OMG please stop with the sampler, whew this is the last one. OK, here we go… The beer has a 1/8th inch of head, that’s better at least. The aroma is sweet, color is black, and I don’t know if it is filtered or not as I cannot see any bit of this beer other than black. The taste, well… It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great either. It tasted like a porter, without the bitterness, and more like water. Take a porter, pour half out, fill to the top with water then you get Ebulum. Best of the sampler, but anyway you do it, stay away from the pack.

Specs: 11.2oz bottle
6.5% ABV

I really don’t know what a ‘heather ale’ is and I don’t care to know. This is #3 in the Scottish ale segment, and I really want a Guinness. This beer had a sour smell and again a small head when poured. The dirty brown liquid had more things floating in it than the local polluted river, or even Lake Erie. I can’t believe that much crap floating in the beer did not do something to the nondescript taste of this beer. Again another pass.

Specs: 11.2 oz bottle
?% ABV

Sounds pretty gross eh? Yeah, well again keep reading. This is number two of four and I am not really looking forward to three and four right now. This beer could have been made from a number two. The color is cloudy, dirty, no head on the beer, it really looked like fresh apple cider. The aroma almost had that sour smell to it. I truly think this beer was DOA when I got it. Not for one moment did it even have carbonation. I know you are thinking, but how did it taste. Well have you had a glass of water before, yeah like that but think dirty river water. No taste, no want.

Specs: 11.2 oz bottle
5% ABV

No not like Scots the cleaner… OK perhaps it is, read on. This is one of 4 beers that came in a ‘historic Scottish ale’ sampler pack. This one is a triple style, there’s that word again: style. The aroma was odd, and the head was low. The color was a dirty brown, and definitly not filtered. The taste was sweet and the pine showed up at the last moment. I say this is too dirty, too sweet, and too scary when they only put down barley, scots ping and sprigs as the ingredients. I wonder if that was water or not…

Specs: 11.2oz bottle
7.6% ABV

I know, you are thinking, why another raspberry ale if you didn’t like the other. Again I need to try each one to see if it was that beer, or that style that I don’t like. Give a brewmaster a chance I always say (I have never said that before). This one again comes from MI, they must have a lot of raspberries up there. After yesterday’s I was surprised after the slight head faded that I was left with what could have passed as fresh apple cider. Seriously with the unfiltered brew, very small head, that is apple cider. The aroma was again sweet, but not overly. The taste was slightly better than the last, but also had extra carbonation that made the beer a bit hard to drink. The sweetness and bit of tart from the raspberries might be something I will leave alone for awhile. Time for that last beast in the fridge from college week… that was a hard week that seems to be lasting forever to finish.

Specs: 12oz bottle
5% ABV

A more local brew tonight. This one is a fruit flavored one. It states that juice is added during the second fermentation process, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The beer poured up with a slight head that went down quickly. The color is a orange and kind of strange for a beer. The aroma is sweet, but not really raspberry. The taste has fruit taste, but like a bad fruit juice from concentrate. Like the aroma, the taste was not distinctive to raspberry. Finally I was left with almost no after taste and a question of why I even drank that beer. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t great either. This is a one time try for me.

Specs: 12oz bottle
?% ABV

“Refreshingly Bitter”, well bitter is certainly the case. This cloudy brew has a hoppy nose, but it doesn’t come close to the strength of the hop bouquet in this IPA. The body of this follows with many other IPA’s, where the malts are mild and the bitters take over very quickly. What really caught me was the crispness of the hops when they hit quickly; however, the bitterness builds after you stop drinking, way too bitter for me. Jon, I have another bitter choice from Dick’s Brewing that you may want, I have a feeling it’ll be really bitter.

Specs: 12oz bottle
5.5% Alcohol

That ain’t no normal Dortmunder, that’s Imperial! This is a special edition of their flagship Dortmunder Gold. This one pours up a nice yellow with a red hue. It didn’t have much head on the pour and after sitting for a minute, it had almost nothing left. The aroma is a more rich larger aroma with deeper roasted malts. I had three different tastes when drinking this beer. The first being the sweet, then came the almost bourbon taste, then finally the hops rolled in. The aftertaste is almost nonexistent. Give this one a try, especially if you like their Dortmunder Gold.

Specs: 12oz bottle
7.5% ABV

This beer was a gift from the west coast [thanks Tim!] and an excellent amber for any beer drinker. You’ll see the large amount of head from my pour, and a red glow in the otherwise golden color. A well balanced blend of malts gives some caramel notes before the transition to the hoppy finish. Its a clean finish, perfect for a refreshing drink on a sunny afternoon.

Specs: 12oz bottle
Unspecified ABV
30 IBU

Yes it’s another IPA. This one from our friends at Harpoon. The first thing I noticed is that this beer is much lighter than yesterday’s Hop Hog IPA. This beer is yellow, with just a hint of red to it. The head on this beer is very large, and is not going away any time soon. The aroma is hoppy and floral. The taste of this one is much stronger than yesterday’s. The hops almost overwhelm you. The most astonishing thing is that this has less IBU than the Hop Hog. The flavor of the hops is not hidden behind the deeper roasted malts. If you like IPAs than put this on your list to try.

Specs: 12oz bottle
5.9% ABV
IBU: 42