Throwback Thursday: The Olde Mecklenburg Brewer Copper Amber Ale

Posted on by Evan

Every Thursday as of now I will be post an older post, a good post. This is Throwback Thursday.IMG_0719

This is my favorite brewery Old Mecklenburg Brewery, and this is one of my favorite beers that they brew, Copper amber ale. This is an authentic Dusseldorf-style Altbier. This is a “lagered ale”. They use barley malt and noble Hallertau hops. Copper is 4.8% abv, and is a full-bodied, full-flavored yet amazingly smooth and refreshing. OMB Copper is a year round beer and it is their flag ship brew. Cooper pours a nice rich amber color with thick whitish head. There is a nice scent of the malted barley and a light wisp of the Hallertau hops. Cooper as a nice clean taste with very faint hop flavor there, with nice malt flavors. This is alsoand crisp, as is the finish of this wonderful brew. I believe that Old Mecklenburg does a really great job of brewing they’re beers, and all the beer only come in a one pt, six fl oz bottles as of now, Olde Mecklenburg Copper get an A+. which to me make the beer seem a little special. That’s a nice touch. But you can get them is a six pack of the one pt, six fl oz bottles. That is a lot! Each sip of Copper is always better than the last until it’s gone. But then you’re happy that you just had one amazing beer and you want to go and tell everyone just home great OMB Copper really is. Well isn’t that why I am righting this. I mean I just think that everyone should at least try Copper. You won’t be sorry that you did. I never am. I love this stuff a lot. One of my favorites from my favorite brewer. Keep up the good work Old Mecklenburg Brewery! Cheers! Please drink responsibly!

Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums

Posted on by Evan

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Here’s another beer from a recent Brewpublik delivery I received, what a good service. This is Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums 5.0% ABV. Insetto is the Italian word for an an insect. I’m not sure why Stillwater-Artisanal named this beer Insetto, other than it’s an Italian word and Italian plums are used or maybe insects like to eat at plums, you know fruit flies, they like plums and are a kind of insect, so maybe that’s it. Anyhow, Insetto pours a peachy dark pink color with a one finger clear fizzy head with nothing left behind and Insetto has tart aromas of slightly sweet plums, plum juice, and some candied fruit. Taste is pretty much what you read on the can, tart plums with plum juice and a bit of a slight sour note on the back of the mouth. The flavor makes your lips pucker a bit special after each swig. Insetto finishes with a sour yet tart plum and plum juice flavor leaving a tart and slightly sour plum juice aftertaste. This Insetto has a one-sided flavor profile, but it’s not bad and yes it’s refreshing and easy to drink. I give Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums an A-. I am not a huge fan of plum juice, but I do however like to eat plums. I don’t know why that is. This is just to much plum flavor here but that’s okay, I think there needs to be a flavor of maybe some slight hops to cut down the intensity of the juicy plums. But the big plum flavor is not a bad thing; it is just that I don’t think you’d get past two cans of this stuff without having everything else you put in your mouth taste like plums. That’s where I think it falls off just a bit. Insetto is still high at an A-. I recommend trying Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums. Good Stuff! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Moo & Brew Burger and Beer Joint

Posted on by Evan

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Here on the Best Beer Blog we are changing things up. I will be reviewing local bars here in Charlotte, NC as well as craft beer. I recently visited Moo & Brew Burger and Beer Joint, 1300 Central Ave here in Charlotte. On this blog I don’t really talk about food, remember our slogan For All Things Beer! But if you have enough good beer the food will become good as does your dancing and ability to speak in foreign tongues, and be the worlds best story teller. Moo & Brew has forty different beers on tap as well as a few bottle/can selections. They have fifteen local Charlotte beers on tap with nine crafts on tap from around North Carolina eleven if you count Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium. They have ten other crafts from around the rest of the US on tap as well. They also have a few selections of different flights 20 oz sampler Hop This; for the hop lover, Mellow Yellow; some chill brews, Local Love; CLT rotation sampler, Darn N Delicious; not light beers and Pick 4; any 4 Pours. The tap selection does change from time to time. That keeps it interesting in my opinion, keeps you coming back. While I was there I had Wooden Robot’s Boca Fiesta Chili Lime Gose, 4.0% that is a 10 oz pour and Triple C Sal’s Paradise Saison, regular 12 oz pour.

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Wooden Robot Brewing Boca Fiesta Chili Lime Gose

The selection of beer is great at Moo & Brew. Moo & Brew is a great place to really take in the local Charlotte craft beer scene, as well as North Carolina. Moo & Brew is a great place to really take in the local Charlotte craft beer scene, as well as North Carolina. I recommend Moo & Brew for any craft beer drinker especially for Charlotte and North Carolina.

Hi-Wire Brewing Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

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I picked up Hi-Wire Brewing Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale, 4.45% ABV from Brawley’s Beverage 4620 Park Rd, through a recommendation. This bottle shop is not so far from Park Rd Shopping Center and has a good selection of beer both on draught and in bottles. Hi-Wire in Ashville is relatively new to the barrel aging and souring process. This Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale is dry-hopped with Hallertau, Blanc & Citra hops then goes into French oak white wine barrels and bottle conditioned with Saccahromyces and Brettanomyces for two months. Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale pours a yellow gold color with a three finger white head that fades into half finger of foam that leaves behind nice decent lacing. Aroma is slightly spiced with a mellow earthy hop note and a nice orange pineapple scent that draws you into a taste of slightly spiced orange with some pineapple and mellow bitter earthy notes. Mouth feel is full with a nice spiced hoppy fruit finish and a lingering fruited bitter after taste that is slightly yeasty. This Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale has a lot going on and it surprisingly good, so it’s getting an A+. It is an easy drinker with a great mixture/balance of flavors making for on interestingly good beer. The bottle that Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale is in is quite nice looking, I think you can bring this beer as gift to any dinner party. I recommend Hi-Wire Brewing Dry-Hopped Brett Pale Ale, but it is a little higher in price, $15.00 for 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounces, total of 25 ounces. But it’s worth it. Thanks again to Brawley Beverages! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Omnipollo Beer Shploing!! Mango S’mores

Posted on by Evan

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Craft beer is booming in Sweden. There is a big popularity of craft beer in that country, mostly with pale ales and IPAs, from what I found while there. Yes there are a few American crafts there like Sierra Nevada, and Brooklyn Brewery. But what I have here from Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com), is Omnipollo Shploing!! Mango S’mores, 7.0% ABV. This unfiltered IPA is brewed with marshmallows, graham cracker, salt, Lacto sugar (sugar found in milk), mango, and vanilla. Omnipollo Beer is from Stockholm, Sweden. Shploing!! Mango S’mores pours a thick orange juice yellow color with a one and a half finger of fizzy white head, with an aroma of big juicy mango fruits with a little sweetness and some slight hop notes. Taste is big with mango and bitter hops and a slight sweetness that coats the mouth. You get a pinch of a salted note that comes in the middle of the mouth. On the back you get a faint sweetness that is probably vanilla and there is not really any graham cracker or marshmallow flavor here. You will find little sediment at the bottom of the glass, and that is perfectly normal because this beer is unfiltered, which is becoming a popular trend with IPAs right now. Mouth feel is full with a hoppy full finish and a bittersweet mango after taste that lingers on the tongue and in the mouth for a while. This beer looks better than it taste, but doesn’t taste half bad, so I give Shploing!! Mango S’mores a B+. This beer looks and smells amazing, but you don’t really get any of the graham cracker, marshmallow or much vanilla like described on the can, and that holding this beer back slightly. If you describe the beer on the label I think it should deliver the said flavor, or come really close to that. I think that this is a beer one that you should try just because it’s so different and interesting for an IPA, and it’s kind of good. Thank you to Brewpublik for this cool beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Eviltwin Brewing A Is For Apricot

Posted on by Evan

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I like apricot beers but I’ve never really eaten an apricot and I think that they might not be good, just by how an apricot looks. I know that sounds a bit strange. I have here Evil Twin Brewing A Is For Apricot, 4.5% ABV, that I picked up through a recommendation from Good Bottle Co. (www.goodbottleco.com). Thanks to them for this beer! This brewery is from Copenhagen, Denmark and they also have operations in New York City. Eviltwin usually doesn’t brew the same beer more than once , very few  they do. This beer is a Gose-style ale brewed with salt and apricot added. A Is For Apricot pours a hazy bright yellow color with a quickly fading white head that leaves very little to almost nothing behind. Aroma is tart with some apricot, slightly salty/briny, with the taste not far off from the aroma with more tart apricot flavors with a salted briny flavor and a faint sour note in the middle and more on the back of the mouth. Mouth feel is medium to light, but more on the lighter side. A Is For Apricot finishes tart slightly salty with some apricot and with a more tart finish with a little sour salted note. A Is For Apricot is light and refreshing with ease of drinking and gets a B+. I think the apricot is good and the Gose base is good, together they kind of drop off a bit. I have had much better Goses, Westbrook Brewing Co. Gose is one for example, but not to say that A Is For Apricot is terrible, it isn’t. I thought it was refreshing, had good flavor, but it’s not the worlds best. I just think that some Gose beers are better than this. The apricot kind of takes just a little bit way from the Gose base beer; the apricot slightly over powers the salty notes upfront and they linger on your tongue in the middle and back of the month. I do however recommend Eviltwin Brewing A Is For Apricot. Good warm weather beer that is refreshingly easy top drink. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Stillwater-Artisanal Shoegaze Distorted Farmhouse Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

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Stillwater Artisanal is a quit popular craft brewery in Baltimore, Maryland and brews pretty cool and trendy craft beers, and are sought after by many craft beer geeks. Shoegaze Distorted Farmhouse Pale Ale, 6.0% ABV is a kind of hybrid beer, farmhouse ale, and pale ale together. This beer according to the can is also found in Oslo, Norway. So for all you Norwegians readers you are in luck you might find this near you. Shoegaze Distorted Farmhouse Pale Ale pours a hazy bright yellow color with a two and a half finger white head with decent head retention leaving behind some spotty lacing, and aromas of lemon, but a slightly funky lemon, slight citrus and some faint hop notes come though. You get more of the farmhouse than pale ale on the nose, but there are faint pale ale aromas there. Shoegaze taste has a big funky lemon up front with some smooth hop notes in the middle with a slight hoppy flavor on the end with some slight yet faint citrus flavors though out. This Shoegaze finishes nice with good funkiness, slight lemon and touch of hoppy note and with a funky and slightly hoppy after taste with just a bit of the citrus lemon. I do think Shoegaze drinks like a lighter ABV beer than the 6.0% that is stated on the can. It goes down easy and is refreshing. Shoegaze is something that might go well with summer time weather. I thought that the combination of farmhouse and pale ale melded well together and made for an interestingly tasty balanced beer, and with that said I give Stillwater Artisanal Shoegaze Distorted Farmhouse Pale Ale an A. I picked up this single sixteen ounce can at the Good Bottle Co, for $3.25, here in Charlotte, NC 125 Remount Rd, and I would like to thank them for this great recommendation and I recommend you try Stillwater Artisanal Shoegaze Distorted Farmhouse Pale Ale! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Brewery Omegang Sour Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

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I can’t say enough nice things about Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown New York, and are a fabulous brewery, brewing awesome Belgian and Belgian style beers. I’m excited to have received one of Brewery Ommegang beers from Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com), Pale Sour Ale, 6.9% ABV, a Belgian Pale Ale.  Pale Sour Ale pours a yellow golden color with a big two finger white head with great retention leaving behind some good lacing. Aroma is of tart apples with some slight alcohol and yeast, with a flavor of tart apples, semi-sweet notes a little bit of the yeast poking through on the back of the mouth. This beer smells and taste outstanding and is refreshing. Mouth feel is medium with a more alcoholic taste and some more of the tart apple on the finish. You get more tart flavors in the after taste with some fuller yeast notes. But as this Pale Sour Ale warms it get more alcoholic tasting. I think this beer was excellent, so it’s getting an A+ here. Great flavors through out and great for warmer weather, it really goes nicely with that. This Ommegang drinks like a beer that is a bit lower that the 6.9% ABV, which might be a little tiny bit dangerous. But I highly recommend trying Brewery Ommegang Pale Sour Ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!