Three Floyds’ extravagant beers make it the topic of frequent conversation in these pages. Sadly, its distribution map, which consists of a few patches of enlightenment among vast expanses of medieval darkness, makes its beers a seldom subject of our tasting notes. But that’s why God put Cincinnati on the border of two other states, Indiana and Kentucky–so we Ohioans could make 21st century rum runs across the border and bring back a bounty of Three Floyds. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | 
Tasting Notes | Tagged: 4 Hops, beer run, Beers of the Midwest, black sun, dry irish stout, indiana, irish stout, Stout, Three Floyds | 
Permalink
Posted by Commander Pint O. Chug
In my continuing effort to review the entire Boulevard Smokestack series, I have now come to the Seeyoulator Dobblebock. It is customary for Dopplebock names to end in –ator, and it is clear that someone at Boulevard is an aspiring comedian. Apparently the homage to the Dopplebock tradition only goes so far, as I looked all over the bottle for the depiction picture of a goat, and disappointingly I found none.
So, I am a bit behind in reviewing this beer, as it is a fall seasonal. However, in Kansas all of the bombers sit on the shelves for years before anyone buys them anyway, so there was no real rush. A Dopplebock should last a while anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Tasting Notes | Permalink
Posted by Herr Hordeum
While on the phone for a Podcast with the Commander last week, he noted that there really weren’t a lot of good Scotch Ales on the market these days. I immediately armed for verbal battle before thinking better of it for two reasons:
1. Arguments between the Commander and myself are utterly pointless. It’s the classic case of an ignorant object versus an imbecilic force. No one wins. Everyone loses. We’re all dumber for having participated.
2. I actually kind of agree with him. Read the rest of this entry »
9 Comments | Best/Worst | Tagged: Claymore, Dirty Bastard, Kilt Lifter, Old Chub, Outta Kilter, Piper's, Scotch Ales, Scottish Ales, Tasgall, Wee Heavy | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
Comments Off | All Beers Considered | Tagged: Craft Beer Industry, Lagunitas, Mississippi, New Belgium, Oskar Blues | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
You know what’s good? Barbecue. Now hang on, let me be clear: I’m not talking about the activity variously referred to as ‘barbecuing’, ‘grilling’, or ‘havin’ a cook out’. That’s all about cooking meat (or whatever) on a grill over an open, high heat source (usually gas or charcoal). I love grilling, and beer goes incredibly well with that activity as well (a likely subject for a future Conundrum), but today I’m talking about barbecue. Barbecue is what you get when you (generally speaking) cook meat for a long period of time over low, dry heat in some sort of smoker. Getting any more specific is difficult due to the huge number of regional styles which lay claim to being the best or most authentic barbecue around (Texas, Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City, or even Hawaii).
As it’s so difficult to define barbecue, the task of pairing beer with barbecue also becomes incredibly difficult. Fortunately I have an entire stable of Aleheads to help me wrestle with this one. So tell us boys: What’s the best beer to drink with barbecue? Read the rest of this entry »
12 Comments | Beerford's Conundra | Tagged: Barbecue, BBQ, Flemish Sour, Imperial IPA, IPA, Pale Ale, Smoked Porter | Permalink
Posted by Beerford McBrewin'
This is Lord Mashtun Copperpot and Commander Pint O. Chug’s first tag-team tasting note. Like many of our joint ventures, we hope this is a complete and utter train wreck. And if so, we will be sure to consistently duplicate the effort.
Now, we harbor as much nostalgia for Harpoon as the next guy, having grown up in New England and spent our formative years in a fraternity basement frequented by an alum who worked for Harpoon (even if he did occasionally arrive with UFO in hand). As such, we have heard a lot — too much — about the Harpoon Leviathan series.
2 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: 2 Hops, Beers that aren't Dale's Pale Ale, Harpoon, Imperial IPA, Leviathan, Overpriced, Overrated, Tasting, Tastings | Permalink
Posted by Mashtun Copperpot
I’ve heard the hype about Green Flash and had to try a couple of their beers for myself. So in the midst of what passes for a blizzard here in Central Ohio, Herr Direktor and I skidded our way over to Bodega for happy hour. There was no way I was starting with anything other than an imperial stout, and it was my lucky day since they had Green Flash’s Double Stout on tap… at half price!
According to the brewery, the Double Stout is made in the traditional British style and is continually hopped with UK Target hops. The result is an incredibly rich, smooth, satisfying beer. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: 3.5 Hops, bodega, California, Double Imperial Stout, Double Stout, Green Flash, Imperial Stout | Permalink
Posted by Commander Pint O. Chug
Phin & Matt’s isn’t a bad beer–its flavor profile is just so subdued that it risks fading into Bolivian. Southern Tier makes a lot of outstanding brews. This ain’t one of them. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Tasting Notes | Tagged: 2 Hops, Beers that aren't Dale's Pale Ale, Pale Ale, Southern Tier | Permalink
Posted by Commander Pint O. Chug
Port Brewing is one of the best ale factories in the nation and perhaps their most famous creation is the Old Viscosity. That beer is made by brewing a style-busting dark, strong ale that lies somewhere on the continuum between Old Ale and Stout. 80% of the beer comes straight from the stainless steel fermenter while the remaining 20% comes from an older batch that was aged in bourbon barrels for a spell. Someone at Port apparently got the bright idea (no sarcasm there…it really was an awesome idea) to bottle a brew that was 100% comprised of the barrel-aged Old Viscosity. This boozy, brawny beauty was naturally dubbed the Older Viscosity. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: 4 Hops, Barrel-Aged, Bourbon, Imperial Stout, Older Viscosity, Port | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
I’ll admit that Esquire isn’t generally considered the go-to source for brew news, but loyal reader Smiley Brown sent us a nice little list from the esteemed men’s style magazine which discusses this year’s most anticipated beers. Take a look if you have a moment. In the meantime, here are my thoughts on their selections: Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Brews in the News | Tagged: Cambridge, Captain Lawrence, Esquire, MGD 64, New Belgium, Stone, Trader Joe's, Victory | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
Comments Off | All Beers Considered | Tagged: Ancient Yeast, Brooklyn Brewery, Fossil Fuels, Hop Shortage, Iron Age, Kate the Great, Main Engine Start, Portsmouth Brewing | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
As those of you who have read more than a handful of posts on our glorious website are probably aware, most of the Aleheads were in some form of Greek organization during our halcyon undergraduate years. That is, in fact, where a number of us met one another. Semi-relatedly, the single greatest title I’ve ever held was that of house Beer Czar (which, I should note, I only received because I was both over 21 at the time and had a vehicle large enough to conveniently transport kegs [this may or may not still be on my business cards]). Many were the nights we sucked multiple kegs dry in our attempts to chase the dream of a perfect Ship game (I think Slouch and the Cap’n may have actually killed one by themselves one evening). Now and then we even invited other people over! Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Beerford's Conundra | Tagged: Bud Light, College, Coors Light, Frat Party, Fraternity, Hamm's, Miller Lite, Trumer Pils, Yuengling | Permalink
Posted by Beerford McBrewin'
I’m all for tradition, so when Brother Barley wrote up his Best Imperial Red Ales post yesterday, I knew I had to bite the bullet and write the follow-up. You see, we Aleheads don’t have much in terms of rules or guidelines to follow, but it’s only polite to close a book that’s been opened in front of you. Unfortunately for yours truly, I’m just not crazy about the everyday American Red Ale (Or Amber Ale if you will). Sure, I’ll toss back a good ole’ Red from time-to-time, but the thought of drinking something that was intentionally toned down just doesn’t sit well with me. I like hops, I like bitterness, why would I want something that hides my favorite aspect of beer with a malty, caramel backbone? Not exactly selling you on the intro I guess. Oh well, I’m sure you didn’t have anything better to do with your morning anyway.
Comments Off | Best/Worst | Tagged: Amber Ale, Fat Tire, Gaelic Ale, Hopback Amber, Levitation, Red Ale, Red Seal Ale, Red Tail Ale, Roxy Rolles | Permalink
Posted by Ripped Van Drinkale
PROLOGUE
One of the best Southeastern brews on the market today is the Big Hoppy Monster from Terrapin. The label shows a bad-ass turtle driving a souped-up roadster with flame decals through a field of hops. And on the bottom of the label, in big, bold yellow letters, are the words “Imperial Red Ale”.
Imperial Red Ales are perhaps my favorite American style of beer. But there’s one minor problem with that claim: According to the BJCP Style Guidelines (and other less “official”, but equally comprehensive sources such as BeerAdvocate and RateBeer), there’s no such thing as an Imperial Red Ale. Read the rest of this entry »
13 Comments | Best/Worst | Tagged: Believer, Big Hoppy Monster, Big Red, Gordon, Imperial Red, Lucky 13, Nugget Nectar, Red Rocket, Shark Attack, YuleSmith | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
Welcome to Aleheads.com. I’m hoping you’ve reached the destination that you were hoping for. Maybe you like good beer, maybe you appreciate a bit of humor, maybe you can take a joke that’s done in extremely poor taste. Whatever you’re looking for, I hope that you keep coming back to read all of the beer related tidbits that are more or less fit to print on an obscure beer blog that very, very few people know about. If this is your first time here, I do have a question for you. How’d you find us? We of course track these kinds of things and really get a kick out of the various search terms that lead wayward internet users to our humble little site. I do have a bit of an issue though. If for some reason you searched “if it bleeds its legal” and ended up on my site today, do me a favor. Get the F’ out. However, if you searched any of the terms listed below and still ended up here, welcome my friends. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | WTF | Tagged: beer search, beer search engine, best beers, search engine, search terms, Top 10 | Permalink
Posted by Ripped Van Drinkale
Ah the Midwest, home of neutral accents and neutral beers. Yes, if the state doesn’t have a coast, a mountain, or a reasonable winter, then it seems to be home to truly bad beer. Anheuser-Busch, Pabst, Hamm’s, Blatz, Schlitz, Miller, Milwaukee’s Best (Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century), Old Milwaukee (In fact, it’s pronounced “mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “the good land)… god, even Beer 30.
Boulevard is doing its best to break the stereotype, especially with the Smokestack Series. I was really impressed with the Sixth Glass Quad, but I wanted to wait to write about it until this years Bourbon Barrel version came out to do a comparison tasting. It was worth the wait. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments Off | Tasting Notes | Tagged: BBQ, Boulevard, Bourbon Barrell Quad, Sixth Glass | Permalink
Posted by Herr Hordeum
Four Hops for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Four Hops for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Four Hops for Mortal Men doomed to die,
Four Hops for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Munster where the Shadows lie.
One Beer to rule them all, One Beer to find them,
One Beer to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Munster where the Shadows lie.
-Baron Sudsy von Tolkien Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: 3 Floyds, 4 Hops, Dark Lord, Lord of the Rings, Russian Imperial Stout, Tolkein | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
Among the perils of being out in the world actively searching for new and exciting fermented beverages (others of which include being arrested, punched, dumped, excommunicated, and at least in the Commander’s case, stabbed) is the possibility of consuming some truly foul brews. Some breweries make brilliant small-batch beers most of the time, some less frequently, but even the best have their misses. As Aleheads, I am sure that all of us have come across some absolutely undrinkable messes from time to time. And so, this week’s Conundrum (a gem from the unlikely source of Slouch Sixpack) is as follows: What is the worst small-batch or “one-off” beer you’ve come across?
If you happen to have a runner-up in mind that you feel deserves mention as well, go for it. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Beerford's Conundra | Tagged: Boston Beer Works, Breweries, Chocolate Cherry Bomb, Dad's Little Helper, Experimental, Magic Hat, Odd Notion, One-Off, Rogue, Sam Adams, Triple Bock | Permalink
Posted by Beerford McBrewin'
DOWNLOAD: ALL BEERS CONSIDERED 2
In this week’s installment of All Beer’s Considered, we discuss:
3 Comments | All Beers Considered | Tagged: Brewers Association, Canada, Computers, Gordon Biersch, Oskar Blues, Sixpoint, The Bruery | Permalink
Posted by Barley McHops
Stick out your tongue. Go ahead. Stick out your tongue, close your eyes, and think of that first sip of beer that you want to pass over your lips the second you get home from work tonight. I don’t want you to think of any specific beer, any specific style, just the flavor that takes to you to that special place that only beer can take you. While tastes and scents in beer are highly subjective, I do think that each individual will have a sort of “Flavor Wheelhouse” that predominates their palette and leaves them yearning for more. For me, that flavor that I’m looking for among all others is that beautiful bulbous fruit known as the Grapefruit – Citrus X Paradisi.
4 Comments | Beer 101, Tasting Notes | Tagged: amarillo, cascade, centennial, chinook, Citrus hops, citrus x paradisi, grapefruit, Hoppy Beers, piney hops, simcoe | Permalink
Posted by Ripped Van Drinkale
