Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen Armand’4 Oude Geuze Zomer (Summer)

My fiancee Janine won a bottle of Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen Armand’4 Oude Geuze Zomer (Summer) at a bottle share, and I was lucky enough she wanted to share it with me. The beer pours a golden color with a lively and lofty frothy off-white colored head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of hay, horse blanket, barnyard funk, lemon, pepper, straw, and earth. The taste is sour and tart with a nice puckering effect. There is hay, barnyard funk, earth, and lemon. Light citrus comes out with musky and dank taste with hints of mint. All of this mixes very well together, and on the finish pepper and a nice dryness that reminds me of a summer in the field. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was a wonderful beer and was perfect to drink on a warm spring day. It makes me think of summer and how I can’t wait for it to get here.

Brouwerij Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene

Out of curiosity, I looked up Brouwerij Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene on BeerAdvocate while at Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company. I hadn’t seen this beer before, and it didn’t look like the typical Lindeman’s product. To my surprise, the ratings came back as a 91 from users and a 100 from the brothers, and a friend and I decided to order it. The beer pours a golden color with a foamy white head. The aroma is funky and reminiscent of a barnyard with lemon, earth, and hay. The taste is tart and lightly puckering. Most of the puckering comes from a lemon flavor that is accented nicely with hay, funk, and pepper. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. This was a surprisingly good beer from a most unexpected place. I thoroughly enjoyed this example of a gueuze, and I most definitely would order it again.

Brouwerij Westmalle Trappist Tripel

I ordered a bottle of Brouwerij Westmalle Trappist Tripel from The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company. The beer pours a pale golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of banana, pepper, grass, and lemon peel. The taste is dry but sweet and focuses on grassy hops. Banana and pepper are prevalent in this beer, and it has a light bubbly finish and a bready mouth feel. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. This was one of the dryer tripels that I have had, but it was wonderful. I actually think the dryness, coming from the grass and pepper flavors, sets this beer apart from most other tripels.

Brasserie de Rochefort 8

Another beer I ordered from The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company was Brasserie de Rochefort 8. The beer pours a dark amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, malts, raisin, and chocolate. The mouth feel is extremely bubbly and foams up on the sides of the mouth. There are lots of chocolate and raisin flavors paired with peppery spices and grassy hops. A dry biscuity finish and earthy flavors round out the taste. The alcohol content is 9.2% ABV. I enjoyed all of the flavors of this beer, but I wasn’t a complete fan of the mouth feel. I felt it to be a bit over-carbonated and too foamy, but it did calm down as the beer warmed up and it was much more enjoyable then.

Brasserie de Rochefort 10

At the Abbey Bar located within Appalachian Brewing Company, I ordered a bottle of Brasserie de Rochefort 10. The beer pours a dark brown color with a bubbly off-white head. The aroma is malty and has plenty of raisin, caramel, and fig. The taste is also malty and very sweet. Lots of raisin and fig come out on the front end, and hints of toast and chocolate linger in the background. The finish is bubbly and grassy with hints of earth. The alcohol content is 11.3% ABV. This was a wonderfully produce Quad, as was expected from a Trappist brewery. While having plenty of sweet flavors, the earthy balance kept the beer from being too sweet on the palate.

Terrapin Hopzilla

I made a trip to Al’s of Hampden to get a glass of Terrapin Hopzilla and to meet up with some friends. Al posted on his Twitter that this beer was “titties,” so I had to see for myself. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head that dissipates rather rapidly. The aroma consists of tangerine, candy, orange, and pine. The taste is sweet at first with toffee, caramel, and orange candies with a balancing bitterness of tangerine and grapefruit. The finish dries a little with pine and spruce. The alcohol content is 10.80% ABV. I really enjoyed the orange candy sweetness to this beer, and it was wonderfully balanced with very bitter and citrusy hops. This beer is definitely recommended by me.

Troegs Scratch 59- Mighty Moose Mild

I stopped in to the Troegs brewery to order a glass of Scratch 59- Mighty Moose Mild. The beer pours a copper color with a frothy white head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of caramel, sweet malts, toffee, faint grassy hops, and earthy tones. The taste is sweet and very smooth with plenty of caramel on the front end. A light toast flavor comes out on the finish and mixes with grassy and peppery hops. The after taste leaves behind toffee and cane sugar. The alcohol content is 4.7%. This was a very easy drinking beer and blended earthy flavors with sweet caramel and toffee really well. It wouldn’t be difficult to drink this beer all day, and it is very easy on the palate.