Our Tastes-- BBC Nut Brown Ale

Continuing with the 3 types that Melonhead picked me up in Louisville, KY; tonight I am trying the Nut Brown Ale. It has a great dark brown color, I can't place the aroma but it is identical to something I have had before. Little to no head or foam legs, but a superb balance of hop and malt. I wish I could give some abv but again none are listed on the website. A few examples of other notable nut browns are Samuel Adams new Nut Brown Ale, Goose Island makes Hex Nut Brown Ale, Abita, but Samuel Smith makes the absolute cadillac in nut brown ales. I think I'll put this bad boy up against a taste-off between my #3 NBA and some Sam's here pretty soon.

Our Tastes-- BBC American Pale Ale

Now it's no suprise to many that I am flying completely solo in my brewing endeavors. Alas, sweet Melonhead thought we were on different paths and broke from the chapter of "us" sometime ago. However, one of her many redeeming qualities as a "keeper" was knowing when in a different state find me some local brew. So last fall or so when she was visiting her sister and bro-in-law (Brian- co-founder of the Montgomery "Superchapter") in Louisville, KY. she insisted on finding some good local brew. Now Brian and I have butted heads, but in an earnest attempt to fulfill at least Melonhead's desires for me, he took her to a place that sold all 3 of the mainline brews produced by Bluegrass Brewing Company. So before they go out of date, I tried the American Pale Ale. I am having this beer cold in a room temp glass pint and I'll admit, I have fallen back in lust with the American Pale Ale types of beer. It has a hop aroma like the usual APA and wonderful hoppy bite, probably made with Centennial or Cascade. The head was thin and left very little in the way of foam legs. Overall, probably one of the best I've had, but that's always the case when the brewery is 281mi. away. I don't have any abv or other characteristics because they donn't list them on the site, but comparable brews are SweetWater 420 Pale Ale, Anchor Liberty Ale, Olde Towne (my local micro) and of course Sierra Nevada. Maybe I'll try a taste-off later on with the remaining few that I have.

Bug's Tastes-- Samuel Adams Brewer Patriot

I tried the Sam Adams Brewer Patriot and with the exception of the 1790 Root Beer, they were all very much worth me overpaying on eBay. The Washington Porter was first, and it is very dark and stout. This would be a good one to drink while drawing up plans to form your own country. James Madison Dark Wheat was extremely smooth and had no aftertaste. I should point out now that drinking all four of these brews in a relatively short amount of time (roughly 2 hours) might cause one to later feel like the entire Continental Congress has taken up residency in one's head.

Be responsible... Share homebrew with your canine.

Thought a little different perspective would be nice, since I am still waiting for my case to ship from The Windy-City (frankie)

Update..

Heard from Junk of the Port City chapter and these guys are off the hook, to be expected. Red (denoted here in pink) and the Master Brewer have touched 10 batches already this season!! Impressive. (Wacky shite like roasted pecan maple mild ale, I LOVE IT!!) Their recipes are off the hook and sound awesome. (Easy guys, Jimmy only allowed us homebrewers 100C/person/household/year, get some goldfish and claim them as relatives in case of ABC/ATF invasion. One of these days Port City and Rocket City will get together for a tandem brew, assuming I have any damn ingredients. Whenever I hear from Junk it fires me up, I appreciate it

Our Tastes-- RedHook Late Harvest Autumn Ale

RedHook has been around since 1982 and has 2 breweries, one on each coast (pretty smart if you ask me), one in Portsmouth, NH and the other in Woodinville, WA. This isn't the first time I have had a RedHook brew, but I wanted to start blogging the beers that I am trying since I brought all of my brew kits to the Rocket City last week and forgot all the damn ingredients in Montgomery!! This is also an old label, but the only one I could find on the internet! I truly bought this at my favortie BP 5pts gas station because the new label and six pack has a damn hoot owl on the front of it. It's like he was gazing at me saying, "Take me to a good beer-loving home, I am a seasonal beer that can be coated in metal, travel with you as you ride Pegasus to kill Medusa and help destroy the Cracken before he devours Andromeda". Anyway, I'll try to get some pics posted of some of these labels. But on to the beer. There's no official designation from RedHook on this one, but I'm thinking Marzen (available from 1st of Aug-Oct). It's definitely not a pumpkin ale. It has the usual marzen aroma and color, like I said I bought it because of the damn hoot owl!! Made with Crystal malt, German Smoked Munich, Caramel and Roasted malts as well. It's only been brewed since fall 2005 and is an East Coast brew only! Sweet, finally something in Bama the rest of the US can't get!
Some characteristics: Chestnut in color, 32 IBUs, 190cal/12oz bottle (which means more to me now that I am doing NSS (nutrional services) and 5.7%abv.
* 2315hrs-- I drank all 6, so it's safe;) and lined the bottles up against my balcony to keep away pigeons and eat field mice;(

Our Tastes-- Olde Towne Bock

Holy schinikee!! This is the 5th different brew I have tried from my local microbrewery and this is the best bock I have ever had. Olde Towne apparently also makes a porter and pumpkin ale as well and early reports of phasing the Extra Pale Ale out seem to have been a red herring. It has an awesome change in the label color to dark red for the banner and bowler hat. I was expecting it to be a bit more dark in color but it is actually a soft golden brown. It has to be a Helles or Mai because it is way too light to be a Dunkel or Double bock. Check this out: bock for a brief overview of all of the different kinds of bock out there. There is only a slight sweet cinnamon aroma that I can tell and next to no head at all, but remember higher gravity beers typically don't have a lot of head.

Our Tastes-- Olde Towne Hefeweizen

I just discovered this beer today and had to have a sixer of it. Apparently, my local microbrewery (this state's only) makes a few seasonals. Living here won't be so bad afterall. I don't have a lot of info, it's not even on their website, but I can tell you before I even tried it...I could have sworn I had Hoegaarden in my mug! The bouquet was identical. I wish I had more info for you, but I'm was shocked to even find it. They also make an Extra Pale Ale, Pale Ale and Amber. The only difference in the labels is the color of Old Grandpa Gus's hat, the Hefeweizen has a light blue color and they have gone to all black crowns which really sets the bottle off. I'll review those soon too, this is turning out to be a beery week;) 5.1%abv.