Stone Levitation Ale

Why I tried this: I've had a few things from Stone before, such as their Arrogant Bastard, which led to quite a few good nights. However, I hadn't had much of them at World of Beer, so I figured I'd rectify that a little by ordering the Levitation Ale. I hadn't had an amber red ale in a while, which is a style I normally enjoy, so why not?

Smell: Has a light citrus scent followed by floral hops and some moderate malt smells.

Taste: Pretty much mimics the smell. You get an initial hint of citrus that is covered up by sweet malts, eventually paving way for a bitter hoppiness that is fairly crisp and not overdone.

It's been a while since I've had a beer from Stone brewery, and I'm glad I finally came back to them. This amber ale was a decent effort, and while I don't think it's a home run, I would give it a quarter full pint glass rating. I enjoyed the balance of sweet malts and citrus transitioning into a moderately hoppy finish. If you like a good amber ale, I'd definitely recommend it. Otherwise, it'll probably be hit or miss. I may pick it up again some time.

--Jeff

Highland Gaelic Ale

Why I tried this: Highland Gaelic Ale is the new beer of the month at World of Beer. The name sounded pretty sweet so I decided to give it a shot hey, I've gotta have 500 different beers at some point anyway.

Smell: hoppy and slight caramel malt scent

Taste: This beer was good but it was nothing I would really go out of my way to try. It had a nice hop and malt flavor, not sweet a more bitter malty taste. The flavors worked together well but again its not something that really stood out to me as impressive, especially at a place with the selection WoB has. If I went somewhere and this was a feature beer or beer of the month I would absolutely order it but its not a beer I would keep in the top 50 of mine to keep an eye out for on menus. Keep in mind this is simply my opinion, it did taste great it really just didn't stand out to me. I wasn't drunk yet either! This was my first beer of that night.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this a 7.5. This beer was tasty, enjoyable and well rounded but there was just nothing differentiating about it. As stated above I would for sure drink this again but its not something I would exactly be ecstatic to see on a beer menu somewhere.

--Jon

Tried this beer the other day since it was beer of the month at World of Beer UCF. Was pretty tasty. Not bad, would probably get it again. I think a 7.5 out of 10 sounds about right.

--Jeff