Super Cru

Taste
Super Cru is an ale in New Belgium’s Lips of Faith series. It comes stacked with a 10% ABV and is built from Fat Tire, Asian Pear and Saison Yeast.

The coloring is a nice copper-honey. Good enough to dip a biscuit in. The head is thin, bubbly and off-white.

The aroma is fresh, clean and slightly fruity.

Now to taste. I think it is a very nice, refreshing and well put together brew. The sweet and slightly tart pear flavor is fairly present up front. Equally present is the Saison crispness. I’m generally not a fan of Saison, but here is suppressed enough to keep it palatable. It’s almost like a cider, but, again, not generally being a fan of ciders it works well. There is a slight bitterness that pops up in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is champagne-like. I think this is due to the Saison aspect. Still crisp and moderately light.

Design
As with all the Lips of Faith brews the artwork is screened directly to the bottle. The name is neatly set inside New Belgium’s iconic bike. This makes me think they are particularly proud of this beer. They want to you know first off that it is a NB Cru. See my previous post of Kick for type choices.

One thing I can say is that I like the simplicity of it and the bold cloud and half-toned shapes. The color scheme is maybe too monochromatic with the bottle for me. I think a contrast could help it jim off the shelf a bit more. Maybe a green. The core brand maroon color is a natural choice given the large placement of the iconic bike and I can see the warm palette connecting with the pear, but It’s a tad bland for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this brew for drinking and not necessary keeping around as art. For more check out the New Belgium site.

Terrible photo. Awesome beer. 41% ABV. Check out Sink the Bismark: http://www.brewdog.com/sink_the_bismark

Brew Dog. Y’all are my heroes.

Super Cru. Super good.

Lips of Faith - Kick

Round 3 of the Pumpkin Fiesta of 2011.

Kick is one of a handful of brews in New Belgium Brewery’s Lips of Faith series. The only other one I’ve had is Clutch which I’ll review later and have a love affair with. That’s right. I don’t care who knows it.

Taste
I had such high hopes for this guy here. A good buddy of mine had nothing but stellar things to say about it. As a matter of fact he’s the one that gave me the bottle. Cheers to that.

As you can see it’s a slightly hazy amber color with a fair amount of head. 

You can definitely taste the cranberry’s signature tartness and dryness up front. I couldn’t place the pumpkin flavoring at all. It’s a very sweet beer with a tad bit of sour. I was not a big fan which is a surprise because all of the ingredients are some of my favorite things. 

Design
It’s a tad difficult to accurately place the type on this one because of the printing. Also, since this is the third installment for this evening I have reached the end of my patience for type searching. Maybe I’ll get back to it later and update this.

Moving on I wanted to mention the great illustrations of the jock-o-lanterns around the front. They have such personality and seem to be having a grand ol’ time. I also like the yellow, orange and red on the brown bottle. Monochromaticaliciousness. 

Go and read some more about this beer and others in the Lips of Faith series here.

Woodchuck Pumpkin Cider

Round 2 of my pumpkin-booze-fest.

Taste
First off, I’m not a big fan of cider, but I had to buy this when I saw it. I apologize in advance for these photos not doing the label any justice. Blame it on the several beers I had in the process of taking pics. Don’t drink and shoot, kids.

Anyhow, let’s get started. This might as well have been apple cider. I couldn’t place pumpkin in this at all. It still seemed fall-ish, but I couldn’t tell you why. It’s very sweet as I imagine a cider ought to be. I thought it’d be more carbinated. It might have been better warm. Because it’s like Kool-Aid you could put away plenty of these things. Which I did.

Mouthfeel is at a zero. Head is non-existent. No lingering flavoring other than sugar. It’s a very clear copper color. A non-exciting description for a non-exciting beverage.

Design
The packaging is why I bought this. That and the fact that the wife is a pumpkin junky so I thought she’d enjoy it. Again, these pics don’t do it justice. The label is a wonderfully bright fluorescent orange. It practically screams at you on the shelf. And the orange looks great on the green bottle.

The type is blah, Copperplate Gothic and Swiss 911 Ultra Compressed. Even the Woodchuck logo is blah set in Cheltenham.

Bottom line is that the beverage is not really my thing, it’s not really pumpkin and other than the blindingly fluorescent orange label, the design isn’t very inspiring. Eye-catching, but not inspiring.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Let me just say that I know I’m way behind on these next few beers, but better late than never right?

Taste
I tried this fall offering by Brooklyn Brewery last year and was quite surprised with it. This year I wasn’t as impressed although it’s definitely the best pumpkin flavored brew I’ve had so far. The pumpkin is more present with this one than some of the others I’ve tried, but is almost overshadowed by nutmeg and/or clove. Sweet and spicy sum it up best although there is some bitterness just to remind you that it’s still beer. If you swish it around a bit the pumpkin presents itself a bit more.

It has a nice orange coloring and is somewhat clear. This is a fairly crisp beer with a light mouthfeel. There’s not much, if at all, pumpkin/spice flavoring left lingering, but it does leave the bitterness behind.

Overall, I think if you must satiate your pumpkin beer cravings this is the one to do it with, but I wouldn’t get all upset if you miss it. 

Design
The label has a nice classic charm to it. Very simple with striping and engraving style illustration of the pumpkin. The dark green and 2 tone orange work well together. Like I said it has a nice reserved and confident look which I think sets it apart from its peers.

The type is nothing special. The name may be custom lettered. At least that’s what I’m going with since I’m tired of looking for it. Craw Modern is similar as is Cochin (check the italic lowercase d). Pumpkin Ale is set in a Caslon. Take your pic on that one, but I like Caslon Pro from Adobe.

That’s it for now folks. Drink well.

BrewDog’s Tokyo aka Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. Thank you @BrewDog.

This oak aged stout is awesome! Bitter. Sweet. Smooth. Their description is that this beer is for the times of excess and I agree. Good thing I live in excess all the time.

Clutch on tap at The Common Table (@Common_Table). Very nice. Way better than the bottle. Check out both: http://thecommontable.com/ & http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/clutch

I’ll review the bottle soon.

St. Arnold’s Lawnmower. The first of many this afternoon.

Light. Smooth. Brilliant.

Check it out: http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/lawnmower.html

Storm King Stout

Taste
At 9.1% alcohol who cares what it tastes like. Sharp bitterness and burnt coffee/espresso are the primary players here. A thick mouthfeel and black as oil color remind you that you’re making a commitment to this beer. And by commitment I mean the aftertaste—it will still be there in the morning. I wouldn’t expect less from a stout.

Also, as you can see, it has a head like an ice cream float.

I’m not particularly interested in making this a repeat experience. It’s not bad there’s just better choices to taste and look at. I’d like to try it on tap sometime. Check out the official site here.

Design
The colors and illustration make for an attractive label, but the type leaves something to be desired. The gold, purple and red on black are very nice. That’s the main reason I picked this one up. I’m not afraid of a stout, but I’m not currently trying to sample them all. The eagle/owl/bird is illustrated in a cool simple way. I like that they were able to communicate the image with very little lines.

In case your interested in the uninspiring type here you go: Storm King is set in Belwe, Victory in Futura Condensed, Imperial in Gill Sans and Stout in Copperplate Gothic. I love the classics, but this reminds of my days in the yellow page business. Boo.