Stopped in again at Newport Market for our local beer tasting day. Today they were featuring a couple of brews from Spanish Peaks Brewing: Honey Raspberry Ale and Black Dog Ale.

They weren’t too bad. The Honey Raspberry was okay, but a bit dry and not really that fruity, I thought. The dryness was probably from the honey (like a mead), and they should consider pumping the fruit up a bit.

The Black Dog Ale was decent. Billed as an English-style pale ale, it had a surprising hop bite to it. Nice malt base, very drinkable. I almost picked up a six-pack, but I held off for now.

They were also selling Black Dog Ale pint glasses for a dollar apiece (I bought two) and t-shirts for five (I bought one). Good deal! Normally beer t-shirts like that run you 12 to 20 bucks or more.

On a somewhat related note, Newport Market still doesn’t have the Lindemans Pomme lambic in yet. I’m keeping an eye out. But I did buy a bottle of the Cassis lambic (black currant); I don’t believe I’ve ever had this one, so it’s high time I did.