Gordon Biersch Braumeister Select IPB.

I got to try this at a WF tasting a few weeks ago. GB is not really regarded as a notable brewery, they are actually not that bad. I've had GB on occasion, and I really do think they try to make a good beer. Not that they are anything to write home about, but I think they are much more approachable for the macro beer drinker to get into craft beer.

I'm not typically a fan of pilseners but I've had a few that I've liked in the past, Sam Adams Noble Pils for one. I think I'm actually had one imperial pilsener before as well, though I can't remember where that was. Weighing in at only 6.5%, it's not really the typical imperial strength. In terms of flavor thou

gh, it's definitely a beefier brew. IPB stands for "Imperial Pilsner Brau", by the way.

Nose is a crisp, slightly grassy spring aroma, makes it just that much more refreshing. I like this one. Plus it comes in a swing-top, which is cool.

New Belgium Shift.

Sam Adams Alpine Lager.

It's been a while since I've have anything from Boston Beer Company but I saw this seasonal out the other day. An unfilitered lager, it pours exactly the way it sounds. It's just a little hazy, with no obvious particulates. I did notice that appears to be much less carbed than the typical macro: only a few trails of bubbles leading up to the headless surface. Nonetheless, the carbing is most evident all around the edges, leaving a pretty pleasant liquid gold center. The taste is reminiscent of those countless cans of macro but much more mature and refined. It's full-bodied, slightly sweet honey notes, sunshine and amber waves of grain. It's like the college beer that has finally graduated, settled down, put on about 20 pounds, and learned to stop and smell the roses.

I like this beer because it's an easy drinker, still flavorful, and not so thin as to be dismissed without a thought. It should be a nice change of pace in the typical springtime lineup of hefes and wits and the like while bringing a bit more heft to the table than a kolsch or some other craft pilsener. A little lemon might help boost the citrus and cut through some of the body.

• Appearance: Pale gold, slightly hazy, no head retention.
• Smell: A rich, grainy aroma. Characteristic lager smell but much heavier and thicker.
• Taste: Almost hefeweizen-like, slightly sweet. Almost nondescript except for the small points of hop flavor, no bitter, no floral.
• Mouthfeel: Cohesive and surprisingly heavy but still refreshing. Carb is fairly low and slow, tingling only around the edges.
• Drinkability and Overall: I like it. It's a nice change of pace from hefes and wits for warm weather beers.

Lucky Buddha.

A piece of swag from CA. Chinese beers are not that great, except for Tsingtao which is the less skunky twin of Heineken, but with a sweet bottle like this, picking up a loose one wasn't going to hurt. Actually, I can't even imagine what these would look like in a 4- or 6-pack. I suppose they must ship in non-display cases. Anyway, there's nothing surprising here, just a "fizzy, yellow beer". Absurdly light, to the point of looking watered down and washed out, and clear, it tastes like a adjunct macro. But look, check out this sweet bottle.

• Appearance: Ultra clear, light, pale.
• Smell: Almost nothing, barely a hint of "light beer"-ness
• Taste: Very light, lager-y, no skunk. Probably more tasteless than Mich Ultra.
• Mouthfeel: Fizzy.
• Drinkability and Overall: Drinkability is irrelevant as long as you get the bottle.

Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager.

This has been sitting in my fridge all summer, and I was tired of looking at it. Another entry from Rogue's GYO offshoot, black lager isn't a very common, but not rare, style. 9 ingredients: Melanoiden, Carafe, Special II, NBlack, Chocolate and Risk malts, Independent and Revolution hops, and of couse, free-range coastal water and German yeast. I guess this is a different strain than their regular Pacman.

It pours very smoothly, a quick black oil giving rise to a moderate mocha head. I get some salty, oyster-like aromas which is disorienting. The first sip was smooth and light, a big, round mouthful of toasty malts with chocolate tones. My first impression is like a far less carbed Guinness Draught with more bittering. To be honest, I'm not really feeling this one.

• Appearance: Opaque black, mocha head.
• Smell: Reminiscent of an oyster stout, salty, sea breeze and oysters.
• Taste: A balanced roasted bitterness with a lasting, mild finish.
• Mouthfeel: Very little carb, silky smooth and just barely cohesive. Slightly astringent on the finish.
• Drinkability and Overall: An easy drinker, for sure. A slightly more sophisticated Guinness Draught. Do with that what you will.

Primator Doppelbock.

I haven't had a good doppelbock in a while. I remember my first: Ayinger Celebrator. It had a sweet billy goat charm around the neck of each bottle, which a pun. 'ein bock' (which is apparently what it sounds like when Bavarians say 'Einbeck', the origin town for the style) means 'billy goat'; hence, the association of goats with the style. I've also heard that it's a reference to the changing of the season. The onset of spring calls for a kick in the pants (or a headbutt) to shake off the cobwebs of the dark winter months, so bocks are slightly higher in alcohol (kind of like barleywines, of which I really like ST's description).

This is an incredibly sweet beer, extremely sugary. I have never tasted a beer so sugary. I am completely beside myself. That rich, toasty, malty character, the dark and bitter notion of an extra stout slightly tempered by sweetness, has been replaced with Kool-aid. This beer is just so extraordinarily sweet. It doesn't have the body of a milk stout to back it up properly so it just spills itself all over your palate, blowing out everything, smashing through another wall when it leaves, and the roast bitter shrugs sheepishly and shuffles away with its hands in its pockets.

It's fairly carbed so I'm pouring the other half to top off my glass and try it with something spicy as its neck label suggests. The violent pour stirred up the head which foamed up and fizzed out, maybe apropos for its cola soda-like sweetness. All I've really got are some tortilla chips and some serrano salsa fresca that I just bought. Turns out that this salsa is pretty mild, only rating half of a full chile. The mild heat cuts down the sweetness a bit and lets the toastiness peek through. But it's still pretty imbalanced. Ok, time to break out the Uncle Chen Extra Hot - Chili Garlic Sauce. It's, and I quote, "chiliciously hot". It's not a sauce I find myself using very often because it just doesn't go well with anything other than pho, unfortunately. That spiciness and this sweetness just don't mesh. And this big gulp I just took tasted like Kopiko cappuccino candy so that's bizarre. The salsa is good, by the way.

At this point, a few gulps away from the bottom, I'm finding more and more of a coffee character, a heavily sugared and creamed coffee, almost like canned coffee, but even sweeter. That's the thing about canned coffee; it's fatty and sugary, but there's still a clear coffee character. Primator is more like adding coffee to your sugary milk.

Here's the thing. There are no goats on the label. They claim a combination of "five different Moravian and Bavarian malts with a hint of bittering hops", (as opposed to five of the same malts?) yielding a 24 degrees Plato, 10.5%ABV wonky Doppelbock. You screwed me at "no goats".

• Appearance: Very clear, dark brown, deep garnet against the light. No head without some vigor, then it fizzes out like soda.
• Smell: When I can get the head swirled up, there's actually a nice nutty (they say chestnut) aroma. I would agree with roasted chestnut.
• Taste: Absurdly sweet. The sweetness is more reminiscent of cola soda than malt. The toasty bitterness is completely lost here. Eventually, it just starts to tastes like canned coffee but still so ridiculously sweet that it makes Starbucks drinks taste like actual coffee.
• Mouthfeel: A fairly silky lager at this point. Initially, the carbing was fairly high but not so high to foam, just enough to coat the tongue. I'm reminded of a very, very thin syrup, which is syrup nevertheless.
• Drinkability and Overall: The 500mL bottle is an awkward format because it's 1 pint, 0.9 fl oz. For my palate, it's just too sweet to enjoy on it's own, but I can't see it meshing well with anything else either. Maybe buffalo wings or something. The 10.5%ABV means you're really going to enjoy whatever you drink next, as long as it's not this.

Primo Island Lager.

I saw this in the cooler at the Chinese corner store that sells scratch lotto tickets and Asian nude magazines but has a nice selection of Chinese liquors and various Asian snacks. At first, I thought it was a Greek beer since the logo looked something like centurion or hoplite feather-crested helm (and it was blue and white). Upon closer inspection, the islands were not the Greek islands but were, in fact, the Hawaiian islands. The label also said, "With a hint of Hawaiian cane". Ok, cool, so it's from Hawaii. Ok, still doesn't really make sense. Maybe the feather guy is a Hawaiian tribe king. Later at home, another inspection indicated that the Primo Brewing and Malting (not a good sign) Co. is based in Hood, Oregon. Ok, so not Greek, not Hawaiian, Oregon. And "First brewed in 1897" which is kind of cool, and "Proceeds Help to Preserve the Environment and Culture of the Islands".

• Appearance: Darker than a lager ought to be. Pretty crystal clear, lots of bubbles on the glass. Head faded entirely.
• Smell: Doesn't really smell like anything. Maybe rice cake but that might be some environmental smells.
• Taste: Noticeably sweet, almost cloying. Didn't temper as the beer went on. A taste on a different night, didn't notice hardly any sweetness, but that might be due to having eaten some strong food for dinner.
• Mouthfeel: Feels like a lager. Meh.
• Drinkability and Overall: Mildly more flavorful than a macro but not much better.

Yebisu, All Malt.

Had dinner at a nearby ramen shop which was serving this, "All Malt". Mild head but no retention, malty lager. Boring but went ok with my meal. It's no Kirin, and that pretty much sums it up.

Asahi Super Dry.

I used to work in a sushi restaurant. Before we really calssed up the place,we had these placemats from Asahi. People would come in and want to order Asahi and I'd have to say, "Sorry, we only have Sapporo for Japanese beers." After we got rid of the placemats, we had Sapporo and Kirin (FTW) but still no Asahi.

I finally got around to picking up an Asahi. I've had a weird relationship with Japanese beers as I loathe Sapporo but love Kirin. Since we never had Asahi around, I never bothered trying it. I saw it in the store a while ago and, after passing by it on so many occasions, finally decided to pick it up.

This is the ultimate tallboy. It is a full on 1L can. Awesome. The typical American tallboy is a 1 pint can, a mere 33% increase from the standard commodity can. Extra bright, clear color; super foamy head. Reminds me of a bath scene in some Japanese movie. Typical lager-y taste with a hint of rice, as this is a rice lager. This is the ultimate session beer for drinking over a shared grill-set-in-a-table dinner. Unassuming and refreshing when you need it.

This received a pretty low mark from BA which is not surprising. BA and their ilk like ales and only like lagers that try to be more like ales. Props to Japan for producing their own twists on beer (looking at Hitachino too). Mind you, Japanese whisky also kills internationally so there. I think this is a great beer for what it is and what it tries to be.

Goose Island Claybourne.

Spent Thanksgiving with the family, gathering in Chicago. So naturally, I must make my way down to Goose Island. They weren't running tours that weekend due to the holidays, but we still killed an afternoon working on our MBAs.

Sister and I started with the Foxxy and Hex Nut Brown, respectively. Foxxy was a mild brown ale which I found to be pretty uneventful. The Hex was really good though. I would put it a close contender to Blackstone. I hope they start bottling this version since they've discontinued their standard nut brown ale.

The Belgian IPA was tasty, Belgian, and IPA-ish but it wasn't anything unique.

Dominique is a sour ale aged in bourbon barrels, so there's a lot going on. It tastes exactly as they described it. I always try sour ales even though I'm not really a fan. It's always interesting. BIL ended up finishing it since he seemed to like it a bit.

I got a half of the FairytAle, some guest chef collaboration. It was hard to pin down but I was sure that I didn't like it. "It smells like Taylor Swift and tastes like poop smells." Couldn't have said it better. Note to self: construct more colorful descriptions of my drinking experiences. Addendum: Apparently, it was "poop sticks", as in a "stick of poop", not referring to how poop might stick to a surface. Hearing and parsing fail. I like what I thought I heard better.

Frankenporter is a blend of multiple porter recipes. The result is a pretty stout porter with a lot of complexity. Tasty.

Blonde Rascal: A Belgian-style ale, though the hop blend seems IPA-ish to me, and steeped with lavender. A really floral and interesting ale. Mildly hoppy, fragrant, effervescent, light-bodied, and very smooth.

Schwarzbier: B-in-l ordered it. Didn't try it, but took a snap since it's not common.

Had to try the Christmas Ale for 2010. Can't say much without 2009 for comparison.

Had to try the Golden Goose Pils since I've never seen a bottle of it. Tastes like pilsner. Reminded me that I don't really like pilsners.

Finished with a classic: IPA. Delicious.

Flying Dog Old Skratch Amber Lager.

It's my opinion that lagers, on average, are quite unremarkable.

Brooklyn Brewery Lager.

For a lager, I found this quite filling and smooth. Rather dark. But inevitably unimpressed.

Sam Adams Oktoberfest.

Well, I really thought I had written something down here. I can't say I really noticed much of anything here. It's a lager. But toasty? I was under the impression that it would be fuller. But it's a lager.

Amstel Light.

Amstel is a clean, crisp lager, very smooth but still tasteful. I think my sister had a friend who swore by it. At only 95 calories, it's kind of...girly? Sorry. I don't have much to say about lagers.

Addendum: This makes a great dinner beer.

Harp Lager.

Harp is a nice lager. I've had it before but the last few bottles of this have had...a fishy taste. I can't tell if it's just the bottle from being in the fridge or if it's actually the beer. Weird. In any case, I couldn't remember what it tasted like so I picked it up. Like I said, it's nice. But it only reminded me that I like Bass better.

Addendum: That fishy taste is from the refrigerator.

Sam Adams Black Lager.

And here's the Black Lager. My first thought with this was that it tasted like watered down Guinness. But then I thought that wasn't quite right. I guess it's like a Guinness Extra Stout but without the "Extra". Almost full-flavored dark but lighter than what I'm used to which introduces that "almost". Might be good for when you want just the stout taste without feeling like it too.