Beer Revew: maui Brewing Bikini Blonde Lager

Lemonadey yellow, snow white, two-fingered head; lots of carbonation...creamy smoothness. Hints of butterscotch. Mild hoppiness...very drinkable.

Beer Review: Mana Wheat with Pineapple

It wasn't billed as unfiltered, but it had a cloudy, golden hue and a distinctive pineapple taste, very clean and smooth. the pineapple tries very hard to overwhelm the wheatiness...but doesn't succeed.

Beer Review: Maui Brewing Coconut Porter

Who would have thought that a porter, which I think of as a winter beer, would be popular in Hawaii? Well this coconut porter meshed well with an Oahu vacation. Coconut flavored, thick, heavy malt character, huge head, nice & smooth with cameos from chocolate and coffee. Oh yeah. It got a thumbs up from Petty Officer First Class Joyce as well.

Beer Review: Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA

Ah...my son loves his pops...he provides him with premium beer. This bad boy starts with a tall head that fades all too quickly to a one-finger white stack o'foam. There's some comfortable heat from the 6.2% ABV and some prominent fruitiness. Very passable IPA.

Beer Review: Primo Lager

Nice bottle...that's about it...

Beer Review: Hawai`i Nui Brewing - Sunset Amber Ale

Freakin' huge head - it was ten minutes before I could even drink it! Nice dark amber color, citrussy taste, kind of wheaty, but not much hops in evidence. Pretty decent "lawnmower" beer.

Beer Review: Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary - Ken & Jack's Black Barleywine

Chico, CA (12/14/09)—Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will mark 2010 with a yearlong celebration of the trailblazing brewers who helped transform America into the world’s most exciting brewing nation. Next year is the 30th anniversary for the Chico-based brewery, and Sierra Nevada is teaming up with the founders of the movement to benefit select charities and beer drinkers across the country. http://www.sierranevada.com/about/news.html#sierra30

http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/stories/featured-brewery/show?title=new-albion-brewing

Well I've got one of these in front of me right now, and it's some high quality beer, that's for sure. It poured a deep, heavy head, dwindling down to a foamy nut-brown lid. The beer itself is a fathomless almost-black mahogany that allowed just a infintesimal (that's fancy talk for very small) amount of light to peak through. The first thing that hits you is the toasted malt aroma; there's a little floral scent and some pine as well. Enough chocolatey flavor with a whiff of coffee to make it interesting. It's a 10+% ABV, but there's no sense of alcohol heat. Not a fan of the crumbling cork though. Overall, a big winner.

Beer Review: Wailua Wheat Ale (brewed with passion fruit)

This one is from the Kona Brewing Company from Kona, on the Big Island. Wailua poured with a snowy white three finger head and a clear golden color. the passion fruit flavor was very prominent, which overwhelmed anything else that may have been there; you couldn't really tell that it was a wheat. Nontheless, this was a great summer beer and would hold its own against the big guys' fruit beers.

Beer Review: Mehana Hawaiian Crow Porter

My son Thomas & daughter-in-law Shana, as the perfect hosts, made sure that there was plenty of locally brewed beer in the house while we were visiting this past week. I made sure that I took notes as i went along. The first one that I tried was from Mehana Brewing Company out of Hilo, on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. The Hawaiian Crow Porter was a medium heavy porter, very little hops evident, with chocolate overtones, heavy on toasted malt, with a little hint of coffee. It stacked up well against some of the other porters that I've tried over the past year. Yay!

Abita Pecan Harvest Ale

I guess you can put anything you want in a beer (unless you're in Germany) but I've never heard of pecan in beer (and by the way, it's not pronounced peh-CAHN, but PEE-can...at least where I come from). Anyway, it pours a dark orange, no head whatsoever. I would have been hard pressed to identify the pecan taste if it hadn't said "pecan" on the label, but other than that it tastes like a good solid harvest/autumn ale. I checked some other reviews and they all mention the prominent pecan taste, but not for me. I'd drink this l'il guy again, even if i can't taste the pecan.

Beer Review: Weyerbacher Autumnfest (2010)

Very nice deep amber, tall headed ale. Lots of carbonation, medium hoppy, little bit of carmel and orange in the mix. Very drinkable, very smooth. Although not technically an Oktoberfest, it's right up there with the best of the O-Fests in my opinion. I'd have another...if I had one.

Beer Review: Abita Fallfest

Abita has some good beers: Turbodog, Jiacomo IPA and even Purple Haze. I didn't like the amber and I didn't like this one either. Very forgettable, nothing special.

Beer Review: Okto Festival Ale

Technically not an Octoberfest, but a festival ale, Okto (what a name) had me on the first sip. It's a nice coppery amber color, and the first, immediatelyb evident taste is grapefruit and a zippy sting of hops. I had a bottle that had been cooling off in the freezer, so it was ice-cold, which added to the experience. Very light, almost fit for a summer day (which technically, by the solar calendar, it still is). Very impressive.

Beer Review: Spaten Oktoberfest

Dark honey colored, with a beige (?!?) head. Pretty mild, eminently forgettable.

Beer Review: Beck's Octoberfest

When I first started imbibing beers and ales, Beck's was one of the beers, along with Heniken, that we would drink when we were feeling classy, or snooty, or just had a few extra bucks to spend. There's a signature hoppiness that the German and other northern European beers seem to share that set them apart from American and British beers. That taste comes through with Beck's Octoberfest. It's a little more carbonated than I expected, with a medium head and a dark coppery hue. Nice balance between hops and malt, almost tasted like a pale ale or ESB. Not a bad offering.

Beer Review: Dundee Oktoberfest

Now this is more like it! Nice two-finger head, coppery-orange in color, heavy roasted malt aroma. A bit of caramel sweetness, and medium hoppiness. Not much complexity, but very solid brew. I'd drink it again.

Beer Review: Shiner Oktoberfest

Bleh. First off, I thought Oktoberfests were supposed to be lagers, not ales. It's pretty thin, and not much flavor. Maybe I didn't get it cold enough...eee

Beer Review: Cornstalker Dark Wheat

They're calling it a dark wheat, but it tastes more like a porter to me. Poured really thick, was all head there for a bit, but settled down to a two-finger foamy top. the consistancy was that of rich coffee, and there were definitely chocolate and coffee overtones. It was brewed with corn as well as wheat; not sure what the corn contributed to the taste, maybe it helped with the body or maybe it was just a nod to this being the Cornhusker state! Good stuff, I'm kind of sorry I gave 5 cans away to co-workers.