Bar Harbor Thunder Hole Ale

While at Discount Wine and Liquors in Boonton, NJ, I picked up a bottle of Bar Harbor Thunder Hole Ale. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy beige colored head with a light lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of toasted malts, chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. The taste is sweet and chocolaty with a touch of vanilla. There are hints of toasted malts in the background and a dry finish. The alcohol content is 4.8% ABV. This was a nice brown ale with good chocolate flavors and toasted malts.

Brasserie Castelain Grand Cru Blonde Biere de Garde

As part of my August shipment from the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of Brasserie Castelain Grand Cru Blonde Biere de Garde. The beer pours a golden color with a lofty foamy white colored head. The aroma consists of hay, pepper, barnyard funk, lemon, and caramel. The taste is sweet and smooth with caramel and plenty of toffee on the front end before a light peppery hop bite kicks in on the tongue. Hay, straw, and barnyard funk kick in on the finish, and a sugary after taste is left behind. The alcohol content is 7.8% ABV. I liked the flavor of this beer, although it was maybe a slight bit sweeter than I would prefer for a Biere de Garde. Either way, I would definitely drink this again.

Horseheads India Pale Ale

While on my way to the Finger Lakes, I picked up a bottle of Horseheads India Pale Ale at the brewery. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy cream colored head that leaves a light lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of tangerine, orange, grapefruit, lemon, pine, spruce, and passion fruit. The taste is bitter at first with plenty of tangerine, orange, grapefruit, and lemon citrus flavors on the front end. A light caramel base provides enough of a backing for the bitterness, and plenty of spruce and pine come out on the finish with pepper hints. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. I was absolutely impressed with this IPA, as its citrus flavors were extremely prominent and fresh with a solid backing. If you see this beer, do not pass up the chance to try it.

Terrpain Samurai Krunkles

I picked up a bottle of Terrapin Samurai Krunkles from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white colored head that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, ginger, green tea, pepper, and hay. The taste is dry and biting with pepper and ginger on the front end before lemon, green tea, and some toasted toffee appear. The finish has a hay dryness to it. The alcohol content is 7.1% ABV. I really enjoyed the variety of flavors throughout the flavor of the beer. I would say that the toasted toffee flavor in the background seemed to have a slightly off-flavor, but the rest of the ingredients carried the torch to make it enjoyable.

Foothills Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale

Another beer I was able to try at the Foothills Brewery in Winston-Salem, NC was the Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale. The beer pours an orange-tinted amber color with a thin filmy white colored head. The aroma consists of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. The taste is smooth and sweet with pumpkin while being light on nutmeg and cinnamon. The bubbly finish brings out hints of ginger and cloves. The alcohol content is 5.3% ABV. I thought that the addition of ginger and cloves made for a complex pumpkin ale that was rather enjoyable.

Foothills Seeing Double IPA

My buddy Adam and I stopped in to the Foothills Brewery in Winston-Salem, NC and I started with the Seeing Double IPA. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, orange candy, tangerine, pine, and pepper. The taste is lightly bitter with a caramel and toffee base. Tangerine, orange, and sugar arrive as part of a citrus punch before a dry finish with a pepper and spruce bite that lingers. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the beers I have had from Foothills, and this Double IPA is no different. It was fresh tasting and full of citrus flavors that made me want to keep drinking it.