Rapscallion Honey: 6.0 – The honey doesn’t bring a lot of sugar to the party, and cuts the hoppiness making this a very drinkable beer, but not very tasty.
Google Shop Average: Rapscallion Honey $6 Draft (hence image)
Website: http://drinkrapscallion.com/
Berkshire River Ale: 6.0 – It’s a nice dark ale, but it’s just missing something. Like they could have gone in a few directions to make a better beer, and just didn’t.
Google Shop Average: Berkshire River Ale $5
Continuing our branching out – let’s try a Canadian whiskey. Since we haven’t done many Canadian whiskey, I figured I’d make sure to get one from Canada (It’s in the name!)
Fleur: 5.5 – Fairly good belgian ale, nice bit of sweetness to it. Again though it’s gone the route of a Belgian style ale, but it lacks the real gravitas that most belgians have in terms of taste.
Google Shop Average: Fleur $8
Website: http://www.gooseisland.com/
Cool Your Jets: 5.5 – We’d actually tried this back at a Weekly Wine tasting a few weeks back. While there is a nice amount of flavor – it lacks impact and it feels weak. Not watered down, just the flavor needs a bit of a kick.
Google Shop Average: Cool Your Jets $6
Website: http://www.bentleybrewing.com/
Well this week I was willing to try something new, and figured maybe a nice sipping rum was in order. I’d seen the Old Monk a few times, and it always intrigued me. Not because of things like Trappist ales, where I have this notion that for some reason monks are the best at getting smashed, but because I like the look of the bottle.
Shipyard Pumpkinhead: 8.0 – While we have reviewed formally the Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard, we never actually gave a review of Pumpkinhead – mostly because we were too busy drinking it. We often get things to review as sort of an extra – whereas Pumpkinhead was always just a staple – why review it? Well I felt we should, because this is without a doubt the perfect blend of pumpkin, drinkability, and beer that you can get for a pumpkin beer. Are their better pumpkin beers – yes? But not that many, and those are on occasion – pumpkinhead isn’t meant to be a Ferrari, it’s your dependable Saab, and you wouldn’t change that.
Happy Thanksgiving folks, enjoy it with a Pumpkinhead.
Google Shop Average: Shipyard Pumpkinhead $8 for a 6-pack
Website: http://www.shipyard.com/
Blue Moon Rounder: 7.0 – Here we come to the really good outing from Blue Moon’s sampler – enough that it’s still in their fall collection (we got summer on sale recently). This is the perfect beer to see all your other distinct beers in the fridge, and go – okay, but I’ll take this first/last. It’s certainly not a great beer, but like a Boston Lager of Guinness – when the time is right it’s all you want.
Google Shop Average: Blue Moon Rounder $18 for a 12 Pack Sampler
