Element Dark Matter

Brewed in: Miller's Falls, Massachusetts

Style: Black IPA

ABV: 8.8%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Pours dark brown with a 1-inch head. There's a fruity and nutty aroma and bitter hop flavors. That bitterness starts in the middle and continues on to the finish making it much like an IPA or a hoppy brown.

Rogue Double Mocha Porter

Brewed in: Newport, Oregon

Style: American Porter

ABV: 8.2%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Black with a tan head. There's not much mocha there in the aroma or flavor. If there's any flavor, its very subtle. It has a medium to heavy body. It's drinkable, an average porter but ultimately disappointing.

21st Amendment Back in Black

Brewed in: San Francisco, California

Style: Black IPA

ABV: 6.8%

Served: Can

Tasting Notes:

It pours black and tastes and smells like an IPA... The bitterness calms a bit once poured into a glass but there isn't much here that distinguishes it from a normal IPA. On the flipside, it's not terrible. I just don't like IPAs... that hasn't seemed change.

Dogfish Worldwide Stout

Brewed: Milton, Delaware

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 18.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Black with a tan head. A very expected alcoholic aroma, however it is somewhat light. There are chocolate and creamy flavors. The alcohol burns the throat on the finish but it is somewhat bearable. The chocolate stout flavors with some burnt coffee notes are there balancing it out and making the beer quite good.

Green Flash Imperial IPA

Brewed in: Vista, California

Style: Imperial IPA

ABV: 9.4%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A light aroma with a hoppy presence and a light golden color. There's a bitter aftertaste but its very light for an imperial IPA. It's surprisingly drinkable.

Green Flash Double Stout

Brewed in: Vista, California

Style: American Imperial Stout

ABV: 8.8%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Pours very black and thick with a 1-inch tan head. There's an alcoholic aroma with chocolate notes. The alcohol is present up front but it fades into a lighter mouthfeel than expected. There's maybe a hint of licorice in the taste. Disappointing in the end but a decent stout.

Great Divide Hoss

Brewed in: Denver, Colorado

Style: Marzen/Oktoberfest

ABV: 6.2%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A shiny golden amber colored beer. There's hardly any aroma at all and while it looks nice and refreshing, I didn't expect much. Then... a creamy front, a thick mouthfeel but smooth and a lighter finish. Nothing dominant flavor-wise but a great beer.

Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout

Brewed in: Boston, Massachusetts

Style: English Stout

ABV: 5.5%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A black pour with a spicy aroma and some coffee flavored notes. Very smooth taste with a light mouthfeel. There are not dominant flavors that might have been suggested in the aroma but its a very good beer. Harpoon continues to impress!

Firestone Abacus Barleywine

Brewed in: Paso Robles, California

Style: American Barleywine

ABV: 13.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

This is a very strong and potent barleywine that may have been sitting for a bit longer than I would have liked. There's a strong bourbon aroma and the taste is pretty decent with a few sweet notes left over but but it has aged a bit too long.

The People's Pint Our Oatmeal Stout

Brewed in: Greenfield, Massachusetts

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 4.9%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

Pours black with hardly any head. Oaty, nutty and chocolate aromas all blend great. Slight tartness but no bitterness. Oats and nutty flavor present but thats about it. Medium bodied with a light finish. Relatively easy drinking stout.

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Brewed in: Paso Robles, California

Style: American Imperial IPA

ABV: 9.5%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

This beer is golden a lively with a thick head. It's actually not too hoppy or bitter for an imperial. It's well balanced but still an IPA. Better than I expected but I would never pick out of a lineup.

Mayflower Spring Hop Ale

Brewed in: Plymouth, Massachusetts

Style: American Pale Ale

ABV:

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Pours a dark gold, almost brown with a nice one-inch head. It has a hoppy aroma and a hoppy, spiced taste that really lingers on the tongue. It's a refreshing beer, great for spring, but it's also an acquired taste that may take until summer.

Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet

Brewed in: Ipswich, Massachusetts

Style: American Black IPA

ABV: 7.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

I was a big fan of the Hoppy Feet 1.5 as it showcased a wide variety of tastes and feels. This is nothing more than an IPA with a dark color. There are stout-like flavors in the aroma and maybe somewhere in the taste but it's ultimately an IPA through and through.

Wachusett Larry

Brewed in: Westminster, Massachusetts

Style: American Imperial IPA

ABV: 7.5%

Served: Cask

Tasting Notes:

This beer has the expected bitter aroma but it's not too overwhelming. It has a golden color with a great looking head. There's a spicy bitterness to the taste, unusually for a typical double IPA. It's almost sour. It's certainly not my taste but I can see how IPA drinkers would like it.

Saranac Irish Stout

Brewed in: Utica, New York

Style: Irish Dry Stout

ABV: 5.5%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

Dry and light like a guinness with a similar look, aroma and mouthfeel. This may get a leg up for being a bit heavier like an American Stout and it has a bit of a bitter taste at the front. Overall, a good St. Patty's Day Brew!

Great Divide Grand Cru

Brewed in: Denver, Colorado

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

ABV: 11.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A dark brown pour with a light head. It has a spicy aroma with a spicy and sharp taste. It's not bitter like an American Strong Ale but rather has some sweet and sour tastes that are well balanced.

Brasserie Dubuisson Freres Scaldis (Bush Ambree)

Brewed in: Leuze Pipaix, Belgium

Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale

ABV: 12.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A golden color with a thin head. There's a very hoppy aroma, however the taste is balanced and crisp with an almost sweet finish. There are sour notes in the middle. A very interesting beer but good overall.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Brewed in: Chico, California

Style: American Pale Ale

ABV: 5.6%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A very easy drinking pale ale. It's not bitter at all but rather has a slight malty and smooth taste to it. It's a very refreshing beer with a medium body and golden color. Quite tasty.

Butternuts Brutus Imperial IPA

Brewed in: Garrattsville, New York

Style: Imperial IPA

ABV:

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A dark gold/red color with a light hoppy aroma and sour notes. This beer isn't too bitter for an imperial IPA until the finish where the hoppy bitterness becomes more present. There's a decent balance throughout however making it a pretty drinkable IPA.

Element Red Giant

Brewed in: Millers Falls, Massachusetts

Style: American Amber/Red Ale

ABV: 8.0%

Served: Cask

Tasting Notes:

This is a beautiful looking beer with a reddish/brown color and a great head. There's a bitter taste, high for a regular amber but it's not too overwhelming. This really should be defined as a imperial amber as it has those characteristics.

Wexford Irish Cream Ale

Brewed in: Suffolk, England

Style: English Bitter

ABV: 5.0%

Served: Nitro Draft

Tasting Notes:

A very nice looking beer poured on a nitro line. A layered head settles into a nice thin top of a golden color. There's a light hoppy/bitter aroma with vanilla or creamy notes. It's a smooth mouthfeel but has a somewhat bland flavor.

Left Hand Milk Stout

Brewed in: Longmont, Colorado

Style: Milk/Sweet Stout

ABV: 5.2%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A black pour with a thin tan head. It has a fresh, sharp taste to it with a very, very lightly bitter finish. It's mostly smooth with a subtle creamy and sweet flavors.

Abita Amber

Brewed in: Abita Springs, Louisiana

Style: Vienna Lager

ABV: 4.5%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

A beautiful golden color with a foamy white head. A creamy aroma with light notes of vanilla. Carbonated and great if served real cold. A very refreshing beer with a low alcohol. THIS IS A SESSION BEER. Very easy to sit back and drink a few. There's a creamy, almost sweet taste but its very subtle. Not quite like an Anderson Amber.

Smuttynose Robust Porter

Brewed in: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Style: American Porter

ABV: 5.7%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

This pours a dark black with a nice head. It's very much like a stout with chocolate notes on the aroma, the heavier body and subtle but balanced flavors. There's a sharp and strong finish that completes the beer in good fashion.

Clown Shoes Eagle Claw Fist

Brewed in: Ipswich, Massachusetts

Style: Imperial Amber

ABV: 8.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Amber/red in color and has the typical amber aroma. There's a light bitterness in the aroma as well. That bitterness becomes much stronger when tasted. It fades at the aftertaste to balance the beer out and it goes down light. A bit too bitter and strong for an enjoyable amber.

Farnum Hill Semi-Dry Cider

Brewed in: Lebanon, New Hampshire

Style: Hard Cider

ABV: 7.4%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

It pours a light gold and has a very distinct apple cider aroma. Its very crisp and still looking. It tastes dry but there is a sweetness with an apple cider taste. I don't tend to like ciders but this is a good one with being too dry or too sweet.

Geary's Cooledge Oatmeal Stout

Brewed in: Portland, Maine

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 5.1%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A faint but pleasent oatmeal stout style aroma with a nice dark look and thick foamy head. The taste is light, smooth and slightly bitter with a present but subtle oatmeal flavor. It's good and not the same old oatmeal stout, which adds points.

Rapscallion Premier

Brewed in: Holyoke, Massachusetts

Style: American Blonde Ale

ABV: 7.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A golden color beer with a fruity aroma. There's a good sharp taste with a fruity and sweet aftertaste that sticks around. Somewhere, there's a subtle and very light bitterness that balances it out.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch

Brewed in: Milton, Delaware

Style: Herbed/Spiced Beer

ABV: 9.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

As this beer pours it looks like a wheat beer. It then settles looking like a pale ale or a light IPA. There's hardly any aroma too it but it has a very sublte spiciness to the taste. That blends well with a somwhat sweet finish making for a good blend but overall, nothing too special. Not Dogfish Head's most interesting beer by any means.

Victory Yakima Glory

Brewed in: Downington, Pennsylvania

Style: American Black Ale

ABV: 8.7%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

There's a hoppy aroma but not too dominate like a strong IPA would have. It's got a great dark brown color with a nice looking head. This is a surprisingly refreshing beer considering the ABV. There's a light bitterness to it with present hops but they are used in moderate fashion as to not overwhelm the overall taste.

Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter

Brewed in: San Diego, California

Style: American Porter

ABV: 6.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

A black porter with a nice head. Has subtle coffee notes in the aroma as well as the taste. It's light but smooth, a refreshing porter.

Notch Session Ale

Brewed in: Ipswich, Massachusetts

Style: Session Ale

ABV: 4.5%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

There's a fruity and malty amora and taste. It could almost be considered a complex beer which again, like the Pils, wasn't terribly bad but wasn't suited for the session beer that it is. I wasn't a huge fan of the beer in general and likely wouldn't go for it under any circumstance but there is too much going on in this beer for it to be a "sit back and enjoy several" choice.

Notch Session Pils

Brewed in: Ipswich, Massachusetts

Style: German Pilsner

ABV: 4.0%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

This would be a decent pils if not for the fact that it's trying instead to be a session beer. It has a sour almost skunky aroma to it, much like a Stella Artois. It looks darker and fuller than a normal pils but there is a hoppiness to it. I would call it easy drinking, but hardly a session beer.

Cape Ann Fisherman's Navigator

Brewed in: Gloucester, Massachusetts

Style: Doppelbock

ABV: 7.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Pours a dark brown with almost a shiny tint. It's a heavier beer, perfect for the winter months but it maintains a malty sweetness as opposed to the traditional winter spiciness. Nothing great, but an effective beer.

Cape Ann Fisherman's Rock Porter

Brewed in: Gloucester, Massachusetts

Style: English Porter

ABV: ?

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Medium to light bodied and dark. Chocolate notes in the aroma. Light spice with subtle flavors. Easy drinking and tasty. There's nothing too complex which works for this particular beer.

Cape Ann Fisherman's Coffee Infused Pumpkin Stout

Brewed in: Gloucester, Massachusetts
Style: American Stout
ABV: ?
Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:
There's a huge coffee aroma but not the normal aroma for a beer. Unlike the typical roasted smell, its is truly like brewed coffee or like sticking your nose in a can of coffee beans. The pumpkin taste is still present and the two flavors compliment each other surprisingly well. Two thumbs up, great beer.

Cape Ann Fisherman's Tea Party

Brewed in: Gloucester, Massachusetts

Style: American Barleywine

ABV: 9.0%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Very interesting flavor. Bitter taste with a smoky undertone. Good but complicated. Golden dusty color with faint aroma. No obvious flavors present but seems to be a well-aged barleywine as it's balanced.

Port Old Viscosity Ale

Brewed in: San Marcos, California

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 10.0%

Served: Bottle

Tasting Notes:

It pours very thick and dark. Aroma has the usual chocolate notes and roasted coffee but has a touch of something else I can't put my finger on. A very unique taste. The chocolate is there to start but mixed with that other taste - maybe black licorice or even just malty...? Whatever it is it's good. It has a thick and creamy mouthfeel that makes it great for sipping. A long lasting 22oz bottle would be nice if not for one problem... As the beer sits, the alcohol becomes more and more present, making it very difficult to finish off after an hour or so.

Mayflower Winter Oatmeal Stout

Brewed in: Plymouth, Massachusetts

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 6.0%

Served: Cask

Tasting Notes:

A pretty normal looking stout with the black color and tannish head. The aroma has the same old chocolate notes. The taste is smooth and flat as expected on a cask. I suspect I'd like it much more on draft or bottled. There's almost a sour taste to the beer which I do actually think compliments the other flavors that are lightly there.

Samuel Adams Noble Pils

Brewed in: Boston, Massachusetts

Style: Czech Pilsner

ABV: 4.9%

Served: Draft

Tasting Notes:

Pours a light golden color with a medium head. Better than the average pils. It's light with a smooth, medium bodied mouthfeel. It's a very refreshing beer if poured cold on a warm spring or summer day.

Rogue Chocolate Stout

Brewed in: Newton, Oregon

Style: American Stout
ABV: 6.0%

Tasting Notes:

Seems light on the pour. Not a heavy stout. Black with a thin, brown head. The aroma is of chocolate notes only. Tastes very rich but not nearly as sweet at the Southern Tier Choklat. It's definitely a dessert style beer but it has a slight sharpness that makes it very drinkable.

Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager

Brewed in: Newton, Oregon

Style: Schwarzbier

ABV: 6.0%

Tasting Notes:

Pours very black with a thin brown head. It has the look and consistency of a Rogue Chocolate Stout. There's an interesting aroma. Maybe some chocolate or coffee notes but primarily black licorice. The taste is similar. There's a fruityness and a light sweetness but it maintains the mouthfeel of a dark beer.

Haverhill Joshua Norton

Brewed In: Haverhill, Massachusetts

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 9.3%

Tasting Notes:

It's amazing that I tried this beer the same day I tried the Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout as they are essentially complete opposites. Unlike the Serpent, this beer has a very alcoholic aroma. It's a strong, punch in the face, suggesting to sip slowly. Then, the taste is of those chocolate and roasted coffee flavors I could smell in the Serpent but never showed up in the taste. This beer I'd choose every time over the Lost Abbey yet still not the best best RIS I've had.

Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout

Brewed in: San Marcos, California

Style: American Imperial Stout

ABV: 11.0%

Tasting Notes:

This is an amazing looking beer. It pours very dark with a layered head that slowly dissipates. The aroma is of strong chocolate and roasted coffee notes. Then... you gotta drink it. This beer is all of its 11% ABV. The alcohol overwhelms all of its potential. It's certainly designed to be a big beer but it could have benefited from being a bit smaller.

Wormtown Bennie's Brew

Brewed in: Worcester, Massachusetts

Style: Cream Ale

ABV: 5.4%

Tasting Notes:

This beer attempts to blend a wheat and cream style and ultimately fails. The two just don't seem to compliment each other very well. There is an obvious sweetness considering the styles but nothing is clear or present enough to create something interesting or tasty.

Warsteiner Premium Dunkel

Brewed in: Warstein, Germany

Style: Munich Dunkel Lager

ABV: 4.9%

Tasting Notes:

Gave this a shot after being pleasently surprised by the Hofbrau Dunkel. This one's much lighter with much less flavors within. Has a similar aroma with notes of vanilla and a dark brown, almost black look. The mouthfeel is of a medium-bodied beer but it tastes very light.

Allagash Black

Brewed in: Portland, Maine

Style: Belgian Style Stout

ABV: 7.5%

Tasting Notes:

Pours brown and sits black. Has an aroma of a roasted porter or stout with maybe some coffee or chocolate notes. It's very smooth with only a slight bitterness at the start. Nothing smoky or roasted about the taste and no flavors dominate.

Nogne-O Wit

Brewed in: Norway

Style: Witbier

ABV:

Tasting Notes:

Looks like any old witbier with a good head. There's a bitter, hoppy aroma with a sweet note. The taste is as expected, sweet with a slight bitter finish. Nothing special. Same old witbier.

Mikkeller USAlive!

Brewed in: Denmark
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 8.0%

Tasting Notes:

Pours a tannish, foggy color with a fast dicipating head. There's a malty, almost nutty aroma with a matching flavor. However, it's very interesting in that nothing is dominant or even clear as to what I'm tasting. There's a bitter finish that gets more bitter after I've swallowed. Interesting but not necessarily good.