The Bruery Tart of Darkness

When I saw Al’s of Hampden had bottles of The Bruery Tart of Darkness, I eagerly grabbed a bottle. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan colored head that has a wonderful fizzing sound as it subsides rather rapidly. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, raspberry, cherry, vanilla, and a light tartness. The taste is tart on the front end that brings a powerful pucker on the first sip. There are cherry and raspberry flavors on the front end before the beer finishes with a toasted malt and chocolate flavor. The alcohol content is 5.6% ABV. What a wonderful deceiving beer this could be to the unsuspecting victim. Most people see dark beers and this strong chocolate, but this had a wonderful tart pucker to it and I would absolutely drink another.

New Belgium-Lost Abbey Lips of Faith Brett Beer

I picked up a bottle of the New Belgium-Lost Abbey Lips of Faith collaboration Brett Beer at Honeygo Wines & Liquors. 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, grass, barnyard funk, hay, and pepper. The taste is dry and lightly tart with lemon with a solid complement of hay, barnyard funk, grass, and pepper. The finish leaves a funk behind with a lemon sugar cookie flavor. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I would say that this wasn’t sour at all, as I expected, and it tasted more like a saison. If I were to review it as a saison, I would say that I absolutely enjoyed it. But billing it as a sour/brett beer was rather disappointing.

Nogne-O-Renaissance Brewing-8 Wired O for Awesome Imperial Amber Ale

At Discount Wine and Liquors in Boonton, NJ, I picked up a bottle of the Nogne-O-Renaissance Brewing-8 Wired collaboration O For Awesome Imperial Amber Ale. The beer pours a brown color (not amber!) with a lofty and frothy beige colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, pine, lemon, and pepper. The taste is toasted toffee, caramel, lemon, pepper, and malts. The finish has a hint of coffee and chocolate with a fairly strong hop bitterness. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. I thoroughly enjoyed this Imperial Amber Ale with its overly roasted flavor and exaggerated hop content. I was a little surprised by the color of the beer, but I quickly got over it as I drank the beer.

Uinta Punk'n

Another beer I ordered at Denny Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA was Uinta Punk'n. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white colored head that leaves specks of lacing on the glass. The aroma is strong with pumpkin and graham cracker with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. The taste is full of graham cracker, sugar, and pumpkin, making for a pie-like taste. There are light slight hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice as well, but not too overpowering. The alcohol content is 4.0% ABV. I would recommend this pumpkin beer, as it is one of the better ones out there, focusing on the addition of graham cracker to really give the pie eating experience.

Elk Creek Double Rainbow IPA

While on a work trip, I went to Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA. The first beer that I ordered was Elk Creek Double Rainbow IPA. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of lemon, tangerine, and pine. The taste is light bodied with a bitter citrus flavor comprised of grapefruit, orange, and tangerine. Lemon is also prevalent, but mostly on the finish. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. Overall, this was a decent IPA with lots of bitter citrus flavors and a great spicy finish. I would absolutely come back to this beer if I saw it on tap again.

Troegs Scratch 76- Special Hops Ale

I stopped in to the Troegs tasting room to try Scratch 76- Special Hops Ale, a beer brewed for the underwater marathon helping injured military personnel. The beer pours a red amber color with a frothy cream colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, pine, lemon, spruce, grass, and just an overall fresh smell. The taste is bitter with lemon, lots of pine and spruce, and a solid caramel and toffee backbone. On the finish, the beer is dry with grass and hop oils. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I absolutely loved this beer and to me it tasted like the median of Nugget Nectar and HopBack. It was so good that I proceeded to buy a case.

Leinenkugel Big Eddy Imperial IPA

My friends and I stopped in to the Leinenkugel Beer Garden in Baltimore and I ordered a glass of Big Eddy Imperial IPA. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of orange, pineapple, tangerine, pine, and pepper. The taste is citrusy with orange, tangerine, pineapple, and passion fruit. The finish has more citrus with pepper and pine spices, and it leaves a fruit cup after taste. The alcohol content is 8.9% ABV. I was moderately impressed with this offering from Leinenkugel, but the fruit cup after taste was a little off-putting for me.

Union Craft Brewing Hampden on Rye

Another beer that I ordered at Alewife in Baltimore was Union Craft Brewing Hampden on Rye. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves a moderate lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of rye, cream, lemon, orange, and caramel. The taste is orange, lemon, and cream. A large rye and pepper finish spices the tongue and dries the mouth. The alcohol content is 5.9% ABV. This was a very delicious beer with great rye flavor all throughout the experiencing, yielding a wonderful spicy treat.

Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout

I went to Alewife in Baltimore to have dinner with friends and I ordered a glass of Flying Dog Pearl Necklace, an oyster stout. The beer pours a black color with a creamy beige colored head. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, salt, and cream. The taste is smooth with milk chocolate and toasted malts. Vanilla and caramel sweeten the beer before a dry salty finish. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. This beer transported me to a delicious, smooth, and dark chocolate heaven that I thoroughly enjoyed visiting while experiencing this beer.

Elysian Dark O' the Moon Pumpkin Stout

Another bottle of beer I picked up from Al’s of Hampden is Elysian Dark O’ the Moon Pumpkin Stout. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan colored head that leaves a little lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, pumpkin, and cinnamon. The taste is bold and full of chocolate, toasted malts, vanilla, pumpkin, and cinnamon. On the finish, some nutmeg and allspice pokes through that is nicely dry. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. I really enjoyed the pumpkin accents in this wonderful toasted stout that has some excellent chocolate flavors.

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

At Al’s of Hampden, I picked up a bottle of Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale. The beer pours an orange-amber colored with lots of floating particles and a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of pumpkin, nutmeg, allspice, and caramel. The taste is light on pumpkin with some nutmeg and allspice dryness that takes over the mouth. A hint of caramel hides in the background and some cinnamon comes out on the finish. The alcohol content is 6.1% ABV. I’d say this was a nice pumpkin beer that was not quite as good as The Great Pumpkin from Elysian, but I’d definitely come back to this beer.

Elysian The Great Pumpkin

I picked up a bottle of Elysian The Great Pumpkin from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours an orange-amber color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of pumpkin, alcohol, nutmeg, allspice, pumpkin, and graham cracker. The taste is boozy at first with a smooth pumpkin flavor. Hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice poke through with some graham cracker crust. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. This was a nice drinking pumpkin beer with a big and dry boozy presence that made itself known on the finish.

New Belgium-Alpine Brewing Lips of Faith Super IPA

I picked up a bottle of New Belgium-Alpine Beer Company collaboration Lips of Faith Super IPA from Honeygo Wines & Liquors.  The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white colored head that leaves specks of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of marijuana, orange, tangerine, hop oil, pine, and spruce. The taste is funky and hoppy with tangerine, orange, lemon, and a marijuana finish. Hints of pepper and spice linger with some leather after taste. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. This was such a funky and amazing IPA that I would love to get more bottles. It had a great marijuana flavor with loads of citrus backing it up.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Fresh Hop

I picked up a bottle of New Belgium Lips of Faith Fresh Hop from Honeygo Wines & Liquors. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white colored head that leaves specs of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, tangerine, passion fruit, orange, grass, pepper, and pine. The taste is light and refreshing with a nice citrus helping of lemon, pineapple, orange, tangerine, and passion fruit. The finish has some pepper, pine, spruce, and grass. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. This was a nice tasting fresh hop beer with plenty of citrus flavors, and it was absolutely easy to drink.