Terrapin Hopsecutioner

Why I tried this: DID YOU SEE THE NAME OF THIS BEER?!??!!?!? By now you should know I love IPAs!  That being said how could I pass on a beer called Hopsecutioner.  Especially a "Hopsecutioner" that has some hops laid out on the guillotine.  Pretty much enough said, no point going into any more detail.

Smell: citrus scent with some floral in the scent.  Slight malt in the scent that seems to round it out and make the hops less pungent.

Taste: Well not quite as hoppy in flavor as I would expect a beer called "hopsecutioner" to be.  The hops are there and noticeable but not nearly as strong as I had been hoping for or planning.   A bit more of syrupy malty flavor then I would of expected.  I didnt detect much of the citrus scent at all in the flavor.  The caramel malt flavor blending with the hops rounded this beer out a bit more then I would of wanted.  Dont get me wrong I liked this beer, in fact I have a 6 pack of it in my fridge right now, but I would definitely consider it a much more mild IPA.

Overall I would give this beer a rating of a quarter glass left.  It is a beer I will enjoy time to time when I go out.  This beer had a very good flavor and is enjoyable however I wish the hops were a bit stronger in the flavor and make themselves more pronounced.  I would suggest this beer to someone that is interested in trying IPAs before I brought out the big guns of delicious hop tea IPAs.



--Jon

Cigar City Big Sound

Why I tried this: Lately I've been finding myself drinking quite a few beers from Cigar City, and minus the Jai Alai (IPA), I've really enjoyed the brews from this company. I had no idea what to get and asked Kyle to surprise me. Happily, he brought back a new Cigar City brew I hadn't tried yet, a scotch ale at that.

Smell: A big whiff of roasted and sweet malts pretty much overwhelm the nostrils. There is also a hint of cherry, which was quite pleasant.

Taste: The roasted malts come through here in full force, but fade to allow a complex sweetness to arise. This sweetness seems to be a mix of malts, toffee, and cherry. On top of this, I also got a bit of yeasty breadiness, which affirmed its ale status. Pretty complex, thick, and damn tasty.

I think this ale deserves an empty glass award. Cigar City has made a scotch ale with all the right ale ingredients, providing a powerfully complex but ultimately delicious blend. The malt and toffee sweetness mix very well with the cherry hints, and the whole brew just screams quality at me. It was a pleasure to drink the entire glass. I can only imagine how much better this must be on tap. Highly recommended if you like ales or just malty beers in general.

--Jeff

Cookie issues

Sorry guys, Jeff here. I've been having some major issues with Blogger over the past week, mostly preventing me from being able to log in entirely, so I haven't had a chance to add anything to the site. I know Jon will be back to his regular posting schedule starting today, and now that I've got my issues sorted out (damn broken cookies) I can get back to getting some beer posted up as well.

In other news, I've had some exciting prospects happening in the background over the past couple weeks, which should free up some of my time as well as letting me go out more again, so I should be pumping reviews in the next coming weeks! Stay tuned!

--Jeff

no posts for a week :(

Its been pretty hectic for Jeff and I lately and we slacked pretty badly as far as Beeruken goes.  Daily posts are coming back with one going up later today and so on as usual.

Lately we have been watching the Orlando City Soccer Club games, the team is on a streak of 9 games with no losses after last nights win.  You can check them out at http://orlandocitysoccer.com/

I am also very involved in one of the supporters groups of Orlando City called Iron Lion Firm you can check them out here http://ironlionfirm.com/




--Jon

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA

Why I tried this: Well, if you look at my last 6 or so reviews they are pretty much all IPAs. I really don't know what else to explain here as for why I got another IPA. In this specific instance I thought I hadn't had this one yet, but I had, so maybe that will make the review twice as amazing.

Smell: Hops and a nice outside pine scent. A nice walk in a forest.

Taste: A very smooth IPA, not amazing but it's pretty good. I usually look for a more crisp, strong flavor in an IPA and that's pretty much what this beer was lacking. It still tasted very good and went down really easy. The hop flavor of this beer, like the scent, is more of a floral flavor. There is a slight sweet malt flavor in the background but not anything that sticks out too strongly.

Overall I'd give this beer about a quarter of a glass left. I would probably get this beer again, not just on accident, lol. Though there were some characteristics missing that I look for in an IPA, the Anderson Valley IPA was still very enjoyable. I would probably suggest this beer to someone that was looking for another IPA to try.





--Jon

Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut Down Ale

Why I tried this: I honestly don't remember. I can tell you that the name of this beer is quite the mouthful. I probably saw it in the bottles book and picked it out because of the name. However, I generally have enjoyed Lagunitas beers before, so that probably played a pretty big part as well.

Smell: Has a very slight spice scent to it, but mostly has a malty and floral hop smell.

Taste: Not quite what I was expecting. There are some very light spice and citrus flavors, but mostly it's an epic battle of sweet malts versus mildly bitter hops. Normally, I'm not a fan of hoppy beer, but the malts are able to keep things balanced to the point that I actually really enjoyed this mix. The slight bitterness at the end was fairly nice, giving it a modest crispness.

This was a pretty good ale. It was very strong at nearly 10%, but you couldn't taste any of the alcohol. Instead, you got a nice balance of sweet malts, light citrus, some spice, and floral hops that added a bitterness to the end of the beer. It smelled nice, and went down pretty easily. Overall, I'd give this beer a quarter full glass. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good ale and wouldn't mind trying it again.

--Jeff

St. Peters India Pale Ale

Why I tried this: Continuing along my IPA run I saw an interestingly shaped bottle by St. Peters on the shelf. I noticed they had an IPA so I figured I could use another good IPA. I decided to give the St. Peters IPA a shot to see if I could keep what has been a great run going.

Smell: Not the hoppy scent I had hoped for, but malty.

Taste: Well this is officially the worst IPA I think that I have had to date, and I really really like IPAs. I probably will never drink or recommend this beer in my lifetime, wait...... not probably, definitely will not. It had a distinct flavor I can't describe that took over the whole flavor for me and I can't even really define it. It was a mostly stale cidery flavor or something. I really dont know how else to describe the flavor of this beer other then I did not like it at all.

I would give this beer a rating of a full glass. I never want a sip of this beer ever again. If it wasnt for the Old Speckled Hen and the Eerie Smokebender I would say this is the worse beer I have had at World of Beer since going.





--Jon

Damn Blogger

With blogger having been down for the better part of last week, it's really thrown us off here at Beeruken! We are now busy preparing new reviews and heading out to try some new things this week, so expect a regular daily flow of entries again as per usual. We'll be back into the swing of things in no time.

Also as of note, we've updated our weekly beer page, so feel free to check out Jeff and Jon's weekly recommendations for beer. The blogger outage incidentally ate part of that page, so we're missing a bit of our weekly recommendation history, but it's being updated now as we speak!

--Jeff

Manchester United win the Premier League!!!

After an uninspiring and sometimes frustrating 90 minutes, a draw away at Blackburn was all it took for Manchester United to clinch the English Premier League. It has been a tough season, with various teams such as Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, and even Manchester City at one point occupying the top spot, but in typical fashion, we kept fighting, clinched the top, and held on. With Sir Alex Ferguson staying aboard for at least one more year, there will be more exciting things to come. Soon, the picture to the left will become a reality once again, the 19th title won by United. Up next, Barcelona and the Champions League trophy!!! United!!!

--Jeff

Paulaner Premium Pils

Why I tried this: First off, before I want to get to why I grabbed this beer, I want to say welcome back to our viewers. Blogger was down for a couple days and we sadly could not post any updates. With that said, I was naturally sitting at the bar at World of Beer, and I wanted something light. However, not just any light style beer would do. I wanted a solid pilsner. I came across Paulaner's Premium Pils in the menu, and having had enjoyed other beers from them such as the Hefeweizen, this was a pretty easy choice.

Smell: Had a yeasty, bready aroma to it, combined with a mild floral hoppiness. It's how I would expect a good pilsner to smell.

Taste: First you get a pretty strong taste of yeasty bread and malts. The initial sip is moderately carbonated, and has a spice bite to it. As the malts fade, a mildly bitter hoppiness breaks out, which lingers on the back of the tongue as you finish your sip. It's crisp, that's for sure. For a pilsner, this is pretty top notch.

Overall, I'd give Paulaner Premium Pils an empty glass award. While a pilsner is not my favorite beer style, and admittedly its capacity for flavor is limited compared to, say, a belgian or stout, I found this particular pils to be excellent. Now that it's starting to get pretty warm out, these kind of beers really start to shine, because they are easy to drink, refreshing, and if brewed properly, can be fairly tasty. This Paulaner falls into that category, and thus deserves my recommendation.

--Jeff

World of Beer UCF outing number 10 million

I had a lot of fun on this particular outing .....I think.  I dont really recall anyones name.  Off to a great start...  The girl in the white dress had just graduated...  The guy to her left is her boyfriend.  The guy all the way to her right is her dad.  I remember stealing their pizza(hahaha) and suggesting good beers to her dad.  He enjoyed them as I recall so that makes him pretty awesome in my book.

All in all it was fun and they did a great job of putting up with me and enjoying my beer recommendations so what more could one ask for.  Her mom came in for a later picture but those came out really really blurry, since Im in the picture I know its not my fault...

The girl all the way on the left is supposedly the graduated girls sister but they might of been messing with me Im not too sure.  If they were props are due for such an excellent troll.  If not, I am a genius.



--Jon

Victory St. Boisterous

Why I tried this: It was Victory brewery night, so of course I had to have a Victory beer. I had recently had their Whirlwind Witbier as well as a few others, so the St. Boisterous was just a natural progression to the night. It was described to me as a bock style beer, and at 7.4% alcohol. Right on.

Smell: Has a scent of bready yeast and malts. There was a slight sweetness to the smell, as all good bocks should have. Didn't smell the alcohol at all.

Taste: Not too much different than the taste. You have your bready yeast type flavor plus some sweet, earthy malts. It all finishes with a crisp and slightly bitter hop, which was unexpected but not unwelcome at all. Pretty smooth and good flavor through and through.

Overall, I'd give Victory's St. Boisterous bock a quarter full glass. It was a pretty solid effort for a bock, but ultimately it falls short by not doing enough. Its medium body flavor is solid, but not outstanding. The smell pretty much mimics the taste and leaves little up to the imagination. I'm not typically a bock person, so I probably wouldn't get this beer again, but it was definitely a decent beer. I think bock fans out there would definitely be happy adding this beer to their weekly repertoire.

--Jeff

Hitachino Lacto Sweet Stout

Why I tried this: Interesting story. I was at World of Beer UCF (no kidding right?) and talking with Kyle for a bit. He informed me that their machines were down, so we couldn't access my account or print out my list. I told him we'll figure it out, and asked for a recommendation. He came back with a 22oz highly alcoholic scotch ale, to which I told him that I needed to make it home. So, he came back with choice #2, the Hitachino Lacto Sweet Stout. I know Jon is a big fan of Hitachino, and I've tried their Classic Ale and Espresso Stout, so I took it.

Smell: Not a lot there, actually. There's a faint smokiness, on top of a malty sweetness. It didn't smell particularly roasty, and I didn't detect the usual coffee. It was weird.

Taste: The first thing I got when taking my initial sip was sweet malts. I detected some caramel in there, as well as a smoky flavor. As the sip fades, it turned from sweet to slightly sour, with a definite smoked flavor to it. Not bad.

I have to admit, that this was not what I was expecting from a stout. To be fair, the beer came from Japan, and I tend to notice beers from there are pretty unique. The smoky flavor was an interesting twist, and the milk sugar and caramel malts made a nice sweet mixture that faded out into a mild sourness that wasn't unpleasing at all. If anything, this beer will stick out in my mind as more being unique than it was delicious, but overall it was still pretty decent. With that said, I'd give it a quarter full glass award.

--Jeff

Boulder Mojo IPA

Why I tried this: Continuing on my IPA journey since it has been the beer style I have been in the mood for lately, I stumbled across the Boulder Beer Company Mojo IPA. The beer sounded and looked great so I decided to give it a try, plus my waitress also recommended it to me. My waitress's name was Marielle (sp?) and she also loved IPAs, so in addition to this IPA she made a few other suggestions that also turned out good.

Smell: Smelt like a more floral, citrusy, IPA. Hops present in the scent but this beer's scent was more notably citrus

Taste: This is probably one of the best IPAs that I have ever had. The blend of the floral tasting hops with the citrus flavors was fantastic. It made for a very smooth tasting IPA. I know smooth and crisp somewhat contradict each other but this beer had characteristics that made the flavor stand out in all the right areas. After the initial strong flavor of hops and citrus is in your mouth and you swallow the sip, it isn't an overly bitter hop flavor that remains. The remaining flavor is a pleasant blend of slight citrus hops that makes you want to sit for a second before you take your next sip.

This beer receives a rating of an empty glass. If I am in the mood for an IPA and I see this beer out somewhere I would most definitely order this beer. The flavors complimented each other very well and it made for a great tasting beer. I would absolutely recommend this beer to any friend that enjoys IPAs. This beer makes me excited to see what else Boulder Beer Company offers in beer selection.



--Jon

Great Divide Hades Ale

Why I tried this: This beer was recommended to me by one of the bartenders. I don't really remember which, as I was under the influence of Great Divide and several other breweries. I have had a few beers by these guys and the only winner for me so far was their IPA, the Titan IPA.(clicky click for review) Lets hope this will be a repeat of the mighty Titan.

Smell: Earthy, grassy scent, sweet smelling. It becomes apparent this is going to be belgianish, tasty..

Taste: The first flavor on your tongue with this beer will be the strong malts and sweetness. Not too overpowering but very pleasant. The earthy and citrusy flavors that follow are much more mild then the up front strong malt flavor. This beer is a bit more sweet then most other Belgian beers but not unpleasant. You would absolutely not think this beer was 8%.


Overall I would give this beer a rating of a quarter glass left. It was a good beer and I did enjoy it but I don't think I would get it again. There are many other beers of this style I would prefer, there are probably only a few situations that I would be in where I would get this beer. This and the Titan have made me pretty happy with this brewery, though, since the first few I had by Great Divide I did not like at all.




--Jon

Ridin' Dirrrty @ World of Beer UCF

250 we are coming for YOU!  Jeff and I continue to keep ridin dirty up the World of Beer list.  

"When they see us ride by they can see the glean, my shine on the deck and the tv screen.  Ridin' with a new chick, she like hold up.. Next to the playstation controlla is a full clip and my pistola."

--Jon

screen shot taken 5/5/11

Samuel Smith India Ale

Why I tried this: This was the same day that I had the Hitachino Nest Classic Ale, and I was in the mood for an IPA among the others I had that day so I decided to give Samuel Smiths a try. I have had a few Samuel Smith beers before and they were pretty good, nothing amazing but they were pretty enjoyable, notably the stouts. With the arrival of this beer I was looking forward to being in sweet sweet hop heaven.

Smell: subtle earthy caramel scent. Not a strong smell at all.

Taste: The hop flavor does not expand into what I had hoped for at all. It was a surprise that was neither good or bad, just unexpected. The mild hop flavor made room for the sweet malt flavor that had notes of caramel and butterscotch. There was another flavor that came into this beer that was not too pleasant at all and I can't really define it, I just didn't really like it when it made itself apparent. This beer was mediocre and extremely mild for an IPA in my opinion.

I would give this beer a rating of a half full glass. This beer was mediocre and not real enjoyable but it didnt taste bad either. I would of liked to get more hops from the flavor or something else that would have given it a more full flavor. The flavor that lingers in the background that I can't define really dragged this beer down and took away from how smooth it could have been.




--Jon

Hitachino Nest Classic Ale

Why I tried this: After enjoying the Hitachino Stout so much I decided it was time to try another beer from Japan's Hitachino. I was in an Ale kinda mood so when I came across the classic ale on the menu my mind was almost made up. I asked Greg about this beer and he said it was great so what more convincing would I have needed?

Smell: Less hoppy then expected. There was a stong malt scent that covered most of the hop scent. Caramel scented.

Taste: Not what I expected at all but still good. I went into this beer expecting a lighter mostly floral hop flavor and thats not what you get at all. This beer has a deep dark malt flavor that reminds you of a woody flavor and caramel. The flavor is pleasant and enjoyable. There is a slight hop flavor but it absolutely is not the defining characteristic of the beer, it's just a backup support actor to the malts.

I would give this beer a rating of a quarter glass left. This beer was great tasting but it did not taste anything at all like what I expected going into it which is not a bad thing. The malt flavor of this beer is smooth and delicious and this is probably a beer I would order again if I saw it out somewhere.

--Jon

Tucher Helles Hefe Weizen

Why I tried this: Jon and I decided to have a quick after work outing to World of Beer UCF since we hadn't done that in a while. It's usually pretty quiet during the week day right after work, and sometimes I really like how quiet and personable it can be without the huge crowd. I was browsing the draft menu, and the only new item I recognized on the list was a hefeweizen from Tucher that I had not had before. Having had a beer or two from Tucher before, I ordered their Helles Hefe Weizen.

Smell: Wow, there's some spice in there. I got a strong smell of clove and other various spices, plus your usual grains and wheats.

Taste: A lot. Your first sip starts off with grains, wheats, and a strong clove taste. This fades to allow other spices to come through, also allowing in a very faint hint of banana and less so, citrus. It ends in a very mild bitterness. All the way through, this beer is exceptionally smooth, and the unfiltered nature of it makes the texture almost a bit creamy.

No questions asked, this beer gets an empty pint glass award. This is simply one of the best hefeweizens I've had, of any style, ever. I was just simply blown away at how balanced, complex, flavored, and drinkable this beer was. The smell and taste is just outstanding, and the presentation, also great. The beer looks a hazy gold due to the unfiltered nature, which I feel definitely strengthens the experience. Unlike some hefeweizens, this one doesn't rely on fruit nearly so much, instead focusing on what makes a hefeweizen, a hefeweizen. And, it does it amazingly. Get this beer. Now.

--Jeff

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen

Why I tried this: I had one Sierra Nevada a while ago (I don't remember which) and I was not a big fan so I decided not to try another one. Recently, one of the managers at World of Beer UCF, Paul, told me I need to give them another shot. The first I tried was the Torpedo and I really liked it, review on that to come. When I saw the Kellerweis at WoB UCF I decided to give it a try.

Smell: Scent of grains and slight spice. There is also some yeast in the scent.

Taste: Strong wheat is what I noticed first. Not overpowering though, smooth and delicious. After that this beer faded into a nice fresh hoppy flavor with small amounts of lemon flavor. About this time the spice flavor of the beer begins to make itself noticed. The finish of this beer was slightly bitter but still quite refreshing.

I would give this beer a ranking of an empty glass for sure. This beer was very, very enjoyable. I had a rough start with Sierra Nevada back in the day but Im glad Paul pushed me into getting another beer by them. Their beers are pretty easily working their way into my top favorites and this beer is no exception to that rule.





--Jon