267. Slumbrew Happy Sol

Summer is a great time to try hefeweizens as they are light, fruity and refreshing. Slumbrew is fairly new to Maine so I decided to pick up this beer as well as their IPA on one of my many visits to Bier Cellar in Portland. 


Appearance is slightly darker than other hefes but still has a nice cloudy look with very minimal white head that disappeared almost immediately leaving no lacing on the glass. Smell is mostly orange with some bread but unlike many other beers of this style there is little no banana. 


Taste has lots of citrus, some honey (which is actually quite good) and other spices. Beer is clean, crisp and quite refreshing, very easy to drink and something you should try if you enjoy this style.
Pros: Complex taste
Cons: No head
Alcohol Content: 5.5% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 18
Rating: 
Brewers Website: Slumbrew

Brewers Description: A refreshingly tart and crisp hefeweizen brewed with local MA wildflower honey, orange peel and coriander, and fermented with the juice from over 1,000 blood oranges. It’s a cloudy, yet effervescent beer, with lingering banana and citrus notes balanced against a healthy wheat backbone and hoppy finish from Mt. Hood and Crystal hops.

247. Black Bear Brewery Liquid Sunshine

Met with Tim at Black Bear Brewing last week and got a chance to check out the new 8 tap keg cooler for the tap room he is opening at the brewery. The taproom will have some of your favorites from Black Bear as well as some one off options that will only be available at the brewery. Looking forward to seeing the finished area from this experienced Maine brewer.


While there I picked up 2 growlers of Liquid Sunshine which is Black Bear's Hefeweizen. I dropped one off to my brother-in-law and took the other home for the week. Beer pours a nice pale yellow with solid white head. Aroma has plenty of clove and banana which draws you into the beer. Taste follows with lots of crisp fruity taste. Very easy to drink and refreshing on a warm summer day. One of the better hefes I have reviewed and something most any beer drinker would enjoy. If you find yourself in the Bangor, Maine area take the extra time to visit Black Bear Brewery in Orono, chat with Tim, try some beer and buy a growler. 
Pros: Light and refreshing

Cons: Only available at the brewery in a growler 

Alcohol Content: 5.3% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 11
Rating:  
Brewers Website: Black Bear Brewery

Brewers Description: Liquid Sunshine is a Bavarian style Hefewiezen. This beer has the traditional clove aroma with a touch of lemon peel, but there are no spices added. The unique flavor comes from a traditional yeast selection which has been used in Germany for centuries.

240. Magic Hat Circus Boy

I enjoy beer from Magic Hat as they always seem to put a slight twist on a style to make it their own. Magic Hat also some of the best bottle artwork and a great website. 


Circus Boy is Magic Hat's Hefeweizen and pours a very clear pale orange. Their site states this beer is unfiltered but almost everything must have settled out of it. I prefer a nice cloudy Hefe like Widmer's version (here). Very slight white head that disappears very quickly. Aroma is fairly typical of the style; lemon, wheat and a bit of banana. Taste is sweet with some spice and lemon. Very pleasant and refreshing although it may be a bit over carbonated.
Pros: Solid taste and easy to drink

Cons: Very clear for a hefeweizen

Alcohol Content: 4.5% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 15

Rating:  

Brewers Website: Magic Hat

Brewers Description: Unfiltered and unfettered, Circus Boy is a unique and refreshing American-style Hefeweizen. Is he a who? Or a what? Or perhaps some of both? Be amazed by the flavorful haze of this wonderful wheat beer.

238. Sixpoint Apollo

This is my third beer from Sixpoint and this is my favorite although the other 2 were also excellent. This is a new style for me - Kristalweizen which apparently is similar to Hefeweizen but is filtered. 


Great orange color with solid white head on this beer. The aroma is amazing with lots of banana, melon and sweetness. Not sure I picked up everything that was happening in the smell but trust me it is great and will certainly entice you to take a drink. The taste is not quite as strong as the smell but still has tons of flavor that follows the smell and a nice sweet finish.


This is a great Summer beer and something I would recommend to most beer drinkers. 
Pros: Huge aroma and complex taste

Cons: 

Alcohol Content: 5.2% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 11
Rating:  

Brewers Website: Sixpoint

Brewers Description: The unmistakable flavor of a Bavarian Wheat, but with a clear golden brilliance and a Sixpoint twist. An entirely unique canned offering for the sun-worshipping ale lovers.

231. Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat

Another single picked up from a local convenience store. I have read about Goose Island only because they were sold to InBev Anheuser Busch (owners of Budweiser) last year. All articles stated the beer would not change and they would simply have more money to expand and distribute to new States. Hopefully the 312 Urban Wheat is not a good representation of their other beer. 

Beer is a very pale yellow with almost no head. Slight wheat smell but not much else. Taste is watery and slightly sweet. It is refreshing but mostly tasteless. Finished the bottle but very glad I only bought a single.

Pros: Refreshing

Cons: Bland, watered down 

Alcohol Content: 4.2% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 20
Rating: 

Brewers Website: Goose Island

Brewers Description: Inspired by the city of Chicago and densely populated with flavor, 312’s spicy aroma of Cascade hops is followed by a crisp, fruity ale flavor delivered in a smooth, creamy body that's immensely refreshing.

210. Sebago Brewing Runabout Red Ale

If you have been following my blog for some time you know I have been searching for a truly exception red ale. This is a style of beer i really enjoy however almost all red/amber ales seem to taste almost identical. I know there is only so much you can do with the various malt characters that dominate the palate on red ales but there should be something that sets one apart. 


I was hopeful when I found the Runabout Red from Sebago Brewing as they make very good beer. Color is nice red which thin head that disappeared quickly. Aroma has lots of caramel malts and the taste follows. Lots of caramel and toffee malts and very slight hop finish. Easy to drink and enjoyable but again very similar to other reds. 
Pros: Lots of malt

Cons: 

Alcohol Content: 4.2% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 4.75
Rating:  
Brewers Website: Sebago Brewing

Brewers Description: Our Red Ale is Deep Amber in color and is very well balanced with a malty yet clean finish.
Runabout Red Ale is a classic! Our Red Ale has a malty sweet taste that comes from 3 different types of caramel malt. It is a clean, well-balanced beer that started as seasonal ale that we only brewed from March until July. It was so popular with our regulars that we started brewing it year round in 2002. Our red ale is made with only two hop additions to the kettle as opposed to three in most of our other brews and the malt character shows this. Please enjoy our staff favorite!

Pairing Suggestions: Shellfish, grilled
vegetables & salads

The name and logo for our Runabout Red Ale invokes the image of lake life in Maine. The antique wooden boat symbolizes quality craftsmanship, art, history and design as does our beer. The woman on the label is Elsie Whidden. Elsie has a passion for Maine lake life and antique wooden boats. In honor of Elsie, a lifelong Maine teacher living with Parkinson’s, we donate $1 to the Maine Parkinson Society for every case of Runabout Red Ale sold.

Learn more: Maine Parkinsons Society

193. Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout (draft)

I already reviewed this beer from a bomber and it is one of my favorite stouts. Had the chance to go to Gritty's and enjoy it on-tap this week and as usual draft beer just tastes better. Pours an almost black and it was not served cold which made it even better. The large glass was gone very quickly and I was happy. This one would be a perfect St Paddy's day treat with a low ABV so you can drink it all day long.
Pros: Everything a stout should be

Cons: 

Alcohol Content: 4.1% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 16
Rating: 
Brewers Website: Gritty's

Brewers Description: There's beer and then there's stout, and Gritty McDuff 's Black Fly Stout is the real deal. Black Fly is a dry, all-malt stout packed with roasted flavor. We use six different grains in the brewing of this dark masterpiece and balance the full palate with Oregon Willamette and Yakima Clusters hops. Like the legendary Irish stouts that inspired it, Black Fly Stout is rich, robust and a touch mysterious. The finest stout west of Galway Bay!

192. Dogfish Head Noble Rot

I had no idea what to expect with this one as the label says it is ale brewed with grape must. It is classified as a saison but tastes nothing like the Elegans Saison from Sebago or the saisons from Oxbow. Pours a pale yellow with thick white head, looks like an American light beer. Smells of wine, grapes with a slight tinge of alcohol.  Taste is light beer at first followed by a burst of white grape and very sweet. Finish is tart like white grape juice. Overall not a bad "beer" if you want to consider it beer but not something I will buy again.
Pros: Wine like characteristics

Cons: Not a lot of beer qualities

Alcohol Content: 9% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 18
Rating: 
Brewers Website: Dogfish Head

Brewers Description: Hmmm. We wonder if anyone will buy a beer with the word "rot" in the name?
This saison-esque science project gets complexity and fermentable sugars from two unique wine grapes sourced with our friends at Alexandria Nicole Cellars in Prosser, Wash.
The first addition is unfermented juice, known as must, from viognier grapes that have been infected with a benevolent fungus called botrytis. This noble rot reduces the water content in the grapes while magnifying their sweetness and complexity. The second is pinot gris must intensified by a process called dropping fruit, where large clusters of grapes are clipped to amplify the quality of those left behind.
"This is the absolute closest to equal meshing of the wine world and the beer world thats ever been done commercially," says Dogfish's Sam Calagione.
Noble Rot is brewed with pils and wheat malts and fermented with a distinct Belgian yeast strain. It has a spicy white wine body and a dry, tart finish.
Noble Rot first went on tap at our brewpub in February of 2011 and went into full 750ml bottle production in January 2012.

189. Sebago Brewing Saddleback Ale

Had this one on Friday night after a very good beer tasting event at The Vault in Lewiston. Since I had already had a variety of beer from Allagash and Penobscot Bay Brewing I decided to keep it light. After a week of drinking imperial and double IPAs with ABV%s in the 8-11% range a 4.1% session beer seemed weak. Color is a pale  yellow with small white head. Aroma has some malt and floral aspects but nothing overwhelming. Taste is light and crisp, Sebago describes this as the perfect session beer and they are right. Grab a 6-pack when you are headed to a family gathering and enjoy. 
Pros: Easy drinking

Cons: Not a lot of flavor

Alcohol Content: 4.1% ABV
Calories: ???
IBU (Bitterness): 20
Rating: 
Brewers Website: Sebago Brewing

Brewers Description: Saddleback Ale is a crisp light all malt beer with roots from an Eastern European lager. The Czech hops balance the pale malt, revealing balance and natural drinkability. Saddleback Ale is the perfect session beer.