1410. Taxman Luxury Goods

This beer is really enjoyable.
A lightly chocolate smooth beer, with a nice subtle hint of raspberries in the aftertaste.

1409. Sun King Ring of Dingle: Chocolate Mint

Another blah version of this stout.
The chocolate is there - but I barely get any mint.
Another disappointment.
I didn't like the regular Ring of Dingle, so I don't know why I thought I might like these variants.

1408. Sun King Ring of Dingle: Peanut Butter Coffee

Way too much Coffee.
I really can't even begin to taste the Peanut Butter. 
So blah.  Not a fan of this beer.

1407. Guggman Haus Coffee Milk Stout

LOTS of coffee flavor.
It's a creamy milk stout, but there is no doubt there is coffee in this beer.

1406. Guggman Haus Backpacker's Picnic

Chocolate.
Peanut Butter.
AND Raspberry!

All of the flavors blended together so perfectly well.
Delicious chocolate upfront and then creamy peanut butter with a nice sweet raspberry finish when everything is done.

1405. Dogfish Head Vibrant P'Ocean

Absolutely delicious. 
Great sour flavors, a nice good punch.

1404. 3 Floyd's Alpha Kong

This beer was big and delicious.
My first ever Belgian Sextuple.
Smooth and powerfully good flavors.

1403. BrewDog and Fountain Square: Shelby Street Alliance

I was NOT a fan of this beer.
The pepper spice is on the backend and far too powerful for me to enjoy.

1402. Sun King Dry-Hopped Sunlight

And I saved this one for last for a reason.  It's not going to surprise anyone that I did not enjoy this beer at all.  It takes a very blah standard beer, and adds bitterness that makes me like it even less.  Will never drink this beer again.

1401. Sun King Orange Vanilla Sunlight

Second up is the Orange Vanilla variant, which was also very delicious and a massive improvement over the basic flavor of Sunlight.  This has a wonderful mix of orange and vanilla that gives the beer a light creamy feeling, with a great vanilla aftertaste.

1400. Sun King Tropical Sunlight

BEER 1400!!!!!!!!!!  And I made sure it was another Indiana Beer for this Milestone.

Sun King is releasing three variant of their Sunlight Cream Ale - so Caitlin and I rolled into Sun King Broad Ripple to check out their new location try all three of these variants.  We met up with our friends Steve and Amanda Brown, and had a very good time catching up.

First up was the Tropical, it was very tasty and definitely improved on this beer.  There was some good fruity flavors, and perhaps even a hint of coconut in the aftertaste (I don't know for sure, but it was yummy).  I really felt like this was a great improvement on the flavor of this standard-bland beer.

1399. Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter

I've been wanting to try this beer for a very long time - and Ryan Miller eventually got it on draft at Joe's Fishers.  He showed me the keg a few weeks ago, and I've anxiously been awaiting it getting tapped.

This beer was everything that I could have hoped for.  It was amazing and delicious.  I could probably drink the entire keg myself.  It's creamy and smooth with a very wonderful chocolate flavor to it.  Literally like a boozy chocolate milk.



Is it possible to make this beer better?  Well, I had the idea to add Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey and try to create a Reese's Cup - by doing the beer like an Irish Car Bomb.  And this tastes AMAZING!!!!!!!  As you chug the beer, it's all chocolate magic going down, and in the aftertaste you get the heavy peanut butter kicking in to mix with the chocolate.

379 REVISITED: Revolution Cross of Gold

It's been a little over six years since I remember drinking this beer, so I decided to grab one with my lunch at Blind Owl today.  In my ORIGINAL POST, I said it was okay but that I didn't like the finish.  This doesn't seem to be the case anymore - my pallet must have evolved, because the finish doesn't bother me anymore.  It's still just a pretty standard light ale, but very easy to drink and refreshing.

1398. BrewDog Ace of Sabro

I find this to be very light and refreshing for an IPA.

Some good aromas up front, and a pretty smooth taste. 

The finish might be a little dry.  But I personally don’t think it’s that bad. 

1397. BrewDog Vinyl Vigilante

Very creamy and smooth.  Light and easy to drink. It goes down very easy with a full creamy front, and has some good chocolate flavors all the way. 

1396. Metazoa Wit-Bellied Hedgehog

Light and refreshing.  

Simple and tasty. 

It’s a good beer, but not anything amazing. 

I like drinking it.  I would drink it again.  

1395. Metazoa Possum Party

Very nice and smooth flavors.  

There isn’t much to it, but it’s creamy and has some cacao-like flavors.  

1394. Metazoa Speedy the 3-Legged Cat

This is a very solid Belgian.  

Really good flavors, and a very interesting finish.  

It starts to feel like it’s going to get dry and bitter, but it just mellows out nicely. 

1393. Metazoa Flamingo Juice

This Berry is tasty!!!

Mildly tart, very strong cherry flavor.  

It’s a little dry in the backend, but also has a great lingering cherry flavor.  Really refreshing!

1392. Rochester Mills Barrel Aged Milkshake Stout

I saved a good one for last.  

(Triple Decadence was still by far the best)

I really do enjoy this beer.  

The cocoa nibs and milk sugars make for a rich and creamy drink, that finishes with a really tasty bourbon flavor.  

It’s really tasty.

1391. Rochester Mills Sweet as Pie Milkshake Stout

It’s a very light and easy to drink beer.  

It goes down quickly without much flavor to it.  It’s sweet at first, and then the brown sugar kicks in.  It’s not a bad flavor, but a blah flavor.  I expected a more “nutty” flavor but it’s really just sweet on sweet. No bitters, and I don’t get much from the cacao nibs either. 

1390. Rochester Mills CrackAlacka Milkshake Stout

This is a very coffee-full flavor beer.
It has a small amount sweetness to it, but the coffee is very powerful.

1389. Rochester Mills Imperial Chocolate Cheesecake Milkshake Stout

The chocolate is very creamy and dry and then the milk sugars give it a sweetness in the backend.

1388. Josephs Brau PLZNR Czech-Style Lager

My buddy, Michael brought a six pack of these beers to a get-together at our friend Nick's house.  It was a very good and tasty lager.  There wasn't really anything special about it, but it did have some good flavors, but nothing lingered.

1387. Rochester Mills Imperial Oatmeal Milkshake Stout

The oatmeal flavor is definitely there.  It's blends well with the cocoa flavors and gives a hint of having just eaten an oatmeal cookie.  It's a little more dry/bitter than some of the others from this batch, but it is still okay.  Not bad, but also nothing exciting.

1386. Central State Coconut Nephilim

I am a huge fan of Central State, and I've seen this beer advertised before, but never made my way down to buy one.  I recently found a single can for sale at a liquor store, and picked it up for my holiday enjoyment.  I saved it for Christmas Eve, with high hopes.

I wasn't disappointed, but I also don't love it.
This beer fell victim to the fact that I had just had the Rochester Mills beer the night before, and fell in love with it.  This is a nice and full bodied stout, the flavors are wonderful, and it has enough coconut to notice, but it doesn't make itself known.  It's very subtle.  The beer is still tasty, and I would love to drink one from a draft line.

1385. Rochester Mills Double Chocolate Milkshake Stout

Double Chocolate is no joke!
This beer packs a massive explosion of chocolate into your mouth.
From the first taste to the lingering aftertaste, there's not much flavor aside from chocolate.
It's almost like drinking chocolate milk mixed with hot cocoa.  It's got some really quality chocolate flavors all around.

1384. Rochester Mills Triple Layer Decadence Milkshake Stout

I found it!  I finally found it!
Caitlin and I have been sharing almost all of these Milkshake Stouts, and I let her have the first drink of this beer.  She looked at me and said, "You're going to love this..." - and she was RIGHT! 

Very smooth chocolate flavor upfront, that ends with an actual coconut flavor that lingers.
Both flavors are powerful and compliment each other.
It's delicious.  One of the most enjoyable beers I've drank recently - and very high on my Coconut List.  Of all the Milkshake Stouts, Caitlin and I agree that this has been the best.

1383. BrewDog Mistletoe Mafia

Of the two beers I bought today, this was the one I was most excited about.
The Vienna Style, with the orange/lemon and bread/biscuit flavors sounded really good.

And I really did enjoy this beer.  It's light, the fruit flavors are light, and it just goes down bubbly and smooth.  Very enjoyable.

1382. BrewDog Hoppy Xmas

While eating lunch at BrewDog today, I snagged a four pack of both of their holiday beers.  I was really happy to get their LAST four pack of this beer.  As far as IPAs go, it's light and smooth with mild bitters up front and some enjoyable fruity flavors in the back end that makes it go down very easy and doesn't leave my mouth dry.  It's one of the better IPAs I've drank.

Christmas Eve Eve Lunch at BrewDog

Wanted to try and get some BrewDog Holiday Beers for the next few days.
So, I made my way down to the Brewpub, and stayed for lunch.  I've been wanting to try their Chipolte Bacon Dog since the Launch Party (when it was on the menu, but not actually available...)

The food was delicious, and because I had other errands to run, I got all my beer to go.
Looking forward to cracking them open tonight.

1381. Rochester Mills Imperial Maple Milkshake Stout

Wow.  There is a lot going on with this beer.  Many stages to the flavors.

There is a large punch of lots of flavors with the first drink, and it takes them a few seconds to separate themselves.  A silky smooth chocolate flavor hit first, and then it mellows out into chocolaty sweetness, that finishes with a wonderfully sweet maple syrup flavor.  I can lick my lips, and they taste like the remnants of maple syrup.  I really enjoy the flavors of this beer.

1380. Rochester Mills Milkshake Blonde

Really tasty blonde ale.  Light and refreshing, with lots of flavor.  Vanilla up front, with some creamy chocolate-like flavor as it goes down.  There is a sleight amount of coffee in the very end, but it's subtle.

1379. The Bruery Coconut Macaroon

This beer is big.
This beer is delicious.
The bourbon is very strong, and very upfront.
The coconut flavor it a bit subtle in end.
I really enjoy all of the flavors of this beer.
While I wish the coconut was more powerful, it's buried behind a really big bourbon stout flavor that's really good.
I'm happy I finally ended up finding this beer.  I had been looking for it for a long time, and then a friend of Ryan Miller's showed me he found a can, and I made it my mission to track one down too.

I will be buying more of this beer in the future.

1378. Rochester Mills Blueberry Pancake

Another really fun beer, that I'm glad I got to try.
From the moment I cracked open the can, the aroma of blueberries exploded out into the air.
As I poured the beer, the smell increased in power.
The beer itself was smooth and creamy, and almost had a flavor of syrup in the end.
The blueberry flavor was nice and lingered in the back end.

These beers have been a lot of fun to try.

1377. Rochester Mills Peanut Butter Jelly Time

This was a really fun beer.  I won't say it was good - but they did a wonderful job of capturing the flavors.  The beer poured a very dark purple color, it was nice to look through the pour and see the purple tint.  It was both dry (like a peanut butter dry) and sweet (like a jelly sweet) and both flavors lingered after each drink.  It was a perfect balance, and made my mouth think I had just eaten a PB&J.  Very well crafted beer, and enjoyable to drink.  Wouldn't ever do more than one in a sitting.

1376. Rochester Mills Udder EnjoyMINT

Caitlin and I paired this beer with a Dark Chocolate + Mint Kit Kat, and it was really enjoyable.

The beer itself was a creamy smooth chocolate flavor, with a hint of mint.  I was expecting more mint, but when paired with the Kit Kat, the mint really came out even more.  Overall a very tasty treat.

1375. Decadent Ales Strawberry Coconut Smoothie

A Double IPA with the flavors of Strawberry and Coconut?
I'm willing to give that a try.
It's not the worst.  It is very dry and bitter up front, but mellows out quickly and it does have some good strawberry flavor, the coconut is a hint - but it's nice to know it's there.  The beer was good, but nothing I'm in love with.

Rochester Mills 12 Days of Milkshake

Caitlin and I were at Blind Owl last week and saw this gift pack available.
I ended up heading to Kahn's tonight and picking one up.
We have four nights before Christmas to attempt to enjoy these twelve magical-sounding stouts.
The flavors they have attempted sound like these beers are going to be a lot of fun!

1374. Central State Strawberry

I have previous done Raspberry (#1227) and Blackberry (#1286) from Central State, and enjoyed both of them.  They aren't exactly "sour" beers, but they are nice and light and refreshing, with hints of fruit flavors in the background.

The Strawberry version is the exact same.  Really light and easy to drink, not any sour, but a nice strawberry flavor in the aftertaste.  Exactly what I expected, and it was tasty.

1373. Blind Owl Crown Council Blonde Ale

Not the best beer I've had from Blind Owl.  I tend to enjoy their Belgians, and have often drank way too many of their high-ABV deliciousness.  This beer just didn't hit right for me.  I didn't enjoy the flavors, I felt like it had an odd aftertaste.  And it told me it was highly-carbonated, and they didn't lie.  It just drank oddly, and not enjoyable.

1372. Toppling Goliath Mornin' Latte

Really good and creamy smooth flavors.
As someone who doesn't care for coffee, the flavor isn't too bad with this one.
The lactose really mellows both the flavor and bitterness.

1371. Sun King Electric Reindeer

I was super hyped for this beer last holiday season, and by the time I tried to buy some - it was sold out at all the Sun King locations. 

Brown Ales are one of my favorite styles of beer, and I was really looking forward to this beer.  I came home tonight to learn that my sister-in-law happened to pick up a six pack for me (last year she went to Newfield’s and drank it there, and I told her how jealous I was - not sure if that’s where she picked it up today?)

Sadly, I don’t love this beer like I hoped.  The ginger and molasses just give it an odd duality of flavors.  It’s not bad, it’s just weird.  Like, it almost tries to make a cinnamon flavor, but it’s not.  It does do a good job of warming up the throat and body. 

So, I am super happy to have these beers, and will enjoy them in the holiday season.  

1370. Upland Teddy Bear Kisses - Coconut Variant

In 2013, the regular version of Teddy Bear Kisses was Beer #426, and I wasn't really a fan of it.

When I saw they did a Coconut Variant this year, I knew I wanted to try it.

I enjoyed the beer much more this time around, as I definitely let it sit for about 30 minutes to warm up before I drank it.  The cacao bitterness was far less, but the coconut flavor was still very subtle.  The beer was big, and the bourbon was powerful - perhaps it masked the coconut flavor.  I did like it much more than I remember from last time.

1369. BrewDog Jack Hammer

This beer is the epitome of Pale Ale.
I don't agree that it's "ruthless" - I have had pales that were more dry and more bitter - but this one does leave its own punch in your mouth.  Upfront, it has some really strong flavors hidden behind the dry slam of each drink.  The lingering flavor is a good one, despite how dry my mouth is.  It's drinkable, and I don't hate it - but it is very dry and bitter.

1368. Indiana City Ash & Elm Eastsider

A little while ago, Michael Maier and I went out to Ash & Elm for food/drinks.
I had really high hopes that I would be able to get this either on draft or in a can while I was there, but sadly, it was not available.  So, I found some of their ciders that I really enjoyed that day.

So, the Eastsiders beer is tasty.
There is a very good apple aroma in the smell.
Upfront it almost has a wheat-beer-like flavor quality to it.  A little thicker than I expected, and a also a little dryer.  The apple flavor pops through while drinking it and lingers in the aftertaste.  It goes down smooth, and even a little heavier than I expected from this beer.  Really enjoyable.

1367. Firestone Walker Coconut Merlin Stout

I haven't done very much from Firestone Walker, even thought I hear good things, and I see a number of their beers that I want to try.  I saw this one, and saw "coconut" - so I had to pick it up.

It's a really good stout, doesn't taste very "milky" to me, and there also is no coconut taste at all.  Despite those two things, it was still very good quality and I enjoyed the taste.