Every good brewer has a miss now and again, and unfortunately, that’s how I’d rate Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic. It’s tough to do lambic well, even tougher when you’re not actually located in Belgium. So I’ll give Sam Adams props for trying. And, they were brewing this beer as early … Continue reading

Stone Brewing‘s Old Guardian is a serious barleywine: it comes in at 11.26% alcohol and is vintaged by the year it was brewed. I had the "early 2007" release. Appearance: Lighter than expected—a pinkish orange, nice and deep. Murky. Head didn’t last long, but it’s lacing the glass nicely. Smell: … Continue reading

The version of Jenlain Ambrée that I found locally was actually labeled a bit confusingly: "Jenlain French Farmhouse Ale." Unable to find anything definite referring to this online, I was clued in by RateBeer, which had a pointer and a note that it’s an alias of the Ambrée. My assumption … Continue reading

Ah, the elusive, mysterious Josephs Brau Brewing Company… really a front for some of the Trader Joe’s line of beers. I’m sure there’s more of a story there somewhere. But what’s more curious is the source of this particular beer, Josephs Brau Winterfest (a "double dark Bock"); apparently it’s too … Continue reading

Now that’s a mouthful of a name for a beer. The Hefeweissbier Dunkel ("dark hefeweizen") from the Weihenstephaner brewery in Germany is one of the foremost wheat beers of the world from the world’s oldest brewery. Appearance: Light copper, hazy. Head foamed up a lot—it’s light tan. Color is actually … Continue reading

Roots Organic Brewing, Oregon’s first organic brewery, opened up in 2005 in Portland and made a name for themselves brewing up locally-acclaimed beers. I say "locally acclaimed" because until recently (to the best of my knowledge, anyway), the only way to drink any of their brews was to visit their … Continue reading