Robust Porter

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Smuttynose Robust Porter

• Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire)

• Style: Porter

• ABV: 6.2%

• IBU: 43

• Pour Color: Black...

      Pouring this one told a story. The head wasn't super big but creamy. The scent off the top was a roasted coffee scent. The carbination wasn't even seen through this beer. It was just a black hole of a beer absorbing every bit of light! The head by this time had went down to just a lacing. The flavor on sip was a nice full roasted flavor. Smoke, coffee and slight chocolate to it but also a fuller body. It really has some bulked up body to this one even though the head didn't show it.
      Delicious is how I would describe this. It's bitter in the roasted sense more then the IBU bitter. It's a extremely dry finish to it. Still it's got so much flavor you can't dislike it. Roasty and full bodied this one is making me glad I can flavor save. Smutty makes a good IPA and now I know they make a good dark beer too! 

Rating: ****1/2

Dunkel Lager

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Dunkel Lager 

• Brewery: SlyFox Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Munich Dunkel Lager

• ABV: 5.3%

• IBU: 21

• Pour Color: A amber color that light traveled thru easily.

      The pour left a head that was slightly fluffy for a sip or two. Then the head was gone. The top of the beer had lacing. Only a slight sweet malt scent off the top. The color was a amber that looked rather thin and allowed light thru. The malts were a sweet sour dough. The hops really added little to no bitterness or flavor. A lager like beer, not much more. 
      I'm not a lager fan and it takes something special to impress me. This isn't one of those special beers. This is overly sweet and sour. The mix makes for a weird swallow while also tasting the bready finish of yeast and malt. I really don't see myself grabbing another one of these.

Rating: *

Strawberry Wit

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Strawberry Wit

• Brewery: Ass Kisser Brewing Company

• Style: Ass Kissers Beverage Co. (California)

• ABV: 5.8%

• IBU: ?

• Pour Color: Golden and hazy really a good looking beer! 

      The head disappeared quick and lacing didn't really happen going down. The scent off the top was strawberry and lemon. The color was gold and hazy even though the light passed thru easy. The taste was malty at first. The malts were forward until swallow. Swallowing led to the mix of the strawberry/lemon that was promised in the scent. All and all a great fruit beer that doesn't just lean on the fruit to hard.
      The fruit of this beer is what makes it good to me. It's mellow enough to call this a beer with fruit instead of a fruitbeer. The malts are the star with a strong wheat flavor until the swallow. Once you swallow you get a nice mix of hops strawberry and lemon zest that really makes it refreshing. This is the type of fruit beer that this mustache likes to swim in instead of has to swim in!

Rating: ***1/2

Censored

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Censored

• Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company (California)

• Style: Amber Ale

• ABV: 6.75%

• IBU: 25.08

• Pour Color: A hazy deep amber color that light gets thru. 

      The pour came out with a nice fluffy head. It lasted a little while before disappearing. The scent off the top was malt heavy. Strong aroma of toasty caramel malts of some sort. The color of the beer was a darker amber that had a haze to it. The flavor of the beer was much less sweet then the scent would have led me to believe. This beer has a character that is unusual for a amber ale. It's got a full body and a malty taste that just is bigger then most ambers. The yeast and the toasted malt mix to give you a nice fresh bread or biscuit flavor. On swallow you get that familuar red ale finish of caramalts. A nice amber ale in my opinion. 
      Most amber ales just are fairly boring to this mustache. I'm actually more inclined to grab a wheat ale. That being said this is a lot different. Normally if I'm going to give a amber a distinction it's cause of the hop heavy way they did it. This beer here has little hop flavor but still awakes the taste buds. Another swim in this one is gonna be come shortly cause this is a good beer!

Rating: ****1/2

Odyssey

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Odyssey

• Brewery: SlyFox Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Imperial IPA

• ABV: 8.4%

• IBU: 90

• Pour Color: Slightly hazy and orange color

      The head came up and was fluffy. It lasted for a good while as I swam but soon was just lacing down the glass. It's a hazy orange color that light passed thru. The scent off the top was a lot less hops then I would expect. It was more earthy spicy tones to the bouquet then citrus or fruit. Slightly sweet malt scent. The mix of spicy hops, sweet malts, and yeast all have a slight liquorish taste to me or almost a root-beer. Not really my favorite to bathe in.
      This really is a strange double IPA. It's only a 8.4% alcohol beer and is fairly smooth at that level. The scent off of it was fairly boring. The taste profile too was strange and much more malt and yeast then hops. It does give you a nice bitter tone but it's more a biting a orange peel. Another thing that made this beer strange to me. Some will love this beer I guarentee but me... I'm not one of em.

Rating: **

Monster Ale

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Monster Ales

• Brewery: Brooklyn Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Barley Wine

• ABV: 10.1%

• IBU:

• Pour Color: A nice copper color that let light pass easy.

       This beer poured with a head that disappeared quick. The scent off the top was a mix of apples and hops. Almost a falconers flight scent. The color was pretty much a copper and could easily be seen thru. The flavor gives you a nice mix of hops and malts with a yeasty taste. Not to sweet really and not really tasting like it's 10 percent. The hops are really the lightest taste not really bright or crisp. The hops might be the apple taste and scent I'm getting. The star is obviously the malts and yeast as you get a toasted roasted flavor while in mouth. Slightly sweet too. On swallow it turns to a yeasty biscuity taste that taste strange. It's a barley wine for sure though!
      At such a high alcohol you'd expect that you'd taste it. You really don't though. 10.1% and it's still fairly mellow. The taste though is off kilter to me. I swam in it and it really reminded me most of the Brooklyn IPA but not really much more. If you're looking for a high ABV that will be fairly easy drinking this is it. Not personally a favorite in the mix of flavors they did this with. I'm actually really disappointed cause most of the time Brooklyn hits a home run in my opinion!

Rating:***1/2

Captain's Reserve

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Captain's Reserve IIPA

• Brewery: Captain Lawrence Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: IIPA

• ABV: 9%

• IBU: 80

• Pour Color: A darker yellow color that can be seen through.

      The head came up and stayed up for a good while. Lacing would happen all the way down this one. The scent is a little less then you would expect from a Imperial IPA. You get a nice fruity tangy scent off the top. It has passion fruit in there, but also something that gives the nostrils a sting. When tasting it you find another surprise. The alcohol of a 9% is there but is nearly covered up. It has a nice sweet malt backing that competes right with the hoppy spice/fruity flavor. This makes it easy to swallow the beer before the real bite. The malts again make an appearance in the swallow with a nice biscuit finish. This isn't your normal IIPA it's pretty easily drinkable!
      Hopstoopid ain't this smooth! I mean you get the realization that this, as you drink it, is a imperial. It's not that it lacks flavor... It just has a mellow alcohol flavor that doesn't need a huge backing to cover up. It's a really well ballenced beer that doesn't seem to go hop insane. The beer doesn't have a flat boring taste profile either. Mellow crisp and easy to drink. Really a great beer that not many can rival!

Rating: *****