Greater Good Good Night Moon

For this blogger, it’s very easy to like what Worcester, Massachusetts’ Greater Good Imperial Brew Co. is doing. As you may already know, I love big beers and the idea of an all imperial brewery is right up my alley. I am very excited that they are currently getting regular distribution in Western NY and am more than ready to make my way through their catalog. For this blog, I thought starting with a beer that would pair nicely with a cool, Fall evening would be a perfect way to start this journey and Good Night Moon, an 11% imperial milk porter is just that.

I can’t lie, the idea of an 11% imperial milk porter had me a little worried before I tried it. It had the potential to be unbearably sweet and I knew if that was the case, the remaining three cans in the 4-pack might end up having an indefinite stay in my refrigerator.

As I poured my first can into a glass, I could tell from the aroma this was undoubtedly going to be on the sweet side. I just hoped it would be bearable. The first note that really stood out in the aroma was chocolate, think a dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting. I found that to be delightful, along with the notes of coffee, licorice, creamy vanilla, a hint of pine, and earthy hops.

The first sip, like the nose, really brought the chocolate. Rich, decadent milk chocolate, balanced out with roasted malt and coffee. Some creamy vanilla & licorice follow and that rolls right into the semi-sweet, charred finish that lingers on the palate. It is a sweet beer, but that is what you should expect from the style. However, I never thought it was too sweet. I also thought that the 11% ABV was hidden exceptionally well. I could tell I was drinking a stronger beer but I would not have placed it as high as 11%. Good Night Moon is definitely a beer that can sneak up on you, especially if you decided to enjoy a second can.

I am not going to say that Good Night Moon is going to blow your socks off but if you are a fan of a slightly sweeter stout or porter, you will really enojy this beer. I, for one, am relieved I enjoyed it as much as I did. I am fairly certain the 3 other cans I purchased won't see the end of the week.

Overall rating: 4/5

Lord Hobo Pineapple Glorious IPA

Shopping for beer to bring on a weekend getaway always seems to take me way longer than it needs to. It has gotten to a point that I can’t do it with another person because they quickly lose patience while I ponder what would work best. I swear, I can switch the beers I am going to bring multiple times before I finally settle on what I consider are the beers to bring. Even when I’m given guidance and am told to bring cheap, sh—ty beer, I can’t bring myself to do it. If I am drinking beer all weekend long and sharing it with friends I want it to be something good.

Before this past weekend’s trip, I spent about a half hour in the beer aisle before I finally made a concrete decision on what to bring. There were a ton of great options but I decided to go with a couple of my local summer favorites: Three Heads Couch Tour Cucumber Sour and Genesee Lemon Strawberry Cream Ale. I love both beers. They are delicious, crowd-pleasing, low ABV session beers with a fantastic price point. I felt great about going with just those beers until I saw Lord Hobo Pineapple Glorious IPA. For some reason, I could not pass that beer up even though there were a few red flags attached to it. The first being Lord Hobo’s catalog is very hit & miss. The second being pineapple beer is also very hit & miss. Seeing “ale with natural flavor” was the third red flag. Then finally the price point for the beer was a bit more than you typically want to spend for a beach beer but I decided to go for it anyway and hope for the best.

Lord Hobo’s Pineapple Glorious IPA certainly delivers the pineapple. The aroma is full of it, along with peach, passion fruit, grapefruit, grass, herbal and floral notes, and bread dough. The first sip was a little disappointing due to the artificial taste of pineapple. The use of natural flavoring does not always get the best results and here is a perfect example of that. It is by no means a drain pour but it’s nothing special either. Peach, citrus, grass, doughy malt, and passion fruit go fairly well with the pineapple flavoring before an aggressive finish of bitter grapefruit rind and black pepper. In future batches I hope they soften the finish a bit.

It took a couple cans but I ended up kinda liking Pineapple Glorious IPA. However, I can’t bring myself to recommend you go out and purchase it at its current price point. I, for one, will probably not buy it again without a fairly dramatic price drop. I also can’t say it’s an upgrade over the base beer Glorious. As I mentioned earlier, Lord Hobo’s beers are hit & miss. Overall, I would list this one as a miss. At 13 dollars a 4-pack, you should expect better.

Harpoon One Hazy Summer

The past few weeks I have been slowing down on writing and that is unacceptable. Summer beer season is in full swing and I need to do a better job helping you sort through what’s on the shelves to find the best recommendations possible.

The main reason I have been behind on my blogs is because my summer beer drinking has become predictable. I have been obsessed with Other Half Brewing being in town and frequently find myself stopping there for cans, bottles & pours. The other beers that have taken up a fair amount of space in my refrigerator are Genesee’s Ruby Red Kolsch & Lemon Strawberry Cream Ale. The latter feels like a response to Natural Light’s surprisingly successful Naturday, a Strawberry Lemonade flavored light lager. It could be my local pride talking here but I honestly believe Genesee’s Lemon Strawberry Cream is the better of the two. Genesee’s Lemon Strawberry Cream Ale is not as sweet as Naturday which is a plus and the fruit flavor is dialed back a bit allowing the base beer to come through a bit more. To keep it short, both beers are good, but Genesee’s is better.

Another great summer beer I enjoyed was Couch Tour, a cucumber sour from Three Heads Brewing. It’s very refreshing with just the right amount of cucumber. If you come across it, I highly recommend trying it.

Basically, I have been drinking a lot of great beer but my drinking habits need to expand. So for this blog, I decided to go with a widely released beer from a craft brewery I have not drank anything from in quite some time. I also really wanted summer to be in the beer’s name, so I decided to go with One Hazy Summer from Harpoon Brewery.

Hazy, hoppy beers that get a wide release tend to be hit and miss. For example, I really enjoyed Hazy Little Thing from Sierra Nevada but found Bells Official to be disappointingly bland. Harpoon’s One Hazy Summer is not going to blow you away but it is a decent pale ale. The aroma is floral, fruity & malty. Biscuit in particular really comes through, along with pineapple, mango, berry and a touch of citrus. The aroma matches the flavor for the most part. The hops compliment the biscuity malt profile, adding a touch of brightness. Mango & pineapple come through the most, along with a touch of berry & citrus before a soft, herbal, dry finish.

I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed One Hazy Summer. It might not be as hoppy as I wanted it to be but it works. It’s a light, easy drinking, reasonable priced, session beer that will work nicely as a beach beer, lawnmower beer, camping beer, basically any summer occasion beer. One that I am glad is taking up real estate in my refrigerator.



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Jack’s Abby Citra Brau Lager

I am always looking for a great value and Jack’s Abby always seems to deliver just that. Over the years, the Framingham, Massachusetts Brewery has become a personal favorite of mine. The main reasons for that are they consistently push the boundaries of creativity with their lagers and they are always priced reasonably. I honestly can’t recall a single beer from them I have not enjoyed. Granted, there are some of their beers I prefer more than others, but that is how I feel about every brewery. Jack’s Abby consistently makes solid beer at a great price and their latest offering, Citra Brau, reinforces that.

I keep mentioning that Jack’s Abby beer is always a great value, but Citra Brau is the first beer from them that actually gave me “sticker shock”. “Sticker shock" is something that happens to every beer enthusiast at one time or another. It usually occurs when you find yourself paying a bit more for a beer than you expected to. For Citra Brau, a dry-hopped citra lager, I had the complete opposite reaction. A 6-pack of 16 oz. cans is priced around 10 dollars. Once I tried it, I felt like I had found one of the best values currently on the market. 

Citra Brau certainly showcases the citra hop but Jack's Abby balances it beautifully with a fantastic lager backbone. The aroma is super dank, floral, grassy, grainy and very fruity.  The taste matches the nose and as I mentioned earlier it is beautifully balanced. Orange, lemon, peach, melon, resinous pine and grass hit initially before the slightly sweet, grainy, crackery malt profile comes into play. The finish is dry, peppery, crisp & clean. Nothing here is going to blow you away, but this is a really nice, easy drinking lager with just the right amount of hop flavor.

Clocking in at 5.5%, Citra Brau is sessionable and a beer I hope to see year-round from Jack's Abby, especially for the summer. Citra Brau has "lawnmower beer" written all over it. In the meantime, its very reasonable price point could make it a staple in my refrigerator for the foreseeable future. Once again, Jack's Abby delivers another solid beer.


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Clown Shoes La Bestia Furiosa

Cooler temperatures have arrived and my craving for rich imperial stouts is at an all time high. Over the past week I have enjoyed a few, including this year's Sierra Nevada Narwhal. That beer is always particularly amazing and at its price point I can't recommend it enough. This blog however, is not about Narwhal. It is about Clown Shoes' La Bestia Furiosa, so let's get to it.

Aged in both rum and bourbon barrels with chiles and spices, this Mexican-Style Imperial Stout was impossible not to purchase. I have enjoyed many of Clown Shoes' barrel aged offerings in the past and expected this particular one to be no different. I typically love Mexican-Style stouts as well, and that alone made this an automatic purchase. Basically, this beer checked a lot of boxes. I just hoped it was as good as I wanted it to be.

La Bestia Furiosa's aroma is full of rich, decadent chocolate. This translates to what dominates the flavor as well but we will circle back to that. The nose also had a nice touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, peppers, bourbon, vanilla and a touch of rum. There was a lot in the aroma of La Bestia Furiosa to like.  Everything I mentioned in the aroma is in the taste but the chocolate I mentioned earlier makes this one of the sweetest beers I have had in awhile. I admit, it has been a long time since I had Clown Shoes' Chocolate Sombrero which is the base beer for La Bestia Furiosa, but I do not remember it being this painfully sweet.

I arrogantly thought I could tackle the 22 oz. Bomber by myself, but I was completely overwhelmed by the La Bestia Furiosa's sweetness. The more this beer warmed, the sweeter it got. The rum and vanilla in particular come through more as it warms, further enhancing the cloying sweetness. While I could continue to complain about this beer being too sweet, I think you get the point.

One thing this beer barely delivers on is the heat. When there are 3 different peppers in a beer with a dragon and a volcano on the label there is a realistic expectation that the beer is going to be spicy. In La Bestia Furiosa's case, the spice is there but it is subdued. I have complained about this before but if the heat was dialed up just a little more, I think it would have made the sweetness bearable for me. Unfortunately, it just did not happen.

While I was not a huge fan of this beer, I could definitely see a fan of dessert beer enjoying it. If rich, absurdly sweet beers are right up your alley then you will love this beer. It is not my thing but it does deliver what it promises--a Mexican Hot Chocolate-style stout with dual barrel treatment. It just wasn't for me.

Overall rating: 2.25/5


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. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Harpoon Dunkin' Coffee Porter

After living in an apartment with a Dunkin' Donuts(now just Dunkin) down the street, I can say I have drank quite a fair share of their coffee. I still do for that matter. So, you can imagine I was excited to see Dunkin' Coffee being used in a beer. I am not saying I think Dunkin' Coffee is by any means amazing or my favorite coffee, it is just a coffee I am used to drinking out of convenience more than anything else, but I am excited to try it in beer form. This also marks the first time I have purchased a beer from Harpoon outside of Boston in years.

Harpoon's Dunkin' Coffee Porter is a medium-bodied porter with an aroma that is very roasty, with rich espresso dark chocolate, smoke with a touch of caramelized sugar. The first sip matches the nose. It is a robust combination of roasted malt and espresso. What I liked here was that the coffee is showcased nicely. It is very much unmistakably a Dunkin' Coffee beer. Unfortunately, that is also what I did not like about this beer. Having drank my fair share of Dunkin' Coffee I can safely say this tastes like old, burnt Dunkin' Coffee with a touch of caramelized sugar sweetness & a dry finish. It is not completely terrible but it is not that good either. This is a gimmick beer that unfortunately, like most Harpoon beers, is just good enough not to offend the palate but not good enough to merit a second purchase.

Overall rating: 2.25/5


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. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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For more beer reviews check out: http://www.acraftylook.com

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Last Call for Summer Beer

I seem to complain about this every year but I am not quite ready to drink Fall beer. They are already on shelves and I can't help but think it is way too soon for them, This past weekend the temperature was in the 90's and not once did I think 'man, I could really go for a refreshing pumpkin ale'. So I decided to take a trip to the bottle shop in full defiance mode, looking for light, fruit forward summer seasonals. I left with three fruit forward beers and a couple of fresh IPAs. The latter has no impact on this blog, I just wanted to admit I still could not pass up new hops. For this blog however, I wanted to blog about those three fruit forward beers and let you know whether or not they are worth taking up real estate in your refrigerator.

The first beer is Pineapple Cart from Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the brewery's "Cart" series based on LA's fruit cart vendors. I have not had any other entries in the series but after drinking half a can of Pineapple Cart, I don't think I need to. It is a mess of a beer. While it is a pineapple wheat ale, it is also brewed with strawberries and blood oranges. The latter has basically zero presence in the beer. The strawberry overpowers the pineapple in the nose and left me confused which fruit this beer was supposed to be based on. The heavy graininess of a wheat ale is also very noticeable in the nose. The flavor of the beer is a muddled mess. The pineapple hits up front, is followed by strawberry, lots of grain and a tart, dry, phenolic finish. The whole beer falls apart in the finish. I appreciate Golden Road trying to dial back the sweetness but the end result here is a mess.

Is it worth a purchase? Absolutely not.

Next up is Harpoon Brewery's Camp Wannamango, a mango infused pale ale. I had this beer in Boston for the first time about two years ago. I remember liking it but it got lost in the fold with all the other amazing beer I drank that week. Revisiting it, I realized I still liked it. It is a very easy to drink fruit forward beer that allows both the base beer and the fruit flavor to shine. The pale ale shines at first, with some caramel, toasted bread, passion fruit before the mango extract rushes in and then finishes with a light citrus, pine, herbal hop finish. My only complaint for this beer is the vegetal flavor towards the finish that is not ideal but does not ruin the beer either. This is an easy drinking beach beer and I see it returning to my refrigerator before the summer is out.

Is it worth a purchase? Yes

And last but not least is Victory Brewing's Limey Gose. When I went into the bottle shop, I had every intention of finding a citrus forward gose. When I saw Victory's latest gose, I knew I had to purchase it for two reasons. One, I love Victory's Kirsch Gose. Two, I wanted to see how it compared to my beloved Key Lime Pie Gose from Westbrook. Before I opened the bottle I will admit I had high hopes for this beer and they were rewarded. It is very tart and very refreshing. The lime flavor is strong and hits aggressively, followed by bread dough, a touch of lemon, lactic sourness, green apple and a saline finish. The flavors do not mesh as well as they do in Westbrook's version but they work really well here. It is very effervescent and very refreshing. I know goses are not for everyone, but if you are going to give one a try, this and Victory's Kirsch Gose are a nice place to start.

Is it worth a purchase? Absolutely

While August usually functions as a "last call" of sorts for the summer seasonals, there is still plenty of summer left and still plenty of great warm weather beer on the shelf. That being said, I don't blame anyone who makes the early shift to fall beer. It is easily my favorite beer drinking season. However at this moment, I am just not ready to say goodbye to beer's most refreshing season. Cheers!


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Thanks for reading. Sláinte! 

Brewmaster Jack Elbow Room

I have yet to have a beer from Northampton, MA's Brewmaster Jack that has really impressed me. So far the ones I have tried have ranged from OK to good but not a single one has merited a repeat purchase. My biggest hope from them was Tennessee Prinse, a quadrupel ale aged in whiskey barrels. When my friend gave me a bottle to try, I was excited. I had heard a bunch of positive word of mouth about it and naturally assumed it would be fantastic. Sadly it was not. Tennessee Prinse was just another run of the mill barrel aged beer. It was by no means a bad beer, but it is something I have no intention of purchasing again. Another beer I remember trying from them was their Little Brother DIPA. The only thing I remember about that one is that I wished I spent 5 dollars on something else. The one beer I did enjoy from them was Trial By Combat DIPA. Unfortunately, even that one felt like it was missing something. If I had any other beers from Brewmaster Jack, I don't remember them. However, my search for something great from them continues into this blog.

This past week, Autumn finally hit NY in full force and I found myself looking for a beer with more body and if possible, some barrel aging. I came across Elbow Room from Brewmaster Jack. It was a coffee imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels. After a feeling of trepidation crept over me about buying another Brewmaster Jack beer, I looked at the reasonable 9 dollar price tag for a 22oz. bomber and I decided to give it a shot. When I opened the bottle, my hopes soared sky high as I poured the rich, dense, black liquid into my glass. The aroma of dark chocolate was immediately noticeable. There was also a touch of smoke in the aroma, some vanilla, a slight nuttiness, as well as an almost wine-like fruitiness. These all paled in comparison to the coffee aroma that practically overwhelmed everything else. One thing I did not get a lot of in the aroma was the barrel notes. I did not detect any whiskey and I only think I found oak because I knew it was there. I was hoping I would get more when I took my first sip but unfortunately, I did not. However, what I did get from my first sip was disappointment.

With a beer that is barrel aged, there are certain expectations for how it should taste. Aside from a hint of vanilla, there was pretty much nothing here to suggest Elbow Room spent any time at all in a barrel. Whatever the aging period was, it was not long enough. I'm guessing a brewer at Brewmaster Jack poured the stout into a whiskey barrel for a “5 Mississippi count” and poured it out. If that was my only issue with this beer, I would have been happy, but the coffee that so richly dominates the flavor tastes bland and frankly stale. It is reminiscent of going into a gas station in the middle of the night and drinking a 12 hour old cup of coffee. Sure, it tastes like coffee, but it is not good. Dark chocolate, caramel, vanilla, a green pepper off-flavor and a fairly bold fruitiness round out the flavor of this watery imperial stout. It is a touch astringent but to its credit, for the most part it is smooth. There is barely any hint of the 10.1% ABV, which is nice, but you can find a beer just like this that tastes better(Founders Breakfast Stout) and has just as much barrel flavor(none) fairly easily.

Overall, Elbow Room did nothing to improve my opinion of the quality of beer from Brewmaster Jack. So far everything I have tried has seemed either bland or like it is missing something critical to making it a solid beer. I hope the next beer I buy from them changes my opinion but after this one it will be awhile until I purchase another one of their beers again.

Overall rating: 2/5


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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Jack's Abby Kiwi Rising

I love this time of year. The weather is crisp, the leaves are changing colors, Halloween is right around the corner and the best beer of the year is starting to hit shelves. It seems that multiple fantastic beers are coming out each week and my wallet can't take it. Last week alone, I stocked my refrigerator up with some amazing offerings like: Lawson's Sip of Sunshine, Stone Xocoveza, Oskar Blue's Death By Coconut, New Holland's Dragon's Milk, Grimm's Double Negative, and the beer I am talking about today, Jack's Abby's Kiwi Rising Double India Pale Lager. It has gotten to a point that it could take several minutes for me to decide what to drink. I know whatever it is, is going to be fantastic but that does not make it any easier.

The reason I want to talk about Kiwi Rising in this blog is that I want to tell you how great it is. Normally, I spend a lot of time telling you whether I think a beer is good or not. I am just going to start this blog off by telling you Kiwi Rising is amazing. Brewed with New Zealand hops and not Kiwi fruit, this beer is very hoppy(105 IBUs), easy to drink and wonderfully complex. I think it is safe to say it is my favorite offering from Jack's Abby. That truly says a lot because Jack's Abby makes some incredible beers. A few of the other beers I enjoy from them are: Mass Rising DIPL, Excess IPL, Framinghammer Baltic Porter, Cranberry Berliner, and Calyptra Session IPL. I am going to stop there because I feel that list could keep going and going and going. The point I am trying to get to is, no matter what you buy from them you are most likely going to get a great beer.

The reason I want to talk specifically about Kiwi Rising is that I simply want to spread the word about it. I have found that too many of my craft beer drinking friends have not tried it or even worse, haven’t heard of it. To someone who loves this particular beer I find both to be simply unacceptable. Each Fall, as soon as it hits shelves, I buy it and every year it delivers something special. The aroma is floral, to a point it is almost perfume-like. Big notes of citrus, tropical fruit, pine resin and bread dough all stand out nicely. The first sip matches the nose to an extent but the doughy malt really shines initially, really giving this DIPL a solid malt backbone. This is followed by pineapple, grapefruit, grass, orange, candied mango, lime and an herbal, piney, crisp finish. Kiwi Rising is dangerously easy to drink at 8.5%. You might find that the first one goes down very easy. Just take a moment to contemplate before reaching for the second.

Kiwi Rising is the perfect beer right now for our Bi-Polar October weather. For a hot day, it delivers a crisp, easy drinking hoppy lager. For a cooler night, it provides a full flavored beer that warms the soul. Basically, if you love a good hoppy beer, this is a must try. Make sure you hurry up though, this beer never stays around long.

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Jack's Abby & Søle Wicked Philthy IPL

When I think of reliable breweries, one of the first breweries I think of is Jack's Abby Craft Lagers. Jack's Abby consistently makes great lagers and on a regular basis can be found in my refrigerator. One of the things I admire most about Jack's Abby is the fact that they seemingly continue to find new ways to enhance their diverse catalog of beers. Each year, I look forward to the release of their Kiwi Rising Double IPL, their Framinghammer Baltic Porter and its barrel aged variants in particular. For this blog, I wanted to take a look at their latest IPL release which is a collaboration with Søle Artisan Ales, Wicked Philthy IPL.

Due to my love of Jack's Abby Kiwi Rising and Excess IPL, I was certain Wicked Philthy was going to be a winner. It poured a beautifully hazy golden-orange with a fluffy white head. A strong floral, almost perfume-like aroma practically jumped out of the glass. The nose also contained lots of grapefruit, malt breadiness, and tropical notes. My first sip was herbal, spicy at first, giving way to flavors of melon, grapefruit, bread, and grass before a pine, bitter, boozy, astringent finish. There are some nice things going on here but unfortunately overall, this beer is underwhelming. The herbal, earthy spice started things off nicely but seems to overshadow just about everything else. The tropical and citrus hop flavors are present as I mentioned earlier but unfortunately are not nearly as bold as they should be. They get lost in the shuffle between the spice and the finish, which is ridiculously bitter. The finish in particular is where things completely fell apart from me. After each sip, the astringent bitterness seemed to get stronger. I found myself laboring to get through the last few sips of this beer.

For the past few blogs, I seem to have started a streak of positive reviews. When I selected Wicked Philthy IPL for this blog, I thought that streak would continue. I also thought that things might start getting a little boring around here if I sang the praises of every beer I drank and wrote about.  Fortunately, things are not getting boring around here, the streak is now officially over. Unfortunately, this is a surprisingly disappointing offering from the normally reliable Jack's Abby.

Overall I would rate Wicked Philthy IPL a 2.5/5. It's not a terrible beer, it's just nowhere near as good as other Jack's Abby IPL offerings.

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Vacation Beers! (Marz Community Brewing's Jungle Boogie & Building 8 Brewing's The Session IPA)

Whenever I go on vacation, one of the first things I do is look for beer I have yet to try. This past weekend I did a bunch of that with my wife in Boston. We were in town for our 2 year wedding anniversary, as well as seeing Pearl Jam rock the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park. The shows were incredible and so was some of the beer.

This may have not been a proper Beercation, but we did the best we could with the time we had. On the way into Boston we stopped in Framingham to visit Jack's Abby. There, my mind was blown by the greatness of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Graham Cracker & Mole Framinghammers. I hope one day to hold a bottle of one or both in my hands. They were that good.

We also went to Boston Beer Works just outside of Fenway Park. While nothing stood out dramatically as being great, the Boston Cream Ale and the Equinox hopped SMaSH Works beer were quite drinkable. The watermelon ale was what you would expect and the house IPA is something I hope to never drink again. It seemed to swing & miss on every flavor note I wanted it to hit. Still it was a great place to visit right before a game or a show.

We also took time to hit a couple bottle shops while in town to stock up the hotel beers and secondly find some cool stuff to bring back. While we did not bring back a large amount of beer (mainly because of all the Red Sox themed Pearl Jam merchandise in the car), we brought back beer that sounded interesting to both of us. So for today's review I will be taking a closer look at 2 of those.

Marz Community Brewing's Jungle Boogie seemed like the perfect post-concert beer to kick off this blog with. This pale wheat ale brewed with rooibos tea poured a dark amber with an off white head. The aroma was sweet, fruity, herbal with a lot of mango. When I took my first sip my mouth was hit with the wonderful flavors of tropical fruit. Mango especially shined, along with pine, vanilla, a herbal spiciness I could not quite put my finger on and a crisp grapefruit finish. This is a beer I would drink regularly. They seemed to bring out the wonderful flavors of the mosaic hop nicely. I hope to see this on the shelves in Upstate NY regularly.

Overall I would rate Jungle Boogie a 4/5. Great beer, super sad I only brought back one can.

I stumbled upon Building 8 Brewing's The Session IPA by accident. I was looking for something completely different but there on the floor stood a very limited supply of an extremely fresh IPA. In my experience, even though I have not heard of the beer, it's worth a shot because of that alone. The Session poured a straw yellow with a white head. The aroma was very light but was very juicy with grapefruit and pineapple standing out nicely. The flavor was not as light as the aroma. Grapefruit, passion fruit, tangerine and pineapple stood out wonderfully before an underwhelming peppery finish. Without the pepper finish I would rate this as one of the best session IPA's I've had. It just felt completely out of place here.

Overall I would rate The Session IPA a 3.5/5. With some slight tweaking this beer would be amazing. I am definitely looking forward to trying something from this brewery again in the future.

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

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Oh and Happy Anniversary Alicia! We're still Rockin' In the Free World!

As always, thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Clown Shoes Bluegrass Billionaire

The first barleywine I ever tried was somewhere around 2004-2005. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was at a bar with my dad and as usual I looked for something on the menu I had yet to try. The only option I found was Brooklyn Monster Ale. So like most beers at the time, I ordered it without any idea of what it was and just hoped I would like it. It turned out I absolutely hated it. It was thick, rich, sweet, boozy and had the consistency of cough syrup. It was safe to say it was unlike anything I had tried up until that point. I actually thought it was so bad that maybe the entire barleywine style was not for me. It literally took almost a decade for me to try another barleywine. The only reason I did that was because it was part of the Goose Island Bourbon County line of beers. I absolutely loved that one and from that point on I have absolutely loved the style. Lagunitas Olde Gnarlywine, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale and Bells Third Coast Ale have become just a few of my fairly easy to find favorites. But even though I am not afraid to try it again, I have still yet to revisit Brooklyn's Monster Ale. The reason for that is aside from Sorachi Ace, I have not liked anything I have had from the Brooklyn Brewery. But perhaps it would be fun to revisit Monster Ale down the road for another review. For this review though, I decided on a more “out of the blue” barleywine, Bluegrass Billionaire Bourbon Barrel Aged English Style Barleywine from Clown Shoes.

I realize I could have reviewed a non-barrel aged barleywine but I did not for two reasons. The first being the most obvious; bourbon barrel aged beer in general is more fun to try. And second, reviewing Bluegrass Billionaire also helps me justify my 14 dollar impulse purchase of this 22 oz. Bomber. So as I poured the dense, cloudy reddish-brown barleywine with a light tan head, I could not help but think this was a win for everyone. The aroma was pleasant and really showed off the barrel aging. There was caramel, vanilla, fig, bourbon and oak. When I took my first sip I immediately noticed a pleasant, earthy hoppiness. As I continued to work my way through the glass the flavors of caramel, vanilla, fig, date, raisin and bourbon shined nicely. But an earthy, oak & boozy finish subtracted from the beer. I realize I am complaining about a 12.5% ABV beer having a boozy finish, but I feel it could have been hidden better. If I had patience I realize it probably would have smoothed out a bit by placing it in the cellar for awhile, but I did not want to wait to drink it. A definite positive trait about this barleywine is that it's not too sweet. I recently had Bourbon Barrel Aged Thor's Hammer from Central City Brewers and the syrupy sweetness of that wore on me the further I got into the glass. The earthy hoppiness of Bluegrass Billionaire helps prevent the sweetness from becoming overwhelming. providing a nice sense of balance.

I would consider drinking Clown Shoes' Bluegrass Billionaire a fairly positive experience. It may not be as good as I hoped it would be, but that's not saying it was a bad beer either. What I am trying to say is there are better barleywines out there. While I would like to see what Bluegrass Billionaire tastes like with some aging on it, I do not foresee a second purchase in my immediate future. Even though I liked it, I would still recommend spending that 14 dollars on something else.  The main thing I want you to take from this review is just because a style of beer did not work for you in the past, it is still worth giving a second chance to down the road.

Overall I would rate Clown Shoes' Bluegrass Billionaire a 3.25/5. The main thing I want you to take from this review is that just because a style of beer did not work for you in the past, it is still worth giving a second chance to down the road.


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!

Jack's Abby Hoponius Union

Pearl Jam, the Boston Red Sox and craft beer are three things I love. With the recent announcement of two Pearl Jam shows at Fenway Park, the excitement I feel at the moment is particularly overwhelming. To think, my favorite band is going to take the stage and deliver two performances on one of baseball's legendary fields is incredible. This is the same field that Red Sox heroes like Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk, David Ortiz, Curt Schilling and Dave Roberts delivered moments no Red Sox fan will ever forget. While starting a long list of great Red Sox moments sounds fun, it does not really work here. And while it is exciting, a concert on hallowed ground is not the only reason to travel to Boston this summer. With so much great beer coming out of Massachusetts that never finds its way to New York this seems like a summer vacation to top all summer vacations. But all of that will have to wait until August because a beer needs to get reviewed right now. To prove that this long-winded introduction is going somewhere, I decided a beer from Massachusetts that was readily available in my area would work perfectly for this review.  So I hopped in my car and headed to my local bottle shop looking for a beer I had yet to have. The beer I decided to go with is Hoponius Union from the always reliable Jack's Abby Craft Lagers. 

Hoponius Union India Pale Lager pours gold with light amount of sediment and a fluffy white head. The aroma is bursting with hops that provide beautiful grapefruit, citrus and tropical fruit notes. Basically there is nothing else in the aroma except bold hops. The flavor however is slightly different. The initial flavor is a burst of floral & citrus hops that fades quickly and then finishes with the bready, crisp, malty flavor of a lager. There is some subtle herbal hop bitterness in the finish as well that sticks around and continued to grow the further I got into the glass. That was my only real issue with this rather tasty lager. I think I would have preferred a crisp, clean finish instead of lingering hop bitterness. Without question if that was the case this beer would have been quite sessionable, even with a 6.7% ABV. But instead by the time my glass was empty I knew I had drank a quality beer but not one I would want a second glass of. 

Overall I would rate Jack's Abby Hoponius Union a 3/5. While not a preferred choice, this could make for a good beer on a crisp summer night under the lights at Fenway.



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!