Great Divide Claymore Scotch Ale (3/6)
Poor Claymore. This isn’t a bad beer per se, its just that there are so many better Scotch Ale’s out there. The flavor was vaguely malty, but other than that just kind of not present. Perhaps I’ve had one too many brain bashing Wee Heavys to truly appreciate this. But I still love them for trying. After all “If it’s not Scottish, its cr*p!”

Silver Moon Snake Bite Porter (3/6)
This is the first beer I’ve had from Silver Moon, and I hope to try more. Hopefully their other showings will be more impressive. I love porters. And this was a decent porter. Not awesome, not bad. But, it sort of falls into the camp of “identity crisis” porters that taste too much like stouts. Its got a strong hickory flavor as well if you are into that sort of thing.

Hopworks Gigabit IPA (4/6)
The great thing about this beer, is that even though I don’t even like IPAs, this stuff was great. Citrus-y, light, with a mellow hop aftertaste that appeals to those of us who avoid cheek smash. For those of you not in the know, this beer was brewed as part of a contest Google is putting on to give one city in America free fiber optic internet. So Google…we better win, or I’m switching back to Yahoo.

Samuel Smith’s Organic Strawberry Fruit Ale (0/6)
Don’t drink this. Its terrible in a way that only bad fruit ale can be. Rancid sharp strawberry flavor, in otherwise fine ale. Admittedly, I didn’t expect it to be any good, but even I was surprised just how little I was able to drink before I had to pour it out.

Red Hook 8-4-1 Expedition Ale (1/6)
Your mileage may vary on this one, but I just didn’t like it. There was something about it that didn’t jive with my taste buds, and I was generally unhappy with the results. It’s not terrible, rather just the epitome of “That boy ain’t right”.

Full Sail LTD 02 (4/6)
Yay LTD! I just love this stuff. It’s on the maltier end of the Easy Drinkin’ spectrum, but it definitely qualifies as a cooler filler if the occasion arises.

Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale (4/6)
Up to this point, Bridgeport’s Haymaker was holding the crown as one of my favorite Easy Drinkin’ beers. But now that I have had this, I think Bridgeport may have unseated itself. It’ll be perfect for the July 4th BBQ, when you force those family members who drink Budweiser products (…sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth…) to drink quality beer. Easy, non-offensive, tasty.

Great Divide Collette Farmhouse Ale (5/6)
I like Farmhouse Ales, but usually just for tasting. They tend to be a bit strong for a six pack or even a full 22. Collette, however, is an exception. This ale is great. And, although being farmhouse tasty (mmm…farm taste), its mellow enough to be had regularly. Or in large quantities *drunken stumble*

Widmer Sunburn Ale (2/6)
The blogosphere gave this beer a lot of happy thoughts recently, but I just didn’t see why. Widmer has decided to use some new “Citra-hop” variety of hops, which although novel, is super distracting to the taste. Its like beer flavored orange juice. Not a fan.

Dick’s Pale Ale (2/6)
Despite promising to do a huge run of Dick’s posts, I purposefully didn’t mention this one. Not because it’s bad, but just because it practically non-existent. It takes Pale to a new level by being the taste equivalent to translucence (see I know big words!).

Jonathan Edwards “Lost Finale” Lager (4/6)
I round out this blast of posts with a nod to our favorite local homebrewer Jonathan Edwards. Recently, he dropped this German Lager down on my desk, and I can happily say it was yet another notch in his impressive homebrew collection. Its crisp yummy taste helped drown out the sorrows of watching the Lost Finale. And made me buzzed enough to not care about the cheesy cork in the island scene. Prost!

I didn’t have a ton of hope with it to tell you the truth. I’m not a huge follower of the brewery, but the semi-truck flap style sillhouette of “St. Bridget” on the bottle grabbed my eye enough to get me to pull it from the shelf and bring it along. When it produces such a happy result, what’s a little objectification between friends.

So goes Hibernation Ale by Great Divide. Someone in the brewery said, lets give it more flavor! And out came the funk dropper. The label says “Robust”. But what they really mean is “Really f*@$!ing Rubust”. Rubust like a sweaty sumo wrestler. And tasting the same too.