August Schell Sampler Pack

The Sampler Pack is one of the treats offered by breweries during the holidays. August Schell offers this fine collection of 6 beers for the price of their six-packs and the choices are all worth while.

Schell Pilsner-Nice floral hop presence with malty balance. This beer would go nicely up against the Czech pilsners that abound the marketplace. 4.5 out of 5

Schell Pale Ale-All hops all the time bouquet with nice balance. This pale ale is easy drinking and well flavored and I would get more but there is another favorite of mine in this same six pack. 4.5 out of 5

Schell Octoberfest- While well done, this Octoberfest does for me what most all of them do. I am not enthused by all the spices. Nice malt presence and all prominent hop presence. This one is well done, just not my cup of tea. 4 out of 5

Schell Firebrick-Mellow lager with sweet maltiness that makes me want more. 4.5 out of 5

Schell Caramel Bock- Coffee dark color, rich head. Coffee, toffee, chocolate flavors blend for my favorite beer by August Schell. This one is a special treat. 5 out of 5

Snowstorm- I tried this beer a few years ago and did not like it. I read on the bottle that the recipe changes every year for the brew master to do creative things. This one is Belgian influenced and comes off really potent and tasty. Tingly rich flavors bounce off the tongue, dried fruit and sweetness with good hop balance. 5 out of 5

Yuengling Traditional Lager Original Amber Beer

This beer, brewed by the oldest brewery in the United States, is smooth, potent, delicious and will give you one hell of a headache if you drink nine of them. You will suffer, and deservedly so. Nicely done amber beer. Very drinkable and just a look of the bottle tells me that this recipe has been around longer than the petrified crap between Morty Vareberg's teeth. This is a beer that I take one sip and then the bottle is half empty. Sweet, malty smelling, with a mild hop flash on the back of the tongue at the silky finish. I love this beer and they do not sell it in North Dakota. I am waiting however.

4.25 out of 5 points...this beer is an original and highly recommended.

Shiner Bavarian Style Amber Limited 98 Edition

Shiner is without a doubt, my "when I am in Texas, I will be drinking this", beer. I have always enjoyed shiner bock and have never encountered shiner premium beer or any other "regular" beer. As you may have read, I reviewed Shiner and feel that I was fair with it and its evaluation. Well, this is not Shiner Bock.

This is the brew that commemorates 98 years in the brewing business. I like it, with its more assertive hop flavor and its rather crisp, sweet finish. I will pick it up when ever I see it or Shiner Bock. They drink just fine and are a treat to me when I get down here to Texas. I just feel that this beer could be more assertive. After all, it is 98 years. Why not brew something world class that would stun people. I hope that Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas decides to throw caution to the wind and just brew it. This beer however has a nice head and is not bad in the body department and I would recommend it. Because it is good.

3.75 out of five points...next time just go to Bavaria and brew the stuff you drink while there. E

Henry Weinhards Blonde

I have always for the most part liked Henry's. That being said, I would also say that their Blue Boar Pale Ale could have a modernization of sorts of its recipe to reflect the escalation of the malts and hops present in today's craft beers. This brew starts out a bit richer with more of a malt balance and the hops are present. As beers go, I see quite a bit of good, drinkability in this beer. While it will certainly not overwhelm all but Bud Light trained palettes, it has good drinkable quality and much better balance than their Pale Ale.

At first pour, it has a golden hue with nice beige foam that leaves a mild lace as it goes down. The nose is rather mild and the taste is malty, sweet with a nice mellow bitter from the hops. I have tasted other blonde's and this one would hold its own as a lesser competitor. Not unworthy, yet not at the apex either. I really love the work that Full Sail has done with these brands. This beer is a far cry from the vile sophomoric swill that they named Hefeweitzen about ten years ago. It was gross. This beer was worth my time and I over the course of two days consumed all six. OK, I am hard up and would consume six of anything because I am too cheap to let beer go to waste. But, what I am saying is that these six were pleasant. Far more pleasant that that nasty hefe. Here is a beer that will not offend nor disappoint. Is this a session beer? I have no frigging idea what a session beer is. My session in this case was rather successful and a pleasure as well.

Stone Pale Ale

Alright. I know that when I get a new beer in me that I just have to give you the experience and all that. "bla, bla, blasphemy"

When, I first opened this beer, it reminded me of Anchor Steam with the loud, powerful hiss and the lingering steaming veil over the bottle. It poured nice and rich, with a nice abundant head that smelled like nice delicious hops. The very first sip and I thought to myself that it was a great thing that I did not decide to go with the IPA...but then I thought to myself, this is not really a pure pale ale. I mean, it has all the flavor characteristics going for it...until you look at it. It reminds me of Fritz Maytag's evil brew. I hope he sues me for saying it, now that his crummy washing machines are now being made in Mexico. Sellout loser bastard...what are you going to do next? Sell the brewery, to S&P?

But, seriously folks. The Stone Brewing Company is in Escondido, California. Which gives me the hint, that with as much as that dried up loser and QUAFF beer snob and crony Rich Link has been banging the drum about Stone in the Celebrator Magazine, there has to be some QUAFF arrogant influence somewhere. I remember when I lived in San Diego and QUAFF was having their meetings at the Pacific Beach Brewing Company. A member owned the brewery and I was there with a friend who was a member. I ordered a stout and it was infected and spoiled. They got it going on for sure. That was a while back. If you don't believe me, just look up quaff on Google and find the site. Arrogant. However, this beer is fine and I recommend it. Regardless of what the heck it is.

4 out of 5 points maybe 4.5 out of five. It is good to be sure.

Blitz Weinhard Pale Ale

I have always loved the green. When I toured the brewery in 1990 during the Portland Rose Festival, it was a bittersweet joy. I really wished that I had the chance to try these beers before they were overwhelmed, abused and trodden down by corporate punks with no passion or pride for that matter. The beer was a bit light in the malt department like I remember it. It had a flowery, spicy hop nose like I remember it, although not as pronounced. Could be that since this is Oregon beer being sold in North Dakota that it was not as fresh as it could have been. Still good. I was burning the dump in my shitty little berg occupied by assholes and food stamp collecting pot squats when the beer tasted pretty good and broke up the toxic smoke medley with pride. This beer is brewed by Full Sail out of Hood River, Oregon. Well done, it is true to the original recipe...time for a remix of the old recipe and not the hack job that G. Heilemann Brewing Company did to it in the 90's.

Recommended 3.5 out of 5 points

Session Premium Lager

Man, do I ever have a weakness for any swill in a stubby bottle. I just love stubby bottles. They are aerodynamic as they fly out the car window smashing delightfully with a complete crash rather than the hard bottle syndrome demonstrated by the ever so present Long Red Neck. Ok, back to the beer. It is never the package to us beer nuts. It is always the beer.

Ok...the beer tastes like I remember Blitz Weinhard of Portland, Oregon as a kid. I like it and I will drink it again to be sure. It is a mildly hoppy, slightly darker than pale, light colored premium beer that blows Budweiser out of the water. and I love the hell out of the package. 11 oz. bottle, 5.1 percent alc. drink it daily. Recommended...Full Sail Brewing Company, Hood River, OR.

4.5 out of 5 Points good stuff to be sure...you think I would buy crap...It is bound to happen and you will read how I just hate Magnum Malt Liquor to death. Late