Beer Reviews
Beer reviews
Keybilly Island Ale – Authentic World-Renowned Key Lime Beer
Yes, you heard that correctly Key Lime Beer! Keybilly Island Ale – Authentic World-Renowned Key Lime Beer from a home brewer out of Islamorada, FL working with Brew Hub started producing this crisp refreshing amber beer that comes across more like a slightly darker Witbier with its nice citrus lime and hint of tartness. This has a nice amber color with a slight cloudy look with a perfect white head that seems to have really nice head retention brewed with real key lime juice. Key limes for anyone not familiar are grown in the Florida Keys and Miami area, they are small and usually a bit more tart compared to most limes.
keybilly Key Lime Amber Ale
Raging Blonde Ale by Veterans United Craft Brewery
What a wonderful blonde ale also called a Golden Ale with a nice caramel smell that gives a great white head when poured. Lovely gold color with a unfiltered haze that is always welcomed in quality tasting craft brews as clarity is nice but flavor is king. This is a local brewery that is recent addition to the Craft Brewers of the world of craft brewing but they are already beginning to make a name for themselves. With only 5.2% ABV and nice subtle 23 in IBU this could be a great Summer session beer. I also would recommend this quality Blonde Ale (Golden Ale) to any of your friends drinking the mass market lager crap as this beer does have a lot going on when it comes to flavor but I think any beer drinker, and I do many ANY beer drinker with a nice food pairing would love this as either a starter for the night or their new “Go To” beer. Sadly Veterans Untied also released a limited release Naughty Rye Pale Ale that was one of the best session rye pale ales I’d ever had and I can only hope they will eventually reconsider and maybe even can it as it was only available locally on tap.
Raging Blonde Ale by Veterans United Craft Brewery
Stone Pale Ale 2.0 from Stone Brewing
First impression when opening a Stone Ale is you expect quality and the Stone Pale Ale 2.0 from Stone Brewing is no exception. After pouring to a nice mild yellow head and slightly foggy dark copper color you take notice of the sweet caramel scent before taking your first sip. This Stone Pale Ale 2.0 from Stone Brewing could easily give most IPAs a run for their money with its hop forward flavors as you taste lush citrus notes including grapefruit mixed with a little stone fruit complimented with lots of spicy rye flavor all shared with the bitter of a 55 IBU that really seems much higher from the Magnum, Herkules and Mandarina Bavaria hops. If you love rye beers and IPA this one would make a great session beer at only 6% and compliment any spicy dish you can think of.
Stone Pale Ale 2.0 by Stone Brewing Co.
Black is the new Wit from Terrapin and New Belgium
First you need to understand what is expected of a Wit Beer before you can understand the unexpected. A Wit Beer also known as a Witbier is a Belgian style ale usually very light in color and somewhat cloudy as it is an unfiltered wheat beer. A typical Witbier is yellow in color with a foggy hue but light and crisp with hints of coriander and orange peel although it can be spiced with just about anything you could imagine the goal is still a light crisp and usually highly carbonated beer. Then comes Black in the new Wit from Terrapin and New Belgium who in my opinion are two very different brewers with completely different brew styles as neither brewer makes any beer that would ever remind you of the other. New Belgium usually brews a lot of great beers but they seem to play it safe with most of their beers and seem to keep to a quality standard that they maintain but I would bet they use the same yeast in the majority of their beers, aka house yeast. Well on the Terrapin side they seem to love to blur the line between the what people expect and what they like to brew as you will find the majority of their beers all seem to have a hint or more of rye and I would bet Black is the new Wit has just hint of rye somewhere in there too. I took a gamble as my local supplier had these hidden treasures hidden around a corner where no one seemed to even take notice and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with just how crisp and refreshing this beautiful black witbier was with a nice hint of spice from the rye that almost muted the coriander but the orange still helped keep the citrus notes and then that almost bitter sweet roasted flavor like someone had dropped a tiny bit of dark chocolate into the entire batch to top it off. Shockingly this new Black is the new Wit from Terrapin and New Belgium is kicking it at 8.2% ABV but based on how crisp and smooth this wonderful beer is you’d never even realize it until it was a bit too late. Although I doubt we will ever see this great beer again this definitely would be one that I’d pick up an entire 6 pack from time to time as I went out of my way to swing back and grab a second bomber bottle to ensure I could enjoy a 2nd round before it was too late.
Black is the new Wit from Terrapin and New Belgium
KBS 2015 Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing Company
KBS 2015 Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing Company is such an amazing beer if you can even call it that, that I had to enjoy it like a frosty desert with its amazing bourbon and coffee flavors. The bourbon and coffee are very smooth even with all of the flavors of the smooth oak aged bourbon hitting you at once with such a high ABV of 11.2% yet finishing with a rich dark bourbon taste with hints of vanilla, brown sugar and raisin on top of a rich chocolate blend and still finishing with that bourbon coffee finish. Warning this is strong and you if you love stouts, chocolate and some of the best bourbon you’ve ever tasted this is the beer for you. Sadly this is a rare white rabbit but it is truly worth the hunt and and can be caught as Founders has increased their output of this beautiful beer from the original 24 bourbon barrels back in early 2000 to around 4,700 bourbon barrels for their 2015 release. Keep in mind Founders KBS, Kentucky Breakfast Stout has been aged just over 12 months in a bourbon barrel so just imagine having the best Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout you could humanly imagine and then dropping a shot of the absolute best Kentucky Bourbon into the mix and that will bring you one step closer to imagining this amazing beer or desert based on how you look at it or should we say, enjoy it. If you find a friend willing to share a Founders KBS 2015 Kentucky Breakfast Stout, thank them and then ask for a ride home as this 12 ounce bottle has some serious kick.
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2015
