Tag Archives: 3-Pack

Beer Review: Bumble Berry Honey Blueberry Ale by Fat Head’s

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* Note this post is not by MattOhioBeer It is the first submission by the newest member of our team Sam or SJLOhioBeer if you’re nasty. 

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Beer Name: Bumble Berry Honey Blueberry Ale
Brewery: Fat Head’s
Beer Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 5.3%
Size: 12 oz. Bottle
Beer Advocate: 84
RateBeer: 68 (overall) 92 (in fruit/vegetable beers)

A few weeks ago I was enjoying an evening out with BubOhioBeer at The Daily Growler in Columbus when I discovered this tasty, little delight. Actually, this beer is kind of the entire (well maybe just the initial) reason I became an active member of this blog… but that’s another story for another time. The Daily Growler’s twitter feed (@MyDailyGrowler) indicated that they had this beer on one of their 60 taps. I read a little about it and decided “hey, that might be worth trying” …so I did. After a couple different servings of this beer (not all that one night with Bub, but over the course of the few weeks since) and many different mixed feelings about it, including initial delight followed by disgust about half way through the first pint, I’ve really grown to enjoy this beer.

I poured this fruit ale into a British (hence the HARP print) pint glass. The appearance is a light, hazed gold (almost like honey) with very little eggshell colored head that dissipates very quickly and you’re left with a thin cap without any lacing on the glass. After pouring, I thought “this really has a lot of carbonation, much more than I remember it having” but that too quickly dissipated and was left with the moderately carbonated (at best) fruit ale I had come to admire.

The smell of blueberries and simple sugar syrup seems to just erupt out of the glass. Behind the blueberry and syrup smell you get subtle hints of graham cracker or a really rich, sugary bread with a little bit of citrus. It truly smells like blueberry pancake or muffin mix. The taste is almost identical to the smell with the addition of pale and sweet malts… but even those are very subtle. The blueberry flavor is the first thing that hits you, and combined with the syrupy, sugary sweetness of the honey in the beer, may be overwhelming and a bit of a turnoff for some folks. This fades quickly and you’re left with that blueberry pancake flavor I’ve been ranting about for a paragraph.

Overall, I think this beer is better than Beer Advocate and RateBeer give it credit for… BUT the 92 it gets in fruit/vegetable beers by RateBeer is well deserved. It packs a lot of flavor into one beverage but those flavors don’t work against one another and the beer isn’t overly complex. It’s a good break from heavier beers (I do love me a double IPA) and a fantastic beer for people who really can’t get into darker or heavier beers. If Willy Wonka were to ditch the candy factory and start up a brewery, I imagine this would be one of the first things he concocted… bottled, blueberry pancakes.

Ratings
Sessionability: 5-pack. Had I written this review in late June at the beach or poolside, I’d have given it a 6-pack. Very intriguing and sweet taste accompanied by low ABV make this a very refreshing, warm weather beer that I think you’d sweat out before it made you intoxicated.
Overall: 3-pack. I hinted that I’m a fan of heavier beers and that’s really the only thing holding this back. This beer accomplishes exactly what Fat Head’s had in mind and will probably become the new favorite of those who try it and are on board the Leinenkugel Summer Shandy express.
Best Consumed: Warm weather at the beach or at a poolside BBQ. Grilled chicken salad and some lightly seasoned fries would complement this nicely. With a dessert, this would be fantastic with oatmeal cookies… or this could even be your dessert.

Budget Video Review – Genesee Beer

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Beer Name: Genesee Beer

Brewery: Genesee
Beer style: American adjunct Lager
ABV:4.5%
IBU: N/A
Size: 24 oz. Can
Beer Advocate Score: 66

In this weeks Beer on a Budget I reach into the bottom of the barrel…or so I thought.

Ratings:

Sessionability: 4-pack.
Overall: 3-pack

Would Best Be Consumed:  This Beer would fit any occasion. If you are short on cash and want a beer you do a lot worse then Genny!

Beer Review: Pumpkin Ale – River Town Brewing Company

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Beer Name: Pumpkin Ale

Brewery: River Town Brewing Company (Cincinnati)
Beer Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5%
IBU: ?
Size: 120z Bottle
Beer Advocate: 83
RateBeer: 74

For the last few years, it seems like all the seasonal beers are coming out earlier and earlier. So it was no surprise to me when I received several calls this week from beer reps letting me know that Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers are now available. As far as seasonal  beers go, the fall-winter time is my favorite, because the darker the beer gets the more I like it. I’m not to huge on pumpkin beers, but when I saw that River Town Brewing Company put out this beer, I was excited to review it for this site so I couldn’t pass it up.

Pumpkin Ale pours a nice dark amber with a quarter-inch off-white head.  The aroma smells of sweet molasses or caramel with faint hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and maybe some clove dancing around. The taste up front is very sweet with the molasses flavor shining, but it slowly mixes with the spices that were present in the nose, and then finishes with a nice hint of vanilla and spices.

It’s a nice offering from an Ohio brewery. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s far from bad. As I stated above, I’m not huge on the pumpkin beers, but my girlfriend loves them and she seemed to really enjoy it. She also compared the finish to a pumpkin cheesecake, which I feel is a good comparison.

Ratings

Sessionability: I’ve had multiple pumpkin beers in the past that were either too heavy on the spice or alcohol; this is neither and at 5% abv it’s very drinkable. 5-pack.

Overall: While the beer was easy to drink, it was more sweet than flavorful. But it was a nice beer overall. 3-pack.

Would Best Be Consumed: On a fall night around a fire pit or while catering to the trick-or-treaters.

Beer Review: Linchpin – Green Flash Brewing / Founders Brewing

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Beer Name: Linchpin

Breweries: Greenflash Brewing Co. and Founders Brewing Co.
Beer Style: White IPA
ABV: 7%
IBU: ?
Size: 22oz Bomber
Beer Advocate: 85
Rate Beer: 98

Collaboration Week is winding down here at Ohio-Beer, and we hope you have enjoyed reading the posts this week as much as we have enjoyed writing them. Hopefully this will become an annual event for us because it’s things like competing breweries coming together that make the craft beer scene so special. How often do you see competitors coming together to make something unique for their fans to enjoy and come together? Maybe in the music industry or when In-Bev buys another mass-produced beer company, but thats about as close as they’ll ever get to collaboration with another company.

I had my own personal streak going here that I have yet to review a beer that wasn’t from Ohio. Well, my friends, today my streak ends. If only this would have happened this year, my streak would still be going. Linchpin is a collaboration from two breweries that are in my top 10 (Green Flash and Founders), so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this bottle a few weeks ago. This beer uses two different yeast strands (an American and a Belgian) and a heavy focus on “C” hops, according to the commercial description. The description also states that a beer with so many components can only be held together by … you guessed it: a Linchpin.

Linchpin pours a hazy yellow, almost orange with a solid quarter-inch of head.  Linchpin has well-carbonated mouthfeel, and they weren’t kidding about using a lot “C” hops. The aroma is really citrusy right out of the bottle with a sweet yeast and malt smell coming through. The taste is a little underwhelming from the aroma – I was expecting a lot of flavor – but it’s mostly hop forward without a lot of bitterness, and a slight bit of clove and fruity esters give way at the end to a wheaty malt flavor.

From reading the description, I was expecting an IPA meets heifeweizen or something similar, but in the end it came off as a IPA with a slight bit of those heifeweizen characteristics. Not a bad offering by any means, but I was expecting more from these two breweries.

Ratings:

Sessionability: Not overly bitter for an IPA and went down a lot smoother than most. 5-pack.

Overall: Like I stated above, I was expecting more based on the description. 3-pack.

Would best be consumed: With a friend. C’mon, it’s collaboration week; share the love!

 

 

Beer Review: Rum Cask – Innis & Gunn

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Beer Name: Rum Cask

Brewery: Innis & Gunn
Beer style: English Strong Ale
ABV: 7.4%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 11.2 oz bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 83
Rate Beer Score: 81

Barrel-aged beers are becoming more and more popular, you see them everywhere now; most bars I go to have at least one available to purchase in one way or another, and it seems that just about everybody is trying to do new and exciting things with their aging. You see whiskey barrels, and chardonnay barrels, and pinot noir barrels, and plain oak barrels, and charred oak barrels, and french oak, and american oak, and … well you get the picture. I will admit, the first barrel-aged beer I had I hated (hint it comes from Kentucky) and I shied away from them for some time there after; but, after tasting some different things that barrel aging can do for a beer (mellowing, adding vanilla notes, souring), I was caught – hook, line, and sinker. So when I saw a beer that was aged in rum barrels, I picked it up without even thinking.

Innis and Gunn is a Scottish brewery that apparently ages every beer they make in some sort of oak; the beer I am drinking, their Rum Cask beer, was aged 57 days in rum-infused oak barrels. The beer pours a dark brown with a tinge of red, with very little head that dissipates very quickly. It smells sweet with a hit of spices, kinda what you would expect from a rum-aged beer. It as a watery mouthfeel that holds onto the side of your mouth very lightly. It tastes sweet upfront and then follows with some very slight bitterness and finishes very rum spicy. It is not the most exciting thing in the world; however, it is very easy to drink.

Ratings:

Sessionability: I give it a 3-pack. It is a smooth drink but by the end of the beer the spiciness had started to wear on me, I could have drunk a couple more but that would be the end of it for sure.

Overall: I give it a 3-pack. It was okay. I wouldn’t turn it down if it was offered to me, and I will drink the rest that came in the 4-pack, just not today.

Would be best consumed: This beer might be really good with some Caribbean dishes like conch fritters.

Beer Review: Summer Soulstice – The Brew Kettle

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Beer Name: Summer Soulstice

Brewery: The Brew Kettle (Strongsville)
Beer Style: Belgian Style Wit
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: ?
Size: 12oz Bottle
Beer Advocate Score: n/a
RateBeer Score: 72

We’ve seen some pretty damn hot days this summer, and with temps in the hundreds one needs to find a nice crisp beer to make these sweltering days a little more bearable. This can be quite a task for a man like myself who prefers his beers dark or hoppy (or both?!), but while checking out what The Andersons had to offer in the Ohio beer section of the adult beverage department, I came across The Brew Kettle‘s Summer Soulstice. Now, like I stated above, this isn’t my go-to style of beer, but it being so hot out I needed something to cool me off.

This Belgian wit pours a a hazy yellow with a solid white head that slowly dissipates. The aroma is heavy clove with hints of citrus, banana, and pepper. The taste reminds me of a hefeweizen with a lot of clove and banana up front, and more of a wheat flavor coming in with a slight taste of spicy to finish off. The beer is nicely carbonated with a nice refreshing feeling each time you take a sip; the beer also appears to have some lacing as it works its way down the glass.

I feel like this beer would be better labeled a wheat than a wit; based on the color of the beer and the taste, I feel like it falls better in that category. That doesn’t take away from the beer at all, because it met my expectations as a beer prefect for the dry heat wave we are experiencing this summer.

Ratings:

Sessionability: This six pack was going down a little to easy, I would attribute some of it to the heat but I could have easily finished off this sixer without breaking a sweat. 5-pack.
Overall: Even though I could taste a lot of the ingredients in this beer, nothing really stood out flavor-wise. It kinda gave me a watered down vibe, and I wish the flavors would have popped more. 3-pack.
Would Be Best Consumed: Anytime this summer when the mercury is rising higher than 95 degrees.

Video Review- Black & Tan

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Beer Name: Black & Tan

Brewery: D.G Yuengling & Son Inc
Beer style: Porter Pilsner Mix
ABV:4.7%
IBU: N/A
Size: 12 oz. bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 75

In this weeks “Beer on a Budget” video, I review Black and Tan by Yuengling.

Ratings:

Sessionability: 3-pack.
Overall: 2-pack

Would Best Be Consumed: …You could do better

Video Review – Amberbock

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Beer Name: Amberbock

Brewery: Michelob
Beer style: bock
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 19
Size: 12 oz. Bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 67

In this video I review Amberbock by Michelob

Ratings:

Sessionability: 4- Pack
Overall: 3-Pack
Would Best Be Consumed: In the fall when money is tight and you need a little warmer.

Beer Review: Firebrand – Indigo Imp

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Beer Name: Firebrand

Brewery: Indigo Imp (Cleveland, OH)
Beer Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: ?
Size: 12oz Bottle
Beer Advocate: 80
Untappd: 3 caps

Upon hearing that the BCS will now end in a four-team playoff, I decided I needed a beer to celebrate. I frolicked (whilst humming the OSU fight song) to my fridge and grabbed an Ohio beer. The new system is not perfect, but we are stuck with it until 2025 so we should embrace it – at least until bitching about it matters a bit more. Would forming super conferences and sending eight teams into playoff games that are still named after the bowl games make more sense? It absolutely would. Who wouldn’t watch a regional playoff game sponsored by the fine car parts of Meineke? In any event, it is an improvement over sending two SEC teams without giving anyone else a shot.

The beer I selected for my celebration was Indigo Imp’s Firebrand. I have had a few of the Indigo Imp beers, and I really fell in love with the Bombshell Blonde. I do not feel that their open fermentation works for every style, but I thought a Belgian IPA should be tasty.

The beer pours quite easily and has a very nice dark orange color. It smells like a Belgian beer with that wonderful clove and rotten banana scent. Even with the laser-etched elephant in the bottom of my D.T. tulip, there was almost zero carbonation. I think the lack of carbonation actually hurts the beer a bit here. The Belgian half of the duo does its job very well, sweet and spicy notes are accompanied by Belgian yeast and subtle fruit notes. The IPA side is much less pronounced. The beer finishes a bit dry and bitterness does its best to wrap around your tongue, but in the end it just doesn’t do enough to warrant an IPA label. I think more carbonation would bring out some of the biting IPA bitterness that seems to be absent.

The beer is still pretty tasty and very drinkable. If someone were to tell me it was a saison, I would be believe them. The beer has absolutely zero lacing and a very light mouthfeel. I wouldn’t steer anyone away from this beer, but it is a bit pricey for a four-pack and doesn’t really deliver on the Belgian IPA promise.

Ratings:

Sessionability: Easy to drink a 4-pack.
Overall: I give it a 3-pack in its style; would be a 4-pack if they called it something else.
Would Best Be Consumed: Outside; its lightness screams patio drinking.