Sierra Nevada Beer Camp, #3

Asheville Brewer's Alliance - "Tater Ridge" Scottish ale (7% ABV)

This beer is a deep Scottish ale made with sweet potatoes! Never had a sweet potato beer before...but that's because I think sweet potatoes are awful. Just ask my family at Thanksgiving, I won't eat them.

But I didn't say I didn't drink them. Anyways...pour is strong and thick, nice deep red color (my favorite for beer) and a brownish-bronze when candled. Beautiful. Nose is airy, a little aroma, but not much. Lots of carbonation.

Taste is interesting. A little sweet, but delicious. Smooth and full of flavor, nice warming feeling that turns into a smooth, sweet finish. Not bad at all! Color me surprised. I'd drink this all day long.

Oskar Blues Brewery - "CANfusion" rye bock (7.2% ABV)

Another brown pour, clearer this time. The beer has no nose. However, it is nice and tasty. Lots of rye tastes here, straightforward and hearty. I don't really detect anything super unusual about it, just a delicious and straightforward rye ale. 

3 Floyds Brewing Co. - "Chico King" pale ale (6.5% ABV)

As you can see, it's got a nice caramel color. One of the pleasures of drinking beer is seeing all the different colors. With this beer, there's a clean, crisp aroma with no strong smells. The taste is sort of a standard pale ale, done well. Interesting texture. Nice hops (the bottle says "resinous" which is a good word to describe the texture.)

Cigar City Brewing Co. - "Yonder Bock" tropical maibock (7.7% ABV)

This one intrigued me - never had a maibock before, and didn't know what it is. According to the German Beer Institute, a maibock is a strong golden lager meant to be enjoyed in between German beer drinking seasons of deep winter and summer. Hence the "Mai" in the word. It's also known as a "helles bock," "helles lager" or, and I'm really just taking their word for it, "Frühlingsstarkier."

Pours nicely, some interesting aromas that I couldn't quite recognize. Same went for the taste - it was delicious, very malty, with some interesting fruit flavors that were new to me in a beer. I spent a good few minutes trying to figure out what was going on up in here. 

It reminds me a lot of a fruity version of "Old Speckled Hen." There's definite fruit tastes in there, which is pretty cool, and ends up being a very refreshing and smooth beer. 

Turned out to be a great 12-pack. I'll definitely be buying this again next year!