What better way to get things rolling again is with a beer from Short’s Brewing. Joe Short is a guy not much older than us who makes incredible beers and seems to love trying new things.

Here we have Short’s Black Cherry Porter. Not sure if I’ve seen this at one of the Michigan Brewer’s Guild Festivals or not, but this is certainly the first time I’ve found it in a bottle.

It pours with a slightly reddish hugh to it, and you see a tint of that red color in the lacing on the glass. Not a lot of head in the pour.

Definitely a chocolate nose here. There is a bit of cherry in the aroma too – like a dark chocolate covered cherry.

It has the nice roasty flavor you expect from a porter to start with, but the cherry provides almost a sourish note up front. It finishes smooth and dark. This is one of those porters where you actually taste the grain of the chocolate malt. Its a nice rich barley flavor.

As you settle into it, the cherry presents itself a bit more, but not in the way you expect. Its not as if there is a sweet cherry flavor, but there is definitely a presence of it. A bit of tartness.

All in all, this is a great porter if you want something a little off the beaten path, but nothing too unfamiliar.

6/10

But I still like to try some now and again.

That’s what I was thinking when I bought this. It’s something a but different for the Scots, so why not?

Really, it’s nothing special, but it’s not too bad. Pours with a huge, quickly-dissipating head.

It’s a lager. Plain, simple, but actually kind of tastey. I’d drink this again, especially for the right price, which this was. $1.89 for a bottle.

Don’t expect a revolution, but it was better than I expected.

6/10

I figured that if nothing else, I would grab a bottle of Arcadia Ale’s Sky High Rye. Its affordable, delicious, and at 6% abv, isn’t going to be that big a deal. A nice nightcap.

I wasn’t expecting to find something I’ve never seen before. That I haven’t even HEARD OF before.

So imagine my surprise when I see two beers from Saugatuck Brewing Company. A Michigan brewery I’ve never seen? Interesting…

So I picked up a bottle of Saugatuck Singapore IPA. I figure a Michigan IPA is a good thing, and it was only $6.39 for the bomber, so why not?

A pleasant surprise to say the least.

It begins with an aroma right out of the bottle – like you would expect, a nice hop presence in the nose. Some citrus and flowers. Once its in the glass, you even notice some pale malt there.

There’s a little bit of sticky head, leaving a serious lacing on the glass.

Its pretty bitter on the back of your tongue, but well balanced all in all, with some sweetness from the malt lingering up front.

The bottle reads like so:

“Named after the legendary Lake Michigan ghost town, this India Pale Ale is a well balanced blend of bitter & sweet that will not punish your palate.”

And from this Beer Nuts article from eTruth, it sounds like a place worth visiting too.

Not bad. It nice to find a new Michigan beer.

6/10

It poured a delicious brick red/ruby/brown type color, and left a very weak head.  All of this expected for an 11.5% ABV barleywine.

As for smell, I managed to grab a whiff before I hopped in the shower, and it was very thick with syrup and molasses, and cut with a hefty dose of ethanol.  It smells as a barleywine should, although I’d prefer a bit more hops.  Then again, I prefer all beers over 50 IBUs.

The taste was really upsetting at first.  I was less than thrilled.  It was just alcohol and a teensy sweet.  Not bad, necessarily, but the cost is not worth it.  However, once it warmed up a bit, and I was half way through, it really opened up.  It was quite sweet…  it really balanced out the alcohol well.  I have to admit, it almost leaves you with a vanilla or bourbon finish, but not quite.  My tongue actually begs for it.  Pop this beast in a bourbon barrel for a few months, and this beer would be a 9.  As it stands, it’s only a 6.

-brian

As a quick description, its a belgian stout.  As a long description, its a pleasant little belgian stout.  How can a stout be belgian, one might ask?  Well, it seems that its fermented by more conventional means as Jolly Pumpkin tends to do.  Its got a hint of sour to it, but otherwise its quite a delightful stout.  And the hint of sour really keeps it interesting.  I’m happy to give this the 6 it deserves.

Interestingly.  Let down, right?  Well, it is exactly what it says it is.  Its a smoked amber, with a hell of a lot of jalapeno.  All thats missing is the tartness that you come to associate with the very first taste of a good pepper.  This beer is by no means a session beer, or even really a more than once a year beer, unless paired properly with food.  However, this beer is definitely interesting.

It has a pretty standard Amber color, which you could guess by the name, I’m sure.  Pretty decent white head, which fades at a relatively normal rate.  And it smells a bit like bacon, as a smoked beer should.  But also like pepper.  A lot like pepper.  And a bit like malt, surprisingly.  As for the taste, the first thing you taste is the smoke.  The most common flavor people would associate is bacon.  Then, the jalapeno’s hit you like a ton of bricks.  Its hot, there’s no mistaking that, but not like tabasco.  Its got plenty of flavor, but its not gonna ruin your pallette forever.  I really liked it, strangely enough.  It was fun, and different, and I give it a 6.

“Mahogany in color, entering with hints of maple, followed by a roasted hazelnut body, balancing a clean malty finish.”

This is probably the first beer I’ve ever had that had a description on its label that wasn’t just hype, and wasn’t stroking their egos – and is actually pretty accurate a description of the beer inside.

The picture is a pretty good representation of the color, which is kind of surprising – its really that dark. The nose is malty sweetness.

The first sip DOES have a little maple to it, but it doesn’t last. As you drink through the glass, its mostly just a sweet maltiness, and a definite hazelnut presence.

I would have to say that the predominant flavor is the somewhat roasty nut flavor, both in the mouth and in the aftertaste. It has a somewhat thicker mouthfeel that I’m not quite sure I’m in love with. A little less of the malt sweetness might back that off a bit too and do some really nice things for this beer.

My brother in law gave me a bottle when I was in Cincinnati (thanks Gordon!), as he is a big fan. I’m not sure I can say the same about this particular beer, but I can say that I would eagerly try anything else that the boys at Mt Carmel have to offer. I think this young brewery (est. 2005) has a lot of potential, and will keep doing good things. Keep it up guys, and people will keep drinking it. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more of your beer in the future.

6/10

Occasionally, he likes to do something nice for us. He recently bought me a beer.

One of the breweries John and I (and most everyone I work with) really love is Lagunitas. Their current seasonal is called The Hairy Eyeball, and this is the beer John bought me.

Now, I didn’t get a photo, so let me try to describe it.

Pours with no head. Has a rich brown/copper color to it, and a little ring of bubbles around the top of the glass.

The aroma is sweet, with a hint of alcohol, and an allusion to roastiness. And once you take a sip, you won’t be disappointed.

It feels pretty light in your mouth and your stomach, making it nice a drinkable. There is quite a bit of bittering – it sits at 56.7 IBU. Another nice thing about Lagunitas – OG (1.090) and IBU right on the bottle, alongside the ABV (8.7%).

There are almost coffee notes to the roasted character in this beer, not to mention a sweet toffee flavor somewhere behind the hops and bubbles that form on your tongue.

I have very few complaints. Its not quite their Censored, or the Red, but Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball is one to try, for sure.

6/10

Blondes are not usually my type (in more ways than one), but I’m really glad I gave this a shot.

First thing I noticed was the color. Its clear, light, and almost hazeless. Not what I usually expect from a microbrew. There is a really interesting malt aroma that could be called citrusy.

Very little hop bitterness to it. I really like the malt aftertaste that in leaves in my mouth.

For under $2, I can’t complain about this. A nice, light summery beer. I’ll buy it again. Not stunning, but you could drink it all day.

6/10

I grabbed to bottles of beer from Abita Brewing first, since a friend mentioned them recently. She’d had them on her honeymoon in New Orleans, and was trying to find some in the area. Yup, only one liquor store carries it.

Anyhow, the next thing I grabbed was the Lift Bridge Brown Ale from Keweenaw Brewing. They’ve had them in stock for a little bit now, and its kind of odd to see craft brews in a can.

So I picked the brown over the blonde and the red. After tonight though, I’ll probably try the others.

I can’t tell you what the color is like exactly – it comes in a can so I didn’t pour it. Felt more natural that way.

But I can tell you that its tasty, pretty light, and a good choice for a summer beer. The mouthfeel has a bit more body than I expected – but that’s probably just my surprise from drinking a good beer from a can.

Not too bad with pizza, and just bitter enough for a brown ale.

For $1.79 I will totally buy this again.

6/10