Brooklyn Pennant Ale '55

Brooklyn is still holding on to the memory of the Dodgers, and this beer is asalute to the Hometown pride that was felt when the Dodgers won the Pennant in 1955.. I'm not much of a baseball man myself, but I am a beer man. If this beer is any representation of how the city of Brooklyn loved there one-time champion baseball team, it's a pretty good representation.



Appearance:Amber with a thick, carbonated head.

Smell: Of hops and complex fruit odors.

Taste: Kinda sweet,not as complex a taste as aroma,but still a good tasting beer.

Artwork:A handsome silver and blue pinstripes make up a large border for the almost-standard fare Brooklyn logo. Defference being the baseball in the center. Did you expect any less?

Overall:I would give it a homerun. Play Ball!

Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale

Corsendonk. Sounds good, doesn't it. Even if the beer wasn't good, I would still give it 2 thumbs up based on the name. Say it with me. Corsendonk. I love funny words.

I picked this one up at the Williamsburg Thrifty near the BQE. They don't have a large selection, and the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was scum. Most likely because he thinks I'm some kinda hipster scumbag who is ruining his neighborhood. Well fuck him. He doesn't have to be nice to sell me good beer.



Appearance: Brownish-red with a tan head the lasted for a very short period of time.

Smell: malt and mint (weird), with a hint of hops.

taste: Mild bitterness, and slight spice that left my tongue tingling. Sweet. later on I realized the taste reminded of a port.

Artwork:Jesus n' Mary Blah, Blah etch printed on the glass. looks like a traditional abbey seal. Whatever. Corsendonk! Hehehe...

Overall: This beer makes me realize I need to have a seperate fridge of some kind just for beer preservation. Considering I don't have a cellar. How else am i going to keep good beers like this at 45% all the time?

McNeill's Champ Ale

Straight from Brat, Vt comes the first of several McNeills beers I picked up over the holidays. McNeills is the hometown hero in this small, hippie town located in southern Vermont, and I only get to try it a couple of times a year. This ale is the Brewery's tribute to the American Loch Ness Monster, Champ. Who has been haunting the waters of lake Champlain since the coming of man into the area.



Appearance: Light, reddish-amber with a quickly dissapating bubbly head.

Scent: I smell hops and maybe yeast, mostly hops. Bountiful amounts of hops are found in ALL McNeills products.

Taste: Bitter hops, but not overt. There is also some sweet stuff going on along with fruitiness. Hops is the most recognizable taste in this beer, which also makes it pretty citrusy.

Artwork: A lakemonster and a clown done in watercolor. I wonder if there is a story behind it. Simple, yet effective. The label would stick out in a cooler, but some might be thrown off by the Jr. High, fantasy-nerd level of painting. whatever, It's better than I could do on a canvas.

Bought: At the Sunoco gas station on Christmas Day. Which was the only place open on the trip home before we hit the highway.

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

Yet another excellent product from the folks in Delaware. Nor as strong as the 90 Minute IPA, but good. I love stouts,oh yessiree, I do.



Appearance: Blah,Blah Blah it's dark Blah. With a fairly typical brownish-red tint coming through the bottom. It started off with a fluffy ,tan head that was about 1- finger in width.

Scent: The scent hit me as soon as I opened the bottle. Mostly malt with some sweet complexity.

Taste: Tastes of coffee but without the good amount of bitterness I have come to expect from stouts.

Mouthfeel: As a stout, through and through.

Artwork:Typical simplistic DFH logo with a basic modern art pattern for the label. Nothing special.

Overall: I let this one get to room temp, and it was perfect for what it was. A good session drinking stout.

Allagash Tripel Reserve Belgian-Style Ale

One of the many beers I used to bring in the new year. This beer is a little ore special to me than the rest. First of, It was brewed in Portland, Me. Not just close to home but also one of the brew capitals of New England. Second, It was corked like wine. That's how i really knew I was getting into some classy shit. Third, you all know how much I love the Belgian-style. This one was a bit pricey for regular consumption, but it is a good one.



Appearance: Foggy Gold with a thick, light head that doesn't last very long.

Smell: Sweet. Of fruit and Hops.

Taste: Bitter Bite accompanied by mild sweetness and the taste of spices. Overall, not very complex for a tripel. Sips are soon followed by a bitter aftertaste. Nice....

Art:Multicolored block print of a woodsy road during what appears to be autumn. I happen to love block prints,so it touches me in more special places. I also like the fact it isan't in-yer-face but still manages to catch the eye.

Overall: The abv kicked my ass!!!

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

I love imperial stouts. Especially ones that are inexpensive and are over 9% abv. I have hesitated with Victory Brewing Co. everytime I saw there beer up until now. The name and logo(a big V) remind me of 1984 and for some reason makes me feel like a mindless prole. I'm a prole regardless, and it wasn't and act of mindlessness that made me buy and enjoy this Victory product.



Appearance: Dark with a capital"D",with a 2-fingered head that looked a bit like chocolate milk after it's been shakin' up.

Smell: Hops, citrusy hops.

Tastes: Fairly complex and slightly bitter, Although, less bitter than Old Rasputin. I wouldn't guess the abv was so high, due to the lack of a prominent alcohol taste,but look at Brooklyn's Stout. The warmer this beer gets, the tastier it gets to.

Art: Beware the Storm King,Oh Eagle-headed God wearing the Victory Crown. No need to look so pissed buddy...you won!

Overall: I ain't scared of this Big Brother. In fact, I embrace him.

Lagunitas Cappucino Stout (Ale)

A "limited release" bomber from Petaluma,Ca-based Lagunitas BC. I don't know how limited the release is,but it's not limited enough to be expensive. The first quality I liked when I picked the beer up at a "Manhattan expensive" store in the East Village.



Appearance: Dark with prominent blood red tones when held to the light. The head was thick with a light tan color, and good staying power.

Smells: Of malt and coffee. Considering coffee was used in the brewing process,this is to be expected.

Taste: Of coffee and malt with a hint of bitterness that goes far into the aftertaste. As the beer gets more time in open air, it gets smoother. All around a good tasting beer.

Art: Old-timey. I would expect this label to be on a root beer bottle from the 30's. Especially with the "Our Gang" dog centered on the label. Good thing I have a soft spot for both dogs and old timey.

Overall:Very good and a decent 7.99% abv. 7.99? Why couldn't they just make it 8%. I bet it had something to do with psychological marketing gimmicks. Now that I think about it. I didn't think I was as buzzed as I should be. Hmmmm......

Rare Vos Belgian-style Ale

More from my much-loved Brewery Ommegang from Cooperstown,NY. Although this one didn't strike the same chord previous Ommegang products have. It was still a good beer though. More of a session beer than the others.



Appearance: Reddish-amber and cloudy with a thin off-white head.

Smell:Spicy.... kinda smells like Christmas or Halloween. That is if you associate smells to certain holdays like I do. If you don't,sucks to be you.

Tastes: Bitter,with tones of sweetness. Not as flavorful as Ommegang or Hennepin,but good. The bitterness was maintained throughout the 25 minutes I took to drink it, and still good.

Artwork:not much can be said. Mostly words with a big "O" in an ochre-red,which I'm assuming stands for Ommegang. The colors are subtle, nothing really that catches the eye. Unless you know the company's other products,this isn't the first thing a typical person might pick. Makes me thinck its not intended for the piss-guzzling dweebs. Good for them in purposely keeping the audience small.

Overall: Good,not great,but good enough to buy a whole sixer and session it.

Doppel-Hirsch Doppel Bock

Nothing says german like a bottle with stags butting heads and a swing-style cap. I don't write about artwork enough in these reviews. I should considering art is appreciation is one of the most important things to me. So this review is going to be the first where I pull out my years of simpleton art knowledgeand shine.




Appearance: Reddish-brown with a brown-tinted white head.

Smells: of roasted-malt and caramel.

Tastes: malty and quite sweet...kinda chocolaty....with a slightly bitter aftertaste that can only be caused by hops.

Sidenote: I love the aesthetic of the swing-style cap. Drinking out of the bottle makes me feel slightly like a working class european. Instead of sitting at the pub, I'm hanging out in front of my apartment building with the guys from work, bitching about my day...Okay back to reality.... It's unfortunate my options were limited before moving to grolsh, and I can't stand grolsh. At least now i can enjoy the european look of the swing cap and enjoy the beer too.

Art: two stags fighting as the sun goes down behind a mountain. Those crazy bavarians love horned mammals. Doppelbock beers are generally a spring-brewed beer from what I understand. And nothing says Spring like 2 male animals fighting for sex. Although I don't feel there is enough green in the label to make it scream "Spring!!". I'm thinking early autumn personally.

Overall: I haven't had a beer this malty that wasn't a stout. It was a nice surprise. I would recommend to anyone. Especially those friends of mine in germany and the midwest,where there is a large german-descended population.

Magic Hat Mother Lager

Some beers are really disappointing. I never would have thought I would find a one with the Magic Hat company. I love all things Vermont,except this. i especially love commie propaganda art, which this beer has. i would go as far as to say if your gonna have a beer "for the people" it should be fuckin' good, cause the people love good beer. Apparently they met " for the American majority" which means macro-style that sucks shit. I can't give the Magic Hat company the props they use to deserve after trying this one.



I'm not even gonna bore you with the details of this beer. If you like Bud you will probably like this beer. apparently it's a european-style pilsner. Just because it's "european-style" doesn't mean it can't suck. Look at Becks and Heineken, or any of the other macro crap from Europe that has been imported here over longer than any of the "good" euro beers. I couldn'y even finish this one. Fuck a review,this beer just sucks.

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

As you know,I'm still pretty new to the who wheat beer thing. In inexperience I still know a damn good beer when I taste it. I first had Paulaner a couple days ago at a bar called the East River. I fell in love instantly,enough to know that I would have to by more at the store for a proper review.



Appearance: Super Cloudy,amber color. This beer is definetly unfiltered. Plus number one! The head was a fluffy,off-white that sota reminded me of swiss cheese.

Smells: of wheat,predominently....go figure.

Taste: Sweet. A wheat and fruit orgy in my mouth. Okay, that goes a bit too far. But this beer is so fuckin' good. Paulaner Hefe-weizen would make a great session beer for those hot,summer days. It makes me loathe the fact that winter just started. Oh well. As long as I have beers like this readily available, the winter should be easy.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

The name might throw you off, but this is a product of Brooklyn Brewery. I do love the Pumpkin beers, and this one is no exception.



Appearance:Amber-colored,with little murkiness and a non-existant head. Maybe I grabbed a bad beer. I don't know. It tasted good.

Smells; heavily of pumpkin and whatever spices are used to make pumpkin-involved baked goods. Both beer and bread are relatively similar.

Tastes: Slightly bitter,but it goes down easily. The tastes of pumpkin and spices make this something of a dessert beer and the 5% abv make it a pretty good session beer. Granted,you might have a problem drinking it too fast because the taste is that good.

Overall: Yet another BB product that makes me happy. Hard to go wrong with the local boys.

Dragon Stout

I've come to the conclusion that stouts from the Caribbean are brewed for more for the liquid desert quality than stouts produced in other regions of the world. Dragon Stout supports this conclusion. Straight from Jamaica, I bring you 7.5 % of alcoholic goodness....



Appearance: Dark with blood red tones shining through when placed in front of a ceiling light. Tan head that quickly dissapated faster than Kid Flash with a case of diarrhea.

Smells: Extremely malty with hints of chocolate and coffee.

Taste: Is sweet to start with a slightly bitter aftertaste that reminds of semisweet cooking chocolate. This tropical stout is definetly a dessert beer.

Body: pretty light in all actuality. If I were to judge it on body alone I would say it were less of a stout and more of a schwartzbier.

Drinkability: I could session this,the 7.5 % abv would probably knock me on my ass after 3 or 4 though.

White Rascal Belgian-Style Wheat Ale

Judging by the label and style, I feel this a perfect beer to follow the Lucifer review. I'm not quite sure exactly what a white rascal is. I couldn't find a reference to it in demonology. So that leads me to believe it is just the name of the beer, and the demonic image was added for the belgian religious image obsession I commented on in the last post.



In this post I'm going to be trying out a new review format to liven up the blog. It also keeps me from boring myself with the same sentence formulae I've been using for the past month.

Appearance: Cloudy, Light gold with a fluffy white head.

Scent:Smells of Hops, Wheat, and fruit. Based on the little blurb on the bottle,I'm going to guess the fruity smell is curacao orange peels.

Taste: a light taste with a fair amount of wheat and citrus.

This was a good beer overall. The orange peel was a nice touch. This beer made me realize i'm starting to really appreciate wheat beers. I don't know if I would place them before abbey ales,at least not at this point in my alcoholic journey.

Lucifer Belgian Golden Ale

I've noticed religious imagery is a fairly common element in a great deal of belgian/belgian-style beers. Whether it be the trappist monks who brew or the demonic images on a bottle of Maudite,christianity is a fairly strong theme. Lucifer is obviously no exception. It was indeed the theme that caught my attention, and it's the taste that will make me keep on sinning.



This cloudy,golden ale has a thick white head that kept for a pretty mid-range period of time. The word "fruity" was the first one that popped in my head upon inhalation. That same word was also prevalent in the complex sweet taste I have found in quite a few belgians. When I say sweet, I mean that with a "very" in front. Very with a capital V. It had a whiskey-like quality to it,especially in the aftertaste,which lingers on long after the beer is finished.

If Lucifer is indeed evil, I don't ever wanna be good.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

I don't typically pay attention to too many IPA's. If I had a choice between an IPA and a stout, I would take the stout on any day of the week, or so I thought. The 90 Minute is not your standard India Pale Ale. It's 9 % abv to start, and doesn't taste anything like the many of the brit beers in which style it emulates. I love this beer and so does many of the people I know who have tried it.



When poured into one of my several pint glasses, it's appearance was amber with a thick cloudy head, and smelled of hops from a foot away. This is definetly and IPA! The initial taste is bitter,which is to be expected. The kicker is the tastiness. Complex flavor and sweetness make this product a step above the other IPA's in the world. As it warms, it's still has bitter undertones, but those are easily forgiven due to the tastiness and the alcohol content. I love this beer, and can see my self having a beautiful future with the Dogfish Head company.

Nate's Harvest Pumpkin Ale

For Christmas, I got quite the selection of homebrews from Ingrid that her good friend Nate made. Out of the 6 that I was gifted with,this is the first review. The Harvest Pumkin Ale.



I'm a fan of Pumkin Ales. I think out of the several that I've tried, this one rates pretty close to the Pumkinhead,which is my favorite. It poured a dark amber and the head had a very good staying power, it had travelled roughly, but I opened it days after. The smell is of pumkin and alcohol. Not a "whiskey" smell,but you can definelty tell it has a fairly good abv %. The taste of pumkin is mild,unlike the Pumkinhead. Something that I sometimes consider a negative due to the fact I drink it too quickly. This was not the case with the Harvest Pumpkin. I was able to sit back and nurse it for quite a while. Thankfully I have one more left,it will probably make a great Christmas day present to myself after the McNeil's.

Thanks Nate for knowing what the hell your doing in producing a damn good beer.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Young's is from the UK and puts out quite a few brews. It's not available in much of NH and it was nice to have the pleasure of trying this much talked about stout. The "chocolate stout" I tried quickly turned into one of my favorite beers. This didn't have the abv of Brooklyn's, but what else would I expect from a british beer.



The first thing I noticed about the labels were the ram images. In german beers, rams are typically symbolic of bocks. I don't know if they were trying to emulate the germans or this is purely by accident. I didn't care. This was a damn good brew.

It poured black (like a stout) with a sliver of red in the middle when held up to a lamp. The head was honey-brown and had a pretty good staying power. I respect the staying powewr of the head.hehehe. I wasn't quite sure I was smelling toasted malt or chocolate,but the taste was definetly of dark chocolate,bitterness included. This is a pretty thick brew, Just like a stout should be. Not quite a meal in glass,but that's not what I was looking for. Overall, this wasa impressive for a british beer and will probably make a fairly regualr cameo appearance in my fridge.

Rheingold...an American classic

Rheingold is a classic American brew from here in Brooklyn. Not much can be said about it as far as taste and shit are concerned. It pours piss-gold and smells and tastes like a macro. It's watery and doesn't have a skunky taste to it. It's decent and classic and I hold in in the same light I hold PBR and Iron City.

Some interesting facts about Rheingold:

It held 35% of NY state's beer market from 1950 to 1960. That's pretty fuckin impressive. Not only was everybody in Brooklyn drinking the shit,but so was the whole city.

The company shut down it 1976,unable to compete with the larger asshole corporations(Amheiser-Busch) who were respobsible for the decimation of a great deal of regional breweries during the 70's. Thankfully it was revived in 1999, and has since went through 3 owners. It is still brewed here in Brooklyn, but in Greenpoint instead of Bushwick.

It's classicmthat's all that matters....

Mackeson XXX Stout

This dark import was a wanting for me for several years before I got the chance to try. Hippie Nate used to rant and rave about it back '99 and it has always been on Weird Dave's top list of brews. I first tried Mackeson 4 years ago on my first foray into NYC. It was a beer of mystery, something I had only heard spoken of so I knew I needed to try it. I finally got my chance at the Peculiar Pub one night. From then on I fell in love and tried to hook Dave up with it whenever possible. I didn't drink this ambrosia again until Summer of 2005, during my honeymoon. Since there is a brewery in Trinidad, I was imbibing on a daily basis for the majority of my trip. It's been over a year, and now I have a legend in liquid available at a whim.



The basics: Poured dark enough so that no light got through. The scent is very malty,a fairly common occurance in stouts. The basic tasty goodness is full of chocolate and malt and it has a pretty thick mouthfeel.

I love the beer. For years it was my cuban cigar,now I can have it at all times if I wish. XXX is probably my session beer of choice. I love it that much. If I didn't need new things constantly, I would drink this like a redneck with Bud.