TLDR Beer Club

[dcb777]

Sam Smiths Outmeal stout is a great beer.

[MrWookie]

Continuing the trend of cheap beer, tonight I'll review Sam Adam's Double Bock. I think I paid $1.85 for this one, which means it'd run you $6-$8 per sixer, depending on where you shop. I'm not sure exactly of its ABV, but it tasted on the stronger side, maybe 7%. The beer pours a nice medium brown, but without much head at all. It smells malty and slightly of alcohol, and that's pretty much the flavor, too. It's not as earthy as some bocks, but at first glance, this would be a decent option for someone who likes brown ales. The problem is the sweetness. It's very sweet, and while I didn't really mind at first, it really started grating on me at the end. I was going to give this beer a 2.5 rating, but I just can't for a beer I had trouble finishing. I give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

[JPinAZ]

As promised, here's my review of Russian River's Damnation golden ale.

My parents got me some bottles of this for Christmas 2005 (I love my family, this year my sister got me a pound each of four varieties of hops, which will probably last me a couple years). Damnation is a 750ml bottle conditioned 7%, 25 IBU Belgian style golden ale. A cool thing that Russian River does is mark which batch of a particular bottling a bottle is. This bottle was from batch 6.

It pours with a beautiful golden yellow. If this were the stuff that made yellow snow I'd have no problem eating all I could [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. Nice head, though it doesn't last long. Good lacing throughout the beer.

It smells very fruity with pears as the dominant aroma. There's some banana in the background. There's also a nice yeastiness to it.

To me the flavor is lacking. There's a bit of fruityness but not what the aroma leads you to believe. There is a nice spicy flavor to it. The body finishes a little dry.

Overall, I'd give this [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I'm more partial to the sweetness of dubels & tripels so that affected the rating. If I were to judge this strictly by style it would rate higher.

After checking RR's bottle log on their web site, Batch 6 was brewed on 7/17/05 & bottled on 8/12/05. I think I need to find a bottle of a different batch. They state they couldn't use their house yeast for bottle conditioning which resulted in a thinner body than normal. Another cool thing they do on their labels & mark them how long you can age the beer. Damnation can be aged for up to 3 year.

If you're interested in trying it out, you can order bottles on line. $7.50 for the bottle I had. They also have Supplication available. I have a bottle of this as well which I'll probably won't try for a while. I wish they bottled Pliney the Elder.
http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/Merch...ategory_Code=BB

Up next (in a week or so): Supposedly the rarest beer in the UK, Thomas Hardy's Ale (2004 vintage).

[JPinAZ]

To all the lurkers following this thread: don't worry about how it will turn out, post your reviews. I've been reading this thread since TLDR was the Mod Forum flavor of the month & always thought, "I should do a review" of whatever I was drinking then or had in the frige. I never posted because I wasn't sure what to write. Get a piece of paper & a pen & write down your impressions as you drink. Tell what you like & what you don't. If it helps, have one or two before you post. I would have done that, but since the two reviews I've done were both wine bottle sized & 8% & 7% more than one bottle wasn't necessary. And if I did have more than one bottle I'd be asleep & unable to post. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[steelcmg]

So I stumbled upon this thread "Newbie to The Lounge" and think this thread is awesome. I'm a huge fan of good beer from micro brews. Next month I will be attending 2 beer festival's one in Philly (March 3) and the other in AC (March 10). Both events are around 30$ for 4 hours of drinking great beer from more then 50 brewers.

I was wondering if any of you will be attending either of these events?

Also I am going to try to get my one buddy to post some reviews along with me here. Since he trys to drink something different each week.

[MrWookie]

Steel,

Great to have you, and I look forward to the input of you and your friend. I think someone mentioned one or both of those beer events specifically a while back, but you'd have to peruse the last 100-200 posts.

[kidcolin]

Wook et. al.,

SLACKERS.

Tonight I picked up 4 brews: two 750 mL from Ommegang: Three Philosophers and Hennepin (Farmhouse Saison); a 4 pack of Duvel that came with a nice tulip glass (not gonna lie.. a big incentive to buy it); and a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barleywine (a great beer at a great value). Tonight's review is the 3 P's. Sorry no pics.

I first tried Ommegang's dubbel last weekend (no review). My main appeal to it is it's brewed in Cooperstown, where a good friend of mine is from. I was very impressed with that brew, so I had high hopes for 3 P's.

I poured it into a tulip glass. It pours a dark amber color, bordering on red. Very aggressive head. The nose was pretty dynamic; notably cherry (as the bottle indicates) and some other dark fruits, as well as maple and caramel.

The taste is much the same. The malt character of this beer is amazing. Very rich. Tastes of caramel and maple come through, again very rich, with the maple and cherry really coming through in the aftertaste.

As I slowly progressed through the 750 mL bottle, I was impressed with how drinkable it was, and how the flavors came through as the beer warmed.

Very drinkable, very delicious. I really dig this brewery and look forward to trying the Saison. I give this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

-Colin