McKenzie Brew House Saison Vautour

When staying with my buddy Matt in West Chester on a Union match evening, we stopped into McKenzie Brew House and I ordered a glass of Saison Vautour. I have heard many great things about this beer and had very high hopes. The beer pours a yellow color with a foamy white head. The aroma consists of wheat with lemongrass and orange. The taste is lemony and sweet with a perfect balance of rye and dry hops. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. This beer definitely lived up to its hype. The sweet lemon flavors played very nicely with the rye and dry hops. Furthermore, it was an extremely refreshing beer for the summer time.

Left Coast Hop Juice

While at TJ's in Paoli, I ordered a glass of Left Coast Hop Juice. The beer pours and orange amber color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit and sugar. The taste is very smooth and round with no rough edges. The beer is full of grapefruit and sugar flavors and is a little bitter. There is a slight dry finish with a good alcohol bite. The alcohol content is 9.4% ABV. The Hop Juice was an amazing beer, so much so that I bought a bottle at Al's of Hampden when I saw it in the cooler. I highly recommend this beer, as it is very well balanced and has a great alcohol bite.

Brugse Zot

I ordered a glass of Brugse Zot from TJ's in Paoli. The beer pours a golden color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma is sweet with banana, candisugar, and yeast. The taste is also sweet with banana, yeast, and candisugar. I thought that overall, the taste was a little watered down and had no Belgian spice accents. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. Despite the watered down taste and mouth feel, the beer was satisfying and I would order it again. However, it did not fully excite my tongue.

Southern Tier 2XIPA

I ordered a glass of Southern Tier 2XIPA from Al's of Hampden. The beer pours a golden color with a thin bubbly head. The aroma consists of lemon and pepper. The taste is lemon and pepper as well that has a good bite to it, but very well balanced. The 8.2% ABV. I thought that this beer was extremely delicious and meets the high standards that I feel Southern Tier has for themselves. While there may not have been a great dynamic to the beer beyond the basic lemon and pepper flavors, the balance and taste was spot on. I enjoy their entire beer catalog (to this point), and this beer surely did not disappoint.

The Brew Works Space Monkey

I picked up a bottle of The Brew Works Space Monkey, which is a saison brewed with raspberry juice, from Al's of Hampden. The beer pours a red-tinted copper color with a very lofty and foamy white head that does dissipate quickly. The aroma has a wheat base but is dominated by the sweetness of raspberry. The taste is a great balance between wheat flavors and raspberry. This beer isn't overly sweet or sour, and the raspberry provides the perfect accent to the light wheat flavors. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I really enjoyed the Space Monkey as it added a nice little twist to the world of saisons. Nothing was overdone, and it definitely wasn't a “fruity” beer. Pair this beers with a warm sunny afternoon, and experience all it has to offer.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred & Ken's Bock

I picked up a bottle of Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred & Ken's Bock from Brass Rail in Campbelltown. The style of the beer is an Imperial Helles Bock. The beer pours an orange amber color with a lofty and foamy off-white colored head. The aroma is sweet and malty with a caramel undertone and a light hop hint. The taste is smooth and malty, and also very sweet. There is a lot of caramel flavor in this one and it has a faint hop bite on the finish that has a pepper bite. The alcohol content is 8.3% ABV. This version definitely wasn't as watered down as some bocks can taste, but is on the sweeter side of beers. I did enjoy drinking this beer, but a few more hops may have helped balance out the sweetness just a bit. However, sour hops took over the flavor a bit once the beer warmed up and balanced the sweetness a bit.

Stone 14th Anniversary Ale- Empierial IPA

I picked up a bottle of Stone 14th Anniversary Ale- Emperial IPA. Stone attempted to make an original India Pale Ale, one that had added hops to make the voyage from the British Empire to the Indian colony. The beer pours a golden color with a foamy white head. The aroma is has a good wheat base with lemon and grass accents. The taste is very powerful and really awakens the taste buds. There are flavors of lemon and wheat, with good pepper and pine accents. The beer finishes a bit dry and bitter, yet refreshing. The alcohol content is 8.9% ABV. If this beer was what the British sailors drank in the past, sign me up for Her Majesty's Service. The beer was rather basic in element, but everyone of the flavors flourished and combined to make an amazing beer. The hops with welcoming and the wheat and lemon balanced out the beer rather well.