It has been a while since I have had a beer from Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colorado. Which is famous for Nitro Milk Stout. This is Coconut Milk Stout, a seasonal beer available in winter. This beer is 6% ABV with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, lactose (milk sugars) flaked oats, toasted coconut, yeast, and natural flavors, which I could not found what those natural flavors are. This stout pours black with a one-and-a-half finger beige head. It has a nice aroma of sweetness, malts, roasted/toasted coconut, and chocolate. The flavor is good/smooth, and the coconut is toasted with sweetness. Roasted malts and chocolate and it has creamy textures. This has a full feel in the mouth. Then it has a creamy, smooth, sweeter finish, with a nice toasted malted coconut aftertaste. This is a good beer and not overly heavy like some stouts. I give Coconut Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing Co. an A. It is worth trying if you haven’t already. It has good coconut notes with just the right amount of malt and sweetness. It’s delicious! Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
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!
I’d like to thank Merchant DuVin for the four new Belgian beer glasses. This importer of mainly European beer is my favorite because they import some of the best European beers to the U.S., like Westmalle, Trappist Rochefort, Orval, and Lidemans just to name a few. Go to their website to find the entire beer lineup. There will be a review soon with Merchant DuVin. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
We are back after more than a week of Belgian beers. On the internet search, my father and I found BBM Belgian Beer Me tours, run by Stu Stuart. He is very knowledgeable about Belgium and its beers. I have always loved Belgian beer, the first Belgian I fell in love with was Chimay Grand Reserve or Quadruple Ale. This was a group tour. Everyone was great. We went to four different cities, Gent, Bruges, Bastone, Malle, and Mechelen. We went to the Huyghe Brewery (Gent, Belgium) which brews Delirium and Guillotine. This is one of my favorite beers, Delirium.
They have a big brewery and brew beer that travels all over the world. During this BBM tour at no point did I feel like I’d had too much beer, sometimes you can’t have enough, and I didn’t feel overly tired by the end of each day. We saw one or two breweries/monasteries(Abby) and day with sometimes a ‘company lunch’. Then we had the late afternoon and evening free. We saw the Flanders American Cemetery, which was very moving and educational, not far from Bruges. Then we hit Trappist Westvleteren, Abby of the St Sixtus. They had a Blonde, a Dubbel, and a Quad which are only sold at the gift shop. I bought a six back of each. I only came home with four of each. Westvleteren 12 (Quad) is one of the most highly sought-after beers. The quad and the dubbel were excellent and the blond was just as tasty. They had an ice cream sundae made with their quad beer, which was delicious. While in Bruges, which is lovely, we walked to Brewery De Halve Maan. We had a tour of the brewery. It was a lot of climbing, and backward down some ladders. The pipe beer from there to the bottling plant through pipes under Bruges. I highly recommend eating and drinking here. They had a fabulous Wit and Wild Tripple. These two were my favorite on the tour. We also went to Chimay, near Bastogne. The beers were good, but I was a little underwhelmed. The gift shop is a place not to be missed. Lots of good barrel-aged beer and other goodies. Bastogne is small and historic due to the Battle of the Bulge. Then we saw Trappiest Abby of Rocheford. That was a bathroom stop to see their tiny display of a gift shop. We drank Rocheford outside in the parking lot. Their Tripple, Dubbel, and Quad were delicious.
Then we went to Orval and toured the Abby. We were able to sit in on the Monk’s prayer. We had lunch at Guardian Angle Taproom. Now Ovral has a really fabulous beer, one not to be missed. Then we toured the brewery. Excellent tour! Then on to Trilburg, Netherlands for Achel Brewery, where they have a bottle shop. We had lunch there and they had amazing beer. I recommend the Superior Blond and Superior Dark. You can share these with the table. Still, in Trilburg, we went to La Trappe Brewery, where I had their classic flight and thought these were okay compared to others. But they were better than most American offerings. Then the next day was Mechelen and Trappist Zundert, only ten years old. Their Quad is so good, that I bought their tenth anniversary Quad. Then one to Trappist Westmalle for lunch. I had a flight (monks beer, trippel, quad) They have the best mustard there. Don’t leave without a jar or two. I really loved the monk’s beer. The hotel in Mechelen was at the Het Anker brewery where Goulden Carouls and other beer. These beers are awesome, especially their Christmas Ale. That one is sold year-round. We had a walking tour the next day and a bottle share, which was epic. Overall Stu does a fabulous job with the tour. I can’t find anything wrong. I would say that you should bring a water bottle. Got to stay hydrated. I didn’t find it easy to get a bottle of water. But I would highly recommend BBM tours, Stu Stuart does a fabulous job! Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly!
Flights are a great way to sample a variety of different beers whether you are at a brewery or in a bar. You should always sample left to right as if you were reading. Lightest in color/ alcohol by volume (ABV) to darkest in color/ABV. Having a flight is a great way to train your palate for tasting. I had Fonta Flora Pocket Lunch, Rhino Market A Very Rhino IPA, Foothills Brewing Happyum Imperial IPA, and Font Flora Wolf Spit Baltic-Style Porter. Go check out all the reviews on this blog. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
I don’t usually post Frosé on a Tuesday, but here we go. This beverage is Dragonfruit Frosé from Co-op, a Charleston based Frosé bar and restaurant. They recently add a Southend Charlotte, North Carolina location. A neighbor of mine who works there brought this. This Frosé is 14% ABV. Frosé is frozen Rosé wine with fruit flavor added. This beverage is pink, with fruity wine aroma with a light sour note. The Frosé flavor is cold, lightly bitter, fruity, boozy and slightly tart. It has a medium mouthfeel. The boozy notes coat your mouth but just for a moment. Then you get a slight tropical fruit flavor with a bitterness. It is probably from the Rosé wine. This drink is good on a hot day, but it goes down easy, and at 14% ABV, and is a dangerous combo. This Frosé isn’t what I usually drink, but it was pretty tasty. I would give this Co-op Dragonfruit Frosé a B. It does have a wine bitterness there, but otherwise this is pretty solid. You should head over to Co-op and try one. Please stay safe, be kind to everyone, and remember enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This Wheat beer called The Joy Bus WOW IS FROM Four Peaks Brewing Co. In Tempe, Arizona. This beer is 5% ABV. This wheat beer is a year-round beer. This wheat beer pours a bright yellow color, with a one-and-a-half-finger white head. The aroma is citrusy orange and sweet, and there is wheat. The taste is citrusy orange light banana, sweetness, and light on wheat flavors. This beer is not a Hefeweizen. The mouthfeel is light. Then this beer has a big orange finish with some sweetness. Then you’ll come to a light seat/orange aftertaste that fades away quickly. This beer is more orange tasting than anything else. This wheat beer is good, but I have had some better wheat-styled beers. So I give this beer a B. The bold orange flavor is good and doesn’t completely overwhelm the other flavors. It does mute the wheat flavors but not in an awful way. I recommend The Joy Bus WOW wheat. It’s good and refreshing. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! !
This is the last of the Johny Bootleggers malt beverages that I received. This is Sing Sing Sour Grape, 12% ABV. This is the same Alcohol by volume percent as all the other flavors that came from Laval Québec Canada. This pours a dark candy purple color. This grape beverage has a fake sweetness of fake grape candy aroma. The taste is similar to its smell. There is a fake sweet, candy grape flavor that is not the worst flavor. I also found that it isn’t sour at all. I don’t know what their Idea of sour is, but that’s not sour. This grape beverage tastes like fake grape candy. The mouthfeel is light. It then finishes with a grape sweetness and not much on the aftertaste. There is a sugary flavor for an aftertaste. This Sing Sing Sour Grape from Johny Bootleggers was not the worst of the three. I give this one a D+. It has more of a fruit flavor to it than the Alcatraz Sour Apple, which had a chemical taste to it. This one is just fake grape candy. That gave it a few points. The best was the Syndicate City Sour Peach. But I wouldn’t rush out for that one or any of these. All of these aren’t the worst I’ve ever had, and I don’t think they are disgusting. They all have a fake flavor to them, and some fake flavors can be okay. Please be kind, stay safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
This beverage is another Johny Bootlegger beverage. This is Alcatraz Sour Apple, 12% ABV. All of Johny Bootlegger’s products are 12% ABV. This apple drink pours a bright neon green color. The aroma is sour candy fake apple. The taste is sweet and candy apple flavor. The apple flavor is fake and manufactured tasting. The flavor is manufactured chemical tasting in the middle and then has a weird nasty flavor of r bad fake apple. The mouthfeel is light. This sour apple beverage finish with a chemical apple taste. The aftertaste is sour, but not fruity. It’s more of a non-fruity flavor. This Johny Bootlegger Alcatraz Sour Apple is awful. I think this drink is an F. I would not have this, and I didn’t finish all seven ounces. This Sour Apple was way too fake fruit flavor. It wasn’t even a good fake apple. It tastes like someone who never had an apple or knew what one was supposed to taste like was trying to recreate the flavor of a sour apple. Please be kind, stay safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
I would like to thank The Geloso Beverage Group LLC for sending out three flavors of Johny Bootleggers Malt Beverages. This drink is their Syndicate City Sour Peach, 12% ABV. This product is made right outside Montreal, Québec, Canada. This beverage is made with beer malts, but it’s not a beer, has a beer-like base, and it is more of a cocktail. This beverage pours a light pink color, and it looks like perfume. The aroma is of sweet peach candy. Taste is sweet and a little boozy up front, then you get some peach Jolly Rancher candy. The mouthfeel is light. This beverage finishes with a hint of peach alcohol. The aftertaste is a short lingering of fake peach. This drink is not bad, but it’s not something that you will remember the next day. It has a bit of an artificial taste to it but not bad. I give Johny Bootleggers Syndicate City Peach a low B-. I like peach flavor things, and that helps it some. This beverage is something different from beer and interesting. I don’t see these types of drinks in North Carolina. We don’t have liquor stores, just a state-run ABC store, which I find not good. Two more flavors came in a nice box with a branded flask. So please stay tuned here for more about Johny Bootleggers! Please be kind, stay safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!
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