Avery Anniversary Ale 14

What: Avery Brewing Company - 14th Anniversary Ale
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Vessel: Tulip Glass
Price: $4.99 (22 oz)
Where: Home
When: November 4, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: Wow! This beer has a ton of stuff going on! A lot of malt and a lot of tart fruit (not a tart apple, but maybe cherry?). It's a little boozy (although as it warms, it surprisingly is less apparent), but not too bad. This is super carbonated also - when I first poured it, there was a huge foam head, but it quickly disappeared. Also, this is a dark beer - darker than I expected - stout like dark. This is my first Avery beer and I'm glad I bought some others. It's a departure from the IPA, hop bomb stuff I normally drink, but I like it (especially for the price).
Ratebeer Link: yeah - you probably know about the problems at ratebeer - they're struggling a bit right now.

Moylan's Brewing Company IPA

What: Moylan's Brewing Company IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
Vessel: Tulip Glass
Price: $3.99 (22 oz. bottle)
Where: Home
When: October 15, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: On a recent trip to Chicago to cheer on a friend running his first marathon (way to go Joe!), we stopped by Sam's on our way out of town to pick up some beers I didn't think I could find in Indy. As a fan of IPA's, I grabbed quite a few bombers of different IPA's at different price points. This one was the cheapest. For a beer at this price point, it was really good. If it were readily available in Indy, I'd add it to the rotation (although it doesn't seem like I have a regular rotation).

I was drawn to this beer because it was an IPA, and because of the awards it's won. It's won various medals in the CA state fair and several WBC medals. It's a good IPA, but not with overwhelming citrus hop flavor - it's more pine-y than citrus-y. It's crisp and smooth with a fairly strong hop finish. If you can get your hands on some, I'd give it a whirl.

Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/moylans-ipa/1577/

What: Three Floyd's Brewing Co. - Gorch Fock German Style Helles Lager
Style: Munich Helles Lager
Vessel: Tulip Glass
Price: $10.00 (22 oz) - purchased at Goose the Market
Where: Home
When: September 28, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: This was my first adventure with a Three Floyds beer that wasn't a hop bomb. It might have even been my first experience with a Munich Hellles Lager (I don't remember having any others). Overall the beer was pretty good. It's nice to see Three Floyds can craft such a subtle beer. It had a smooth mouthfeel - almost a little buttery (in a good way). It had a touch of citrus to it and it was a little grassy with a bit of malt mixed in for good measure. It wasn't what I expected out of Three Floyds, but I'd drink it again.
Ratebeer Link: http://ratebeer.com/beer/three-floyds-gorch-fock-helles/45534/

Goose Island Beer Co. - Imperial IPA

What: Goose Island Beer Co. - Imperial IPA
Style: Imperial IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $5.29
Where: Home
When: May 4, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: Just got back from a great Sunday dinner of Hollyhock Hill. Best damn fried chicken in the city, if you ask me. What better than a comfort food Sunday dinner with some family from out of town and getting to meet a new addition to the family? Anyway, decided to have a beer and cracked this one open. It's malty, but not overly sweet. It has a very nice hop finish to it. I'm a fan.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/goose-island-imperial-ipa/21329/

Three Floyd's Brewing Company - Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

What: Three Floyd's Brewing Company - Dreadnaught Imperial IPA
Style: Imperial IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $13.00 (22 oz. bottle)
Where: Bada Boomz Restaurant (Downtown)
When: April 25, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: I split this bottle with Brewer McDuff, and I'm not finding many notes on it. I do remember liking it quite a bit. It's defenitely not a session beer, and a little goes a long way. I think I need to give it a whirl again to be able to comment on it more intelligently.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/three-floyds-dreadnaught-imperial-ipa/8933/

Bison Brewing Company - Organic IPA (Columbus Hop)

What: Bison Brewing Company - Organic IPA (Columbus Hop)
Style: American IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $4.50 (22 oz)
Where: Home
When: May 3, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: I found this beer at Goose the Market and decided to give it a whirl. I didn't have very high hopes for it, being an organic beer from Berkeley, CA, but I enjoyed it. It is part of a single hop series, featuring the Columbus hop. If had a nice hop profile and was crisp and clean. I'd recommend it.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bison-ipa-single-hop-series---columbus/64943/

Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant - Northside

What: Double Barrel Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $4.20
Where: Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant - College Park
When: April 22, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: This used to be a place we would go just about every week. After too much inconsistency between the food and service quality we stopped going there so frequently. Unfortunately, this was another "miss" for RB. The beer was good - better than the downtown pale ale. It's my default beer at this location, and it's always solid. Unfortuantely, you can't claim to be "serious about your beer" if your server NEVER knows what's on cask. No more than 10% of the time does the server know what beer is on cask when we ask. Disappointing. What's also disappointing is when your friend's car gets broken into in the parking lot - right in front of the entrance (he met us there mid-meal - his car was in the parking lot less than an hour). Not RB's fault, but not a good sign. I don't think we'll be back anytime soon.

Stone Brewing Co. - 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

What: Stone Brewing Co. - 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale
Type: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $7.99 (23 oz.)
Where: Home
When: April 16, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: After trying the 2005 Epic Ale, I decided I might as well open this one up and give it a whirl. I enjoyed this one much more than the 2005 version. the 2006 was much darker than the 2005. It was maltier, smoother and I didn't notice any alcohol flavor like I did in the 2005. Now I feel obligated to track down the 2007 and give it a try. Any suggestions on where I might find it. I didn't really look for it at the Crown in Fishers, but I don't remember seeing it.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/stone-060606-vertical-epic-ale/60065/

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - 60 Minute IPA

What: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - 60 Minute IPA
Style: American IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: Gift
Where: Home
When: April 13, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: This was a gift from my wife. She's got it figured out - women like flowers, men like beer (aka "guy flowers"). On traditional "flower" holidays, sometimes I get beer (thankfully, I never get flowers). We recently had one of those occasions, and I got a sixer of this and Hopslam. I wouldn't recommend drinking a Hopslam and then trying one of these. They don't compliment each other. In fact after having a Hopslam, this tastes pretty funny. Standing alone, this is a solid beer. Nice and hoppy. Not too sweet. Clean and balanced (you know, if your idea of balance is a crapload of hops - that's my idea of balanced). It's not outrageously priced (I don't think - I've never purchased it), and it's solid.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dogfish-head-60-minute-ipa/7431/

Brewery Ommegang - Three Philosophers

What: Brewery Ommegang - Three Philosophers
Style: Quadrupel
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $7.99 (25.4 fl. oz.)
Where: Friend's house
When: April 11, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: We were able to meet up with some friends on Friday for a lovely evening. We walked, from their place, to the Goose and got some great lamb brats to grill. I brought over three beers for us to sample, and we did some planning for a lake vacation we'll take later this summer. Not too bad of a night! Onto the beer - I made the mistake of trying to drink this right after we poured it (right after it came out of the fridge). This is a beer that really needs to be served a little warmer (as they advise on the label). Once it "opened up" a bit, it really was a good beer. It was a bit too carbonated for my taste, but you could taste a subtle cherry flavor that added a bit of complexity to the beer. A solid beer by my standards.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ommegang-three-philosophers/13667/

BrewDog - Punk IPA

What: BrewDog - Punk IPA
Style: American IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $13.99 (22.4 ozs.)
Where: Home
When: April 12
Rating: 3
Comments: This is a pricey beer. I wasn't going to pick it up, because of the price (and because of what I already had in the basket), but the lovely wife really liked the label. I thought - what the hell, it's an IPA and really if your wife is telling you that you should buy it, why wouldn't you. This beer was hoptastic. It definitely satisfied my hop fix. It wasn't overly sweet or malty, which is a good thing in my book. If it were a bit more reasonably priced, I'd buy it fairly often, but the price is a big factor. In fact after having this beer and reading Generik's review of JW Dundee's IPA, I'm inspired to look at some less expensive beers and do a "blind" taste test. Should make for an interesting evening.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-punk-ipa/72423/

Founders Brewing Co. - Devil Dancer

What: Founders Brewing Co. - Devil Dancer
Style: Imperial IPA
Vessel: Sampler Glass
Price: $9.00 for a sampler of 5
Where: BadaBoomz (downtown)
When: April 7, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: Wow - interesting. This is a pretty good beer - for the amount of hops, it's not too sweet. It's got a bit of a malty sweetness to it, but it's pretty enjoyable. I don't think I would run out and buy it, but if I saw it on tap again, I'd order it as part of a sampler. A full pint might be a bit much.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/founders-devil-dancer-triple-ipa/34518/

Rogue Ales - Dead Guy Ale

What: Rogue Ales - Dead Guy Ale
Style: Maibock
Vessel: Sampler Glass
Price: $9.00 for a sampler of 5
Where: BadaBoomz (downtown)
When: April 7, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: After two beers, I wanted to maximize my sampling opportunities, and I had a great DD to drive me to the north side to watch the game. I decided that a sampler would be the way to go. I enlisted the lovely wife's help in deciding on which beers to sample and we settled on Hopslam (only because I love it), Brugge's Triple de Ripple (again, because I love it, and I hadn't "reviewed" it), Founder's Devil Dancer, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, and a 5th beer which I inexplicably wrote down as "Rogue Dead Guy" (as opposed to the "Dead Guy - Rogue" listed just above it on my list). We have now decided that the wife might be in charge of documenting beer names (the tasting notes are solid, just not the titles....evidently, I'm not too much of a "detail" guy).

Anyway, this Rouge was a knock you back a bit type beer. It was incredibly smooth, rich and butterscotch-ey. It was very well balanced and a rock solid beer. If it weren't for my IPA kick I'd be buying some right now. If you like this type of a beer I'd highly recommend it.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rogue-dead-guy-ale/589/

Mad Anthony Brewing Co. - Mad Anthony IPA

What: Mad Anthony Brewing Co. - Mad Anthony IPA
Style: American IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $1.75 (Thanks BadaBoomz!)
Where: BadaBoomz (downtown)
When: April 7, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: I was so happy with the first beer of the night - the Mad Anthony Pale Ale, I decided to go for another Mad Anthony brew. I wasn't disappointed. I thought the IPA was even better than the Pale Ale. It had some great hops and wasn't as sweet. I'm now a big fan of Mad Anthony. Only if they could get some information about their beers on their website.....
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/mad-anthony-india-pale-ale/47516/

Mad Anthony Brewing Co. - Mad Anthony Pale Ale

What: Mad Anthony Brewing Co. - Mad Anthony Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $1.75 (Thanks BadaBoomz!)
Where: BadaBoomz (downtown)
When: April 7, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: After seeing posts on DIG-B and the related comments about the absolutely incredible $1.75 you call it pints at BadaBoomz yesterday, the ever supportive wife and I decided to make a go of it, before heading to a friend's house to watch the "big game" (calling it the big game won't get me in trouble with Myles Brand and the evil empire I like to call the NCAA, will it? Now, because I had the nerve to mention the game, on a non-commercial blog, that they are getting hundreds of millions of $, as a not for profit, I'll probably need to send them a check).

This was, incredibly, our first visit to BadaBoomz since they changed from BW-3's. We had been to the north side location (can anyone out there tell me the relationship between the two locations - they seem to share a philosophy, but the food options are slightly different and the experience is quite different), but not the downtown location. It got off to just a bit of a rough start as we weren't sure if we were supposed to seat ourselves and we had a couple of workers walk by and ignore us. We decided to venture in and choose our own seat and we were promptly greeted and the service was excellent from that point on.

Sorry about the detour...back to the evening and the beer. After much hand wringing and indecisiveness, I decided to start off with the Mad Anthony Pale Ale. I was pretty happy with my selection. It had a good hop undertone with a mild sweetness. This was the first time I experienced anything from Mad Anthony & I liked it. I liked it enough to try another.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/mad-anthony-ol-woody-pale-ale/4172/

Kona Brewing Company - Longboard Lager

What: Kona Brewing Company - Longboard Lager
Style: American All Malt Lager
Vessel: Plastic Pint Glass
Price: $6.00 (!)
Where: Omni Championsgate - Orlando
When: April 4, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: After our sessions wrapped up for the day, I headed down to the poolside bar with my old boss. They only had three selections on tap (which, actually isn't bad for a poolside bar) - this Kona, the Key West Sunset Ale, and one of the large domestics (can't remember exactly which one it was). Since I hadn't had the Kona, I thought I'd give it a try. Of all the beers I've had this trip, this is the one I probably liked the most. It's a bit smoother than the Key West, and a little more tasty. Enough with the lagers, already. I'm ready for a nice, hoppy IPA or DIPA. I'm also ready to be home!
Ratebeer Link: http://ratebeer.com/beer/kona-longboard-lager/2533/

Florida Beer Co. - Key West Sunset Ale

What: Florida Beer Co. - Key West Sunset Ale
Style: American Amber
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $6.00 (!)
Where: Omni Championsgate - Orlando
When: April 2, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: I decided to enjoy the beautiful FL weather and a cigar after our conference activities and dinner. I headed down to the sports bar in the hotel, and much to my surprise they had 8 - 10 beers on tap. One of them was the Key West Sunset Ale (although the bartender told me it was a pale ale). When I tried it, I thought there was no way it was a pale ale, but it was enjoyable. Now that I'm back in my room, researching the beer I find that it was most probably the Sunset Ale. Much to my surprise it was another offering from the Florida Beer Co. It was really quite enjoyable. If I could find distribution in Indy, I'd probably pick up a six pack every now and then to mix it up. What better than a good cigar, a good beer and beautiful weather?
Ratebeer Link: http://ratebeer.com/beer/key-west-sunset-ale/2828/

Kiuchi Brewery - Hitachino Nest White Ale

What: Kiuchi Brewery - Hitachino Nest White Ale
Style: Witbier
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $4.69 (11.2 fl. oz.)
Where: Home
When: March 21, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: Wow. I'm really surprised. I really didn't think this beer would do much for me. After a disappointing first beer of the night this beer was a welcome addition. I'm not sure it's something I would want all the time, but this is a really good, complex beer. It had an aroma I couldn't quite figure out - I asked the lovely wife, what she thought it smelled like - her response "beer" (she's not a beer drinker). Something about this beer reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas - is it the orange, floral, coriander smell (similar to what I use to brine turkeys with)? Is that smell bananas? Man, I'm stumped on the smell (any ideas, readers?) but I really like the beer. Now if it just had a price I could like - $4.29 for a bottle that's not even 12 oz? That's aggressive.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/hitachino-nest-white-ale/10526/

Lake Placid Craft Brewing Company - India Pale Ale

What: Lake Placid Craft Brewing Company - India Pale Ale
Style: American IPA
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: Gift
Where: Home
When: March 23, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: My wonderful wife was kind enough to get me a beer of the month subscription. This is one of the beers that arrived, magically at my doorstep. This is a pretty hoppy beer. Had it not been sent to me, I probably wouldn't have tried it. I'm glad I did. This was a darn enjoyable beer. I can't say I'm crazy about the finish on it, but I really enjoy the aroma and the initial flavor.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/lake-placid-ipa/25419/

Stone Brewing Co. - Arrogant Bastard Ale

What: Stone Brewing Co. - Arrogant Bastard Ale
Style: American Strong Ale
Vessel: Pint Glass
Price: $5.00
Where: Badaboomz (Northside)
When: March 20, 2008
Rating: 3
Comments: Hoppier than expected. Smooth and tasty. It's a good change of pace. If I saw this on a menu and looking for a beer I know I'll enjoy, this would fit the bill. The marketing is a bit pretentious, but if you can get past that, it's not too bad.
Ratebeer Link: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/arrogant-bastard-ale/1315/