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

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

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

Samuel Adams Summer Ale

My Canon DSLR put to good use...

Why I tried this: I have loved my good friend Samuel and most of his beers for a pretty long time now. I love picking up the samplers at each season from the store and I am always excited when I see a new Samuel Adams that I haven't had yet. Whenever I go out to a bar with a potential customer or boss I always order a Sam Adams so I look legit like in the commercial.

Smell: Summer. Scents of citrus, earthy hop scent, a relaxing refreshing scent.

Taste: The flavor starts out as a citrusy flavor that seems composed mostly of lemon and grapefruit ..mostly. There is a very good wheat flavor that is pretty subtle and very enjoyable. After you get past the citrus it has the typical hop flavor finish that I enjoy and expect with each of the Samuel Adams beers. The flavor is blended nicely and all of the flavors complement each other nicely.


This beer receives the quarter pint left rating. It is a good beer but there are plenty of other Samuel Adams beers that I enjoy much more then this one. I love trying all of the Samuel Adams beers and there are certain seasonals I always cant wait for when it gets close and unfortunately this is not one of the ones I will impatiently be waiting for. This beer is still very good but, Ive had better from Mr. Adams, and there are plenty of others I cant wait for.


--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

Victory Donnybrook Stout

Why I tried this: What's this?!?! A new stout on tap that I haven't had yet?! This is fantastic. In this long journey to champion 500 beers, sometimes it's hard when your options are dwindling for a favorite beer type. Stouts are one of my favorite types and it's been hard lately for me to find one I haven't had yet. Whenever a new stout goes on tap at World of Beer UCF, it's pretty much an early Christmas present, or in this case early easter egg I guess.

Smell: Roasted malt/coffee flavor. Not very strong. There was another scent there too that would probably be best described as the smell when it's about to rain.

Taste: This beer was probably one of the oddest tasting stouts I have ever had. When you take your sip the first flavor you get is pretty watery. The water flavor isn't soft or bad, it's crisp like a good bottle of water. The difference in the water flavor is like the difference you would notice drinking Fiji water over bottled drinking water at the grocery store. It's a bit more crisp and refreshing. If you don't agree with me nobody cares what you think, you're wrong. Anyway, the beer flavor is odd because the best way to describe it is a watered down stout, that sounds a lot worse then it tastes in this beer's case. The crisp watered down flavor is pretty refreshing but all of the malty flavors and roast flavors you would expect take the back seat, a far back away seat, like in the back of a limo.

Im giving this beer a ranking of a half full beer glass. While this beer's watery flavor made it fairly refreshing and crisp, thats not what I want when I order a stout. I would possibly get this beer again but only in very specific circumstances. It has a pretty good flavor, it's not a beer that I had to force down or anything, in fact the watery flavor made it a quick easy drink. I would probably only suggest this beer to someone that told me they would like to drink a stout but the roasted malt flavors are too strong for them.


--Jon

last day of Starr Hill BoGo @ Publix

Today is the last day at Publix that you can get 6 packs of Starr Hill buy one get one free.  Starr Hill brewery make some pretty good beers including one that we have reviewed Starr Hill The Love.

--Jon

Top 10 Loyalty list @ World of Beer UCF

newest update over @ World of Beer UCF puts both Jeff and I cruising up the top 10 list.

click here to view on the WoB website

I see how it is WoB spell out Jeffs last name, Mailhot, but not mine, Rutishauser. :D

Jon and Jeff cruising up the top ten!

updated World of Beer UCF loyalty lists

click her to see the new lists!

Jon (left) and Jeff (right) with the newest printouts!

Beered up at World of Beer UCF w/ Edwin

On another trip to World of beer UCF I bumped into one of the bartenders, Edwin, out of his class A World of Beer uniform. We ended up hanging out and enjoying some awesome beer.

Later on in the night after alcohol impaired my judgement, Edwin lied to me and told me a beer was only 5.5% so I ordered it and was told it was 11% ..what a nice guy. His side of the story is that he was talking about the next beer but everyone should know that's just a lie. I guess I can't hold it against him too much for all the good beers he's recommended to me.

Jon (me) and Edwin

--Jon

Black Sheep Ale

Why I tried this: I'm going to be honest with you here. I was pretty damn drunk. I don't even remember ordering this beer, so honestly couldn't tell you why I tried it. Maybe it was the sheep on the bottle that allured me. Your guess is as good as mine.

Smell: A bit of wheat maltiness, but overall very light on the smell. Doesn't really give away too much.

Taste: It's like half malty, half hoppy. The hops are fairly bitter, as a pale ale should be. But, the malt kind of cancels some of the bitterness out, and provides a mild sweetness. I detected a faint citrus in there, but then again I was drunk, so I'm not entirely sure...

Despite not remembering much from that point on in the night, I do remember that Black Sheep Ale was a decent English pale ale that was fairly drinkable and not overly hoppy. It had a bit of sweet flavors mixed in to keep things balanced, which is what I liked the most. If you're a pale ale fan, I'd recommend checking this one out once. It gets a quarter full glass award from me.

--Jeff

Bell's Kalamazoo Stout

im an artist, what an artsy picture

Why I tried this: I wanted a stout. I had been avoiding this beer for a while because apparently it's brewed with licorice and I hate licorice. Yah, on a side note that means I hate Jager too, that stuff is the worst. Anyway, a few beers later and eventually my desire for a stout outweighed my hatred for licorice.

Smell: Coffee and chocolate scent with a slight roasted scent.

Taste: Before I took that first sip, I was a bit concerned. I blankly stared at the bottle for a while because of how much I really hate licorice. After some hesitation and thoughts of regret I decided to go for it and tackle the beast. As I flinched expecting a licorice beat down the flavor opened and it was very pleasant. The roasted flavor is noticeable and strong but is balanced very well by the other flavors of this stout. The chocolate and coffee malt flavors are superbly blended, there is also a syrupy sweetness to this beer as well. I didn't really notice any licorice flavor or maybe I just didn't mind it because of how blended in it was, either way it made me pretty happy.

After completing this beer and loving every drop this beer gets an empty glass rating. The flavors were great together and this beer was a very enjoyable smooth drink. This is a beer I would absolutely get again and again and like it every time. If you don't like licorice don't let that stop you from getting this beer. If you do like licorice, what's wrong with you? It's terrible. In that case you'll love this beer, especially since you can stomach and enjoy licorice.

--Jon

Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale

Why I tried this: It was a Tuesday, and a fine day out. I was perusing the bottles section while discussing Cigar City brewery with my buddy Dave. I was telling him I had had the Jose Marti Porter and didn't much care for it. He asked if I had tried their Maduro Brown Ale. I had not, and he insisted it was pretty good, so I ordered it.

Smell: Just like a brown ale should, earthen and malty. Nothing too exciting.

Taste: Wow. Not what I was expecting at all. This is not your average brown ale. It starts with a malty flavor that is roasted, tasting more like a porter than a brown. A sweetness of chocolate then hits. The entire sip is insanely smooth. I literally felt like I was drinking velvet.

This beer gets an empty glass from me, no questions asked. Cigar City, a local Florida brewery, has hit a home run. I never expected a brown ale to taste so dark and sweet. The balance was just simply incredible. And the smoothness...that really tops it off. Get this ale.

--Jeff

Drinkin at World of Beer UCF with The Marines

Cell phone pictures, what can you expect? Serious red eye, blurry, low light, low quality.

...Alright thats enough this isnt a photography review blog.

While battling for a position at the bar we ran into a few guys in the Marines that just got back from a tour in Afghanistan. Glad they made a safe return! It was pretty awesome to talk to them for a while and hopefully we run into them again in the future. Kristy and I mostly got cut out...mostly.

--Jon

Top 10 Loyalty @ World of Beer UCF

In 10th place and moving on up.  Current count should put me at 8th by now and Jeff will be on the board fo sho' with their next update.

Movin on up, To the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie

--Jon

Anchor Liberty Pale Ale

Why I tried this: I was in the mood for something light, but most importantly I was really just going down my list and trying to knock beers out of the way. I found the Anchor Liberty Pale Ale, and it sounded good, so I gave it a shot.

Smell: Had a floral hop scent that was combined with an unidentified spice. Not bad.

Taste: I got a citrus taste as well as some spice notes that were buried under moderately bitter hops. You could also taste the pale malts a bit. The hops and the bitterness were well balanced, and the beer itself was very crisp, which I enjoyed.

Overall, I'd probably award the Anchor Liberty Pale Ale a quarter full glass. It was a fairly good beer, with its strong points being its balance of flavors and hops, while still providing a crisp drinking experience. It wasn't a great beer that I'd get most of the time I go out, but I'd likely get it every once in a while.

--Jeff