Samuel Adams Whitewater IPA

I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Whitewater IPA from Al’s of Hampden as part of a mixed six-pack. The beer pours a pale yellow color with a foamy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, wheat, orange, crab, and grass. The taste is lemony and smooth but has a nice bitter bite to it. Orange and wheat flavors come out before the beer finishes dry with peppery and earthy hops. A sugary background keeps the beer from being too bitter. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. I wasn’t sure about this beer from the aroma, but once I drank it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really enjoyed how hoppy this wheat beer was, and it was both bitter and refreshing.

Uinta Hop Notch IPA

I picked up a bottle of Uinta Hop Notch IPA from Brass Rail in Campbelltown, PA. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, pine, pepper, spruce, and a touch of caramel. The taste is really bitter with lots of citrus flavors including tangerine, grapefruit, passion fruit, and orange. The beer finishes with a touch of pepper, pine, and spruce. In the after taste, a bit of caramel and toffee sweeten up the tongue a little bit, but the bitterness lingers for a while. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. The Beer & Whiskey Brothers claimed this beer was a “Pliny killer,” and I can’t argue with that statement too much. While I think I’d rather have Pliny, the price of this beer makes it a great substitute and very affordable.

Epic Brewing (UT) Sour Apple Saison

My buddy Matt picked up a bottle of Epic Brewing Sour Apple Saison from Discount Wine and Liquors from Boonton, NJ, and brought it over to share. The beer pours an extremely pale golden color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of lemon, pine sol, sour apple, grass, hay, and barnyard funk. The taste is light on the tongue but has a nice sour apple pucker. Lemongrass and pepper make up some of the background, with a bit of pine accent. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. This beer has a great quality saison mixed with a lightly sour apple flavor, bringing another dimension to the style of the beer.

Captain Lawrence Pleasantville Smoked Porter

My buddy Tim picked me up a growler of Captain Lawrence Pleasantville Smoked Porter from the brewery. The beer pours a black color with a beautiful, frothy, tan colored head that leaves some lacing on the glass. When I say the head looked beautiful, I cannot under-state that. The aroma consists of full of smoke, bacon, chocolate, caramel, and toasted malts. The taste is dry and smoky with a perfect touch of campfire, hints of bacon, and a solid toasted malts base. There is a great chocolate backbone to support this beer, and a touch of vanilla on the finish. The alcohol content is 6.4% ABV. The beer puts smoke into the focus, and is not over done in any way. It is similar to sitting in front of a campfire, and it also brings back great memories.

Schlafly Quadrupel

I picked up a bottle of Schlafly Quadrupel from Discount Wines and Liquors in Boonton, NJ, and decided to share it with my buddy Matt. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves a good bit of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of raisin, fig, date, and caramel. The taste is very biting with lots of raisin and fig up front, with the raisin causing the bite. Some slight alcohol burn comes in on the finish, but the beer rounds out with some caramel and date flavors. A hint of grass remains on the tongue in the after taste. The alcohol content is 12.0% ABV. This was a well put together quadrupel without too much of an alcohol burn. The dark fruit flavors really came out to play, and were very well blended with each other.

Harviestoun Ola Dubh 18 Year Special Reserve

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Harviestoun Ola Dubh 18 Year Special Reserve to share with me. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of whisky, chocolate, vanilla, toasted malts, oak, and bacon. The taste is surprisingly smooth with a dark chocolate flavor up front, but that quickly gives the spotlight away to the whisky flavors. Hints of vanilla and oak shine through, and a bacon flavor comes out in the finish. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. The smoothness of this beer was more than impressive, and the hints of bacon flavor were quite the treat. I’d say that this is how a beer should be aged in whisky barrels.

8 Wired Brewing Hopwired IPA

My buddy Matt picked me up a bottle of 8 Wired Brewing Hopwired IPA from Discount Wines and Liquors in Boonton, NJ. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of tangerine, orange, passion fruit, caramel and grapefruit. This is a much sweet citrus smelling fruit than most IPAs, where they smell more on the bitter side. The taste is bitter with lots of citrus flavor, including tangerine, orange, grapefruit, and lemon. A hint of caramel sweetens up the backbone. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. The touch of orange in the beer makes it a little sweeter than most IPAs, but it does have a wonderful bitterness with it as well.

Ommegang-Liefmans Seduction

I picked up a bottle of the Ommegang/Liefmans collaboration Seduction from Brass Rail in Campbelltown, and decided to share it with some buddies. The beer pours a black color with a frothy beige head. The aroma consists of chocolate nibs, cocoa powder, and light hints of tart cherry. The taste is dark and chocolaty with roasted malts, but it is built upon a powdery chocolate mouth feel. Cocoa dryness, a hint of cherry, and a bitter hop flavor come out in the finish. The alcohol content is 6.8% ABV. This beer struck a positive chord with the slight tartness, although the chocolate in it was very powerful and dominating over all the other flavors. It was pretty good, but could have been better if more of the tart cherry shone through the dark chocolate flavors.

Brasserie Cantillon Iris

My buddy Adam brought over a bottle of Brasserie Cantillon Iris to share with me and a friend. The beer pours a cloudy brown-amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma is funky and full of vinegar, horse blanket, and hay. It is a very pungent, yet very enjoyable, aroma. The taste is tart with vinegar, lemon, and cherry. Some horse blanket, hay, pepper, and earthiness come out in the finish, making it very dry on the end. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. The amount of sour contained in this beer was remarkable and extremely enjoyable. It gave a nice pucker while drinking it, and the lemon and cherry flavors played nicely with the farm flavors.

De Struise Brouwers Pannepot Old Fisherman's Ale

My buddy Matt brought a bottle of De Struise Brouwers Pannepot Old Fisherman’s Ale over to my house to share with me and a friend. The beer pours a dark amber color with a foamy beige head. The aroma is malty with raisin, caramel, fig, and a peppery and earthy hop balance. The taste follows suit with the aroma with a hint of alcohol burn on the finish with a cherry sweetness. The alcohol content is 10% ABV. The best part of this beer was earthy hops and the slight cherry sweetness, as it rounded out the flavors very well.

Sixpoint Bengali Tiger

I ordered a glass of Sixpoint Bengali Tiger from Brass Rail in Campbelltown. I’ve previously had this beer, but never reviewed it. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma is faint but consists of lemon, tangerine, and grapefruit. The taste is bitter with pine, lemon, and tangerine. Overall, this beer has plenty of hoppy bitterness, and a lot of it comes out in the finish. The alcohol content is 6.4% ABV. I really enjoyed the citrus flavors in this beer, as well as the bitterness that comes along with it. It was a well put together beer, and I will gladly have another one.

Unibroue La Terrible

While at Brass Rail in Campbelltown, PA, I ordered a glass of Unibroue La Terrible. The beer pours a dark brown color with a bubbly beige head that leaves light lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of raisin, plum, fig, caramel, and a hint of cherry. The taste is sweet and smooth with light carbonation on the tongue. Cherry, fig, date, and raisin come out and are prominent on the tongue with a slight biscuity mouth feel. The alcohol content is 10.5% ABV. The amount of flavors, and the way they worked together, was exceptional in this beer. Lots of dark fruits made there way into it,  but the cherry accents really rounded everything out and gave it that nudge into being an excellent beer.

St. Boniface Hegemony Imperial Stout

I ordered a glass of St. Boniface Hegemony Imperial Stout while out to dinner at Brass Rail in Campbelltown. The beer pours a black color with a thin filmy brown head. The aroma consists of dark chocolate, toasted malts, caramel, and vanilla. The taste is smooth and chocolaty with a great roasted malt flavor. A smooth caramel finish makes the beer, and it leaves behind hints of pepper from the hops. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 10.0% ABV. This was a solid Imperial Stout and it impressed me, being the first beer I tried from St. Boniface Brewing Company out of Ephrata, PA.

Full Sail Brewer's Share Extra Special Bitter

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Full Sail Brewer’s Share Extra Special Bitter to share with me. The beer pours an orange-tinted amber color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, pine, lemon, and grass-. The taste is dry and bitter with a good caramel backbone, but the focus is a lemon bitterness. Hints of toffee, grass, and pine peek through, but again, this beer comes back to the lemon flavor, even in the finish. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. For an ESB, it wasn’t quite as bitter as I had expected, but it did have a wonderful lemon focus to it.