Beers #37-51

Here we go on my further adventures to drink a million varieties of beer.

#37- Red Stripe- This one gets a ginormous picture because of the cool "Hooray Beer" commercials, because I drank so much of it over Christmas in Jamaica, and because I happen to have this great picture of a Red Stripe I drank on Doctor's Cave Beach. Red Strip may not be a great beer, but its high alcohol content, happy stubby little bottle and rasta vibe will always make it a favorite in my book.

#38. Red Stripe Light- Also gets a humungous picture because I don't think that Red Stripe light is available in the US, so I thought some of my readers might want a look at the bottle. The real reason is that I uploaded it before I remembered to resize it, and I'm far too lazy to go back and resize it now. I'm pretty sure that they make Red Stripe Light by adding a lot of water to normal Red Stripe, because that's what it tastes like and because the idea fits so well with the "no problem mon, everting irie" philosophy of the island. It tastes a lot like Corona, which is not a good thing in my book. (It's also a much lower alcohol content than regular Red Stripe).

#39. Archer's Ale from Sherwood Forest Brewery. This is a local Massachusetts beer that I had at Connolly's Pub. It was quite good and I'd probably order it again, which given the variety of beers out there, says a lot. I had it as a draught beer, apparently it comes in a can too.

#40. Olde Buzzard Lager from Buzzards Bay Brewing. Another local beer. I really enjoyed this one and would defintely order it again given the opportunity. They apparently brew a number of different styles and seasonals, so I hope to try others by them as their draught lager was very good.

#41. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout- A world class beer that was originally brewed as a good way to provide iron and nutritional enrichment for lactating mothers. (I'm not making that up, go to their website. This is one of the world's great stouts.

#42. S'muttonator Doppelbock from Smuttynose- Having had a bad experience with the Smuttynose Scotch Ale and their IPA, I was hesitant to say the least. In the store, I held it up to the light and looked as best I could for the floaties and glop that I'd experienced with the aforementioned beers. (Yes, I've given up all hope of trying to look cool in public. Have you ever tried to look through a doppelbock in grocery store lighting? I'm pretty sure that old ladies looked at me and said "aww, that poor man"). Anyhow, the S'muttonator was good. It's one of their "big beer" series, and it really is a big beer (and it also comes in a big bottle). I recommend it if you're a fan of big dark beers.

#43. Number 9 from Magic Hat Brewery- The label said that this was a flavored pale ale, or almost pale ale, or some sort of jibberish like that. I was impressed with the way it poured, as it has a very nice head. (Ok, my beer geekiness is starting to frighten me). My first sip made me think that they'd completely messed up a pale ale, because it has that coppery taste that some beers get. Mrs. Idiot liked it, so I took another sip and realized that the "flavored" part is something fruity like apricot, not pennies. Now that I know to expect apricot from this beer, I might like subsequent bottles, but without the warning, it had all the markings of a bad beer.


#44. Yellow Snow Ale- This beer is fantastic. A pale ale with a slight hint of some berry (the label tells me it's juniper). I had a few Rogue Beers fifteen years ago or so, and wasn't impressed enough to seek out more. This beer, however, makes me want to go see what other flavors my local store has right this minute.

#45- Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale 2005-6- Heavy and warming, malty and high in alcohol. This is a beer I like in small doses. The big bottle lends itself to sharing, but Mrs. Idiot is not a fan.

#46. St. Gootz (or something like that, the label is hard to read) from Magic Hat Brewery- There's something wrong with this beer. It's a very heavy very dark beer that tastes like a carbonated stout or something. It's extremely possible that the people at Magic Hat are just too sophisticated for my tastes, because at this point I've had two of their beers and didn't really "get" either of them.

#47- Fat Angel from Magic Hat Brewery- I was halfway through this before I even realized it was from Magic Hat (Yes, the beer fridge reached a fullness emergency last week and my relatives and I did our best to empty it in a hurry last weekend). This seems like a perfectly normal ale (I think it's an ale, the bottle went to recycling today). (Hey, I just said I'd drink a million, not render accurate reviews).

#48. Samuel Smith's Organic Lager- Fair to middlin', brewed with organic materials.

#49. Samuel Smith's Nutbrown- This is a great beer AND you get to say "NutBrown"

#50. Magic Hat's Batch 372- Dark, malty but not heavy. Not a bad beer.

#51. Rogue Chocolate Beer- I can't remember if this is called "Chocolate Stout" or what, so I'll just call it chocolate beer. It's bitter, I was expecting a sweet brew like the Sam Adams Chocolate, but this is definitely bitter. Once you get past that initial shock, it's good stuff.