Olde School - Dog fish head

APPEARANCE: (5) Pretty head with a rich foam. Beer is semi cloudy towards the darker brown side. A twirl of the testing glass gives the beer a richer head but not overwhelming. This is pretty typical for this style of beer.

AROMA: (5) Sweet rich aroma of molasses and pears is the first thing that comes into my mind. Dates and figs is what dog fish head themselves says. An intriguing aroma for sure.

TASTE: (4) Very sweet on the palate. This beer definitely needs to be balanced with some food. A piece of sopressata salami with strawberry really takes this beer to a new tasting level. I would like to give this beer more than a 4 but don't think that I can do so. The taste is great but more was expected after the aroma.

EXTRA: (5) Dogfish head will probably always get my highest extra points for their innovative thinking.

Beer style: Barley Wine style ale
Serving temperature: 8-10 C
Alcohol: 15%

Food Pairings: I truly don't know what is the best to pair a beer like this with. However, a good old friend of mine who also has a beer blog recently recommended Strawberries together with strong salami. This sounds crazy enough for me to want to try it. One thing you have to do with a potent luxury beer like this is to definitely pair it with some good food. I took it a little step further by combining the strawberry salami with asiago cheese.

APPEARANCE: 5 x 5 = 25
AROMA: 5 x 10 = 50
TASTE: 4 x 10 = 40
EXTRA: 5 x 1 = 5

Total: 120/130

Liberty Ale - Anchor Steam Brewery

APPEARANCE: (5) Thick beautiful head of foam raises in my testing glass. Beer is clear and bronze colored. When twirling the glass the foam raises to new levels.

AROMA: (4) Piney rich hoppy aroma. There are aromas of citrus fruits. Grape fruit, tangerine?

TASTE: (4) Very well balanced bitterness. When I tested this beer for the first time over 20 years ago it was extreme in flavors compared to the beers that were available at that time. Now time has changed and this is still a very good beer but not extreme compared to the many beers that tries to pass boundaries nowadays.

EXTRA: (5) This brewery and this brewer, Fritz Maytag was the one that started the whole new craft brewery movement in USA which today we see so many good examples of.

Beer style: Premium American Ale
Serving temperature: 8-10 C
Alcohol: 5.9%

Food Pairings: Spicy food. Cold cuts. Cheeses.

APPEARANCE: 5 x 5 = 25
AROMA: 4 x 10 = 40
TASTE: 4 x 10 = 40
EXTRA: 5 x 1 = 5

Total: 110/130

Lunar Ale - Boulevard Brewing

APPEARANCE: (4) Dark mahogany cloudy. Foam is fairly firm and last on the longer side.

AROMA: (3) Fruity aroma.

TASTE: (3) Pretty anonymous. It is probably a good thirst quencher but not much more. It has a little bit of yeasty flavor which is not a bad thing but this is not a true wheat beer either.

EXTRA: (2) Not much to rave about except for the exotic name.

Beer style: Unfiltered ale
Serving temperature: 6-8 C
Alcohol: 5.0%

Food Pairings: Since the taste is more on the lighter side, this beer goes with most food.

APPEARANCE: 4 x 5 = 20
AROMA: 3 x 10 = 30
TASTE: 3 x 10 = 30
EXTRA: 2 x 1 = 2

Total: 82/130

Pilsner - Sudwerk

APPEARANCE: (4) Livelier foam than the Hefe Weizen. Foam is firm and last longer. When testing this is a true pils glass, it does not live long enough though to qualify for a 'sieben minuten pils', a pils that take 7 minutes to pour into a pils glass. Crystal clear yellow brew.

AROMA: (3) Pils does not really have a rich aroma. The best examples like Jever, König pils and Bitburger all have a herbal aroma. This beer does not even if that does not mean there is anything wrong with this beer.

TASTE: (3) Clean taste with the hint of 'typical' pils taste. This is a good beer but not extraordinary.

EXTRA: (3) This brewery stays true to the styles that they mimic from Germany. Their best beers are the Hefe Weizen and the Märzen.

Beer style: Pils/Pilsner
Serving temperature: 4-6 C
Alcohol: 4.5%

Food Pairings: Salty cold dishes like salami, cheese tray with cold cut meat and maybe bratwurst with Sauerkraut.

APPEARANCE: 4 x 5 = 20
AROMA: 3 x 10 = 30
TASTE: 3 x 10 = 30
EXTRA: 3 x 1 = 3

Total: 83/130

Hefe Weizen - Sudwerk

APPEARANCE: (3) Light foam which settles fairly fast and builts up fast when the glass in twirled. Cloudy appearance which is normal for a 'Hefe' (means yest in German).

AROMA: (4) A little bit of a yeasty aroma which smells very freshing.

TASTE: (5) For this style of beer this has a wonderful taste which is very true to this style of beer coming from southern Germany. Wheat beers have become very popular in US but most of them does not taste like the original. This one does and the only other American hefe weissbier that I know comes close is Flying dogs version of it

EXTRA: (4) I give this beer a 4 in extra points just because it is so true to the original beer from Bavaria.

Beer style: Hefe Weissbier. Wheat beer with yest sediments.
Serving temperature: 4-6 C
Alcohol: 4.2%

Food Pairings: Works with most type of food or just as a wonderful thirst quencher. Wheat beers are ideal thirst quenchers since they don't trigger you to want more beer like a bitter hoppy beer.

APPEARANCE: 3 x 5 = 15
AROMA: 4 x 10 = 40
TASTE: 5 x 10 = 50
EXTRA: 4 x 1 = 4

Total: 109/130