Great Lakes Brewing Company - Rye of the Tiger IPA

Turn this junk up unless you fell of the turnip truck as a kid!

Another great beer from our friends at Great Lakes; Rye of the Tiger Rye-PA. This is named for its higher rye malt content opposed to other brews omitting such malt. Its got a floral scent as most IPAs do with a sharp bite that really nips the sides of your tongue. It's got a bit of a dry after taste which isn't necessarily different that other Indian Pale Ales. If you wanted a watery aftertaste I suggest drinking this crapola in high doses.

The Rye of the Tiger is like a lot of champions; tough, surly and will put you on your tush in seven rounds (reaching a 7.5% ABV). This is not the only IPA coming out of Great Lakes. The also have the Commodore Perry IPA (available year long) and the Alchemy Double (available February). The Commodore has the same ABV (Alchemy has 9.4%) but what is notable as far as the Rye is concerned is that it has a higher IBU than the others (Rye 92, Alchemy 80, Commodore 70). So if you like your high IBUs you might want to check this mother out (available April).

Would I get this again? Possibly. It was $5 a draft which isn't as cheap as a prom date from Ohio but still not outrageous (unlike a prom date from Ohio). As far as IPAs go its pretty bitter but it wasn't like I cried home to my mommy about. This is a good sipping beer in an air conditioned bar so if you like that keep on it. I'm not a fan of the label. I just have a real phobia with Tigers and Lions on my beers but this one works out pretty well.

Other Great Lakes Beer Reviews
Alchemy Double IPA
Lake Erie Monster IPA
Conways Irish Ale
Commodore Perry IPA
Eliot Ness Lager
Christmas Ale

Drinkability: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 4/10

Overall: 6.25/10

Carlsberg Group's Elephant Lager

The Carlsberg Group was founded in 1847 by my old gym teacher J. Jacobsen. It's based out of Copenhagen and scholars surmise more than half the employees chew Copenhagen. This brewery group is actually really big. They have like 45,000 employees and are growing faster than that rash on your bum (I told you to get it looked at). So Carlsberg had two major logos, the elephant and the swastika. Guess which one stuck. So Jacobsen was like "Hey, I'm gonna science the shit outta this beer" and created departments of physiology and chemistry to aide with the brewing process (nerd alert) and most likely received dozens of "wet willies" in high school.

Carlsberg continued to buy up brewerys in the 90s and through to today by acquiring Tetley, Baltic Beverages, and Okocim. They have so many beers under their control you actually have to scroll down on a computer page to read all of them. Highlights are Elephant, San Miguel, Baltika, Kronenbourg, Okocim and Saxon Beer.

Elephant appear a little blah. The bottle looks pretty cool, low profile but then you see it's only 11.2 ounce which is the biggest joke since Stella Artois. It's like "Hey Dingus, even my dad drinks 12oz beers now; get with the program". The beer has a highly carbonated taste. Light and refreshing and easy to chug, especially considering the 7.2% ABV; the police actually put out an ABV out of this one, breaker breaker. The smell isn't very strong at all. This lager taste a little like Heineken but with a better after taste, plus you don't look like such a douchebag drinking this opposed to Heineken. It's about $9 for a sixer but again, don't be fooled by the 11.2oz bottles.

I'd get this again when like, I wanted to drink a ton of beer and get really messed up. Like I said, its 7.2% ABV but you wouldn't suspect it until you drank like four of them and then stood up and at 11.2oz per bottle, you're gonna be getting up an awful lot.

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 6.5/10

McNeill's Brewery's Ruby Extra Amber Ale

McNeill's Brewery is located in Brattleboro, VT. They have been around since 1992 and have about 17 different types of beer, 10 regular and 7 seasonal. Brewmaster Ray McNeill has won countless awards for this brews, none of which I really give a rat's ass about; I'm only concerned about my tastes. Available in New England, you can find their beers in New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont. They do have a pub that has a food menu however, rumor has it its better to just bring your own food in.

This beer, the Ruby Extra Amber Ale is a 5.7% ABV beauty. It has a nice thick head, especially for an ale, and an aroma and taste of caramel. The aroma is actually a little weaker than you would expect. Don't let that fool your taste buds though because this baby is full of flavor, like a slow roasted infant in a Crock Pot. You do get a small overbearing hop flavor to it, not necessarily bad, but I would not call this a smooth ale by any stretch. But don't get me wrong, this is a great beer, no arguments, I just would have used milder hops. The carbonation of this ale is typical of an amber ale, bubbling to perfection as tantalizes your tongue. This is a good BBQ beer, early summer, fall and springtime brew. It's light enough to be drank in the 70 degree heat but when you hit the 80s, its anyone's game.

The label itself is pretty bad, and I don;t like to be a hater. I mean all the references to Arabian shit is uh, a bit of a stretch to the "Ruby" reference. McNeill himself seems to dangle from the Old English, King Arthur fonts and references himself and gets a little lost on me. This microbrew has the stuff to turn some heads, but I think their marketing department could use some help. Like I wouldn't bring this beer over to a Wrestlemania party. I picked up a doubledeuce of this stuff for $4, so that isn't too bad.

Drinkability: 5/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 3/10

Overall: 5.0/10

Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin English Ruby Ale

With a beer tap like this, only a great fool would not order this at a bar or maybe the jivest of all turkeys. With the exception of the tap, this beer was also $4 at a bar, which was their monthly special and all the other beauties in the line-up, not counting Bud Light, were $5, so the economist in me obviously went with the Hobgoblin.

So Wychwood Brewery is jammed in Witney, England, not to be mistaken with Whitley, Duane Wayne's on-again off-again babe from "Diff'rent World". It's like, why did I ever watch that show? Remember Kriss Kross was on there once; man, those kids were tough.

So John Clinch opened a brewery there, right, and pretty much coined the insult "son of a banker". In all honestly, I think his name was something else, but opening a brewery was so clutch and a sinch that he changed his name. Then, like everything in the 80's, it was sold to some dude who called it the Eagle Brewery, and later was renamed to the Wynchwood brewery in the 90's when everyone agreed Eagle Brewery sounded stoopid.

This was all after Hobgoblin was created (1988) for some dudes daughter's wedding. This stuff was so popular that they opened up like 60 pubs over there selling it along with other libations, which is a good idea, because I personally don't see what people see in this stuff.

This stuff his the charts at 5.2% ABV. It's pretty dark, with a light sweet scent. The taste is a watered down, bitter, flavor wit ha very dry finish. i mean this beer goes down pretty easily, but I really think it'd be good with like, toast, or something like that. It isn't anything that you'd like, want to eat with chicken, or beef, or potatoes. It's sort of a fruity, Belgian style beer; in my opinion. I've found that most of the times a beer has some sort of character that looks like he might be on a Magic: the Gathering card, the beer is usually a poopy nightmare.

If you like a sourish, dark looking beer that tastes light with some citrus hints to it, you might like this beer. I dunno, the English seem to always like maybe their beers as bitter as their demeanor and watered down as their weather. I'd pass on this if I saw it again, but not if the only other choice was that Bud Light.

Drinkability: 6/10

Taste: 3/10

Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 6/10

Overall: 4.75/10

Budwesier Budvar Brewery's Czechvar Lager

So I was talking about the logic behind the phrase "budweiser" in European parlance here so I'm not gonna get into that chickenshit bull crap.

Long story short, this is not owned or related to Anheuser-Busch. It's a Czech beer.

So the brewery that makes this stuff started up in 1785 and started exporting it to the US about 100 years later. During all this time, Anheuser-Busch and Budvar got in 1 million lawsuits over the name "Budweiser". Both sides eventually lost interest and they name stayed.

The brewery itself makes about 5 different types of booze; pale ales, lagers, dark, strong, and your gay brother's favorite, non-alcoholic. I'll say this about the beer, it looks real clear and light, low head, and a sparkling presence about it, like Cinderella, or David Bowie. It has a sharp, hoppy scent to it and a crisp, dry, refreshing taste. If you drank these in middle school, you could probably pround one between class pretty easy. Keeping it cold would be a problem, you don't want to deal with all the ice when it melts, so maybe you'd have to get into some sort or battery powered freeze pack that you could retrofit on your bookbag. Plus you could keep other stuff cold. Like sandwiches and stuff.

I got half a liter of this stuff for $3 in a Chicago grocery store. I was like, "What the heck is the deal here?" and I picked it up with no hesitation. The ABV is 5% so I was as excited as hearing there could be a Proclaimers reunion concert. So it goes down real easy, like your sister, and its like, man, what would happen first? Run out of money or get drunk? Cuz this stuff goes down fast and I'm super thirsty!

The bottle looks okay. I'm more about stuff that looks obnoxiously classy or completely dirtbaggish. This just looks...normal. And that's cool, if you're an accounting major!

Drinkability: 8/10

Taste: 6/10

Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 4/10

Overall: 6.0/10

Belhaven Brewery's Scottish Stout

Belhaven began brewing back in 1719, which started on a Sunday if you are into the Gregorian calendar like me; probably not. The location of the brewery was specifically set to avoid the damn Dunbar Council tax so it was impost-free; the best type of free.  They had some stiff competition in Scotland but by 2005, they were the oldest game in town and older always means better. They only had about 4 regular beers to their arsenal but now have over a dozen in their lineup.

Rumor has it they they might have started brewing beer pre-12th century by presumably some old ass monks but that isn't documented anywhere. They sold the family business in 1972 (initially started by John Johnstone) and when that shit went down, they really started pumping out some beers.

So this is their Scottish Stout hitting the scales at 7% ABV and $6.00 a pint and, between you and me, this is a great substitution to eating. This thing is a meal in itself, a delicious meal.  It has the flavor of toasted nuts and malts with a mix of coffee, chocolate and toffee. It's got a bitter aftertaste and is smoother than me after 12 Busch Lights.

It's darker than a Edgar Allan Poe short story read by Vincent Price in a coal mine in the Congo; dark.

It's got a good head on it, like your reviewer, and it's real thick, and a malty, frothy goodness. This has been labeled as "Guinness's Worst Nightmare" and is of a comparable style. It's way cooler than Guinness because it isn't Guinness.

Would I get it again? Heck yes I would. Would I drink it on a 10 mile bike ride, well, probably not. It's heavy, delicious and full flavored but not good for drinking when you are mowing the lawn. I wish I would have came across this in the winter. By stout standards this is a winner. You aren't going to be able to chug these but they aren't designed for chugging before you go to a varsity basketball game, you n00b.


Drinkability: 7/10
Taste: 9/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Great Lakes Brewing Company - Alchemy Hour Double IPA

Talk about your summer IPA's, this one is like the tropics in a glass, if the tropics were full of alcohol, which in my experience they are.

I know, I know, Nick does another Great Lakes review, well deal with it! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! The boys from Cleveland do it again with this gem. It's a nice hazy light amber/orange with a bitterness and ABV (9.4%) that will knock you off your stool (or couch, or toilet, wherever you choose to enjoy). The nose is bitter and sweet with the scent of tropical fruits, and the finish does hold true to the smell.

Now let me tell you, I have experimented in drinking these all night, and they will knock you on your ass. So if you like that feeling, which is why im guessing you're on this site, go ahead and slam em.

Keep an eye out for this one, and keep an eye out for it as a different name. Currently there is a lawsuit that is making them change the name because some beer bums decided to copyright the name "Alchemy" in any beer name. Sounds dumb to me, somehow they won, but i'm no lawyer.


Malts:
-Harrington 2-Row
-Caramel 45
-Honey malt

Hops:
-Nugget
-Mosaic
-Cascade

Other Great Lakes Beer Reviews
Lake Erie Monster IPA
Conways Irish Ale
Commodore Perry IPA
Eliot Ness Lager
Rye of the Tiger IPA
Christmas Ale

Drinkability: 8/10
Taste: 8/10
Value: 5/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 7/10