Westbrook Brewing Company Yu Zuper Nice Rice Lager Brewed with Yusuf Juice

Posted on by Evan

You probably haven’t heard of a Yuzu fruit. Well, Yuzu is a citrus fruit similar to the Kaffir Lime and looks like a small yellow grapefruit. Westbrook Brewing Co. Yu Zuper Nice, 4.5% is brewed with rice, a touch of Yuzu and lightly dry-hopped with Loral Hops. Rice lagers are typical of China and Japan. Yu Zuper Nice purchased from Total Wine pours a yellow lemon color with an almost two finger fluffy white head with an aroma of Yuzu, lemon sweetness hitting your nose with a rice sweetness as well. Taste is light with a nice juicy Yuzu/lemon flavor that slightly enhances the light rice sweetness that comes in on the middle and back of the mouth that is quite refreshing, especially on a warm humid day. Yu Zuper Nice finish with a light sweet crisp flavor and the] aftertaste is slightly and lightly tart from the Yuzu all with a light mouthfeel. This is Super nice and refreshing something that I could drink a bunch of, and I recommend you do the same. Westbrook Brewing Co. Yu Zuper Nice is one great beer, very well balanced and great use of Yuzu fruit with Loral hops in a rice lager. Hit hits the spot hard! I give it an A+. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Victory Brewing Company Home Grown Dry-Hopped Lager

Posted on by Evan

Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown Pennsylvania brews Home Grown Dry-Hopped Lager 4.8 ABV, which I purchased from their newer brewery here in Charlotte, Brewers at 4001 Yancey which is cooperation with Southern Tier Brewing Company, and they also have Sixpoint Point Company brand portfolio. Home Grown is brewed with Azacca, Citra, and and Mosaic whole flower hops. Home Grown pours a golden hue with a one finger bright white head that fades a bit quick with hoppy crisp aromas that are slightly citrusy with a taste of orange and grapefruit with a hoppy note towards the back of the tongue with a faint crispness and a little bitter finish that is juicy with grapefruit and orange. Aftertaste doesn’t stay like with it hopped citrus fruit notes with a light mouthfeel. This is a crushable beer, you can just pound this with now mouth fatigue. I give Victory Brewing Company Home Grown Dry-Hopped Lager a B+. I enjoyed it this well brewed hopped lager, and you should too. It’s good for a hot after yard work and such, but I would’ve like the lager side of this to be turned up a notch but it was otherwise good. This would be a beer worth going back too. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Throwback Thursday: The Olde Mechlenburg Brewery RPA, Rein Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

Originally posted on July 14th, 2012


Yes my favorite brewery has been hard at work and here is a NEW brew RPA, no not Rye Pale Ale, this is Rein Pale ale, 5.2% ABV. This is a cross between an American pale ale and a German-style lagered ale. OMB brews this with a combination of four different American and German barly malt verieties, spicy American Tettnag and noble Czech Saaz hops. This OMB pours a beautiful light amber color with a thin-ish white head. You can really smell the Hop scent here on this with a nice grassy note. Smells just like a fresh hop field. Nice! This RPA has a moderately bitter taste about it. Not to much bitterness, just the right amout to make it great. Great for most any occasion. There is a very very faint spicy note on the finish along with a still moderate bitterness that finishes light and crisp. This beer is a good NEW brew for OMB and they have done it yet again, in making a awesome and tasty beer. I love this brewery and can not say enough good things about them. This RPA is part of small growing trend of hoppy/bitter beers that have been hitting the market recently, after the height of IPA crazy hit, which is now not so popular as it onces was. Now the trend is more toward less hop and more bitterness, but to much bitter and it sour which is the next trend I think. But this hit the trend make well with it’s hybrid American pale ale and German lagered ale. Great beer and I give The Olde Mechlenburg Brewery RPA, Rein Pale Ale an A+. Just the right amount of bitter in this one. Not too much, yet not too little. Good work OMB! Keep it up. I would by this again, have it over and over again, just like all the beers they brew. I love a good tasty OMB brew! Cheers! Please drink responsibly! 

Burial Beer Co Bloodtusk Kellerbier Lager

Posted on by Evan

Burial Beer Co. Bloodtusk Kellerbier Lager, 5.1% ABV purchased from Pop the Top Bottle Shop locally here in Charlotte, NC is a brewed in the traditional cell beer style or traditional lagering which is done at cold temperatures. Burial Beer Co. Bloodtusk Kellerbier Lager pours a semi-hazy yellow color with a two finger white rocky head giving off biscuity aroma with a little sweetness that trails into a biscuit sweet flavor with a very faint bitter note hitting the back of the mouth with a flavorful semi-sweet finish and a full lager biscuit sweet aftertaste that lingers for a short moment and fades all with a medium smooth mouthfeel. Burial Beer Co. Bloodtusk Kellerbier Lager is a good rendition of a German Kellerbier Lager and is an A-. I found Bloodtusk to be good and close to being as good as the more traditional German Kellerbiers, they tend to have bolder flavors to them, but Burial Beer Co. Bloodtusk Kellerbier Lager was almost as good and one that I recommend trying and one that I will definitely go back to. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager

Posted on by Evan

I received Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager, 6.2% ABV for a Christmas gift. Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager is aged with Jim Beam oak staves, and Budweiser uses them in the brew kettle rather than transferring the beer to a Jim Beam Barrel, and uses Two-row barely before the addition of the oak. Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager pours a deep copper almost red color with a little one finger bubbly beige head, giving off big sweet sticky vanilla aromas with a very faint smokey note that leads in to a very sweet sticky taste of some vanilla with light caramel and very faint smoke flavors with a very faint light smokey sweet sticky finish and a sweet aftertaste with a lighter mouthfeel. I see what Budweiser’s going for with Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager, the other bourbon barrel aging of a beer is popular and they are trying to cash in on that wave of popularity but I think that the base beer gets a little bit lost and the outcome is an overly sweet beer that after two pints the flavor of Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager would become too much on your taste buds. I give this a D+. The flavors it did have were okay at best but overall it really didn’t taste like a bourbon barrel aged beer, more like an amber lager with a sweetness to it. I mean if you are an average beer drinker that wants to try a bourbon barrel beer but are a little intimidated by the bourbon barrel aged craft beers out there then Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager might be a good beer for you to start out with. I don’t see myself having this soon but I might have this in the future. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Moody Tongue Brewing Applewood Gold

Posted on by Evan

This Moody Tongue Brewing Applewood Gold, 5.0% ABV is only the second beer I’ve had from Moody Tongue, this is a lager brewed with applewood in Chicago Illinois. Applewood Gold pours a golden color with a quickly fading two finger white head giving off a faint smokey biscuit aroma that leads into a biscuit flavors on the front of the tongue with a little faint fruit note on n the middle and a bit of smoke on the back that really builds in the finish with a big lingering aftertaste of smokey bacon with a light mouthfeel. This Applewood Gold is like drinking an Applewood bacon sandwich on a biscuit, but the flavors don’t seem to go together well, but individually they are good but this Moody Tongue Brewing Applewood Gold is a D+. On paper a lager brewed with applewood sound good but doesn’t hit the mark as a beer, it’s a lager then a smoke beer but it’s not both. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager

Posted on by Evan

A little over two years ago I first reviewed The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager, 4.9% ABV and I thought that it was worth another review, and I will post the first review for this Throwback Thursday post. Mecklenburger Helles Lager is the first beer that OMB brewed and for a while now they have brought the beer back and continue to brew it. Mecklenburger Helles Lager pours a golden color with a bright white snowy two finger quickly fading head that leaves thin lacing behind with aromas of crisp breaded malts with touches of slight sweet notes that take you down to a crisp refreshing flavor of breaded notes with subtle sweetness with a very faint metallic notes that quickly dashes away with a slight dryness and finishes clean crisp with a hint of light sweetness and a crips cracker like aftertaste with a light mouthfeel. This is as good as I remember it and would be a good beer to have more that one or two. The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager is a great beer for your next party. It is an A+ beer not too bold on flavor nor does it not have enough, it just the right balance and well brewed. I highly recommend trying The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager

Posted on by Evan

A little over two years ago I first reviewed The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager, 4.9% ABV and I thought that it was worth another review, and I will post the first review for this Throwback Thursday post. Mecklenburger Helles Lager is the first beer that OMB brewed and for a while now they have brought the beer back and continue to brew it. Mecklenburger Helles Lager pours a golden color with a bright white snowy two finger quickly fading head that leaves thin lacing behind with aromas of crisp breaded malts with touches of slight sweet notes that take you down to a crisp refreshing flavor of breaded notes with subtle sweetness with a very faint metallic notes that quickly dashes away with a slight dryness and finishes clean crisp with a hint of light sweetness and a crisp cracker-like aftertaste with a light mouthfeel. This is as good as I remember it and would be a good beer to have more that one or two. The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager is a great beer for your next party. It is an A+ beer not too bold on flavor nor does it not have enough, it just the right balance and well brewed. I highly recommend trying The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Mecklenburger Helles Lager! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

NoDa Brewing Company Bandito Mexican Style Lager

Posted on by Evan

Craft brewers have been brewing the Mexican style larger for a while now and are a somewhat popular style among beer drinkers. This NoDa Brewing Company Bandito Mexican Style lager, 4,9% ABV is on the trend and is brewed with flaked maize, otherwise known as corn. Bandito pours a golden color with a fluffy two and a half finger white head with a slow fade into some nice lacing in the glass that gives you corn aromas with some sweetness that is a little similar to a Corona that takes you to a Corona like tasting sweet clean corn flavors with a nice clean yet semi-sweet finish and a much similar aftertaste with a faint dryness lingering till the next sip with a light refreshing mouthfeel. I was surprised at how much it tasted like a Corona and how well it was brewed to the Mexican style lager. I give NoDa Brewing Company Bandito Mexican Style lager an A-. It loses just one because as it warms it become a little off and not as good as it is at the first taste, but still a good be otherwise and yes you can have a six-pack without destroying your taste buds. So go and try NoDa Brewing Company Bandito Mexican Style lager I recommend that you do. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Throwback Thursday: Great Lakes Brewing Dortmunder Gold

Posted on by Evan

I really enjoy finding, searching, and hunting new beer to try. So a few weeks ago my father found a website BrewPublik (www.BrewPublik.com) that hand delivers beer that they have chosen for you based on what your go to beer is. They are local in Charlotte, NC and deliver your beer in a handmade wooden crate with their company logo branded on the side with a folder of tasting notes and information on each beer. One of the beers that I received is Great Lakes Dortmounder Gold, 5.8% ABV. Great Lakes Brewing is in Cleveland Ohio. This style is named after the town in Germany where the style originates. Dortmunder Gold is brewed in accordance with the Bavarian Purity Low of 1516. This law simply states that beer must be brewed with barley, hops, yeast, and water. Which this beer is and meets that law. Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold has won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. But I couldn’t find when it won. Dortmunder Gold pours a nice bright orange/copper color with a two finger white head that sticks around long enough to notice its there before fading into very thin lacing. I found decent amounts of light streaming through the glass with nice carbonation bubbles racing up towards the white head. The aroma is similar is to a lager and a pilsner. It’s a slight mix of the two I think. The taste at first is crisp then becomes a tiny bit malty and towards the end, there is a bit of bitter flavor that isn’t so ‘in your face’. I found the bitter flavor to be a bit light. The mouthfeel is light to somewhat medium. Dortmunder Gold finishes with a little crisp bitterness but less bitter than before. I thought Dortmunder Gold was going to taste different from the way it actually did. Dortmunder Gold is a B. The small amount of bitterness towards the end was not what I was expecting and really brought down the overall flavor a bit. But Dortmunder Gold isn’t a bad beer; it was somewhat enjoyable, just not as I hoping it would be. Yes, I see how it won its gold medal and I understand it too. I probably wouldn’t have Dortmunder Gold right away but I might down the road. So go out and try Great Lake Brewing Co. Dortmunder Gold and see what you think. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!