Celis
Ex-pat Belgian brewer who
created Hoegaarden White now brews his White *** here instead. The beer is soft and malty, with light orange flavours. The Raspberry *** is big on the fruit, with good
body and tartness, and a very fresh, juicy character. Pale Bock **1/2 is a Belgian style bronze ale with a cookie-like aroma (maybe even caramel pudding), med. body and yeasty fruitiness (apple, peach). Grand Cru *** is pale bronze, with a spicy-fruity aroma (mango, grapefruit, sage, fresh parsley) and palate showing notes of alcohol, pale malt, light freshly-crushed black pepper, and faint citrusy notes.
Shiner
Regional brewer with a thin but crisp Summer Stock **, modelled after a Kölsch; and the famous Shiner Bock *1/2, a mainstream dark lager.
Lone Star
Another patriotic Texan lager, but Lone Star * is painfully standard.
Yellow Rose
San Antonio micro. Blond Ox **1/2 is a rather mild, tan-coloured beer, with a sweet malt accent and notable creaminess. In fact, this naturally carbonated beer is creamier than any nitrokeg or widget can I’ve come across. Great quaffing material.
Saint Arnold
Houston micro. Winter Stout *1/2 I found to be thin and devoid of complexity, with a touch of astringent roastiness.
Free State
Has a malty White **1/2.
Stone City
From Solon, Stone Mansion Stout ** is thin, almost brittle, with a strong, dry roastiness, but nothing to go along with it.
Empyrean Ales
From them I've had Third Stone Brown **1/2, dark brown with red accents, the aroma of bark, bread crusts, pecans and tobacco, flowing into a malty, lightly nutty palate, iron notes in the middle and some hop dryness towards the end.
Boulevard
Micro in Kansas City, making a light, clean, refreshing, American-style Wheat **; and a lightish, toasty Stout **, with some faint hop notes.
Three Floyds
Famous amongst beer geeks, not the least of which for the beautifully titled Alpha King Pale Ale ***1/2, which has a huge hop aroma (citrus, wood), an earthy palate, and some sweet malt notes to cut through the bitterness. Their Extra Pale **1/2 is fruitier, with less bitterness and some malt underneath. Burnham Pilsener *** has a light amber colour, a hoppy nose with chewy malt, and a well-balanced palate showing lots of caramel and toffee malt flavours to go with big continental hop notes. Robert the Bruce **1/2 is very hoppy for a Scottish ale, obviously dry-hopped, but with some good malty
balance to the woody flavours. Behemoth *** is well-balanced, but definitely leans towards the hop. In
fact, this may be the hoppiest barley wine I’ve ever had - certainly the driest. Pride & Joy **1/2 - I don't know. The rep said it wasn't quite right, and I'm inclined to believe him. It didn't taste quite right. The problem was, his version of what was wrong was totally different than mine. I found it to be overhopped - with a floral nose and fairly bitter body. I would call this an Ordinary, not a Mild. Alpha Klaus *** is a softly malty, chocolatey luscious porter for the holiday season; and Dreadnaught IPA *** is a large hop extravaganza with a chewy, bitter palate showing sugar tarts, leaves, and lingering hop.
Back Road
I found a good roasty bitterness in their No. 9 Barley Wine **1/2.
Lafayette
Old No. 85 **1/2, an IPA named for its IBU count, has a ton of hops, but seems a little empty
in the end. Probably not balanced quite right. The Smokehouse Porter *** was balanced just right - lots of smoke with a mild malt complexity.
Goose Island
One of those prolific brewers who keep producing new beers every time you turn around. One year they planned to do 100 different beers! Now that’s what I like to see! Essays have included a Saison **1/2, with lots of malt and hop. The flagship Honker’s Ale **1/2 is a solid quaffer with fruity-hoppy notes. Other beers include the malt-accented Kilgubbin **, with good caramel flavours; a chocolatey-toffeeish Schwarze **1/2; the very
light PMD Mild **; the coffee and toast tasting breakfast beer Oatmeal Stout **; and an IPA *1/2, which I
had the misfortune of sampling off nitrogen, which caused the flavours to collapse into a jumbled mess, completely without focus or promise. Try that one on bottle. The premium Bohemian style pilsner, albeit amber in colour, is Baderbrau ***, very elegant aroma and sweetish for the style. This was picked up after the initial brewer, Pavechevich, went out of business.
Flatlanders
Rare Illinois appearance at the Chicago Real Ale Fest. They brought an 80/- ***, which is notably peaty,
smokey and malty.
Flossmoor Station
Pullman Nut Brown **1/2 featured the requsite malt and nut flavours; Old Conundrum *** was sweet - complex, but sweet.
Two Brothers
From Warrenville, IL, these two brothers make a mild called Brown Fox **1/2, which is fully nutty, malty, with good body and great drinkability; and Ebel's Weisse ***, a wonderful German-style wheat that is sweet, yeasty, with lots of banana (though a little phenolic in the nose). Others include the chocolatey, hoppy, "light for the style" Northwind Imperial Stout **1/2; Prairie Path Golden Ale **, with notes of toasted popcorn, caramel and earthy hops; and Bare Tree Weiss Wine ***, which is fantastically complex. Tasted side-by-side in spring 2002, the 2000 vintage was fruity (plum, apple), spicy (ginger, mace, black pepper) and malty (biscuits, chocolate, cookie dough), while the 2001 had alcohol, vanilla, oak, spices (cumin, garam masala, pepper), earthy hops - vibrant, creative and complex both. Domaine DuPage French Country Ale *** is a dark amber bière de garde with a firm body, rich, long malty flavours and
deep toastiness.
Capital
Lager brewer, celebrating with its 10th Anniversary **1/2, roughly Vienna style, but perhaps a bit malty for that.
Sprecher
You gotta love this beer. Black Bavarian *** has an elegant, complex aroma of hop, roasty malts, and chocolate. The body
is smooth, and chocolatey, with a dash of roast. Delicious. Sprecher Anniversary Ale ** is a Flemish-style brown ale with raspberries. The fruit in the aroma and palate is fresh, the palate lightly malty and acidic, but perhaps lacking in richness and complexity. Maibock *** is light bronze, with a nose like chocolate chip cookie dough, with rye (whiskey) and smoke notes. The palate is firm, evenly malty, with a dry, smooth finish. Others include a thin Irish Stout **, which makes a decent porter; a malty, earthy, cocoa-y Winter Brew **, and a sugary, slightly cidery, sweet, flowery Abbey Tripel *1/2.
New Glarus
Apple Ale **1/2 is reddish-brown, with lots of apple on the nose, along with some toffeeish malt hidden underneath. The palate is dominated by the apple, but hints of chocolate and a very buttery maltiness do manage to sneak through the effervescent body. The famous Belgian Red **1/2 is beautifully coloured. The aroma is complex and fruity, showing notes of cherries, brown sugar, and a light yeastiness. The palate is remarkably heavy on the cherry, and gets
candyish, but develops a light, spritzy tang, and just a hint of dark malts and delicate winey complexity and dryness. On some sips, this appears to be a well-made but not spectacular kriek, on others it lives up to the lofty praise heaped upon it by Jackson and others. The sourness is indicative of the Flemish style, and this beer is comparable to Alexander Rodenbach. I would like to see an unflavoured version of this beer. The brewery also has a Zwickel **1/2, a well-balanced lager with juicy maltiness and a light yeast bite. Raspberry Tart **1/2 is along the same lines as the Belgian Red, but much sweeter. The fruit flavours are, however, very clean and fresh (with seeds!), and this dessert beer is just begging for some fine Belgian chocolate. Other products include the earthy, caramelly Snowshoe Ale **, an amber; the crisp, hoppy, bark-like, mostly caramelly Hop Hearty IPA **1/2; and a near black Coffee Stout **1/2, coffeeish but not overly roasty.
Leinenkugel
Grainy, grassy Leinenkugel Original *1/2 has a slightly sour edge.
Tyranena
In Lake Mills, with products including Stone Tepee Pale Ale **, a mildly leafy, cascade-y American pale, and Shantytown Doppelbock **, earthy and caramelly.
Lakefront
Fuel Cafe **1/2 is a pleasurable, very coffeeish beer. Thankfully they used a quality roast, which a lot of similar products do not. The famed Riverwest Stein Beer **1/2 is, firstly, not intended to be a stone-brewed steinbier. it is a hazy amber lager with a lot of vienna maltiness, some pear-like fruitiness and some toasted caramel notes.
Stevens Point
Regional mainstream brewer making the amber, lightly caramelly Stevens Point *.
Minnesota Brewing
Lost Lake* is a mainstream light lager from this St. Paul brewer (aka America's Contract Brewer). Another product is Yankee Jim Genuine Draft *, with nostril-stinging fusels, lots of corn syrup sweetness - the liquid equivalent of a kick in the nuts.
Michigan
Products from this micro include a clean, earthy IPA**1/2. The Belgian Tripel **1/2 has a solid malty character, with the pepperiness typical of the style. For a Detroit’s Polish community, they brew Hamtramck Beer *, a cloudy, funky lager (olive oil? metal?) that bears little to no resemblance to actual Polish beer.
Leopold Brothers
Brewpub in Ann Arbor with a rather heavy Pilsner** 1/2, with a lot of hop, but not as clean as might be expected.
Kalamazoo
Famous micro with a number of interesting products. Kalamazoo Stout **1/2 is rich and
full-flavoured; Third Coast Old Ale ***, an absolutely huge beer with loads of caramel, toffee, earthy hops and other complexities; Two-Hearted Ale ***, a big, chewy, complex IPA; Best Brown **1/2; Expedition Stout ***, a black, creamy, hoppy, roasty, rich and well-balanced imperial stout. For a brewery with such wonderful high-test beers, I was surprised at just how good their New World Ale **1/2, a mild, was -
hops and iron, and a subtle complexity. Bell's Porter **1/2 started robust and coffeeish, but faded at the end. For November 2001, they did Bell's 10 Stouts of November, including the well-structured Susie's Sweet Stout **1/2, with the aroma of Vietnamese coffee; the nutty, coffeeish Rye Stout **1/2, with a slightly fatty mouthfeel; Bell's Oatmeal Stout **, with some roastiness and hint of oats in the nose; the allspice, cardamom and coffee of Harry Magill's Spiced Stout **1/2; Trumpeter Stout, **1/2 with flavours reminiscent of brown bread crust; and vegetal, beany Java Stout *1/2. Batch 5000 ** has a great dry smokiness (a different kind of wood, too, I think, like pecan or something), lightish maltiness, firm alcohol presence but becoming slightly unravelled at the end. Another stout is Bell's Special Double Cream Stout **, a richly roasty brew, slightly fatty, with light grapey, cherryish fruitiness. I could see some
people really liking this fat beer, but it wasn't to my taste. Consecrator Doppelbock *** is a good example of Larry Bell’s versatility – from the fiery orange-amber colour to the vanilla, maple malt and blackberry aroma to the caramelized sugar palate and long malty finish this is quality all round.
Grizzly Peak
Aged in a Jack Daniels barrell, Batch 800 Strong Ale **1/2 emerges with a malt-toffee nose, and sweet, vanilla sugar notes that complement the maltiness.
Bonfire
Burning Brand Bitter **1/2 is a wood-accented ale, with good complexity of flavours.
Arcadia
The IPA **1/2 has a good, solid hoppiness; the ESB **1/2 has a toffeeish, caramelly malt accent.
Dragonmead
Detroit micro. Copper Shield *** has a darkish bronze hue, fairly chewy malt nose, and a palate showing lots of chewy, earthy malt, and an odd finish with a hint of cocoa powder.
Founders
Micro with an Imperial Stout ** that has a meaty, cheesy aroma; a fatty, spicy character and a nutty, dry finish.
Boyne River
Laid back ales from small town Michigan, including a chocolatey, off-dry Brown Ale **1/2. Logjam ESB ** is opaque light brown with a smooth palate, hoppy nose and earthy, somewhat malty body, backed by a light apple fruitiness.
New Holland
Kourage **1/2 is a dark burgundy ale with the aroma of glosette raisins - a pleasurably mellow brown with Belgian overtones; Zoomer Wit ** has a slightly phenolic aroma, and palate featuring clean pale malts. Mad Hatter **1/2 is a cloudy amber IPA that starts with Belgian-esque yeast notes and finishes with fat, resiny hops.
Dark Horse
Small brewer with Sapient Summer Wheat **, which is light, wheaty and with a hint of lemon. Thirsty Trout Porter *** is near black, creamy, coffeeish – a little watery, but if you get past the body you’ll find some really nicely developed flavours.
Kraftbräu
Most beer geeks are probably unaware that there are two breweris in Kalamazoo, but it’s true. This one has a lightly biscuity Dutch Lager **, with bitter hops in the back; and a Winter Alt **, which is reddish-amber, but the malts and earth are overwhelmed by a plastic note.
Cold Spring
Barkley Sound Honey Almond Light *1/2 tastes like it sounds - loaded with cloying artificial almond flavours.
Crooked River
Has the sweetish blonde Expansion Draft *. The maltier Select Lager ** is similar to a Munich helles, but with a copper colour.
Barley’s Brewhouse #1
has a Centennial IPA **1/2, for which my tasting notes read simply ‘good shit’. I
suppose if you know how I feel about Centennial hops, you’re not too surprised. Their Russian Imperial Stout **1/2 is complex, with good flavours.
Willoughby
The dark brown Wenceslas *** is a ginger highlight reel, with some other Chinese spices also
coming through a little bit. Sweet and mellow, and not too far from being a liquid gingerbread cookie. Legislation Ale *** is big and chewy - malt upon malt, with a touch of yeastiness.
Great Lakes
Cleveland rocks. At least, Great Lakes does. The flagship is Dortmunder Gold ***, with a rich golden colour, a hugely malty, toasty, caramel taste - very big and chewy for the style, finishing smooth. Other beers include Eliot Ness *** is rich, deep amber with a chewy nose of fresh malt, a crisp palate balanced by toasty notes and a well-structured hop bitterness. Moondog **1/2 has a bright copper colour, toasty, lightly woody hoppiness - clean, well balanced, with a touch of yeast and a hint of chocolate in the finish. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter *** has an aroma like french toast & chocolate chip cookies and a palate of chocolate, coffee and complex. I also had an 8 year-old Barley Wine (see the Vintage Page for details). Conway's Irish Ale *** has a golden amber colour, richly malty, bread crusty aroma, complex malt palate (chocolate chip cookies, toasty, and slight tropical
fruits). Burning River Pale Ale *** is a straightforward Cascade-infused American Pale Ale, but it is so beautifully structured you can't help but love it. Their Christmas Ale **1/2 is reddish-brown, has a spicy, hoppy, gingery aroma and a palate mixing ginger with earthy taste and a long, dry finish.
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