Blue Moon Agave Blonde Ale

Let me preface this review by saying that I love agave. I was slightly ahead of the fad wave on it, having discovered it as a sweetener at The Mill a few years back and started using it instead of honey in my tea. For a while I could only buy it at Open Harvest, but now you can get it anywhere; in fact I have agave-maple pancake syrup in my cupboard, as well as agave nectar. As many of you know, blue agave is the plant from whence tequila is derived, which may account for its popularity. I really thought that I'd like an agave sweetened beer - hell, the honey wheat was good, why not the agave. I bought it as part of a Blue Moon variety 12-pack, which included three Agave Blondes. The impression that I got after drinking the first two was that it was just too sweet. They had screwed up by adding too much agave to the mix. And working on the third as I write this, I'm going to stick with that assessment, although I find that two things make it more palatable: eating some spicy food and getting it icy cold. I'm snacking on some pickled garlic (yeah - really) and pickled  Jalapeño and red bell  peppers. I also put the beer in the freezer for a while and am taking full mouths full rather than sipping. I kept half a bottle in the freezer to maintain the temperature, which is helping enormously. I guess the bottom line is that i would drink this again if someone gave me one and it was really cold, otherwise I think I'll give it a miss.

Summer Bright Ale from Breckenridge

Summertime, summertime, summ-summ-summertime...summertiiiime! Summer is a great time for the newbie craft beer and micro-brew enthusiast. The beers are light and refreshing, and aren't "dark" - that quality of some beers that some profess to not like after furtively sipping a Guinness at age 15 in the schoolyard of P.S. 138. Well, Summer Bright by Breckenridge is a great one for beer pioneers to try, light, crisp, clear - pours with a towering white ahead atop an golden yellow. Obviously a wheat - it's got that distinct...wheatiness that you find in great wheats like Boulevard, with a hint of lemon and orange peel to give it a little zip. So grab a can (yes, it came in a can), because there is a cure for the summertime blues!

Wasatch Summerbräu Lager

Another fine brew from those crazy brewers out in Mormon country, who dared name a beer "Polygamy Porter: and further dared to tag it with the slogan: "Why Have Just One?"

Summerbräu pours a "read-a-newspaper-through-it" clear, sporting a light golden hue and a billowy white 3-finger head. Pretty prominent hoppiness for a Pilsner, but not so it detracts from the refreshment. And refresh it does! Kind of puts me in mind of a hot afternoon in the driveway, steaks sizzling on the grill and Chris Duarte playing on the iPod. I regret only getting one in my mixed six-pack, but there's more where that came from.

Sam Adams Third Voyage Double IPA

Really? Only 80 IBUs for a double India Pale Ale. Third Voyage tasted pretty good, but it just wasn't hoppy enough to be classed a double. It poured a deep dark amber with a small-to-medium sized head. the aroma was mostly pine and some grapefruit, but the overall taste was what I've come to expect from Irish Reds - East Kent Goldings for example. Much more malty than I had expected. At the end of the day, not very exciting...the runt of this IPA litter.

Sam Adams Grumpy Monk Belgian IPA

Within the blended style trend among craft beers is the sub-trend of Belgian style blends, specifically Belgian IPA's. One of Sam Adams' new available-all-the-time beers is Whitewater IPA, which is very similar to this one. It starts off with a extremely tall fluffy white head, pouring over a cloudy glass of liquid gold. Floral/piney hops hits right away, followed by the sweet Belgian-ness. On the back end there's a wee bit o'orange and...whoa...is that banana? Why yes, I think it is! Pretty good melding of the two styles. Too bad it's a limited edition.

Sam Adams Tasman Red IPA

Here we go, IA #3! The name Tasman Red comes from the inclusion of Tasmanian hops as well as the ruby red color. The tastes are somewhat subtle, but I'm catching peaches and apricots, and maybe a little rye bread. The hops are pretty piney, with the expected grapefruit. The bitterness, despite it being an IPA, is somewhat subdued; if the ABV wasn't 8.5%, this could be a serviceable session beer...if you didn't have to drive.

Sam Adams Dark Depths Baltic Porter IPA

Beer #1 of the Hopology 12 pack (actually Beer #3 since I've previously done reviews on Latitude 48 and Whitewater.)

It poured a deep mahogany, not as dark as I thought it would be, but with a rich, tall, chocolate colored head. Lots of coffee and chocolate, almost like a coffee ice cream...with hops! The citrussy hop flavors are struggling to assert themselves, but are battling the malty sweetness of the chocolate and coffee. Quite a treat for those (like myself) who enjoy hoppy beers, but are deep down, porter/stout guys. Cool label too.

Sam Adams IPA-Hop-Ology

Last year Sam Adams' IPA Hopology Variety 12 pack contained 6 different varieties of Latitude 48 IPA - the original, featuring 5 noble hop varieties and 5 others, each with one of the noble hops. It was like going to hop school, being able to taste the difference among hops from different parts of the world. You can still find reviews on all six by using the search function at the top of the blog.

This year they're featuring 6 different IPA's - Latitude 48, the new Whitewater IPA, as well as 4 new or limited edition IPA's - read about them by following the link below and watch for reviews in this blog


http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/04/24/2494553/samuel-adams-hop-ology-seasonal.html