Millstream Brewing Company's Colony Oatmeal Stout

Stout.... lager?

Pours an opaque black with a fairly light tan head for a stout. Fairly light smell for a stout too. Not sure of that's the oatmeal, which always seems to give stouts a lighter and sweeter smell, or the fact that it's a lager.

Pretty nice. Probably one of the heaviest lagers I've felt, it's similar to a dopplebock in feel. But it's a stout in the taste. Pretty strong coffee flavor in this one, especially in the aftertaste, which is very nice.

Good take on the style, and a very good beer.

Cosmos Brewery Company's Chang Beer

I really need to replace the list of countries I've had beer from, just for kicks. This one's from Thailand, and I'm always curious about beer from places like this. My guess: an adjunct macro that's still better than half of what the BMC folks put out.

Pours a straight-up yellow with a fizzy white head.

Man, smells like a funky pilsner. Not in a bad way, a pils is supposed to have that funk to it, and this smells like a malty one, with a white grape smell to it as well.

You know, I like it. It still has a strong grape flavor to it, but the pils taste is there as well and it's light and crisp. I won't go looking too hard for it again, but it would be a nice regular lawnmower beer.

Full Sail Brewing Company's Session Lager

I ran across this beer as a single in a small beer store off of Richmond, long before it showed up at Spec's, but never got around to trying it. Then, it came in a BOTM shipment, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

First impression--I don't like the Red Stripe type bottles. Except for how they pour. For some reason, they pour extremely smoothly.

Pours clear and light yellow with a crisp white head.

Nice smell. Crisp and malty, a bit of an odd combination. Smells like adjunct grains like a macro, but it's still good. Like a more robust Budweiser.

Light. Low bitterness, light malt. Aftertaste is a bit cardboardish, but not really in a bad way. The light taste isn't watery, it feels like it's supposed to be this way, which is good for a session.

Good beer. Proof that a beer doesn't have to have a huge ABV or be an imperial-something to be worth keeping.