Dear Noble sir, I have a beer for you

I was a bit disappointed when I heard from the Albuquerque Beer Geek that the White Ale had been replaced as Samuel Adams' spring offering. It has a special place in my heart, as I remember a very relaxing St. Patrick's Day in Phoenix a few years ago where I enjoyed some Sammy White Ale in between tax deadlines (yes...I live my life in terms of tax deadlines...and yes, I realize I need help for it, but I haven't found some Tax Guy Anonymous group yet.) Anyway, the White Ale's replacement is the Noble Pils...does it measure up? It does keep the color scheme of its predecessor if anything.


This Pilsner is a bubbly light pale color with a iffy white head. I don't know why, but carbonation bubbles really draw me into a beer. The beer smells hoppy - not IPA hoppy, but crispy hoppy. The flavor is sharp like you'd expect from a good pilsner, which is further enhanced by the five hops...(and as the ABQ Beer Geek mentioned, there are only 4 noble hops...which now I wonder where the 5th came from). I like the hint of bitterness that you get, but it's quick if you're not a fan of bitterness. There's a real cleaniness to the beer, which is reflected by its crispness. Smooth going down too and I think it would work with a mixed crowd. This brew is a good replacement for the White Ale, and definitely a beer I'll be picking up again.


Appearance - 4.0/5.0 - A sexy bubbly pale yellow, lots of bubbles and a light white head.
Smell - 3.0/5.0 - There's some hops, but not IPA level of hops.
Taste - 4.0/5.0 - Crisp hops, some bitterness, but just enough to add some flavor
Feel -4.0/5.0 - Clean, smooth and refreshing
Drinkability - 4.5/5.0 - Certainly would have again. Will miss the White Ale, but this is a fine substitute

On the 3rd day of Christmas, Santa Beer gave to me....

....Juxtaposition!! An act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast. In this case, Juxtaposition Black Pilsner is the combination of efforts from Stone, BrewDog and Cambridge Breweries to take a variety of talents and brew-skillz and generate a potent beer. I had never heard of this beer, but had luckily found it in the beer cooler at Papago (God, I love that place!).

I have to admit, that when I saw "pilsner" I figured that this beer would be a unique type of pilsner, but it would be a lighter brew. Obviously, the "black" part didn't kick in, but after I poured this beer into a pint glass, I realized that the bottle was not dark, but rather pretty clear. The beer was really that black.... The head was pretty tan, but dissipates pretty quickly. Lots of coffee, alcohol, malt and sour scents. The taste was really robust with a hint of sourness, a lot of sharp malt and acidic flavors. The initial taste will come off really potent, but then it smoth out pretty quickly and leaves a sour aftertaste. I would have this beer again, especially after my wife stole the pint glass from me and took the rest of it. At an astonishing 10% ABV, just be careful that you don't take this beer down too quickly.

Appearance - 5.0/5.0 - Surprisingly black, originally thought that the bottle was darker; nice tan head, but dissipats quickly.
Smell -4.5/5.0 - Coffee tones, alcohol, malt, sour scent
Taste - 4.5/5.0 - Sour, sharp malt taste, robust, acidic
Feel - 4.0/5.0 - Really potent in your mouth, but smooths out and leave a sour aftertaste
Drinkability - 4.5/5.0 - Very unique beer that I would enjoy having again

On the 2nd day of Christmas, Santa Beer gave to me...

....a six pack of Full Sail Ltd #3!

Saw this bad boy at BevMo for like $5 a six pack, so just had to try it...gotta love a good value! Plus, hadn't really had much of Full Sail's beers, so figured now was as good of time as ever to experiment.

The Full Sail Ltd Series #3 is a pretty standard pilsner style beer. The beer is pretty lightly golden, bubbly (lots of carbonation) and clear, with a mild, crisp malt smell with a hint of sourness. The flavor was malty and clean, with a bit of sourness in it, likely from some of the hops they use. Thanks to the low IBUs (only 35), you don't get much bitterness on this beer. Aftertaste is nill, and the flavor comes and goes pretty quickly. That said, the beer goes down easy and was pretty refreshing. I'd consider this one again, especially if the price was $5 a six pack. It's got a nice 5.6% ABV too, so you can have a number of these without getting blitzed.


Appearance - 3.5/5.0 nice light golden color, clear
Smell- 3.0/5.0 - light crispy malt smell, light sour
Taste - 3.5/5.0 - cold sour malt, clean body, no aftertaste, flavor quick
Feel - 4.0/5.0 - went down easy, no aftertaste
Drinkability - 3.0/5.0 - sure, the price was right, good standard pilsner

Road Trippin' - Carver Brewing in Durango, CO

Gah, I love Carver Brewing. The food is tasty, the beer is cold, the patio is great and the place has a chill atmosphere. And when I go to Durango, that's exactly what I want. So, as we wished G.I. Joe Lay good luck on his tour to Iraq, we figured this would be a fun place to go. Obviously, I partook of a few of Carver's beers.

I first got the La Plata Pilsner, as recommended by our server. We had just got done walking the main drag of Durango with a bunch of dogs, so I was hot and thirsty. A nice light beer sounded good, so glad the server suggested it. It was just that - light, little malty with a little spice. It went down quick. And that's all she wrote.

The second beer was the Cascade Canyon Cask IPA. I hadn't had a cask IPA before - no co2, no nitro, just hand pumped goodness. There was a great hoppy head on this beer...which got the best of me, when I went in for a smell and got it up the nose. Nothing like having hops in your sinuses... But a fine hop smell none the less. Even with the characteristic bitterness of an IPA, this beer was almost milky smooth with a mild sour aftertaste. Definitely a first for me and very enjoyable.

And before there is a chorus of "I'm Super! Thanks for Asking!!", this was a beer of Tina's that I took a few sips of. Carver Brewing has a Raspberry Wheat beer that is pink...really pink. They recommended that you add lemon to this brew, so it ended up adding a lot of lemon aroma to the beer. The raspberry wasn't overpowering, just adding a bit of that tart fruit flavor. The server said this was like 6.5% ABV, so he warned everyone that they go down smooth, but can creep up on ya.