Piraat

Why I tried this: I think a co-worker of mine, David, recommended this to me, but my memory is a bit hazy. Shit happens when you drink lots of beer. It was a tripel belgian, a style I haven't touched much of recently, so why not?

Smell: Has a slight hoppy bitterness to the scent, but otherwise is overwhelmingly sweet, mostly from malts and various fruits, such as citrus and berries. Quite pleasant.


Taste: Slight hints of caramel, but heavy on the berries and sweet malts. I could also detect some pear and apple in the taste, but that may be the beer playing tricks on me. Or the alcohol. Had a bit of a yeasty taste to it as well, but this was very mute and a welcome addition.

Overall, I'd probably award this beer a strong quarter full glass. It's a very good example of the belgian tripel style, incorporating heavy amounts of fruits and malts, but quality enough that you can taste almost everything that went into it. The carbonation is a bit high on this one, but I rather enjoyed that. I really can't say anything particularly negative about it, other than it didn't completely floor me. All in all, I would definitely recommend.

--Jeff

Shipyard Pumpkinhead

Why I tried this: Pumpkinhead is one of those beers that you just know, if you drink beer. It comes around every season, it's cheap, and everyone seems to get it. Well, it's fall time now, and Pumpkinhead has returned. It's been a long time since I've been to WoB, but I was there the other day and saw it on tap. I don't think I've ever had it on tap so I went for it.

Smell: Has a slight spice note to it, coupled with a lightly sweet pumpkin scent and little malts. Overall, pretty weak on the smell.

Taste: The initial taste is that of sweet pumpkin, followed by some fall spices and sweet malts. It's pretty good, but honestly it feels a bit thin, and doesn't really vary from the smell that much, or attempt to do anything different.

Overall, I'm kind of on the fence with Pumpkinhead. On the one hand, I don't mind a lighter, easy to drink beer. On the other, I do love flavor, and this unfortunately lacks a bit. It has the pumpkin taste you expected, but doesn't really deliver enough of it. However, I could drink this beer all day and do enjoy it. For the sake of this review, I'm going to award this beer a half full glass, but don't be scared by that. Definitely give it a try. It's a decent tasting, easy to drink fall beer.

--Jeff

Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

Why I tried this: First off, wow. What a mouthful to say the full title of this beer. Secondly, I decided to try this beer because it had just come in stock at my UCF WoB. I was talking to Kyle and asking for recommendations, and he asked if I was feeling adventurous. I said I was, and this was what returned with him. Was glad to see a stout!

Smell: Very strong roasted malts, some coffee, and sweet chocolates. Strong, like a good imperial stout should be.

Taste: This beer starts off with a plethora of roasted malts, and doesn't stop from there. A hint of coffee kicks in, joined with a bit of aged oak, and lots of sweet chocolates. This beer is thick, and the taste is very powerful. You get a fair amount of carbonation, and the strong taste never lets up, all the way down.

Overall, I'd probably give this beer a quarter glass. It was very good, maybe even good enough for an empty glass, but I think what held it back for me was the extreme taste and thickness of the beer. Don't get me wrong, I love a strong, thick stout, but I don't think I could drink more than one of these in a sitting, which is why I can't quite give it the empty glass award. If you are one of those people that are taste above all else , then this would probably be one of your favorite beers. For the rest of us, we'll just have to be happy knowing that this is a very good beer that you'll want to try at least once.

--Jeff

Modelo Especial

Why I tried this: Ok, don't laugh. I was pretty drunk and was out with Jon at WOB UCF, and thought it would be a good idea to get the rest of my Mexican beers out of the way on my way to 500. Modelo Especial was the next on the list. I originally wasn't planning on writing a review of it, but while I was drinking and commenting on how it was less bad than the other Mexican beers I had that night, he demanded I post a review.

Smell: I honestly couldn't detect anything. There may have been a very slight hop aroma, but it was probably my imagination. The rest was a weak, garbled mess.

Taste: Ugh. Not much better than the smell. There was a trace of sweet malts, and again a trace of lightly bitter hops. Other than that, it was very watery and light, with no real other flavor to speak of. This beer was meant to be slammed, not enjoyed. The only positive part, I suppose, is the lack of the taste. It could have tasted awful, but instead tasted like next to nothing. I guess that's a positive?

I'm just going to go ahead and give this beer a quarter empty glass. There's just no two ways around it: this beer sucks. It's a Mexican beer, and by default that already makes it suck pretty hard. It doesn't do much to improve from that base status. The only time I'd ever drink this again was if I was at a college party playing a drinking game, and it was offered to me as the beer we were going to drink. I would never order this or willingly buy it on my own. But, I guess it could be worse. It could be a Corona.

--Jeff

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victory Whirlwind Witbier

Why I tried this: A few days prior I had received a text message from WOB UCF that they were going to have a brewery night with Victory brewery on Tuesday night. Brewery nights are exciting because you get to try beers that you may otherwise never see in your region, so of course I had to go. I was hanging out near the bar talking to Bobby a bit about football (soccer), and ordered the first Victory beer listed on tap, the Whirlwind Witbier.

Smell: Pretty typical for a wheat beer. This being a white wheat, it was a bit lighter, but still had your familiar wheats and oats scent, plus a little lingering spice.

Taste: I got a lot of very clean wheats, coupled with a bit of citrus. Not too sweet, just right. The nice thing about it was that although it seemed simple, the flavors all blended very well and were of extremely high quality. The cleanness of the beer made it very drinkable, and not in a watery adjunct kind of way. Awesome.

Overall, I'd have to give the Victory Whirlwind Witbier a quarter empty glass. This was probably one of the better white wheats I've had, which is pretty high praise coming from me, as I love any and all wheat beers. It's not a strong beer by any means, but it's quality and is simply a pleasure to drink. I'd definitely recommend this beer if you like a good hefeweizen, or especially white wheats. Wouldn't mind getting it again now and then.

--Jeff

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

Orlando Loyalty List top 10 @ World of Beer UCF

Another update to the world of beer website shows that as you can see Jeff M and I (Jon R) are climbing our way up the list.  Hitting 250 is just around the corner.

here is the link to the online list I took this screenshot from http://ucf.wobusa.com/Promos/TheLoyaltyCard.aspx

--Jon

Erie Presque Isle Pilsner

Why I tried this: It was just another day at the office...err, World of Beer. I was just looking for something new on tap that wouldn't kill me. I'd had a few beers from Erie before, and having been unimpressed with what I've tried thus far, I initially skipped over this beer. However, my choices on the draft list were getting slim, and a pilsner sounded like just the thing for me, so I went with this beer.

Smell: I didn't really get much from this beer. Had a slight earthy hop, but only very slightly. Perhaps a bit of a bready, yeasty smell.

Taste: Not much here either. You get a slight bitterness from hops, and a certain dryness that is probably one of the few pleasing qualities of this beer. There is a slight spic

e towards the end, but overall not a strong flavor, and what's there doesn't hold when it all finally goes down.

I think it's pretty fair to say this beer will only get a half glass award from me. It's a pretty forgettable beer that lacks a good scent and doesn't have much going on in the taste department either. It's not a very crisp or clean pilsner, and was honestly just too hard to figure out what they were trying to do with this beer. I did like the dryness of the beer, and that it was fairly easy to drink, but that's about it. A good pilsner should be clean, crisp, and have lots of good flavors blended together. This does not. I won't be trying this beer again, and don't recommend it.

--Jeff

Bell's Hopslam Firkin Cask

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer, and I was determined to try some fresh Bell's beer on tap. The Hopslam Firkin was actually one of the beers I had earlier in the night. I was originally drinking a Double Cream Stout when Logan stopped me and told me I was crazy if I didn't try the firkin. Apparently they had very limited quantity and it would be gone very soon, if not already. Kyle agreed, so I made it my next beer. Logan was being a jerkface and wouldn't give me two beers at once so unfortunately, that meant I had to slam the stout, so I won't have a proper review for it haha. This will probably be the last Bell's review I'll be doing for the time being.

Smell: I got a really pleasant floral hop scent that had a bit of bananas and lots of citrus, notably orange, mixed in. There were other faint sweet smells as well.

Taste: It sort of comes in two waves. The first wave you can taste some lightly sweet malts and more citrus/orange. However, once you get paste the initial sweetness, in comes the bitterness. The hops start to take over, and boy do they take over huge. You are left with a very bitter and hoppy taste in your mouth. I don't know if it was the firkin cask or what, as normally I really despise this, but I actually somewhat enjoyed the finish.

Overall, I'd probably give this beer a quarter pint glass. I normally don't like hoppy beers at all, and maybe it was the firkin cask doing something different, but I definitely enjoyed this beer. At 10%, it was fairly strong, but I couldn't taste the alcohol. There was just too much flavor there. The sweet smell and initial taste was a nice surprise, as in an IPA for me that is usually drowned out by bitter hops, but the hops let the other tastes come through first before they made their presence known. Very hoppy in the finish, but overall enjoyable. If you like IPAs, this is probably a must have.

--Jeff

Summit Winter Ale

Why I tried this: Once again, this is another beer that Jackie gave me. I was pretty happy to see it since typically I am a fan of winter ales, especially the Sam Adams one. When the bottle opened I could not wait to try Summit's version.

Smell: Caramel and a slight roasted malt scent. A pleasant smell.

Taste: Floral and earthy hop flavor as I would typically expect. The hops are not at all overpowering and make this beer very pleasant to drink. There is a slight roasted caramel malt flavor that blends together nicely with the hops. There is a slight spice flavor but this beer is a very smooth easy drinker. I wouldn't mind one of these at all right now.




This beer receives a quarter filled pint rating. I did enjoy this beer very much and it was very smooth however this beer is not something that I would go out of my way to look for. If I saw it on a menu I would possibly order it depending on what else was on the menu. At a place like World of Beer I probably wouldn't get this again but somewhere with only 10-15 beers I'm sure I absolutely would. Its smooth delicious flavor is what earns it a quarter pint left. A great winter ale for sure.




--Jon

Bell's Expedition Stout

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night, and up next was the Expedition Stout. Previously, I had written about the Bell's Consecrator. I think this stout chronologically came right before the Consecrator and was the primary reason why I started to get pretty drunk. Thanks Kyle and Logan. Anyway, this is just the next in a series of Bell's beers I'll be covering from that night.

Smell: It has a very roasted, malty scent, with a good mix of chocolate. You can easily smell the high alcohol content of this beer.

Taste: I pretty much got the same thing I smelled. It had a very dark roasted malt flavor to it, with a fair amount of chocolate to balance it all out with sweetness, but there was a strong taste of alcohol that burned the tongue a bit. I don't believe Bell made much attempt to hide how strong this beer was. Definitely an imperial stout.

At 10.5%, this imperial stout was definitely a kick to the teeth. It was also the main cause of my downward spiral of the night. However, despite the harshness of the alcohol, what was there was very good and balanced. I always enjoy a good stout. However, I don't know if I would order this again. It was a sipper for sure. With that said, I'd probably give this beer a quarter full glass. If you're an imperial stout fan, give this one a try. You may be surprised.

--Jeff

Terrapin Sunray Wheat Beer

Why I got this: This beer was suggested to me by one of my favorite bartenders, Jackie. She typically recommends good beers to me so I went with it. On a side note Jackie also needs to shotgun a beer with Derrick and I again. I'm not exactly sure how to spell Derrick, Derek, or whatever so he's going to have to get over it.

Smell: Well I made the mistake of not smelling this beer before tasting it. Going in for the second sniff... This beer has a grainy, sweet smell, like a Belgian ale.

Taste: When I first started drinking this beer I absolutely did not expect at all a Belgian flavor. This beer tastes like a classic grainy Belgian beer. The flavor is a very very grainy malty bread flavor. The finish of this beer beyond the malts is somewhat sweet and sugary. This beer's title made me expect something a bit different going into it. The classic Belgian ale flavor and bite was a bit of a surprise to me but hey, what do I know.

This beer receives a quarter glass remaining. I was delightfully surprised by the flavor of this beer. This is a very good beer from Terrapin and I have loved many of their recent beers that I have had. While I enjoyed this beer very much there are plenty of beers I would rather have. If you are looking for a beer with the described flavors above that you haven't had this may be a good recommendation.



--Jon

Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer. Every once in a while they have a brewer's night where they hook up a handful of beers from a craft brewery on tap, and have neat swag and stuff going on. This was such a night. Although this wasn't the first Bell's beer I had that night, this will be the first one I will review, as it was probably my favorite, that I could remember.

Smell: I was able to detect a lot of malts and a caramel sweetness in the scent of this beer.

Taste: Malty and sweet, likely due to the caramel. It also has a slight fruitiness to it as well, but I couldn't discern exactly what was in it. Overall, the taste is pretty well balanced and almost a bit mild.

Overall, I'd give this beer an empty glass award. It was a hard decision, because I actually wanted almost a little stronger of a flavor, but then I realized this is made up for in the smoothness of the beer, which in turn makes it more drinkable. I think that's a fair trade considering the great taste and smell. Definitely give this beer a try if you can find it.

--Jeff