Victory Brewing Company Merry Monkey Belgian-Style Ale

Posted on by Evan

Merry Monkey is a Belgian-style ale with cranberry, orange peel, nutmeg, and Cinnamon. This beer is 10% ABV and is from Victory Brewing Company. This ale also has Cascade and Tettnang hops with Pilsner and roasted malt barley. This beer is part of Victory’s Monkey beers, but this particular beer is only available during the holidays. It’s a Christmas beer, after all. This beer pours copper with a one-finger white head. It says for a short while, then fades. The aroma is Cinnamon, nutmeg, and some orange. It does not really smell of cranberries The flavor is of cinnamon, nutmeg, orange, light cranberries, and a bit boozy. This does taste like a Belgian Christmas beer. The mouthfeel is more on the fuller side. Then, it finishes with an alcoholic hit of cinnamon and nutmeg. There is a bit of a fading cranberry note on the finishes. The cranberry fades away on the aftertaste with some cinnamon and nutmeg-covered orange that lingers. Merry Monkey is an A. I am not a cinnamon fan, but it had a tolerable flavor here. This beer has a well-brewed flavor profile, making it a delicious beer you should have. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Rogue Ales Mom Beer Wheat India Pale Ale

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Mom Beer from Rogue Ale in Newport, Oregon, a 6.3% ABV wheat IPA with Oregon Rose Hips. You rarely see a Wheat IPA, but this one pours a light orange with a one-finger white head. The aroma is floral, bitter, and light on wheat. This smells like a floral IPA. The flavor is like a normal IPA with bitter notes, and then you come across malt, floral, and wheat notes. This bee has a smoothness to it. The finish is floral and bitter. The aftertaste is smooth and bitter with a bit of a floral note. This Mom Beer is okay. The rose hips don’t add anything interesting here, but the wheat does, and it gets a C. It’s OK, average. I wouldn’t recommend this, and I would. It is one of those beers if you have it or pass on it, either way, it’s okay. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Fonta Flora Brewery Pocket Lunch

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This beer is Pocket Lunch from Fonta Flora Brewery in Nero, North Carolina. This beer a Belgain-style Kölsch is 5% ABV and is aged on coriander, Earl Gray Tea, elderflower, fresh lemon, and orange zest. This beer uses fresh local well water and 83% local ingredients. This Kölsch pours a yellow color with a two-finger semi-quick fading white head. The aroma is earthy, floral, and spiced. The flavor is earthy, and floral at first. Then it’s spiced (coriander). There is a little burnt flavor. On the back of the tongue, you get lemon and orange. This beer finishes with a spiced floral flavor. The aftertaste is a combination of floral fruit with spices. This is a light feeling in the mouth. I can taste exactly where one flavor ends and another starts. That means the flavors aren’t melding with each other. That’s no good in my opinion. The burnt flavor in the middle is off-putting for a second until the fruity flavor comes in lightly. Pocket Lunch gets a D+. It was a rollercoaster of flavors in my mouth. This beer had been going back and forth between liking it and not liking it. I don’t recommend it. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Hi-Wire Brewing x Wickles Pickle Beer

Posted on by Evan

Pickles aren’t something you think of when you think about beer, but they do go with beer or food that you would have along with beer. This beer is a collaboration between Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, and Wickles Pickles in Dadeville, Alabama. This beer is Wickles’s Pickle beer and is 5% ABV. This Pickle beer is a sour beer with cucumbers, dill, coriander, Himalayan Sea Salt, and black pepper. I have had one or two other pickle beers, and I enjoy pickles a lot. This beer pours a light green with a light yellow tint. This beer has a two-finger quickly fading white head. The aroma is sour, spiced, and pickled. It has some tart aromas. The flavor is sour and lightly spiced. This beer has a light pickled flavor. This beer finishes with a sourness and a salted note. The pickle flavor grows in the aftertaste. Wickles Pickle Beer starts okay and gets better in the aftertaste. This pickle beer is a C+. I have had better versions of this, not that this was terrible. Martin House Brewing Best Made Pickle Beer is a better pickle beer. But I still would recommend this pickle beer. I just would rush for it. Please stay safe, be kind to one another, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

NoDa Brewing Company NoDajito Witbier

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NoDajito Witbier is a summertime beer from NoDa Brewing Company here in Charlotte, North Carolina. This Witbier is 4.8% ABV and has mint and fresh lime zest. If you don’t know by the name of this beer, the idea behind this beer is a Mojito. This beer pours a clear yellow, that has a light green tint to it. There is a one-and-a-half-finger white head that quickly fades. The aroma is light feeling, sweet, limey, and crisp. The flavor is lightly minty, wheat, smooth, lime, crisp, and malty. The mouthfeel is lighter. Then this witbier finishes with some sweetness and a bit of lime. Then you get a sweet lime and mint aftertaste similar to a mojito but not as strong. Overall, this is a good beer, that has a good summery flavor to it. I would say that NoDajito is a B+. The flavors overall are light, and refreshing but could be a little stronger. I recommend NoDajito Witbier. Get it soon before the some is over and it is gone. Please stay safe, be kind to everyone, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Hopfusion Ale Works Feisty Redhead

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The beer I have today is Feisty Redhead, a hibiscus cherry blonde from Hopfusion Ale Works. This blond beer is from Ft. Worth, Texas, and is 8.67% ABV. This Feisty Redhead has Orange Blossom Honey, raw Piloncillo (an unrefined whole cane sugar used in Mexican cook & baking. It has a caramel taste similar to molasses or brown sugar), Mexican vanilla aged on hibiscus & cherries. This beer sounds complex and interesting. This beer pours a red likecolor with a one and a half finger of white head that is quick to dissipate. The aroma is sweet, tart, fruity (big cheery), and floral. The flavor is big on the cherry. The cherry is more of a syrupy flavor than real cherries. The flavors are sweet (honey & cherry), tart, and faintly floral. The mouthfeel is syrupy and medium feeling. Then this beer finishes with a tart cherry syrup flavor. Then it turns into an aftertaste of tart fruit syrup then fades into a faint honey note. This beer sounded better than it tasted. I give this Feisty Redhead a D. The cherry tastes fake and syrup-tasting and clashes with the tart flavors, which are faint at best. This beer leaves you with a cough syrup aftertaste. I don’t recommend you try this unless you are one of the few that likes cough syrup. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Thomas Creek Brewery Islander Ginger Beer

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This Ginger beer, Islander Ginger Beer. is originally from the Caribbean and made by the Harriots. But it is made in Greenville, South Carolina’s Thomas Creek Brewery. This ginger beer uses filtered water, cane sugar, ginger, citrus, and Caribbean spices. This beer is only 5.0% ABV. This ginger beer pours a yellow color with no head. The aroma is sweet and gingery, with hints of citrus and spices. This beer has a ginger flavor, sweet notes, citrusy flavors, and spice. The mouthfeel is on the medium side. Then this beer finishes with a ginger-spiced flavor. The aftertaste is ginger and citrusy with a bit of spice. This bere here isn’t bad. I found the Caribbean spices a little too strong. The spices overwhelmed the ginger a little. I give Islander Ginger Beer a C+. It is easier to drink than some beers, and yes, it is mildly refreshing. I don’t think this is something I would usually go for on its own. I think it would be great in a cocktail. Please be kind, be safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Shiner Beer Straight Shooter Juicy Dill Pickle Craft Brewed Hard Seltzer

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I haven’t had too many hard seltzers, and I find them as a whole to be a little one-sided. When you have a citrus IPA, you have the flavor of the IPA with the citrus. A hard seltzer has the bubbles and whatever flavor you have added. This seltzer is Shiner Beer Straight Shooter Juicy Dill Pickle Craft Brewed Hard Seltzer, 4.5%. It pours a clear color with loads of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is vinegary and spiced. The flavor is vinegary, light dill notes, spiced. The mouthfeel is lite and carbonated. This seltzer finish with a decent amount of carbonation and a vinegar pickle that carries into the aftertaste. This drink is just plain with a decent about of pickle flavor. I give This is Shiner Beer Straight Shooter Juicy Dill Pickle Craft Brewed Hard Seltzer a C+. The flavor on this is decent but not complex at all. If you like pickles and you love hard seltzers then this is for you. I found it average as best. Please be kind, be safe and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Haw River Farmhouse Ale Cultural Divide Farmstand Pickle Kettled-Sour Saison

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A purchase from the Butcher’s Market, Haw River Farmhouse Ales Cultural Divide Farmstand Pickle Kettled-Sour Saison, 6.2% ABV is part of a series of beers called Cultural Divide and is brewed with Carolina Culture yogurt fresh from cow’s milk infused with fresh North Carolina cucumbers, fresh dill & pickling spices. Farmstand Pickle pours a orange-y yellow color with a big three finger quick white head with sour pickle brine/juicy aromas and light cucumber. Taste is much like the name of this beer, tart yet semi sour dill pickle with some pickle juice that mixes with light cucumber with nice amount of effervescent to give Farmstand Pickle a medium mouthfeel with a nice tart and sour pickle finish and a similar aftertaste with little of of saison notes following the pickled flavor that lingers for a bit. Haw River Farmhouse Ales Cultural Divide Farmstand Pickle Kettled-Sour Saison is a beer that slowly grows on you and gets a B-. The Saison base does help with the dill pickle flavors otherwise this beer wouldn’t be very good, I mean most people don’t usually drink straight pickle juice. I would say to try this just as a curiosity, it is an interesting beer that isn’t that bad. Please stay safe and enjoy responsibly!

NoDa Brewing Company Mint Porter

Posted on by Evan

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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!