Date:
Thursday, May 19th 2009

Time:
6:30PM

Location:
2580 Anthem Village Drive
Henderson, NV 89052

Details:
Featuring a selection of domestic microbrews.

Results:

Alaskan Amber: (Juneau) – 1st Place
Price Comparison Indicator (Price per 12 ounces): $1.63*

Alaskan Amber, which is brewed by Alaskan Brewing Company, won this month’s taste test and it did so with some extremely high marks. The feel, drinkability and taste scored 4 out of 5 with nearly all of our tasters, but it was the aftertaste that really left us in amazement. There was no bitter aftertaste, instead we were left with the flavor of a sweet malt that was very enjoyable. According to their website, this slow aged brew is great with a variety of foods. The brewer recommends serving it with king or silver salmon, flavorful meats and hearty Italian dishes. We recommend just drinking it for the fun of it because this beer is absolutely delicious on its own. Hard to believe that is was the cheapest of all of the beers in this event, goes to show price doesn’t matter when it comes to finding a really good beer!

Stone Smoked Porter: (San Diego) – 2nd Place
Price Comparison Indicator (Price per 12 ounces): $2.18*

A couple of our tasters are not fond of Dark beers and almost did not participate in the review. We of course made them anyways and as soon as they took that first sip their face lit up. They both agreed that this beer was great. I would say that says a lot about the flavor of this beer, when a beer can change someone’s negative attitude about dark beer just by one sip, then it must be a good beer. Stone Brewing did a marvelous job with their Smoked Porter. The smoked flavor was there but in a perfect balance with all of the other flavors, which gave this beer high marks in taste and flavor. So hats off to Stone Brewing Company for making such an incredible Smoked Porter.

Dead Guy Ale (Oregon) – 3rd Place
Price Comparison Indicator (Price per 12 ounces): $2.72*

This unique ale placed third in our taste test. Our testers were impressed with the taste and feel of this ale. We were also impressed with the bottling, a picture of a skeleton sitting on the top of a barrel drinking. According to their website this ale was created to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead. The flavor is what really matters in a beer though and the flavor is all there in this beer. It is a little bit bitter but overall it is a great beer, and you can really impress your friends if you show up to the party with these bottles!

Full Sail (Oregon) – 4th Place
Price Comparison Indicator (Price per 12 ounces): $2.18*

The initial taste of Full Sail Amber did not impress our tasters as much as the aftertaste did. The appearance of this beer impressed us as well. It is a beautiful amber color that had just the right amount of foam at the top. It has a slight spicy flavor with moderate bitterness. It has kind of a thick feel so you will get full quickly if you drink too much. All of our tasters agreed that we would definitely drink this ale again.

American Amber Ale (Oregon) – 5th Place
Price Comparison Indicator (Price per 12 ounces): $2.72*

American Amber Ale is another Rogue creation that made it to our top five. This one didn’t place quite as highly as Dead Guy Ale though. The aftertaste left us wanting more and the feel and drinkability was average. Don’t get us wrong this is a great ale. Rogue sure does know what they are doing with their ales and they could never go wrong. This was just a tough competition this tasting event. This ale has some bold and strong flavors to it. If you are looking to branch out from your usual, Bud or Millers I would suggest you pick up a Rogue Ale and see what real beer is meant to taste like. And once again Rogue outdid themselves with their bottling.

*All prices were determined on 5-19-2009