This eveningÂ’s beer is another left over from the Beer Tasting. Tonight IÂ’ll be reviewing Badger Porter by the Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, WI. The funny thing about this beer is that three people brought a six-pack of it. Wes, Graumagus and I each brought a six-pack of Badger Porter to the tasting.

It comes in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a brown label on it that has the picture of a badger’s head right in the middle of it. Across the top of the label it says “Badger Porter” and at the bottom it has the information about the brewing company.

When poured into a glass it has a nice deep brown color with a ruby highlight to it. There was a half inch tan head that faded slowly to a film on top. There was very minimal lacing on the side of the glass.

The smell is a mix of roasted malts with a touch of nuts. There is a soft undertone of cocoa that is also noticeable. It has a taste of coffee malts with a touch of bittersweet dark chocolate. There isnÂ’t much else to it. I really could not make out any hop flavors in it.

It is a medium bodied beer with good carbonation. There is a silkiness that coats the mouth and tongue and makes it pleasurable to drink.

At the beer tasting it wasnÂ’t rated bad, but we all thought it was really bitter for a porter. In all actuality when drank alone it is just fine. ItÂ’s not too bitter, and itÂ’s much more palatable. At the Beer Tasting I gave it a 5. Tonight on a clean pallet IÂ’m giving it a 6.5

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Spontaneous beer review night has struck again! Tonight IÂ’m finishing off a bottle of Celis Grand Cru by the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI. This was one of the beers that Graumagus brought to the beer tasting.

It came in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. It has a green label with the name in white letters across the top. In the middle of the label is a wood carvingesque picture of men making beer. . There are laurels around the picture and pictures of hops in the bottom corners.

There was a beautiful honey coloring to this beer. It was clear and light passed through easily. The thin white head faded quickly to nothing more than a ring around the glass. There was no lacing what so ever.

The smell is not overly pleasant. It was a mixture of Coriander, hops, citrus and yeast. Combined they actually give off a slight liver scent to the beer. In fact it was very reminiscent of liverwurst. The taste was much like the scent. It had a mix of coriander, yeast and malts that gave it liver-like flavor. There was a little burn to the finish of the beer.

This is a light bodied beer, and it was a little heavy on the carbonation for my tastes.
This is the second Belgian-style ale IÂ’ve reviewed and IÂ’ve come to the conclusion that maybe I just do not like that style of beer. Over all I did not find this pleasurable to drink.

I know at the beer tasting it garnered a lot of similar reactions. It was the lowest scoring beer at the beer tasting with a group average of 1.5. At the beer tasting I gave it a 2. IÂ’m going to stick with my rating of a 2 out of 10.

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Lets get this party started! ItÂ’s been a rough day and IÂ’ve been daydreaming about this review since 9:00 AM. I started work at 8:45 AM. Yea, itÂ’s that kind of day. Tonight IÂ’ll be reviewing Pioneer Black River Red by the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls Wisconsin. This beer was brought to the beer tasting by Ktreva.

It comes in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a light brown label with the word “Pioneer” most boldly in yell across it. A small black circle with a picture of a guy holding a hoe(?) has the words “Black River” at the top of the circle. A banner goes across the bottom of the circle with the word “Red” in red letters on it.

When poured into a glass it has a nice copperish orange color to it. There is a little bit of cloudiness to it. Light passes through easily enough but images are rather fuzzy. It had a nice off-white head about a half-inch thick that slowly faded into a thin layer on top. There was no real lacing to speak of.

There is a nice roasted malt smell to it. You can also detect a hint of a biscuity smell along with some spicy hops. The taste is a combination of caramel malts and a hint of spicy hops. The flavor is very mild and unobtrusive. What aftertaste there is fades quickly and doesnÂ’t last long.

It is a medium bodied beer. It is a little heavier on the carbonation that I prefer, but itÂ’s not bad.

At the beer tasting this one scored decently, about average. Some people really liked it, others said it was drinkable; I thought it was better than your standard. The flavor on it is very mild, but again this goes as yet another example of why not to do a beer review at a beer tasting. Everyone, including myself, thought it had a very week, almost no flavor to it. Today I can taste it much better. At the beer tasting I gave it a 4. Honestly itÂ’s more like a 5 out of 10.

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Tonight I was in the mood for a little something darker, so I actually dug through the stock pile and pulled out OscarÂ’s Chocolate Oatmeal Stout by the Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, WI (Hey Company guys, this is up by winter camp!) This is another Beer Tasting left over. Graumagus of the now defunct Frizzen Sparks provided us with this beer, this also is his first donation and puts him up on the Enablers list. He is now part of an elite few.

This beer comes in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. The lable is brown with a picture of a bears head in an oval. OscarÂ’s Stout is prominent across the center. In the top of the oval are the words Chocolate Oatmeal. At the very bottom is the picture of bearÂ’s footprint.

There is a nice dark brown color to the beer, light passes through with difficulties around the edge of the glass. Even though you canÂ’t see through it, it is thin enough that you can see that it appears to be clear. There was a nice inch thick tan head when I poured it. It was dense and made up of tiny bubbles. It slowly faded, but there was still some head when I finished the beer 15 minutes after pouring it. Lacing did form on the side of the glass that lasted for a while.

The smell is a mix of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee and oatmeal. It has a taste that starts off as a mix of dark chocolate with a coffee finish. There is a touch of bitterness that enhances the flavors and really opens it up to the pallet. The flavor leaves a mild aftertaste that isnÂ’t distracting.

This is a medium bodied beer. There is a creaminess to it that coats the mouth. However, for a stout this is a bit on the light and watery side. It is still heavier than your average beer.

This is one of the beers that scored really well at the tasting. At that time I gave it a 7 and IÂ’m going to stick with that rating. ItÂ’s a solid stout, good for drinking by itself or with a sandwich. Definitely a 7 out of 10.

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It’s time for our first extra-curricular beer review! Tonight we have Summer Shandy (Not shanty as the ladies like to yell at us drunks when we miss pronounced it at the Beer Tasting!) by the Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. This beer(?) was provided by blogspawn Bruce. Why am I questioning calling this a beer? Because it is “Beer with natural lemonade flavor”. Yea, it’s beer and lemonade.

We have the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a yellow label on it that has the standard LeinieÂ’s design. You can see a lake with a boat on it in the background. There are lemons in the upper right corner and on the bottom ribbon there is a lemon flanked by wheat stalks.

It pours a murky pale yellow color. ItÂ’s cloudy enough you canÂ’t see through it, yet it still lets light pass through. There was a half-inch head on it that faded to a ring around the edge of the glass. There is some lacing, but not very much.

The smell is a combination of overly sweet lemonade and cereal grains. Mostly what you smell is the lemonade. Fortunately the taste isnÂ’t as strong as the smell; in fact the taste is rather weak. What you do taste is lemonade and cereal. ItÂ’s almost like someone spilled lemonade in a wheat beer.

ItÂ’s hard to describe the body of the beer, because it is a mix, but IÂ’d say its light bodied. For the body it has, the carbonation was a bit on the heavy side.

Overall this is going in my “not a beer” category. In and of itself it’s not horribly bad; I’ve had much worse. Yet at the same time if you are looking for a beer with beer flavor, you are not going to be pleasantly surprised by this.

As a beer IÂ’m giving this a 2.5 out of 10. As an alcoholic beverage I give it a 4 out of 10. At the Beer Tasting I rated it a 3 out of 10.

By the way, Bruce... the next beer you donate better be at least a 5 you son of a beaotch! out of the seven beers you've donated you're average score is a 3! You're damn lucky I'm not giving you credit for the Chelada!

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After tonight IÂ’m starting a twice a week beer review. I have a backlog of beers to review and with it being summer, I want to drink them before they start to skunk on me. IÂ’m going to keep with my standard Wednesday beer review, but IÂ’m going to throw an extra one in sometime during the week. It will fit in whenever I decide to do one.

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Tonight we have another beer from the Beer Tasting. It is Mocha Porter by the Rogue Brewing Company in Newport, Oregon. Shadoglare gets credit for providing tonightÂ’s beer.

It comes in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a black label with the word Rogue in large red letters across it. In the top in a slight arch in blue is “Mocha Porter”. The bottom center of the picture is a guy in a blue shirt holding up a clinched fist and holding a mug of beer. There is also a star with a yellow border in the middle of the O on rogue.

When poured into the glass, it has a nice dark brown color to it. ItÂ’s almost black. Light barely passes through and itÂ’s so dark you canÂ’t tell if there is any cloudiness to it at all. . It poured a three quarter inch tan head that faded to a film on the top of the glass. No lacing was noticeable.

The first thing you smell is a strong scent of hops. It is followed by a kind of sweet chocolate. The first thing you taste is bitter hops, but it turns to a dark chocolate flavor. There is a roasted malt accent that comes through as your drink it as well. It has a very dry finish. The after taste is a bit bitter.

This is a nice medium bodied beer. There is some creaminess to it. The carbonation isnÂ’t over done.

I liked this beer at the tasting. ItÂ’s not too bitter for a beer, but in my opinion it is too bitter for a porter. Porter should be a bit maltier and less hops. Easily drank with just a very mild hint of bitterness. At the beer review I gave this a 5.5. It was the seventh overall beer of the event. After giving it a proper review, IÂ’m giving this 6 out of 10.

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