REVIEW: Rhinegeist Fiction

Today's post is a bit bittersweet. On the one hand it's awesome. I finally made the trip down to Over the Rhine last night to Rhinegeist for the tapping of their newest rarity, a Belgian style extra pale ale called Fiction. Man, If you haven't been down to Rhinegeist yet, get on it. The place is awesome. Big, open, bright, beautiful architecture, and fabulous beer obviously. It's exactly what I like to see in a brewery. Rhinegeist's brews are currently only available in draft so to get your hands on them you'll have to hit up a bar or head down to the brewery to do so. I highly recommend it, the beers are tremendous. So, today I'm taking a look at Rhingeist's second rarity, Fiction. To the beer!

REVIEW: Rising Tide Daymark

One last beer from Trey before I get back to those last couple Canadian beers. Then it's back to the liquor store. Goodness, It's been a while. But anyway, today I've got a rye pale ale called Daymark from Rising Tide out of Portland, Maine. Boy, I really like that label. It's tough to get yellow and white to work together well, but it works here. Sharp stuff. To the beer!

REVIEW: Hop City Big Mouth

I owe you folks an apology. I forgot to post this review yesterday. I got home after work and was so busy watching the Reds finally win a game and reading new comics (Uncanny X-Men continues to be great. I picked up the latest issues of Guardians of the Galaxy and Indestructible Hulk on a lark and both of those were pretty rad as well.) and I just totally spaced. I hang my head in shame. But we still have beer to talk about. I'm getting down towards the end of the Canadian beers. Only a few left. Today we've got another beer from Hop City. The dudes behind the Barking Squirrel lager that I enjoyed recently. What we have here is Big Mouth Tap Room Pale Ale. That's kind of a mouthful. I'm just going with Big Mouth. To the beer!

REVIEW: Lake of Bays Crosswind

Before making it a point to actually go seeking out Canadian craft beer I had never heard of a lot of these breweries. Just goes to show you how big the craft beer world is. There are tons of local and regional breweries that you would have no idea existed if you didn't travel to their home turf or get a heads up from somebody there who is in the know. Enter today's beer, Crosswind, a pale ale from Lake of Bays Brewing. To the beer!

REVIEW: Sun King Osiris

The last time I looked at a beer from Sun King it was the Sunlight Cream Ale that I got when I went up to Indy to see Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. That was fun. I should do that again. Anybody know if Pacific Rim was actually shot in IMAX? That movie looks incredible. IMAX is sort of like 3-D for me, If a movie was shot in 3-D or IMAX, I'll check it out. If it's upconverted, like most big action movies that come out are, it isn't worth the extra cash for the ticket. But yeah, Pacific Rim looks insane. Idris Elba fighting Kaiju? Sold. Who wants to go see it with me? Back to the beer. Today we're looking at Osiris, the last of Sun King's core beers and a dry hopped west coast style pale ale. To the beer!

REVIEW: Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale

Smuttynose is a blindspot for me. I know they're a mainstay of the East Coast craft beer world and I've never heard a bad thing about any of their beers but I have yet to try any of them. I think there's a simple reason for this. Silly as it may seem, I've never bought any Smuttynose beers because I don't like their labels. Yes, I am guilty of judging a book (beer) by it's cover (label). And don't lie, you do it too. When I was getting into craft beer I pretty much solely bought a beer based on the label. Before I knew what the hell an English brown ale even was I knew that the label for Hobgoblin was really really cool. And so with that in mind Smuttynose, with their nondescript labels and uninspired typography, was overlooked. Until today. I'm trying new things. To the beer!

REVIEW: 21st Amendement Bitter American

Sessionable craft beer is a bit of a hot subject these days. Full flavored yet light in alcohol beers seem to be popping up more and more lately, I talked about Founder's new All Day IPA and Mt. Carmel's Springtime Ale earlier. Heck, Notch Brewing out of Ipswitch, Massachusetts has made it a point to brew Nothing but session beers. Not one of their beers clocks in at over 4.5% ABV. Today's Session beer is Bitter American, A pale ale from San Fransisco's 21st Amendment. It's a shame that I can only give you one picture of this can. 21st Amendment has some of the best design in beer and this one is no exception. The opposite side of this can features a chimp in a spacesuit. If that can't get me to buy a six pack, nothing can. To the beer!

REVIEW: Christian Moerlein Over The Rhine

Today's beer is one of my all time favorites, folks. I've been saving it's debut on the blog for a special occasion: Opening Day. A civic holiday here in Cincinnati. The return of our beloved Redlegs and the unofficial first day of Summer. There is almost nothing I love more than sitting in the setting sun in the Moon Deck at Great American Ball Park drinking an OTR with friends. I love baseball. I love beer. Nowhere else are the two more inexorably tied for me. The Reds are Cincinnati's team and OTR, I believe, is Cincinnati's flagship beer. I could wax poetic about baseball and beer for hours but I have things to do. To the beer!

REVIEW: Great Divide Denver Pale Ale

Another day, another beer from one of my favorite breweries. This time Denver, Colorado's own Great Divide Brewing Company. I have not had a beer from them that I haven't liked. My beer tastes tend toward the big, the flavorful, the intense. This causes me to sometimes overlook some of the more standard beer styles. Case in point: I have never had this beer. Not that I don't like pale ales, I really do. But I usually pass them over for the India pales, the imperial India pales, the black India pales, and the like. But I was at Jungle Jim's and saw this bottle and decided to grab it. So, without further ado. To the beer!