Voodoo Brewing Co. Wynona's Big Brown Ale

Do we like beer? Yes. Do we love music? Yes. Do we like it when breweries reference bands that we enjoy? Oh yeah. Do we love hairy vaginas? Umm... doesn't everyone? Enter Wynona's Big Brown Ale- from Voodoo Brewing Co. in Meadville, PA. This brewery's distribution is so incredibly limited that you can not grab your hands around a bottle if you live in Ohio (a mere 20 minutes away) or outside Erie or Pittsburgh. When searching for a bomber in its home town, all Mike came up with was a case of it for 76 dollars. However, our previous experiences with the company (Pilzilla, Gran Met & Big Black Voodoo Daddy) have all been incredibly delicious so when we saw a beer referencing a tasty Primus song, we couldn't resist.

Wynona's Big Brown Ale is a very strong American brown ale weighing in at a boastful 7.3% ABV. It pours a dark brown with a hint ruby with a frothy white head. It smells of chocolate, nuts, malt and a strong alcohol smell. When the beer enters the consumption canal you do not even taste the alcohol. This beer is incredibly smooth and well balanced. It has everything you'd expect from a brown ale (a nutty taste hanging on the tongue) and even more (chocolate and carmel.) The nose throws the whole thing off but once it is out of the equation, you have one of the best examples of an American brown ale.

It is hard to find much wrong with this brew. Voodoo Brewing Co. has entered our innards by penetrating through our brown beards to our mouths and going deep down our throats to our stomachs. This is one brown beaver that we'd show off to all our friends. We hope this beaver never tries to leave us. This is the anti-pop and we thank Voodoo for all the bad Primus references.

Oz Scale: 8.7

Mike Scale: 8.6

Williamsburg Alewerks Brewmaster's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Porter 2010

Not very often do we get to taste beers from small micro-breweries outside of our distribution region. Sure, we have access to some great ones (Voodoo) and some okay ones (Erie Brewing Co.) but it is always interesting to at least try the local flavors. While the local flavors might taste like dirt, fuck it, at least it isn't our options. So when Oz's dad traveled to Virginia and stumbled upon a brew from Williamsburg Aleworks from Williamsburg, Virginia, he found a brew that he hoped would sit proudly on his son's beer wall- Brewmaster's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Porter.

The 2010 BRBBP (the bottle is numbered 1966 of 2010) pours black with a light carmel head and smells of bourbon and malt. The taste is pure malt with a strong sence of oak and bourbon with an alcohol tinge left on the tongue. There are notes of chocolate and coffee but the flavors are overtaken by the bourbon and alcohol on the back end. The tinge is not completely unwelcomed but it makes this brew much more of a sipper than we'd like- and this is coming from big fans of sipping beers and alcohol in general.

There is much complexitiy hidden beneath this small town sipper but it is disappointing that they have to be extruded out beneath the quarry of alcohol. We aren't the ones to complain about too much booze in the brews but it just hinders any flavors from coming to the spot light. In previous blogs you will notice that many times we wished for more alcohol but sometimes a big beer is just too big. Now our mouths know how white women feel.

Oz Scale: 7.4

Mike Scale: 7.4

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace

Brooklyn Brewery is a company with strange stardards. They can create some amazing brews (Local 1, Black Chocolate Stout) yet let a couple slip past them and continue to be sold on the market (East India Pale Ale, Pennant Ale.) The brewery is much like the city it is from- some amazing things and some things that we'd rather not see again (another Yankee pennant or George Steinbrenner) So when we noticed a new Brooklyn 750ml bottle on the shelf, we were intrigued.

Sorachi Ace is a 100% bottle refermented saison ale. It boasts a respectable 7.6% ABV and is brewed with the rare Sorachi Ace hop and a Belgian yeast strain an re-fermented with champgne yeast in the bottle. This sounds like it could be a home run.

Sorachi Ace pours cloudy and golden with a fizzy white head with sweet lemon-y smell. SA hits the tongue with sweetness, a tarty lemon zest and a crisp hop flavor with a bit of carbonation. The alcohol is the hidden treasure hid beneath the complex and completely refreshing flavors. This brew would pair nice with a light dish and cheeses and is perfect for a summer evening split with a good friend.

Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace delived what we hoped for. It acheives where many Jolly Pumpkin beers fail, tart and sweet but that flavor does not overpower the rest of the beer. This is what a saison should be, light and crisp but with enough alcohol to encourage the purchase of an expensive brew. While not quite a grandslam, this beer is a walk off home run.

Oz Scale: 8.5

Mike Scale: 8.4

Weyerbacher Fifteen Smoked Imperial Stout

Weyerbacher does not pour large sums of money into their graphic design department. Their logo was probably made with Microsoft Paint by the owner's son during study hall. However, they seem to invest their money into something worthwhile- creating new beers. Weyerbacher's Fourteen is responsible for our deeper dive into the wheatwine style and their latest imperial stout, Tiny, was nothing short of amazing. For all these reasons amongst others made us anticipate the arrival of their next anniversary brew, Fifteen.

Weyerbacher's Fifteen pours jet black with a light carmel head. An earth-like tinge hits the nose as you go in for that initial whiff. Hints of nuts with chicory as the "smoked" flavor lets it's presence be known as it flows over the taste buds. This beer is well bodied and coats the tongue with a silky yet earthy taste as it lingers until the next sip. We let this beer warm up to near room temperature and it's body went from a Baconator with a Frosty to just a Wendy's Double.

Weyerbacher knows how to celebrate their birthday. Twelve, Fourteen and Fifteen (Thirteen wasn't sold in Ohio) are all fine examples of what an anniversary beer should be. This is something a stout fan should pick up since this is a perfect example of an imperial smoked stout. At 10.8% ABV, this will get you where you should be for a birthday- intoxicated.

Oz Scale: 8.6

Mike Scale: 8.6

Great Divide Expresso Oak Aged Yeti

Colorado's Great Divide is working their to our hearts. The saying goes "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" and they are doing a good job at it. We have had some delectable beverages in the recent months and given an opportunity to try a variation at their most popular beer, Yeti, we took couldn't leave the 9.5% ABV Expresso Oak Aged Yeti on the shelf any longer.

EOAY pours jet black and thick with a foamy carmel head. Roasted malts, chocolate and hint of coffee overtake the nose as you smell. First impressions become reality as it tastes almost exactly as it smells yet it is exceptionally smooth given the ABV. As the brew leaves the tongue you are left with chocolate dancing on the tongue with a tinge of alcohol to remind you that you are drinking a brew, not a dessert. As the beer warms in it's glass, the taste shifts and the oak becomes noticable on the back end of the flavor.

This is an incredibly solid brew from a company that we are becoming more familiar with. However, there is nothing unique to this brew and the word "expresso" should be removed from the label. While there are differences to this and the other Yeti brews (which are all delicious- by the way) there is nothing that sets this one apart from its siblings. Kind of like one of the Osmonds that isn't Donny or Marie.

Oz Scale: 7.9

Mike Scale: 8.0

Southern Tier Farmer's Tan Imerial Pale Lager

Farmer's Tan- check. It is the season where pasty human beings get their first prolonged exposure to the sun to leave some unsightly color lines on your body. Southern Tier celebrates such an event with their new summer seasonal bomber, Farmer's Tan. Farmer's Tan is an imperial pale lager weighing in at an impressive 9% ABV. In theory, it is a perfect summer beer for the lazy- crisp and light yet higher in alcohol- best suited for an evening hanging out on the porch.

Farmer's Tan pours a slightly more carmel color than a typical pale lager yet has a floral pale ale smell. This medium bodied beer is well balanced with little alcohol taste left on the tongue. It is not a beer that typical lager drinkers would enjoy- in other words, it doesn't taste like urine. There is a bit of sweetness that lies in this brew that eventually leaves the tongue to give a more traditional lager aftertaste.

This beer lived up to the promise of a lazy summer night. Southern Tier took a traditional style and grew it into something of their own. While many breweries try to lighten their load with a more traditional pilsner or wheat ale for the season, ST took a great summer style beer and made something that could pass the piss test.

Oz Scale: 7.4

Mike Scale: 7.7

Clipper City Heavy Seas Letter of Marque 2010 Rye Porter

Heavy Seas (Clipper City Brewery) has always been a solid brewery. Their beers have yet to let us down and none have ever been just mediocre (in fact, their Small Craft Warning is our favorite imperial pilsner.) Last year, Clipper City did a homebrew competition called Letter of the Marque where the winner got their brew mass produced for a one-time release. Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) has been doing these competitions for years (Longshot Series) and usually the victors end up producing better beers than many of their in-house lagers and ales. So when we got our sights on a Heavy Seas version, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to consume their Letter of the Marque Rye Porter.

LoM pours a deep amber to an almost black color with a foamy cream head. I has a sweet and citrus smell reminiscent of an IPA. When the rye porter hits the pallet you are left with a unique taste. It has hops and spices of a RyePA but malt overtones of a porter. A medium to full body coats the mouth nicely and and leaves you with a west coast IPA bitterness which is shocking at first but welcomed after the initial sip.

This beer succeeds where Nightstalker by Goose Island failed. It balances rye, malt and hops to create something that is unique and highly drinkable. If we were given this beer without a name or style, we'd swear that it was a black IPA. However, this is our first experience with a rye porter and if given the chance to try others, we'd welcome a glass or two.

Oz Scale: 8.0

Mike Scale: 8.2

New Belgium Ranger

New Belgium is the third largest microbrewer behind Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. Unlike those "giant" micros, New Belgium does not have lower 48 distribution including Ohio. However, we have managed to try nine of their beers. Mike's sister-in-law's older brother works for New Belgium and Mike was able to walk away with some free cases at his brother's wedding. So when Oz was in Chicago a week ago, he noticed New Belgium's first non-Belgian style beer that they've ever produced, Ranger. New Belgium's Ranger is a 6.5% ABV American-style India Pale Ale

When poured, this beer smells of citrus, grapefruit and hops. When Ranger hits the pallete you are reminded of an American Pale Ale with a bit more bite than most APAs. It has a medium finish and the hops linger on the tongue like you'd expect from a good IPA. This beer has more of a bitter hop flavor than most regular IPA's and therefor we don't suggest this as a transitionary beer for a beginner into the style.

New Belgium's Ranger is what a pale ale should taste like. We might be a bit biased since we normally like a bit more bight when we drink an IPA as we are used to drinking their imperial counterparts in the 7.5-11% range. This brew is incredibly solid for what it is and if sitting on our the shelf of a local grocery, it'd battle our wallet with our local favorite, Commodore Perry by Great Lakes.

Oz Scale: 7.4

Mike Scale: 7.2