South Shore Bourbon Barrel Coffee Mint Stout Review

Name: South Shore Bourbon Barrel Coffee Mint Stout
Style: Stout
ABV: 6.1%
IBUs: N/A

Tonight I've an offering from South Shore Brewing, based out of Ashland, Wisconsin. I have their Bourbon Barrel Coffee Mint Stout, which I found on sale for $5 at one of my local stores that was sitting next to the Alaskan Barleywine amongst other things. Now I did have this beer once before at the Hot Air Balloon festival in Duluth last year, but like many beers I had that night, I wasn't taking notes.

Before starting this review, I did a bit of research on this beer which included reviews of this beer. I was a bit perturbed to see that a few of the reviews had mentioned that this beer was like mint mouthwash and there was even one review claiming it to be to it an infected batch. It's at that point I asked myself if it had been on sale for a reason.

Appearance - Pitch black with a thin dark khaki-colored head with some moderate lacing. There's also a bit of light visible carbonation along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - My first thought is that this smells like those mint chocolates you get after eating at Olive Garden. You've got strong peppermint and chocolate malt notes dominating the front of the nose, with some bourbon, oak & vanilla notes following that. Rounding all that up is some mild coffee notes & roastiness.

Taste - There isn't too much of a difference from the nose here. Once again, you've got that strong peppermint & chocolate maltiness upfront with the roastiness and coffee flavors taking on a bigger role. In between all of that is where I'm getting that bourbon & oak flavor that compliments the other flavors reasonably well. Even though the ABV of this beer is only 6.1%, the bourbon flavor gives it a warming sensation.

This beer is an interesting concept that I think is pulled off fairly well.....for the most part. At the same time, this is certainly not a beer for everyone and many will be turned off by the sheer mintiness of the beer. However if you're looking for a truly unique stout that, then this one is worth trying out so long as you aren't paying full price for this beer.

South Shore Bourbon Barrel Coffee Mint Stout - 7.5/10

South Shore Nut Brown Ale Review

Name: South Shore Nut Brown Ale
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5.25%

It's been a while since I've taken a look at anything from South Shore Brewery. My first impression of the brewery with their blonde ale was not what I would call favorable, but a few weeks ago I had today's beer on tap at Sir Ben's and was impressed with how it tasted. So I took it upon myself to seek this out in bottle form to do a proper review.

The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin white head. Lacing is pretty moderate but I'm not picking up on any visible carbonation.

The nose is chocolate malt and roasted barley forward. I'm also picking up on some floral hoppiness and some toffee maltiness as well.

The flavor is chocolate and toffee malt forward with a mild floral hoppiness and some light roastiness on the back end of the flavor. As for the aftertaste, it's a blend of bitter hops and roasted barley. The palate is moderate in terms of weight and the carbonation is also fairly moderate.

Overall it's a pretty good brown ale. It's by no means a complex beer but it's a good tasting beer. I'm not sure how widely available this is, but it's worth trying out if you ever see it.

South Shore Nut Brown Ale - 8/10

South Shore Northern Lights Ale Review

Name: South Shore Northern Lights Ale
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.3%

Despite Duluth being pretty much the central hub of beer along the shores of Lake Superior, many seem to forget that Northern Wisconsin has it's share of breweries as well. With the exception of Thirsty Pagan located over in Superior, Northern Wisconsin's brewery scene doesn't really get any recognition here in Duluth. South Shore Brewery based out of Ashland, WI is pretty much the only brewery located in Northwestern Wisconsin. The other breweries in the northern part of the state are closer to Rhinelander or situated along Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Today I will be looking at South Shore's Northern Lights Ale, which is their Blonde Ale and the one I most commonly see on the shelves.

Northern Lights pours a hazy yellow color with a surprisingly fizzy head yet no carbonation to speak of that's visible.

Barley, pale malts and yeasts with an encompassing grassiness make up the aroma. There are also some hints of wheat in the nose as well, but it only becomes apparent once it warms up.

The flavor has a surprisingly sweet pale malt and wheat profile, backed up by yeasts and barley. The earthiness that was present in the nose isn't as strong here but it's noticeable. There's also some strange adjunct grainy notes to the taste.

The body is pretty lightweight but the carbonation, contrary to it's seemingly dead appearance, is rather moderate for what it is.

I can't say that Northern Lights Ale blew me away because it certainly didn't. The flavor has a strange and unnecessary adjunct taste to it and could forgo the earthiness; If you remove those, this would've been a great blonde ale but it's an okay blonde ale for right now.

South Shore Northern Lights Ale - 6.5/10