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

Goose Island Night Stalker Imperial Stout

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Goose Island has always made a decent beer. Some are better than others, but we wouldn't call it one of our favorite breweries. Sure, Matilda, Bourbon County Stout & Pere Jacques were great but their year round brews are just a bit weak. When we got word that they had just released a "heavily-hopped imperial stout," our jinies tingled. A 11.7% ABV hoppy imperial stout was something we could not pass up.

Night Stalker pours black with a carmel head and has a strong citrus smell. This is by far the strangest tasting imperial stout we have ever tried. It has medium body with an alcohol burn as it leaves the mouth. When it hits the pallet- citrus, fruit, toffee and chocolate dance on the tongue. This beer has us just about stumped. At first we didn't even want to finish our glasses but the following sips got better so we let the beer warm up to get a better effect. There is a fruity sweetness to Night Stalker that some would welcome with open arms but we would call a nuisance.

The beer lets its alcohol presence be known unlike a good stalker. You have to give credit to Goose Island for creating an imperial stout that taste NOTHING like what is typically associated with that style. This brew is a true sipper meant best to be shared with a friend or two but you have to have the right palette for this one. Mike and Oz can both agree on its originality, the flavors just don't come together well and the alcohol ruins what was a good concept. We are going to file a restraining order.

Oz Scale: 6.0

Mike Scale: 5.8

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary - Fritz And Ken's Ale

Sierra Nevada has always been one of our choices for transitional beers. Their pale ale has helped many consumers into the world of craft brewing. Also, many of their beers stand up with the best (see our 12 Beers of Christmas.) Once any company hits 30 years, it's an great accomplishment so it's time to celebrate. To commemorate their achievement, they have collaborated with many pioneers of brewing to release four 30th anniversary ales. Having been a huge fan of their previous collaboration with Dogfish Head, Life & Limb, we couldn't resist picking up their first offering, Fritz and Ken's ale. Ken Grossman, owner of Sierra Nevada brewed this beer with the help of Fritz Maytag, owner of Anchor Brewing Company. Since this is all about working with others we have our friend and bass player Johnny V to help out with this review.

Fritz and Ken's Ale is an imperial stout weighing in at 9.2% ABV. It pours jet black with a nice carmel colored head. It smells of alcohol, roasted malts, cocoa and carmel. It has strong punch in the beginning and flows down extremely smooth. You are left with a serious alcohol warmth with nice malt and chocolate flavors lingering on the tonge. The body is a bit weak with as the alcohol finishes up the back end. It must be notated that this beer in best drank at around 50 degrees. We tried this as originally around 40-42 degrees but decided to let the beer warm up. As the beer became warm, more and more flavors awoke from behind this black beauty.

If this is any indication of what the other beers in this series will bring, then we will be sure to pick up the next three in the series. It would be great if Sierra Nevada released a year round "big" beer to introduce many others to the world of imperials. Their Torpedo is a step in the right direction and let's hope if they do decide to make a yearly four pack, they taste something like Fritz And Ken's Ale.

Oz Scale: 8.3
Mike Scale: 8.3
John Scale: 8.5

Great Lakes Brewing Company The Wright Pils

Every so often, GLBC makes one of their brewpub exclusives available in bottle at their gift shop. The Wright Pils does not appear to be the wright choice. Great Lakes seems to make a great beer but they already have a Dortmunder, which is very similar in style to a pilsner. Also- what craft drinker really wants to spend the nine dollars on a pilsner? Not us but it's GLBC (we'll forgive them for Glockenspiel and Farmhouse) and we are faithful followers so here it goes:

The color and smell is typical of the style except for a light floral and sweet scent almost reminiscent of their Grassroots Ale. When the brew hits the tongue, you get a malt taste that is not so common in the style. The Wright Pils is well balanced but still has that pilsner fizziness that you'd expect. This medium bodied brew leaves you with a finish that thirsts you for more.

For a regular pilsner, you aren't going to find many beers better than this. It has all the characteristics of a great pilsner plus some malt happiness thrown in there for good measure. However, it is a pilsner- and pilsners are middle of the road and made for your average beer drinker. The craft spirit is alive in The Wright Pils so let's hope this keeps them on the wright track. How about Imperial Black and Wright Pilsner? Just a suggestion....

Oz Scale: 6.7

Mike Scale: 6.6

Rogue Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager

Rogue- a brewery of greatness and of letdown. The price tags on the bottles never seem to be worth what is inside. For bottle collectors like ourselves, Rogue would seem like the perfect brewery for us to have all their neat artwork against our wall. But who seriously wants to pay twelve dollars for a 22 oz bomber of an imperial ESB that weighs in at 7.2% ABV? Rogue, you seem to have gone astray, please let your decently priced Dirtoir Black Lager win us back.

RCRFGDBL (seriously?) pours jet black with a carmel head and smells like a chocolate stout or porter. It has a light to medium body that leaves your tongue much like a porter but with a slight chalky fuzziness. It hits your pallete like a sweet stout with no traces of alcohol. The finish is just okay- it's not missing too much but there could be more on the back end. We wish there was a little more warmth to the beer. Not all beers need to be imperial, this one just begs for a bit more bite.

We are impressed by how delicious this lager is. There is no idication, other than what is written on the bottle, that this is a lager. It is very comperable to a sweeter low alcohol stout and it would battle up there with the better of those styles. We are very pessimistic towards the word LAGER, but these guys found some strange ale yeast that fermented on the bottom for some reason. Wherever these guys found this magic yeast, let's hope they can utilize it in other bombers that costs less than 10-16 dollars.

Oz Scale: 7.3

Mike Scale: 7.4

Dogfish Head Fort

The worlds strongest fruit beer. It's a claim that only Dogfish Head can make with their 18% ABV brew, Fort. When brewed, they use over a ton of pureed raspberries in a Belgian-style base which is then fermented similar to the DFH's other 18% beers, 120 Minute IPA and World Wide Stout. Being a fan of Dogfish Head, alcohol and World Wide Stout (we have yet to get our hands on a 120,) Mike did not hesitate dropping the serious cash to get this single bottle. Once again, silly Ohio laws prevent such beverages from entering their borders, so he had to pick this one up in Pennsylvania.

Fort pours surprisingly smooth, and smells of fruit and spices- almost like a Riesling. Amber and slightly cloudy in color, the taste hits on the side of the tongue with a sweet and almost tart spiciness followed by some fruit flavors. The raspberries are in the latter half of flavor to hit the palette followed by an alcohol warmth. Being so high in alcohol, one would not believe that a brew like this could drink so smooth, but smooth it is. It's medium bodied and does not taste like it packs as much punch as it does.

Rating this beer is difficult. Do you rate by style? In that case, it would would be rated extremely high? Do you rate by taste? Originality? We are just going to rate how we normally do- how much we like it. The beer has some outstanding qualities and it's flaws are limited. It is NOT a session beer. Oz says: "It isn't a style that I would normally go for but the alcohol makes this yummy!" Dogfish Head keeps coming up with original beers and we will keep buying them. They could find a way to make ancient elephant excrement taste delicious or at least interesting.

Oz Scale: 8.7
Mike Scale: 8.5

Erie Brewing Company Ol' Red Cease & Desist Wee Heavy Ale

Erie Brewing Company is the closest brewery to us that bottles and sells its own brew at other establishments other than its own. It's only 45 mile from the house of beer blog. It's sad that we live in such a small town that their is nothing closer to us that bottles but at least it's not Wyoming (for you Nick.)

We have tried Erie Brewing Company's beers before and have never been too impressed. Railbender Ale is okay and Misery Bay IPA is decent. There is nothing original nor anything special that makes you want to pick up another six pack of their brews.

At U-Pick-6 in Erie PA, Mike noticed a beer in their fridge that he had never seen before- Ol' Red. It looked interesting and carries a nice punch at 10.1% ABV. Could this beer save our perceptions of EBC?

Ever have first impressions that stuck? This beer is one of them. It has a good beginning with a nice malt taste, much unlike most red or wee ales. Everything goes down hill from there- it completely lacks in body. This beer is like "It" from the Addams Family. The alcohol does not seem to be too prevalent given the ABV but there doesn't seem to be any redeeming factors to it.

Erie Brewing Company- how you have let us down. Our three closest bottling brewers besides you, Great Lakes, Southern Tier & Thirsty Dog (sorry Buckeye Brewing, you don't quite have distribution to make the list) have put you to shame. They should Cease & Desist from creating beer. Keep with the brew pub for a while and let us know when you come up with something better. This beer should have been called Ol' Yeller instad of Ol' Red.

Oz Scale: 5.5
Mike Scale: 5.1