Bells Two Hearted Ale

Bells Two Hearted, the mecca of IPAs. Lets get started.

This little treasure pours light orange brown with a thin white head, kind of bubbly and with very good lacing. The aroma is of citrus, spice, cloves, honey, and some light malts. The taste is of pure hops with a slight citrus backbone and a mellow finish. Oh man is this a smooth beer, and probably the most texture filled IPA I've ever had. Too bad they don't distribute to the East Coast.

Appearance - 3.6
Smell - 3.8
Taste - 4.1
Texture - 4.1
Overall - 3.9/5

Hair of the Dog Fred

We are definitely on a run of barley wines tonight, and this is the last one up - from Hair of the Dog. Hair of the Dog holds a special place in my drinking heart seeing as they make one of my favorite beers, Hair of the Dog Adam (take a look at my review).

This beer pours orange/brown with a thin white head. An aroma of grapefruit and hops emanates from the glass, hopefully the taste is a little more distinct than the smell since there is not much going on.

This brew is different when compared to the other barley wines on one key aspect - hops. It is not nearly as hoppy as the other two or three I've had recently and is dominated by fruit instead of bitterness. If you aren't a fan of hops I would give this a try if you want to have any kind of barley wine.

Appearance - 3.7

Smell - 3.8

Taste - 4.2

Texture - 4.1

Overall - 3.95/5

Bells Third Coast Old Ale

Another brew from bells, I really wish this one was more readily available on the East coast, hopefully in time it will be. It pours brown with a thick off-white head and pretty decent lacing through the entire tasting. Aroma is of brandy, light fruits, and hops. Overall it smells very well balanced. The taste is a lot heavier on the hops than the aroma would give off but very good none the less.

Damn you Bells, distribute to me!

Appearance - 3.8
Smell - 3.8
Taste - 3.9
Texture - 3.9
Overall - 3.85/5

Great Divide Old Ruffian

This one pours light brown with a slight red tint and a decent sized cream colored head. Nice lacing once the head dissipates and a pretty nice all-around look. The aroma is of light fruits, citrus, and a slight amount of bitter hops. The taste is not as potent as the smell and starts off with a little bit of fruit followed by strong hops and bitter finish. Not a bad beer, and a pretty good representation of a barley wine. Give it a try if you can find it.

Appearance - 3.8

Smell - 3.7

Taste - 3.9

Texture - 3.9

Overall - 3.83/5

Ken Schmidt Maui Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter

Yeah, try saying the full name of this beer five times fast... though so. The story behind this beer is that Stone Brewing Co. had a competition in which home brewers would send in their creations and Stone would buy the recipe for the best one and mass produce it. Ken Schmidt won.

This porter pours brown/black with a thin off-white head that fades very quickly. The aroma is of nuts, chocolate, barley, and coffee. The taste is very unique and actually tastes much like the name of the beer - initial flavor of coconuts and macadamia nuts, and then it transitions into a coffee and barley finish. Overall the beer is kinda watery, the best way to describe it would be that it tastes like Guinness mixed with coffee, macadamia nuts, and coconuts. Strange, but good.

Appearance - 3.8

Smell - 3.9

Taste - 4.0

Texture - 3.9

Overall - 3.9/5

Green Flash Stout

We have found yet another great brewing company based in California (who would have guessed), but this one actually ships out to the East coast so we decided to try one of their better rated beers first. And its a stout, of course.

This brew pours black with a thin off-white head and pretty decent lacing. The aroma is of sweet roasted barley with hints of oatmeal, toffee, and bitter sweetness. The taste is pretty normal for a stout and is of dry chocolate with a bitter sweet oatmeal finish. Overall its a very good beer and a good example of what an oatmeal styled stout should be, but nothing amazing or new. Hopefully we'll be able to find another brew from Green Flash with a little more zing, maybe a Belgian Ale or ESB. Stay tuned.

Appearance - 4.0

Smell - 3.9

Taste - 3.9

Texture - 3.9

Overall - 3.93/5

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Now back to the real stuff. This is a brew that is available in north Jersey but we just haven't been able to find it until now. And another one from Founders which is one of my favorite breweries.

This alcohol infused imperial stout pours black with little to no head and almost no lacing. The smell is very heavy on the bourbon but includes hints of chocolate, dark malts, and a little bit of coffee. The taste is highly alcoholic but transitions smoothly into a subtle coffee and dark chocolate finish. If you are a fan of bourbon then you MUST try this beer. Imagine if you will someone taking bourbon, mixing it with chocolate and coffee and then adding yeast and hops - thats what this is. Delicious and different.

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 4.0

Taste - 4.1

Texture - 4.0

Overall - 3.93/5

Black Forest

Ok... so looking back on this, this was probably a huge mistake. There is this drink known as a "Black Forest" which usually entails mixing a dark chocolate stout (most of the time Young's or Brooklyn) with a sweet lambic. Let me repeat that, a sweet lambic. We had the genius idea that since we were tasting one of the best stouts and one of the best lambics ever we might as well mix them to see what happens. Oh boy.

The appearance of this monstrosity is just like hunaphu - dark with a decent sized head. The aroma is pretty much what I expected seeing as we are mixing a coffee imperial stout with a sour lambic - sour coffee and sour chocolate, not too bad but not very appetizing. The taste is very sour at first and then leads into a strange sour vanilla and chocolate finish. I didn't die, but I probably wouldn't recommend trying this (even if you can find these two brews).

Appearance - 4.0

Smell - 3.8

Taste - 3.5

Texture - 3.6

Overall - 3.73/5

Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise

This is our first true sour lambic, and the second of two beers that DJ's parents picked up in Florida, thanks again!

This brew pours burgundy with a thin pinkish white head and looks very similar to almost all of the other lambic's we've reviewed on the site. The aroma is moderately strong and has characteristics of sour raspberries, vinegar, apples, and hard cider. The taste is extremely sour - pretty much all I can get from it is the sour raspberries. Right at the end there is a slight vinegar flavor that transitions into an aftertaste (doesn't go away for a while!). Oh man is this sour, if you ever had one of those warhead candies as a kid, this is that in beer form, sheesh. Obviously if you are not a fan of anything sour avoid this like the plague, otherwise, if you want to try something a little different, at least compared to US lambics, give this a whirl.

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 4.0

Taste - 4.2

Texture - 3.7

Overall - 3.88/5

Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout

Thank you to DJ's parents for picking this one up while they were vacationing in Florida, there is no way that this could be found otherwise.

This monster of a brew pours like the gulf of mexico (too soon?) with a milk chocolate colored head, very small carbonation bubbles and very nice lacing once the head fades. Aroma is very strong and includes notes of chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, and sweet malts. This is a very heavy brew! The smell is like someone mixed Starbucks with a liquor store. The taste is not nearly as strong as the aroma but includes most of the same stuff: Coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and alcohol (right at the end). This is a great beer, but like some other imperial stouts we've reviewed, if you don't like coffee then I suggest you steer clear.

Appearance - 4.2

Smell - 4.1

Taste - 4.3

Texture - 4.7

Overall - 4.33/5

Brew Tasting the Thirty-seventh

Fonnie is going away for the summer, so this is the last of the teamed reviews we will have until fall semester rolls around. This is gonna be a big one and we will most definitely be feeling it after this. Stay tuned for some interesting reviews.

1) Cigar City Hunaphu Imperial Stout

2) Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise

3) Black Forest

4) Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

5) Green Flash Stout

6) Ken Schmidt Maui Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter

7) Great Divide Old Ruffian

8) Bells Third Coast Old Ale

9) Hair of the Dog Fred

10) Bells Two Hearted Ale

This is gonna be a long night.