Mike Loves Beer

Name – Steel Toe Stout
Country – United States
Type – Milk Stout

I really like Ska’s pretty much punk rock approach to brewing.  The names, the label art and the cans just scream DIY punk.  So while out in Colorado I knew I had to bring something of theirs home with me.  I opted for an nicely named milk stout called Steel Toe.

It poured into my pint glass pretty much black but if you looked closely you saw some ruby red highlights on the edge of the glass.  I don’t recall seeing that on many milk stouts.  It had a nice sized tan head left some lacing on the glass.

I got lactose off the nose immediately.  It was followed with some hints of chocolate but it wasn’t all that dominating.

The taste mixed those previous smells into taste with the lactose and chocolate collaborating with some nice roasted dark malts.  There is a bit of alcohol present in the taste as it warms up but nothing that takes away from the creation before.  The body on it was full and creamy as you would hope from the style.

Steel Toe ended up being a very good choice.  An excellent milk stout that stands up with the style.  I would love to try it on nitro sometime if they do that.  I just feel all milk stouts should be poured from a nitrogen tap as it just adds to the true character of the beer.  Here’s to hoping I can find that next time I’m out in Colorado.

But you should definitely pick this one up if you have the chance to.  These punk rock brewers are doing some awesome stuff and like punk rock musicians they probably don’t give a crap what mainstream thinks and will keep doing what they do best.

Grade – B+

Name – Modus Hoperandi
Country – United States
Type – American IPA

Appearance – Pours a very clear amber color with a nice sized white head.  There is plenty of lacing on the glass throughout.

Smell – Holy hop head Batman, this thing smells uber fresh.  The hop characters are piney, citrusy and a bit resiny.

Taste – More of the same hoppiness here.  I just really like how fresh this tastes.  There is some caramel like malt backing but obviously the hops are the main focus.

This is the first brew of a trade I did with Billy from BillyBrew and boy is this one good.  A lot of hops for a single IPA.  But I just couldn’t get over how fresh it tasted after a trip over here to Florida and who knows how long it may have been on the shelf.  If you can get your hands on this one from Ska Brewing and you love yourself an IPA then I say you really should pick it up.

Overall Grade – A

Name – Pin Stripe Red Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Red Ale

Appearance – Poured a clear amber color with a nice sized head but it did not stick around all that long.

Smell – Caramel malts with some pine like hop smells in there as well.

Taste – There were caramel and some roasted malt flavors that were backed with a slight hop taste that was like pine or grass.

With my first try at a Ska Brewing beer I tried this one just to get something simple.  While it is a simple style they actually do it pretty well.  There is nothing fancy about this but they seemingly did nothing wrong with it as well.  Straight forward in the approach of the style and I would have to say ‘success’ on it.

Overall Grade – B