Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA Review

Name: Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.9%
IBUs: 100

Every year I review Stone's Anniversary IPAs during the fall season and I have often times asked myself what the previous entries would've tasted like had I the chance to try them out. Well Stone has done me a favor and re-released some of their older Anniversary IPAs as part of their Encore Series, which brings us to Stone's 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA.

Why the misspelling of "Imperial", you ask? Well, when Stone first made this beer, they used all British hops and malts in the brewing process, and since IPAs were first conceived during the British Empire ruling 25% of the known world, it starts to make sense.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is very thin for the most part but the lacing is moderate.

Aroma - Strong bitter hops and caramel malts with some faint citrus notes. I'm also getting a faint boozy scent from this as well.

Taste - Strong caramel & toffee malts upfront with some equally strong bitter and light citrus hops in the middle and back along with some woodsy characteristics that show up on the end of the palate and there's even some light pilsner grassy flavors. The aftertaste is a mix of that woodsy flavor mixed in with the bitter hops and light toffee maltiness. Thankfully there's no booziness in the flavor.

While I can't say this was absolute favorite Anniversary IPA from Stone, it does strike a good balance between being bitter & malty and the end result is a nice & strong, yet balanced, Imperial English-style IPA. As such, I'm glad that I at least got to try this out and anyone whose curious should check this out as well,

Stone 14th Anniversay Emperial IPA - 8.5/10

Alpine Pure Hoppiness Review

Name: Alpine Pure Hoppiness
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8%
IBUs: 61

It's been a little while since I reviewed an Imperial IPA since hoppier beers tend to take a backseat during the winter months. So let's take a look at Alpine's Pure Hoppiness, a name that makes it obvious that it's just chuck-full of hops. That and I've heard it's considered one of the best Imperial IPAs on that market right now; I mean it does come from San Diego, but I'll wait to pass judgement.

Appearance - Mildly hazy orange color with a light amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty thin but has some good retention and the lacing is plentiful

Aroma - Rich citrus hops with some moderate piney hops. I'm also getting some nice caramel maltiness and even some light yeastiness.

Taste - Rich citrus hop and tangerine notes, both of which linger throughout the palate. Towards the middle and back is where that caramel maltiness starts to show itself while those piney hops show up right at the end and they're there but are eclipsed by the citrus hoppiness. The aftertaste is light piney hops with more tangerine notes.

Well, it's got a bright & robust citrus hop profile and it manages to please the palate quite well. With that said, it's a fairly by-the-book West Coast Imperial IPA but a good one at that. In short, you aren't going wrong by buying a six-pack of this and if you're a fan of West Coast IPAs, you'll definitely find something to love about this.

Alpine Pure Hoppiness - 8.5/10 

Founders Lizard of Koz Review

Name: Founders Lizard of Koz
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%
IBUs: 40

If you're reading this right now at the time of this posting, chances are you are probably stuck with family eating copious amounts of turkey, watching football, drinking beer and awkwardly trying not to talk about politics. If so, Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Nick's Beer Blog. And by us, I mean me!

So I was at the store a couple days ago with the intent of only buying a re-release of Stone's 14 Anniversary IPA when I saw this beer from Founders and I knew I had to try this out. I give to you the Lizard of Koz, an Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels and brewed with vanilla and Michigan blueberries. As for the name, it was named after the head brewer's sister, who is named Liz and the "Koz" being the first three letters of their last name.

Appearance - Black with a slight purple hue when held up to a light. The head takes on a dark brown color and is rather foamy and the lacing itself is quite abundant.

Aroma - Cocoa nibs and chocolate malts with some vanilla and oak notes, along with a subtle blueberry sweetness. I'm also getting some mild bitter hoppiness along with a hint of cherries.

Taste - Vanilla and cocoa nibs upfront with a big blueberry sweetness and moderate oak notes in the middle. The back end of the palate opens up to more of that chocolate maltiness and vanilla sweetness and even the blueberries are still present here. The aftertaste is mainly light blueberry notes and vanilla.

It's not the most complex tasting Imperial Stout out there, but it's very robust and there's enough flavors here to keep the show rolling and then some. Plus the blueberries used in the brewing process give this beer a different enough character from other bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stouts out there. As such, that makes this extremely easy to recommend.

Founders Lizard of Koz - 9.5/10

Schell's Snowstorm (2016) Review

Name: Schell's Snowstorm (2016)
Style: English Strong Ale
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: N/A

It's time that of the year again to look at the newest Snowstorm beer from Schell's and the timing couldn't be better because we're on track to get hit with our first major snow storm today, with estimates as high as 6 inches by tomorrow morning; Oh joy!

So what style are they laying on us this year? Last year, it was a Wallonian Brown Ale and this year it's a....British Strong Ale? At first, I couldn't believe the label but when I looked it up, sure enough, there is indeed a English Strong Ale style. And get this, according to Beer Advocate, I've had one other English Strong Ale and that was Dogfish Head's Immort Ale, though I listed it as a Strong Ale for whatever reason.

Appearance - Clear dark orange color with a very high amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy and there's tons of lacing left behind.

Aroma - Caramel and toffee malts with some light biscuit notes and floral hops. It also has a light Munich malt quality to it. It kind of reminds me of a Vienna Lager...almost.

Taste - Sweet caramel and toffee malts upfront with some surprisngly strong floral hops in the middle and back end of the palate. There's some more of that biscuit like quality to it in the back as well. Aftertaste is mostly caramel malts and light bitter hops and I'm also getting a nice warming sensation from this as well.

Schell's has given us yet another solid Snowstorm beer this year and the warming sensation I got from this beer will definitely be welcome in the coming months By itself, it's nothing exciting but it's worthy of your attention nevertheless.

Schell's Snowstorm (2016) - 8.25/10

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing Review

Name: The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing
Style: American Strong Ale
ABV: 11.3%
IBUs: 0 (According to The Bruery's website)

More winter beers, hooray! Or in this instance, we have a Christmas beer courtesy of The Bruery with their 9 Ladies Dancing, which is either an American or Belgian Strong Ale (depending on who you ask) made with lactose, cacao nibs, vanilla and coffee. It is, in the brewery's own words, supposed to taste like a tiramasu desert cake. Also you'll notice too that I have the IBUs listed as 0 above; If I don't know the IBUs of a beer, I normally put N/A but 0 is what's listed on their website. Whether it's intentional or not is beyond me.

I did some research on this beer and it turns out that this is actually part of a series, with each beer being named after a verse from the Christmas carol "Twelve Days of Christmas", with the previous entry being 8 Maids-a-Milking, which was an Imperial Stout. That means next year, we can expect 10 Lords-a-Leaping.

Appearance - Cloudy dark brown with no visible carbonation. The head starts out foamy but quickly loses volume and becomes a thin film, though the lacing is quite plentiful

Aroma - Chocolate malts and vanilla, with some bready yeasts and lactose notes. I'm also picking up on some mild coffee roastiness in here as well.

Taste - Strong coffee start with vanilla, lactose, roasted barley yeasts and a sweet candied chocolate/caramel maltiness on the back end. Also I'm getting some very light bitterness, but I'm not sure if it's hops or just the flavors coming together in a certain way. Either way, it does remind me of tiramisu!

Even though different websites list this as either an American or Belgian Strong Ale, I feel the flavor definitely puts this into American territory based on the lack of Belgian characteristics that I came across while having this. On the flip side, the overall flavor definitely reminds me of a tiramasu and one of the better examples of a dessert beer that I've had in a long time. If you so happen to see this, it's a must have this winter.

The Bruery 9 Ladies Dancing - 9/10

Fulton Standard Lager Review

Name: Fulton Standard Lager
Style: Light Lager
ABV: 4.5%
IBUs: 18

Fulton recently launched a new year-round beer called Standard Lager....but the beer itself doesn't bear the Fulton name, save for the "Brewed at" location on the side of the can. In fact, the name of this article should technically just be called "Standard Lager Review," but for consistency sake, we'll go with what we got.

So why is this? Well, according to Fulton, they wanted to make a beer that doesn't bear their name in order to reach a broader audience of people who normally wouldn't drink craft beer, hence why it's a lager. They're also releasing this in 12-packs, so you can tell they're investing a lot in this new brand.

Appearance - Mildly cloudy dark orange color with a light amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty foamy but there's nothing left behind in terms of lacing.

Aroma - Pale malts & grains with a light amount of floral hoppiness. Aside from that, not much else.

Taste - Pale malts and barley on the front of the palate with a light touch of floral hops in the back. The aftertaste is quite dry, save for some very light barley notes.

You know, if this is the beer that Fulton intends to use in order to reach a wider audience, then I am pretty confident that they will succeed. It's got a light-but-good flavor and it feels crisp and refreshing. It may not be the thing seasoned craft beer fans are looking for, but as a crowd pleaser, this does the trick.

Fulton Standard Lager - 8/10

New Belgium Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale Review

Name: New Belgium Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 6%
IBUs: N/A

Last November, I reviewed New Belgium's Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale, which was a collaboration done with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. When I closed out that review, I mentioned that if New Belgium were to ever do a collaboration with Ben & Jerry's again, that I would be sure to check it out.

Well, guess what happened? That's right, they got together again and made another beer. This time around it's a chocolate chip cookie dough-inspired beer....and it's also a blonde ale. An interesting choice, to say the least.

Appearance - Fairly clear yellow color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is white in color & pretty foamy and there's a high amount of lacing left behind.

Aroma - Cookie dough, vanilla, & chocolate along with some pale malts and light floral hops. I'm shocked, this actually smells like chocolate chip cookie dough!

Taste - Vanilla and pale malts upfront, with some chocolate sweetness and cookie dough in the middle. In the back, I'm getting more vanilla and cookie dough notes, with the latter consisting of the aftertaste and lingering around for a couple moments.

Wow, this actually tastes like a chocolate chip cookie in beer form and the choice of style actually helps this beer display the contents of a chocolate chip cookie remarkably well. If you missed out on the Salted Caramel Brownie beer last year, wipe away those tears and get this instead; This is definitely the superior beer.

New Belgium Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale - 8.5/10