Sorry for the late posting today, I blame Mike from www.MikeLovesBeer.com and Chung from the Coffee District for a night of great craft beer. Before I get into who will be guest blogging with me this week, I personally would like to congratulate Mike from MikeLovesBeer.com on his 2nd Anniversary of his Beer Blog. Good times buddy!

Ok, so this week I had the honor to sample some VERY fine beers with a “legend” of sorts from RateBeer.com, HopScotch. It was a pleasure to sit and learn more about beer than I knew existed with him. HopScotch is another prime example of why the Craft Beer Community is so good, it consists of amazing people.

Here is some background info on HopScotch.

HopScotch; “Eric”
Location: Vero Beach, Florida
Hometown: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Got into craft beer in his last semester of college at West Virginia University (1992) when a brewpub known as The One Onion (subsequently the West Virginia Brewing Company; currently the Morgantown Brewing Company) opened two blocks from his apartment offering $1.00 pints every weekday between 3 PM and 7 PM. His go-to beer in college was Rolling Rock as it was cheap in that part of the country. After graduation and a substantial increase in income while working on Capitol Hill, Samuel Adams Boston Ale hit the supermarket shelves and he was a quick convert to the Boston Beer Company. As beer stores started popping up all over the D.C./Baltimore area, he set out to try every new craft brew and import he could get his hands on. Started taking notes in 2002 and joined ratebeer.com that very same year. Since then, he has rated 5,899 beers… oops, make that 5,904 now… and travels and trades extensively in order to try as many American, Danish, Canadian, Dutch, Italian and Swedish craft beers as humany possible. His three favorite beers are Alesmith Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, Three Floyds Dark Lord Bourbon Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Imperial Stout and Cigar City Hunahpu’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Stay tuned for some crazy good beers this week!

Cheers!

Baumé
Half Acre Beer Company
Chicago, IL
7.00% ABV

C: Slight light shining through the edge of my plastic tasting cup
H: Dark, almost black in color
N: Burnt Roasted Malt, Smoke, Coffee

Beer Drinker: This was one of the beers that I brought to the tasting. My friend brought it back for me from a Chicago business trip a few months ago. The label is pretty cool–an electric blue of sorts. Chocolate right out of the gate, with a fairly high level of bitterness. A little nutty with some roasted malts tell the middle of the story. Now, some might say listening to what other people say is cheating, so when I overheard “grapefruit hops at the end”, well, I wrote it down. For me, though, a little orange citrus may have crept in, but nothing major. The end. I wish I remember drinking my ounce more, so this might not be fair but…
Score: 3.5544

The Ferm: I have heard a lot about Half Acre as a brewery mainly since the Chicago Beer scene seems to be doing pretty good for itself right now. This was my first Half Acre Brew and I was very excited to try it. Sadly it fell sort-a flat. I got a crazy amount of carbonation off the pour and the flavor was strong smoke and coffee. Now I like both flavors, but when they are combined in a combination like this it reminds me of that old lady that drink black coffee and chain smokes an entire pack of ciggs. In fact, that same lady might have slipped some ash into my beer because the smoke was on full attack with burnt roasted coffee coming up quick to kick you while you were left defenseless from the 1st attack. Yep, I bet you think I hated it….well I’m not a real gluten for punishment, but it was ok….JUST OK.
Score: 2.845

Overall: 3.199

Dark Lord 2010
Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Munster, IN
15.00% ABV

C. Black
H. Clear on the corners
N. Boozie (Rum and Bourbon), Sweetness, and a hint of Espresso

KirkDiggler;
A: Smells of booze, but don’t know what kind. I got Notes of Rum and bourbon, sweetness, and finally warms to espresso.
A: Pours black w/ chocolate colored head. Quickly dissipates, leaves no lacing.
F: Sweet and fruity up front w/ slight umami and soy sauce notes. I believe that cantaloupe was also used to describe at this point. If it wasn’t cantaloupe, it was some kind of melon on the back end.
M: Oily and slick, goes down smooth w/ a slight alcohol burn. Finishes boozy
O: I’m now a believer that the hype is real. #DLD2011, here I come!! Definitely buy enough to drink through the ages. 25 year Dark Lord? Yes!!
Score: 4.625

The Ferm; Well the only other time I have had Dark Lord was at the release party for Hunahpu’s. I was pretty intoxicated but was able to remember how good I thought it was. Well 2010 stood up to the hype, slapped the hype, then defecated all over it. This is a perfect Russian Imperial Stout, that is anything but hype. Everyone that sampled this bottle with me was amazed by the complexity of the beer, just as I was. The mouth feel was oily and creamy on the tongue. The flavors progressively changed with warmth, though one flavor of Cantaloupe stuck with me for a bit. Simply put; Darklord is Complex as HELL!!!
Score: 4.99

Overall: 4.8075

Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale
Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Munster, IN
6.00% ABV

C. Super Clear
H. Dark Carmel in Color
N. Nose is big on citrusy hops, with a subtle roasty malt nose

Cerveza Chica; I have to say that everything that I have tried from Three Floyds thus far has been more positive than negative. This was another beer that worked for me . For and American Pale Ale it was hoppy but not overly bitter and there was just enough malt to back it up. It was very light and easy to drink. It was definitely solid for a pale ale. I would recommend this if you can get your hands on some although unfortunately we don’t get it in Florida. I could easily put back a few of these without even realizing it and that is fine with me.
Score:3.77

The Ferm: Well like every other beer I will have to judge this beer in comparison to other Pale Ales. The label has the Alpha King like bathing in his beer. I think I could bathe in this beer as well. It really is one of the most balanced Pale Ales I have had. The hops are strong on the attack, and the malt backing is strong enough to support it. There is a strong citrus attack, and the beer ends with a nice dry roasty taste on the palette. Category wise, I’d have to say it is pretty damn good!
Score: 4.15

Overall: 3.96

Three Floyds Pride & Joy
Three Floyds
Munster, IN
6.50% ABV

C. Very Clear
H. Golden Orange
N. Nose is big on citrus, everything else is just over powered by the hop aroma

Cerveza Chica; This beer smelled pleasant to me, very citrusy and hoppy. They say on the bottle that it’s a session beer and I could easily see it being that. It is very light and drinkable. It was nothing extraordinary. They say on the bottle that “it’s not normal”, but to me it pretty much was just like an American pale ale like they say it is. I haven’t been disappointed by Three Floyds stuff, but I am not raving about anything I have tried by them yet either. It is worth a try if you can get your hands on a bottle, but by no means should you go out of your way to get some.
Score:3.37

The Ferm; Well this one has sat in the fridge for quite some time. Was looking forward to this one since I got it, but it has fallen to the side due to the large amounts of trades that have been going on in the house. Pride & Joy like all other 3Floyds state the beer isn’t normal. Well I disagree it is pretty normal, but DAMN good in being normal. For a run of the mill APA (American Pale Ale) this one has a nice hop presence that isn’t bitter, helped by a strong malt background, this beer is sort-a sweet. Really close to what I would consider a weak IPA. Great beer for the Summer, and year round.
Score: 3.952

Overall; 3.661