Firstly, from a Yakima perspective, Porters must be from Scotland. That, or no one really knows what Scottish Ale should taste like. Twin Stag “Scottish Ale” tastes nothing like any other Scottish Ale I’ve had. It does however taste like countless Porters I’ve had over the years. I guess Yakimaniacs dont get out much.

That being said, it is quite good. Smooth, malty, with hint of roastiness without having any bite. Like the other Yakima brew we recently tried, it definitely gets a thumbs up. If you’re in the mood for a good Porter, Twin Stag Scottish Ale is for you.

I generally make it a habit to avoid rating beer that I know before I drink it is going to be gross, but this beer(?) deserved mention. Samuel Smith Cherry Ale is a fun drink. Notice I didn’t call it beer. Is it? Tough to say, since it didn’t actually taste like it. In fact, it tasted almost exactly like our old college cheap drunk standby…Boones Farm.

For the uninitiated, Boones Farm is a drink that demonstrates what happens if you pour fruit juice into terrible wine. Because really, who likes wine in college? But everyone loves getting hammered on a fruity drink in a $3 wine bottle. And although the price is much higher, for our buddy Samuel Smith Cherry Ale, the effect is the same.

Its named after a monkey, so I’m sure you’re immediate thought was that it should be vaguely banana flavored. That wasn’t your thought? Well it should have been. It’s vaguely banana flavored!

In a good way mind you. It has that banana flavor that comes with a good Belgian style wheat beer, and I quite enjoyed adding this to my New Year liver attack Fest. Really, the only thing bad about this monkey was the font they used for the wrapper. If you should happen to find yourself in Yakima, I recommend picking some up.

Mmmmm banana. Thank god it didn’t taste like monkey.

Sure, many of the New Belgium beers taste nearly the same. For the true snob, this can be fun to poke fun at. But for the average joe (and also us), this is actually a really good thing. It means that no matter what New Belgium beer pops up in front of our gullet, we are likely to enjoy it on some level.

Snow Day is no different. It’s a “Winter Ale”, which is super vague and meaningless, but like so many of its predecessors, is quite tasty. It’s malty, but with a touch of hop, just to let you know they are in there. As is expected, it is a perfect ‘Easy Drinking’ beer in the New Belgium tradition, and a welcome addition to any cooler.

I really like the Nelson hop that Widmer uses in its Nelson IPA, so when I heard that they were using the same hop in their rotator IPA, I was excited to buy. Ha, jokes on me!

Even though they both advertise the Nelson hop as the main selling point, this IPA tastes nothing like the Nelson IPA. That being said, it is a good IPA, easily drinkable without any cottonmouth aftertaste.

You win this one Widmer.

Firstly, I would like to thank Jeff Hogan for the wonderful Xmas gift. Anytime someone buys you a special beer as a holiday gift, they are truly a special person.

As for the beer, as the title says above, that is one bourbony beer. While not quite as ‘punch your liver’ as Full Sail’s Black Gold, you can certainly taste the bourbon flavors. That being said, it is quite good. Assuming you stay sober long enough to make an accurate taste assessment. Barleywine blends + bourbon barrels = A happy Frosty who considers all his jokes hilarious. Also, dancing on tables.

No really, that’s even how they highlight it. Because, you’ve always wanted fruitcake flavor in a beer right?

Actually, I don’t quite know what to make of it. It’s good? It’s certainly not bad, and easily drinkable if it was given to you. They say it tastes better if you age it, but I didn’t want year old fruitcake.

I like Belgian beer. Or rather, I like good Belgian beer. I like it even better when it is free. So thanks Jeff! Even though it’s Canadian, La Fin Du Monde triple fermented ale is good. Or rather, as I initially pointed out, “Oh Yum”.

Note: After what is an un-trackable period, the website has magically reappeared on the internet. That being said, it’s time away caused it to lose every photo of beer the site once had. When reading old posts, I will leave it up to your imagination to picture what beer looks like.

One of the best things about living in San Diego during college, was the amazing proliferation of cheap Mexican beer. You know the stuff … watery, tangy when it shouldn’t be, its only saving grace being the large quantity of lime slices around. I mean you could drink a dozen of those before you realized the lady you were cuddling up with was actually a surly Tijuana bartender. And he was more than happy to keep pumping foolish high schoolers…uh, I mean college, yeah college students … full of overpriced beer-water.

But college is over. I’m old. My liver is particular, and I only drink those beers to reminisce what alcohol tasted like when I could eat 10 taco bell tacos in one sitting.

Now, however, I can get my reminiscing done with a $4 bottle of local craft brew. Cause by golly if this didn’t taste EXACTLY like cheap Mexican beer. The first words out of my wife’s mouth were “where’s my lime?”. Admittedly, I’ve never had a Kolsch in Germany. But unless the 20 or so other versions of the style I’ve had were doing it wrong, someone from south of the border snuck in wearing Lederhosen and swapped out the recipes. Surly bartender and citrus fruit not included. ¡No me gusta!

I read someone joke recently that they caught themselves pouring their coffee with the cup tilted, like you do when pouring a beer to avoid too much foamy head.   I, on the other hand, am fairly terrible at getting just the right foam on top, since it rarely matters with the swill I drink.  (Have I described malt liquor foam yet?  Someone should make a cotton candy flavor from that.)  So I’m not exactly “practiced” at pouring the finer beers.  Which led to problems when my friend Mo stopped by to visit from out of town, bringing with him this highly-acclaimed beer in the smooth white bottle.  We got our juvenile puns involving the name  “Gulden Draak” out of the way, and proceeded to pour a couple glasses in my best German beer steins.  I poured mine first (as a good host should), and got…  nothing but foam.

It was literally, quite literally, solid foam head, all the way to the bottom of the glass.  Close to a pint in volume, 100% head, with nary a puddle of liquid beer at the bottom.  I had done it — I had produced a glass of beer purely in the gaseous state of matter.  This might have been the very worst job of pouring a pint of beer ever, in the history of beverages.  I defy any of you to accomplish this with any other carbonated beverage.

I should mention that this is a highly-acclaimed brew, one of those award-winning stars of the beer world that I have no business rating.  And it was a very good beer, 45 minutes later when we finally got some liquid condense out of the fog.  Very fruity, dark and sweet, practically a meal in itself.  Pretty strong too — our variations on the name “Gulden Draak” were heeee-larious by the end.  I highly recommend it, the most delicious, aromatic quick-expanding foam insulation I’ve ever tasted.