DC's Wheat Wine (Homebrew)

Wheat wine? Is this even a type of ale or lager? Dan says he "brewed" it so it must be a beer of some sort. This is the fourth installment of my fellow coworker Dan's creations: first a Spiced Cider, then came the Chocolate Coconut Cream Stout (Batch 1), ESB with London Ale Yeast? and now on to the Wheat Wine. Thanks for sharing it with the finance nerd, I greatly appreciate it and I'll try not to give you such an awful rating. If I am sick tomorrow, the blame is so going on the wheaty wheat you secretly put into the fermenter.

Appearance: Pours a solid finger of head that quickly dissipates after a minute to a scatter of foaming islands atop. Color is a robust golden orange with hues of brown that is moderately clear, but can be rather murky if the pour includes some of the sediment from the bottom of the bottle.

Smell: First thing that comes to my nose is alcohol aromas, as if it is a spiced vodka. Is this a 40% abv ale? Then fall spice aromas of pumpkin, apple, cardamom come to mind. Reminds me of some of the fall seasonals such as Dogfish Punkin, Southern Tier Pumpking or Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

Taste: Alcohol content still comes to my mind right away like the smell did. Almost sweet perfumy candy notes with a blend of caramel apple on the secondary front. Brings me to an outdoors setting in my mind....

Mouthfeel: Goes down surprisingly smooth, almost watery with no carbon bite. However, it still feels big due to the alcohol content and the dry sugary aftertaste that lingers on in your mouth. Need a palette cleanser ASAP lol.

Drinkability: This is my first "wheat wine" ever so I have nothing to compare it to. For me, I would classify this as a blend between a fall pumpkin seasonal and a spiced cider, aka Thanksgiving Ale. As much as I dislike the afterbite, the beer grows on me as it warms up towards room temperature. What spices or abnormal ingredients did you add to this because it is kind of turning me on in a weird way? What kind of hops did you use? I could probably only have 24oz in a given night. 7.5/10 for me now(Subject to change once I have another wheat wine to compare it too).

Beers of Thailand & Philippines

I went on a recent adventure with my family recently to Thailand and Philippines that was an absolute blast! Besides all of the fun filled family gatherings, delicious foods and new cultural experiences, there was the B-E-E-R. Of course, I always pay attention to the beer. I am not trying to be a snob about craft beer, but I just share this chemical romance with it, preferably the obese hoppy ones.

The beer was not up to American craft beer standards in my opinion, but I was just glad it was readily available. Water is not safe to drink, most mixed drinks have ice in them, so that leaves you with beer, wine or liquor straight up. Thai/Philip beer was comparable to the macro types here in the states such as Coors Light, Heineken & PBR. Even the price was comparable, which I thought would be lower in Asia given the lower cost of living. The only difference in price was the currency: bahts in Thailand and pesos in Philippines.

My favorite beer during my vacation was the San Miguel Cerveza Negra from the Philippines. It is classifed as a Dark Lager on the label but I beg to differ. The roasted dark and nutty malts reminded me of a deep luscious porter with lots of body that had the drinkability of a light beer. I was drinking it straight out of the bottle, so my rating may be slightly even higher than a 8/10. My opinion may be slightly biased since this was the only non light beer I had during my trip, but I say that my review is not skewed at all.

This is a quite a random review, but I just felt like writing it and posting some pictures. Bottom line: give all ales and lagers a try, no matter where you are in the world or if you soley just drink one style. You'll be enlightened at what your sensory taste buds say.

Bolero Snort Oak Aged Longhop

Recently I met up with my friend Bob at the Copper Mine Pub in North Arlington, NJ, which I highly recommend by the way, and started discussing craft beer. It turns out that Bob is an aspiring craft brewer and founder of Bolero Snort Brewery established last year in Bergen County. He was kind enough to give me a few beers to sample, so I figured I would review them and see how they turned out.

Appearance: Crisp clear dark amber color with a ton of head, plenty of carbonation rising from the bottom, very good lacing and long lasting with the head.

Smell: The smell definitely lives up to its oak aged name as a very oaky scent greets the nose. There is also a great fruity scent that smells like some kind of berry/pineapple/grapefruit mix, definitely a contrast to the sweet oak scent before.

Taste: Wow, huge fruit flavor at the front and finishes with the oak smoothness. It has a little bit too much fruit for my liking, but I can guarantee you that you haven't had a beer that tasted like this before.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, a little thin, a little watery, perfectly carbonated, no alcoholic aftertaste which is a huge plus.

Drinkability: This is definitely a delicious session beer that I wouldn't mind having a few more of tonight. At 6.6% abv, I don't have to worry about suddenly getting hit by the alcohol content. In fact, if it didn't say 6.6% on the bottle, I wouldn't have guessed it. One thing I like about the beers from Bolero Snort is that they are not afraid to take risks and make different beers that you won't find anywhere else. I give the Oak Aged Longhop a solid 7.5/10, and it might have been higher if I was more of a fan of the fruit involved.

Glass type: DFH bullet glass
Serving type: Bottle, 12 oz.