Beer Review: Magic Hat Pistil

Beer: Pistil Dandelion Ale
Brewer: Magic Hat Brewing Company
Source: 12 oz. bottle
Rating:  *** (7.2 of 10)
Comments: This spring beer is all about flowers and fruit.  It’s a golden, bubbly beer with a musty, wheaty, and citrus aroma.  The flavor is crisp and fruity with hints of spice and flora.  The head dissipates quickly but leaves behind nice lacing.

Beer Review: Samuel Adams New Albion Ale

Beer: Samuel Adams New Albion Ale
Brewer: Boston Beer Company
Source: 12 oz. bottle
Rating: **** (8.0 of 10)
Comments: This beer is a recreation of one of the earliest craft beers brewed 40 years ago by Jack McAuliffe whose New Albion brewery had to close up shop in 1982.  It’s a bright golden beer with a thick head and grassy/citrus aroma.  The flavor is sharp with an orange and hints of malt sweetness. The head thins out quickly but leaves some nice lacing on the glass.  This is an easy beer to drink and I hope it sticks around this time.

Beer Review: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager

Beer: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager
Brewer: Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Source: 12 oz. bottle
Rating: No stars (3.0 of 10)
Comments: Bleagh!  This “beer” looks purple with no head and gives off a sickly sweet aroma.  It tastes syrupy with a fairly high level of alcohol.  It seems more like a Mike’s Hard type of beverage than an actual beer.  The label says it contains natural flavors and fruit juice, but it tastes totally artificial.  Seems like I was suckered in again by a commercial brewery hiding their wares in with the craft brews.  Drink only if you have a sweet tooth and want to get drunk fast.

Beer Review: Cisco Island Reserve Lager

Beer: Island Reserve Lager
Brewer: Cisco Brewers, Inc.
Source: 22 oz. bottle
Rating: *** (7.2 of 10)
Comments: Part of a special series of beers produced on Nantucket and then distributed on the mainland.  This lager is hazy orange with a large head and lots of carbonation.  It offers a grassy aroma with a yeasty flavor balanced by hints of citrus.  It goes well with cheese.

Beer Review: Mystic An Dreoilin

Beer: An Dreoilin
Brewer: Mystic Brewery
Source: 22 oz bottle
Rating: ** (6.8 of 10)
Comments: This winter beer is a variation on the Mystic Saison fermented at a lower temperature.  It’s a fruity, effervescent beer with floral notes and hints of spice.  I’ll have to give the original saison a try.

Beer Review: Brewmaster Jack Total Eclipse

Beer: Total Eclipse
Brewer: Brewmaster Jack
Source: 22 oz. bottle
Rating: (7.2 of 10)
Comments: Labeled a Chocolate Rye Porter, the scent and taste are appropriately chocolaty.  The beer pours a mocha brown with a thick head.  In addition to chocolate, the flavor offers bitter hops, cream, and hints of spice.  It’s a complex blend worth spending some time with.

Beer Review: Rising Tide Daymark

Beer: Daymark
Brewer: Rising Tide Brewing
Source: 22 oz bottle
Rating: *** (7.6 of 10)
Comments:  This is the first beer I sampled from the January selection of the City Feed & Supply New England Craft Beer Share.  This American Pale Ale is the flagship of the Portland, ME  brewery.  The beer presents as a hazy, tangerine orange with lots of tiny bubbles.  The aroma is grassy and spicy.  The flavor is bitter with a tingly kick and a spicy aftertaste.  After drinking there is splotchy lacing and still a lot of bubbles with a lot of foam left behind.  This is a complex and unique beer and definitely one I’d like to try again.

My wife Susan adds that the likes the aftertaste and that the froth is kind of nice.

According to my City Feed notes, “The rye is malted by Valley Malt, a malthouse in Hadley, MA (and one of the only malthouses this side of the Mississippi River) especially for Rising Tide.”

Beer Review: Harpoon Winter Warmer

Beer: Winter Warmer
Brewer: Harpoon Brewery
Source: Draft
Rating: ** (6.4 of 10)
Comments: Boston’s best brewery presents this seasonal beer each winter.  The beer pours a deep copper color and gives off a musty caramel aroma with a hint of spice.  The taste is malty sweet with a whiskey finish.  The dissipates quickly and leaves no lacing.  Otherwise a nice, warming beer for the season

Beer Review: The People’s Pint Farmer Brown

Beer: Farmer Brown
Brewer: The People’s Pint
Source: 22 oz. bottle
Rating: *** (7.2 of 10)
Comments: Yet another Massachusetts’ beer, a brown ale from a Greenfield, MA brewpub.  The beer presents a deep amber with a thick head.  It gives off a creamy chocolate aroma and there’s a chocolate hoppiness to the taste as well.  The only downside is that the flavor gets a little weak and watery at the finish.

Beer Review: Harpoon White IPA

Beer: Harpoon White IPA
Brewer: Harpoon Brewery
Source: 22 oz. bottle
Rating: *** (7.3 of 10)
Comments: Boston’s Harpoon Brewery continues their 100 Barrel Series with this Belgian IPA, a blend of a Belgian Wit with an American IPA.    The beer is cloudy and golden in appearance with a thick golden head.  It gives off a floral aroma and the taste is of bitter spice with orange and citrus flavors.  Another good beer from the Bay State.