Tribute Extra Strong: 6.0 – That is one of the easiest pale ales to drink that I have ever had on my life. It’s light and airy but the taste is still lingering at least to not make this just water.
Price Average: Tribute Extra Strong $4
Website: http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/
Victory Twelve: 5.5 – We were pleasantly surprised by our other Victory Brewing Company experience – which as an IPA that was actually – good. Here however they have gone for a beer to be complex and luxurious. In that respect they have succeeded – this is complex in flavor, and in texture. It’s not heavy, but it is potent. The problem though is that while all that is true – it’s not a great beer. If given the option I’d likely never have it again – which sure you can make your beer ‘intoxicating’ but it needs to be good overall to survive.
Price Average: Victory Twelve $9
Website: http://www.victorybeer.com/
Hellhound: 2.0 – I’ll be honest – I don’t like this beer. I mean other beers have been able to use lemon to mostly middling results, but while this is certainly potent flavoring and it doesn’t become overwhelmingly lemon either something is wrong. It’s just not really the right mix of sweet/bitter/sour. However you get this in a shandy, and it shines like a diamond. (Honestly Mixability here would be a 7.5)
Price Average: Hellhound $13
Website: http://www.dogfish.com/
Kindest Find: 4.5 – I’m personally starting to get annoyed with the usage of Imperial to define a beer being just slightly more potent. Regardless I do actually like this red ale, although it’s a bit too much on the hoppy side which takes over the other flavors.
Price Average: Kindest Find $7
Website: https://smuttynose.com/
Brewdog Dead Pony Club: 6.5 – I got this in one of the most hipster places in London I could find, and it shows. However while this pale is more like.an IPA it doesn’t go too far as some ‘Pales’ tend to do when amongst the hipster crowd. This does not, and is therefore actually quite good.
Price Average: Brewdog Dead Pony Club $5
Website: https://www.brewdog.com/
Allagash Sixteen Counties: 7.0 – That is a delicious beer. I have long been a fan of beers from Maine (including Allagash) and this is no different. It has complexities and a sort of layers of flavor between the hops/wheat/
Price Average: Allagash Sixteen Counties $9
Website: http://www.allagash.com/
Trillium Big Sprang: 2.5 – This is just way too hoppy for a kolsch. This is what an IPA beer geek would enjoy because they think they are ‘branching out’ from their shitty beer taste.
Price Average: Trillium Big Sprang $12
Website: http://www.trilliumbrewing.com/
Allagash 2011 Victor: 4.0 – You can certainly tell this is an ale made with grapes, but unlike interlude it feels less like interlude, and more like someone dropped a single kool-aid package or white wine bottle into a vat of ale. I worry though that this is simply just past it’s prime, so we’ll see if we can get a younger beer.
Price Average: Allagash 2011 Victor $18
Website: http://www.allagash.com/
Seven Kingdoms Hoppy Wheat Ale: 4.5 – I was hoping for another Fire and Blood, but this is once again a perfect example of an inoffensive hoppy wheat ale. It doesn’t have much going for it, and even fans of hoppy beers would likely pass it by as something easy to drink, but tasteless outside it’s basic taste.
Price Average: Seven Kingdoms Hoppy Wheat Ale $9
Website: http://www.ommegang.com/
Grains of Truth: 7.0 – This is another successful beer from Ommegang with a flavorful harvest ale that has close to the perfect amount of hops you want in a beer like this.
Price Average: Grains of Truth $10 for 4-Pack
Website: http://www.ommegang.com/