Lost Abbey Ten Commandments

While in San Diego, my friends and I made a trip to visit the Lost Abbey brewery. One of the beers I tried was the Ten Commandments, and this is re-review for those of you keeping track.The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin filmy off-white colored head. The aroma is sweet with raisin, honey, rosemary, and malts. The taste is smooth on the tongue and sweet, the flavors consisting of raisin, malts, and a slight cherry twist. There is some rosemary accents on the finish with some oak as well, and the honey sweetens the after taste. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. I thoroughly enjoyed this offering from Lost Abbey, and would like to seek out a bottle, as the brewery was fresh out of them.

Karl Strauss Tower 10 IPA

I ordered a glass of Karl Strauss Tower 10 IPA while at the Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, CA. The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of lemon, grapefruit, pine, and caramel. The taste is light and sweet with caramel and some dry pine and lemon accents. The finish hints at grapefruit and tangerine, but never really overemphasizing them. The alcohol content is 6.5%. I enjoyed this IPA and thought it was quite refreshing. I picked up a bottle of it when my friends and I hit up the Karl Strauss restaurant in La Jolla, CA, and it was worth the purchase.

Karl Strauss Conquistador Doppelbock

Another beer I ordered while at the Karl Strauss Brewing restaurant in La Jolla, CA was the Conquistador Doppelbock. The beer pours a red amber color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of cherry, wheat, and sweet malts. The taste is malty and smooth, actually it is very malty, with a cherry accent. It has a lightly dry dry finish with lots bubbles on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. Overall, the Conquistador was a pretty decent beer. The cherry accent is what really drew me into liking it so much, and the carbonation kept it light on the tongue.

Karl Strauss Blackball Belgian IPA

While in San Diego, my friends and I stopped in to the Karl Strauss Brewing restaurant in La Jolla. The first beer I ordered was the Blackball Belgian IPA. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy tan head that laces on the glass. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, spices, and banana. The taste is smooth and sweet and then a sharp pepper and spice bite kicks in on the tongue. The finish brings outs the sweet Belgian yeast. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. The Blackball overall was a solid beer, so much so that I ordered a bottle of it to be enjoyed later in our trip.

Coronado Black Perle Schwarzbier

My buddy Rich ordered a glass of Black Perle Schwarzbier for Coronado Brewing Company, and he let me sample it to review it. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head with some lacing left on the glass. The aroma consists of coffee, chocolate and toasted malts. The taste is mostly the toasted malts before a coffee finish. The mouthfeel is smooth with a light bite on the sides of the mouth. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. The Black Perle had a great robust flavor with wonderful coffee and toasted malt flavors.

Coronado El Chingon Hoppy Lager

While in San Diego, my friends and I stopped in to Coronado Brewing Company. The first beer I ordered was the El Chingon Hoppy Lager. The beer pours a golden color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of lots of lemon and pine. The taste is smooth with malts before lemon seeds, pine, and orange come out to play on the tongue. The alcohol content is not available online but I would guess it to be around 5.5%ABV. The El Chingon was an amazing take on a lager and was also very refreshing. It's not too often you run into a very hoppy lager, but if you get the chance to find this beer, I would recommend picking it up, especially in the warmer months.

Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale

I picked up a bottle of Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale from the Karl Strauss restaurant in La Jolla, California. The beer pours a red-tinted amber color with a foamy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of malty with light cherry and raisin accents. The taste is smooth with lots of malts and very sweet. There is a dry earthy hop finish that balances out the sweetness on the front end of the beer. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. While this beer isn’t overly complex, it is well crafted with just the right amount of sweetness.

Stone-Green Flash-Pizza Port Carlsbad Highway 78 Scotch Ale

My buddy Stoner picked me up a few bottles of the Stone/Green Flash/Pizza Port Carlsbad collaboration Highway 78 Scotch Ale. The beer pours a dark amber color with a foamy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of lots of caramel, toasted malts, and pine hops. The taste is smooth and sweet with a big caramel helping before a toasted malts flavor kicks in. A drying finish comes out to play with pine hops, balancing the sweetness in the beer. The alcohol consists of 8.8% ABV. The caramel sweetness of this beer is most excellent and is balanced nicely with the pine hops, making an enjoyable drinking experience.

Troegs Scratch 44- Team America

I stopped in to Troegs to pick up a case of Scratch 44- Team America. This beer was the Metal Brewer contest winner and is a Belgian Quad. The beer pours a red-amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, raisin, fig, malts, chocolate, and a bit of spicy hops. The taste is smooth and sweet lots of malts, somewhat on the pilsner side, caramel, fig, raisin, and Belgian yeast. The finish is spicy with Belgian spices, pepper, and dry earthy hops with a hint of lemon. The alcohol content is 9.0%. This quad was unlike most that present just the sweeter side of the yeast. The hops and spices balanced the sweetness nicely and dried on the finish, providing a complex experience.

Black Diamond Jagged Edge IPA

As part of my beer of the month club from Beer on the Wall, I received a bottle of Black Diamond Jagged Edge IPA. The beer pours a copper color with a foamy white head that lingers for a while and laces to the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, orange, and spruce. The taste is smooth with a good amount of caramel before the bitter grapefruit, tangerine, and orange settles in on the tongue. The finish has a good twist of pine and spruce, which dries out the tongue. The after taste has some pepper hang on to the back of the mouth. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV. This was a nice IPA that took my tongue on a wild ride, from sweet to bitter and dry.

Ithaca Excelsior White Gold

I grabbed a bottle of Ithaca Excelsior White Gold from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a (surprise!) white gold color with a very lofty and frothy white head that laces nicely to the glass. The aroma consists of lots lots of wheat and lemon flavors with some grass and earthy hops. The taste is slightly sour with lemon flavors and a dry pink grapefruit twist. The wheat and Belgian yeast finish brings out a little sweetness before the after taste brings out pepper and the grassy and earthy hops. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. I was not expecting this beer to be so overly amazing, but I have to say that it was. The sour lemon twist mixed with earthy hops and pepper really danced all over the tongue and gave it a slight pucker.

Iron Hill Flemish Red (F-Red)

While visiting Iron Hill in Lancaster, PA, I picked up a bottle of the Flemish Red (aka F*Red) for myself and two extra bottles as gifts. The beer a ruby red/amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head that dissipates rather quickly. The aroma consists of vinegar, sweet cherry, Belgian yeast, apple cider, and sour apple. The taste is rather tart and puckering, especially on the finish. The tongue encounters some sour cherry, lots of vinegar, apple city, and sour apple. The finish, after the pucker subsides, brings out some sweeter Belgian yeast, caramel, and candisugar. The after taste leaves a drying vinegar flavor and remnants of oak. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. This is a spot on sour ale, and I thoroughly enjoyed its tartness, all accompanied with a varying and sweet group of fruits.

Spring House Mango IPA

I ordered a glass of the Mango IPA from Spring House Tap Room in Lancaster. The beer pours a murky brown color that looks like apple cider with no head. The aroma consists heavily of mango, apricot, wheat, and caramel. The taste is smooth and sweet with lots of mango, tangerine, apricot, and some caramel accents. It has a dry bitter finish. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. The Mango IPA is a very good beer, so much so that we ordered a growler of it to drink later. It gets better as it warms, bringing out more of the fruity flavors, but still delivers that nice bitterness that IPAs are known for having.

Samuel Adams Rustic Saison

I ordered a glass of Samuel Adams Rustic Saison while at the Cork and Cage Restaurant in Lancaster, part of the Cork Factory Hotel. The beer pours a golden color with a thin filmy head. The aroma is light and faint, but has some lemon accents. The taste is light but very lemony with a bit of spices and earthy hops mixed in there as well. It has a clean, fresh, and dry finish. The alcohol content is 4.35% ABV. Overall, this was a decent beer. I was most impressed with the cleanliness of the finish and how fresh it tasted. This wasn’t a very complex saison, but worth drinking.