Beer Group 2nd May Tasting

We had another tasting this May, which ended up being another successful outing as a whole. My bro  Aaron and our mutual friend Mark first made pizza and enjoyed a beer each to enjoy with our food: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Magic Hat #9 and Magic Hat Dream Machine IPL. Solid choices and inexpensive bomber sizes too.
Next, before tasting we took a trip to AJ's Beer Warehouse in Henrietta, website here, to get our beer.

We had another two people join us and since we were a small group we decided to enter more than one beer a piece and ended up with 9 brews. The majority of these as you will see were IPA's because I know that when my brother is attending all he pretty much likes is IPA's and since I enjoy them too I don't have a problem choosing a couple at AJ's for all to enjoy.

(this is not all we tried, as noted above, but I believe someone else too the bottles home themselves)

Here's my tasting notes:
1) Angry Orchard Cider Co. Hop'n Mad Apple - this is a dry hopped cider (with Strisselspalt and Galaxy hops) and was quite sweet, jolly rancher apple candy, a pale straw color with notes of cinnamon, white grapes. We admittedly had a hard time finding the tropical hop notes in the aroma that are supposed to come from the Galaxy. 5% ABV, more here.
2) Dark Horse Brewing Co. Raspberry Ale - this fruit beer has a very hazy unfiltered reddish yellow color with subtle raspberry notes, almost just the bitter green raspberry flavor to me, citrus notes, was a bit watery perhaps and wheat malt showed itself on the palate. 5% ABV, more here.
3) McNeill's Brewery Dead Horse IPA - from the can, this English style IPA that is golden/amber in color, is slightly dank with note of pine and melon, honey, tea, lemon, and a roasty bitter malt finish that lingers. An off-white/cream foam tops this medium mouthfeel that is somewhat smooth. The Untappd descriptions says "this beer is bottle fermented aged one year in their cellars and can be kraeuzened or carbonated." This is interested because there were still pleasant hop notes present. 5.7% ABV, more here.
4) Otter Creek Brewing Citra Mantra - an India Pale Lager that is loaded with tropical, mango, grapefruit, lemon, lemongrass, grassy/hay, resin, candy notes, is just a touch hazy yellow with whitish foam, is juicy but has a solid biscuity malt foundation and has a medium full mouthfeel. 5.8% ABV, more here.
5) Lost Coast Brewery Indica IPA - an american IPA with off-white foam and an hazy amber/orange color, filled with citrus, lemongrass, juicy tangerine/orange notes all over a biscuit malt base that is a touch dry but has good legs and a medium full mouthfeel. 6.5% ABV, more here.
6) Ninkasi Brewing Co. Believer Double Red Ale - a quite red amber with creamy cake batter colored foam, notes of honey, dark cherry, caramel, tea, resin, lemon/lime and sweet citrus, and a roasty finish. It is semi-bitter. 6.9% ABV, more here.
7) Flying Dog Brewery Bloodline Blood Orange IPA - been seeing a lot of blood orange/grapefruit IPA's pop up lately with the wild success of the Grapefruit Sculpin. This is a copper with off-white foam but white legs, notes of orange (not candied but juice), hemp, citrus, tea, champagne, mimosa, seltzer and is well-balanced. 7% ABV, more here.
8) Otter Creek Brewing Backseat Berner - another Otter Creek here, this a bit beefier than the last with creamy off-white foam, notes of citrus, menthol, hemp, pineapple, pine, spicy with a blast of bitterness that restrains itself quickly and the fullest mouthfeel we experienced all night. 7% ABV, more here.
9) Evil Twin Brewing Falco - we topped off the night with another american IPA from a Danish brewery (brewed at Two Roads Brewery in CT) that promised to be good, and it was. It poured yellow with some particulate floating about (doesn't bother me), the aroma was slightly floral, notes of citrus and tea, yet crisp, refreshing and utterly balanced. 7% ABV, more here.

My favorite of the night was: Flying Dog Bloodline Blood Orange IPA! There's a solid reason more IPA's are being brewed with fruits juiced right into them, because they make for exceptionally fruity and tasty beers. When it comes to be, for me, nothing's off limits--just make it taste great.

Beer Group May Tasting

We had four people get together yesterday (May 1st) for a great tasting of nine different brews, a good way to start out the month I'd say.
Here's what we tasted:

1) Lost Coast Brewery Tangerine Wheat (fruit wheat beer) - Hazy orange color, tastes a bit of seltzer water, juicy, tangerine peel/rind, drying. This would be a decent summer brew and rings in at 5.5% and 15 IBU. More here.
2) North Coast Brewing Company Ruedrich's Red Seal Ale (red ale) - I just picked this up on a whim because I've heard a lot about NCB and had Old Rasputin before as well. This had a nice tropical fruit hop nose, cereal malty base, was a clear red/copper, maybe overly carbonated, sugary and a touch sweet, medium mouthfeel, and slippy legs. The Red Seal Ale is 5.4% with 42 IBUs. More here.
3) Ellicotville Brewing Company Mow Master (ultra pale ale) - Light golden/yellow color, grassy, dank, hemp notes, almost tastes like it contains adjuncts to thin it out, also smells like oats, has a smooth finish with an earthy bitterness, medium full mouthfeel and sugar taste is noticeable too. 5% with 36 IBU. More here.
4) Belhaven Brewery Twisted Thistle IPA (american ipa) - Belhaven is owned by Greene King, is citrus, dank, with some tropical fruit and pineapple, but it is supposed to be grapefruit and bright so we think that it was old and the hop acids faded, it also had quite the caramel malt presence and was super smooth. At 5.6%, the IBU is not known. More here.
5) Weyerbacher Brewing Company Last Chance IPA - found this one really enjoyable with a complex nose of fruity hops, grapefruit, honeydew, lemon/lime, mango, grassy and herbal, pineapple, it was amber with a malt backbone that trickled in as the beer resided on the palate. A portion of every sale of Last Chance IPA goes to animal shelters. Comes in at 5.9% with 60 IBUs. More here.
6) Omnipollo Fatamorgana (imperial ipa) - this is the second of Omnipollo's brews I've had, a company from Sweden that does brewing all over the world at different breweries, this one at Pub Dog, so it's fresh, hazy unfiltered, dank, citrus, herbal, bitter with resinous sap notes, the lemon grew and grew on my palate, uses belgian sugar perhaps?, iced tea resemblance almost like an arnold palmer (just not so juicy). Love the minimalist artwork by Karl Grandin. This brewery has the potential to become one of my new favorites. Has 8% and 100 IBU. More here.
7) Dark Horse Brewing Company Boffo Brown Ale - this is a rich complex brown ale with distinct flavors, molasses, ham/smoky, has a roasty nose, vanilla, and a pure brown color. Arriving at 7% this is seriously drinkable. More here.
8) Stone Brewing Company Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean (smoked beer) - one sip and I was smiling with delight, so delicious, smooth, smoky/ham notes are not overpowering, the roasted coffee and chocolate notes are balanced, has roasted barley perhaps?, great legs, dry semi-dry and a deep brown color. At only 5.9% a bottle of this could go quickly, it also has 53 IBU. More here, including Mitch Steele's tasting notes.
9) Innis & Gunn Scotch Whiskey Porter (barrel aged porter) - whiskey flavor hits you right off, has a grapey juice notes, oak, raisin, rum, molasses, drinkable but on the sweet side, a slight woody funk, always felt like Innis & Gunn's barrel aging is not a long process, it tastes too fresh or non-complex. Comes in at 7.4%. More here.

My favorite of the night was: Stone Smoke Porter w/Vanilla Bean. Sold from the first sip.