Molson Coors Brewing Company's Amber Moon

I refuse to reference this as 'Blue Moon Brewing Company,' just out of spite if for no other reason. I was impressed by Blue Moon when I first had it though, so I'm hoping for the best out of this one too.

Pours a nice, clear amber. The light tan head never really forms, which isn't unusual for a wheat.

Nice amber smell to it, with a good wheat twang. About like I'd expect from an amber wheat, of which this is the only class member that I know of.

A bit too sweet in the taste. It's brewed with lime leaves and limes, and I think it's a bit over done. Otherwise it has a nice feel and would make a great amber/wheat, but it's just another example of a beer that's overly flavored.

Mikkelle's 2009 Santa's Little Helper

Found this left over Christmas beer in the back of the beer cellar. Yes, I know it's a kitchen cabinet, STFU.

Pours a deep brown, completely opaque. Great small celled tan head that is as big as you want it to be. At this point I read the label and found that it's most likely a Belgian Strong Ale instead of a winter warmer, brewed with spices and cocoa. Odd combination, but it looks great.

Smells a great deal like Chimay Blue. Deep, dark, bread. No real spices in the smell, and no cocoa. Just the deep Belgian strong smell. No alcohol yet, despite the 10.9% ABV.

Nice. Great complex taste, very much like Chimay, which is still my gold standard for Belgians. I don't taste the cocoa, but I can feel it. It gives it a smooth feel that is much like a chocolate stout. The spices are very mild, and more than anything it tastes like a solid Belgian strong ale.

Very good beer. Very little alcohol bite despite the big ABV, and nice and solid all the way around.

Pyramid Brewing Company's Haywire Hefeweizen

Bolstered by yesterday's surprise, I decided to go straight away with another Pyramid beer. I'm hoping this is more like an American wheat than a true German hefe.

Pours a cloudy orangish yellow, with a nice fluffy off white head, like a hefe should have.

Smells a little German. Slight chemical yeast smell that I'm not too happy with, but maybe it lessens in the taste.

Yep. It's very slight, and it tastes much more like an American wheat than I initially thought it would. Good beer, nice and drinkable. I may have to revisit some of the other Pyramid beers and see if I have a better opinion of them than I remember.

Pyramid Brewing Company's Curve Ball Blonde Ale

I remember trying a few pyramid beers a while back. Stayed clear of them ever since, but I figured a blonde would be simple enough to get right, and since I found it as a single I couldn't resist.

Pours a clear, straw yellow with a fizzy white head that disappears fairly quickly.

Smells sweet and malty. Bigger than I expected, and without a hint of hops.

Nice, clean taste that is right in line for the type. Very light and indistinct hops taste. Blondes are nothing sexy, ever, but they're light and drinkable, and this is a pretty good one.

Clipper City Brewing Company's Heavy Seas Pale Ale

Pours an orangish amber with a barely existent head. Decent carbonation.

Smells right. Slightly grassy hops, slightly sweet malt.

Tastes about right as well, although it's kind of weak in the feel. All in all it's within type, but that's about it.

Meh.

Moerlein Brewery's Emancipator Doppel Bock

Pours kind of on the amber side for a bock, much less a doppel bock, but it has a great tan head that's about as big and stays as well as any lager I've ever seen.

Nice dark bread smell. Just right for the type.

Not bad. Standard bock taste, although it gets a little raisin-ish as it warms. So, drink it cold. Not too much else to say about it, it's good but not a stand-out in the style.

Nethergate Brewery's Old Growler

It says Old Growler on the label, but it doesn't have a picture of my ex wife on it. Didn't know there were two, but I hope this one tastes better.

Pours opaque brownish black with an almost cascading tan head. Looks great.

As soon as I opened it it smelled more like a stout than a porter, mainly because it smells heavily of scotch. It doesn't say barrel aged, so it was kind of unexpected.

Interesting. The scotch is much more subtle in the taste, and it has an excellent vinous taste and the right smooth porter feel to it. Nice beer. I wish it had less of the barrel aged taste to it, but I like it.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Sierra 30th Anniversary Fritz and Ken's Ale

I like this one already. This is my favorite brewery that knows how to stay close to home despite selling a ton of beer (I'm looking at you, Sam Adams). The second I popped the cork I could already smell it.

Pours opaque and black with a great, small celled dark tan head that is as big as you want to pour it.

Nice, mellow roasted smell. Not really coffee, more like a slight bit of cocoa.

Pretty much perfect. Nice and smooth, it has the body of a heavy milk stout without the lactose taste. Still the hint of cocoa, and not a hint of the 9.2% ABV. Which, by the way, is exactly how to do it. All of the chumps at BrewDog could really learn from this beer. Stop following Stone (they're not worth copying, anyway), and start making great beers that focus more on being beer than a pissing contest. Just like this one.

Clipper City Brewing Company's High Seas Gold Ale

Is there such a thing as an "American Gold Ale"?

Pours deeper than I expected, basing my assumptions on European golden ales. Slightly orangish, with the expected weak head that never really forms.

Almost no smell at all. Slightly sweet malt, but barely any at all.

Another beer with a soft-drink feel, it tastes like a stronger Budweiser--like rice and minimal hops.

I guess it's not bad, but it's as much like a weak macro as anything BMC puts out.

Sunner GMBH and Co.'s Sunner Kolsch

One of my favorite styles, and in a craft beer industry that is obsessed with big beers and ever-increasing ABV, it's fairly unusual to find. Craft brewers don't think that craft drinkers want a beer with only 5.5% ABV, and that you can see through like Budweiser, I guess.

Wow, one of the clearest beers I've ever seen. It's a bright yellow with just a twinge of amber, and a huge pillowy off-white head that stays forever.

Nice light, malty smell with a floral, almost soapy smell at first. Lavender, maybe? Slightly pils-ish when cold, but when it warms it gets a hint of that Belgian/German wit smell that I don't like.

Back toward pilsner in the taste, it's very lightly bitter with no distinct hops flavor. Light malt as well, it's clean and crisp. This would make an excellent lawnmower beer as well. More flavor than any macro of the same clarity/color/body, but still very drinkable.

Choc Beer Company's Basement Batch Pale Ale

Always skeptical of beer from Oklahoma, but from what I remember of the other beer from this brewery that I had, this one should be pretty good.

Pours a deep, dark-ish amber, darker than many pales because it looks to be only loosely filtered. Light tan head that stays well.

Mostly sweet malt in the smell, but slightly grassy hops and a little bit of pepper in the smell.

Lighter body that I expected because of the smell, but it's got a nice hoppy hit that fades cleanly.

Nice beer, right on type. I'll probably never see it again, but I'll definitely keep the others that came in the BOTM shipment.

Avery Brewing Company's Dugana IPA

Avery has a ton of fanboys out there, and in general I don't get it. Avery reminds me a lot of Stone, because they always seem to be trying too hard and their labels remind me of some emo wiccan in a high school art class. But I always buy them, for some reason, because I like bigger beers and these guys seem to try to make a lot of them.

This one pours a nice, slow, deep amber with a big light tan head that stays very well.

Smells great. Grassy and a bit sweet, simple, like an IPA should.

Damn. It has the bitterness, but not the body, of a barley wine. Great grassy hops, at the high end of the style, with malt that's a bit lower. Not really unbalanced, just a hop-forward version of an IPA.

Very nice surprise, and one of the best Avery beers out there.

Breckenridge Brewery's Lucky U IPA

Another brewery I always want to like, Breckenridge has some fairly decent beers. From what I can remember, their best so far is their Agave Wheat.

This one pours a nice coppery amber with a light tan head that thins to a sheet quickly.

Smells nice. Grassy, with sweet malt.

Very nice. Good punch right up front, fades cleanly through sweet malt to a dry, bitter aftertaste.

Good beer. They stuck to the basics, and it turned out well.