Odell - Red Ale (Seasonal)

      Odell's Red Ale is the perfect beer for any spring day and is an ale that lands close to my heart.  This is one of my favorite of the Odell Ales and is one that causes me to constantly harass my less beer inclined friends to buy it.  

      Review: This Red Ale offers a wonderful nose full of smells like lemon zest, earthy pine notes, and hints of banana and citrus.  The smell alone is enough reason to purchase this wonderful brew.  It has tastes similar to the smell but with the powerful backbone of earthy and malty flavors and a wonderful array of hop character.  This red ale sits on your tongue with a smooth and well balanced feel that keeps your mouth waiting for that next sip.  This is one of my favorites and is a beer that seems to make the moments I am drinking it memorable.  Odell's Red Ale is a beer that can bring beer enthusiasts and the average beer drinker that much closer and for that I salute Odell Brewing on this great brew.  Thanks and I cannot wait for the release of the Double Pilsner!

Cheers!

Rate Beer: 96
Beer Advocate: 90
My Rating: 98

Samuel Smith - Oatmeal Stout

Description/Background: Although this is not a Colorado brew I decided to pick it up anyway because I had been hearing more and more hype about it.  This is a brew out of Tadcaster, NorthYorkshire in England a brewery that was opened in 1758.  To this day the brewery still uses the same well water adding a distinct flavor and mouthfeel to all their beers.

Oatmeal Stout - In Review
Appearance: deep black with a almost reddish-plum hue.  The head on this beer was almost creamy and a great dark tan color.

Aroma: swwwweeeet, roasted, nutty, chocolate

Taste: smooth combination of roasted malts and oatmeal with hints of coffee and chocolate

Mouthfeel: smooth, creamy, an "easy to drink" feel of well balanced carbonation and sweetness

Overall: This beer is the easiest to drink stout I have had in a long time.  In the last month I have been drinking beers like Dogfish Head World Wide Stout and Avery's Mephistopheles which are two my personal favorites but also just happen to be some of the most intense stouts available.  While I still thoroughly enjoyed this Oatmeal Stout I was not as overly impressed and was surprised that it was rated so well by rate beer and beer advocate.  It is a very possible that from tasting so many intense stouts this one was just slightly overshadowed.

Rate Beer: 99
Beer Advocate: 94
My Rating: 90

On a side note: Happy belated vernal equinox.  Time to start drinking some spring time brews.  In the not to distant future I will be giving Fort Collins Brewery another try and hopefully review their sought after Maibock.

Cheers!

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Review

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - Description on bottle says "A very dark beer brewed with a ridiculous amount of barely." and you can taste the barely in every sip for this a beer you almost have to chew on.  This beer also clocks in at surprising 18% abv.


Appearance:  Black with a slight brown tint

Aroma: malt, alcohol, lots of coffee/roasted malts, licorice

Taste: roasted roasted roasted with a surprising amount of alcohol, sweet almost vanilla and dark fruit (such as plum) aftertaste

Mouthfeel: rich n' think, alcohol tingly, slight numbing of tongue

Overall: When drinking this beer I can only think one word and that is Wonderful.  Every sip earns a "yumm..." and some even earn a "sigh...".  This beer is simply something to behold, its tastes light up your mouth with so many flavors that every sip is a different experience.  The high alcohol content gives you a feeling of drinking scotch where each sip must be regulated because if you take a sip that is too large the alcohol content will take over a drown most of the other flavors.  While this beer is not for the light hearted or for the cheap ($10 for a 12 ounce bottle) it is well worth going out of your way just to experience the complex and magnificent flavor!

Rate Beer: 100
Beer Advocate: 91
My rating: 98

Similar color, drastically different flavor.

Belgian Yeti Great Divide Brewing

The Belgian Style Yeti from Great Divide gives insight into the use of alternative yeasts for a beer and how these yeasts create wonderful new flavors. When drinking this beer it leads one to experience classic Imperial Stout flavors such as rich, dry, and roasty flavors with a wonderful hint of spicy and fruit-like flavors that are imparted by the Belgian yeast. It poured a wonderful jet black almost brown color and produces long lasting head.  This beer should be tried by all beer lovers and easily makes it into my top 20 beers this year.  It is simply a great                    Great Divide brew.

Incredible Hop Black IPA

The Incredible Hop American Black IPA poured an amazing black color that was almost see through.  It initially had a great tan/brown head that unfortunately quickly faded and left something to be desired while drinking it.  The smell was fantastic having that great hop to malt balance that you want with any black IPA.  After seeing and  smelling it I could not wait to give it a taste... I however was greatly disappointed this beer has all the makings of a wonderful beer but the overpowering flavor was purely hop (cascade or a similar variety).  There were however some small hints of roasted chocolate with a slight fruity (orange) flavor. Overall this beer is drinkable but is not a beer that I would go out of my way to purchase unless I was in the mood for some cascade hops.  Even though I didn't enjoy this beer I am determined to find a Fort Collins Brewery beer that  I just can't stop drinking.