Shiner Prickly Pear Ale: 4.5 – I don’t think I’ve ever had a beer with pear in it, and while it’s a nice tart little thing, I’m not entirely sure I’d have it again though. That might just be the pear though, so I won’t hold that against this too much.
Google Shop Average: Shiner Prickly Pear Ale $7 for 6-Pack (with mixed pack)
Website: http://www.shiner.com/
Ommegang Wild at Heart: 6.5– This is a very flavorful and tasty wild yeast beer, and doesn’t seem to have any drawbacks, but it’s fairly standard as far as unique yeast beers go.
Google Shop Average: Ommegang Wild at Heart $15
Website: http://www.ommegang.com/
Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale: 6.5 – It’s actually got a lot of nice flavor to it, and isn’t just hop city. These Shiner beers have been mostly middling, but this is certainly the best so far.
Google Shop Average: Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale $7 for 6-Pack (with mixed pack)
Website: http://www.shiner.com/
Collaboration not Litigation: 4.0 – It’s mostly bland, but it’s also got a taste to it that’s not terribly pleasant. You expect collab beers to be more mellow, but even then this just isn’t terribly great.
Google Shop Average: Collaboration not Litigation $9
Website: http://averybrewing.com/our-ales/collaboration-not-litigation-ale/
Prelude: 5.0 – Even Shipyard is not immune to a bourbon barrel aged beer mellowing out whatever taste was there to the point where you no longer enjoy the beer. This is simply mild and lacks any sort of gravitas, which considering this was a Shipyard big beer – I really wanted that.
Google Shop Average: Prelude $15
Website: http://www.shipyard.com/
Smuttynose Fashionably Old Ale: 6.0 – Sadly much like Ry(e)an Ale, this is another Julio’s Liquors exclusive, even more sad though is that when we went in expecting something as nice as Ryean, we were met with a beer that tried to be so many things, but ultimately failed to live up to what we wanted it to be, or what it could have been
Google Shop Average: Smuttynose Fashionably Old Ale $ (No clue w/o being there again)
Website: http://smuttynose.com/
Amber Apparation Amber Ale: 4.3 – Great art and that’s mostly it. The beer is passable, but for something that looks this nice you’d expect it to be something really fancy, or powerful/strong, or even just really weird tasting. Hell any sort of flavor or distinctiveness would have made this worth buying, but nope.
Google Shop Average: Amber Apparation Amber Ale $10
Website: http://hennikerbrewing.com/
The Maple Collaboration: 7.0 – It’s ale, with maple syrup. It does not get more apt than that. It’s very sweet but ultimately it’s just now as good as the maple syrup beer we all believe in our hearts maple syrup beers can be.
Google Shop Average: The Maple Collaboration $7
Website: http://www.peakbrewing.com/
Double Rye Ale: 5.5 – As far as a Rye Ale goes, this is fairly standard – it has that characteristic difference that you get with Rye, but it’s not like it does a whole lot with that flavor.
Google Shop Average: Double Rye Ale $2 (I got a single as part of mix pack)
Website: http://www.stbcbeer.com/
Dogfish Head Etru Sca: 7.5 – This is the king of weird beers, and at $16 that may seem like very much to spend on a beer that is a novelty, but it’s really worth it here. Maybe this isn’t something you get a lot, but is this something that as someone who drinks beer should buy and enjoy – oh hell yes.
Google Shop Average: Dogfish Head Etru Sca $16
Website: http://www.dogfish.com/