Best Beer Blog

Burial Beer Co. Innertube Lager Beer

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Evan

I know I’ve probably said that Lager is a dirty word in the craft beer world before, and I may still be. But sometimes a craft beer drinker may just want a plain beer, Burial Beer Co. Innertube Lager Beer, 3.5% ABV. Innertube is brewed with Saphire hops. American Pils, corn, and rice. Now I know what you’re thinking a Lager with a 3.5% ABV how can that be any good! Innertube pours an old lager yellow with a one and a half finger creamy white head that doesn’t fade away too quick with sweet corn notes coming off with a nice light bready metallic biscuit note. Now the taste it easy on the taste buds with nice sweet corn/rice notes which are similar to the aroma with nice very light biscuit flavors and a twinge of a faint metallic note that comes to a nice light refreshing semi-sweet finish that carries over to a sweet corn aftertaste with a light refreshing mouthfeel. Burial Beer Co. Innertube Lager Beer is a plain beer that is well-deserving of an A+, and yes for on a 3.5% it does have a great flavor that is refreshing and easy to drink. Burial Beer Co. Innertube Lager Beer is one to always keep in the refrigerator, I highly recommend it! Please stay safe and please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Throwback Thursday: Samuel Smith Old Brewery Pure Brewed Organic Lager

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by Evan

Originally posted July 7th, 2013

When it comes to craft beer the word Lager is looked on as a bad or dirty word. That can be so done to BMC (Bud Miller Coors) for brewing such bad or weak tasting beers. But I don’t think that lager is such a foul word. I have had some great lagers and this Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Organic Lager, 5.0% ABV, is what a BMC/lager beer should taste like. Samuel Smith an English brewery has some of the best beers in the world. This lager is no different. Samuel Smith Lager pours a bright golden color with a pure white foamy head that says for a nice while and makes very nice lacing. There are tons of light streaming through the glass with tons of little carbonation bubbles. This is a beautiful look lager beer. The aroma on this English lager is bready from the malted barley used. I also found a cracker-like scent among the bready aroma. The taste is not far off from the nice aroma; I found it bready upfront and a little teeny sweetness toward the end. The flavors on this lager are crisp, sharp, light, and refreshing. The mouthfeel is light and refreshing and has a clean crisp bready like finish. The after taste is a tad bit sweeter than the start but fades out rather quick. I think this is Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Organic Lager is how a BMC should taste. Forget adding SO much water to the darn lager. This Samuel Smith beer is getting A+ from me. This is an excellently brewed lager and a great example of how lager is supposed to be. I have yet to have a bad Samuel Smith beer! All of the beers that they brew are just as excellent as the last. This Organic Lager is something I would have over and over again, and it’s good that it is 5.0% ABV. I highly recommend trying this lager, so go and see how great this beer is! Cheers Please enjoy responsibly!

J. Wakefield Brewing El Jeffe

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Evan

J. Wakefield Brewing Company El Jeffe German-Style Wheat with Coconut, 5% ABV from Miami, Florida is a traditional German Hefeweizen brwed with coconut fresh flakes. I haven’t seen any of J. Wakefield beers anywhere here in North or South Carolina, just only in Florida, specifically Miami, and I found this beer here in Charlotte, NC at Pop the Top Craft Beer Shop. El Jeffe pours yellow with a thick three-finger creamy, fluffy white head with good retention leaving behind some really decent lacing and giving sweet banana, light clove, and coconut aromas with a little nice bubblegum-like note as well. Taste is somewhat similar to it aroma, I found a nice sweet banana clove note that you typically find in a traditional German-wheat/Hefeweizen with some sweet coconut that melds well with the banana notes with a very light/faint bubblegum notes that comes to a sweet coconut finish and continues into the aftertaste with a little Hefeweizen banana that lingers for a minute before it fades into just sweetness with a medium mouthfeel that is lighter than most Hefeweizen beers. J. Wakefield Brewing Company El Jeffe German-Style Wheat with Coconut is a great beer and the coconut really amps the traditional German Hefeweizen to a new level, I give it an A+. El Jeffe is excellent and i highly recommended that you have this beer. Please stay safe and please enjoy responsibily! Cheers!

NoDa Brewing Company Mint Porter

Posted on June 6, 2020 by Evan

NoDa Brewing Company Mint Porter 5.8% ABV is brewed in Charlotte, North Carolina with cocoa nibs, Epiphany malt, and conditioned on mint leaves. This is the last beer in my NoDa Brewing Company Girl Scout cookie inspired beer four-pack. Mint Porter pours a black color with a two-finger beige fluffy head that has a steady fade, giving off boozy mint aromas that are a little like spearmint. Taste is minty with some nice chocolate and faint roasted noted that culminates to a nice minty chocolate finish with a nice minted aftertaste with a medium to barely full mouthfeel. NoDa Brewing Company Mint Porter is a good ported and I give it a B+. it has just the right amount of mint to chocolate flavor, Yes, I do think this is like a Girl Scout cookie, almost all of these NoDa Brewing Girl Scout cookie inspired beers have tasted like a Girl Scout cookie, the Lemon Kölsch not so much. I recommend NoDa Brewing Company Mint Porter and the four-pack it came in. This four-pack is very interesting with four different beers, usual that is found in mostly twelve-pack and sometimes sixers, but never a four-pack or pints. Please stay safe and please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Legion Brewing Company FlickerDaze American Wheat Ale

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Evan

Legion Brewing Company FlickerDaze American Wheat Ale, 5% ABV is brewed in Charlotte, North Carolina with Zappa hops and Riverbend malt. FlickerDaze pours a yellow color with a thin clear/white head that quickly fades into nothing with some fruity aromas, lemon, and candy peach, with light wheat notes. The nose of FlickerDaze is light at best. There is a very light sour taste with peach and light lemon wheat notes that come to a light sour finish of light fruits and an aftertaste of very light sour wheat that has a light mouthfeel. I don’t find Legion Brewing Company FlickerDaze American Wheat Ale to be good, and I give it a D+. It’s just too light on flavor for me and the little sourness to it aren’t great, I wouldn’t recommend trying Legion Brewing Company FlickerDaze American Wheat Ale. Please stay safe and please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Throwback Thursday: Highland Brewing Company Razor Wit Belgian-Style white Ale

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Evan

Originally posted July 5th, 2014.

One of the best Belgian styles to have in the summertime is wit or white ale, which is just a spiced wheat beer with orange peel or orange zest and a few other spices added depending on how a brewery and/or a brewery brews it. The Belgian Wit style is very popular and lots of brewers brew it. I rather enjoy the style very much, and I find wits to be refreshing and tasty. In the North Carolina Mountains, we have the Highland Brewing Company in Asheville. The Highland Brewing Company makes a Belgian Wit or white ale called Razor wit, 4.5% ABV and is USBTC grand champion in the Wit category. Razor wit a summer seasonal beer brewed with cumin, coriander, grains of paradise, ginger root, sweet orange peel, and bitter orange peel. Razor wit pours a slightly hazy and cloudy yellow color with a three-finger bright white head, with a decent amount of light coming through with some nice carbonation bubble racing to the head. The aroma is much like a Belgian style Wit should be with a nice scent of coriander and sweet orange and a slight hint of lemon. The taste is good with nice subtle spice from the coriander and other spices used and there is a nice sweet orange taste was well. The taste at first has a nice softness to it then fades into the spices and a just the smallest bitter orange taste on the back of your tongue. The taste is nice and refreshing. Razor wit has a nice spiced finish that doesn’t overpower your taste buds and has an aftertaste of lemon and slightly spiced orange flavors that work well together to make a nice pleasant aftertaste. This is a good Belgian style Wit, so I would give this an A. All the ingredients work well with each other creating a nice balanced Witbier. I would recommend try Highland Brewing Company Razor Wit I know I would enjoy it every time. So go out and try Razor Wit and see what you think of it. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery 60 Minute IPA

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Evan

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, 60 Minute IPA, 6% ABV with 60 IBUs (International Bittering Units) from Milton, Delaware is their east coast IPA continually hopped with a slew of northwest hops throughout the entire boil acourding to their can. 60 Minute IPA was originally released back in 2003, seventeen years ago & uses a foot-ball-machine-turned-continual-hopper and their addition of equal increments throughout the entire boil. 60 Minute IPA is a classic flagship Dogfish Head beer and can be found pretty much anywhere beer is served and/or sold. 60 Minute IPA pours a bit of a deep yellow near golden copper color with a barely two finger quicky fading white head that gives off a slightly piney citrus note with a bitterness to it that pretty much smells like a typical IPA. The taste is bitter at first with a citrus fruit note that follows with a hoppy slightly piney hoppy note hitting the back of the tongue and carrying into the finish with a little more citrus that has a bitter bite and a bitter citrusy aftertaste that does linger for a little while before fading into bitterness for just a second with a lighter mouthfeel. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, 60 Minute IPA is not bad but I found it to be just another IPA, and maybe that is what Dogfish Head is going for with it. But I give 60 Minute IPA a C+. It is and IPA that is, in my opinion, it’s the middle of the road and something that you can drink without having an assault on your taste buds, and I would just barely recommend it. It’s not a bad IPA, it’s just above average. Please stay safe and please enjoy responsibily! Cheers!

Edmunds Oast Brewing Co. Cereal For Dinner

Posted on May 30, 2020October 4, 2023 by Evan

Edmunds Oast Brewing Co. Cereal For Dinner, 5.0% ABV, is brewed in Charleston, South Carolina is a blonde ale brewed with English yeast, East Kent, Goldings hops, 2-row, Carafoam malt, Vanilla, toasted coconut, toasted almonds, and Lactose. Cereal For Dinner pours a deep yellow with a one-and-a-half finger white that fades quickly, giving off a sweet vanilla coconut aroma. The taste of this beer is sweet. It has vanilla with some coconut notes. I really don’t get the almond flavors. The taste carries into the finish with vanilla and some toasted coconut. This beer has a sweet aftertaste that lingers for just a bit, with a lighter mouthfeel. Edmunds Oast Brewing Co. Cereal For Dinner is a good beer, an A-, but you have to be into sweet beers or in the mood for one. This is not a full-on refreshing beer that is refreshing and not too heavy. It’s worth a try. This is one beer that I would enjoy coming back to have. Edmunds Oast Brewing Co. is a solid brewery, as is Cereal For Dinner. Please stay safe, and please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

NoDa Brewing Company Lemon shortbread Kölsch

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Evan

NoDa Brewing Company Lemon Shortbread Kölsch, 4.8% is brewed right here in Charlotte, North Carolina with plenty of lemon zest to have a Girl Scout cookie flavor, I think they are going for a Lemon Up which used to Savannah Smiles but anyway. Lemon Shortbread Kölsch pours a yellow color with a one and a half finger white head that fades rather quick giving off big lemon aromas with a sours note to it, almost like a Lemonhead candy. Taste is somewhat similar to the aroma with big lemony notes with a bit of sourness with a hint of a spice to it with very little to no shortbread flavor that finishes with a sour lemon flavor and continues on to the lemony spiced aftertaste with a lighter mouthfeel. NoDa Brewing Company Lemon Shortbread Kölsch is like a big lemon that does take over all other flavors I give it a C+. It’s not a bad lemon flavor just onesided on the beer’s flavor profile and yeah found it a bit refreshing and tasty, but not really a lemon Girl Scout cookie. The other three I’ve had have tasted more cookie-like than this one. But I would recommend trying it, I think it would be good on a hot summers day. Please stay safe at home and please enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Throwing Thursday: NoDa Brewing Company CAVU

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Evan

Originally posted on September 7th, 2014.

I’ve seen more and more beer in cans recently and that isn’t a bad thing. In the past canned beer wasn’t thought of as good as the bottled beer. People thought the materials of aluminum cans would make the beer taste funny. Now can technology has gone many times better. But canned beer can go places that bottled beer cannot. You can take cans of beer to the beach, put them in a backpack, or in the cooler without worry, and aluminum cans don’t break when dropped. NoDa Brewing Company here in Charlotte, North Carolina makes beer in cans, and here is one of their newer beers CAVU (Ceiling and visibility unlimited), 4.6% ABV, and is in a rather cool looking sixteen ounce can. CAVU pours a clear golden color with a one-finger fizzy wheat head that dissipates quickly but leaves behind minimal lacing. I found lots of light streaming through the glass with healthy amounts of carbonation. The aroma is a bit fruity with a bit of grapefruit and some oranges. There is a slight whiff of pine in the aroma as well. NoDa CAVU has a crisp taste of fruity hops, this is due to the use of west coast hops, I found there to be grapefruit and orange with hints of a piney grassy taste on the back of the mouth. I also found a buttery cracker flavor in the middle of the mouth and towards the back. CAVU has a medium to light mouthfeel with a nice hop character. This beer finishes nicely with a crisp hoppy bit and has a fruity hop aftertaste. NoDa Brewing Company CAVU gets an A, this is a good beer that doesn’t overpower your taste buds and is easy to drink as well as refreshing, and has a very cool looking can too. I enjoyed this one very much and I do highly recommend that you go and try NoDa Brewing Company CAVU for yourself. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!