Breckenridge Christmas Ale

I picked up a bottle of Breckenridge Christmas Ale at D's Six Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh. The beer has an amber color with a foamy white head. The smell is malty and full of spices. The taste is sweet and is comprised of cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice and a dash of cinnamon. The alcohol content is 7.4% ABV. The taste is very good and smooth with the right amount of spices. Nothing here is overdone and is a very quality Christmas beer.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton

Following a recommendation, I grabbed a bottle of Dogfish Head Burton Baton. The beer has an amber color with a very light white head. It has a lemon citrus and pepper hop aroma. The taste is lemony and extremely smooth. There is a great pepper and floral hop accent. I also picked up some oak accents in the taste and the aroma. The alcohol content is 10% ABV. Overall, I thought this is an excellent drinking beer. I was thoroughly impressed with this beer and I totally recommend it. The hops are very complimentary and mellow due to the oak accents.

New Holland Dragon's Milk

Another bottle I picked up from D's Six Pax and Dogz was New Holland Dragon's Milk. I had heard great things about this beer and was anticipating it greatly. The beer pours a deep black color with a lofty tan head. It smells of sweet milk chocolate. The taste is sweet with chocolate flavor and a bitter alcohol bite. There is an underlying vanilla flavor and there are oak hints in the alcohol bite. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. I thought that Dragon's Milk was an amazing beer, as it is very sweet and tasty with great alcohol bite. If you get the chance to pick up a bottle or get this on draft, I would not pass it up.

Avery Old Jubilation

I picked up a bottle of Avery Old Jubilation at D's Six Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh. The beer has an amber color and a light bubbly head. The smell is sweet and malty with cherry hints. The taste is full of malts with a strong alcohol bite. There is also an underlying raisin flavor and the beer finishes a little spicy, warming the throat on the way down. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. I thoroughly enjoyed the Old Jubilation with the cherry and raisin hints included in the beer. It is perfect for one of those windy and cold nights.

Lagunitas IPA

I ordered a draft of Lagunitas IPA at McGrath's in downtown Harrisburg. The beer has an amber color with a foamy white head. The aroma is sweet and floral with hints of pepper. The taste is light citrus with pepper hops with a light undertone of caramel. The alcohol content is 5.7% ABV. I thought that the beer had a perfect balance of hops and was very good. I would recommend this IPA for anyone who does not like an overpowering hop beer, and I will definitely be ordering this again in the future.

Theakston Old Peculiar

McGrath's in Harrisburg had some bottles of Theakston Old Peculiar, and I decided to order one. The beer has a dark amber with no head. From the pour, I could tell that the beer was very bubbly and carbonated. The beer smells sweet and malty. The taste follows up the smell and is sweet and full of roasted malt flavors and fig. The alcohol content is 5.7% ABV. I thought that the beer had a good flavor but was a little too carbonated. The carbonation got in the way of me totally enjoying the beer, which has a great flavor. I though that the the carbonation ruined the finish of an otherwise sweet dark fruit beer.

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.

Church Brew Works December 2009

Church Brew Works Bier De Noel

I stopped in at Church Brew Works while in Pittsburgh recently. The first beer I ordered was the Bier De Noel. The beer is a brown color with a light filmy head. The aroma is full of cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor is sweet with malts, caramel, and toffee and it finishes with an alcohol bite. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. I thought that the Bier De Noel was a very satisfyingly spicy beer. The alcohol holds a demanding presence in this beer, but I thoroughly enjoyed the kick that it provided.

Church Brew Works Xmas

The second beer I ordered at Church Brew Works was the Xmas. The beer is a dark brown color and is almost opaque with a light tan head. The aroma consists of cinnamon, nutmeg and malts. The taste is extremely smooth and full of nutmeg and cinnamon. It also has a slight dry finish. The alcohol content is 7.2%ABV. I like the Xmas, but not quite as much as the Bier De Noel. The Xmas has a nice complimentary balance of spices and malts, and no component is overdone.

Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

I ordered a pint of Souther Tier Old Man Winter Ale at Fathead's in Pittsburgh. The beer has an amber color with a lofty bubbly head. The aroma is slightly spicy and filled with orange hops. The taste is mostly hoppy at first with pine and orange hops. The taste then evolves to malty and caramel flavors with a solid base of raisin. The alcohol content is 7.2% ABV. I really enjoyed this beer, although I am not surprised as I am a big fan of Southern Tier beers. It is a solid winter warmer, and does not have an overpowering alcohol kick.

Clipper City Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin

Albeit a little late and out of season, I picked up a bottle of Clipper City Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin at D's Six Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh. This was one of the pumpkin beers that I really wanted to try but was unable to locate, until the end of December. The beer has an orange color with a light bubbly white head. The taste is very spicy and full of pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon flavors. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. While this would not rank as my favorite pumpkin beer, it is a well done beer with none of the flavors overdone. This is the way a pumpkin beer should be produced.

Brooklyn Monster Ale

While at D's Dix Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh I ordered a glass of Brooklyn Monster Ale, their barleywine. The beer has an amber color with a thin white head. It smells malty and lemon. The taste is sweet with vanilla and caramel flavors and light lemon accents with a slight alcohol bite. It finishes with an oak taste on the back of the tongue. The alcohol content is 11.8% ABV. Overall the Monster Ale was very drinkable and mostly enjoyable. It drank very smooth and light, but packed a nice alcohol punch.

Great Divide Hibernation Ale

I ordered a draft of Great Divide Hibernation Ale at D's Six Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh. The beer has a dark amber color with a light foamy head. It smells of toasted malts, chocolate, and caramel. The taste is slightly spicy at first and transitions into a smooth toasted flavor. The chocolate flavor doesn't stand out too much, but is there. The caramel really smooths out the beer and provides a great accent. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. I really enjoyed the Hibernation Ale and would gladly order another glass. The smooth finish makes it a very drinkable beer, as in you could drink several in one sitting.

Penn Brewery St. Nikolas Bock Beer Brewer's Reserve

When I visited the reopening of Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh, I saw that they had felt bag-wrapped bottled of St. Nikolas Bock Bier- Brewer's Reserve. I did not hesitate to pick up a bottle, especially for only $5. The beer has a dark amber color with a light bubbly head. The aroma is malty with raisins. The taste is sweet and heavily composed of raisins, figs, and toffee. There is an underlying hint of toasted malts. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. This is a very excellent beer and I was disappointed that there wasn't a regular run of production in 2009. however, at the reopening of the brewery, they had a limited amount of the brewer's reserve. I highly recommended if you can find it.

East End Snow Melt Winter Ale

On my last visit to D's Six Pax and Dogz in Pittsburgh, I ordered a pint of East End Snow Melt Winter Ale. The beer is a dark brown color and is opaque. It smells of caramel, toffee, and coffee with slight hop hints. The taste is full of flavors including roasted malts, caramel, and coffee. The alcohol content is 7% ABV. I thought that this beer was very good all around and smooth with slight spice bite. All of the flavors are well balanced and very complimentary of each other.