Badger Hill High Road Everyday Ale Review

Name: Badger Hill High Road Everyday Ale
Style: International Style Pale Ale
ABV: 5%

**Update: I was informed that this is, in fact, an International Style Pale Ale and uses a variety of hops, malts, found in different beer styles. I have made the changes needed to reflect this information**

It's time to look at another beer from Badger Hill Brewing. This time we have their High Road Everyday Ale, which is classified as an International Style Pale Ale. It is described as a sessionable ale, which utilizes ESB yeasts, Pilsner Malts and a Pale Hop Profile Variety.

High Road pours a very hazy wet straw yellow color with a soapy head. The visible carbonation is quite high and leaves behind no trace of lacing.

The aroma comes off initially as surprisingly fruity. I'm picking up notes of orange peel, mangoes, and citrus hops. The back end leans toward notes toffee and pale malts.

Interestingly enough, the flavor is rather grassy and pils-like up front with notes of barley, pale malts, and light citrus hops. The aftertaste is dry yet fruity at the same time. The overall palate is very lightweight but heavily carbonated. With that said, it's quite crisp.

In my previous draft of this review, I said that I thought that High Road suffered a bit from an identity crisis, and was a bit perplexed by the overall flavor while assuming it was a blonde ale. Knowing that it is, in fact, not a blonde ale, I can give this beer a more deserving score. While I'm still not exactly a huge fan of the "Fruity-Pils" flavor, it's still a decent beer. I'd still say try it out and decide for yourself.

Thanks to Brent from Badger Hill for clearing this up!

Badger Hill High Road Everyday Ale - 7.5/10

Badger Hill Cherry Double Dunkel Review

Name: Badger Hill Cherry Double Dunkel
Style: Dunkelweizen
ABV: 8%

A couple weeks ago, I reviewed a beer from one of Minnesota's newer breweries: Badger Hill Brewing, and found it to be pretty good. I have procured a few more beers from them for examination and the first one I decided to go with is their Cherry Double Dunkel.

Cherry Double Dunkel is part of Badger Hill's Wanderlust Series. This is their second installment with the first being a white IPA which was released around May of last year.

Cherry Double Dunkel pours a very cloudy hazy brownish-red color with a filmy head. There isn't any visible carbonation here due to the cloudy nature of the beer and it leaves a clean finish on the sides of the glass.

The nose has a nice aroma of cherries and caramel malts upfront. In the base of the aroma are some apple, wheat and yeast notes.

The flavor is pretty consistent with the nose but not quite as robust. I'm getting some cherries, caramel, wheat, yeasts and raspberry tartness. The aftertaste is has a mildly tart fruity taste but is otherwise somewhat dry. The palate is fairly light with some mild carbonation.

I have to say that while this was good, the flavor is not quite as vibrant as the aroma leads you to believe when you consider the parts as a whole. If this had a little more flavor, it would be a lot easier to recommend. Still with that said, it manages to be a pretty solid Dunkelweizen

Badger Hill Cherry Double Dunkel - 8/10

Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter Review

Name: Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter
Style: Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
ABV: 5.7%

A couple years ago, a new brewery called Badger Hill Brewing opened it's doors in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The name of the brewery is from the names of the two brothers, who founded the brewery, translated into Old English. Currently they share their building and equipment with another brewery which is also fairly new: Lucid Brewing (Keep an eye out for a review from them in the near future.)

Today I'm having their Minnesota Special Bitter (or MSB), an ESB style ale which is one of their most popular beers. To my knowledge, it's also one of the first beers which they released.

MSB pours a darker orange color with a slight haze. The head is very thin and has more of a creamy appearance to it. Also in case you were wondering, I took a couple sips before taking the photo so that's why there isn't any foam present in the photo above.

The aroma has some mild floral hops and biscuit notes. There is also a slight malty and marmalade sweetness in here as well. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.

The flavor is what you’d expect of an ESB with yeasts, malts, and light orange/marmalade sweetness. However, there is a surprisingly strong floral hop presence here along with a bitter resiny aftertaste.

Compared to other ESBs, it's got a heavier weighted body along with some with some mild carbonation. It has a somewhat creamy feel which helps out tremendously with the drinkability.

I thought this was pretty good; It's got a nice balanced flavor with some good hoppiness to boot without being too overwhelming. All and all, MSB is a solid offering from Badger Hill and I can't wait to try out more beers from these guys.

Badger Hill Minnesota Special Bitter - 8.25/10