1538. Sun King Chocolate Almond Coconut Son of Shadow Proof

This is a very complex beer, with a lot going on. 

I had hopes it come close to their German Chocolate Cake Oktoberfest - but it doesn’t.  

The nutty almond flavor hits hard upfront. 

It’s followed by a small sweet coconut flavor, which sadly doesn’t last very long before an extremely powerful finish of chocolate flavor in the back end. 

There does seem to be a sweet lingering hint of coconut in the aftertaste.  

Very enjoyable beer!

1537. Pax Verum Møtrboat

I honestly only bought the can because of the very 80s font/style/look of the can, and I was happy it was a light beer.  Then I learned it was an Indiana Brewery, so that made me even more happy.

It falls into my constant "Glorified Miller Lite" Category.  It was good, I like it a lot.  But, it was just a solid light beer.  Easy to drink, and I would never turn one down.

1536. Ommegang Wine Barrel Three Philosophers

The Original Three Philosophers was Beer #334 - and I fell in love.  I've drank a lot of them.

Back in February of 2020, right before the world went to hell, I found the Bourbon Barrel version and it was Beer #1411.  And I praised how much better it made the beer taste.

Well, this Wine version, is the exact opposite.

I don't enjoy it.  Caitlin didn't enjoy it.  We just felt like the wine flavor did not compliment this beer, and hurt the overall flavor.  Really disappointing, but I will just stick to the Bourbon version.

1535. River Horse Oatmeal Milk Stout

Yep, I knocked out all four of my Christmas Present Beers from Caitlin in one night.

I was enjoying "playing" with my big new gift!

Sadly, all four of them were just basic and generic beers.  None of them stood out in quality.

But, none of them were bad.  They all tasted exactly like I expected them to taste.

Looking forward to seeing what next month has to offer.

1534. Dick's Batch 202 Northwest India Pale Ale

It's a west coast IPA. 

Not exactly my thing.

It tastes like an IPA, but just a plain old generic one.

1385 REVISITED: Rochester Mills Double Chocolate Milkshake Stout

Everything that I said about this beer last year - in Beer #1385 - still holds true this year.

It's a massive and tasty chocolate milk, that happens to actually be a beer.  Very tasty again.

1533. Dick's Irish Style Red Ale

I was really interested in trying the Irish Red Ale.

And it was tasty.  Once again, pretty standard.  It delivered the exact flavor I was expecting, but nothing above that.

1532. River Horse Chocolate Porter

We started with the Chocolate Porter, since that's a style that Caitlin liked.

It was exactly as advertised.  Chocolate flavor, in a porter body.  

It's was good, but nothing great.

2020 Christmas Gift

For Christmas this year, Caitlin enrolled me in a Monthly Beer Service.

Every month, I get twelve beers.

From two breweries, they sell it as from each side of the country.  My first box included Washington state and New Jersey.

From those two breweries, I get two different style of beers, and three bottles of each style, for a total of twelve beers.

From Dick's Brewing in Washington state, I got a Northwest IPA and an Irish-Style Red Ale.

From River Horse Brewing in New Jersey, I got an Oatmeal Stout and a Chocolate Porter.

1531. Upland Golden Brue

My Second Christmas Beer from Garrett Miller!!!  Woohoo!!!

Another beautiful sour ale, another barrel-aged sour ale.

It's light and sour and really enjoyable.  I like this one very much.

1530. Upland Darken

This beer was a Christmas present from my buddy Garrett Miller!

He knows my love of sour beers, and he picked out a really good one.

The oak barrel aging really makes the flavors pop - and it's a very odd mix with the sour upfront, and the spicy finish.  Somehow, it works better than it should.

1529. Triton Ginger Bread Milk Porter

Beer # 424 was Triton's Gingerbread Brown Ale.  I really enjoyed that beer.  

This milk porter was good, but nothing that special.  I liked it, and I would drink it again, but once again, their aroma was better than the flavors it delivered.

1528. Rochester Mills Imperial Triple Layer Decadence Milkshake Stout

This is the Imperial version of Beer #1384 from last year.

If you look back, I gave last year's version a glowing review, calling it one of the best coconut beers I have ever had.  This holds true for the imperial version also.  Everything I said last year, applies to this beer also.  I really enjoyed drinking this, and love the lingering coconut flavor.  It's blending of chocolate and coconut flavors tastes like I just ate a Mounds bar.

1527. Sun King Whip Fight

 On this week's Shane Talks, I double-fisted the Sun King beers.

After I finished the Midnight Choir, I moved on to one of Sun King's other winter offerings a Bourbon-Barrel aged Wee Heavy with Chocolate and Pecans.

The Bourbon steals this beer.  It's big and powerful upfront, and lingers a while.  In its wake, it leaves a nutty flavor, which is obviously from the pecans.  The chocolate is pretty subtle, as its very overshadowed by the bourbon.  It's a powerful beer, it hits hard.

1526. Sun King Midnight Choir

This week's Shane Talks beer that Jason and I drank is Sun King's December King's Reserve: Midnight Choir, which is a dark sour ale.

It was really tasty and delicious.  It doesn't even taste like beer, it's tart and juicy and just tastes like I'm drinking a glass of juice.  Jason compared it to drinking Cherry Juice - and I could see that.  I really enjoyed drinking this beer.

1453 CORRECTED: Urban Artifact Keypunch

So, Beer #1365 was Photo Booth, Ryan Miller made a cameo when I drank it Joe's.

Must have been a blackout night, because when Beer #1453 came around, I drank another Photo Booth at home.

So, when I was back at Joe's Grille today, they had Keypunch - a Key Lime Gose, so it's perfect that this Urban Artifact can replace the Urban Artifact Error.

It's a yummy and tasty beer - like all their other goses.  Luckily, I like lime flavor, and this delivers.  It's nice and tasty.  I drank a few, and felt really good.

1525. Upland Polar Bear Kisses

Beer #426 was the original Teddy Bear Kisses.

Beer #1370 - last year - was the Coconut Variant of Teddy Bear Kisses.

This year, they've done a mint version and called it Polar Bear Kisses.

It's yummy.  A nice punch of Bourbon up front, and then it smooths out and the mint lingers and kicks in.  As good as this beer is, I think the bourbon might be too much.  I'd love to try thing beer with just the chocolate and mint flavors.  I think it would be like a perfect York Peppermint Patty flavor of beer.  Sadly, the bourbon is just so powerful it really steals most of the show.

1524. Rochester Mills English Toffee Milkshake Stout

This was a decent beer in this year's set, but it was just in the middle.

Not great, but very drinkable.  A thick and heavy chocolate flavor that did a good job of giving a toffee aftertaste.  It lingers well, and accomplishes it's goal of reminding me of toffee.  I didn't mind drinking it, but I don't need to drink it again.

1523. Fat Head's Pimp My Sleigh

This is literally one of the worst beers I have ever tasted.

It was disgusting.

Raisins.

Figs.

ANISE.

And Spicy Phenols.

This was disgusting.

I took one drink and hated it.

Caitlin took a drink - and hated it.

I allowed it to warm up for 30 minutes to see how it would change the flavor profile, and it was still terrible. 

I poured 75% of this beer down the sink drain.  I couldn't take another drink.

This is the first beer in YEARS that I couldn't finish.  It was that bad.

1522. Rochester Mills Michigan Maple Milkshake Stout

This maple beer was drank while Caitlin and I watched SNL this week.

It was pretty tasty.  The maple flavor was present and very enjoyable.  It was tasty, and I wouldn't mind finding another one to drink.

1521. Great Lakes Christmas Ale

This was a good beer.  Nothing amazing or fancy, but it has won some awards.

It was drank because it was the Christmas Season, and Caitlin and I went out to dinner with Garrett and Cara at Blind Owl.

1520. Rochester Mills Chocolate Chip Pancake Milkshake Stout

I really wanted to like this beer, but it kind of fell flat.

The chocolate flavor is present, and that's fine.  But, in the backend, there is an odd break-like aftertaste, that just doesn't scream "pancake" to me.  It's a little drier than I would have wanted.

1519. Rochester Mills Salted Caramel Milkshake Stout

This has been one of the better Milkshake Stouts this year.

It's nice and smooth, and the aftertaste makes me feel like I just sucked on a Werther's Original.

I really enjoyed this one.

1518. Four Day Ray Snow Shed

I'm not a huge fan of Four Day Ray.

My first time visiting their tap room, I didn't have the best service.

Caitlin and I have gone back a few times, because they have brewed some beers I've been interested in the flavors - but none of them have really impressed me.

I love Brown Ales, and I am sad that very few people make them right now.

So, I was happy to see this.  The flavors are okay, but nothing special.  It tastes fine, and I could drink it again, but it's not something that I enjoyed.

It was drank on this week's episode of Shane Talks.  Episode XXIV: Black Christmas, where Jason and I discussed Shane Black and his Christmas films.

1517. Rochester Mills Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake Stout

This was a really nice and enjoyable stout.

The chocolate was present, and there was some good notes of peanut butter in the back end.

Sadly, it just doesn't come close - in flavor - to keeping up with Yuengling Hershey's Porter and Skrewball Whiskey.

1516. High Grain Bavarian Hefeweizen

This beer was originally bought for Oktoberfest, and somehow made its way to the back of my beer fridge and got lost.  So, for a Bayern Munich matchday, I pulled it out to enjoy.

And it's fine.  It's exactly what a Hefeweizen should taste like.

Nothing more, nothing less.  It was good, I would drink again.

1515. Rochester Mills King Cake Milkshake Stout

So, Caitlin and I had to look up what King Cake was - neither of us had ever heard of it.

This beer was not very good - and only for one reason:  The cinnamon was very powerful, and very late in the beer.  So, it started going down pretty good.  However, as soon as I stopped drinking the beer, suddenly my mouth was overwhelmed with a sharp cinnamon flavor.

1514. Rochester Mills Red Velvet

 This was a tasty beer, but there wasn't much to it.
Some good flavors up front, and the kind of a bread/crust-like flavor that lingers.

It went down smooth, light, and easy - but then it was pretty forgettable after that.

I didn't mind it, but I won't be searching it out.

1513. Hi-Wire Blackberry Limeade

I like this beer, but I don't love it.

It's a little mild on the sour side, but it's still there.

I think the blackberry part is what throws this off a little bit for me - the flavor is just odd.

Still very drinkable.

1512. Big Woods Quaff On! Santa Quaff

 Really enjoyable holiday beer.  It's got some good flavors to it, and it warms up my throat while I'm drinking it.  It's not something I would sit and drink a lot of, but it definitely serves the purpose of warming up my body after one or two.  It would set the mood, drinking in front of a fireplace.

1511. Rochester Mills Imperial Java Milkshake Stout

Coffee.  Coffee.  Coffee. 

Powerful smell of coffee as soon as the can is opened. 

Very strong Java coffee flavor to this beer. 

Caitlin loved it.  I let her drink the majority of it. 

1510. Rochester Mills Gingerbread Cookie Milkshake Stout

This is a really nice and creamy stout. 

It has a nice bread-like cookie taste to it, but it also has a pretty strong taste of ginger.  It’s not bad, it’s just like a quick strong kick of ginger before it mellows into a nice cookie aftertaste.  Definitely not bad, but not as great as I was hoping. 

2020 Rochester Mills 12 Days of Milkshake

It’s back!!!  Woohoo!!!

Tonight, Caitlin and I are starting this year’s 12 Days of Milkshake Stouts from Rochester Mills. 

They are going to be a lot of fun this year!!! 🍻

Double Chocolate is the only one that came back for a second year in a row. 

Triple Layer Decadence got upgraded to an Imperial this year.  

Lots of delicious sounding beers this year!!! 

1509. Prairie Artisan Punch

Really nice sour taste up front, the cherry and blackberry make it kind of a heavy sour flavor and the lime follows up at the end and there is almost no lingering aftertaste of anything.  It pretty much just clears itself away.  

I enjoy it.  I would never turn one down, but I have some other sours that I enjoy better. 

1508. Urban Artifact XMas Pickle

DILL PICKLE XMAS GOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Pickle Beer!!! And Pickles Photobombed the picture!

That only mildly resembles a pickle.  

For a Gose, it’s not tart. 

But it’s salty on the backend, and does leave a pickle-like lingering taste.  

Honestly, I’ll probably just stick to drinking brine... 

384 REVISITED. Revolution Fistmas

October 26th, 2013 - I was in Chicago with my brother and we went the Revolution BrewPub, and back at his apartment, I tried Fistmas as Beer #384.   Obviously, they changed their can since then!

Seven years, 1,123 beer later - and today I was at Goodwill when I saw a Festive Revolution Pint Glass (side note: Goodwill is the BEST place to hunt for glassware.  Caitlin and I have found many pint glasses for out-of-state breweries or special events!).  I happened to have a can of Fistmas in my fridge - so I knew it was a sign to buy that pint glass.

Fistmas is a beer that I've drank numerous times around the holiday seasons over the years.  It's not my favorite beer, but it's not bad.  It gives me a "warm" feeling when it goes down my throat.  The spice kicks in nicely after the beer is down.  I honestly think this would be a good "outside around a campfire" beer, because it feels like it warms me up while I am drinking it.

1507. Untitled Art Mixed Berry Sour À la mode

I don’t even know if this is beer. 

It’s like juice.  

Like Berry Juice.  

Like Tart Berry Juices. 

The sour doesn’t linger, the beer is thick and fruity.  

It’s really enjoyable. 

1506. Taxman S’morecast

At the liquor store, I couldn’t remember if I like this beer - so I came here to my website to see what review I wrote about. But, there was NONE!  I swear I’ve drank this before, but it’s not on the website, so here it is now!

The beer is okay, is really light and easy to drink and goes down really well.  No bitterness at all, but only a mild sweetness.  The beer MUST be allowed to warm up.  I let it sit for about ten minutes before my second drink, and it was far superior.  

As the beer warms up, the chocolate flavor emerges, and despite the fan saying cacao, it’s not chalky, it’s smooth. Sadly, I don’t get many of the other flavors. There may be a slight “graham” flavor that lingers, but it’s very subtle.  Luckily, I don’t taste any of the molasses. 

It’s a tasty beer, but it’s nothing special. 

1505. Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout

I bought this beer for Caitlin, because she is a big fan of Guinness.  The aroma from the bottle was really good, but then wasn’t as powerful once it was in the pint glass.  

The bourbon flavor hits strong upfront.  

Then the beer itself is pretty mellow, the ginger flavor seems to cover up the bitterness.  And it finishes with a strong spice flavor that lingers.  

It’s a very fun and enjoyable holiday beer!

1504. Bell's Old Fashioned Holiday

WOW!  This beer is BIG and packs a punch.

From the first drink, the Scotch is the overwhelming flavor that hits your lips - and it hits a lot harder than I expected it to.  This beer retains a lot of the Scotch flavor and it's the most predominate flavor while it goes down.  It honestly burns my throat mildly...  The citrus and cherry flavors definitely linger in my mouth, and my lips are actually a little sticky when I lick them.

This beer lives up to it's namesake, it really brings the flavor of an Old Fashioned into a beer.

Almost too well, with its 10.8% ABV.

1503. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter

Well, this beer is something special.

However, you HAVE TO let the beer warm up.

Caitlin and I both had our first drink when it was pretty cold, less than five minutes out of my beer fridge (42 degrees).  And it had a good bourbon porter flavor up front, and then the peppermint slowly creeped in the backend, and then lingered for a while.

I let Caitlin drink most of the beer, because she really loved the flavor - but about ten minutes later, she said, "You HAVE TO try this now that its warmed up..."

And WOW!  It was a totally different flavor - in the best possible way.  The bourbon wasn't as powerful in the front, it was much more mellow and actually brought out some strong chocolate notes to the beer, and then the peppermint hints a lot harder and actually leaves a Thin Mints flavor in your mouth.  It was a real treat to drink, and I plan to buy some more for this holiday season!

1502. Norris English Imperial Stout

Caitlin was not able to make the trip with me to Norris English, so I brought a little Norris English home to her.  Since she enjoys stouts, I chose to not drink one at the pub, and bring home a growler.  Since they are going out of business, they were also selling glassware - so I bought two UK pint glasses to bring home with me, so Caitlin and I could share this beer, from their growler, in their glassware.  Just trying to purchase a little piece of Indiana brewing history.

So, the beer...  It is an imperial stout, and there's not much more to say about it.  The flavors are exactly what you would expect, and nothing more.  It's drinkable, but it's not anything special.

1501. Norris English That’s It IPA

This is a really decent IPA.

It dry, but not DRY - I can handle this.  

It’s light and goes down really easy.  

There isn’t much bitterness - but the dry taste lingers in my mouth.  Which is a double-edged sword. 

I want to take another drink quickly, because my mouth feels so dry. 

1500. Norris English Pilz (5♦️)

In 2016, Caitlin bought me a deck of playing cards, and each card has a brewery on it.  There was only one Indiana brewery and that’s Norris English.  I’ve also recently seen on their Facebook page that they will be closing down soon.  So, I needed to hurry up and make sure to get here before that happened, or else!

When I realized I was getting close to 1500, I knew it was time to make this happen.  For my “Milestone” beers, I like to do something big and special OR something from Indiana. So, for 1500, I was able to check off multiple boxes.

I came for their Christmas Ale - but that’s already sold out.  So, I’m stuck with their flagship Pilz.  It’s decent.  It’s a little drier than I prefer from a Pilsner, but it goes down easy with some nice flavors - that don’t last long enough.  They are quickly replaced with a dry and minor-bitter aftertaste.  

1499. BrewDog Down With D-O-G

Hanging out with my buddy Steve downtown at BrewDog and I wanted to try one of these beers from Collabfest 2020.

This beer was okay. But it was very dry upfront and was a lot more hoppy than I expected from a Belgian White.  

1498. Prairie Artisan Seasick Crocodile

A Sour ale with cranberries, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg???

It was worth a try, but it was not that good.

It was kind of sour, but then the ginger and cinnamon make the back end very unenjoyable.

This beer has all the tender sweetness...

...Of a seasick crocodile...

1497. Sun King Bourbon Barrel Shadow Proof

Another Shadow Proof Variant for this winter is the Bourbon Barrel Aged variant.

It's a good beer, but I think I tend to enjoy this beer when it's got some special flavors going on with it.  It's big and heavy, and the bourbon flavor is present.