Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout

It's thick, never ending, creamy head has an off white to tan color. The taste feels more like a porter than a stout but does have a nice roasted coffee like finish. If your one of the rare individuals that cant get past the creaminess of Oatmeal stouts like Sam Smith, this one if for you. It appeared sweeter than Sam Smith which would make this a great choice for a desert brew. However its versatile enough to work with a nice porter house or Ny Strip. APV is just a shade under 5%. Accodring to their site, bittering comes from Chinook and Perle but the aroma is all roasted malts.

Arrogant Bastard Ale

Ive never considered myself a hop head and want desperately to acquire the stomach for a Dogfish 120 IPA (sorry Sam Calagione). Much like Dogfish, Stone Brewing Co. knows a thing or 2 about hops as their Stone IPA is a right of passage for any hop head. Im not quite sure if Arrogant Bastard Ale is considered an IBA (Indian Brown Ale) but it certainly had the characteristics. Its roasted caramel color reminds me or a slightly watered down Coke. Though the malty taste did not quite match its robust color, it didt strike a great balance with the hops.

I know what your thinking. How can an Indian Ale have anything resembling malt to hop balance? Well the Oak chips added during the brewing process add a smokey taste that nullifies some of the bitterness. However I can definately tell that there was some serious dry hopping involved. The smell was that of freashly cut grass that just got rained on. The head was a thick offwhite that was Too Legit To Quit (yes i went there).

There was nothing sneaky about its 7.2% ABV. Your taste buds reminded you with every swallow. Though this beer is not for eveyone, I believe that aspiring hop heads like myself can appreciate this just as much as Mr Victory Hop Devil.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis

Im beginning to realize more and more that I am a Perle hops fan. Time and time again, I find myself digging the flavor and bite of this German Hop. And Sierra Nevada always seems to find the perfect marriage of hops in all of their brews. Kellerweis is no exception with a combination of Perle and Sterling mixed with two-row, munich, and wheat.

This is the perfect summer brew that is extremely crisp with an all-spice finish. Its extremely light in color as you would expect in a wheat summer brew but does not have contain the typical watered down, flavorless taste as one would expect from its appearance. Next time I go to the beach, this is the brew for me.

Moon River SLO-vannah Pale Ale

So during my wife and I's yearly visit to Savannah Ga. we made a stop in their local brew pub/brewery Moon River. Due to time constraints, I would only be able to enjoy 1 beer so I asked the waiter for his recommendation. Of course he interrogated me about my drinking preferences, which change with the wind, and plugged my answers into his mental Beer-O-Rama. I was in the mood for a Pale Ale that was very hoppy but not quite an IPA so the recommendation was the SLO-vannah Pale Ale.



As the picture indicates, this is an extremely light colored beer that had a surprising caramel taste. There was almost no bitterness, to my chagrin, but there appeared to be a a fair amount of dry hopping that contributed to its earthy smell. The finish was crisp with a generous Allspice-like taste.

Perfect on a hot day. Not so perfect for a hop head.