Mike Loves Beer -

Garde Dog

February 13, 2010

Name – Garde Dog
Country – United States
Type – Bière de Garde

Appearance – Poured a cloudy almost orange color. Things did settle and the beer became clearer. The over finger wide white head was gone very quickly.

Smell – Very hard to pick anything up from this. You get some grassy notes and a little yeast but not much going on.

Taste – Very light in body and had a yeasty wheat taste to it. There was a bit of a sweetness to it and an ever so small bit of funk but really kind of fell flat.

I’ve only had one Bière de Garde previously and that made me think I was going to be getting a funky sour brew here. But that wasn’t what I got. This was very close in taste to just a basic wheat styled beer. It was refreshing I will give it that. I had one while doing my brew last weekend. But it just didn’t live up to what I thought it would be.

Overall Grade – C

N’Ice Chouffe 2007

February 12, 2010

/ Beer Review /

3 Comments

Name – N’Ice Choufee 2007
Country – Belgium
Type – Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Appearance – Pours a cola type brow with some red highlights. Bubbly tan head that is gone pretty quickly.

Smell – Very mellow apple, cherry, dark fruits.

Taste – The consistency was quite heavy. The flavors of apple and cherries is pungent and there is a speck of spice to it.

I had a 2008 bottle of this on Christmas day and just notice the 2007 bottles on the shelf last week so I picked it up. It says best if drank in 3 years so I’m right on the cusp of their recommendation. I could definitely tell a difference between the one extra year. This was very mellow. The spices were pretty much gone and the alcohol really didn’t stand out. It was a sipping beer but did border line taste like it was going to not be so pleasant if it waits any longer. Over all I enjoyed the 2008 bottle I had more. The flavors were more there as were the spices.

Overall Grade – B-

Saint Bridget’s Porter

February 11, 2010

/ Beer Review /

3 Comments

Name – Saint Bridget’s Porter
Country – United States
Type – American Porter

Appearance – Poured a very dark brown, black more towards the middle, with some deep red highlights along the edges of the glass. A big slightly tan head was gone quick but did leave some lacing.

Smell – The smell was pretty much just roasted malts.

Taste – A little more going on here. You have the roasted malts along with some hints of coffee and chocolate as well. I detected a very slight smokiness to it.

A very solid porter here. Once again Great Divide comes through. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say they are a really under-rated brewery. Yes I know a lot of people like them but you don’t hear a lot about them like the other big names in craft beer. Then continue to make really good to great beers. Keep up the good work Great Divide and I’ll keep drinking them.

Overall Grade – A-