The Griffin by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse

Last spring i was lucky enough to hear a panel about the Grimm Brothers Brewhouse given by their marketing manager and owner. They have some really cool ideas on how they run and market their little brewery in Loveland, CO. Just look at the label on the beer, who cares whats in side the logo is just plain cool looking.

All of there bears are brewed German style, which i’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of German style beer, however the few i have had from Grimm brothers I’ve enjoyed.

The Griffin is a Hefewizen, which means it’s a wheat beer. In the past I’ve been hesitant to drink or even review wheat beers because many of them are so similar its hard to come up with something to say about them other than ‘yep that sure is a wheat beer. This last summer though I’ve been having a love affair with wheat beers so i was excited to see how Grimm Bros. did their take on it.

The beer is light and very crisp. As soon as you take a sip its extremely refreshing. Right off the bat your hit with some lemony citrus notes. The citrus is slightly sweet but not overly sweet.

It finishes with a standard mildly spiced wheat beer taste, however I’d like to mention that the wheat flavor is incredibly well balanced and nothing is off about it at all.

This beer is mad unfiltered, you can see tons of yeast at the bottom, and when poured into your glass with the rest of the beer. I had about half the bottle without the yeast mixed in and the second half with the yeast mixed in. The yeast actually seems to round out this beer even more so than it was before.

All and all this is a really refreshing extremely balanced Hefewizen, Grimm Bros, just did beer better than the beer it was biased on. Awesome!

The Griffin by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse – (9.5/10)

XXXX Wrasslers Full Stout By The Porterhouse Brewing Co.

This super dark stout has a really chocolatey armoa as that you’ll notice as soon as you open the bottle. The bottle also had one of the neatest bottle caps i’ve ever seen, it has this little tap that pops the bottle, I’ve never seen one like it before.

When i poured it even the foam from the beer was a really dark brown, this got me excited. The beer it’s self is smooth and surprisingly light. The chocolatey malt flavor comes through as soon as it hits your tongue. It finishes with a really dry hop flavor that lingers after you swallow. I gotta say, the after taste is a little more bitter than i would like, however it just urges you to take another sip and wash lingering dry hoppy flavor away with that burst malt you get when you take another sip.

This is a pretty good stout, i think i like it a lot more than Guinness however i can think of a few Colorado stouts that i would prefer over this one. It’s nice but that after taste is so damn dry, it really brings down the entire beer.

XXXX Wrasslers Full Stout By The Porterhouse Brewing Co. –  (6.8/10)

Lava Lake Wit By Crazy Moutain Brewing Co.

This is a nice little what beer with a huge blast of lemon right as you drink it. It adds a slight sweetness to the beer and makes it sort of taste like a beer lemonade. It finishes with a really strong wheat flavor. Normally i’m not the biggest fan of the hardcore wheat flavor but this is really refreshing.

Overall i think Lava Lake Wit is a really nice summer beer it’s light and refreshing, it might not be the best for the cold winters here in Colorado but Right now in mid July I’m loving it.

(8.5/10)

Shift By New Belgium

I’m bringing it BACK, its been a few years since i’ve added to the brewski guide, but theres finally some new beers to review. so we’ll see if i can keep up the blog again. My tastes in beer have changed slightly since early 09 but my love of beer hasn’t.

As for this beer, Shift is a really unique beer. It’s a pale lager, which i honestly haven’t really heard of before. Its the mix between an IPA or a pale ale and a lager. The beer features the nice light drink ability of a lager however has a strong hop flavor without any real bitterness.

The hops ovoisuly stand out with this beer, when i first heard of it i was skeptical of the style however it works so well. It comes on with a strong fruity hop flavor then mellows out without any true bitterness. This beer is awesome, its ideal for someone that can appreciate a hoppy beer however also enjoy the lightness of a lager. I’m not the biggest fan of the price, which cost me 9.45 for a 4 pack, however they are really tasty. Overall, I’d say this beer kicks ass! The lightness with its hoppyness make it a very enjoyable and unique beer.

Shift By New Belgium (9/10)

Tsing Tao by Tsing Tao

This is a light asian lager with a taste similar to Heineken. Its actaully very similar to Heineken, light and spunky. I’d actually have a hard time telling the difference between the two in a taste test. Its a dutch asian beer, tastey.

Tsing Tao by Tsing Tao (

Pick Axe Pale by Tommyknocker

This pale ale is alot like other colorado pale ales, the hops taste great, its crisp and balanced. The hops are sweet and slightly piney for lack of better words. They remind me alot of pass time pale ale by boulder brewery. This pale ale isn’t bitter at all, its really nice, people that don’t really like pale ales could apprecate this one. This is a really good pale ale i’d highly reccomend giving it a try.

Pick Axe Pale by Tommyknocker (8.4/10)

Butthead Doppelbock Lager by Tommyknocker Brewry

This beer has a wacky taste, its really malty but its not malty like a porter or a stout or a Scottish ale, it is it’s own kind, its almost sour. There’s no hops i can taste in it at all. It feels like i can taste the alcohol expecally on the way down and this beer really isn’t smooth at all. I’m not gonna say much else other than i wouldn’t reccomend it.

Butthead Doppelbock Lager by Tommyknocker Brewry (2.0/10)

Maple Ale by Tommyknocker Brewery

The maple ale is very sweet, it seems like its a brown ale going by the flavor but it could just be the maple in it. This is a fairly thick ale and isn’t light at all. Its got tons of flavor throughout, all of which are actually unusal. The maple deffnately makes it sweet but it doesn’t taste like maple syrup, its more of a ferminted tasted so its not as sweet and alot ligher. There is a good deal of malt in here and it leaves a nice sweet aftertaste. This beer in terms of sweetness is almost like a porter or a stout, its not bad though, its just not what you’d expect from an ale.

Maple Ale by Tommyknocker Brewery (8.0/10)

Ornery Amber Lager by Tommyknocker brewery

This amber is nice and light with a really great crispness to it. The malts come though nicely and this beer isn’t hoppy at all. The malt is a nice light roasted flavor and is really quite good. Over all this beer is really good, however besides the crispness it has, it really doesn’t have any qualities which stand out over each other, its an extremely balanced amber lager and really is quite tasty.

Ornery Amber Lager by Tommyknocker brewery (8.2/10)

Miller(MGD) Vs Budweiser Vs Coors

Thease american beers are in a league of there own, there not micro brews or imports, there domesics so i need to group them all together. Also to be fair i can’t use any light beers with non light beers (thats not fair is it) and lastly because i’m compareing beers and since there all fairly similar i’ll have to do a blind taste test-the pepsi challange.

What i found between the three is that: Coors is a light beer that has a midium amount of lager flavor. Budweiser has little to no flavor at all, its almost compareable to water. Lastly miller is a good beer with a good deal of lager flavor (compared to the other two). Heres the final rankings

1)  Miller Genuine Draft

2) Coors

3) Budweiser

There it is, the cheapest beer is the best. I left paps out for three reasons, the first being the liquorstore was out the second being its already my favortie for a light domesic brew, lastly i would be able to pick it out in a blind taste test to thats not fair eather.

Light American Domestic Beer (4.0/10)