Mike Loves Beer -

Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale

June 19, 2009

Name – Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Pale Ale

Appearance – Pours a slightly hazy rust color with nice sized white head that left a lot of lacing on the glass.

Smell – Definitely hoppy with lemon, pine and earthy aromas hitting your nose.

Taste – Very crisp taste with pretty much the same hoppy flavors as the smell. A small bit of a malt backing to it.

I enjoyed this one but not as much as the Harvest Wet Hop from last year. The malt backing was very slight with a lot of emphasis seemingly on the hops. For hop heads that’s fine but some people like the balance and it didn’t seem to balanced out. But that is not to take anything away from this it is just a note for those that like a good amount of malt with their hops.

Overall Grade – B

Claymore Scotch Ale

June 17, 2009

/ Beer Review /

1 Comment

Name – Claymore Scotch Ale
Country – United States
Type – Scotch Ale

Appearance – Poured a dark brown color with a small white head that disappeared quickly and left no lacing.

Smell – Dark, roasted malts dominate the nose with a slightly nutty hint in there.

Taste – A roasted and almost smokey taste hits up front but has a little sweet backing to it that tastes a little like caramel.

I have been wanting to try this for awhile but the store never seemed to have it out as singles. Finally they had some singles out and I picked a couple up. This had a lot more roasted and smokey taste to it as opposed to Skull Splitter that I reviewed previously. I enjoyed it it but I just didn’t think it was as good as the previously mentioned Wee Heavy.

Overall Grade – C

Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout

June 16, 2009

/ Beer Review /

3 Comments

Name – Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout
Country – United States
Type – Sweet Stout

Appearance – Pours a very opaque black color with a tan head that was gone before you knew it.

Smell – Sweet milk chocolate hits the nose at first with some hints of coffee, vanilla and heavy cream.

Taste – Roasted malts up front followed by sweet chocolate with a slight milky cream flavor.

This is listed as a winter beer in Bell’s rotation but my local beer store just got some more of this in so I figured why not pick it up. Nice all around brew with a good aroma and solid taste. Not as good as the Kalamazoo Stout I recently had from them but still pretty good. Bell’s is starting to be a pretty reliable brewery to me.

Overall Grade – B+