Long Trail Ale

First Brewed: 1989
Brewery Location: Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, United States
ABV: 4.6%

History & Availability: Long Trail Ale is Long Trail Brewing's most popular beer, and currently the best-selling craft beer in Vermont, and by far is most popular there. They distribute throughout New England and I've seen their beers in the NY/PA area on occasion, but any further south or west of that and you probably won't find it without a special order.

Appearance: Long Trail Ale is a medium maple-colored beer with a decent amount of carbonation and a thin head that dissipates to just a single layer fairly quickly. Pretty clear for its color. I'm a little disappointed at the lack of head retention but having a thick head isn't at all standard for the style so I can't really take points off.

Smell: Very floral and sweet. Tulips and daffodils abound. It's a welcome diversion after the several MALTS ONLY beers I've had recently.

Taste: Just like the smell, the taste of the ale is a refreshing floral sweetness. The bite of the hops is present but subdued, allowing the main flavor to come through. This actually reminds me a lot of Magic Hat #9. It's a little different in specific taste but very similar in style and direction.

Mouthfeel: Very interesting, it's extraordinarily smooth as you sip, but as you hold it in your mouth the carbonation goes "V-TEC JUST KICKED IN YO" and makes itself known in stellar fashion. The beer is medium-bodied, about average for the style, and lends itself well to taking long, leisurely sips.

Drinkability: Fantastic. There's no overwhelming infusion here to get sick of, but at the same time Long Trail isn't too busy wankin' it over the Reinheitsgebot to make a non-standard taste. Now I'd imagine it would get old after 5 or 6, but unless you're really going for the session chances are it's not going to be an issue.

Overall verdict: B+, another great beer to have on hand as a transition for your friends from macros, and pretty good as a go-to beer for yourself.

Geary's London Porter

First Brewed: Between 1986 and 2001
Brewery Location: Portland, Maine, United States
ABV: 4.2%

History & Availability: This beer won the NY Times' award for best porter in the world. Otherwise it's about as available as any other Geary's, maybe a little less since it's not one of their flagship beers.

Appearance: One of the blackest beers I've had yet, with just a tint of mahogany around the edges. Pours with a thin but beefy dark tan head. Totally opaque. Looking like a porter, no doubt about it. This head looks like it's gonna stick around.

Smell: A significantly stronger smell than the other Geary's beers, the London Porter gets you right off the bat with a strong hit of malt and chocolate. It smells super sweet but definitely in the malty direction rather than a pure sugar direction. Little bit of espresso in there too. Not coffee, because that's way overplayed.

Taste: Largely just malt here. It's definitely not as choco-rich as some other porters. In fact I'd venture to say the chocolate and coffee values have traded places from the smell, leaving a marginally noticeable coffee taste with almost no choco-goodness.

Mouthfeel: Above average in the smooth department. Again Geary's gets the feel right by keeping the carbonation low without compromising the head.

Drinkability: Pretty good, pretty light, not too filling. There's also no excessive added single flavor to make you hate the decision to have a third.

Overall verdict: B, I wish there was a little more complexity but it is a pretty faithful English recreation.

Beck's Dark

First Brewed: A while back
Brewery Location: Bremen, Bremen, Germany
ABV: 4.8%

History & Availability: Beck's Dark is the #1 imported German dark beer, which I'm 100% certain is simply because Beck's has been exporting their pilsner to the US for over a hundred years and brand recognition is a huge bonus. It's Beck's, and Beck's is an export brand, so chances are if you're looking around you'll find it no matter where in the world you live.

Appearance: Almost pure black with just a little chocolate brown edge. Interestingly the head is fizzy, almost white, and super scant, disappearing without a trace after only a few seconds. Again, can't tell much about clarity or carbonation because it's quite dark.

Smell: This is the weirdest thing, I'm getting a coppery pilsner smell reminiscent of regular Beck's from this dark of a beer. There's a little more body to the smell than a regular Beck's but the connection is unmistakable. There's also a decent bit of grain coming through.

Taste: Grainy and sweet. There's a little bit of hops here but it's so faint as to be almost unrecognizable even under the fairly tame grainy foreground. There's a strong sweet aftertaste that lingers for a long time.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is very low as I sort of expected with the total lack of head. The beer is very light-bodied for being so dark and if it weren't for the taste and color I might honestly mistake this beer for a pilsner.

Drinkability: Unlike some other beers where gas stays low despite prominent carbonation, Beck's Dark despite its low carbonation seems to reach into the aether and retrieve some of that lost gas and instill it into your stomach unbeknownst to you. This beer is really not particularly drinkable compared to its immediate brethren, Beck's in particular, because it's built to taste like a sessioning beer but bodied like a medium pale ale.

Overall verdict: C+, note to Beck's: you can't make a dark lager the same as a pilsner and expect people not to notice.

Geary's Hampshire Special Ale

First Brewed: Between 1986 and 2001
Brewery Location: Portland, Maine, United States
ABV: 7%

History & Availability: Hampshire Special Ale used to be Geary's winter seasonal before the popularity of the beer made them turn it into a year-round production, after which their Winter Ale was introduced. It's generally considered as one of their best and so you'll find it in most any Geary's variety pack.

Appearance: Dark oak in color, still noticeably lighter than a stout though. Smallish tan head with good retention. Can't tell much regarding carbonation or clarity from looking at the beer since it is fairly dark. I guess the difference is it's not quite as opaque as a stout, and you can certainly see some amber color at the bottom of the mug. Still one of the darkest beers I've seen that's still decidedly transparent.

Smell: Can't smell much through this thick head. We'll see if that changes as I start drinking. -- Ah, yes, here we go. Interestingly there's a lot of hops in this aroma, which is certainly present in the taste but in equal quantity with the malts. I'm getting essentially no malt in the smell at all, and instead mostly just bitters. It's a really interesting pairing with the aftertaste which is almost 100% alcohol/sweet.

Taste: Lots of roasted malts coming through here, but at the same time there's a huge rush of hops trying to counteract the sweetness. The combined effect is one of a really tart fruit like currant or raspberry, but without the overtones of any fruit in particular. On the other hand, a really heavy sweetness dominates the aftertaste. You can feel the alcohol lingering on your breath after each sip, perhaps not quite as much as an imperial IPA but present nevertheless.

Mouthfeel: Lighter in body than the color would have you believe, but about as light as any other pale ale. Carbonation is a little much for my liking, but again, I'm willing to forgive that since it only overshoots by a little and it's necessary to keep the head rolling.

Drinkability: Not bad. I was really expecting this beer to be almost undrinkable after the first one since the malt and hops both hit so hard, but as the beer warmed it became significantly less aggressive. Definitely stick to the suggested serving temperature of 50-55 on this one and you'll be fine.

Overall verdict: B+, I was really hesitant to put this one above the Winter Ale since I enjoyed the multiple flavors of that beer, but I have to admit HSA is a really good blend objectively. I'll probably still prefer the Winter Ale on a personal level.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager

First Brewed: 1860; in modern times, 1985
Brewery Location: Originally St. Louis, Missouri, United States; in modern times originally Boston, Massachusetts, United States; now largely Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
ABV: 4.75%

History & Availability: Boston Lager was a recipe brewed by founder Jim Koch's great-great-grandfather Louis Koch, who developed the beer in 1860. Prohibition put an end to that nonsense however, and it wasn't until 1985 when craft breweries were just getting started in America that Boston Beer Company was founded and their first beer, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, hit the market again. Boston Beer Co. has remained the largest craft brewery in the United States since the '80s and as such they distribute to 50 states and 20 countries, so chances are you will have no trouble finding any of their beers.

Appearance: Boston Lager is a medium-to-light maple-colored beer with a decent-sized off-white head. Lots of carbonation in this one, so the head retention is superb. Clarity is pretty good but there's a little bit of haziness from the carbonation.

Smell: Smell those hops, for sure. Hints of sticky sweet like honey or caramel are coming through as well. I'm not sure how I feel about the pairing. It's a little too heavy on the hops to really let malty aromas take the stage like that.

Taste: This is a pretty straightforward beer. Not much off-flavor here at all, just heavy on the hops and a side order of malt. There's a strong aftertaste of hops, not quite as strong as, say, the Harpoon Imperial IPA but strong enough. Fortunately, despite the strong hops taste, it doesn't get too bitter in the aftertaste due to a good effort by the sweet malt to stick around.

Mouthfeel: Not too heavy on the carbonation within the mouth despite the great head retention. Medium-bodied for the style, which also places it pretty squarely in the middle of the body spectrum overall.

Drinkability: Above average but not outstanding. Two or three are easy to put down, any more and I get a little sick of the straight hops. This beer definitely suffers from more-of-the-same syndrome.

Overall verdict: B-, it's a good beer and definitely a great fallback choice but it's just too straightforward for me to prefer it to more complex brews.

Geary's Winter Ale

First Brewed: Between 1986 and 2003
Brewery Location: Portland, Maine, United States
ABV: 6%

History & Availability: Geary's is a pretty small brewery based in Portland - one of the first microbreweries on the eastern seaboard - and while several other breweries have been founded, grown up, and surpassed Geary's size in the area in the past 20 years, Geary's has remained about the same size since its founding in 1983. Their website even lists their customer service staff by name since there's a grand total of two of them. (How quaint!) Their beer is pretty ubiquitous throughout Maine but I don't think I've ever seen it in New Hampshire, so unless you're planning on taking a trip to Portland in the near future you'll probably miss out on this one. Their website says they distribute to 13 states but I'm not 100% certain that's accurate.

Appearance: Pours a clear but dark mahogany brown. Not much carbonation so far as I can tell so I don't expect the minimal head to last particularly long into the drink. Interestingly you can still read through it provided you have a backlit screen, so it really is dark by color and not by unfilteredness (which is now a word, don't worry about it).

Smell: Nice and wintry. I smell a little bit of fir but mostly sweet malt and butter. About halfway through the beer I had to come back and edit this section, I finally figured out what I was smelling, it's brown bread! (Do people outside of New England know what brown bread is? The bread in a can that you have with baked beans? Or is it just me?) Anyway it's really making me crave some good old bean supper, and I couldn't be happier since I bought this beer to have a taste of home and it is totally coming through for me here.

Taste: About as bitter as you'd expect from a winter ale, which is to say, not particularly. On the other hand Geary's has the presence of mind to stay away from over-spicing its winter ale as a lot of other breweries tend to do. The sweetness, on the other hand, is in great quantity here, with flavors ranging from your standard malts to sweeter fruits like banana. I really enjoy this significantly more than a spicier, nutmegier, cinnamonier winter ale so I'm happy Geary's went in this direction.

Mouthfeel: Pretty light-bodied for being so dark, but I bet that's the clarity working its magic. Carbonation is erring on the high side, and I guess I was wrong about the head being liable to dissipate because it's retaining itself pretty well as I get to the bottom of the glass here. I'm definitely going to call this good high carbonation as opposed to the bad high carbonation a number of other beers fell victim to.

Drinkability: High. Again, despite being so dark it is pleasantly light-bodied so you can drink several in a row. It also suffers less from the more-of-the-same syndrome that Shipyard Export had, for example, so it's easy to get through a sixer with no difficulty. I would definitely consider sessioning this beer, and it's nice and inexpensive too so that's not a prohibitive possibility.

Overall verdict: B, I was pleasantly surprised since I haven't really heard much about Geary's before. Fortunately I've got a variety pack from them so we'll see what we come up with in the next few reviews.

Shipyard Export Ale

First Brewed: 1992
Brewery Location: Portland, Maine, United States
ABV: 5.1%

History & Availability: Shipyard's flagship ale, Export is one of the easier-to-find of the brewery's beers. We get Shipyard products over here in New Hampshire fairly frequently, so if you're in New England you can probably find this beer, but if not chances are you won't be able to find unless you special order.

Appearance: Medium honey color with a small, almost-white head. Totally clear and lots of carbonation.

Smell: While this beer doesn't have a particularly strong smell, I do detect hints of a sweet fruit like cherry or pear in addition to the standard sweet malt smell. Nothing really special, I don't expect these smells to be overwhelming in the taste department.

Taste: I'm getting a taste of a more sour fruit here unlike with the smell, something like a grapefruit or sour apple. The hops are really overwhelming the malt here, so it's a noticeably more bitter beer than most of the recent ones I've reviewed.

Mouthfeel: Drier finish than most. The carbonation fortunately stays on the lower end while sipping. It's on the lighter end of medium-bodied, so excessive carbonation would really be a downfall here, but again we fortunately avoid that problem.

Drinkability: Not bad. It is on the lighter end of the body spectrum as I mentioned, so you can continue to drink without feeling too full. The issue is that the taste is nothing to write home about, so you'll probably be done by the end of your second bottle not because you can't have any more, but just because you're kind of done with it.

Overall verdict: C+, not bad but again, nothing special.

Allagash Dubbel Reserve

First Brewed: 1995
Brewery Location: Portland, Maine, United States
ABV: 7.0%

History & Availability: Allagash is a Maine-based brewery dedicated to reproducing the Belgian styles of beer, which are often overlooked in America in favor of British and German ales. Their Reserve line is sold in corked 750mL bottles and bottle-conditioned like a fine wine, inducing an auxiliary fermentation within the bottle, often only seen with the micro-est of microbreweries, which is perhaps why they say that many of their beers improve with age, unlike the vast majority of macros. I personally hadn't heard of Allagash until I picked up this beer at the specialty shop, despite the fact that I'm actually originally from Portland, since they're such a small-yield brewery. Nevertheless I was able to pick this one up as far away as Hanover, so if you're in the New England area you may be able to find Allagash beers provided you check a few stores.

Appearance: The beer itself is a medium brown color, pretty much opaque, with the largest head I have ever seen in a beer. Maybe you looked at the picture and thought "wow you don't know how to pour a beer, huh?" WRONG. This beer just leaves an enormous head no matter how careful you are pouring. The retention is hilariously overbalanced as well. There's still a good two fingers of head ten minutes after I poured this beer. Truly amazing. I have never seen such a thing.

Smell: Now that's a malty smell. Hint of chocolate, but mostly just the sweet, sweet aroma of the Reinheitsgebot. This is how a beer should smell. Not a hint of any adverse or off-scents, just pure malty goodness in an aura surrounding the stein. It's like when you're playing baseball as a kid, your team's just had a great game, and you go out with your dad for a root beer float - it's exactly that sort of idyllic "this-is-exactly-what-I-need" sense of anticipation as I'm getting ready to taste the beer. I'm honestly amazed any smell at all is penetrating through this huge head but I'm glad it does.

Taste: A chorus of angels is singing in my head as I take my first sip. (Oh, wait, that's the Dartmouth 1965 Glee Club with the classic Men of Dartmouth that I queued up just for the occasion. Even so.) I can taste about seven different malts in this beer, each competing for the forefront and trying to push its flavor through, but it's brewed in such a balanced manner that nothing is lost in the shuffle. The hops take a back seat here for the better, although you can still feel just the right amount of bitterness to keep your tongue craving the malts. This certainly isn't one of your fancy fruit-infused foppish beers. This is a beer for a man who loves the taste of malt. And boy, do I love the taste of malt.

Mouthfeel: I think it was Dead Guy that I described as "Oh My God so smooth." I may have found a new champion. With the enormous head retention I was expecting perhaps a bit excessive carbonation but I feel only the amount strictly necessary to keep the beer light and active around the mouth. In addition to that, the beer is amazingly light-bodied given its color and there's essentially no alcohol feeling at all, which is truly something given that it's a full 7% ABV.

Drinkability: Superb. It's so light that you barely notice that you're 20oz through your 24oz mug. I am so glad this beer is bottled by more than a pint and a half, because I find myself wanting more and more. If there's a limit on this taste I certainly haven't reached it.

Overall verdict: A+. I am not giving this out lightly. You have to try this beer.

Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen

First Brewed: 1997
Brewery Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
ABV: 5.1%

History & Availability: Hefeweizen, a traditional German unfiltered wheat beer, is most popular in Bavaria but has spread slowly to other parts of the world as well. Harpoon's offering is relatively new but sticks to the plan pretty well and has been fairly successful in introducing the style to a new audience. It's among Harpoon's more popular and consistent beers, so if you can find Harpoon in your area, chances are their Hefeweizen is sold as well. Note that there are several other beers in the UFO line, so don't be confused by similar-looking boxes at the store.

Appearance: Very cloudy as you'd expect. It's also super light, a yellowed straw color, so the haze is really pronounced. The head is really fizzy, pure white, and reminds me a little of marshmallows. Lots of carbonation racing up the sides of the mug here. I also noticed when pouring that there was a good amount of sediment left on the bottom of the bottle. They really weren't joking about the "unfiltered." Good on 'em, I say.

Smell: Smells like it could really use a lemon, which is unsurprising given that the box said the same thing. A very light-bodied scent that would probably pair great with seafood. Interestingly this creates more of a feeling of complementarity than a unique smell to itself. Really not much stands out here, hopefully the taste will be more prominent since I'm sadly not going to be having a seafood dinner along with it.

Taste: As someone who grew up on a dairy farm in Maine, let me tell you, hay has a very distinct olfactory package to it, and once you've made an association in your mind it has a tendency to spread. This beer reminds me strongly of wet hay. Now before you take that as an insult, it's really just more of an observation and I'm not entirely put off by it, but this is certainly a taste I've never experienced in beer before and I'm a little surprised that the association so quickly and easily sprang to mind. It's gotta be the yeast that's putting the prominent planty taste in the beer. Besides that, not much hops, not much malt, not much of anything else. The beer is pretty one-dimensional but I still can't get over how odd it is to taste hay in a drink.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, which is expected given how clearly this is not a watered-down beer by any means. Decent amount of carbonation, enough to retain an unexpected level of head throughout the drink. Leaves behind a little bit of a fizz but not enough to really be distracting.

Drinkability: Not bad. It's a little heavier than the average beer of this color, so don't be fooled, but you can definitely throw down a few and be unaffected by the weight. The taste is so different that you may keep coming back for more, as well.

Overall verdict: B-, oddly tasty despite being literally dissolved hay.

Rogue Mocha Porter

First Brewed: Sometime before 2001
Brewery Location: Newport, Oregon, United States
ABV: 5.2%

History & Availability: Another one of Rogue's more popular beers, the Mocha Porter (previously the New Porter, from the brewery's location in Newport) was Rogue's first true porter and remains the one of the most popular of its darker beers today. Although it's not as widespread as Dead Guy Ale, I found it by chance in New Hampshire, so if you keep an eye out you should be able to find this without too much trouble in the more microbrewery-intensive shops and pubs.

Appearance: A deep chocolatey brown, looks almost like a root beer float coming out of the bottle. Huge, dark head with superb retention. This is definitely a porter alright. A close look reveals a little carbonation at the edges, but there may be more that is unseen because of how dark and thus opaque the beer is.

Smell: Surprisingly, there is not an overwhelming scent of coffee or chocolate as I expected the beer might have. Instead there is only a slight hint of coffee and more of a strong sweet malty smell.

Taste: Super sweet. The chocolate really only comes out in the aftertaste but then you can certainly taste it. It's really dominated by the malts, and interestingly there's not much hop bitterness at all, despite the bottle proclaiming a "bittersweet" taste. It's a little bitter, sure, but the sweetness is definitely coming to the forefront here. Now of course this doesn't mean it's a soda or anything, but the hops are just in the backseat on this one.

Mouthfeel: Astoundingly light. This has got to be the lightest porter I've ever tasted. The carbonation is also surprisingly low for how much head the beer retains. Besides the previously-mentioned chocolatey aftertaste, there's not much left behind at all in terms of consistency. Not at all what I expected, but I'm definitely ok with it.

Drinkability: High. Not too high on the alcohol content which is a problem that plagues many porters, and also unlike most beers in the style it's very light-bodied. The only thing that holds you back here is the fact that it sells for around $7 per 22-oz bottle, which is probably too much for most people to really have more than one of too frequently.

Overall verdict: B+. It's good enough that I'd look for it again, but if the more ubiquitous Dead Guy from the same brewery is on tap, I'll prefer that.

Heineken

First Brewed: 1873
Brewery Location: Originally Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands; now mostly Zoeterwoude, South Holland, the Netherlands
ABV: 5%

History & Availability: Another long-running European pilsner, Heineken claims their flagship beer has not had its recipe changed since its first brewing almost 140 years ago. Heineken International is the third-largest brewer in the world by revenue (14.7 billion Euros in 2009) and has an ass-ton of breweries and brands that are heavily exported around the world. Because of Heineken's aggressive exportation you can be practically assured that you'll find it almost anywhere you travel.

Appearance: Slightly darker than your average pilsner, with a good bit of carbonation leading to an above-average head retention for the style (still only enough to cover the surface, however). I actually prefer this look for a pilsner to the sickly straw color you generally get in most US macrobrews and many major euro exports.

Smell: A fairly strong smell for a pilsner that can be pretty succinctly described as "Heineken-like" and people will tend to know what you're talking about. A little metallicy but not too bad. What I get instead is a medium sugary scent. Given the green bottles you may have the misfortune of buying a skunked 6-pack; this is definitely not a good thing so avoid if possible by trying to buy a boxed pack or one that was only just put on the shelves.

Taste: Classic pilsner. Very neutral taste, a hint of copper here, bit of hops there, nothing really stands out, and that's largely intentional. Tastes very watery but it's even a neutral, purified water.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied for a pilsner but too much carbonation. Recurring theme. Not really much else to say here, it feels the same as every other marginally-overcarbonated pilsner, and I'm sure you've had at least one before.

Drinkability: Surprisingly, and fortunately, the carbonation that was fairly uncomfortable in the mouth doesn't really translate to carbonation in the stomach. The taste also being largely neutral is a huge boon. Heineken is superbly drinkable and that's why it gets popular with people who are just looking to get shitfaced. Unfortunately this also tends to draw an undesirable crowd (see: My New Haircut). Kind of a shame because this is really one of my top sessioning beers.

Overall verdict: C+, same boat as Beck's; it's pretty good for a macro pilsner but there is absolutely nothing special about it.

Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA

First Brewed: 2008
Brewery Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
ABV: 10%

History & Availability: The second beer in Harpoon's Leviathan series, which features beers with abnormally high ABVs, the Imperial IPA is also the only beer in the series to be brewed year-round and regularly distributed more frequently than the others. Because of its relative popularity, this beer should be easier to find than others of the Leviathan series. I'm not actually sure how well Harpoon distributes nationwide, but you can definitely find this beer in most specialty shops in the New England area.

Appearance: A medium to dark amber color with a very thin, white head that dissipates quickly. Mostly clear and with medium to low carbonation. Nothing special here, looks a little darker than an average IPA but other than that, par for the course. I'm actually surprised that there's so little head retention but then again I'm sure it must be almost impossible with such a high alcohol content.

Smell: The Imperial IPA has a very dark and heavy smell that doesn't really hit you unless you take a strong whiff, and then it really pops out. Smells like a roasted apricot or orange to me, that's really as well as I can describe it. It's tough to extract more because of the nature of the aroma being so tough to get a good strong hit of. I expect it'll taste pretty bitter given the prominent bitterness in the scent.

Taste: Really, really bitter. We're talking 120 IBU's bitter (that's a full 3 times as bitter as Harpoon's regular IPA, for comparison's sake). A little bit of a spicy taste, not overpowering, but enough so that you can clearly notice it, especially in the aftertaste. I can taste a little bit of a dark cherry or spiced grapefruit or something in the background, which might have been nice if it was a little more prominent, but it's just so overwhelmed by the hops that it's tough to tell that it's even there. You can definitely feel the alcohol in this beer in the aftertaste, which is unsurprising given its ABV. Sticks on your breath for a good while, so you'll be feeling the taste of hops all night.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied tending towards heavy. Little enough carbonation to not be a pain. Finishes dry enough. The feel is I think meant to just be uneventful enough to allow full permeation of the taste, rather than a star of its own.

Drinkability: The strong bitter taste hurts the beer in this category a little. It's really overpowering, enough so that even if you find it delicious you wouldn't want to keep drinking too much. Of course, given how high in alcohol it is, you won't ever want to have more than a couple anyway. Certainly not a beer to session. I got drunk doing this review.

Overall verdict: C+. I'm definitely in the minority on this one; beeradvocate has it sitting at an A-, but its extreme bitterness masking all other flavors ruins this beer for me. You might find it better suited for your palate.

Magic Hat Howl

First Brewed: 2009
Brewery Location: Burlington, Vermont, United States
ABV: 4.6%

History & Availability: One of Magic Hat's newest beers, Howl's Moving - er, I mean, Howl Black Lager - is in the style of the German Schwarzbier, a very dark beer distinguished from stouts and porters by the fact that it is a lager, not an ale as the majority of dark beers are. It's a seasonal offering from Magic Hat, appearing only in the winter. I found it on tap as the weekly special in my local pub, but they also sell it bottled as well. Availability may be questionable; since it's Magic Hat it should be distributed around the northeast, but since it's a seasonal it may not have the same distribution as the ubiquitous #9.

Appearance: Black lager is right. This is a very dark beer, not the darkest I've seen, but a very deep, opaque brown except for a little sliver of molasses-color at the base. Keeps a thin creamy Guinness-style head with a decent amount of carbonation for such a dark beer.

Smell: Very bready. There's a notable chocolate scent and roasted malts are super prominent as well. Behind these is a slight hint of mocha or a dark roasted coffee.

Taste: A little smoky or roasty. There's only slight hints at chocolate despite the smell, and a total lack of any coffee taste, which surprised me since it's tough for a dark lager with such heavy-roasted malts to avoid both of these tastes. Super bready or grainy.

Mouthfeel: Astonishingly light-bodied for such a heavy-looking beer. I guess that's the Schwarzbier style; it's definitely no stout in heft. Caught me by surprise though. There's mid- to heavy-level carbonation for the style, probably a little more than was really needed, but it does help head retention so I'm willing to let that slide.

Drinkability: Middling to low due to the odd lack of flavor. It's certainly light enough to be quite drinkable but it just tastes like you're drinking a can of bread without the classic stout tastes. I would suggest having no more than a pint or two if you really like it.

Overall verdict: B-, I'm bordering with a straight B but I've just had too many good dark beers in my day to really put Howl among them.

Beck's

First Brewed: 1873
Brewery Location: Bremen, Bremen, Germany
ABV: 5%

History & Availability: Beck's hopped on the pilsner train a little later than many, opening its doors in 1873, but quickly became Germany's largest export beer, due in part to its convenient location in northwestern Germany. Today Beck's is still Germany's most popular export beer and can be found in over 100 countries, so you should have no trouble finding a pack if you were so inclined.

Appearance: A very clear and light beer, Beck's stimulates a lot of carbonation while pouring and has a decent amount even while standing, enough to keep a slight trace head, although the initial ~1.5 fingerwidth head is too much to keep standing. A little darker than your average American macrobrew, but only slightly.

Smell: Coincidentally evocative of the key used as its logo, Beck's has a strong scent of copper that is strikingly more pleasant than the average metallic-smelling beer. That's really about it, not much subtlety here.

Taste: There's a little bit of a metallic aftertaste here, but fortunately the overwhelming top smell doesn't carry over to be the overwhelming top taste. The primary flavor here is grainy, almost like a beer made of Corn Flakes. While it's certainly not a sweet beer, I wouldn't call it especially bitter either. You can taste the hops if you know what you're looking for but they definitely aren't standing out among the flavors. Finishes fairly clean and dry.

Mouthfeel: Maybe a little bit too much carbonation for my personal taste, but this is probably just about the right amount for such a pale lager. As light as one would expect from being a clear pilsner.

Drinkability: The carbonation has a tendency to get to you, but as long as you're fine with letting out a belch every now and then, Beck's is perfectly ok to have a few of. Nice and light to allow the flexibility to drink one or several.

Overall verdict: B-, one of my favored pilsners, but the style has yet to match up with the delicious complexity of other beers.