Beers in Review: Left Hand, Sierra Nevada, and OMB

I have three good beers to discuss today, and I don't have much of an intro in me right now, so let's just get to it.

Left Hand Brewing Company makes one of my favorite stouts on the market, their Milk Stout. This stout is available in Nitro (think Guinness-style tiny bubbles), but this bottle was not nitrogenated. Still, as expected, the Milk Stout brings a hint of creaminess, along with a nice maltiness. I also found mild roastiness, along with cocoa and maybe a bit of coffee as well. This stout had a medium body and was very smooth. A really enjoyable stout.

Next up was a great surprise from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Sierra Nevada has started branching out of late, and started this some time ago under their beer fan-driven Beer Camp series. Last week, I tried a "Tropical IPA" from that series. Having a low-medium body, the first impression of this beer was straight up fruit bomb. Tropical fruits dominated the front of this beer, eventually giving way to a moderate amount of hoppiness that was especially evident in the aftertaste. A good amount of hop bitterness throughout rounds out this beer's flavor profile. Sierra Nevada has been diversifying their line-up of late (even going into Goze territory recently), but even this early-year seasonal was a bit of a stunner.

Finally, an entry from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, their amber ale/Altbier, called Copper. Copper had a lightish body, but a good amount of flavor. There was plenty of malt, some nuttiness to me, maybe something grainy or grassy (or maybe something else?). I also detect hints of caramelly sweetness (especially in the finish and aftertaste) and bitterness. Surprisingly complex for an amber.

Beers in Review: PRB FINALLY Sells Out A Bit!

When I founded this blog, the idea was to give my amateur thoughts on all the craft beers I could get my hands on. I assumed at some point something mainstream would end up here on PRB (and, really, some craft beer snobs would argue I've already reviewed mainstream beers, given Goose Island is now Budweiser's little brother), but I honestly figured it would take more than 3 months. That being said...

As a former Pennsylvanian, Yuengling Lager has a special place in my heart. Even all the way back in college, my fraternity brothers could attest that when I wasn't downing apple cider and Seagram's 7 (what the hell was I thinking?), I still felt too good to regularly down PBR, Keystone, and the other cheapest swill available. In lieu of the 40oz bottles of said products, I'd grab the liters of Yuengling instead. Even in college, before the craft beer boom, I tried to be a little bit of a beer snob.

So...Yuengling Lager. Like most macros, the profile for this beer is very much straight forward. Pouring a gold-orange color, and having a medium body, it's basic but pretty tasty for a lager. Plenty of grain flavors and aromas, and maybe a little bit of accompanying sweetness. Something biscuity or bready in there, as well. Personally, I always find Yuengling to fall in an ideal point on the flavor vs. price spectrum. Some crafts have gone down in price to be very affordable, but you'll never find them for $16/case. Basically, I'll always have a soft spot for "Lager".

As I mentioned in one of the Beer Festival blog entries, I had just discovered Catawba Brewing Company. Just prior to the festival, I had their Farmer Ted's Cream Ale. Listed as a cream ale, this seems to be their basic or gateway beer for the pale lager drinkers of the world. Nothing at all wrong with that. It pours a pale, straw-like yellow, and has a light, bready flavor. I also found it to have a mildly sweet aftertaste. Frankly, I felt that it was maybe a little too carbonated--I would think it was intended to be a little smoother--but that may have been the fault of the draft system of my local watering hole. A solid basic beer.

This is already getting a little longer than I'd like, so let's close with a live review. I have in front of me New Holland Brewing Company's Cabin Fever Brown Ale. It pours a nice moderately dark brown color, of course, and has a medium-heavy body. A Winter seasonal, Cabin Fever has nice cocoa notes, and probably plays a little rougher than most--the ABV is 6.5%, but feels like it would be a little higher than that, maybe in the low-mid 7s. Malty and strong, it might not be the usual winter beer, but it is hearty enough to hold up.

Site News: So, coming mid-February, I plan on taking my face-made-for-radio to the visual medium, and starting Pourly Reviewed Beer video reviews. Reviews will typically be one beer at a time, and plan on having the beer in front of me to deliver live impressions. Videos will be posted both here and on YouTube. Look for these starting with a special side-by-side tasting the week of February 15th (if all goes well).

Coming Wednesday: a Left Hand's highly-regarded Milk Stout, a true surprise from Sierra Nevada, and something from OMB.  Cheers!

Beers in Review: Miscellaneous Trio

After the WBF posts, I have a bit of a backlog of beers from pre-festival.

In one of the festival posts, I professed my love for NoDa Brewing Company's Jam Session Pale Ale (which I'd mistakenly called an IPA). Earlier in the week, I had their winter seasonal, called Cold Crash. It pours a reddish-bronze hue, and has a moderate to full body. I caught a hint of a nutty aroma, and a good amount of dark fruit flavors along with some malty hints and maybe a bit of hops. Pretty tasty beer. I've generally enjoyed the beers of NoDa.

Another solid brewery, I find, is Lonerider Brewing Company, and their Sweet Josie is a top-flight Brown Ale, in my opinion. Pouring a deep, dark brown, this full-bodied Brown has a ton of flavors going on: nutty flavors, caramel, cola, sweet chocolate. Really, really tasty. This Brown stands out in a category that can be a little stagnant.

Finally, a collaboration between Tradesman Brewing Company and the World of Beer bar chain. Called Boil Advisory (as a fundraiser for Columbia's disastrous flooding late last year), it was a very dark brown to nearly pitch black--to the point that I needed to basically look at it directly through the afternoon sun to get any color through it. Pretty complex flavors throughout this Black IPA, as a coffee hint combines with the hops to make the beer quite bitter to start. From there, it resolves to assorted sweetness (some cocoa, a bit of fruit) and some hints of spice.

Recovered and Reflected: WBF Highlights, Part 2

As promised yesterday, let's knock out a couple of Pourly Reviewed Ciders before my final beer reflections.

Really, I went to the cider section of the World Beer Festival to break up the beer tastings and try to save my palate a bit. Varying levels of success on that.

In the cider section, my goal was to go outside the box of the typical hard apple cider. I started with McKensie's Beverages and their Black Cherry Cider. It was very tasty, sweet but not killer sweet, and the black cherry was very much up my alley. Really delicious. Second was Bold Rock Hard Cider's IPA, which stands for India Pressed Cider. It lived up to the IPA initials, pairing an early apple sweetness with a hint of that hop bitterness normally reserved for pale ales. Most of the hops were in the back end of the sip, and made for a solid overall taste of the cider.

Back into beers, I had never heard of Charleston's Freehouse Brewery until seeing them at the festival. Their Green Door IPA relies on organic barley and hops. Overall, the result was a mild but solidly drinkable IPA.

Staying with IPAs, I had Thomas Creek Brewery's Trifecta IPA, which features plenty of crisp citrus hop flavors. I haven't seen this beer much around until very recently--this is one I need to explore further.

Finally, Hi-Wire Brewing had their new Spring seasonal, a hoppy Belgian called Death Defying Spring Ale. It was something different, as the hops blended well with the traditional fruity Belgian sweetness. Another beer I hope to enjoy again soon.

Recovery and Reflection: World Beer Fest Highlights, Part 1

Well, here we are again. I am recovered from Saturday's boozy experience and Sunday's football insanity to return to the blogosphere.

Columbia's version of the World Beer Festival was held on Saturday. I could never remember everything I had, and I have notes on many beers, but I just want to give some highlights from my drinking experiences.

First, I think NoDa Brewing's Jam Session IPA might be my favorite IPA right now, and is up there on my favorite beer list (or at least, favorite regularly-available beer list). It's loaded with grapefruit flavor and aroma that blends well with the hop bitterness. It has big bold flavors, but didn't really seem to be much of a palate wrecker to me.

Swamp Cabbage Brewing had their Anniversary Ale on hand. It had a nice malt sweetness with mild hop and fruit flavors. Very nice.

Prior to and at the festival, I tried out Catawba Brewing Company from Morganton, NC after just recently starting to see them around Columbia. I had the Farmer Ted's Cream Ale (which seems to be the base beer to appeal to the pale lager drinkers of the world) at a local bar and the White Zombie White Ale at the festival. They both had fairly similar characteristics--a lot of grain and generally mild flavors. This was expected in the Cream Ale, but I'd have liked a little more out of the White Zombie. Still, I'll give them another try if/when I see them around here.

One of the first beers I had was D9 Brewing Company's Black Ice Imperial Black Ale. Aged in various sorts of barrels, including Canadian whiskey barrels, this ale had lots of booze and boozy sweetness (it checks in at 10% ABV), along with some coffee notes and maybe a hint of chocolate, though that may have just blended in with the booze.

This seems like a good stopping point for today. Tomorrow, I'll comment on a few other beers I had, along with some interesting ciders, if you'll indulge me on some Pourly Reviewed Ciders. Cheers.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 6: Hunter-Gatherer, plus programming notes

I have a two beers for you to close out my contribution to Columbia Craft Beer Week (more on that shortly), from Hunter-Gatherer Brewery. We start with the Wheat beer. It pours a pale straw-gold, and is light overall with the most notable flavors being lots of grain and crackery or bready notes. There was also a mild sweetness and a hint of citrus towards the end of the sip. It was pretty tasty for a wheat beer.

Second was the ESB, which poured a reddish-brown or copper with a low-medium body and lead off with a nice malty backbone. This led to some dark fruit-type flavors and mild sweetness as the taste progressed. Very drinkable, a nice ESB, if that's your thing.

Now, while CCBW formally ends tomorrow, the final event is the 8th annual Columbia World Beer Festival, where I will be drinking as many 2 oz. pours as I possibly can. Notable beers will be described on the blog's Twitter page: www.twitter.com/pourlyreviewed. I'm sure there will be several. But I wouldn't expect any further blog entries until early next week, unless I'm feeling especially chipper on Sunday, somehow.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 5: Conquest Coffee IPA

We have another offering from Conquest Brewing Company, in the form of their Coffee IPA. It pours a gold-orange color--frankly, I expected something darker, considering this is a beer brewed with coffee. Aroma-wise, I was getting a lot of hops. Flavor-wise, I was pleased to find a much better balance. The coffee is certainly present, but not overpowering, and blends well with citrusy hop flavors. A hint of sweetness finishes off the sip.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 4: River Rat My Morning Stout

Hello, friends.

For Day 4 of CCBW, we return to River Rat Brewing and their My Morning Stout. It pours virtually pitch black, but also has a surprisingly light-in-color head, just a very, very light tan. A lot of typical but well-executed stout flavors in this beer--notes of almost spicy cocoa along with hints of coffee and vanilla (both especially in the finish). These blend together along with a mild sweetness (possibly generated by the vanilla?). The finish is fairly smooth. Another quality beer from the folks at River Rat.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 3: Swamp Cabbage Bald Cypress Porter LIVE

Day 3, and a sampling of a third of Columbia's breweries. Today we feature the Bald Cypress Porter from Swamp Cabbage Brewing Company. The porter poured pitch black with a very small amount of tan head. The very first impression on the sip was a cola-like flavor. That lingers for a bit, then resolves into something a little more dark fruity, then into a more typical cocoa flavor. There is also some kind of smoky bite at the very end, almost like a mesquite, or something like that. It's not off-putting at all, but a bit of a unique flavor.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 2: Conquest Der Alte Fritz

We continue the reviews for Columbia Craft Beer Week with the one local brewery I have yet to mention in this blog: Conquest Brewing Company and what they call their "dark rye brown". Der Alte Fritz is probably my preferred choice from Conquest. It pours a solid brown and has a light-to-medium body. It's a pretty standard brown ale, with lots of malt flavor and and a mild amount of sweetness, but also featuring a hint of pepper and some other spiciness coming out of the rye. The malt elements tend to be much more prevalent than the rye components, but it makes for a tasty beer.

Columbia Craft Beer Week, Day 1: River Rat Winter Warmer LIVE

Here in Columbia, today marks the first day of Columbia Craft Beer Week, one of two craft beer celebrations held in Columbia each year. This week features assorted events like tap takeovers, beer dinners, and special releases from many of the city's restaurants, pubs, and breweries. The week culminates with the World Beer Festival next Saturday at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

My own little contribution to CCBW will be a review of a different Columbia-brewed beer everyday through Friday. We begin today with River Rat's Winter Warmer. Pouring a clear reddish-gold, and having a pretty full body, this beer has just a hint of sweetness. It utilizes cinnamon and "sweet orange peel" as part of its recipe. Both come through, especially the cinnamon as part of that usual winter-ish spice profile. But neither is overpowering, and blend well with the malt profile that comes through later in the taste. Overall, a very nice beer.

Beers in Review: A couple more hoppy beers, plus one decidedly not

Today, we jump into a couple more hoppy beers, plus a well-regarded beer from Allagash.

We'll start with the hoppy beers, leading with Seminar Brewing's Alpha Crucis IPA. Alpha Crucis pours a dark gold color. The hops take the lead with piney flavors, along with a hint of citrus. The hops generate a mild amount of bitterness, nothing overpowering. As it warms up, the finish becomes more fruity, but overall it has a nice balance of hops and malt.

Next up is the Foothills Brewing Jade IPA, so named for its use of New Zealand's Jade hop, a hop that I don't recall having seen before. Most notable is the complex hop flavor profile generated by the Jade along with Citra and Chinook. The result is citrusy and spicy or peppery notes, along with a hint of resin, perhaps. There is also a bright fruitiness and a decent amount of bitterness. As it warms, it becomes more bitter and citrusy (especially lemony--that sourness might contribute to the increased bitterness). Also some dank flavors as it warms. A really neat, quite unique IPA.

Finally, what I would call Allagash Brewing Company's flagship beer, Allagash White, their traditional Belgian wheat beer. To me, this beer is very straight forward. It pours a pale straw color and is slightly hazy. There were spicy or peppery flavor notes, along with banana, cloves, and orange, and it was a little bit sweet. This beer has won multiple awards over the years, and really takes the wheat beer concept up a notch.

Beers in Review: A couple of hoppy beers

We start off with a collaboration. Evil Twin Brewing has always been among the more eccentric entities in the craft beer scene. This weekend, I tried a collaboration with 7venth Sun Brewery, their Citra Sunshine Slacker. Hops take center stage in this session IPA with complex flavors and a very delicate balance. Citrus fruits, especially grapefruit, and a little bit of dankness came out of the hops. There wasn't a ton of bitterness, and no sweetness at all to me. As the IPA warmed up, the hops opened up, and there was almost a hint of smokiness, but it wasn't at all off-putting.

Next up was Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Hoppy Roots. Given Sierra Nevada's typical beer crafting, and with this beer's name, I was very surprised to find this beer wasn't super-hoppy! In fact, I found this beer to be incredibly balanced, almost to the point of being malt-forward pale ale. Dank and swampy hops contributed to the flavor, and opened and bittered up a bit as it warmed. There was also a dark fruit or almost red wine flavor in the back end. Overall, a pleasantly surprising beer from one of the craft beer titans.

Beer in Review: Keeping it in the family

We start with a disclaimer...

The beer in this review is a home brew, known as Coyote Cool. It is brewed by a long-time (like, WAY longer than I've been alive) friend of the family. In general, when I am in such situations that will require disclaimers, I will make every attempt to be fair and objective in those reviews. I'm pretty sure I nailed that here. Perhaps you all may disagree. That's cool. Let's get to it.

This is Coyote Cool's IPA, one of his first attempted bottlings. To start out, there is a moderate amount of hop bitterness--definitely present, and lingering, but not too overpowering. As it warms up, the malt flavors start to open up, resulting in a better overall balance as it warms. There is also some mild sweetness mixing with the hops. Overall, a very solid IPA. Word is, a Black IPA is on the horizon from Coyote Cool. Watch this space.

Beers in Review: A miscellaneous pair

Another beer I had while at the parents' place for the holidays was Philadelphia-based Yards Brewing Company's Love Stout. Really solid overall, it pours a beautiful inky black, and doesn't have a ton of body. Flavors are fairly standard for stouts, but really quite delicious; cocoa notes take the lead, along with a hint of coffee. Toasted malts are also integrated into the flavor profile. A really well done stout.

Now, we cross 3 time zones to the West Coast's Firestone Walker Brewing Company, and their well-regarded Union Jack IPA. A pale gold-ish color, there are some hops with dank and citrus notes. The Union Jack sports lots of flavor with mild fruit and malty sweetness. Maybe a bit of alcohol is present (7.5% ABV), but it certainly doesn't detract. If it were any sweeter, it might push into the Double IPA territory. Overall, really great with a major hop punch.

Beers in Review: Hanover, PA, brewing capital of the world? Part 2

As we continue the tour of the bustling beer production epicenter of Hanover, PA, population about 15,000, we move on to a bistro that has a whole lot going on, as well as couple of tasting rooms.

Warehouse Gourmet Bistro and Brew Pub is brewing beer under the Warehouse Craft Brewing label, in addition to their already-established restaurant and catering business. During dinner, I had their Small Town Brown. They say it's closer to a porter, and I found that to be fairly accurate. The pint I had was super-carbonated, almost to the point of harshness and interfering with the flavors. Once I got used to it, I found it to have pretty straight forward characteristics: malty and roasty with hints of cocoa. Overall, pretty solid beer--I'd love to give this another try, see if the carbonation isn't quite as harsh the second time around.

The next brewery visited was Aldus Brewing Company, starting with their Olde Factory IPA. There was a fruitiness, along with a fairly high alcohol content (7% ABV), that made this beer feel more like a Double IPA. Mild hops were present, but the generally dominant flavor was that of dark fruit sweetness. The next beer I reviewed is also sweet, but intentionally so--we'll get to that. In general, even in beers I merely sampled, everything seemed to be on the sweet side. I imagine this is a play to their audience, though it's not necessarily my favorite.

The second beer was called Frankenbru, and is a fruit ale. Obviously, many sweet flavors in this beer, most notably apples, the core of the fruit ale. Also has some maple syrup sweetness, which tended to linger, and the beer had a low-to-medium body. Again, with the sweetness, these were not necessarily my favorite beers to taste, but I certainly respect what they are doing--these are solidly-made beers.

The final beer of our tour is not from Hanover, but a short distance away in York, PA. Crystal Ball Brewing Company has a brand new tasting room that we got to experience that was notable in that we were mere feet away from all of the brewing equipment (and not behind glass or walls, like some small breweries). Their Cold Weather is a black wheat ale that is probably perfect now that the Christmas week heat wave is over and it's actually cold up there. Also somewhat sweet, but not that surprising, given this falls into that "winter warmer" category of beers. Also, the cranberry infusion contributes to that sweetness. A beer with low-to-medium body, it poured a deep deep ruby color that was quite beautiful. The cranberries gave the beer a tartness that cut through some of that still-present but not overpowering sweetness. Still, that sweetness did linger after the drink. Overall, a really nice, well-executed beer.

After sampling several of the breweries in York County (and even including ones I've visited previously like Liquid Hero Brewery, the beer scene in my old home is really terrific. Add to it some of the region's nationally-notable breweries like Troegs and Victory, and this south-central Pennsylvania region really is booming for craft beer.

Beers in Review: Hanover, PA, brewing capital of the world? Part 1 (Miscreation Brewing Company)

Continuing checking out the beers of my old hometown, York County, PA, I've discovered that the small town of Hanover has no less than 4 microbreweries. Today, I'll be focusing on Miscreation Brewing.

We'll start out with a couple of similar beers. The first is called (and this is accurate) Spweach Impwediment. A pale wheat ale, this ale pours a hazy straw color, and is a pretty light beer overall. Peaches are used in the brewing process, and come through strongly in the first half of the sip. Later on, there are some spice notes, such as cinnamon or all-spice, but the brightness of the peaches doesn't really evoke the pumpkin/fall beer feeling I get from most beers containing those spices. The spices also are more subtle than is typical, so I really enjoyed their presence in the Spweach.

Next is what could be considered a cousin of Spweach, a wheat wine called Mush Mouff. Pouring an apricot color, peaches are also a heavy component of this wheat wine, as are raspberries. Both fruits are quite prominent in this straight-forward wheat wine. It has a higher alcohol content than the Spweach, and there is a slight hint of a booze note throughout, but nothing strong or overpowering.

Beer number 3 is their IPA, Powder Keg. A straight forward American IPA where dank hops explode at the outset, and the hop flavor and hop bitterness tend to hang around throughout the entire sip, and even afterwards. Also some fruitiness hanging around in the middle of the sip, but the hops are the big player in this IPA.

The final beer is The Conjuring, an American Black Ale. This beer has a good body and powerful flavors. It is roasty and smoky (perhaps a little too much overall in that regard) with a hint of bitterness. Cocoa is also quite the prominent flavor. Overall, this black ale has big, bold flavors, and can be quite enjoyable if the smokiness doesn't get to you.

Miscreation is doing a lot of really good things in the Pennsylvania beer scene. I really enjoyed their space in the square in Hanover, and I had some really great beers there. Hoping they keep it up!

Beers in Review: They are making beer in my hometown, Part 2 (More Black Cap)

In writing my last post, I feel like I may have given the impression that I was lukewarm on Black Cap's beers. I assure you, this is very much not the truth. Regarding the three beers I reviewed on Monday, the Cream Ale is intentionally a fairly basic ale, and Saisons are not necessarily at the top of my list for preferred beer styles. Of the two Saisons, I liked the Rye better than the seasonal Saison de Gui.

Today's final two Black Cap beers are really quite excellent, including a Porter that may have been the best beer I had while I was up in Pennsylvania. But we begin with an IPA.

The Hop Scramble IPA matches my own personal palate very well. It is a clean IPA, with moderate bitterness from dank hops, a bitterness which tended to hang around in my throat as I continued to drink and/or the beer got warmer. This wasn't a bad thing, but it's not something I experience often. I was also getting some spicy or perhaps pepper notes. Overall, a very good IPA that doesn't go overkill on the hop bitterness.

The final beer from Black Cap is the General Gates Porter. As mentioned above, I tasted more than a dozen local microbrews during my time in Pennsylvania, and this was probably the best I had. The beer is straight forward with lots and lots of chocolate and cocoa notes that make it truly a delicious beer. Other tasting notes include a hint of coffee and roasty and maybe somewhat smoky malts. Nice body to this beer, as well. Overall, very well done.

I also had a chance to taste their Imperial General Gates Porter. While I tried some side-by-side comparisons, I didn't really have enough of the Imperial to make a lot of judgments, other than notably increased boozyness.

Beers in Review: They are making beer in my hometown, Part 1

So, I return to my old home of York County, Pennsylvania to see the family, and the whole damn place has apparently become a microbrewing hot bed! A rural-suburban county (population: just over 400,000) about an hour north of Baltimore, just on the PA/MD border, the county boasts at least a half-dozen commercial microbreweries!

The first brewery I experienced with my parents (hi, guys!) was in my hometown of Red Lion (population: 6300). The folks at Black Cap Brewing Company converted the old post office downtown into a brewery and small brewpub, and through the power of flights, I was able to sample most of the 8 beers they have on tap. I'll cover 3 of their beers right now, then 2 with some additional notes later on this week.

We'll start with the Cream Ale, the most basic of their selections. The goal is to play to the macrobrew crowd with something better, and they do a nice job achieving that. The Cream Ale is a crisp, clean pale lager-type that has significantly more flavor (most notably some mild fruity notes) than what you'll find in the macro pale lager category.

Next up is the Rye Saison. The Belgian-style sweetness is obvious from the outset, along with some hints of fruit. There are also some spicy and crackery/grainy notes coming from the rye that blend with the peppery notes from the style. Saisons aren't quite my thing (despite 2 in this review), but this one was pretty enjoyable.

Finally, another Saison, their Saison de Gui. This is their Christmas seasonal, and I found it to be very ambitious. The added ingredients to this beer served to make the standard Saison aspects get cranked up to 11. The ginger is subtle but certainly present, and adds an additional bite to the peppery quality. Cloves and honey added to this Saison almost made it a tad oversweet, but I got used to it as time went on. The use of those ingredients, especially the honey, almost invoked a mead-like flavor for me. There was a whole lot going on in this beer.

Later this week will feature a couple more from Black Cap, including a very good IPA and an excellent porter.

Beers in Review: Two beers with a whole lot going on

A couple of beers still unwritten about from the weekend. First is Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace saison. It is named after a rare Japanese hop strain of the same name that was recently reintroduced to the hop supply thanks to farmers in Washington state. It pours a deep golden color, has a pretty light body, and has a pretty unique flavor profile. It contains a lot of fruity sweetness that blends with lemongrass notes, signs of that Sorachi Ace hop. Add to it some citrus notes, most notably lemon, and you have a complex saison that is very much worth drinking.

Our second beer is Dogfish Head Craft Brewery's Sixty-One, a hybrid ale combining their famous 60-Minute IPA with the "must" (pressed grape seeds and stems--thanks, Dad!) from Syrah red wine grapes. The wine influence is evident from the pour, as it is a ruby red to lightish red wine color. I wasn't getting a ton of aroma from my glass--certainly some red wine-like notes. The flavors were very balanced with toasty malts and hops combined with slight wine notes that were less evident in the sip came through more in the aftertaste. Overall, another very complex beer.