Central Waters Mud Puppy Porter Review

Name: Central Waters Mud Puppy Porter
Style: Porter
ABV: 5.5%

The next beer in my lightning round review session is yet another beer by Central Waters Brewing, this time it's their Mud Puppy Porter.

Contrary to what the name suggests, it is NOT named after an adorable beagle which has been frolicking around in the mud. In fact, it is named after something that is the total opposite of adorable: A salamander that lives at the bottom of muddy river streams.

All I want is a hug!

Mud Puppy pours a Clear Dark Red color with a filmy head with an abundant amount of lacing and a high amount of carbonation.

The aroma is very roasty with roasted barley & malt notes, paired up with chocolate and some floral hoppiness, unusual for a porter to say the least.

The hoppiness is even more prevalent in the flavor with some roasted barley, coffee and chocolate notes. Aftertaste is a bittersweet dark chocolate flavor.

The body is a bit on the heavier side with some mild to moderate carbonation. Not ideal, but at least it allows you to savor the flavors which this has to offer.

It's not perfect but it's roasty, malty and surprisingly hoppy for a porter. Overall I say give this one a shot and decide for yourself; I enjoyed this and I hope you do as well.

Central Waters Mud Puppy Porter - 8/10

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY Review

Name: Oskar Blues Ten FIDY
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%

In honor of World Stout Day, I'm reviewing Oskar Blues very own Imperial Stout offering. That's right, I'm talking about Ten FIDY and yes, the FIDY is capitalized. In case you were wondering, the name comes from it's 10.5% ABV; Were you expecting someone else.....?

To my knowledge, this is the only Imperial Stout I know of that comes in a can, though if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me. I know craft beer in cans is becoming more of a commonplace, but it's quite unusual to see this style of beer in a can. Then again, this is Oskar Blues we're talking here.

Ten FIDY pours a opaque black color with a dark brown foamy head and a large amount of lacing. The carbonation which is visible is mild in appearance.

The nose starts off with strong chocolate malts, caramel, roasted barley and toffee. There's even some noticeable hoppiness thrown in for good measure.

The roasty and malty aroma is amplified in the taste with chocolate, roasted barley, vanilla, peasted scotch smoked malts and oak. The hoppiness isn't quite as noticeable here as the nose but you can taste it if you allow it to sit on your palate long enough. Speaking of which....

The body is fairly heavy and somewhat thick and the carbonation starts out moderate but tapers off into a more mild feel.

For an Imperial Stout, it draws heavily from Scotch Ales in terms of Smokiness but it's thankfully an asset in this case.  While the smokiness may deter some people from enjoying this, it's still got a very nice mix of flavors to make this worth checking out. As for me, I loved it and look forward to having it again.

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY - 9/10

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale Review

Name: Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

Dale's Pale Ale, one of the staples of my beer fridge while I was living in Chicago! What I lacked in Surly, it was made up for in Dale's Pale Ale. Now that I'm back in Minnesota and right across the bridge from Superior, I now have both. It's like karma has rewarded my good deeds with beer and now both Surly & Oskar Blues are now regulars in my fridge.

Oskar Blues is a brewery based out of Colorado and are available in several states, though I've heard whisperings and rumors on Beer Advocate that they will distributing here to Minnesota sooner than expected on account of Oskar Blues being a guest tap down in Minneapolis. We shall see for the time being.

Anyways, let's take a look at Dale's Pale Ale!

Dale's Pale Ale pours a mildy hazy orange color with a fairly foamy head, good lacing and some mild carbonation visible on the sides of the glass.

The nose has a fairly prevalent not overly strong floral and piney hoppiness up front to go along with the caramel malts and grassy scent. There's also some mild apricot fruitiness in the aroma as well.

There is a sudden citrus hoppiness in the flavor complimented by grapefruit, apricot, floral hops, and caramel malts. The grassy/earthiness that was in the nose is nowhere to be seen here. There is a fairly strong resin & malty aftertaste that is surprisingly balanced.

It terms of weight, it's a couple sets above moderate and has a slight thickness to it, but the carbonation is very light here so you're able to take in all the flavors without having to worry about irritating your palate.

To me, having this again is like hanging out with an old friend, spending the afternoon together, having lots of fun and realizing why you guys used to hang out together so much in the first place.

It's a very well rounded and balanced pale ale. It's well balanced profile of malts, fruitness and hops make this an extremely easy beer to recommend. It's not "Zombie Dust" caliber by any means, but it's good enough to keep me coming back for more. It's also decently priced so that also works!

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale - 8.5/10

AleSmith Speedway Stout Review

Name: AleSmith Speedway Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 12%

At the risk of sounding smug, we Duluth (And Superior, Wisconsin) residents have gotten some access to some pretty sweet beers recently. While the selection isn't quite as bountiful as say....Chicago, Colorado or the West Coast, I feel it is safe to say that we got quite alot on our hands.

Recently, AleSmith Brewing started distributing to Wisconsin and have brought their beers to our neighbors over in Superior, WI. I've been reading about this brewery in particular online and have seen their Speedway Stout at the top of many "Must-have" beer lists. They are also a very highly regarded California Brewery and joins Ballast Point in terms of availability in our area.

I don't know if I should consider myself lucky but.....here it is! My review of AleSmith Speedway Stout!

Speedway Stout pours a pitch black color with a creamy-looking filmy brown head. The lacing has some good retention and the carbonation visible is mild.

The nose has a sweet chocolate nib and coffee aroma, with some licorice, vanilla, chocolate malts and roasted barley.

Flavor-wise, it's got a very strong coffee taste upfront with rich some chocolate, roasted barley, and malty notes. There's some minor but noticeable booziness in the flavor throughout. Aftertaste is a bitter coffee and malty flavor

The body is very heavy in weight and carbonation-wise, it lands in between mild & moderate; So it's quite manageable.

The flavor, while robust, isn't quite as complex as the aroma and it tastes somewhat boozy. With that said, it's still an excellent Imperial Stout that is worth checking out. Since they have brought multiple offerings to our area, I'll be sure to check all of them out.

AleSmith Speedway Stout - 8.5/10

Molson XXX Review

Name: Molson XXX
Style: Malt Liquor
ABV: 7.3%

When I picked this up as part of a mix-a-six, I wasn't really sure what to expect. On the front it says "Super Premium Beer" with a fairly high ABV of 7.3%. I figured it was Molson's answer to Bud Light Platinum. Upon looking this up, I discovered that I had purchased a Malt Liquor. You really don't see them in 12 oz. bottles much with the slight exception of Mickey's, which come in those 8 oz. ”Grenade” bottles.

Aside from the name & information above, I really don't have other information about this beer, so let's dive right in shall we?

Molson XXX pours a clear pale yellow color with a filmy head and a high amount of visible carbonation. In terms of lacing, there isn't anything here.

The nose starts off with a very powerful boozy smell with some cereal grains, pale malts, cardboard, grassiness and some skunk. Well, it for sure smells like a malt liquor!

The flavor is a cross between burnt cardboard, pale malts, booziness, grassiness and skunkiness (If it wasn't a word before, it is now!). Oh dear god, it's like they took the boozy & skunky scents and made it into a flavor!

The body is fairly light and crisp but the carbonation is very strong and it really doesn't matter much at this point.

If there is a beer underworld, then this deserves to be cast down into the furthest depths. This is probably the worst thing to come out of Canada since Justin Bieber and that's saying alot.  I've came up with a motto for Molson XXX in the event it is horrible and it is very much so. So here it is:

Molson XXX, it SuXXX.

Molson XXX - 1/10

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale Review

Name: Rogue Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale
Style: Smoked Beer/Rauchbier
ABV: 6.5%

Last year, Rogue Ales started doing collaborations with Portland-Based Voodoo Doughnuts to bring about some rather....interesting beers. For starters, in an attempt to draw attention,the bottle itself is  a Pepto-Bismol Pink and you can tell it was sprayed on because there's some pink opacity (fading away for you non-Photoshop users) near the mouth of the bottle.

The second thing you'll notice is the flavor: Maple Syrup & Bacon. Now I'm no stranger to Smoked/Rauchbiers in general and I'm familiar with the bonfire/smoked bacon flavor that comes along with it but this is supposedly made with actual bacon. I've actually had a maple-bacon donut before (not from Rogue) and found it to be rather good but that may just be my own messed-up palate.

So Bacon and Beer together at last, two of my favorite things in one package, there is no possible way this could suck.....

'Merica!!

The beer pours a dark hazy brown color with a pretty foamy head. The amount of carbonation is pretty mild and the lacing retention here is pretty lacking.

The nose smells like a Perkins Breakfast Platter....No seriously, it's like they took the Perkins 55 Plus Breakfast menu and made a beer from it! I'm getting some bacon, maple syrup, some yeastiness that may as well be pancakes and a very light hoppiness.

The flavor thankfully remembers that it's still a smoked beer.....sort of. To start, it's got a smoked/sweet malty backbone, bacon and and a very sweet maple syrup taste. There's also some slight oakiness to the flavor as well as some bready/yeastiness. I still say it tastes like breakfast!

The body is moderate in weight with some pretty light carbonation. It's got a fairly creamy mouthfeel so it's a pretty easy beer to drink.

I love Rauchbiers & Smoked Beers but this really didn't cut it for me. It's a bit too sweet for this style of beer and there are cheaper alternatives of the same style that taste so much better than this.

Rogue Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale - 6/10

Surly Furious Review

Name: Surly Furious
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
ABV: 6.6%

For all the reviews I've done over the years, I've never done a review of Surly Furious, despite the numerous times I've had it over the years. The reason for this is because whenever I'm out and about, Furious is one of the beers that I usually have at social events and I'm never able to sit down to review it properly.

Surly Furious is also the first IPA that I ever had and it was at Pizza Lucé in South Minneapolis. At the time I was having dinner with a friend of mine when she swore to me that Furious was the best beer that she ever had. Up until that point, my beers of choice were mainly Grain Belt and Natural Light so I took her advice and ordered a pint of Furious. Upon drinking it, I spat out the contents and told her it tasted like Pine-Sol; After which the mustached hipster who was taking our order called me crazy for hating Furious and fetched me a Grain Belt tallboy instead.

Fast forward 2 years and I try out Furious again. By that point, my palate was a bit more refined and used to different beers styles. When I tried it again, I fell in love with it; Funny how things change!


Considered by most to be the flagship beer of Surly Brewing, this hugely popular and highly sought after IPA has quite an interesting origin story. A couple years ago, I was on a tour of the brewery when our tour guide mentioned that while the brewery was in it's early stages, Furious was not originally marketed to retailers as their primary beer. In fact, Surly had underestimated how popular Furious would be because back in 2005/2006, the craft beer scene in Minnesota was in it's infancy stages. Fast forward 7 years, Furious is now one of the most highly sought after IPAs in the country and it's only available in Minnesota. It was available in Chicago and parts of Wisconsin in 2009, but they did had to pull back distribution to Minnesota because the demand here was too great.

Yes, Minnesota finally had an IPA it could proudly call it's own....

To honor Surly's groundbreaking ceremony for their new destination brewery, now is the perfect time to review their iconic beer.

Surly Furious pours a dark orange/ruby red color with a foamy head. The visible carbonation activity is light and the lacing retention is quite good!

The nose and flavor are very malt forward with some caramel & toffee notes followed by a strong piney & citrus hop profile. The finish consists of a bitter citrus/resiny hoppiness.

For an IPA, the body is quite heavy but the carbonation is reasonably light, leading to a fairly easy drinking IPA....that is if you don't factor in the sheer hoppiness.

It may seem a bit sweeter and maltier than other IPAs out there but if you know and love the IPA style, then this beer is for you. Even with it's very strong malty backbone it's still got a nice amount of hops to keep everything mostly in balance.

Surly Furious - 9.25/10