The Hammerin Ale is the first beer they produced at the brewery.  Beer Advocate classifies this beer as an American Amber or Red Ale.

The beer pours a really nice amber color with an impressive head and it takes awhile to dissipate.   It is slightly cloudy but they advertise it as an unfiltered beer so that is to be expected.

The aroma is pretty mild.  You can smell the malt and hops but it’s not a very strong smell.

I have seen some so-so reviews of this beer and since the aroma didn’t blow me away I din’t have very high expectations but I was pleasantly surprised.  I thought the beer was carbonated well with a nice mouthfeel.  It’s got a great malt flavor with some hop bitterness and some fruity flavors coming through.

They describe this beer as a perfect introduction for people to craft beer and I would agree.  It’s balanced and nicely flavored and I enjoyed drinking it.

The Bruery is located in Orange County, California.  They only sell their beer in kegs or large 750 ml bottles, they don’t have a bottling line for small bottles.   The Hottenroth is a Berliner Weisse which is a Belgian Style Sour Wheat Ale.  The beer is named after the owner’s grandparents, Fred and Sarah Hottenroth.

It’s color is a very pale straw and it’s got a little bit of a haze.  It is a very carbonated beer.  I got an okay head but it dissipated very quickly.  I am told that the reason for the poor head retention is the high acidity and low protein count.

It’s got a very nice aroma.  It’s not super strong but it’s enough that you know what you are about to get.  It smells sour with hints of lemon and other citrus.

The taste matches the aroma.  It’s got a really nice sour taste to it with some hints of lemon.  There is something else in the flavor that I am tasting but can’t identify.  The carbonation comes through on the taste and it has a very dry finish.  I had it plain, they recommend trying it with raspberry or woodruff syrup to balance out the sourness.

All in all, I think this was a much better introduction to sour beers than the Flemish sour I had a Monks.  It’s not overpowering and is very refreshing.  I could enjoy this beer on a hot day while doing some yard work.  It’s a good session beer at a very low 3.1% ABV.

Before I started this Year of Beer, I had never had a Belgian beer and didn’t know a whole lot about the style.  My first exposure to the style was Ommegang’s Abbey Ale and since then, I have been hooked, I have really been enjoying the Belgian style.  She knows this so she bought me a bunch of Belgian beer on her last trip.  This was one of them.

The bottle she bought me is 1 pt 9.4 oz. so there is plenty to drink while writing this review.  The Abt 12 is a classic Dubbel style.

The beer poured a dark reddish brown and had a great tan colored head on it.  The head stuck around for quite awhile and as I drank the beer there was a good bit of lacing on the side of the glass.

It has a sweet malt aroma with a hint of citrus.  It’s not an overpowering aroma but it’s also not one that you have to work real hard to get, it’s really nice.

The beer is pretty smooth and has that classic Belgian taste to it that I believe comes from the Belgian yeast.  I don’t get much of the citrus flavor that I was smelling but I do get some really nice malt and raisin flavors.   As the beer warmed up, the flavor becomes more complex.  I started getting really nice banana and clove flavors along with the raisin.  Although this beer is 10% ABV I don’t taste much of the alcohol.

The mouthfeel is great, it’s very smooth and is pleasant from start to finish.  A little sticky after awhile but not so much that it’s a problem.

Earlier this month, we were up in New York City for a few days on business.   For my day job, I go to Toy Fair every year (loads of fun) and usually take my wife.  She used to work for me so she would go up with me as part of the job.  Now she just goes because it’s a lot of fun.   While we were up there, I stopped in a store that had an okay beer selection and picked up a bottle of Allagash Odyssey.   I picked it up for two reasons: I have only ever had one Allagash Beer (the White) and I really liked it and secondly, I have never had a beer that was barrel aged.    It was $14.99 for a 750 ml bottle but it was well worth it.

Allagash Odyssey is the second beer in their series of barrel aged beers.  The Odyssey is a dark wheat beer.  They aged half of the beer in stainless steel and half in oak barrels and then the blend the two together.   I had this beer when I got back home and it might be one of the best beers I have tasted during my year of beer so far.   Even though it was a bit pricey, I really wish I would have picked up more.  You could taste the oak but it wasn’t so strong that it overpowered the beer.  It was just delicious and I always find it depressing when I find a beer that I love only to find out that it’s limited and I won’t be able to get it for very long.

Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter

I got this beer in my second shipment from the Gourmet Microbrew Beer of the Month club.   It was one of two Otter Creek beers, they sent me three Stovepipe Porters and three Pale Ales.  They were the first beers I drank when I got my shipment except for the 2 I set aside to do my reviews.  It was very hard to not drink the last one and wait until I had time to do this review.

Otter Creek Brewing Company has been making small batch craft beer since 1991.  They are a family owned and operated company and are based in Middlebury Vermont.

The beer pours a very dark brown and in the light has some caramel coloring.  I didn’t get a lot of head but what I got was a nice creamy tan color.

It has a really dark malty aroma with hints of chocolate.   The aroma is not overpowering but it is nice and strong.   It’s a very enjoyable smell.

The beer has a strong sweet malt flavor with chocolate undertones and a slightly bitter hop taste in the finish.  It’s a very drinkable beer, it goes down easy with a nice mouthfeel.

Founders Porter

This is another beer that my wife picked up for me when she was out in Pittsburgh.  She got me several different beers from this brewery to try and I can’t wait to dive into them.

Founders Brewery is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan and has a great reputation for making quality ales and lagers.

The Founders Porter was black when I poured it and and had a decent head.  The head stuck around for a good bit and there was some nice lacing.  The head was a light brown color which looks great against the black beer.

It has a strong malt aroma with a nice chocolate and coffee smell.  It’s a sweet aroma and quite pleasant.

It tastes rich but it is very smooth.  It has a nice mouthfeel but it is on the thick side and comes across as syrupy.  It’s actually the sort of mouthfeel you would expect from a good porter and adds to the experience in a positive way.  The sweetness in the beer tastes a little bit like molasses.  It develops a rather nice dryness after a second or two.

It goes down easily but I am not sure I would classify it as a session beer.  I could certainly drink 3 or 4 of them without trouble but I really like porters.  I am looking forward to trying the rest of the beers my wife got me from Founders Brewery.