Blue Point Brewing Sour Cherry Imperial Stout

I picked up a bottle of Blue Point Brewing Sour Cherry Imperial Stout while at the Warren General Store in Vermont. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan colored head that fizzles somewhat quickly and leaves a thin lacing on the glass when it subsides. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, a little bit of cardboard, and a hint of cherry. The taste starts with strong chocolate and toasted malts before transitioning into a light sour cherry flavor. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. The beer started off very nicely and I liked the idea behind the sour cherry, but I thought it fell a little short of expectations. A light sour twist was nice, but it could have been a bit more sour.

Blue Point Wet Hops Ale

Another growler my buddy Greg brought home from Long Island was the Blue Point Wet Hops Ale. The beer pours a caramel color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, sugar, caramel, and lemon. The taste is fresh with ruby red grapefruit, a solid caramel base, lemon accents, and a peppery dry finish. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 6.0% ABV. This was a solid fresh hop beer that is grapefruit centric. It won’t blow you away like some fresh hop beers like Founders, but it was a good performer.

Blue Point White IPA

My buddy Greg brought home a growler of Blue Point White IPA from Long Island and gave me a call to come over and share it with him. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, wheat, peppercorn, lemon, and grass. The taste is dry and bitter with plenty of peppercorn, grass, lemongrass, and wheat. There is a bit of Belgian yeast that sweetens the finish and the after taste stays warm and dry. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was my first exposure to the White IPA style, and I thought it was quite tasty and refreshing. It had a good amount of spices with a good sweetness to it.

Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA

My friend Greg brought home a growler of Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA from visiting his parents in Long Island and decided to share it with me. The beer pours an amber color with a thin bubbly off-white head. The aroma consists of caramel, pine, lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine. The taste is bitter and biting with lots of tangerine, some grapefruit, lemon accents, and a caramel base. There is some bitter lemon and pine on the finish. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. The No Apologies comes with an excellent bitter flavor, and will be most appreciated by those that love bitter IPAs, myself included.

Blue Point Rastafa Rye

Blue Point Rastafa Rye was recently tapped at Al’s of Hampden, so I stopped in to order a glass. The beer pours an orange color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of caramel with rye, lemon, and pepper. The taste is sweet with caramel but a lot more hoppy than most ryes. There are also lots of lemon, rye, and pepper flavors in the beer as well. The beer has a dry finish due to the rye. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. I really enjoyed this rye beer, as it had a wonderful caramel sweetness and an intense, yet enjoyable, hop accent.

Blue Point Toxic Sludge Black IPA

My coworker Greg brought me a bottle of Blue Point Brewing Toxic Sludge Black IPA when he was home in Long Island. All of the proceeds from the sale of this beer benefit Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research's "Spreading Our Wings" campaign and their efforts to build a Wildlife Response Annex. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy beige head. The aroma consists of lemon, pine, orange, toasted malts, and caramel. The taste is dry and with pine and lemon flavors. There is a base of toasted malts with some caramel and grassy notes. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I really enjoyed the dryness, lemon, and pine flavors built on top of a toasted malt flavor. The black IPA is becoming one of my favorite styles of beers, and this beer certainly is a solid black IPA.

Blue Point Pumpkin Ale

My coworker Greg picked me up a few bottles of Blue Point Pumpkin Ale when he was home on Long Island. The beer pours a golden color with amber hues and a frothy white head. The aroma consists of nutmeg and cinnamon with sweet pumpkin undertones. The taste is sweet and creamy with pumpkin on the front end before transitioning into light cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg spices. The finish is lightly watered down, so the spices don't bite as hard as they do with some pumpkin beers. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would guess it to be around 6.0% ABV. This is nicely balanced pumpkin beer that doesn't dry out too much on the finish.

Blue Point Oktoberfest

My coworker Greg brought me a bottle Blue Point Oktoberfest straight from Long Island. The beer pours a copper color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of sweet malts, light sour hops, hints of caramel, and faint butterscotch. The taste is smooth and sweet as expected with this style with a large helping of malts and caramel and lots of carbonation. The beer actually has a little bit of a hop bite before the hops transition into a sour accent. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. Blue Point has provided a solid performer in the Oktoberfest category. I might say that it is a little too sweet, despite the hop kick that it does have.

Blue Point IPA

McGrath's in Harrisburg recently added Blue Point IPA to their draft list, so I ordered a glass. The beer has an amber color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is citrus and grapefruit with light pepper accents. The taste is lemon and grapefruit, but mostly grapefruit, with a nice hop accent that is not overwhelming. The beer also has a smooth hop finish. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I'm going to assume that this is the 10th Anniversary IPA from Blue Point, as the original IPA has been retired for some time. However, I really enjoyed this beer with the heavy grapefruit flavor.

Blue Point Old Howling Bastard

My Long Island native co-worker went home for a weekend and return with a bottle of Blue Point Old Howling Bastard Barley Wine Style Ale for me. The beer has an amber color with light red hues and a foamy cream colored head. The aroma is sweet and malty and consists of grapes and apple with a hop freshness to it. The taste is hoppy on the front end with a nice amount of earth hops. The taste then turns to sweet malts with a toffee lacing. The beer leaves a hop flavor in the mouth on the finish. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. I liked this barley wine very much and would recommend picking up a bottle. The mixing of the toffee and earth hops really makes drinking this beer a pleasurable experience.

Blue Point Imperial Stout

McGrath's in Harrisburg recently picked up Blue Point Imperial Stout and added it to their draft lineup. I'll apologize about the photo, as it is not very good. The beer has a black color and a thin tan head. The aroma is filled with sweet malts and chocolate flavors. The taste consists of chocolate and sweet malts, just like the smell. I was unable to located the alcohol content of the beer online but would guess that it is around 8.0% ABV. I thought that the beer was very smooth drinking and excellent tasting. The alcohol content isn't overpowering, which makes it more drinkable for some. The chocolate flavors are my favorite part of the beer, as they are sweet milk chocolate.

Blue Point Winter Ale

I picked up a case of Blue Point Winter Ale from Westy's. The beer has an amber color with a white frothy head. There is a light hop and malty aroma but it is not very prevalent. The taste is malty and sweet at first and has an allspice accent on the end. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. I thought that the Winter Ale was a decent beer, but not an over the top excellent beer. The flavors and spices were nicely balanced, but not overly impressive. I thought that the beer seemed to be a spiced up version of the Toasted Lager (which I really like), but it did not make this an excellent beer.

Blue Point Toasted Lager

On draft at McGrath's, they tapped Blue Point Toasted Lager. This beer has won many awards and I have previously had a case of it, but I have not officially reviewed it yet. The beer is copper-amber in color with a thin head. There is no aroma, which is somewhat surprising for a toasted beer. The taste is bitey and fresh, consisting of burnt malts. It has a dry after taste. The alcohol content is 5.3% ABV. I think that this beer is very good and high quality. The toasted taste is not overpowering, but provides a nice accent to what would be a sweet beer.