Winter Beer Fest - Our Reviews

Just a few reviews of beers that we were able to rate on the WBF App before our phones started dying. The scale ranged from “Bad” to “Great,” with five total graduations. I’ve added a couple comments for each beer as well.

Reminder: If you used the app, please comment and tell us what you thought about it, what you’d like to see improved, etc. Hopefully in the future, we can turn it from a glorified beer list (useful in itself) into something really cool down the road.

Great

Smoked Chili Pale Ale

Odd Side Ales

We’re suckers for a Chili Pepper beer, and this was an excellent entry into the field. Though many that we’ve tried (and all we’ve brewed) have been darker varieties, I’m growing more interested in a lighter variety for a chili pepper recipe. This beer wasn’t too hot, but the smoke flavor came through nicely in the aftertaste.

Great

Sour Plead the Fifth Stout

Dark Horse Brewing Co.

I think this was our unanimous (voting body of 2!) Best in Show winner. As we said prior to the festival, this was a combination of so many things that we like, it would have been damn near impossible for us to not love it. Plus, Dark Horse had a “tunnel of stouts” which was weird yet awesome.

Great

Whiskey Richard Sour Ale

Dark Horse Brewing Co.

Aside from the punny name, this was a pretty good beer. It didn’t have so much of the Belgian-type sourness, but rather whiskey sourness. I found that pretty interesting, as usually you get more vanilla and malty-sweet flavors out of bourbon beers.

Good

Irish-style Mint Stout

Odd Side Ales

Using mint in a beer is no revelation, but I don’t think I’ve seen a mint stout before - obvious though it may seem with stouts often having coffee and chocolate involved. The mint flavor came through nicely, and it wasn’t overwhelming.

Good

Ryeclops Imperial RyePA

Corner Brewery - (ABC)

I’ve had this beer before, so it was nothing new. Only one of us is a huge rye fan/expert, but we both agreed it was a good, not great, beer.

Good

Robert the 4th BOB’s Bourbon Barrel Beer

B.O.B.’s Brewery

As we were seemingly on a mission to try every single bourbon-aged beer at the festival (we didn’t come close), there was a lot of competition within the field. This didn’t stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Good

Scotty Karate Scotch Ale

Dark Horse Brewing Co.

We’ve both had this one before. It’s a good scotch ale (as most Dark Horse offerings are good within their category), but nothing distinctive.

Good

Moonsqualler Scotch Ale

Frog Island Brewing Co.

Similar to the above, but this was a huge (12%, if I recall correctly) scotch ale. It was good, but it seems that the whole purpose of the beer was “let’s make this really strong” - a goal I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but not at the expense of making it delicious.

Good

Hoppopotamus American IPA

Hopcat

We’ve had this one before. This isn’t a special IPA, in terms of over-the-top hop additions or really distinctive hop varieties. Just a solid IPA.

Good

Bourbon Barrel Aged Fourth Dementia Olde Ale

Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.

We’re big Olde Ale fans, and big bourbon barrel fans, so this beer had a lot to live up to. It fell short of our expectations, though that’s probably more our fault for setting the bar high.

Good

Lunar Eclipse Amero-Bel IPA

Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.

The Solar Eclipse that Kuhnhenn had at the Summer Beer Festival was among our favorites, but this

Espresso Love Breakfast Stout

Corner Brewery - (ABC)

We’ve had this one before, and it’s a fairly-standard stout. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Reserve Special Black Bier

Dark Horse Brewing Co.

Another entry from the “tunnel of stouts,” this was a decent black bier, but there was nothing special about it.

Slammin’ Salmon American Pale Ale

Hopcat

Eh, this was a standard APA. Again, nothing wrong with it, but nothing to get excited about either. Considering these guys have brewed a turkey beer in the past, I was hoping it would have fish in the recipe, just to be interesting.

Meh

Devil in the Details Imperial Stout

Frog Island Brewing Co.

As imperial stouts go, there wasn’t much to set this one apart. It was big, but hardly flavorful at all. I was really disappointed, as I’m a big lover of stouts.

Meh

BBQIPA Smoked IPA

B.O.B.’s Brewery

This was probably the most disappointing beer of the day. I was hoping for a truly smoky, barbecuey flavor (perhaps even some peppers, tomato, vinegar flavors). Instead, it had smoked applewood flavor barely present, and was mostly a standard IPA. Darn.

That’s just a selection of the beers we tried. Our rate of… rating… slowed down later in the day, and we stopped bothering with beer’s we’d had before pretty early in the day.