Boston Beer Company - Samuel Adams - Cranberry Lambic

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a fluted glass

After posting reviews for a number of true Belgian Lambic ales I saw fit to post my review of the Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic. This Boston take on the style features a cloudy browning body with a distinct red tint and minor glow. This very-hazy beer musters a medium, but still smallish head of a lightly pink foam. The head is short-lived and leaves very little lace behind. The nose features cracked grain maltiness with a moderate sweetness and a light astringency. Tart cranberries are present, but light, and the beer leans stronger toward sugars.

The beer is quite crisp, but doesn't match the Champagne-like mouthfeel of a true Lambic. In fact, this beer seems to have nothing to do with the style at all. Without a process of spontaneous fermentation or at least using a blend that includes some wild yeast strains it is hard to imagine any beer successfully mimicking the style. Cranberry flavor is light, moderately tart, and features some sugariness. The beer is sweet, but not cloying. The underlying malts matched with the beer's sweetness give the impression of a light toast with maple syrup. The finish is mild overall with a lasting toothsome sugar.

Final Verdict: C+

Magic Hat Brewing Company - #9

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a plastic cup

Magic Hat #9 is perhaps the most well-known and popular of the brewer's selection. This apricot flavored beer pours a slightly reddish orange body. It's crystal clear with a small, lightly yellowed head of airy foam. The retention is modest and the lacing is light overall. The nose is very sweet and sugary with a strong candy apricot-like scent. It seems to have a distinct 'flavor added' feel and it seems quite clear that no real apricots are directly involved in the production of the beer. I could be wrong, and if I am, please let me know.

Cloying fruitiness overtakes the beer on the foretaste. Malt body and any hint of hops are all but entirely missing here. Mild hints of grain sneak in on the mid-palate. The grains give a tea-like flavor, not that of a substantial ale. The finish is dry, but almost sickly sweet. A tinge of crisp carbonation lightens the mouthfeel a bit. The Ourtoberfest beer brought me back to Magic Hat a few months back, but at this point, I'm remembering why I left in the first place.

Final Verdict: D+

Blue Point Brewing Company - Pumpkin Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. twist-off bottle, poured into a Mark Twain pint glass

The Pumpkin Ale from Long Island-based Blue Point pours a crystal clear light amber body with a moderate orange glow. The medium-sized light tan head is slightly creamy with moderate retention, but leaves almost no lacing on the glass. Pumpkin is big on the nose with mild spices the give the beer a pumpkin pie-like aroma. Spices are dusty seeming with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a hint of allspice. A mild astringency tugs at the edges of the beer's nose.

The beer has a tight carbonation up front that produces a full-ish mouthfeel. Sweet caramel malts build the base of the beer and work with prominent pumpkin flavoring. The beer's crispness subsides to big notes of the spices found on the nose. Allspice and nutmeg are the primary standouts. The beer is sweet and almost tangy on the finish with a dash of pumpkin and lingering spices to match a hint of brown sugar sweetness.

Final Verdict: B-

Matt Brewing Company - Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a Twain pint glass

The Pumpkin Ale from the Matt Brewing Company's Saranac line pours a deep tawny amber body with mild, but radiating, orange glows. The beer's creamy light tan head is thick and fades slowly to leave light lacing along the top of the glass. A reserved nose is dry and dusty with allspice occupying the prominent aromatic position. The underlying malt component is somewhat feint overall.

This Pumpkin Ale has a big emphasis on spices. Pumpkin flavors are mild with spices taking the lead. Allspice and cracked clove are apparent with hints of cinnamon. I'm a bit curious about the lack of real pumpkin flavor. The flavor is a bit sweet, but there are no significant vegetal notes on the finish. It's unfortunate, but the exact nature of the pumpkin content is a bit suspicious. The label claims the beer is brewed "...with pumpkin and spices with natural flavors added." The addition makes me wonder just how much actual pumpkin is involved in the beer, and how much the natural flavoring is the beer's main crutch. The finish has a minor lasting sweetness and some dry spice held over.

Final Verdict: C+

Buffalo Bill's Brewery - Pumpkin Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. twist-off bottle, poured into a Twain pint glass

The Pumpkin Ale from California-based Buffalo Bill's pours a very orange brown body with a lightly yellowed head. The foam is thin and retention and lacing are minimal as the head dissipates in a hurry. The nose is sweet and semi-artificial with a fake-seeming pumpkin aroma. Light citrusy notes give the beer a smell that is very reminiscent of Blue Moon with a mild spice profile.

Sweet malts give the beer some body paired with light pumpkin flavoring. Strangely enough, the orange and citrus notes are much more considerable than expected. The sweetness borders on cloying, but a definitive spice edge adds a tinge of dryness and cuts the sweetness a bit. Velvety carbonation adds light body, but the flavor subsides quickly to a vaguely astringent orange peel flavor that leaves citrus notes on the aftertaste.

Final Verdict: D+

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Punkin Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a pint glass

Dogfish's Punkin Ale pours a radiating copper body with a large creamy light tan head. The foam retention is solid and leaves mild lacing behind as the head slowly retreats. Sweet pumpkin from puree meets mounds of spices on the nose. The bottle cheerfully advertises extras added to the brew process including brown sugar, which adds nuanced sweetness, as well as allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Allspice and nutmeg are most prominent and give the beer a pumpkin pie aroma.

What gives Punkin Ale a solid footing is that it starts with a highly competent brown ale. A malt forward profile is buttressed by heaps of spice. Brown sugar and the toasted malts of the underlying brown ale give the beer defined caramel and molasses flavors. Pumpkin is delicious and spicy in and of itself with plentiful earthy and vegetal tones. Spices add pumpkin pie influence, but don't define the brew or pigeon hole it as a pie in a glass. The finish has some heat and a lasting spiciness. One of my favorites of the season.

Final Verdict: A-/B+

Anheuser-Busch - Shock Top Brewing Company - Pumpkin Wheat

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. twist-off bottle, poured into a Pilsner glass posing as a weizen glass

Pumpkin Wheat from the supposed "Shock Top Brewing Company" is brewed by Anheuser-Busch, owned by InBev, and is one of the companies many (many) brands of beer. Originally under AB's Michelob lineup, the brand has been a fairly successful competitor to Coors' Blue Moon in the macro-posing-as-micro market segment.

The beer pours an attractive hazy orange body with long wisps of floating sediment. The large, yellowed off-white head is fairly creamy and boasts solid retention. The nose is dry with a minor astringency. Mild pumpkin is present, but the emphasis is on spiciness with nutmeg and cinnamon as the standouts. The nose finishes on a semi-medicinal note.

Matched to a velveteen carbonation the silkiness of the wheat malts pairs with pumpkin flavor for an interesting combination. The bottle claims real pumpkin, but it's unclear what exactly that means and I'm skeptical if that means that real pumpkin chunks pass within a mile of the brew process. Dry spices round out the beer. Clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg give the beer a traditional pumpkin pie edge. The finish has a tinge of citrus and makes for a strange pairing with the nutmeg. The aftertaste is astringent and slightly medicinal, but the beer is surprising okay overall.

Final Verdict: C+

The Brooklyn Brewery - Post Road - Pumpkin Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a pint glass

The Post Road Pumpkin Ale from Brooklyn Brewery pours a clear amber body with a medium-orange tint. The head is large, fluffy, and aerated, colored in off-white. The nose is very dusty and dry, reminds me of running a canister vacuum cleaner. It's highly spicy with light cinnamon, nutmeg and plenty of allspice. There's moderate underlying pumpkin. While the spices are on, this isn't a nose of pumpkin pie.

The beer is highly, highly spicy. Allspice dominates almost completely. Cinnamon is detectable as are notes of nutmeg. Light pumpkin blends nicely with the malted barley base, but it is absolutely secondary. Again, for pumpkin beer lovers seeking liquid pumpkin pie, this is not the right choice. While it's a pumpkin ale, I'd say it falls more in line with spice beers, if I've ever had one. The finish is dry and dusty and lingering.

Final Verdict: B-

Boulder Beer Company - Kinda Blue

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a Pilsner glass

Following yesterday's Double IPA from Boulder comes a blueberry infused wheat beer. Kinda Blue pours a moderate purply tinted pale amber body with a reddish glow. The large fluffy head is light tan, but also features minor red tint. The retention is solid and the lacing is light. The nose is dry and dusty with a mild astringency and very feint blueberry aromas. A slight sweetness lingers, but the nose does not seem candied or cloying.

What this beer does right, off the bat, is that it seems to start with a competent wheat beer. Mildly spicy wheat is apparent in this mixed-malt brew. Satiny carbonation mixed with a gristly malt body give the beer some additional texture. The blueberry flavor is semi-sweet and almost slightly tart. This "with blueberries added" beer does not seem candied, cloying or artificial. The fruit flavor is more of an accent, not overbearing. The aftertaste has a moderate sweetness and seems fresh, which contrasts some of the dry elements and the cracked malt texture.

Final Verdict: B-

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Midas Touch Golden Elixir

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a chalice

Brewed with Muscat grapes and Saffron, Midas Touch is an ambitious and interesting offering from Dogfish Head. This Golden Elixir pours a brilliant apple juice golden hue with calm, slowly rising, carbonation. Its medium-sized white head is lightly frothy with an even surface. Retention and lacing are both light. The nose is slightly musty nose. Malts seem light and are seemingly overshadowed by the sweet Muscat aroma.

The beer is clearly strong, though not alcohol forward or necessarily boozy. A clear up front fruitiness comes from the grapes, but then seems to contribute to a clear sêche wine or Port character. There's a very mild hint of saffron. The lack of abundant saffron flavor is not surprising given the spice's high price, the its sparing use accents the beer, rather than taking it over. This strong beer wraps up leaving a slick mouthfeel and a mild, but present chest heat.

Final Verdict: B

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Festina Pêche

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a goblet

This flavored offering from Dogfish Head prominently features the brew addition of peach concentrate. If you don't want your juice from concentrate, do you want your beer that way? Festina Pêche pours a light straw with a hazy complexion and gentle rising carbonation. The moderately-sized creamy white head sticks around with modest retention and produces light lacing. There's an average maltiness to the nose. The peach aroma is initially subtle, but ultimately defines the nose. The added fruit is sweet, but not cloying or candied.

The beer's bright carbonation makes for a crisp body. Despite this, the beer's sweetness seems syrupy up front. Big peach cobbler flavor enters in early and briefly. A tart, almost grape-like mid-palate dismisses the peach and reveals a disappointingly thin malt showing. There's a lightly sugary toothfeel on the finish. The beer is sessionable and quite drinkable, but it's not substantial, nor is it anything too special.

Final Verdict: C+

Opa-Opa Brewing Company - Blueberry Lager

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a pint glass

Opa-Opa's Blueberry Lager ("with all natural flavor added") pours an extremely pale, almost diluted looking straw with a bluish/purple tint. The moderate white head also carries a slight tint, but musters disappointingly lousy retention. The nose is sweet and sugary with a canned blueberry pie filling aroma. Luckily it doesn't smack of either artificiality or cloying sweetness.

This beer has big soda-like qualities. It seems a bit like a soda, only the 'natural' side of things, without the overbearing sugar. It isn't very beer-like but it isn't bad either. The blueberry flavoring adds a sweetness, but isn't over blown or artificial seeming. The modest tea-like maltiness peaks near the finish and is accompanied by a moderate dryness and lacks the customary sugary toothsome feel.

Final Verdict: C

Harpoon Brewery - Harpoon's UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a flute

The raspberry version of Harpoon's "UnFiltered Offering" pours a thin straw with a pinkish hue. The coloring is reminiscent of a cranberry juice cocktail or grapefruit juice. The head is extremely light and airy with huge carbonation bubbles and a slightly-tinted off-white color. The candy raspberry nose is very sweet and tart.

The thin wheat malts seem sour under the excessive and toothsome sweetness. The tight and crisp carbonated mouthfeel gives the beer a soda-like edge. The finish has a slight adjunct lager taste to it along with a sugary tooth feel and a modest candy-like raspberry flavoring.

Final Verdict: D+

Sierra Nevada - Best of Beer Camp 2011 - Juniper Black Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a mug

This final ale in the Beer Camp sampler has given me the most trouble. After the first bottle I was turned off. I didn't find it revolting, but saw it coming in somewhere between a C and a C-. I had it again since first reviewing it and thought I must've been off my rocker to think it so disappointing. I'm not sure if it was the level of Juniper flavor and its interaction with the other characteristics of the beer that changed so dramatically from bottle to bottle, or my impression of it. I'm still not sure I've worked it all out, but I've arrived at a place where I'm happy with my thoughts on the beer.

The beer pours a deep mahogany, it is quite dark. The large, rich brown head has a creamy consistency and great retention. Likewise, the lacing on this beer is excellent. A roasty, coffee-like malt nose is complimentary to the pungent and piercing piney hops character, which is itself magnified by the distinct pine-like aroma of juniper.

Initially a standard-seeming Black IPA the beer is very high on its sappy and piney hop character. Juniper berries add a light tartness and some bitterness. The finish is slightly vegetal with a bitter piney hop edge and a pronounced and a lingering juniper flavor.

Final Verdict: B

Thomas Hooker Brewery - Watermelon Ale

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a Hooker pint glass

Kicking off what could be a long list of interesting and diverse Summer seasonals is Watermelon Ale from Hooker. I've reviewed quite a few Hooker brews, with unflinchingly positive results. This, is, unfortunately, the glaring exception.* Supposedly employing 'natural flavors,' this beer smacks of artificiality. To be sure, there is no actual watermelon involved here (let me know if I'm wrong, but I'd be extremely surprised).

The bottle pours a very light, extremely pale, straw body with a thin airy head bearing minimal retention and no lacing. Tons of active carbonation brings the glass to life. A very sweet candy watermelon aroma dominates the nose. It's somewhere between watermelon chewing gum and a watermelon jolly rancher. A feint hint of graininess follows the overbearing candy on the nose.

A short wave of flavor rolls in up front with a super-sweet watermelon-esque candy flavoring. The sugar onslaught slowly subsides to a mild grainy twang. The grains are weak and tea-like. There's no perceptible alcohol or body. Seems more like a cooled, unfermented, wort than beer. Sweetness rises again on the finish. The beer doesn't leave your teeth feeling as sugary as other fruit beers, but there's a hint. I guess you could say it's 'refreshing,' but it's barely beer.

Much different from my modus operandi, I poured more than half of this beer out. I'd prefer to drink or review a 'malternative' than this, even if it means getting down on one knee and chugging it to my embarrassment and the entertainment of others. The only other "beer" I might put in this category is Miller Chill. But, I haven't had one in years.

Final Verdict: F*

* - Many people actually like this beer (and I use the word beer lightly, here). You may be one of them. Maybe you've never had it, maybe you would like it. I'd say: "What you think passes for beer, I just can't understand" But, you're more than welcome to drink and enjoy it. Nothing against Hooker Brewery, but man, I just can't get behind this.

Lindemans - Kriek

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits
Serving Type: 12 oz. corked, capped, foiled, green glass bottle, poured into a fluted glass

After essentially panning two flavored beers (Long Trail's Blackbeary Wheat and Abita's Pecan Harvest) I decided I needed to prove to myself, and my readers, that I wasn't irreversibly biased against flavored beers. So, I turned to a place I was confident I would be happy. I've had fruit-flavored Lambics in the past and enjoyed them, so that's where I went.

Kriek is a specific style of Lambic beer that is flavored with sour Morello cherries. Lambics themselves are a breed of beer all their own, brewed exclusively in Belgium. The beer has a glowing purplish-red body reminiscent of beet juice. The pink foam head is fluffy with great retention and leave tons of lacing in clearly delineated layers. The nose has a potent cherry scent like black cherry soda. There's also a sugary sweetness that reminds me of Luden's cherry cough drops (a/k/a candy).

The flavor is intense with tons of sweet cherry flavor. The carbonation is extremely strong with Champagne-like bubbles. The beer rounds off with a tinge of sour, grape-like crispness on the finish. Like other fruit beers, this also, unfortunately, leaves a sugar-coated feeling on your teeth after you're finished. But it's an understandable price to pay for this unique and delicious fruit-infused beer.

Final Verdict: B+

Bonus anecdotal content: On my visit to Belgium (the day before my trip to Chimay) we took a walk from the train station, where we arrived, to visit the Cantillon Brewery. Cantillon is one of the few famous breweries producing Lambic beers. The style utilized spontaneous fermentation, which relies on free-floating yeast to turn wort into beer. While there, we sampled their Gueuze (a re-fermented blend of young and old Lambics) and a variety of their flavored beers, including a Kriek and a Framboise (a raspberry-flavored variety). I took a few pictures at the brewery, which I'll look into posting in the next week or so.

Long Trail Brewing Co. - Blackbeary Wheat

Purchased From: Sam's Club
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a pint glass

Blackbeary Wheat is a mixed wheat and barley malt beer with a supposed 'hint' of blackberry flavor. The beer is extremely light and pale. While pouring it, it appeared more like water than beer at all. In the glass, however, the crystal clear pale straw stands proud. It pours with a medium frothy white head that has moderate retention. The active carbonation is abundant.

The nose is dominated by candy sweet artificial-seeming blackberry scent. There's malt in there somewhere but its difficult to discern on the nose. The sweetness comes straight from the nose and dominates the front of this beer. The malts push their way through in the middle, but they're thin and seem sour in comparison to the flavor attack. It also seems as if the wheat malts get lost in translation here. Finally, the beer finishes up with a mildly unpleasant sugar-coated feeling for your teeth.

This seems to be one of the many flavored/fruit beers that I just don't like very much. Abita's Pecan Harvest was a major bust for me and I've been similarly dismayed by Hooker's Watermelon Ale and Magic Hat's #9 and Wacko beers. I've heard many good things about this beer, so if you're into flavored beers, definitely give it a try. I'll continue to look for a flavored beer I can get behind, but it may be a while. The next, and more promising candidates will probably be some fruit flavored Lambics like Kriek.

Final Verdict: D+

Samuel Adams - Chocolate Bock

Samuel Adams - Chocolate Bock

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits

Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a flute

The Chocolate Bock has been around for quite some time, but always in “collectible” 750mL bottles with a metal emblem. The box makes it a point to note that this 12 oz. version is exclusive and new to the variety pack. The bottle and the box also explain that the beer is aged on a bed of Ecuadorian cocoa nibs. What’s a bit concerning is that in addition to being flavored with the cocoa the bottle reveals that the beer is also flavored with ‘natural flavoring.’ It’s a bit ambiguous as to what that is exactly, but even the seemingly innocent ‘natural flavoring’ can be code for all sorts of things that aren’t what you might expect.

The beer is extremely dark, but has a clean complexion. There’s a pleasant brown-ish glow emmenating from the base of the glass. The generously-sized tan head is creamy and comes with solid retention. As the foam shrinks a fine tan layer adorns the top of the beer.

Chocolate is at center-stage on the nose, but there’s also a more delicate mild must. Also detectable are thin barley malts, but they are in the backseat in this beer. The flavor of this beer is singularly and decidedly chocolate. It is extreme. It tastes like drinking a glass of chocolate milk or a mug of (now cold) hot cocoa. A slight bitter and smokey tinge comes at the end, but there’s not much else. No real malt flavor can be decerned. What this beer lacks in balance or depth it makes up for in chocolate.

Final Verdict: C+*

*A Note on the Score: I had a bit of trouble deciding on this score. The beer itself is delicious, but it’s a bit over the top. Nothing but chocolate really makes it through, and it comes off too rich. By the time I was about half-way through the glass I was ready to be done. It is certainly something worth trying, especially for chocolate lovers, and even for people who don’t like beer all that much. However, it loses points, for me, because this is a beer, not a chocolate shake.

Abita - Pecan Harvest

Abita - Pecan Harvest

Purchased From: Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits

Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle, poured into a pint glass

Pecan Harvest comes from Abita Brewing Company in Louisiana. Who knew that they made beer in the South? Made with real Louisiana pecans, as the label says.

It pours with a medium amber body with a glowing orange tint. The initial thin white head has no retention and leaves no lacing on the glass. There’s a mild astringency to the malts on the nose, but what’s also present seems like pumpkin spices and pecans.

The mouthfeel seems well carbonated at first, but it goes flat and watery in a hurry. There’s a slight toasty malt character, but they too seem watered down. No hops to speak of. The pecan taste comes through in the end, but they taste artificial (counter to the label’s claim). The aftertaste is medicinal and unpleasant. This is not a beer I’d seek out again.

Final Verdict: D-