I cracked open a bottle of Southern Tier’s 422 Pale Wheat Ale tonight (I bought it in a sampler 12-pack from Total Wine and MORE).  I have to say, this is the first Southern Tier beer that didn’t really knock my socks off.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a very drinkable Wheat “ale,” and I enjoyed the extra hoppiness that you wouldn’t find in a normal wheat beer, but it was basically a session beer … and if I want a session “wheat” beer I would probably reach for a Saison or a Belgian Wit.  Oh well, all of their beers may not be homeruns, but most of them are at a minimum a double!

Beer Mentor

I drove to North Carolina today to visit my son and found a six pack of New Belgium’s Ranger IPA in the shoppette.  Sweet!  I hadn’t had this beer yet (they weren’t making IPAs when I was in Colorado before…)

Don’t be confused by these pictures if you’ve seen this before — the packaging is actually lime green — the lights in my hotel room where a different color for some reason and made the packaging look yellow.

As for the taste/flavor/etc … yes, I like this beer!  This is definitely in style for an IPA, it had a very nice flavor (really enjoyed the hop finish and the aftertaste).  Excellent offering of an American IPA from a typically Belgian Beer maker…

Beer Mentor

Just a quick update for today.  I had another Leinenkugel’s … this time their 1888 Bock.  This is a nice offering, in style except it seems a little light for a bock.  Of course, this is also the case (I think) for the Shiner Bock beer too.  I’m not sure, but both of these beers are a larger offering from Craft Brewers and they seem to be slightly thin (from a bock perspective).

So far, I like all the beers I’ve had from Leinenkugel’s brewing — you can tell they take pride in their beers and in the presentation.  Overall, this is a quite drinkable beer — I will continue to sample the six-pack I bought! LOL!

Beer Mentor

I had a Flying Dog today–their summer seasonal … it is a Belgian-style Wit Beer.  I thoroughly enjoyed this beer.  I think they got this one right–excellent aroma, very nice flavor, I think the right ABV, and excellent finish … add all these up and this is a great summer drinking beer!

I recommend it!

Beer Mentor

The nice thing about being back in the USA is the availability of a wide range of brews.  I can still get many of the German and Belgian beers I enjoy while sinking my teeth into all of the excellent offerings from the USA’s craft / micro-breweries.

One brewery I think that has been right on target recently is Southern Tier brewering.  They are a New York brewery that is doing great things with beer.  They have been pushing the envelope on flavor/ingredients and it has really struck a cord with me.

My beer for today is their Unearthly — a 11% ABV super-hopped up IPA.  If  you read the label, you’ll see they hop it up early in the wort, plus use a hopback, PLUS dry-hop the heck out of it.  This beer is for you hop-fanatics … and fortunately, I am one!  LOL!

I strongly recommend this beer … but don’t pour you a big 22oz like I did if you are going to drive.  Fortunately (again) I was hanging around the house and had a nice buzz going about 1/2 way through this thing.

Beer Mentor

For my 190th beer I had a Kirin Ichiban.  This isn’t really a memorable beer, but it hit the spot and fulfilled the purpose … oh, and it went quite well with my Sushi.  So, for a short post today–I still had a German-style lager!  Ha Ha!

Beer Mentor

You may have noticed I’ve been staying pretty close to the German/Belgian theme (that will change over the next few days) … so today I picked an American beer from the oldest active brewery in the US – Yuengling — and I had their Lager beer.

For an everyday drinking beer, this is quite good.

Beer Mentor