Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner

Pick up anything by Sierra Nevada and you won't be disappointed. Lately they've been coming out with some lager styles, like the Vienna Lager from a few months ago. There's a lot of pilsners out there (basically all the macro-brews are pilsner style lagers or their close cousins) but it takes a quality brewer to do it right. Nooner pours a light, bright, crystal clear straw color, with a fluffy white, three-finger head. Some subtle hop bitterness, on the piney side. There's some flowery notes along with some subdued citrus. Overall a fine beer to usher in the warmer weather.

Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock

Big Butt Doppelbock used to be one of my favorite beers back when I was an (almost) exclusively Leinenkugel guy, back before I really understood what darkness meant in a beer. In fact it was a guest's negative reaction to Big Butt that inspired me to keep some cheap beer in the fridge for undiscerning visitors. Big Butt was discontinued by Leinie's at an inopportune time: just when darker beers started becoming popular, discontinued before Ill-Gotten Booty started doing beer reviews.

Big Butt pours a reddish mahogany brown with a thin tan head. Low carbonation, medium hoppiness with an aroma and taste of figs, raisins, and apricots. Toffee and honey make an appearance as well. Pretty decent bock, although nothing "doppel" about it.

Shiner Birthday Beer Chocolate Stout

Happy 106th birthday to Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner Texas. To celebrate, they've brewed up a nice thick chocolate stout. It pours a deep, dark brown with some ruby highlights - you're hit immediately by the chocolate. It's brewed with cocoa nibs, so that's no surprise. A little too  much chocolate for my taste, but not so much that it makes for an unpleasant drinking experience. The mouthfeel and the underlying chocolate malt and coffee notes are all there, making it a good solid stout, despite the overkill on the chocolate. If you like chocolate egg creams, them you'll like this!

Zipline Kölsch

Zipline is a local Lincoln brewery that has been coming out with some top-notch beers these last few years. The newest is a Kölsch. Following is a link with some explanation about the style:











http://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2013/04/beer-styles-kolsch.html

This particular Kölsch is light and bright and really makes me think "summer", rather than winter...but maybe that's the magic: start drinking summer beers and winter will be over more quickly! The brew pours a hazy lemon hue, with a citrussy aroma. There's a little bit of mild honey in the flavor pallette, Low ABV at 4% makes it a good session beer, low bitterness makes it acceptable to the picky among us. But don't mistake this for a "lowest common denominator" beer. There's some depth and subtlty to Zipline Kölsch, that makes it worth a try...and then maybe another.

Rudie Session IPA

From the crazy guys from Ska Brewing, Rudie Session IPA is latest on the bandwagon of low ABV India Pale Ales. They call it "a beer you can have for breakfast", or a beer that you can drink while you're mowing the lawn. Lots of grapefruit hoppiness in the aroma and the taste but very little bitterness. Competing notes of pear and pineapple and...wow...even a little watermelon. Quite an interesting brew. I would recommend it and rate it an 8 on the IGB scale.

72 Imperial Chocolate Stout by Breckenridge

Yes my friends, according to the Ill-Gotten Booty calendar, it is time for stouts and porters, most especially sweet, or milk, stouts. 72 is a classic milk stout, the "imperial" indicating the higher alcohol content, appropriately 7.2%. 72 pours a deep chocolatey brown with a thick, tan, three-finger head that takes a loooong time to settle down. Lots of chocolate, very malty, with hints of dark toast and some coffee notes as well. Creamy consistency, almost like a chocolate shake. Well done, and a fine February 'fresher.

Jug Thumper Malty Brown Ale

From the LaVista Lucky Bucket brewery, Jug Thumper is a crowd pleaser, a good introductory beer for those who are afraid of "the dark". It pours a dark reddish-brown with a quickly disapating two-finger head. Subtle notes of coffee, caramel and chocolate, but not so much that it would drive off the lager drinkers. Good solid beer for the remaining cold months, and probably appropriate for Spring as well.