[MrWookie]

I've got a few quick reviews tonight, no pics.

First up is Brooklyn's Lager. The Brooklyn Lager beer tap has been a fixture at my favorite bar for the longest time now, but I've never bothered with it since I figured it was just another boring American pale lager. Well, tonight we had a casual dinner seminar talk, and you can either get a Coke which is provided by the department, or a beer for a $1 "donation." It was Brooklyn Lager or Pislner Urquell tonight, and the heard good things in here about the Brooklyn made me curious. I don't have any info about how it pours because I was drinking from the bottle. The taste, though, is much better than I expected. It tastes like an IPA, really. The hops are surprisingly bold, with a good mix of floral, citrus, and bitter flavors. The bitterness isn't as overpowering as some IPAs, though. The malt is more like an IPA or an APA than a crappy lager. When I checked the bottle, I was surprised to see that this beer was 5.2% ABV. And this is cheap beer! I don't know how much BotW charges for it exactly, but it's not more than the Brooklyn Brown, which is $1.85/12 oz. You should be able to find this for $6-7 for a sixer in the grocery store. I'm going to give it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Well done again, Brooklyn.

The next series of beers are somewhat thematic from my Super Bowl party. I've been meaning to review them, but I've been putting it off. They weren't all that great, so my enthusiasm was low.

First up are two Belgian ales from River Horse Brewing, which is in NJ and which I got for Colts fans (horse-themed beer is hard to find, and I can't get anything from IL or IN proper). I paid $16.99 for a 12 pack containing 6 each of their Tripel and their Belgian Winter Ale. Both beers are quite strong, 10% ABV and 8% ABV, respectively, and they're both pretty similar in their mediocrity, too. They both contain the ideas of good beer, but the flavor falls short. The tripel has some of the fruitiness of the good tripels, but the malt and spice are lacking, and none of the flavors really linger. The winter ale, which is a darker ale and a little less sweet, also misses the mark. There are some hints of hops and spice, but the malt is kinda empty compared to the high standard of Belgian beer. On the plus side, this 12 pack will get you a fair bit drunker than a case of any BMC lite, and it tastes much better. I award each beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

For my Bear beer, I settled on Black Bear Porter, from the Stone Coast brewery. There's not a whole lot to say about this one other than the fact that it's a pretty ho-hum porter with the flavors you expect, but nothing that's all that rich. I again award it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].