MISSION ACCOMPLISHED #365

Wow what a year of different beers! For my final beer I decided to bring this quest right back where it started with a Unibroue from Canada. I was drinking a Unibroue in Montreal when I came up with this idea so it seemed very fitting.

Beer #365 was the Unibroue Terrible Dark Ale on Lees- I had this one on Christmas eve with family and friends. Lots of pictures were taken and I proceed to host a beer tasting where I had 5 additional new beers. That will be a follow up post to this one. The Unibroue was a very strong, 10.5%, dark Belgian style ale. Its heavy on flavor and is super dark. It starts off malty and finishes with a nice bitter kick. It is a really nice beer and I was very happy that it was the finisher in this quest.

I promise to post some top ten lists after the new year and discuss some of my favorites. I have also decided to keep this blog alive and keep trying new beers, just not at the pace this year required.

Happy New Year to All!

Cheers and More BEERS!

PS. Yes, that is me in the photo drinking #365

So close to the end

I am having a hard time deciding on my final beer. While I think about it here are the 4 beers before my last.

#361 Stone Brewing Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard Ale CA – Very dark, very flavorful and a bit bitter. This is a great combination and a great beer. The oak aging mellows the bitterness a bit and gives it a nice warm flavor. Oak aging has this same effect on Whiskey in case you were wondering.

#362 Nostradamus Belgium – Very strong very Belgian tasting beer. After a few of these you might be making crazy predications too! Beers like this require a good meal to go with it.

#363 Founders Red Rye P.A. Ale MI – This reddish amber beer has a very flavorful. The taste will last even after you finish the beer.

#364 SmuttyNose Star Island Single NH – Nice beer with a very orange color and great hoppy taste that is not bitter at all. Very good beer.

Christmas is just around the corner

All I want for Christmas is beer 365!

#358 Anchor Brewing Christmas 2009 Ale CA– This seasonal beer taste like Christmas. I am not exactly sure how to describe it but definitely recommend it. It is really dark and has a great taste.

#359 Tyskie Lager Poland –This is a typical light lager with ok flavor. No picture as I was at a party and forgot to take one.

#360 Unibru Chamblay Noire Canada – This is a great tasting beer. It is dark and flavorful. The malty flavor fills your mouth and lingers there waiting for the next sip of this beer.

Only 10 to go

#355 Stoudts Winter Ale – A very flavorful amber colored ale with a nice flavor. This beer tastes like the winter holidays.

#356 Victory Yakima Twilight Ale –PA This is a really good ale with a strong hoppy flavor. It is has a very dark amber taste and a the strong bitter flavor of good hops. Victory Brewing is one of my favorite Microbreweries.

#357 Boulder Beer Cold Hop Ale CO - This orange colored beer has nice hop flavor and a nice finish. Well worth a try.

More more more, I need more

#352 Amish Four Grain Pale Ale PA – This beer has an orange/amber color to it and and a strong hop taste. Very good flavor with just a hint of bitterness in the finish.

#353 Stone Double Bastard Ale CA – Love the beer, Love the label and the flavor is amazing. A great combo of malt and hops. Only down side is that it is 10.5% alcohol and will kick your ass if you are not careful !!! The bottle says “Ye shall know the bastard and the bastard shall set ye free” very true if you have more than one of these.

#354 Old Plowshare Organic Stout CA – This is a great beer that only has 3 ingredients, Water, Organic Malt and Hops. It has a great malty flavor that you would expect from a stout with a nice creamy finish. Even the head looks like whip cream.

The big 350 ooooHHH

#349 Bells Expedition Stout – MI – Very Dark, Very strong. Must be a serious stout lover to enjoy this. This beer is smooth and not too creamy. It has the consistency of a Russian imperial. Very Nice.


#350 Stone Brewing Vertical Epic 999 CA – This beer is only brewed once a year on the date where month day and year match. Needless to say their will only be 3 more years of this brew. The beer is said to age well and can be kept on the shelf for up to 3 years. I have a hard time keeping beer around for 3 days let alone 3 years but maybe I should give it a shot. This beer is super dark and has a nice thick head. The flavor is very malty with some hops aftertaste. It is very enjoyable and should be savored.


#351 Black Toad Dark Ale IL- This is another dark beer with a malty flavor. Good flavor and a smooth finish.

Light at the end of the Beer Aisle

#346 Bells Third Coast Old Ale – MI Another good beer from Bells. The is dark ale is full of malt and hops flavor and goes down smooth. Very enjoyable.

#347 Lagunitas Pils CA – This pilsner beer is has great hoppy flavor. Very refreshing taste and a nice amber color.

#348 Laguinitas Maximus IPA – Super Hoppy beer. The flavor hits you as soon as you open the bottle. Really great taste but you must like hops!

Ho Ho Ho and away we go!

So close I can taste it. I caught a duplicate way back at number 269 so there is now two 343 to recover and may sure I have the right number of beers. This stuff happens when you drink this much!!!!

#343 Red Oval Lager – WI – This is a pretty light beer that I picked up at Trader Joes. I just liked the can and had never heard of it. Not bad flavor.

#344 Lagunitas Brown Shugga CA- As the name states this is a dark brown beer that tastes like brown sugar. It was too sweet for me.

#345 Mendocino Imperial IPA CA- A reddish brown beer with a nice hoppy flavor. The flavor can be a bit overpower though if you are looking for a more subtle flavor.

Cheers and More Beers!

Happy Thanksgiving to All

# 341 Fullers London Porter, UK - This is a nice porter with the good smokey flavor and a nice nutty taste to it. It is very dark and almost appeared flat as it had very little head to it.

#342 Bells Cheery Stout, Bells Brewing MI - This beer has a distinct cheery flavor to it that at first is nice but then becomes overpowering. By the end of the beer all I could taste was the cheeries. Not my type of stout.

#343 Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, Widmer Brewing OR - This is a nice ale with a good hoppy flavor and nice amber color.

Cheers and more Beers!

Less than 30 to go

#338 Edison Ale- New Century Brewing PA, This beer is very light and refreshing. Something for a hot summer day or after a nice hike.

#339 Leinenkugels Fireside Nut Brown, Leinenkugels WI - A nice dark brown ale with a nutty malty flavor.

#340 Winter Hook Winter Ale - Red Hook Brewing NH - This ale has a nice malty hoppy mix. It is a dark ale with very good flavor. For some reason I think this brewery is owned by one of the big beer companies but I am not 100% sure. I will look into it and report back...because I am sure you care. LOL

Cheers and more beers!

337 Bottles of beer on the wall

Oh yeah less than 30 beer to go! What will my final beer be?

#335 Monty Python Holy Ale, Black Sheep Brewing NY - This was a good beer. I bought it just because I am a Monty Python fan and was curious. It had a nice brown color with good flavor.

#336 Brookly Brewing Black Chocolate Stout, NY - This beer was consumed while eating a nice NY strip steak. The dark chocolate flavor went well with the steak. This was a smooth beer with that roasted malt flavor that every good stout has. Very enjoyable.

#337 Bells Sparkling Ale - MI This beer was not as sparkling as I thought it was going to be. It has more of a Belgian ale taste that I thought was a bit overpowering. May just be due to the fact I was not expecting that flavor in this beer.

Cheers and more beers!

Beer, beer, beer!

Here are the next three on the list

#332 La Gunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale, CA - This is a very nice dark brown beer with a great malty taste. This is another one of those small shops that consistently puts out good beers.

#333 Winter Bourbon Cask Ale, Michelob MI - I forgot to take a picture of this beer, maybe it was because I did not like it. Not sure. This had a funky taste that I can't quite narrow down. This is a large beer company trying to make a micro style beer and it does not work.

#334 Dominion Baltic Porter, DE - This was a very good porter. It must be the night of big beer manufacturers because Dominion is now ownded by Bud. Luckly they have not forgotten how to make beer or massed produced away their flavor. I just wish they hadn't shut down their little brewpub. Oh well.

Cheers and more beers!

The Longest name ever

#329 Founders Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Breakfast Stout, MI - Yes, it does taste like breakfast. If you took coffee, chocolate pancakes, along with maple and brown sugar oatmeal you would have this beer. Full of flavor and possbile the darkest beer I have ever seen. This beer is really good and need to be drank in the middle of a blizzard. It will keep you warm and full. It is a meal in a glass.

#330 River Horse Triple Belgian Style- NJ - Be careful with this one because it has a kick like a horse. 10% alcohol content and full of that great Belgian taste. They brew it with yeast from Belgium to give it the authentic taste. They state that this beer will age well. I may have to put some in the closet and check back in a year or so. This is a very good beer from NJ.

#331 Duck Rabbit Brown Ale, NC - A very good beer with a dark brown color and excellent flavor. This has the hint of a porter taste too it that I really like. Again you cannot go wrong with Duck Rabbit Brewing.

Cheers and More Beers!

Getting ahead of myself.

I am actually ahead in the count now. I was quite a few beers behind but through some serious commitment on my part I have been able to overcome.

#326 Boont Amber Ale, CA- There sure are a lot of microbreweries from CA. This is a nice amber ale with good flavor that is both malty and slightly hoppy. Excellent flavor. It is amazing how many good beers the USA makes.

#327 Rogue Ale Santa's Private Reserve - OR This is a really good beer from a brewery that consistenly makes good beers. If Santa was drinking this at home I am pretty sure no presents would get delivered. Then again he doesn' t really have to drive. This is a very good amber beer with nice taste and a smooth finish.

#328 Hell or High Watermellon Wheat Beer - CA - This beer really tastes like watermellon. It is a little sweet for me, sort of like a watermellon jolly rancher, but if you like fruity beers I would say try this at your next summer picnic.

Cheers and more beers!

Claypipe, Dogfish Head, and Snowcap

These are all very good beers

#323 Claypipe Pursuit of Happiness Winter Warmer - MD - I really like it when beers have long and complicated names. It tells me that someone is putting a lot of thought into their beers and this shows that they care. That is probably the biggest difference between microbrews and mass produced beers. The microbrews care about the beer! This is a dark reddish amber beer with a great ale taste that is malty with a smooth finish. Very nice flavor

#324 Dogfishhead Chicory Stout, DE - Ok, this is one of my favorite beers. I have had this in the past and really enjoy it. Stout in the winter is probably the best combination I can think of. This beer is dark dark dark, with a dark brown head and a smooth but not too creamy finish. The chicory gives this stout a very unique flavor. If you have ever had chicory coffee from Cafe Du Mond than you will know what this tastes like. It is like an iced coffee beer but the coffee taste is not overpowering or burnt tasting like starbucks. this is good coffee! Drink this beer. Dogfish head brewing restaurants make this into a great black and tan with their 60 minute IPA. You cannot go wrong with that beer.

#325 Snowcap Winter Warmer Pyramid Brewing, WA - This is a dark amber ale with great flavor without a lingering taste. This is a very nice taste.

Cheers and more beers!

Bohemia Rabbit Ale

Just a play on the names of the beers that I am reviewing here

#320 Never Summer Ale Boulder beer CO - Most ales are usually light yellow in color but this one is a dark amber color and has great malt and hop flavor. Really nicely flavored beer that is not too heavy. I believe this is a seasonal beer from Boulder brewing.

#321 Duck Rabbit Porter, NC - I first heard of this brewery about a month ago and now I cannot get enough of their beers. Each one is well worth every dollar of its purchase. This porter is dark and smooth with a great smokey taste. This is a really good beer!

#322 Bohemia Clasica, Mexico - I really need to start putting thought into my beer order. Bohemia is a good beer but following the Porter it seems dull and flat. I will have to try this again another time to give it a fair review.

Cheers and more Beers!

Random Information

I was in the total beverage store today picking out the next 18 beers on my quest when it was commented that I had an interesting selection of beers. A conversation started with the 3 people in line with me where I explained my quest. They all thought it was a great idea and started asking me about the beers I liked. Come the end of the year I will produce a Top Beer list based on differnt types and post my suggestions. I will also post a list of beers to avoid.

It was also mentioned that it looked like I was doing ok on my quest and all the beer has not made me gain weight. I proceeded to mention that I have run 5 marathons (26.2 mile each) this year. If it was not for my running I am pretty sure I would have gained a good 10+ pounds. So my adice for all you beer lovers out there is to enjoy your beer but enjoy exercise too. The bottom 5 medals are from this year.

Cheers and more beers!

This is getting fun

These 3 beers could not be more different from one another (well they could but it just sounded right to say that..or is it "state" that as it was never actually said, but I digress)

#317 Big Hoppy Monster Imperial Red, Terrapin Brewing GA - This was very hoppy and red just as the label states. I really liked the hoppy flavor that had the right amount of bitterness without affecting the overall flavor.

#318 Starr Hill The Gift Winter Lager : VA A nice lager beer that continues to produce good beers. Before I started on this little quest I had never even heard of Starr Hill brewing and they are located about 2 hours from where I live. Act globally drink locally.

#319 ZYWIEC Ale -Poland - This is a very light beer that would be better enjoyed on a very hot summer dale. These types of ales are very light in color and in flavor.

Cheers and more beers!

Couple more

The next few beers in this journey.

#314 Bells Christmas Ale, Michigan - A lovely well flavored dark beer with a nice malty taste. Sorry no photo.

#315 Denver Pale Ale, Colorado - A very good ale with nice flavor. A light beer that goes down well. If you want a nice easy drinking ale this is the way to go..

#316 Flying Dog K9 Cruiser Winter Ale, Maryland - Dark brown malty ale with great taste. Flying dog makes some very good beers and they are local which is a nice bonus.

Cheers and more beers!