Lakefront Fixed Gear Review

Name: Lakefront Fixed Gear
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.8%
IBUs: 54

I'm sorry Lakefront Brewery for being so neglectful to review any of your beers, but there are just so many beers out there to choose from that its hard to keep up with them all. So I bought myself a variety pack from Lakefront to check out their wares. These reviews will be quick and fast-paced, kind of like my mixtape.

The first one up is their Fixed Gear, which is their Red IPA. The name itself refers to the style of bike that has no gear shifters and is restricted to one gear. Remember that bike you rode when you were growing up that in order to brake instead of using handle breaks, you had to pedal backwards? That's the one right there.

Appearance - Hazy dark amber color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is white & about 1 finger in width with some decent retention, though the lacing is on the spottier side.

Aroma - Citrus & floral hops with a fairly hefty toffee malt backbone with just a slight hint of hop bitterness.

Taste - Toffee malts with some moderate citrus & floral hops. Towards the back, I'm getting some of those light bittering notes towards the back along with some more of that toffee maltiness. As for the aftertaste, it's just more toffee.

Fixed Gear is a beer that, while there's nothing wrong with it, it also isn't anything I'd consider to be memorable. It's a solid malty IPA with a good balance and there's nothing wrong with that so if you see this, I'd say it's worth a look.

Lakefront Fixed Gear - 8/10

Fulton 300 Review

Name: Fulton 300
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.9%
IBUs: 74

It's always an exciting time when a local brewery issues a new release and today I got a new offering from Fulton Brewery called 300, which is a Mosaic Hop IPA, which I'm pretty sure is the only hop used in this beer. I've mentioned before that Mosaic hops are one of my favorite hop varieties and, according to Fulton, are very hard to obtain.

You're probably wondering why it's called 300, and it's not because the brewers are fans of the testosterone-oozing-from-the-pores movie of the same name. Rather because it refers to the original batch number of which this beer was made. It was also incredibly popular with beer-lovers when it was first released, which would explain why it's now a year-round offering from Fulton.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange color with a high amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty thin for the most part but the retention is quite good and the lacing is also rather plentiful.

Aroma - Citrus, mango and tangerine notes with some pale malt and toffee sweetness. I can most certainly smell the Mosaic hops in here!

Taste - Citrus and tangerine notes upfront with some mango sweetness in the middle. Towards the back is where I'm getting some hefty toffee maltiness with some light bitter notes along with more of that citra sweetness.

If you like Mosaic-hopped IPAs, then this is essentially a love letter to fans of the style. The Mosaic hop is utilized wonderfully here, the flavor profile is showcased in an almost perfect way and it's easy to see why people love this beer. 300 isn't the most complex beer by any stretch of the imagination but it's certainly a very robust one at that.

You know, despite the growth we've had here in Minnesota these past few years, I still feel that we don't have our own "Zombie Dust" or "Heady Topper" that people across the country will actively seek out with the exception of maybe Surly. That said, I can see 300 becoming a very highly sought after beer not just in Minnesota but across the country at large.

Fulton 300 - 9.25/10

Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler Review

Name: Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler
Style: Radler
ABV: 4.1%
IBUs: 12

A couple days ago, the unthinkable happened: Minnesota was the hottest place in the United States (more specifically Two Harbors.) This meant two things: Spring was most certainly here and that hell pretty much froze over. Since we're half way to summer, I figured now was a good time to stack up on more spring beers.

It's been a while since I looked at any offerings from Boulevard so when I saw this the other day, I thought I should give it a go. I give to you Ginger Lemon Radler. It's a fairly new addition to their lineup having been introduced last year but I never got around to having it until now.

Appearance - Hazy dark yellow color with a high amount of visible carbonation. There isn't really much of head to speak of save the first few moment after the initial pour and there's no lacing here either

Aroma - Moderate ginger scent with some lemon juice, malted wheat and pale malt notes.

Taste - Much like the nose, you've got some moderate ginger notes followed by some lemon, malted wheat and mild pale maltiness. The aftertaste itself is quite dry though it's worth noting that the ginger itself provides a very nice kick.

You know, maybe it's just me but I'm really starting to appreciate these lighter beers after dealing with the heavy weights these past few months. As for this beer, it's nice, simple & crisp and like I said before, the ginger gives this beer a very nice kick without being overpowering

Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler - 8/10

Mankato Kato Lager Review

Name: Mankato Kato Lager
Style: Munich Helles
ABV; 5%
IBUs: 18

Kato Lager, a newer (to my knowledge) offering from Mankato Brewery, is a beer that I've been seeing on the shelves lately so I decided to grab a bottle of this and see for myself. It's a Munich Helles Lager, a style I haven't had in a while so I'm eager to see how this is.

Appearance - Moderately hazy bright yellow color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. There isn't really much in terms of head and the same goes for the lacing.

Aroma - Pale malts and toffee sweetness mixed in with some fairly light floral hops and light pilsner-grassiness.

Taste - Pale malts and grassiness upfront with some mild toffee sweetness towards the middle while the back end of the palate is quite dry save for some light pale malt sweetness. As for the aftertaste, it's mostly light bitter hops with a touch of pale malts

Lagers do get a bad rep sometimes, which is rather sad because this is a nice & easy drinker that's got a good flavor and is very reasonably priced. I honestly wish that more breweries would embrace lagers as a regular offering since they are, more often than not, quite good. Needless to say, this one is worth checking out.

Mankato Kato Lager - 8/10

Insight Phantom Taxi Review

Name: Insight Phantom Taxi
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9%
IBUs: 84

As some of you may have noticed, many of my recent reviews have been lacking in the IPA department and there's a reason for this. I still very much like my IPAs but I feel that I haven't devoted enough reviews recently to make it more diverse. Fear not, there will be more IPAs popping up in the near future. With that said, let's take a look at Insight Brewing's Phantom Taxi.

The newest canned release from Insight, I believe this was originally a draft-only offering but I'm going to assume that it was popular enough to warrant a canned release. As for the name Phantom Taxi, the only lead I have to go on is the story of a taxi cab in California that drives itself on the back of the can.

Appearance - Mildly hazy bright orange color with a light amount of visible carbonation. The head starts out pretty foamy but settles to a finger width after a couple minutes but the lacing is nice and plentiful.

Aroma - Citrus hops & orange peel with some mild caramel maltiness. I'm also getting a very light hint of grapefruit in here as well.

Taste - Tangerine on the front of the palate with some orange peel and light grapefruit in the middle along with a solid caramel malt backbone. The back of the palate is more of that caramel maltiness and orange peel with a mild bitter hops. As for the aftertaste, it's just light bitter & citrus hops.

I like this. It's nice, bright. and is a textbook example of what a good West Coast IPA should be like. I've heard musings on Facebook that this is more of a limited release so be sure to grab this should you so happen to see it. As for the story itself, I want to know more. A novella perhaps, Insight?

Insight Phantom Taxi - 9/10

Oskar Blues Beerito Review

Name: Oskar Blues Beerito
Style: Vienna Lager
ABV: 4%
IBUs: 21

The other day I was at the store when I saw this beer staring at me on the shelf. That's right, it's a brand new offering from Oskar Blues called Beerito, which is described as the brewery as a Mexican Lager. At first, I assumed this was going to be something along the lines of a beer like Corona or Modelo, but it's actually a Vienna Lager which I wasn't expecting.

Appearance - Dark & mildly orange color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy and there's even some lacing left behind along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - Pale & light vienna malts with some mild roastiness and light cereal grains. I'm even picking up on some very faint floral hoppiness as well. If this is what a Mexican lager is supposed to smell like, then I've been drinking the wrong kind so far.

Taste - Light pale and vienna malt with some very light bitter hops on the back of the palate....and that's it. There's not even an aftertaste or anything.

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting too much with this beer but this is just about as bland of a beer as Good Ass Beer & Michelob Golden Light and that's sad because it started out rather promising. C'mon Oskar Blues, you're better than this! If you can make a good session IPA, then surely you can do the same with lagers? To its credit, it's not offensive but that's because there isn't really much here to begin with. Even at the low price of $7 for a six-pack, I'd still pass on this.

Oskar Blues Beerito - 3.5/10

Indeed Lavender, Sunflower Honey and Dates (AKA LSD) Honey Ale Review

Name: Indeed Lavender, Sunflower Honey and Dates (AKA LSD) Honey Ale
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 7.2%
IBUs: 20

How have I not gotten around to reviewing this beer? Despite the widespread availability of Indeed Brewing, I have never once tried their LSD, which stands for Lavender, Sunflower Honey and Dates. In fact, it used to be called LSD, which made it nice and short but there are the man decided that the acronym wasn't going to fly. For this review, I'll be referring to this beer as LSD since the new name is quite long.

So about LSD itself! One of the brewers (I'm blanking on the name) for Indeed used to work at Town Hall as a brewer and this was a recipe that he created during his time over there. When Indeed opened their doors, he decided to take his recipe from Town Hall to his new humble abode and here we are!

Appearance - Clear dark orange color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty thin for the most part but it has a good amount of head retention.

Aroma - I'm getting some lavender upfront with some plum notes that I would assume are the dates. I'm also getting some floral hops along with a bit of caramel maltiness.

Taste - Plums and floral hops upfront, followed by some honey sweetness and lavender notes towards the middle, while the back end of the palate has more lingering lavender notes with some caramel sweetness and a touch of honey in the aftertaste.

I'm use my one free drug pun for this review: This LSD is one worth taking a trip on..............no? Well in any case, it's a good beer and the fact it's no longer in a 750ml bottle and instead in cans is not only a welcome change but it'll give the beer a wider appeal since Indeed is no longer limited to just the Minnesota market.

Indeed Lavender, Sunflower Honey and Dates Honey Ale - 8.5/10