Shiner Bock

Brewed By: Spoetzl Brewery

Style: Bock

ABV: 4.4%

IBU: 13

Since 1909, The Shiner Brewing Association has been providing Texas, and now other places, with their beer. Not too long after their founding, Shiner Bock (1913) made its first appearance. The following year, Kosmos Spoetzl was brought in as brewmaster as changed the brewery into the successful business that it is now. He was the head of the company for 36 years. Anyhow…..enough about the company. If you have further interest, the Shiner website is very informational and can be found here: www.shiner.com

I used to love Shiner Bock. It was my go to beer back when I didn’t really drink that much beer, so I was looking forward to reviewing it now and seeing how different my tastes had become. There is a plethora of interesting information about Shiner Bock to be found on the world wide web; people complaining about it not being true to the style, differing opinions on whether it’s a worthwhile beer or not, and varying opinions on the ingredients. So lets check it out!

Look – It poured a reddish brown, almost copper with about a finger width of light tan head that dissipated rather quickly.

Smell – Not much to talk about. I smell yeast and a little bit of some sort of malt. No hop smell at all.

Taste – So much yeast taste! It wasn’t until I did some research that I found they remove the yeast they use during the fermentation process and add a bottling yeast right before bottling. So that explains that. There is hardly any hop taste, there is no alcohol taste (with an ABV of 4.4%, I guess I’m not surprised), but there is a slight dark malt flavor. I will say that Shiner Bock is very crisp and refreshing. It has a light body and a very clean taste to it. It might be a little over carbonated, but then again, it might not be as crisp as it is if that aspect was changed. I was enjoying a pizza while drinking this beer and they went together very nicely.

Conclusion – I keep going back and forth on whether or not I liked this beer, even as I write this blog I flip back and forth. On the one hand, its has a very poor flavor, but on the other hand, it’s refreshing and I could easily see myself sitting outside on a nice summer day, grilling some burgers and drinking this beer. I remember seeing ads on T.V. of people jogging and then grabbing some light beer (Miller Lite maybe?) and thinking that no one would ever do that. After revisiting this beer though, I feel like it would be a good use for this low alcohol content beer because it is so crisp!

I will say that the taste is not worth it, but the drinkability and feel of it are.

I will grant this beer a C+

Go out and grab a six pack of it this summer though for sure!

Happy Drinking!

Schlafly Coffee Stout

Brewed By: St. Louis Brewery

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 30

The St. Louis Brewery has been brewing for about 20 years now and was the first brewery to open in St. Louis after Prohibition ended. This Oatmeal stout was combined with Kaldi’s coffee to create its unique flavor and aroma (Kaldi’s coffee is a St. Louis based coffee roasting company). I will say that Oatmeal stouts are generally very low on the stout totem pole for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by this brew. I was not very impressed by the last coffee stout that I had either (see previous review), so I was already hoping for something a little better.

Look - It poured a near black/dark brown with a half finger width of light tan head sitting on top of it. The head did stick around for a good while as well.

Smell – Has a VERY strong coffee smell. If I was blindfolded and forced to smell a cup of cold coffee and this beer, I don’t know that I would be able to tell much difference. There is a slight hop aroma, but those coffee notes overshadow most of it. Also a decent chocolate and malt smell.

Taste – Well….I can say that it doesn’t differ much from the smell, which is good because I love coffee. I could ALMOST see myself waking up in the morning and having one of these before heading off to work, but alas, my employer would not like that. Despite the strong coffee taste, there was a decent amount of bitterness from the Marynka hops, which have a high content of bitterness substances. It was still a very refreshing taste and was decently light on the tongue for having so much of a flavor profile. I think part of that is that it might have been a little overcarbonated, so it didn’t sit very heavily on the palate. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much of an aftertaste to this beer.

My food choices tonight were chocolate based to see if the complex chocolate taste would downplay the taste of the beer. With the mint chocolate chip ice cream (yes, beer and ice cream), it tasted really good still. It didn’t actually change that much when paired up. Then I went to straight chocolate, Dove chocolate to be exact; yet again, not a whole of change in the flavor of the beer. The chocolate based actually really complimented the coffee and chocolate flavor of the beer.

Conclusion – For an Oatmeal stout, I was pleasantly surprised. If you are not a fan of coffee, you will not like this beer and will hate everything I have said about it. It had a decent body, strong aromas, and quite a coffee taste. It’s the only beer I have tried from this brewery, but I am definitely going to look into trying some more. You should pick up a bottle or two of this brew to enjoy in the morning….or whenever you want.

I give this beer a B+ (I try to reserve my A’s for exceptional beers)

This brewery also has free tours. So if anyone wants to go to St. Louis….TAKE ME!

Happy Drinking!

Clay County Coffee Stout

Brewed By: Bee Creek Brewery

Style: American Stout

ABV: 6%

I always like trying local beers; supporting local breweries and businesses in general is just good for your surrounding economy. So when I noticed that this brewery was located in Brazil, IN, I had to pick up a beer to review.

The Bee Creek Brewery was started in 2007 and continues to be a family owned and run business. Mark Snelling is the Brewmaster and has over 25 years of brewing experience. As of right now, they have 3 beers that they brew with ingredients from right here in Indiana. I chose the Clay County Coffee Stout to review first.

Brewer’s Description: “A dark, rich beer brewed with roasted malts and combined with Brazil Santos Coffee (from Jameson in Greencastle). Expect a full-bodied beer with a sumptuous coffee aroma topped only by it's opulent flavor.”

Look – Poured a dark brown, near black. Very little head that dissipated rather quickly.

Smell – Wonderful aromas coming from this beer. There was a strong coffee smell, very similar to just smelling a cup of coffee. There is also a strong chocolate aroma and a very faint hop smell.

Taste – I was pretty disappointed by the taste overall. The first thing I noticed was how light the body was (in contrast to the brewer’s description). It almost tasted like it was much too watery. A lot of the taste is very front-end and doesn’t stick around. I do taste a decent amount of hops but am otherwise disappointed by how little chocolate and coffee taste there is. As always, I tried this beer while eating some food; today’s food being popcorn. I will say that with the popcorn improved the taste a little and brought out a little more of the chocolate and hop taste. It’s a rather easy beer to drink because of the light body, but just doesn’t provide any complexity in its taste.

Conclusion – Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this beer. The smell made me think it was going to be a high quality beer but it didn’t end up meeting that expectation. I was very surprised by how light the body was and how very little taste it had. The beer also tasted kind of flat.

I am giving this beer a C-

I am sad that I didn’t enjoy this beer more because I would have loved to find an awesome local brewery that I could tour and review. I might still visit the brewery and try their other beers because every brewery deserves a second chance!

Support your local breweries!

Happy Drinking!

Marathon Lager

Brewed by: Athenian Brewery

Style: American Adjunct Lager

ABV: 5%

IBU: 17.5

On a lonely street in Anderson, Indiana sits a Mediterranean restaurant called, “The Nile.” You might assume it is an Egyptian restaurant from the name and the Egyptian decorations that adorn the entire inside of the restaurant (see picture); however, it is primarily a Greek restaurant. So I of course had to find a Greek beer to review while eating Greek food. Marathon was my choice.

The Athenian Brewery has been brewing Marathon Lager since 1971. I won’t go into why it’s called Marathon because that’s an obvious association. So lets jump right into the beer itself.

Look – Pours a translucent golden color with about a half finger width of white foamy head that dissipated rather quickly. It was clearly very carbonated because there were a ton of bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass.

Smell – It amazes me how similar the smells are when you have two beers that are the same style. This fits right in with most other American adjunct lagers but does present a slightly fruity smell as well. From just the smell alone, it doesn’t appear that hops will be very present in the taste.

Taste – The initial taste of the beer was somewhat surprising. It had a high malt taste that was very smooth and sweet. It also tasted very yeasty on the front end. It’s a very easily drinkable beer as you would expect because of the very light body that comes along with this style. I was eating Saganaki while first drinking this beer and was surprised at how little the beer taste actually changed with such a complex food taste. The malt and yeast is kind of pushed out but the beer keeps the same character. Interestingly, while I was enjoying a Falafel, the malt and yeast taste reappeared and remained prevalent through the glass. My conclusion on pairing this with food is that the beer remains pretty steady through different kinds of food so don’t be afraid to have this beer with whatever is for dinner.

Conclusion – As far as Adjunct Lagers go, I enjoy this one. The malt flavor is sweet and creates a very smooth feeling in the mouth. Unfortunately, it is still an adjunct lager and well below par of what I would consider a “good” beer. I look forward to trying other foreign attempts at American adjunct lagers and seeing if all of them are better than cheap American beers!

I am going to give this beer a C-

On a very important side note: Beer and olives DO NOT go well together. If you know of a beer that does, please fill me in because this one didn’t work. Also, if you happen to read Greek: http://www.athenianbrewery.gr/

I have to go play Fallout 3 now.

Happy Drinking!

Old No. 38 Stout

Brewed by: North Coast Brewing Company

Style: Dublin Dry Stout

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 53

I would like to say that I am always pleased by what North Coast Brewing has to offer. They consistently show that they know how to make a good beer and this one is no exception.

The Old No. 38 Stout is identified as a Dublin Dry Stout. The reason that Dublin is before the type is simply because dry stouts were traditionally made in Ireland. In fact, an Irish stout is interchangeable with the term Dry Stout. The big name in this style of beer is of course Guiness….but Guiness also sucks, unlike this beer!

As you might be able to tell from the bottle, the Old No. 38 is named after a steam engine that used to run on a track through the Redwoods. Fort Bragg was on the line and that is where North Coast is located. In fact, you can still take train rides down the line and while you’re there, you might as well hop into the brewery for a few samples!

On to the beer!

Look – The brewery calls the color of the pour “Onyx.” I can’t really agree with that. It poured more of a very deep, dark brown. In the right light, I could see through the glass, which is definitely not Onyx. The light tan head was fairly thick and once it dissipated, a very thin head continued to sit on top of the beer for most of the drinking.

Smell – There was a very heavy chocolate smell right away with the expected coffee and roasted malt scents in there as well. As with most dry stouts, I couldn’t smell too much more than that.

Taste – Love the initial taste of this beer! Unfortunately, it doesn’t stick around for long and it leaves a rather dry aftertaste (though I guess that’s one way to get people to keep drinking). That first taste is strong with dark, roasted malts and barley and very light with the chocolate. It doesn’t taste very hoppy because the other flavors kind of take charge in the whole mix of things. I was eating pizza while drinking this one and found that food seemed to bring out the hops a lot with each drink. I think the beer goes great with food because it kept the taste interesting and brought out more aspects of the beer.

Conclusion – It’s a solid beer for sure. Good taste, good smell and a lot better than some other dry stouts that I’ve had. If you don’t like Guiness, you should definitely try this beer to give Irish stouts another chance.

I would give this beer a solid B

Thanks for reading, come back often!

Happy Drinking!

Finnegan's Irish Amber

Firstly, let me apologize for the very poor quality photo to the right. For some reason I lose my camera like its my job; if I were to get paid to lose my camera, I would own my own brewery at this point and not be trying to get you to come back and read my thoughts on beers.

Anyhow, lets continue.

Finnegans is a beer brewed by the Summit Brewing Company based in Minnesota. Coincidentally, you can only find this beer in the Minnesota area. The cool thing about Finnegans is that all profits of the sale of this beer go towards charity. You can read ALL about it at the Finnegans Website. You can even donate to the organization without drinking the beer (which might be a good option).

Lets talk beer.

Finnegans is brewed with potatoes (on a side note, I can never remember whether an 'e' goes in that word or not so I google searched it and still don't have a definitive answer) and three varieties of malts. Reading the descriptions of the beer as provided by the manufacturer is quite misleading because saying that this beer has a "complex malt character" is simply a lie. I will go ahead and throw "flavorfully rich" into that same category.

Look - It poured an opaque copper/amber color. It had VERY little head to it which didn't stick around for the party very long anyways. Appears to have a perfect amount of carbonation bubbling up.

Smell - Couldn't really smell the potatoes at all. Very little malt smell to it and almost no hop aroma. I am not one of those people that will be able to smell a beer and tell you that it appears to contain berries from the lush mouth of the Rhine River in Holland. My nose just doesn't work that way. So there's not much else to say about the smell other than it smelled remarkably similar to most American lagers that I have had.

Taste - I think the nice thing to do is make what some people call, "a compliment sandwich." Start with a compliment, then all the negative things, then end with a compliment. (I won't go into how logistically wrong the term compliment sandwich is....or maybe I will. Last time I had a sandwich, I called it a turkey sandwich because that was what was inside my two pieces of bread. So REALLY, its a "negativity sandwich with two slices of compliments." Which reminds me that I should correct everyone on creating a "Nathan sandwich." If there are two Nathan's standing on either side of a person, that is NOT a Nathan sandwich, we are both just slices of bread cut from the same Nathan loaf. If you want a Nathan sandwich, he must be in the middle).

Anyhow..... the beer does have a decently sweet taste to start that fades rather quickly into a slightly hoppy aftertaste. Once again to say that the beer has a complex malt character is a lie. There is a faint, very faint malty taste but it is quickly eviscerated by the dryness of the beer. I kept feeling as though I wanted to drink a glass of water. As will be my usual MO, I tried the beer with a couple foods to get a feel for how well it went with certain things. I felt like this beer was very similar to adjunct American lagers, which was my last review, so I figured I would try it with chocolate as well, however it did not turn out so well. Something about the richness of the chocolate made the beer almost tasteless. I say almost because I still got the malts and ALL of the dryness, which did not help the taste of the beer. So I scoured my cabinets for something else to eat and found some Pringles. BBQ if you're wondering. I will make this suggestion: DO NOT DRINK THIS BEER WITH ANY FOOD THAT HAS A LOT OF FLAVOR. After having a few Pringles, I tasted the beer and wanted to pour the rest down the sink. This beer is not one to be enjoyed with foods.

Conclusions: It's an okay beer, but nothing special. I love the fact that the proceeds go to charity to help those in need, but feel that I could make a difference in other ways and drink good beer while I'm at it. If you do want to try it and you find yourself in MN, I would suggest simply drinking the beer by itself and not trying to have dinner with it (it's not a very good date anyways).

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Happy Drinking!

Big Flats 1901 Lager

For my first beer to drink and review, I happened to choose the cheapest that I have ever seen! Walgreens recently started selling beer and wine and I happened to see a six pack of beer for $2.99, which I couldn’t pass up. It is apparently the Walgreens brand beer.

Big Flats 1901 Lager is brewed by Genesee Brewing Company from Rochester, NY. and it is officially an American Adjunct Lager (think of most cheap American beers and they probably fit into this category, with some exceptions). Anyone that knows anything about beer and is approaching this can, would be right to have reservations about its quality. Lets explore it together…..

Look - It poured a nice honey color with a finger width of white foamy head that dissipated VERY quickly. A good amount of carbonation bubbling from the bottom of the glass.

Smell – It had a somewhat sweet smell at first, starchy smell eventually. Definitely has the typical American Adjunct Lager smell to it (those of you who have smelled Miller, Coors, Bud, etc. would definitely recognize the smell). Not many important notes in this category.

Drinkability – It was a very easily drinkable beer of course. Finishing the whole sixer took very little time.

Taste – The very first drink was very surprising. It was flavorful, with hints of fruit, a very slight hopiness, and a very mild malt flavor. With each subsequent drink however, the tongue grew accustomed to the taste because of the beers severe lack of complexity. I was enjoying a tuna sandwich at the time and if anything, the tuna just accentuated the metallic taste of the beer. While eating chocolate, however, the beer provided a nice variance from the complexity and richness of chocolate. The simplicity of the beer is a nice compliment to foods with complexity in their flavors (it will be interesting to see if that is the case with other adjunct lagers).

The can has a proud slogan of, “It’s the water that makes it.” As most beer drinkers would agree, these adjunct lagers are very watery to begin with, so that statement is of course true. They seem to be proud of what is most likely the New York tap water that goes into this beer.

Conclusions: Drink while eating a complex food like chocolate. The more you can keep your taste buds guessing, the better the beer will be. The beer did make the movie, “The Other Guys” a little bit funnier than it already was as well.

For $2.99 for six beers, if you can stand to drink poorly made beer, I don’t think you’ll get a better value.

Subscribe! More beers to follow. Any suggestions and comments are more than welcome!