Microbrew Weekend

Hey all.. Just got done with a microbrew weekend and thought I'd post about it. I figure something different to break the review monotony. On Thursday, the wife and I went to Ellicottville NY and visited EBC or the Ellicottville Brewing Company. We had a nice dinner and I got to drink several good beers. I started with their EVL red ale which was a nice full flavored drinkable red. My second beer was a toasted lager that was smooth and delicious. Then I went on to a brown ale that was nice and flavorful. After that I tried their Two Brothers IPA.. very nice IPA, very hoppy. Lastly for dessert I had the Blueberry wheat. They serve that with blueberries in the glass... very nice easily drinkable wheat with a touch of blueberry. Overall, a good place to eat in a quaint town with great beers... On Friday I had my six pack club at work where we all bring a six pack of a good microbrew then pick bottles one at a time so everyone leaves with a nice mix variety six pack. I also tried my newest brewed beer that I put in the fridge to condition a few days ago. It is a pilsner and I was extremely happy with the results! Saturday was the big day with the Buffalo Brewfest at HSBC arena. I got there around 2pm, just when it started, got my tasting glass and 20 tasting tickets good for 3 ounce samples. I am not gonna sit here and list all the beer I tasted that day but I will talk of some of the highlights. Flying Bison was there with 5 brews on tap. I sampled the 2 made for the brewfest.. one was a Brewfest Bitter and the other was Flynn's Gold( I think that is correct) which was a stout. The bitter was nice with not too much hoppiness but just enough.. The stout was dessert in a glass.. very nice. They also were pouring Aviator Red, Dawn Patrol Gold and Rusty Chain.. All excellent choices that I had already sampled at the brewery. Erie brewing co. had 2 offerings, Railbender Ale and Fallenbock. I tried Fallenbock, their Oktoberfest Ale.. a nice dark malty ale. Harpoon was there with 3 offerings, Leviathan Imperial IPA, Raspberry UFO and Harpoon IPA. I tried the Leviathan IPA and the UFO.. both great ales that I will try again. Middle Ages Brewery was there with Impaled Ale, Swallow Wit and Wailing Wench. Custom Brewcrafters was pouring EPA, The Razz and Double Dark Cream Porter. Hook and Ladder was there with Golden Ale, Backdraft Brown and Lighter. Longtrail Brewing, Pearl st Brewery, Buffalo Brewpub, Coles, Brooklyn Brewery, Pizza Plant, Rohrbach Brewery and Ellicottville Brewery were some of the other breweries to participate. I had a bunch of really great beers and good food at the Brewfest. Come out next year if you weren't there this year! It was a great time!

Rogue's Dead Guy Ale

Another outstanding ale from Rogue Ales. I am drinking this ale now and thinking back to my last review of Ommegang Abbey Ale. I think it is because this ale is also a very drinkable ale that they remind me of each other. This is a maibock ale, which means lighter colored bock, hoppy with noticeable alcohol. Dead Guy Ale pours a hazy honey color with a nice two finger head that dissipates about half way through. The smell is balanced malt and hops with a slight fruitiness. The taste is somewhat alcohol and hoppiness in a medium mouth feel blend that leaves a clean dry slightly bitter aftertaste. Another real easy drink that leaves you wanting more. Rogue has defiantly got their act together. 4 out of 5 bottle caps.

Ommegang Abbey Ale

If you've been paying attention, you would have noticed that all the beers I have reviewed sofar have been given 4 out of 5 bottle caps.. There is a reason for this.. When I decided to start reviewing microbrews I figured I would get some of the best offerings of each type of beer for my first reviews to set standards for all the rest of the beers that I will eventually review. All of these beers sofar are top notch specimens of their types and that holds true for my next review, Ommegang Brewery's Abbey Ale. This beer is a delicious Belgiun Trappist style ale, the kind of ale you could drink on a daily basis, although it's got a good kick. Let's start with the pour.. As you can see above, this ale pours a reddish brown semi transparent with a really good head. There is a good deal of carbonation giving a three to four finger head when poured that laces down the glass the whole way. The smell is balanced between malty and fruity with subtle hoppiness. The taste is surprisingly lighter then you would think. By looking you would think a somewhat heavy ale with a thicker mouth feel but surprise surprise.. You get a medium easy drinking ale with a somewhat dry finish leaving you wanting more. This ale could easily become a daily everyday ale. This is a 8.5 abv ale so you won't need much to get you going. The bottle I picked up was a .750ml corked beauty.. Highly recommended.. Go get some! 4 out of 5 bottle caps.

Rogue's Chocolate Stout

It's been a while since I posted so I have a few reviews waiting. I will try to stay more up to date as long as the crazy world slows down enough to give me more time to post. I picked up a bottle of Rogue's Chocolate Stout to try. I have heard good things about Rogue so I was excited to try their offerings. This beer comes in a 22oz capped bottle. RCS pours with a nice thick light brown head that leaves nice lacings down the glass. The color is black and definitely not see thru. Chocolate smells overpower any hop and most malt smells. The smell reminds me of chocolate soda or a chocolate egg cream ( my parents are from Brooklyn so I had these alot growing up!). Rogue's Chocolate Stout differs from most chocolate stouts because they use real Dutch bittersweet chocolate along with Beeston chocolate malt in the brewing. They also use NH&K and crystal malts along with rolled oats and roasted barley. All the malt and chocolate give this stout a nice full creamy mouth feel that finishes somewhat dry and bittersweet. The flavor is heavy chocolate, very reminiscent of a chocolate liquor. This beer is an excellent flavored stout. I would highly recommend this stout for chilly nights sitting around a camp fire or when you are just in the mood for some rich bittersweet chocolaty goodness! 4 out of 5 bottle caps.

Flying Bison Dawn Patrol Gold

I went to Flying Bison Brewery today and picked up a growler of their seasonal brew called Dawn Patrol Gold. DPG is a kolsch style summer beer made only for draft June thru August. This beer pours a slightly cloudy golden color with a nice 2 finger thick head. The smell is a definite balance of malt and hops with the German noble hops slightly winning over the malt. While I am talking about smells, the brewery smelled heavenly. Even with a big garage style warehouse door open wide, the sweet malt wort smell was overpoweringly delicious. Anyway, back to the review.. Dawn Patrol Gold is a nice medium bodied kolsch. The German hops add a nice spiciness to this brew. This is a hoppier kolsch then most giving DPG a nice clean bite with a hoppy dry aftertaste. The head dissipated slowly and left a nice lace down the glass. Dawn Patrol Gold is a extremely refreshing beer great for thirst quenching on a hot day. I rate this local brew 4 out of 5 bottle caps.

St Peters Cream Stout

The First Ale I am going to review is St Peters Cream Stout. The Stout came in a 1 pint .9 fl oz. bottle that is capped. I poured this into a pint glass and got a rich thick light brown head that started 2 fingers thick and settled to about 1 finger. The stout itself was a rich dark chocolate color that no light passed thru. The smell had a strong chocolate sent, a medium barley malt sent and a light hoppy sent. The label says the stout has a combination of 4 different barley malts with fuggles and challenger hops. The malt and the hops are nicely balanced with neither overpowering the other. The head kept a nice lace retention throughout the whole tasting. As far as the taste goes, I really enjoyed it. It wasn't very thick like some stouts can get. It was rather refreshing with an almost soda pop mouth feel. The stout left a hint of bittersweet chocolate aftertaste that was almost suprising. I felt as if it would have a hoppier aftertaste even though the bottle did say it would be bittersweet chocolate. This cream stout was an excellent ale that I highly recommend. It was an easy drink from start to finish and definately wanted a second once the first was gone. I rate this as 4 out of 5 bottle caps.

Welcome to my review site

Welcome to Steve's MicroBrew Review site. I know I'm late to the game and people have been reviewing Micro brews for years now. But there is method to my madness. I have recently been indulging in a wide variety of micro brews. At first I was randomly picking different types of beer mostly by what the bottle looked like or the catchy name. Then, after a few duds, I decided to start researching a bit before purchasing. It was during this research that I decided to make my own review blog. I found many review sites and blogs out there, but none of them really clicked with me. I found many way too pretentious for my tastes. Allot of beer reviews were sounding like wine reviews.. and frankly, I do not have that kind of educated palate to differentiate the mildly earthy tones laced with a citrusy blah blah blah. I will attempt to give knowledgeable straight forward no-nonsense reviews of the brews I taste. I will post real pictures of the bottle and the beer in the glass. I am hoping that someone will read my review and it will make them want to purchase or avoid a particular brew. Micro brews can be on the expensive side and I hate to see any wasted beer.