Miller Fortune Review

Name: Miller Fortune
Style: Amber/Vienna Lager
ABV: 6.9%

Today I have a special review lined up and that is Miller Fortune from The Miller Brewing Company, which was just released within the past month or so. This is MillerCoors' answer to Bud Light Platinum and, more namely, Budweiser Black Crown. Both of the latter beers mentioned have a higher-than-normal ABV for a marco-lager.

About a month or so before it's release, I was seeing posters for this beer in stores everywhere; Like it was the newest upcoming release from Michael Bay. I have never seen such a huge push for in-store marketing like there was for Miller Fortune.

Now before I start, I'm going to break my normal rule of keeping a neutral tone and just throw this out here: I did not like this beer and anyone who is curious to try it out should avoid this at all costs.

Miller Fortune starts out with a clear amber color with a amount of high carbonation. The head is rather fizzy which settles to a small filmy appearance and there is no lacing left behind.

The nose itself is actually quite promising with Munich and pale malts, mild hoppiness, barley, caramel with some minor but noticeable boozy notes. Booziness aside, this actually has the aroma that is fairly typical of a Vienna Lager.

Flavor-wise, it's a much different story. In what I can only describe as "bizarre," the flavor is mixture of cardboard, barley, metallic rust, very strong booziness and Munich Malts. It's almost like they made a malt liquor with munich malts

The body is fairly lightweight but, as expected, the carbonation is very heavy and intense. As you can probably guess, this does not sit well on the palate.

I may not be a huge fan of the regular offerings of Bud, Miller, or Coors but if someone offers it to me at a party, I would not turn it down. Miller Fortune has the rare distinction of venturing into Molson XXX territory as being one of the beers that I would turn down at a party if I was offered it for free. You aren't missing anything by having this, trust me.

Miller Fortune - 1/10

Central Waters Ouisconsing Red Ale Review

Name: Central Waters Ouisconsing Red Ale
Style: Red/Amber Ale
ABV: 5%

Ah Central Waters Brewing, makers of one of the best barleywines that has ever graced my lips! What other treasures do you have in store for a faithful beer consumer like myself? Well, quite a bit actually; This brewery is responsible for one of the first Imperial Stouts that I had ever had when I first started drinking craft beer so keep an eye out because a review will be coming in the near future.

For the time being we're gonna focus on Ouisconsing, which comes from the Algonquin word for the Wisconsin River. The name Ouisconsing would later become the basis in which the word "Wisconsin"  would come from. The description says that this will make you "want to be a Badger." Given my....ahem, academic background, that is up for debate.

Ouisconsing pours a hazy dark amber color with a high amount of visible carbonation and a nice foamy head. The lacing left behind is also pretty good.

The nose has a nice nutty and roasted barley scent to it with just a touch of caramel. There are also some mild floral hop and Munich malt notes in there as well.

Piney hops start out the flavor followed by some mild toffee, citrus, caramel, nuts and roasted barley flavors. There's also a dry bittersweet resin aftertaste thrown in for good measure.

The body is fairly light but with some moderate carbonation, which thankfully works in it's favor because it allows some dimension to the flavor itself.

While this doesn't necessarily make me want to become a badger, I found this to be a quite enjoyable beer. It's well rounded with just the right amount of hops and malty character to go around.

Central Waters Ouisconsing Red Ale - 8/10

Budweiser Black Crown Review

Name: Budweiser Black Crown
Style: Amber Lager
ABV: 6%

Early this year Budweiser released Budweiser Black Crown onto the market. According to the company, In 2012 they asked 12 of their brewmasters to come up with their own beer and of those twelve, six were sampled nationally. This was part of their "Project 12" campaign and I remember it because I recall seeing Budweiser Project 12 Sampler Packs on store shelves, though I never really bothered checking them out.

After doing the sampling, it was the Los Angeles Budweiser Brewmaster's creation, Black Crown, which won the hearts and minds of beer drinkers everywhere and thus a new addition was added to Budweiser's line-up.............at least that's what they told the public. In my eyes, it's just another attempt to try and market to the craft beer drinking market.


This also isn't their first attempt at targeting the craft beer drinkers. Just a few years ago they released Budweiser American Ale which is, coincidently, also an Amber beer.

But let's approach this with an open mind, shall we?

Black Crown pours a clear golden color with a soapy & fizzy head. The amount of carbonation visible is quite high and the lacing is....not there.

In the nose, I'm getting some caramel, barley, pale/munich malts, toffee and a slight hoppiness.

Wait a minute....

A Budweiser with a hoppy smell? Did hell just freeze over or something?! It had to have because hops in a Budweiser is just unheard of!!!!

Sadly the hoppiness that peaked it's head through in the aroma is not present in the flavor, which is mainly your macro cereal grains, light caramel, barley, and malt sweetness. Not really much in terms of aftertaste, in fact it's quite dry.

The body is very light and on the watery side, though the carbonation is actually quite moderate and the end result is a smoother body than regular Budweiser.

Black Crown is a beer that shows some promise in the aroma. However once you drink it, you are reminded very quickly that you're drinking a Budweiser product. To Black Crown's credit, it's a lot more tolerable in terms of flavor and mouthfeel. Though as a beer I wouldn't recommend buying this unless you are absolutely curious to try it out.

Budweiser Black Crown - 5/10

Boulevard Amber Ale Review

And now for the last beer in the Boulevard Brewing Sampler Pack, we have their Boulevard Amber Ale. This is, of course, an Amber Ale with an ABV of 5.1%. Since I have most of my stuff packed, I figured it was time to cap off the Boulevard Sampler Pack once and for all.

It pours a hazy amber/orange color with a filmy half finger head. There are bits of carbonation along the sides of the glass and it finishes pretty clean.

The nose has some nutty and light caramel notes to it, which are followed by yeasts, barley, and pale malts. The flavor is more caramel forward with floral hops, barley, nuts and yeasts. The aftertaste is a nutty/hop finish which comes off as a bit dry.

The body is fairly light in weight and the carbonation is pretty mild, so this is a pretty easy drinker and makes for a sessionable beer.

The flavor isn't terribly different from other Amber Ales that I've tried but it tastes good, drinks easy and that's all that should matter in this case. If you get Boulevard in your area, I would say give this one a try, along with their Bully! Porter if you can.

Now time to pack the rest of my stuff; Since I'm moving to Duluth, the All Pints North Beer Festival is this weekend. I will try to make it there this weekend and hopefully do a piece about it. Regardless, I will see you all next week!

Have a great weekend! Cheers!

Boulevard Amber Ale - 8/10

Brooklyn Lager Review

Before moving onto my New Glarus and Ale Asylum beers, I'm going to burn through my Brooklyn Brewing Sampler Pack. I've been seeing more of these "Variety Packs" from brewers recently and have found it to be more cost effective (and sometimes cheaper) than my typical mix-a-six pack. So start it off, I'm going to review their best-selling beer simply called "Brooklyn Lager", which is their Vienna Style Lager according to their website. Besides, after working for 10 hours a beer sounds quite nice.

Brooklyn Lager pours a mildly hazy amber color with a filmy white head and some carbonation activity. Lacing along the sides of the glass is sparse but there.

The nose has some mild caramel notes, yeasts, toffee and floral hops. Not terribly complex and the aroma is slightly earthy.

The flavor is a little more diverse with mild caramelized malts, mild citrus & piney hops, and yeasts. Oddly enough, it's surprisingly hoppy for it's style! The aftertaste has both a bittersweet maltiness and metallic flavor to it.

Body is moderate in weight and the carbonation itself is a couple notches down from moderate as well. Somehow I don't feel it fits the flavor and style of the beer.

With a couple of exceptions, I am not a really big fan of Vienna Lagers as a whole and the reason is that I feel it tastes too metallic-like and the malty sweetness is all over the place and Brooklyn Lager is no exception to this. It isn't a terrible beer and you could do worse but if you aren't a Vienna Lager fan you probably won't like this.

Brooklyn Lager - 6.5/10