Dunedin Brewery

Stopped at this brewery while in Florida for a work related conference and really enjoyed it.  When you walk in you are greeted by an open floor plan that includes the actual brewing equipment, which I always love.  Sat down and naturally ordered a flight of beers, letting the bartender make up the flight with his favorite brews.  I also had an order of their chicken fingers while I sampled and although there was nothing special about the food they do make their own beer infused barbeque sauce which was amazing.  If you are ever in the area I would highly recommend making a visit.

Apricot Peach Ale
Peach and apricot on the nose and upfront on the tongue.  Poured a cloudy pale golden color, slightly darker than one might expect for a wheat based beer.  I found the beer had just the right amount of hop bitterness which helped balance the sweetness of the fruit.  This was a very refreshing, drinkable beer and probably my second favorite from this brewery.

Pale Ale
Poured a blond copper color with a heavy off-white head.  Very mild hop aroma.  Hop bitterness was appropriate for the style, not overbearing, and balanced well with the malts.  Excellent example of the style, but nothing extraordinary.

Maibock (Helles Bock Lager)
I had a hard time picking up the hops in the aromas of these beers and this one was no exception.  This beer had good bitterness profile that hung around on the back of the tongue but wasn't soapy.  I found this to be far maltier than Dunedin's Pale Ale and it poured about the same color.  This was a much better example of the style than the Maibock Cask that I sampled later.

Red Ale 
Poured a lovely brown with hints of red.  Very low hop bitterness with nice toasted malts and a dry finish.  This was a very easy beer to drink.

Biere de Cafe
Okay, finally something easy to detect on the nose... coffee, and lots of it!  Seriously smells like a shot of espresso and I remember hoping the taste would follow up.  Boom!  Tastes like espresso too, if you love coffee this is the beer for you.  Very little hop bitterness and surprisingly little bitterness from the coffee itself.  Fairly light body which was very appropriate for a brown ale which this beer is built on.  Pours a murky mid brown color with lower carbonation...which works perfectly with this style.  Found out the brewery uses freshly brewed local coffee added to the secondary.  This was my favorite offering from Dunedin and I definitely got some great ideas for a batch of homebrew.

The Bard (Heavy Scotch Ale)
Big heavy scotch ale. No shit.  Little hop aroma but big flavor.  You can definitely taste the alcohol at 8%, but it isn't overpowering and actually creates a wonderful balance up against the malt heavy base. Another excellent beer.

Maibock Cask
I only tried a small sample of this after I finished my flight so I don't have much to say.  It poured a murky yellow color and had a fruity/yeasty aroma which followed though on the taste.  I can't say this was bad but I feel the fruitiness was out of place for this particular style.

Old Brown Dog - Smuttynose

I've had this beer several times but have never reviewed it.  Served on draught and poured into a frozen pint glass I always enjoy this Brown Ale.  Not much aroma but very malty, with hints of molasses.  Very little hop bitterness and a crisp finish.  Poured with a tan head that didn't hang around very long and left very little lace on the glasses as I drank.  One of my favorite browns, easy to drink, smooth, and no bad after taste. Two thumbs up!

Wormtown's Dark Day IPA

Picked this up at Austin Liquors in a bomber.  I have to say I think this is one of the more complex beers I have had from Wormtown.  As soon as I popped the cap the hop aroma was noticeable and predominantly Cascade.  Although I read a few reviews online that stated some malt undertones in the aroma I was unable to pick this up.
Poured with a heavy tan head that subsided fairly quickly leaving a nice lace on the glass.  At first it was hard to taste anything other then the hops in this beer but as I drank more I was able to pick up the malt characters you would expect in a dark beer.  I found that there was a very good balance between the hop bitterness and the sweetness of the malts.  Carbonation and mouth feel was just right and the beer finished with a slight bitterness on the tongue, as you would expect from an IPA.
Overall I really enjoyed this beer.  It was not overly hoppy, like many IPAs lately, and it had a good malt balance.

I almost forgot to mention that this beer came in a very cool bottle!

Jack's Abbey Baltic Porter

Wow. I was blown away by this beer.  Brewed by a relatively young brewery in Framingham, MA this porter has a lot of depth. Poured very dark with a thin head this beer had heavy malt and caramel notes on the nose.  This beer was malt forward with toasted tones and and a very subtle smoked flavor.  Finishes dry and packs a punch at 10% ABV.  From a brewery that typically makes lagers, this was a great pour!

Dogfish Head Noble Rot

This was a very interesting brew.  Tastes like a mix between Hefeweizen and white wine. Although that may sound less than appealing, it was actually very good.  Poured a clear light gold with a heavy head. Fruity notes on the aroma and sweet on the tongue.  Definitely not a session beer but still enjoyable and refreshing.

Rohrbach Vanilla Porter

A friend brought over a growler of Rohrbach's Vanilla Porter this weekend and we both really enjoyed it.  Poured into a pint glass, deep brown color and dark tan head.  Vanilla was very upfront in the nose with very little hop aroma noticeable.  This beer had a sweet, malty flavor with hints a caramel and vanilla and almost tasted maple syrupy.  Good mouth feel, maybe just a little bit thin.  Overall this was a great beer that I would definitely drink again.

Old Reviews

These were some reviews from a few months back but I figured I would move them over here so everything is one spot!

Seven Hills Pale Ale (Reviewed 3/19/2010)
Served on tap at Peppercorns Bar and Grill this is one of the first offerings from Wormtown Brewery in Worcester, MA. Poured a pale golden color with a small white head, less than I would expect for this style beer. Aroma was mildly hoppy, unmistakably American, with some bready undertones. This was a very easy beer to drink, well balanced and not excessively bitter at 30 IBUs. Very crisp with a dry finish and a slight soapy aftertaste on my tongue which seemed to diminish as the beer warmed. Overall this is a very good example of this style, I may have appreciated a slightly more floral hop aroma on the nose but this is still something I would order again.

Turtle Boy Blueberry Ale (Reviewed 3/19/2010)
I have to admit I only asked for a sample of this and what I got from the waitress was more like a swig, apparently she didn’t understand the idea of a short pour. It is difficult to be accurate with this sample size, but it looked like a very pale yellow, bordering white. Aroma consisted of freshly picked blueberries with the undertone of a light wheat beer. The taste was very similar, the fresh blueberries and wheat complimented each other perfectly. Sometimes the fruit can be overpowering in beers like this, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all with this beer. This is a very clean, easy to drink, refreshing beer with the crisp dry characteristics of an American wheat beer and the pop of fresh blueberries.