TonightÂ’s beer is more of a teaser then anything else. Only a select few of my readers are able to get their hands on this beer and a handful more have actually been lucky enough for me to bring a growler with someplace so they can try it. Tonight IÂ’m going outside my norm and reviewing a beer a drink on a regular basis. Mainly because, despite what I said, I can not bring myself to dump out a full un-opened growler of beer. Tonight IÂ’m reviewing the Scottish Ale by Carlyle Brewing Company.

There is only one way you can get any beer from Carlyle right now and that’s in a 64 oz brown glass bottle they call a growler. (Someday I’ll do a post about what real growlers are.)On the front in white screening is the name of the company. There is a white circle with a picture of a foaming mug in the center of it. Across the bottom it says “Blessed is he who drinks beer.” It also has their address and phone number on it.

While one could attempt to drink this from the bottle, I highly recommend pouring it into a pint glass, just for the ease of handling. For this special occasion I used my Drunken Wisdom Pint. There is a dark brown coloring to the beer that passes through with difficulty. When poured you get a nice half inch tan head. The bubbles are small and it fades slowly to a film on top. There is some nice thick lacing on the side of the glass.

When first smelled you get a strong scent of roasted malts. An earthy undertone is noticeable if you take a second sniff. A slight chocolate accent is also detectable. The flavor is a good mix of roasted chocolate and coffee malts. There is a pleasant hop finish to it. The aftertaste has a slight bitterness to it that is not present in the beer itself.

This is a medium to full bodied beer. It has a great mouth feel that coats. There is only a slight carbonation to the beer. ItÂ’s a beer that is easy to drink when itÂ’s either warm or cold out.

This is a favorite beer of mine. Not only do I enjoy drinking it, but I will buy growlers full of it to share with others. Unfortunately unless you are visiting Rockford, Illinois or have someone bring you a growler, you canÂ’t try this beer at this time. IÂ’ve been talking trying to talk them into starting to bottle it for years, but they just wonÂ’t do it. If you like a dark beer that isnÂ’t as thick as a stout or porter, youÂ’ll love this beer. I give it 7.5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Last weekend at Fort Obie my friend Will brought me another beer by Yuengling to review. This time itÂ’s Yuengling Black and Tan.

He made sure to get me a nice 12 oz brown bottle so I didnÂ’t have to review on a can after all of you complained. It has a black oval label with the name of the company and the beer on it. There is the Eagle logo for the company at the top center of the circle. In a gold ribbon at the bottom it says AmericaÂ’s Oldest Brewery. The label says this is a combination of the Dark Brewed Porter and Premium beer.

There wasnÂ’t much to the smell. After much consideration I figured it had a scent of roasted malts with a fruit undertone. Nothing that was very complex like one would expect from a Black and Tan. The taste was a very mild malt flavor. There was not much depth at all, it was very simple. Again with a Black and Tan there should be a bit more to it.

It is a very smooth beer. ItÂ’s light bodied and very easy to drink. However it was almost like drinking water. The body didnÂ’t really hold any mouth feel at all.

Okay, first off I have to pick this beer apart. This really isnÂ’t a black and tan, this is a half and half. A Black and Tan generally is Stout or Porter and Ale. A Half and Half is a Stout or Porter over a lager. A proper black and tan or half and half are layered. Generally they pour the lighter beer (ale or lager) first and then using a spoon pour the darker beer (stout or porter) over it in a pint glass. When you look at the glass you should be able to see the two different layers of the beer, the dark on top and the light on the bottom. When this poured into the glass it looked much like their Porter only slightly lighter in color. This is just Yuengling mixing their Porter and Premium lager together in hopes of marketing on a pub trend. If you want to know what a real Black and Tan is like I suggest going to a reputable pub and ordering one. IÂ’d suggest Guinness over Bass.

As much as I know IÂ’m about to bring the wrath of many loyal readers upon myself, IÂ’m not overly impressed with this beer at all. I can see where it would be good with pizza or pub food, but nothing that makes me want to go out of my way for it. ItÂ’s really a dark beer for people that donÂ’t like dark beers. I give it 4 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:40 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Since it is the Halloween season I figured I should do some Halloween themed beers. IÂ’m starting going with a beer from one of my favorite Microbreweries, New Holland Brewing Company. They have a seasonal ale brewed with pumpkin they named Ichabod.

They used a standard 12 oz brown bottle. The body label has a picture of the headless horseman in the middle of an oval. The name of the beer is in old style white script lettering below the horse. On the neck label they have the name of the beer again with a Jack-o-lantern on it.

Into a bar style pint glass this ale poured a hazy copper color. Light passes through, but there is a lot of sediment that prevents you from being able to see through properly. There was a very thin white head that quickly faded to nothing leaving only a ring around the edge of the glass. There is some lacing, but not a lot.

A strong scent combination of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg compliment the malt backbone. It reminded me a bit of pumpkin bread. On the first taste one gets a strong spice and caramel malt flavoring. It is followed by a light pumpkin taste. It almost tasted like I was eating pumpkin bread while drinking a beer.

There is a nice medium body to it that gives a slight coating to the mouth. It is slightly high in carbonation, a bit more than I generally enjoy.

This beer pleasantly surprised me. Normally I donÂ’t like pumpkin beers as they have an over powering pumpkin taste to it that really kills the flavor. This one has more of a pumpkin accent that really enhances the flavor. IÂ’m still not overly fond of fruit beers, but this one was pretty good. I give it a 4.5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:53 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Shadoglare sent me a link to an article over at Inventorspot, 10 Best Beers With Balls of 2007.

I don't know if I agree with that list, I've had a couple of the beers on there. And there are ones I've never heard of. But as the author states, "With that in mind, we here at Inventor Spot bring you 10 of the ballsiest beers we could find." Which means some of the ones I've had, they may not have. Overall there are some interesting beers on that list.

Bilk anyone?

Posted by: Contagion at 10:48 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Oh my heck! With the BlogCrawl and all I forgot today was Wednesday until I was driving home. It was that long four-day weekend that threw me off. As I was driving home, I stopped at a local liquor store to pick up a beer to review this week. Unfortunately since I didnÂ’t want to review a warm beer, I was limited in my selection. Thus I ended up choosing a beer that others have said was pretty good. TonightÂ’s beer is HonkerÂ’s Ale by Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, IL.

It came in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. It had a bright red label with a black oval that had the name of the brewery on it and a smaller red oval in the middle of the black one with a goose head. A red banner with white lettering had the name of the beer on it. There is a little history about the beer on the label.

When poured into an Ale pint, it has a hazy copper/amber coloring to it. Light passes through, but you have a difficult time making out shapes. The quarter inch head faded quickly to a ring on the edge of the glass, there is no lacing at all.

My first sniff of the beer was a mix of citrus and malts. The strong citrus scent almost drowns out the rest. You can smell a touch of coriander as well. The taste is much like the smell. A taste combination of malts and biscuits, but with a strong citrus finish to it. Surprisingly there was a slight alcohol tinge to it that one doesnÂ’t expect from an ale. There is also a bitterness that lingers into the aftertaste.

This was a thin-bodied beer. It was very light with almost no coating at all. There was a decent bit of carbonation to the bottle. ItÂ’s very easy to drink.

I canÂ’t say I was overly impressed with this beer. In fact everyone IÂ’ve talked to totes this as the jewel in the Goose Island crown. To be honest this beer didnÂ’t impress me much. IÂ’m giving it 4 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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