DESTIHL Brewery: Wild Sour-Here Gose Nothin

This is the second beer I have tried in DESTIHL's Wild Sour line, there are a total of 7, I have only managed to track down this one and Counter ClockWeisse . Both are of the Sour variety, this one is a Gose,  the other was a Berliner-Weisse, if you want to learn about Weisse and DESTIHL brewery, follow that link as I am not going to go over brewer history this post .

Gose are an old style of German beer from Leipzig, they are unfiltered beer made from 50-60% unfiltered wheat which renders the beer cloudy and yellow and gives it the sourness. In addition spices, salt, and lactic acid, and wild yeast, all combining to give it a unique sour and refreshing flavor.

This particular Gose utilizes lemon, lime, coriander, and salt, which when all combined yield a nice flavor combination. First sip is very sour, but as your taste buds adjust after a few sips it becomes much more flavorful tartness, revealing the citrus-like flavor and aroma. After taste is a salty and spicy flavor that dissipates quickly. The color as you can see is fairly yellow-amber, clear, decently thick head that vanishes almost immediately. Not the easiest beer to drink, but it is very flavorful and enjoyable to most.

It rings in at 5% ABV and 12IBU, price was $2.25 for a can.


Overall I rate this beer a 8/10, would buy again.

Clown Shoes: Tramp Stamp Belgian IPA

I upgraded my camera game, was being lazy about taking pics with my phone, but as you can see, now you get beer pics in full HD, mmm looks tasty. Clown Shoes: Tramp Stamp, a belgian IPA! Similar to A little Crazy Ale in style, yet made with a different set of hops and malts along with an orange peel bitterness makes this a very drinkable Belgian.

Hopping into this beer the first thing you notice is the name, tramp stamp...from clown shoes, a unique name indeed! This beer is made with Centennial, Columbus, and Amarillo hops, Chambly yeast and a few different malts, all mixed with orange peel! The hops and orange peel all have a nice bitterness that each complement each other, giving it a hoppy and citrus taste. A smooth sipping, medium bodied and clear amber brew, with a decent head that dwindles to a 1/8inch froth that hangs out for a while, leaving a nice ring on the glass sip after sip. The finish is a slightly bitter aftertaste that lingers for a few minutes with a citrus aroma. Very refreshing in the summer!

Technical specs of the beer 7%ABV with over 80 IBU, making it a potent and bitter 12oz bottle! Price was $2.50 a bottle, a fair price for a unique Belgian.

I managed to find some of the brewers history, their website was not very helpful at explaining their origins, but they were born of a liquor store that wanted to produce and distribute their own beer. Clown Shoes was born and has been producing beers with outrageous names and equally ridiculous labels. I am unsure of the total number of individual beers they brew, but I have seen more than 10 at various stores.

 Overall I rate this beer a 7.5/10 , would buy again.

Dogfish Head: Festina Peche

Greetings, today I bring another Berliner Weisse beer with a twist. Dog fish head labels it a Neo-Berliner Weisse as it varies  from traditional style as it is brewed with peach juice.

Gonna jump right into this one, I picked this up at The Winking Lizard: Lizardville Tavern as a single with a few other summer seasonal and was assuming it would please like other beers from Dog Fish head, alas it did not. First pour it is a pale straw, dare I say cat piss yellow? The head evaporates almost immediately leaving a small ring behind. The aroma is sour, not very peachy as one would assume from the name Peche and the fact that it is brewed with peach juice! First sip is sour, very very sour, and not a good sour, its just a sour with no true flavor, especially not a peach flavor. To me it taste most like one of my homebrews that never got drunk and went bad, just a yeasty sour flavor. It leaves a sour after taste, and to be honest the best part of this beer was running out.

Technical specs of the beer, it has a ABV of 4.5, pretty average and an IBU of 8. I got this as a single bottle, thank god, but according to dogfish head's website it is sold in 4packs and on draft. I paid $2.50 for this, which to me is a fair price for a craft beer, but too much for this one because it just doesn't appeal to my tastes.

The brewery was founded in 1995 and hails from Milton, Delaware and fortunately does make a lot of amazing seasonal brews with colorful labels and cheeky names. In addition to beer, they have a restaurant, and make vodka, rum, and gin as well. While this one is not the best, I would still recommend the brewery as a whole.

 Overall rate this beer a 2/10, would not buy again.

B. Nektar: Kill All The Golfers

Well summer is the best time of the year to enjoy mead and tea, so B. Nektar Meadery did the next best thing and mixed em together! I can honestly say this is a brew unlike any I have ever had,  it has a similar composition to a honey wine, yet is more carbonated and has a very unique flavor. In a previous review of Brothers Drake: Apple Pie  I spent a small time talking about the history of mead, so if you are interested, follow that link for some edumacation.

The first thing that grabs you about this mead is the bottle, the name itself is truly unique and probably the reason it was purchased, the fact that its a mead is a bonus. Taste is another thing that grabs you, it really doesn't taste like anything else except an Arnold Palmer ice tea (which I drink gallons of) , probably because it is black tea mixed with mead and some lemon juice, but the combination really works well when made alcoholic and carbonated. It starts off with a honey sweet flavor which is quickly converted to a more bland semi bitter, but very full black tea flavor with hints of lemon. The after tastes and aroma are similar to a Romeo and Julieta  #5 cigar, not a smokey flavor but a flavor similar  that lingers and leaves you with a dry mouth, eager for another sip. To really enjoy this beer you need to use your sense of smell and taste, best to take a sip and sniff the glass while letting the mead sit to really drive home the honey flavor and tobacco aroma. If you have never smoked a cigar or do not appreciate the aroma of fine burning tobaccos this mead may be a turn off to you.

Technical specs of the beer, it rings in at 6% ABV, I was not able to find a IBU rating, I assume its very low, and comes in a 500ml Bottle for $7.99, not too bad for a craft mead.

 About the brewer, B. Nektar was founded in 2006 with home made mead and an actual Meadery was opened in 2008, fittingly on august 2, national mead day. Since their inceptions they have pumped out meads and ciders earning themselves a rating of 31 out of the 100 best breweries in the world by Ratemybeer.com in 2013. They are located in Ferndale, Michigan, just north of Detroit. I hope to make it to their tap room and suggest you grab a bottle of anything they make.


I rate this beer a 8/10, I found the combination of mead, tea, lemon, and tobacco to be refreshing and pleasant.

DESTIHL Brewery: Wild Sour- Counter ClockWeisse

Greetings, I am branching out to a totally new kind of beer to me, a Berliner-style Weisse Bier aka a Sour Beer. Typically a sour is a very pale, light bodied brew, low in hops, with a very noticeable tartness due to wild yeasts and lactic fermentation (science stuff).  Anyways, my good friend turned me onto these beers as he usually gets them, at first I wasnt a huge fan, mostly because I'm big on beers that go well with foods, this style..not so much. I have been sampling a few here and there and decided to pick this one up at The Winking Lizard: Lizardville Tavern, perhaps due to the yellow can drawing me in.


First off, yes that is a small glass, I am running out of new cool clear beer glasses to show off, so this one had to do! The beer is SOUR, as you would imagine with this style of beer, not sour like a warhead candy, but a pleasant lemon sour/tart with a nice clean finish, perfect for drinking on a burning hot day like today was. Very clear and light body, very very drinkable. IBU it rings in at 4...yes 4..and ABV is 3%, which is pitiful if you're out to get drunk, but if you want a light beer to drink after mowing the lawn its a perfect beer. Cost wise, $1.75, fairly priced for a craft beer and would definitely pick up a 6-pack if I come across one.

Brewers Note: DESTIHL brewery hails from Bloomington, Illinois and surprisingly has only been around since 2007, when a fed up lawyer changed careers and opened a brewery and restaurant. They are now pumping out 15,000 barrels a year, in 29 different varieties,7 of which are part of the Wild Sour Series. Not certain if they offer tours, but they do have 2 gastropubs, both in Illinois, so if you are in Champaign or Normal, stop in and ask for a Counter-Clockweisse

Overall rate this beer at a 7/10, would buy again.

DuClaw Brewing: SWEET BABY JESUS Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter

I am back and with me I have brought an AMAZING BEER! So as with my last post, I had a pretty busy last few weeks, and am about a month late on this post, apologies. Without further ado I present the review of Duclaw Brewing's SWEET BABY JESUS!

A wise man once said, any day is a good day to have a porter, and today that rings very true. I picked this brew up at my usual liquor and beer store, what caught me was the name. It takes some balls to put that on a beer, so i figured what the hell, lets give it a try, man o man that was a good decision. As you can deduct from the title, it is a chocolate and peanut butter porter, which I am a sucker for  because Reese Cups are my favorite candy, this is the closest tasting beer to a Reese Cup I have come across. The color is black, tan head, not super thick and not long lasting. The first sip is smooth chocolatey which lasts a few seconds, then it morphs to a slight bitter but before it overwhelms the peanut butter races in and rides out the after taste. Minutes after a sip you can still detect a slight peanut presence. I would recommend drinking this on its own, so as not to mask its awesome and powerful flavors. Technical's of the beer: 33IBU, 16 on the Plato Scale and 6.2% ABV. It is made with 5 kinds of malt (Pale, Chocolate, Crystal, Munich, and Brown) topped off with roasted barley and Fuggle and Goldings Hops. All this combines to make one hell of a beer, netting itself the 2014 Bronze Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the Chocolate Beer Category.

The brewer it self hails from the Great State of Maryland and boasts an impressive amount of craft beers as well as multiple restaurants where you can find beers on tap, bottles, or take home growlers. It was founded in 1995 and opened in 1996. They have one brewery in Bel Air and the second is in Abingdon MD. Their company mantra from founder Dave Benfield: "Make it Cool". This is definitely a place i would love to visit if I find myself in Maryland, currently they do not offer tours as they are still expanding, but hopefully in the near future they will!

I give this beer a 10/10, the best porter I have ever had, and one of the best beers to rush down my gullet. The price was $12, steep for a 6 pack, but well worth it, highly recommend that you try it!

Shiner: Prickly Pear

I have been extremely busy with life and work and the Cavs in the playoffs the last few weeks and have neglected to post any new beers, however i have a few lined up now for this week and next. So lets start it off, Shiner: Prickly Pear! This beer hails from Shiner, Texas and utilizes a truly southern ingredient, the prickly pear. This fruit is not often used in Northern Culinary and brewing because it grows on a Opuntia cactus, the small one with a lot of  round shaped pieces. The fruit itself is used in a ton of things in south western united states, margaritas and juices being among them.

The beer itself, as you can see is a pretty standard color, its clear, not too much head on it yada yada. Taste wise, it has a very subtle prickly pear taste to it. The first sip I actually didn't taste anything other than the hops, but after a couple of sips you get the pear flavor. The sip starts out bitter and ends with a slight sweetness. Not too much of an after taste associated with it either, pretty clean finish. I wouldn't recommended drinking this while eating anything as the food would just drown out any flavor other, however it is quite refreshing to drink on a hot muggy day. It was first made in 2012 and rings in at 4.9 ABV and 20 IBU, nothing special alcohol and bitterness wise, but overall an enjoyable summer beer.

A little about the brewer, they were founded in 1909 in Shiner, Texas and have alot of craft brewing experience behind their delicious products. I have family in Houston, so I was first exposed to Shiner while visiting. Since then I have started to see their products becoming more common, first the classic Shiner Bock, then the Shiner Ruby Redbird (a delicious grapefruit lager) and of course the famous Shiner Holiday Cheer. Most of the beers they make are seasonal, but everything that Ive sampled I have enjoyed.

Overall i give this beer a 6/10, while it is good, it doesn't go above and beyond to me for the price, $9.99 for a 6 pack. I do recommend that you try it, as it is something different and enjoyable.

Brothers Drake: Apple Pie

This right here is a tasty beverage, Apple Pie honey wine, made in Columbus, Ohio. This beer came onto my radar again at The Winking Lizard: Lizardville Tavern where it was on tap. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of glasses before the keg expired. Later i was able to tract down a few bottles at said tavern and at Acme as well.

Now this is not exactly a beer, but it is close enough because honey wines/meads still use the same concept of fermenting sugar to make a beverage, honey wine in particular though does not have any carbonation. Mead are belied to date back to 7,000 BC in China and it is believe to be the father of all malted beverages . Vikings also drank this while they raped and pillaged their way across Scandinavia, so its a cool thing to drink.

So how does it taste? As you have probably guessed by the name it tastes like apple pie. There is not much to say about it, its very very good and has a strong apple flavor, some cinnamon notes along side a slight honey presence. It finishes with a slight sting as this honey wine rings in at  13%, nearly three times your standard bud light.  The whole experience of flavors is still very smooth though, the fragrance is also that of cinnamon and apples, very pleasing to your sense of smell and will leave your mouth watering for more.  It is generally served chilled in a fancy glass so you can swirl it around all cool like and see just how much alcohol there is in it as it slowly crawls back down your glass. It is clear, no sediment or residue and is a golden color. Now is it as good as it sounds? Yes. Should you buy it? Yes, it is only available in Ohio, unfortunately, and comes in a 750ml bottle that will run you $30 or a  325ml bottle (as pictured) that will run you $15.


About the brewery, I do not now too much about them, they are located in Columbus, Ohio and have a Meadery with tours available, as well as a tasting room. They believe in responsible and sustainable brewing methods and utilizing local resources when it is possible. I plan on visiting and touring them next time I am vising Columbus, and suggest you do the same if you have an opportunity.

Overall I rate this at 10/10 will definitely purchase again.

Hoppin Frog: Turbo Shandy

TURBO SHANDY!!!! This is one of my favorite beers and it is in fact, my favorite shandy. Brewed in Akron, Ohio by Hoppin' Frog Brewery, a small craft brewery that was named to the top 100 in the world for 2014 by Ratebeer.com. They make at least 44 beers, with a variety of specialties, and they have a tasting room where you can buy limited run beers and sample from taps. What makes this brewery even better is that it was founded by a University of Akron Graduate, my alma matter, and a lifelong Akron resident! Enough about the brewer, lets talk about the beer!

So as you probably guessed this beer is has a strong citrus flavor, a very strong and refreshing taste. If you are a fan of sweeter Shandy's, then this is the one for you. It also boasts a 7% ABV and only comes in 22oz bottle, either drink this one with friends or you will feel a slight buzz afterwards. IBU is rated at a mere 7.3, bitterness is not a factor in this brew, which to me on a hot summer day, is a great thing.

This is an Ohio brew but it is available in 19 states and 15 countries around the world (not sure of which) so if you are looking for a great refreshing summer beer grab a Hoppin' Frog Turbo shandy, or if you mosey on down to their Akron Brewery you can grab yourself a barrel aged Turbo Shandy. I plan on getting one so look for it in the near future.

Overall rating 9/10, will buy again, it is priced at $8.99 a bottle with wide availability in Ohio so it is priced right for the quality, not to mention it comes in a sweet bottle adorned with a giant frog.

Revolution Brewing, A Little Crazy Ale

Happy Thursday! Perfect day for a Belgian-Style Pale Ale. A Little Crazy ale first came onto my radar at The Winking Lizard a few months ago when it was the beer of the month, where i got this swanky glass to match. I was finally able to track a six pack down and fortunately stumbled upon the last one they had. Fast forward a few weeks and here I am enjoying another cold one.

A typical amber color is the only usual thing this beer includes. It is made from Pilsner Malts and three different hops; Magnum, Cascade, and Citra. I don't have a clue what magnum or cascade hops are nor do I care to google it at the moment, but Citra is a hop that adds a citrus flavor and aroma (who would have guessed). I have used this hop before when brewing and am quite a big fan of the flavor that it adds. Moving on, the ale packs a strong citrus flavor at first which moves to a slight bitterness, but not overpowering like some ales. A light aftertaste remains, reminding you of the Citra hops that add such a strong aroma.

This is a good beer to sit back with and enjoy sip after sip, giving you a chance to fully appreciate the flavors, however I've had this while eating and the flavor was not affected drastically by salty or sweet foods like other Belgians or IPAs. Whichever route you go, this beer will enjoyable.

Alcohol wise, it is rated at 6.8% , stronger than a standard brew, but not strong enough to make you buzz with just one. Bitterness wise it is rated at 35 IBU and as I stated previously, the hops are not overpowering or extremely bitter.

I give this beer an 8/10 for a few reasons, the price was 9.99 for a six pack, so standard price, the flavor was great and I really like the can. If you want to know more about this beer look up Revolution Brewing Company, they are located in Chicago, Illinois and make quite a few other good beers as well which I plan on reviewing.

4/23/2015 Illusive Traveler Grapefruit Ale

What a fitting beer to start my blog with, on this warm April morning, a blazing 37 degrees with on and off snow. The Illusive Traveler Grapefruit Ale, from The Traveler Beer CO, is an excellent summer beer, personally i feel it deserves the title shandy more so than ale, but hey, that's not up to me. I bought this beer because personally, I enjoy grapefruit and it caught my eye at ACME, my local grocery store where I can usually be found in the early AM after a hard nights work at the hospital, buying large amounts of beer in total alcoholic fashion. Back to the beer, as you can see the packaging suggests its pretty fruity, which it in fact is. At first glance it looks like grapefruit juice, it smells like grapefruit juice and as you can imagine, it tastes like grapefruit. The fruit flavor is strong, but not overpowering, subtle tones of hops can be detected as well combining for a smooth sip and a pleasant fruity after taste. Complexion is cloudy pink with a weak head that dissipates almost instantly. The ABV is an average 4.4%, so you wont get overly drunk making your way through a six pack while mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage, or cleaning the gutters.  Overall I like the beer, I like the packaging, and the price wasn't too bad either, a six pack costs $8.99 which isn't awful for a craft brew.  Its brewed in Cincinnati, Ohio or Breingsville, Pennsylvania, so I am unsure of availability out of state, but I would imagine its available in most surrounding states.

Overall I rate this beer a 7/10, would buy again.

Know Your Author

Hi  and welcome to my blog, if you are reading this you are probably as bored as I was when i started to write this. My name is Mike, and I enjoy drinking and brewing beer, amongst other things. I reside in Akron, Ohio and perused my bachelors at The University of Akron, attaining a Bachelors Science in Nursing. Currently I work at a major hospital in Cleveland Ohio, a full time thirty six hour a week career leaving me lots of free time. In said free time I do a variety of things, mainly sit around and watch Netflix or playing  Dota 2. When I am feeling more useful I enjoy working on cars, using power tools, and biking.  I like to drink beer whilst enjoying most of my hobbies, and due to this I drink a lot of different types of beer. Currently I plan to do at least one write up per weak of beer, maybe more depending on my work schedule. I have no real preference on types of beer, I like to try as many as possible, including my own creations. So look forward to reading through my mostly incoherent ramblings about beer! Cheers!