Monk's Cafe Sour Flemish Ale

Another beer I ordered on draft from Cafe Bruges in Carlisle was Monk's Cafe Sour Flemish Ale. The beer pours a red-purple-amber color with a foamy white head that is very thick. The aroma is sweet and fruity with a good bit of raspberry. The taste is sweet and lightly sour, mostly consisting of raspberry and grape. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. I though that the Sour Flemish Ale was very good and smooth drinking, and when I drank it I though that it tasted a little bit like church.

Struise Mikkeller (Elliot Brew)

I went to Cafe Bruges in Carlisle with family for dinner and I ordered a bottle of Stuise-Mikkeller (Elliot Brew). The beer pours a copper color with a lofty and foamy white head. The aroma is malty with orange and caramel. The taste is bitey and bubbly with a good caramel base and plenty of orange and yeast accents. The taste rounds out with a good helping of candisugar and good spice accents with light hop bite. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. I thought that this beer was an excellent drinking brew and had a great mouth feel. I would describe this beer as having a lot of pep in its step, as it will attack the sides of your mouth with spice and hops, but in a very good way.

Iron Hill Cherry Tart

The final beer I ordered on my last visit to Iron Hill in West Chester, for dessert no less, was the Cherry Tart. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head that has good lacing. The aroma consists of cherry and wheat. The taste is light cherry but slightly sour and a good wheat balance. The taste has a light sugar sweetness and is not too sour or weak. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. Overall, Iron Hill achieved their goal in making this beer taste just like a cherry tart. I was surprised that the cherry wasn't too overpowering in its sourness, but it was a great tasting beer, especially for dessert.

Iron Hill Maholo Apollo

While at Iron Hill in West Chester on my last visit, I ordered a glass of Maholo Apollo. The beer pours unfiltered yellow color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of lemongrass, wheat and thyme. The taste is sweet with lemon, wheat, and thyme and has a biscuit undertone. The beer has a pleasant rounded flavor that is easy drinking and smooth, but yet a light pepper finish. The alcohol content is 6.9% ABV. I really enjoyed the Maholo Apollo and will definitely order this beer on subsequent visits to Iron Hill. The twist for me was the thyme spice accent that really danced on the tongue.

Iron Hill Hopzilla

On an evening following a Union match, my buddy Matt and I stopped into Iron Hill in West Chester for dinner. The first beer I ordered was the Hopzilla. The beer pours a copper color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma is strong lemon and light pepper. The taste is also lemon and pepper with same caramel undertone. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. The Hopzilla was a delicious IPA, but nothing too special either. It is a great beer to order while at Iron Hill, but not worth the trip there alone.

Troegs Scratch 32- Keystone Common

I stopped in to Troegs to pick up a case of the newest Scratch Beer series, Scratch 32 Keystone Common. This beer is a spin off of a California Common, but with a little bit of Pennsylvania flavor and hop addition. The beer pours a pale yellow color with a medium-sized white foamy head. The aroma consists of sour malts and a light hop accent.The beer is a light drinking malty brew with a good lemon hop accent. The beer is a little dry on the finish, but has a great hop character. The alcohol content is almost sessionable at 5.4% ABV. The Keystone Common makes a great summer drinking beer, as it is a light beer. However, the addition of hops really makes the beer a little more complex than a typical common, and very enjoyable.

Nebraska Brewing Company Melange a Trois

When I was at Brass Rail in Campbelltown, they placed a few bottles of Nebraska Brewing Company Melange a Trois on the shelf, their first shipment into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It took some deliberation on my part to fork over $34 for a 25.4 ounce bottle, but I caved in a bought it. The Melange a Trois is a Belgian-style ale aged in Chardonnay bottles. This was my first beer from Nebraska Brewing Company, and I was excited to try it, given the reviews I have seen. The beer pours a brilliant golden color. From the pour, my first thought was “Holy head!” The pour takes off with an extremely lofty and foamy white head that hangs around for a while, sticking to the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of banana, pepper, candisugar, white grapes, and Belgian yeast. Once the head subsided in about three minutes, I moved on to tasting the beer. The taste is full and powerful from the start. The carbonation attacks the tongue quickly, followed by flavors of candisugar, banana, and sweet yeast. The finish to the beer has a bit of a pepper and alcohol bite, drying the mouth as it goes down. The Chardonnay aging is present in the finish, as remnants of white grapes and Chardonnay linger in the mouth. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. I must say that I was very impressed with the Melange a Trois. My first experience with Nebraska Brewing Company was a positive one, and I look forward to trying more of their beers. However, the $34 price point was pushing my limits a bit, but I'll blame some of that on the Pennsylvania taxes on beer.

Otter Creek Imperial IPA

When I was at McKenzie Brew House, they had Otter Creek Imperial IPA as a guest beer. The beer pours a copper color with a thin white bubbly head. The aroma is strong with caramel and lemon. The taste is sweet and caramel and a strong alcohol bite. There are some light lemon accents mixed in there as well, but not overpowering. The beer has a slightly dry finish with a light pepper bite. The alcohol content is 11.0% ABV. I was extremely impressed with this beer, especially with the strong caramel presence and the ever-present alcohol bite.

McKenzie Brew House Saison Vautour

When staying with my buddy Matt in West Chester on a Union match evening, we stopped into McKenzie Brew House and I ordered a glass of Saison Vautour. I have heard many great things about this beer and had very high hopes. The beer pours a yellow color with a foamy white head. The aroma consists of wheat with lemongrass and orange. The taste is lemony and sweet with a perfect balance of rye and dry hops. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. This beer definitely lived up to its hype. The sweet lemon flavors played very nicely with the rye and dry hops. Furthermore, it was an extremely refreshing beer for the summer time.

Left Coast Hop Juice

While at TJ's in Paoli, I ordered a glass of Left Coast Hop Juice. The beer pours and orange amber color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit and sugar. The taste is very smooth and round with no rough edges. The beer is full of grapefruit and sugar flavors and is a little bitter. There is a slight dry finish with a good alcohol bite. The alcohol content is 9.4% ABV. The Hop Juice was an amazing beer, so much so that I bought a bottle at Al's of Hampden when I saw it in the cooler. I highly recommend this beer, as it is very well balanced and has a great alcohol bite.

Brugse Zot

I ordered a glass of Brugse Zot from TJ's in Paoli. The beer pours a golden color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma is sweet with banana, candisugar, and yeast. The taste is also sweet with banana, yeast, and candisugar. I thought that overall, the taste was a little watered down and had no Belgian spice accents. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. Despite the watered down taste and mouth feel, the beer was satisfying and I would order it again. However, it did not fully excite my tongue.

Southern Tier 2XIPA

I ordered a glass of Southern Tier 2XIPA from Al's of Hampden. The beer pours a golden color with a thin bubbly head. The aroma consists of lemon and pepper. The taste is lemon and pepper as well that has a good bite to it, but very well balanced. The 8.2% ABV. I thought that this beer was extremely delicious and meets the high standards that I feel Southern Tier has for themselves. While there may not have been a great dynamic to the beer beyond the basic lemon and pepper flavors, the balance and taste was spot on. I enjoy their entire beer catalog (to this point), and this beer surely did not disappoint.

The Brew Works Space Monkey

I picked up a bottle of The Brew Works Space Monkey, which is a saison brewed with raspberry juice, from Al's of Hampden. The beer pours a red-tinted copper color with a very lofty and foamy white head that does dissipate quickly. The aroma has a wheat base but is dominated by the sweetness of raspberry. The taste is a great balance between wheat flavors and raspberry. This beer isn't overly sweet or sour, and the raspberry provides the perfect accent to the light wheat flavors. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I really enjoyed the Space Monkey as it added a nice little twist to the world of saisons. Nothing was overdone, and it definitely wasn't a “fruity” beer. Pair this beers with a warm sunny afternoon, and experience all it has to offer.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred & Ken's Bock

I picked up a bottle of Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Charlie, Fred & Ken's Bock from Brass Rail in Campbelltown. The style of the beer is an Imperial Helles Bock. The beer pours an orange amber color with a lofty and foamy off-white colored head. The aroma is sweet and malty with a caramel undertone and a light hop hint. The taste is smooth and malty, and also very sweet. There is a lot of caramel flavor in this one and it has a faint hop bite on the finish that has a pepper bite. The alcohol content is 8.3% ABV. This version definitely wasn't as watered down as some bocks can taste, but is on the sweeter side of beers. I did enjoy drinking this beer, but a few more hops may have helped balance out the sweetness just a bit. However, sour hops took over the flavor a bit once the beer warmed up and balanced the sweetness a bit.

Stone 14th Anniversary Ale- Empierial IPA

I picked up a bottle of Stone 14th Anniversary Ale- Emperial IPA. Stone attempted to make an original India Pale Ale, one that had added hops to make the voyage from the British Empire to the Indian colony. The beer pours a golden color with a foamy white head. The aroma is has a good wheat base with lemon and grass accents. The taste is very powerful and really awakens the taste buds. There are flavors of lemon and wheat, with good pepper and pine accents. The beer finishes a bit dry and bitter, yet refreshing. The alcohol content is 8.9% ABV. If this beer was what the British sailors drank in the past, sign me up for Her Majesty's Service. The beer was rather basic in element, but everyone of the flavors flourished and combined to make an amazing beer. The hops with welcoming and the wheat and lemon balanced out the beer rather well.