Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout

Honestly, it's not as gross as it sounds! Flying Dog's Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout stout is brewed with Rappahannock River oysters. Proceeds benefit the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which works to restore the endangered Chesapeake Bay oyster population. What a cause! And what a beer! I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of stouts, and this is seriously one of the best stouts I've had in a long time. To use some highly technical beer terminology, I'll say it, uh, tastes real good. It's creamy, and a little on the light side for a stout. There are notes of roast, subtle chocolate, and coffee. The inclusion of oysters adds a slight mineral element, which may sound weird. But it's not weird. This is a damn good beer - one of the best Flying Dog offerings I've tried to date. If you prefer smooth, flavorful stouts to "intense" ones, you will dig. This beer has done so well that it's been graduated to year-round status. So clearly I'm not the only one who approves. When's a novelty beer not a novelty beer? When it's delicious!

www.flyingdogales.com

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Summer Solstice

Honest to God, Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice is the best summer beer I've ever had. I don't think anything else comes close. Too often in the craft beer industry, "summer ale" is a euphemism for "overpriced swill". If that's all you're looking for, you might as well drink Miller High Life. But Anderson Valley, brewers of one of the world's best winter ales, make a summer beer that's just as good. The typical summer ale is light - both color-wise and taste-wise. Summer Solstice, on the other hand, is copper colored and majorly malty. And you know how I am about those malty beers! A little added spice brings something "extra" to the flavor, and all in all this is a sweet & creamy dream. It's the best of both worlds, really: combining the crisp thirst-quenching qualities of "lawnmower beer" with the depth of flavor and quality craftsmanship of the finest micro ales. Plus it's sweeter than your run-of-the-mill summer beer. And in the summer, I like sweet. I've seen this knocked as a "woman's" beer. What does that even mean? Women don't know good beer? Come on! Some of the highest authorities on beer I know are women! Who drinks Summer Solstice? Everyone who likes their beer to be awesome!

www.avbc.com

Uinta HooDoo Kolsch Style Ale

Since I’m on a springtime “light” craft beer kick, how about a Kolsch? I love a good Kolsch. I love saying the word “Kolsch”. And the venerable Salt Lake City microbrewery Uinta makes one of the best Kolsches I’ve had in recent years. Seriously, this is what a “light beer” should taste like! Refreshing, lightly hopped (25 IBUs), and full of grainy/bready/biscuity notes, HooDoo is nothing fancy. But that’s the point! Hardcore beer snobs will probably say stuff like, “It’s fine for what it is.” Fair enough, but it’s more than just “fine”. It’s outstanding. What I love about a Uinta beer is that it’s always top-notch and always fresh. Maybe I’m crazy, but I swear there’s something in the water out there. You couldn’t brew a beer that tastes like a Uinta in, say, Hoboken. HooDoo, amongst the Uinta roster, is one of my favorites. Forget the backhanded compliments. This is a great beer, period. One of my big “things” as a beer guy is that I like to see what breweries can do with the simpler styles. Sure, it’s nice to concoct a “big” beer. I know the double IPAs and Belgian tripels get all the glory. But in my book it takes just as much skill and sensibility to brew up a basic style and make it really good. No wonder Uinta has been in business for almost 20 years. They can do it all. Their HooDoo is an A-caliber Kolsch. It’s got a touch of sweetness, a touch of bitterness, and a crisp, dry finish. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes beer, even if you don’t ordinarily don’t go for craft beer. It’s a great lawn mowing beer, a great pizza and burgers beer, and a great bullshit with your friends all night beer. It makes my short-list of go-to light-colored beers. And trust me, that short-list is a very short list.

http://www.uintabrewing.com/

Tröegs DreamWeaver Wheat Ale

My first review in weeks, and I'm writing about a measly Hefeweizen? God, I'm a lousy beer geek! Call me nuts, but if we're talking Tröegs, I actually find the DreamWeaver more to my liking than the much-ballyhooed Nugget Nectar. I don't know. Perhaps I'm just in the mood for a warm weather brew. "Light" not just in color but in all the other ways that matter (15 IBUS, ABV 4.8 percent), this is a wheat ale to be quaffed. And quaff it I do! Combining four wheat types with Munich and Pils malts and noble Saaz hops, DreamWeaver is no run-of-the-mill Hefeweizen. After all, we are talking a Tröegs ale. So you know you're getting top-notch quality. The yeast strain they use adds notes of banana and clove, and this added dimension of flavor complements the usual crispness that is par for the course with a wheat ale. In short, this beer is just really, really good. The taste is clean and spicy in all the best ways. I've not managed to drink one of these without draining my glass well before I finished my meal. This is not a "sipper". It goes down easy and begs to bought and consumed in large quantities. Backyard barbeques and pool parties are just around the corner. Don't be cruel and stick your friends and family with Blue Moon. Have some class! Why settle for a wheat beer that's refreshing but average when you could drink one that's refreshing and delicious? Yes! Yes! You know I'm right! Tröegs rules as always.

www.troegs.com

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar ale

On the night of my 41st birthday, at the Arooga’s in east York, I tasted Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar ale for the very first time. Had I done nothing else for my birthday, it still would have been one of the best birthdays of my life. That’s how good this beer was! It was like tasting perfection. As much as I like to tout the wares of breweries like Founders, Dogfish Head, and Victory, it’s becoming evident to me that Rogue is my overall #1. And the Hazelnut Brown Nectar is up there with anything I’ve tried off the Rogue line.

Granted, brown ales in general are not the most exciting beers. Usually they’re “okay” but hardly extraordinary. But this particular variation on the brown ale theme is truly out of this world. The concept: add hazelnut extract to a traditional English brown. The result: a rich and improbably smooth beer that’s nutty, sweet, and crazy wicked delicious. Eight different kinds of malts give this ale a pleasingly toasty flavor, and the hazelnut brings an added dimension of yum. At only 33 IBUs, there’s very little bitterness to counter all that malt sweetness. Yet by no means is it “too sweet”. Like all of Rogue’s ales, HBN is flawlessly balanced and absolutely bursting with flavor. Some may call it a “dessert” beer, but personally I’d prefer it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I’m making my top ten beer list, this one’s getting a spot for sure. Hazelnut Brown Nectar? More like nectar of the gods!

http://www.rogue.com

Yards Brewing Company Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale

Being of British descent on my dad’s side, I often imagine that my fondness for beer has been hotwired into my DNA over many centuries. And going way back, I know my ancestors probably weren’t drinking IPAs or Belgian dubels. They were drinking various kinds of English ales. And let me tell ya, I sure do enjoy English ales! Lately I’ve really been digging Yards’ Ales of the Revolution, which are beers based on the original recipes of our (English descended) founding fathers. In particular, I’m absolutely nuts about Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale. According to Yards, this is Jefferson’s very own recipe for the beer he brewed from homegrown ingredients like honey and rye. And while I’ve never traveled back in time, by all accounts this is pretty close to the sort of beer one would have imbibed in the era of the American Revolution. It’s quite delicious, complementing the usual caramel/toffee/biscuit malt profile of an English ale with a candied fruit sweetness and that classic grassy hop finish. Drinkability is probably 5/5, and no doubt I could pound these all night. But check this out: alcohol comes in at a whopping eight percent! Holy crap! Jefferson didn’t mess around! It’s quite a high ABV for a “golden” ale, but this was the 18th Century when men were men! Kudos to Yards for taking a throwback formula and brewing it up right. This bad boy is balanced, smooth, and pretty unique within the realm of English strong ales. This will become a mainstay in the Rutledge household. I’ve not tried a whole lot of offerings from Yards in the past. But rest assured I will now!

http://www.yardsbrewing.com/

Fuller's London Pride

Every year I like to designate one beer style to explore, and I decided 2012 should be the year of the English pale ale. EPAs in general are one of my favorite beer styles, and I will forever consider Bass one of my go-to brews. But I wanted to find out what else was out there besides Bass. So I bought a six-pack each of Old Speckled Hen and Fuller’s London Pride the last time I went beer shopping. I didn’t love the Old Speckled Hen, but the Fuller’s London Pride was a full-scale jackpot hit! I’m sure I’ve had it before a couple times in my life, but it’s been a while. Damn! When I talk about the EPA being a favorite style of mine, this is exactly the kind of beer I’m talking about. It’s smooth and relatively full-bodied, with a nice malty taste highlighted by notes of bread, biscuit, caramel, and butter. It finishes clean with a mild leafy hop kickback, and all in all it’s the embodiment of a drinkable session beer. As my explorations continue, I may check in with some lesser known English breweries as well a few American interpretations of the EPA. But sometimes the “classics” are classic for a reason. If Bass sets the standard, Fuller’s is not far behind. And having had both, I’m not sure I wouldn’t give FLP the slight edge. Absolutely a world class beer. English pale ales may not be the typical beer geek’s choice of style, but I am not the typical beer geek. If you, like me, enjoy a good EPA, this one is top shelf.