Beer Review: Wooden Cask Corruption - A Buffalo Trace Barrel-Aged Stout

The first rule of craft beer is to always start local when it comes to drinking, and I was happy and fortunate to do just this when Wooden Cask Brewing released their Buffalo Trace barrel-aged Corruption earlier this year. Wooden Cask is one of my local breweries near me and this craft beer I believe may have been one of their first barrel-aged ones. And if you followed me long enough, you know I like my barrel aged beers. But first full disclosure, I do know Randy who is the owner and he did invite me down to try the beer, and before accepting we did discuss that I would be more than happy to do so but would be honest in my assessment. I just like to always let everyone know if and when this happens with any beers that I discuss. Moving on…

The beer itself is actually their reformation which was then barrel-aged. If you didn’t see my review in that one then make sure to check it out either here on YouTube or on my website. Dark as one would imagine for a barrel aged stout, this one really left no head which isn’t as uncommon for a beer of this strength and style with a beer alcohol content of 10.2%. That is a mighty fine ABV for sure. But I don’t want to give it all away as I want you to check out my video to see my thoughts about it. However, I will tell you that this one was smooth for sure with a nice velvety feel as it worked its way down my gullet. Not any taste of the alcohol either, which made it a dangerous one. Now, it was a limited beer so I’m not sure how long or if it’s still around. But make no mistake, when they make more barrel-aged beers, I will definitely be down to try them. I am truly blessed with one craft beer market all around my area, so if you make it to Cincinnati then you will see for yourself and beer will be the least of any if your worries. As far as how this one rated for me, this barrel aged stout was an easy 4.5 out of 5. But don’t just take my word on it; check out my video to see why.

Cheers my friends, and keep drinking those good craft beers!

Brewery Links:

Wooden Cask Brewing: http://woodencask.com/

Wooden Cask Beers: http://woodencask.com/beers/

Beer Review: New Belgium Juicy Watermelon | A Refreshing Treat? Let's See

From New Belgium Brewing Company comes the Juicy Watermelon, watermelon lime ale designed to quench your thirst during summer. So I decided to pick this one up for this latest craft beer review and see what it had to offer. Now mind you, although I am not the biggest fan of fruit beer types but I have found some that I have enjoyed and figured why not give this beer a shot. This ale beer comes in with a beer alcohol content of 5% ABV and an IBU level of 7, and uses 2 malts (Pale and Caramel-80) and one hop (Nugget). The yeast is ale yeast and then watermelon and lime peel are added as well for the flavoring.

As far as my look at the beer then you can pick up a lot of those details here in my YouTube video as I am not trying to play my own spoiler, but I did find there to be a little to be desired with this craft beer. New Belgium is a fine craft brewery and for me, this one seemed to be off the mark a bit for what I usually expect. But, check out my video here and let me know what you think if you have had this brew from them. As far as a rating, this one ended up yielding 2.25 out of 5 from me…whoops, is that spoiler alert?

Cheers my friends, and keep drinking those good craft beers!

Brewery Links:

New Belgium Brewing Company: http://www.newbelgium.com/

New Belgium Juicy Watermelon: http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/juicy-watermelon

Beer Review: Bloomington Brewing Company Ruby Bloom Amber | Hello Indiana

The Ruby Bloom Amber from Bloomington Brewing Company proved to be a nice little beer find from a local beer store that has now been added to my beer run rotation. This is my second beer from this craft brewery and just like my last, this proved to be some good beer. Painted as a Red or American amber ale, this red beer comes in with a beer alcohol content of 6% ABV. And if you are worried about bitterness then don’t, the IBU level on this malt forward beer has been calculated to be 11. I don’t know much about this craft brewery if it were one of the breweries near me then I would definitely probably be all over it. I’d be curious to see how this played out as a draft beer, but from the bottle it still had a nice smoothness about it. I won’t give too much of it away about this good beer, but I will put it on the list of beer to try. Check out my video review here and you may be able to see why my personal beer rating for this one is 3.5 out of 5. Cheers, and keep drinking those good craft beers!

Brewery Links:

Bloomington Brewing Company: http://www.bloomingtonbrew.com/

Ruby Bloom Amber: http://www.bloomingtonbrew.com/ruby-bloom-amber/

Beer Review: Ballast Point Coconut Victory At Sea

While I have never been a huge coconut fan, I must admit that it has begun to grow on me through my findings of it being used in the beer world. And my beerventure with the 10% ABV and 60 IBU Coconut Victory At Sea from Ballast Point Brewing has added more to my liking of it. This Imperial Brown Porter does not hold back and provides all that one could pretty much expect. I won’t give too much away from my YouTube video review which you can see here, but just know for me that it is well deserving of the 4.75 out 5 which I rated it. Anyone that loves coconut, I think will dig this smooth and flavorful beer.

Brewery Links:

Ballast Point: https://www.ballastpoint.com/

Coconut Victory At Sea: https://www.ballastpoint.com/beer/victory-at-sea-with-toasted-coconut/

Beer Review: Avery Ale To The Chief | Special Four Year DIPA

Every four years, Avery Brewing releases one of their special ales called Ale to the Chief. This ale was created and dedicated to celebrate Inauguration Day and was originally brewed for January, 20 2009. I happened to stumble across this beer at one of my local beer stores and decided to this 8.1% ABV double IPA a go. The video highlights my look at this beer as well as my thoughts, which led me to provide a rating of 4.5 out of 5 for this tasty gem.

Brewery Links:

Avery Brewing: https://www.averybrewing.com/

Ale to the Chief: https://www.averybrewing.com/beers/ale-to-the-chief

Beer Review: Wooden Cask Reformation | Local Cincy Beer

Going local with this one as I was able to catch up with Randy Schlitz from Wooden Cask Brewing here in Newport Kentucky, and take a look at their Reformation Scottish Stout. This beer comes in with an ABV of 7% and 29 IBU, and is one that I have had in the past but had not been able to review. So it was nice that they went to bottling their beers in the last few months, which allowed me to bring one home for this look.

My review of the beer can be seen here on the YouTube video but in touching on a few of the highlights: the beer itself does provide a nice representation of the style. The color was where it needed to be although the head wasn’t as strong as it probably could have been. The body played nice and wasn’t really too thin and the flavor was solid overall. Carbonation wasn’t an issue as the beer did go down smoothly. Catch my video here to see more of my thoughts and as for my rating I rated this beer 3.25 out of 5 placing it just past my good level of 3. It didn’t knock me back, but I did enjoy it.

Brewery Links:

Wooden Cask Brewing Company: http://woodencask.com/

Wooden Cask Reformation (Located on Beers Page): http://woodencask.com/beers/