Point Einbock (Maibock Style)

Point Well Made. The madmen at the Stevens Point, Wisconsin brewery have impressed me mightily in the past and once again they have made their mark with a brew that says that they care little about cost vs profit forecasts. Brew the stuff and let them drink it.

It is bock beer. It has some richness and good malty pleasure with every sip. It pours a nice deep golden color with a beige, thin head. It has a malty, spicy nose with earthy undertones. My opinion is that this brew is true to maibock form with some nice spicy undertones. The sweet richness accumulates on my lips tempting me to constantly lick. There is also the hops which offer a perfect foil to all the sweetness. I must add one other thing. The mouth feel of this brew is superb, coating my mouth with sweet goodness. Like all Point beers, this one has a lot of balance in the mix. I love it and you will too.

4.5 out of 5 points Spot on and true to style. Point well made indeed.

Cold Spring Honey Almond Weiss

Hey, I am back having just sampled some really good beer...from Cold Spring, Minnesota once again hails Cold Spring Beer. I toured the brewery which goes by the name Gluek Brewing Company. I like the Honey Bock and the varieties of Stite are great. I just wished at the time that they would put some effort into the true craft side of beer...you know, with some effort added to it.

Well, here goes. This brew is markedly better than their past efforts. Some of the styles represent the same direction that Point has gone in with success. Even Anheuser-Busch with the Michelob line has come up with some inspired styles. This is no exception.

Pours nicely with a cloudy golden color and a white head. It is sweet and slightly sour with a nice bittering all at the same time. I really do not notice the almond and as far as I am concerned, they can just reorder labels right now because the brew is fine without it. The citrus is apparent in its nose and there is some subtle I suppose almond along with warm wonderful alcohol working there. It is much more refined than Gluek Honey Bock and I like that brew. I have found here a new favorite but it will not be my exclusive because nothing matches the potency of honey bock for the price. I recommend this brew as it represents a crossroads with this brewery. When I visited them 5 years ago, they were wrapped up in sports drink production and happened to be brewers. Guess what, they have applied themselves and it is a pleasure to try it.

4 solid points out of 5 Nice

Big Sky Summer Honey

Good Beer. Not as good as Leinenkugels Honey Weiss, or some of the other summer beers...but I liked it.

4.5 out of 5 points Starts out strong but finishes smooth and good.

Real McCoy Amber Ale

In a can...seventeen dollars a twelve pack. Average flavor by Mammoth Lakes Brewing Company...Leinenkugels is better and cheaper by far.

1 out of 5 points. Don't put your swill in a can and preach to me about the environment being safer and cleaner for your aluminum efforts. Make good beer and half of your swill will not be thrown out the windows. By the way, this score is considerably less than the worst malt liquor. The reason is that the packaging indicates that there was a great micro brew inside. Swill, I feel ripped off. There are too many high quality beers out there that do not rip off the drinker. Hurry up, go out of business...your beer sucks.

Arrogant Bastard Ale

It reminds me of Sierra Nevada Harvest or Racer 5. I think that this beer is a fine one and definitely not the one you want to select for the first one of the day. It is strong flavored with hops being the prominent player. Pours with a nice dark color and a long lasting tan head. It smells of hops and earth and alcohol. It is good but it pales in comparison with the Sierra Nevada. Stone does some great work and I like their packaging but sometimes I feel that they put ingredients together strong with little thought to balance just because they feel that is the cool thing to do. A bit more forethought and the brew would be perfect. Brew it and I will drink it.

4 out of 5 points Points for trying such an ambitious hop profile.

Old Milwaukee

Good smooth, slightly sweet, slightly malty and nice to drink...think I'll have twelve. Not at all bad beer, good in the back yard on a hot day and I will have another I am sure.



5 out of 5 For an American style pilsner in its true watered down form, this one has good flavor.

Stag

Stag by Heileman? Heilemann in Milwaukee? Oh well, it is Stag none the less and It is really not a bad beer. It was inexpensive and somewhat drinkable. There used be a story my uncle Mac would tell me. Back in the day, if you had a friend come over and you were to offer him a beer and all you had left was some Stag, he would reply, "that's OK, I'll go thirsty". That was in the 70's and that was also when G. Heilemann Brewing Company of La Crosse, WI was in their heyday...they were buying up breweries, including Stag of Edwardsville, IL. What they, in my opinion, were not well known for, was producing great tasting beer. Over rated in my opinion, even their premium brands...they all had that stale flavor. Gross. This however is much better and I recommend it as it is probably much closer to the original recipe than Heilemann ever got and that is the truth.

3 out of 5 Hey, I didn't wretch and gag and I am still alive to tell the tale...it was good.