Maine Beer Company - "Lunch" India pale ale

Today's beer comes to us from Freeport, Maine, which many of you may recognize as the home of L.L. Bean. It's Maine Beer Company's "Lunch." It's a super fresh IPA, clocking in at 7% ABV. This beer is known this particular beer was bottled on 6/2/15, just a few weeks ago. Super fresh indeed!

Generally, hoppy beers don't age gracefully, and so stuff like this is definitely enjoyed in its youth. Let's dive in.

Poured it out into a pint glass and enjoyed the hazy orange color. It puffs up to a nice white foam, which dies down slowly and leaves lots of lacing in the glass rim.

It has a very citrusy nose to it, which I like. The flavors are pretty straightforward -nice hoppy flavors, pretty bright and citrusy, with a little bit of bitterness from hops throughout. There's a surprising amount of booziness on the finish, which I didn't expect. Although this beer is 7% ABV, it hides the alcohol pretty well up until the end. The aftertaste is of citrus hops, a bit bitter.

I'm always a fan of these kinds of refreshing beers, especially when it's hot out. And while a lot of the fresh hop IPAs are often "session IPAs" with the alcohol content down around 4% or 5%, this beer is at 7%. It's tasty, smooth, and strong enough to capture my attention. I've also tried Maine Beer Co.'s "Red Wheelbarrow," which is a red ale as the name might suggest. It was really tasty, so I'm now interested in seeing what else they have since both of the ones I've tried have been good.

Great Divide Brewing Co. - "Old Ruffian" barleywine (2012 vintage)

Today's beer, the "Old Ruffian," is a 10.2% ABV barleywine from Denver, CO-based Great Divide Brewing Co. This beer has been in my cellar for over three years now, and I figured now would be a great time to crack it open and see how it aged.

It pours smooth and fast, with a reddish-brown color in the glass. It's got a puffy, off-white head.

Whoa, very hefty. It starts out with a taste of sour hops, and follows up nicely with powerful syrupy alcohol tastes with a very strong finish with some slightly bitter hoppy tastes. Sour is the overall flavor here, although not in a bad way. I like the big-hop bitterness that comes with the beer.

Thinking more on it, and having the beer sit on my palette for a while, I like the ripe fruit and alcoholic sweetness to this beer. It's a great example of what I like in barleywines - strong, thick, and generally sweet. But it's not overly ripe, and has just the right amount of sour. Some barleywines can overdo it and be too sour or too ripe and pungent, or even worse, too alcoholic. Although this beer is pretty damn powerful, it actually tastes more like a Flemish sour ale than it does a barleywine, which is kinda neat. I'm a huge barleywine connoisseur and I'm really liking this one. It's smooth, deep, and full of flavor and I think the three years in the cellar has really done it some good.

General Cigar Company - Macanudo "Portofino" lancero (Connecticut / Dominican Republic / Mexico)

I'd like to share what I smoked today - a Macanudo "Portofino." It's a 7x34 lancero-shape cigar en tubo. It's got a Connecticut shade tobacco wrapper with mostly Dominican innards, except for a Mexican binder from the St. Andres Tuxtla Valley binder.

What makes this cigar special is that it's the first cigar I ever smoked. Not the same exact one, obviously, but a Macanudo Portofino was the first cigar I ever tried. But what makes it even more special is that 10 years ago, today, was when I had my first cigar. It was on the evening of my high school graduation, in 2005, and my late Uncle Mike picked it out for me. He was a big cigar smoker and gave me advice on how to smoke, what the different kinds of cigars there were, etc. He was there with me for my first puff! And when he passed away in 2013, I inherited some of his cigar collection (which I am still enjoying to this day.)

Here's to you, Uncle Mike!

So I figured what better way to celebrate my 10 years of bad habits than to have another Portofino.

It lit up nicely, despite being a little dry. I bought it retail at JR's downtown. It came in the tube, so it probably wasn't even opened. Still, I wrapped it in a hot moist paper towel and it seemed to bounce back OK.

The taste is very nice - a little minerally, but light and straightforward with some tasty earthy leather flavors. I like the format, as well; it's cool to have a longer but narrower cigar since you're not able to take huge puffs on it. This format is called, among other terms, "lancero." It smoked pretty much all the way down, and I had to put it out about pinkie length, which is nice for a 7" cigar. All in all, a good purchase and a very enjoyable smoke for a special occasion. 

Cigar City Brewing Co. - "Cubano-Style Espresso" brown ale

Today's beer is part of a bunch of beers kindly provided to me by old friend Matthew LeVarge, now living in sunny Tampa, FL. I think the only Tampa beer I ever had was in last year's Sierra Nevada Beer Camp box; it was a tropical maibock by Cigar City Brewing Co. Needless to say, I've got a bunch of Florida beers now, so huge shout-out to Matt for hooking a brother up.

Tampa, Florida

Today's beer is, in fact, also from Cigar City Brewing Co. It's their "Cubano-Style Espresso," a 5.5% ABV English brown ale with a twist: it's made with coffee beans roasted especially for this beer by Saint Petersburg, FL gastronomic institution, Mazzaro's Italian Market and Deli:

Let's dive right in to this beer. It pours nicely, a little fast, and puffs up with nice foam, which leaves some lacing in the glass after subsiding.

Immediately I'm struck by a very nice aroma - strong and clear coffee bean notes. It has a pleasant taste, as well - very smooth and approachable, like a nice caffe mocha, with no oily texture. This beer's got very long-lasting roasted coffee flavors in the aftertaste, which is cool.

Also, I really like how light this beer tastes. It's very flavorful but also refreshing and light, which is a marked turn from the usual heavy, oily coffee stouts. I think I may prefer coffee beers in ale format now; ditching the high alcohol content and oily espresso flavors for something lighter and milkier. I'm glad I tried this and would gladly have it again, and I'm even compelled to look for lighter coffee beers in the future. Speaking of Cigar City, and cigars, this would pair nicely with a Drew Estate Tabak Negra, perhaps in the Cafecita format, as a dessert beer / smoke. I'd do it!

Great Divide Brewing Co. - "Hercules" Double IPA

Today's review is a very long time overdue. I'd like you all to behold one of my top 5 beers in the world - Great Divide's Hercules Double IPA. This beer is serious business - it's a 10% ABV double India pale ale, available in singles and four-packs at most retailers - a single goes for $4. Not too bad of a price for greatness! Let's dive in.

It's got a burnt orange color with some off-white head when poured.

It's a cloudy neon tangerine when held to the light.

The foam dies down quickly with no real lacing. This beer's got a heady nose with strong malt smells. Nice fruit aromas, too, which is really nice.

This is one of those beers that takes you by surprise when you drink it. Like the Fort George "Java the Hop," the color and nose don't necessarily match up to what you might expect the beer to taste like. As a result, it's quite an adventure to drink. There is a well-balanced flavor of both fruit and hops, with no grittiness or bitter tastes whatsoever. The main flavor here is peach. It's a taste unusual to beer, but one that's very welcome. There's a strong undercurrent of malts and alcohol that accompany the fruity finish and has a pleasant, syrupy-sweet alcohol aftertaste that warms the stomach well.

I personally love this beer - it's unlike any IPA I've ever had, with the exception of DC Brau's "On the Wings of Armageddon." It's smooth enough to dodge the usual IPA problems but is strong and heady enough to keep you (and me) interested. This certainly isn't a session beer - grab one or two of these and dive deep...but be prepared to switch to something lighter and mainstream once you're done. Hercules lives up to its name, for sure!