NAME: Jack’s Abbey Hopstitution Hoppy Lager
TYPE: Lager (XPL)
ORIGIN: Framingham, MA
ABV: 5.5%
REVIEW: Golden color, white foamy head, subtle floral and pine notes. Crisp, bitter up front with a little lemony taste, bittersweet finish. Good bowling beer if you want to up your game!
goodwilltasting grade: B-
NAME: Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale
TYPE: American IPA
ORIGIN: Brooklyn NY
ABV: 6.9%
REVIEW: Sweet, lemon,orange, floral notes. Very smooth, not aggressively bitter, but the hops kick in at the end for a bittersweet finish. Really drinkable beer, good for a BBQ or for a picture in front of a BBQ.
goodwilltasting grade: B+
NAME: Blue Hills Brewery Quarter Mile Double IPA
TYPE: American DIPA
ORIGIN: Canton, MA
ABV: 8.00%
REVIEW: Golden brown, slightly opaque. Smells like fresh cut grass and orange juice. Nice and bittersweet, a little nutty, smooth well balanced and not too sweet for a double IPA.
goodwtilltasting grade: B+
NAME: Sam Adams Nitro Stout
TYPE: Stout
ORIGIN: Boston, MA
ABV: 4.8%
REVIEW: Pours jet black, beautiful thick foamy head, fresh roasted malt smell, sweet, slightly tart on the tongue with a little smokiness, and a little vanilla, watery finish. The head is the best part of this beer. Tasted like a root beer float. The rest of it, not so much.
goodwilltasting grade: B-
NAME: Brew Dog Libertine Black Ale
TYPE: Black Ale
ORIGIN: Scotland
ABV: 7.2%
REVIEW: Pours like black coffee, light bubbly head. Nice pine-y hop aromas, with a little smokiness at the end. The taste has nice roasted maltiness up front, then a bittersweet grapefruit finish. Really interesting beer! It’s kind of a best of both worlds if you like both stouts and IPAs. I highly recommend trying this one.
goodwilltasting grade: B+
NAME: Newburyport Brewing Co Green Head IPA
TYPE: American IPA
ORIGIN: Newburyport, MA
ABV: 7.2%
REVIEW: Opaque golden brown, creamy foamy head, sweet tangerine peel and pine smell, a bitter and sticky up front bittersweet finish that lingers. Nice, full bodied IPA. A little too bitter at the end but solid to eat with some Boston pizza. Also you don’t bite beer.
goodwilltasting grade: B
NAME: Pliny the mutha-shut-yo-mouth Elder
BREWERY: Russian River
ORIGIN: Santa Rosa, CA
ABV: 8.0%
REVIEW: This is a special one fellas. Honey color, white foamy head with moderate lacing, rich citrus and tropical fruit smells hit you right away, sweet taste up front with a red grapefruit-y bitter finish. It’s bitter but balanced, sweet but smooth, complex but super drinkable. This is the gold standard my friends. Only to be enjoyed in the presence of a globe and leather-bound book.
goodwilltasting grade: A+
EDITOR’S NOTE: When I lived in California a few years ago, you could get this beer at almost any beer store, specialty market, and basically any Whole Foods. It was still just as good but I guess demand wasn’t as high so it was relatively easy to get. The last time I visited California I had to call around to a couple markets to find it in stock and even when I did find one they had a 1 bottle per customer limit. One bottle! I have friends back on the East Coast who have been dying to try this beer so they could have tripled their sales right then but they said no. I get it, demand greatly exceeds demand. Pliny is gaining quite the following and I am happy for Russian River for creating such a wanted beer.
First of all, I want to say this: I liked it before it was cool. Sorry there aren’t many things I can say that about so just wanted to get it out of my system. Second: If you are hoarding this beer, please do not. It’s a heavily-hopped beer and time is of the essence to drink it at it’s peak taste. Third: If you are a price-gouging reseller, please stop. I saw an ad on craigslist selling bottles of Pliny for $20 a pop. You sir, are the worst. You ruin it for everyone else. And while I’m at it, the same goes for ticket scalpers and people who sell their cronuts for $50 in Manhattan.
For everyone else who has since starting enjoying Pliny the Elder and thus created such a beer drought, I commend you. You have chosen wisely.
NAME: Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout
TYPE: Stout
ORIGIN: Lexington, KY
ABV: 8.0%
REVIEW: Pours black like coffee, almost no head. Smells strongly of coffee, vanilla, molasses and a little charcoal. Sweet, smoky, a little caramel and coffee tastes towards the end. Mouthfeel is a little flat and sort of watery but otherwise a pretty complex tasting stout. BTW pairs figure skating is manly, right?
goodwilltasting grade: B
NAME: Shipyard Prelude Ale
TYPE: English Strong Ale
ORIGIN: Portland, ME
ABV: 6.8%
REVIEW: Clear, dark brown color, fresh, crisp smell with with a little coffee and brown sugar on the nose. Unfortunately it smelled a lot better than it tasted. Unpleasantly bitter from the get go, a little funky at the end with a stale, dry, sticky finish. Had on draught so can’t really say if it was the beer’s fault or the bar’s fault. In any case, it was not great.
goodwilltasting grade: D.
Top o’ the evenin’ to ya! And a Happy Saint Paddy’s Day to ya all! Today we have a mighty special goodwilltasting review for ya, even finer than me pot o’ gold! They’re always after me lucky charms!
NAME: Heady Topper by The Alchemist
TYPE: American Double IPA
ORIGIN: Waterbury, VT
ABV: 8.0%
REVIEW: This is a big deal guys. After about 6 months since I heard about the existence of this beer I finally got a taste of it. Props to Mr. Weers for hauling back a couple 4 packs from VT for me! Light golden opaque color, bubbly head, tangerine peel, pine on the nose. Poured out a little to get the color and smell but drank the rest from the can as directed. The hops hit you immediately but it’s not overly bitter. Nice citrusy taste with a lingering sweetness that sticks around longer than your average IPA. It’s a slow morph from bitter to sweet as you drink. Really interesting. This is a beautiful, ridiculously drinkable double IPA. Even so, I still think I gotta give the gold to Pliny the Elder. Hope I can get some soon!
goodwilltasting grade: A
goodwilltasting 