Half-Assed Reviews - 5/11/10

Well, I figured it'd be time for another one of these. I've tried some stuff while drinking out recently that I thought was worthy of noting, but wasn't in a situation where I couldn't completely get down with a real review. Some of these beers have been good, some have been average, some really freaking good, and some downright awful. I'm going from memory here so don't take this stuff as bible,.....whereas you should take any other beer I have reviewed as the quintessential, end all be all of beer reviews. (sarcasm) But, this should be a decent enough assessment to give you AT LEAST a "suck" or "not suck".

Avery IPA

No gimmicky name here, just their India Pale Ale. There is also no gimmick in how I will discuss this beer....in that it sucks, hard. This is an extremely bad beer. I had this 5-6 months ago in Kansas City and it was so bad that I thought it was a bad keg, or something had contaminated the lines, the keg, or even the glass. So I had it again where I worked and it was equally awful, possibly even worse. I understand that there are pine characteristics in a lot of hoppy beers, but this is honestly like drinking pine solve.....the cleaner. No malt balance, no characteristics of apricot, grapefruit, or anything, just pine. I'm not a major hop guy, but I certainly appreciate well-crafted IPAs....but this is not one of them. This is a really bad beer, regardless of style. If you're like me, and you don't like things that suck, stay away from this. However, if you like things that do, in fact suck, then give it a go.

Half-assed verdict: 2/10


O'Fallon Wee-Heavy

From what I can tell this isn't bottled.....yet. Which is too bad, because this is an extremely good beer. I was thinking it was gonna be a big malt bomb as it's a "Wee-Heavy". The maltiness and sweetness is certainly there, (it's 10% abv) but it has all sorts of yummy complexity going on. It has vanilla, some bourbony-booze, chocolate, a nice warming alcohol, some caramel, and a scotchy/peaty sort of smoke note going on which is really freaking cool. Not that it's a knock on O'Fallon as a brewery, but I was NOT expecting something anywhere near this good. The alcohol is certainly there, it's not hidden at all, but it's a good thing. This is a sipper, and almost has a liqueur like quality. It takes a while to put down an entire glass but it's worth the time. I certainly hope that O'Fallon puts this in bottles soon as I can imagine this could get very interesting with a year or two of age on it. If you see it on tap anywhere or in bottles sometime in the future....I highly recommend. Oh, and this thing really needs to warm up a touch or else you miss out on a fair amount of its surprising complexity. Giggity.

Half-assed verdict 9/10

Lagunitas "Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale"

Apparently there's a story behind the huge name....something about them having to shut down for 20 days after an absolutely epic party. Who knows. Have you ever had The Lagunitas WTF (Wilco Tango Foxtrot)? It's basically a ramped up version of that beer. A big brown ale that's got a touch more malt in it but a bunch more hops. The sweet and the bitter play off of each other really nicely, and there's a touch of some sort of spice in there.....allspice? I've seen some reviews that suggest cinnamon...but I'm not sure. The bitterness isn't to sharp and is a nice mix if floral/citrus/pine, and is just enough to clean up what is otherwise a fairly sweet brew. Mixed up styles like this can really be winners if they strive for balance, as opposed to weird hair-raising tastes......and this does just that. Beer websites have this as an "American Strong Ale", but I would just call it a hopped up, big brown ale, because that's what it is. I find a lot of times the "American Strong Ale" is just a cop out to find an easier name for something that's unique with a big(ger) malt profile and somewhat higher ABV. Either way, this isn't a drop-dead gorgeous beer, but it's very good, very well balanced, and very fun to drink. Giddy-up.

Half-assed verdict 8/10