2-4-T: Flying Dog Biere de Garde & Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze

1. Flying Dog "Garde Dog" Biere de Garde

Flying Dog is a fun brewery. The founders named it Flying Dog, supposedly, after seeing a painting of a flying dog in a Pakistani hotel after a mountaineering expedition. The whole image of the brewery is kind of inspired by the author Hunter S. Thompson, most famous for his Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, which from what I recall is a book about two law-abiding citizens with the highest standards and morals. Anyway, the beer: a seasonal release of the bier de garde style, a French style. The French make beer? Yes, some of them do opt for the sudsy stuff over crushing grapes. This style of beer is intended for spring, but I got inpatient. The verdict? Well, it's refreshing and very drinkable, but it's a bit lacking for my taste. I'd prefer something bolder than this, but I suppose knocking a few of these back in nice weather might be nice.

Overall Rating: B

2. Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze

This Belgian product, from Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen is of the gueuze lambic variety. Many beer drinkers are familiar with the Lindeman's line of flavored lambics, but the gueuze is more true to the style - no fruit additives. It's a blend of old and young lambics, aged. If you like sour, funky beers, pick yourself up a gueuze. Personally, I love sour, funky beers so I loved this gueuze, this being only the 2nd or 3rd type of gueuze I've ever had. This one had some nice carbonation, really strong funkiness on the nose and a bomb of sourness. Really dry but ultimately it's extremely smooth at somewhere around 6-7% ABV. Even though it has an extreme taste, I could drink this beer all the time. Great stuff.

Overall Rating: A

2-4-T: Terrapin Wake-N-Bake & Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch

1. Terrapin Wake-N-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

Be honest...you just drooled a little bit reading the name of that beer. Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout: I don't know if there's a better combination of 4 words. Well done Terrapin. This guy is serious. As you can see to the right, it pours nicely, jet black with a tan, dry head and you can tell it has some body to it. The aroma was not as strong as I expected, but it came out more as the beer sat at room temp with coffee, molasses, chocolate and magic unicorns (joking of course, "magic unicorns" is redundant). It tastes just like it smells with a touch of that alcohol warmth to it, but overall nice carbonation and smooth. It's a nice, bitter coffee taste with that complementing bitter, dark chocolate mixed in. Nothing crazy...nice balance...just strong flavor with 8.6% ABV. This is something I would definitely drink again, but probably not something I'd want a whole case of to myself. However, they'd probably age well, so who knows? Plus, if you're not big on beer (then why the hell are you reading this?) but are on coffee, you can buy the blend that they use in this beer on Terrapin's website.

Overall Rating: A

2. Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch (Weasel)

Now on to something different...an imperial oatmeal stout made with coffee. Ok, it's the same style as the above beer, but the coffee that they use in this one sure as hell is different. The danish brewers of this beer used a Vietnamese ca phe chon coffee in this beer, some of the most expensive coffee in the world. Why so expensive you ask? I'll tell you friend! Civet cats, which are weasel-like creatures native to Southeast Asia (do an image search, I dare you), eat ONLY the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system break down the beans. So obviously, the logical next step is to collect their droppings and make coffee out of it...duhh. I've never had the coffee, but it's supposedly very strong in taste and even stronger in aroma (I bet). Without reading that back story, upon my first sip, I immediately knew civet cats were involved somehow in the brewing process...but that's just me, I have a developed palate. Seriously though, this stout is dangerous. It has all the qualities you'd expect from a strong, imperial stout: thick, heavy, bitter, chocolaty awesomeness. There was some serious lacing as I drank this one. The bitter coffee taste is definitely the strongest I've ever had in any beer that uses coffee. I would drink this for brunch any time, any place.

Overall Rating: A+

2-4-T: Lakefront Brewery Fuel Cafe & The Bruery Rugbrød

1. Lakefront Brewery Fuel Cafe Coffee Stout

This beer out of Wisconsin came in one of my beloved "beer of the month" packages. Lakefront Brewery does not distribute widely, but they do seem to have a nice selection of ales, lagers, seasonals, extreme beers and even some gluten-free beer. I was most looking forward to this beer from the package since I love coffee stouts. I've said before that it's tough to have a bad stout...I think I'm gonna stop saying that. Unfortunately, this one was a little weak for my taste and I didn't love the taste to begin with. It did have nice color but as you can see, barely any head to it. It had that roasty flavor that you'd expect from a coffee stout but it just did not balance nicely in my humble opinion. The big news though? This beer has not broken my streak of beer that I'm not in love with but finish anyway...I still finished it.

Overall Rating: C+

2. The Bruery Rugbrød

Both an odd name and a delicious description? I'll buy that. It also helped that everything I've had from The Bruery has been pretty good, if not great. So what was the delicious description you ask? "A deep auburn colored robust Danish-style ale with spicy rye and caramelly, bready malts" This beer defined robust. You know how people think Guinness is a meal in a glass and it's far from it? This beer could pass for one because it really does encompass that bready malt quality. It also has a ton of carbonation (see those bubbles in the bottle after pouring?) with a lingering head. The taste is unlike any other beer I've had, though I've only had a small handful of rye-based ales. I wasn't head over heels for it (is it weird that I describe beer like women?) but I did like the heavy flavor of it.

Overall Rating: B+

2-4-T: J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale & Ommegang Cup O Kyndnes

1. J.W. Lee's Harvest 2009 Ale Matured in Lagavulin Casks

Whewwww, this thing has some serious kick to it. Never have I gotten such a strong flavor from a beer that's been aged in any kind of liquor barrel as this. Without seeing the color, in a blind taste, I might even think it was just straight up scotch, just a tad watered down with a little carbonation. That was a really bad description though so I'll start over. As you can see, this beer from J.W. Lees, a British brewery, pours a really dense, orange color with barely any head. The aroma punches you in the face with that smoky, peaty loveliness that comes from a good scotch; I think it singed some of my nose hairs. The taste follows that formula with all the qualities of a single malt scotch, but still retaining the qualities of a strong ale. This was without a doubt a slow sipper. J.W. Lee's makes a line of this ale aged in various different types of barrels (port, sherry, etc.) so I'd like to try the others but this one was a little over the top for me. I like scotch and I like beer, but this one was not a healthy balance between the two for me. That said, as a beer to sample, I was impressed by the extreme flavor that came out from the barrels.

Overall Rating: B+

2. Ommegang Cup O Kyndnes Belgian-style Scotch Ale

Continuing with the scotch theme, I bring you Ommegang's Belgian-style scotch ale, "Cup O Kyndnes" (Cup of Kindness). (And I'll be honest, I wanted to show off the new glass I got for Christmas) For an American brewery that specializes in Belgian ales, I was actually kind of surprised that this beer was only 6.6%. Don't get me wrong, that's nothing to take lightly, but when your average beer is above 8%, you'd think a Scottish ale, which is typically pretty strong, would be 9% or more. I think it would have helped if they did make this beer stronger than it turned out, because it was not quite what I expected. Apparently, this beer is made with grassy heather and a "wee bit of smoke." I could have used more than a wee bit, because that's what I love in scotch ales. That said, it was a nicely balanced combination of flavors and sometimes it's nice to get what you're not expecting. A little conservative in the taste, but like I say...it's nice to not always have a beer that will make you fall over after two sips.

Overall Rating: B