Victory Kirsch Gose

When I was a kid I loved Cherry Crush soda. On a nice summer day I would ride my bike to the local supermarket and buy a six pack or a 2 liter bottle of it and spend the remainder of the day drinking every last refreshing drop. By the end of the day I would have a tremendous sense of accomplishment, a massive stomach ache and a sugar high so big I could barely blink. But one day, seemingly out of nowhere, my desire to drink Cherry Crush completely vanished. I want to say it was because I realized drinking over 250 grams of sugar in a single sitting was a poor life decision but the truth is my palate changed. To me, Cherry Crush became so sweet it was unbearable to drink. For years I have been trying to relive those days with different cherry beverages, but found none that worked with my adult palate. Cherry sodas were too sweet, seltzer waters tasted too medicinal and cherry beers were typically mediocre at best. I had pretty much given up hope on finding a refreshing cherry beverage that worked me, but that changed when I took my first sip of Victory Kirsch Gose.

Victory Kirsch Gose, which according to the label is a “Sour Cherry Bier” that pours a light red, almost pink color with a white head. The aroma is bursting with tart cherries and little else. The flavor is more of the same. The flavor of sour, tart cherries immediately flooded my palate, before the light flavor of salt(which is common for the Gose style) and malt sweetness come in at the finish. I wish I could tell you I detected more subtle flavors but I did not. While I would have loved to see a little more depth in the flavor, I have to admit Kirsch Gose is an example of when a beer doesn't try to do too much and it works. The simple flavor of tart cherries with the perfect amount of carbonation make this a perfectly refreshing beer for a hot day. It's lack of overpowering sweetness and a low 4.7% ABV make it wonderfully sessionable as well. Basically this is cherry crush for adults.

Overall I would rate Victory Kirsch Gose a 4/5. It's simple, delicious and accessible. It just plain works.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Southern Tier Tangier Session IPA

It is with great pleasure I make the following statement; warm weather, sunshine and summer beer are finally here. And while I am not always excited to see summer beer, I am excited to finally enjoy a light, crisp, refreshing beer outside without the need of 10 layers of clothing. If you live in upstate New York or the Northeast in general I'm sure you understand what I am talking about. This was a winter that truly felt like it was never going to end. While I love winter beer and feel it's never time to completely put down the stouts, porters, strong ales and double IPAs that compliment the cold so well, I am excited to lighten up and enjoy one of the many styles of summer beer. The wheat beers, shandies, session ipas, goses and fruit beers or any combination of those compliment the sunshine nicely. The first of those beers I am going to review is the latest summer offering from the Southern Tier Brewing, Tangier Session IPA.

Tangier Session IPA caught my eye immediately because it was brewed with Tangerine peels. In my mind anytime you can find a way to boost the citrus in an India Pale Ale, the better. Tangier pours golden yellow with an off white head. There is a noticeable amount of sediment floating in it which is not pleasing to the eye but not noticeable in the mouthfeel. The aroma is this beer's best trait, it is literally bursting with citrus. At this point I had high hopes for Tangier but unfortunately they were squandered the moment I tasted it.

After my first sip of Tangier, I was immediately hit with the watered down flavor of citrus before a light pine hop finish. It sounds simple because it is. There really is not a lot going on here. I could tell you I detected a little malt sweetness but that would be reaching. To make matters even worse, the tangerine peels are completely non-existent in the flavor. I started to think the tangerine peels were what was floating in the beer, which did not make any sense because it certainly did not make Tangier look appetizing. Going back to the flavor, the light, almost watered down citrus might be good if not for the strong lingering dirty hop aftertaste that seemed to grow the deeper I got into the beer. By the time my glass was empty, my palette was wrecked and I was relieved I only purchased one bottle. As far as summer beer goes, this is one to stay away from.

Overall I would rate Southern Tier Tangier Session IPA a 1.5/5. While the aroma is delightful, Tangier tastes like a watered down version of a bad IPA with a horrible aftertaste. Summer is too short to drink a beer this bad.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Westbrook 4th Anniversary Chocolate Coconut Almond Imperial Stout

One of the best feelings in beer collecting is finding that rare beer you have been going store to store looking for. Depending on the level of effort you put forth and whether you have had the beer before, the act of chasing it down a lot of times can be more satisfying then drinking it. The more effort and miles you put in, the more special it can become. This process occasionally creates unrealistic expectations for the right occasion to drink said beer. This is what I ran into when I finally obtained a bottle of Westbrook 4^th Anniversary Stout.

In some areas Westbrook 4^th Anniversary Chocolate Coconut Almond Imperial Stout just sits on shelves collecting dust, waiting for someone to purchase it. In the area of Upstate NY I live in, Westbrook 4^th was only available for a couple of hours making it quite the challenge to obtain. When I got one of the last bottles I felt a tremendous swell of pride. I was excited to have it and was certain I would be drinking it immediately. But then a week went by and I felt that the beer was so rare that I had to save it for a special occasion. Then a month went by and it was still sitting the fridge. Then another month passed, and it finally hit me I need to drink that beer now before any of its interesting flavors fade away prior to drinking it. So instead of a special occasion I decided to treat myself to this beer on a random Thursday night watching cheesy horror movies--an occasion I viewed just as good as any.

Westbrook 4^th Anniversary Chocolate Coconut Almond Imperial Stout pours a rich, thick black with a dark brown head that slowly dissipates. The aroma is incredible, full of dark chocolate, vanilla and roasted malt. Simply, it smelled like chocolate milk for grown ups. And while the aroma was delightful, I was disappointed to not detect any coconut but hoped it would come through in the flavor. Unfortunately worrying about finding coconut in the flavor was the least of my worries because this beer is a mess. Much like the aroma, chocolate, vanilla and roasted malt are noticeable right away before a dry, nutty, espresso-like finish. While that may sound good initially(it is), the sloppiness of blending those flavors becomes intolerable by the end of the bottle.

One of the best parts of drinking a truly complex imperial stout is allowing the beer to warm so the flavors typically start to open up and more subtle flavors are noticeable. Here, when the beer warms, it becomes an overly sweet, clunky mess. It seems Westbrook 4^th does not seem to know which flavor it wants to showcase, but it certainly does not try to showcase the coconut. In this beer, warm or not the coconut is pretty much non-existent. To a point, I honestly do not know why coconut was on the label. The almond flavor is there but that falls victim to the poorly blended bigger flavors of the roasted malt, sweet chocolate and vanilla. Basically this is a beer that tries to be too complex for its own good and it suffers because of it.

Westbrook 4^th Anniversary Stout is an example of a rare beer that arrives with a bunch of hype but fails to live up to the expectations. For this particular beer, chasing it down was by far the most interesting part about it. With the ingredients involved there was a lot of potential for it to be great but unfortunately the clunkiness of its' craftsmanship left a lot to be desired. I hope to see other coconut stouts hit my area in the future and hope someone can get this style of beer right.

Overall Westbrook 4^th Anniversary Chocolate Coconut Almond Imperial Stout gets a 2.5/5. While it is not terrible, it is a mess of big flavors that do not seem to fit well together. A prime example of a big stout that failed to live up to its potential.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Sam Adams Rebel Rouser IPA

I've always viewed beer from the Boston Beer Company, better known as the makers of the Samuel Adams, as a gateway to craft beer. They were certainly mine so many years ago. Their seemingly endless catalog of beers provided me with the opportunity to try my first Octoberfest, Cream Stout, Winter Lager, Hefeweizen, Imperial Pilsner, Double Bock...well you get the point. But as my palate matured I found myself leaving the beers of Sam Adams behind in favor of those from breweries all over the world. I frequently wonder why this was the case? I think one reason is that while they made a lot of beers, there were only a few that were truly unique. I always felt a lot of their dark beers shared a familiar malt profile that made buying a mix pack from them a lot less exciting and adventurous then it seemed. Another reason I think I shied away from them was their lack of IPAs. Years ago while other breweries were producing IPAs to meet the growing demand from hopheads nationwide, Boston Beer Company seemed to want to go in any direction but one that involved them making one. And worse, when they finally did produce an IPA(Latitude 48) it was lackluster. When they tried again with their supposed west coast style Rebel IPA, it was also lackluster. So as you can imagine going into my first Rebel Rouser IPA, I was not very optimistic about it being anything other then a forgettable beer from the brewery that once taught me there was more out there then just the yellow mainstream fizz. But after tasting it I am pleased to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Rebel Rouser pours a beautifully clear gold with an off white head that leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is quite pleasant, full of citrus, pine and a hint of malt sweetness. The 8.4% ABV is slightly noticeable in the aroma, letting you know you are about to drink a big beer. It was at this moment, I experienced a swell of optimism thinking the folks at Sam Adams had finally succeeded in making a quality IPA. This feeling was confirmed when I took my first sip. Bold tropical fruit, citrus and pine flooded my palate immediately before finishing with a clean malt sweetness that seems to fade a bit too quickly. While there is an expected bitterness from the hops in the aftertaste, there is almost no indication in the flavor that Rebel Rouser carried such a high ABV which falsely gives the idea that it is sessionable. While that is not a knock against the beer, the fact that the flavor comes and goes so quickly is. It seems like Rebel Rouser is almost too polished and too conservative to live up to its' rebellious graffiti themed label. That being said, this is a good beer and a step in the right direction by the Boston Beer Company to satisfy hop heads nationwide.

Overall I would rate Sam Adams Rebel Rouser a 3.5/5. While it does not break any new ground, Rebel Rouser finally proves that Boston Beer Company can make a respectable IPA.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!