Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio

I saw this beer the other day at Central Market, and although I'm not a huge fan of Frank Zappa, I do like unusual beers so I picked it up. Dedicated to one of the singer's albums this is the second of Lagunitas Zappa Beer's (the first being Freak Out). I also noticed that the same day I bought the beer, the Jay over at Hedonist Beer Jive posted his thoughts on the beer. Now let's see where I stand.
The Beer: This is a highly hopped IPA and weighs in at a robust but not over powering 7.8% alcohol. The beer pours a golden amber with a thin white head. A noseful of pine needles welcomes you when you peak over the lip of the glass. The mouth is over the top with grapefruit and pine needles, minerally and something that I associated with limestone. But beyond that the pine needles over shadowed EVERYTHING. It was just to much, it was like eating a pine needles, bark and all. Very little balance, very little of anything else actually. I wanted to like this beer, but I just couldn't get myself to. I'd give it a very disappointing C. Here's what the folks over at BA had to say.

Worst Beer Ever?

The worst beer ever? Thats and have I had it is the question? It all started innocently enough, with me and my fiance, meeting some friends at Flying Saucer, a family of bars with a huge selection of beers on tap and in the bottle. When I go to the Saucer my eyes are usually drawn to the chalkboard above the bar highlighting new offerings. It was there that it happened, I saw Sam Adams Triple Bock. I had heard of this Extreme beer from Jim Koch before. In fact it was Boston Beer Company's first Extreme beer, followed by the Chocolate Bock and Utopia among others. We sat down and I eagerly asked our waitress for the Sam Adams Triple Bock, it was a short time later that she came back with this small jet black bottle and a snifter. From this 8.45 oz bottle pours what I can only describe as black tar it was so thick. Thats ok I thought, I love thick beers. My anticipation crumbled at the first sniff. It was pure unadulterated soy sauce. Now I love soy sauce, with my sushi, but not as a beer. If I had known I was going to drink Sam Adams Kikkoman I would have passed.
Before I go further, lets take a step back and talk about the beer itself. The beer is an ale brewed with maple syrup and its aged in old whiskey barrels. This creates a beer that should be complex with flavors of oak and vanilla. Finally the beer weighs in at a robust 18% abv.
Ok, back to the nightmare that was this beer. This is coming from someone that is not faint at heart when it comes to strong beers, or even oak aged beers. I have had my share of Dogfish's 18%+ abv beers, and oak aged beers and have for the most part given them good ratings. Not this time, I can't do it, this was so bad I couldn't finish it. The nose of Soy sauce was so overpowering I couldn't enjoy the beer itself, which all I really got out of it, was some raisiny characteristics and lots of alcohol. While I appreciate what Mr. Koch is trying to do, this was definitely a big SWING and a miss in my book. Its important to point out that it was not just me that had these strong feelings for the beer, the three other people felt the same way. In fact I was SHOCKED to see that 63% of BAer's enjoyed this beer, I have no idea how anyone can truthfully say they enjoyed this beer.

Shiner 98: Bavarian Amber

Shiner....that beer from the very small Texas town, made at the Spoetzl Brewery. They will turn 100 yrs old in 1909. To celebrate that momentous achievement they have over the course of the last few years brewed some special beers. These beers are count up from Shiner 96, brewed a two years ago, to Shiner 97, and now the release of Shiner 98. Their first beer was a very pleasing marzen beer, the second was a very good Black Lager that I reviewed last year. As stated in the title this beer is a Bavarian Amber, a style similar if not the same as an Amber Lager.
The Beer: The beer pours a bright orange color with a thin, weak looking white head. The head started relatively week, and ended that way as well, quickly disappearing. The nose was of both pale and caramel malts, some slight toastiness, little to know floral scents. The mouth was smooth, effervescent, a bit of a caramel sweetness. A very mild beer, maybe too mild as there wasn't any pop. No vibrancy that I associate with a good lager. Just there, it sat in your mouth. After the first two special brews by Shiner, this was definitely a disappointment. A grade of C for this one only because there was nothing overly offensive about the brew. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

Floris Chocolate Beer

Cologne has a lot of Museum's. One of my favorite's is the Schokolade Museum, and the incredible gift shop they have. I have a weak spot for very dark chocolate and they have that in abundance. This past week I was visiting the museum with a friend of mine and came across a stash of Chocolate beer. Now this isn't a typical Chocolate Stout, but an actual straight up Belgian Chocolate Beer.
The Beer: The beer weighs in at 4.2% and is made with real chocolate. It pours a nice light cloudy copper color, with good carbonation, and no head. There is a thin film skimming over the surface of the beer. The nose is full of chocolate, almost like a yoohoo, and a tad bit of bitterness. The flavors are chocolate, and a tangy tartness that tasted like very rich almond extract, very overpowering. Over all it tasted like carbonated milk chocolate with a bottle of almond extract poured in. Not a good beer at all. I think this is something that could have been very good, even excellent, but this missed the mark by quite a bit.