Any time you have a beer that is 13%ABV, it is a big beer with which you’ve come face to face. How that 13% tastes depends on the drinker. I believe that I paid somewhere between $12-15 dollars for this 11.2 oz bottle (sometimes it’s hard to keep track, but I know that it was salty). Let me start by telling you that I wouldn’t pay to drink this beer again, but what a beer is worth is, once again, in the mouth of the beholder. Here is what I have to offer about Black Albert. The Pour: A creamy, brown, and finely carbonated head sat atop this very dark, black bodied beer. This beer looked like the beer yard bully…it was intimidating in the glass. The Nose: Black Albert had a smoky nose that was touched by the 13% alcohol. There was a sourish aroma that cropped up. Plenty of roast, a soy quality, and some hints of fruit were also very much present. I personally thought that apple cider was the fruit note that I caught. The Taste: Like the nose, there was plenty of roast Black Albert's flavors. The fruit and soy qualities were also a big part of ...

As some of you know, I cellar beer. (I really desire to be a beer seller, but that's another matter.) For your benefit, here is a link to the article that I wrote about cellaring beer. Anyway, I pulled a beer from the cellar last night that has been aged for 10 years. That beer was J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. Bottles of this 11.5% ABV beer can be picked up for $7.99. In fact, you can often find bottles that are already a couple of years old when you get them, and unlike wine, you aren't going to pay more for a beer that has been aged (for the most part). Isn't that a nice bonus and an indication of how attitudes can dictate what happens with a given product? At any rate, this is a strong ale, which is akin to a barley wine. On to the Harvest. The Pour: Harvest Ale had legs (yes, like a wine) and a nice, thick body, and left traces of itself as it clung to the glass. It was a brown-orange color with little head retention, which can be expected in a many ...

Well, we're back from our trip to Europe, and I'm finally feeling a little rested. Sometimes things happen so quickly that your head can spin (or was it the 80 new beers that I tried in Europe?).   It's taken me a little time to think through what the first Europe post would be, but here is a little ditty about London town. We all know how lager dominates the market in America (and sadly starting to elsewhere). It happens that most of the lagers are largely the same with some subtle differences. I'm talking about big brewery lagers and even some "craft" ones. I think the situation is largely the same with a lot of beers in England.  Bitters are the kings of pub-life, so far as I could see. Now they all have some differences, and I don't want to make English bitters look like American macro lagers--I would drink an English bitter over American swill lager any day. But it is really surprising that the populace at large is drinking beer with less and less character. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the bitters I had in London. However, it ...

I always love a good English Ale, even when I am a bit surpised at the contents of the bottle. The style of ale that Old Thumper falls into, ESB, tends to be a stronger, more bitter beer.  Usually there is a bit of a bite to it.  Typically, they have a higer alcohol content (as Mike pointed out last week), as does this beer.  I thought this beer, while delcious, strayed a bit from what the name "extra special" forbode. The poor filled my glass with a pretty copper bubbly beer.  A nice solid head dissipated rapidly, leaving spider-web like lacings on the inside of my glass. I had bury my nose in the vapor to pick up and discern the subtleties within the aroma.  Instead of bitter scents up front, a smooth buttery malt with fruity hints.  I notices a citrus scent and maybe a little apple and pear.  There was also an earthy smell...almost grass-like, originating from the hops.  Ringwood's website notes of this beer, "peppery, spicy aroma."  I thought this was a burried nuance, not a prominent feature. The beer was very pleasent in the mouth.  For the style, I thought the mouthfeel that smooth and creamy.  The alcohol content ...

Ringwood Brewery is an Extra Special Ale, which usually indicates an upping in grain content, hops, alcohol content. This one may be all three or a combination of a couple of these "ups." Part of it's name comes from the fact that it is 5.6%, which bring extra duty (cost) because of the fact that Europe has tax for alcohol percentage. I'm sure this will have some more thump than the average ale. We invite you to drink this with us on Friday. I love English Ales and their names. I think this will be a nice treat at the end of a hard week.

I had seen this beer so many times and never really thought too much about getting it.  One day the bottle of beer just stuck out to me.  Has this ever happened to you?  You've just sort of ignored a beer for no real reason?  I guess we can find out if you should keep ignoring this beer. Tanner's Jack had a lovely golden-orange body, which gives it some nice eye appeal.  It seemed to have pretty low head retention, which can happen from several different things.  Either way, it shimmered in the glass. Hops were immediately evident on the nose of this brew.  A sweet malty aroma was also very prevelant.  Other than that, there wasn't too much going on in the beer. The sweet malts were the first thing to come through, and the hops were also still nicely present.  Tanner's Jack had a very nice grainy quality with a nice amount of dryness.  That dryness lingered all the way to the end of the beer, and the grains were replaced by a nice hop finish.  The beer was not uneventful, but it wasn't exactly spectacular.  I would drink this beer again but would probably choose several English Ales before it.  Still, ...

This beer was part of a Drink with us Friday that we did a while back.  It was one of many options for that particular Friday.  The first product, from Fuller's, that I reviewed on here was a Fuller's Vintage Ale; that particular beer was five years-old.  That is just one of many fine products made by Fuller. Fuller's London Porter is one of the lightest Porters that we've reviewed to date.  It had a brownish-red body, which you could see through, and a light brown, creamy head.  London Porter was dominated by the aromas of burnt grains and coffee overtones.  Hops were not really noticeable on the nose of the beer.  Also, some slight chocolate aromas were present. When I sipped London Porter, it was full of burnt and dry grain flavors.  In addition, this was more coffee-oriented than any of the other Porters so far.  Even with the lightness, the brewers must have really used a fair amount of roasted barley or some other really dark grain.  Having said that, the body on this beer was thinner than most of the other Porters that we've reviewed.  Some chocolate tones were noticeable near the end of the finish.  But the beer was ...

Check out our original post for the drink with us Friday Porters, as I mentioned before that Flag Porter has a pretty cool story. Flag Porter was a nice medium dark brown with plenty of deep red crimson color.  If I looked really hard, I could almost see through the beer.  Its light creamy brown head was very appealing, which made the beer all the more beautiful. On the nose, it was more cocoa than chocolate in approach, if you'll allow me to make such a distinction.  I also caught what seemed like a cola quality in the brew.  Caramel was also present in the nose. I took a sip of this beer and found it to be drier than some other Porters that I've had (namely, Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter).  There was a nice slight smoky quality in the brew, which was simply lovely.  During the long finish of the beer, it had even more cocoa qualities.  It may sound strange or unpleasant to say that the beer ended with a slight stale tobacco quality, but that was my last impression.  Don't take that as a negative assessment because I found it to be great. As I've said before, Samuel Smith's is my ...

Once again, after endulging in another St. Peter's product (last time it was their Cream Stout), I emerge a fan. The beer poured with decent head; about half an inch, and lightly laced the glass.  I could see it was not as dark and thick as other porters I've sampled.  There was a slight amberish color piercing the blackness.  The aroma was nice.  There was a not so subtle smokey flavor infused in the beer no doubt from the roasted grains used.  Hints of chocolate and coffee were present, but not too bold, and a slight vanilla aroma. The initial flavor, for me, was unexpectedly sweet.  The mouthfeel was light and airy...pleasently carbonated.  I swished the liquid around in my mouth and picked up an ale-like quality.  In fact, it faintly reminded me a bit of the Tom Hardy's ale in flavor.  This was a week flavor.  I had to wonder if some of the same types of grains were used. The more the beer was in my mouth, the more the bitter/dry flavor of porter became apparent, but the instant I swallowed, the initial pleasent/sweet flavor was lef ton my tongue and stayed around for a while. At times I feel the need ...

I have to say starting out that this is one of my favorite Porters, and I knew that going in.  We've review a couple other Samuel Smith's products on here (Winter Welcome, Old Brewery Pale Ale), so you can tell I'm a fan (we will drink their fabulous Imperial Stout at some point).  Without further ado, let's talk about their Porter. Upon pouring this very dark brown porter, it seemed darker than I remembered.  The touches of crimson red reminded me that it wasn't a stout.  There was a creamy brown head on this beer, which pointed to how smooth it would be. As I smelled the ale, I noted a very slight metallic touch, a treacle/honey aroma, along with a healthy dose of chocolate aromas.  There were also caramel and biscuity touches that were notable.  As I didn't note any hops on the beer, this one obviously went with little to no aroma hops (unlike Three Floyds Alpha Klaus that we've also reviewed). When the delicious splash of roasted malts, chocolate, and slight acidity of the brew hit me in the face, I almost reeled with excitement.  The beer was immanently drinkable (Bud Light, eat your heart out...no, seriously, eat your own heart out ...