Milwaukee Brewing Booyah Review

Name: Milwaukee Brewing Booyah
Style: Saison
ABV: 6.5%

So a funny thing happened to me last night: I unknowingly started a reviewing a beer that I already reviewed, which was Milwaukee Brewing's Hop Happy. I had the article entire proofread and everything before I looked at the bottle and realized the name looked awfully familiar. It was then I looked back at my history and realized that I had this back in May. For the first time, ever I had to scrap a review.

Well it's time to move on and I'm doing so with Milwaukee Brewing's Booyah Saison Style Ale. Why such the in-your-face name? Rather than try to explain the story behind the name, I'm just going to cut and paste from the brewery's website:

We love Wisconsin. Our history and culture give us inspiration for brewing and naming beers.
Since this is a Belgian-style beer, the Flemish-Belgian history of the Green Bay area flows with stories like a keg with a bung blowout.

A very social cultural staple is the Booyah, which is a 55 gallon drum-over-fire stew that is cooked using an “everything but the kitchen sink” mentality, and tended by cooks over a few brews.

.....makes sense to me! Let's find out how this is!

Booyah pours a very cloudy dark orange color with no visible carbonation. The head takes on a very thin, almost-translucent appearance.

The nose has some spices, pilsner malts and usually strong lemon zest. I'm also getting some pale malts and some funkiness that resides in the back. It smells like a saison with just a touch of Brett.

The flavor starts out with some mild Belgian Yeasts with some strong lemon zest. I'm also getting some moderate Brett funkiness, a bit of malted wheat, tart white grapes, and pilsner-pale malts. As for the aftertaste, it's surprisingly dry with just a hint of tartness and light yeastiness. The description says there is rye used in this beer but I'm not really picking up on any of it with the exception of the nose. The best way to describe the taste is that it's like a Saison and a Berliner Weiss.

As you have have guessed, the taste is a lot more complex than the nose leads you to believe. It may seem a bit too sour for those looking for a traditional saison but I think this works quite well for what it is. Your best bet is to have a glass and decide for yourself.

Milwaukee Brewing Booyah - 8/10

Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Resurrection Review

Name: Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Resurrection
Style: Amber Ale
ABV: 10.2%

So I've decided to take a break from reviewing my Connecticut beers because I recently came across a beer that I have been meaning to get my hands on for a while. Last month I reviewed Louie's Demise from Milwaukee Brewing Company. In that review, I talked about Louie's Resurrection and my desire to one day give it a proper review. Well that opportunity came this weekend when I was making one of my visits to Keyport's Growler Station and Louie's Resurrection just so happened to be on that list.

Now a tidbit about Resurrection. For starters, it's a stronger version of Louie's Demise, which is their flagship Amber Ale. On top of that, it's aged for a couple months in bourbon barrels. When I had it in late 2013, it was the first "Imperial" Amber Ale that I had. To this day, it's the only one I've had. Needless to say, I'm quite excited to finally give this beer a proper review.

Clear dark red color with some very light visible carbonation. The head takes on a fairly foamy khaki colored appearance but with some sparse and soapy lacing.

Aroma starts out with some fairly prominent oak and vanilla notes. I'm also picking up on some roasted barley, a bit of chocolate maltiness, and even some mild bitter hops.

Flavor I'm getting some vanilla sweetness mixed with some oak, along with some chocolate and toffee malts, more bitter hoppiness and even a hint of cinnamon. Aftertaste is mildly dry with just a hint of vanilla.

This is, hands down, the best beer I've had from Milwaukee Brewing yet. The flavor is vibrant & robust and you will want to come back for more. Just be sure that if you do go back for more, that you don't plan on going anywhere because this is a deceptively strong beer.

Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Resurrection - 9.5/10

Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Demise Review

Name: Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Demise
Style: Amber Ale
ABV: 5.5%

It's been a few months since I've reviewed anything from Milwaukee Brewing Company, but thankfully I'm looking to make up lost time by reviewing their self-proclaimed flagship beer Louie's Demise, which is the brewery's Amber Ale.

Now I had a variation of this beer last year called Louie's Resurrection, which was a more imperialized version of their Amber Ale but aged in bourbon barrels. Sadly I didn't take notes at the time, let alone take a photo of the said beer. Hopefully in the near future, I can do a proper review of that beer. For the time being, this will have to do.

Louie's Demise pour a clear red color with no visible carbonation. The head is quite foamy and the lacing is abundant.

The aroma is mainly toffee malts, a bit of roasted barley, some chocolate notes and some bitter hoppiness.

The flavor is toffee & chocolate malts, roasted barley, and bitter hops. Aftertaste is mild roastiness but otherwise dry.

Louie's Demise is a fairly straight-forward amber ale and the flavor really leaves something more to be desired, it almost makes you wish that you were drinking something better. It plays it safe with the flavor but it gets the job done and but it's certainly not one of the better amber ales I've had recently.

Milwaukee Brewing Louie's Demise - 6/10

Milwaukee Brewing Hop Happy IPA Review

Name: Milwaukee Brewing Hop Happy IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.7%

Milwaukee Brewing Company (or MKE) based out of.....you guessed it, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has recently started shipping to Minnesota; Although right now we currently don't get them in my neck of the woods in cans. Up until now, my experience with MKE has been their Louie's Resurrection (Fantastic beer, by the way!) from the growler fill station over in Superior.

So on my recent visit to the Twin Cities, I decided to grab a can of their Hop Happy IPA since I have trying to get myself back onto IPAs as of late, along with a few other goodies which I'll be reviewing in the near future.

Hop Happy pours a mildly hazy orange color with a thin foamy head. The lacing is quite abundant and there is very little carbonation to be seen.

The nose has a nice scent of citrus hops with some sweet caramel maltiness, and a mild floral hop profile at the very end.

Flavor is more of the resin/piney hops side along with citrus & floral hops and a solid caramel malt backbone. Each type of hop used in this beer (Columbus, Fuggle, Cascade) are nicely put on display here and are distinguishable to the point where I would say they co-exist for the most part.

The palate is fairly heavy when it comes to body weight but the carbonation is mild at best and it helps keep the drinking experience a steady one.

Judging by the flavor and overall quality of Hop Happy, I would say that this is a very well balanced and put together IPA that is worth your attention. Anybody looking for a robust yet balanced tasting IPA would be wise to give this one a shot.

Milwaukee Brewing Hop Happy IPA - 9/10