"The Muddy" Imperial Stout from Goose Island

Brewed with molasses and brewer's licorice says the Goose Island website, as well as dark rock and candy sugar. Sweeeeet! They say it's inspired by Chicago Blues (Muddy Waters - get it?) with "amplified sweetness", and yes, it is sweet - very much so. Not as heavy as your vtypical imperial stout, more like a dark quad in mouthfeel. The licorice is very subdued, but all of the other stuff contributes to a brew that is like drinking candy. There are some other flavors and aromas as well: dark fruits and some apricot, and, as expected, some chocolate and coffee. A very complex beer by some of Americ's craft beer masters.

Odell's Fifty-Niner Golden Ale

Fifty-Niner is a limited edition ale by Odell Brewing. Classified as an American Wild Ale aged on oak staves. At 10% ABV, there's a little bit of alcohol heat, but not at all distracting from the crisp, clean flavor. Apples predominate, with a little pear, and a small bit of sourness as well. A nice finish to any meal.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Series: Salted Belgian Chocolate Stout

Part of the Joyce Christmas gathering for 2014, my son John brought a bottle of the New Belgium Lips of Faith Series, Salted Belgian Chocolate Stout. It was a nice combination: the sweet smoothness of a typical Belgian, balanced by the silky body brought on by the chocolate. A little lighter than you might expect from a stout, more like a porter; but what's in a name? There's also some coffee notes in the mix, as well as some dark fruit, especially black cherries.

Delerium Noël Belgian Ale

From the Brouwerij Huyghe (I have no idea how to pronounce that, but I think it's Flemish) in Belgium, most famous for their trippel, Delerium Tremens and Delerium Nocturmum, a Belgian dark ale, Delerium Noël, is their seasonal offering. Very smooth and sweet, with dark fruits: figs, black cherries and dates, as well as some apricot, apple and pear. A little bit of lemon zest as well. I'd characterize it as a quadrupel, although they don't use that term on their website. Definitely a sippin' beer even if there's not much alcohol heat despite the 10% ABV. A great addition to holiday gatherings.

Scotch Ale - Newcastle/Caledonia Brewery

This scotch ale is a collaboration between Newcastle, famous for their brown ale and Caledonia Brewing Company out of Edinburgh.

The ale poured a dark amber with a quickly receding three-finger head. There's a little smokiness, but not as much as one might expect from a scotch ale. Not too bad if you set the bar low.

Zipline Black IPA

Limited edition; get 'em while they last. This beer is a prime example of my adage: "Dark is just a color". Although Zipline Black IPA pours a black blacker than the blackest black, it isn't heavy, it's nothing that all of you dark beer haters out there think of when you think "dark beer". It's an India Pale Ale that forgot to use its sunscreen is what it is. I'm not detecting any coffee or chocolate or roasted malts or any of that dark beer stuff. Just some nice piney hops, a little bit of grapefruit, a hint of heat from the 8% ABV and just a damn good IPA that will put hair on your chest...or maybe take it off for the more hirsute among us. Slainte!

Goose Island Festivity Ale

Called Christmas Ale in year's past and Sixth Day Ale last year, Goose Island's holiday offering is usually a brown ale with some spices, and this year is no exception. I'll provide links to previous year's reviews below. Festivity Ale pours the color of dark brown sugar, and indeed there is some brown sugar and maple in the mix, along with cinnamon and nutmeg and some fig, raisin and black cerry as well. I believe that the recipe vcame out just right this year. The perfect winter warmer in my not-so-humble opinion.

2013:
http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/11/goose-island-sixth-day-festive-brown-ale.html

2012:
http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2012/11/goose-island-2012-christmas-ale.html

2011:
http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2011/12/goose-island-christmas-ale-2011.html

Deschutes Obsidian Stout

Found this little beauty in the orphaned beer section of The Still yesterday. I've tried a few Deschutes beer this year, including their Black Butte Porter. Obsidian pours a deep, deep chocolate, almost, but not quite, black, with a frothy three-finger head. Chocolate/coffee aroma right off the bat, and a bit of black pepper on the backbeat. Roasted malt and some milky sweetness round it all out. This is an A-1 stout...an 8.5 out of 10 on the IGB scale.

Shock Top Shockolate Wheat

AB continues to do well by their "cool" brand after an abortive attempt at pseudo-craft beers under the Michelob banner about ten years ago. While flavored beers are not at the top of my list, I can get behind them during the season that is bounded by Thanksgiving & Yule. Winter warmers, spice beers, chocolate ales, you name it - this is the time of year for such ale-imals. Shockolate Wheat poured a deep brown with chocolate and and even more so, vanilla, the predominant tastes. Hard to tell whether it's a wheat or not, or even detect the Belgian-ness in there, but I'm willing to cut it some slack! Surprisingly high on the IGB Beer-o-Meter: 7.5...

Anchor Winter Wheat

Typically, when you think of a wheat beer, the image is of a refreshing summer ale, light in color and mouthfeel, maybe with some coriander or lemon thrown in for good measure. Anchor's new winter brew is a wheaty version of the seasonal winter warmer. For the most part, the style is a dunkelweizen, i.e. dark wheat, with lots of depth and complexity. The top notes are coffee and pepper, A hint, but no more than a hint, of chocolate. The heaviness could almost cause one to mistake it for a porter, partially due to the rich chocolate hue and thick brown head. If you're a winter warmer guy or gal, try this one. Now...really...now!

The Carhartt Woodsman: Barrel-Aged Pale Ale

The new kid on the beer block does it again. The Carhartt Woodsman is a barrel-aged pale ale. Pouring an apricot hue with a thin lacy white head, this ale gives you a snoot full of hops before it ever touches your tongue. The ABV is fairly low at 4.4% (maybe why it's a pale ale and not an IPA) but it's very hoppy-seeming, although the IBU's are about 33. The oak from the barrel aging is not particularly evident at first, but as it warms up, you can detect its subtle effect. This is a pretty good beer...7.8 on the IGB scale

Modern Monks Pumpkin Bomb Pumpkin Pie Ale

Modern Monks, a fine Lincoln brewery associated with Misty's Steakhouse here in Lincoln has been flying under the radar beer-wise. Mainly due to being available for so long only in the restaurants. With the cans now being available in fine liquor and grocery stores (and those not-so-fine as well) for some time now. Modern Monks is marching into the spotlight. It seems to me that the best pumpkin ales out there have vanilla in the recipe somewhere. Autumn Bomb has some roasted pumpkin, spices as well as molasses and vanilla. The vanilla gives it a creamy smoothness, while the molasses adds a heavy sweetness that makes it perfect for cool evenings around Samhain.

Boulevard Entwined Ale

Entwined Ale is one of those experimental beers that brewmasters like to play with. Muscat grape juice mixed with pale malt; it came out looking like a pear or white grape juice with a small white head. It tastes kind of like a dry white wine. It doesn't appear to have any hops in it and is assigned an IBU number of 6.9 - a number that I have never seen before. As exotic and different as Entwined is, it is pretty light and refreshing and quite different than what I imagined.

Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata Ale & Gingerbread Spiced Ale

We're not to Halloween yet and already the Christmas beers are out! These are a pretty decent brews - I normally stay away from the flavored beers, but these is a great ones to have on hand for the holidays. The Cinnamon Horchata tastes very similar to a Rumchata and the Gingerbread is a typical spiced Christmas ale. I'd recommend having some in the fridge for family gatherings.

Lakefront Brewery's Imperial Pumpkin (Aged in Brandy Barrels)

When I picked out this beer I was just looking for a new, previously-untried pumpkin ale and didn't noticed until I opened it that it was aged in brandy barrels, as was the beer I last reviewed. Before I even get rolling, I have to announce that Lakefront Imperial Pumpkin has dethroned Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin as my favorite pumpkin ale. Wow! This is some good stuff! Pours a autumny cinnamon hue with an all-but-invisible head. The mouthfeel is very creamy, with the various spices, pumpkin flavor, cinnamon and brandy overtones all vying for attention. the 8% ABV combines nicely with the brandy flavor to supply a wonderful warmth that makes this an incredibly apt choice for the cool Fall nights.

Empyrean Big Old Red Ale (Aged in Brandy Barrels)

Brilliant! Bottling the Carpe Brewem limited addition ales was a stroke of genius. Big Old Red pours a frothy (I mean frothy, dude) ruby tinged amber with a gigantic head. Very sweet, with black cherry and apricot predominating, with perhaps a little fig and caramel. This brew was aged in brandy barrels, so the alcohol heat from the 8% ABV combines with the brandy notes to provide a smooth, yet smoky finish. There's a 44 IBU hop hit in the mix as well, tarting things up, while being nicely balanced. It reminds me in some respects of a Belgian Dubbel. Carbonation is very high, the beer spilled over even after setting quietly in the fridge for several hours. Overall a good choice for a nightcap!

Guinness Blonde - American Lager

Weird. That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw this on the shelf today. Granted, Guinness couldn't live forever as a one-hit wonder; they've done alright with the black lager, even if it did scare off the ignorant who "don't like dark beer" (because "dark" is a flavor....right?) and the Harvest Red from last year. But really, what's the point of a Guinness lager? That being said, not a bad beer. It's in the Vienna style (think Sam Adams Boston Lager, Yuegling or Modelo) so it's not very hoppy, but smooth and a little sweet. Really, nothing special here though. Marketing...branding...

Weyerbacher Nineteen

For the past nine years Weyerbacher has produced a limited run beer in honor of their anniversary. I missed ten through thirteen, but have reviewed them all since (links will be provided below). This year, the nineteenth anniversary is celebrated with a mango wheat beer. There's lots of mango in nineteen (XIX) - you can smell it as soon as you pop the top, and the flavor is very strong and sweet. It pours a cloudy apricot hue, with a porous three finger head that quickly recedes to some lacing. The mango tends to overwhelm any subtlety that the wheat might have provided, but if you're patient, it comes through. Medium hoppiness, tart - but very refreshing; but beware that 10% ABV!

http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2010/05/weyerbacher-fourteen-special-dark.html

http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2010/10/beer-review-weyerbacher-15.html

http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2011/07/beer-review-weyerbacher-sixteen-dark.html

http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2012/09/weyerbacher-seventeen.html

http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/08/weyerbacher-eighteen-weizenbock.html

Ichabod Pumpkin Ale by New Holland

One of the better and more interesting brewers new to the Lincoln market, New Holland has impressed me so far; and the pumpkin ale is no exception. Many of the pumpkin ales out there are heavy on the spices: the nutmeg and cinnamon and taste like a cheap pumpkin pie that you might get as part of a McDonald's Happy Meal. Ichabod is lighter on the spices than most, but could be a little heavier on actual pumpkin flavor to be a true classic in the Autumn beer category.

Wasatch Pumpkin Ale

Pours a dark orange unfiltered, with cinnamon and cloves. The pumpkin is a bit understated, which adds to the drinkability. There's also hints of cocoa and coffee as well. Low hop profile, heavy on the maltiness. Little bit of vanilla as it warms up. One of the best pumpkin ales out there in the opinion of Ill-Gotten Booty.

Beer Review: Sierra Nevada Tumbler

Not billed as an Oktoberfest, but appropriate to the season for sure, Sierra Nevada Tumbler is described an an Autumn Brown Ale. It poured with a thick, three-fingered head, deep brown with reddish highlights in hue. Deep, rich taste, with chocolate and coffee high in the mix. Some sweetness, and a hop presence, but not terribly overwhelming. Hmmm...even some almonds in the taste palate!

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

I was thinking the other day, after picking up the Sierra Nevada Autumn variety pack, that I often focus on the seasonal and specialty beers and rarely review a brewery's "flagship" offerings. That was precisely the case with Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. I have had this pale ale on numerous occasions,  but, perhaps due to it's ubiquity, I never saw the need to feature it in Ill-Gotten Booty Beer Reviews. This classic ale pours a deep amber with a fluffy white head. Lightly carbonated, with just the right amount of hops. Both grapefruit and pine notes compete and there are some floral and citrus aromas floating just within reach of the olfactory nerves. This is indeed a classic, and a beer where you truly can't go wrong, as much a cliche that that is. So many beers these days are piling on the hops and flying right past the pale ale right into IPA's, or calling what should be a pale ale an IPA, it's refreshing  to see a good ol' pale ale still as popular as it is...and so delicious!

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest

Pours a deep copper color with a thick two-finger head. Aroma of caramel and toffee as the beer is poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass. Bready flavor, mixed with faint roasted chestnut. Not as sweet as a lot of Märzens out there. Like most good Oktoberfests, a great beer to enjoy on a cool Autumn evening.

Leinenkugel's Old fashioned Shandy

Not impressed. That is all

Leinenkugel's Harvest Patch Shandy

Poured dark orange hue with not much of a head, just like the Cranberry Ginger Shandy, but this one has much, much more flavor. It's not a pumpkin ale - at least I haven't seen any mention of pumpkin on their website or in any press releases - but with the cloves, nutmeg and allspice, it tastes like pumpkin pie! Go figure. Highly carbonated, which helps give it a refreshing kick. The spices scream "Autumn!" with every sip.

Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager

Sierra Nevada...one of those breweries with which you can't go wrong. I spotted their Vienna Style Lager in the Fall variety pack. Since I had never heard of the style before, I was curious. According to my research, I found that despite the style is uncommon in Europe these days, but is popular in North America, where it is sometimes referred to as "Pre-Prohibition Style Lager". Sam Adams Boston Lager and Yuengling are all well-known examples of the style. Dos Equis and Negra Modelo are Mexican beers in this style and can trace their origins to Austrian immigrant brewers in the 1800's. Sierra Nevada's version of the style pours a coppery amber, with an off-white head that doesn't get above a finger and a half. It's heavily carbonated, with a sweet, caramel tinged quality. I detect some fresh-baked bread, a little toffee and some unidentified spices. At 5.3% ABV it would be easy to have more than one. Highly recommended from IGB Central.

Leinenkugel's Cranberry Ginger Shandy

Poured a dark orange hue with a four-finger head that faded fairly quickly. The cranberries are there, but not overwhelming, and the ginger has a bite, but not obvious. More of a novelty and part of a strategy to hold onto or grab some extra market share than a go-to beer. Should appeal to the shandy aficionados out there, but not really enough cranberry to supplant Lindeman's Cassis Lambic  on my Thanksgiving dinner table.

Leinenkugel's Fall Shandy Sampler Pack

It used to be that shandies (or radlers as they are sometimes known) were summer beers. In simplest terms, a shandy is beer mixed with soda. Traditionally it was lemon-flavored soda, but often in the U.S. lemonade is used instead. With the huge popularity of Leinie's Summer Shandy, followed by their Orange Shandy, they have decided to extend the Shandy season by bringing out the Fall Shandy Sampler which includes Old Fashioned Shandy, Cranberry Ginger Shandy and Harvest Patch Shandy. Reviews to follow.

Full Circle Kölsch

If you all remember your beer style lessons, you''ll recall that a Kölsch is a beer style originating in Köln (Cologne) Germany - a hybrid of ale and lager styles - brewed with top fermenting yeast, making it an ale, but lagered, i.e. set aside to cool and age, which you do with lagers. Technically it's a Kölsch-style, since you have to be brewing in Köln to call your ale a Kölsch. 

Full Circle pours a cloudy, very carbonated, golden hue, with a short white head. There's subtle aromas and tastes of pear, white grape and honey. It's pretty light, so it's a good fit for the still-hot days of late August, early September. Not bad.

Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout

Yes, yes, I know it's not the correct season for Ill-Gotten Booty to be drinking stouts, let alone Imperial stouts, and forget about Bourbon barrel Imperial stouts...but I was so intrigued by the new offering on the shelf that I had to pick up a four-pack.

Pours a really, really, really, deep brown, almost black that just sucks up the light with an invisible head. The bourbon comes through even before the first sip, as the aroma tantalizes the olfactory nerves. The name suggests that it might be a milk stout, a.k.a. a sweet stout, and it certainly has a creamy sweetness to it, as well as some nice vanilla notes. There is just a smidgen of chocolate and coffee, but not much, although I'm catching some dark fruits (fig, date, raisin) as it warms up. The consistency is a bit thin, but the taste isn't. Please sir, may I have another?

The Ogden Belgian Style Tripel by Goose Island

The name comes from William Ogden, who opened Chicago's first brewery, the beer is part of Goose Island's "Imperial Series", the style is a Belgian Tripel. The Ogden pours a hazy gold, with a frothy white, three-finger head. Citrus aromas tickle the nostrils right off. Some pepper, honey and a little coriander. It's not as whiskey-maple-syrup smooth and dark as I've come to expect from Belgian Tripels and even dubbels, but a little research showed me that golden is the traditional color of the style. The IBU level is 35, about what you'd expect from a pale ale and the ABV is 9%, right in the money for a tripel. This is as smooth, light and delicious as Goose Island premium brews usually are. You won't be disappointed. 8.75 on the IGB scale!

Sam Adams Harvest Saison

Part of the 2014 Harvest Collection, Harvest Saison pours a delightfully hazy ripe pineapple hue with an short eggshell colored head. Sweet to the taste, made with barley, oats, rye and wheat, this saison delivers on the Belgian style very well. Banana, bubble gum, pineapple and pear all vie for the attention of the taste buds. Similar in some respects to a hefeweizen, or even a dunkelweizen (sans the dark color of course) but with a character all its own. Great addition to the annual Harvest Collection.

Ad Astra Ale by Free State Brewing

Pours a coppery bronze color with a teensy little beige head. Getting some toast with the first few sips. Some honey and peppery notes as well. Just a hint of peach on the back of the tongue as it warms up. Not a bad autumn brew...even though it is freakin' hot outside!

New Belgium Abbey

First of all, I can't believe that I have never had one of these before. I've tried many different varieties of New Belgium brews and reviewed most of them, but somehow missed Abbey. Billed as a Belgian Dubbel, Abbey pours a deep mahogany with ruby highlights, with a  tan, one-finger head. malty sweetness, with a symphony of dark fruits: raisins, figs, plums, black cherries and dates. Lots of maltiness and even some subtle piney hops hiding out behind the scenes. Great representative of the style.

New Belgium Tour de Fall Pale Ale

Pours a coppery amber color, with a beige three-finger head. Clear, with no sediment apparent. Bready taste right off the bat, with some floral notes floating around waiting to be discovered. Hops are fairly mild, with none of the obvious pine or grapefruit that you sometimes get, balanced nicely with the malty caramel sweetness. One thing that I've noticed about New Belgium is that they don't just beat one style to death, or tart their beers up with exotic flavorings (usually!) but just make good solid brews. I've reviewed several of their pale ales in this space and they're all a little different, starting four years ago with Mighty Arrow. Tour de Fall is a keeper...have another one on me.

Modern Monks Fox Hole Pivo

Fox Hole is a bar in Wilbur, Nebraska and pivo is Czech for beer. Pouring a clear pale golden hue with a towering four-finger head that quickly recedes to one finger, this Modern Monks creation is billed as a Bohemian style pilsner. However it's not as hoppy as I'd expect a pilsner to be; more like a Kölsch if I had to hang a label on it. The under 4% ABV makes it very easy to drink more than one, but really, the taste is smooth almost to the point of blandness. Nice try though.

Beer Styles

When I first started getting interested in craft beers and micro-brews a few years ago, I focused a lot on the differences and similarities among the different beer styles. I did research on the internet and at the library, collecting various charts and beer "family trees", trying to make sense out of the traits that defined each style. And since we don't have a reinheitsgebot here in the U.S. (or anywhere other than Germany for that matter) brewers can pretty much call a beer whatever they damn well please! While it appears to me that in the early days of American craft brewing, brew masters attempting to brew "true to style", whether that meant a traditional or regional style, or a resurrected  type of beer that had long disappeared. As more an more micro-brews sprung up, engendering more and more competition (as well as other market forces) naturally we saw more innovation with a bewildering array of beers flooding the market. the counterpoint to the huge number of beers and breweries we saw that certain beer styles had a coolness factor that couldn't be ignored. One of these was the IPA. IPA stands for India Pale Ale, a designation given during Britain's colonial days to beers that had to stand up to the long trip by ship to India, necessitating a lot of hops and a lot of alcohol, both which served to act as preservatives. (Some research indicates that this may be a myth, however)

Within the modern brewing community, "IPA" became synonymous with "really hoppy" and many breweries designated their hoppiest beer as an IPA. This resulted in a wide variance in IBU's (International Bittering Unit - a measurement of hop derived bitterness) from brewer to brewer and region to region, with the Pacific Northwest gaining a reputation for being a center for hoppy beers.

With the popularity of IPA's has come the phenomena of branding anything that is even slightly hoppy as an IPA. You have your Black IPA's, Red IPA's, Belgian or White IPA's, Rye IPA's ad infinitum. There is some disagreement among the craft beer community about whether or not this is a good thing. If you are one who believes that craft brewing is a sacred calling that should be outside the realm of crass commercialism, then sure, it's bad. But if you recognizer that it's a business like any other, you see that "IPA" has become shorthand for "hoppy" and leave it at that.

Another appellation that has achieved critical mass is the term "Imperial". Originally used only as part of the style Imperial Russian Stout, a specific style of stout that received its name due to it being brewed in  England for the Russian Czars,"'Imperial" has come to mean "a really large amount of alcohol" when appended to an existing beer style, like "Imperial Porter", or "Imperial Amber".

The bottom line is that what a brewery calls its beer may or not be a helpful description of what is actually in the bottle. Read beer reviews, sample when possible and do your research. there's a lot great beer out there!

Tommyknocker Pick Axe IPA

Quite a bit lower on the IBU scale than IPA and A Half, but the hop bitterness seems more biting than that 80+ IBU beer. Pick Axe was formerly named Pick Axe Pale Ale, but it seems anything that's not a porter or a stout gets called an IPA these days. Pick Axe pours a light copper color, with a small, one-finger head. Piney character to the hops, with some pineapple and mango rounding things out. Pretty decent brew, although I'd still call it a pale ale!

Tommyknocker IPA & A Half

To any and all IGB fans out there, I apologize for no beer reviews for the last six weeks. I invested in the last of the Boss Tom's Golden Bock, so I wasn't doing much experimentation. And anyone who has found themselves de-friended from Facebook, it's nothing personal and I'll explain in person!

Well, after all of that I decided to visit my go-to beer store today and came across this little jewel in the seasonal/mixed 6 door. Check it out: 87 IBU with a 7.3% ABV. Nice.

IPA & A Half pours a hazy apricot hue with a fluffy white three-finger head. Very hoppy, with grapefruity hops predominating, balanced well with some tropical fruit sweetness, and maybe some honey overtones. Despite the high IBU, the hops does not overwhelm and, unlike some super-hopped IPA's and double and imperial IPA's, there's no sense that the hops are "too much". I'd give this an IGB rating of 8/10. Enjoy!

Stiegl Grapefruit Radler

From the Stiegl Brewery in Vienna, Austria, this Radler eschews the traditional lemonade for grapefruit juice. Pretty refreshing and summery but the grapefruit really overwhelms any beeriness. Worth it if for nothing more than the novelty factor.

Big Sky Brewing Pygmy Owl "Itty Bitty IPA"

On the theme of "brewers can call a beer anything that they want to", here we have an IPA that weighs in at 30 IBU's...I'll get into the taste here in a  moment, but I would expect anything called an IPA to have at least 40 IBU's, and that's on the low end. Call it a pale ale and be done with it...but that's marketing for you. And "sessionable" IPA's are this year's fad.

Now that my bitching is done, on to the beer itself. It pours a pale golden color with a two-finger snow-white head. There's some fruitiness evident, in particular pineapple and pear and a very light grapefruity hop profile. Other flavors making an appearance are lemon and orange peel, and maybe a little coriander. Overall, it's not bad, decent enough summer ale, but nothing to write home about.

Modern Monks Monkadelic Pale Ale

Giant sized head that swiftly recedes from five fingers to a meager coating over a brew the hue of amber waves of grain! A hoppy pale ale, with the hops biting playfully on the heels of apricot and lemon tinged flavors released by the magic of top-fermenting yeast! Not a bad addition to your summer grill-outs.

Sam Adams Longshot Winner: American Stout

The third of the Sam Adams Longshot Home Brewing contest winners is billed as an "American Stout". It poured a deep brown, almost black, with one of the "reverse waterfall" four-finger mud-colored heads. Lots of coffee and chocolate notes right up front. As it warms up a little, a suggestion of figs and dates float to the forefront. Very heavy, yet smooth and velvety. Too bad this is a one-off, I'd love a few of these in the Fall & Winter.

Sam Adams Longshot Winner: Grätzer

Another beer style that I had previously not heard of. This is a Polish beer style where the malt comes from oak-smoked wheat. Grätzer pours a pineapple-yellow with a scant white head. The smokiness is evident immediately, but is balanced nicely by the wheat and what tastes like a Belgian style Wit. I'm not usually a seeker of smoked beers, but this isn't too bad. I might recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried smoked ales before as an introduction. Nice job on this one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A4tzer

Sam Adams Longshot Contest Winner: Pineapple IPA

Pours a honey gold (dare I say "pineapple"?) hue with a one-finger off-white head. The hops bites right off the bat, a piney variety that balances the pineapple nicely, although the pineapple imparts more sweetness than actual pineapple flavor. Kind of an oily aftertaste on the down side, but some caramel notes on the positive side. I don't think it lives up to its label.

Goose Island Endless IPA

Since there isn't any law, like the German Beer Purity Laws, to govern how brewers describe their offerings, you can call a beer anything you want to. With the proliferation of so-called sessionable IPA's, my point is illustrated. 35 IBU's is hardly in the India Pale Ale category in my estimation (there regular IPA clocks in at 55 IBU's) but more like a pale ale. Despite the ambiguity of the name, it's not a bad beer. Crisply refreshing, with a surprising hop bite, with an almost minty character, rather than the more common grapefruit or pine notes. Some citrus: orange and lemon peel. Overall, worth a try, it just doesn't live up to the label.

Anchor Brewing India Pale Ale

You can't go wrong with a beer from San Francisco's Anchor Brewing. I could almost leave it at that...but I won't! Anchor's IPA pours the color of maple syrup, with a beige two-finger head and immediate hop aromas cuddling your nostrils. There's a creamy consistency to it, with a combination of different types of hops - both grapefruity and piney, with hints of apple, pear and even a little honey. IPA's tend to run the gamut from astringent to smooth, Anchor falls somewhere in the middle. Very exciting ale for the discerning IGB reader.

New Belgium Summer Helles Lager

Pours a crystal clear pale yellow that you could read a newspaper through, with a frothy white head. It's a nice, refreshing, drinkable lager. Drinking so many ales I sometimes forget that lagers are not supposed to be as complex, and I have to reset my expectations. Billed as a Munich-style Helles (helles means "light", as opposed to dunkel = "dark"). There's some roasted grain and bread notes and a teeny-tiny bit of floral character. Not very interesting, but it tastes pretty good.

Lucky Bucket Belly Flop Strawberry Blonde Ale

If you're a fan of fruit beers, this is a pretty good one. Looks like an unfiltered wheat, but it's hard to tell if it's a wheat or not, what with the strawberry flavor really dominating. It is pretty cool and refreshing though...not a bad summer brew.