Fruit Beer Week: Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale (Re-review)

Fruit Beer Week: Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale (Re-review)

Great Divide Brewing, out of Denver, offers a Wild Raspberry Ale made with wild raspberries: [A] unique, thirst-quenching ale fermented with real red and black raspberries. Its balance of malt and fruit flavors make it a beer lover’s fruit beer. It’s offered year-round, which makes me curious how they handle … Continue reading

Fruit Beer Week: Melbourn Brothers Strawberry (Re-review)

Fruit Beer Week: Melbourn Brothers Strawberry (Re-review)

Melbourn Brothers beers hail from England and they offer three varieties of fruit beers, all spontaneously fermented—which technically qualifies them as Lambics. (Though I believe the fruit is added post-fermentation in the form of concentrate or syrup.) Back in 2006 I reviewed their Strawberry beer, and this is what I … Continue reading

Fruit Beer Week: Wells Banana Bread Beer

Fruit Beer Week: Wells Banana Bread Beer

I can’t say as I’ve had many banana beers (the only other one that comes immediately to mind is a homebrewed banana wheat years ago), so Wells Banana Bread Beer stands out in that regard. As it happens, I’d been hearing for a while how this beer actually smells exactly … Continue reading

Fruit Beer Week

Fruit Beer Week

I’m a bit behind on Theme Week this month (August has been busy!) but I’ve been wanting to do a Fruit Beer Week for a while now (it makes for a good summertime topic), so I’ve decided to mix it up a bit this week: I have some new reviews … Continue reading

Christmas in July: Climax Noel

Christmas in July: Climax Noel

My local Whole Foods still has bottles of Eel River Brewing‘s Belgian Christmas beer, Climax Noel, in the cooler (albeit on sale) so I picked one up to review this week. According to the label it’s a Belgian Imperial Red Ale, 9% alcohol by volume, and is certified organic. Appearance: … Continue reading

Christmas in July: 2 Turtle Doves

Christmas in July: 2 Turtle Doves

Even though they’re only a couple of years old, The Bruery in Southern California is the current darling of the Brewinati (did I just make up that word?), and everyone online was raving about their 2 Turtle Doves over the holidays—the second in their ambitious “12 Days (Beers) of Christmas” … Continue reading

Christmas in July: 25 Dodici

Christmas in July: 25 Dodici

25 Dodici is another beer I’d featured on last year’s Advent Calendar: a strong Winter Warmer from Birra del Borgo in Italy, which I speculated had not been actually brewed since 2008. I must have been wrong about that, because imagine my surprise when this beer popped up at Whole … Continue reading

Christmas in July: Goose Island Christmas Ale

Christmas in July: Goose Island Christmas Ale

This past holiday season was the first year I remember seeing Goose Island Christmas Ale available here in Bend, and was also the first beer I picked for last year’s Advent Calendar—needless to say, it was one I knew I had to try (and had been wanting to for a … Continue reading

Christmas in July: Winter Hum Bug’r

Christmas in July: Winter Hum Bug’r

Portland’s MacTarnahan’s holiday offering is Hum Bug’r: an easy-drinking Porter wrapped up in packaging reminiscent of something you’d see in an indie graphic novel. The “hum bug” part of the name naturally makes you think of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol—though MacTarnahan’s has someone else in  mind: You know … Continue reading

Christmas in July Week

Christmas in July Week

It’s the last full week of the month so that means it’s time for Theme Week here at The Brew Site! This week I’m being a little rebellious (and a bit lazy) and declaring it Christmas in July Week: all week I’ll be writing up reviews of Christmas beers—yes, some … Continue reading