Shiner Blonde is the third beer I’m trying out of the Shiner Family Reunion six pack (previously tasted: Shiner Bock and Shiner Bohemian Black Lager). It’s a pale lager that to me doesn’t impart a whole lot of flavor. It’s a little sweet, a little malty, and a whole lot of meh. There’s nothing wrong with it, but not really anything right with it either. With every sip I find myself wondering what the next Shiner I try will be.  [ Read More ]

Maudite, French for “damned” (hence the devil on the bottom of the label), is a Belgian strong ale from those wonderful Canadians at Unibroue. 8% ABV blends in well with the flavors of this ale, consisting of some fruit and spice notes. It also has a note in it that I can’t quite describe but seems to be in all three of Unibroue’s brews I’ve had so far. I can actually feel the warmth as the beer travels down to  [ Read More ]

Summer is officially here and what better way to beat the heat then with an ice cold beer.  Like most people, I spend a good amount of time outside during the summer months.  Due to the heat and a variety of other reasons, I tend to shy away from big full-bodied beers.  Instead, I’m constantly searching for great “Fruit” beers but they aren’t very popular and good ones are hard to come by. For today’s post I’ll  be reviewing a  [ Read More ]

Guinness.  Do you even need any more?  Yes, yes you do. This is a special post for me because Guinness Stout is my mostest favoritest beer ever.  Sure I love almost all beers (unless they say things like “with a touch of lime”), but Guinness is the one that never lets me down. There are probably more interesting facts and historical notes about Guinness than any other beer, so I apologize in advance for the choppy nature of this post.   [ Read More ]

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager is the second beer in the Shiner Family Reunion six pack (I previously reviewed Shiner Bock). This beer, also known as a Schwarzbier, was first brewed for Spoetzel Brewery’s 97th anniversary, and is a somewhat unusual style. It’s a lager beer, but has some of the smells and flavor of a stout ale. This is the first Schwarzbier I’ve tasted. It has light scents of coffee and chocolate, and has a similar taste; coffee with a bit  [ Read More ]

I purchased a six pack called the Shiner Family Reunion; it contains six different beers from the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX; I also had one of these at the House of Blues the other night when I saw Richard Cheese. Since this is the most common Shiner beer you’ll come across, I decided to start with it. The Spoetzl Brewery, originally called the Shiner Brewing Association until Kosmos Spoetzl took charge, was founded in 1909 and has spent the  [ Read More ]

Summit’s First brew to use 100% organic malt that was malted the old fashioned way: by hand on the floor. The recipe for this Pale Ale was inspired from Victorian era beer. There is definite hop forward flavor to this beer with a bready malt balancing the delicate fruit flavors of pear, apricot and spicy orange. If you ever wanted to know what beers tasted like a century ago, this should be your first choice in your tasting. With that  [ Read More ]

This is probably not necessary for most readers of this site, but I decided to spend some time going through the beer basics.  Specifically what the differences are between all the different types of beer and why you sometimes get weird looking glasses to drink said beer out of. If you know all of this stuff, feel free to ignore this post completely, it won’t hurt my feelings (because I won’t know you skipped it.  If I knew, it would crush  [ Read More ]

Boulevard’s Smokestack Series Imperial Stout is made with English malts, German hops and Belgian yeast. Would that mean if it were to be sold in Epcot it could be sold in the UK, Germany and France pavilions? Well probably not since it’s made in Kansas City. The Roasted English malts give this beer a rich malty sweetness with a dark fruit hint, such as raisin flavors. The complex malt bill also gives this beer a full amount of body for  [ Read More ]

This article started as a review of Weedwacker; however, Weedwacker and Fancy Lawnmower share the same formula except for the yeast used. Having not tasted Lawnmower either, this has turned into a double-fisted review; Lawnmower in one hand and Weedwacker in the other. Let’s start with Fancy Lawnmower, a Kölsch-style beer. It’s golden, crystal clear, and a bit sweet and malty. Overall, it’s a pleasant beer to drink but nothing extraordinary. I’m also drinking Weedwacker. This beer is the first  [ Read More ]