New Belgian Brewery's Fat Tire Ale

If you are anything like me you don't do anything until you've evaluated how cool it will make me and this rarely ever backfires. When I saw the Fat Tire Winter Sampler at the store (for $15) I thought to myself, "How the heck cool will this make me?"

After some lightning quick thinking I realized it would make me pretty cool and, heck, I like beer so how the heck could it be a bad deal? Beer does the wasted, and I LOVE that. When I'm wasted I get my super powers, where I think I have the strength of two men, and think I have the power that women can't hear me, especially when I'm callin' em skanks and broads or something. So, yeah, this beers cool so run out and get some. Here's the review!

This is Fat Tire and I'm sure as south will rise again that you've seen it in the stores, and hell, you probably had it before too BUT for everyone that seen it and convinced themselves that this beer isn't for them, well hey, this is for you!

So yeah, its got a scent. It's like a walnut dropped in hot caramel and if you never smelled that before that you're a straight up, flat out jabroni. And it's pretty dark for an ale but who cares? Because it tastes good. It's got a crisp, malty taste with a touch of nutty smoothness. You can get a hint of the hops (IBU of 18.5) but it's not over bearing. It also sorta tastes like peas; I dunno how it just DOES! They use Wilmette, Golding and Target hops and I'd be lying if I said I didn't target hops when I played basketball. They use Pale, Munich and Victory malts and I'll tell you what, these guys use more malts than a lot of breweries which gives each of their beers a distinct taste, unlike a previous Shiner Bock review we did in 1988.

So now your thinking, okay, I'm a master of Fat Tire now, tell me what to do next. Well listen turkey, this thing has an ABV of 5.2% which is a mouse pube away from Bud's 5.0%. So is it gonna royally mess you up? Sure, but not until you slam half a dozen in a church parking lot. I mean it's $15 a 12-pack so it's not the greatest show on turf, but it ain't the worst. If you roll up Big Willie style to a rager with a twelver of this under each arm all the fine ladies are gonna be like "OHH!!! OMG ROTFL XOXO!" and you're going to be all, "WHATTTTT?!???" Solid.


Other New Belgium Reviews:
Ranger IPA
Winter Ale
Belgian Ale
Pale Lager



Drinkability: 6/10
Taste: 6/10
Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 6/10

Overall: 5.5/10

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for a Stinky mouse, who was getting drunk on egg nog and miller high lifes. If the Stinky mouse had any sense in him though he would have been getting snookered on Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve Ale, a most wonderful beer indeed.

Somehow I don't think we have ever reviewed Rogue beers on this blog, but since the stupid search bar doesn't flippin' work, I can't find out (you think I am going to go through all 160 posts to find out? Pfffft). For the uninitiated, Rogue Ales is brewed in Newport, OR, a lovely small town on the coast of Oregon. All kidding aside, the Oregon coast is the awesomest place in America, even more so than Flagstaff, AZ. Definitely go there if you get the chance (the OR coast, not Flagstaff). Rogue has a nice little restaurant that goes along with their brewery, where they serve a mean adult mac n cheese (the macaronis are shaped like dongs). Rogue brews about a jillion beers, many of which can only be found at the brewery itself. 

The Santa's Private Reserve Ale is a copper colored red ale that is similar to their Saint Rogue Red, but the Santa has double the hops, just the way I like it. This beer is excellent, as it has a nice malty and somewhat bitter taste, but its not overwhelming despite the 2x hops. If you like a mild bitterness to your beers, you'll like this one. This is just a great tasting beer, one that you can knock back easily, and get nicely blitzed with its 6.00% ABV. I bet you could have a 12 pack on Christmas Eve and pass out with no problem, then forget to put the presents under the tree and your kids are forever destroyed the next morning. I got a six pack of this at the incredible low price of $6.99 (regular price of $12.99). They were practically giving it away! To make a great situation even better, the heavily bearded hipster working the coffee section at the co-op told me I made a great choice upon buying the Santa's Ale. Compliments and a sale, oh boy!

Hopefully you were a good boy or girl this year, as you'd be grateful to find a sixer of Santa's Private Reserve Ale in your stocking. Unless you'd rather have coal that is, then you're screwed.

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10

Curb Appeal: 9/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Boon Rawd Brewery – Singha

Singha is coined as the “Original Thai Beer”, it must have been back when they didn’t know much about making beer, and for their sake I hope they haven’t improved the recipe, because it still tastes like shit. But that’s not far from other Asian beers I’ve had. They all seem very medicinal, it’s almost as if people in Asia don’t wanna be drunk. With all the over population of there, I feel id have to be drunk most of the time just to deal with the congestion.

Boon Rawd Brewery was started specifically because the owner realized there weren’t many beers made in Asia, and thought he could profit from it.

They call this a pale lager, it has a nice think frothy head and smells crispy. When you taste it you say to yourself, “Wow, this beer is skunked”, but that’s actually how it’s suppose to taste. I’m guessing the fermented taste is a cultural delicacy. I watch a lot of Bizarre foods with Andrew Zimmern, and all the stuff he eats in Asia consists of fermented fish or bean paste, so fear factor should consider expanding outside the US., Joe Rogan would be a hit out there.

The beer cost me about 4 bucks, ABV is listed at 5%, has a light malt, a sour grassy taste, and a very dry finish. It’s probably not the worst lager out there, but it’s pretty bad.

Drinkability: 4/10
Taste: 3/10
Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 4/10

Overall: 3.75/10

Peak Organic Brewing Company Winter Session Ale

Strap your boots on and don't get your tongue stuck to a pole, you goober, and get ready to hit the slopes with this review of Peak Organic Brewing Company's Winter Session Ale.

I've reviewed a ton of Peak beers on this blog before (like at least 6 of 'em), so you might be thinking that Peak beers are fucked out by now (like tucking your pants into your shoes). Well, they're not. They're all pretty GD (that's the religiously-correct way of saying "goddamn") good, and the Winter Session Ale is no exception. The Winter Session Ale is classified as a "American Dark Wheat Ale" and its so GD dark because Peak uses a lot of dark malt. They also use Citra hops from their friend Brad's farm. That must be cool to have a friend like Brad. You just call him up and say "heyy Brad, we're gonna make some winter beer today, can we stop over on the way back from the Piggly Wiggly and pick up some hops? When it's done you can come over and get drunk with us and compare penis sizes."

I was surprised at how much of a pungent, strong taste this beer had on first imbib-ation. The phrase "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" is popular this time of year, and that's what I thought of when I first tasted this. Roasted nuts. It didn't taste nutty at all like, but it had this roasted, malty quality to it. And it was quite delicious! I simply had to have a few more. It was easy to drink, and despite the strong taste, it is only 5% ABV. But it's a great beer to knock back a few while sitting in front of a fire watching the Jim Carrey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I got a six-pack of this on sale for $7.99, normally priced at $8.99 (I saved 100 pennies!!!!).

This beer will only be on sale a short time, as winter doesn't last forever, unless you live at the McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica. I doubt they sell it down there too, so you're gonna be stuck there being cold and sober. How boring!

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 7/10

Value: 7/10

Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

New Belgian Brewery's Snow Day Winter Ale

There's nothing in the winter like a crisp delicious beer while bitchin' about the bastard weather outside. I'm one of the people out there who's happier when they are miserable. I like to complain; babes say its totally attractive.

But I can't complain about this beer. I mean, man, it's simply delicious. I mean most winter ales are. We originally covered New Belgian here in the review of their Belgian Ale; so if you wanna know more about 'em, just click the link, you ding-a-ling! Imagine your tailgating on the east coast and it's colder than piss out. You've been drinking since 7:00am and you piss on a tree and you literally piss so much that it warms the air in front of you, and you never wanna quit peeing. You know that? Then you walk back to the grill to warm up and you grab a beer and the taste just...makes you warm. Rich, deep bodied, and tasty enough that, in this weather, you could drink it warm. And after a dozen or two you puke on that same tree you pissed on earlier and it doesn't leave such a bad taste in your mouth.

This stuff is real crisp, it'll stimulate your bitter tastes buds on the sides of your mouth a little, but it doesn't have a bitter, annoying aftertaste or a gross, hoppy sensation on your tongue. There's a dry, chocolate taste mixed with a little caramel. It's a touch nutty with a little hoppy tang you might expect from a pale ale. It's real tasty though. It's aroma is a smoky, caramel odor and it's dark in color with a tan head.

They use wheat malts on this baby and Centennial, Styrian Goldings and Cascade hops. This along with the wheat malts we talked about blended with some pale malt and something called C-80 malts, which I think is the same thing Luke Skywalker ordered at the space station where they met Han Solo.

She's got an ABV of 6.2% which is a little lower than I would have guessed. It's got an IBU of 55, so it'll rank around the hoppiness of a Pale Ale. The label is okay. I would have done of a "Bear in the Chair" approach, but that's me. New Belgian is a well respected name in the beer game, so everyone will respect if you roll deep with a case of this. A 12-pack will run you $15.

Other New Belgium Reviews:
Ranger IPA
Fat Tire
Belgian Ale
Pale Lager

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 8/10

Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 6/10

Overall: 6.0/10

New Belgium Brewery's Ranger IPA

This beer should be enjoyed in nature, outside in the woods, preferably in the cold and with moose all around. It should only be drank by men with beards, flannel shirts, and in the possession of big blue oxen. This is an outdoors-man's beer. It's called f'in RANGER for cripes sakes.

Brewed by New Belgium, famous for their Fat Tire Amber Ale (and also their Trippel, reviewed here), the Ranger IPA packs a punch that would make Joe Frazier proud. At 6.5% ABV, it'll get you nice and drunk, if you can handle more than a couple that is - the flavor on these babies is astoundingly delicious, but heavy as a ton of feathers, so it's better for sipping than bonging. As with most IPAs, the Ranger tastes of citrus and flowers and bitterness, which is all wrapped together in a wonderful taste-gasm. It truly is a very tasty and delicious beer. I got a 12 pack of this for $15, which is much cheaper than a 12 pack of snow tires. According to the New Belgium website, one 12oz serving of Ranger gives ya 185 calories, not that you should care. If you are thinking about calories while drinking beer, go get your head checked out. Or maybe you are just a drunkorexic. Either way, you need help. Or more beer. Or both. Sigh.

Give the Ranger IPA a shot, and I betcha you love it if you are an IPA fan. And if you don't like it, you'll have to answer to the most bad-ass Ranger out there. Sucks to me you, dead guy!

Other New Belgium Reviews:

Fat Tire

Winter Ale

Belgian Ale

Pale Lager

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 6.75 /10

New Belgian Brewery's Trippel Belgian Ale

Hi pals. New Belgian Brewery is in Colorado, Fort Collins in fact. Their flagship is the Fat Tire but they have tons of beers, like over 10 on a semi-regular basis and a handful of experiments that they conjure up. The started it around 1989 and began mass producing two years later. So the rest is history.

This beer is their Trippel, the Belgian one. It's pretty tame at 25 IBUs and will knock you on your lilly with an ABV of 7.8%. Most Belgians beers are pretty tough, which is why I usually end up wandering around the streets of Sharpsville after a few. The use Saaz, Target and Liberty hops and Victory, Munich and Pale malts. And they toss in some coriander in there. I don't like the taste of coriander but I like the name. It's like the spice's accordion. The taste is a sour, Belgian style. Hints of coriander and a dry finish. It's fragrance is a bitter mistress. Belgians always remind me barleywines, or if you put a beer and white wine in the same glass, it probably has the same strength! It's crystal clear with minimal, white head.

I got this guy as part of a sampler. They had 12 beers for $15 which isn't as bad as a kick to the balls, or slap to the breasts if you're a babe. But I'd shovel these to other people at a get-together and leave more room for other stuff. It's not bad for a Belgian but I don't like Belgians. Not many other big name breweries have Belgians on their regular roster, so it is a bit of a treat, I guess.


Other New Belgium Reviews:
Ranger IPA
Fat Tire
Winter Ale
Pale Lager

Drinkability: 4/10

Taste: 5/10
Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 6/10
Overall: 4.75/10

Brouwerij Corsendonk – Christmas Ale

Ahhh it’s that time of year again, a lot of people consider the fall season to be the best time of year for seasonal beer, but I consider the winter styles to be just as welcoming. For all you stout and porter fans, you know what I’m talkin about.

Corsendonk was brewed by a bunch of monks dating back to the late 1300’s, but was shut down by an Austrian Emperor in the 18^th century because he didn’t like their beer, or that they taught Latin, but more likely because they were spreading religion. Most likely getting their followers drunk and really pushing god on them. I use this tactic when I want someone to stop talking to me at a bar, try it out, works like a charm. In 1982 it was reintroduced and has been a top Belgian in my eyes ever since.

I drank this one at the Sharp Edge in downtown Pittsburgh, on Light Up Night, so the theme really fit the bill. If you have a chance to go to a Sharp Edge location, there are a few around Pittsburgh, I highly recommend it. They have hundreds of beers to try and the staff is very knowledgeable. The price is high but there are beers there you won’t find anywhere else, plus each beer is served in its designated glass.

The ale itself is dark, smooth and malty, with a frothy head. I’m a big brown ale fan (not to be confused with brown eye) so this was right up my alley. The taste was a bit fruity, maybe some plum, raisin, and cherry, but with a spicy, nutty undertone and finish. This guy boasts an ABV of 8.5%, so perfect for the Holiday season when you wanna sit back relax and numb your mouth before shots come your way at the lube on Christmas night.

That said, this beer is a favorite for the holidays, but at 8 bucks a bottle, I don’t think I’ll be having many. Is Beast Ice still 8 bucks a case?

Drinkability: 8/10

Taste: 8/10
Value: 2/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 6.25/10

Pabst Brewing Company's Old Style Lager

From the geniuses who brought you PBR, I pronounce to you, Old Style Lager! Jam it!

We covered a little bit on Pabst Brewing Company in this review of PBR or Old Milkwaukee but I'm sure I can find some more banter to discuss

First of all, we should mention the stellar line up Pabst has to offer us beer drinkers and hell raisers. Pabst beers are the "Don't you mess with me buddy" beer I like to drink at bars. These beers typically are drank but righteous dudes in dive bars that you know not to mess with and, of course, hipsters. Fortunately, the hipsters haven't moved to Old Milz yet, so there is still time.

So Pabst's root go back to 1844 where Jacob Best started a brewery and later named it after brew-druid Frederick Pabst. They currently are the holding company for such brands (brace yourself) as Schaefer's, Schlitz, St. Ide's, and Stroh's to name a few; talk about a line-up. I am loving these guys the more I read about em.

They hail from Woodbridge, Illinois; which is west of Woodbridge, Virginia and currently making it's move to it's new home in, bleh, LA.

Old Style, itself, was first brewed in 1902. I like to think it was to commemorate the death of Jack the Ripper. It was brewed in the Heileman Brewing Company in 'Consin. It grew some serious popularity in the midwest. The brewing moved to another location when the brewery was sold to City Brewing Company. Apparently their LaCrosse beer is identical to Old Style.

Plus, Old Style is Kräusened, which means wort is added to the beer when it is bottled. This encourages the yeast to further ferment. This will clean up the flavor and OBVIOUSLY reduce the levels of diacetyl and acetaldehyde you bozo! Go back to school, damn! This is pretty common in Belgian beers apparently, if you didn't already knoooww thaaat.

This baby tips the scales at 4.7% ABV and this 24oz goliath only rang up like $2. You'd have to be as smart as baboon-lobster lab experiment if you don't buy it.

It pours easy, don't much head on it and a crisp, clean look to it. I hardly saw any acetaldehyde. It has a yeasty, lagery smell to it. Drinks heavier than a light beer, but comparable to it's Budweiser and Coors counterparts. Pretty enjoyable. Having a profound appreciation of Old Style can get you pretty far with Chicago-ians.

It's a good beer for a good price. You might see Jay Cutler sipping on one of these or some classy bum in the street.

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 8/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.25/10

Flying Dog Brewery's Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale

The moment I first sipped on this beer I said, "mm." A couple moments later I sipped it again and said, "oh wow, this is a special little treat." That's what this beer is; a special little treat. If I could end this review like that I would. But I gotta write more stuff to make Butala happy.

Flying Dog Brewery can be found down in Frederick, Maryland. These guys follow the great Hunter Thompson's quote "good people drink good beer." If you don't know who Hunter Thompson is go read a fucking book, dude.

This pale ale is one of the best brews made my Flying Dog. Those birds over at the New York Times even named it the number one pale ale in America. I wish everything tasted like this. It's quite refreshing so you can drink a lot of them after you finish your morning workout and at 5.5% abv, you can drink a lot of them and still do your daily activities. Its got a 35 IBU. I don't know what that means, but I like it.

All the artwork done for the brewery is done by Ralph Steadman, the same guy who drew pretty pictures for Thompson. The artwork on this bottle is Steadman at his finest.

At $10.50 a sixer this beer is a little tough on my college budget. But it's made in America so who gives a shit?




Drinkability: 10/10
Taste: 10/10
Value: 9/10
Curb Appeal: 10/10
Overall: 9.75/10

Goose Island Brewery's Mild Winter Ale

So here I am, minding my own business on a late Saturday afternoon and I says to myself, "Why the heck don't I run through some of these Goose Island beers before the big Owen show". So here I am. I been real pleased with these characters. You might have remember about them when I covered their brewery in this review.

My overall opinion has been that Goose Island is at this point, the best brewery I've tasted in Chicago, though that my prove to be the Chex Mix "Bold and Zesty" hasty generalization of the month. But I mean not picking up a sampler from these guys is about as smart as sticking your dangus in car door; I mean "C'mon".

I like this winter ale, it isn't as heavy as most winter ales, but it does say "mind winter" not "wild winter". It goes down pretty fast and has a nice clean head on it contrasting its dark, brown appearance. So this won't be as heavy as a stout, porter or even Neil Diamond's brother. It's got a nice toffee, caramel flavor. If you swish it in your mouth like a floozy at a frat party you'll immediately notice a subtle, mildly butter, nutty flavor to this beer; really good. The aroma is a sweet, choco-toff-amel scent that is more complex than long division to a 3rd grader.

The ABV is 5.6% with an IBU rating of 28, which makes it 100 points less bitter than Burt Reynolds in "Cop and a Half"; that stone, cold glare he had during that movie; Jesus! They use Tettnang and Willamette hops; I never heard of Tettnang but it is probably pretty good. Malt includes are Carapils, Dark Chocolate, 2-Row, and Roast Barley.

This beer is a cousin, in my opinion, to the Snow Cap Ale that Pyramid puts out around the same time of the year. Not a cousin like "Gail the Snail" or some cousin you might hate. But like a cousin that you think is pretty cool, but you aren't really cousins, which is good in case you ever kissed on accident, you know? I mean a lot worse things happen in West Virginia so I don't know why everyone is on MY case!?!?

...that kind of cousin.

So, I don't know if I could drink a whole case on this watching the Blackhawks get shut out by St. Louis, but it's a great addition to this sampler. It's got a great taste and at $13 for a 12 pack, you'd have to be as smart as Philip Rivers in the final two minutes of a football game to not buy this.

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 7.25/10


Other Goose Island Reviews:
Goose Island Harvest Ale
Goose Island Sofie Belgian Farmhouse Ale
Goose Island India Pale Ale
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Hefeweisen
Goose Island Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale

Peter Straub's Special Dark

So, you say you long for a beer that tastes like late autumn, football, hockey, beards and fires in fireplaces? BOOM. Straub Special Dark in yr MOUTH! Made in beautiful St. Mary's, PA, this amber delicacy is a great full bodied lager that warms you up in all the right places, kinda like a Snuggie that you can sip. And from a brewery founded in 1872 that boasts an eternal tap that comes out of a freaking rock, you probably shouldn't expect anything less than greatness. Peter Straub is responsible for all of this. Here is the most interesting google image result for Peter Straub:



I am blaming this greatness solely on haunting and magic.

Straub's Extra Dark offers some really unique tastes in a dark lager that somehow, despite the color and taste, is surprisingly drinkable and doesn't make you feel like you downed a christmas ham when you drink 4 beers. I'm really quite bad at describing tastes accurately and more of a fan of describing them with an event, (See Brooklyn Pennant Ale's description of tasting like a twinight double header at forbes field) so ill say that Straub's Extra Dark tastes a lot like sitting on a giant, overstuffed leather couch in front of a fireplace in a luxurious hunting cabin after a bow hunting excursion while watching a hockey game at 5pn when it's already dark. Kinda like that.

And in true Straubers fashion, a case of these bad boys was a great value, running me about 22 bucks for a case of bottles at the local distro, If only they would come in returnable bottles. One can dream.

So, if you like a transcendental experience while you suck down a few beers, grab some of these, put on a flannel, and check out for a few hours.

Goose Island Brewery's India Pale Ale

Hey turkeys, this is a review of Goose Island's IPA. Now you might remember I talked about Goose Island here, so I won't go into that again.

I am not too into IPAs, as you might know, but I tell ya, I've tasted a few in the past year that is really starting to change my mind. Now this is not a strong IPA, it only has 55 IBUs, so that's probably why I like it; beer that have IBUs in the 80s and higher, that's where I draw the line. They use Syrian, Fuggle, Cascade and Centennial hops; but apparently they use them in moderation.

It's got a nice golden color with a clean, medium head. The smell is bittersweet, with a grassy undertone. The taste is crisp and refreshing. It's fullbodied and has a medium hop flavor to it. It has a bitter aftertaste that you would expect from a IPA. Again, I got a sampler at the grocery store for $13 for a 12 pack, so you'd have to be a total loser to not buy this! Most of their beers have decent alcohol percentages and the IPA doesn't disappoint at 5.9%.

Everything I've had from these guys has been real rad so I'd suggest picking up this variety pack to anyone who has the necessary means to. The sampler ranks among the best samplers I've ever had. If you ever visit me, make me buy this for you.

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 8/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.0/10


Other Goose Island Reviews:
Goose Island Harvest Ale
Goose Island Sofie Belgian Farmhouse Ale
Goose Island Mild Winter Ale
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Hefeweisen
Goose Island Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale

Goose Island Brewery's Harvest Ale

Jack this shit to max volume as you read.

Before anyone gets too excited about this review, let me preface this by saying Goose Island was bought out by Anheuser -Busch which was later bought out by those Belgians InBev. So, it's always unfortunate when a good brewery gets bought out by Belgians.

Goose Island opened their first brew-pub in 1988 in Lincoln Park located in Chicago, Illinois by John Hall (not the guitarist for Orleans). Remember that song, "Still the One"? That song rocks so hard! A second brew pub opened in 1995 in Wrigleyville (also in Chicago) which was way bigger than the first. They served booze and food at these places, stuff like rabbit, duck, crap like that. They got over a half dozen regular beers and roll out seasonals all the time. They have tours all the time of the brewery (the first one) and also pump out a few types of soda also, though I hear the soda is not as good as the beer. Also, the beer gets you drunker than soda.

So I kept hearing from people when I moved here I should try some Goose Island and were pretty adamant about it. So I said to myself, I said "What the heck do I have to lose?" So I picked up a twelve pack of this Harvest Ale for like $13 bucks; I mean that's only like a dollar a beer. Only a great fool would pass up a deal like that. I am a learned man, so naturally I bought it with a smile. So I went home and cracked one of these suckers open and OH BABY! It was tasty.

This is one of the Extra Special Bitter beers available August to November. It's got an ABV of 5.7% and an IBU rating of 35 (their IPA has a rating of 80 so 35 isn't too bitter). This copper beauty has a thick rich head on her and the bubbles are tanned, so you know before tasting it's gonna be jacked with flavor. The taste delivers. It's brewed with cascade hops so it has a slightly bitter aftertaste, like if you were drinking a pale ale, but the caramel, pale, and wheat malts give a rich, full bodied flavor in your mouth, so the aftertaste isn't all hoppy. The smell is really pleasant. A sweet, malty aroma that is representative of the taste.

So I mean a dollar a beer, for 5.7% ABV, and a brand of beer known Illinois-wide as a quality microbrew is a pretty good deal overall. And even though it's now owned by InBev, I'll continue to try their stuff. It's good stuff.

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.75/10


Other Goose Island Reviews:
Goose Island Sofie Belgian Farmhouse Ale
Goose Island India Pale Ale
Goose Island Mild Winter Ale
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Hefeweisen
Goose Island Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale