol baseline is about 5-6% compared to about 4%, also most of those countries enforce "Purity Laws" or follow them as guidelines to stay up to par. This means that drinking in mainland Europe is awesome as you are much less likely to have a hangover the next day. It also is easier on the stomach on the night too.

 

Tampa has an awesome local microbrewery called Cigar City Brewing that makes some fantastic beers. I really like their Jai Alai IPA and Florida Cracker ale. But they have a lot of diversity and you can't beat local fresh brews. Yuengling has a factory in town too.

http://cigarcitybrewing.com/beers/

When it comes to drink/eat I tend to go with Harp Lager and New Belgium Brewing's Fat Tire as I like smoother, lighter beers when eating. Only exception is German Darks, and conveniently there is a local authentic German place here that imports hundreds of beers.

I am a fan of the Hofbrau Dunkel

List here:
http://www.whatsontap.buildabeer.org/WhatsOnTapAt.php?BarID=USAFL00014

 

I've actually been to Cigar City. Pretty great place. I've been fortunate enough to travel to both Denver and Vermont for some of the greatest breweries in North America (Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, Oskar Blue's, Great Divide, etc. etc.). Closest brewery to me that I'd label as being "phenomenal" is probably Treehouse Brewing up in Monson, MA (it's like a mini Hill Farmstead); next closest thing is New England Brewing Co. methinks.

 

i dont really like thier stuff but have you been to the Funky Buddha near ft.lauderdale?