Monday, September 24, 2012

Voodoo Doughnut plus Weed

So from the pepto-pink bottle to the Baron Samedi-looking character on the front.....Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut bacon maple ale has it all.  Except a good taste.

It's naturally done, and Rogue is nice enough to spell out the ingredients on the label.  About halfway down it says applewood-smoked bacon.  There's definitely some smokiness to it....but it's just gross.  And that's too bad, because the maple has an excellent flavor here.  You taste that up front, but then the bacon takes over.  I'm not sure what part of the bacon they're claiming.  Did they use the fat?  The drippings?  The actual meat, perhaps strained out later?  It does not taste like the kind of bacon I'd want accompanying my eggs, pancakes, or peanut butter sandwich.  It's almost chemical-tasting instead.

My grade:  D

The somewhat amusing name "Weed" describes an amber ale that did not seem to contain any marijuana whatsoever.  (I'm sure someone somewhere has tried the ol' "wait, those aren't hops we just added.....duuuudddde" at some point.  Would yeast even do anything with pot lumps in a brew vat?)  Anyway, this beer was solid, if not particularly distinguishable.  The "Try LEGAL Weed" expression on the bottle just seemed silly, though.

My grade:  B

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Finally, a worthy follow-up

So there's a local brewery, the Olde Burnside Brewing Co. in East Hartford.  Their flagship beer is a growler of Ten Penny Ale.  Really good stuff.

Problem is, everything else they make has sucked.  The Dirty Penny was gross, and they had some other kind with a citrus bent to it that also just wasn't delicious.

Now, they finally have something else to respect!

The beer is called Hop't Scot.  A scotch ale infused with extra hops, so you get a combination of beer styles.  Scotch ale is surprisingly not my favorite type, due to the smokiness.....but I can definitely tolerate it with the hop infusion.

This beer succeeds....I give it an A-.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Harpoooooon

Who puts the poon in Harpoon? Oh, I don't know. I *do* know that they make a reliable IPA. It doesn't so much stand out as "whoa, great!" as much as it's a steady B+ beer. That's probably why it's available quite often in local pubs around here in New England on tap. The malt balances the hop amount pretty well in this beer. Not sure that's what I want in my IPA - it's not like some other IPAs where the hops dominate. So that's probably why it's appealing as it is....The flavor is definitely there, it's just not standing out and calling attention to itself. --bri