Alaskan Pilot Series: Pumpkin Porter

Alaskan Pilot Series: Pumpkin Porter, Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau, AK
(Spice/Herb/Vegetable)

I haven't had many pumpkin beers yet this year. This one pours pitch black with an off-white head. Great spicy, pumpkin aroma with vanilla. Tastes of pumpkin, spices, roasted malts, and brown sugar sweetness. Modest and subtle, but full of flavor. Great pumpkin beer!

24 American Microbreweries Every Beer Lover Should Know

24 American Microbreweries Every Beer Lover Should Know

There's a few of these microbreweries that I'm quite familiar with. In fact, Three Floyds Brewing (Munster, IN), Tallgrass Brewing Company (Manhattan, KS), and Sixpoint Brewery (Brooklyn, NY) are three of my favorites. I'll be on the lookout for the others. Excuse me...I have work to do.

Czar Brew Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Czar Brew Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Jet black pour with a thin, dark chocolate head. Aroma of molasses, roasted malts, and bourbon. Taste has some chocolate, coffee, sweetness from the dark fruit, and then a dark roasted malty bitter finish. Bourbon is fairly prominent. Only 9% abv. Not the best bourbon barrel aged stout I've had.

Plum Noir (Blackwater Series)

Plum Noir, Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, NY
(Imperial/Strong Porter, Rated 94)

Black pour with a small tan head. Sweet, roasted malt aroma with just a hint of the plums. Similar roasted malt flavor with coffee and a faint boozy bitterness at the finish. The plums are very subtle. Not a bad beer, but the plums weren't as prominent as I'd hoped. I also expected this to be a bit stronger for an imperial porter.

Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale

Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale, Central Waters Brewing Company, Amherst, WI
(Scotch Ale, Rated 97)

This amazing offering, from one of the nation's leading barrel-aging breweries, pours a nice dark brown with a thin offwhite head. Aroma is sweet, caramel, malty, and bourbon. Tastes of sweet dark fruit and malts. The bourbon flavor lingers throughout the taste and warms the throat. My love for scotch ales is a little new and this bourbon barrel-aged scotch is outstanding!

Redband Stout

Redband Stout, Great River Brewery, Davenport, IA
(Stout, Rated 96)

A worker at the liquor store recommended this one. Pours a very dark brown. Aroma is dominant with coffee. Taste is mostly coffee with a hint of vanilla sweetness and malts. Very smooth and light for a coffee stout, but the coffee flavor lingers. Commercial description says this one is made with Indonesian and Ethiopian coffee beans. Probably a great introductory beer for coffee lovers.

Top 10 Reasons to Drink Craft Beer

Top 10 Reasons to Drink Craft Beer