Guinness Antwerpen Stout

Two years ago, I reviewed Guinness Blonde American Lager. I remember it quite vividly because it was one of my first extremely negative reviews. I tried really hard but I could not find a single nice thing to say about it. I recall it reminding me of watered-down Rolling Rock and found it a chore just to make it through a glass of it. To this day I still can't believe the makers of Guinness Draught made such a lackluster beer. I'm stating the obvious when I say Guinness Draught is a classic. To me, it's a solid beer that works in any season. So when Guinness announced they were releasing Antwerpen Stout in the US as part of their Brewers Project line, I was excited. If anybody could deliver a fantastic stout it would be Guinness. While I was excited to try Antwerpen Stout, the memory of drinking Blonde American Lager put a slight damper on my expectations. I tried my best however to put those doubts aside and opened a bottle of Antwerpen Stout and hoped for the best.

Guinness Antwerpen Stout pours a rich black with a khaki colored head that stuck around for awhile. The familiar roastiness of Guinness was practically jumping out of the glass well before I put my nose up to it. The aroma of dark chocolate, smoke with a slight fruitiness was there as well. I felt very optimistic about the first sip and that optimism was rewarded until the very last sip. To put it simply, I loved this beer. The semi-sweet chocolate is the star of the show here. As Antwerpen Stout warms the chocolate becomes bolder and sweeter. However, it never gets to the point of being too sweet. A nice touch of vanilla also comes out as well, as it begins to warm. It is a wonderful compliment to the chocolate and the rich, roasted malt. There is also a subtle hint of fruity sweetness, think raisin/date and smoke in the finish. The smoke and the roasted malt linger long after you put the glass down. I really enjoyed that part. It left me looking forward to the next sip.

Guinness Antwerpen Stout is a beautiful stout.  It's so good it got me to forgive the awful mistake that is Guinness Blonde American Lager. Although I have to admit, I would have liked Antwerpen Stout to have a little more body. I thought it was a little thinner than it should have been. Still, with an 8% ABV, it's a big stout. It practically doubles the ABV of Guinness Draught. With the weather getting a bit cooler now, I could see this being a staple in my fridge in the immediate future.

Overall I would rate Guinness Antwerpen Stout a 4.25/5. If you enjoy Guinness Draught, I believe you will really enjoy this.

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, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout

For the past 2 years I have enjoyed trying to explain Stone's Xocoveza Mocha Stout to people unfamiliar with it. The idea of a beer brewed in the style of Mexican Hot Chocolate always seems to get a fun reaction whenever I try to describe it. The most common reactions I encounter are bewilderment, curiosity, confusion or outright disgust. I find all of them highly amusing. That is mainly because for those a bit more into craft beer, Xocoveza is the kind of beer you drop everything for to grab a six pack of. A winner of Stone's 2014 Homebrewer Competition, Xocoveza boasts an interesting set of ingredients that include coffee, pasilla peppers, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa. If you have yet to notice it on shelves that is because it flies off of them as soon as it reaches them, especially in my Upstate NY market. So with this week's blog I answer whether the 2016 version of Xocoveza will live up to the hype. Or is Xocoveza just another overrated & overhyped beer?

As I poured Xocoveza, the aroma of the coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper spice jumped out of the glass. There is some roasted malt in this “Winter spiced mocha stout” as well, but the spices here are clearly going to be the star of the show. My first sip confirmed this but there was so much more going on. The roasted malt, along with the coffee starts things off before giving way to the cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate and vanilla. The vanilla works well here. Its presence here is reminiscent of whipped cream over a Hot Chocolate. This, along with just the right amount of carbonation attains the right amount of creaminess. The pasilla peppers are there but shine most at the finish to complete a fun and extremely delicious drinking experience. 

There is a lot I like about Xocoveza. Everything here seems to work well together. For me, one thing that always holds this beer back from getting a perfect rating is the use of the peppers. I love the spice they provide, I just wish there was more of it. A little bit of heat from the spice would make this a perfect beer-drinking experience. Still, this is a great beer. It's so good it got me to review a Winter beer in early October. I thought for sure I would see snow on the ground before I did that. Then again, you can drink Xocoveza anytime. For those of you that like to cellar beer, Xocoveza ages nicely. The boldness of the coffee fades a bit, the 8.1% ABV smooths out and the spices blend together wonderfully. If you have patience I highly recommend setting aside a bottle and doing a side by side with the 2017 batch. 

Overall I would rate Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout a 4.5/5. If you see it and it sounds good to you, buy it, you will dig it. 

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, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

It really dates me when I say this but I can't believe how much the craft beer industry has grown since I started drinking it well over a decade ago. There are craft breweries popping up all over. There are groceries store that have beer sections instead of aisles. Speaking for my part of New York there are fantastic bottle shops all over. When I first started drinking craft beer going to the only bottle shop in town was a rare treat. The concept of selling a single bottle out of a six pack blew my mind. No matter what my budget was when I entered the store, I would drastically exceed it by the time I walked out. Some beers were great, and some were terrible but I kept learning more and more about different styles. The brewery I could not get enough of was Rogue Ales & Spirits. Their creativity with their beers and their labeling were right in my wheelhouse. My favorite of them all was their Hazelnut Brown Nectar. This hazelnut-flavored brown ale became the beer I bought every time I went to the bottle shop. It was the one constant in the selection of different beers I would always leave with. Then one day I didn't leave with it, and then another. As different brands began to gain distribution in my market the beers from Rogue Ales & Spirits started to become an afterthought. Over the past several years I have had a few of their beers, but outside of the mediocre 7 Hop IPA and gimmicky Sriracha Stout I can't remember a single one. So for this blog, I thought it would be fun to revisit an old favorite of mine in the Hazelnut Brown Nectar.

It had been years but the minute I began pouring Hazelnut Brown Nectar, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia. The hazelnut aroma jumps out of the glass. There are notes of toffee, vanilla, and spice in there but it is mostly hazelnut. The first sip of this slightly hazy reddish brown treat immediately brought a ton of memories back. Once I got past the nostalgia, I genuinely realized how much I missed this beer. The hazelnut flavor is absolutely wonderful and it dominates the beer. Usually I would complain about this but in this case I like it. Aside the finish, vanilla, roasted chocolate malt, and hazelnut flavor is mostly all you taste.  This finish is where things get a little odd. The finish that consists of nuts, grass and spice which do not seem to mesh well together. It's not terrible, it just could have been better.

Due to the dominance of the hazelnut flavor there is not much else here to write about. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar is a beer that still works well for me. Its flavor may be fairly one-note but in this case simplicity works really well. I am glad I went back and revisited this one. I do not think it will be years again before it finds its way back to my refrigerator again.

Over all I would rate Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar a 4/5. Over the years my tastes may have changed, but my love of this beer has not.


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, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

A Crafty Recommendation: Founders Breakfast Stout

The lighting is terrible. The beer recommendation is not. Cheers & thanks for watching!

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

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Original vs, Variant (Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot vs. Weyerbacher Insanity!)

A little over a month ago, I reviewed Grimm Double Negative Imperial Stout. In that review I stated that I felt that the original Double Negative Imperial Stout was better than both the Bourbon Barrel Aged and Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged variants. Then the week after, I reviewed the passion fruit variant of Oskar Blues Pinner Throwback IPA. That got me thinking about adding a different spin to my usual review format. Instead of just reviewing a beer and/or beers, I would pit the original beer versus its variant in a showdown for the ages to once and for all decide which one is better. While the next time I decide to do this I will go to a bottle shop and pick 2 beers, for this review I am looking no further than my personal collection.

For several months, I have been staring down bottles of Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot Barleywine and its whiskey barrel aged variant Insanity each time I opened the fridge. I kept telling myself I was going to use them for a later review when the time was right. I would then grab any other beer in the fridge and forget about them until the next time I was faced with the same dilemma. For some reason I was comfortable doing this because barleywines only seem to improve with age. Also, since I had yet to have either beer, a side by side comparison of these 11.1% titans seemed to be the only way to enjoy them. Well the time has finally come and I could not be more excited.

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot & Weyerbacher Insanity look almost identical. They are a murky reddish-brown with an off-white head. There is a small amount of sediment in the Insanity but that is the only visible difference. The aroma and flavor however could not be any more different. Blithering Idiot is pretty much your standard barleywine. It's full of caramel and dark fruits. Immediately noticeable are fig, plum and raisin. There are some nice flavors going on here but the syrupy sweetness to Blithering Idiot becomes difficult to enjoy by the end of the glass. What really counts against it is there is almost no hop presence to provide balance here. As it warmed I found myself liking it less and less. Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot is a big, strong beer. It kind of works, but not nearly as well as it should.

On the other hand Weyerbacher Insanity is a bit more balanced. The whiskey barrel aging is right at the forefront. Whiskey was the first thing I tasted before getting notes of vanilla, plum, raisin, and fig with a nice oak finish. I was not crazy about this initially. I felt the whiskey just overwhelmed the beer. As it warmed, I found myself really enjoying Insanity. The strong oak, vanilla and whiskey flavors settled down nicely, providing a nice balance to the sweetness of the base beer. This is a really nice barleywine. Easily one of the better beers I have had from Weyerbacher.

For my first Original vs. Variant Battle, I have to give round 1(could be considered round 3) to the variant. Barrel aging took the fairly mediocre Blithering Idiot Barleywine and turned it into something nice. I am not telling you to run out and buy Insanity immediately. If you happen to come across it however it is well worth a purchase. It would compliment a cool fall night perfectly. Just drink it slow, let it warm up a bit and enjoy the journey.

In the battle of Base Beer vs. Variant, the winner is the VARIANT! (Weyerbacher Insanity Barleywine).


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

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Oktoberfest Pt. 2 (Ayinger, Yuengling, Bells, Great Lakes)

Previously on A Crafty Look...

Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest Amber Marzen had a beautiful malt profile but it's hindered by a metallic finish.

Spaten Oktoberfest was boring and bland.

Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest was good but not as good as last year.

Left Hand Oktoberfest was quite good and deceptively strong at 6.6%.

Now that you are caught up with what happened last week, I can get right into this week's reviews starting things off with again in Germany with Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen. Pouring a clear amber with a white head, Ayinger's version of an Oktoberfest beer was a delight drink. Its aroma is very bready, grainy with some caramel and a hint of fruit and spice. The flavor matches the aroma, toasted bread and caramel shine initially. The sweetness of the caramel is quite nice. It is balanced by a nutty, spicy, dry finish. This stood out nicely compared to the other beers I reviewed. As you will shortly find out with Yuengling's Oktoberfest, balance is important. Oktoberfest beers have a tendency to get a little too sweet. I think Sam Adams is a perfect example of this. Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen adds a really nice amount of bitterness to prevent this from happening. The result is a wonderful beer for a crisp Fall night session. In short, I really enjoyed this beer. It's not the best beer I've had but it's one of the best Oktoberfest beers I've had.

Overall rating: 4.25/5

Next up we have the aforementioned Yuengling Oktotoberfest. I admit I have not had this one in a few years but I remember liking it a lot. This all changed when I put this beer against other ones in the style. Yuengling's version is largely hindered by it's lack of balance. Its ruby red color with an off-white head looks amazing. The aroma was bursting with caramel sweetness, a light spiciness and a lot of bread. A caramelized sugar sweetness is what mostly dominates the flavor. This all leads to the classic bready, Yuengling Lager finish. This would all work nicely if there was more hops in the finish to provide balance. Sadly, Yuengling Oktoberfest is completely under-hopped. The malt sweetness dominates mostly everything you taste. The hops are there but they are in the background and make things more bland than anything else. It merits saying this is a less expensive Oktoberfest beer and it is not a bad beer for the price. This is however, an example of getting what you pay for. This is the kind Oktoberfest you bring to a party of people you barely know because it is worth trying a bottle. You just won't give it a second thought when you leave the rest behind.

Overall rating: 2.5/5

Of all the Oktoberfest beers I chose for this epic two part review, the one I was most excited to try was Bells Octoberfest. I am a huge fan of Bells Brewery and have not had a chance to try their Octoberfest. The main reason for this is the beer has not been bottled in 5 years. So when I saw it on the shelves next to their other fall offering Best Brown Ale, I grabbed it immediately. I just hoped it would live up to the high expectations I had for it. Unfortunately it only met those expectations halfway. The first initial taste reminded me of cheap beer. At 11 dollars a six pack, the last thing you want to compare your beer to is something you could have bought for 4. But let's make things a bit more positive here, there are notes of Toasted nuts, toffee, cracker with a slight fruitiness in the flavor. The finish had a touch of citrus which I thought was nice. As the seventh Oktoberfest beer I've reviewed any slight difference from toasted bread, caramel, and toasted nuts is quite nice. To sum it up, even though it is reminiscent of cheap beer, it is not bad beer. At times I actually found myself enjoying Bells Octoberfest. Unfortunately it's just nothing memorable. If they did not bottle it for another 5 years I probably wouldn't notice.

Overall rating: 3/5.

Finally my last Oktoberfest for the year, from Cleveland, Great Lakes Oktoberfest. At this point I am sure you know what to look for in the aroma and the flavor, so I will make this short and sweet. I am not really a fan of this beer. It gets a little too sweet at times. The caramel malt lingers a little too long after the spicy finish. It becomes a little distracting. Closing this blog with this beer may have been a mistake. Honestly after all this malt, I can't wait to drink a beer absolutely drowned in hops. Great Lakes Oktoberfest is definitely the sweetest one of the bunch and that is not a good thing.

Overall rating: 2/5

That concludes my epic 2 part Oktoberfest blog. For the first time ever, I think I am done drinking Oktoberfest beers by the end of September. Since the actual Oktoberfest ends around then, I think that's all right.


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, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Long Trail Space Juice Double IPA

Up until recently, Long Trail Brewing Company was one of those breweries that I always seemed to forget about. I always thought they made decent beer, they just didn't make anything that really blew my mind. That all changed when I tried their sMasH(single malt and single hop) #2 beer that paired Maris Otter malt with Mosaic hops. That was one of those beers I could not get enough of. The malt was biscuity and beautifully complimented the bold tropical notes of the mosaic hop. The finish was earthy, piney and most importantly it worked. It is still by far the best sMasH beer I have had to date. I hope to see it on shelves again at some point. This however is not a review of Smash #2, it is a review of their highly sought-after Space Juice Double IPA.

Space Juice Double IPA is wonderful. There, that's the review, you can go back to watching cute animal videos and reading Fantasy Football news. I say that because after the long Oktoberfest blog, I thought I would do you a favor and keep it simple. If you still want further details(and you should), I suppose I'll provide them. Space Juice works so well because it's bursting with tropical fruit notes. The aroma is full of passion fruit, orange, pineapple and mango. The first sip I took of this slightly hazy, golden yellow Double IPA with a white head took me by surprise. It was wonderfully juicy, full of pineapple, mango, guava, orange before a grapefruit, piney finish. The finish was wonderful, providing a nice balance to the sweet tropical flavor. There was a slight alcohol burn, but at 8.7% that is to be expected. The malt sweetness is also there. It's nice but it is in the background allowing the hops to shine.

With an 8.7% ABV, Space Juice Double IPA is a big strong beer with big flavors. Galaxy, Columbus, Citra and Mosaic hops are on full display here and that is a fabulous thing. At north of 15 dollars a four pack, it is a bit pricey but it is definitely worth a purchase if you are a fan of big, bold, tropical IPAs. If I come across it again, I'll be buying it again immediately.

Overall I would rate Long Trail Brewing Company's Space Juice Double IPA a 4.25/5. It's proof you do not need to add fruit or fruit extract to get bold fruity, tropical flavors.


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, Instagram & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

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

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!