Boston Brewing Company's Winter Lager

Those scumbags in Boston are back at it again with this winter lager. If you wanna read about Boston Brewing Company you can read about it in this review with one major update: Boston Brewing Company is no longer the largest American Owned Brewery in the world. It got beat out to our friends at Yuengling. Huzzah to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

So let's get to the beer, why don't we? First and foremost I think winter ales and lagers are for the birds. I might get into pumpkin beers and I'll toss back some nog when the time's right but winter beers? Not my steeze. What is my steeze? NBA Jam, raspberry jam and the Jam. All things JAM! Delicious. I'll say this about this winter lager....I've had worse. It's got a dark tan head and a nice amber color; it's like the Samoset of beer; one of the more underrated native Americans. Speaking of, I bet those dude brewed some pretty gnar brews. And man, weren't they ripped? I bet those guys would totally clean up in MMA. Like that Indian in Ernest Goes to Camp; when the blade and gun and tomahawk or whatever the shit it was couldn't hurt em. Then Ernest was all like, "Hey Vern...these boys are keeping their camp" and those dudes had that food shooting machine. Third world problems.

So we agree it looks good. The price wasn't too bad. I picked up a twelver for 14 bones which, let's face it, ain't too shab. It's 5.6% ABV so you won't be driving any school buses after a kegstand or four. And the label is the same bullshit label their Boston Lager uses (pretty much) which I'm a little more than "sick of". Still, it's no Juju.

It's got a sweet scent; with some citrus and ginger undertones. It's a lager so it isn't too malty. They do use a decent amount of malts. Samuel Adams two-row pale malt blend, Caramel 60, malted wheat, Weyermann Carafa Malt, and Munich 10 is your are keeping score. They also use a couple of hops I never heard of which immediately makes me think they are made up. Whatever though, I'm not judging.

All things considered, this tastes less than a fart than most winter brews. Would I get it again? Uhm. Probably not. The taste isn't as overwhelming as most winter hooch. I picked this up for a party just in case other booze ran out. Spoiler alert; it didn't. So now I'm stuck with a handful of these. I can probably power through them...after chugging cough syrup. Again, not a winter beer fan, but as far as winter brews go; it's way more tolerable than some jerks out there.

Drinkability: 6.0/10
Taste: 6.0/10
Value: 5.0/10
Curb Appeal: 4.0/10

Overall: 5.25/10

Blatant Brewery's Blatant IPA

Crank the crap outta this mother!

This is the first review of a beer brewed from Blatant Brewery. This brewery is currently located in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. It was founded by Matthew Steinberg 2010 after 15 of so extensive years of brewing beers at other micros in the tri-state area. The brewery itself prides itself of it artisan values and samples each of their ingredients before brewing. This is probably pretty easy since they only have 2 major beers, the Blatant IPA and their Session Blonde Ale.  They'll come out with other stuff here and there such as their double imperial IPA but is few and far between. The double was a result of their one-year anniversary and is harder to come across than a sailor coming across the clap when he ports.

First thing you will notice about this beer is that it's cloudier than shit; thick as pea soup! It's got a half inch white head to it. Contrary to the sight, this is a surprisingly smooth taste. Not a gritty, sediment consistency. There is a heavy hop to it but it's a IPA you turkey, of course it'll be hoppy. It hits the charts at 65 IBUs which is deceiving because it tastes like it'd be higher.  It has a pretty dry finish to it and a sour aftertaste. The bottle itself has some nice curb appeal to it, simple and subtle. If you are drinking this under a bridge, all of the other bums will be like "Who's this classy-ass bum with his fancy swill?" and you will inevitably get knifed in your sleep because they will think you got some killer-ass shit in your shopping cart. I actually got this on draft to avoid that complication and it ran me $6 but everything else at the bar was within a dollar of that so the entire place was a little pricey. It's got a ABV of 6.5% so it isn't the weakest girl at scout camp.

Overall this is a great IPA. It goes down pretty smooth and is great for a hot day. It's not nearly as heavy as it looks but is so bitter that you might have issues downing a sixer. It would be good to try out a double deuce or split a sixer with a pal, if you have any pals.

Drinkability: 7.0/10
Taste: 7.0/10
Value: 4.0/10
Curb Appeal: 7.0/10

Overall: 6.25

Berkshire Brewing Company's Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale

I rarely have anything negative to say but this tastes like a sweat sock was dunked in Maxwell House coffee for a week and rung out into a glass that was previously occupied by jock straps worn by Sinbad from the movie "Necessary Roughness". Extreme? Definitely. Accurate? Not so much. Disappointed? Totally!

We first reviewed BBC in their Drayman's Porter here and I was not only totally stoked, but also, mildly "whoa". So when I saw the opportunity to try another tasty beverage from BBC during one of my fantastically amusing drug delivery and diagnostic global business bi-annual conference, you could imagine my interest piqued like Orlando Bloom's woodstock when he first saw Smeagol in a loincloth. The happiness sunk faster than the Titanic after my first sip. What a crock!

First as you can tell by the picture, this beer had less head than Gargamel ever got in college. The bubbles were about as evident as washing your hair after 10 days of slothfulness, and it tasted like that one time you made out with your dog when you were sort of experimenting with things.

The taste? Bitter and dry. The smell was non-existent. I gotta hand it for the look though because it sort of resembled that amber cane that old dude had in Jurassic Park, though I thought that movie totally blew.

I would love to blame the bar for having a skunked keg but I have no evidence to persuade me otherwise. This tasted like a "badder" Coors Light which puts it close to the mark of formaldehyde.

This was free for me (thank God) and has a ABV of 5.3%. I assume it'd be around $5 a pint. The IBU's are around 20 which, call me a critic, or an asshole, but an extra pale ale should have an IBU count higher than 20, in my humble opinion.  BBC is a pretty well respected name in Massachusetts and I was quote disappointed in this. I'd try it again only to see if this sample was a fluke. But if anyone ever drinks this again ever you should probably just live on the moon, you dodo.

Other Berkshire Brewery Reviews:
Drayman's Porter


Drinkability: 5/10
Taste: 2/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 5/10

Overall: 4.5/10