Black Mocha Stout

Not so sure my sinuses will allow me to give the best review tonight but it is tonight or skip this week as I’ll be camping and watching some GT racing at Petite Le Mans tomorrow and Saturday. And after just missing my first week two weeks ago I don’t want to start a trend, so here we go. This beer is fitting considering I spend the first four days of this week just north of where they brew this beer. I also think this is my most reviewed brewer, Highland Brewing Company from Asheville, NC.


Black Mocha Stout  

Wow, I have poured myself a coke with no ice, yeah I know, most stouts are going to look like this. It has a smaller head than I imagined but that’s ok. Even with my stopped up sniffer I can smell a ton of chocolate and coffee tones. The first taste is just as smooth as it looks and then finishes with the bitterness of burnt malts. I don’t get much mocha in the taste but very good never the less. Very good cold weather camping by the fire pit beer thank you very much.

Until next week, cheers beer friends.

FourBoysBrewPub!

St. Terese's Pale Ale

So, part two of the reviews tonight. I didn’t even realize that the week I missed (or didn’t miss) was week 26, the midway point, kinda funny. So here we are at the beginning of the home stretch to this endeavor. So far it has been mainly what I had hoped for, a good way for me to actually put down in writing my ramblings on the multitude of beers I find myself trying. Some weeks have been more of a challenge to get something posted. I’m not sure if I have gotten any better at picking up scents and tasted over the last 6 months but definitely have had fun trying. Hope I have inspired some of my traditional American light lager friends to venture out and try something different, even if they didn’t like it, at least they tried it.


So week 27 brings us:

St. Terese’s Pale Ale – Highland Brewing Co.

I’m not trying to link this beer with Miller in any way I just hate using a plain glass when doing these reviews; I think the pictures look much cooler in a labeled glass. Plus, I really like the old classic labels my four pack of Miller glasses have. But on to this beer, as you can hopefully see, it pours a dirty amber/orange color with a thin head but the head does manage to stay just as thick the entire time. I immediately smell caramel malts here, with some hops faintly hiding in the background. It feels a little thin for as much malt as you smell but it still works, may even be a good thing. It has a lot of the caramel flavor with much of the bitterness coming from the malts and not the hops, usually that means a heavy beer, but not in this case, which like I said is probably a good thing, you know, makes it easy to drink. Also this doesn’t taste like your typical hop heavy pale ale even though the label says it is dry hopped with Cascade hops, either way, I’m good with it. It does live up to its description that it is “A crisp and refreshing beer perfect for any occasion.” I really could see this as a year-round beer, light enough for summer but malty enough for the winter.

So go grab a different kind of brew if you have yet to take my hints, you won’t regret it. Life is short, no need to stick with the same old beer week in and week out. If you don’t like what you bought, I’m sure you could cook with it. Cheers!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Oatmeal Porter - Highland Brewing Co

This week’s entry is one of the main reasons I started my blog. Not necessarily this beer or style but rather what it represents. I don’t know or remember having this beer or this style of beer but also can’t believe I haven’t had it. If I did have it I have no idea what it was like or even if I liked it. So, BAM! I thought writing my thoughts down would help me with these situations. Well, I tried that and never really kept up with it. But, creating a blog and hopefully having readers would force me to keep up with it, so far so good ha.

So here we go with the style I have been wanting to try for a some time now (even if I have tried it before I don’t recall it). So, Oatmeal Porter – Highland Brewing Co it is.

It pours very dark as expected for a porter with a nice thick dense beige head that sticks around for a while. You can smell the roasted malts and a hint of some rich coffee tones. The taste gives you a medium mouthfeel with a bit of semi-sweet chocolate bitterness but finishing very smooth. Not as silky smooth as a Guinness but very close. Overall I’m sad that I don’t remember this beer/style as I like it a lot, maybe I haven’t ever had it, who knows. So with this effectively being my first oatmeal porter, I have nothing to compare it with but I will definitely try other oatmeal porters/stouts. Very easy to drink with a lot of flavors going on.

The Georgia glass is in tribute to the fact that the Dawgs released their dept chart yesterday for the 2010 Football season and to be honest I’ll use any excuse to talk UGA football. Only 133 more days till kick off baby. But right now it’s time for America’s past time, Baseball, tee-ball to be exact with my middle son having a game tonight, go #16 and go WhiteSox.

Bonus Link! Warning…not safe for the minors out there or the too easily offended! There is now way I could allow this link to go unmentioned. (H/T to JF for this one).Don’t know if this beer is any good but this commercial is, too bad it will never be aired on anything other than YouTube. Have fun with that one friends.

FourBoysBrewPub!

Highland Brewing Co - Gaelic Ale

So it’s Good Friday….well I don’t know about you but I thought all Friday’s were good. I made the best of my day off, I went hiking at Sprewell Bluff on the Flint River in Thomaston GA today and it was awesome. Then to finish my day off I grilled some chicken quarters and drank some beer, Yuengling to be exact. If only these people would realize to joy of beer, they might be a little less angry.

Today on this Friday I bring you a beer from another great hiking spot, Ashville, NC. and Highland Brewing Co’s Gaelic Ale.

It pours a very nice ruby brown with a thick beige head. It smells of roasted malts with just a hint of hops, very well balanced I must say. The taste is also very well balanced, malty sweetness at the beginning followed by some light hop flavors, which is also why I prefer amber ale over pale ale any day, not a big fan of big hops in my beer. To me, malts and how they are roasted and used is what makes a beer, anybody can add tons of hops. I like my beer just a little on the malty side and this fits that bill perfect.

So, I hope everyone else had a Good Friday and will also have a Happy Easter. Cheers and relax, springtime is here and the Masters and the Braves start next week, life is good is I don’t say so myself.

FourBoysBrewPub!