This Is What I Drink: 92

Beer Roundup Part 1


I've again been doing some serious slacking here at beverage HQ, but I'm going to try and do a quick rundown so we can get some newer and exciting beverages in this piece. Here we have some beers I had over the past little while...

Weyerbacher "Fifteen" Smoked Imperial Stout

Every year on their anniversary the Weyerbacher brewing company releases a new beer to celebrate another year in the industry. I actually don't know this for certain, but I did see a "14" on the shelf next to this one. Of course, maybe that means they've only done it for two years. I don't know, whatever. Anyway, after loving Weyerbacher's "Heresy" oak aged imperial stout, I would expect nothing else but another solid effort from this beer and I certainly got it. The base of this beer is imperial stout all the way. Dark, rich, and bitter. Then the smokiness sets in. "Smoke" flavor can certainly go either way, but this wasn't too much or too little. Another really good one from Weyerbacher.

Southern Tier Mokah Stout

I've run through many of these Southern Tier imperial series. Not sure if it's every single one yet, but I feel like I'm getting there. At first I thought I already had this one considering they make both a "chocolate" and "jah-va" stout, but I suppose this is the fusion of both of these. And just like those other one's, this one is extremely tasty. Combining both the sweet chocolate notes and the rich coffee flavors into a super dark beer, this is a mighty tasty beer. A basic combination for a strong stout that rarely fails for me.

Dragon Stout

This one was purchased slightly on a whim at a convenience store before heading into a BYOB restaurant. I wasn't sure where it was from before I just checked on the internet but this is an import from Jamaica. Unfortunately I wasn't super into this one. I found it a bit sweet and malty, and not quite as thick as I come to expect from a stout. I was pretty surprised that it weighed in at about 7.5% alcohol considering that it was pretty easy to drink down. However, there wasn't much in terms of the chocolate or coffee notes that I've come to expect. Not a bad stout, but non necessarily my favorite kind of flavors.

Evolution Rise Up Stout

Here's another one from the new brewer in town from Delaware that's been on my radar recently. I hadn't seen this particular style anywhere in the stores in the area, so I was excited to see that this was on draft at a local bar. This was advertised as a coffee stout (hence the "rise up" title) and it definitely delivered. It poured very dark with a nice tan head and the smell had me thinking about my morning cup of coffee. The taste did as well. Nice roasted malts, but the coffee especially hit you hard in a good way. Many times "coffee beers" don't live up to their proclamations, but this one did. Another great stout in this update, and another really good one from Evolution.

Dogfish Head Aprihop

Here is the more famous brewery from Delaware. I believe I had tasted this one before a while back but it had been a while. Being that the base of this beer is an IPA, there's pretty much no way I wasn't going to enjoy this one considering how good Dogfish's 60 Minute and 90 Minute offerings are there. This beer starts from that base but adds a nice tart frutiness to go along with the piney citrus notes of the hops. Basically this is a very well executed twist to Dogfish's regular IPA offerings and I don't think that the apricot flavor is very overwhelming in anyway. Very nice for the Spring seasonal that it is.