Schneider Weisse Hefe-Weizen

1 pint, .9 fl oz bottle (500 ml). Amber-brown appearance. Off-white head. Good retention. Rim holds steady.

Estery aroma with yeast & over ripe banana. Smooth & fruity. Floral & spicy. Bubble gum. Excellent smell; hard to describe better than that.

Lovely taste. Bright flavors. Bananas, peppery hops, wheat bread. Cloves. Hints of ginger. Bitterness level is just right; absolutely masterful. A bit of booze shows.

Notes: glad I grabbed this one. Schneider Weisse is greatly revered in decades-old beer books I own so it was only a matter time before I tried what they've been offering since before I was born. In this case, definitely a brew worth imbibing.

Full Pint Brewing Co's RumpelPilsen

Another local...support quality local beer!

Yellow-golden appearance with a nice white head that recedes, but an attractive rim & lacing sticks around. Carbonation bubbles. Looks good!

Bready, yeasty & lightly citrusy in the nose. Lime peel, boiling hops, sour dough aroma. Floral.

Taste is light, somewhat sour, with a bit of yeast flavor. Hops throw in with a mild astringency. Sour dough bread. A touch of peppery hops flavor trails towards the end.

Light-medium bodied. Easy to take in. Clean, refreshing. Enough dry breadiness to make one want more.

Notes: I like the new label design, however, I've got Full Pint's Coffee Porter in my fridge and the lady with the backbreaking cleavage on the label is just another example of cheesy, cheap, pandering artwork.

Rock Bottom (Homestead) Brakeman's Breakfast Stout

Another local beer packaged in a 22 oz bottle, bottle conditioned.

Lively brew pours pitch black with a big nougat colored head. Foamy & fluffy up top. Awesome head.

Smells roasted. Very dark. Smooth & relatively non-abrasive. Coffee notes, freshly ground. Sour note.

Grainy crispness up front with dark malts & a coffee-like finish. Smooth roast texture. Hops & roasted flavors work well together. Dark chocolate dryness. Booze tingles the taste buds.

Hops/roasted character carrys this one. Not too heavy and very drinkable, setting aside the ABV which I can only assume is between 6-8%.

Genesee Cream Ale

Golden-hay appearance with a bright white head provided its given the right pour (slims down of course, but retained). Not at all bashfully carbonated.

A grassy, spicy hops smell that I expected shows itself. Grapes/wine aroma. Light malts.

Dry, earthy graininess up front. Splash of hops. The palate becomes acclimated and this brew flaunts a favorable creaminess. A touch of bread. Light in flavor.

A sweet roundness to this brew. Further along and that creaminess I stood by becomes a bit cloying. Lingers at times.

Overall, a decent brew. I had this out the bottle and into a Czech pilsner glass. Cost me $0.80 at my favorite bottle-shop, Guntown Beer.

Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale

Notes from 3/4/12:

Label denotes "Best before 4/14/12." Brownish-red appearance. Off-white head slims down, but a thin rim holds steady. Clear with very little carbonation bubbles.

Fruity hops & sweet caramel in the nose. Clean, smooth & inviting.

Prickly bite up front. Carbonation, subtle sweetness & bittering hops. Tart apple. Spicy hops flavor. Caramel malts.

Fairly balanced with a touch more hops to boost. Medium-bodied with a sharp, yet not intense hoppiness.
 

Abita Abbey Ale

Notes from 3/3/12

22 oz bottle cost me $4.95, poured into the widest wine glass I own (took about 3 pours to finish the bottle).

Dark-maraschino cherry red body with a a sticky beige head. Good retention. Lively carbonation with bubbles still visibly rising to the top.

Rich in the nose with warm phenolic yeast, fruity & spicy esters. Hard candy, sticky sweetness. Overripe banana. Fragrant, burnt brown sugar & toasted vanilla. At 8%, this brew hides the booze exceptionally well.

Crisp and prickly up front with toasted notes, yeasty sweetness, spicy hops, clove, leaf texture. Very smooth hops bitterness washes away nicely with a friendly yeast flavor that lingers. Hangs around like a tasty wine, only better. Grows creamy as it warms. Depth & character shines through this one.

Samuel Adams Alpine Spring

Cloudy amber-brown in appearance with a bubbly egg head up top. An orange hue comes through as well. Head slims to a rim.

Smells a touch peppery; bready with a citrusy/lemon edge. Hints of burnt rubber at times (odd, but not gross). Light and refreshing in the nose. Both spring & summer seem like appropriate seasons for imbibing this judging from the aroma.

Dry biscuit cuts in the taste pulling itself up front. Spicy hops flavor throws in. Peppery; lemon juice. Lime. Bittering hops lie in the middle, allowing this one to wash away clean.

I'll try it on-tap next.

Salzburger Stiegl Goldbrau

11.2 oz bottle poured into a Stella Artois chalice glass. A rich golden appearance with a bubbly white head.

In the nose I catch spicy hops, fresh cut grass & bread crust. Stale apple juice. A touch of sweet caramel hits me also.

The taste is mildly sweet up front with bittering hops balancing it all out. Light and caramel malts seems to be the malt bill combo. An odd acidic astringency at times lingers.

Light-medium bodied. Reminds me of a kolsch. Worth a shot.

New Holland Brewing Co's Golden Cap Saison Ale

Golden appearance; fairly opaque for the color. Champagne-like carbonation rises to the top. Fluffy white head slims down.

The nose is beautiful. I can smell the floral aroma more than a foot away from the glass. Up close there's a pronounced grape note and phenolic yeast. Wood tones. A rainbow of aroma. Very fruity (subtle pineapple), but sophisticated.

A wild taste. Bright & fresh up front with floral hops flavor & spicy yeast, with a finish that is crisp and dry. Grape juice in the middle. More phenols.

Notes: my first saison/farmhouse ale (French). Forgive me for my lack of clarity, and for my brevity. Time to enjoy this one alone.

Augustiner-Bräu Münchner Bier Edelstoff

A very active brew...had to pop the cap in the sink (started to spill out after the first tug of the cap with a bottle opener). Dark yellow in appearance. Bubbly carbonation. White head slims down but remains full and true. Near-cloudy.

Grassy, pilsner-like smell. Bright lemon peel. Lime and salt in the nose. Almost burns the nostrils. Sour. Bread crust.

Clean in the mouth. Grainy up front with balancing bittering hops. Washes away smoothly. Hardly astringent. Feigns lemon-like harshness, but never makes it that far. Mild citrus. Smooth, non-lingering hops quality.

There's a friendly dryness to this brew, with the tartness of fruit. I can imagine lemon pepper chicken and rice accompanying this one with style and finesse.

Marten's Pilsener

Heavily carbonated, glowing golden appearance with decent head retention and sticky lacing.

Smells of wet grass, a bit of booze and sweet grapes. Grainy.

Just enough bittering hops. Mild on the malt, light-medium bodied. Chalky. A touch of metallic tang. Process (pasteurization, etc) seems to have hurt the taste a little. Hop flavor delivers some spiciness.

For a $1.80/pint can, not a bad brew. I'll try it again if I see it on-tap.

Hofbrau Original

Hofbrau Original appears golden-yellow, heavily carbonated, with a fluffy, bubbly white head.

Smells of fresh cut grass. Bright; lime zest; salt. Warm yeast; hay; grapes.

Clean, round, light malt flavor up front (taste). Crisp hoppiness; yeast notes.

Finishes with a metallic tang (pasteurization - educated guess). Smooth...(balance between malts and hops is remarkable).

Notes: pretty good, pretty drinkable. As always, better on-tap (unpasteurized).

Stoudt's Gold

Yeah, first off, that's the brewery name, Stoudt's. Sounds like I'm talking about stouts, but it's spelled different and I'm not. When I try selling Stoudt's at the beer store I always have to explain that I'm talking about the brewery in Adamstown, PA and not the style of brew usually associated with Guinness. Such is beer life...

Stoudt's Gold. The name says it all in appearance. Poured into a Stella Artois chalice glass, the egg white head slides down to a steady rim. Fairly translucent body. Both floral and fruity hops up front. Clean light grains in the middle; biscuity. A bit of booze. Bright notes in the nose.

The Nutty/roasted malts melody is both tasty and non-lingering. Flash of bittering hops is well received. Spicy/peppery hops flavor is very subtle, but a nice touch.

This brew is an excellent example of a light style of beer, not to be confused with America's incessant deference to diet beer. Flavor, character, aroma and ceaseless drinkability is exemplified by this one! Top notch.