Moon Man - New Glarus

Vitals:

Name: Moon Man

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: New Glarus Brewery

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a brilliant, clear gold with 1.5 fingers of bone-white head. Good retention and a nice cap; GREAT lacing on this beer, which is much appreciated. Lots of carbonation bubbles racing up through this beer.

Smell: Fruits. I'm getting big grapefruit and some orange, maybe some pineapple as well. Lots of citrus and some piney hops as well. This smells absolutely delicious to me; there is a pretty sweet smell to it, but it's not sugary.

Taste: Starts with just enough pale malts to start off with some sweetness. You get some juicy qualities up front with the grapefruit/pineapple and the pine hops cascade towards the back of your tongue (it really is a rolling sensation...pretty neat). You get a nice dry finish comprised of citrus hops and citrus rinds from maybe lemons/oranges? Grapefruit briefly strikes again to close it out.

Mouthfeel: Slightly on the light side of medium with a good amount of carbonation in there. This is a VERY drinkable beer and doesn't coat your mouth and/or stick on your palate forever.

Overall Grade: A

Comments: This is an amazing beer; it is one of my favorites and is probably the best session beer that I have ever had (apologies to Gumballhead, as it is 5.5% ABV). This is a MUST try if you like American pale ales or American pale wheat ales. Check it out locally in Wisconsin or head out to the New Glarus brewery for an even fresher look at this one! Dan Carey (Brewmaster at New Glarus) is my hero for creating this gem of a brew.

Cheers,

Hurls

Centennial IPA - Founder's Brewery

Vitals:

Name: Centennial IPA

Style: American IPA

IBU: 65

ABV: 7.2%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a deep amber/ruby cool, one finger of off-white head. This brew boasts a nice retention, beautiful lacing, and a sparse cap. There is a decent amount of carbonation as well. The beer seems clear-to-mildly-translucent.

Smell: Grapefruit and citrus aromas are immediately evident along with lots of piney resins. The malt is there but totally gets overpowered by the other aromas (which I'm fine with, for an IPA). The nose on this beer is a hop head's dream...seriously tremendous smell.

Taste: Boasts a lingering piney hop flavor and bitterness. There are grapefruit and pineapple flavors that mingle nicely with the citrus hops and toasted caramel malts. The malt taste is very muted by the hops but has enough presence to hold the beer together nicely. I wouldn't exactly call this beer balanced, but it's balanced enough.

Mouthfeel: Adequate carbonation with a pretty full-bodied mouthfeel. This is a very thick and creamy IPA and generally seems to be a heavy, filling beer.

Overall Grade: B+

Comments: Very good IPA, but honestly I would go with one that isn't quite as heavy. Bell's Two-Hearted comes to mind as a good one (and Ranger IPA from New Belgium) that are great tastes and aren't quite as heavy. This is worth a try for sure if you're into IPAs...I just wouldn't recommend putting back more than one or two, because you'll be full (and possibly feeling good with the 7.2% ABV!). Get out there and try this one out if you're a hop head!

Cheers,

Hurls

Hop Mountain - Old Dominion Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Hop Mountain

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.6%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Harris Teeter in Herndon, VA

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a deep ruby color with a finger of tan head, which quickly disappears. Great lacing and a very thin cap are left in its wake. The beer is translucent, but with no noticeable carbonation.

Smell: Floral and piney hops all the way with dark malts hanging out in the background. The malts definitely seem to be much darker, roasted, caramelized, etc. than typical pale ale malts. The beer smells good but it's nothing incredibly special or anything.

Taste: This is an interesting drink...starts sweet with the malts and then rolls into a muted piney hop taste, then into sweetness again. The second layer of sweetness is mostly citrus in nature, orange/grapefruit/pineapple/apple/etc. This is a very nice complexity they have going on here, but it's disappointing that you get only mostly hop bitterness and not quite as much hop flavor. I guess maybe the citrus hops flavor that would be near the end gets washed out by all of the other complex citrusy goodness they have going on there.

Mouthfeel: Light side of medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. This beer has an oily feel to it and it coats every square inch of your palate. Decent overall mouthfeel; again, nothing special there.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: A slightly above average beer, but pretty good by Northern VA craft standards. Definitely worth a try but missing that hop flavor sucks a bit; I considered giving it a B- because of that, but it's such an interesting drink and a very complex beer, so that won those lost points back.

Cheers,

Hurls

Arctic Panzer Wolf - Three Floyds Brewing

Vitals:

Name: Arctic Panzer Wolf

Style: American IIPA

IBU: ??

ABV: 9.0%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a golden hazy yellow; MUCH lighter than I had expected for a IIPA. You get a very bubbly-white finger of head that fades quickly and leaves extremely weak (for an IIPA) lacing. You get a very thin, but complete, cap left over the top of the beer.

Smell: This is a FANTASTIC smelling beer - citrus hops pair with lemon and grapefruit and you can faintly detect some pale malt in the background, suggesting more balance than you'd initially anticipate. You get a faint floral aroma as well, but the citrus-y goodness seems to dominate the nose in a great way.

Taste: You get a bit of malt sweetness up front with the grapefruit and maybe (?) pineapple. This beer is EXTREMELY hop-forward, which hits as a citrus note with the bitter taste of lemon (or lemon rind). The finish is piney in taste and really lingers in your mouth/throat. The balance that won Dreadnaught for me simply is not there with this one. It's still a very good beer, just completely hop-centric with little to no malt backbone. Decent, but not great, job at hiding the 9.0% ABV.

Mouthfeel: Not much carbonation (which is very odd for Three Floyds beers), medium bodied and extremely dry. This beer leaves you completely puckered up and dried out in your mouth.

Overall Grade: B+

Comments: The grade given here is a function of the style and my high expectations for all Three Floyds beer. For some reason it isn't on their website, which limits the info that I could post on the IBUs at least. This is a very good IIPA, just not balanced enough and a little dry on the finish. Definitely worth a try for all of you hop disciples out there!

Cheers,

Hurls