Frosty Goodness » Dick’s Brewing

Reviews-A-Plenty!

Frosty — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:16:01 +0000

Funny enough, it turns out that drinking beer and writing well thought out blog posts don’t seem to go hand in hand. Looking back into my wobbly drunken photo archive, it turns out that I have quite a collection of brews I’ve never written anything about. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective), now that folks are sending me complimentary beer to review, I feel an obligation to be a bit more timely. So in the interest of clearing out the shelf, I present to you a shotgun of short semi-literate reviews, in no particular order.

Samuel Smith’s Organic Strawberry Fruit Ale (0/6)
Don’t drink this. Its terrible in a way that only bad fruit ale can be. Rancid sharp strawberry flavor, in otherwise fine ale. Admittedly, I didn’t expect it to be any good, but even I was surprised just how little I was able to drink before I had to pour it out.

Red Hook 8-4-1 Expedition Ale (1/6)
Your mileage may vary on this one, but I just didn’t like it. There was something about it that didn’t jive with my taste buds, and I was generally unhappy with the results. It’s not terrible, rather just the epitome of “That boy ain’t right”.

Full Sail LTD 02 (4/6)
Yay LTD! I just love this stuff. It’s on the maltier end of the Easy Drinkin’ spectrum, but it definitely qualifies as a cooler filler if the occasion arises.

Bridgeport Blue Heron Pale Ale (4/6)
Up to this point, Bridgeport’s Haymaker was holding the crown as one of my favorite Easy Drinkin’ beers. But now that I have had this, I think Bridgeport may have unseated itself. It’ll be perfect for the July 4th BBQ, when you force those family members who drink Budweiser products (…sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth…) to drink quality beer. Easy, non-offensive, tasty.

Great Divide Collette Farmhouse Ale (5/6)
I like Farmhouse Ales, but usually just for tasting. They tend to be a bit strong for a six pack or even a full 22. Collette, however, is an exception. This ale is great. And, although being farmhouse tasty (mmm…farm taste), its mellow enough to be had regularly. Or in large quantities *drunken stumble*

Widmer Sunburn Ale (2/6)
The blogosphere gave this beer a lot of happy thoughts recently, but I just didn’t see why. Widmer has decided to use some new “Citra-hop” variety of hops, which although novel, is super distracting to the taste. Its like beer flavored orange juice. Not a fan.

Dick’s Pale Ale (2/6)
Despite promising to do a huge run of Dick’s posts, I purposefully didn’t mention this one. Not because it’s bad, but just because it practically non-existent. It takes Pale to a new level by being the taste equivalent to translucence (see I know big words!).

Jonathan Edwards “Lost Finale” Lager (4/6)
I round out this blast of posts with a nod to our favorite local homebrewer Jonathan Edwards. Recently, he dropped this German Lager down on my desk, and I can happily say it was yet another notch in his impressive homebrew collection. Its crisp yummy taste helped drown out the sorrows of watching the Lost Finale. And made me buzzed enough to not care about the cheesy cork in the island scene. Prost!

Dick’s Mountain Amber Ale. Hello Summer!

Frosty — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:05:57 +0000

As I sit here grilling up some turkey burgers & asparagus, I am suddenly struck with a longing for summer. Perhaps it is the warm day. Perhaps it is the smells of the bbq.

Or maybe, its the Dick’s Mountain Amber Ale in my hand. Like the fourth wheel on car, this super tasty brew makes the whole package complete. Smooth, flavorful in a nice way, and a good malty finish.

Ladies and gentlemen, I may have just found my Summer 2010 Easy Drinkin’ beer.

Dick’s Hefeweizen. Like a plethora of piñatas.

Frosty — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:25:24 +0000

For those of you that got that reference, you’re awesome. I realize that I said I would start with the Pale Ale, but I figured the first entry should be something good (spoiler!).

There aren’t any specific things to rave about this Hefe, other than just to say it was good. I enjoy Hefeweizens for those warm summer days, or those general “I want some beer” kind of evenings. When done right, they are worth a pour.

Dick’s Hefe is crisp, tasty and frankly a bit overly bubbly. But a worthy Hefe. Now if only it would get warm out so I would feel inspired to drink lighter beer…

Dick’s Cream Stout. It goes down great.

Frosty — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:19:53 +0000

If you find yourself sitting there, and you just absolutely have to have a stout…fly to San Diego and have a Black Seal from Rock Bottom. Barring that, you could also hop in the lear jet and get a fresh poured Guinness from the top floor of their Dublin brewery.

What? You don’t have any personal aircraft you say? Well, although I can’t really identify, I guess the next best thing you could do to satisfy that stout urge would be to head down to the local beer pusher and pick up a bottle of tasty Dick’s Cream Stout.

For me, stouts generally fall into two categories. Good. or Bad. So it was with much trepidation that I took a semi-aged bottle of Dick’s Cream Stout and gave it a pour. Much to my delight, I can say that this is now officially the “The Third Best Stout I’ve Ever Had”. It was smooth, it was tasty, and it finished with a real smooth aftertaste that didn’t have any hint of the charcoal tang or stale coffee “flavor” that plagues bad stout.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to fire up the helicopter for a quick dash to Oktoberfest.

(Incidently, this was posted from my cell phone. Technology!)