Flensburger Weizen - Citizen Beer

First off, Flensburger Brewery was founded by five citizens of Flensburg, Germany in 1888. Brewing beer for over one hundred and twenty years should say something good about a brewery. The brewery uses well water from the brewery property to produce this beer. The ABV for Flensburger Weizen is 5.10%. The color of this beer when poured is golden colored with a white head. It is also a bit hazy. The aroma is that of a sweet wheat beer. The mouthfeel is soft. When it comes to the flavor of this beer, it is a typical wheat beer flavor. It must be noted there is more of a malt flavor up front than most other wheat beers. The finish is slightly dry. I would say this is an average wheat beer in most regards. There does not seem to be a lot of depth to the flavor. It is not a bad beer, but not a great one either. Slightly below average would sum it up for flavor. If I could change anything about this beer, I would take out the dryness at the finish and take out some of the malt as well. Trying Flensburger Weizen out as a single is okay. Would I buy multiple bottles? Probably not. I grade this beer a C+.

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Baltika Wheat Ale - Beer From Behind the Iron Curtain

This is one of my first beers from Russia. I was surprised to find a wheat beer made in Russia, since Russia is known for their production of Vodka. As for the website promoting the brand,

(http://www.baltikabeer.com/) I'm not sure I get it. The website seems to be promoting a "look, we are on a cruise ship and now we found a tropical island in eastern Europe with young people having a great time" theme. The brewery website looks more like a software company website. It provides a little information about the beer itself (http://eng.baltika.ru/plant/).

Fast forward to the beer. The ABV for this beer is 5.00%. The aroma from Baltika Wheat Ale is very typical of a wheat beer. I have to give Baltika credit for the aroma. It is spot on. The color is a straw color that is hazy. So far so good. The head is nice and white. The mouthfeel is light, which is good and the carbonation is low. Now for the taste. The flavor is okay. It does taste like an average wheat beer. Again I have to give the brewery credit. What it lacks is a couple of things. The flavor is a bit bitter at first, then you taste the traditional wheat beer flavor, but it is a shallow wheat beer flavor. There is no depth to the flavor at all. The other problem is that there really isn't a finishing flavor. The taste seems to dissipate. When drinking this beer, the thing that really struck me was, "where is the flavor?". The flavor is there in a basic form, but doesn't go any further than that. This is not a bad beer. Nor is it a great beer. I give the brewery some credit for the aroma and color, now please work on the flavor. This beer is okay as a single beer, but I wouldn't buy several bottles. I grade this beer as a C+.

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Pyramid Audacious Apricot Ale - Sweet

Audacious Apricot Ale won a gold medal at GABF. Pyramids website (http://www.pyramidbrew.com/our-brews/audacious) goes on to give some ingredient information and what foods to pair with Apricot Ale. Strangely enough the bottle label doesn't seem the least bit interesting. But then again, you can't judge a beer by its bottle. The ABV for Audacious Apricot Ale is 5.10%. When the bottle is first opened, there is a HUGE apricot odor. The color of this beer is orange. The carbonation level is high. Yes, the apricot flavor is definitely very bold. My main strike against the apricot flavor though is "the artificial fruit sweetness" I am tasting. The consistency is not that of syrup, but I can just picture a bucket of artificial apricot sweetener being added to the boil. I would rather this beer have a fresh fruit taste, not an artificial taste. It would seem that Pyramid is trying to hard with this beer. If you are going to create an apricot bomb, do not go the artificial flavor route. Would I buy another one? Maybe on a rare occasion. It is not a bad beer, but not great either. I grade this beer a C+.

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Victory Prima Pils - Check out those hops!

Victory Brewing Company is a producer of quality beer. You want hops? With Victory Prima Pils you got it. Ingredient information about this beer is provided by the Victory website; http://www.victorybeer.com/prima_pils.aspx. The ABV for Prima Pils is 5.30%. When the website states "Heaps of hops" are used in this pilsner, they are not lying. For those of you that homebrew, this beer has an aroma of hops right when you add the hops to the boil. The very fresh hops aroma hits you in the face, in a good way. White is the color for the head of this beer and the carbonation is medium to high. There is a bold hop taste and it is a very fresh hop flavor. That is the German and Czech hops standing out. I can also detect a slight fruit flavor, maybe citrus? Prima Pils is somewhat bitter. When added all together, this beer comes together very well. I again have to stress the fresh, hop flavor. Victory really did a good job creating this beer. The hops and flavors mesh very nicely. Try one for yourself, and buy one for a friend. I grade this beer an A. Cheers!

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Blanche de Bruxelles - Excellent!

Now this is an example for excellence. Produced by the Lefebvre Brewery, Blanche de Bruxelles is how a witbier should taste. (This brewery produces one of my other favorites, Barbar). I didn't know this fact until after I tried this great witbier. The website gives some brewing information (http://www.brasserielefebvre.be/produits.php?pro=blanche&lang=en) stating that it is brewed very slowly. The ABV for this witbier is 4.50%. The appearance is a hazy straw colored beer. The aroma; AWESOME. It smells like sweet fruit candy. The head is white. The carbonation is low and is an easy drinker. I didn't detect alot of bitterness. The flavor is sweet, and the spices with coriender are blended to perfection. Buy six for yourself, and six for your friend. I really could drink this all day long. It is a great witbier. Now I have to try Lefebvre's other beers. I grade this beer an A. Go out and try one yourself.

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Scrimshaw Pilsner - Another North Coast Beer

I like pilsners. Really I do. And I like some of the beer produced by North Coast (http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/). When I picked this beer up, at first I didn't realize it was a North Coast beer. The ABV for this beer is 4.40%. The IBU's listed for Scrimshaw Pilsner is 22. The website doesn't give alot of brewing information about this lager. The color is a medium yellow with a white head. The aroma coming from this lager is a sweet floral smell. I can also describe it is a light buttery smell. At first taste, I sense hops and malt at the beginning, but it doesn't follow thru. There does seem to be an odd after taste I cannot pin down. It is not a bad taste, it just seems a bit odd there at the end. The mouthfeel is light which surprised me. It reminds me of seltzer water. This is not a great beer, but it is not a bad beer either. I know North Coast can produce some very good beer, I just wished there was a bit more effort put into this pilsner. If North Coast can produce "Old Ale", a wonderful beer, then they I would imagine they could do the same with a pilsner. I wouldn't mind having this beer as a single again. I would buy one for a friend. It is an easy drinking beer. I grade this beer a B-.

Kirin Ichiban Japanese Rice Lager - It has malt and hops!

I decided to try this beer on a lark. I never have tried Japanese beer before. There is not alot of information about the beer on the website http://www.kirin.com/beers.htm. The website suggests malt and hops make Ichiban a great beer. I beg to differ. Just because you include malt and hops does not make a beer great. The brewer has to do something with the beer. Make the lager special, make it unique, strive for excellence. I think you know where this review is headed.

To begin with, the color of this beer is pale yellow. The head is white. The odor produced by this lager is a malt aroma. I have experienced this taste of beer only a few times prior. I would describe it as being a very "wide flavor". This is not a good or bad thing. The flavor seems to be very broad, hitting many more taste buds unlike most beers that I would describe as having a narrow flavor. Malt is the biggest flavor in this lager... and thats about it. This is not a complex beer. And this may be the problem. Kirin Ichiban is a simple lager without alot going on. It is simply a very basic beer. Where is the unique flavor, a special taste in the beer? It isn't there. It is not a horribly bad beer, there just doesn't seem to be anything great or good about it. Would I buy it again? No. Would I recommend to friends? No. Sorry Kirin Ichiban Lager, I have no love for you. I grade this beer a D.