Day 59-Beer 59 Sawtooth Nitro All-American Ale, Left Hand Brewing Co. Longmont Co.

Another Left Hand Brewing Co. Beer, but this one was a disappointment. The Label states brewed on the banks of the mighty St. Vrain, Super smooth nutty malt flavours balanced by herbal hops. Well I don't know if I just got a bad bottle but none of the above seemed to be true. It poured a cloudy amber/copper colour with very little of white head. The aroma was somewhat sour with a hint of hops. It was very flat tasting with no real hops or malt flavours that stood out. Although the beer itself is almost tasteless it did have a slightly sour aftertaste as well. It is certainly the first really bad Left Hand Brewing Co. Beer that I have had, in fact only the second beer in my sojourn so far that I have dumped have of it down the sink. 2.9 out of 5

Day 58-Beer 58 Hop Devil, Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, Pennslyvania

"The Mythical Hop Devil resides in the lore of farmers Arising from the heady wilds of our hop back and gently tamed this Devil makes a great companion." Hop Devil poured a clear copper colour with ok head and very good sticky lacing. It had very typical aromas of IPA, citrus and hoppy spice. The flavor is citrus hops with a slightly bitter finish. A really good IPA clean crisp refreshing even at 6.7% ABV. I'd give it 4 out of 5

Day 57-Beer 57 New Dog Town Pale Ale, Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, California

Tried my luck today playing cribbage at the Polk County Senior Games. There were some 200 or so contestants ranging in age from 96 years young to 60. Prizes were awarded for each age group, needless to say I didn't make the cut to win a medal but we play euchre on Sunday, maybe the luck will run better. Tonight's beer was New Dog town Pale Ale an APA with 6.2%alcohol. It poured a slightly cloudy golden orange colour with good fluffy white off white head that retains very well and leaves a lot of sticky lacing on the side of the glass. The aroma is made of spicy hops with a citrus background and a hint of caramel from the malts. the taste is very hoppy with some sweetness upfront and strong grapefruit aftertaste. Overall very drinkable, a nice APA, crisp, refreshing with nice hop bitterness balanced with just enough malt sweetness. 3.8 out of 5

Day 56-Beer 56 O.K.Beer Okocim Full Pale Ale, Okocim Brewery, Brzesko, Poland

A great game of Shoot the Moon/Up the river with Malcolm,Pam, Doug, Judy and Rochelle and as it should be the guys cleaned up. Tonight's beer a full pale ale was more like a lite pale ale even though it was 5.6%. It poured a very clear light golden colour, adequate head with very little lacing. very little aroma, a hint of malt but not much else. The taste was clean, light, with no after taste. Malcolm's comment was "it's just a beer, nothing special" and I agree. 3.5 out of 5

Day 55-Beer 55 Kaiserdom Pilsener, Kaiserdom Brewery, Bamberg Germany

Off to Bok Tower today with Pam, Malcolm and Rochelle. Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales is a national historic landmark and is located on one of the highest points in all of Florida at 295 ft above sea level. Apparently they have discovered a point near Claremont that is higher as 303 ft above sea level. It made for a very interesting walk through the gardens and to the carillon tower. Todays brew Kaiserdom Pilsener was not named after my good friends the Kaysers. The brewery was established in 1718, that's even older than most of the golfers here at ILE, but not by much. Sorry Joe, Bob and others. Malcolm's first comments were the beer would be great on a warm day. It's light and refreshing and he would definitely try another. It poured a slightly cloudy golden colour. It produced okay head which dissipated quickly leaving just a little head. Malcolm also said that although it lost its head quickly its not a flat tasting beer. It tasted like a typical pilsener from Germany. Light citrus flavours , a touch of bitterness from the hops , smooth on the palate. Overall a good beer 3.8 out of 5

Friday Afternoon Drinking Buddies

Some of the boys from our Friday afternoon gatherings sent this picture from back in Canada a while ago with a comment about the weather, it was a mere -17. So Sad, cold here in Florida is a day with a high of 60 and by the way today was sunny and 81.

Day 54-Beer 54 Dunkles Hefe Weizen,Tucher, Aus Bayern, Germany

Malcolm and Pam arrived today to stay for a few days between cruises. They stopped and bought me a couple of beers for me to try my blog. So a few card games and a few warm-up beers and here goes. Malcolm also helped me sample tonight's beer, Dunkles (which means dark) Hefe Weizen (wheat beer). It lived up to its name as far as appearance goes, it was dunkles, dark reddish brown, and quite cloudy, as most wheat beers are from the yeast, with a good off white head , nice retention and good sticky lacing. It had a fruity, citrus and banana smell with a hint of a spice which I couldn't put my finger on so I checked what others thought and some hit it on the nose so to speak, it has a hint of cloves.It's taste included a hints of caramel, banana and cloves. Overall not very good even for a wheat beer which I already am not overly partial to. Malcolm also gave it a thumbs down and dumped most of his down the drain. I'd give it a 3.2 out of 5. If you like wheat beer there are much better ones to try, even Krystal Wiezen made by the same company although not great is much better.