May Beers Sampled

Alaskan Brewing Co. is based in Juneau and I have toured the brewery a few years ago.  One of their new offerings is Freeride APA (5.3% ABV and 40 IBU) a very tasty American Pale Ale.

Backcountry Brewery is based in Frisco, CO and their Pale Ale (5.6% ABV and 60 IBU) is another good American Pale Ale.  This beer was formerly know as Telemark IPA and is a Gold medal winner at 2000 and 2009 GABF.

Crooked Stave is just brewing some fantastic beer and St. Bretta (5.5% ABV) is a sour Witbier and it is excellent.  I need to try it side-by-side with Surette to see which one I like best.  Very easy with Crooked Stave, if you see it on the shelf, but it.

Deschutes is based in Portland and is one of my favorite brewers.  I picked up a bottle of River Ale (4.2% ABV and 28 IBU) recently and enjoyed this American Blonde Ale.  It is one of the new session ales that many brewers are releasing and I think a session beer taste-off may be a great choice sometime this summer.

Goose Island out of Chicago brews a large selection of ales and I saw Honker’s Ale (4.3% ABV) recently at Buffalo Wild Wings and really enjoyed this English Bitter.

Hey Day (5.2% ABV) is a Witbier and a new release from Great Divide.  It is not great, but it is not bad – somewhat middle of the road.

Grimm Brothers is a relatively new brewer in Loveland, CO and Master Thief (6.7% ABV) is a German Porter.  I enjoyed the beer and I will try more from this brewery in the future.

Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale (9.75% ABV and 67 IBU) is an American Strong Ale and it is excellent.  It is very easy to drink and be careful - it packs a wallop at almost 10% ABV.  Lagunitas makes excellent products and you can pretty much pick anything they brew and it is good.  

I recently went to Parry’s Pizzeria and Pub and there was a tap of Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale (6.7% ABV and 67 IBU) an Imperial IPA that was very tasty.  I will add Northern Harvest to my “to try” list.

Telluride Brewing Company is based in Telluride, CO and I picked up Face Down Brown Ale (5.7% ABV) that was a Gold medal winner at the 2012 World Beer Cup.  It was very good and I will try some more from Telluride.